FRA 
to Virgil, the copies of which were fiippreffed and burned 
by order of pope Paul IV. He continued under Pius IV. 
to indulge his virulence, but was preferved from perfo- 
nal chadifenient by the protedlion of cardinal Morone. 
At length, his impudence in writing a Latin epigram 
againrt Pius V. with other defamatory libels, brought 
upon him tliat punilhment, which it is extraordinary that 
he lliould fo long have efcaped. He was taken from his 
Iludy in his furred robe, and hanged on the common gal¬ 
lows. This cataflrophe took place in 1569. H is aflirmed, 
that feme years before his death he liad been ordained 
pried. A French writer in the Annet Litieraire, i77S, 
has deferibed Franco as a man of a free fpirit, moved witlt 
virtuous indignation againft the corruptions he witiieil'ed, 
and difdaining to flatter the great. But the indecency of 
Ibme of his writings will not juflify fo favourable an opi- 
nion of his moral principles. Fie polfeded qualities, how¬ 
ever, which have procured hint praife from fome of his 
contemporaries; and it is allowed that his talents and 
learning were confiderable. Befides the works already 
mentioned, he publiflied II Petrarckiftay a romance called 
Filena, and fome poems printed in different collections. 
He left in manufeript a tranflation of Homer’s Iliad in 
ottava rima. 
FRANCOC'CI, a town of Italy, in the date of the 
church, and duchy of Spoleto ; feven miles weft-north- 
weft of Spoleto. 
FR.AN 90 I'SE (La), a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Lot, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
triCl of Montauban : two leagues and a half north-well of 
Montauban, and fix and three quarters fouth-fouth-wefl: 
of Cahors. Lat.44. 7.N. Ion. 18. 54. E. Ferro. 
FRAN'COLT, a river of Spain, which runs into the 
fea, near Tarragon, in Catalonia. 
FR ANCO'NI A, a circle of Germany ; bounded on the 
north by Meiffen and Thuringia, on tlie eaft by Bohemia 
and the Upper Palatinate, on the foiith by Bavaria and 
Suabia, and on the weft by the Lower Palatinate and the 
electorate of Meiitz. It is fituated near the centre of 
Germany, the form inclined to a circle, whofe diameter 
is about fifty leagues. In the centre the land is fertile in 
corn, wine, fruit, &c. but the frontiers are full of forefts 
and mountains, and little cultivated. The principal 
river is the Maine. The inhabitants of many towns are 
Roman catholics, though the principal part are Luthe¬ 
rans. The Calvinifts have fome churches, and the Jews 
fome fynagogues. The ftates which compofe the circle 
of Franconia are either ecclefiaftical or civil. The eccle. 
liaflical princes are the bifliops of Bamberg, Wurtzburgh, 
and Aichftett, and the grand mafter of the Teutonic or¬ 
der. The fecular princes are, the prince of Culmbach ; 
the counts of Henneberg, Schwarzenberg ; the princes of 
Lowenftein-Wertheim, Hohenlohe-Waldenbiirgh, Hohen- 
lohe-Neuenftein, Caftell, Wertheim, Rieneck, Erbach, 
Limburgh-Geildorf, Limburgh-Speckfeld, Seinflieim, Rei- 
gellburgh, Wiegentheid, Welzheim, and Haufen; with 
the imperial towns of Nuremberg, Rothenburg, Wind- 
Iheira, Schweinfurt, and WeifTenburg. In the military 
arrangement of the empire, being in time of peace fixed 
at 40,000 men, Franconia furnifties 980 horfe, and igoj 
foot; and, at the divifion of 300,000 florins to the cheft: 
of the empire, this circle was rated at 22,696 florins 47 
kruitzers. 
FRANCO'NIA, atownfliip of the American States, in 
Grafton county, New Flampfliire, fourteen miles north, 
eaft of Haverhill (N. FI.) on Connecticut river. Incorpo¬ 
rated in 1764, firft called Morriftown. 
FRANCO'NIAN, adj. Belonging to Franconia. 
FRANCO'NI AN, yi A native of Franconia. 
FRAN'CONVILLE, a town of France : ten miles north 
©f Paris. 
FRANCO'S©, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Beira ; twenty-two miles eaft of Vifeu. 
FRANCOVIL'LA, a town of Italy, an imperial fief, 
Fn the ftate of Genoa; fix miles fouth of Novi, 
FRA 7 
PR AN'CREMONT, a tbwn of Germany, in the circle 
of Weftphalia, and bifliopric of Liege : four miles north 
of Spa. 
FRANE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Doubs, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrief ot Pon- 
tarlier : two leagues and a half fouth-wefl of Ponlarlicr. 
I'RAN'EKER, a town of the United Diiich States, in 
I'ricfland, fiuiated in the diftri>St of Weftergoo, in ti e 
canton of Franekeradeel, to which it gives name; it is 
watered „by-t'vo canals, navigable for barges, and has a 
caftle, built in the fineeiUli ceniury, where the governors 
of the country fometimes I'elid.’i. It is faid that the city 
was built in 1191, in the reign of the emperor Henry Vf. 
the fon of Frederic Barbarofl'a. It has a celebrated uni- 
verfity, eftablilhed by the Slates, kind William Louis 
count of Nalfau, in 1585. Adrian Metiiis, profefibr of 
mathematics ; Pierius Winfe-nnis, lawyer and hiftoriogra- 
pher of Frieftand ; George Pafor, profelTor of tlie Greek 
language; Sixtus Amama, &c. have done honour to this 
univerlity by their learning and writings. It is one of 
the neateft towns in Frieftand, and the ordinary refidence 
of the noblefle of the country : nine miles weft of Lewar- 
den, and five eaft of Flarlingen. Lat. 53. ii. N. Ion. 22, 
54. E., Ferro. 
FRAN'GIBLE, [/ra;2^go, Lat.] Fragile; brittle; 
eafily broken.—Though it Teems the folideft wood, if 
wrought oefore ifbe well feafoned, it will fliew itfell very 
frangible. Boyle. 
FR AN'G’ULA, yi See Cassine and Rhamnus. 
FRA'NION,yi [derivation uncertain.] A paramour j 
a boon companion. 
Firft, by her fide did fit the bold Sanfloy, 
Fit mate for fuch a mincing minion, 
Who in her loofenefs took exceeding joy. 
Might not be found a franion. Spenfer, 
FRANK, adj. \_francy Fr.] Liberal; generous; not 
niggardly.—’Tis the ordinary pratflice of the world to be 
frank of civilities that coft them nothing. VFJlrange .— 
Open; ingenuous; fincere ; not referved ; without con¬ 
ditions ; without payment. 
Thou haft it won ; for it is oifrank gift, 
And he will care for all the reft to fliift. Hubberd. 
Not reftrained; licentious. Hot in ufe. —Might not be 
found z. franker franion.. Spenfer. 
FRANK,/, [franc, Fr. an old word for a hog-fty.] 
A place to feed liogs in ; a fty.—Where fups he? Doth 
the old boar feed in the old frank? Shakefpeare. —[From 
franc, free.] A letter which pays no portage.—You’ll 
have immediately, by feveral franks, my epiftle to lord 
Cobham. Pope. 
To FRANK, V. a. To ftmt up in a frank or fty. Hanmcf, 
In the fty of this moft bloody boar, 
My fon George Stanly is frank'd up in hold. Slialf. 
To feed high; to fat; to cram. Junius and Ainfwortli .— ■ 
To exempt letters from portage.—My lord Orrery writes 
to you to-morrow ; and you I'ee I fend this under his co¬ 
ver, or at leaftyFfl/z/te;^ by him. Swift. 
Gazettes fent'gratis down, and frank'd. 
For which thy patron’s weekly thank’d. Pope, 
FRANK, one of the inhabitants of a diftriCl in Ger¬ 
many who invaded the ancient Gaul, conquered a great 
part of it, and gave it the name of France. See Franks. 
FRANK, or Franc, f. an ancient French coin, either 
of gold or filver, (truck and current in I'rance. The value 
of the gold franc was famething more than that of the 
gold crown; the filver franc was a third of the gold one : 
this coin has been long out of ufe, though the term is 
flill retained as the name of a money of account: in which 
fenie it is equivalent to the livre, or twenty fols. 
FRANK-ALMOI'GN,/ in law, a tenure by fpiritual 
fervice, where an ecclefiaftical corporation, foie or aggre- 
gatC) holdeth land to them and their fuccefiTors, of Tome 
4 lord 
