FOLEY

foley, sir thomas (1757-1833), british admiral, entered the navy in 1770, and, during his time as midshipman, saw a good deal of active service in the west indies against american privateers. promoted lieutenant in 1778, he served under admiral (afterwards viscount) keppel and sir charles hardy in the channel, and with rodney's squadron was present at the defeat of de langara off cape st vincent in 1780, and at the relief of gibraltar. still under rodney's command, he went out to the west indies, and took his part in the operations which culminated in the victory of the 12th of april 1782. in the revolutionary war he was engaged from the first. as flag-captain to admiral john gell, and afterwards to sir hyde parker, foley took part in the siege of toulon in 1793, the action of golfe jouan in 1794, and the two fights off toulon on the 13th of april and the 13th of july 1795. at st vincent he was flag-captain to the second in command, and in the following year was sent out in command of the "goliath" (74), to reinforce nelson's fleet in the mediterranean. the part played by the "goliath" in the battle of the nile was brilliant. she led the squadron round the french van, and this manoeuvre contributed not a little to the result of the day. whether this was done by foley's own initiative, or intended by nelson, has been a matter of controversy (see _journal of the royal united service institution_, 1885, p. 916). his next important service was with nelson in the baltic. the "elephant" carried nelson's flag at the battle of copenhagen, and her captain acted as his chief-of-staff. ill-health obliged foley to decline nelson's offer (made when on the point of starting for the battle of trafalgar) of the post of captain of the fleet. from 1808 to 1815 he commanded in the downs and at the peace was made k.c.b. sir thomas foley rose to be full admiral and g.c.b. he died while commanding in chief at portsmouth in 1833. see j.b. herbert, _life and services of sir thomas foley_ (cardiff, 1884). foli (foley), allan james (1837-1899), irish bass singer, was born at cahir, tipperary, on the 7th of august 1837; originally a carpenter, he studied under bisaccia at naples, and made his first appearance at catania in 1862. from the opera in paris he was engaged by mapleson for the season of 1865, and appeared with much success in various parts. he sang in the first performance of _the flying dutchman_ (daland) in england in 1870, and in the first performance of gounod's _redemption_ in 1882. he was distinguished in opera and oratorio alike for his vigorous, straightforward way of singing, and was in great request at ballad concerts. he died on the 20th of october 1899. foligno (anc. _fulginiae_, q.v.), a town and episcopal see of umbria, italy, 771 ft. above sea-level, in the province of perugia, from which it is 25 m. s.e. by rail. pop. (1901) 9532 (town), 26,278 (commune). it lies in a fertile plain, on the topino, a tributary of the tiber; it is almost square in shape and is surrounded by walls. it is a picturesque and interesting town; several of its churches contain paintings by umbrian masters, notably works by niccolo di liberatore (or niccolo alunno, 1430-1502), and among them his chief work, a large altar-piece (the predella of which is in the louvre) in s. niccolo. the cathedral has a romanesque s. facade of 1133, restored in 1903; the interior was modernized in the 18th century. to the left of the choir is an octagonal chapel by antonio da sangallo the younger (1527). in the same piazza as the s. facade is the palazzo del governo, erected in 1350, which has a chapel with frescoes by ottaviano nelli of gubbio (1424). s. maria infra portas is said to date from the 7th century, but from this period only the columns of the portico remain. raphael's "madonna di foligno," now in the vatican, was originally painted for the church of s. anna. the palazzo orfini and the palazzo deli are two good renaissance buildings. foligno seems to have been founded about the middle of the 8th century a.d. it changed hands often during the wars of the 13th century, and was destroyed by perugia in 1281. from 1305 to 1439 it was governed by the family of the trinci as deputies of the holy see, until in the latter year one of its members went against the church. pope eugene iv. sent a force against foligno, to which the inhabitants opened their gates, and the last of the trinci, corrado ii., was beheaded. henceforth foligno belonged to the states of the church until 1860. it suffered from a severe earthquake in 1832. foligno is a station on the main line from rome (via orte) to ancona, and is the junction for perugia. three miles to the e. is the abbey of sassovivo with cloisters of 1229, very like those of s. paolo fuori le mura at rome, with pairs of small columns supporting arches, and decorations in coloured mosaic ("cosmatesque" work). the church has been modernized. folio (properly the ablative case of the lat. _folium_, leaf, but also frequently an adaptation of the ital. _foglio_), a term in bibliography and printing, with reference either to the size of paper employed, or of the book, or to the pagination. in the phrase "in folio" it means a sheet of paper folded once, and thus a book bound up in sheets thus folded is a book of the largest size and is known as a "folio" (see bibliography). similarly, "folio" is one of the sizes of paper adapted to be thus folded (see paper). in book-keeping the word is used for a page in a ledger on which the credit and debtor account is written; in law-writing, for a fixed number of words in a legal document, used for measurement of the length and for the addition of costs. in great britain, a "folio" is taken to contain 72 words, except in parliamentary and chancery documents, when the number is 90. in the u.s.a. 100 words form a "folio."