278 FLORES FLORIAN public discussion of the doctrinal differences between the churches commenced the next day, and was continued without any satisfac- tory result until the breaking out of the plague obliged the pope, Jan. 10, 1439, to transfer the council to Florence. The number of prelates from the East particularly had been now more than trebled, and the emperor, whose power was daily undermined by the advance of the Mussulmans, urged the bishops to come to an understanding. At length, on June 8, a doc- trinal agreement was reached on the proces- sion of the Holy Ghost, and the addition to the Nicene creed of the words filioque, and it was signed by all present. Another month's continuous debating brought both parties to an agreement on the remaining points, viz. : purgatory, the use of unleavened bread in the eucharist, and the primacy of the bishop of Rome. On July 6, the pope officiating, and the Greek emperor being present with his bishops, the solemn doctrinal decree on which both East and West agreed was promulgated by Cardinal Cesarini. The emperor and the eastern prelates took their departure from Florence Aug. 26 ; but the sessions continued, to afford the other eastern communions an op- portunity of ratifying what was done. A de- cree of union with the Armenian church was published on Nov. 22, and another with the Jacobites of Abyssinia on Feb. 5, 1441. Can- onists are generally agreed in considering this council to have ended in the solemn session of April 26, 1442. The two supplementary ses- sions held afterward in Rome had for their ob- ject the reunion of the Syrians, Chaldeans, and Maronites, for which preliminary steps had been taken in Florence. FLORES, the westernmost of the Azore isl- ands in the N. Atlantic ocean ; lat. 39 25' N., Ion. 31 12' W. ; length 30 m., breadth 9 m. ; pop. in 1864. 10,522. Its name was given it by the Portuguese in allusion to the multi- tude of flowers with which it appeared to be adorned. Chief towns, Lages and Santa Cruz. FLORES, Floris, Ende, or Mangarai, an island of the Malay archipelago, N. W. of Timor, be- tween lat. 8 and 9 10' S., and Ion. 119 50' and 123 E. ; length E. and W. about 200 m., average breadth 45 m. The strait of Flores on the east separates it from the islands of Solor and Adenar. It has a hilly surface, and like all the islands of the same chain is of volcanic formation. There are several active craters, one of which is 7,000 ft. high. The island produces copper, according to native accounts, and also gold and iron, but not sufficient to be profitably worked. The for- ests yield sapan wood and dye wood; rice, maize, edible roots, and a good species of cotton, are cultivated. Cotton is exported to Celebes. The other principal articles of trade are benzoin, ambergris, beeswax, slaves, and ships' provisions, payment for which is made in cutlery, gunpowder, glassware, and linen. The natives are divided into a number of dis- tinct nations, all speaking different languages. The principal towns are Ende, with about 200 houses, which has a large and safe harbor ; Mangarai on the N. coast ; Pota on the same side, the site of a Dutch fort and trading post ; and Larantuka on the S. E., where the Portu- guese have a small settlement. The Portu- guese visited the island at an early period, and gave it the name of Flores. It was subordi- nate for a time to the Dutch presidency on Timor island, but in 1812 the Bughis expelled all the European settlers. Christianity has obtained a foothold by the labors of Portu- guese missionaries, and the native traders gen- erally sail under the Portuguese flag. FLORIAN, Jean Pierre Claris de, a French au- thor, born at the chateau de Florian in Lan- guedoc, March 6, 1755, died in Sceaux, Sept. 13, 1794. His uncle, the marquis de Florian, placed him when 13 years old at Ferney with Voltaire, where he remained three years, when he became page to the duke de Penthi&vre, who subsequently procured him a commission in a regiment of cavalry. He left his troop to attach himself as a gentilhomme de cour to the duke, at whose residence he pursued his lite- rary avocations. Several of his dramas were performed at the theatre of D'Argental, and on these occasions Florian often played the part of harlequin. Though not the best of his works, some of his plays, as Les deux lillets, Le l)on pere, La bonne mere, &c., have con- siderable merit, and the first still holds its place on the French stage. In 1783 he pro- duced his Galatee, a novel in imitation of the " Galatea" of Cervantes; and in 1786 his Nu- ma Pompilim, a classic romance in the style of Fenelon's Telemaque. After these appeared Estelle, a pastoral tale, Gonzalve de Cordoue, with a preliminary sketch of Moorish history, and a collection of fables, which are deemed the best that have been produced in France since La Fontaine's. He wrote also several poems. On the outbreak of the revolution he was consigned, to a dungeon, where he finished his poem of fiphraim, and wrote his romance of Guillaume Tell. He was liberated after the 9th Thermidor, but soon fell a victim to grief. After his death appeared his translation of " Don Quixote." The best uniform edition of his works is that of Paris in 1820, 16 vols. FLORIAN, Saint, a German martyr, born at Zeiselmauer, Lower Austria, about the year 190, served as a captain in the Roman army, and was drowned for his adherence to Chris- tianity, near Lorch on the Enns, in 230. Ac- cording to a legend, he presented himself im- mediately after his death to a pious woman, whom he requested to bury his remains on the site of the present Augustinian monastery near the village of St. Florian, in the vicinity of Linz. His bones were sent to Rome, and in 1183 to Poland, of which country he became the patron saint. His anniversary is celebrated Aug. 4; and on account of the emblems by which he is represented, his protection is often
