This page has been validated.
376
FYRD—FYZABAD
  

and Crarae, distilling at Ardrishaig, gunpowder-making at Furnace and Kilfinan, and, above all, fishing. Haddock, whiting and codling are taken, and the famous “Loch Fyne herrings” command the highest price in the market.


FYRD, the name given to the English army, or militia, during the Anglo-Saxon period (see Army, 60). It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the date 605. The ealdorman, or sheriff, of the shire was probably charged with the duty of calling out and leading the fyrd, which appears always to have retained a local character, as during the time of the Danish invasions we read of the fyrd of Kent, of Somerset and of Devon. As attendance at the fyrd was included in the trinoda necessitas it was compulsory on all holders of land; but that it was not confined to them is shown by the following extract from the laws of Ine, king of the West Saxons, dated about 690, which prescribes the penalty for the serious offence of neglecting the fyrd: “If a gesithcund man owning land neglect the fyrd, let him pay 120 shillings, and forfeit his land; one not owning land 60 shillings; a ceorlish man 30 shillings as fyrdwite.” The fyrd was gradually superseded by the gathering of the thegns and their retainers, but it was occasionally called out for defensive purposes even after the Norman Conquest.


FYT, JOHANNES (1609–1661), Belgian animal painter, was born at Antwerp and christened on the 19th of August 1609. He was registered apprentice to Hans van den Berghe in 1621. Professionally van den Berghe was a restorer of old pictures rather than a painter of new ones. At twenty Johannes Fyt entered the gild of St Luke as a master, and from that time till his death in 1661 he produced a vast number of pictures in which the bold facility of Snyders is united to the powerful effects of Rembrandt, and harmonies of gorgeous tone are not less conspicuous than freedom of touch and a true semblance of nature. There never was such a master of technical processes as Fyt in the rendering of animal life in its most varied forms. He may have been less correct in outline, less bold in action than Snyders, but he was much more skilful and more true in the reproduction of the coat of deer, dogs, greyhounds, hares and monkeys, whilst in realizing the plumage of peacocks, woodcocks, ducks, hawks, and cocks and hens, he had not his equal, nor was any artist even of the Dutch school more effective in relieving his compositions with accessories of tinted cloth, porcelain ware, vases and fruit. He was not clever at figures, and he sometimes trusted for these to the co-operation of Cornelius Schut or Willeborts, whilst his architectural backgrounds were sometimes executed by Quellyn. “Silenus amongst Fruit and Flowers,” in the Harrach collection at Vienna, “Diana and her Nymphs with the Produce of the Chase,” in the Belvedere at Vienna, and “Dead Game and Fruit in front of a Triumphal Arch,” belonging to Baron von Rothschild at Vienna, are specimens of the co-operation respectively of Schut, Willeborts and Quellyn. They are also Fyt’s masterpieces. The earliest dated work of the master is a cat grabbing at a piece of dead poultry near a hare and birds, belonging to Baron Cetto at Munich, and executed in 1644. The latest is a “Dead Snipe with Ducks,” of 1660, sold with the Jäger collection at Cologne in 1871. Great power is shown in the bear and boar hunts at Munich and Ravensworth castle. A “Hunted Roedeer with Dogs in the Water,” in the Berlin Museum, has some of the life and more of the roughness of Snyders, but lacks variety of tint and finish. A splendid specimen is the Page and Parrot near a table covered with game, guarded by a dog staring at a monkey, in the Wallace collection. With the needle and the brush Fyt was equally clever. He etched 16 plates, and those representing dogs are of their kind unique.


FYZABAD, or Faizabad, a city, district and division of British India in the United Provinces. The city stands on the left bank of the river Gogra, 78 m. by rail E. of Lucknow. Pop. (1901) 75,085. To the E. of Fyzabad, and now forming a suburb, is the ancient site of Ajodhya (q.v.). Fyzabad was founded about 1730 by Saʽadat Ali Khan, the first nawab wazir of Oudh, who built a hunting-lodge here. It received its present name in the reign of his successor; and Shuja-ud-daula, the third nawab, laid out a large town and fortified it, and here he was buried. It was afterwards the residence of the Begums of Oudh, famous in connexion with the impeachment of Warren Hastings. When the court of Oudh was removed to Lucknow in 1775 all the leading merchants and bankers abandoned the place. At the census of 1869 Fyzabad contained only 37,804 inhabitants; but it is now again advancing in prosperity and population. On the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857, the cantonment contained two regiments of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and a light field battery of artillery—all natives. Owing to their threatening demeanour after the Meerut massacre, many of the European women and children were sheltered by one of the great landholders of Oudh, and others were sent to less disturbed parts of the country. The troops rose, as was anticipated, and although they at first permitted their officers to take boats and proceed towards Dinapur, a message was afterwards sent to a rebel force lower down the river to intercept the fugitives. Of four boats, one, having passed the rebels unnoticed, succeeded in reaching Dinapur safely. Of those in the other three boats, one alone escaped. Fyzabad is now a station for European as well as for native troops. It is the headquarters of a brigade in the 8th division of the northern army. There is a government college. Sugar-refining and trade in agricultural produce are important.

The District of Fyzabad, lying between the two great rivers Gogra and Gumti, has an area of 1740 sq. m. It is entirely alluvial and well wooded, and has a good climate. Pop. (1901) 1,225,374, an increase of .7% in the decade. The district is traversed throughout its length by the Oudh and Rohilkhand railway from Lucknow to Benares, with a branch to Allahabad. Tanda, with a population in 1901 of 19,853, has the largest production of cotton goods in Oudh.

The Division of Fyzabad has an area of 12,113 sq. m., and comprises the six districts of Fyzabad, Gonda, Bahraich, Sultanpur, Partabgarh and Bara Banki. Pop. (1901) 6,855,991, an increase of 2% in the decade.