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the franchise is illegal and void: or lastly, to have a Franchise forest, chase, park, warren, or fishery, endowed with privileges of royalty. See CHASE, FOREST, &c.

Since 1815 it has been the permanent seat of the German diet. The number of inhabitants is 41,000; Franchise, and it is one of the four towns which still retain their privileges. It was taken in October 1792, by the French, who were dispossessed of it by the Prussians in December following; it was again taken by the French in July 1796, but they evacuated it to the Austrians in September following. The suburb is called Saxonhausen, and joined to the town by a stone bridge built over the Maine. E. Long. 8. 37. N. Lat. 50. 7.

FRANCFORT on the Oder, a rich and handsome town of Germany, in the middle marche of Brandenburgh, formerly imperial, but now subject to the king of Prussia. It is remarkable for three great fairs, and a celebrated university; and was taken by the French in 1806. It lies about 45 miles south-east of Berlin, and 72 south of Stetin. E. Long. 14. 45. N. Lat. 52. 22. FRANCHE-COMPTE, a late province of France, bounded on the south and west by Champagne and Burgundy; on the north by Lorrain; and to the east by the earldom of Mumplegard, and Switzerland. It is in length from north to south about 30 leagues; in breadth about 20. It is partly flat and partly hilly. The flat country is fruitful in grain, wine, hemp, and pasture; and the billy country abounds in cattle, producing also some wine and corn, copper, lead, iron, and silver ores, mineral waters, and quarries of stone, marble, and alabaster. It now forms the three departments of Doubs, Jura, and Upper Saone.

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FRANCHISE, in Law. Franchise and liberty are used as synonymous terms; and their definition is, a royal privilege, or branch of the king's prerogative, subsisting in the hands of a subject." Being therefore derived from the crown, they must arise from the king's grant; or in some cases may be held by prescription, which, as has been frequently said, presupposes a grant. The kinds of them are various, and almost infinite. We shall here briefly touch upon some of the principal, premising only, that they may be vested in either natural persons or bodies politic; in one man, or in many: but the same identical franchise, that has before been granted to one, cannot be bestowed on another, for that would prejudice the former grant.

To be a county palatine, is a franchise vested in a number of persons. It is likewise a franchise for a number of persons to be incorporated and subsist as a body politic; with a power to maintain perpetual succession, and do other corporate acts: and each individual member of such corporation is also said to have a franchise or freedom. Other franchises are, to hold a court leet; to have a manor or lordship; or, at least, to have a lordship paramount; to have waifs, wrecks, estrays, treasure-trove, royal fish, forfeitures, and deodands; to have a court of one's own, or liberty of holding pleas and trying causes; to have the cognizance of pleas; which is still a greater liberty, being an exclusive right, so that no other court shall try causes arising within that jurisdiction: to have a bailiwick, or liberty exempt from the sheriff of the county; wherein the grantee only, and his officers, are to execute all process to have a fair or market; with the right of taking toll, either there or at any other public places, as at bridges, wharfs, or the like: which tolls must have a reasonable cause of commencement (as in consideration of repairs, or the like), else

FRANCHISE is also used for an asylum or sanctuary, where people are secure of their persons, &c. Churches and monasteries in Spain are franchises for criminals; so were they anciently in England, till they were abused to such a degree that there was a necessity for abolishing the custom. One of the most remarkable capitulars made by Charlemagne in his palace of Heristal, in 779, was that relating to the franchises of churches. The right of franchise was held so sacred, that even the less religious kings observed it to a degree of scrupulousness; but to such excess in time was it carried, that Charlemagne resolved to reduce it. Accordingly be forbade any provision being carried to criminals retired into churches for refuge.

FRANCHISE of Quarters, is a certain space or district at Rome, wherein are the houses of the ambassadors of the princes of Europe; and where such as retire cannot be arrested or seized by the sbirri or serjeants, nor prosecuted at law. The people of Rome look on this as an old usurpation and a scandalous privilege, which ambassadors, out of a jealousy of their power, carried to a great length in the 15th century, by enlarging insensibly the dependencies of their palaces ar houses, within which the right of franchise was anciently confined. Several of the popes, Julius III. Pius XIV. Gregory XIII. and Sixtus V. published bulls and ordinances against this abuse; which had rescued so considerable a part of the city from their authority, and rendered it a retreat for the most abandoned persons. At length Innocent XI. expressly refused to receive any more ambassadors but such as would make a formal renunciation of the franchise of quarters.

FRANCIS I. king of France, the rival of the emperor Charles V. and the restorer of learning and politeness in France. See (History of) FRANCE.

FRANCIS, Philip, a very ingenious writer, of Irish extraction, if not born in that kingdom. His father was a dignified clergyman in Ireland, being dean of some cathedral; and our author, his son, was also bred to the church, and had a doctor's degree conferred on him. He was more distinguished as a translator than as an original writer. His versions of Horace and Demosthenes have been justly valued: the former is accompanied with notes, and is perhaps as complete and useful a work of its kind as hath yet appeared. He was also a considerable political writer; and in the beginning of the present reign is supposed to have been employed by the government: for which service he was promoted to the rectory of Barrow in Suffolk, and to the chaplainship of Chelsea hospital. He was also the author of two tragedies, Eugenia and Constantia; but as a dramatic writer, not very successful. He died at Bath in March 1773; leaving a son, who was then one of the supreme council at Bengal.

FRANCISCANS, in Ecclesiastical History, are religious of the order of St Francis, founded by him in the year 1209. Francis was the son of a merchant of Assisi, in the province of Umbria, who, having led a dissolute life, was reclaimed by a fit of sickness, and afterwards fell into an extravagant kind of devotion,

Prancis

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the former were clad in a strait, coarse, and short dress, Francispretending that this dress was enjoined by St Francis, and that no power on earth had a right to alter it. Frans ois, Neither the moderation of Clement V. nor the violence of John XXII. could appease the tumult occasioned by these two parties; however, their rage subsided from the year 1329. In 1368 these two parties were formed into two large bodies, comprehending the whole Franciscan order, which subsist to this day; viz. the conventual brethren, and the brethren of the observance or observation, from whom sprung the capuchins and recollects. The general opinion is, that the Franciscans came into England in the year 1224, and had their first house at Canterbury, and their second at London; but there is no certain account of their being here till King Henry VII. built two or three houses for them. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the conventual Franciscans had about 55 houses, which were under seven custodies or wardenships; viz. those of London, York, Cambridge, Bristol, Oxford, Newcastle, and Worcester.

FRANCOIS, or FRANCAIS, Port Des, the name of a bay or harbour discovered by Peyrouse on the northwest coast of America, is situated in N. Lat. 58. 37. and in Long. 139. 50. W. from Paris. This harbour was from three to four leagues deep: he entered it with his two frigates in July 1786, and came to an anchor in an island near the middle of it, in 20 fathoms water, with a muddy bottom. The bottom of the bay, he observes, is one of the most extraordinary places in the world; the water is so deep that it could not be fathomed, and surrounded by peaked mountains of a great height, covered with snow, without vegetation, and seemingly condemned by nature to perpetual sterility. He never saw the surface of the water ruffled with the smallest breath of air, or in the least disturbed but by the falling of enormous pieces of ice, which continually detach themselves from five different glaciers. The air was so calm, and the silence so profound, that the voice of a man might be heard at the distance of half a league, as well as the noise of sea-birds which hatch their eggs in the cavities of the rocks.

Francis that looked less like religion than alienation of mind. Soon after this, viz. in the year 1208, hearing the passage repeated, Mat. x. 9. 10. in which Christ addresses his apostles, Provide neither gold, nor silver, &c. he was led to consider a voluntary and absolute poverty as the essence of the gospel, and to prescribe this poverty as a sacred rule both to himself and to the few that followed him. This new society, which appeared to Innocent III. extremely adapted to the present state of the church, and proper to restore its declining credit, was solemnly approved and confirmed by Honorius III. in 1223, and had made considerable progress before the death of its founder in 1226. Francis, through an excessive humility, would not suffer the monks of his order to be called fratres, i. e. brethren or friars, but fraterculi, i. e. little brethren, or friars-minor, by which denomination they still continue to be distinguished. They are also called gray friars, on account of the colour of their clothing, and cordeliers, &c. The Franciscans and Dominicans were zealous and active friends to the papal hierarchy, and, in return, were distinguished by peculiar privileges and honourable employments. The Franciscans, in particular, were invested with the treasure of ample and extensive indulgences; the distribution of which was committed to them by the popes, as a means of subsistence, and a rich indemnification for their voluntary poverty. In consequence of this grant, the rule of the founder, which absolutely prohibited both personal and collective property, so that neither the individual nor the community were to possess either fund, revenue, or any worldly goods, was considered as too strict and severe, and dispensed with soon after his death. In 1231, Gregory IX. published an interpretation of this rule, mitigating its rigour; which was farther confirmed by Innocent IV. in 1245, and by Alexander IV. in 1247. These milder operations were zealously opposed by a branch of the Franciscans called the spiritual; and their complaints were regarded by Nicholas III. who, in 1279, published a famous constitution, confirming the rule of St Francis, and containing an elaborate explication of the maxims it recommended, and the duties it prescribed. In 1287, Matthew of Aqua Sparta, being elected general of the order, discouraged the ancient discipline of the Franciscans, and indulged his monks in abandoning even the appearance of poverty; and this conduct inflamed the indignation of the spiritual or austerer Franciscans; so that from the year 1290 seditions and schisms arose in an order that had been so famous for its pretended disinterestedness and humility. Such was the enthusiastic frenzy of the Franciscans, that they impiously maintained that the founder of their order was a second Christ, in all respects similar to the first; and that their institution and discipline were the true gospel of Jesus. Accordingly, Albizi, a Franciscan of Pisa, published a book in 1383, with the applause of his order, entitled, The book of the Conformities of St Francis with Jesus Christ. In the beginning of this century, the whole Franciscan order was divided into two parties; the one embracing the severe discipline and absolute poverty of St Francis, were called spirituals; and the other, who insisted on mitigating the austere injunctions of their founder, were denominated brethren of the community. These wore long, loose, and good habits, with large hoods;

He found the variation of the compass to be 28° E.. and the dip of the needle 74°. At full and change of the moon, when it is bigh water at one o'clock, the sea rose seven feet and a half. The current of the channel at the entrance of the harbour, during the sea breeze, came in like a rapid river, so that it must be impracticable to take the channel when the winds blow violently from the southward; and indeed the currents at all times render the entrance difficult. This harbour possesses many advantages, but it is also subject to several inconveniences. It seems not to be convenient for ships to anchor, which are employed in trafficking in skins, because such ships ought to enter many bays, making in each a short stay, since the whole stock of the Indians is very soon disposed of; but it seems to be a very commodious place for the establishment of a factory, and this commercial settlement, it is suggested, should be made on Cenotaph island, a name given to an island in the middle of the harbour, from the monument erected on it to the memory of some of the crew of Peyrouse's ships, which were lost in the channel. This island is about a league in circumference, abounds with wood and water, and seems capable of cultivation. The quanDda

tity

houses regularly built. It contains 891 inhabitants, Frankfort and lies about 238 miles north-east of Boston. Frank- ព fort, a thriving village in Philadelphia; the name of Franklin. another in Hampshire, of one in Virginia, and the name of the metropolis of Kentucky.

Frank bound for each other, to see each person of their pledge forthcoming at all times, or to answer for the offence Frankfort of any one gone away so that whenever any person offended, it was presently inquired in what pledge he was, and there the persons bound either produced the offender in 31 days, or made satisfaction for his offence.

FRANK-Tenement. See TENURE.

FRANKED LETTERS. The privilege of letters coming free of postage to and from members of parliament was claimed by the house of commons in 1660, when the first legal settlement of the present post office was made; but afterwards dropped, upon a private assurance from the crown, that this privilege should be allowed the members. And accordingly a warrant was constantly issued to the postmaster general, directing the allowance thereof to the extent of two ounces in weight till at length it was expressly confirmed by 4 Geo. III. c. 24. which adds many new regulations, rendered necessary by the great abuses which had crept into the practice of franking; whereby the annual amount of franked letters had increased from 23,600l. in the year 1715, to 170,700l. in the year 1763. Further regulations have since taken place; in particular, franks must be dated (the month written at length), and put into the office the same day; notwithstanding which, the revenue still loses by this privilege a very considerable annual sum.

FRANKEN, FRANCISCUS, commonly called Old Frank, a famous Flemish painter, supposed to have been born about the year 1544; but though his works are well known, very few of the circumstances of his life have been transmitted to posterity. This master painted historical subjects from the Old and New Testaments; and was remarkable for introducing a great number of figures into his compositions, which he had the address to group very distinctly. Vandyck often commended his works, and thought them worthy of a place in any collection.

FRANKEN, Franciscus, distinguished by the name of Young Frank, was the son of the former, born in the year 1580. He was instructed by his father; whose style he adopted so closely, that their works are frequently mistaken. When he found himself sufficiently skilled at home, he travelled into Italy for improvement in colouring; and, on his return, his works were much coveted. The most capital performances of this painter are, a scriptural performance in the church of Notre Dame at Antwerp; and an excellent picture, in a small size, of Solomon's idolatry. Young Frank died in 1642.

FRANKENDAL, a strong town of Germany, in the dominions of the Elector Palatine, situated near the Rhine, about seven miles south of Worms. It was taken by the Spaniards in 1623, by the Swedes in 1632, burnt by the French in 1688, and finally taken by the allies in the year 1794. E. Long. 8. 29. N. Lat. 49. 25.

FRANKENIA, a genus of plants belonging to the hexandria class; and in the natural method ranking under the 17th order, Calycanthema. See BOTANY Index.

FRANKFORT, the name of several townships in different places of North America; such as Frankfort, a township in Hancock, and district of Maine, with a few

FRANKINCENSE. See INCENSE.

FRANKLIN, THOMAS, D. D. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty, was born in London about the year 1720, and was the son of Richard Franklin, well known as the printer of an anti-ministerial paper called The Cruftsman; in conducting which he received great assistance from Lord Bolingbroke, Mr Pulteney, and other excellent writers, who then opposed Sir Robert Walpole's measures. By the advice of the second of these gentlemen, young Franklin was devoted to the church, with a promise of being pro-. vided for by the patriot; who afterwards forgot his undertaking, and then entirely neglected him. He was educated at Westminster school; from whence he went to the university of Cambridge, where he became fellow of Trinity college, and was some time. Greek professor. In December 1758, he was instituted vicar of Ware and Thundridge; which, with the lectureship of St Paul, Covent Garden, and a chapel in Queen street, were all the preferments he held till. he obtained the rectory of Brasted in Kent. This gentleman was possessed of no inconsiderable share of learning and poetical abilities, and was long a favourite in the literary world. His translations of Phalareus, Sophocles, and Lucian, equally evince his learning and his genius, as they are not more distinguished for fidelity in the version, than congeniality with the spirit of the admirable originals. Dr Franklin, like Mr Foote, suffered a translation from the French to be printed in his name; but the Orestes and Electra are supposed to be all that were really by him. It was a translation of Voltaire's works, to which also Dr Smollett's name appears. His own dramatic compositions, of which the principal are the tragedies of The Earl of Warwick and Matilda, are universally known, and deservedly esteemed by the public. He died in March 1784.

FRANKLIN, Benjamin, a philosopher and a statesman of considerable eminence, was born in the year 1706, at Boston in New England. His family derived their origin from Ecton in Northamptonshire, where his ancestors had an inconsiderable freehold for many generations. The persecution of the non-conformists in the reign of Charles II. induced his father to take refuge in New England; and in the city of Boston he followed the occupation of a soap-boiler and tallowchandler. Franklin drew up a history of his own life from his nativity to the 25th year of his age; but as at that period he had made no very conspicuous figure in the world, it is to be lamented that we have not the assistance of his own pen to the meridian of his career. This defect we have endeavoured to supply in the subsequent narrative from the most authentic materials, avoiding as much as possible the exaggerated panegyric of friends, and the unmerited detraction of enemies.

Our author, from his very infancy, discovered the strongest propensity towards literary pursuits, which determined his father to qualify him for the ministry; but he. was thwarted in his designs by a numerous and increasing

family,

plan, by which means he was enabled to save a consi- Franklia, derable sum for the purchase of books. Although he relaxed considerably as to a vegetable diet, yet he thus acquired the habit of being satisfied with little, and a contempt of the gratifications of the palate was frequently of singular advantage to him through the whole of life.

Franklin. family, and therefore Benjamin was taken from school at ten years of age, to take part in the drudgery of his father's trade. This greatly mortified the aspiring mind of young Franklin, who wished to prefer a seafaring life to such an employment; but from this he was dissuaded by the influence of his father, who was a man of some knowledge, and possessed a solid understanding. He made it his chief aim to inspire his children with the love of knowledge and the principles of moral rectitude. He had few books; yet from among these Benjamin selected a number of voyages and travels, as well as different histories, a species of reading for which he had a strong predilection. By going through a course of controversial divinity in this unaided manner, he greatly strengthened his argumentative powers, which was most probably all he had in view. Defoe upon Projects, according to his own account, made such impressions upon his mind as in a great measure directed the subsequent events of his life.

He was now chosen to an employment which accorded much better with the natural bent of his mind than the business of his father's shop. A brother of his own had a printing-office in Boston, to whom Benjamin was bound apprentice at 12 years of age. With the mechanical part of the business, he was soon acquainted; and the opportunities thus afforded him of procuring new books to read, were eagerly seized, and the greater part of the night frequently spent in the perusal of them. He soon became anxious to imitate the works which he most admired, and his first attempts were of a poetical nature. He composed and printed ballads, which were well received by those who love such a species of reading; yet his father had the address to convince him that nature never designed him for a poet. He therefore turned his whole attention to the cultivation of prose composition, in which he succeeded infinitely better; and he thus became superior to his brethren of the press, and raised himself to stations of public importance. As his passion for reading and writing was very strong, so he became in a short time a powerful disputant, which was strengthened by his intimacy with a young man of a similar disposition. He perused, with uncommon attention, a translation of Xenophon's Memorabilia, which enabled him either to confute or confound an adversary by a number of questions. It is also certain that he became a sceptic as to the religion in which he had been educated, and propagated his unbelief with zeal and assiduity. The fatal consequences which this produced on the deportment of some of his intimate companions, at length happily convinced him that it is extremely dangerous to destroy the salutary influence of religion, without being able to substitute any thing in its place of equal importance and efficacy. He seems, however, to have continued a sceptic in his own mind, yet he still retained a love for moral rectitude, which led him to adopt honourable means in the prosecution of valuable ends. Much to his honour be it spoken, he acquired, at a very early period of life, that triumph over his sensual appetites, which is so essentially necessary to a life of dignity, usefulness, and virtue. Having read Tyron's recommendation of a vegetable diet, at 16 years of age, he abandoned the use of animal food; and on offering to bis brother to support himself on half the money which was paid for his board, he was allowed to adopt his own

When his brother began a newspaper, Benjamin sent a number of pieces on various topics to be inserted, which met with the approbation of the most competent judges;-a satisfaction he enjoyed without being known, as they were all anonymous. His brother treated him with the harshness of a master, which he bore with the utmost impatience, as the public had already pronounced him to be possessed of merit. The states of America having prohibited James Franklin from publishing this paper, on account of some political offence, the name of Benjamin was employed as publisher, in consequence of which he procured his indentures, although he agreed privately with his brother to serve out his time. But as he did not deem this agreement obligatory, he went to New York by sea, and from that place to Philadelphia, in the seventeenth year of his age. He himself acknowledges this to have been a fault, and therefore has averted that censure which he would otherwise have deserved. At Philadelphia he engaged with a printer of the name of Keimer, whose affairs he soon placed on a more respectable footing; and here also he became acquainted with several young men of a literary turn of mind, by whose company his taste for knowledge was greatly improved.

He soon after became acquainted with Sir William Keith the governor of that province, who powerfully recommended it to him to commence business on his own account, and promised to give him all the encouragement in his power. Encouraged by this gentleman to adopt such a plan, he set out for Boston on a visit to his parents, in order to procure from them some pecuniary aid; but a welcome reception was all he could obtain. Having returned to Philadelphia, Sir William generously offered to take the whole burden upon himself, and advised Franklin to make a voyage to England, in order to procure every thing necessary for a printing-office. He set sail in the year 1725, and took with him his intimate companion Ralph, whose name has been rendered memorable by being celebrated in the Dunciad. Unfortunately for Franklin, Sir William Keith, on whose letters of recommendation and credit he entirely relied, basely deceived him, and he was obliged to work as a journeyman in London for his immediate subsistence. His friend Ralph could only live by his head, and his income of consequence was extremely circumscribed, as well as precarious, which made him a heavy burden on the pocket of Benjamin. In that dissolute metropolis the one forgot his wife and child in America, and the other the solemn promises of fidelity which he had made to a Miss Read, prior to his departure ;-another step of his conduct which he himself severely censures. By a dissertation on liberty and necessity, pleasure and pain, he acquired considerable reputation, and it was the means of introducing him to the celebrated Dr Mandeville, author of the Fable of the Bees. In the second printing-office in which he worked, he laboured incessantly to convince his fellow workmen that a pint of porter does not contain

half