published at Erfurt in 1806. Among his researches may be mentioned—on the method of detecting arsenic; on the reduction of metals in the wet way; on the relation of chemical affinity to galvanic electricity; on arsenic, tin, the chemical action of light, the observation of a case of endosmose; on various methods of reducing metals, &c.—C. E. L.
FISCHER VON ERLACH, Johann Bernhard, architect—born at Prague or Vienna in 1650; died in 1724—studied at Rome under Bernini, and was court architect to Joseph I. and Charles VI. Nearly all the more important public buildings erected in Vienna in his time were designed by him; the earliest being the palace of Schönbrunn, commenced in 1696, the latest the church of St. Karl Borromeus, which was completed in 1737 under the superintendence of his son, Joseph Emanuel—born in 1680; died about 1740—who succeeded him as court architect, and was created a baron by Charles VI. Nearly all the buildings erected by both are in the style of Bernini.—J. T—e.
FISH, Simon, was born in Kent about the end of the fifteenth century. He was educated at Oxford, and entered as a student at Gray's inn, but his studies were interrupted by a curious incident, which obliged him to leave England and seek refuge on the continent. A play had been written by a man named Roe, which was so plain and severe in its strictures on Cardinal Wolsey, that no professional actor would undertake that part in which the minister was most directly assailed; whereupon Fish volunteered his services, and by his intemperate zeal provoked against himself such a storm of indignation, that to escape punishment he went to Germany. It is said by some writers that he there connected himself with Tyndale, and assisted him in the great work in which the illustrious reformer was then occupied—the preparation of his version of the sacred scriptures. In 1527 a satire was written by Fish on the Romish clergy, entitled "The Supplication of Beggars." A copy of this book was sent to Anne Boleyn, and in this way came into the hands of Henry VIII., who, after the rupture with Rome and the downfall of Wolsey, recalled Fish and rewarded him. He died in 1531.—J. B. J.
FISHACRE or FIZACRE, Richard, a Dominican monk of the thirteenth century, was born in Devonshire, and received his education at Oxford. His laborious application to study, and the numerous works which he composed, won for him the reputation of one of the most learned men of that age. He was the intimate friend of Robert Bacon, who acquired so much influence as a preacher at the court of Henry III. Both died in the course of the same year, 1248; and their remains sleep together in the burying-ground of the Dominicans at Oxford.—W. B.
FISHER, Edward, was born in Gloucestershire at the close of the sixteenth or commencement of the seventeenth century. He was educated at Brazennose college, Oxford, where he became celebrated for his profound knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek languages, of patristic theology, and ecclesiastical history. Anthony à Wood, in the Athenæ, calls him "Edward Fisher, Esquire," from which we may presume that he never entered into holy orders. Being very poor, he was compelled to keep a school in Wales. He afterwards lived in Ireland, where he died. The place and date of his death are uncertain. He wrote a book, entitled an "Appeal to thy Conscience," published at Oxford in 1644, 4to; "A Christian Caveat to the Old and New Sabbatarians, or a vindication of our old Gospel Festival," &c., London, 1650, 4to; and "An Answer to Sixteen Queries, touching the rise and observation of Christmas, propounded by Mr. John Flemming of Uttoxeter in Staffordshire," printed with the "Christian Caveat" in 1655. This was answered by John Collins, minister of St. Stephen's church in the city of Norwich, in a book entitled a Caveat for Old and New Profaneness, &c.; London, 1653, 4to. His principal work is the "Marrow of Modern Divinity," 1646, 8vo, which, having been reprinted in Scotland in 1720, by the Rev. James Hogg, occasioned much controversy, in which the Erskines, who founded the Secession Kirk, took an active part.—T. J.
FISHER, John, Bishop of Rochester, was born at Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1459. His first education was in the collegiate church of Beverley, and in 1484 he entered Michael house, Cambridge, where he graduated and obtained a fellowship. He was one of the proctors of the university in 1495, and the same year he became master of Michael house, and entered into holy orders. Soon after he became vice-chancellor, and chaplain and confessor to Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII. In 1501 he took the degree of D.D., and was made chancellor of the university, and the year following he became Lady Margaret's first professor of divinity in Cambridge. It was through his influence that the Lady Margaret's academic benefactions were made—the foundation of Christ's church and St. John's. He was consecrated bishop of Rochester in 1504, and subsequently declined translations to richer bishoprics. The affairs of the university occupied his time, which was heartily devoted to educational reforms and projects. But the times were critical, and great questions as well as minor points of casuistry were pressing for solution. The doctrines of Luther were making themselves known, and Fisher gallantly and at once rushed to the defence of his church. It is rumoured that he wrote, or had a considerable hand in writing, the book, Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, &c., for which Henry VIII. was honoured with the title of Defender of the Faith. At all events he published a defence of the same treatise—"Defensio Assertionis Henrici Octavi," &c. But this defence of the royal treatise was not the act of an obsequious and self-seeking courtier. Fisher was thoroughly conscientious, and ultimately lost his life in refusing to bow to what he reckoned the sinful decision of the king. For in 1527 he was the only bishop who refused his assent to the declaration that the marriage of Henry VIII. with Catherine of Arragon was unlawful. In 1529 he acted as one of the queen's counsel before the papal legates Wolsey and Campeggio; and in 1534 he again stood alone on the great question of the supremacy—opposing of course the pretensions of the monarch. At that period the impostures of Elizabeth Barton, the "maid of Kent," had been detected. Fisher had seemingly connived at her treasonable speeches bearing on the king's death and other dangerous topics, and parliament, therefore, found him guilty of misprision of treason, and condemned him to the forfeiture of his property and imprisonment during the royal pleasure. The penalty seems to have been commuted on payment of a fine of £300. Steadily refusing to take the oath of allegiance after Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn, he was attainted by the parliament of 1534, and sent to the Tower, in which he was subjected to shameful cruelties. His death was hastened by the kindness of the pope, who, to chafe the king and reward a gallant champion, offered him a cardinal's hat. On hearing of the contemplated honour, the ferocious tyrant cried out—"The pope may send him a hat, but, Mother of God, he shall wear it on his shoulders, for I will leave him never a head to set it on." Rich, the solicitor-general, was basely employed to visit him, entice him into conversation, and draw from him an explicit denial of the king's supremacy. The old man being too honest or too unwary, the scheme succeeded; a special commission was appointed, and on evidence gained in that infamous way, Fisher was convicted of treason, and was beheaded on Tower hill on the 22d June, 1535, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His head was exposed on a spear near London bridge, and his naked body was for a while a show to the populace. His papers were seized and burned. Bishop Fisher, himself a learned man, was a warm patron of literature, and a zealous, consistent, and courageous churchman. Firm in his belief, he disdained all weak compromise; and while others were temporizing and adulating the capricious king, his head fell on the scaffold for his inflexible adherence to his conscientious convictions. His writings are chiefly directed against Luther, and in defence of the Roman catholic theory of the sacraments. His works, collected into one folio volume, were printed on the continent in 1595.—J. E.
FISHER, John, whose real name was Piercy, was born in Yorkshire, and educated in the English college at Rome, whence he went to Louvain, and became a jesuit in 1594. He was sent on a mission to England, and too zealously attempting to make proselytes, was imprisoned and subsequently banished from the country. He was then made professor of divinity at Louvain, and vice-provincial of the English jesuits. Fisher afterwards returned to England and made a somewhat conspicuous figure in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. by disputing with the English divines. His most famous controversy was with Dr. Francis White, dean of Carlisle, and afterwards bishop of Norwich, which was held in the presence of the king in 1622. He had conferences also with Laud, Featley, and others. Fisher, who was alive at the breaking out of the civil war, was the author of several controversial works, the most valuable of which are "A Treatise of Faith," London, 1600, and "A Challenge to Protestants," London, 1612.—J. B. J.
