_Foppington_ (_Lord_), elder brother of Tom Fashion. A selfish coxcomb, engaged to be married to Miss Hoyden, daughter of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, to whom he is personally unknown. His brother Tom, to whom he did not behave well, resolved to outwit him; and passing himself off as Lord Foppington, got introduced to the family, and married the heiress. When his lordship appeared, he was treated as an impostor, till Tom explained his ruse; and Sir Tunbelly, being snubbed by the coxcomb, was soon brought to acquiesce in the change, and gave his hand to his new son-in-law with cordiality. The favorite oaths of Lord Foppington are: “Strike me dumb!” “Strike me ugly!” “Stap my vitals!” “Split my windpipe!” “Rat me!”, etc.; and, in speaking, his affectation is to change the vowel “o” into _a_, as _rat_, _naw_, _resalve_, _waurld_, _ardered_, _manth_, _paund_, _maunth_, _lang_, _philasapher_, _tarture_, and so on.—Sheridan, _A Trip to Scarborough_ (1777). ⁂ This comedy is _The Relapse_, slightly altered and curtailed. =Forbes= (_Paul_), A travelled man who thinks himself blasé, but finds, to his surprise, new sensations in America. The leading excitement (and surprise) is his falling in love with a rich and beautiful girl and a poor and pretty one at the same time. Miriam, the rich beauty, divines the truth and her plan for freeing him is thus described by Edward Jasper, whom she married out of hand one evening. “She was not happy—she resolved to throw herself into the abyss. _I_ am the abyss.” Forbes replies: “Since at this hour yesterday I had the honor to consider myself engaged to Miss Reese, who is now your wife, the most graceful act on my part is apparently, to efface myself. Accordingly, I efface myself.”—Ellen Olney Kirk, _Sons and Daughters_ (1887). =Ford=, a gentleman of fortune living at Windsor. He assumes the name of Brook, and being introduced to Sir John Falstaff, the knight informs him “of his whole course of wooing,” and how at one time he eluded Mrs. Ford’s jealous husband by being carried out before his eyes in a buck-basket of dirty linen.—Act iii. sc. 5. _Mrs. Ford_, wife of Mr. Ford. Sir John Falstaff pays court to her, and she pretends to accept his protestations of love, in order to expose and punish him. Her husband assumes for the nonce the name of Brook, and Sir John tells him from time to time the progress of his suit, and how he succeeds in duping her fool of a husband.—Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1596). =Forde´lis= (3 _syl._), wife of Bran´dimart (Orlando’s intimate friend). When Brandimart was slain, Fordelis dwelt for a time in his sepulchre in Sicily, and died broken-hearted. (See FOURDELIS.)—Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1615).