=Fle´ance,= in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is the son of Banquo, one of Duncan’s trusted generals, and beloved and honored by Macbeth until the witches’ prophecy promises him the crown for which Macbeth has murdered the king. Macbeth resolves to destroy Banquo and his son, but while the father is murdered the son escapes, and the death-blow is given to Macbeth’s hope of an undisputed succession. Thus far the play; the chronicle makes Fleance become in time the Lord High Steward (Stewart, Stuart) of Scotland, and the ancestor of the House of Stuart which gave James I. to the English throne. James was very proud of this descent from Shakespeare’s Banquo, whose character was evidently drawn to flatter the king, since the Banquo of Holinshed’s Chronicle, from which the main of the play is drawn, is Macbeth’s partner in the murder of Duncan. =Flecknoe= (_Richard_), poet-laureate to Charles II., author of dramas, poems, and other works. As a poet his name stands on a level with Bavius and Mævius. Dryden says of him: ... he reigned without dispute Thro’ all the realms of nonsense absolute. Dryden, _M’Flecnoe_ (1682). (It was not Flecknoe but Shadwell that Dryden wished to castigate in this satire. The offence was that Dryden was removed from the post of laureate, and Shadwell appointed in his place. The angry ex-laureate says, with more point than truth, that, “Shadwell never deviates into sense.”) =Fleda.= A winning child who grows into the lovely heroine of Susan Warner’s novel _Queechy_ (1852). Her simple faith and unaffected piety lead Mr. Carleton, a skeptical Englishman, into the right path. After many years and vicissitudes the two meet again in New York and are married in England. =Fledge´by= (2 _syl._), an over-reaching, cowardly sneak, who conceals his dirty bill-broking under the trade name of Pubsey and Co. He is soundly thrashed by Alfred Lammle, and quietly pockets the affront.—C. Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864). =Fleecebump´kin= (3 _syl._), bailiff of Mr. Ireby, the country squire.—Sir W. Scott, _The Two Drovers_ (time, George III.). =Fleece´em= (_Mrs._), meant for Mrs. Rudd, a smuggler, thief, milliner, matchmaker and procuress.—Sam. Foote, _The Cozeners_. =Fleetwood= or _The New Man of Feeling_, the hero of a novel so named by W. Godwin (1805). =Flemings= (_The Farmer_). Yeoman-farmer of Kent, dull, honest plodder. _Dahlia_. Lovely girl, who goes off with _Edward Blancove_, believing herself married to him. Discovering the deception, she returns to the farm, and resumes her old life. When the penitent lover seeks her and would marry her, she refuses. “She has left her heart among the ashes of the fire” that consumed her youth and honor. _Rhoda._ Devoted sister who seeks Dahlia until she is found, and cherishes her tenderly through life. Rhoda marries a farmer, and Dahlia lives for seven years as her housemate. George Meredith, _Rhoda Fleming_ (1888).