FEYDEAU

feydeau, ernest-aime (1821-1873), french author, was born in paris, on the 16th of march 1821. he began his literary career in 1844, by the publication of a volume of poetry, _les nationales_. either the partial failure of this literary effort, or his marriage soon afterwards to a daughter of the economist blanqui, caused him to devote himself to finance and to archaeology. he gained a great success with his novel _fanny_ (1858), a success due chiefly to the cleverness with which it depicted and excused the corrupt manners of a certain portion of french society. this was followed in rapid succession by a series of fictions, similar in character, but wanting the attraction of novelty; none of them enjoyed the same vogue as _fanny_. besides his novels feydeau wrote several plays, and he is also the author of _histoire generale des usages funebres et des sepultures des peuples anciens_ (3 vols., 1857-1861); _le secret du bonheur_ (sketches of algerian life) (2 vols., 1864); and _l'allemagne en 1871_ (1872), a clever caricature of german life and manners. he died in paris on the 27th of october 1873. see sainte-beuve, _causeries du lundi_, vol. xiv., and barbey d'aurevilly, _les oeuvres et les hommes au xix^e siecle_. fez (_fas_), the chief city of morocco, into which empire it was incorporated in 1548. it lies in 34 deg. 6' 3" n., 4 deg. 38' 15" w., about 230 m. n.e. of marrakesh, 100 m. e. from the atlantic and 85 m. s. of the mediterranean. it is beautifully situated in a deep valley on the wad fas, an affluent of the wad sebu, which divides the town into two parts--the ancient town, fas el bali, on the right bank, and the new, fas el jadid, on the left. like many other oriental cities, fez from a distance appears a very attractive place. it stretches out between low hills, crowned by the ruins of ancient fortresses, and though there is nothing imposing, there is something particularly impressive in the sight of that white-roofed conglomeration of habitations, broken only by occasional mosque towers or, on the outskirts, by luxuriant foliage. except on the south side the city is surrounded by hills, interspersed with groves of orange, pomegranate and other fruit trees, and large olive gardens. from its peculiar situation fez has a drainage superior to that of most moorish towns. when the town becomes very dirty, the water is allowed to run down the streets by opening lids for the purpose in the conduits and closing the ordinary exits, so that it overflows and cleanses the pavements. the fasis as a rule prefer to drink the muddy river water rather than that of the pure springs which abound in certain quarters of the town. but the assertion that the supply and drainage system are one is a libel, since the drainage system lies below the level of the fresh river water, and was organized by a french renegade, under mohammed