he ventured over to England in company with the venerable patriot, Baillie of Jerviswood, and was admitted to the councils of Lord William Russell, Sydney, and the other whig leaders. On the failure of their plans, and the discovery of the Ryehouse plot, Fletcher with difficulty escaped again to Holland, where he remained till the duke of Monmouth had completed his arrangements for a descent upon England. Though he augured ill of the enterprise from the first, his chivalrous spirit impelled him to share the danger of his friends. He accordingly joined the expedition, and was appointed to command the cavalry under Lord Grey. But shortly after they landed at Lyme in Dorsetshire he had the misfortune, in a quarrel about a horse, to kill Thomas Dare, one of the refugees, who had grossly insulted him; and overwhelmed with remorse and grief, he immediately abandoned the enterprise and fled to Spain, where he was thrown into prison. Having regained his liberty in a very remarkable way, he traversed the country in disguise, visiting the monasteries and examining their libraries, from which he procured a number of rare and curious books. He then proceeded to Hungary, where he joined the army as a volunteer, and distinguished himself by his valour and military skill in the war with the Turks. On receiving intelligence of the expedition which William of Orange was preparing for the deliverance of his native country, he immediately repaired to the Hague, and joined his old friends in this momentous enterprise. He was not a member of the convention, as his outlawry was still unreversed, but in 1690 his estates were restored by act of parliament. His intractable temper, however, as well as his hatred of monarchy, soon led him to oppose William as vehemently as he had resisted the Stewarts; and he became an active member of the notorious "club" which for some time thwarted the government in the most factious manner. He was to the last one of the most violent opponents of the union between Scotland and England, and when this measure was carried he retired altogether from public life, and died at London in 1716. Fletcher was a man of great abilities, and extensive and profound learning; brave, disinterested, and independent. He was an eloquent speaker, and a brilliant writer, and distinguished for his chivalrous courtesy as well as his integrity and his public spirit. But his temper was haughty, irritable, and impracticable; and his peculiar principles rendered it impossible for him to co-operate heartily either with the friends of monarchy or of democracy. His republicanism was formed upon the classical model; on the one hand he thought the common people unfit to wield political power, or even to enjoy personal freedom; and on the other he proposed twelve "limitations" on the royal authority, which would have reduced it to a mere shadow. His writings exhibit excellencies of a high order, and abound in sagacious remarks, expressed with great energy, and sometimes with remarkable felicity. His principal works are—"A Discourse of Government with relation to Militias," Edinburgh, 1698; "Two Discourses concerning the affairs of Scotland," ibid.; "Speeches by a Member of the Parliament of 1703;" "Discorso delle Cosse di Spagna," Napoli, 1698; "An Account of a Conversation respecting a right regulation of Governments," &c., Edinburgh, 1704. A collected edition of his works was published in 1737.—His nephew, Andrew, for many years a distinguished Scottish judge, under the title of Lord Milton, and virtual minister for Scotland, was born in 1692. He was admitted to the bar in 1717, was made one of the lords of session in 1724, lord justice-clerk in 1735, and keeper of the signet in 1748. The duke of Argyll, who was intrusted by Walpole with the management of Scottish affairs, placed the utmost reliance on Lord Milton's judgment and integrity. He rendered important services to the government during the critical period of the last jacobite rebellion, and after its suppression set himself with great zeal and energy to promote the manufactures, commerce, and agriculture of Scotland. He died in 1766, in his seventy-fourth year.—J. T.
FLETCHER, Dr. Giles, a diplomatist, a native of Kent, and brother of Fletcher, bishop of London, was born about the middle of the sixteenth century, and educated at Eton and Cambridge. He was employed by Elizabeth on various diplomatic missions in Scotland, Germany, and the Netherlands. In 1588 he was sent to Russia, where, after some time, he succeeded in negotiating a treaty with the Czar Ivanovitch, by which the English company in Muscovy was reinstated in its former privileges. Upon his return he wrote a book entitled "Of the Russe Commonwealth," which was suppressed at the time, lest it should give offence to the czar, but was afterwards included in Hakluyt's Voyages. He wrote also "Israel Redux," an essay, in which he endeavoured to prove that the Tartars near the Caspian were descended from the ten tribes. He was appointed in 1594 secretary to the city of London, master of the requests, and treasurer of St. Paul's church. He died in 1610.—T. A.
FLETCHER, Giles, the son of Dr. Giles Fletcher, and cousin of the great colleague of Beaumont, was born in 1588. He was educated at Eton, and thence removed to Trinity college, Cambridge. He entered the church, and in 1623 obtained the living of Alderton in Suffolk, in which year he died. Giles Fletcher was the author of a poem of great merit, "Christ's Victory in Heaven and Earth," rich, vigorous, and picturesque. Campbell observes that "inferior as he is to Spenser and Milton, he might be figured in his happiest moments as a link of connection in our poetry between those congenial spirits, for he reminds us of both, and evidently gave hints to the latter." Wood, in the Athenæ Oxonienses, says that Giles Fletcher was "equally beloved of the muses and the graces."—J. F. W.
FLETCHER, John. See Beaumont and Fletcher.
FLETCHER, John William, properly De la Flechere, a theologian, remarkable for his piety and devotedness in the christian ministry, was born at Nyon in Switzerland, September 12, 1729. His father, a younger son of a noble Savoyard family, educated him for the protestant church; but he preferred a military life, and sought service in Portugal and Belgium, but happily was disappointed, and came on a visit to England in 1750, when he acquired the English language, and entered into the English church in 1757. His only preferment was the vicarage of Madeley in Shropshire, which he received in 1760. He was the friend and coadjutor of the Rev. John Wesley, and took a part in the conferences of the methodist preachers of that day. He was an able defender of evangelical arminianism. The christian spirit displayed in his controversial treatises called forth the remark of Southey, that "if ever true christian charity was manifested in polemical writings, it was by Fletcher of Madeley," of whom he elsewhere observes, "Fletcher in any communion would have been a saint." Late in life he married Miss Bosanquet, a lady of decided opinions, and of fervent piety. He died in 1785. His works, in 10 vols. 8vo and in 12mo editions, have been repeatedly printed, and are held in high esteem by the Wesleyan methodists, though not recognized by them as standard authorities.—W. B. B.
FLETCHER, Phineas, brother of Giles, a distinguished poet and a divine, was born in 1584, and educated at Eton from which he passed to King's college, Cambridge. His course there was not without honour, and having entered holy orders he was presented in 1621 to the living of Hilgnay in Norfolk, where he continued until his decease in 1650. Fletcher was the author of several poetical pieces, but that which is preeminently remembered is the remarkable poem, "The Purple Island." It is an allegorical description of man both physically and intellectually, written in the Spenserian measure, full of bold delineation, rich imagery, and brilliant colouring. It is to be regretted that so much poetic power and grace of composition were expended on a subject manifestly unsuited for poetic treatment, and despite of its great merits, it is wearisome to read. Mr. Hallam justly observes—"He lavished on a bad subject the graces and ingenuity that would have made a fine poem on a good design."—J. F. W.
FLETCHER, Richard, successively bishop of Bristol, Worcester, and London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was a native of Kent, and completed his education in Trinity college, Cambridge, where he was admitted a scholar in 1563. In 1569 he removed to Corpus Christi college, in the same university, where he acted as tutor. In 1572 he was made prebendary of St. Paul's, and held the prebend of Islington in that church along with his fellowship at Corpus. In 1581 he took the degree of D.D., and became chaplain to the queen, who made him dean of Peterborough—along with which he held the prebend of Suttonranga in the cathedral of Lincoln, and the livings of Alder-Kirke and Barnack. His handsome figure and courtly manners made him a great favourite with the queen and her courtiers. He was distinguished as præsul splendidus, and was only too much addicted to court life. In 1586 he was the churchman selected by Elizabeth and her council to attend upon Mary Queen of Scots, "with his instructions and prayers," at
