Fortunatus, Venanti US, Honorius Clemen-
tianus, bishop of Poitiers, and a Latin poet, was born about A.D. 530, near Treviso, in Italy. He studied grammar, rhetoric, literature, and law, and became so distinguished as an orator as to receive the surname of " Seholasticissimus." From Italy he came to France, where he acquired great reputation as a poet, and was received with favor at the court of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, in lionor of wliose marriage with Brunhilde (5GG) he wrote one of liis poems. Having gone to Poitiers, he became preacher and confessor of the con- vent to which the former queen Radegunde and her sister had retired. Here he continued his philosoph- ical and theological studies with great ardor, and be- came connected with Gregorj' of Tours (q. v.) and oth- er dignitaries of the Church. He was appointed bish- op of Poitiers in 599, but died soon after, probably about 609. He wrote eleven books of poetry on di- vers subjects; hymns, many of which have been used by the Church; epistles to different bishops, especial- ly to Gregory of Tours ; stories dedicated to his pro- tectors, Padegunde and Agnes, which have given rise to an unfounded accusation of improper intimacy be- tween them ; tlie life of St. Martin ; an explanation of tlie Lord's prayer, etc. He was the first to use rhyme with a certain degree of mastery, though with consid- erable license ; he also mastered the trochaic tetrame- ter. His best known hymns are Vexillu Regis prodc- vnt, and Pange Lingua Gloriosi, which are incorporated into tlie P.oiiian lireviar}'. They may be found in Dan- iel, Thesaurus Jlymnologicus, i, ICO sq., and are given, with Noale's translations, by Schaff, History nf the Chridian Church, iii, 59G sq., and in Sehaft", Christ in Song (New York, 18G9). A Commentary on the A thana- sian Creed is attributed to him ; Wateiland vindicates his authorship of it (]Vorlcs, Oxford, 1843, iii, 134 sq.), but Lucchi and other critics deny it. Muratori con- jectured (without adequate ground) that Fortunatus was tlic author of the Athanasian Creed itself. His writings were collected by Brower, Opera Omnia ; published also in Bill. Max. Patrum (1G77). The best edition is that of Lucclii (Rome, 17i!-G-7, 2 vols. 4to ; reproduced in Migne, Putrologia Latina, vols. Ixxii and Ixxviii). A full account of the writings of Fortunatus is given in C€\\W<i\, Auteurs Sacres (Paris, 18C2), xi, 402 sq. Sec also Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xviii, 227-31.
Fosbrooke, Thomas Dudley, a distinguished
archaeologist, was born in London IMaj' 27, 1770. He I was educated at St. Paul's School, and elected scholar ! at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1785. In 1794 he be- came curate of Horsley ; in 1810, curate of "Walford ; in 1830, vicar of AValford. He died January 1, 1842. His archaeological writings are very valuable. His works are British Monachism : Planners and Customs of 3/onks and Xuns in Englanel (Lond. new ed. 1843, imp. 8vo): — Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, Classical and Me- di(cval (new ed. Lond. 1843, 2 vols. imp. 8vo) : — .Arts, ^fanufactures, etc. of the Creels and Romans (Londcn, 1833-5, 2 vols. fcp. 8vo). A memoir of his life is i re- li.xed to the British Jl/onachism.
FcsEOies, Fcssorii. See Copiat^.
Potter, Benjamin, D.D., a Baptist preacher and author, was born at Danvers, Mass., June 12, 1750, and graduated at Yale College in 1774. Kear the close of his college course, having been ajipoiiited to take part in a discussion of the subject of baptism on the Pedobaptist side, his investigations made him a convert to Baptist views. He pursued his studies in theology under the Lev. Dr. Stillman, of Boston, and was ordained pastor of a church in Leicester, JIass., in 1776. He was afterwards pastor successively at Newport, K. L, an'', at New York. During the prev- alence of yellow fever in 1798 he declined to seek im- munit}' from it liy leaving his post of duty, and died from exposure to the pestilence. He was a diligent and zealous preacher, a devoted pastor, and respecta-
FOSTER
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FOUNDLING HOSPITALS
ble scholar. He was the author of, 1. The WasUiifj of Rerienerailoti, or the Divine Right of Immersion: — •_*. Primitive Biptlsm defined: — 3. A Dissertation on the Seventy Weeks of Daniel (Newport, 1787). (L. E. S.)
Foster, James, D.D., an eminent Nonconform- ist divine, was born at Exeter in 1G97. lie began preaching as an Independent in 1718. In 1724 he be- came a Baptist, succeeding the eminent Gale. His eloquence gained for hina enthusiastic popularity. Pope, Savage, and Bolingbroke were among Lis eulo- gists. But, with all his personal virtues and popular talents, " he neither professed nor possessed much zeal for the essential doctrines of Christianity." He pub- lished Sermons (Lond. 1745, 4th ed. 8vo) :— Discourses cm Natural Religion and the Social Virtues (Lond. 174'J); and an Essay on Fu7idament<ds, especiallj' the doctrine of the Trinity. His most important work, and that by which he is best known, is his Defence of the Use- filness, Truth, and Excellency of the Christian Religion, written against Tyndale (Lond. 1734, 3d ed. 8vo). He died in 1753. (L. E. S.)
Foster, John, the celebrated essayist, was born at Halifax, Yorkshire, Sept. 17, 1770. In early life he was set to the trade of a weaver. At the age of seventeen, having joined a Baptist church, he entered the Baptist College at Bristol. On the completion of his studies he began preaching at Ne\vcastle-on-Tyne. Being somewhat unsettled in liis doctrinal views, he sought a connection with the " General Baptists," and made an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself at Dublin. Returning to England, he laljored success- ively at Chichester, Fronie, and Downend. His mod- erate success as a preacher was in striking contrast with his unquestioned intellectual power and his liter- ary reputation. While residing at Downend he pro- duced tlie Ess:iys which have won a permanent place in English literature. Becoming disabled for labor in the pulpit, he removed to Stapleton, near Bristol, and gave himself wholl}' to literary pursuits. For tliir- teen years he was a principal contributor to the Eclec- tic Review. In 1819 he jjuldished his essaj' On the Edls of Pajmlar Ignorance, which he esteemed his best production, thougli it has never attained to the popu- larity of tlie essay On Decision of Character. His con- triljutions to the Eclectic Revieio were published in 1840, in two volumes. A volume selected from these lias been pulilislied in this country. lie died in 1843. Since his death h.ive appeared Lectures delivered at Broadmead Chapel, Bristol (2 vols.), a discourse on Missions, an essay On the Importance of Religion, writ- ten as an introduction to Doddridge's Rise and Progress, and an unfmished essay On the Iniprovemeiit of Time. His Life and Correspondence, edited In' J. E. Ryland (1846), is a work of gi-eat interest (republisiied in Bos- ton). A letter written late in life, and then first pub- lished, disclosed the fact, before unsuspected, that he had renounced the doctrine of the eternity of future punishment. His writings are marked by strong, origin.il, often sombre thouglit, stimulating to the best principles and purposes. (L. E. S.)