institutions. His death occurred in September, 1780. He is the author of several works, namely—"A Plan for preventing Robberies within twenty miles of London, with an Account of the Rise and Establishment of the real Thief-takers," 1755, 8vo; "An Account of the Origin and Effects of a Police established by the Duke of Newcastle," 1758, 8vo; "A Plan of an Asylum for Orphan and other Deserted Girls," 1758, 8vo; "Extracts from such of the Penal Codes, as relate to the Peace and Good-will of this Metropolis," 1768, 8vo; "The Universal Mentor," being a collection of moral sentiments and examples, and of miscellaneous essays from the best writers, 1762, 12mo; "A Charge to the Grand Jury," 1763, 4to; "A Description of the Cities of London and Westminster," 1776, 12mo.—W. A. B.
FIELDING, Sarah, third sister of Henry Fielding the novelist. She was born in 1714. She had the reputation of possessing a cultivated mind. Among the literary ladies of her age she held a good standing. In 1732 she published a novel, in two volumes, 12mo, entitled "The Adventures of David Simple," containing an account of his travels through London and Westminster in search of a faithful friend. A third volume of this book appeared in the following year. She is also the author of "The Cry," a new dramatic fable, 1754, 12mo; "Xenophon's Memoirs of Socrates, with the Defence of Socrates before his judges, being a translation from the Greek," 1762, 8vo; "Familiar Letters among the Characters in David Simple;" "The Governess, or Little Female Academy;" "The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia;" "The History of the Countess of Delwyn;" and "The History of Ophelia." She died unmarried at Bath in April, 1768.—W. A. B.
FIENNES appears in French history as the name of an old baronial family, which belonged to Guines, and dated its nobility from Eustace, first baron, in the tenth century:—
Robert de Fiennes, Baron de Fiennes and de Tingry, inherited the lordship towards the middle of the fourteenth century, and was created constable of France in 1356 after the disastrous battle of Poictiers, in which his predecessor De Brienne had fallen. In that office he maintained the cause of John II. against Navarre, was sent ambassador to England in 1360, and latterly held the governorship of Languedoc.
Maximilien François de Fiennes, Count de Lumbres, fought at Fleurus and took a prominent part in the struggles which preceded the peace of Ryswick in 1697. In the beginning of the following century, he served against the Dutch, distinguished himself in Spain and Portugal under the duke of Berwick, and succeeded the duke de Noailles in the command of the army of Roussillon. His death occurred a few years after the treaty of Utrecht.
Jean Baptiste de Fiennes, born in 1669, became an eminent oriental scholar, and was attached to the consulate of Alexandria as chief interpreter. He subsequently tilled the same office at Cairo, and after his return was appointed professor of Arabic in the college of France. In 1718 he assisted in renewing the commercial treaties with the Barbary states. He composed a grammar and a vocabulary of the Turkish language, and translated two oriental works, a History of Egypt, and an account of the taking of Canisa by the Turks.
Jean Baptiste Helin de Fiennes, son of the preceding, born in 1710, was sent into the East at the national expense to study the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish languages. He taught these languages after his return in the college Louis-le-Grand; and in 1742 he was sent to negotiate a treaty with the bey of Tunis. Having been appointed professor of Arabic, he again visited Barbary to demand the suppression of piracy at Tripoli. A translation of a Turkish history of the discovery of America was executed by him. He died in 1767.—W. B.
FIENNES, Nathaniel, second son of William Fiennes, noticed below, was born at Broughton in Oxfordshire in the year 1608. He was at Winchester school, and afterwards, being of founder's kin, became fellow of New college, Oxford, where he resided five years. Leaving the university, he entered at the inns of court, and studied law, and probably also, according to Wood, spent some time in foreign travel. Drawn back to England, like Milton, by the universal ferment which preceded the meeting of parliament in 1640, he was elected, probably through family interest and connection, to sit in the house of commons for Banbury. Like his father, he was at this time a rigid presbyterian and deeply engaged in the puritan scheme for abolishing episcopacy. When the civil war broke out, Fiennes received a commission as colonel of a regiment of horse under the earl of Essex, the lord general of the parliamentary forces. Bristol having been secured for the parliament, he was appointed governor of that city, and made proof of his godly zeal by turning surplices, organs, and choristers out of the churches, and sending the episcopalian clergymen about their business. But when Rupert appeared before the city, Fiennes capitulated with such celerity, that he was tried by a court martial at St. Alban's, and sentenced to death for cowardice; and it was only through the intercession of his father and friends that his life was spared. He was trusted no more in military matters, but rendered good service to the cause as an active member of parliament. He was among the presbyterian members of whom Colonel Pride "purged" the house of commons in 1648. Fiennes, who was not wanting in tact, perceived the error into which he had fallen by sticking too closely to presbyterianism: he now became an independent, and diligently worshipped the rising sun of Cromwell. He was a member of nearly all Oliver's parliaments; was speaker of the Protector's upper house as Lord Fiennes; held the office of lord-keeper of the great seal in conjunction with Major Lisle, and zealously promoted the scheme of the kingship. After the Restoration he was allowed to retire to his seat at Newtown Tony in Wiltshire, where he died on the 16th December, 1669. Several speeches and tracts of his writing are preserved.—(Wood's Athenæ.)—T. A.
FIENNES, William, an English statesman, who took a prominent part in public affairs during the great civil war, was born in 1582. He was the son of Sir Richard Fiennes, the head of an old English family, and the first Lord Saye and Sele under a new patent granted by James I. William Fiennes was educated at Winchester, and at New college, Oxford, of which he became a fellow. On completing his education he went abroad, and served with great distinction in the war of the Palatinate. He succeeded to his father's title and estates in 1613, and in 1624 was raised to the dignity of viscount by James. Lord Saye, however, was a strenuous defender of the constitutional rights and liberties of the country, and united with Pym, Hampden, and other chiefs of the popular party, in resisting the arbitrary measures of Charles I. When the king, on the impeachment of Strafford, resolved to try the effect of conciliation, Lord Saye was made master of the court of wards, in the room of Lord Cottington, who, along with several other placemen, abandoned his post through fear of the parliament. Lord Saye, however, remained true to his principles, and when Charles quitted Whitehall on the eve of hostilities with the parliament, and ordered (February, 1642) the officers of his court to repair to him at Oxford, his lordship at once refused, and was in consequence declared a traitor by the irritated monarch. His office of master of the court of wards was abolished in 1646 by the parliament, who, however, granted him £10,000, and a part of the marquis of Worcester's estate, as a compensation for the loss of his place. He continued faithful to the parliament throughout the whole of the civil war, and on the total overthrow of the royal party, was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with the king at Newport in the Isle of Wight. After the death of Charles he abandoned the presbyterian party with whom he had hitherto acted, and joined the independents. He accepted from Cromwell a seat in his remodelled house of lords; but, if Echard may be believed, when the Protector expelled the Rump parliament and virtually assumed despotic authority, Lord Saye retired with indignation to the almost inaccessible Isle of Lundy, on the coast of Devon, and remained there in strict retirement until the death of Cromwell. At the Restoration, Lord Saye was appointed lord privy seal and lord chamberlain by Charles II., whose avowed maxim it was to "caress his foes and trust his friends." Anthony Wood, who no doubt expressed the sentiments of the old cavaliers, complains bitterly of the favour thus shown to one who "had been a grand rebel for twenty years, while others who had been reduced to a bit of bread for his majesty's cause were left to pine and languish under insult and disappointment." Lord Saye died 14th April, 1662. Whitlock says "he was a man of great parts, wisdom, and integrity." Clarendon, who admits the truth of this commendation, affirms that he was "ambitious, the enemy of the church, and a violent and dangerous leader of the discontented party." Lord Saye was the author of "The Design Discovered," and of several pamphlets against the quakers.—J. T.
