of composition in which he particularly excelled, and which drew on him the animadversion of many of the best poets and literary men of his time, who in their turn persecuted and compelled him to repair to Venice to the house of the famous Aretino. Franco boasted of being the author of many compositions attributed to the latter; but, as Tiraboschi justly observes, it would be very difficult to state which of these two authors could be safely believed. From envy, however, and jealousy sprang the enmity that existed between these two men; and Franco was obliged to fly for protection to Piedmont, where he published many scurrilous sonnets against Aretino collectively under the title of "Priapea." Having been elected a member of the academy Gli Argonauti, Franco wrote some poetry on maritime subjects, perhaps the least objectionable of his compositions, which he published at Mantua; but the depravity of his life was such, that every one shunned his company, and often he was in need of his daily food. Induced by Cardinal Morone to visit Rome, Franco resumed writing in the most licentious style, not even sparing his benefactor. Pope Paul IV., whose successor, Pius V., greatly incensed against Franco for some epigrams against his character, condemned him to be publicly hanged, a sentence that was executed in 1569.—A. C. M.
FRANCO BARRETO, Joao, a Portuguese historian and poet, born in 1600; died in 1669. In youth he entered the naval service, and fought in the war against Holland, and also in the struggle for the independence of Bahia. At the age of twenty-four he married, and set himself to study law. On the transfer of the crown to the house of Braganza, he was sent to Paris as secretary of the embassy which announced the accession of John IV. Of this voyage he published an account; Lisbon, 1642. On his return he took orders, and henceforth devoted himself to literature. He translated the Æneid, and published an edition of Camoens, with an index of all the proper names; also a poem entitled "Cyparisso, fabula mythologica." Many of his works remained in manuscript, and are probably lost. The most important was entitled "Bibliotheca Portugueza," which Barbosa Machado used in the compilation of his great work; others are the lives of the Portuguese cardinals, an ecclesiastical history of Evora, and a narrative of his voyage to Bahia.—F. M. W.
FRANCO BOLOGNESE, was a celebrated illuminator, or miniature-painter at Bologna in the early part of the fourteenth century. He was the pupil of Oderigi of Gubbio, and was the first Bolognese artist to forsake the mediaeval Byzantine standard for the study of nature itself. He is noticed by Dante in his Purgatorio, Cant, xi., where he treats of the short duration of human glory:—
" Oh vana gloria dell umane posse,
Com' poco verde in su la cima dura."
It is the deceased Oderigi, upon being recognized, who exclaims to Dante—
" Più ridon le carte
Che pennelleggia Franco Bolognese:
L'onore è tutto or suo."
Franco was invited by Pope Boniface VIII. or Benedict XI. to Rome, to illuminate some manuscripts in the Vatican. He educated a numerous school of illuminators, some of whom became celebrated, and several were engaged in the church of the Madonna di Mezaratta. In the Ercolani palace at Bologna is a madonna by Franco, painted in 1313. He is known also as Franco da Bologna.—(Vasari, Vite, &c.)—R. N. W.
FRANCO of Cologne, a writer on music in the eleventh century, of much importance in the early history of the art. Great doubt at one time prevailed as to the birthplace of this author, in consequence of his having studied at Liege, and of a transcript of one of his treatises (in the church of S. Ambrogio at Milan), describing him as Franco of Paris. All uncertainty is removed, however, by the words with which he commences one of his tracts—"Ego, Franco de Colonia." The period when he lived, is proved by allusion to him in the writings of Sigebert, his contemporary, in 1047; by the dedication of one of his works to Heriman, archbishop of Cologne, who died in February, 1055; and by his having been preceptor in the cathedral at Liege in 1083. It has been doubted whether he was the writer of the two tracts on music attributed to him, and alleged to be the production of some two centuries' later date. References to them and to Franco as their author (in a tract on music by Walter Odington of Eversham in Worcestershire in 1217; in the work of Marchetto of Padua in 1274; in that of John of Muris in 1330; and in the treatise of John of Tewkesbury in 1351; together with the commentary of Robert of Handlo on the tracts themselves in 1326—all speaking of the writer and his system as being then ancient) clearly identify the tracts in question with Franco and with his time. Franco studied under Adelman in the school of the church of Liege, and he obtained the distinction of Magister of Liege, by which title, or its equivalent, Ecolatre, he is often mentioned. Besides his acquirements in music, he was learned for his age in the sciences of mathematics, geometry, and astronomy. His two musical works are entitled "Ars cantus mensurabilis" and "Compendium de Discantu." The former represents the advance of the art from the time of Guido of Arezzo, a century earlier, since this author invented the system of notation, so far as it defines the relative pitch of the notes; whereas Franco explains the measurement of the length of the notes. It is not to be supposed, however, that he originated the division of time in music; since his own treatise speaks of this now indispensable branch of notation as a thing already practically known. The "Compendium" gives a code of rules for discant; that is, extemporaneous counterpoint to the plain song; but it was not he who discovered the art of harmonic combination, since there is evidence to prove that the very crude form of it, exemplified in the improvisation of the discant, was in more or less general use in the time of Hubald, who died in the year 930. The merit of Franco and his importance in the history of music, consist in his having been the first to collect and systematize the laws of measure; at least his writings are the earliest known in which this subject is treated.—G. A. M.
FRANCOEUR, Louis-Benjamin, a French geometrician, was born in 1773, and died in 1849. He was a distinguished teacher of mathematics, and rendered considerable services to science, though his name is associated with no brilliant discovery. Francoeur was an indefatigable student, and published a great number of excellent works.—R. M., A.
FRANCOIS, Laurent, a French controversialist, was born in 1698, and died in 1782. He lived chiefly at Paris, and wrote a considerable number of works against the infidel and materialist philosophy then rampant in France, which were of sufficient consequence at the time to provoke the wrath of Voltaire himself. He wrote "Défense de la Religion chrétienne, contre les difficultés des incredules," Paris.—R. M., A.
FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHATEAU, Nicolas, born in Lorraine in 1750; died at Paris in 1828; educated at the jesuit college, Neufchateau. He was scarcely fourteen when a volume of poems by him was printed, and in his fifteenth year he was elected a member of the academies of Dijon, Lyons, Marseilles, and Nancy. Voltaire, then seventy-two years of age, sought to become acquainted with the boy, and made him his secretary. This relation did not long subsist, as he was called away to become one of the magistrates of Alsace. The municipality of Neufchateau wished to compliment or to derive honour from the marvellous boy, and asked him to adopt the name of Neufchateau. A decree of the parliament of Lorraine sanctioned this additional surname. He was engaged in a translation of Ariosto in French verse, when he was named in 1783 procureur-general to the council of St. Domingo. After several misadventures, he at last arrived at his destination. He passed five years there and finished his "Ariosto;" but, being shipwrecked on his way home, he lost everything but his life, and while he lived he spoke with regret of his lost "Ariosto." On his return home he settled himself down as a farmer at Vicherey, near Neufchateau, when the French revolution came to call him from the plough. He was sent as deputy to the national assembly. In the year 1791 we find him secretary and then president of the legislative assembly. In a report of the committee of legislation he stated forcibly the principle that the church should be subject to the state. He was elected member of the convention, but refused to sit. In 1792 the convention appointed him minister of justice, but he wisely declined the dangerous honour. He published at that time some tracts on agriculture, and produced a play, "Pamela," imitated or translated from Goldoni. The play seemed successful; but after eight representations it was suppressed by the police, and the author thrown into prison, for some passages supposed to be applicable to the politics of the day. It was a time when imprisonment was pretty sure to be followed by death, but the fall of Robespierre occurred just in time to save him. In 1797 François was one of the directory. In 1798, after having served in other offices, he was named minister
