Chapter Fastolfe to Fatherless of F by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Fastolfe to Fatherless

Fastolfe (Sir John), in 1 Henry VI. This is not the “sir John Falstaff” of huge proportions and facetious wit, but the lieutenant-general of the duke of Bedford, and a knight of the Garter.

Here had the conquest fully been sealed up
If sir John Fastolfe had not played the coward;
He being in the vanward …
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
   —Shakespeare: 1 Henry VI. act i. sc. 1 (1589).

From this battell [of Pataie, in France] departed without anie stroke stricken, sir John Fastolfe…. The duke of Bedford tooke from him the image of St. George and his garter.—Holinshed, ii. 601.

Fastrada or Fastrade, daughter of count Rodolph and Luitgarde. She was one of the nine wives of Charlemagne.

Those same soft bells at even-tide
Rang in the ears of Charlemagne,
As seated by Fastrada’s side,
At Ingelhein, in all his pride,
He heard their sound with secret pain.
   —Longfellow: Golden Legend, vi.

Fat (The). Alfonzo II. of Portugal (1185, 1212–1223). Charles II. (le Gros) of France (832–888). Louis VI. (le Gros) of France (1078, 1108–1137).

Edward Bright of Essex weighed 44 stone (616 1bs.) at death (1720–1750). David Lambert of Leicester weighed above 52 stone (739 1bs.) at death (1770–1809).

Fat Boy (The), Joseph or Joe, a lad of astounding obesity, whose employment consisted of alternate eating and sleeping. Joe was in the service of Mr. Wardle. He was once known to “burst into a horse- laugh,” and was once known to defer eating to say to Mary, “How nice you do look!”

This was said in an admiring manner, and was so far gratifying; but still there was enough of the cannibal in the young gentleman’s eyes to render the compliment doubtful.—Dickens: Pickwick Papers, liv. (1836).

Fata Alcina, sister of Fata Morgana. She carried off Astolfo on the back of a whale to her isle, but turned him into a myrtle tree when she tired of him.—Bojardo: Orlando Innamorato (1495); Ariosto: Orlando Furioso (1516).

Fata della Fonti, an enchantress, from whom Mandricardo obtained the arms of Hector.—Bojardo: Orlando Innamorato (1495).

Fata Morgana, sister of Arthur and pupil of Merlin. She lived at the bottom of a lake, and dispensed her treasures to whom she willed. This fairy is introduced by Bojardo in his Orlando Innamorato, first as “lady Fortune,” and afterwards as an enchantress. In Tasso her three daughters (Morganetta, Nivetta, and Carvilia) are introduced.

“Fata Morgana” is the name given to a sort of mirage occasionally seen in the straits of Messina.

Fata Nera and Fata Bianca, protectresses of Guidonê and Aquilantê.—Bojardo: Orlando Innamorato (1495).

Fata Silvanella, an enchantress in Orlando Innamorato, by Bojardo (1495).

Fatal Curiosity, an epilogue in Don Quixote (pt. I. iv. 5, 6). The subject of this tale is the trial of a wife’s fidelity. Anselmo, a Florentine gentleman, had married Camilla, and, wishing to rejoice over her incorruptible fidelity, induced his friend Lothario to put it to the test. The lady was not trial-proof, but eloped with Lothario. The end was that Anselmo died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle, and Camilla died in a convent (1605).

Fatal Curiosity, by George Lillo. Young Wilmot, supposed to have perished at sea, goes to India, and, having made his fortune, returns to England. He instantly visits Charlotte, whom he finds still faithful and devotedly attached to him. He then in disguise visits his parents, with whom he deposits a casket. Agnes Wilmot, out of curiosity, opens the casket, and when she discovers that it contains jewels, she