in 1839, removed to Newton in 1844 and to Framingham in 1853) is situated here; and near South Framingham, in the township of Sherborn, is the state reformatory prison for women. South Framingham has large manufactories of paper tags, shoes, boilers, carriage wheels and leather board; formerly straw braid and bonnets were the principal manufactures. Saxonville manufactures worsted cloth. The value of the township’s factory products increased from $3,007,301 in 1900 to $4,173,579 in 1905, or 38.8%. Framingham was first settled about 1640, and was named in honour of the English home (Framlingham) of Governor Thomas Danforth (1622–1699), to whom the land once belonged. In 1700 it was incorporated as a township. The “old Connecticut path,” the Boston-to-Worcester turnpike, was important to the early fortunes of Framingham Center, while the Boston & Worcester railway (1834) made the greater fortune of South Framingham.
See J. H. Temple, History of Framingham . . . 1640–1880 (Framingham, 1887).
FRAMLINGHAM, a market town in the Eye parliamentary
division of Suffolk, 91 m. N.E. from London by a branch of
the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 2526. The church of
St Michael is a fine Perpendicular and Decorated building of
black flint, surmounted by a tower 96 ft. high. In the interior
there are a number of interesting monuments, among which the
most noticeable are those of Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of
Norfolk, and of Henry Howard, the famous earl of Surrey,
who was beheaded by Henry VIII. The castle forms a picturesque
ruin, consisting of the outer walls 44 ft. high and 8 ft. thick,
13 towers about 58 ft. high, a gateway and some outworks.
About half a mile from the town is the Albert Memorial Middle
Class College, opened in 1865, and capable of accommodating
300 boys. A bronze statue of the Prince Consort by Joseph
Durham adorns the front terrace.
Framlingham (Frendlingham, Framalingaham) in early Saxon times was probably the site of a fortified earthwork to which St Edmund the Martyr is said to have fled from the Danes in 870. The Danes captured the stronghold after the escape of the king, but it was won back in 921, and remained in the hands of the crown, passing to William I. at the Conquest. Henry I. in 1100 granted it to Roger Bigod, who in all probability raised the first masonry castle. Hugh, son of Roger, created earl of Norfolk in 1141, succeeded his father, and the manor and castle remained in the Bigod family until 1306, when in default of heirs it reverted to the crown, and was granted by Edward II. to his half-brother Thomas de Brotherton, created earl of Norfolk in 1312. On an account roll of Framlingham Castle of 1324 there is an entry of “rent received from the borough,” also of “rent from those living outside the borough,” and in all probability burghal rights had existed at a much earlier date, when the town had grown into some importance under the shelter of the castle. Town and castle followed the vicissitudes of the dukedom of Norfolk, passing to the crown in 1405, and being alternately restored and forfeited by Henry V., Richard III., Henry VII., Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth and James I., and finally sold in 1635 to Sir Robert Hitcham, who left it in 1636 to the master and fellows of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.
In the account roll above mentioned reference is made to a fair and a market, but no early grant of either is to be found. In 1792 two annual fairs were held, one on Whit Monday, the other on the 10th of October; and a market was held every Saturday. The market day is still Saturday, but the fairs are discontinued.
See Robert Hawes, History of Framlingham in the County of Suffolk, edited by R. Loder (Woodbridge, 1798).
FRANC, a French coin current at different periods and of
varying values. The first coin so called was one struck in gold
by John II. of France in 1360. On it was the legend Johannes
Dei gracia Francorum rex; hence, it is said, the name. It
also bore an effigy of King John on horseback, from which
it was called a franc à cheval, to distinguish it from another
coin of the same value, issued by Charles V., on which the king
was represented standing upright under a Gothic dais; this
coin was termed a franc à pied. As a coin it disappeared after the
reign of Charles VI., but the name continued to be used as an
equivalent for the livre tournois, which was worth twenty sols.
French writers would speak without distinction of so many
livres or so many francs, so long as the sum mentioned was an
even sum; otherwise livre was the correct term, thus “trois
livres” or “trois francs,” but “trois livres cinq sols.” In 1795
the livre was legally converted into the franc, at the rate of 81
livres to 80 francs, the silver franc being made to weigh exactly
five grammes. The franc is now the unit of the monetary system
and also the money of account in France, as well as in Belgium
and Switzerland. In Italy the equivalent is the lira, and in
Greece the drachma. The franc is divided into 100 centimes,
the lira into 100 centesimi and the drachma into 100 lepta.
Gold is now the standard, the coins in common use being ten
and twenty franc pieces. The twenty franc gold piece weighs
6.4516 grammes, .900 fine. The silver coins are five, two,
one, and half franc pieces. The five franc silver piece weighs
25 grammes, .900 fine, while the franc piece weighs 5 grammes,
.835 fine. See also Money.
FRANÇAIS, ANTOINE, Count (1756–1836), better known as
Français of Nantes, French politician and author, was born
at Beaurepaire, in the department of Isère. In 1791 he was
elected to the legislative assembly by the department of Loire
Inférieure, and was noted for his violent attacks upon the farmers
general, the pope and the priests; but he was not re-elected to
the Convention. During the Terror, as he had belonged to the
Girondin party, he was obliged to seek safety in the mountains.
In 1798 he was elected to the council of Five Hundred by the
department of Isère, and became one of its secretaries; and in
the following year he voted against the Directory. He took office
under the consulate as prefect of Charente Inférieure, rose to
be a member of the council of state, and in 1804 obtained the
important post of director-general of the indirect taxes (droits
réunis). The value of his services was recognized by the titles of
count of the empire and grand officer of the Legion of Honour.
On the second restoration he retired into private life; but from
1819 to 1822 he was representative of the department of Isère,
and after the July revolution he was made a peer of France. He
died at Paris on the 7th of March 1836.
Français wrote a number of works, but his name is more likely to be preserved by the eulogies of the literary men to whom he afforded protection and assistance. It is sufficient to mention Le Manuscrit de feu M. Jérôme (1825); Recueil de fadaises composé sur la montagne à l’usage des habitants de la plaine (1826); Voyage dans la vallée des originaux (1828); Tableau de la vie rurale, ou l’agriculture enseignée d’une manière dramatique (1829).
FRANÇAIS, FRANÇOIS LOUIS (1814–1897), French painter,
was born at Plombières (Vosges), and, on attaining the age of
fifteen, was placed as office-boy with a bookseller. After a few
years of hard struggle, during which he made a precarious living
by drawing on stone and designing woodcut vignettes for book
illustration, he studied painting under Gigoux, and subsequently
under Corot, whose influence remained decisive upon Français’s
style of landscape painting. He generally found his subjects in
the neighbourhood of Paris, and though he never rivalled his
master in lightness of touch and in the lyric poetry which is the
principal charm of Corot’s work, he is still counted among the
leading landscape painters of his country and period. He exhibited
first at the Salon in 1837 and was elected to the Académie
des Beaux-Arts in 1890. Comparatively few of his pictures are
to be found in public galleries, but his painting of “An Italian
Sunset” is at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris. Other works
of importance are “Daphnis et Chloé” (1872), “Bas Meudon”
(1861), “Orpheus” (1863), “Le Bois sacré” (1864), “Le Lac
de Némi” (1868).
FRANCATELLI, CHARLES ELMÉ (1805–1876), Anglo-Italian
cook, was born in London, of Italian extraction, in 1805,
and was educated in France, where he studied the art of cookery.
Coming to England, he was employed successively by various
noblemen, subsequently becoming manager of Crockford’s club.
He left Crockford’s to become chief cook to Queen Victoria,
and afterwards he was chef at the Reform Club. He was the
