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EUSEBIA. FALCONER.

the Athenians universally went into mourning. It is remarkable of Euripides, that he was extremely slow in the composition of his poetry. He one day complained to the poet Alcestis that he found it a laborious employment, saying, "that for the last three days he had not been able to write above three lines, though he had been extremely diligent and attentive." Alcestis replied, with an ostentatious air, "I have written a hundred lines within that time, and with the greatest ease imaginable." "That may be very true," said Euripides, “but you do not consider the difference; your verses may probably live no longer than those three days; whereas, mine are to continue for ever." Of his 84 tragedies, only 19, and part of another, are now extant. The last edition of them was printed at Oxford, in 1778.

EUSEBIA, abbess of St. Saviour, at Marseilles, in the eighth century. When the Saracens invaded Provence in 731, she is said to have dis figured herself by cutting off her nose, in which she was followed by the nuns, to prevent being violated by the barbarians. This mutilation had rendered them so disgusting to behold, that their amorous expectations were disappointed; and the Saracens, hurried on by rage and revenge, punished them all with death. FALCONER, (WILLIAM) an ingenious Scotch poet, who, about the year 1762, published a charming pathetic poem, called "The Shipwreck;" formed on a disaster which happened to himself a few years before. Had he not experienced the perils which he so feelingly describes

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scribes in that poem, he could not possibly have related them with so much pathos. It is remarkable that, in a second calamity of the same kind, he probably lost his life, for he went out in 1769 in the Aurora frigate, which was never heard of after sailing from the Cape of Good Hope for the East Indies. The supervisors, to whom Mr. Falconer was secretary, must doubtless have likewise perished. FARINELLI, (CARO BROSCHI) a celebrated Italian singer, was born at Naples in 1705, and suffered emasculation in consequence of an accident when a youth. After obtaining the greatest applause on the Italian theatre, he went to Spain, where he gained the favour and friendship of Philip V. and of his successor Ferdinand, the latter of whom made him a knight of Calatrava. What salary he had in this country is not certainly known, but the annual amount of what he received from his admirers was beyond conception: the excessive fondness shewn by the nobility and gentry to this Italian, bordered on idolatry. They seemed absolutely infatuated: their bounty was prodigality, and their applause admiration," "One GOD, one Farinelli," will be long remembered of a lady of distinction, who, being delighted with a particular passage in one of his songs, uttered aloud from the boxes that impious exclamation. Farinelli's conduct gained him esteem; he rejected several places that were offered him, refused bribes, and exerted himself in behalf of indi gent merit. On the death of the king he returned to Italy, and died at Bologna in 1782.

FARMER

FARMER, (Dr. RICHARD) a learned English divine and antiquary, master of Emanuel College, Cambridge, principal librarian to the university, &c. &c. was born at Leicester in 1735. In 1775 he was chosen master of his college, and the same year served the office of vicechancellor, and had an opportunity of evincing his attachment to the court in a way which is supposed to have led to much of his subsequent preferment. The university had voted an address to the king, approving the hostile measures adopted against the colonies, which was in course opposed by Jebb and the patriotic party; and a member of the Caput, from an academical dispute, actually refused his key of the place which contained the seal necessary on these occasions. The courtly zeal of Farmer, then vice-chancellor, supplied the defect by means of a sledge-hammer, and he was in consequence soon after rewarded by the then premier, Lord North, with a prebend at Canterbury. This was afterwards exchanged by Mr. Pitt for a residentiaryship of St. Paul's; and, as a farther reward for academical influence, a bishopric is said to have been offered him, but the social delights of the pipe and the bottle, in Emanuel parlour, outweighed, in his estimation, the dazzling splendour of the mitre. He had some other church preferment, and was a fellow of the royal and antiquarian societies. Dr. Farmer, many years before his death, undertook to write the history of his native county, and had made some progress in the work, which he at length

length abandoned, and gave all the plates and materials to Mr. Nichols the printer, who is well qualified to complete the design. His pretensions to literature were confined to the English drama, and having a strong predilection for old English writers, he ranked high among the commentators upon Shakespeare. His Essay upon the Learning of Shakespeare," dedicated to Mr. Cradock, has passed through several editions. This essay was, in fact, the first foundation of his fame; but the same indolence which prevented him from writing his History of Leicestershire, though announced for subscriptions, was a bar to the future exercise of his literary talents. Indolence and love of ease were his chief characteristics; and hence the want of propriety in his external appearance, and in the usual forms of behavi our belonging to his station. The prevailing features of his character distinguished themselves by several eccentricities. There were three things, it was said, which the master of Emanuel loved, viz. old port, old clothes, and old books; and three things which no one could persuade him to perform, viz. to rise in the morning, to go to bed at night, and to settle an account. When in Cambridge, if an old house were pulled down, the master of Emanuel was always there, in an old blue greatcoat and rusty hat. When in London, he was sure to be found in the same garb at an old book, stall, or standing at the corner of a'dirty lane, poring through his glass at an old play-bill. With these singularities, Dr. Farmer possessed

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that species of generosity which results rather from inattention, than from a knowledge of the use of wealth. As he obtained money easily, so he parted with it easily; and, to his honour be it spoken, many a person in distress has experienced his liberality; and his bounty was frequently bestowed in the patronage of learned men and learned publications. Dr. Farmer died January 8, 1797. At the time of his death, he was fellow of the royal and antiquarian societies, master of Emanuel College, residentiary of St. Paul's, chancellor of the diocese of Litchfield and Coventry, and prebendary of Worcester.

FAWKES, (FRANCIS) an ingenious English poet and divine, born in Yorkshire 1721, was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he took his degrees in arts. On entering into orders he settled at Bromham, in his native county; but afterwards he obtained the united vicarages of Orpington and St. Mary Cray, in Kent. He has often jocosely related to the writer of this article, the stratagem he employed to acquire these two livings. Dr. Herring was then archbishop of Canterbury, and Mr. Fawkes having written a few poems on miscellaneous subjects, committed them to the press, and published them. He made choice of the archbishop for his patron, and prefixed to his poetical labours, à dedication to that prelate. Pleased with the compositions of the young poetical divine, his grace honoured him with a general invitation to his table: and added, "the oftener I see you, I

shall