1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fáy, András

FÁY, ANDRÁS (1786–1864), Hungarian poet and author, was born on the 30th of May 1786, at Kohány in the county of Zemplin, and was educated for the law at the Protestant college of Sárospatak. His Mesék (Fables), the first edition of which appeared at Vienna in 1820, evinced his powers of satire and invention, and won him the well-merited applause of his countrymen. These fables, which, on account of their originality and simplicity, caused Fáy to be regarded as the Hungarian Aesop, were translated into German by Petz (Raab, 1825), and partly into English by E. D. Butler, Hungarian Poems and Fables (London, 1877). Fáy wrote also numerous poems, the chief of which are to be found in the collections Bokréta (Nosegay) (Pest, 1807), and Fris Bokréta (Fresh Nosegay) (Pest, 1818). He also composed plays and romances and tales. In 1835 Fáy was elected to the Hungarian diet, and was for a time the leader of the opposition party. It is to him that the Pest Savings Bank owes its origin, and he was one of the chief founders of the Hungarian National theatre. He died on the 26th of July 1864. His earlier works were collected at Pest (1843–1844, 8 vols.). The most noteworthy of his later works is a humorous novel entitled Jávor orvos és Bakator Ambrus szolgáia (Jávor the Doctor and his servant Ambrose Bakator), (Pest 1855, 2 vols.).