it is exceedingly obnoxious to the worm, but being put ten days in water, it will resist the worm.' The natural soil of the beech is upon dry, chalky, or limestone heights. It grows to a great size upon the hills of Surry and Kent; upon the declivities of the Cotswold and Stroudwater hills of Gloucestershire, and upon the bleak banks of the Wye, in Hereford and Monmouth shires; where it is much used in making charcoal. The mast, or seeds, yield a good oil for lamps; and are a very agreeable food to squirrels, mice, and swine. The fat of swine fed with them, however, is soft, and boils away, unless hardened by some other food. The leaves gathered in autumn, before they are injured by the frosts, make much better matrasses than straw or chaff; and last for seven or eight years. The nuts occasion giddiness and head-ache; but when well dried and powdered, they make wholesome bread. They are sometimes roasted and substituted for coffee. The poor in Silesia use the expressed oil instead of butter. "The purple beech,' says Mr. Nicholls, is a fine ornamental variety, and even promises to become fit for the decoration of the park, although it has hitherto been chiefly confined to the pleasure-ground. A tree of the purple variety in the gardens of Messrs. Telfords, within the walls of the city of York, and another in the pleasure-ground at Enville, have assumed such tree-like forms, each being fully thirty feet high, that such an expectation may reasonably be entertained; and the more especially, as we know of several even in Scotland from twenty to thirty feet high. It must, however, be observed, that the purple beech plants most proper for the park or the lawn, or indeed for any situation where it is required that they grow to a great size, are such as are grafted or budded on the common sort. Those raised by layers grow more dwarf; and therefore should be planted in situations where dwarf trees, or bushes, are required. FAHLUN, a mining town of Sweden, the capital of the province of Dalecarlia. Sometimes the whole province is called by the name of Fahlun. It stands in a small plain, is surrounded by hills, and consists of several parallel streets, crossing others at right angles. It is chiefly built of wood, and the population has diminished from above 7000 to a little above 4000, the copper mines of the vicinity having become less productive. They still yield an annual supply of ochre and vitriol, together with small portions of silver and gold. It is 110 miles N. N. W. of Stockholm. FAHRENHEIT, a celebrated experimental philosopher, born at Hamburgh in 1686. He improved the thermometer, by making use of mercury instead of spirit of wine, and formed a new scale for the instrument, grounded upon the most accurate experiments. This scale has been generally adopted by the English, but the French prefer that of Reaumur. Fahrenheit wrote a dissertation on thermometers. He died in 1736. See THERMOMETER. FAIFO, or HAIFO, an old town of Cochin China, situated on a navigable river falling into the bay of Turon, about ten miles from the sea. It was formerly of considerable size, the streets were regular, and the houses built of brick; but it was destroyed during the late wars, and is now but slowly regaining its importance. FAIL, v. n., v. a. & n. s. FAILING, n. s. FAILURE. Fr. faillir; Teut. fehlen; Wel.faeln; Belg. faalen, from Goth. fela; Lat. fallo; Gr pnλew, to deceive. To be lacking or deficient; to cease; sink; be borne down; decay; miss; not succeed; die. As an active verb, to desert; forsake; omit duty; disappoint; deceive. As a substantive it signifies, miscarriage; non-success; omission; want: and failing and failure are used in these last senses. sachel and scrippe and schoon, wher ony thing failide And he saide to hem, whanne I sente you without Wiclif. Luk. xxii. to you? Let him complayne who hathe been deceyved; let him despayre to whom his promised hopes have fayled; let him confesse it whom I shall ever call; let him vaunt whom I shall admit. But let him not call me cruell or an homicide, whom I never promised, deceyved, called, or admitted. Spelman. But little may such guile thee now avail, I am enjoined, by oath, if I fail, Shakspeare. Had the king in his last sickness failed, Mark and perform it, seest thou? for the fail Id. Shakspeare. Consider of deformity not as a sign, which is deceivable, but as a cause which seldom faileth of the effect. Since nature fails us in no needful thing, Why want I means my inward self to see? Bacon. Davies. The inventive god who never fails his part, Inspires the wit when once he warms the heart. Dryden. This jest was first of the other house's making, And, five times tried, has never failed of taking. Id. Her heart failed her, and she would fain have compounded for her life. L'Estrange. In difficulties of state, the true reason of failing proceeds from failings in the administration. Id. Where the credit and money fail, barter alone must do. Locke. He presumes upon his parts that they will not fail him at time of need, and so thinks it superfluous labour to make any provision before-hand. Id. He, that being subject to an apoplexy, used still to carry his remedy about him; but upon a time shifting his clothes, and not taking that with him, chanced upon that very day to be surprised with a fit; he owed his death to a mere accident, to a little inadvertency and failure of memory. South. For Titan, by the mighty loss dismayed, Among the heavens the' immortal fact displayed, Lest the remembrance of his grief should fail. Timidity and irresolution were his predominant failings; the one occasioned by his natural constitution, and the other arising from a consciousness that his abilities were not equal to his station. Byron. Robertson's History of Scotland, They never fail who die In a great cause: the block may soak their gore; Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs Be strung to city gates, and castle wallsBut still their spirit walks abroad. FAIN, v. n., adv. & adj. Į Sax. Fægn; Goth. FA'INLY, adv. faginon, or fagn; Swed. fagna; Icel. feigin, to be glad. To desire; wish. As an adjective, the old sense is fond; glad; desirous; afterwards it was used for desirous of one evil in preference to a greater: I was fain to forswear it; they would else have married me to the rotten medlar. Shakspeare. When Hildebrand had accursed Henry IV. there were none so hardy as to defend their lord; wherefore he was fain to humble himself before Hildebrand. Raleigh's Essays. emulation, than this principality of Israel; a people There cannot be conceived an honour less worth Why wouldest thou urge me to confess a flame Addison. The plebeians would fain have a law enacted to lay all men's rights and privileges upon the same level. Teach me too early taught by thee! Swift. To bear, forgiving and forgiven: On earth thy love was such to me; It fain would form my hope in Heaven. Byron. FAINT, v. n., v. a. & adj. From Fr. faner, FAINT HEARTED, to fade, says Dr. FAINTHEARTEDLY, adv. Johnson; but Mr. FAINTHEART Edness, n. s. Horne Tooke says FAINTING, it is the past partiFAINT'ISH, adj. >ciple of the Saxon FAINT ISHNESS, n. s. Fynigean, to grow FAINT'LING, adj. musty; to spoil. FAINTLY, adv. To decay; waste FAINT NESS, n. s. or wear away; lose FAINT'Y, adj. vigor, or muscular strength; grow feeble or dejected. Shakspeare only (as we find) uses it in an active sense for to enfeeble: faint, as an adjective, means weak in any sense, and is applied to light, color, sound, objects of taste, &c.: faintly follows this variety of acceptation: faintish is slightly, or beginning to grow, faint: fainty is an obsolete and poetical synonyme of faint: faintling, timorous; feebleminded. The other compounds seem not to require explanation. They will stand in their order, and never faint in their watches. Eccles. xliii. 10. Fear not, neither be fainthearted. Isaiah vii. 4. Consider him that endured such contradiction against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Heb. xii. 3. -Sooth it is said, and tried in each degree, Feist friends when they fall out, most cruel foe-men be. Spenser. This evil proceeds rather of the unsoundness of the counsels, or of faintness in following and effecting the same, than of any such fatal course appointed of God. Spenser. If the prince of the lights of heaven, which now as a giant doth run his unwearied courses, should through a languishing faintness begin to stand. Hooker. Loth was the ape, though praised, to adventure; Yet faintly 'gan into his work to enter. Hubbard's Tale. Should they resolve the next day, as victorious conquerors, to take the city, or else there, as fainthearted cowards, to end their days. The paleness of this flower Knolles. Bewrayed the faintness of my master's heart. It faints me To think what follows. Shakspeare. Faint heart never won fair lady. Proverb, in Camden's Remains. The defects which hindered the conquest, were the faint prosecution of the war, and the looseness of the civil government. Davies on Ireland. Why are we faint in spiritual things, when we are not denied, but delayed? Bp. Hall's Contemplations. At the sad sentence rigorously urged, Now the late fainthearted rout Milton. Hudibras. Villain, stand off! base, groveling, worthless wretches, Mongrels in faction; poor fainthearted traitors. Addison. How while the fainting Dutch remotely fire, And the famed Eugene's iron troops retire. Smith. The blue compared with these is a faint and dark colour, and the indigo and violet are much darker and fainter. Newton. The length of the image I measured from the faintest and utmost red at one end, to the faintest and utmost blue at the other end, excepting only a little penumbra. Id. Opticks. A certain degree of heat lengthens and relaxes the fibres; whence proceeds the sensation of faintishness and debility in a hot day. Arbuthnot on Air. There's no having patience, thou art such a faintling silly creature. Arbuthnot. History of John Bull. These faintings her physicians suspect to proceed from contusions. Wiseman's Surgery. Words pronounced at length, sounded faint and languid. Swift. From her naked limbs of glowing white, In folds loose floating fell the fainter lawn. Faint o'er her couch in scintillating streams Pass the thin forms of fancy and of dreams. Darwin. Lifts proud Anteus from his mother-plains And with strong grasp the struggling giant strains; Back falls his fainting head, and clammy hair, Writhe his weak limbs, and flits his life in air. Id. His brow was pale, his blue eyes sunken in, Showed that his faintness came not from despair, And blood-drops sprinkled o'er his yellow hair But nature's ebb. Byror. FAIR, adj., adv. & Sax. Fægen; Gothic, FAIRLY, adv. [n. s. faigr or fager; Sw. fa FAIR'NESS, n. s. ger, Dan. faur, formed FAIR-SPOKEN, adj. from the old verb fey, to cleanse, or Swedo-Goth. and Icel. fagia; Teut fegen, to purify. Minsheu says, from Gr. paɛpo shining; Heb. 8, pheer, beauty. This adjective has, throughout its various applications, the its adverbial use, it preserves the same idea. As sense of clear or bright, literal or figurative. In a substantive, it is principally used for women, collectively or individually; for honesty in transactions; and the quality of fairness in things or persons. C Thou art a fair woman to look upon. Gen. xii. 11. Take fire, and bere it into the derkest hous Job. Chaucer. Cant. Tales. Ey flattering fortune, loke thou neuer so fayre, Or neuer so pleasantly begin to smile, As though thou wouldst my ruine all repayre, During my life thou shalt not me beguile. Sir T. More. He only fair, and what he fair hath made, All other fair like flowers untimely fade. Spenser. All the lords came in, and, being by fair means wrought thereunto, acknowledged king Henry. Id. On Ireland. All this they fairly overcame, by reason of the continual presence of their king. Id. Arius, a priest in the church of Alexandria, a subtle-witted and a marvellous fairspoken man, but discontented that we should be placed before him in honour, whose superior he thought himself in desert; because through envy and stomach prone unto contradiction. Hooker. Fair is foul, and foul is fair; Shakspeare. I never yet saw a man, But she would spell him backward; if fair faced, She'd swear the gentleman should be her sister: If black, why, nature, drawing of an antick, Made a foul blot. Id. Much Ado about Nothing. Yourself, renowned prince, stood as fair As any comer I have looked on yet, For my affection. Id. Merchant of Venice. Well, you must now speak sir John Falstaff fair. Shakspeare. O, princely Buckingham, I'll kiss thy hand, In sign of league and amity with thee: Now fair befall thee and thy noble house! Thy garments are not spotted with our blood. Id. Hereby, upon the edge of yonder coppice, A stand where you may make the fairest shoot. Id. Our love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails together, and fast it fairly out. Id. Taming of the Shrew. Carry him gently to my fairest chamber, And hang it round with all my wanton pictures. But if greatness be so blind, That at least the fall be fair. Shakspeare. Bacon. There is due from the judge to the advocate some commendation and gracing where causes are fairly pleaded. Id. He through his virtue was as free from greediness, as through his fair livelihood, far from neediness. Carew. Careth the world, thou love, thou live, or die? Careth the world how faire thy fuire one bee? Bp. Hall's Satires. About three of the clock in the afternoon the weather was very fair and very warm. Clarendon. The king did so much desire a peace, that no man need advise him to it, or could divert him from it, if fuir and honourable conditions of peace were offered .o him. Id. In this plain fable you the' effect may see Of negligence, and fond credulity; And learn besides of flatterers to beware, Then most pernicious when they speak too fair. As I interpret fairly your design, Of sleep forsaken, to relieve his care, Id. Fd. Id. Id. Fubles. When fair words and good counsel will not prevail upon us, we must be frighted into our duty. L'Estrange. He that attacks received opinions, with any thing but fair arguments, may, I own, be justly suspected not to mean well, nor to be led by the love of truth; but the same may be said of him too who so defends them. Locke. He who fair and softly goes steadily forward, in a course that points right, will sooner be at his journey's end, than he that runs after every one, though he Id. gallop. Gentlemen who do not design to marry, yet pay their devoirs to one particular fair. Spectator. This promised fair at first. Addison on Italy In vain you tell your parting lover, Prior. To the first advantages we may fairly lay claim; I wish we had as good a title to the latter. Atterbury. I am not much for that present; we'll settle it between ourselves; fair and square, Nic, keeps friends together. Arbuthnot. This nutritious juice, being a subtile liquor, scarce obtainable by a human body, the serum of the blood Id. on Aliments. is fairly substituted in its place. I looked for the jugular veins, opened the fairest, Wiseman. and took away a dozen ounces of blood. Virtuous and vicious every man must be, The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise, And even the best, by fits what they despise. Pope. Id. crease their own revenues by the tolls which their charters authorised them to levy at these fairs. Hence the multitude of attendants increased, some of whom were actuated by re The stage how loosely does Astrea tread, Who fairly puts all characters to bed! It is a church of England man's opinion, that the ligious, and others by commercial views. When freedom of a nation consists in an absolute unlimited legislative power, wherein the whole body of the prople are fairly represented in an executive duly limited. Swift. There are other nice, though inferior cases, in which a man must guard, if he intends to keep fair with the world, and turn the penny. Collier on Popularity. Nature's circle, like a chariot wheel Rolling beneath their elevated aims, Makes their fair prospect fairer every hour, Advancing virtue in a line to bliss. For as by depredations wasps proclaim The fairest fruit, so these the fairest fame. Behold, my fair, where'er we rove, What dreary prospects round us rise. Young. Id. Johnson. Winter's Walk. Not slothful he, though seeming unemployed, And censured oft as useless. Stillest streams Oft water fairest meadows, and the bird, That flutters least, is longest on the wing. Cowper. Darwin. So, robed by beauty's queen, with softer charms And I wonder I prized them no more! Byron. FAIR, n. s. Fr. foire; Ital. fiera; Port. FAIRING. faira; Span. feria: Teut. feyer; Welsh fair; Swed. fira; either from Lat. feria, feast days, or forum, the market place; Gr. popov, merchandise. Minsheu. A stated market: a meeting-day, or meeting-place, for buyers and sellers: a fairing is a present brought from, or given at, a fair. With silver, iron, tin and lead, they traded in thy fairs. Ezek. Sweetheart, we shall be rich ere we depart, If fairings come thus plentifully in. Shakspeare. Like children that esteem every trifle, and prefer a fairing before their fathers. Ben Jonson. His corn, his cattle, were his only care, And his supreme delight a country fair. Dryden. The ancient Nundina, or fairs of Rome, were kept every ninth day afterwards the same privileges were granted to the country markets, which were at first under the power of the consuls. Arbuthnot on Coins. Now he goes on, and sings of fairs and shows; For still new fairs before his eyes arose : How pedlars stalls with glittering toys are laid, The various fairings of the country maid. Gay's Pastorals. FAIRS are generally kept once or twice in the year, and in most places on the same day with the festival of some patron saint to whom the church was dedicated. This may in some measure serve to show us their origin. When bishops and abbots observed that crowds of people assembled to celebrate the festivals of their patron saints, they applied to the crown for charters to hold fairs at those times, for the accommodation of strangers, and with a view to in a fair was held within the precincts of a cathedral or monastery, it was not uncommon to oblige every man to take an oath at the gate, before he was admitted, that he would neither lie, nor steal, nor cheat, while he continued at The duration of fairs is determined the fair. by proclamation, by stat. 2 Ed. III. c. 15; and if a person shall sell any goods after the time of the fair expires, he shall incur a forfeiture of double the value of the goods sold, one-fourth to the prosecutor, and the rest to the king. Any citizen of London may carry his goods to any fair or market in England at his pleasure. If any person is entitled to hold a fair or market, and another is set up within the distance of a third part of twenty miles, either on the same day, or a different day, it is a nuisance, and an action on the case lies; and also against persons disturbing such as are coming to buy or sell in the fair or market, so that the person holding the fair, &c., loses his toll, or receives prejudice in the profits arising from it. There is a toll usually paid in fairs on the sale of things, and for stallage, piccage, &c. Fairs abroad are either free, or charged with toll and impost. The privileges of free fairs consist chiefly, first, in that all traders, &c., whether natives or foreigners, are allowed to enter the kingdom, and are under the royal protection, exempt from duties, impositions, tolls, &c. Secondly, that merchants, in going or returning, cannot be molested or arrested, or their goods stopped. They are established by letters patent from the prince. Fairs, particularly free fairs, are of great importance in the commerce of Europe, especially in that of the Mediterranean, and inland parts of Germany, &c. The principal fairs in Europe are-1. Two in Frankfort; the first commencing the Sunday before Palm Sunday, and the second on the Sunday before the 8th of September. Each lasts three weeks; the first called the week of acceptance, the second the week of payment. They are famous for the sale of all kinds of commodiof books, no where else to be found, whence the ties; but particularly for the immense quantity booksellers throughout all Europe used to furnish themselves. Before each fair there is a catalogue of all the books to be sold, printed and dispersed. to call together purchasers; though the learned have long complained of unfair practices herein; as fictitious titles, names of books purely imaginary, &c., besides great blunders in the names of the authors, and the titles of the real books. 2. The fairs of Leipsic, which are held thrice a-year; one beginning on the 1st of January, the second three weeks after Easter; and the third after Michaelmas. 3. The four fairs of Novi, in the Milanese, commencing on the 2d of February, the 2d of May, the 1st of August, and 2d of September. Though the commodities bought and sold are very considerable, yet what chiefly contributes to render them famous is, the vast concourse of the most considerable mer |