FORDIIN, JorrN OF. Nothing more is certainly known of this early Scottish chroni cler, than that he was a secular priest, and wrote about the year 1380. It has been inferred from his name that lie was born at Fordun, in Kincardineshire, and it has been said that lie was a canon Of the cathedral church of Aberdeen. Having proposed to himself the compilation of a chronicle pf Scotland, he is said to have traveled on foot through Britain and Ireland in search of materials. He lived to write only five books of his Scotichronicon, bringing the history down to the death of kin.. David I. in 1153. He left collections extending to the year about which time lie is supposed to have died. The work which Johnof F. had left unfinished was resumed in the year 1441 by Walter Bower, abbot of the monastery of Austin canons regnhti•, at Inch Colm, or St. Colm's Inch, in the firth of Forth. He enlarged the five books which F. had com pleted, and making use of his collections so far as they went, wrote 11 new books, bringing the Scotichronicom down to the year 1437; but he also made many arbitrary alterations which present thinms in quite a different light from F.'s narrative. The work is the chief authority for the history of Scotland prior to the 15th c. ; its value greatest during the 14th, when it is contemporary. It exists in upwards of 20 MSS., the principal of which is preserved in. the Wolfenbilttel library.. Four printed editions have been published, but the best is that edited by W. F. Skene (2 vets., Edin
burgh, 1871-72), from the text of the Wolfenbilttel and other standard MSS. Bower's interpolations and additions are separated from F.'s text.
FORE (i.e., first), a term applied to the front or foremost part of a ship. The fore hold is that part of the hold intervening between the cutwater and the foremast. The forecastle is that portion of the upper deck extending from the'foremast to the bow; it is the part to which the common sailors have free access, and probably derives its name from a small turret or castle placed near the prow in ancient vessels, from which darts and other projectiles could be most conveniently hurled upon an enemy. Foremast is the first of the three masts, or of the two. when only that number are present. It is surmounted by the foretop-mast, foretop-gallant-mast, and fore-royal ; its sails being fore sail, foretop-sail, etc. ; between it and the bow flies the fore-staysail, hoisted on the fore stay, a massive rope passing from the foretop to the bow, and, with the backstays and shrouds, maintaining the mast in a perpendicular position. The fore ropes passing from the extremities of the foreyard into the maintop, whence they descend through pulleys to the deck, where they serve, when necessary, to alter the direction presented by the foresail to the wind.