Catholics; is hilly; dairy-farming, watchmaking, and straw-plaiting are
the chief industries. 2, Capital (12) of the canton, is situated on the
Saane, 19 m. SW. of Bern; the river is spanned by a suspension bridge,
and there is an old Gothic cathedral with one of the finest-toned organs
in Europe.

FREIBURG (49), in Breisgau, an important town in Baden, at the W.
side of the Black Forest, and 32 m. NE. of Basel; has a Gothic cathedral
famous for its architectural beauty, a university with 87 professors and
teachers and 884 students; has important manufactures in silk, cotton,
thread, paper, etc.; is the seat of a Catholic archbishop, and is
associated with many stirring events in German history.

FREILIGRATH, FERDINAND, a popular German poet, born at Detmold; was
engaged in commerce in his early years, but the success of a small
collection of poems in 1838 induced him to adopt a literary career;
subsequently his democratic principles, expressed in stirring verse,
involved him in trouble, and in 1846 he became a refugee in London; he
was permitted to return in 1848, and shortly afterwards was the
successful defendant in a celebrated trial for the publication of his
poem "The Dead to the Living," after which fresh prosecution drove him to
London in 1851, where, till his return in 1868, he engaged in poetical
work, translating Burns, Shakespeare, and other English poets
(1810-1876).

FREISCHUeTZ (i. e. Freeshooter), a legendary hunter who made a
compact with the devil whereby of seven balls six should infallibly hit
the mark, and the seventh be under the direction of the devil, a legend
which was rife among the troopers in the 13th and 14th centuries, and has
given name to one of Weber's operas.

FREMONT, JOHN CHARLES, an American explorer, born at Savannah,
Georgia; at first a teacher of mathematics in the navy, subsequently took
to civil-engineering and surveying; in 1843 explored the South Pass of
the Rockies, and proved the practicability of an overland route; explored
the Great Salt Lake, the watershed between the Mississippi and Pacific,
and the upper reaches of the Rio Grande; he rendered valuable services in
the Mexican War, but was deprived of his captaincy for disobedience;
after unsuccessfully standing for the Presidency in the anti-slavery
interest, he again served in the army as major-general; a scheme for a
southern railway to the Pacific brought him into trouble with the French
government in 187