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LEFT ELOQUET 155 FLORENCE FLOQUET, CHARLES THOMAS (flo- ka'), a French statesman; born in St. Jean de Luz in 1828; began life as a lawyer in Paris. His cry, "Vive la Po- logne. Monsieur!" ("Hurrah for Poland, Sir!") addressed to the Czar Alexander II., in the Palace of Justice in 1867, made him a political celebrity. On the fall of the empire he was appointed one of the deputy mayors of Paris, but was forced to resign on account of his com- plaisance toward the Red Republicans. Later he was elected to the Paris munic- ipal council, and in 1876 became one of the Deputies for Paris. He sat in the Chamber till 1882, when he was appointed Prefect of the Seine; re-entered the Chamber in 1882 and was elected its president in 1885, but resigned in April, 1888, to become prime minister. In 1889 he was again elected president of the Chamber. He was the Radical candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in 1887; but his career was cut short by the Panama Canal scandal. He died in Paris, Jan. 18, 1896. FLORENCE, a city and county-seat of Lauderdale co., Ala.; on the Tennes- see river, and on the Southern and the Louisville and Nashville railroads. Here are the State Normal College, a high school, several churches, and a number of weekly newspapers. The city has manufactories of iron, cotton, wagons, ice, flour, stoves, etc. Pop. (1910) 6,689; (1920) 10,529. FLORENCE, a city of South Carolina, The county-seat of Florence co. It is on the Atlantic Coast Line and the Southern Carolina Western railroads. It is the center of an important agricul- tural region and has an important trade in tobacco and cotton. Its industries in- clude cottonseed oil mills, railway repair shops, machine shops, lumber mills, etc. It is the seat of the South Carolina In- dustrial School and a State agricultural experiment station. Within its borders is a national cemetery. Pop. (1910) 7,- 057; (1920) 10,968. FLORENCE, a famous city of central Italy; on both sides of the Arno, 63 miles S. by W. of Bologna; 68 E. N. E. of Leg- horn, and 187 N.N.W. of Rome. It stands in a richly wooded, well-cultivated, and beautiful valley, encircled by the Apen- nines, and is well built and agreeable. Its shape is nearly a square, the sides of which almost correspond with the car- dinal points; the Arno intersects it from S. E. to N. W., three of the quarters into which it is divided being situated on the right, and the fourth on the left bank of the river. The communication between the opposite sides of the river is main- tained by means of seven bridges. Flor- ence contains a great number of mag- nificent edifices and squares, generally adorned with statues, columns, or foun- tains; there are no fewer than 170 churches, 89 convents, 2 royal, and many other palaces, hospitals, and theaters great and small. Each angle of a street presents an architectural view, fit to be drawn for a scene in a theater. Many of the houses are palaces, and are fitted up with great magnificence. The Piazza Reale is the largest square; it has a fine marble fountain, and an equestrian statue in bronze of Duke Cosmo I. by John of Bologna. The Piazza del Mercato Veochio, exactly in the center of the city, has a marble column from which Florence radiates for one mile on each side. The Arno is decidedly superior to the Tiber at Rome. The bridge Santa Trinita, built of mar- ble in 1559 by Ammanati, is designed in a style of elegance and simplicity unri- valed by the most successful efforts of modern artists. The bridges, and the handsome though not spacious quays by Avhich the river is bordered, afford fine views of the river, Florence being in this respect much superior to the "Eter- nal City." The duomo, or cathedral, a vast edifice, coated with marble, about 500 feet in length, and 384 feet in height to the top of the cross, stands in a spacious square. It was begun by Ar- nolfo di Lapo in 1296, and finished by Brunelleschi in 1426. It is built of brick, and veneered, as it were, with parti- colored marble slabs arranged in narrow strips or panels. The interior is very striking. The campanile or belfry, ad joining the duomo, but detached from it, is a fine tower 288 feet in height. The church of Santa Croce, called the Pan- theon of Florence, is interesting from its containing the remains and tombs of four of the greatest men of modern Italy, or indeed of modern times — Michael Angelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Alfieri. Among the palaces are the Palazzo Vecchio, or Old Palace, inhabited by the Medici when citizens of Florence, which was begun in 1298, and finished in 1550. It is in a massive, severe, and gloomy style, with a tower 268 feet high. Ad- joining it is the Piazza del Palazzo Vecchio, a square containing a fine col- lection of statues, and a noble arcade, the Loggia di Lanzi, under the porticoes of which are magnificent groups of sculp- ture. The Palazzo Pitti, erected in 1440. the ordinary residence of the King of Italy, is a vast and heavy structure; it is furnished in the most costly manner, and is enriched with a great number of the choicest works of art and virtu, and ^ an excellent library. Attached to this