FRODSHAM. 



FVOBIXONK. 



1100 



ridge or Julian Alp* turn* off to the eastward a considerable distance 

 inland between the source* of the ISODIO and those of the Sare. The 

 valler! of the Isonao also and iu tributarie* present an opening into 

 Carniola, and the ooatt of the Adriatic afford* an eaiy aooe** to Italy 

 from Irtria, Croatia, and other part* of Illyriciim. Many oenturie* 

 ago Paulu* Diaoonu* and other writer* had observed that Italy wu 

 mo*t accessible to foreign armie* on it* eastern frontier* on the ride 

 of Illyricum and Pannonia, and thin may explain in part, why the 

 German* have always found greater facility than the French in main- 

 taining a footing in the Peninsula. Accordingly thin wan the road by 

 which the Goth*, the Hernli, the HUD*, the Longobards, and the 

 Hungarian*, successively inraded Italy. 



The name of Friuli i* a corruption of Forum Julii, a town in the 

 territory of the Carni taid to hare been founded by Julius Ctcsar, on 

 the river Natiso, one of the affluent* of the Inouzo, which flow* along 

 the weatem bane of aa offset of the Julian Alp* which bound* Friuli 

 to the north-cant. Forum Julii wa* most probably at fint a central 

 place of meeting for the neighbouring Carni in their intercourse with 

 the Roman magistrate*. It was long an inconsiderable place, but 

 roee to some importance in the later time* of the Roman empire. 

 After the fall of Aquileia A. p. 452 it became the capital of Venetia, a 

 dignity which it continued to bold under the Gothic and Lombard 

 ruler* of Italy. The date of it* destruction is unknown. Excavations 

 made in recent times under the direction of the Canon della Torre 

 hare exposed to view numerous remains of antiquity, including foun- 

 dation* of temples, and other public buildings in the neighbourhood 

 of Cividale di Friuli, a small town which marks the ancient site. 

 Alboin, who entered Italy on this side, after conquering the plains of 

 the Po, placed his nephew Gisulfus as governor or Duke of Friuli. 

 From that time Friuli formed one of the principal duchies of which 

 the elective monarchy of the Longobards was composed. When 

 Charlemagne overthrew that monarchy in the 8th century, he left 

 Friuli to it* Longobard Duke Rotogaldus, but Adelgisus the fugitive 

 on of Desideriu* having re-appeared in Italy with troops, the Duke 

 of Friuli joined him, for which he was attacked by Charlemagne, 

 defeated and executed. Charlemagne then gave the duchy to a 

 Frenchman of the name of Henri, adding to his government the terri- 

 tories of Styria and Carinthis, Henri was assassinated A.D. 799 ; 

 after which several dukes followed in succession, and among others 

 BerengariiiK, who obtained the crown of Italy after the extinction of 

 the Carlovingian dynasty. Berengarius wa* assassinated in 924. 

 Mention is made however of subsequent dukes of Friuli till the begin- 

 ning of the llth century, when Conrad the Salic, emperor of Germany 

 and king of Italy, gave both the duchy of Friuli and the marquisate 

 of latria to his chancellor Poppo, patriarch of Aquileia. Poppo'i suc- 

 ee*son held Friuli as sovereign princes, though nominal feudatories 

 of the empire till the year .1420, when the patriarch being at war 

 with Venice, the Venetians conquered Friuli and annexed it to their 

 territories, leaving to the people of the towns their municipal laws 

 and magistrate*, and to the feudal lord* their jurisdictions, and 

 allowing them to retain a considerable degree of independence. The 

 county of Goriz and the territory of Monfalcone, on the east bank of 

 the lapnio, belonging to the old duchy of Friuli, were given up to 

 Austria. Friuli remained subject to Venice, till the fall of that 

 republic in 1797, when it was ceded to Austria, by the peace of 

 Campo Formio. It was annexed to the kingdom of Italy in 1806, but 

 wa* reconquered by Austria with the other Venetian provinces in 1814. 

 It now forms the province of Udine in Austrian Italy. 



Friuli, though little visited by travellers, is a very fine and interest- 

 ing part of Italy. IU length is about 60 mile* from the source*) of 

 the Tagliamento to the sea, it* breadth is about 46 miles, and its area 

 about 2520 square mile*. It* population in 1850 amounted to 

 429,844. The country ia watered by numerous rivers, and has consi- 

 derable plains in iU southern part, producing abundance of corn and 

 rery good wine, while the northern part is hilly and affords excellent 

 pasture and plenty of game. The climate is healthy, the inhabitant* 

 are robust and spirited, and were considered good marksmen in the 

 time of the Venetian rule. They speak a dialect of the Italian, dif- 

 ferent from the Venetian; on the border* however German and 

 Slavonian are spoken. 



The town of Ciridale or CividaU di FritUi stands on the Natiso, in 

 4* 4' 54' N. lat, 18* 26' 51* E. long., and has a population of above 

 6000 including its territory. It is surrounded by old wall* and a 

 ditch. The Natiso i* at Cividale crossed by a long bridge. For a 

 f urtlier notice of the province wa Unix*, 



H'."I>3HAM. [CnnniRB.] 



r KOMK, Somersetshire, a municipal and parliamentary borough, 

 market-town, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of 

 From*, I* situated on the small river Frome, a feeder of the Avon, in 

 81* 13' N. lat, ' IV W. long., distent 12 mile* 8. by E. from Bath, 

 103 miles a by W. from London by road, and 1154, miles by the 

 Grrat Western railway. The population of the parliamentary borough 

 of From* was 10,148 in 1851. The borough return* one member to 

 the Imperial Parliament The living i* a vicarage in the archdea- 

 conry of Well* and diocese of Bath and Wells. Frome Poor-Law 

 Union contains 29 paruhea and towuhipa, with an area of 60,206 

 era, and a population in 1851 of 25,325. 



Frome wa* anciently, and is still often designated Frome Selwood, 



from it* position near the once-extensive forest of Selwood. The 

 situation of the town i* pleasant and healthy. The house* are irregu- 

 larly built, and the older streets are narrow. Of late yean new 

 street* and road* have been formed, and new buildings erected, in- 

 cluding a market-house, with a handsome public room in the upper 

 part The town ia lighted with pas. A (tone bridge of five arches 

 croste* the river at the lower part of the town. The parish church is 

 ancient, but was enlarged and altered, and five painted windows 

 added a few yean since. Two new churches have been erected. 

 There are two Independent chapels, two for Baptists, two for We*- 

 leyan Methodists, and a Quakers' meeting-house. Frome possesses a 

 Blue-Coat charity school for 25 boys, an asylum for 25 girls, which 

 clothes, educates, and apprentices the children, and charities for 

 old men, women, and children, which distribute 1300/. annually. 

 There are a literary institute with a good library and museum, and a 

 savings bank. A county court i* held in the town. The principal 

 manufacture* are those of woollen cloth, silk, and hat*. There are 

 also manufacture* of fur, and of cards used by the wool combers in 

 dressing cloth. Frome has been long noted for brewing ale. The 

 river Frome in it* course to the Avon supplies water power to nume- 

 rous mills. The principal market is held on Wednesday, a lesser one 

 is held on Saturday, and a large one for agricultural stock monthly ; 

 fain are held on February 24th and November 25th. 



One of the most active promoters of the recent improvements in 

 Frome, Mr. T. Bunn, has at his own expense planted many thousand 

 trees, and thereby added not a little to the pleasant appearance of 

 the town. There are some very dilapidated remains of a monastery 

 near Frome. In the viciuity are numerous fine mansions. 



(Communication from Frame.) 



FRONTIGNAN. [HfauUMt] 



FKUSIXO'NE, a province and town in the Papal State*. The 

 province is bounded N. and W. by the Comarca di Roma, E. by the Terra 

 di Lavoro in the kingdom of Naples, and S. by the Mediterranean. Its 

 greatest length from north to south, from the ridge north of Anagni 

 to Monte Circello, the most southern point of the Papal States, is about 

 40 miles; its greatest breadth is about SO miles. The area is 720 

 square miles ; and the population in 1843 was 141,930. This province 

 includes also in its jurisdiction the small district of Ponto Corvo, 

 which is in the valley of the Liris, within the territory of Naples, 

 but belongs to the Pope. The province of Frosinone consists of four 

 natural divisions: 1, the Valley of the Sacco, which is fertile; 

 2, the mountains north of it, the Hernica Saxa, or Rocks of the 

 Hemici, which are mostly barren ; 3, the Monti Lepini, Volsoorum 

 Monies, south of the valley of the Sacco, which are partly cultivated; 

 and 4, the Pomptine Marshes, extending south of the Monti Lepini 

 to the sea-coast as far aa Monte Circello and Terracina. The province 

 contains 7 towns and 45 terre, or villages, having a communal council, 

 and 24 hamlets. (Calindri.) Frosinone, built on a hill above the 

 junction of the river Cosa with the Sacco, is the capital of the pro- 

 vince, and the residence of the delegate. The nature of the surface 

 of the province is described under CAMPAONA DI ROMA. The principal 

 towns are here given : 



Prorinone, the ancient Pnaino, a town of the Volsci, afterwards a 

 Roman colony, is built on a hill at the opening of the valley of the 

 Cosa into that of the Sacco, in the midst of a well-cultivated country, 

 and has about 7000 inhabitants. It gives title to a bishop, and has an 

 old castle, a college, and some remains of an ancient amphitheatre at the 

 foot of the hill Ferentino, on the site of the ancient Fertnt 

 is an episcopal see, and has 6700 inhabitants. The existing remains 

 of antiquity at Ferentino comprise large portions of the ancient walls, 

 built with vast irregular polygonal blocks of limestone, patched up 

 in many places with Roman masonry ; an ancient citadel ; and por- 

 tions of Roman buildings. Ferentinum was a city of tin- llvrnici. 

 Alatri, built on a steep hill above the valley of the Cossa, 7 miles 

 from Ferentino, is an episcopal see, has 8000 inhabitants, and manu- 

 factories of coarse woollen cloth. On the summit of the hill is a vast 

 space, 660 yards in circuit, defended by a wall of massive polygonal 

 masonry without cement. The wall of this acropolis is 12 feet 

 thick, and in some place* 50 feet high. Two gates lead into the 

 incloied space, where the cathedral and the episcopal palace have 

 been built. The walls of the citadel, and thoso of the town itaelf, 

 are built of hard Apennine limestone, and for massive solidity, and 

 a* specimens of the polygonal style of masonry, are unsurpassed in 

 Italy. Alatri is the ancient Alatrium, another town of the Hernici. 

 Veroli, an episcopal see, also built on a mountain, has 7000 inhabitants, 

 mostly agriculturists. North of it, near the source of the Cosa, is 

 the fine Carthusian convent and church of Trisulti, built in a wild 

 glen of the Apennines ; and near the village of Collepardo is a vast 

 cave in the form of a dome, nearly 200 feet high, full of splendid 

 stalactites. Anagni has been already noticed. [AKAONI.] Ceccano 

 ha* 6500 inhabitant*; and Ceprano, on the Liris, above its junction 

 with the Sacco, and on the Neapolitan frontier, has 8000. Opposite 

 Ceprano, on the left bank of the Liris, are some ruins, which 

 mark the site of the ancient Fregellip, a Vnlscian city early 

 colonised by the Romans, distinguished for its fidelity to Homo 

 in the invasion of Hannibal, but utterly destroyed for it* rebellion 

 n.c. 125. Scyni, the ancient Siynia, is built on the Lepini ridge, with 

 Cyclopean wall* of four mile* extent, and seven gates, and the remains 



