Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/442

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Forester
436
Forman

while discontented friars of his convent frequently complained to Cromwell of his conduct. In the spring of 1533 the king succeeded in procuring his deposition and the appointment of Fr. Jean de la Hey, a Frenchman, as commissary. Forest was sent to some convent in the north, but in the following year was back in London imprisoned at Newgate on a charge of heresy, the basis of which was denial of the king's supremacy. He at first submitted to the court. His confinement, therefore, was not strict, and he was allowed to celebrate divine service and hear confessions. It was found that he used this opportunity of confirming his visitors in the old faith, and employed his leisure in writing a book, 'De auctoritate Ecclesiæ et Pontificis Maximi,' inveighing with great vehemence against the pride and impiety of the king in assuming the title of head of the church. Sentence of death had been passed upon him at the commencement of his imprisonment, and when his relapse was discovered it was immediately carried out. He was burnt on 22 May 1538 in Smithfield with unusual barbarity, being slung alive over a fire instead of being surrounded by faggots. An image called Dderfel Gadern, which had been long venerated in North Wales, was used as fuel to fulfil a Welsh prophecy, which said that it would set a forest on fire. Bishop Hugh Latimer preached a sermon on the occasion, urging him in vain to recant, and the lord mayor, Cromwell, and other great people were present. The book mentioned above is the only literary work which he is said to have composed, and that is not known to be extant. There are, however, some letters of his to Queen Catherine and others printed by Wadding and Parkinson.

[Cal. Hen. VIII, vols. v. vi. vii.; Hall's Chron. pp. 135, 232 b; Bourchier's Hist. Eccl. de Martyrio Fratrum Angl. Ingoldstadt, 1583, p. 28; Francis à S. Clara, Supplem. Hist. Prov. Angl., Douay, 1671, p. 8; Athenæ Oxon. i. 107; Foxe, iv. 590, v. 179; Pits, i. 726; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 292; Wadding's Annales Minorum, xvi. 365, 390, 419; Parkinson's Collect. Anglo-Minoritica, pp. 234, 241; Gasquet's Hen. VIII and English Monasteries, i. 193–201; Froude, iii. 295; Parker Soc.: 1 Lat. xi. 266, 2 Lat. pp. 391–2, 2 Tyn. p. 302, 2 Cran. pp. 365–6, Bale pp. 139, 509; Rawlinson MS. B. 488, f. 41 b.]

C. T. M.

FORESTER, JAMES (fl. 1611), theological and medical writer, matriculated in the university of Cambridge as a sizar of Clare Hall, 26 May 1576. He proceeded B.A. in 1579-80, M.A. in 1583, and practised physic (Cooper, Athenæ Cantabr. iii. 58). By procurement of Henry Barrow, the puritan, he wrote out part of the book entitled 'A brief Description of the False Church,' but he says that he found fault 'in respect off the sharpe maner of wrytyng thereof,' and caused it to be reformed, but he alleged that he never saw the book in print. He was indicted with Barrow, Greenwood, and others, on 21 March 1592-3, for writing and publishing books to cry down the church of England and the queen's prerogative in ecclesiastical matters. As he expressed penitence, however, his life was spared.

He was the author of:

  1. 'The Pearle of Practise, or Practisers Pearle for Phisicke and Chirurgerie found out by J[ohn] H[ester] a Spageriche or Distiller, amongst the Learned Observations and Proved Practises of many expert Men in both Faculties. Published and drawn into methode,' London, 1594, 4to.
  2. 'The Marrow and Juice of 260 Scriptures,' London, 1611, 4to.

[Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), p. 1256; Egerton Papers, pp. 166, 178; Strype's Annals, iv. 93; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]

T. C.

FORFAR, Earls of. [See Douglas, Archibald.]

FORGAILL, DALLAN (fl. 600), Irish saint. [See Dallan.]

FORMAN, ANDREW (d. 1522), archbishop of St. Andrews, is said to have been one of the Formans of Hatton, near Berwick-on-Tweed (Scotichron. p. 242). The 'Lord Treasurer's Accounts' record a small payment to him on 22 Oct. 1489 (Accounts of Lord High Treasurer, 123; cf. p. 128). According to Mr. Dickson, he was protonotary by September 1491, and his name appears in that capacity several times in the treasury accounts. In May 1492 he distributed the royal alms in St. Giles's, and in April 1498 won money from James IV at cards (ib. pp. 187, 386; pp. 172, 187, &c.) When Perkin Warbeck landed in Scotland (November 1495) the protonotary appears to have been told off to attend him. He received 74l. 8s. in connection with this service (21 Sept. 1496) at the time of the futile expedition across the Tweed. He probably remained with Warbeck till the impostor sailed from Ayr for Ireland in July 1497 (ib. pp. 299, 344-5, Pref. pp. cxxvii-cliii). Next September 'Andrew Forman, protonotary apostolic and prior of May,' was despatched with the Bishop of Aberdeen and Sir Patrick Hume to make terms with Henry VII. A truce was signed for seven years at Aytoun in Berwickshire (30 Sept. 1497). He was employed in other embassies in 1499 and 1501, and on 8 Oct. 1501 was empowered to treat for the marriage of James IV to Henry VII's daughter