Freiligrath (Ferdinand) German poet, b. Detmold 17 June, 1810. In '35 he acquired notice by some poems. In '44 he published his profession of faith Mein Glaubensbekenntniss, and was forced to fly the country. In '48 he returned and joined Karl Marx on the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Again prosecuted he took refuge in London, devoting his leisure to poetry and translation. Freiligrath holds a high place among the poets of his time. Died Kannstadt, near Stuttgart, 18 March 1876. Fréret (Nicolas), French historical critic, b. 15 Feb. 1688. He was a pupil of Rollin, and was patronised by Boulainvilliers. Distinguished by his attainments in ancient history, philosophy and chronology, he became member of the Academy of Inscriptions 1714. For a Discourse on the "Origin of the Franks," he was incarcerated for four months in the Bastille. While here he read Bayle so often that he could repeat much from memory. He was an unbeliever, and the author of the atheistic Letters from Thrasybulus to Leucippe on Natural and Revealed Religion, and perhaps of La Moisade, a criticism of the Pentateuch, translated by D. I. Eaton, as A Preservative against Religious Prejudices. The Letters to Eugenie, attributed to Fréret, were written by D'Holbach, and the Critical Examination of the Apologists of the Christian Religion by J. Levesque de Burigny. A Critical Examination of the New Testament, 1777 which long circulated in MS. has also been wrongly attributed to Fréret. Died at Paris, 8 March, 1749. Frey (William), the adopted name of a Russian Positivist and philanthropist, b. of noble family, the son of a general, 1839. Educated at the higher military school, St. Petersburg, he became teacher in a Government High School, and disgusted with the oppression and degradation of his country he went to New York in 1866 where he established co-operative communities and also Russian colonies in Kansas and Oregon. In 1884 he came to London in order to influence his countrymen. In '87 he revisited Russia. Died 6 Nov. 1888. Fries (Jacob Friedrich), German philosopher, b. Barby, 23 Aug. 1773. Brought up as a Moravian, he became a Deist. Fries is of the Neo-Kantian rationalistic school. Among his writings are a System of Metaphysics, 1824; a Manual of the Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Æsthetics, Heidelberg '32; in which he resolves religion into poetry. He criticised Kant's proofs of God and immortality, and wrote a History of Philosophy. Died Jena, 10 Aug. 1843.