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LEFT FBANCE 194 FBANCIS I. PRANCE, ANATOLE (JACQUES ANATOLE THIBAULT), a French novelist and poet of great perfection and distinction of style; born in Paris, April 16, 1844. His tirst volume of "Poems" v^^as published in 1873, and his dramatic poem "Corinthian Revels" in 1876. The humorous story "Jocaste and the Lean Cat" (1879) was received with indiffer- ence, but he had brilliant success with "The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard" (1881); "The Yule Log" (1881); and "The Wishes of Jean Servien" (1881). His other works include "Our Children: Scenes in Town and in the Fields" (1886); "Queen Pedauque's Cook-Shop"; "Opinions of the Abbd Jerome Coignard" (1893); "The Garden of Epicurus"; "Abeille"; "My Friend's Book"; "Our Children"; "Balthazar"; "Thais"; "Lit- erary Life"; "Alfred de Vigny"; etc. He was elected to the French Academy in 1884. FRANCE, ISLE OF. See Mauritius. FRANCE, JOSEPH IRWIN, a United States senator from Maryland, born in 1873. He graduated from Hamilton Col- lege in 1895. He studied in Germany and at the Clark University. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Baltimore, in 1903, and engaged in the practice of his profession in Balti- more from 1905 to 1909. He was a mem- ber of the Maryland Senate and in 1916 was elected United States Senator for the term 1917-1923. He was a frequent contributor to magazines on scientific, economic, and political subjects. FRANCESCO DI PAULA, or ST, FRANCIS OF PAOLA, an Italian monk, founder of the order of the Minims ; born in Paula or Paola, a village of Calabria, in 1416. At the age of 13 he was the in- mate of a Franciscan convent; and at 19 he retired to a cave where he inflicted on himself every species of self-mortifica- tion. The fame of his piety having at- tracted to his cell several emulators of his austere life, he obtained permission to erect a convent, and the new community received from Pope Sixtus IV. the title of the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi; but the title was changed by Alexander VI. to Minim-Hermits of St. Francis of Paola. The founder established nu- merous communities in Italy, Sicily, France, Spain, and Germany, but the Minims were never settled in Great Brit- ain or Ireland. Popular report having attributed to Francesco several wonder- ful cures, Louis XI. of France, being ill, summoned him to his presence. Fran- cesco was received v/ith the highest honor and attended the king on his deathbed. Charles VIII. and Louis XIL induced him to settle in France, and built him convents at Plessis-les-Tours and Am- boise. Francesco died in Plessis on Good Friday, 1507, and was canonized in 1519. FRANCHE-COMTE, an ancient prov- ince of France, adjacent to Switzerland and Lorraine: Its capital was Besan^on, and it is now divided into the depart- ments of Haute-Saone, Jura,, and Doubs. This province, conquered by the Franks in 534, formed part of the Duchy of Bur- gundy, and was bestowed on Philip II. of Spain on his marriage with Isabella, daughter of Henry II. of France, In 1559. Louis XIV. conquered it in 1668, and re- stored it to Spain by the treaty of Aix- la-Chapelle, May 12, 1668. He conquered it again in 1674, and it was finally ceded to France by Spain, by the treaty of Nimeguen, Sept. 17, 1678. FRANCIA, JOSE GASPAR ROD- RIGUEZ, dictator of Paraguay; born in Asuncion, in 1757. His mother was a Creole. Arrived at the proper age, he was sent to the University of Cordova, v/ith a view to entering the Church; but his plans underwent a change while he was still a student, and on his return to his native town with the degree of doctor of laws, he began his public career as a barrister. He devoted himself to legal pursuits for 30 years, varying his pro- fessional avocations with a study of the French encyclopaedic writers, mathe- matics and mechanical philosophy. In 1811, soon after the revolution in the Spanish possessions of South America became general, Di*. Francia, then in his 54th year, was appointed secretary to the independent junta of Paraguay; and on the formation of a new congress, called in 1813, he was appointed consul of the republic, vnth Yegros for his colleague. From this moment the affairs of his country underwent a favorable change; and the people's gratitude to their de- liverer was characteristically exhibited in conferring upon him, in 1817, un- limited despotic authority, which he ex- ercised during the remainder of his life. He died in Asuncion, Sept. 26, 1840. FRANCIS I., King of France; bom in Cognac, France, Sept. 12, 1494; suc- ceeded to the throne in 1515, on the death of Louis XIL, who died without male issue. Scarcely had he ascended, than he, as grandson of Valentino of Milan, put himself at the head of an army to assert his right over the Milanese. The Swiss, who opposed him in his entry into the duchy, were defeated at Marignano (or Melegnano), and Milan fell immedi- ately after this victory. After a short war with England, the famous intei'view between Henry VIII. and Francis took