ment of the laws thereof.

Hale.

The surface of the earth hath been broke, and the parts of it dislocated; several parcels of nature retain still the evident marks of fraction and ruin.

Burnet's Theory of the Earth. Fractures of the scull are dangerous, not in consequence of the injury done to the cranium itself, but as the brain becomes affected. Sharp's Surgery. The leg was dressed, and the fractured bones united together. Wiseman's Surgery.

FRACTION, in arithmetic and algebra, a part or division of a unit or integer; or a number which stands to a unit in the relation of a part to its whole. The word literally imports a broken number. Fractions are usually divided into decimals, sexagesimal, and vulgar. See ALGEBRA and ARITHMETIC.

FRACTURES. See SURGERY.

FRENUM, or FRENUM, Bridle, in anatomy, a name given to divers ligaments, from their office in retaining and curbing the motions of the parts they are fitted to; as,

FRÆNUM LINGUÆ, or Bridle of the Tongue, a membranous ligament, which ties the tongue to the os hyoides, larynx, fauces, and lower parts of the mouth. In some subjects, the frænum runs the whole length of the tongue to the very tip; in which cases, if it were not cut, it would take away all possibility of speech. See SUR

GERY.

FRAGA, a strong town of Spain, in the kingdom of Arragon. It is situated among the mountains, having the river Cinca before it, whose high banks are difficult of access; and at its back a hill which cannot easily be approached with large cannon. Alphonso VII. king of Arragon, and I. of Castile, was killed by the Moors in 1134, in besieging this town. It is fifty-three miles E. S. E. of Saragossa, and thirty south of Balbastio. Long. 0° 23′ E., lat. 41° 27′ N.

FRAGARIA, the strawberry. A genus of the polygynia order, and icosandria class of plants: natural order thirty-fifth, senticosa: CAL. decemfid; the petals five; the receptacle of the seeds ovate, in the form of a berry, and deciduous. There are seven species-The principal is F. vesca, the common strawberry, of which the F. vesca moschata, the hautboy, is the finest. All

these varieties are hardy, low perennials, durable in root, but the leaves and fruit-stalks are renewed annually in spring. They flower in May and June, and their fruit comes to perfection in June, July, and August; the Alpine kind continuing till the beginning of winter. They all prosper in any common garden soil, producing abundant crops annually without much trouble. They increase exceedingly every summer, both by off-sets or suckers from the sides of the plants, and by runners or strings, all of these rooting and forming plants at every joint, each of which separately planted bears a few fruit the following year, and bears in great perfection the succeeding summer. Those of the Alpine kind will even bear fruit the same year that they are formed. All the sorts are commonly cultivated in kitchen gardens, in beds or borders of common earth, in rows lengthwise fifteen or eighteen inches distance; the plants the same distance from one another in each row. Patches of the different sorts, disposed here and there in the fronts of the different compartments of the pleasure ground, will appear ornamental both in their flowers and fruit, and make an agreeable variety. Strawberries, eaten either alone, or with sugar and cream, are universally esteemed a most delicious fruit. They are grateful, cooling, subacid, and juicy. Though taken in large quantities, they seldom disagree. They promote perspiration, impart a violet smell to the urine, and dissolve the tartareous incrustations on the teeth. People afflicted with the stone have found relief by using them very largely; and Hoffman says, he has known consumptive people cured by them. The bark of the root is astringent. Sheep and goats ea the plant; cows are not fond of it; horses and swine refuse it.

FRAGILE, adj.? Fr. fragile; Lat. fragilis. FRAGILITY, n. s. 5 Brittle; easily snapped or S broken; frail; uncertain; easily destroyed.

Fear the uncertainty of man's fragility, the common chance of war, the violence of fortune. Knolles.

To ease them of their griefs, Their pangs of love, and other incident throes, That nature's fragile vessel doth sustain In life's uncertain voyage. Shakspeare. Timon. The stalk of ivy is tough, and not fragile. Bacon. To make an induration with toughness, and less fragility, decoct bodies in water for two or three days. Bacon's Natural History.

age of fragility.

All could not be right, in such a state, in this lower Wotton. "Tis weak and fragile, like Arachne's line. Denham. When subtle wits have spun their threads too fine,

Mueh ostentation, vain of fleshly arms, And fragile arms, much instrument of war, Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought, Before mine eyes thou'st set.

Milton's Paradise Regained. FRAGMENT, n. s. ? Lat. fragmentum. A FRAGMENTARY, adj. S part broken from the whole; an imperfect piece. The adjective not in

Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood
Half spyed.
Milton's Paradise Lost.
And first behold this cordial julep here,
That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,
With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.
Milton's Comus.

As the hops begin to change colour, and smell fra grantly, you may conclude them ripe. Mortimer. Not lovelier seemed Narcissus to the eye; Nor, when a flower, could boast more fragrancy. Garth. I am more pleased to survey my rows of coleworts and cabbages springing up in their full fragrancy and verdure, than to see the tender plants of foreign countries kept alive by artificial heats.

Addison's Spectator.

The nymph vouchsafed to place Upon her head the various wreath :

The flowers, less blooming than her face; Their scent less fragrant than her breath. Prior. Such was the wine; to quench whose fervent steam Scarce twenty measures from the living stream To cool one cup sufficed: the goblet crowned, Breathed aromatick fragrancies around.

Pope's Odyssey. See in the rear of the warm sunny shower The visionary boy from shelter fly; For now the storm of summer-rain is o'er, And cool, and fresh, and fragrant, is the sky.

Pope.

That Christians are now not only like other men in their frailties and infirmities, might be in some degree excusable; but the complaint is, they are like heathens in all the main and chief articles of their lives.

Law. A man of superior rank and character, that knows himself, knows that he is but a man; subject to the same sicknesses, frailties, disappointments, pains, passions, and sorrows, as other men. And that's enough, for love is vanity, Selfish in its beginning as its end,

Except where 'tis a mere insanity,

Mason.

A maddening Spirit which would strive to blend Itself with Beauty's frail inanity,

On which the passion's self seems to depend.

ness.

Вугов. FRAI'SCHEUR, n. s. Fr. Freshness; coolA word innovated by Dryden. Hither in Summer-evenings you repair, To taste the fraischeur of the purer air.

Dryden.

FRAISE, n. s. Fr. The caul of an animal. A pancake with bacon in it.

FRAISE, in fortification, a kind of defence, consisting of pointed stakes, six or seven feet long, driven parallel to the horizon into the retrenchments of a camp, a half-moon, or the like, to prevent any approach or scalade. Fraises differ from palisades chiefly in this, that the latter stand perpendicular to the horizon, and the former jet out parallel to it, or nearly so, being usually made a little sloping, or with the points hanging down. Fraises are chiefly used in entrenchments and other works thrown up of earth; sometimes they are found under the parapet a rampart, serving instead of the cordon of stone used in stone-works.

of

To FRAISE A BATTALION is to line the musqueteers round with pikes, that, in case they should be charged by a body of horse, the

pikes being presented may cover the soldiers from the shock, and serve as a barricade. FRAME, v. a. & n. s. ) Fr. forme; Arm. FRAMER, n. s. 3fram; both clearly from the Lat. forma. To frame signifies to make according to a frame: and frame, in its natural sense, is that which forms the exterior edging of any thing, and consequently determines its form. It is however far more general in its application: thus it is used in the senses, to invent; to fabricate; to fabricate by orderly construction and union of various parts; to fit one thing to another; to make; to compose; to regulate; to adjust; to form any rule or method by study or precept; to form and digest by thought; to contrive; to plan; to scheme out.

At last, as nigh out of the wood she came, A stately castle far away she spyde, To which her steps directly she did frame. Spenser. Faerie Queene. Then chusing out few words most horrible, Thereof did verses frame.

Spenser.

FRAME, among founders, a kind of ledge, which, being filled with wetted sand, serves as a mould to cast their works in. See FOUNDRY.

FRAME, in joinery, a kind of case, wherein a thing is set or enclosed, or even supported; as a window frame, a picture frame, &c.

FRAME, among painters, a kind of square, consisting of four long slips of wood joined together, whose intermediate space is divided by threads into several little squares like a net; and hence sometimes called reticula. It serves to reduce figures from great to small; or, on the contrary, to augment their size from small to great

FRAME, among printers, is the stand which supports the cases.

FRAMLINGHAM, a large and ancient town of Suffolk. It has the remains of a castle, said to have been built by one of the first kings of the East Angles. Its walls, which are still to be seen, are forty-four feet high, and eight thick; and have thirteen towers, fourteen feet each above the walls. Two of these are watch-towers. To this castle Mary Tudor, afterwards queen Mary, retired, when the unfortunate Lady Jane Gray was proclaimed queen. See ENGLAND. Framlingham has a stately church, built of black flint, with a steeple 100 feet high, and a spacious market-place, with a weekly market on Saturday. It is pleasantly seated upon a clay hill near the source of the Ore, sixteen miles north-east of Ipswich, and eighty-seven N. N. E. of London. FRA'MPOLD, n. s. This word is written by Dr. Hacket, frampul. I know not its original, says Dr. Johnson. It seems to be derived from the Sax. Fram; Goth. fram, corruptions of the Lat. forma (see FRAME). Peevish; boisterous; rugged; crossgrained.

Her husband! Alas, the sweet woman leads an ill life with him she leads a very frampled life with him. Shakspeare. The frampul man could not be pacified. Hacket.

FRANCAVILLA, a town in the province of Otranto, Naples. It is large and well built; the

streets being wide and straight: the houses, though showy, are of a heavy style of architecture. A great part of the town was thrown down by an earthquake in 1734, and the houses since erected, are only one story high. The inhabitants derive their chief subsistence from manufacturing the cotton and tobacco of the neighbourhood; olive oil is also sold here in large quantities. The name of this place is said to have arisen from an exemption from taxes during

ten years, granted to the first settlers in the fourteenth century. It is fifteen miles E. N. E. of Tarento, and twenty west of Brindisi. Population 11,000

FRANCAVILLA is also the name of a town in Sicily, in the Val di Demona, near the river of Francavilla, where the Imperialists, under count Merci, obtained a victory over the Spaniards, under the marquis de Leyda, in 1719. Twelve miles W. N. W. of Taormina

FRANCE. We shall pursue in this article the plan of first describing this interesting country; its geographical, statistical, and great political features. Then we shall furnish the details of its history, divided into certain convenient periods, as that of our article England, by the different dynasties that have successively occupied the throne.

PART I.

GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS OF FRANCE. FRANCE, a portion of the ancient Gallia, and by the peace of 1815 reduced to its boundaries in the year 1790, with a small addition which we shall hereafter notice, has the natural limits of the English Channel on the north, the Bay of Biscay on the west, and the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean south. Its eastern boundary is of a more mixed character, and touches the frontiers of the kingdom of the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Savoy. It extends from 42° 30' to nearly 51° of N. lat., and from 5° W. tc 8° of E. long. from Greenwich. Its form is nearly square, and its area was estimated by M. Necker at 26,951 square leagues, of 2282 toises; or 156,024,213 arpents of Paris, which are equal to 131,722,295 English acres: by the committee of the first national assembly at 26,463 square leagues: the later estimate of M. Jorse, author of the Credit National, is 27,000 leagues, at 2282 toises 5785 arpents Paris, to league. In English miles its extent from north to south is taken at 560; from east to west at nearly 650. The whole area is 204,000 English square miles. The present population is 30,451,187. and the number of persons to each square mile is, consequently, 144. France is, therefore, less populous proportionably than either England or Ireland, as the former contains about 190 and and the latter 170 persons on the same space.

The ancient Gallia contained not only the present kingdom of France, and that part of Germany and Belgium west of the Rhine, but the important addition of Gallia Cisalpina, on the south side of the Alps. Du Fresnoy describes Gallia Transalpina as bounded on the south by the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Var; on the east by the Alps and the Rhine; on the north by the same river; and on the west by the Ocean. The Roman subdivision of this country was into three principal regions-the Celtic, Belgic, and Aquitaine. The bounds of Gallia Celtica were-the Ocean, the Seine, the

Marne, the Saone, the Rhine, and the Garonne. Gallia Belgica was bounded by the Seine, the Marne, the mountains of Vosges, the Rhine, and the Ocean; and Gallia Aquitania by the Ocean, Garonne, and the Pyrenees. Gaul was divided by Augustus into four parts-Gallia Narboneusis, which comprehended Languedoc, Foix, Vivarres, Provence, Dauphiny, and Savoy; Aquitania, which was of larger extent than it had been in the time of Julius Cæsar, and comprehended all the country between the Pyrenees, the Ocean, and the Loire; Lugdunensis, the largest of all, which was bounded by the ocean, the Loire, the Seine, the Marne, and the mountains of Vosges; and Belgica, which was bounded by the ocean, the country of Caux, the Seine, the Marne, the mountains of Vosges, and the Rhine.

In the fourth century of the Christian era, the Notitia Imperii divided Gaul into the five great provinces of Lugdunensis, Belgica, Germania, Vienensis, and Aquitania; each of which was subdivided into several others. Constantine the Great divided it into seventeen provinces or governments, six of which were consular, and eleven under certain presidents sent by the emperor, who resided in the capital cities. The names of the provinces and their capitals were—1. Narbonensis prima, capital Narbonne; 2. Narbonensis secunda, capital Aix in Provence; 3. Viennensis, capital Vienne in Dauphiny; 4. Alpes Graia and Penninæ, capital Moustenon in Tarentaise, a province of Savoy; 5. Alpes Maritimæ, capital Embrun in Dauphiny; 6. Lugdunensis prima, capital Lyons; 7. Lugdunensis secunda, capital Rouen; 8. Lugdunensis tertia, capital Tours; 9. Lugdunensis quarta, capital Sens in Champagne; 10. Sequania, capital Besançon: 11. Aquitania prima, capital Bourges; 12. Aquitania secunda, capital Bourdeaux; 13. Novempopularia, capital Auch in Gascony; 14. Germania prima, capital Mentz; 15. Germania secunda, capital Cologne; 16. Belgica prima, capital Triers; and 17. Belgica secunda, capital Rheims.

Under the dominion of the Franks, the Roman divisions gradually disappeared, and new ones were substituted. Several kingdoms were afterwards comprised within the present territorial limits, the divisions and subdivisions of which it is unnecessary to trace. Under the Merovingian dynasty, it is generally considered that France had about the same limits as at present; under the Carlovingian race of kings almost the

whole, as we have seen, was wrested from the sovereign by the prevalence of the feudal system: and the gradual recovery of the various provinces under the Capetians we shall have hereafter to state. Neither need we further notice here the additions to and subtractions from the French territory, which took place during the wars that arose out of the late revolution, except to remark that the period of the greatest aggrandisement of France was between 1801 and 1810. In the former year the peace of Luneville extended the boundary of France eastward to the Rhine, and to the Adige between the Austrian territories in Italy, and the Cisalpine republic. By the peace of Tilsit, concluded on the 7th of July 1807, the Ionian Islands were assigned to France. Etru

ria was incorporated with France on the 30th of the following May; the Papal territories on the 17th of May, 1809; and by the peace of Vienna, concluded on the 14th of October, of that year, the Illyrian provinces, on the right bank of the Save, were ceded by Austria. In 1810 the annexation of Holland to France took place, as well as of the Hanse towns of Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, with the north-western district of Germany, within a line from Wesel on the Rhine, to Lauenbourg on the Elbe. The Valais was likewise united to France in November 1810. The following is a summary view of the territory and population acquired by France, from the com mencement of the Revolution to the beginning of 1811:

1802

Piedmont

France, before the revolution, was divided into thirty-two distinct governments, eighteen of which are in the circuit, and fourteen in the middle of the kingdom. The first national assembly, by its decrees of the 15th of January, and the 16th and 26th of February 1790, divided France into eighty-three departments. As, however, the divisions as they existed before the revolution are often referred to, and a knowledge of them is absolutely necessary to the right understanding of the history of France, we shall enumerate them in connexion with the corresponding departments. Each department, it is proper to premise, is subdivided into three, four, or five districts, called communes arrondissemens. These districts are again divided into cantons, and each canton is composed of a certain number of communes, that is to say, of towns and villages. A commune is sometimes a single town, and sometimes a union of several villages, possessing a mayor and communal municipality. All the cities of large size are divided into several communes.

1. The province of Flanders, or the territories which France possessed in the western part of the Netherlands before the revolution, and which she still retains This forms the department of the north, which contains six districts, sixty cantons, and 671 communes; its territorial extent

204,000 28,500,000

313,810 44,557,000

is 6030 kilometers, twenty-four kilometers being very nearly equal to seven square miles, or sixty to a degree. The principal town is Douay.

2. The province of Artois forms the department of the Straits of Calais, which contains six districts, forty-three cantons, and 953 communes; its territorial extent is 70424 kilometers: its principal town is Arras.

3. The principal part of Picardy forms the department of the Somme, which contains five districts, forty-one cantons, and 848 communes. Its territorial extent is 65124 kilometers: its principal town is Amiens.

4. Normandy is divided into the departments of the Lower Seine, the Eure, the Orme, Calvados, and the Channel. The Lower Seine contains three districts, twenty cantons, and seventy-nine communes; its territorial extent is 6372 kilometers: its principal town is Rouen. The department of the Eure contains five districts, thirty-six cantons, and 843 communes; its territorial extent is 61824 kilometers: its principal town is Evreaux. The department of the Orme contains four districts, thirty-eight cantons, and 627 communes; its territorial extent is 6375 kilometers; its principal town is Alençon. The department of Calvados contains six districts, thirty-seven cantons, and 896 communes; its territorial extent is 5640 kilometers its principal town is Caen.

The