FREKE
FREYCINET
letters, and education. In his Anti-
Machiavel (written before his accession)
he defines the monarch as " the first
servant of the State." For German
nationalism he had contempt, and his
court became a centre of international
culture and Rationalism. His opinions
are freely expressed in his letters to
Voltaire and others, and he wrote a
number of works, of which the collected
edition comprises thirty - one volumes
(1846-57). D. Aug. 17, 1786.
FREKE, William, mystic writer. B. 1662. Ed. Somerford and Oxford (Wad- ham). Although he studied law and was called to the Bar, he never practised. In 1693 he began to issue pamphlets attacking the Trinity, one of which was burned by the hangman, and Freke was fined 500. From 1696 to 1744 he was a Justice of the Peace. In 1709 he renounced even Uni- tarianism and posed as a Rationalistic visionary. D. Jan., 1744.
FREILIGRATH, Ferdinand, German poet. B. June 17, 1810. Ed. Detmold Gymnasium. He was a business man, but a volume of poems which he published in 1838 was so esteemed that he turned to letters. He wrote forty volumes in forty years, and was one of the outstanding German writers of the time. In 1844 he candidly expressed his Rationalism and advanced political views in Mein Glaubens- bekenntniss, and he was compelled to leave Germany and live for a time in England. The same happened in 1851, and it was only in 1868 that he settled finally in Germany. His poems (6 vols., 1870) are greatly valued in German literature. D. Mar. 18, 1876.
FREND, William, B.A., writer. B. Nov. 22, 1757. Ed. Canterbury (King s School) and Cambridge (Christ s College). He took orders and was vicar of Madingley, but he resigned in 1787 and wrote various pamphlets against the Church, which he called " a system of folly and superstition 2G9
which disgraces human nature " (Mr.
Coulthurst s Blunders Exposed). Christ s
College expelled him, and he settled in
London and associated with Home Tooke
and Sir F. Burdett in various reforms.
Frend remained a Theist, but he wore
brass buttons in order to emphasize his
severance from the Christian ministry. D.
Feb. 21, 1841.
FRERE-ORBAN, Hubert Joseph Walther, Belgian statesman. B. Apr. 24, 1812. He was a very able lawyer of Liege, and local leader of the Liberals. He was returned to the Chambre in 1847, and he was Minister of Public Works in 1847 and Minister of Finance 1848-52. In 1857 he brought down the Catholic Ministry and was again Minister of Finance (to 1870). He was Premier 1868-70 and 1878-84, and drastically checked the Clericals. -D. Jan. 2, 1896.
FRERET, Nicolas, French writer. B. Feb. 15, 1688. A Parisian lawyer and scholar, he was one of the first Frenchmen to avow himself an Atheist (in his Lettre de Thrasybule d Leucippe, 1758). Freret was a voluminous and learned writer (collected works in 20 vols., 1796), and was admitted to the Academy of Inscriptions in 1714, and became its Perpetual Secretary in 1742. D. Mar. 8, 1749.
FREYCINET, Charles Louis de Saulce de, French statesman. B. Nov. 14, 1828. He held a high position on the railways from 1856 to 1861, and under took various scientific expeditions for the Government between 1862 and 1867. In 1870 Gambetta made him Chief of the Military Cabinet, and he entered the Senate in 1876. He was President of the Senate 1879-81, Minister of Public Works in 1877, twice Minister of War (1888-93 and 1899), twice Foreign Minister (1879-81, 1885-86), and three times Premier (1882- 85, 1886, 1890-92). Freycinet, Officer of the Legion of Honour, member of the Academy, and author of several mathe- 270
