Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/539

 F K A F K A 505 fatigable ardour with which he pursued his studies is shown by the number of his works, which altogether amount to more than 150, great and small. Among the more important are Nuvwpliylacium oricntale Polo- tinnii-m, 1813; DC nitinorum Bulgharicorum fontc antiquissimo, 1316; Das Muhammedanische Miinzkabinct dcs Asiaiischcn Museum ili .r Kaiscrl. Akadcmic dcr IVisscnschaftcn zu St Petersburg, 1821; Numi cufici cjc rariis muscis sclccti, 1823; Notice d unc ccntaiiic tl onvruycs arabcs, &amp;lt;tr., qui manqucnt en grandc partie aux biblio- th ; ;qucs dc V Europe, 1834; and Nova Supplcmcnta ad rcccnsioncm Num. Mu-ham. Accul. Imp. Sri. Petropolitancc, 1855 (posthumous). A description of some medals struck by the Samanid and Bouid princes (Kasan, 1804) deserves special mention, as the author composed it in Arabic because he had no Latin types at command. FRAMLINGIIAM, a market town of England in the county of Suffolk, about 4 miles north-east of Ipswich. It is the terminus of a branch railway, and has a corn ex change, a people s hall, and a newspaper office. The church is a line old building mostly in the Perpendicular style, con structed of black Hint stone, and surmounted by a tower 96 feet high. In the interior there are a number of in teresting monuments, among which the most noticeable arc those of Thomas Howard, third duke of Norfolk, and of Henry Howard, the famous earl of Surrey who was be headed by Henry VIII. The castle forms a picturesque ruin, consisting of the outer walls 44 feet high and 8 feet thick, 13 towers about 58 feet high, a gateway, and some outworks. About half a mile from the town is the Albert Memorial Middle Class College, opened in 1865, and cap able of accommodating 300 boys. A bronze statue of the Prince Consort by Durham adorns the front terrace. The population of the parish in 1871 was 2569. Framlingham dates, according to tradition, from the time of Red w aid, king of the East Angles, but its history is of doubtful authen ticity till the Norman period. The castle was successively held by the Bigods, the Mowbrays, and the Howards. On the attainder of Thomas Howard, it was seized by the king, and it thus became for a time the residence of Queen Mary of England. Though restored to the Howard family by James I., it was suffered to fall into decay, and in 1635 it was sold, along with the park and the advowson of the living, to Sir Eobert Ilitcham, who left the whole to the use of the masters and fellows of Pembroke Hall, Cam bridge. (See Trans, of Brit. Arcliccolog. Assoc., 1865.) FEANyAIS, ANTOINE, Count, better known as Francais of Nantes, a French politician and author, was born at Beaurepaire in the department of Isere on January 17, 1756, and died at Paris, 7th March 1836. In 1791 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly by the department of Loire Infurieure, and soon attained a high position among his fellow representatives ; but lie was not re-elected to the Convention. During the Ileign of Terror he was obliged to seek safety in the mountains. In 1798 he was elected to the council of the Five Hundred, and became ono of its secretaries ; and in the following year he voted against the Directory. He took office under the consulate as prefect of Charente Infe rieure, rose to be a member of the council of state, and in 1804 obtained the important post of director-general of taxes. The value of his services was recognized by the titles of count of the empire and grand officer of the Legion of Honour. On the second restoration he retired into private life; but from 1819 to 1822 he was representative of the department of Isere, and after the July revolution he was made a peer of France. Frangais wrote a number of works, but his name is more likely to be preserved by the eulogies of the literary men to whom he afforded protection and assistance. It is sufficient to mention Lc Manuscrit dcfcu M. Jtrdme, 1825 ; Eccucil dc fadaiscs compose sur la monfar/nc a I usagc dcs habitants dc la plaine, 1826 ; Voyage dans la vallec dcs originaux, 1828 ; Tableau dc la vie ruralc, on I agriculture enscignec cTunc manierc dramatique, 1829. FRANCAVILLA, a town of Italy, in the province of Lecce, about 21 miles W.S.W. of Brindisi, sometimes called Francavilla Fontana, to distinguish it from Franca- villa in Sicily and other towns of the same name. It stands in a very beautiful situation, and is regularly built, with wide streets and handsome if somewhat heavy looking houses. There are a cathedral, a college, and several hospitals and conventual buildings. The town was founded in the 15th century and owes its name to the freedom from taxa tion which was granted for ten years to all who made it their place of residence. In 1734 it suffered considerably from an earthquake. The population of the town in 1871 was 16,997, and that of the commune 19,052. F E AN C E PART I. GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. I. Situation and Extent. Face of the Country. Climate and Soil. pHIS important part of continental Europe extends from 11(1 JL the 43d to the 51st degree of north latitude, and from longitude 7 35 E. to longitude 4 43 W. The m boundaries of France are on the N. the English Channel (J/&amp;lt; incite], the Straits of Dover (Fas-de-Calais ), Belgium, and Luxembourg ; on the E. Germany (Alsace-Lorraine), Switzerland, and Italy ; on the S. the Mediterranean and Spain ; on the W. the Atlantic Ocean. From north to south its length is about 576 miles, measured from Dun kirk to the Col de Falgueres ; its breadth from east to west is about 494 miles, from Mont Donon to Cape Saint- Mathieu at the extremity of Brittany, which projects into the Atlantic, like a wedge, and without whim France would approach in form to a square ; and its superficial extent, including Corsica and the small islands on the coasts, is 204,147 English square miles, nearly twice the total area of the British Isles. Though in point of extent of coast and ready access from the interior to the sea France is far inferior to Great Britain and Ireland, it is, on the other hand, more fortu nate in these respects than the vast inland territories of Austria and Russia, its coast-line extending 395 miles on the Mediterranean, 572 on the North Sea, the Straits of Dover, and the Channel, and 584 on the Atlantic. The country has the advantage likewise of being separated from its neighbours by natural barriers of great strength, the Pyrenees forming a powerful bulwark on the south west, the Alps on the south-east, and the Jura and the Yosges mountains on the cast. The boundary line on the side of Belgium is the only one which nature has left un protected. Orography. The line which separates the basins of the Mountains. Mediterranean and the Atlantic runs to the north from the Pyrenees through the Cevennesand Vosges, and finally joins the Alps in the south-east. The most remarkable summits in the Pyrenees are the Pic du Midi d Ossau (9734 feet), not far from the favourite town of Pan, the Pic d Anie (8219 feet), the cirque of Gavarnie, Mont Nethou (11,168 feet), Mont Perdu (10,995 feet), the Pic Long (10,476 feet), the Vignemale (10,820 feet), the Tour de Marbor6 (9861 feet). An offshoot of the Pyrenees, the Corbieres, deserves mention, on account of the huge granitic mass that it contains, called the Canigon. The Ce venues are about 600 kilometres (373 miles) in length, IX. --64