their principal leaders. Armfelt escaped in time, so Fersen fell the victim.
See R. M. Klinckowström, Le Comte de Fersen et la cour de France (Paris, 1877; Eng. ed., London, 1902); Historia om Axel von Fersens mord (Stockholm, 1844); R. N. Bain, Gustavus III., vol. ii. (London, 1895); P. Gaulot, Un Ami de la reine (Paris, 1892); F. F. Flach, Grefve Hans Axel von Fersen (Stockholm, 1896); E. Tegner, Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, vol. iii. (Stockholm, 1883–1887). (R. N. B.)
FESCA, FREDERIC ERNEST (1789–1826), German violinist
and composer of instrumental music, was born on the 15th of
February 1789 at Magdeburg, where he received his early musical
education. He completed his studies at Leipzig under Eberhard
Müller, and at the early age of fifteen appeared before the public
with several concerti for the violin, which were received with
general applause, and resulted in his being appointed leading
violinist of the Leipzig orchestra. This position he occupied till
1806, when he became concert-master to the duke of Oldenburg.
In 1808 he was appointed solo-violinist by King Jerome of Westphalia
at Cassel, and there he remained till the end of the French
occupation (1814), when he went to Vienna, and soon afterwards
to Carlsruhe, having been appointed concert-master to the grand-duke
of Baden. His failing health prevented him from enjoying
the numerous and well-deserved triumphs he owed to his art,
and in 1826 he died of consumption at the early age of thirty-seven.
As a virtuoso Fesca ranks amongst the best masters
of the German school of violinists, the school subsequently of
Spohr and of Joachim. Especially as leader of a quartet he is
said to have been unrivalled with regard to classic dignity and
simplicity of style. Amongst his compositions, his quartets for
stringed instruments and other pieces of chamber music are the
most remarkable. His two operas, Cantemira and Omar and Leila,
were less successful, lacking dramatic power and originality.
He also wrote some sacred compositions, and numerous songs
and vocal quartets.
FESCENNIA, an ancient city of Etruria, which is probably to be placed immediately to the N. of the modern Corchiano, 6 m. N.W. of Civita Castellana (see Falerii). The Via Amerina traverses it. G. Dennis (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, London, 1883, i. 115) proposed to place it at the Riserva S. Silvestro, 3 m. E. of Corchiano, nearer the Tiber, where remains of Etruscan walls exist. At Corchiano itself, however, similar walls may be traced, and the site is a strong and characteristic one—a triangle between two deep ravines, with the third (west) side cut off by a ditch. Here, too, remains of two bridges may be seen, and several rich tombs have been excavated.
See A. Buglione, “Conte di Monale,” in Römische Mitteilungen (1887), p. 21 seq.
FESCENNINE VERSES (Fescennina carmina), one of the earliest kinds of Italian poetry, subsequently developed into the Satura and the Roman comic drama. Originally sung at village harvest-home rejoicings, they made their way into the towns, and became the fashion at religious festivals and private gatherings—especially weddings, to which in later times they were practically restricted. They were usually in the Saturnian metre and took the form of a dialogue, consisting of an interchange of extemporaneous raillery. Those who took part in them wore masks made of the bark of trees. At first harmless and good-humoured, if somewhat coarse, these songs gradually outstripped the bounds of decency; malicious attacks were made upon both gods and men, and the matter became so serious that the law intervened and scurrilous personalities were forbidden by the Twelve Tables (Cicero, De re publica, iv. 10). Specimens of the Fescennines used at weddings are the Epithalamium of Manlius (Catullus, lxi. 122) and the four poems of Claudian in honour of the marriage of Honorius and Maria; the first, however, is distinguished by a licentiousness which is absent in the latter. Ausonius in his Cento nuptialis mentions the Fescennines of Annianus Faliscus, who lived in the time of Hadrian. Various derivations have been proposed for Fescennine. According to Festus, they were introduced from Fescennia in Etruria, but there is no reason to assume that any particular town was specially devoted to the use of such songs. As an alternative Festus suggests a connexion with fascinum, either because the Fescennina were regarded as a protection against evil influences (see Munro, Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus, p. 76) or because fascinum (= phallus), as the symbol of fertility, would from early times have been naturally associated with harvest festivals. H. Nettleship, in an article on “The Earliest Italian Literature” (Journal of Philology, xi. 1882), in support of Munro’s view, translates the expression “verses used by charmers,” assuming a noun fescennus, connected with fas fari.
The locus classicus in ancient literature is Horace, Epistles, ii. 1. 139; see also Virgil, Georgics, ii. 385; Tibullus ii. 1. 55; E. Hoffmann, “Die Fescenninen,” in Rheinisches Museum, li. p. 320 (1896); art. Latin Literature.
FESCH, JOSEPH (1763–1839), cardinal, was born at Ajaccio on the 3rd of January 1763. His father, a Swiss officer in the service of the Genoese Republic, had married the mother of Laetitia Bonaparte, after the decease of her first husband. Fesch therefore stood almost in the relation of an uncle to the young Bonapartes, and after the death of Lucien Bonaparte,
archdeacon of Ajaccio, he became for a time the protector and patron of the family. In the year 1789, when the French Revolution broke out, he was archdeacon of Ajaccio, and, like the majority of the Corsicans, he felt repugnance for many of the acts of the French government during that period; in particular
he protested against the application to Corsica of the act
known as the “Civil Constitution of the Clergy” (July 1790).
As provost of the “chapter” in that city he directly felt the
pressure of events; for on the suppression of religious orders
and corporations, he was constrained to retire into private life.
Thereafter he shared the fortunes of the Bonaparte family in the intrigues and strifes which ensued. Drawn gradually by that family into espousing the French cause against Paoli and the Anglophiles, he was forced to leave Corsica and to proceed with Laetitia and her son to Toulon, in the early part of the autumn of 1793. Failing to find clerical duties at that time (the period of the Terror), he entered civil life, and served in various capacities, until on the appointment of Napoleon Bonaparte to the command of the French “Army of Italy” he became a commissary attached to that army. This part of his career is obscure and without importance. His fortunes rose rapidly on the attainment of the dignity of First Consul by his former charge, Napoleon, after the coup d’état of Brumaire (November 1799). Thereafter, when the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion was in the mind of the First Consul, Fesch resumed his clerical vocation and took an active part in the complex negotiations which led to the signing of the Concordat with the Holy See on the 15th of July 1801. His reward came in the prize of the archbishopric of Lyons, on the duties of which he entered in August 1802. Six months later he received a still more signal reward for his past services, being raised to the dignity of cardinal.
In 1804 on the retirement of Cacault from the position of French ambassador at Rome, Fesch received that important appointment. He was assisted by Châteaubriand, but soon sharply differed with him on many questions. Towards the close of the year 1804 Napoleon entrusted to Fesch the difficult task of securing the presence of Pope Pius VII. at the forthcoming coronation of the emperor at Notre Dame, Paris (Dec. 2nd, 1804). His tact in overcoming the reluctance of the pope to be present at the coronation (it was only eight months after the execution of the duc d’Enghien) received further recognition. He received the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour, became grand-almoner of the empire and had a seat in the French senate. He was to receive further honours. In 1806 one of the most influential of the German clerics, Karl von Dalberg, then prince bishop of Regensburg, chose him to be his coadjutor and designated him as his successor.
Events, however, now occurred which overclouded his prospects. In the course of the years 1806–1807 Napoleon came into sharp collision with the pope on various matters both political and religious. Fesch sought in vain to reconcile the two potentates. Napoleon was inexorable in his demands, and Pius VII. refused to give way where the discipline and
