Frobisher decoyed one of them on board his ship, and carried him to England, whither he returned—arriving at Harwich on October 2—"highly commended by all men for his great and notable attempt, but specially famous for the great hope he brought of the passage to Cathay." The impulse which this voyage gave to renewed enterprise in the same direction was, however, owing to accident. One of the sailors had brought home with him a piece of black stone as a memorial of his voyage. His wife threw it into the fire, when it "glistened with a bright marquesset of gold." The report of this soon spread; the gold-refiners of London assayed the stone, and found in it a considerable proportion of gold. Here was the prospect of wealth to be attained with comparative facility. A second expedition was at once organized, not to seek the northwest passage—or to regard that as at most but a secondary object—but to search for golden ore. The queen favoured the enterprise, and lent one of her own ships, the Aid in which Frobisher himself sailed. The expedition, consisting of three vessels in all, sailed in May, 1577, and, after again sighting Greenland, reached the strait, where they loaded the ships with above two hundred tons of the ore from which so rich a promise had been drawn. Some unfortunate conflicts with the Esquimaux occurred on this occasion, and Frobisher made vain efforts to recover five of his men who had been lost the previous year. The ships returned in safety, reaching England in the latter part of September. The ore which they brought with them yielded less of the precious metal than had been looked for, but the results were yet sufficient to encourage the hopes of the adventurers. The queen gave the name of Meta Incognita to the newly-found lands, and lent encouragement to the fitting out an expedition on a more extensive scale, for the purpose of making a settlement on their shores. A fleet of fifteen ships, provided with materials for this purpose, and in all respects well manned and provisioned, was assembled at Harwich in the following year, 1578, and Frobisher, appointed general in command, received a gold chain from her majesty's own hands, as a mark of special favour. This third expedition left England on May 31. It proved an entire failure in so far as the object of finding gold was concerned, but resulted in geographical discoveries of some interest. When the voyagers approached the strait visited on the two former occasions, they found the entrance obstructed by ice, and were compelled by a severe gale to stand out to seaward, the vessels of the fleet being much dispersed. Upon again sighting land, after an interval of four days, they entered a channel different from that to which Frobisher's own name had been given. Frobisher himself sailed sixty leagues up this new or "mistaken" strait, out of which some of the ships afterwards passed, by an opening on its northern shores, into Frobisher Strait. In this latter channel, after many dangers bravely encountered, the fleet ultimately rejoined company, and sailed thence to England, which they reached on October 1. The "mistaken strait" entered by Frobisher on this occasion was no doubt the same that was passed through by Hudson thirty-two years later (1610)—Hudson's Strait.
Frobisher's voyages in search of the north-west passage, though they failed in their immediate objects, confirmed his reputation for courage and enterprise, and his abilities were not long unemployed. In 1585 and the following year, he served as vice-admiral under Drake in the expedition sent out for the purpose of attacking the Spanish settlements in the West Indies, sharing in the capture of Santiago (Cape Verd Islands), St. Domingo, and Cartagena. But a post of higher distinction was shortly to be filled by him. In 1588 the Armada, destined to restore heretic England to the bosom of the Church of Rome, was expected within the British seas, and every true Englishman's heart beat high as he prepared to take his share in the defence to which England's queen so nobly pointed the way. It was a great occasion, and the mariners of England nobly fulfilled the duty required of them. Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, respectively held important posts of command under the gallant lord-admiral of England, Howard of Effingham. The vessel which Frobisher himself commanded—the Triumph, of 1100 tons—was the largest in the English fleet; a mark of the just confidence reposed in his seamanship. After the fifth day of the running fight maintained while the Armada was making its way up the channel, and when off the Isle of Wight, Frobisher was knighted by the lord-admiral, in company with Lord Thomas Howard, Hawkins, and others. In the end, the elements completed the work of destruction. The boasted Armada of Spain was shattered, and England was saved. Two years later, 1590, Frobisher, conjointly with Hawkins, commanded a squadron which cruised for seven months off the coasts of Spain, with the view of intercepting the Spanish trade with the Indies. In 1592 he was appointed to supersede Sir Walter Raleigh in the command of another expedition directed against the Spaniards, and we find him again cruising with a small squadron off the Spanish coasts. The closing scene of his adventurous career was not far distant. In 1594 the king of France (then maintaining a contest against the power of the league) sought from the English queen the aid of a squadron to protect the important harbour of Brest, and to prevent its falling into the hands of Spain. A fleet of ten ships, under Frobisher's command, was promptly despatched thither. The Spaniards were already in possession of the neighbouring fortress of Crozon, and it was determined to take it from them. A land force attacked the fort upon one side, while Frobisher conducted the assault upon the other. The defence was obstinate, but at length the place surrendered—a dearly-bought victory to the besiegers. In the heat of the final engagement, and while bravely leading on his men, Frobisher received a fatal wound in the hip. He survived this wound but a few days, dying soon after his arrival at Plymouth. Frobisher belongs to the most chivalric period of England's naval records. The earlier enterprises of his career, amidst the storms and ice of north-western seas, were no unfit preparation for the later works in which he was engaged in his country's defence. The twelve or fifteen years which preceded the date of the Armada did more for the improvement of the English navy than any prior century had done, in the training a race of bold and hardy mariners, ready for any service of danger, whether beneath arctic or tropical skies.—W. H.
FROEBEL, Friedrich, the founder of the Kindergärten, was born at Oberweissbach, near Rudolstadt, in 1782, and died June 21, 1852. Having tried various occupations, he became connected with the celebrated school of Pestalozzi at Yverdun, and from that time ardently and incessantly endeavoured to promote and carry out the Pestalozzian system of education. With this view he established a private academy first at Griesheim, and afterwards at Keilhaw, near Rudolstadt, the fame of which steadily increased. His "Kindergärten" have not only spread over Germany, but have also been adopted in England and America. His writings are of little importance.—K. E.
* FROEBEL, Julius, a nephew of the preceding, a German political character and writer, was born at Griesheim, in the neighbourhood of Rudolstadt, in 1806. He began his literary career in the fields of geography, statistics, and natural history, before he had even completed his own studies. In 1833 he was appointed to a professorship at Zurich, but resigned this office, some years later, in order to devote himself to a publishing business (the Literarische Comptoir), which he had established at Zurich and Winterthur. A great number of political pamphlets issued from his press; all of them intended to rouse the German people to political action, and therefore prohibited by the German governments. After his return to Germany he was chosen a deputy to the Frankfort national assembly, where he became one of the most active and most conspicuous members of the radical party. He accompanied Robert Blum to Vienna, and like him was sentenced to death, but pardoned. After the suppression of the revolution he fled to America, where he has since been engaged in various pursuits; now as a commercial traveller, then as a commissioner of canals at Nicaragua, and afterwards as an editor at San Francisco. He has given an interesting account of his travels in his "Seven Years' Travel in Central America, Northern Mexico, and the Far West." Besides a great number of pamphlets and translations, he has published also a much-esteemed handbook of Crystals ("System der Krystallogie"); a "System of Social Politics;" "The Republicans, a Drama;" and "Briefe über die Wiener Oktober-Revolution." Froebel on his return to Germany took up his residence at Heidelberg.—K. E.
FROEBEL, Karl Poppo, a learned bookseller and publisher, born November 2, 1786, at the village of Oberweissbach, near Rudolstadt. He received a classical education at the university of Jena, and, after having been a private tutor for some years, established himself as bookseller at the little town of Rudolstadt, where, by his industry and activity, he soon became one of the leading publishers of Germany. He translated many works from the French into German, and vice versa. Among the former are
