10 F R A " 
an imperial cify of Germany, in tlie circle of the Upper 
Rhine, (ituated in a pleafanr, fertile, and healthy, coun¬ 
try, on the river Maine, by which it is divided into two 
parts; tliat on the north, which is the largeft, is properly 
called Frankfort, tlae other on the foutla fide of the Maine 
is called Saxenhaufen-, th.e wiiole divided'into fourteen 
wards, two only of whicli are fituated in Saxenliaufen. 
The king^s of the Franks rcfidcd here, as likewife the im¬ 
mediate fuccelfors of Charlemagne : the emperors of Ger¬ 
many arc dill elected and crowned I'.erc. Frankfort is about 
tiledgueand a half in circumference. Tim inner wall is lined 
with towers beyond are ditclie's filled with water, ram¬ 
parts, baftici'.s, The jfirincipal dreets are handfome, 
the others are narrow. Tlie Roman Catholics h.ave three 
tiuirches, and the Lutherans fi-K. Tlie Jews are confined 
to'a narrow (Ireet, where they are flint up every night ; 
they luve a fynagogue, a feminary, and ;m liofpital ; but 
tliey are excluded from tlie public walks, fufl'er great in¬ 
dignities, yet dill find it their interad to refide here. 
Among tiie archives of tlic town-houfe is kept, in a caficet 
of gold, the golden bull of the emperor Charles IV. 
vvhich is a parchment book of forty-three quarto leaves, 
, cbiitaining the fundamental inditufes of the empire, writ¬ 
ten in Latin, in capital letters. The magidrates are di¬ 
vided into three benches ; the fird is compoled of fourteen 
cchevins, the fecond of fourteen counfellors, the third is 
compofed chiefly of tradefmen and artificers. All affairs 
of importance are decided by tlie two former, out of 
tvhom two burgomaders are annually chofen ; the third 
bench executes odices relating to the police. ('Vankfort, 
like Leipfic, is celebrated for its fairs, which are the 
grand marts for literature, as well as for articles of com¬ 
merce. In order to provide a fuflicient flock for thefe 
markets, authors of all kinds are kept in pay by tlie book- 
fellers, and it is fuppofed that tlie annual publications do 
"not amount to lefs than five thoufand volumes. We are 
-told, ill a German review, entitled Atlgeineine LiUratuur 
Zeitimg, publidied at Jena, that above three luiiidred 
authors are employed, and that the number of books an¬ 
nually reviewed in it is about eighteen liuiidred. Frank¬ 
fort is famed for the addiche jhiftungen, or “ convents for 
fem'afe nobility,” defeended from protedant families. 
Thefe are very numerous, and their luxurious mode of 
living equals that of the fird nobility in Germany. The 
ladies are permitted to marry, and to affociate with the 
mod noble families in the city. Every new emperor at 
liis coronation, which is, by t!ie law of cudom, always 
folemnized in this city, lodges in one of thefe noble con¬ 
vents during his refidenceat Frankfort, which is a month. 
Thefe edifices are the mod magnificent that can be ima¬ 
gined, and their apartments are furnidied in the mod ele¬ 
gant dyle. Every lady, who is introduced and admitted 
into fuch convent, mud produce a lineal genealogy of no¬ 
bility. They enjoy every happinefs, and are not in the 
lead confined to any irkfome regulations. The greater 
part of them are well educated ; and are extremely affable 
to their inferiors and ffrangers. They are generally the 
daughters of noble andancient warriors ; as dukes, counts, 
marquiffes, generals, &c. who at their death have not 
been able to leave them a fortune fufficient for the proper 
fiipport of their rank in life. They have the advantage 
of being provided with every article both of neceflity and 
luxury; and enjoy, likewife, an annual income, which 
is frequently very confideiable. Many of thefe ladies 
drefb in a peculiar fryle of elegance, and wear armorial 
ornaments about their necks, diewing the didiniftion and 
antiquity of their ancedors. Others have crolfes and re- 
' lies from the holy land to which their families Itave been 
entitled. The fuperiors have their orders given them by 
the emperor of the Romans. The territory of Frankfort 
contains a great number of country houfes, and feveral 
villages. In the year 1759, this city was taken by the 
French. It was again taken by the French republican 
army in 1792, but foon after furrendered by them to the 
FRA 
Prufllans. Twenty miles eafi: of Mentfe. Lat. 52. K. 
Ion. 26. 17. E. Ferro. 
FRANK'FORT on the ODER, a town of Germany, 
in tlie circle of Upper Saxon^, and Middle Mark of Bran¬ 
denburg, v/itli an univerfity, founded, in the year 150^, 
by tlie eleftor, Joachim, and his brother, Albert; com¬ 
pofed of Calvinid profed’ors. It has be.fides a noble aca¬ 
demy, a (ociety for the promoting of arts and feiences, 
two colleges, two fauxboufgs, and feveral cluirches: 
twelve miles fouth-foutli-wed of Cudrin, and forty.eight 
6ad of Berlin, l.at. 52. 24. N. Ion. 32. 22. E. Ferro. 
FRANK'INCENSE, yi [fo called perhaps from its 
liberal didribution of odour.] See the article Incense. 
Cedar and Jrankincenfe, an od’rous pile. 
Flam’d on the hearth, and wide perfum’d the ifle. Pope. 
FRANK'LAND’s I SLAND, a cluder of idands o.n 
the nortli-ead toad of New Holland, in the South Pacific 
Ocean; about two le.agues from the land. Lat. 17-19- S. 
Ion. 146 E. Greenwich. 
f'RANK'LIN,/! [from frank.] A deward ; a bailiffrif 
land. It dgiiifies originally a little gentleman, and is not 
improperly Englithed a gentleman fervant. Not in ufe: 
A fp.acious court they fee. 
Both plain and'pleafant to be walked in. 
Where theni does meet a franklin fair and free. Spenfr. 
FRANR'LIN (Benjamin), a philofopher and datef- 
man of great celebrity, born at Bodon, in tlie American 
States, in 1706. His family was 01 iginally from Efton, 
in Northamptondiirc, wlicre his ancedors for feveral ge¬ 
nerations polfeffed a ('mail freehold. His father removed 
from England to America, in order to avoid the perfecu- 
tion carried on in the reign of Cliarles 11 . againd noncon- 
formids ; and he followed tlie occupation of a foap-boiler 
and tallow'-ciiandler, in Bodon. I’he mother of Benja¬ 
min, I'.is fecond wife, was a L-fcendant of one of the fird 
colonids in th.at province. Dr. Fratiklin has left in print 
tin account of his own life to his twenty-fifth year, wliich, 
t’tougli termimilin'g while he was yet in an humble dation, 
abounds with incidents and oblervations wliicli render it 
a mod valuable leffon to young ] erfons. We diall extract 
from it fome of the mod remarkable circumdances. 
The indications Benjamin gave from his childhood of 
a difpofition for literature, caufed his father to dedine 
him to the church ; but the burthen of a large family 
preventeihim from perfiding in the education commenced 
for this purpofe, and at the age of ten he was taken home 
to be employed in the lower offices of the family trade. 
With this change he was feverely mortified, and he felt 
a drong dedre of quitting his fituation for a maritime life, 
but this was oppofed. His father, though in an humble 
condition, poffed'ed a variety of knowledge, with great 
folidity of underdanding, and took pains to form the 
minds of his children to thofe principles of good fenfe 
and moral redfitude which might give a proper diretfiou 
to their condiuft when left to their own controul. In the 
fcanty library of his father, young Franklin met with 
foine books which gratified his paffion for reading, though 
without felebfion. Flis own tade chiefly led him to voy¬ 
ages and travels, and hillory ; but he alfo vi’ent through 
a courfe of polemical divinity, more, probab’ly, to the ad¬ 
vantage of his argumentative powers, than of his pradli- 
cal principles. He mentions a work of Defoe’s upon Pro. 
jedfs, as giving him impreffions which influenced the 
principal events of his future life. 
A budnefs was at length chofen for him, which was 
much better fiiited to his difpofition than that of his fa¬ 
ther’s Ihop. . An elder brother having fet up a printing- 
office at Bodon, Benjainin, at tlie age of twelve, was ar¬ 
ticled to him as an apprentice. He foon rendered himfelf 
a proficient in the mechanical part of the trade, and he 
eagerly feized every opportunity it afforded of procuring 
new books to read, in which amufenient he Irequently 
fpent 
