FAY

fay, andras (1786-1864), hungarian poet and author, was born on the 30th of may 1786, at kohany in the county of zemplin, and was educated for the law at the protestant college of sarospatak. his _mesek_ (_fables_), the first edition of which appeared at vienna in 1820, evinced his powers of satire and invention, and won him the well-merited applause of his countrymen. these fables, which, on account of their originality and simplicity, caused fay to be regarded as the hungarian aesop, were translated into german by petz (raab, 1825), and partly into english by e.d. butler, _hungarian poems and fables_ (london, 1877). fay wrote also numerous poems, the chief of which are to be found in the collections _bokreta_ (_nosegay_) (pest, 1807), and _fris bokreta_ (_fresh nosegay_) (pest, 1818). he also composed plays and romances and tales. in 1835 fay was elected to the hungarian diet, and was for a time the leader of the opposition party. it is to him that the pest savings bank owes its origin, and he was one of the chief founders of the hungarian national theatre. he died on the 26th of july 1864. his earlier works were collected at pest (1843-1844, 8 vols.). the most noteworthy of his later works is a humorous novel entitled _javor orvos es bakator ambrus szolgaia_ (_javor the doctor and his servant ambrose bakator_), (pest 1855, 2 vols.). fayal (_faial_), a portuguese island in the atlantic ocean, forming part of the azores archipelago. pop. (1900) 22,262; area, 63 sq. m. fayal, i.e. "the beech wood," was so called from the former abundance of the _myrica faya_, which its discoverers mistook for beech trees. it is one of the most frequented of the azores, for it lies directly in the track of vessels crossing the atlantic, and has an excellent harbour at horta (q.v.), a town of 6574 inhabitants. cedros (3278) and feteira (2002) are the other chief towns. the so-called "fayal wine," which was largely exported from the azores in the 19th century, was really the produce of pico, a larger island lying to the east. the women of fayal manufacture fine lace from the agave thread. they also execute carvings in snow-white fig-tree pith, and carry on the finer kinds of basket-making. a small valley, called flemengos, perpetuates the name of the flemish settlers, who have left their mark on the physical appearance of the inhabitants. (see azores.)