OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Brentano, Klemens

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​BRENTANO, KLEMENS (1778–1842), German poet and novelist, was born at Ehrenbreitstein on the 8th of September 1778. His sister was the well-known Bettina von Arnim (q.v.), Goethe’s correspondent. He studied at Jena, and afterwards resided at Heidelberg, Vienna and Berlin. In 1818, weary of his somewhat restless and unsettled life, he joined the Roman Catholic Church and withdrew to the monastery of Dülmen where he lived for some years in strict seclusion. The latter part of his life he spent in Regensburg, Frankfort and Munich, actively engaged in Catholic propaganda. He died at Aschaffenburg on the 28th of July 1842. Brentano, whose early writings were published under the pseudonym Maria, belonged to the Heidelberg group of German romantic writers, and his works are marked by excess of fantastic imagery and by abrupt, bizarre modes of expression. His first published writings were Satiren und poetische Spiele (1800), and a romance Godwi (1801–1802); of his dramas the best are Ponce de Léon (1804), Victoria (1817) and Die Gründung Prags (1815). On the whole his finest work is the collection of Romanzen vom Rosenkranz (published posthumously in 1852); his short stories, and more especially the charming Geschichte vom braven Kasperl und dem schönen Annerl (1838), which has been translated into English, are still popular. Brentano also assisted Ludwig Achim von Arnim, his brother-in-law, in the collection of folk-songs forming Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1806–1808).
Brentano’s collected works, edited by his brother Christian, appeared at Frankfort in 9 vols. (1851–1855). Selections have been edited by J. B. Diel (1873), M. Koch (1892), and J. Dohmke (1893). See J. B. Diel and W. Kreiten, Klemens Brentano (2 vols., 1877–1878), the introduction to Koch’s edition, and R. Steig, A. von Arnim und K. Brentano (1894).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Brenton, Sir Jahleel

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​BRENTON, SIR JAHLEEL (1770–1844), British admiral, was born in Rhode Island, U.S.A., on the 22nd of August 1770. He was the son of Rear-Admiral Jahleel Brenton (1729–1802), who belonged to a loyalist family which suffered the loss of most of its property in the insurrection of the American colonies. He was a lieutenant in the British navy when the war began, and emigrated with his family to the mother country. Three of the sons entered the navy—Jahleel (the eldest), Captain Edward Pelham Brenton (1774–1839), and James Wallace Brenton, who was killed young in 1799 when attacking a Spanish privateer near Barcelona in the boats of the “Petrel,” of which he was lieutenant. Jahleel went to sea first with his father in 1781, and on the return of peace was sent to the “maritime school” at Chelsea. He served in the peace before the beginning of the war in 1793, and passed his examination as lieutenant, but seeing no chance of employment went with other English naval officers to serve in the Swedish navy against the Russians. In 1790 he received his commission and returned home. Till 1799 he served as lieutenant, or acting commander, mostly under Earl St Vincent, and was present in the battle from which the admiral received his title. As commander of the “Speedy” brig he won much distinction in actions with Spanish gunboats in the Straits of Gibraltar. In 1800 he reached the rank of post-captain, and had the good fortune to serve as flag-captain to Sir James (afterwards Lord) Saumarez in the action at Algeciras, and in the Straits in 1801. During the peace of Amiens he married Miss Stewart, a lady belonging to a loyalist family of Nova Scotia. After the renewal of the war he commanded a succession of frigates. In 1803 he had the misfortune to be wrecked on the coast of France, and remained for a time in prison, where his wife joined him. Having been exchanged he was named to another ship. His most brilliant action was fought with a flotilla of Franco-Neapolitan vessels outside of Naples in May 1801. He was severely wounded, and Murat, then king of Naples, praised him effusively. He was made a baronet in 1812 and K.C.B. in 1815. After his recovery from his wound he was unable to bear sea service, but was made commissioner of the dockyard at Port Mahon, and then at the Cape, and was afterwards lieutenant-governor of Greenwich hospital till 1840. He reached flag rank in 1830. In his later years he took an active part in philanthropic work, in association with his brother, Captain E. P. Brenton, who had seen much service but is best remembered by his writings on naval and military history,—Naval History of Great Britain from the Year 1783 to 1822 (1823), and The Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St Vincent (1838).
A Memoir of the Life and Services of Vice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, based on his own papers, was published in 1846 by the Rev. Henry Raikes, and reissued by the admiral’s son, Sir L. C. L. Brenton, in 1855. (D. H.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fesca, Frederic Ernest

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​FESCA, FREDERIC ERNEST (1789–1826), German violinist and composer of instrumental music, was born on the 15th of February 1789 at Magdeburg, where he received his early musical education. He completed his studies at Leipzig under Eberhard Müller, and at the early age of fifteen appeared before the public with several concerti for the violin, which were received with general applause, and resulted in his being appointed leading violinist of the Leipzig orchestra. This position he occupied till 1806, when he became concert-master to the duke of Oldenburg. In 1808 he was appointed solo-violinist by King Jerome of Westphalia at Cassel, and there he remained till the end of the French occupation (1814), when he went to Vienna, and soon afterwards to Carlsruhe, having been appointed concert-master to the grand-duke of Baden. His failing health prevented him from enjoying the numerous and well-deserved triumphs he owed to his art, and in 1826 he died of consumption at the early age of thirty-seven. As a virtuoso Fesca ranks amongst the best masters of the German school of violinists, the school subsequently of Spohr and of Joachim. Especially as leader of a quartet he is said to have been unrivalled with regard to classic dignity and simplicity of style. Amongst his compositions, his quartets for stringed instruments and other pieces of chamber music are the most remarkable. His two operas, Cantemira and Omar and Leila, were less successful, lacking dramatic power and originality. He also wrote some sacred compositions, and numerous songs and vocal quartets.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fescennia

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​FESCENNIA, an ancient city of Etruria, which is probably to be placed immediately to the N. of the modern Corchiano, 6 m. N.W. of Civita Castellana (see Falerii). The Via Amerina traverses it. G. Dennis (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, London, 1883, i. 115) proposed to place it at the Riserva S. Silvestro, 3 m. E. of Corchiano, nearer the Tiber, where remains of Etruscan walls exist. At Corchiano itself, however, similar walls may be traced, and the site is a strong and characteristic one—a triangle between two deep ravines, with the third (west) side cut off by a ditch. Here, too, remains of two bridges may be seen, and several rich tombs have been excavated.
See A. Buglione, “Conte di Monale,” in Römische Mitteilungen (1887), p. 21 seq.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ferrule

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​FERRULE, a small metal cap or ring used for holding parts of a rod, &c., together, and for giving strength to weakened materials, or especially, when attached to the end of a stick, umbrella, &c., for preventing wearing or splitting. The word is properly verrel or verril, in which form it was used till the 18th century, and is derived through the O. Fr. virelle, modern ​virole, from a diminutive Latin viriola of viriae, bracelets. The form in which the word is now known is due to the influence of Latin ferrum, iron. “Ferrule” must be distinguished from “ferule” or “ferula,” properly the Latin name of the “giant fennel.” From the use of the stalk of this plant as a cane or rod for punishment, comes the application of the word to many instruments used in chastisement, more particularly a short flat piece of wood or leather shaped somewhat like the sole of a boot, and applied to the palms of the hand. It is the common form of disciplinary instrument in Roman Catholic schools; the pain inflicted is exceedingly sharp and immediate, but the effects are momentary and leave no chance for any dangerous results. The word is sometimes applied to the ordinary cane as used by schoolmasters.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ferry

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​FERRY (from the same root as that of the verb “to fare,” to journey or travel, common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. fahren; it is connected with the root of Gr. πόρος, way, and Lat. portare, to carry), a place where boats ply regularly across a river or arm of the sea for the conveyance of goods and persons. The word is also applied to the boats employed (ferry boats). In a car-ferry or train-ferry railway cars or complete trains are conveyed across a piece of water in vessels which have railway lines laid on their decks, so that the vehicles run on and off them on their own wheels. In law the right of ferrying persons or goods across a particular river or strait, and of exacting a reasonable toll for the service, belongs, like the right of fair and market, to the class of rights known as franchises. Its origin must be by statute, royal grant, or prescription. It is wholly unconnected with the ownership or occupation of land, so that the owner of the ferry need not be proprietor of the soil on either side of the water over which the right is exercised. He is bound to maintain safe and suitable boats ready for the use of the public, and to employ fit persons as ferrymen. As a correlative of this duty he has a right of action, not only against those who evade or refuse payment of toll when it is due, but also against those who disturb his franchise by setting up a new ferry, so as to diminish his custom, unless a change of circumstances, such as an increase of population near the ferry, justify other means of passage, whether of the same kind or not. See also Water Rights.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fescennine Verses

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​FESCENNINE VERSES (Fescennina carmina), one of the earliest kinds of Italian poetry, subsequently developed into the Satura and the Roman comic drama. Originally sung at village harvest-home rejoicings, they made their way into the towns, and became the fashion at religious festivals and private gatherings—especially weddings, to which in later times they were practically restricted. They were usually in the Saturnian metre and took the form of a dialogue, consisting of an interchange of extemporaneous raillery. Those who took part in them wore masks made of the bark of trees. At first harmless and good-humoured, if somewhat coarse, these songs gradually outstripped the bounds of decency; malicious attacks were made upon both gods and men, and the matter became so serious that the law intervened and scurrilous personalities were forbidden by the Twelve Tables (Cicero, De re publica, iv. 10). Specimens of the Fescennines used at weddings are the Epithalamium of Manlius (Catullus, lxi. 122) and the four poems of Claudian in honour of the marriage of Honorius and Maria; the first, however, is distinguished by a licentiousness which is absent in the latter. Ausonius in his Cento nuptialis mentions the Fescennines of Annianus Faliscus, who lived in the time of Hadrian. Various derivations have been proposed for Fescennine. According to Festus, they were introduced from Fescennia in Etruria, but there is no reason to assume that any particular town was specially devoted to the use of such songs. As an alternative Festus suggests a connexion with fascinum, either because the Fescennina were regarded as a protection against evil influences (see Munro, Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus, p. 76) or because fascinum (= phallus), as the symbol of fertility, would from early times have been naturally associated with harvest festivals. H. Nettleship, in an article on “The Earliest Italian Literature” (Journal of Philology, xi. 1882), in support of Munro’s view, translates the expression “verses used by charmers,” assuming a noun fescennus, connected with fas fari.
The locus classicus in ancient literature is Horace, Epistles, ii. 1. 139; see also Virgil, Georgics, ii. 385; Tibullus ii. 1. 55; E. Hoffmann, “Die Fescenninen,” in Rheinisches Museum, li. p. 320 (1896); art. Latin Literature.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fessa

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​FESSA, a town and district of Persia in the province of Fars. The town is situated in a fertile plain in 29° N. and 90 m. from Shiraz, and has a population of about 5000. The district has forty villages and extends about 40 m. north-south from Runiz to Nassīrabad and 16 m. east-west from Vāsilabad to Deh Dasteh (Dastajah); it produces much grain, dates, tobacco, opium and good fruit.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Championnet, Jean Étienne

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​CHAMPIONNET, JEAN ETIENNE (1762–1800), French general, enlisted in the army at an early age and served in the great siege of Gibraltar. When the Revolution broke out he took a prominent part in the movement, and was elected by the men of a battalion to command them. In May 1793 he was charged with the suppression of the disturbances in the Jura, which he quelled without bloodshed. Under Pichegru he took part in the Rhine campaign of that year as a brigade commander, and at Weissenburg and in the Palatinate won the warm commendation of Lazare Hoche. At Fleurus his stubborn fighting ​in the centre of the field contributed greatly to Jourdan’s victory. In the subsequent campaigns he commanded the left wing of the French armies on the Rhine between Neuwied and Düsseldorf, and took a great part in all the successful and unsuccessful expeditions to the Lahn and the Main. In 1798 Championnet was named commander-in-chief of the “army of Rome” which was protecting the infant Roman republic against the Neapolitan court and the British fleet. Nominally 32,000 strong, the army scarcely numbered 8000 effectives, with a bare fifteen cartridges per man. The Austrian general Mack had a tenfold superiority in numbers, but Championnet so well held his own that he ended by capturing Naples itself and there setting up the Parthenopean Republic. But his intense earnestness and intolerance of opposition soon embroiled him with the civilians, and the general was recalled in disgrace. The following year, however, saw him again in the field as commander-in-chief of the “army of the Alps.” This, too, was at first a mere paper force, but after three months’ hard work it was able to take the field. The campaign which followed was uniformly unsuccessful, and, worn out by the unequal struggle, Championnet died at Antibes on the 9th of January 1800. In 1848 a statue was erected in his honour at Valence.
See A. R. C. de St Albin, Championnet, ou les Campagnes de Hollande, de Rome et de Naples (Paris, 1860).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Champaign

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​CHAMPAIGN, a city of Champaign county, Illinois, U.S.A., about 125 m. S. by W. of Chicago, on the head-waters of the Vermilion river. Pop. (1890) 5839; (1900) 9098, of whom 973 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 12,421. It is served by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, the Wabash, and the Illinois Central railways (the last having repair shops here), and by the Illinois (electric) Traction System from Danville, Illinois, to St Louis, Missouri. In 1906 the city covered 3.5 sq. m.; it is situated in a rich agricultural region, and has small manufacturing interests. Immediately east of Champaign is the city of Urbana, the county-seat of Champaign county, served by the Wabash and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis railways, with repair shops of the latter. In 1890 the population of Urbana was 3511; in 1900, 5728 (300 foreign-born); in 1910, 8245. Partly in Urbana and partly in Champaign is the University of Illinois (see Illinois); immediately south of its campus is the 400-acre farm of the university. Each city has a public library, and in Champaign are the Burnham Athenaeum, the Burnham hospital, the Garwood home for old ladies, and several parks, all gifts of former citizens. Champaign was founded in 1855, incorporated as a city in 1860, and re-chartered in 1883. Urbana secured a city charter in 1855.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Champaigne, Philippe de

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​CHAMPAIGNE, PHILIPPE DE (1602–1674), Belgian painter of the French school, was born at Brussels of a poor family. He was a pupil of J. Fouquières; and, going to Paris in 1621, was employed by N. Du Chesne to paint along with Nicholas Poussin in the palace of the Luxembourg. His best works are to be found at Vincennes, and in the church of the Carmelites at Paris, where is his celebrated Crucifix, a signal perspective success, on one of the vaultings. After the death of Du Chesne, Philippe became first painter to the queen of France, and ultimately rector of the Academy of Paris. As his age advanced and his health failed, he retired to Port Royal, where he had a daughter cloistered as a nun, of whom (along with Catherine Agnès Arnauld) he painted a celebrated picture, now in the Louvre, highly remarkable for its solid unaffected truth. This, indeed, is the general character of his work,—grave reality, without special elevation or depth of character, or charm of warm or stately colour. He produced an immense number of paintings, religious and other subjects as well as portraits, dispersed over various parts of France, and now over the galleries of Europe. Philippe was a good man, indefatigable, earnest and scrupulously religious. He died on the 12th of August 1674.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Champaran

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​CHAMPARAN, or Chumparun, a district of British India, in the Patna division of Bengal, occupying the north-west corner of Behar, between the two rivers Gandak and Baghmati and the Nepal hills. It has an area of 3531 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 1,790,463, showing a decrease of 4% in the decade. A broad grass-covered road or embankment defines the Nepal frontier, except where rivers or streams form a natural ​boundary. The district is a vast level except in the N. and N.W., where it undulates, and gradually assumes a rugged appearance as it approaches the mountains and forests of Nepal. Wide uncultivated tracts cover its north-western corner; the southern and western parts are carefully cultivated, and teem with an active agricultural population. The principal rivers are the Gandak, navigable all the year round, the Buri Gandak, Panch Nadi, Lalbagia, Koja and Teur. Old beds of rivers intersect Champaran in every direction, and one of these forms a chain of lakes which occupy an area of 139 sq. m. in the centre of the district. Champaran, with the rest of Bengal and Behar, was acquired by the British in 1765. Up to 1866 it remained a subdivision of Saran. In that year it was separated and formed into a separate district. The administrative headquarters are at Motihari (population, 13,730); Bettia is the centre of a very large estate; Segauli, still a small military station, was the scene of a massacre during the Mutiny. Champaran was the chief seat of indigo planting in Behar before the decline of that industry. There are about 40 saltpetre refineries. The district suffered severely from drought in 1866 and 1874, and again in 1897. In the last year a small government canal was opened, and a canal from the Gandak has also been constructed. The district is traversed almost throughout its length to Bettia by the Tirhoot state railway. A considerable trade is conducted with Nepal.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Champerty

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​CHAMPERTY, or Champarty (Lat. campi partitio, O. Fr. champ parti), in English law, a bargain between a plaintiff or defendant in a cause and another person, to divide the land (campum partiri) or other matter sued for, if they prevail, in consideration of that person carrying on or defending the suit at his own expense. It is a misdemeanour punishable by fine or imprisonment. It differs only from maintenance (q.v.), in that the recompense for the service which has been given is always part of the matter in suit, or some profit growing out of it. So an agreement by a solicitor not to charge costs on condition of retaining for himself a share of the sums recovered would be illegal and void. It is not, however, champerty to charge the subject-matter of a suit in order to obtain the means of prosecuting it.
See Fifth Report of the Criminal Law Commissioners, pp. 34-9.