FLORIAN

florian, jean pierre claris de (1755-1794), french poet and romance writer, was born on the 6th of march 1755 at the chateau of florian, near sauve, in the department of gard. his mother, a spanish lady named gilette de salgues, died when he was quite a child. his uncle and guardian, the marquis of florian, who had married a niece of voltaire, introduced him at ferney and in 1768 he became page at anet in the household of the duke of penthievre, who remained his friend throughout his life. having studied for some time at the artillery school at bapaume he obtained from his patron a captain's commission in a dragoon regiment, and in this capacity it is said he displayed a boisterous behaviour quite incongruous with the gentle, meditative character of his works. on the outbreak of the french revolution he retired to sceaux, but he was soon discovered and imprisoned; and though his imprisonment was short he survived his release only a few months, dying on the 13th of september 1794. florian's first literary efforts were comedies; his verse epistle _voltaire et le serf du mont jura_ and an eclogue _ruth_ were crowned by the french academy in 1782 and 1784 respectively. in 1782 also he produced a one-act prose comedy, _le bon menage_, and in the next year _galatee_, a romantic tale in imitation of the _galatea_ of cervantes. other short tales and comedies followed, and in 1786 appeared _numa pompilius_, an undisguised imitation of fenelon's _telemaque_. in 1788 he became a member of the french academy, and published _estelle_, a pastoral of the same class as _galatee_. another romance, _gonzalve de cordoue_, preceded by an historical notice of the moors, appeared in 1791, and his famous collection of _fables_ in 1792. among his posthumous works are _la jeunesse de florian, ou memoires d'un jeune espagnol_ (1807), and an abridgment (1799) of _don quixote_, which, though far from being a correct representation of the original, had great and merited success. florian imitated salomon gessner, the swiss idyllist, and his style has all the artificial delicacy and sentimentality of the gessnerian school. perhaps the nearest example of the class in english literature is afforded by john wilson's (christopher north's) _lights and shadows of scottish life_. among the best of his fables are reckoned "the monkey showing the magic lantern," "the blind man and the paralytic," and "the monkeys and the leopard." the best edition of florian's _oeuvres completes_ appeared in paris in 16 volumes, 1820; his _oeuvres inedites_ in 4 volumes, 1824. see "vie de florian," by l.f. jauffret, prefixed to his _oeuvres posthumes_ (1802); a.j.n. de rosny, _vie de florian_ (paris, an v.); sainte-beuve, _causeries du lundi_, t. iii.; a. de montvaillant, _florian, sa vie, ses oeuvres_ (1879); and _lettres de florian a mme de la briche_, published, with a notice by the baron de barante in _melanges_ published (1903) by the societe des bibliophiles francais. florianopolis (formerly _desterro_, _nossa senhora do desterro_ and _santa catharina_, and still popularly known under the last designation), a city and port of brazil and the capital of the state of santa catharina, on the western or inside shore of a large island of the same name, 485 m. s.s.w. of rio de janeiro, in 27 deg. 30' s., 48 deg. 30' w. pop. (1890) 11,400, including many germans; (1902, estimate) 16,000; of the municipality, including a large rural district and several villages (1890), 30,687. the harbour is formed by the widening of the strait separating the island from the mainland, which is nearly 2 m. wide at this point. it is approached by narrow entrances from the n. and s., which are defended by small forts. the island is mountainous and wooded, and completely shelters the harbour from easterly storms. the surroundings are highly picturesque and tropical in character, but the town itself is poorly built and unattractive. its public buildings include the president's official residence, arsenal, lyceum, hospital and some old churches. the climate is warm for the latitude, but the higher elevations of the vicinity are noted for their mild climate and healthfulness. there are some german colonies farther up the coast whose products find a market here, and a number of small settlements along the mainland coast add something to the trade of the town. the more distant inland towns are partly supplied from this point, but difficult mountain roads tend to restrict the trade greatly. there is a considerable trade in market produce with rio de janeiro, but the exports are inconsiderable. santa catharina was formerly one of the well-known whaling stations of the south atlantic, and is now a secondary military and naval station. the island of santa catharina was originally settled by the spanish; cabeza de vaca landed here in 1542 and marched hence across country to asuncion, paraguay. the spanish failed to establish a permanent colony, however, and the portuguese took possession. the island was captured by a spanish expedition under viceroy zeballos in 1777. a boundary treaty of that same year restored it to portugal. in 1894 santa catharina fell into the possession of revolutionists against the government of president floriano peixoto. with the collapse of the revolution the city was occupied by the government forces, and its name was then changed to florianopolis in honour of the president of the republic.