FRANKENTHAL, a town in the province of the Rhine, Bavaria, which was destroyed in 1688, with several other towns of the palatinate, but rebuilt. It suffered also greatly in the wars of 1794 and 1795. Its present population is about 3500, engaged in the linen and woollen manufactory. Here is a canal which communicates with the Rhine. Twelve miles from Heidelberg.

FRANKFORT, a town of the United States, on the river and in the state of Kentucky. Long. 83° 12′ W., lat. 38° 3′ N.

FRANKFORT ON THE MAINE, a considerable city of Germany, the seat of the Germanic diet, is situated on the Maine, about twenty miles above its influx into the Rhine, over which is a good stone bridge. It is divided by the Maine into two parts: the one on the north bank, by much the larger, called Frankfort Proper; the other Sachsenhausen. Frankfort was formerly fortified, but most of its works are now converted into promenades or gardens. The houses are partly of wood, but the principal streets, 'the Zeile' in particular, are wide; there are also three noble squares. This town, the residence of ancient electors, princes, and counts, is now divided, in religion, between the Catholics, who have nine churches, the Lutherans seven, the

Calvinists two. The Jews are said to amount to between 7000 and 9000. They formerly lived in a quarter of the city blocked up at one end, and regularly shut in at night; but since 1796 they are at liberty to live in any part of the town, though they are still not exempt from vexatious treatment. Population 41,000.

Frankfort is much frequented by travellers, and carries on a great trade in books and printing. It is the birth-place of Goethe. It contains, among its public establishments, a Lutheran academy, and Catholic gymnasium. The library of St. Bartholomew has some valuable MSS., and there are also several great private collections. Two great fairs are held here annually in spring and autumn; and its commercial activity is always great. Merchandise of all kinds arrives by the Rhine from all parts of Europe, and the exchange transactions are very considerable. The local manufactures, however, are on a smal. scale; the principal are in silk, velvet, and cotton stuffs.

Frankfort, long a free city, was under the iron yoke of Buonaparte from 1806 to 1813: its constitution at present is a mixture of democracy and aristocracy, affording a perfect equality to the different denominations of Christians, and a final appeal to the Diet. The town possesses an adjacent territory of 110 square miles, with a population of 48,000; its yearly revenue is about £80,000 sterling, but it is burdened with a debt of more than £300,000, chiefly the result of the forced contributions of the French. It is twenty miles E. N. E. of Mentz, and fifty south-east of Cologne.

FRANKFORT, GRAND DUCHY CF, is the name of a temporary sovereignty formed in Germany in 1806 by Buonaparte, in favor of the archchancellor or elector of Mentz, who was named prince primate of the confederation of the Rhine. He added to this territory the city of Frankfort VOL. IX.

At the congress of Vienna, the primate was deprived of his states, and treated as the secularised bishops of 1803, receiving an annual pension of 100,000 florins from those powers who obtained his possessions.

FRANKFORT ON THE ODER is a considerable

town of Prussia, and the capital of the middle mark of Brandenburg. It is defended by a fort, standing on the bridge of the Oder. The town is well built, and has a university, founded in 1506; but the number of students is seldom more than 200. It has three annual fairs, and is a place of considerable trade, communicating with the North Sea by the Muhlrose canal; 2000 boats and barges are said to be employed

on that canal and on the Oder. Here are manu

ware.

factures of silks, woollens, leather, and earthenThe neighbourhood was the scene of a sanguinary battle between the Prussians and Russians in 1759. It is twelve miles S.S. W. of Custrin, and forty-eight east of Berlin. Popula

tion 12,000.

United States of North America, is situated in FRANKFORT, the metropolis of Kentucky, Franklin county, on the north-east bank of Kentucky River, about twenty-four miles from its junction with the Ohio. It is a flourishing and regularly built town, with a handsome statehouse. Population, in 1816, 1099. Twenty-five miles north by west of Danville.

FRANKINCENSE, n. s. 'Frank and incense; so called perhaps from its liberal disMr. tribution of odor; says Dr. Johnson. Thomson more probably from Goth. ve, holy, and rauck; Teut. rauch, smoke or odor.

Take unto thee sweet spices, with pure frankincense. Exodus.

I find in Dioscorides record of frankincense gotten in India. Brerewood on Language. See how it weeps! the tears do come, Sad, slowly dropping like a gum. So weeps the wounded balsam; so The holy frankincense doth flow. The brotherless Heliades

Marvell.

Melt in such amber tears as these. Black ebon only will in India grow, And od'rous frankincense on the Sabæan bough. Dryden's Virgil.

Cedar and frankincense, an odʼrous pile, Flamed on the hearth, and wide perfumed the isle. Pope.

drops, of a pale yellowish white color; a strong smell, Frankincense is a dry resinous substance in pieces o

but not disagreeable, and a bitter, acrid, and resinous taste. It is very inflammable. The earliest histories inform us, that frankincense was used among the sacred rites and sacrifices, as it continues to be in many parts. We are still uncertain as to the place whence frankincense is brought, and as to the tree which pro

duces it

2 Q

Hill.

by Mr. Franklin, at Burlington, to print some New Jersey money-bills; and proved the means of his acquaintance with judge Allen, and several other members of the assembly, who were afterwards of great service to him. After this, he commissioned types from London, set up a printing-office, in company with Hugh Meredith, a fellow-workman, whose father advanced some money for them; and, at the same time, Franklin established a weekly club, for mutual improvement, which proved an excellent school of philosophy. This society, which was called the Junto, lasted nearly forty years. Mean time his industry, which was habitual, receiving additional energy from the idea of working for himself, rapidly advanced his credit, and Keimer, being unable to continue his newspaper, sold the copyright to Franklin for a mere trifle; who, by his improvements in the conduct and execution of it, soon raised it to a high degree of celebrity. After this, his accurate and elegant manner of printing recommended him to the employment of the assembly and his partner Meredith, giving up the printing, turned farmer, and thus left Franklin sole proprietor of the business in 1729. Whereupon his friends, Messrs. Coleman and Grace, offered him money to carry it on extensively, and he accepted of half the offered sum from each. Soon after, a new emission of paper currency being wished for by the public, but opposed by the opulent part of the assembly, Franklin published a pamphlet on the subject, which, being unanswerable, occasioned the measure to be carried through, and himself to be rewarded by being employed to print the bills. Public and private employment now flowing upon him more and more, he, in 1730, married a lady, whose maiden name was Read, for whom he had entertained an affection before he went to London, and whose attachment was mutual: although, during his absence, she had been prevailed on by her mother, to marry one Rogers, a potter, who had used her so ill, that she did not so much as bear his name. (See Franklin's Life, written by himself, and published by Dr. Price). To our author she proved an excellent wife, and contributed much to the success of his shop. In 1731 Franklin's love of literature led him to set on foot, first a private, and afterwards a public library, which, in 1742, was incorpoporated by the name of the Library Company of Philadelphia; which now consists of many thousand volumes, besides a philosophical apparatus, &c. In 1732 he began to publish Poor Richard's Almanack, a work which he rendered remarkable by its numerous valuable and concise moral maxims, recommending industry and economy, and which he at last collected into one humorous address to the reader, entitled The Way to Wealth, which has since been translated into various languages. In 1736 he entered on his political career, by being appointed clerk to the general assembly of Pennsylvania. In 1737 he was appointed post-master. In 1738 he formed the first company for preventing damages by fires, and soon after got an insurance office erected. In 1744, during the war between France and Britain, the French and Indians having made inroads upon the frontiers of the province, he

proposed a voluntary association for its defence; which was approved of, and immediately signed by 1200 citizens, who chose Franklin their colonel. But he was then too deeply engaged in philosophical and political pursuits, to accept of that honor. In 1745 he published an account of his new invented fire-place (see FIRE-PLACE); and in 1725, was elected a member of the General Assembly, where he supported the rights of the citizens in opposition to the proprietaries. In 1749 he completed the plan of the Philadelphia Academy, upon the most lil erai principles, which was incorporated in 1753. Franklin had now conducted himself so well in his office of post-master to the province, that in 1765 he was appointed deputy post-master general for the British colonies; and, in his hands, this branch of the revenue soon yielded thrice as much, annually, as that of Ireland. Yet none of these public avocations prevented his making important discoveries in science. The Leyden experiment in electricity having rendered that science an object of general curiosity, Mr. Frankin applied himself to it, and soon distinguished himself so eminently in that science, as to attract the attention and applause of not only the count de Buffon, and other French philosophers, but even of Louis XV. himself. He was the first who thought of securing buildings from lightning; and he was also the first inventor of the electrical kite; having completed his experiment in June 1752, a full year before M. de Romas's discovery. His theory of positive and negative electricity has likewise received the sanction of public approbation; though many think it is not fully capable of supporting itself. ELECTRICITY, index. His theories were at first opposed by the members of the Royal Society in London; but in 1755, when he returned to that city, they voted him the gold medal, which is annually given to the author of a memoir on the most curious and interesting subject. He was likewise admitted a member of the society, and had the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him by the universities of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, and Oxford. When the war broke out between Britain and France, he returned to America, to take a share in the public affairs of his native country. About 1753 he set on foot, and prevailed on the assembly to establish, the Pennsylvania hospital. In 1754, the American colonies having suffered much by the depredations of the Indians on their frontiers, he drew up, and presented to the commissioners from several colonies, a plan of union (called the Albany Plan, from the place where they met), which, though unanimously approved of by the commissioners, was at last rejected by the assemblies, as giving too much influence to the president, who was to be appointed by the king; and disapproved of by the British ministry, as giving too much power to the representatives of the people. This rejection on both sides affords the strongest proof of the excellency and impartiality of his plan, as suited to the situation of Britain and America at that period. It appears to have steered exactly between the opposite interests of both countries. In 1757 he restored tranquillity to the province, by an amicable and

See

equitable settlement of the differences that had long subsisted between the proprietaries and the people, as to taxation. In 1766 he travelled into Holland and Germany, and in 1767 he visited France; being every where received with the greatest marks of attention by men of science. He was introduced in the latter kingdom to Louis XV. Returning to England in 1767, he was examined before the house of commons concerning the stamp act. In 1773, having been appointed agent for Pennsylvania, he again came over to England, while the disputes between Great Britain and America were on the point of coming to extremities; when he attracted the public attention by a letter on the duel betwixt Mr. Whatley and Mr. Temple, concerning the publication of governor Hutchinson's letters. On the 28th January 1774 he was examined before the privy council on a petition he had presented long before, as agent for Massachusett's Bay, against Mr. Hutchinson; but this petition, being disagreeable to ministry, was precipitately rejected, and Dr. Franklin was soon after removed from his office of post-master general. He was now looked upon by government with such a jealous eye, that it was proposed to arrest him as a fomenter of rebellion. The Dr., however, departed for America in the beginning of 1775 with such privacy, that he had left England before it was suspected that he entertained any such design. Being elected a delegate to the continental Congress, he had a principal share in bringing about the revolution, and declaration of independency. In 1776 he was deputed by congress to Canada, to persuade the Canadians to throw off the British yoke; but they had been so much disgusted with the hot-headed zeal of the New Englanders, who had burnt some of their chapels, that they refused to listen to their proposals, though enforced by all the arguments Dr. Franklin could urge. On his return to Philadelphia, Congress, sensible how much he was esteemed in France, sent him to finish the negociations of Mr. Silas Dean. This important commission was readily accepted by the Dr., though then in the seventy-first year of his age. The event is well known; a treaty was signed between France and America; and M. le Rá asserts, that the Dr. strongly advised M. Maurepas not to lose a single moment, if he wished to secure the friendship of America, and to detach it from the mother country. In 1777 he was regularly appointed plenipotentiary from Congress to the French court. Having at last seen the full accomplishment of his wishes by the conclusion of the peace in 1783, which confirmed the independence of America, he requested to be recalled, and Mr. Jefferson was appointed to succeed him. Dr. Franklin arrived safe at Philadelphia in September 1785, and was received amidst the acclamations of a vast multitude, who conducted him in triumph to his own house. In a few days he was visited by the members of Congress and the principal inhabitants. He was afterwards twice elected president of the assembly. In 1787 he was appointed a delegate from Pennsylvania, for revising the articles of confederation; and signed the new

constitution in the name of the state. He was also chosen president of the Philadel phia Society for alleviating the miseries of prisons, and of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. His last public act was signing a memorial on this subject, 12th February, 1789. During the greatest part of his life he had been very healthy. In 1735, indeed, he was attacked by a pleurisy, which ended in a suppuration of the left lobe of the lungs, so that he was almost suffocated by the quantity of matter thrown up. But from this, as well as another attack, he recovered so completely, that his breathing was not affected. As he advanced in years, however, he became subject to fits of the gout, to which, in 1782, a nephritic colic was added. From this time he became subject also to the stone; and during the last year of his life these complaints almost entirely confined him to his bed; notwithstandir which, neither his mental abilities, nor his cheerfulness forsook him. His memory was tenacious to the last; a remarkable instance of which is, that he learned to speak French after he was seventy. About sixteen days before he died, he was seized with a feverish disorder; which, about the third or fourth day, was attended with a pain in the left breast, accompanied with a cough and laborious breathing. Thus he continued for five days, when the painful symptoms ceased; but a new imposthume had now taken place in the lungs, which suddenly breaking, he was unable to expectorate the matter fully, and expired on the 17th April, 1790. He left one son, governor William Franklin, a zealous loyalist; and a daughter, married to Mr. Willlam Bache, merchant in Philadelphia, who waited upon him during his last illness. Dr. Franklin was sententious but not fluent in society; more inclined to listen than to talk; and an instructive rather than a pleasing companion. He was author of many tracts on electricity, and other branches of natural philosophy, on politics and miscellanecus subjects. The following epitaph on himself was written by Dr. Franklin many years before his death :—

The Body of

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PRINTER,
Like the cover of an old book,

Its contents torn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here food for worms.

Yet the work itself shall not be lost;
For it will (as he believed) appear once more,
In a new and more beautiful Edition,
Corrected and amended

BY THE AUTHOR.

His funeral is said to have been more numerously and more respectably attended than any other that had ever taken place in America. The concourse of people assembled upon the occasion was immense. All the bells in the city were muffled, the newspapers published with black borders, &c. The body was interred amid peals of artillery, and nothing is said to have been omitted that could display the veneration of the citizens for so illustrious a character.

Congress ordered a public mourning through