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FRANCE, ISLE OF FRANCIS OF PAULA. 



FRANCE, ISLE OF ; an ancient province of 

 France, so called because it was originally bounded 

 by the Seine, Marne, Ourcq, Aisne, and Oise, and 

 formed almost an island. It was finally extended 

 much farther, and was bounded N. by Picardy, W. 

 by Normandy, S. by Orleans and Nivernais, and E. 

 by Champagne. See Departments. 



FRANCE, ISLE OF, or MAURITIUS ; an island 

 in the Indian sea, belonging to Great Britain. It is 

 situated about 600 miles E. of the island of Mada- 

 gascar ; between 19 58' and 20 31' lat. S., and 

 57 16 and 57 46' Ion. E. It is of circular form, 

 about 150 'miles in circuit, and composed chiefly of 

 rugged and pointed mountains, containing caves of 

 great extent. Some of the mountains are said to be 

 so high as to be covered with snow throughout the 

 year. The climate is warm, but, notwithstanding, 

 very wholesome ; the air serene, and very much' 

 exposed to hurricanes. The soil is generally red and 

 stony, though mountainous towards the sea-coast ; 

 but within land Uiere are many spots both flat and 

 fertile. The whole island is well watered. It pro- 

 duces all the trees, fruits, and herbs which grow in 

 this part of the globe, and in great plenty ; and is 

 famous for its ebony, esteemed the most solid, close, 

 and shining of any in the world. Groves of oranges, 

 both sweet and sour, are common, as well as citrons ; 

 and the pine-apple grows spontaneously in very 

 great perfection. The island produces little grain, 

 or any other useful vegetable, except the potatoe, but 

 depends for provisions almost entirely on Bourbon, 

 which is considered its granary. Bourbon having 

 no port, its trade is carried on entirely by the 

 channel of Mauritius. The exports consist in excel- 

 lent coffee, a great part of it raised in Bourbon, cot- 

 ton, indigo, sugar, and cloves. There are two 

 ports, Port Louis, or North-west Port, the capital, 

 and Port Bourbon. In 1822, there were 87,603 

 inhabitants, of whom 10,359 were white, 13,475 free 

 blacks, and 63,769 slaves. The inhabitants, most 

 of whom are descendants of noble French families, 

 are remarkable for their polished manners. Educa- 

 tion is much attended to. The Lancastrian method 

 of teaching is much in use. The accounts of the 

 government are kept in piastres of 100 cents, and 

 those of the merchants in piastres of 10 livres, or 

 200 sous. Since 1820, the medium of exchange has 

 been principally paper money, payable at sight in 

 Spanish dollars. The island was discovered in the 

 sixteenth century, by don Pedro Mascarenhas, a Por- 

 tuguese, and called Ilka do Cerno. Van Neck, a 

 Dutchman, having found it uninhabited in 1598 

 called it Mauritius, after the Prince of Orange. In 

 1721, the French took possession of it, after it had 

 been abandoned by the Dutch. In 1810, it was 

 taken by the British, and confirmed to them by the 

 peace of 1814. 



FRANCHE-COMTE,or UPPER BURGUNDY ; 

 an ancient province of France, forming, at present, 

 the departments of the Doubs, of the Upper Saone, 

 and of the Jura. It was the ancient Sequania, and 

 formed part of that Roman province, the capital of 

 which was Besanqon. In the division of the states 

 of the emperor Maximilian, it fell to Spain ; but 

 Louis XIV. conquered it in 1674, and it was ceded 

 to France by the peace of Nimeguen, in 1678. 



FRANCIS OF ASSISI, ST., was born at Assisi, 

 in Umbria, in 1182, and received the baptismal name 

 of John. He was afterwards called Francis, on ac- 

 count of his facility of speaking French, which was 

 necessary to the Italians, in commercial affairs, for 

 which he was destined by his father. He was born, 

 says Baillet, with the sign of a cross upon his 

 shoulder, and in a stable , in which latter circum- 

 stance he resembled the Saviour. Without indulging 



in such practices as were grossly vicious, Francis, 

 whose character was naturally yielding, sociable, and 

 generous, did not refrain from the pleasures of the 

 world ; but in the midst of this mode of life, he be- 

 held, in a dream, a quantity of arms, marked with the 

 sign of the cross. He asked for whom they were 

 destined, and was answered, " for himself and his 

 soldiers." He then served as a soldier in Apulia, but 

 was informed, in another dream, that his soldiers 

 must be spiritual. He therefore sold the little pro- 

 perty which he possessed, left the paternal roof, as- 

 sumed the monastic habit, and girded himself with a 

 cord. He soon had a great number of followers, and, 

 in 1210, his order was confirmed by pope Innocent 

 III. The next year, he received, from the Benedic- 

 tines, a church in the vicinity of Assisi, which was 

 the cradle of the order of the Franciscans or Mino- 

 rites. Francis afterwards obtained a bull in confirma- 

 tion of his order, from pope Honorius III. Some of 

 his disciples being anxious to have the privilege of 

 preaching in all places, without the permission of the 

 bishops, he answered, " Let us win the great by our 

 humility and respect, and inferiors by our preaching 

 and example ; but let our peculiar distinction be to 

 have no privileges." He then went on a pilgrimage 

 to Palestine ; and, in order to convert the sultan 

 Meledin, offered to prove the truth of Christianity by 

 throwing himself into the flames. The sultan, how- 

 ever, declined this test, and dismissed him with marks 

 of respect. After his return, he added to the two 

 classes of his order, the Minorites and the Claristes, 

 a third, designed to embrace penitents of both sexes. 

 He then withdrew to a mountain in the Apennines. 

 There, if we may believe the legend, he beheld, in a 

 vision, a crucified seraph, who perforated his feet, 

 hands, and right side. On this account, the order re- 

 ceived the name of seraphic. Francis died two years 

 after, at Assisi, October 4, 1220. He was doubtless 

 a man of great talents, who was actuated by the 

 noble idea of teaching Christianity to the poor and 

 neglected of his time. See Franciscans. 



FRANCIS OF PAULA, founder of the order of 

 the Minims, was born, in 1416, in the city of Paula, 

 in Calabria. According to some accounts, he was 

 descended from a noble family in impoverished cir- 

 cumstances ; but, according to others, he was of less 

 illustrious origin. His father destined him for the 

 monastic life. At the age of fourteen, renouncing 

 his paternal inheritance, lie withdrew to a cave in a 

 rock, slept on the bare ground, and satisfied his 

 hunger with the coarsest food. He had scarcely 

 reached his twentieth year, when so great a num- 

 ber of persons came to dwell in the solitude around 

 him, that he obtained, from the archbishop of Co- 

 senza, permission to build a convent and a church. 

 Assisted by the inhabitants of the vicinity, the build- 

 ings were soon finished, and, in 1436, ready to re- 

 ceive a numerous society. Thus was founded the 

 new order, which was, at first, called the hermits of 

 St Francis, and was confirmed, in 1474, by pope 

 Sixtus IV. In 1493, the statutes of the order were 

 again confirmed by Alexander VI., under the name 

 of the Minims (Latin, minimi, the least). The basis 

 of the order was humility, and its motto charity. To 

 the three usual vows, Francis added a fourth, that of 

 keeping lent during the whole year ; that is, abstain- 

 ing not only from meat, but from eggs and every 

 kind of food prepared with milk, excepting in cases 

 of sickness. He practised still greater austerities 

 himself. This extreme severity did not prevent the in- 

 crease of the order. The fame of his miraculous cures 

 reached Louis XI. of France, then dangerously sick ; 

 and that superstitious tyrant invited him to France. 

 But it was not until he had received the commands 

 of pope Sixtus IV., that Francis set out for France. 



