fifteenth century, was born at Worms. He followed the profession of barber at Nuremberg, and chiefly wrote carnival plays (Fastnachts-Spiele) and comic tales (Schwänke), which have been edited by A. Von Keller.—K. E.
* FONBLANQUE, Albany W., one of the most distinguished English journalists of the present century, son of John de Grenier M. Fonblanque, noticed below, was born in London in 1797. He was educated to follow his father's profession, becoming a distinguished pupil of Chitty, the eminent special pleader. This legal training had several important results. A practical knowledge of the law of England led Mr. Fonblanque to sympathize with Jeremy Bentham's efforts for law reform; and the introduction once made, he became deeply imbued with the Benthamite philosophy in general. With the study of law he combined that of literature. His familiarity with a certain class of our writers, of whom Swift and Fielding may be cited, is unrivalled. Mr. Fonblanque, moreover, was no mere student whether of law or literature. Fond of the sea, of yachting, and of English sports, he acquired a keen relish for the manly and robust in the national character, which made itself felt when he came to defend the amusements of the people. It was at the age of thirty that, having given proofs of his literary ability, he became proprietor and editor of the Examiner, succeeding in both capacities its founder, Leigh Hunt. The change was a fortunate one for the journal, and the times were, or were about to be, favourable to its new conductor. The reform era was approaching, and Mr. Fonblanque's caustic wit and racy allusiveness were better fitted than the elegant, but scarcely effective enough weapons of his predecessor, for the arena of polemical journalism. The Examiner in Mr. Fonblanque's hands became a power in the state. It was ultra-liberal without violence; fearless, without personality; and the wit and irony of our great humorists were enlisted to fight the battles of philosophical radicalism, which had never before been aided by such potent and popular allies. No greater praise can be bestowed on Mr. Fonblanque's journalism, than is implied in the fact that the selections from his articles in the Examiner, which he published in 1837, as "England under Seven Administrations," can still be read with the same pleasure which attaches to the perusal of the political pamphlets of Paul Louis Courier, to whom Mr. Fonblanque, indeed, has been sometimes compared. With the advent of Lord Melbourne to power, and the growing strength of the conservative party led by Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Fonblanque's ultra-liberalism was moderated in its tone. After a quarter of a century of prominent and successful labour as a liberal journalist, he received from the party which he had served so long and so faithfully an important post in the statistical department of the board of trade, of which he became the director on the death of the late Mr. Porter in 1852. With the commencement of his official career he ceased to conduct the Examiner, to the columns of which, however, he has since been a frequent contributor. At the board of trade Mr. Fonblanque has afforded another refutation of the fallacy that wit and literature necessarily disqualify for business. The returns of the board, both periodical and occasional, have never been so complete in their information, or so lucidly and satisfactorily arranged, as since their compilation was superintended by the ex-editor of the Examiner.—F. E.
FONBLANQUE, John de Grenier M., an eminent equity barrister and writer in that branch of law, was born in London in 1759. He was descended from an ancient family of Languedoc, and had a right, one of course which he did not exercise, to call himself a marquis. Called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1783, he was counsel at the bar of the house of commons for the merchants of London, in opposition to the Quebec bill in 1790, and in 1802-6 sat in the house for the borough of Camelford. His well-known edition of Ballow's Treatise of Equity was published in 1793-4; it was immediately admitted as an authority in the courts, and it passed through several editions. He was a friend of the prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.); indeed, he was so eminent a member of the liberal party that, in the early year of the present century, he was marked out to be the whig lord-chancellor. He died, January 4, 1837.—F. E.
FONCEMAGNE, Etienne Laureault de, born at Orleans in 1694; died at Paris in 1779. He was educated for the church, but ill health made him decline taking orders. From 1752 to 1758 he aided in superintending the education of the duc de Chartres. He edited the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes of the Academy of Inscriptions. He published some antiquarian dissertations, in one of which he insisted that females were not precluded from inheriting the crown of France by any principle of the salic law. The genuineness of the testament of Cardinal Richelieu had been impugned by Voltaire. Foncemagne published several letters on the subject, and is generally regarded as having refuted Voltaire.—J. A., D.
FONFREDE, Jean-Baptiste Boyer, a French politician, was born at Bordeaux in 1766, and died in 1793. On the outbreak of the Revolution Fonfrède returned to his native city from Holland, where he had sojourned for some time, and subsequently became one of the celebrated Girondins who played so prominent a part in the national convention. He possessed considerable influence in that assembly, of which he became president in 1793, and was remarked as a brilliant and impassioned speaker. Fonfrède shared the fortunes of his compatriots, and perished on that fatal 31st October, when the eloquence and patriotism of the Revolution were extinguished in blood.—R. M., A.
FONFREDE, Henri, a noted French journalist, was born at Bordeaux in 1788, and died in 1841. In his youth he studied some time for the bar, but subsequently engaged in commerce. In 1820, attracted to the career of a journalist, he established La Tribune, which was soon suppressed by the government. Ten years afterwards he began publishing L'Indicateur de Bordeaux, and from this period till his death was undoubtedly the leader of the provincial conservative press. A collected edition of his works was published in 1844, in ten vols. 8vo.—R. M., A.
FONK, Peter Anton, a merchant of Cologne, famous as the hero of one of the most remarkable causes celèbres ever tried before the judicial tribunals of Germany. Fonk, born in 1781, the son of a wealthy tradesman, entered in 1815 into partnership with a wine and spirit merchant at Crefeld, near Cologne. The two quarrelled soon after, and to settle their accounts, a young merchant named Cönen was sent to inspect Fonk's books. Cönen discovered, or pretended to discover, falsifications, which brought about a legal suit, in the course of which the young merchant suddenly disappeared. His body was discovered a month afterwards in the Rhine, with marks of violence on neck and breast, leaving no doubt of his having been murdered. Public rumour pointed out Fonk as having committed the foul deed, with the assistance of his cooper. The latter was then put in prison, and made a detailed confession of the murder, but retracted it soon after. Fonk, likewise arrested, vehemently denied his guilt. The case came thrice before the court of Treves. In the first two instances, Fonk escaped on a "Not Proven" of the judges; but the third time he was found guilty, and condemned to death. The king of Prussia, however, now interfered, granting a full pardon to Fonk, and even giving him a post under government. He died in 1832. For further details of this extraordinary case, see Hilzig, Der neue Pitaval.—F. M.
FONSECA, Antonia da, a Portuguese historian, born in 1517; died in 1559, or rather later. He was a doctor of the Sorbonne in 1542, but was recalled to become professor at Coimbra, where he continued till his death. As a preacher, he was distinguished for the simplicity which he substituted for the current style. He introduced, says Luiz de Souza, the literal sense of the scripture into this country. He was in fact a reformer in spirit if not in doctrine.—F. M. W.
FONSECA, Eleonora, Marchioness of, was born at Naples in 1768 of the noble family of Pimentel. Endowed with more than ordinary beauty, she neglected all the advantages of the softer sex, and gave herself entirely to the cultivation of her mind, devoting her time especially to the study of natural history, and even of anatomy. In 1784 this lady married the marquis of Fonseca, a Spaniard, long residing at Naples, and became one of the ladies of the bedchamber to Queen Caroline. Some observations imprudently escaping from her lips against the tyrannical rule of the Neapolitan Bourbons, brought on her the resentment of that princess, who exiled Eleonora from court. Her favourite studies fully compensated her for the loss of princely favour, and she was of no small assistance to the celebrated Spalanzani in his discoveries. The French revolution having broken out, and the French troops being on their way towards Naples in 1799, Eleonora was one of the first to plot against that court, and maintained a secret correspondence with the principal leaders of the Italian movement. To forward the Italian cause, she established a political newspaper, Il Monitore
