[Floating Islands] are sometimes formed of masses of driftwood on which débris, vegetation, &c., gradually form a soil, but are more commonly portions of river banks detached by the force of the current when swollen and drifted put, sometimes as much as 100 m., to sea, carrying with them plants, reptiles, and larger animals, and thus contributing to the distribution to distant shores of animal and vegetable life; they are to be met with off the mouths of the larger American, Asian, and African rivers, and sometimes in inland seas and lakes; Derwent Lake, in England, has a notable one, which sinks, and rises periodically; they are also made artificially in districts subject to floods as asylums of refuge.
[Flodden, Battle of], fought on Flodden Hill, a low spur of the Cheviots, 6 m. S. of Coldstream, between James IV. of Scotland and the English under the Earl of Surrey on the 9th of September 1513, which resulted in the crushing defeat of the Scots, who lost their king and the flower of their nobility, an event celebrated in Jean Elliot's "Flowers of the Forest"; a spirited account is given in the sixth canto of Scott's "Marmion."
[Flood, Henry], an Irish Nationalist, trained at Dublin and Oxford Universities; entering the Irish Parliament, he by his fervid oratory soon won a place in the front rank of Irish politicians; in 1769 he was put on trial for killing an opponent in a duel, but was acquitted; from 1775 to 1781 he was Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; to Grattan's Irish Bill of Right he offered bitter opposition, holding it to be an altogether inadequate measure; in 1783 he was returned to the English House of Commons, but failed to make his mark (1732-1791).
[Flora], goddess of the blossom of flowers and the spring, an early Roman divinity; had in the time of [Numa] a flamen (q. v.) to herself.
[Florence] (137), a famous Italian city, situated 50 m. from the sea; it lies in the valley of the Arno, and is built on both sides of the river, but chiefly on the N.; the outlying suburbs are singularly beautiful, and are surrounded by finely wooded hills, bright with gay villas and charming gardens; the old city itself is characterised by a sombre grandness, and is full of fine buildings of historic and artistic interest; chief amongst these is the cathedral, or Duomo, begun in 1298, with its grand dome and campanile (293 ft.), by Giotto. It is the city of Dante, Petrarch, Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Galileo and many more of Italy's great men, and has a history of exceptional interest; it has many fine art galleries; is an educational centre, and carries on a trade in straw-plaiting and silk.
[Florian, Jean Pierre de], a French novelist and writer of fables; was the friend of Voltaire, from whom he received his first literary impulse; was the author of several romances plays, &c., but his finest work is found in his Fables, in which department of literature he ranks next La Fontaine (1755-1794).
[Florida] (391), "Land of Flowers," the most southern of the American States, forms a bold peninsula on the E. side of the Gulf of Mexico, and has on its eastern shore the Atlantic; has a coast-line of 1150 m.; the chief physical feature is the amount of water surface, made up of 19 navigable rivers and lakes and ponds to the number of 1200, besides swamps and marshes; the climate is, however, equable, and for the most part healthy; fruit-growing is largely engaged in; the timber trade flourishes, also the phosphate industry, and cotton and the sugar-cane are extensively cultivated; a successful business in cigar-making has also of recent years sprung up, and there are valuable fisheries along the coast; Florida was admitted into the Union in 1845; the capital is Tallahassee.
[Florio, John], the translator of Montaigne, born in London, of Italian parents; was a tutor of foreign languages for some years at Oxford, and in 1581 became a member of Magdalen College and teacher of French and Italian; published two works of a miscellaneous character, called "First Fruits" and "Second Fruits," and an English-Italian dictionary called a "World of Words," but his fame rests on his translation of Montaigne, which Shakespeare used so freely (1553-1625).
[Florus], a Latin historian, contemporary of Trajan.
[Fludd, Robert], physician and theosophist, born at Milgate, Kent; studied at Oxford, and travelled on the Continent, where he came under the influence of Paracelsus's writings; settled in London as a doctor, and published a work embodying a vague theosophy (1574-1637).