he, stripped of its honors.' The delightful environs of Florence next engage Mr. Eustace, ever powerful for description. Amongst these Vallombrosa, the supposed original of Milton's description of Eden, claimed first the traveller's attention. The sketch of this picturesque spot, the account of the abbey, its inhabitants, and their hospitality, is here given with much spirit and precision.

FLORENTIA, in ancient geography, a town of Etruria, on the Arnus, of great note in the wars of Sylla, now called Florenza, or Fiorenza, by the Italians, and Florence by the English. See FLORENCE.

FLORENTIN, or St. Florentin, a town of France in Champagne, situated at the conflux of the Armance and Armançon; it has some cotton manufactures, and 3000 inhabitants. Thirteen miles north-east of Auxerre, and twenty-four south-west of Troyes.

FLORENTINES, the people of Florence. Dr. Moore gives the following account of the amusements of the Florentines. 'Besides the conversazionis, which they have as in other towns of Italy, the nobility meet every day at a house called the casino. This society is much on the same footing with the clubs in London. The members are elected by ballot. They go at any time that is convenient. They play at billiards, cards, and other games, or continue conversing, as they think proper. They are served with tea, coffee, lemonade, ices, or what other refreshments they choose; and each person pays for what he calls for. There is one material difference between this and the English clubs, that women as well as men are members. The company of both sexes behave with more frankness and familiarity to strangers, as well as to each other, than is customary in public assemblies in other parts of Italy.' Dr Moore adds, 'that, at the opera, they pay much more attention to the dancing than to the music, though it is at best mere athletic jumping, compared with the elegant dancing of the French.'

FLORES, one of the Azores, so named from the multitude of flowers found growing spontaneously on it. It is thirty miles long, nine broad, and contains two towns, several villages, and about 1400 inhabitants. It exports wheat and salt pork, and has excellent poultry. Cattle are also numerous, but they are small. Santa Cruz is the capital. Lagena on the east coast is also a thriving town. Long. 30° 55'. W. lat. 39° 34'. N.

FLORIAN (John Peter Claris de), a popular modern French writer, was born at the chateau of that name in Languedoc, in 1755. His father was a gentleman of fortune, who spared no expense on his education; and being related to Voltaire, he obtained for him through that person's interest the rank of page to the duke of Penthievre. The duke soon gave him a commission in the army, but, observing the success of his literary efforts, judiciously confined him to literature, and furnished him with a library. His first production was Galathea, which was followed by the two volumes of his Theatre, the sacred drama of Ruth, and a succession of very successful dramas and novels. Under Robes

pierre he was arrested and dragged to prison for having affixed to his Numa some verses in praise of the queen, and while in this situation he composed the first book of his Guillaume Tell, and a poem called Ebrahim. On his release he fell into a decline, which terminated his life on the 13th of September 1794.

FLORID STYLE, a style too much enriched with figures and flowers of rhetoric.

FLORIDA, a country of North America, bounded on the north by Georgia, on the east by the Atlantic, on the south by the Gulfs of Mexico and Florida, and on the west by the Mississippi. It was the most southerly province of the British empire in America before the war of independence.

It was first discovered in 1479, by Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian in the English service; whence a right to it was claimed by the kings of England; and it was included with Georgia in the charter granted by Charles II. to Carolina. In 1512 Florida was more fully discovered by Ponce de Leon, an able navigator, but who undertook his voyage from the most absurd motives. The Indians of the Caribbee Islands had among them a tradition, that somewhere on the continent there was a fountain whose waters had the property of restoring youth to all old men who tasted them. The romantic imaginations of the Spaniards were delighted with this idea. Many embarked in voyages to find out this imaginary fountain, who were never afterwards heard of. Their superstitious countrymen never imagined that these people had perished. They concluded that they did not return, only because they had drunk of the immortalising liquor, and had discovered a spot so delightful, that they did not choose to leave it. Ponce de Leon set out with this extravagant view, as well as others, fully persuaded of the existence of a third world, the conquest of which was to immortalise his name. In the attempt to discover this country, he rediscovered Florida; but returned to the place from whence he came, visibly more advanced in years than when he set out. For some time this country was neglected by the Spaniards, and some Frenchmen settled in it. But the new colony being neglected by the ministry, and Philip II. of Spain pretending to be the sole proprietor of America, fitted out a fleet at Cadiz to destroy them. The tyrant's orders were executed with barbarity. The French entrenchments were forced, and most of the people killed. The prisoners were hanged on trees, with this inscription,- Not as Frenchmen, but as Heretics.' This cruelty was soon after revenged by Dominic de Gourgues, a skilful and intrepid seaman of Gascony, an enemy to the Spaniards, and passionately fond of glory and hazard. He sold his estate, built some ships, and with a select band of bold adventurers embarked for Florida. He drove the Spaniards from all the posts with incredible valor and activity, feated them in every rencounter-and, by way retaliation, hung the prisoners on trees with inscription,- Not as Spaniards, but as. sins.' He then blew up the forts he had and returned home. This patriotic and act of justice certainly merited reward,

in the heart of the peninsula, and pursues a northern course in a broad navigable stream, expanding into lakes, of which Lake George is fifteen miles broad, and fifteen to twenty feet deep, with many beautiful islands, covered with orange, palm, and magnolia trees. Near Long Lake, which communicates with the St. Juan by a creek, is a warm mineral spring of great voJume; the St. Juan is crossed by a bar at its mouth with fifteen feet. Indian or Hillsborough River runs from north to south parallel to the coast; its mouth is crossed by a bar with but five feet.

St. Augustine, the chief town of East Florida, is on the main opposite the north end of Anastasia Island. It consists of four streets, intersecting each other at right angles; is fortified by bastions, encompassed by a ditch and wall, and defended by the castle of St. John, mounting fifty guns. The entrance to the harbour is crossed by a bar, with only five feet at low water and ten at high. St. Anastasia Island is six leagues long, and affords good building stone, which is not to be had on the main.

From Cape Florida, near the south-east extremity of the peninsula, a great belt of keys and reefs curves round the promontory into the gulf of Mexico, bearing the general name of the Martyrs, or Florida Keys; the numerous channels or inlets between them are only fit for small craft. Almost all these keys are covered with the mangrove, and frequented by turtle; all of them have received names from the English, when in possession of Florida. The only farther notice they deserve is, that on the north end of Old Matacumbe, an islet four miles long and two broad, is a barbour for vessels of seven or eight feet, where fresh water may be procured from a natural well, in a rock four feet deep. On Key Hueso, or West, which is seven miles long, is also a good harbour, with four fathoms at the west end, and at the south-west several wells of tolerable water. The dry tortugas (turtle) are a cluster of keys, forming the western extreme of the Florida Keys. Punta Blanco, or Cape Sable, is the south-west point of the peninsula of Florida, doubling which we enter the gulf of Mexico.

The Floridas abound in vegetable productions of the most luxuriant and rank growth. They are said to produce eight different kinds of oak, white and black walnut, hickory, chestnuts, three kinds of mulberry, four of the magnolia, orange, and fig trees, persimmon and sycamore; as also a vast variety of plums, and other indigenous Fruits, such as limes, prunes, peaches, figs, grapes, melons, &c. Olives are also cultivated with success; and St. John's River, and some of the lakes, are bordered with orange groves. The annona, lime, and mahoe, are indigenous, as also many medicinal plants.

West Florida is the most fertile in grain: wheat, oats, barley, rice, peas, buck-wheat, and rye, flourish. The climate is various.

In winter it seldom freezes, nor is the cold ever so severe as to injure the orange tree. In West Florida the mercury seldom falls below 30° of Fahrenheit, and seldom rises above 94° in the shade. The climate towards the west is more

temperate. On the eastern coast the trade winds prevail, and cool the air in summer; but in the west the air is refreshed by breezes from the Apalachian Mountains, which are still more cool and temperate. During the summer heavy gales of wind beat against the east side of the peninsula, while the interior is subject to dreadful squalls. Along the gulf storms and hurricanes are common just before and after the autumnal equinox; but thunder and lightning are less frequent and violent than in the neighbouring territory of Georgia, or in the Carolinas. In the forests and deserts are found the panther, wild cat, buffalo, fox, hare, goat, rabbit, otter, racoon, flying squirrel, armadillo, opossum, guano, and several sorts of serpents. Birds are in great variety, and numerous: among others, are found the crane, heron, goose, wild duck, pigeon, partridge, thrush, jay, hawk, maccaw, and a great number of others. The rivers abound in fish, but are at the same time infested with voracious alligators.

From the first of July to the middle of October fevers are prevalent. They are usually preceded by heavy rains, and sultry weather. Those of plethoric habits, and sanguine constitutions, are the most liable to be attacked. Inflammatory fevers, of domestic origin, are rarely experienced. The yellow fever occasionally makes its appearance; but it has always been traced to the islands, particularly to the Havannah. Intermittents are endemical, and often prove tedious; but they commonly yield to the prescriptions of skilful physicians.

In 1810 a revolution took place in West Florida, and agents were despatched to Washington, who had an interview with the American president, for the purpose of being admitted into the confederation of the United States. In the mean time the American government took means for occupying the country, conformable to a claim which they had been urging since the year 1801. In that year they had purchased Louisiana from the French, of which they contended that West Florida formed a part. It was declared by the treaty to be ceded with the same extent that it had in the hands of Spain, and as it had been ceded by Spain to France. The terms of this cession gave rise to a claim on the part of the United States to the country west of the Perdido River; and, to prevent the occupation of this territory by any other power, the government of the union took possession, in 1811, of the principal posts, except the town and fort of Mobile, which was surrendered to their forces in the following. year. East Florida, however, remained in the undisturbed possession of the Spanish authorities, with the exception of some revolutionary movements of no long continuance, until the second war between the United States and Great Britain. In 1814 a British expedition having been fitted out from Pensacola against the American territories, General Jackson resolved to take possession of the place. Accordingly, with a small body of regulars and some mounted volunteers, he marched from Mobile, and, after a show of resistance from the Spaniards and British, carried the town. The fort of Barrancas was soon afterwards destroyed

by the British, and general Jackson having no authority to rebuild it, evacuated the place, and returned to Mobile. A similar disregard of the duties of neutrality on the part of the Spanish government, drew upon this province another invasion in 1818. The Seminole Indians, with whom the United States were at war, residing within the limits of Florida, and making their incursions thence without restraint from the Spaniards, it became necessary, for the purpose of chastising them, to cross the territorial line, and subsequently possession was taken by general Jackson of Fort St. Marks and Pensacola. The American troops remained in these posts until November, 1818, when they were restored by the government of the United States to Spain. A negotiation, which had been for a long time pending, for the transfer of the whole province to the United States, was consummated by treaty in 1819; and, after many vexatious delays, the treaty was ratified by Spain in October, 1820, and finally by the United States in the month of February, 1821. Possession was delivered to general Jackson, the commissioner of the United States, in July, 1821, and the province now forms one of the territories of the United States.

FLORIDA, GULF OF, is a common name for the channel between the peninsula of Florida, and the Bahama Isles, north of Cuba.

Through this gulf the celebrated stream, sometimes called the gulf, sometimes the FLORIDASTREAM, first inake sits way to the north-east along the coast of America.

Various attempts have been made to account for this current, and as it is an object of general interest in natural history, though we have noticed it in another place (see AMERICA, Index) we conceive it may gratify our readers to present them with a concise view of its causes from an able paper in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, for 1820. It is known, that the tides in the ocean are produced by the combined actions of the sun and moon, causing the waters, in general, when their course is not obstructed by continents, islands, &c., to take a westerly direction. The winds in the tropical climates, from nearly the same cause, blow generally the same way. It is also observed by navigators, that when a wind blows for any length of time, in a given direction, the waters of the sea move in the same direction, forming a current, at least at the surface, more or less strong, according to circumstances, setting in that direction. The whole body of the waters of the Atlantic, then, must have a general tendency to move from the coasts of Europe and Africa, towards the shores of America, which must be modified in its effects, according to the different conformations of the coasts and other combining circumstances. If we examine the coast of North America, we shall find, that its direction is nearly that of the meridian, or north and south, at least from about New York to Cape Sable in East Florida. Therefore, the mass of waters coming from the east, will strike it nearly at right angles, which, after high water, will gradually retire into the ocean towards the east, without producing any considerable current along the coast, or any ac

cumulation in a particular place, as it otherwise would have done, if that coast had been more oblique to the direction of the tide, though the Bahama Islands, and shallows, must prove a considerable obstruction to the flood-tide setting di.ectly westerly, near Florida, and will have some tendency to cause it to flow more to the north.

'If we now turn our attention to the northern coast of South America, we shall find that it follows nearly the direction of a parallel of latitude, or east and west, and of course, very oblique to the tide coming from the east; and, therefore, it is natural to suppose, that a current will be produced, setting westward, from Cape St. Roque, along the shores of Guiana, Cumana, Terra Firma, the Musquito Shore., &c, towards Cape Catouche in Yucatan. This, indeed, is verified by observation, for it is found, that the flood-tide combined with a current, runs along these coasts, generally at about the rate of two or three miles an hour. This current setting along the Caribbean Sea, will enter the Gulf of Mexico between Cape Antonio, in Cuba, and Cape Catouche, in Yucatan, and must, of course, raise the waters of that Gulf, to a considerable height above the general level of the ocean. A part of these waters after the time of high water, will fall back into the Caribbean Sea; and there actually has been observed a current off Cape Antonio, setting eastward along the south coast of Cuba. Indeed it has been asserted, by Captain Manderson of the Royal Navy, in his Observations on the Gulf Stream, that the waters about Cape Antonio, move sometimes one way, sometimes another, and are sometimes stationary,' which may be expected, according as it is flood-tide, cbb-tide, or high water.

From what we have already advanced, it is clear that the waters between Cuba and Yucatan, must be higher than those between Cuba and Florida; and, therefore, the mass of waters carried into the Gulf of Mexico, in the manner already mentioned, must flow out between Cuba and East Florida. If we also take into consideration the number of great rivers, and among them the Mississippi, itself like a sea, that falls into the Gulf of Mexico, which is, comparatively speaking, small, their waters must endeavour to extend themselves over a portion of sea greater than that gulf; and since, from the accumulation of water coming from the Caribbean Sea, depending on causes already pointed out, the waters of the Mississippi, and other rivers, falling into the Gulf of Mexico from the west and north, cannot extend themselves over that sea towards the south, they must flow along its northern shore towards the east. That the waters of great rivers do flow to a considerable distance in the ocean, can be easily proved. In Columbus's first voyage to America, he found his vessel in fresh water, at the mouth of the Orinoco, before he discovered land, whence he inferred, he was near some great continent, which alone could produce such a stream. In Macleod's voyage to China, a stream of fresh water was found at a considerable distance from the shores of Java, and the British fleet, which blockaded Toulon, occasionally took in fresh water at the mouth of

the Rhone, at a considerable distance from land. Hence, then, it is clear, that the streams of large rivers flow a considerable way into the ocean. The Mississippi, and other large rivers which fall into the Gulf of Mexico, must therefore, in some direction or other do the same. But since a current of water flows generally into the Gulf of Mexico, between Yucatan and Cuba, the waters of the Mississippi cannot flow out in that direction; they must therefore, with more or less velocity, flow out between Cuba and Florida. This, combining with the superabundant waters of the ocean collected in the Gulf, flowing round between Cuba and Cape Sable in Florida, is, by the north-west shores of Cuba, the Bahama Isles, and banks, turned round the eastern shores of East Florida, and must set northward along the east coast of America, with considerable velocity, constituting what is called the Florida or Gulf Stream. This conclusion is verified by observation; for the waters in the Gulf Stream, in the greater part of its course to the north of the Bahama Islands, are found, by the thermometer, to be warmer than those of the seas immediately bordering on it, whence they must come from a warmer climate, and, when chemically examined, to possess a less degree of saltness, and therefore must consist chiefly of fresh water. Hence, from these two causes, namely, the current formed by the flood-tide setting in between Cuba and Yucatan, and the fresh water from the Mississippi, and other large rivers, falling into the Gulf of Mexico, combined and modified in the manner we have described, and not either of them separately, as has been sometimes affirmed, making its escape northward, along the eastern coast of America, we think, it will evidently appear, is derived the true cause of the Gulf Stream. Hence, too, the circular motion of the waters in the northern Atlantic, and other phenomena, attempted to be established by Humboldt, will receive a satisfactory

solution.'

FLORIDA BLANCA (Francis Anthony Monino, count de), a principal minister of Spain in modern times, first distinguished himself as an opponent of the French revolution: his eneinies availed themselves of his unpopularity to procure his dismission from the king's service in the beginning of 1792. He was shortly after permitted to retire to his estates in the province of Murcia, and to retain his titles and dignities, out arrested again in July the same year, and committed to the castle of Pampeluna, and again soon released. After several years of seclusion, he was in 1808 chosen president of the cortes, and died in that year November 20th, aged near eighty.

FLORILEGIUM, FLORILEGE, a name the Latins have given to what the Greeks call av0oAoylov, anthology; viz. a collection of choice pieces, containing the finest and brightest things in their kind.

FLORILEGIUM, or Anthologia, is particularly used for a breviary, in the eastern church, compiled by Arcadius, for the conveniency of the Greek priests and monks, who cannot carry with them, in their travels and pilgrimages, all the volumes wherein their office is dispersed. It con

tains the general rubrics, psalter, canticles, the horologium, and the office of the feriæ, &c.

FLÖʻRIN, n. s. Fr. A coin first made by the Florentines. That of Germany is in value 2s. 4d.; that of Spain 4s. 44d.; that of Palermo ana Sicily 2s. 6d. ; that of Holland 2s.

In the Imperial chamber the proctors have half a florin taxed and allowed them for every substantial recess. Ayliffe.

FLORIN is sometimes used for a coin, and sometimes for a money of account. As a coin, it is of different values, according to the different metals, and different countries where it is struck. The gold florins are most of them of a very coarse alloy, some of them not exceeding thirteen or fourteen carats, and none of them seventeen and a half. As a money of account, it is used by the Italian, Dutch, and German merchants and bankers, but admits of different divisions in different places. See COINS.

FLORINIANI, or FLORIANI, a sect of heretcs, of the second century, so named from its author Florinus. Philastrius says, that they were the same with the Carpophorians. He adds, that they were also called soldiers, milites, quia de militaribus fuerunt. St. Irenæus calls them Gnostics; St. Epiphanius, Phibionites; and Theodoret, Borborites, on account of the impurities of their lives.

FLORINUS, or FLORIANUS, a heretic of the second century, and a priest of the Roman church, deposed for his errors along with Blastus. He had been a disciple of St. Polycarp, along with Irenæus. He made God the author of evil; or rather asserted, that the things forbidden by God are not evil, but of his own appointing; in which he followed the errors of Valentinus, and joined himself with the Carpocratians.

FLORIS (Francis), an eminent historical painter, born at Antwerp in 1520. He followed the profession of a statuary till twenty years of age; when, preferring painting, he entered the school of Lambert Lombard, whose manner he imitated very perfectly. He afterwards went into Italy, and completed his studies from the most eminent masters. The great progress he had made in historical painting, at his return procured him much employment; and his countrymen complimented him with the tide of the Flemish Raphael. He obtained considerable prices for his pictures, and might have rendered himself more worthy of the attention of the great, had he not debased his character by frequent intoxication. He died in 1570, aged fifty.

FLORIS, or Ende Isle, a considerable island of the Eastern Seas, situated between the 8° and 9° S. lat., and the 120° and 123° of E. long. In length, it is about 200 miles, by thirty-six the average breadth. The interior is mountainous and woody, but near the sea is a fine open country; but this island is little known to Europeans. Over the greater part, the Birma, a kindred language to the Javanese, prevails. At the village of Larantooca in the straits, which separate Floris from Sabraon and Solor, European vessels procure refreshments in exchange for ammunition, cutlery, &c. Formerly sandal wood might be procured here in considerable