FISKE. 688 FISKE. nected with the editorial stall of the New York Times, in 1900 he became a member of the stafl of the New York Mail and Express. His publi cations number: Midnight Talks at the Club ( 1890) ; Beyond the Bourn ( 1891 I ; The •/• u - h Scriptures (1896); The Myths of Israel (1897); Tin Story of the Philippines (1898); and The West Indies (in the "Story of the Nations," 1899). FISKE, Daniel Willard (1831 1904). Vn American scholar, horn in Ellisburg, Jefferson County, N. Y. He was educated at Hamilton Col- lege, but left before graduating to go abroad and devote his time to a jtudy of the Scandinavian language and literature. He spent the years 184U-52 at the University of Upsala, supporting himself by teaching English and lecturing on American literature. From 1852 to 1859 he was an assistant in the Astor Library, New York City, and devoted much of his attention to gath- ering its valuable Scandinavian collection. He edited the American Chess Monthly (1857-60), and published The Book of the American (.'liess Congress (1859). In 1801-62 he was an attache of the American Legation at Vienna, under John Lothrop Motley. He was editor of the Syracuse (N. Y.) Daily Journal in 1864-66, and of the Hartford (Conn.) Courant in 1867-68. In the latter year he was elected professor of North European languages and librarian at Cornell University. In 1881 he resigned, and removed to Florence, Italy. He presented to Cornell a very valuable Dante collection, for the catalogue of which he wrote a noteworthy introduction. FISKE, John (1842-1901). An American philosopher and historian. His original name was Edwin Fiske Green, but on the second mar- riage of his mother (1855) he assumed the name of his maternal great-grandfather, John Fiske. He was born at Hartford, Conn., March 30, 1842. As a child lie exhibited remarkable precocity. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1863, and at the Harvard Law School in 1865; but he never practiced law, having already, in 1861, inaugu- rated his literary career by an article on Mr. Buckle's fallacies, in the National Quarterly Re- vii w. In 1S69 he began a career of distin- guished success as a lecturer at Harvard, his general subject being Philosophy in Its Evolu- tionary Aspect. In 1870 he was made instructor in history there, and in 1872 assistant librarian, a post which he resigned in 1879. In 1884 he was made professor of American history in Wash- ington University, Saint Louis, having held a lectureship there since 1881, and lectured annu- ally for some years, though continuing to reside in Cambridge. His reputation was already inter- national, for he had lectured on American his- tory at University College, London, in 1879, and at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in Isso. During the earlier part of his career his interest was very largely absorbed by the study of evolution, and it was as a popularizer of its phi- losophy that he first won a national reputation, through Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy (1874). Essays and studies on allied subjects appeared under the titles: Myths and Muth Makers (1872); The Unseen World (1876): Darwinism ami oilier Essays (1879: revised and enlarged. 1885) ; Excursions of am Evolutionist i 1883) ; 7'/ie Drstini/ of Man Viewed in the Light of His Origin (1884) ; and The Idea of Cod as Affected Vol. VII. — 44. by Modern Knowledgi (1885). This lasi work, supplemented by his Origin o) Evil 1899) d be regarded a a SnaJ i pitomi oi [ious and philosophic views. American Political Id Viewed from thi Standpoint oj ' nwersal History was published in 1885, and with this began fifteen years devoted to invest 1 igal ions in An can history, which must be regarded a at once the must popular and the mo I ■ a luabli o1 his contributions to American literature and to the molding oi I he ual ional life. His con in book form to the history of hie country were: A Critical Pi i iod oj 1 >n< p i< an Histoi y t I 1888) : The Beginnings o/ < »• England I 1889) ; Tin War o] Independence, a book for young pie i 1889) ; OM 'I Got ernmt ni o/ thi I nited States (1890); The American Revolution (2 vols.. 1891) ; The Discovery 0/ America (2 vols., 1892); A United States History for Scho (1895); Old Virginia and Her Neighbors (2 vols., 1897); Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America (2 vols., 1899); Essays, Literary and Historical (1902); and New I'ranee and New England (1902). These various works may be said to constitute practically a connected history of the United States from the first die eoveries to the establishment of federal govern- ment. In addition, he edited, with Gen. James Grant Wilson, Applet on' s Cyclopaedia of Ameri- can Biography (1887). It is less as an in-
obligator, however, than as an educative force
that he is to be esteemed. More than any other writer of his generation he brought home to the national consciousness a philosophic view of American history, by his remarkable power fur lucid statement of balanced judgments. To his zeal of acquisition was joined an equal zeal to impart, and his admirable style made the work of following him anything but labor. He died prematurely, worn out by overwork, at Glouces- ter, Mass., July 4, 1901. FISKE, Minnie Maddern (1865—). A prom- inent American actress, born in New Orleans, of theatrical parents, her father. Thomas Davev, being a manager. Maddern was her mother's family name. From infancy her life was large- ly spent in the theatre, and at three years she made her regular appearance upon the stage. Throughout her childhood she played at times with many well-known actors like Laura Keene, John McCullough, and, later, Barry Sullivan and E. L. Davenport. Occasionally she even took old women's parts, and at thirteen appeared as the Widow Melnotte .with great success. When sixteen years old Miss Maddern was brought out as a star (May. 1882, in Fogg's Ferry), and thus for several years she won some success ; but. her roles were not on the whole well suited to her. In March, 1890, she was married to Harri- son Grey Fiske, and retired for over three years of rest anil study. In the fall of 1893 she re- appeared in New York in her husband's Hester I'reie, ; she played also the part of Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House, and later for some time resumed her Western tours. In 1807 she made a sensation in Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Since then she has appeared in A Bit of Old Chel Little Italy; Frou Frou; Vagda; and other plays, of which her Becky Sharp (1899) is con- sidered tier greatest achievement. Tn the season of 1901-02 she opened the Manhattan Theatre as an independent New York play-house, where she
