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FALCONIDE-FALCONRY.

of flight, which are to be found in their highest applied to the sport and all that pertains to it: perfection in the true Falcons (q. v.), and in a scarcely Hawking to its actual practice in the field. F. inferior degree in the Eagles (q. v.). The species is of very ancient origin, and has been traced are numerous; the British Museum alone contains back, as an Eastern sport, to a period anterior specimens of almost 200 unquestionably distinct species; but very many supposed species have been named and described by ornithologists, which, in the progress of science, have been ascertained to owe their distinctive characters merely to age and sex. The female is generally larger than the male; and

Head and Foot of Brazilian Eagle.

the plumage of the young different from that of the adult. There are, in the different groups, considerable diversities in the curvature and strength of the bill, which also has the cutting edges of the mandibles either notched, festooned, or plain; the legs and toes also exhibit diversities as to length, strength, feathering, &c.; and in some groups, the wings are much longer, and at the same time more pointed, than in others. This is particularly the case with the true falcons, as contrasted with eagles, hawks, buzzards, kites, harriers, &c., and, in the language of falconry, the former having the second quill-feather longest, and the first nearly equal to it-are called noble birds of prey (see FALCONRY), being those usually

;

domesticated and trained for the service of man the latter having the fourth quill-feather longest, and the first very short-are called ignoble birds of prey, even Eagles receiving this designation. The F. are distributed over all parts of the world; and almost all kinds of vertebrate animals, except the largest quadrupeds, are the prey of some of them. Some also devour insects.

Like the Felida

among ravenous quadrupeds, the F. do not willingly feed on carrion, but generally seize and kill their own prey. As in the Felida, also, there is a provision for the preservation of the claws from being blunted by unnecessary contact with the ground, or with any hard substance, the F. contracting the toes so as to elevate their claws. The F. generally live in pairs.

The Lammer-geyer (q. v.) connects this family with the Vultures; the Secretary (q. v.), whilst in many respects agreeing with the F., is peculiar in some of its characters.

FALCONRY, the term applied to the art of training certain of the falcon tribes to the pursuit and capture, on the wing, of birds such as the heron, partridge, lark, rook, magpie, wild-duck, pigeon, &c. In ancient times, this sport was called HAWKING, a term still preserved in many places, and which, perhaps, is the more strictly correct of the two. Now a days, Falconry is the term

to the Christian era. In Britain, it seems to have been followed before the time of the Heptarchy; and in the celebrated Bayeux tapestry, Harold is figured with a hawk upon his hand. It seems, however, to have been practised in Eastern countries, and in Central Europe, long before it became established in Great Britain; and to such a height did the sport reach in Germany, that nobles, and even kings, seem to have devoted to it the greater part of their time. As an instance of this, the Emperor Frederic II. of Germany was a passionate admirer of the sport, and is said to have written a treatise on F., published by J. G. Schneider in 1788 (2 vols. Leip.). In England, after the Norman Conquest, F. seems to have taken rapid strides, being much indulged in by kings, nobles, and ladies; and in those days the rank of the individual was indicated by the particular species of hawk carried on his wrist. Thus, an earl carried a Peregrine Falcon. In the 17th c., the sport declined; in the 18th c. it partially revived, but again fell off about the year 1725, when the art of shooting birds on the wing came into fashion. In the present day, an attempt is being made in several quarters in England to restore this noble sport, and already its restoration is being attended with growing success. In India, Persia, and other Eastern countries, F. is still eagerly practised, the methods there followed being for the most part nearly similar to those of Great Britain.

In F., two distinct kinds of hawks are usedthe long-winged or true falcons, and short-winged. The first (noble birds of prey) are represented chiefly by the Gyrfalcon and Peregrine; the second by the Goshawk and Sparrow-hawk; and though for certain purposes the male is superior, as a rule the females of each species are much more highly esteemed for sporting purposes, from their being larger and more powerful. Long-winged hawks may also, as a rule, be distinguished from the short-winged,' by their having a tooth' or notch of the wing being either longer, or as long, as on the upper mandible; from the second feather the third; and from their impetuous 'stoop at

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their prey.

from its extreme rarity in the British Islands, is The Gyrfalcon (q. v.) is the largest species, but seldom used. The Peregrine Falcon is the bird in greatest favour with falconers, and if taken from the nest, as is usually the case, and carefully trained, affords better sport than any other British species. We shall therefore confine our remarks, for the most part, to the sport as it is practised with this

bird.

undergone a careful process of training. The young No hawk is fit for sporting purposes until it has hawk is more easily trained than that which has been caught in a wild state, but in either case, a number of operations require to be gone through into the field. Taken from her nest on some high before the sportsman ventures to take his falcon and dangerous cliff when nearly fledged, the eyess, or young falcon (with her companion-fledglings, usually two in number), is carefully conveyed to the falconer's home: there she is kept in an open shed in a nest of straw, and fed several times a day upon fresh beef, with an occasional change of birds or rabbits. At this somewhat critical period, she should never be handled, except to put on the jesses and bells (see fig. 1), which afterwards become permanent fixtures. Her powers of flight, too, being as yet very limited, she depends upon her master for

FALCONRY.

regular supplies of food, and soon learns to come for her meals at his call. Her meat is usually fixed

called bells; these, again, are fixed to their place by leather straps called bewits; and both, together with the jesses, become permanent fixtures even during the bird's flights. Jesses are two leathern straps, five or six inches in length, attached to each leg immediately below the bells; the jesses,

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a

Fig. 1.-Leg and Foot of Hawk, shewing the method of attaching the Bells and Jesses:

a, the end of leash; b, b, the jesses; c, the bell; d, the bewit; e, the varvels of silver, with owner's name and address engraved.

to an apparatus termed the lure (see fig. 2), and thus the hawk is early accustomed to that important instrument, the further uses of which are

explained below. By degrees her powers of flight are strengthened, and she is permitted to fly at large (returning to the lure at her master's will to be fed, or in hawking language, to remain at hack) for several weeks, during which time her meals are gradually reduced to one a day. While at hack, she sometimes becomes wild, wanders far from home, and kills game for herself; and when this is the case, she is usually caught by enticing her to a bow-net, close to which a pigeon or some meat is fastened to the ground. After being taken up' from hack, she is kept at the block (see fig. 3)-the stand upon which she sits-for a few days before her regular training begins. At this time, also, hawks require a bath twice or thrice a week..

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Fig. 2.-The Lure.

The first of the principal operations in training is hooding, an operation which, if successfully performed by the trainer during his earlier efforts, paves the way for overcoming many subsequent difficulties. It demands the greatest patience and the tenderest manipulation. The hood is a cap of leather (see fig. 3), made to fit the head of the falcon in such a manner as totally to obscure the light, a single aperture only being left, through which the beak protrudes, and a slit behind, through which are passed the braces or ties that secure the hood to the head. By shutting out the light, the hood is serviceable in tending to make the hawk quiet and tractable, but to accustom the falcon to submit to its use requires much time and great management. When, after great perseverance, this is achieved, the hawk is said to be made to the hood,' during which process she also learns to sit balanced upon the fist. Besides tending to induce docility by hiding the light, the hood is of further service in shutting out from view any object which might eanse the hawk to flutter or bait off the fist or adge on its way to and from the field, &c. Hence the hawk is carried always hooded-the shortwinged only being exempt. To the falcon's legs are attached two small hollow globes of thin metal,

Fig. 3.-Hooded Peregrine Falcon on its block:

One end of the leash is attached to the jesses, the other to a

ring driven into the side of the block; and thus the hawk is prevented from escaping.

again, are themselves attached to another leathern strap, called the leash, about four times the thickness of a boot-lace (see fig. 1), by two rings or varvels; and the bird being thus caparisoned, the falconer winds the leash through his fingers, and so prevents the falcon's escape while on his wrist. Instead of varvels, some falconers follow the Dutch plan of using a swivel; the former method, however, is now considered the best. A long cord, called the creance, is further attached to the leash, and is used for the purpose of giving the bird greater freedom during her training than that afforded by the leash alone.

The lure is a bunch of feathers attached to a cord and tassel, and in the centre of the feathers is usually a piece of spliced wood, to which a piece of meat may be attached. By accustoming the hawk to feed off the lure, or to come to it at a certain call or whistle to be fed when Fig. 4.-Tabur Stycke. on the wing, the lure becomes an important adjunct to the falconer's apparatus, as by it he is enabled to entice his bird back after

FALCONRY.

avi uns cessful chase. On such occasions, the
falconer reclaims his bird by swinging the baited
lure round and round his head, accompanying the
action by some well-known call. Four wings tied
together make a good lure. The tabur stycke and
drawer were formerly used for the same purpose
as the lure, but were made in the form of a stick.
In Europe, hawks are carried on the left wrist
(while in the East they sit upon the right); and to
protect the falconer's hand from being injured by
the bird's claws, a glove of stout buckskin leather
is used. And here it may be remarked, that the
claws and beak of wild caught or haggard falcons,
are usually pared or coped. If the bird to be
trained, instead of being a nestling, happens to be
a wild one, the difficulties of training are immeasur-
ably increased, and can only be overcome by days
and nights of unwearying exertion. If it proves
unusually restless and difficult to tame, it is kept
on low diet, is prevented from sleeping for several
days and nights, and has cold water poured upon
it by means of a sponge, &c. By these and other
means, the falcon gradually loses much of its
restiveness, and submits with tolerable readiness
to the processes of training.

The heron, seeing the falcons approach, disgorges its food, to lighten itself, and immediately ascends in the air; the hawks, eager in pursuit, and quicker of wing, speedily make upon it, and strive to gain a greater elevation by a series of beautiful gyrations. When one of the hawks succeeds in rising above the heron, it stoops, that is, descends swiftly, and in a direct line, upon the game, aiming a stroke with its outstretched legs and talons at its body; this the heron almost always succeeds at first in eluding, by a rapid and sudden movement aside. The second hawk, which by this time has also soared, then stoops, while the first is regaining its former altitude; and so on for many successive times, till one hawk at length clutches the heron or binds, upon which her companion joins her, and the three, buoyant by the motion of their wings, descend gently to the earth. The falconer's imperative duty is now to be up or near the spot where the three birds are descending, to divert the attention of the hawks before they reach the ground, and entice them from the quarry to him, by means of live pigeons as lures. This is very necessary, as the heron is extremely dangerous, and has been frequently known to injure the hawks with its sharp beak when on the ground, though it is all but perfectly harmless while in the air. When the heron's wounds have been dressed-for this bird is rarely killed in such encounters-a ring with the captor's name is usually affixed to its leg, after which it is set at liberty, and so becomes available for future sport. The falconer's usual cry of encouragement to his hawks upon the springing of the quarry, is His cry when the quarry is

killed, is 'Whoop!' A falcon takes its prey either by tearing or raking it with the hind claw of each foot at the instant of passing, or by clutching the victim with its talons, and when she thus succeeds in binding to her quarry, she slowly descends with it to the ground. The supposition that the hawk strikes its quarry with the beak or breastbone in its swoop, is a mistaken one.

For training the eyess, or young falcon, to the lure, as preparatory to entering at game, Sir John Sebright says: Take the hawk out while very hungry, and let an assistant swing the lure round his head steadily, and at full length of the cord; upon this the falconer casts off his hawk with the usual whistle or halloo, still holding the creance, and the assistant suffers the lure to fall to the ground, for fear of injury to the hawk, by strik-Hooha-ha-ha-ha!' ing it in the air with the two strings attached. When this lesson is perfect, the assistant, instead of suffering the lure to fall, withdraws it, and disappoints the hawk, which flies by him, and then returns, when he may be suffered to strike the lure and feed upon it. In process of time, the creance may be removed, and the hawk enticed to the lure from a considerable distance, and may then strike it in the air (if the lure is a light one), while swinging round the head of the assistant. After a still greater time, the hawk becomes so perfect that she will circle round the head of the falconer, waiting for the lure to be thrown, and is then said to "wait on perfectly. When the hawk is feeding on the lure, the falconer should encourage her, and suffer her to finish without alarm, by which she will be shewn that she may do so without fear, and will readily suffer herself to be taken after flying. She should also be accustomed to horses, men, and dogs.'

Having made the hawk' to the fist, the hood, and the lure, she is next 'entered' at her game (the quarry). This is done by tying a long cord or creance to the varvels of the jesses, and flying the hawk from the hand at a bird thrown out to it, also restrained by a cord. The hawk is next flown several times without a creance at birds shortened in their flight, after which it is ready to be entered at wild quarry. In case of failure, however, a live bird, similar to that at which she is flown, should be carried to the field, and thrown out to her in a creance by way of encouragement.

The heron is, and always has been, a favourite object of pursuit in British F., the period of the year best adapted for the sport being the breeding season. Having previously ascertained the feeding-place of that bird, the hawking party makes for the spot, usually towards evening, if possible in a direction down-wind from the heronry, so as to intercept the bird in its up-wind flight homewards. When a heron is seen to pass, a couple (a cast) of hawks are unhooded and cast off,' and the chase commences.

Besides the Peregrine Falcon, the Merlin is trained for F., and is extremely bold. This bird, however, is flown at small game, chiefly larks. The Goshawk, though it does not soar and stoop, flies direct at its game: it is used chiefly for pheasants, rabbits, hares, &c., in an enclosed country. The Sparrow-hawk, from its extreme boldness, is a great favourite, but is flown at smaller kinds of birds only, such as blackbirds and thrushes, &c. Hobby is seldom or never used.

The

The following are the principal terms used in falconry. A falcon's legs, from the thigh to the foot, are termed arms; toes, petty singles; claws, pounces; wings, sails; tail, train; crop, gorge; lower stomach, pannel; feathers, hair, &c., ejected at the mouth, the castings. A young hawk from the nest is an eyess or eyas; one that can hop, but not fly well, a brancher; a nestling hawk reared at liberty, is a hack-hawk; a young hawk able to take game, a spar-hawk; a mature wild hawk is a haggard or blue hawk; young hawks taken in their migrations, are passage-hawks, or red hawks-the term red being applied merely as a title of distinction between the young hawk and the eyess or nestling, the colours of the two being in reality the same. training of the passage-hawk and haggard is termed reclaiming; fluttering, is baiting; fighting with each other, crabbing; sleeping, jouking. The prey is termed the quarry. When the hawk strikes her quarry in the air and clings to it, she binds; when she flies off with it, she carries; when she plucks it, she deplumes. Dead game is the pelt. Stooping or swooping is the act of descending with closed wings from a height at prey. Direct

The

FALEMÉ-FALKIRK.

flight, without soaring, is raking off; changing from one bird to another, checking. When game flies into a hedge, it puts in. When the hawk is moulting her feathers, she is mewing; after her first moult, she is intermewed; with complete plumage, summed; when in good condition, she is enseamed; when out of condition, seamed. Mending the feathers artificially (an operation frequently performed when one has been accidentally broken) is termed imping; blunting bill and talons, coping. When the falcon is obediently flying round in the air, she waits on her master; flying long-winged hawks from the wrist, is termed flying out of the hood; a

couple of hawks is a cast. The cadge is a frame of wood with four legs. It is carried by means of straps, which pass over the bearers' (the cadgers') shoulders, and is used, when there are several casts of hawks, to be taken to the field. The block (see fig. 3) is a round piece of wood, such as would be made by sawing a foot of wood out of a felled larchtree of some twenty years' growth; and upon this the hawk sits when out of doors. Through the bottom of the block runs an iron spike, which being driven into the ground, secures the block to its place, and so prevents the hawk from dragging it Falcons are very pugnacious, and if not carefully kept separate, would soon kill each other. The screen or perch is a perch guarded by a falling piece of canvas, to support the hawks in case of their leaping down; upon this, the hawks are placed at night in an apartment called the mews.

away.

The best works on the subject are those of Turberville and Latham, respectively, as old treatises; and that of Sir John Sebright, as comparatively modern. Of the more recent treatises, Falconry in the British Isles, by Salvin and Brodrick (Lond. 1855), and Falconry, its Claims and Practice, by Freeman and Salvin (Lond. 1859), are the best

authorities.

The village of Falconswaerd, near Bois-le-Duc, in Holland, has for many years furnished falconers to almost all Europe. Sir John Sebright says: 'I have known many falconers in England, and in the service of different princes on the continent,

but I never met with one of them who was not a native of Falconswaerd.'

FALE MÉ, one of the most important tributaries of the Senegal (q. v.), into which it falls, in lat. about 14° 40 N., and long. 11° 48′ W. Its course has not yet been fully explored.

FALE'RII, a city of ancient Etruria, was situated west of the Tiber, and north of Mount Soracte. Its earliest historical appearance is in 437 B. C., when, according to Livy, the inhabitants (who were called Falisci) joined with those of Veii in assisting the Fidenates against the Romans. The Falisci were among the most dangerous enemies of Rome, and were the last of the Etrurians who submitted to its power. Their city was at last destroyed by the Romans (241 B. C.), and they themselves were compelled to choose a new site a few miles off. Here a Roman colony was settled in the time of the triumvirs, whence the place took the name of Colonia Junonia Faliscorum. But this Roman F. does not appear to have ever acquired any importance, for the temple which anciently attracted so many pilgrims, stood on the site of the older town. During the middle ages, however, a new city prung up on the ruins of the Etruscan F., which anally obtained the name of Civita Castellana (q. v.). Ruins of the Roman or later F., consisting of a vart of the ancient wells, are still visible.

FALE'RNIAN WINE, so called from Falernus Ager, the district in which it was grown-and which lay in the northern portion of Campania,

between the Massican Hills and the northern bank of the Vulturnus-was one of the favourite wines of the Romans. It is described by Horace as, in hit time, surpassing all other wines then in repute, and seems to have been in great favour with the poet himself. In the time of Pliny, however, as he himself informs us, Falernian wine had already, owing to a want of care in its cultivation, begun to decline in quality; and the wine then esteemed the best was a variety grown in the Falernian neighbourhood, and called Faustianum.

born about the year 1284. He was elected in 1354, at the age of 70, Doge of Venice, and was the third of his name called to this supreme dignity, but was decapitated in the following year for his daring conspiracy against the rights of the commonwealth, which, previous to his election, he had zealously served in the capacities of commander of the forces, commander of the fleet, and ambassador. At the siege of Zara, in 1346, he defeated an army of time extensive siege-operations, and in the course of 80,000 Hungarians, vigorously pursuing at the same the war, having assumed the command of the fleet, captured Capo d'Istria. Subsequently, he became ambassador of the republic to Rome and Genoa. bitter resentment seems to have been roused by Of an ungovernable and implacable temper, his wife, the author of which, a young patrician named a grossly offensive libel on his fair and youthful Michele Steno, owed some grudge to the doge. The cian tribunal seemed to F. wholly inadequate to punishment awarded to the young noble by a patrithe offence by which his ducal dignity had been outraged, and in order to avenge this double slight, he organised an audacious plot, with the object of overthrowing the republic, and massacring the heads of the aristocracy, to be followed by his own assumption of sovereign rights. The conspiracy and F. was arrested. He suffered death by decawas, however, revealed on the eve of its execution, pitation on the 17th of April 1355, on the very spot where, a year previously, he had been tendered universal homage as supreme magistrate of the state. In the hall of the great council, which contains the portraits of all the doges, the space allotted to that of F. is draped with a veil of sable, and bears the following inscription: Hic est locus MARINI FALETRO, decapitati pro criminibus.' A faithful representation of the plot, and of its chief confederates, is given in Byron's drama of Marino Falieri.

FALIE'RI, MARINO, a celebrated Venetian, was

FAʼLKIRK, a Scottish parliamentary burgh, situated on a rising ground in the midst of a populous mineral and manufacturing district in Stirlingshire, near the old Roman wall of Antoninus, with no tectural or other elegance. Pop. in 1861, 9029. In pretension either to beauty of situation or to archi1600, it was made a burgh of barony by King James VI., in favour of Alexander Lord Livingstone, afterwards Earl of Callander, in whose favour also it was in 1646 created a burgh of regality by King Charles I. In 1715, it passed to the crown by the forfeiture of the Earl of Linlithgow and Callander; and it was not till the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 that it was made a parliamentary burgh, and received a municipal constitution, with a council of twelve, including a provost, three bailies, and a treasurer. It unites with Airdrie, Hamilton, Lanark, and Linlithgow, in sending a member to parliament. It has nine yearly fairs, an extensive inland trade, various local manufactures, and charitable institutions. Its parish church-the Eglais Bhrec, Varia Capella, or Speckled Kirk of our chartularies and of local tradition-has

one

FALKIRK-FALKLAND ISLANDS.

two monuments of some antiquity, but was itself rebuilt in the year 1810. The church, church lards, and barony belonged of old to the Abbey of Holyrood. Near F., in 1298, Sir William Wallace made bis masterly retreat from the disastrous battle (see FA KIRK, BATTLE OF), in which he lost his brave companions in arms, Sir John Graham and Sir John Stewart, both said to be interred in the parish churchyard. The inscribed stone alleged to cover the grave of Sir John Graham, is apparently more modern than his time. In 1746, the neighbourhood of F. was the scene of another battle, in which the royal troops were defeated by those of Prince Charles Edward. It is now chiefly noted for its well-known cattle-trysts, at which stock is yearly sold to the amount of about £1,000,000. In the immediate vicinity are the well-known Carron Ironworks, the Forth and Clyde Canal, and the Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Scottish Central Railways.

FALKIRK, BATTLE OF. Wallace had followed up his victory over the English near Stirling in 1297, by taking possession of some of the more important fortresses of Scotland. In the following year, King Edward, having returned from Flanders, summoned a great army to meet him at York, and marched northward to Roxburgh, and thence along the east coast of Scotland and the shore of the Firth of Forth. It was not till the day of the battle, the 22d July 1298, that Edward first saw the enemy The Scottish infantry, much inferior in numbers to the English, were arranged in four circular bodies on a small eminence near Falkirk, and were armed with lances, and with bows and arrows. The cavalry, numbering only 1000 men, were placed in the rear. This array was charged by the English cavalry. The Scottish footmen bravely withstood the onset of the well-appointed English horse; but the cavalry, dismayed by the preponderating numbers of the enemy, rode from the field without striking a blow. Thus left without support, the spearmen and archers were compelled to yield, and the retreat became general. The loss on the Scottish side is said to have amounted to 15,000 men. The results of this defeat were, that the military power of Scotland, such as it was, was broken; and Edward returned to England master of all the important strongholds

of the south.

FALKLAND, a royal burgh of Scotland, in the county of Fife, is situated at the north-eastern base of the Lomond Hills, 22 miles north of Edinburgh, and 10 miles south-west of Cupar. The east Lomond Hill rises so abruptly behind the town as to intercept the rays of the sun from it for several weeks during winter. F. was in early times a manor of the Earls of Fife. It passed from them to the crown in 1425, and was made a royal burgh by James II. in 1458. Within the town are the remains of Falkland Palace-a large tower (in the same style as the north-western tower of Holyrood) above a vaulted doorway leading into the courtyard, built about 1500, and two sides of a quadrangle, built between 1530 and 1550, fine and interesting examples of Scottish architecture. The palace was a favourite residence of King James IV., and after his death, in 1513, his widow, the impetuous sister of King Henry VIII. of England, was here kept in restraint for a season. Here her son, King James V., died in 1542. The last king who occupied the palace was Charles II., who passed a few days in it in 1650. Of the more ancient castle in which David, Duke of Rothesay, was imprisoned and starved to death by the Duke of Albany, in 1402, no traces now remain. F. is frequently alluded to in the verses of Sir David Lindsay. Pop. (1861) 2938, who support themselves mainly by handloom weaving.

FALKLAND, LUCIUS CARY, VISCOUNT, was born, it is believed, at Burford, in Oxfordshire, in 1610, and educated first at Trinity College, Dubli■ his father, Henry Cary, Viscount Falkland, being at that time lord-deputy of Ireland-and afterwards at St John's College, Cambridge. Even during his father's lifetime, he enjoyed an ample fortune, left him by his grandfather. His earlier years were wholly devoted to study, and to the conversation of learned men, among whom he himself, by all accounts, must have occupied a first place. His residence (Burford) was only ten miles from Oxford, and here, according to Clarendon, 'he contracted familiarity and friendship with the most polite and accurate men of that university. The praise which that historian bestows on him is extraordinary; but F. is one of those historical personages whose character and abilities we must take on the word of friends and panegyrists, if at all, for his deeds he was made one of the gentlemen of the privyand writings are not equal to his fame. In 1633, chamber to Charles I., and took part in the expedi tion against the Scots in 1639. In 1640, he entered parliament as member for Newport in the Isle of Wight, and was at first distinguished by his patriotic zeal for the laws and constitution of his country. Against such men as Strafford and Finch he exhibited great severity of speech, though even in their case his almost finical love of the forms of legal procedure was manifested. Shortly after, he conceived it to be his duty to assume quite a different political stand-point, and to oppose what seemed to him the excesses and illegalities of the popular party. On the breaking out of the civil war, he consequently took part with the king, though mourning deeply the miseries which his country was about to suffer. He died a soldier's death at the battle of Newbury, September 20, 1643. F. was quite unfitted to play a practical part in the sanguinary politics of his time; but his genuine love of England and of the rights of the nation, which burned in him as strongly when a royalist as when attack. ing Strafford and the bishops, enables us to under stand, better than we might otherwise have done, the deep indignation that possessed the English gentlemen who represented the Commons, at the arrogant and unprincipled policy of Charles's advisers. F. wrote various treatises, &c., the prin cipal of which is A Discourse on the Infallibility of the Church of Rome.

The

FALKLAND ISLANDS, the only considerable cluster in the South Atlantic, lie about 300 miles to the east-north-east of the Strait of Magellan, stretching in S. lat. from 51° to 52° 30', and in W. long. from 57° 40′ to 61° 20'. After having successively belonged to France and Spain, they have, since 1771, formed part of the British empire; and in 1833 they began to be settled, being, as a whole, the most southerly of the organised colonies of England. They number about 200, presenting a total area of about 13,000 square miles. Pop. (1858) 621. two largest members of the group, East Falkland and West Falkland, comprise between them more than half the surface; and of the remainder, the chief ones are Great Swan, Saunders, Keppel, Pebble, Eagle, and Jason. This possession is valuable mainly from its position with respect to the Southern and Pacific Oceans, being in this connection all the more valuable on account of its many excellent harbours. Both the soil and the climate are much better adapted to pasturage than to cultivation. While the natural grass is extremely luxuriant, scarcely anything but a few vegetables is grown in the settlement. The coasts seem with fish, more especially with cod; and in certain seasons of the year, penguins and seals are killed in great

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