FLETCHER, GILES, AND PHINEAS (1588?-1623) (1582-1650).—­Poets, were the sons of Giles F., himself a minor poet, and Envoy to Russia.  Phineas, the elder, was ed. at Eton and Camb., and entered the Church, becoming Rector of Hilgay, Norfolk.  He wrote The Purple Island (1633), a poem in 10 books, giving an elaborate allegorical description of the body and mind of man, which, though tedious and fanciful, contains some fine passages, recalling the harmonious sweetness of Spenser, whose disciple the poet was.  He was also the author of Piscatory Dialogues.  GILES, the younger, was also ed. at Camb., and, like his brother, became a country parson, being Rector of Alderton.  His poem, Christ’s Victory and Triumph (1610), which, though it contains passages rising to sublimity, is now almost unknown except to students of English literature, is said to have influenced Milton.

Both brothers, but especially Giles, had a genuine poetic gift, but alike in the allegorical treatment of their subjects and the metre they adopted, they followed a style which was passing away, and thus missed popularity.  They were cousins of John F., the dramatist.

FLORENCE of WORCESTER (d. 1118).—­Chronicler, was a monk of Worcester.  His work is founded upon that of Marianus, an Irish chronicler, supplemented by additions taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede’s Lives of the Saints, and Asser’s Life of Alfred.  After his death it was brought down to 1295.

FLORIO, JOHN (1553?-1625).—­Translator, s. of an Italian preacher, exiled for his Protestantism, but who appears to have lost credit owing to misconduct, b. in London, was, about 1576, a private tutor of languages at Oxf.  In 1581 he was admitted a member of Magdalen Coll., and teacher of French and Italian.  Patronised by various noblemen, he became in 1603 reader in Italian to Anne of Denmark, Queen of James I. He pub. First Fruites (1578). Second Fruites (1591), consisting of Italian and English Dialogues, and his great Italian dictionary entitled A World of Wonder, in 1598.  His chief contribution to pure literature is his famous translation of The Essays of Montaigne, in stately if somewhat stiff Elizabethan English.

FONBLANQUE, ALBANY WILLIAM (1793-1872).—­Journalist and political writer, was of Huguenot descent, the s. of a Commissioner in Bankruptcy.  He was bred to the law, but deserted it for journalism, in which he took a high place.  He wrote much for The Times, and Westminster Review, and subsequently became ed. and proprietor of the Examiner.  His best articles were republished as England under Seven Administrations (1837).  He also wrote How we are Governed.  In 1847 he was appointed Statistical Sec. to the Board of Trade.