FIESCHI, JOSEPH MARCO, known by his attempt on the life of king Louis Philippe, was b. in Corsica in the year 1790. His early life contains nothing of note. A profligate career appears to have reduced him to great poverty about the year 1835, when he con ceived the idea of assassinating the king. The immediate cause of his diabolical design was the suppression of a situation which he held, by order of the prefect of the Seine. Disguising his crime under the cloak of political enthusiasm, he leagued with himself one or two obscure persons, of pot-house politics, who hated the government of the citizen king. These were Pierre Morey, a saddler; Pepin, a grocer: and Victor Boi reau, a maker of lamps. F. sketched the plan of an infernal machine with twenty bar rels, that could be simultaneously discharged; got one made, and placed it in a house of the Boulevard-du-Temple. The review of the national guard held there, 28th July, 1835, afforded F. the opportunity he desired. On the approach of the king and queen, he fired his machine. Eighteen people were killed, among whom was marshal Mortier, who fell dead beside his sovereign. Louis Philippe, however, himself escaped with a mere scratch, and was able to continue the review. F. was immediately seized, and along with his accomplices, was tried, condemned, and executed, 16th Feb., 1836.
FIE'S= (anciently, Ftesuke), one of the most ancient Etruscan cities, is situated on the crest of a hill, at about three miles' distance from Florence, of which it may be said to be the parent city. From the heights of F., the view presented by Florence and the
neighboring valleys is gorgeous in the extreme. We find F. first mentioned in 225 B.C. during the great Gaulish war. Hannibal encamped here after crossing the Apennines. The city was next destroyed by Sulla in the social war (90-89 n.c.), who afterwards despatched thither a military colony. At the invasion or Tuscany by the Goths, F. also fell under their dominion, and being by nature and art a formidable stronghold, was numerously garrisoned the barbarians. The growth of Florence during the middle ages gradually reduced it to insignificance. It is now a place of about 2,500 inhab itants. The only vestige of Etruscan structures still remaining is the cyclopean city wall, constructed of huge blocks of stone, many portions of which are wonderfully per feet. The site of the Etruscan fortress is now occupied by a convent, and interesting fragments of the foundations are often brought to light. The amphitheater and other remains belong to the Roman age. The very ancient church of St. Alexander, sup posed to have originally served DA a pagan temple, contains an altar dedicated to Bacchus, the inscription of which is. however, illegible, owing to a fissure in the middle. Coins and other relics have been repeatedly dug up.