FREEMAN, EDWARD AUGUSTUS (1823-1892).--Historian, _s._ of John F., was _b._ at Harborne, Staffordshire. He lost both his parents in childhood, and was brought up by his paternal grandmother. He was _ed._ at private schools, and as a private pupil of the Rev. R. Gutch, whose _dau._ he afterwards _m._ In 1841 he was elected to a scholarship at Oxf. He had inherited an income sufficient to make him independent of a profession, and a prepossession in favour of the celibacy of the clergy disinclined him to enter the Church, of which he had at one time thought. He settled ultimately at Somerleaze, near Wells, where he occupied himself in study, writing for periodicals, and with the duties of a magistrate. He was a strong Liberal, and on one occasion stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Parliament. He was also twice unsuccessful as an applicant for professional chairs, but ultimately, in 1884, succeeded Stubbs as Prof. of Modern History at Oxf. He had always been an enthusiastic traveller, and it was when on a tour in Spain that he took ill and _d._ on May 16, 1892. F. was a voluminous author, and a keen controversialist. His first book was a _History of Architecture_ (1849), and among the very numerous publications which he issued the most important were _History of Federal Government_ (1863), _The History of the Norman Conquest_ (6 vols., 1867-79), _The Historical Geography of Europe_ (1881-2), _The Reign of William Rufus_ (1882), and an unfinished _History of Sicily_. Besides these he wrote innumerable articles in periodicals, many of which were separately _pub._ and contain much of his best work. He was laborious and honest, but the controversial cast of his mind sometimes coloured his work. His short books, such as his _William I._, and his _General Sketch of European History_, are marvels of condensation, and show him at his best. His knowledge of history was singularly wide, and he sometimes showed a great power of vivid presentation. FRENEAU, PHILIP (1752-1832).--Poet, _b._ in New York, produced two vols. of verse (1786-8), the most considerable contribution to poetry made up to that date in America. He fought in the Revolutionary War, was taken prisoner, and confined in a British prison-ship, the arrangements of which he bitterly satirised in _The British Prison Ship_ (1781). He also wrote vigorous prose, of which _Advice to Authors_ is an example. Amid much commonplace and doggerel, F. produced a small amount of genuine poetry in his short pieces, such as _The Indian Burying Ground_, and _The Wild Honeysuckle_.