FRA 
Bretagne, there is a grand monument of this kind, far 
exceeding Stonehenge in magnitude, confiding of about 
four thoufand (tones, many as high as eighteen or twenty 
feet, difpofed in the form of a quincunx of eleven rows. 
It is not a little remarkable that the Veneti, or people cf 
Vannes, who oppofed Co great a fleet to Caefar, were 
Belgae, as Strabo particularly informs us, lib. iv. a flrong- 
proof that thcfe monuments are neither Celtic nor Druidic, 
but founded by the Belgic Goths, who long before the 
Chriftian era poftefted the greatefl part of Europe. See 
the article England, vol. vi. p. 776. 
The Roman antiquities in France are very numerous, 
and feme of them in excellent prefe.rvation. Thofe at 
Nifmes are particularly celebrated, confiding chiefly of 
an a'mphitheatre, and the temple called La Maifon Carre. 
At Paris there are alfo Come curious remains of Roman 
architecture, which are ftill preferved with reverence and 
care. The difeovery of the grave of Childeric, near 
Tournay, in the laft century, prefented fome very curious 
fragments of native antiquities. In an old tower of St. 
Germain du Pre, are reprefentations of feveral ot the fird 
monarchs of the Fraivks; and many of their curious effi¬ 
gies were preferved on their tombs at St. Dennis, and in 
other places, till they were profaned by the violences of 
the late revolution. 
The monuments of the Carlovingian race of princes are 
more numerous; and Roman mofaics have everywhere 
illuflrated the fame of Charlemagne. France has been fo 
little expofed to foreign conqueft, or inroad, except by 
England, that feveral facred edifices exifl which were 
eredted in this remote period. Of later events the monu¬ 
ments are fo numerous, that it would be vain to attempt 
to enumerate them. One of the mod Angular is the fuit 
of beautiful tapeftry, which was preferved in the cathe¬ 
dral church of Bayeux in Normandy, reprefcntiitg the 
beginning and termination of the grand coined: between 
William and Harold, which led to the conqueft of Eng¬ 
land by the Normans. It is faid to have been the woik 
of Matilda, wife of William ; and bears every mark of 
that remote antiquity. The ftatue of Philip Auguftus, 
in the church of the abbey of Victory, near Settles, is no 
mean relic of the arts of the middle ages, when St. Louis 
called forth the utmoft exertions of cccle'iaftic (kill. 
The chief hiftorical epochs in the chronology ot France, 
arrange themfelves in the following order: the primitive 
population.of the Celts, and the conquefts of fire Aqui- 
tani, and Belgre, fttnilar to what happened in England, 
(which fee in voL vi. p. 797,) form the firft epocha. The 
faint traces of the ancients concerning Gaul, from the 
eftabliftiment of the Phocean colony at Marleilles, to the 
\ conqueft of France by Julius Caefur, conftitutes its fecond 
epoch. See p. 648 of this volume. The complete deve¬ 
lopment of the country to the learned world by that re¬ 
nowned general; and the various revolutions and events 
of which it was the theatre under the dominion of the 
Romans, comprifes the third epoch : p. 649. The inva- 
fion and final conqueft of the country by the Franks under 
Clovis, about the year 490, and the converfion of the 
Franks to the Chriftian faitlt, five years-after that period, 
may be regarded as its fourth principal epocha : fee 
p.650. The obfeure hiftory and reign of the Merovin¬ 
gian race, when France was frequently fplit into (mall 
kingdoms, to the final extinction of that dyn.ifty in the 
middle of the eighth century, forms its fifth epocha: fee 
p. 652. The Carlovingian race, which afeended the throne 
in theyear 752, and was followed, twenty years afterwards, 
by the celebrated reign of Charlemagne, conftitutes the 
fixth epocha. This renowned prince carried the power 
of France to the greateft extent and (plendour ; having, in 
particular, fubdued the'greateft part of Germany, wheie 
he became the founder and firft fovereign of what has 
fince been ftyled the German empire, A. D. 800, and 
which remained with his defeendants for near a century: 
fee p. 653—662. 
The acceffion of the houfe of Capet to the throne of 
N C E. ' 1 895 
France in the year 987, upon the death of Louis V. may 
be confidered as the feventh, as well as one of the prin¬ 
cipal epochs which mark the events of that country. It 
laid the foundation of that illwftrious reign of kings which 
held on uninterruptedly to the era of the revolution : fee 
p. 663, See. The crufad.es, or warfare in the Holy Land, 
in which the French bore the chief fway, conftitutes their 
eighth epocha : p. 666. The wars with England, and 
conqueft of France by Henry V. with its deliverance by 
the Maid of Orleans, or rather by Charles- VII. ftyled the 
victorious, forms the ninth epocha: p.671—689. The 
reign of Louis XI. who crudied fueh powerful princes as 
were left after the Engliftt were defeated, and who was 
called the father of the abfolute monarchy, may be re¬ 
garded as tlie tenth epocha : p. 690—696. The reign of 
F'rancis I. who was called the father of fcience and letters, 
during which the French, who had been confidered as bar¬ 
barians by the more civilized people of Italy, began on 
the contrary to be diftinguiftied for their fuperior refine¬ 
ment, forms the eleventh epocha. This is alfo the firft 
epoch of a (landing army on the continent of Europe : 
p. 697—704. The inteftine commotions and wars with 
the proteft mts, and the inhuman maflacre of the prote- 
ftants on St. Bartholomew’s day in 1572, may be reckoned 
the twelfth epocha : p.707—710. The diftinguiftied reign 
of Henry IV. forms a very important epocha in the annals 
of France: p.712—726. That of Louis XIV. too much 
extolled by the French, and too much degraded by other 
nations, to the death of Louis XV. conftitutes the next, 
or fourteenth epocha : p. 727—745. The late revolution, 
which has aftoniftted Europe, and which, in the magni¬ 
tude of its relations and expence of human blood, out¬ 
rivals all the long feries of fimilar events in ancient hif¬ 
tory, is with great truth regarded as the principal epocha 
in the affairs of France: p. 746—788. The eftablifti¬ 
ment of the Gaulic or French empire under the emperor 
Napoleon I. commences a memorable epoch, as well as a 
new dynafty, in the civil and political hiftory of France: 
fee p. 789—890. 
GOVERNMENT, CONSTITUTION, LAWS, and 
RELIGION. 
The prefent government of France, (1S06,) ftridlly 
fpeaking, appears to be neither monarchical, nor repub¬ 
lican ; though it participates, of both. The emperor, at 
the prefent day, is perhaps the mod abfolute monarch on 
the face of the earth ; yet the conftituted authorities con¬ 
tinue very nearly upon the (lime footing as when the con- 
fuJar government was eredted in 1799; the firft moving 
principle being in the primary afifemblies, and the legifla- 
tive authority under the controul of a confervative fenate, 
a tribunate, and a prytaneum of fifty counfeilors. The 
executive power refides ftill in the emperor, as it did be¬ 
fore in the firft conful; but Napoleon, as we have already 
feen, confiders the conftitution as a Republic ; and not un- 
frequently appeals to what he calls the firft earthly autho¬ 
rity— the will and majejly of the people. 
The organization of the F'rench empire is at prefent as 
follows : The (late is divided info or.e hpndred and eight 
departments, including the fix Piedmontefe ; and are con¬ 
fidered as being fo many totally difiindl provinces. Each 
department is itfelf fubdivided into three, four, or five, 
diftricls, called communal arrondijfements . Tliefe diftridts 
are, in their tarn, fubdivided into cantons. Laftly, each 
canton is compofed of a certain number of communes ; 
that is to fay, of towns and villages. A commune is fome- 
times a (ingle town, and fometimes an union of feveral vil¬ 
lages, potfeffing a mayor and a communal municipality. 
All the confiderable cities are divided into feveral com¬ 
munes. The difpenfations cf authority might be endan¬ 
gered by the union of the inhabitants oian extenfive city. 
By this maxim, divide and govern, thtf inhabitants of the 
fame town have almoft ceafed to be fellow.citizens. 
Each department is adminiftered by a prefect, and as 
many fub-prefedts as it contains diftridts. The details of 
4 the 
