224 



FOG-BANK FONTAINE. 



which has been called dry fogs- In 1783, all Europe 

 was enveloped with a dry fog, at the moment of a 

 simultaneous volcanic action in Iceland and Calabria. 

 In 1755, before the earthquake which destroyed Lis- 

 l>on, a similar fog overspread the Tyrol and Switzer- 

 land. It appeared to be composed of earthy particles 

 reduced to an extreme degree of fineness. 



FOG-BANK ; an appearance in hazy weather, 

 which frequently resembles land at a distance, but 

 which vanishes as you approach it. 



FOIL ; a thin leaf of metal, placed under transpa- 

 rent substances, such as precious stones, for the sake 

 of improving their colour, and heightening their lustre, 

 the light, which passes through the transparent body, 

 being reflected by the metal. Figuratively, any tiling 

 that serves to set off another object, by improving its 

 external appearance. 



Foil is also used to signify the sheet of amalgam 

 laid on the side of a mirror, which enables it to re- 

 flect a complete image. 



Foil, in fencing; a blunt sword, or one tipped with 

 a button or cork, covered with leather. 



FOIX, GASTON DE. See Gaston. 



FOLARD, CHEVALIER CHARLES DE, a tactician, 

 born ot Avignon in 1669, entered the military service 

 at the age of sixteen years, and served with the rank 

 of under-lieutenant in a partisan corps of the regi- 

 ment Berry, 1688. This service was a good school 

 of war. In the campaign of 1701, he found new 

 opportunities of displaying his military science. 

 Folard served in many campaigns. In the battle at 

 Cassano, in 1705, he continued to perform his duty, 

 after having received three wounds. His reputation 

 rests principally on his system of columns. In 1714, 

 he went to Malta, which was threatened by the 

 Turks, and there gave new proofs of his talents. 

 The reputation of Charles XII. carried him to Swe- 

 den ; but on the death of this king, he returned to 

 France. His last campaign was in the year 1719, 

 as mestre de camp, under the duke of Berwick. His 

 views are explained at large in his commentaries on 

 Polybius. His other principal works are, Nouvelles 

 decouvertes sur la Guerre, Traite de la Defense des 

 Places, and a Traite de la Gtierre de Partisan, Folard 

 died at Avignon in 1752. 



FOLIGNO (anciently Fulginium); a town of the 

 States of the Church, in the delegation of Perugia, 

 situated in a fertile plain, on the river Topino, at the 

 foot of the Apennines. Population, 15,000. The 

 fortifications have been converted into public walks. 

 Foligno is celebrated for its confectionary. The 

 famous picture of Raphael, La Madonna di Foligno 

 (with an angel and a votive table hi the centre), took 

 its name from this place. The picture is at present 

 in the Vatican, and is one of those which the French 

 carried to Paris. 



FOLZ, HANS (JOHN); from Worms; a barber at 

 Nuremberg, one of the chief seats of the master- 

 singers (meister-sanger; by no means to be confound- 

 ed with minne-sanger), of whom he was a member in 

 the second half of the fifteenth century. He was one 

 of the first who introduced dramatic literature into 

 Germany, by giving the diversions of the carnival a 

 better form. There are still existing four of his com- 

 positions for such occasions, Solomon und Marcolf, 

 Ein Bauerngericht, Eine gar baurische Bauernheirath, 

 Der Arzt und der Kranke. Folz took an active part 

 in the reformation, and in the introduction of the 

 newly invented art of printing. 



FOMENTATION, in medicine, is the external 

 application of a fluid, as warm as the patient can 

 bear it. Two flannel cloths are dipped in that liquor, 

 one of which is wrung as dry as possible, and imme- 

 diately applied to the part affected. This cloth lies 

 oa till the heat has evaporated, and the other is then 



applied. By this alternate application, the par!' 

 affected is constantly supplied with warmth, for fifteen 

 minutes, or half an hour, as occasion may require. 



FONDI, or FUNDI, a town of Naples, in Lavora, 

 situated near a lake to which it gives name ; 40 miles 

 W. Capua, 56 E. Rome; Ion. 13 30' E.; lat. 41 

 20* N.; population, 4937; bishop's see. This was 

 anciently a municipal town, and afterwards a pre- 

 fecture: it stood on the Appian Way. At the ex- 

 tremity of the town is an old castle, of no great 

 strength. Fondi stands in a plain, surrounded on 

 one side with hills, whence it looks like an amphi- 

 theatre. Most of these hills are covered with olive- 

 trees, and the whole plain is interspersed with orange, 

 lemon, and other fruit trees, whose verdure forms a 

 perpetual spring. The lake of Fondi (anciently 

 Lacus Fundanus, or Amyclanus) lies between the 

 road and the sea, and is a fine expanse of water. 



FONSECA, ELEANOR, marchioness of; born at 

 Naples, of one of the most illustrious families in that 

 city, in 1768. Though possessed of extraordinary 

 beauty, she devoted her youth rather to the cultiva- 

 tion of her mind than the improvement of her per- 

 sonal charms. She attended particularly to the study 

 of natural history and anatomy. In 1784, she married 

 the marquis de Fonseca, of an ancient Spanish family, 

 long settled at Naples. Being presented at court, 

 she became an attendant on the queen ; but, having 

 given offence to her majesty and the minister Acton, 

 she was dismissed, and forbidden to appear again in 

 the precincts of royalty. She now engaged anew in 

 her studies, and assisted in his scientific researches 

 her friend the abbe Spallanzani. On the breaking 

 out of the French revolution, the marchioness Fonse- 

 ca became one of its warmest partisans : and, when 

 the French invaded Italy, she engaged in intrigues 

 against the Neapolitan court. In 1799, the king and 

 royal family being obliged to quit Naples, the Lazza- 

 roni threatened the lives of those who were suspected 

 to be in the French interest. The marchioness de 

 Fonseca narrowly escaped their fury, and owed her 

 safety to her own firmness, as she traversed the city 

 to take refuge in the castle of St Elmo. When the 

 triumph of her party had taken place, she commenced 

 a journal, entitled the Neapolitan Monitor, in which 

 she attacked the royal family, and especially the 

 queen and the ministers. This journal produced a 

 great effect in forwarding the views of the anti- 

 royalists ; and madame de Fonseca was in the zenith 

 of her fame, when the measures of cardinal Ruffo 

 obliged the French to quit Naples. She was advised 

 to seek for safety in flight ; but she refused, and be- 

 came the victim of her imprudence. The cardinal 

 caused her to be arrested, and she was hanged on the 

 20th of July, 1799. 



FONTAINE, JEAN DE LA, one of the most original 

 men of genius of the age of Louis XIV., was born at 

 Chateau-Thierry, in 1621. His father was overseer 

 of the waters and forests ; and it is supposed that he 

 received his early education at Rheims. At the age 

 of nineteen, he placed himself under the fathers of 

 the oratory, with whom he remained, however, only 

 eighteen months. He appears not to hav attempted 

 poetry until his twenty-second year, when he was 

 much impressed by the recital of an ode of Malherbe's. 

 His first essays in verse were confided to a relative, 

 who directed him in his choice of reading; such 

 being his simplicity and docility, that he was in char- 

 acter a child, when in appearance a man. At the 

 persuasion of his family, he married, and appears to 

 have esteemed his wife ; but his disposition was in- 

 compatible with strong attachment, so that he made 

 little difficulty of quitting her when invited to the 

 capital by the duchess ofBouillon, who first put him 

 upon writing his Tales. At Paris, he was protected 



