FALISCI FALL OF BODIES. 



the plot of which is taken from the following inci- 

 dents in Falieri's life. A patrician, Michael Steno, 

 was in love with a young lady in the retinue of the 

 wife of the doge. Disappointed in his hopes, he sought 

 to revenge himself by some lines which were insult- 

 ing to the latter, and for which the doge, a man of 

 quick and violent passions, demanded a severe punish- 

 ment. But, the patrician being sentenced only to a 

 short imprisonment, Falieri resolved to take a fearful 

 revenge on the whole body of the aristocracy, whom 

 he deeply hated, and formed a conspiracy to murder 

 all the senators, on a day agreed upon, and annihilate 

 the power of the senate. But the plot was betrayed 

 just before it was to have been executed, and the 

 doge and liis fellow conspirators arrested and put to 

 death, in 1355. A further account of this final esta- 

 blishment of the hereditary aristocracy, introduced 

 by the doge, Gradenigo, 1297, is given by Daru, in 

 his History of Venice. A play has been written on 

 the same subject by Delavigne, 1829. 



FALISCI ; a people of Etruria, said to have been 

 originally a Macedonian colony. An anecdote of 

 I'lutarch respecting them has been often repeated, 

 and forms the subject of various works of ancient 

 art. When they were besieged by Camillus, a school- 

 master went out of the gates of the city with his 

 pupils, and betrayed them into the hands of the Ro- 

 man enemy, that, by such a possession, he might 

 easily oblige the place to surrender. Camillus heard 

 the proposal with indignation, and ordered the man 

 to be stripped naked and whipped back to the town 

 by those whom his perfidy wished to betray. This 

 instance of generosity operated upon the people so 

 powerfully that they surrendered to the Romans. 



FALK, JOHN DANIEL, who, in early life, was one 

 of the best German satirists, and in after years a 

 mystic, was born at Dantzic, in 1770. The love of 

 learning, which he early displayed, had to encounter 

 great difficulties. His father, a poor wig-maker, 

 hardly allowed him to be taught even to read and 

 write before he employed him in his trade, and sought 

 to destroy the boy's love of knowledge in everyway; 

 but it only increased from opposition, and all his 

 licde savings were laid out at the circulating library, 

 for the works of Gellert, Wieland, Lessing, &c., 

 svhich he read by day and night, as he could find 

 opportunity. Often, in winter, did he stand reading 

 in the street, by the light of the lamps, and, when 

 called to an account for his long absence, said he had 

 been spending the evening with his grandfather. 

 But his dissatisfaction with his situation increased 

 with his years. An attempt to leave his father's 

 house and go to sea was unsuccessful ; and, at last, 

 at sixteen years, he succeeded in getting into a school, 

 preparatory to entering the university. But he had 

 still to contend with the greatest poverty. Wieland 

 eventually brought him into notice as a writer. Falk 

 has deserved the gratitude of his country, by the 

 foundation of the society of Friends in Need, which 

 educates, at a large establishment, great numbers of 

 unfortunate children. The grand-duke of Weimar 

 bestowed upon him an order and a title, and supported 

 the establishment. There are at present many such 

 establishments, which are productive of much good. 

 His first satires were the Graber von Kom, and Die 

 Gebete, both full of brilliant wit. They were followed, 

 during six successive years, from 1797 to 1803, by 

 the Taschenbiich fur Freunde den Schertzes und der 

 Satyre (The Pocketbook for the Lovers of Fun and 

 Satire), in which there is much entertainment. He 

 subsequently wrote principally upon religious sub- 

 jects. He died February 14, 1820. 



FALKIRK, a town of Scotland, in Stirlingshire, 

 situated near the Forth and Clyde canal, twenty-two 

 miles distant from Glasgow and twenty-four from 



Edinburgh. It is a place of considerable antiquity, 

 and near it was fought a celebrated battle between 

 the Scotch and English, during the period when Ed- 

 ward I. of England attempted to usurp the sovereignty 

 of Scotland. The graves of Sir John Graham and 

 Sir John Stewart, two Scottish chiefs who fell in the 

 conflict, are still pointed out in the churchyard of 

 Falkirk. A second battle was fought here on the 

 17th Jan. 1740, between the royalists and the insur- 

 gents under Prince Charles Edward Stuart, in which 

 the latter were victorious. 



Falkirk consists of one broad street, in which the 

 houses are in general lofty and well built, with a 

 number of narrow streets branching off from it, or 

 running parallel with it. Having a populous neigh- 

 bourhood, the inland trade of Falkirk is considerable. 

 The manufacture of leather and brewing of ale are 

 carried on here to some extent. There are also ex- 

 tensive coal-works, distilleries, malt-works, and flour- 

 mills in the immediate neighbourhood. But the town 

 is chiefly noted for its three great cattle markets, or 

 trysts, held annually in August, September, and Oc- 

 tober, to which a vast quantity of live cattle of every 

 description is brought, and purchased mostly by 

 English graziers. The tryst is held in an extensive 

 field about two and a half miles north of the town. 



The parish of Falkirk extends about seven miles 

 in length by four in breadth, and includes the sea- 

 port of Grangemouth, and villages of Lawriston, 

 Camelon, Bainsford, and Grahamston. Population of 

 town and parish in 1831, 12,743. 



FALKLAND, a small town in Fifeshire, celebrated 

 as having been once a residence of the Macduffs, 

 earls of Fife, and afterwards of the kings of Scot- 

 land. James V. and VI. made it their favourite re- 

 sort, and the former added greatly to the magnifi- 

 cence of the palace, of which there are still sufficient 

 remains to give an idea of the taste and splendour ot 

 its architecture. The chief occupation of the inha- 

 bitants is weaving. Population of town and parish 

 in 1831, 2658. 



FALKLAND, viscount. See Carey. 



FALKLAND'S ISLANDS, in the south Atlantic 

 ocean, east of the straits of Magellan. They have 

 been called Hawkins's Maiden Land, South Belgia, 

 New Islands of St Lewis, and Mallouines ; but- the 

 name of Falkland has generally prevailed. They 

 consist of two large islands, with a great number of 

 smaller ones surrounding them. They are moun 

 tainous and boggy. Besides the names above men- 

 tioned, they have also been called Pepys' Islands, 

 and Sebald de [Verts Islands. Lon. 56 30 7 to 62 

 16' W.; lat. 51 & to 52 30' S. A colony formerly 

 existed upon these islands, at the head of Berkeley 

 sound, but it was abandoned. A few years ago, the 

 Buenos Ayrean government, however, appointed don 

 Louis Vernet, a native of Hamburg, in Germany, 

 governor of them. There are no natives. The cli- 

 mate is described as very healthy. Governor Vernet 

 invites colonists to settle there. The liarbour of Port 

 Louis, formerly called Soladad, affords a fine anchor- 

 age for vessels of any burden, in all winds, and is 

 very easy of access. It is therefore convenient for 

 whale ships to water, &c. 



FALLING STAR, in meteorology; a phenomenon 

 that is frequently seen, and which has been usually 

 supposed to depend on the electric fluid. Sir Hum- 

 phrey Davy, in a lecture delivered at the royal insti- 

 tution, gave many reasons against this opinion. He 

 conceives tliat they are rather to be attributed to 

 felling stones. It is observable, tliat when their ap- 

 pearance is frequent, they have all the same direc- 

 tion ; and it lias been remarked, that they are tho 

 forerunners of a westerly wind in Great Britain. 



FALL OF BODIES. All bodies on the earth, 



