FORTU^NA (Lat., froin fors, chance, probably connected with ferra, to carry ) . In classical mythology, the goddess of chance, called by the Greeks Tyche. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Oceanus; according to Pindar, a sister of the Parcae. She differed from Destiny or Fate, in so far that she worked without law, giving or taking away at her own good pleasure, and dispensing joy or sorrow indifferently. She had temples at Smyrna, Corinth, and Elis. In Italy she was extensively worshiped from a very early period and had many names such as Patricia, Pleheia, Equestris>, Virilis, Primigenia, Puhlica, Privata, Muliehris, Virginensis, etc., indicating the extent and also the minuteness of her superintendence. Particular honors were paid to her at Antium and Prseneste; in the temple of the former city two statues of her were even consulted as oracles. Greek poets and sculptors generally represented her with a rud- der, as a symbol of her guiding power, and a cornucopia ; or with a ball, or wheel, or wings, as a symbol of her mutability.
FORTUNATE ISLANDS. See Canary Islands.
FOR'TUNA^TUS. The chief figure of a popu- lar tale, or rather collection of tales, centring about the fortunes and misadventures of Fortuna- tus and his sons with a wishing cap and an in- exhaustible purse, which prove their possessor's ruin. Many of the materials are ancient, but the composition is German of about 1450. For- tunatus was first printed at Frankfort in 1509 (reprinted in Simrock's Deutsche Volkshiicher, 1846), and often afterwards in German, French, Italian, Dutch, English, Danish, S^vedish, Ice- landic. It was dramatized by Hans Sachs (1553), and in English by Thomas Dekker (1600), whose Old Fortunatus was turned back into German in 1620. The best modernization of the story is by Tieck in Phantasus (1816). Uh- land left an unfinished narrative poem on For- tunatus and the idea was used by Chamisso in his Peter Schlemihl.
FORTUNATUS, Venantius Honorius Cle- MENTiANUS ( e.530-c.600 ) . Bishop of Poitiers, and ckief Latin poet of his time. He was born at Ceneda, near Treviso, and studied at Ravenna. After traveling through Germany and France he took up his residence at the Court of Sigbert, King of Austrasia, where he wrote an epitha- 1am ium to celebrate the King's marriage with Brunhilda. He again took up the wandering life, but finally settled at Poitiers, where the was brought into association with Radegunda, wife of Clotaire II., who was living there in retirement in a convent which she had founded, and also met Gregory of Tours and other eminent ecclesi- astics. He became a priest, and in 599 was chosen Bishop of Poitiers. Fortunatus wrote hymns, epitaphs, poetical epistles, verses in honor of his patrons, and descriptions of events in his life. He also wrote a life of Saint Martin of Tours and several other lives of saints. His hymn, Vexilla regis prodeunt ('The royal banners for- ward go'), is well known in the English transla- tion by J. M. Neale. His works are in Migne, Patrol. Lat., Ixxxviii. ; the best edition is by Leo and Krusch (Berlin, 1881-85). For his life con- sult: Leroux (Paris, 1885) and Nisard (Paris, 1880).
FORTUNE. A poem attributed by John Shir- ley to Chaucer. it first appeared in a set of poems brought together by the latter, the manu- scripts of which are now in the Harleian Collec- tion in the British Museum. The sources of the poem were partly Boethius and partly the Roman de la Rose. It is described in the subtitle as "The Face of the World as it really is, not painted."
FORTUNE. A painting by Guido Reni, rep- resenting the Goddess of Fortune undraped, mov- ing over a globe, and scattering money from a purse, while a cupid clings to her flowing hair and scarf. The painting is in the Accademia di San Luca, Rome.
FORTUNE, The. A play-house which once stood near Blackfriars Bridge, London, close upon the site of the ancient Monastery of the Black Friars. It was first erected in 1599 by Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyne, and occupied by the Lord Admiral's Company. It was originally of wood, was burned down in 1621, was rebuilt in brick, and was torn down by the Puritans in 1649.
FORTUNE, Temple of. One of the most an- cient extant temples of Rome, and one of the best preserved, in the Forum Boarium, near the JEmilian Bridge. It was erected by Servius Tul- lius, and was rebuilt in the third century B.C. In the ninth century a.d. the spaces between the columns were walled up and the edifice became the Church of Santa Maria Epiziaca. The temple is remarkable for its pure Ionic architecture, and for the absence of marble in its construction. The exterior w-as covered w ith painted stucco. It con- tained a wooden statue, draped in a toga, which Pliny says lasted until the time of Tiberius. The popular name of the temple, Fortuna Virilis, is probably due to a mistranslation of its original title, Templum Fortis Fortunae, in which Fortis was the genitive of fors, not of the ad- jective fortis.
FOR'TUNE, Robert (1813-80). An English botanist and traveler. After receiving a com- mon school education he was employed in the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, and at the conclu- sion of the Chinese War in 1842 he was sent to collect plants in northern China by the Royal Horticultural Society. His second journey to China in 1848, in the interests of the East India Company, like the first, gave to Europe many of the beautiful flowers of the Far East, and also resulted in the introduction of the tea shrub into India, where formidable competition with China in the production of tea immediately began. A third expedition included Formosa and Japan; and in 1857 Fortune again visited China to col- lect seeds of the tea shrub for the United States Patent Office. His published works include: Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Prov- inces of China (1847) ; Report upon the Tea Plantations in the Northwest Provinces (1851) ; A Journey to the Tea Countries of China (1852) ; Tivo Visits to the Tea Countries of China (1853) ; A Residence Among the Chinese (1857) ; Tedko and Peking: A Narrative of a Journey to the Capitals of Japan and China ( 1863) .
FORTUNES OF MOLL FLAN'DERS, The. A novel by Defoe (1722), the story of a harlot, thief, and convict, who finally reforms.
