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FONTANA FONTENELLE. 



then nearly buried under the rubbish, to the middle 

 of the square. This undertaking liad been already 

 contemplated by several popes, but liad been relin- 

 quished on account of the difficulty of accomplishing 

 it. Fontana liappily executed this gigantic operation 

 in the year 1586. He afterwards erected three other 

 obelisks, which were found, partly buried under 

 ruins, in different squares. Among other buildings 

 erected by Fontana, by the command of Sixtus V., 

 and which are an honour to the patron not less than 

 to the architect, the library of the Vatican, and the 

 aqueduct (acqua felice) deserve particular mention. 

 Under Clement VIII. Fontana also constructed seve- 

 ral buildings, and repaired ancient monuments. Hav- 

 ing been accused of converting to his private use the 

 money received for public purposes, he was deprived 

 of his office by the pope, but immediately received the 

 offer of the post of architect and chief engineer of the 

 king of the Two Sicilies, and, in 1592, went to Naples. 

 He there constructed several canals, to prevent inunda- 

 tions, a new road along the bay, and the royal palace 

 in the capital, which, however, has been since con- 

 siderably changed. His plan for a harbour at Naples 

 was executed after his death by another architect. 

 Fontana died at Naples hi 1607, and was succeeded 

 in the office of royal architect by his son Julius Cae- 

 sar. We have but one literary work by Domenico 

 Fontana (Rome, 1590, with nineteen engravings). 

 It is an explanation of his method of removing the 

 great obelisk. The process must be considered as 

 his own invention, since the writings of former archi- 

 tects contain no rules on this subject. 



FONTANA, FELICE, natural philosopher, at the 

 grand ducal court of Florence, was born at Pomarolo, 

 not far from Roveredo, in the Italian Tyrol, in 1730 ; 

 begun his studies in the schools at Roveredo and 

 Verona, and, after having completed them at the 

 universities of Padua and Bologna, went to Rome, 

 and thence to Florence. The grand duke Francis 

 (afterwards emperor) appointed him professor of 

 natural philosophy in the university of Pisa. The 

 grand duke Leopold (afterwards emperor Leopold 

 II.) invited him to Florence, but permitted him 

 to retain his office at Pisa, and employed him in form- 

 ing the cabinet of the natural sciences, which is yet 

 one of the ornaments of Florence. This collection 

 contains an immense number of anatomical prepara- 

 tions, in coloured wax, which exhibit all parts of the 

 human body in the minutest detail, and in all imagin- 

 able positions. They are executed with the greatest 

 skill, and were made by different artists under the 

 direction of Fontana. The emperor Joseph II. pro- 

 cured from him a similar collection for the surgical 

 academy in Vienna. In the same way, many plants, 

 and other natural objects, which lose their natural 

 colours by keeping, were represented in coloured 

 wax, from nature, under his direction. Fontana is 

 the author of several works on scientific subjects, 

 some of which have been translated into German and 

 French. He also made several discoveries relative 

 to the application of carbonic acid, and different sorts 

 of gas. His writings show him to have been an in- 

 genious and indefatigable observer. The political 

 principles which he avowed during the events of 

 1799, in Tuscany, involved him in some difficulties. 

 He died in 1805, and was buried in the church of 

 Santa Croce, by the side of Galileo and Viviani. 



FONTANES, Lo0is, MARQUIS DE ; a distinguished 

 member of the French iristitute, was born of a noble 

 family, at Niort, in 1757. In the commencement of 

 the French revolution, he edited a journal, entitled 

 the Moderateur, and, after the fall of Robespierre, 

 joined La Harpe and others in the publication of a 

 paper, called Le Memorial, which was, together with 

 about forty more of the same description, suppressed 



by the national convention, on the 6th September, 

 1797, the several proprietors, editors, &c., being all 

 included in one common sentence of banishment and 

 confiscation of property. M. de Fontanes escaped 

 to England, where he contracted an intimacy with 

 M. de Chateaubriand, in company with whom lie re- 

 turned to his native country, taking advantage of 

 the amnesty granted on the elevation of Bonaparte 

 to the consulship, and joined MM. Ronald and La 

 Harpe in conducting the Mercure de France. Shortly 

 after, he obtained a seat in the corps legislatif, of 

 which body he eventually became the president. In 

 1808, he was appointed grand-master of the univer- 

 sity of Paris, and, in 1810, attained to the dignity of 

 a senator. In this capacity, he, on the 1st of April, 

 1814, made a strong speech in favour of the restora- 

 tion of the Bourbon dynasty ; and, being subsequently 

 placed on the committee for drawing up the constitu- 

 tional charter, was, for his services, raised to the 

 peerage, on the re-establishment of that body. In 

 1817, he was one of the supporters of the election 

 law introduced by Decaze, but afterwards changed 

 his opinion, and voted for its repeal. M. de Fon- 

 tanes died at Paris, March 17, 1821. 



FONTEN AY ; a village in Burgundy, department 

 of the Yonne, where a bloody battle was fought be- 

 tween the sons of Louis le Debonnaire, in 841, the 

 consequence of which was the division (843) of the 

 Prankish empire, founded by Charlemagne. Lo- 

 thaire I. received Italy, and what was afterwards 

 called Lorraine, with the title of emperor ; Loviis re- 

 ceived Germany, and Charles the Bald, France. 

 There are many places of this name in France, dis- 

 tinguished from each other by some particular epi- 

 thet. 



FONTENELLE, BERNARD LE BOVIER DE ; born 

 at Rouen, 1657 ; son of an advocate and of a sister 

 of the great Corneille. Although he lived to the age 

 of nearly 100 years, and retained, till his death 

 (1757), a remarkable degree of activity, preserving 

 a sound mind in a sound body, he came into the 

 world so weak, that it was not thought possible that 

 he could survive. He began his youthful studies in 

 the college of the Jesuits, at Rouen, and, at the age 

 of thirteen, entered the class of rhetoric. After com- 

 pleting his studies, he was admitted an advocate, 

 conducted a cause, which he lost, and renounced the 

 bar for ever. In 1674, he went to Paris, and soon 

 became known by his poetical effusions and learned 

 works. Several of his poems appeared in the Mer- 

 cure galant, and displayed much poetic sensibility 

 and taste. Before the age of twenty, he had assisted 

 in the composition of the operas of Psyche and Bel- 

 lerophon, which appeared under the name of his 

 uncle, Thomas Corneille. In 1681, he brought out 

 his tragedy Aspar, which was unsuccessful. Its fail 

 ure excited so much attention, that Racine wrote an 

 epigram on it. Zeal for the fame of his uncle, and 

 personal feeling, brought him into a party entirely 

 opposed to the opinions of those who then directed 

 the destinies of French literature. But his amiable 

 character and his love of peace prevented him from 

 entering into the contest with acrimony. In the dis 

 pute concerning the comparative merit of the an- 

 cients and moderns, he favoured the opponents of 

 antiquity. He became acquainted, in his youth, with 

 the philosophy of Descartes, and remained attached 

 to it, without being willing to defend it. As a poet, 

 he had no fire, nor creative power ; as a scholar, he 

 was not distinguished for originality of views. He 

 treated elegant literature in a dry and pedantic man- 

 ner, and the severe sciences in a light way. In 

 1683 appeared his Dialogues of the Dead, which 

 were favourably received, although his continual 

 straining after wit and novelty deprives them of the 



