Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/518

486 F O U F U them with the divinities of the old religions, they changed their form and direction by dedicating these objects to the Virgin and to saints, so making the force of the old belief an instrument for its own overthrow. Fountains were attached to the new religion by the erection of statues of the Virgin or of saints upon the possibly rude structures that collected the water and pre served its purity. There is some uniformity in the architectural characteristics of these structures during the Middle Ages. A very common form in rural districts was that in which the fountain was reached by descending steps (fontaine grotte). A large basin received the water, some times from a spout, but often from the spring itself. This basin was covered by a sort of porch or vault, with at times moulded arches and sculptured figures and escutcheons. On the bank of the Clain at Poitiers is a fountain of this kind, the Fontaine Joubert, which though restored in 1597 was originally a structure of the 14th century. This kind of fountain is frequently decorated with figures of the Virgin or of saints, or with the family arms of its founder; often, too, the water is the only ornament of the structure, which bears a simple inscription. A large number of these fountains are to be found in Brittany and indeed throughout France, and the great antiquity of some of them is proved by the superstitions regarding them which still exist amongst the peasantry. A form more common in populous districts was that of a large open basin, round, square, polygonal, or lobed in form, with a columnar structure at the centre, from the lower part of which it was arranged that spouts should issue, playing into an open basin, and supplying vessels brought for the purpose in the cleanest and quickest manner. The columns take very various forms, from that of a simple regular geometrical solid, with only grotesque masks at the spouts, to that of an elaborate and ornate Gothic structure, with figures of virgins, saints, and warriors, with mouldings, arches, crockets, and finials. At Provins there is a fountain said to be of the 12th century, which is in form an hexagonal vase with a large column in the centre, the capital of which is pierced by three mouths, which are furnished with heads of bronze projecting far enough to cast the water into the basin. In the public market-place at Brunswick is a fountain of the 15th century, of which the central structure is made of bronze. Many fountains are still existing in France and Germany which, though their actual present structure may date no earlier than the 15th or 16th century, have been found on the place of, and perhaps may almost be considered as restorations of, pre-existing fountains. Except in Italy few fountains are of earlier date than the 14th century. Two of that date are at the abbey of Fontaine Daniel, near Mayenne, and another, of granihe, is at Limoges. Some of these Middle Age fountains are simple, open, reservoirs inclosed in structures which, however plain, still carry the charm that belongs to the stone-work of those times. There is one of this kind at Cully, Calvados, walled on three sides, and fed from the spring by two circular openings. Its only ornamentation is a small empty niche with mouldings. At Lincoln is a fountain of the time of Henry VIII., in front of the church of St Mary Wickford. At Durham is one of octangular plan, which bears a statue of Neptune. The decay of architectural taste in the later centuries is shown by the fountain of Limoges. It is in form a rock representing Mount Parnassus, upon which are carved in relief Apollo, the horse Pegasus, Philosophy, and the Nine Muses. At the top Apollo, in 16th century costume, plays a harp. Rocks, grass, and sheep fill up the scene. About the earliest drawing of any drinking fountain in England occurs in Moxon s Tutor to Astronomic and Geographic (1659); it IB "surmounted by a diall, which was made by Mr John Leak, and set upon a composite column at Leadenhall corner, in the mayoralty of Sir John Dethick, Knight." The water springs from the top and base of the column, which stands upon a square pedestal and bears four female figures, one at least of which repre sents the costume of the period. This fountain is referred to and a copy of the engraving given in Chambers s Hook of Days. The public drinking fountains in towns and villages are now^very common and quite secular objects. In the East they are a very important institution. In Cairo alone there are 300. These " sebeels " are not only to be seen in the cities, but are plentiful in the fields and villages., and the great number of them endowed for the gratuitous supply of water to the passengers is referred to by Lane as proving the possession by the Egyptians of a benevolent and charitable character. Purely ornamental fountains and jets d eau are found in or near many large cities, royal palaces, and private seats. The Fontana di Trevi, at Rome, is very large and very celebrated, but from an artistic point of view about as bad work as could possibly be conceived. It was erected early in the last century under Pope Clement XII., and has all the characteristics of decadence. La Fontana Paolina and those in the piazza of St Peter s are perhaps next in celebrity to that of Trevi, and are certainly in better taste. At Paris, the Fontaine des Innocens (the earliest) and those of the Place Royal, of the Champs Elyse es, and of the Place de la Concorde are the most noticeable. The fountain of the lions and other fountains in the Alhambra Palace are, with their surroundings, a very magnificent sight. The largest jets d eau are those at Versailles, at the Syclenham Crystal Palace, and at San Ildefonso. With the excep tion of the last, these are supplied from artificial elevated reservoirs. For information regarding the geological conditions which cause natural springs and aid in the formation of artificial ones, see ARTESIAN WELLS. (w. HE.) FOUNTAINS ABBEY. See ABBEY, vol. i. p. 18. FOUQUE, FRIEDRICH HEINRICH KARL, BARON DE LA MOTTE (1777-1843), oneof the most industrious and popular of German authors in the early part of this century, was born February 12, 1777, at Brandenburg on the Havel. The family of De la Motte Fouqu6 was, as the name suggests, of French extraction, but had been driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes; and Fouqu^ s grandfather, having entered the Prussian army, rose to the rank of general, and became the friend of Frederick the Great. Fouqu6 s father, at one time an officer of dragoons, lived, at the date of the boy s birth, in retirement at Brandenburg ; and his mother, who died in 1788, was a daughter of the Hofmarschall von Schlegell of Dessau. The little Friedrich, godson and namesake of the great king, was brought up in the neighbourhood of Potsdam, first at his father s estate Sacro, and afterwards at Lentzke, a property to which they removed when he was nine years old. An only child, he was educated at home by a succession of tutors, one of whom, the author August Hiilse, did much to encourage the boy s literary tastes. The somewhat monotonous home life, also, was relieved by holidays spent with relations in a romantic old castle near Halle, and by brilliant visits to Potsdam, whence he came with his little head turned by glimpses of the revered king, by blasts of military music and the tramp of soldiers. When the French Revolution broke out, the young Fouque" eagerly espoused the cause of the royal family. He became discontented with the prospect of studying law at the university of Halle, and in 1794 entered the army as tiber- completer Cornet in the grand-duke of Weimar s cuirassier regiment, then in the field. At the age of nineteen he served in the unfortunate campaign of the Rhine; and