FREIRE

freire, francisco jose (1719-1773), portuguese historian and philologist, was born at lisbon on the 3rd of january 1719. he belonged to the monastic society of st philip neri, and was a zealous member of the literary association known as the academy of arcadians, in connexion with which he adopted the pseudonym of candido lusitano. he contributed much to the improvement of the style of portuguese prose literature, but his endeavour to effect a reformation in the national poetry by a translation of horace's _ars poetica_ was less successful. the work in which he set forth his opinions regarding the vicious taste pervading the current portuguese prose literature is entitled _maximas sobre a arte oratoria_ (1745) and is preceded by a chronological table forming almost a social and physical history of portugal. his best known work, however, is his _vida do infante d. henrique_ (1758), which has given him a place in the first rank of portuguese historians, and has been translated into french (paris, 1781). he also wrote a poetical dictionary (_diccionario poetico_) and a translation of racine's _athalie_ (1762), and his _reflexions sur la langue portugaise_ was published in 1842 by the lisbon society for the promotion of useful knowledge. he died at mafra on the 5th of july 1773. freischuetz, in german folklore, a marksman who by a compact with the devil has obtained a certain number of bullets destined to hit without fail whatever object he wishes. as the legend is usually told, six of the _freikugeln_ or "free bullets" are thus subservient to the marksman's will, but the seventh is at the absolute disposal of the devil himself. various methods were adopted in order to procure possession of the marvellous missiles. according to one the marksman, instead of swallowing the sacramental host, kept it and fixed it on a tree, shot at it and caused it to bleed great drops of blood, gathered the drops on a piece of cloth and reduced the whole to ashes, and then with these ashes added the requisite virtue to the lead of which his bullets were made. various vegetable or animal substances had the reputation of serving the same purpose. stories about the freischuetz were especially common in germany during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries; but the first time that the legend was turned to literary profit is said to have been by apel in the _gespensterbuch_ or "book of ghosts." it formed the subject of weber's opera _der freischuetz_ (1821), the libretto of which was written by friedrich kind, who had suggested apel's story as an excellent theme for the composer. the name by which the freischuetz is known in french is robin des bois. see kind, _freyschuetzbuch_ (leipzig, 1843); _revue des deux mondes_ (february 1855); graesse, _die quelle des freischuetz_ (dresden, 1875).