[Fontainebleau], a town on the left bank of the Seine, 35 m. SE. of Paris, and famous for a château or palace of the kings of France, and the forest that surrounds it. This château, founded towards the end of the 10th century, was enlarged and embellished by successive kings, beginning with Francis I., and was the place where Napoleon signed his abdication in 1814.
[Fontanes, Louis, Marquis de], poet and man of letters, born at Niort, Poitou; came to Paris and achieved some celebrity by his poems and translations from Pope and Gray; changing from the Royalist side, he, during the Revolution, edited two journals in the Republican interest, and held the post of professor of Literature at the College of the Four Nations; was for some time a refugee in England, but afterwards returned and became a zealous supporter of Napoleon, on the downfall of whom he embraced the Bourbon cause, and was raised to the peerage (1757-1821).
[Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de], a miscellaneous French writer, born at Rouen, a nephew of Corneille, whose Life he wrote; was designed for the bar, but under his uncle's patronage embarked on a literary career in Paris; he vehemently upheld the moderns in the famous literary quarrel of Moderns versus Ancients, and brought upon himself the satirical attacks of Boileau and Racine; became Secretary and then President of the Académie des Sciences; died in his hundredth year; his vigorous and versatile nature found vent in a wide variety of writings—literary, scientific, and historical; author of "Dialogues of the Dead," in imitation of Lucian, and "Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds"; is credited with the saying, "A man may have his hand full of truth, and yet only care to open his little finger," and this other, "No man was ever written down but by himself" (1657-1757).
[Fontenoy], a village in Belgium, 5 m. SW. of Tournay, where Marshal Saxe beat the English, Dutch, and Austrians under the Duke of Cumberland in 1745.
[Foochow] (630), a Chinese city, the capital of the province of Fu-chien, situated on the Min, 125 m. NE. of Amoy. Massive walls 30 ft. high enclose the original town, but the extensive suburbs reach down to the river, which is bridged, and is a convenient waterway for trading with the interior; it was made a free port in 1842, and is the centre of a busy trade in tea, timber, and textiles.
[Fools, Feast of], a festival of wild mirth in the Middle Ages, held on 1st January, in which the Ass of Scripture celebrity played a chief part, and in which many of the rites and ceremonies of the Church were travestied.
[Foot-Pound], the name given in mechanics to the force required to raise 1 lb. through 1 foot, the unit of work.
[Foote, Samuel], a celebrated English actor and playwright, born at Truro, Cornwall, of a good family; was educated at Oxford, and studied law, but ruined himself by gaming, and took to the stage; he became the successful lessee of Haymarket Theatre in 1747, where, by his inimitable powers of mimicry and clever comedies, he firmly established himself in popular favour (1720-1777).
[Forbes, Archibald], a noted war-correspondent, born in Morayshire; was educated at Aberdeen University; served in a cavalry regiment, acted as war-correspondent for the Daily News during the Franco-German war, and has since been the brilliant chronicler of war news in all parts of the globe; has published several volumes; b. 1838.