Faience (fa˙-yens´), imitation porcelain, a kind of fine pottery, superior to the common pottery in its glazing, beauty of form, and richness of painting. Several kinds of faience are distinguished by critics. It derived its name from the town of Faenza, in Italy, where a fine sort of pottery called majolica was manufactured as early as the fourteenth century. The majolica reached its greatest perfection between 1530 and 1560. In the Louvre, the Musée de Cluny, the British and Victoria and Albert Museums, at Berlin, and at Dresden are rich collections of it. The modern faience appears to have been invented about the middle of the sixteenth century, at Faenza, as an imitation of majolica, and obtained its name in France, where a man from Faenza, having discovered a similar kind of clay at Nevers, had introduced the manufacture of it. True faience is made of a yellowish or ruddy earth, covered with an enamel which is usually white, but may be coloured. This enamel is a glass rendered opaque by oxide of tin or other
suitable material, and is intended not only to glaze the body, but to conceal it entirely. See Pottery.—Cf. M. L. Solon, The Old French Faience.
Failly (fa˙-yē), Pierre Louis Charles Achille de, French general, born in 1810, died in 1892. He distinguished himself in the Crimean War, and commanded a division against the Austrians in 1859. He was the means of introducing the Chassepôt rifle into the French army, and commanded the troops which dispersed Garibaldi's irregulars at Mentana. At the outbreak of the Franco-German War Failly received the command of the 5th Corps, but was very unfortunate or unskilful in his organization of operations. His masterly inactivity in the early weeks of the war caused great popular indignation in France. Sedan ended his career as a soldier.
Failsworth, a town of England, in Lancashire, 4 miles north-east of Manchester, with cotton-mills. Silk-weaving and hat-making are also carried on. Pop. 16,972.
Fainéants (fā-nā-a˙n˙; Fr., 'do-nothings'), a sarcastic epithet applied to the later Merovingian kings of France, who were puppets in the hands of the mayors of the palace. Louis V, the last of the Carlovingian dynasty, received the same designation.
Fainting, or Syncope, a sudden suspension of the heart's action, of sensation, and the power of motion. It may be produced by loss of blood, pain, emotional disturbance, or organic or other diseases of the heart. It is to be treated by placing the patient on his back in a recumbent position or even with head slightly depressed, sprinkling cold water on his face, applying stimulant scents to the nostrils, or anything which tends to bring back the blood to the brain. The admission of fresh cool air and the loosening of any tight articles of dress are important.
Fairbairn, Patrick, Scottish theologian, born 1805, died 1874. He became a minister of the Established Church, but joined the Free Church at the disruption in 1843. In 1853 he was appointed professor of divinity in the Free Church College, Aberdeen, and in 1856 principal of the Free Church College, Glasgow. Among his works are: Typology of Scripture; Jonah: his Life, Character, and Mission; Ezekiel; Prophecy; Hermeneutical Manual; Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul. He edited and wrote extensively for the Imperial Bible Dictionary.
Fairbairn, Sir William, British civil engineer, born at Kelso, Roxburghshire, in 1789, died 18th Aug., 1874. He was apprenticed as an engine-wright at a colliery in North Shields, and commenced business on his own account in Manchester with James Lillie in 1817, where he made many improvements in machinery, such as the use of iron instead of wood in the shafting of cotton-mills. About 1831, his attention having been attracted to the use of iron as a material for shipbuilding, he built the first iron ship. His firm became extensively employed in iron shipbuilding at Manchester and at Millwall, London, and had a great share in the development of the trade. He shares with Stephenson the merit of constructing the great tubular bridge across the Menai Strait. Fairbairn was one of the earliest members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he was president in 1861 and 1862. He was created a baronet in 1869. Sir William wrote many valuable professional books and papers, amongst which are: On Canal Steam Navigation (1831); Iron: its History, Properties, and Manufacture (1841); Application of Iron to Building Purposes (1854); Iron Ship-building (1865). His brother Sir Peter, born 1799, died 1861, had also great mechanical ability, and founded large machine-works at Leeds.
Fairfax, Edward, the translator into English verse of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, was the natural son of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, and born in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. He settled at Newhall, in the parish of Fewston, Yorkshire, to a life of studious leisure. The first edition of his translation bears the date of 1600. One or two eclogues by him also remain. He died in 1635.
Fairfax, Thomas, Lord, parliamentary general during the English Civil War, born in 1611 at Denton, in Yorkshire, died at Nun Appleton, Yorkshire, 12th Nov., 1671. He was the son and heir of Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax, to whose title and estates he succeeded in 1648. After serving in the Netherlands with some reputation, he returned to England, and on the rupture between Charles I and the Parliament joined the forces of the latter. In 1642 he was appointed General of the Horse, and two years later held a chief command in the army sent to co-operate with the Scots. In 1645, on the resignation of the Earl of Essex, Fairfax became general-in-chief of the Parliamentary army. After the victory at Naseby he marched into the western counties, quelling all opposition, put down the insurgents in Kent and Essex in 1647, and captured Colchester. In April, 1649, he was occupied along with Cromwell in suppressing revolt in the army; but positively declined to march against the Scottish Presbyterians. He was a member of Cromwell's first Parliament. He co-operated in the restoration of Charles II, being one of the committee charged to secure his return.