others, to treat with the marquis of Ormonde for the cessation of arms. In the ensuing month Scarampa arrived from the pope with supplies of money and ammunition; but Dr. Fleming rejected both, and, with two other bishops, signed a letter to the lords justices ratifying the articles of cessation. In July, 1644, he was present at the general assembly at Kilkenny, where an oath was agreed upon whereby every confederate swore to bear true faith and allegiance to the king and his heirs. In 1649 we find Dr. Fleming residing in his own diocese; but he was not long permitted to enjoy an interval of repose from his political labours. Charles, on the Restoration, pronounced the peace with the confederates to be null and void. This step the marquis of Ormonde advised; and Archbishop Fleming fulminated against him those ecclesiastical terrors which were then so frequent, and signed his excommunication. The persecutions which followed are well known. In the midst of them Archbishop Fleming sank into the grave in 1666.—W. J. F.
FLEMMING, a Swedish family, whose ancestor went from Flanders to Sweden towards the close of the fourteenth century, since which time they may be traced down from generation to generation, as generals, admirals, or statesmen. One of the earliest Flemmings was Erik Joachims-son, who in 1522, having escaped the massacre of the tyrant Christiern II., united himself to Gustavus Vasa, whom he served faithfully in various high capacities. He died in 1548. The last Fleming was Clas Johans-son, born in 1771 in Upland. He was trained from his earliest youth for the military service, which however he abandoned, before having attained manhood, for general study at Upsala. At twenty-four he was called to court, and appointed first Kammerjunker, and in 1796 accompanied Gustavus IV. Adolf, on his wooing visit to Petersburg. He was speaker of the diet of 1809, and the following year was made landmarshal, and at the close of the diet statsraad, which post he quitted in 1824 for others. He also received the title of count, and was a member of most of the scientific and learned societies of Sweden. He was especially a promoter of the society for the publication of documents relative to Scandinavian history, and possessed a valuable library, extremely rich in all that pertained to Swedish history, which he bequeathed to the university of Upsala. He died unmarried, 12th May, 1831.—M. H.
FLEMMING, Paul, a distinguished German poet, was born at Hartenstein in Saxony, October 15, 1609. Soon after having completed the study of medicine at the university of Leipsic, he joined the celebrated expeditions which were sent by the duke of Holstein-Gottorp to Moscow in 1634; and to Persia in 1635-1639. After his return he took his degree at Leyden; and just when he was about to settle as a physician at Hamburg, he died, April 2, 1640. His "Geistliche und Weltliche Poemata" are the effusions of a mind as truly pious and virtuous as it was patriotic and lofty. Flemming takes rank with the most distinguished lyric poets of Germany, and some of his sacred songs are sung to this day. He even excelled Martin Opitz, the greatest German poet of his time, by the vigour and euphony of his language, and the reach and fervour of his imagination.—A critical edition of his works is expected from Lappenberg.—(Life by Schmitt, Marburg, 1851; and Varnhagen von Ense.)—K. E.
FLEMMING or FLEMMYNGE, Richard, the founder of Lincoln college, Oxford, was born at Crofton in the county of York. He received his education at University college, Oxford, and in 1407 was appointed proctor of the university. In 1406 he was presented to the prebendal stall of South Newbold in York cathedral. In his early days he was an ardent disciple of Wycliffe, but soon recanted the opinions of the reformer, and espoused the cause of the popedom. In 1415 he was appointed prebendary of Langford, in the metropolitan church of York, and in 1420 bishop of Lincoln. When the council of Siena was summoned to carry out the policy of persecution inaugurated by that of Constance, Bishop Flemming was deputed to it in 1424, and there figured so conspicuously that Pope Martin V. would have made him archbishop of York, if the dean and chapter, with the government of the time, had not in the strongest manner opposed the project. In 1428 he carried into effect the brutal decree of the council of Constance, which ordered that the bones of Wycliffe should be disinterred and burnt to ashes. Fuller informs us that they were cast into the river Swift, which carried them to the Severn, and that the Severn bore them to the sea; a symbol of the wide diffusion of the reformer's opinions. Flemming died in 1431, and was buried in his cathedral. It is remarkable that the endowments which he gave to the university have contributed to educate more than one celebrated opponent of the opinions he so vehemently espoused; among them it is sufficient to name John Wesley, who was some time fellow of Lincoln college.—T. J.
FLEMMING or FLEMMYNGE, Robert, nephew of the preceding, was educated in the university of Oxford, most likely in the college which his uncle had just founded. In 1451 he was made dean of Lincoln. Shortly afterwards he visited Padua, Ferrara, and other universities of Italy, then the resort of all the learned men of Europe. On his arrival at Rome he was appointed prothonotary to Pope Sixtus IV. He is said to have written a Greek-Latin dictionary, Latin poems, and a volume of letters to various eminent personages. In 1467 he was made prebendary of Leighton Manor in Lincoln cathedral. In 1478 he exchanged this stall for the more lucrative one of Leighton Buzzard. He died in 1483.—T. J.
FLESSELLES, Jacques de, a French magistrate, was born in 1721, and died in 1789. The last prevôt des marchands (chief magistrate) of the city of Paris, he was one of the first victims of the Revolution. Flesselles was of a mild and irresolute character, and being at once a friend of the court and man of the people, at length found himself in a very unenviable position. He tried to reconcile the two parties, temporized, was perhaps guilty of deception, and succeeded only in exasperating the populace. He did not perceive the unconscious earnestness and frenzy of the time. After the taking of the bastile the rage of the people against him became unbounded. He was shot by a young man when on his way to the palais-royal to give explanations respecting his conduct.—R. M., A.
FLETCHER, Abraham, a teacher of mathematics in the last century, deserves honourable mention among those whose energy and perseverance have raised them to learning and influence in spite of great disadvantages and discouragements. He was born in 1714 at Little Broughton in Cumberland, where he was bred to the trade of his father, a tobacco-pipe maker. Having received only the simplest elements of a village education, he set himself to acquire knowledge by devoting to solitary study in a small, unfurnished loft of his humble residence, the evening hours that followed his daily labour. Having in this way obtained an acquaintance with arithmetic, he proceeded to the various branches of mathematical science; and such was the success which attended his unremitting application, that at the age of thirty he was enabled to exchange his handicraft for the profession of a schoolmaster. In 1762 he gave to the world a work entitled "The Universal Measurer," which might have added to the fame of one who had studied the subject under the greatest advantages; and he died in 1793, possessing a fortune of £4000.—W. B.
FLETCHER, Alexander, D.D., of Finsbury chapel, London, was born at Doune in Perthshire, Scotland, where his father was a dissenting minister, about the year 1788. He was educated at Glasgow university, and, after being for a short time colleague to his father, he was transferred to the charge of the Secession congregation of Miles' Lane, London, whence he removed to Albion chapel, Moorfields, and subsequently to Finsbury circus. He was, during a long and somewhat chequered ministerial life, a very popular preacher, and in addressing the young on religious subjects his success was unrivalled. Dr. Fletcher published several works on practical religion which—particularly his "Manual of Family Devotion"—have had a very wide circulation. He died 30th September, 1860.—J. B. J.
FLETCHER, Andrew, of Saltoun, a celebrated Scottish statesman and writer, was born in 1653, and was the son of Sir Robert Fletcher of East Lothian, and Catherine, daughter of Sir Henry Bruce of Clackmannan, the head of a branch of the famous family of De Bruce. Having lost his father at an early age, Fletcher was educated by Bishop Burnet, who was at this time parish minister of his native place. After completing his education he visited the continent, and spent several years in studying the manners and the institutions of the principal European states. On his return home he was chosen to represent his native county in the parliament held by the duke of York in 1681, and soon rendered himself conspicuous by his resolute opposition to the arbitrary measures of the court. He was in consequence compelled to take refuge in Holland, and having failed to obey a summons to appear before the council, he was outlawed and his estate confiscated. In 1683
