Chapter Fletcher to Ford of F by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

agreeable and entertaining in the highest degree. Among his best works are An Auction of Pictures, The Liar, and The Mayor of Garratt (1763), The Lame Lover (1770), The Knights (1749), Author (suppressed) 1757, Devil upon Two Sticks (1768), The Nabob (1779), The Capuchin (1776).

Forbes, James David (1809-1868).—Natural Philosopher, son of Sir William Forbes, of Pitsligo, was born and educated at Edinburgh He studied law, and was called to the Bar, but devoted himself to science, in which he gained a great reputation both as a discoverer and teacher. He was Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh, 1833-1859, when he succeeded Sir D. Brewster, as Principal of the United College at St. Andrews. He was one of the founders of the British Association in 1831. His scientific investigations and discoveries embraced the subjects of heat, light, polarisation, and specially glaciers. In connection with the last of these he wrote Travels through the Alps (1843), Norway and its Glaciers (1853), Tour of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa (1855), and Papers on the Theory of Glaciers.

Ford, John (circa 1586?).—Dramatist, born probably at Ilsington, Devonshire, was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1602, and appears to have practised as a lawyer. His chief plays are The Lover’s Melancholy (1629), ’Tis Pity, The Broken Heart, and Love’s Sacrifice (1633), Perkin Warbeck (1634), The Lady’s Trial (1639), and Fancies Chaste and Noble (1638). He also collaborated with Dekker and Rowley in The Witch of Edmonton (1624). Ford has a high position as a dramatist, though rather for general intellectual power and austere beauty of thought than for strictly dramatic qualities. C. Lamb says, “F. was of the first order of poets.” He had little humour; his plays, though the subjects are painful, and sometimes horrible, are full of pensive tenderness expressed in gently flowing verse. The date of his death is uncertain.