FABYAN, ROBERT (d. 1513).—­Chronicler, was b. in London, of which he became an Alderman and Sheriff.  He kept a diary of notable events, which he expanded into a chronicle, which he entitled, The Concordance of Histories.  It covers the period from the arrival of Brutus in England to the death of Henry VII., and deals mainly with the affairs of London.  It was not printed until 1515, when it appeared under the title of The New Chronicles of England and France.

FAIRFAX, EDWARD (1580?-1635).—­Translator, natural s. of Sir Thomas F., lived at Fuystone, near Knaresborough, in peace and prosperity.  His translation of Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, on which his fame is founded, is a masterpiece, one of the comparatively few translations which in themselves are literature.  It was highly praised by Dryden and Waller.  The first ed. appeared in 1600, and was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth.  F. also wrote a treatise on Demonology, in which he was a devout believer.

FALCONER, WILLIAM (1732-1769).—­Poet, s. of a barber in Edin., where he was b., became a sailor, and was thus thoroughly competent to describe the management of the storm-tossed vessel, the career and fate of which are described in his poem, The Shipwreck (1762), a work of genuine, though unequal, talent.  The efforts which F. made to improve the poem in the successive ed. which followed the first were not entirely successful.  The work gained for him the patronage of the Duke of York, through whose influence he obtained the position of purser on various warships.  Strangely enough, his own death occurred by shipwreck.  F. wrote other poems, now forgotten, besides a useful Nautical Dictionary.

FANSHAWE, CATHERINE MARIA (1765-1834).—­Poetess, dau. of a Surrey squire, wrote clever occasional verse.  Her best known production is the famous Riddle on the Letter H, beginning “’Twas whispered in heaven, ’twas muttered in hell” often attributed to Lord Byron.

FANSHAWE, SIR RICHARD (1608-1666).—­Diplomatist, translator, and poet, b. at Ware Park, Herts, and ed. at Camb., travelled on the Continent, and when the Civil War broke out sided with the King and was sent to Spain to obtain money for the cause.  He acted as Latin Sec. to Charles II. when in Holland.  After the Restoration he held various appointments, and was Ambassador to Portugal and Spain successively.  He translated Guarini’s Pastor Fido, Selected Parts of Horace, and The Lusiad of Camoens.  His wife, nee Anne Harrison, wrote memoirs of her own life.