Chapter Fathom to Feeble of F by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Fathom to Feeble

Fathom (Ferdinand count), a villain who robs his benefactors, pillages any one, but is finally forgiven and assisted.—Smollett: The Adventures of Ferdinand count Fathom (1754). (The gang being absent, an old beldame conveys the count to a rude apartment to sleep in. Here he found the dead body of a man lately stabbed and concealed in some straw; and the account of his sensations during the night, the horrid device by which he saved his life (by lifting the corpse into his own bed), and his escape guided by the hag, is terrifically tragic.) The robber-scene in the old woman’s hut, in Count Fathom, though often imitated since, still remains one of the most impressive and agitating night-pieces of its kind.—Encyclopadia Britannica (article “Romance”).

There is a “Fathom” in The Hunchback, a play by Knowles (1831).

FATIMA, daughter of Mahomet, and one of the four perfect women. The other three are Khadijah, the prophet’s first wife; Mary, daughter of Imrân; and Asia, wife of that Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea.

Fatima, a holy woman of China, who lived a hermit’s life. There was “no one affected with headache whom she did not cure by simply laying her hands on them.” An African magician induced this devotee to lend him her clothes and stick, and to make him the facsimile of herself. He then murdered her, and got introduced into the palace of Aladdin. Aladdin, being informed of the trick, pretended to have a bad headache, and when the false Fatima approached under the pretence of curing it, he plunged a dagger into the heart of the magician and killed him.—Arabian Nights (“Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp”).

Fatima, the mother of prince Camaralzaman. Her husband was Schahzaman sultan of the “Isle of the Children of Khaledan, some twenty days’ sail from the coast of Persia, in the open sea.”—Arabian Nights (“Camaralzaman and Badoura”).

Fatima, the last of Bluebeard’s wives. She was saved from death by the timely arrival of her brothers with a party of friends.—Perrault: Contes de Fées (1697).

Fatimite. The Third Fatimite, the caliph Hakem B’amr-ellah, who professed to be incarnate deity, and the last prophet who had communication between God and man. He was the founder of the Druses (q.v.).

What say you does this wizard style himself—
Hakeem Biamrallah, the Third Fatimite?
   —R. Browning: The Return of the Druses, v.

Faulconbridge (Philip), called “the Bastard,” natural son of king Richard I. and lady Robert Faulconbridge. An admirable admixture of greatness and levity, daring and recklessness. He was generous and open- hearted, but hated foreigners like a true-born islander.—Shakespeare: King John (1596).

Faulconrie (The Booke of), by George Turberville (1575).

Faulkland, the over-anxious lover of Julia [Melville], always fretting and tormenting himself about her whims, spirit, health, life. Every feature in the sky, every shift of the wind, was a source of anxiety to him. If she was gay, he fretted that she should care so little for his absence; if she was low-spirited, he feared she was going to die; if she danced with another, he was jealous; if she didn’t, she was out of sorts.—Sheridan: The Rivals (1775). (See Falkland, p. 354.)

Fault-bag. A fable says that every man has a bag hanging before him in which he puts his neighbours’ faults, and another behind him in which he stows his own.

Oh that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of your good selves!—Shakespeare: Coriolanus, act il. sc. 1 (1609).

Faultless Painter (The), Andrea del Sarto (1488–1530).—R. Browning: Andrea del Sarto.