[Falloux, Frédéric Alfred Pierre, Vicomte de], author and statesman, born at Angers; member of the House of Deputies; favoured the revolutionaries of 1848, and under the Presidency of Louis Napoleon became Minister of Public Instruction; retired in 1849, and became a member of the French Academy (1857); author of a "History of Louis XVI." and a "History of Pius V.," both characterised by a strong Legitimist bias (1811-1886).
[Falmouth] (13), a seaport on the Cornish coast, on the estuary of the Fal, 18 m. NE. of the Lizard; its harbour, one of the finest in England, is defended E. and W. by St. Mawes Castle and Pendennis Castle; pilchard fishing is actively engaged in, and there are exports of tin and copper.
[Falstaff, Sir John], a character in Shakespeare's "Henry IV." and the "Merry Wives of Windsor"; a boon companion of Henry, Prince of Wales; a cowardly braggart, of sensual habits and great corpulency. See [Fastolf].
[Familiar Spirits], certain supernatural beings presumed, agreeably to a very old belief (Lev. xix. 31), to attend magicians or sorcerers, and to be at their beck and call on any emergency.
[Familists], or the Brotherhood of Love, a fanatical sect which arose in Holland in 1556, and affected to love all men as brothers.
[Family Compact], a compact concluded in 1761 between the Bourbons of France, Spain, and Italy to resist the naval power of England.
[Fan], a light hand implement used to cause a draught of cool air to play upon the face; there are two kinds, the folding and non-folding; the latter, sometimes large and fixed on a pole, were known to the ancients, the former were invented by the Japanese in the 7th century, and became popular in Italy and Spain in the 16th century; but Paris soon took a lead in their manufacture, carrying them to their highest pitch of artistic perfection in the reign of Louis XIV.
[Fanariots], the descendants of the Greeks of noble birth who remained in Constantinople after its capture by Mahomet II. in 1453, so called from Fanar, the quarter of the city which they inhabited; they rose at one time to great influence in Turkish affairs, though they have none now.
[Fandango], a popular Spanish dance, specially in favour among the Andalusians; is in ¾ time, and is danced to the accompaniment of guitars and castanets.
[Fans], an aboriginal tribe dwelling between the Gaboon and Ogoway Rivers, in western equatorial Africa; are brave and intelligent, and of good physique, but are addicted to cannibalism.