I'M? 



FOUKAH. 



eonstruoted : a battery protect* the town. The work* of the South- 

 Eastern rmilwmy along the coast are of considerable magnitude, 

 including at Folkestone a magnificent viaduct across the valley in 

 which the town stands. The sandi are well adapted for bathing, *nd 

 the place is resorted to by numerous visitors. Many of the inha- 

 bitants are engaged in the fishing on the coast. The market-day is 

 Saturday; a lair is held on June 28th. Folkestone forms part of the 

 parliamentary borough of Hythe. Harvey, the discoverer of the 

 circulation of the blood, was a native of Folkestone. 



(Hasted. Kent; Stock, FoUkatone Onide ; Communication from 



/WfcMfOM.) 



- DI. [LATCRO, TERRA ni.] 



POHTAIltKBLBAU, a town in France, the capital of an arron- 

 dUement in the department of Seine-et-Mame, is situated in 48" 24' 28* 

 N. lat, 2* 42' IS" E. long., on the high road and railway from Paris 

 to Lyon, 37 miles S. by E. from the the former city, and had 8278 

 inhabitants in the commune. There was a palace or royal residence 

 in the forest of Fontainebleau in the time of Louis VII., who had 

 erected in 1169, for the use of the royal house, a chapel, which waa 

 dedicated by Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, during his 

 stay in France. The spot was a favourite one both with Philippe 

 Anguste and with St. Louis, who founded here an hospital and two 

 chapels. Francois I. caused a magnificent chateau to be erected here 

 by the architect and painter Primaticcio ; and this structure has been 

 further embellished by the taste or extravagance of succeeding princes. 

 The kings Philippe the Fair, Henri III., and Louis XIII. were born 

 here, and the first of the three died here. It was the favourite 

 residence of Henri IV., who made great improvements in the palace 

 and the park ; and here his daughter, Henrietta, widow of Charles I. 

 of England, made her abode. Louis XIII., Ron and successor of 

 Henri IV., was born in Fontainebleau, where also Louis XIV. spent 

 part of his youth. The building was completed in this last monarch's 

 rei;n. Christiana, queen of Sweden, after her abdication, resided 

 here, and has imparted to the place a sad celebrity by the death of 

 her secretary, Honaldeschi, whom she ordered to be executed in a 

 gallery of the chAteau. Here, in 1685, the Revocation of the Edict 

 of Nantes was signed; and here, in the following year, the great 

 Condd died. Louis XV. was married to Haria Leczinski at Fontaine- 

 bleau in 1724 ; and his son, the dauphin, died in the same chamber in 

 which the great L'ondc 1 ended his glorious career. After the first 

 French revolution the palace was occupied by the military school, 

 afterwards transferred to St-Cyr, and continued in a state of neglect 

 and disrepair till it was completely restored by Napoleon I. to its 

 original splendour and destination as a royal residence. In this palace 

 Pope Pius VII. lived for eighteen months a prisoner during the reign 

 of Napoleon I. ; and here Napoleon himself took final leave of his 

 guards and signed his act of abdication of the throne of France in 

 1814. From the downfall of Napoleon L the palace was again neg- 

 lected and almost forgotten, till 1830, when it was put into a slate of 

 complete repair by King Louis Philippe. The present emperor of the 

 French, Napoleon III., occasionally resides at Fontainebleau. 



The town is situated in the midst of the forest of Foutaincbleau, 

 and is well built, with handsome, wide, and straight streets. The 

 town has a college, two fine cavalry barracks, several other remark- 

 able edifices, a Chateau d'Eau, or ornamental waterworks, containing 

 ft reservoir fed by a spring, the waters of which supply the different 

 fountains and basins of the royal palace ; the hospitals founded by 

 Anne of Austria and Madame de Hontespan ; and the public baths 

 and library. Near the south entrance to the town there is an obelisk, 

 erected in 1786 to commemorate the birth of the children of Queen 

 Marie Antoinette. The palace has six court-yards, each of which is 

 nearly or quite surrounded with buildings. There are three principal 

 entrances to it 



The park and gardens are in a style of magnificence corresponding 

 to that of the palace : they are adorned with a canal and cascade 

 (nearly three-quarters of a mile long, and above 120 feet wide), with 

 several smaller canals, a variety of jets d'eau, and with statues in bronze 

 and marble. An attempt to assassinate Louis Philippe, king of the 

 French, was made in this park by Lecomte on the 16th of April 1846. 



The forest of Fontainebleau contains 40,620 acres, or nearly 64 

 square miles ; it surrounds on nearly every side the plain on which 



town stands : its surface is unequal and its soil sandy, interspersed 



rjth Mocks of granite, which are quarried for the pavement of Paris. 



,t is pierced by a great number of fine avenues, and presents much 



ptctunwqne beauty and many extensive and charming views. The 



forest contains a great quantity of game : wild boars are numerous. 



(IHc'wnnairt de la Prance.) 



FONTAINE L'EVEQUK. [HAIKACLT] 

 PEXAY. [Vtsufet] 



FOXTENOY. [HAIXAH.T.I 



; KIJABIA. [BABQUK PHOVIXCIS.] 



l'>MKVI!Ai IT. [MAISMT-LOIRI.J 



FOI AI.i^riKR. [Atpra, BAJSBEB.] ' 



FORD. [NoRTIlt-MBERLAKD.] 



FOKI) ANI) HII,TOX. (in miAii.] 



KOKMIAM, <;ilEAT. 

 roRDINQBRIDOE, Hampshire, a market-town and the seat of a 

 Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Fordingbridgc, jg situated on the 



right bank of the river Avon, in 50* 56' N. lat, 1' 47' W. long. ; 

 distant 18 miles W. by N. from Southampton, and 89 miles S.W. 

 from London by road. The population of the parish of Fording- 

 bridge in 1851 waa 3178. The living is a vicarage, with the parochial 

 chapelry of Ibsley annexed, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Win- 

 chester. Fordingbridge Poor-Law Union contains 9 parishes, with an 

 area of 23,907 acres, and a population in 1851 of 6143. 



At Fordingbridge the Avon is crossed by a stone bridge. The 

 town was once of greater extent than at present Besides the parish 

 church, which is a fine building, restored a few years back, there 

 are chapels for Wesleyan Methodiats, Independents, and Quakers; 

 National and British schools, a literary and scientific institution, and 

 a savings bank. A county court is held. There are manufactures of 

 Hail-cloth and of bed-ticking. Tho market is held on Friday, and 

 there is a yearly fair. 



(Warner, Hampthirt ; Communication from Pordingbridae,) 



FORDW1CH. [KENT.] 



FOREHOE, a hundred in the eastern division of the county of 

 Norfolk, which has been constituted a Poor-Law Union. Forehoe 

 hundred is bounded N. by the hundreds of Taverham and Eyuaford ; 

 E. by the hundred of Humbleyard ; S. by the hundreds of Shropham 

 and Depwade : and W. by the hundreds of Mitford and Way laud. It 

 comprises 24 parishes, with an area of 40,397 acres, and a pup 

 in 1851 of 13,897. Forehoe Union contains 23 parishes, with an area 

 of 36,403 acres, and a population in 1851 of 13,562. 



FOUENZA. [BASIUCATA.] 



FOREZ, a county in France, the largest of the three subdivisions 

 of the old province of Lyonuaia. It was for the most part compre- 

 hended in the territory of the Segusiani ; and Feur, or Feurs, one of 

 its chief towns, was the Forum Segusionorum of the ancients a town 

 of some importance, and probably a Roman colony. From this 

 town the district derived the designation of Pagus Foreusis, whencu 

 Forez. It was comprehended, in the division under Honoring, in the 

 province of Lugdunensis Prima, and afterwards formed part of the 

 kingdom of the Burguudiana, from whose dominion it passed to that 

 of the Franks. It was bounded N. by Bourgogue, N.E. by Beau- 

 jolais, E. by Lyonnais Proper, S. by Velay and Vivarais, W. by 

 Auvergne, and N.W. by Bourbonnais. The territory thus defined 

 consists for the most part of a portion of the valley of the Loire, and 

 of the slope of the hills which separate that valley on the east from 

 Lyonnais and on the west from Auvergne. It comprehends a coal-field 

 of the best quality in France : produces iron and lead, and is the chief 

 seat of the hardware manufacture : St-Etienne, the Birmingham of 

 France, is within its limits. It produces also abundance of fir-timber 

 and excellent turpentine ; and corn, wine of good quality, and excel- 

 lent hemp. It is watered by the Loire and several of its tributaries, 

 and extends in one part across the hills on the east side down to the 

 river lihftne. 



The district of Forez was subdivided into Haut-Forez, capital 

 Feurs ; Bos- Forez, capital Moutbrison ; and Uoanaais, capital Itoanne. 

 It is now comprehended almost entirely in the department of Loire ; 

 a small portion is included in that of llauU-Loirc. 



Forez, Beaujolais, and Lyounais constituted in the middle ages 

 county which was rendered hereditary by Guillaume, one of the 

 officers of Charles the Bald, in the 9th century. In the course of tinio 

 Beaujolais and Lyonnais became separate lordships; and in the 

 middle ages the county of Forez .came into the hands of the Dukes 

 of Bourbon, and was, together with their duchy, united to the crown. 



FORFAR, Forfarshire, Scotland, a royal and parliamentary I. iiiyh 

 and market-town, and the chief town of the county, is situated in 

 56 40' N. lat, 2 50' W. long., in a hollow at the east end of the 

 valley cf Strathmore and near a small lake, which formerly inclosed 

 the town on the north and north-west sides. It is 54 miles N. by E. fr< >ni 

 Edinburgh by road, and 76 miles by railway. The population of the 

 burgh in 1851 was 9311. The town is governed by a provost, two 

 bailies, a treasurer, and 11 councillors, and unites with Moutrose, 

 Arbroath, Brechin, and Bcrvie in returning one member to the 

 Imperial Parliament 



The town consists chiefly of one irregular line of street called the 

 High-street, about a mile and a half in length, which is crown 1 !>y 

 Castle-street near its centra. The houses are generally well built and 

 roofed with gray slates. In tuo centre of the town are the < 

 buildings, containing the court-house and town-hall. Besides the 

 parish church there are a chapel of ease, a Tree church, and chapels 

 for United Presbyterians, Independents, and Episcopalians. Forfar 

 academy, the parish school, and other schools amply supply the educa- 

 tional demands of the burgh. There ore a mechanics institute, a 

 public library, and a news-room. The county jail is situated in the 

 outskirts of the town. 



Forfar wa made a royal burgh in the reign of David I. Anciently 

 the staple trade of the burgh was the manufacture of 'brogues', or 

 coarse shoes. At present the manufacture of Osnaburgs and coarse 

 sheetings is carried on in workshops in the dwellings of the weavers. 

 About 2500 hand-looms ore thus employed. 



The castle of Forfar was a residence of several of the aixi.nl 

 kings of Scotland, and the seat of their courts and parliaments. The 

 castle stood on a mount of about 50 feet in height, on the east i'li> f 

 Castle-street The summit of the mount is now occupied by an 



