ANDREW, of Saltoun, a conspicuous political and social figure in Scotland during the latter half of the seventeenth century, was born in 1653 at Saltoun, in East Lothian, memorable also as the birth-place of Dunbar, the greatest of the old Scottish poets. The minister of the parish to whose care the education of the young Fletcher was intrusted was Gilbert Burnet, afterwards the celebrated bishop of Salisbury. It is not unlikely that from this preceptor Fletcher's mind received that political direction which he pursued in after life with such undeviating consistency. He certainly acquired, under Burnet's care, that knowledge of the Greek and Roman classics which afterwards supplied him with precedents for those political ideas which it was the main object of his life to realize in his native land. On reaching manhood Fletcher visited the Continent and spent several years in examining the laws and institutions of the leading European states. He then returned home, and in 1681 took his seat in the Scottish parliament as commissioner for the shire of East Lothian, and distinguished himself by the bitter and inflexible spirit in which he opposed the tyrannical tendencies of Charles the Second's government. Soon after he found it necessary to retire to Holland, at that time the general resort of all British political malcontents. In consequence of this step he was outlawed and his estate was confiscated. In 1683 he ventured over to England; but not being able to effect anything at that time, returned to the Continent, where he waited for two years till the Duke of Monmouth had completed his arrangements for a descent upon England. In this expedition Fletcher took part, but shortly after the landing at Lyme in Dorsetshire he had the misfortune to kill the mayor of that town in a quarrel, and was obliged in consequence once more to seek safety abroad. He fled to Spain; was there thrown into prison, from which he escaped in a manner (according to the traditionary accounts) savouring somewhat of the miraculous; and after a long pedestrian tour through that country passed into Hungary, where he joined the army as a volunteer, and distinguished himself by his daring and military capacity in the Turkish campaigns. On returning to the Hague he took an active part in forwarding the scheme of the English Revolution; and in 1688 returned to his native country. He immediately regained possession of his estate, and sat as a member, first in the Scottish Convention, and afterwards in the parliament. His intractable temper, and the jealousy with which he watched over the interests of Scotland, soon led him to oppose the government of William as stoutly and vehemently as he used to denounce and resist the encroachments of that monarch's two immediate predecessors. To the very last he held out against the Union of the two kingdoms; and when, very much to his chagrin, that measure was effected, he proposed in one of his works twelve Limitations, which he was strongly of opinion should be observed in the political relations of England and Scotland. Failing to secure the adoption of these, he retired from public life altogether, under the melancholy idea that he had survived not only his country's glory but her very existence as an independent nation. He died at London in 1716.

In a contemporary record, prefixed to one of the editions of his works, Fletcher is described as a "low thin man, of a brown complexion, with a stern, sour look, and fifty years old." The stern earnestness of his republicanism, according to this same writer, "made him oppose King Charles, invade King James, and oppose the giving so much power to King William, whom he never would serve; nor does he ever come into the administration of this Queen, but stands up a stout pillar for the constitution of the parliament of Scotland." On religious topics, however, it seems that his views were somewhat more liberal; for it is added, "His thoughts are large as to religion, and could never be brought within the bonds of any particular sect." His temper was so untractable as on many occasions to lead him to excesses utterly unwarrantable. One of the most notable instances of this was his murder of the mayor of Lyme, who merely attempted to remonstrate, when Fletcher, without asking leave, took possession of a horse belonging to that official, when he rode into Monmouth's camp with a view to aiding that adventurer in his attempt on the English crown. Less disastrous in its consequences, but equally characteristic, was Fletcher's conduct to Lord Stair, when he collared that nobleman, and threatened him with personal violence in the parliament house merely for letting drop a few words which Fletcher believed to reflect on him. To his political creed he adhered with unyielding consistency till his death, and, according to the testimony of Lockhart of Carnwath, "was so exceedingly wedded to his own opinions that there were few (and those, too, must be his beloved friends, and of whom he had a good opinion) he could endure to reason against him, and did for the most part so closely and unalterably adhere to what he advanced, which was frequently very singular, that he'd break with his party before he'd alter the least jot of his scheme and maxims." It is hard to decide whether his hatred of monarchical governments, or of England and the Union, was the most intense. Lockhart, however, believes that his aversion to the latter was so great that "in revenge to them he'd have sided with the royal family." He was, however, both by birth and temper, completely aristocratic in his tendencies, and it is said "liked, commended, and conversed with high-flying Tories more than any other set of men, acknowledging them to be the best countrymen and of most honour and integrity." Still, however, the general character both of his writings and of his political career was such as to entitle him to a high place among the advocates of British democracy. His personal character is absolutely free from every taint of meanness or dishonesty. In the words of Lockhart, "he hated and despised whatever was mean or unbecoming a gentleman, and was so steadfast to what he thought right that no hazard or advantage—not the universal empire nor the gold of America—could tempt him to yield or desert it."

Fletcher was a man of very considerable accomplishments. He was a complete master of the Latin, Greek, Italian, French, and Spanish tongues, and was well versed in history and civil law. His writings also in point of literary quality reach a high, sometimes even a remarkable, degree of excellence. The sagacity of his remarks, the freshness, energy, and occasional eloquence of his style, and the singular felicity of many isolated expressions, give a charm to his writings which compensates in a certain measure for the narrowness of view and illiberal bigotry with which they have been often charged. The most important of his works are—A Discourse of Government with relation to Militias, Edin., 1698; Two Discourses concerning the affairs of Scotland, Edin., 1698; Discorso delle Cose di Spagna, Napoli, 1698; Speeches by a Member of the Parliament which began at Edinburgh the 6th of May 1703, Edin., 1703; An Account of a Conversation concerning a right regulation of Governments for the common good of Mankind, Edin., 1704. In the last of these works, in which the interlocutors are Sir Edward Seymour, Sir Charles Musgrave, the Earl of Cromarty, and Fletcher himself, occurs for the first time in English literature the oft-quoted remark of the superiority of the national ballad-maker to the national legislator. In the discourse on the affairs of Scotland a singular proposal is found, to the effect that the poor ought to be provided for by the resuscitation of a scheme of slavery such as the author believed to subsist among the ancient Greeks and Romans. The life of Fletcher was written in the style rather of a panegyrist than of a critical biographer by the late Earl of Buchan. His works, which in their original and detached form are now very rare, were collected and published in 1737, under the title of *The Political Works of Andrea Fletcher, Esq.*

(Earl of Buchan's *Essay on the Life and Writings of Fletcher of Saltoun*; Chambers's *Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen*, &c., &c.)

Giles and Phineas, two celebrated religious poets of England, were the sons of Dr Giles Fletcher, English ambassador in 1558 at the court of Russia, and the cousins of the distinguished dramatist, John Fletcher.

Giles, the elder of the two brothers, was born about the year 1590; was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; took orders in the Church of England, and died in 1623 at his living of Alderton in Suffolk. The only poem which he has left us consists of four several parts, joined together under the common title of "Christ's Victory and Triumphs." It is a kind of narrative of the redemption of man, reminding us to some extent of Milton's epic, and bearing, in form at least, a still more striking resemblance to that of Spenser. The animation of the narrative, the liveliness of the fancy, and the deep pathos that pervades the whole work, contribute to make it in its totality one of the most beautiful religious poems in any language, and, as Southey remarks, "will preserve the author's name while there is any praise."

It has been complained that it abounds too much in allegory; and though this charge may be partly true, the interest of the poem is admirably maintained to the last. The work itself is written in a sort of variety of the Spenserian stanza, and its beauties are set in phraseology so marked and peculiar as to be readily recognised wherever quoted. This characteristic is still more striking from the antitheses and apparent paradoxes in which Fletcher delighted. Such lines as the following occur frequently throughout this poem:

"The silence of the thought loud-speaking hears;" "The death of life, end of eternity;" "The obsequies of him that could not die."

Phineas, the younger brother of Giles, was born about 1584; entered King's College, Cambridge, in 1600; graduated there and took orders in the church, and in 1621 became vicar of Hilgay in Norfolk, where he died about 1660. His principal work—*The Purple Island*; or, *The Isle of Man*—is the nearest thing in English literature to an imitation of Spenser. It is confessedly an allegory, intended to symbolize all the functions of the human mind and body, especially the latter, and is quite unworthy of the fame it once enjoyed. It is wearisome throughout; and though it contains occasional passages of much beauty, it can hardly be said, on the whole, to repay perusal. Phineas Fletcher wrote, besides *The Purple Island*, some eclogues, a drama entitled *Sicelides*, and a poem in Latin hexameters, called *De Literatis antiquae Britanniae, praesertim qui doctrinae claruerunt, quique collegii Cantabrigiensis fundarunt*.

John. See BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.