Chick's Great Western Pantechnicon.. .2 June, 1876 .15-18 June, Messrs. Warner's and other premises, Brooke's wharf, Upper Thames street... Little Windmill street, Haymarket; about $0,000l. damage; many poor sufferers. ..15 July, Bridgman's saw-mills, St. Luke's, destroyed. 24, 25 July, Grant & Co.'s printing-office, etc., Turnmill street, Clerkenwell; about 100,000l. loss. .....10, 11 Aug. Mill street, Hanover square, W., 3 lives lost.....18 Sept. New Wharf flour mills, etc., Rotherhithe, destroyed; above 80,000l. loss.. | South street, New York, public stores, with 20,000 chests of tea; loss $1,500,000... 28 Jan. 1840 Great warehouse fire, Water street, New York....7 May, 1841 National theatre, New York, again.. .29 May, "6 Broome street, New York, 100 houses burned..31 March, Tribune building, New York.... 66 ..5 Feb. 1845 ..8 Oct. 44 Bowery theatre, New York (4th time)... 10 April, .25 April, .28 May, 66 31 May, Near Old Kent road, 2 lives lost; suspected arson, 66 2 Nov. House of Correction, Clerkenwell, mill-house, etc.; no prisoners injured or escaped. .24 March, 1877 Charing-cross restaurant, 1 life lost. 21 May, Little Britain, E.C., a paraffine lamp upset; 4 lives lost, 9 July, 23 Oct. No. 250 Mile End road; 2 lives lost.. 14 Nov. In less than a month afterwards, 1300 dwellings-in all, two thirds of the city-were destroyed......28 June, New York city, 302 stores and dwellings, 4 lives, and $6,000,000 of property. 19 July, St. Johns, Newfoundland; nearly the whole town destroyed; 6000 people deprived of homes.....12 June, 1846 Quebec Theatre Royal; 47 persons burned to death, 14 June, Nantucket,300 buildings and contents, valued at $800,000, 66 estimated at ..9 July, 66 caused by 7 Dec. ...19 April, 1880 Fredericton, N. B., four entire blocks in the centre of the city, nearly 300 buildings. ..11 Nov. Nevada, Cal., over 200 buildings destroyed; loss estimated at $1,300,000.. 12 March, 1851 San Francisco, Cal., nearly 2500 buildings burned; estimated loss about $3,500,000; many lives lost, 3-5 May, Stockton, Cal.; loss $1,500,000.. ..14 May, estimated loss .22 June, 46 Messrs. Hodgkinson's, chemists, and others; 4 perish, 30 April, The Duke's theatre, Holborn, burned. .4 July, Whitechapel church, recently rebuilt, destroyed, 26 Aug. Trinity lane, Thames street, large block of buildings, and much property destroyed... .3 Feb. 1881 Co-operative stores, Haymarket, destroyed; loss about 20,000/.. ..23 April, Mr. Allen's, stationer, No. 96 Walworth road; 4 deaths, 26 April, No. 422 Portobello road, Notting hill; 6 deaths, 16 May (Wm. Nash, shopkeeper, charged with arson).30 May, There were 953 fires in 1854; 1113 in 1857; 1114 in 1858 (38 lives lost); 1183 in 1861. 1303 fires in 1862; 1404 in 1863; and 1715 in 1864. In 1866, 1338 fires (326 serious); in 1867, 1397 fires (245 serious); in 1868, 1668 fires (235 serious); in 1869, 1572 fires (199 serious); in 1870, 1946 fires (276 serious); in 1871, 1842 (207 serious); in 1872, 1494 (120 serious); in 1873, 1548 (166 serious: 35 lives lost); in 1874, 1573 (154 serious: 23 lives lost); in 1875, 1668 (163 serious: 29 lives lost); in 1876, 1787 (166 serious: 35 lives lost); in 1877, 1708 (159 serious: 29 lives lost); in 1878, 1659 (170 serious); in 1879, 1718; 1880, 1871 (162 serious: 33 lives lost). In but few cases were the premises totally destroyed. Several fires were occasioned by careless use of coal oils in 1861-2. San Francisco, Cal., 500 buildings; $3,000,000... Concord, N. H., greater part of the business portion of the town destroyed... .24 Aug. Congress Library, Washington city, 35,000 volumes, with works of art. At Montreal (see Montreal). 24 Dec. ..8 July, 1852 Fires IN NORTH AMERICA. Some of the most de- At New Orleans; loss $250,000... structive fires are as follows: Norfolk, Va., destroyed by fire and cannon balls by the 66 1 Jan. 1776 City of New York, soon after passing into the hands of the British, 500 buildings consumed. 20, 21 Sept. Great fire in New York.. ...3 Aug. 1778 Coffee House slip fire, New York, 50 buildings burned, 9 Dec. 1796 Forty buildings burned in New York.. .....18 Dec. 1804 Chatham street fire, New York, 100 buildings burned, 19 May, 1811 Theatre at Richmond, Va., when the governor of the state and a large number of the leading inhabitants perished, 26 Dec. Broadway, New York, 36 houses burned.. 22 June, 1820 Front street, New York, 24 houses burned. ....24 Jan. 1821 Brown's ship-yard, New York, with shipping, 14 March, 1824 Bowery theatre, New York.. .26 March, 1828 New York city, 200 families rendered homeless...8 Jan. 1835 City of New York. 600 warehouses and property to the amount of $20,000,000. 16 Dec. .18 Feb. 1836 22 Sept. Methodist Book Concern, New York. Washington city, destroying the General Post-office and Bowery theatre, New York, again. ..13 Feb. 1857 .14 April, ...8 July, 46 66 At Chicago, Ill.; several lives and $600,000 lost...9 Oct. New York Crystal Palace destroyed, with an immense amount of property on exhibition.. 5 Oct. 1858 At New Bedford, Mass.; loss $300,000.. The city of Charleston, S. C., was almost totally destroyed by fire, with great quantities of naval and military ....17 Feb. 1865 The city of Richmond, Va., in great part destroyed by fire at the time of the Confederate evacuation, 2, 3 April, Bonded warehouses in South street, New York; loss $2,000,000.. .16-18 April, The city of Portland, Me., was nearly destroyed by fire, and 10,000 people rendered homeless; loss $15,000,000, 4 July, 1866 Great Chicago fire, burning over about 3 square miles, destroying 17,450 buildings, killing 200 persons, and rendering 98,500 homeless. .8, 9 Oct. 1871 66 66 Great forest-fires in Michigan and Wisconsin, 2000 lives lost.. 8, 14 Oct. Great fire in Boston, Mass., destroying 15 lives and 800 buildings... ..9-11 Nov. 1872 Great fire in factories at Fall River, Mass.; 60 lives lost, 19 Sept. 1874 Virginia City, Nev., nearly destroyed by fire; loss $2,000,000.. .26 Oct. 1875 Brooklyn theatre burned; about 300 lives lost....5 Dec. 1876 Tenement-house fire in New York; 9 lives lost....4 Jan. 1881 Great fire in Quebec, Canada; 800 houses destroyed, 9 June, Great forest fires in Michigan, 300 lives lost...1-8 Sept. Burning of O. B. Potter's newspaper building in New York; 6 lives lost... .31 Jan. 1882 Burning of the town of Haverhill, Mass.; loss of about 6 lives and $2,000,000.. 17 Feb. Burning and explosion of fireworks factory at Chester, Pa.; 14 lives lost.... ...17 Feb. 1882 Fire-salvage Corps formed, in 1865, by the London tire-insurance offices. Fire-ships. Among the most formidable contrivances of this kind ever used was an explosion vessel to destroy a bridge of boats at the siege of Antwerp in 1585. The first use of them in the British navy was by Charles, lord Howard, of Effingham, in the engagement with the Spanish Armada, July, 1588.—Rapin. Fire-watch, or FIRE-GUARD), of London, was instituted Nov. 1791. Fireworks are said to have been made by the Chinese in remote ages. They were invented in Europe, at Florence, about 1360, and were exhibited as a spectacle in 1588. Macaulay states that the fireworks let off in England at the peace of Ryswick, in 1697, cost 12,000l. Very grand fireworks were let off from a magnificent building erected in the Green park, Loudon, at the peace of Aix-laChapelle, Nov. 1748. Exhibition of fireworks in Paris, 31 May, 1770, in honor of the marriage of the dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI.; nearly 1000 persons perished by pressure and drowning, through a panic. The display of fireworks, under sir William Congreve, at the general peace, and the centenary of the accession of the Brunswick family to the throne, 1 Aug. 1814. Another at the coronation of William IV., 8 Sept. 1831. A grand display of this kind (at a cost of 10,000l.) to celebrate the peace with Russia, 29 May, 1856. In consequence of explosions frequently occurring at fireworkmakers' (particularly one on 12 July, 1858, at Mr. Bennett's, in the Westminster road, Lambeth, when 5 lives were lost and about 300 persons seriously injured and much property destroyed), it was determined to enforce 9 & 10 Will. III. c. 7 (1697), an act to prevent the throwing and forming of squibs, serpents, and other fireworks. An act regulating the making of fireworks was passed in 1860. Ralph Fenwick, a maker, his wife, and six others, Broad street, Lambeth, killed by explosion, 4 Nov. 1873. Mr. C. T. Brock, the greatest pyrotechnist of the time, has a manufactory at Nunhead; exhibits at the Crystal Palace, etc., and abroad, 1871 et seq. Fire-worshippers, see Parsees. First-fruits were offerings which made a large part of the revenues of the Hebrew priesthood. First-fruits (called ANNATES, from annus, a year), in the Roman church, originally the profits of one year of every vacant bishopric, afterwards of every benefice, were first claimed by pope Clement V. in 1306, and were collected in England in 1316: but chronologers differ on this point. In the 26th of Henry VIII. 1534, the first-fruits were assigned, by parliament, to the king and his successors. Mary gave the annates to the popes (1555); but Elizabeth resumed them (1559). They were granted, together with the tenths, to the poor clergy, by queen Anne, in 1703. The offices of First-fruits, Tenths, and Queen Anne's Bounty were consolidated by 1 Vict. c. 20 (1838); see Augmentation of Poor Livings. Annates were long resisted in France, but not totally suppressed till 1789. Firth College, see Sheffield, 1879. Fish Dam Ford (S. C.), BATTLE AT, between Americans under Sumter, and British under Wemyss, 12 Nov. 1780. American victory. The Fish, Fisheries, ETC. Laws for the protection of fisheries were enacted by Edward I. in 1284, and by his successors. The rights of the English and French fishermen were defined by treaty in 1839; see Herring, Whale, and Newfoundland Fisheries; Oysters. known species of fish are about 7000.—Günther, 1871. The first experiments in fish-culture by artificial propagation, in the United States, were made in South Carolina in 1804. In 1853 successful efforts to hatch trout were made at Cleveland, Ohio. Many large establishments for hatching are now in operation; and there are official fish commissioners in about half the states. Much has been done to stock or restock rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds; and laws for the protection of fish are in force in most of the states. By act of congress of 9 Feb. 1871, a United States commissioner of fish and fisheries was provided for; and, under the auspices of this officer, great progress has been made in the propagation and conservation of food fishes. Fishmongers' Company of London (salt), 1433; (stock), 1509; united.. of Britain.. 1536 1542 1609 1636 1750 1764 Fishing towns regulated by an act passed in.. Fishing on our coast forbidden to strangers. The Dutch paid 30,000l. for permission to fish on the coasts Corporation of Free British Fisheries instituted. Fish-machines, for conveying fish by land to London, set up in 1761; and supported by parliament.. The British Society of Fisheries established in London in 1786 The Irish Fishery Company formed in.... ....Dec. 1818 In 1849, two peasants, Remy and Gehin, obtained medals for their exertions in cultivating fish in France, and the government set up an establishment for this purpose at Huningue, under M. Coumes. others. In 1860 great progress had been made by M. Coste and Commission to examine into British fisheries was appointed in 1860, and acts to amend the law relating to fisheries in Great Britain and Ireland were passed, 1861, 62, 63, '68, '69 In April, Mr. Ponders placed in the Thames 76,000 young fish (salmon, trout, char, and grayling); and on 17 April, Mr. Frank Buckland demonstrated the importance of fish-culture before the members of the Royal Institution, London.. 1863 In 1853 Mr. Buist began the culture of fish at Stormontfield, Perthshire; reported highly successful.....Sept. 1866 A convention with France respecting sea fisheries signed at Paris, 11 Nov. 1867; ratified by the Sea Fisheries act, passed.... ..13 July, 1868 Act for the protection of fresh-water fish passed. .8 Aug. 1878 International fish and fishing exhibition at Berlin opened by the crown-prince.. 20 April, 1880 .18-30 April, 1881 National fisheries exhibition at Norwich opened by the prince of Wales... AMERICAN SEA FISHERIES.-Sebastian Cabot first directed attention to the American fisheries in 1498. The earliest fishing voyages to American coasts were made in 1517. Bartholomew Gosnold explored the New England coast in 1602; and, catching cod near the southern cape of Massachusetts, named that point Cape Cod. A ship-load of fish was sent from Massachusetts to England in 1624. Fish were exported from Boston in 1633. An act to encourage fishing was passed by Massachusetts in 1639, and the industry grew rapidly from that time until the Revolution. By the treaty of peace in 1783, the right of United States citizens to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, etc., was conceded. But, to injure the United States fishing industry, the British government, in July, 1783, prohibited the importation of fish by United States fishers into the British West Indies. The United States government passed a bounty act to encourage fishing in 1789, and another in 1790, at the same time imposing duties on imported fish. Other acts to encourage this industry were passed 16 Feb. 1792, 2 May 1792, 1797, and 1799. The bounties were abolished in 1807, but restored in 1813. The subject has been many times legislated upon since, the general policy having been to encourage the industry as far as possible. After the war of 1812-15, the British maintained that hostilities had abrogated the fishing rights conceded in 1783; and in 1818 the matter was made the subject of a convention, by which the fishing privileges of United States citizens were defined. Disputes concerning bay and inlet fishing arose in 1852, which were settled by the reciprocity treaty of 1854. The United States gave notice, 17 March, 1865, of the abrogation of this treaty, which terminated in pursuance of that notice, 17 March, 1866. In consequence of disputes which arose in 1870, the subject was included in the treaty of Washington, 1871, the fisheries provisions of which took effect 1 July, 1873. By that treaty the fisheries of both countries were opened equally to the citizens of both; but it was agreed to submit the question of the difference of value, in the respective concessions, to arbitration. This commission met at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1877, and awarded to Great Britain the sum of $5,500,000. The justice of this decision was stoutly disputed in the United States; but congress promptly made the necessary appropriation, and the money was paid in London by the American minister, 23 Nov. 1878. In making the payment the United States The following table shows the total tonnage of the United filed a protest against the award as excessive. States whale and cod and mackerel fisheries, in the several years named, since 1789: . Fishguard (Pembroke). On 22 Feb. 1797, 1400 Frenchmen landed in Cardigan bay. On 24 Feb. they surrendered to lord Cawdor with the Castlemartin yeomanry, and some countrymen, armed with scythes and pitchforks, near Fishguard. Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge), founded by Richard viscount Fitzwilliam, who died in 1816, and bequeathed his collection of books, pictures, etc., to the university, with 100,000l. to erect a building to contain them. The building was begun by G. Basevi in 1837, and finished by Cockerell some years after. Fiume (meaning river), the port of the kingdom of Hungary, on the Adriatic: a very ancient town, built on the supposed site of Tersatica, destroyed by Charlemagne about 799, and afterwards known as Vitopolis, Cività Sancti Viti ad Flumen, and finally Fiume. After being successively subjected to the Greeks, Romans, the Eastern emperors, and the pope, it was transferred to the house of Austria. It was captured by the French early in the century, from whom it was taken by the English in 1813, and given to Austria in 1814. It was transferred to Hungary in 1822; to the Croats in 1848; restored to Hungary in 1868. A new port and railways have been recently constructed (1877). Five Forks, near Richmond, Va. Here gen. Sheridan turned the front of the confederates and defeated them after a fierce struggle, 1 April, 1865. Five Hundred, COUNCIL OF, established by the new French constitution, 22 Aug. 1795, was unceremoniously diso ed by Napoleon Bonaparte, 10 Nov. 1799. live Mile Act, 17 Chas. II. c. 2 (Oct. 1665), forbade nonconformist teachers who refused to take the non resistance oath to come within five miles of any corporation where they had preached since the Act of Oblivion (unless they were travelling), under the penalty of 401. They were relieved by Will. III. in 1689. Fladenheim, or FLATCHEIM, Saxony. Here Rodolph of Swabia defeated the emperor Henry IV., 27 Jan. 1080. Flag. The flag acquired its present form in the sixth century, in Spain; it was previously small and square. A she. It is said to have been introduced there by the Saracens, before whose time the ensigns of war were extended on cross-pieces of wood; see Carrocium. The honor-of-the-flag salute at sea was exacted by England from very early times; but it was formally yielded by the Dutch in 1673, at which period they had been defeated in many actions. Louis XIV. obliged the Spaniards to lower their flag to the French, 1680.-Hénault. After an engagement of three hours between Tourville and the Spanish admiral Papachin, the latter yielded by firing a salute of nine guns to the French flag, 2 June, 1688.-Idem. The earliest legislation concerning the United States flag was a resolution of congress, 14 June, 1777, "that the flag of the 13 United States be 13 stripes alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing the new constellation." This flag was first raised by Paul Jones on the Ranger. In 1794 it was resolved in congress that after May 1, 1795, "the flag of the United States be 15 stripes alternate, red and white, and that the union be 15 stars, white in a blue field." In 1816 a committee was appointed to inquire into the expediency of changing the flag, and April 4, 1818, a bill was approved by the president reducing the number of stripes to 13, and increasing the number of stars to represent at all times the number of states in the union; see Salute at Sea and Union Jack. The comte de Chambord definitively declined to give up the white flag for the tricolor (see France), 5 July, 1871, and 27 Oct. 1873. Flagellants, at Perouse, about 1268, during a plague, they maintained there was no remission of sins without flagellation, and publicly lashed themselves. Clement VI. declared them heretics in 1349; and 90 of them, and their leader, Conrad Schmidt, were burned, 1414. In 1574, Henry III. of France became a flagellant for a short time. Flageolet, a musical instrument said to have been invented by Juvigny, about 1581; double flageolet patented by William Bainbridge, 1803; improved 1809 and 1819. Flambeaux, FEAST OF, see Argos. Flammock's Rebellion, see Rebellions, 1497. said Flanders, the principal part of ancient Belgium, which was conquered by Julius Cæsar, 51 B.C. It became part of the kingdom of France, A.D. 843, and was governed by counts subject to the king, from 862 till 1369, the first being Baldwin, Bras de Fer, who to have introduced the cloth manufacture. In 1204, Baldwin IX. became emperor at Constantinople. In 1369, Philip, duke of Burgundy, married Margaret, the After this, Flanders was subheiress of count Louis II. jected successively to Burgundy (1384), Austria (1477), and Spain (1555). In 1580 it declared its independence, but afterwards returned to its allegiance to the house of Austria. In 1713 it was included in the empire of Germany. France obtained a part of Flanders by treaty in 1659 and 1679; see Burgundy, Netherlands, and Belgium. Flannel, see Woollen. Flatbush, BATTLE OF, see Long Island. Flattery, Cape (W. coast of North America), so named by capt. Cook, because at a distance it had the deceptive appearance of a harbor, 1778. Flavian Cæsars, the Roman emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, 66-96. Flax. The manufacture in Egypt in very early times was carried thence to Tyre about 588 B.C., and to Gaul about 1 B.C.; and thus reached Britain. It was ordered to be grown in England, by statute 24 Hen. VIII. 1533. For many ages the core was separated from the flax, the bark of the plant, by the hand. A mallet was next used; but the old methods of breaking and scutching the flax yielded to a water-mill which was invented in Scotland about 1750; see Hemp. The duty imposed on imported flax, 1842, was repealed 1845. In 1851 chevalier Claussen patented a method of "cottoning" flax. Flayers, see Écorcheurs. Fleece, see Golden Fleece. Fleet Prison, Market, ETC. (London), were built over the small river Fleta, now used as a common sewer. In the reign of Henry VII. this river is said to have been navigable to Holborn bridge. FLEET PRISON was founded in the first year of Richard I., and was allotted for debtors, 1640; and persons were committed here who had incurred the displeasure of the Star-chamber, and for contempt of the court of chancery. It was burned during the Gordon riots, 7 June, 1780, and rebuilt 1781-2. It was pulled down in 1845 (and the debtors removed to the Queen's Bench prison). The site was sold to the London, Dover, and Chatham railway company for 60,000l. on 2 June, 1864. Last vestige removed. ..... Feb. 1868 FLEET MARKET, originally formed in 1737, was removed, and the site named Farringdon street in 1829. A new (Farringdon) market was opened 20 Nov. 1829. The granite obelisk in Fleet street, to the memory of alderman Waithman, was erected.. .25 June, 1833 FLEET MARRIAGES. Between 19 Oct. 1704, and 12 Feb. 1705, there were celebrated 295 marriages in the Fleet without license or certificate of banns. 20 or 30 couples were sometimes joined in one day, and their names concealed by private marks, if they chose to pay an extra fee. Pennant says that in his youth he was often accosted with, "Sir, will you please to walk in and be married ?" Painted signs, of male and female hands conjoined, with the inscription, "Marriages performed within," were common along the building. This abuse abolished by the Marriage act....... Fleetwood, see Hythe. 1753 Flensborg (North Germany). Here the Danes defeated the Slesingers and Germans, 9 April, 1848. It was entered by the Germans, 7 Feb. 1864. Fleta, an ancient English law treatise, an abridg- | academies, churches, and libraries are to be found the ment of Bracton, dated about 1290, said to have been rarest works of sculpture and painting in the world. composed in Fletâ, in the Fleet prison, by some law- The Florentine Academy and Accademia della Crusca yer. (established 1582) were instituted to enrich literature and improve the language of Tuscany. The latter was so named because it rejects like bran all words not purely Fleur-de-lis, the emblem of France, said to have been brought from heaven by an angel to Clovis, he having made a vow that if he proved victorious in a pending battle with the Alemanni near Cologne, he would embrace Christianity, 496. It was the national emblem till the revolution in 1789, when the tricolor (white, red, and blue) was adopted. Fleurus (Belgium), the site of several battles. Between the Catholic League under Gonzales de Cordova and the Protestant Union (indecisive). .30 Aug. 1622 The prince of Waldeck defeated by marshal Luxemburg, 1 July, 1690 The allies under the prince of Coburg defeated by the French Revolutionary army commanded by Jourdan, who was enabled to form a junction with the armies of the Moselle, the Ardennes, and the north. (The French used a balloon to reconnoitre the enemy's army, which, it is said, contributed to their success), 26 June, 1794 Here Napoleon defeated Blucher at the battle of Ligny (which see)..... .16 June, 1815 Flies. An extraordinary fall of these insects in London covered the clothes of passengers, 1707.-Chamberlain. In the United States of America the Hessian fly, so called from the notion of its having been brought there by the Hessian troops in the service of England in the war of independence, ravaged the wheat in 1777. Before and during the severe attack of cholera at Newcastle in Sept. 1853, the air was infested with small flies. Flints, see Man. Floating Batteries, see Batteries, and Gibraltar, 1781. Flodden Field (Northumberland). The site of a battle on 9 Sept. 1513, between the English and Scots; in consequence of James IV. of Scotland having taken part with Louis XII. of France against Henry VIII. of England. James, many of his nobles, and upwards of 10,000 of his army were slain; while the English, who were commanded by the earl of Surrey, lost only persons of small note. Flogging, by the Jewish law, was limited to forty stripes, "lest thy brother should seem vile unto thee," 1451 B.C. (Deut. xxv. 3). William Cobbett in 1810, and John Drakard in 1811, were punished for publishing severe censures on flogging in the army. Flogging was made a punishment for attempts at garroting in 1863; and for juvenile criminals, 1847 and 1850. Flogging in the army much diminished by orders. 9 Nov. 1859 First-class seamen not to be flogged, except after a trial, Dec. 1859; more diminished. .March, 1867 By an amendment on the clause in the Mutiny bill, flogging abolished in the army in time of peace..... April, 1868 New regulations for the navy issued.... ..18 Dec. 1871 Proposed total abolition negatived in commons (120-60), 20 June, 1876; (164-122), 10 April, 1877; (239–56), 20 May, 1879 By the Army Discipline act (42 & 43 Vict. c. 33), flogging reduced, and may be commuted by imprisonment, Total abolition of flogging by Army Discipline act. April, 1881 21 soldiers flogged... 1869 41 soldiers flogged.. 1878 Floral Hall, adjoining Covent-garden theatre, is a large conservatory, 220 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 55 feet high, erected from designs by Mr. E. M. Barry, and was opened with the volunteers' ball, 7 March, 1860. It was used as a flower-market, 22 May-Aug. 1861. Here was held the West London Industrial Exhibition, 1 May to 2 Aug. 1865. Floralia, annual games at Rome in honor of Flora, instituted about 752, but not celebrated with regularity till about 174 B.C. Florence (Florentia), capital of Tuscany (which see), and from 1864 to 1870 of Italy, is said to have been founded by the soldiers of Sylla (80 B.C.), and enlarged by the Roman triumviri. In its palaces, universities, Tuscan both are now united under the former name. Becomes an independent republic.. Arti, or guilds, established. ..about 541 ..about 800 about 1198 14 May, 1265 1266 1300 ..about 1420 The influence of the Medici begins with Cosmo de' Medi- ernor .8 April, 1492 .23 May, 1498 Cosmo de' Medici created grand-duke of Tuscany; makes 1530 1569 27 April, 1859 The king and court remove there.. The Dante festival (the 600th anniversary of his birth) Inauguration of a national rifle meeting; the king fires opened by the king. ...14 May, the first shot... 66 66 18 June, First assembly of Italian parliament here.......18 Nov. The government removes to Rome as capital of Italy, Fourth centenary of Michel Angelo Buonarroti kept, July, 1871 12 Sept. 1875 Torchlight procession; shell thrown among crowd; 5 killed....... ...18 Nov. 1878 Flores, or Isle of Flowers, one of the Azores (which see), discovered by Vanderberg in 1439, and settled by the Portuguese in 1448. Florida, a peninsula, one of the southern states of North America, first discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497. It was visited by Juan Ponce de Leon, the Spanish navigator, 4 April, 1512, in a voyage he had undertaken to discover a fountain whose waters had the property of restoring youth to the aged who tasted them. Florida was conquered by the Spaniards under Ferdinand de Soto in 1539; but the settlement was not fully Drake in 1585; and by Davis, a buccaneer, in 1665. It established until 1565. It was plundered by sir Francis was invaded by the British in 1702, and again by gen. taken by the Spaniards in 1781, and guaranteed to them Oglethorpe in 1740; ceded to the British crown in 1763; in 1783. At the revolution in 1810, the United States government took means for occupying the western division of the country. During the war of 1812-15, the British made Pensacola their base of operations against the United States; and after remonstrating in vain with the Spanish authorities, gen. Jackson invaded Florida and captured Pensacola, 1814. He again took Pensacola in 1818, and after a tedious negotiation, the country was finally ceded by Spain to the United States by treaty, 24 Oct. 1820, and admitted into the Union as a state in 1845. It seceded in Dec. 1860, and was restored in 1865; see United States. Florin, a coin first made by the Florentines. A florin was issued by Edward III., which was current in England at the value of 6s. in 1337.-Camden. This English coin was called floren, after the Florentine coin, because the latter was of the best gold.-Ashe. The florin of Germany is in value 2s. 4d.; that of Spain, 48. 4žd.; that of Palermo and Sicily, 2s. 6d. ; that of Holland, 2s. -Ayliffe. Silver florins (value 2s.) were issued in England in 1849. Flowers. Our present common flowers were, for the most part, introduced into England from the reign of Henry VII. to that of Elizabeth (1485-1603). The art of preserving flowers in sand was discovered in 1633. A mode of preserving them from the effects of frost in winter, and hastening their vegetation in summer, was in Bay, sweet, Italy.. Canary bell-flower, Canaries.. Ceanothus, blue, New Spain Convolvulus, many-flowered Coral-tree, bell-flowered, Cape Creeper, Virginian, North America.. Dryandria, New Holland... Everlasting, giant flowered, Cape. Fernbush, sweet, North America.. Foxglove, Canaries... Fuchsia fulgens, Mexico. Geranium, Flanders. Gilly flower, Flanders Gold-plant, Japan... Golden bell-flower, Madeira.. Hawthorn, American.. Heaths, Cape.. 1567 Winter-berry, Virginia. 1665 before 1548 1696 1690 Fluorescence. When the invisible chemical rays 1811 of the blue end of the solar spectrum are sent through uranium glass or solutions of quinine, horse-chestnut bark, or stramonium datura, they become luminous. This phenomenon was termed "fluorescence" by its discoverer, prof. Stokes, in 1852. By means of fluorescence, Drs. Bence Jones and Dupré detected the presence of 1779 quinoidine in animal tissues; see Calorescence. 1818 ..before 1570 .before 1596 1790 1688 before 1752 66 1629 before 1596 Flute. The transverse flute, incorrectly termed the "German" instead of the Swiss flute, was known to the 1656 ancients. It was described by Michael Pretorius of .before 1548 Wolfenbüttel in 1620, and by Mersenne of Paris in 1636. It was much improved by the French in the seventeenth century; by Quantz, Tacet, Florio, Potter, Miller, Nicholson, and others in the eighteenth. In the present century, also, the Nicholsons, Boehm of Munich, Godfrey of Paris, Carter, Rockstro, and Rudall and Rose of London, have greatly contributed to the perfection of this instrument; see Flageolet. 1576 before 1713 before 1596 before 1568 before 1460 1800 1623 .before 1739 1688 Fluxions, a branch of the higher mathematics, .about 1793 invented by Newton, 1665, similar to the differential calculus described by Leibnitz, 1684. A fierce controversy 1734 ensued as to the priority of the discovery. The finest 1714 applications of the calculus are by Newton, Euler, La Grange, and La Place. The first elementary work on 1814 fluxions in England is a tract of twenty-two pages in "A New Short Treatise of Algebra, together with a Specimen of the Nature and Algorithm of Fluxions," by 1776 John Harris, M.A. (London, 1702). 1528 . before 1596 1699 before 1596 1730 1792 1567 before 1724 Flying, ARTIFICIAL. In Greek mythology, Dædalus is said to have attached wings of wax to the body of 1771 his son Icarus, who, neglecting the advice of his father, before 1724 flew so high that the sun melted his wings, and he fell 1692 into the Icarian sea. Archytas is said to have made a 1823 flying dove, about 400 B.C. Friar Bacon maintained the 1736 possibility of the art of flying, and predicted it would be a general practice, 1273. Bishop Wilkins says (1651), 1789 "It will yet be as usual to hear a man call for his wings .about 1543 when he is going on a journey as it is now to hear him 1793 call for his boots!" Borelli (about 1670) showed the futility of these speculations. About 1800, sir George 1567 Cayley experimented on the subject, and in 1843 Mr. Henson invented a flying-machine; but nothing has been .before 1726 devised capable of serving a practical purpose. The 1548 1522 motion of birds in relation to aeronautics was much dis1731 cussed by scientific men in 1867–8. At a meeting of the Aeronautical Society, 26 March, 1868, it was stated that .before 1663 a member had actually, by his muscular force, aided by ..before 1584 apparatus, risen from the ground and flown horizontally. 1756 Dr. James Pettigrew published his elaborate researches M. Von Groof, a Belgian, "the fly.before 1548 on flying, 1867–71. 1560 ing-man," descended from a balloon, by means of a para 1821 1724 before 1752 |