Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/157

F I E F I E 147 Amelia. Fielding s editor and biographer, Arthur Murphy, professed to see in Amelia signs of a genius falling into decay ; but, as in the case of Dickens, the decay does not lie in matters that affect the intellect. Amelia is inferior to Tom Junes only in so far as its humour is less exuberant ; it is even richer in happily turned humorous sayings. But the colour of the incidents is more predominantly serious ; the laughing philosopher has not changed his mood, but he takes less strong delight in creating materials for laughter. As soon as Amelia was off his hands, Fielding bent himself with unflagging energy to a new enterprise. In January 1752 he issued the first number of a new peri odical, the Covent Garden Journal, "by Sir Alexander Drawcansir, Knight, censor of Great Britain." In the first number he proved that his appetite for literary warfare was undhniuished, giving fair warning to " scribblers " in general that they must expect no mercy ; and soon after, he began an exchange of personalities with Dr John Hill which Disraeli has thought worthy of a place among his quarrels of authors. Among other writers who accepted Fielding .s challenge was Smollett, whose ground of quarrel was probably political, but to him Fielding made no reply. He was never an indiscriminate satirist, either in words or in literature ; he reserved his lash for what he believed to be bad, and not even provocation could make him attack a man whose writings he respected. The Covent Garden Journal was discontinued towards the end of 1752, partly, it may be supposed, in consequence of Fielding s health making him unable to bear the strain. He had long been a sufferer from gout ; he had undermined his naturally robust constitution by hard work and reck less living ; and in 1753 his frame began to exhibit symptoms of dropsy. The narrative of the last painful year of his life is given in his Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon. At a moment when the disease might have bsen curable, or at least might have been delayed in its ravages, he was kept in town to carry out a scheme for putting down organized gangs of robbers who were setting the law at defiance. He tried the effect of the waters at Bath ; he experimented on himself with Bishop Berkeley s specific of tar-water ; he submitted frequently to the operation of tapping; but the summer of 1754 found him with "the dropsy gaining rather than losing ground, the distance growing still shorter between the tappings." In June he set sail for Lisbon to give himself the chance of a milder winter ; but the precaution was unavailing. He died at Lisbon on the 8th of October 1754. To the last, as his Journal shows, he preserved his cheerfulness and his mental activity. Besides his Journal, he left behind him a fragment of an answer to Lord Bolingbroke s religious and philosophical essays, for which, according to Murphy, he had prepared himself by collecting " long extracts and arguments from the fathers, and the most eminent writers of controversy." " It is a pity," Lady Mary Montague wrote when she heard of his death, " he was not immortal "; he was " so formed for happiness." An essay on Fielding s life and writings is prefixed to Arthur Murphy s collected edition of his works ; and short biographies have been written by Sir Walter Scott and William Iloscoe. The most complete biography is Mr F. Lawrence s, a conscientious and thorough piece of work. (W. M.) FIERI FACIAS, in English law, is a writ of execution after judgment obtained in action of debt or damages. It is addressed to the sheriff, and commands him to make good the amount out of the goods of the person against whom judgment has been obtained. FIESCHI, JOSEPH MARIE (1 790-1 83G), assassin, the chief conspirator in the attempt on the life of Louis Philippe in July 1835, was a native of Murato in Corsica, and was baptized there. December 3, 1 790. After follow ing his father s occupation, that of a shepherd, he enlisted at the age of eighteen in the Corsican Legion at Naples, and passed with it into the service of Murat, king of Naples. In 1814 he returned to Corsica, and in the following year took part in the fatal expedition of Murat for the recovery of his crown. Sentence of death was passed on him and his companions, but it was not executed ; and Fieschi once more returned to his native land. In 181 G he was convicted of theft and forgery, and was condemned to imprisonment for ten years. After hia release he led for several years a restless miserable life, working only by fits, and eking out his resources by fraud and swindling. He went to Paris after the Revolution of July (1830), and by means of forged papers passed himself off as a victim of the Restoration, and obtained a pension and official employment. He affected a zealous devotion to the Government, entered the police, and displayed much energy in the suppression of disturbances. But meanwhile his house was the scene of violent proceedings, and the neighbourhood was kept in alarm by frequent noises, cries, and pistol-shots in and around it. Facts were brought to light which cost him his friends and his employments. Exasperated by dismissal and the " ingratitude of the Government," he vowed a terrible vengeance. He took lodgings on the Boulevard du Temple, and there, with several infamous confederates, contrived his " infernal machine," constructed with twenty gun barrels, to be fired simultaneously. In July 1835 the fifth anniversary of the Revolution was to be celebrated. Vague rumours getting afloat of some impending catastrophe, of some horrible attempt on the life of the king, prudential measures were taken. On the 28th, as Louis Philippe was holding a grand review, and was passing along the boulevard accom panied by his three sons and a numerous staff, a sudden explosion was heard, followed by others, and the pavement was strewed with dead and wounded men. A ball grazed the king s forehead, and his horse, with those of the duke of Nemours and the prince de Joinville, was shot ; but the king and the princes escaped as if by miracle. Fieschi himself was severely wounded by the discharge of his machine, and vainly attempted to escape. The attentions of the most skilful physicians were lavished upon him, and his life was saved for the stroke of justice. On his trial he named his accomplices, displayed much bravado, and expected or pretended to expect ultimate pardon. He was condemned to death, and was guillotined, February 19, 1836, making on the scaffold a premeditated theatrical display at the feet of his confessor. Of his accomplices two were executed, one was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment, and one was acquitted. A full account of the trial, Proces de Fieschi, appeared at Paris the same year. FIESCO [DE J FIESCHI], GIOVANNI LUIGI (about 1523- 1547), count of Lavagna, Genoese conspirator, was de scended from a great historical family which counted among its members Popes Innocent IV. and Adrian V. He was born about 1523, and by the death of his father he became at the age of twenty-three the head of his race and the possessor of considerable estates. He had allied him self by marriage with the ancient family of Cibo, his wife Eleanora, then about twenty years of age, being a woman of high spirit, great beauty, and remarkable attainments. To the advantages of youth and wealth Fiesco added those of a fine figure, a handsome countenance, and fascinating manners. He was ambitious of power and high place, and inherited from his ancestors a strong passion of jealousy and hatred against the Doria family, the head of which, Andrea Doria, was then doge of the republic, while his nephew, the young Gianettino Doria, was commander of the galleys. With personal and family hostility was com-