[Fathom, Count Ferdinand], a villain in the novel of Smollett so named.
[Fatima], the last of Bluebeard's wives, and the only one who escaped being murdered by him; also Mahomet's favourite daughter.
[Fatimides], a Mohammedan dynasty which assumed the title of caliphs and ruled N. Africa and Egypt, and later Syria and Palestine, between the 10th and 12th centuries inclusive; they derived their name from the claim (now discredited) of their founder, Obeidallah Almahdi, to be descended from Fatima, daughter of Mahomet and wife of Ali; they were finally expelled by Saladin in 1169.
[Faucher, Léon], a political economist, brought into notice by the Revolution of 1830; edited Le Temps; opposed Louis Philippe's minister, M. Guizot; held office under the Presidency of Louis Napoleon, but threw up office on the coup d'état of 1851 (1803-1854).
[Fauchet, Abbé], a French Revolutionary, a Girondin; blessed the National tricolor flag; "a man of Te Deums and public consecrations"; was a member of the first parliament; stripped of his insignia, lamented the death of the king, perished on the scaffold (1744-1793).
[Faucit, Helen], a famous English actress; made her début in London (1836), and soon won a foremost place amongst English actresses by her powerful and refined representations of Shakespeare's heroines under the management of Macready; she retired from the stage in 1851 after her marriage with [Theodore Martin] (q. v.); in 1885 she published a volume of studies "On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters" (1820-1899).
[Fauns], divinities of the woods and fields among the Romans, and guardians of flocks against the wolf.
[Fauntleroy, Henry], banker and forger; in his twenty-third year became a partner in the bank of Marsh, Sibbald, & Co., London; was put on trial for a series of elaborate forgeries, found guilty, and hanged; the trial created a great sensation at the time, and efforts were made to obtain a commutation of the sentence (1785-1824).
[Faunus], a god, grandson of Saturn, who figures in the early history of Latium, first as the god of fields and shepherds, and secondly, as an oracular divinity and founder of the native religion, afterwards identified with the Greek Pan.
[Faure, François Felix], President of the French Republic, born in Paris; carried on business in Touraine as a tanner, but afterwards settled in Havre and became a wealthy shipowner; he served with distinction as a volunteer in the Franco-German War; entered the Assembly in 1881, where he held office as Colonial and Commercial Minister in various Cabinets; was elected President in 1895 (1841-1899).