FLOORCLOTH 



Floorcloth. Material used as a 

 substitute for carpets. A prepara- 

 tion of indiarubber and ground cork 

 was patented in 1844 under the 

 name of kamptulicon, but was too 

 dear to become popular. The 

 principal floorcloth in use is oilcloth 

 composed of coarse-textured canvas 

 to which coats of oil-paint have 

 been thickly applied. Linoleum is 

 a preparation of ground cork and 

 oxidised linseed oil. It was in- 

 vented by F. Walton in 1860, and 

 has had many imitations. See 

 Linoleum ; Oilcloth. 



Floors OB FLETTRS CASTLE. Seat 

 of the duke of Roxburgh. It stands 

 on the Tweed just outside Kelso. 

 The Kers had long had a resi- 

 dence here when in 1718 Sir John 

 Vanbrugh planned a new house for 

 the duke of Roxburgh. In the 

 middle of the 19th century it was 

 largely rebuilt, being made into a 

 magnificent building in the Tudor 

 style. It has large gardens, and 

 commands extensive views. 



Floquet, CHARLES THOMAS 

 (1828-96). French statesman. 

 Born at St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, 

 Basses Pyre- 

 nees, Oct. 2, 

 1828, he be- 

 came an advo- 

 cate at Paris, 

 and early 

 joined the Re- 

 publican party. 

 He was active 

 in the over- 

 Charles T. Floquet, throwing of 

 French statesman Napoleon III, 

 and sat as deputy for the Seine 

 dept. in the national assembly, 

 Feb. 8, 1871. Suspected of deal- 

 ings with the communists, he was 

 imprisoned by Thiers's government, 

 but returned to the chamber as one 

 of the deputies for Paris, 1876. 



President of the chamber 1885- 

 88, he became president of the 

 council, and formed a radical 

 ministry, April 3, 1888. On 

 July 12 General Boulanger de- 

 manded a dissolution, and his ac- 

 cusations of falsehood against 

 Floquet led to their fighting a duel 

 next day, in which both were 

 wounded. His ministry began to 

 lose favour after his introduction 

 of a constitutional reform bill, 

 Oct.,1888, and he resigned Feb. 14, 

 1889. Re-elected president of the 

 chamber in Nov., 1889, he held 

 this post until his implication in 

 the Panama scandal, when it was 

 shown that he had received about 

 11,500 from the company for the 

 use of his party. This forced his 

 resignation, Nov., 1892, though 

 he made a full statement of defence 

 at the trial of those more culpably 

 involved, March 10, 1893. He died 

 Jan. 18, 1896. 



32O7 



Flora. List of the species of 

 plants growing naturally in any 

 district or country, e.g. the flora 

 of Wales. They are arranged ac- 

 cording to the laws of botanical 

 classification. 



Flora. In Roman mythology, 

 the goddess of flowers. She had a 

 temple near the Circus Maximus, 

 and a festival called Floralia was 

 held in her honour every year 

 from April 28 to May 1. 



Flora Day OB FURRY DAY. 

 Holiday observed at Helston, Corn- 

 wall, on May 8. The custom, lately 

 revived, may be a survival of the 

 Roman Floralia, or may be of 

 Celtic origin. The day is given over 

 to revelry, any person found work- 

 ing being made to leap the river. 

 Boughs of flowering hawthorn are 

 gathered, the ancient Furry Day 

 Song is sung, and long lines of re- 

 vellers, with hands joined, "faddy" 



FLORENCE 



(dance) through the streets and 

 through the open houses. The 

 festival attracts many visitors. 



Floreal. Eighth month in the 

 year as rearranged by the authors 

 of the French Revolutionary cal- 

 endar. It begins on the 20th or 

 21st of April, and the word means 

 the month of flowers. 



Florence. Prov. of north-central 

 Italy. It lies S. of Bologna, and 

 N. of Siena and Arezzo, midway 

 between the Adriatic and the Li- 

 gurian seas. Area, 2,261 sq. m. The 

 surface is hilly, and occupies part 

 of the basin of the Arno. The soil 

 is fertile, olives and grapes growing 

 in profusion. Much wine is made, 

 and silk is manufactured. Sheep 

 are reared on the grassy uplands. 

 The capital is Florence ; other 

 towns of importance are Pistoja, 

 Empoli, Fiesole, and Figline. Pop. 

 1,028,740. 



FLORENCE: ITS HISTORY & TREASURES 



Cecil Headlam, Author of Venetia and Northern Italy 



The city and its buildings are here described, and the history of the 

 state that grew up around it is outlined. See Tuscany ; M edict ; and 

 biographies of Savonarola, Macchiavelli, and other great Floren- 

 tines ; also Italy : History, Literature, Art; Guelphs and Ghibellines 



Florence, called by the Italians 

 Firenze, lies on both banks of the 

 Arno. The river is spanned by six 



, , bridges, and lined 



by modern quays 

 (Lung' ar no). 

 Broad boulevards 

 mark the line of 

 the old walls on 

 the right bank. 

 Across the river 

 (Oltr'arno), the 

 walls and gate- 



Florence arms 



ways begun by Arnolf o di Cambio, 

 1285, in succession to the smaller 

 circuit of 1173, and still earlier 

 Roman square, remain intact. Set 

 in a valley among the foothills of the 

 Apennines and the Monti di Chianti, 

 Florence owes to the proximity of 

 mountains and sea a variable and 

 trying climate, to which, however, 

 may be ascribed in part the intel- 

 lectual pre-eminence of her citizens. 

 The site and development of the 

 city were determined by a natural 

 crossing point in the Arno, where, 

 narrowed by the hill of San Giorgio 

 and deepened by the tributary 

 Mugnone, its navigable course be- 

 gins soon after it turns W. towards 

 Pisa and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Here, 

 at a point indicated by the re- 

 cently destroyed Mercato Vecchio, 

 or old forum, now the Piazza 

 Vittorio Emanuele, and the pic- 

 turesque Ponte Vecchio, designed 

 by Taddeo Gaddi in 1365, successor 

 to a Roman bridge, the Roman road 

 to the N. probably crossed an older 

 Etruscan road running E. and W. 

 Etruscan walls at Fiesole and 



Etruscan antiquities in the Museo 

 Archeologico recall the original 

 settlers. 



Roman remains include a 

 theatre at Fiesole, and in Florence, 

 baths (Via delle Terme), and an 

 amphitheatre (Piazza Peruzzi). A 

 great temple of Mars is represented 

 in its Christianised form by the 

 baptistery of San Giovanni (Battis- 

 tero), with its superb bronze gates 

 by Pisano and Ghiberti. The 

 Tuscan-Romanesque churches of 

 S. Apostoli and San Miniato mark 

 the rise of Florence in the llth 

 century. They inspired the Re- 

 naissance churches of Brunelleschi, 

 San Spirito, and San Lorenzo. The 

 latter, near the palace of the Medici, 

 has always been closely connected 

 with that family. Here, besides 

 the domed mausoleum added by 

 Cosimo I, is the new sacristy built 

 by Michelangelo for Pope Clement 

 VII (1524), where that artist's won- 

 derful statues of Day and Night, 

 Evening and Dawn, guard the mon- 

 uments of Lorenzo and Giuliano 

 de' Medici. Here, too, is the 

 Biblioteca Laurenziana, the price- 

 less library of books and manu- 

 scripts collected by Cosimo and 

 Lorenzo il Magnifico, and housed 

 by Michelangelo. 



In the 13th century Florence 

 became a veritable forest of towers, 

 built by turbulent nobles, as in the 

 Borgo Santissimi Apostoli. She 

 was now to be adorned with vast 

 Gothic churches and splendid 

 public buildings, such as the palace 

 of the Podesta, the BargaUo, 



