FRA 
It is a matter of extreme regret, and of the moft de¬ 
structive tendency, that gaming, and high play, pervade 
almott all orders in France; yet places of amufement 
are numerous, and no lefs than twenty theatres are open, 
to beguile the leifure of the evening. M.-ny institutions 
of a public nature have like wife been eftablifhed, capable 
of producing food and employment for the mind ; parti¬ 
cularly the grand mufeuin, formerly the pantheon, which 
is now fitted up-011 a magnificent fcale, for the reception 
of all kinds of curiofities from foreign countries ; and in 
which are difplayed the valuable pictures, flatties, and 
other productions of the refined arts, brought to P.iris by 
her victorious armies from Italy and other countries. 
Another public repofitory of the fit It importance is the 
Halle an Ble, which is deflined for the reception of corn 
and flour for the fupply of the capital, and is regularly 
filled and emptied every-four or five days. This hall t he 
reader will readily conceive to be extremely fpacious, 
when he is informed that the annual confumption of bread- 
corn in the French capital lias, on an average, been com¬ 
puted at twenty-four millions of bufhels; which is faid 
to be more than double tire quantity confirmed in the 
Britifh metropolis, though its population fo much fur- 
patfes that of Paris. 
The Parifians feem to have copied the fafhion of dining 
at a late hour, from the Englifh ; but they do not, like 
them, fit for hours after tire repaft, nor indulge in the 
inebri 'ting ufe of the bottle. Napoleon hirnfelS is faid to 
be temperate almoft to abftemioufnefs; Ire riles from table 
in lefs than half an hour; and the example is followed' 
univerfaHy ; but with emulating flriftnefs amongft all the 
great men in office. His regular attendance at high and 
military mafs alternately, together with his emprefs, has 
operated on the minds even of the low and vulgar, in re¬ 
claiming them from the vice and irreligion fuperinduced 
by the former reign of atheifm ; and though the modern 
law of France confiders marriage as only a civil contraCf, 
yet fuch is the influence of a reformed municipality, that 
the union of the fexes is now rarely confurnmated, fill it 
has been ratified in the church by the prielt’s benedidtion. 
The churches are now conftantly open, where mattes pri¬ 
vate and public are foleninizing every day till twelve 
o’clock; after which vefpers, or evening fervice., begins 
at three, and continues till night lets in. On Sundays, 
and other days of great folemnity, high mafs is conftantly 
performed, which is accompanied with a choice band of 
mod folemn mufic; after which immediately fucceeds 
military mafs, which is only diftinguifhed from the for¬ 
mer by being attended with a military band, accompanied 
either by the common, or kettle drums, and reforted to 
by the officers and foldiers in proceflion. 
Upon the whole, in reviewing the prefent condition of 
France, the liberal mind will contemplate many events, 
with admiration, and will fufpend its hafty and final 
judgment of the revolution, until wifdom and genius (hall 
repofe from their labours, and proclaim that the mighty 
work is at an end. If we admit the defefts of the old 
conftitution to have been as fatal as moft of the dilpaf- 
fionate writers have deferibed ; if it be true that the con¬ 
ftitution only exilled in name; that it had ceafed to be a 
legitimate government; that profligacy and perfecution 
was the order of the day, and that every department of 
{he ftate called aloud for regeneration, little can be op- 
pofed to the necefltty of a revolution, although the means 
by which it has been brought about mutt ever be regarded 
with fentiments of abhorrence. It we contemplate the 
ways of divine Providence, we lhall more and more be 
convinced that “ out of evil cometh good.” If political 
liberty has difappeared in France, civil liberty has been 
eftablifhed; if the forms of freedom have melted away, 
the ftruggles of fadtion are alfo at an end; whole bodies 
are not perfecuted, and individuals are not oppreffed ; 
the fway of flate-plunderers no longer exifts, and men of 
probity and ability fill places of power. Revolutionary 
profelytifm, bigotry, and narrownefs of mind, have made 
way for civilitv and gallant manners ; thefe have regained 
their empire. The decorations and ornaments, whirl) do 
not lefs add life than they lend attractions to fociety, are 
again juftly appreciated, and reftored to proper vogue. 
Protedlion and favour are extended to fcienceand letters. 
We will hope that tire fame liberal and beneficent fpirit, 
which pervades the internal adminiftration, will difplay 
itfelf in the conduct of external relations; that the em¬ 
peror Napoleon will not abandon the profeflions which 
he folemnly made in the fittings of his fenate, before the 
face of Europe, fo recently as the 2d of March 1S06 ; 
and that he will prefer, to the mad attempt of devaftating 
the world, the folid glory of repairing the million-mil- 
chiefs which have been endured ; of reviving induftry, 
agriculture, commerce, arts, manners, religion, and fa¬ 
cial life ; thus paving a fure way to that general tran¬ 
quillity for which humanity fo ftrongly pleads, and for 
that permanent repofe which nature requires. Peace is 
the gem for which Europe languifhes, with which file 
longs to adorn her fair but palpitating bofom : let no 
wretched policy blaft the fruition of her hopes, or impede 
the grateful harveft of amity and concord. 
Tfie events of this highly important era will fnrnifh a 
moft extraordinary portion of hiftory for pofterity to con¬ 
template, and for after-ages to believe ; we therefore hope 
to be pardoned for having dwelt longer upon the circuin- 
ftances connected with them, and for having given the 
whole of the matter more in detail, than the limits or the 
nature of our work would with propriety admit, reflect¬ 
ing, that nothing herein has been ftated, but what, for 
the honour and filtered: of the firft nations in tlie world, 
ought to ftand upon record. For the further events now 
pending in refpeCt to France, as well as fertile interefting 
defeription of its gay metropolis, we beg leave to refer 
the reader to the article Paris. For thofe which more 
particularly relate to England, and the powers on the 
continent, fee the articles Great.Britain, Germany,. 
Prussia, Russia, &c. 
FRANCE (I ft e of), adiftriftof France, fo called be¬ 
fore the revolution, becaufe it is infulated or completely 
furrounded by the rivers Seine, Marne, Oufe, Aifne, and 
Ourque. The city of Paris (lands in the centre of this 
rich and fertile dilfrift; which is bounded on the north 
by Picardy, on the weft by Normandy, on the fouth by 
the Orleannois, and on the eaft by Champaigne ; the whole 
of which are now fub-divided into departments, for which 
fee the Map of France, p. 614, of this volume. 
FRANCE (file of), an ifland in the Indian Ocean, firft: 
fettled by the Dutch : for which fee the article Mau¬ 
ritius. 
FRAN'CES, [ Franfoi/e , Fr. fern, of Francois, from franc , 
free, open, liberal-minded.] A proper name of women. 
FRANCES'CA (Peter), an eminent Florentine painter 
of night-pieces and battles, who was employed to paint 
the Vatican. He alfo painted portraits, and wrote fome 
works oti arithmetic and geometry. He died in 1458. 
FRANCES'CAS, a town of France, in the department 
of the Lot and Garonne, and chief place of a canton, in 
the diftritSl of Nerac: two leagues fouth-eaft of Nerac, 
and three and a quarter fa.uth-weft of Agen. Lat. 44. 3. N. 
Ion. 18.6. E. Ferro. 
VOL. VII. No. 478. 
so X 
GENERAL 
