FOULLON

foullon, joseph francois (1717-1789), french administrator, was born at saumur. during the seven years' war he was intendant-general of the armies, and intendant of the army and navy under marshal de belle-isle. in 1771 he was appointed intendant of finances. in 1789, when necker was dismissed, foullon was appointed minister of the king's household, and was thought of by the reactionary party as a substitute. but he was unpopular on all sides. the farmers-general detested him on account of his severity, the parisians on account of his wealth accumulated in utter indifference to the sufferings of the poor; he was reported, probably quite without foundation, to have said, "if the people cannot get bread, let them eat hay." after the taking of the bastille on the 14th of july, he withdrew to his estate at vitry and attempted to spread the news of his death; but he was recognized, taken to paris, carried off with a bundle of hay tied to his back to the hotel de ville, and, in spite of the intervention of lafayette, was dragged out by the populace and hanged to a lamp-post on the 22nd of july 1789. see eugene bonnemere, _histoire des paysans_ (4th ed., 1887), tome iii.; c.l. chassin, _les elections et les cahiers de paris en 1789_. (paris, 1889), tomes iii. and iv. foundation (lat. _fundatio_, from _fundare_, to found), the act of building, constituting or instituting on a permanent basis; especially the establishing of any institution by endowing or providing it with funds for its continual maintenance. the word is thus applied also to the institutions so established, such as a college, monastery or hospital; and the terms "on the foundation," or "foundationer," are used of members of such a college or society who enjoy, as fellows, scholars, &c., the benefits of the endowment. formerly "foundation" also meant the charter or incorporation of any such institution or society, and it is still applied to the funds used for the endowment of such institutions. the terms "old foundation" and "new foundation" used in connexion with the organizing of english cathedral chapters have no reference to the age of the cathedrals. at the time of the reformation under henry viii. the old college chapters were left unchanged, and are referred to as the "old foundations," but the monastic chapters were all suppressed, consequently new chapters had to be formed for their cathedrals and these constitute the "new foundations." "foundation" also means the base (natural or artificial) on which any erection is built up; generally made below the level of the ground (see foundations below). a foundation-stone is one of the stones at the base of a building, generally a corner-stone, frequently laid with a public ceremony to celebrate the commencement of the building. the term is also applied to the ground-work of any structure, such as, in dress-making, the underskirt over which the real skirt is hung, any material used for stiffening purposes, as "foundation muslin or net." in knitting or crochet the first stitches onto which all the rest are worked are called the "foundation chain." in gem-cutting the "foundation-square" is the first of eight squares round the edges of a brilliant made in bevel planes and from which the angles are all removed to form three-corner facets.