States, and the jealousy of Mr. Forrest led to a serious riot, and to much effusion of human blood. A mob attacked the Astor opera-house; Mr. Macready barely escaped with his life; the troops were called out; and, when at last they were compelled to fire, twenty-two men fell dead, and thirty others were wounded. Mr. Forrest, who has amassed considerable wealth, generally resides at Philadelphia. His acting is said to have been very much overrated.—W. J. P.
FORREST, Thomas, an English officer, holding; the rank of captain in the East India Company's navy, acquired reputation by his services in the eastern seas. In 1770 the East India Company had decided on forming a settlement on the island of Balambangan, situated a few miles off the north-eastern extremity of Borneo, with a view to the cultivation of the nutmeg and other spices. Forrest, whose abilities were already conspicuous, accompanied the expedition sent from England for the purpose. In 1774 he sailed from Balambangan in a little vessel of ten tons (the crew consisting chiefly of Malays), on an exploring voyage to New Guinea, and reached the harbour of Dory, on the northern coast of that extensive region. Meanwhile the settlement at Balambangan was destroyed by the Sooloo islanders. After visiting in succession Borneo, Sumatra, and Calcutta, Forrest returned to England in 1776. He was afterwards employed by the East India Company in surveying the Mergui Archipelago and the adjacent coasts on the east side of the bay of Bengal, in which service he was engaged from the year 1789 to his death in 1801. Among several works descriptive of his labours, which proceeded from his pen, is a treatise on the monsoons, published at London in 1783.—W. H.
FORRESTER, Charles Robert, a comic writer, many of whose contributions to literature are identified with the well-known pseudonym of Alfred Crowquill, was born in 1802, the son of a notary public, practising in the royal exchange of the metropolis. He followed his father's profession, and appears to have been always in easy circumstances. His leisure time from an early age was, however, devoted to authorship, which he pursued, as a successful amateur, from an ardent love of literature, especially its lighter departments. In this tendency he was strengthened by the development of a strong and peculiar artistic talent in his younger brother, Alfred, whose sketches found in Charles a successful literary illustrator. In the performances—partly literary, partly pictorial—to which the name of Alfred Crowquill is attached, the letterpress was for several years the production of Charles Forrester mainly. The most substantial memorial of this fraternal connection is the "Phantasmagoria of Fun," published in 1843, and consisting of sketches originally published in Bentley's Miscellany, and illustrated by the younger Forrester. Mr. Forrester was also a contributor to the old and new Monthly Magazines, and the author of various detached works of fiction. Six years before his death, which occurred 15th January, 1850, the pleasant partnership was dissolved, and the productions, whether of pen or pencil, published as Alfred Crowquill's, were thenceforth the work of the younger brother solely. Mr. Forrester was a good linguist, and seems to have been liked and esteemed in private for the wit and vivacity of his conversation, and the amiability of his disposition.—F. E.
FORSELL, Carl, a Swedish officer and statist, born at Sköttorp in Vestergöthland, 18th March, 1783. At the age of ten he entered the military academy at Carlberg as free-cadet, and in 1800 was appointed ensign by the admiralty. The following year, amongst other service, he was employed on the measurement of the Skjärgaard, besides which he assisted Admiral Klint in the preparation of his naval atlas. He was occupied entirely on the preparation of charts till 1808, when he was ordered, under Count Platen, to make the necessary observations relative to the opening a canal between the Wenerlake and the Baltic sea, the result of which was an atlas, prepared with the assistance of his younger brother Jakob, published in 2 vols., 1810, and which was the basis on which the consent of government was obtained for the project of the Gotha canal. From 1809 to 1814 Forsell served actively in the army. He was present in fourteen campaigns in Germany, Denmark, and Norway; he was in the battles of Gross-Beeren, Dennewitz, and Leipsic. On the conclusion of peace, by order of Carl Johan he prepared a general atlas for the southern parts of Scandinavia, which was completed in 1818, and published in nine parts in 1825 He was raised to the rank of the nobility in 1817, and in 1824 was appointed colonel and director of the office of general registration. Forsell, who was a sincere patriot, laboured for every project which could benefit his country, and he himself was the originator of several; for instance, the savings bank of Stockholm, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In 1835 he gave an impetus to the establishment of refuge-schools, after having paid a visit to England, an account of which he published as "Anteckningar" (Notes), 1835. He is, however, most known by his statistical works, the most important of which are—"Statistiska Tabellar," 1827-30, appended to the Scandinavian Atlas; "Statistik öfver Sverige," 1831; 4th edition, 1844-45; "Socken Statistik öfver Sverige," 1834; and "Anteckningar och Statistiska upplysningar öfver Sverige," 1839. Forsell died 25th October, 1848.—M. H.
FORSKAL, Peter, a Swedish naturalist, born in 1736; died in 1763; was a native of Kalmar in Sweden, but was educated at the university of Göttingen. While a young man he published a political tract, which brought upon him the displeasure of his government. He, however, had the wisdom to abandon politics, and betake himself to the study of natural history, in which he was qualified to excel. In his new pursuit, aided by Linnæus, he made great progress, and was soon after appointed professor of natural history in Copenhagen. Shortly after his appointment Frederick V. of Denmark sent him on a scientific expedition to the east, more especially to Egypt and Arabia. During the journey Forskal displayed that activity and zeal so characteristic of naturalists. His collections of specimens were immense, and nothing escaped his notice. After spending some time in Egypt, the expedition visited Arabia, where, after encountering many dangers, Forskal died of the plague. During the eighteen months which the expedition lasted, Forskal collected no fewer than two thousand species of plants. His numerous discoveries were afterwards published by his friend Niebuhr, the only member of the expedition who survived its perils.—J. S.
FORSTER, Edward, an eminent British botanist, was born at Walthamstow in Essex, 12th October, 1765, and died at Ivy House, Woodford, on 21st February, 1849. He passed his early days in the neighbourhood of Epping Forest, and from the age of fifteen he became attached to the study of English botany which he ardently cultivated during a long and active life. He was a partner in the banking-house of Lubbock, Forster, & Co., in London. He became a fellow of the Linnæan Society in 1800, and vice-president in 1828. He was a person of very active and temperate habits, and of a kind disposition. In his garden near London he cultivated many rare British species of plants. His death took place in his eighty-fourth year, from an attack of cholera. He possessed a very complete and well-arranged herbarium of British plants, and he wrote papers on British botany, which are published in the Transactions of the Linnæan Society, and in the Phytologist. The British rush, Luzula Forsteri, is named after him.—J. H. B.
* FÖRSTER, Ernst Joachim, a distinguished German artist and writer on art, was born at Münchengosserstedt on the Saale, April 8, 1800. From the study of theology and philology he turned to painting, and, under the guidance of Cornelius, took an active part in the execution of the Munich frescos. He then travelled in Italy, where he discovered the celebrated frescos of Avanzo in the chapel of St. George at Padua. His handbooks of Italy, Germany, and Munich, are justly held in great esteem; his "Letters on Painting," "History of German Art," and his "Life of Joh. Geo. Müller," are no less meritorious works. He wrote a life and edited the correspondence and literary remains of his father-in-law, Jean Paul.—K. E.
* FORSTER, François, an eminent line-engraver, was born August 22, 1790, at Locle in Neuchâtel, then a province in Prussia. At the age of fifteen he went to Paris, where he became a pupil of Langlois; and at the same time he entered as a student the ecole des beaux arts, where, in successive terms, he carried off the second and the first medals. The king of Prussia gave him a gold medal and a pension of 1500 francs yearly for two years, in order that he might finish his studies at Rome. There he applied himself especially to the study of the works of Raffaelle, with manifest advantage to his style. On his return to Paris he found employment in the higher class of book engravings; but later he devoted himself to the production of separate plates from the great masters, in which he soon met with distinguished success. His finest plates are those after Raffaelle, which are executed with infinite delicacy.
