FOURNESS ABBEY, or FURNIS ABBEY up in the mountains,' was begun at Tulket in Amounderness, in 1124, by Stephen earl of Boulogne, afterwards king of England, for the monks of Savigny in France, and three years after removed to the valley, then called Bekangesgill, or the vale of night-shade.' It was of the Cistertian order, endowed with above £800 per annum. Out of the monks of this abbey, Camden says, the bishops of the Isle of Man, which lies over against it, used to be chosen by ancient custom; it being as it were the mother of many monasteries in Man and Ireland. Some ruins, and part of the fosse which surrounded the monastery, are still to be seen at Tulket. The remains at Fourness breathe the plain simplicity of the Cistertian abbeys; the chapter-house was the only piece of elegant Gothic about it. Part of the painted glass from the east window, representing the crucifixion, &c., is preserved at Winder-mere church in Bowlness, Westmoreland. FOURSCORE, adj. Four and score. Four times twenty; eighty. It is used elliptically for fourscore years in numbering the age of man. When they were out of reach, they turned and crossed the ocean to Spain, having lost fourscore of their ships, and the greater part of their men. Bacon's War with Spain. In the mean time, the batteries proceeded, And fourscore cannon on the Danube's border Were briskly fired and answered in due order. And so all ye, who would be in the right, Byron. In health and purse, begin your day to date equal. The temple of Bel was environed with a wall carried foursquare, of great height and beauty; and on each square certain brazen gates curiously engraven. Raleigh's History. FOURTEEN, adj. Sax. Feopertyn. Four and ten; twice seven. I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale. Shakspeare. FOURTEENTH, adj. From fourteen. The ordinal of fourteen; the fourth after the tenth. I have not found any that see the ninth day, few Defore the twelfth, and the eyes of some not open before the fourteenth day. Browne's Vulgar Errours. FOURTH, adj. From four. The ordinal of four; the first after the third. A third is like the former: filthy hags! FOURTH FIGURE TRAP, the trap generally ased in gardens, plantations, &c., to catch the mice which devour the seeds. It is composed of three pieces of wood in the shape of a figure 4 (see diagram) supporting a piece of slate. The following is the account given of it in Nicholls's Planter. The longest of these pieces of wood, or the bait-stick (a), should be seven inches in length, half an inch broad, and onesixteenth thick; the outward end on the upper side is notched to one-fourth of its thickness, at half an inch from the end. Two inches and There are two slates required; one to lie upon the ground, and this must be pressed so deep into it as to cause its upper side to be equal with the general surface; because, if access to the bait is any way difficult, the mice will take the seeds as the readiest food, although not perhaps the most palatable. Having laid the above slate, and being provided with another, from six to seven inches square, and from one and a half to two pounds weight, take the upper piece (c) into the left hand, holding the sharp end towards you, and the notch downwards. Next place the sharpened end of the pillar into this notch, forming an acute angle; hold these two pieces in this position with the fingers and thumb of the left hand, and place the under end of the pillar upon the lower slate, and the outer edge of the upper slate near the extremity of the upper part of the trap; then take the bait-stick (previously baited) with your right hand, and place it so as that the notched part near the extremity may receive the sharpened end of the upper stick, and let that place of it which was cut half through hold the pillar, but so as that the baited end of the bait-stick may slightly rest upon the slate; and the trap is set. A very little practice will enable any person who is a stranger to this kind of trap to use it with facility; and a great number may be placed in the nursery grounds at no expense. Bricks are sometimes used in place of slates. The best bait is oatmeal made into dough by butter, and tied on the bait-stick with a little flax: after being tied on, it will be of use to burn the bait a little, to make it smell. Such a quantity of bait must not be used as may prevent the mouse from being killed by the fall of the slate. FOURTHLY, adv. From fourth. In the excellent poor-house, and an alms-house for fourth place. Fourthly, plants have their seed and seminal parts uppermost, and living creatures have them lowermost. Bacon's Natural History. FOURWHEELED, adj. Four and wheel. Running upon twice two wheels. Scarce twenty fourwheeled cars, compact and strong, The massy load could bear, and roll along. Pope. FOU-TCHEOU, a city of China of the first rank in the province of Fo-Kien. It carries on a great trade, and has a good harbour and a most magnificent bridge, which has more than 100 arches, constructed of white stone, and ornamented with a double balustrade throughout. It is the residence of a viceroy, and has under its jurisdiction nine cities of the third class. It lies 870 miles south of Pekin. Long. 136° 50′ E. of Ferro, lat. 26° 4' N. FOU-TCHEOU, a city of China of the first rank, in the province of Kiang-si; formerly one of the finest cities in the empire, but almost ruined by the Tartar invasion. It lies 735 miles east of Pekin. Long. 133° 42′ E. of Ferro, lat. 27° 55' N. FO'UTRA, n. s. Fr. foutre. A fig; a scoff; a word of contempt. Not used. A foutra for the world, and worldlings base. Shakspeare. FOWEY, FAWEY, or Fox, a populous and flourishing town of Cornwall, with a commodious haven on the British Channel. It extends above a mile on the east side of the river, and has a spacious market-house, with a town-hall above it, erected by the then representatives of the borough, Philip Rashleigh, Esq., and lord viscount Valletort. It has also a fine old church, a free-school, and an hospital. It rose so much formerly by naval wars and piracies, that, in the reign of Edward III., its ships refusing to strike when required, as they sailed by Rye and Winchelsea, were attacked by the ships of those ports, but defeated them; whereupon they bore their arms mixed with the arms of those two cinque ports, which gave rise to the name of the Gallants of Fowey. And Camden informs us that this town quartered a part of the arms of all the other cinque ports with their own; intimating that they had at times triumphed over them all. In the same reign they rescued certain ships of Rye from distress, for which this town was made a member of cinque ports. Edward IV. favored Fowey so much, that when the French threatened to come up the river to burn it, he caused two towers, the ruins of which are yet visible, to be built at the public charge for its security but he was afterwards so provoked at the inhabitants for attacking the French, after a truce proclaimed with Louis XI., that he took away all their ships and naval stores, together with a chain drawn across the river between the two forts, which was carried to Dartmouth. For the present defence of the harbour three batteries have been erected at the entrance, which stand so high that no ship can bring her guns to bear upon them. The market-house is large and spacious, over which there is a neat town-hall. Here are also two free-schools, an eight decayed widows. No wheeled carriages can come into this town, owing to the narrowness and sudden turnings of the streets. Most of the inhabitants are in the pilchard fishery, which employs a great number of vessels. About 28,000 hhds. of fish are annually brought into this port. The corporation consists of a mayor, recorder, eight aldermen, a town clerk, and two of the market, fairs, and harbour, were vested in assistants: the market is on Saturday. The tolls the corporation on the payment of a fee-farm rent of about 40s. It sent two members to parliament from the 13th of Elizabeth, until Truro, and 239 W. S. W. of London. 1832. Fowey lies twenty-two miles E. N. E. of FOWL, n. s. & v. n. Sax. Fugel, ruhl; FOWLER, n. s. Belg. vogal; Goth. FOW'LING-PIECE, u. s. fugl; from flyga, to fly: A winged animal; a bird. It is colloquially used of edible birds, but in books, of all the feathered tribes. Fowl is used collectively; as, we dined upon fish and fowl: to kill birds for food or game: a sportsman who pursues birds; a gun for birds. the foules of ravine Were highest set; and, then, the foules smale, That eten as hem nature would encline, As worme or thing, of whiche I tell no tale; And water foule sate, lowest, in the dale; And foules that liveth by sede, sat on the greene, And that so fele, that wonder wos to sene. Chaucer. Assemble of Foules. The fowler we defy And all his craft. Id. Legend of Good Women. The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowls, Are their males' subjects, and at their controuls. FOWL, among zoologists, denotes the larger sorts of birds, whether domestic or wild: such as geese, pheasants, partridges, turkeys, ducks, &c. Tame fowl make a necessary part of the stock of a country farm. See POULTRY. Fowls are again distinguished into two kinds, viz. land and water fowls, these last being so called from their living much in and about water; also into those which are counted game, and those which are not. See GAME. FOWLING PIECES are reckoned best when they have a long barrel, from five feet and a half to six feet, with a modera te bore. But every fowler should have them of different sizes suitable to the game he designs to kill. The barrel should be well polished and smooth within, and the bore of an equal size from one end to the other; which may be proved by putting in a piece of pasteboard cut to the exact roundness of the top, for if this goes down without stops or slipping, you may conclude the bore good. The bridgepan must be somewhat above the touch hole. As to the locks, choose such as are well filled with true work, whose springs must be neither oo strong nor too weak. The hammer ought o be well hardened, and pliable to go down to the pan with a quick motion. FOX, n. s. Sax. Fox; Belg. vos, vosch, from Goth. for. A wild animal of the canine kind, with sharp ears and a bushy tail, remarkable for his cunning, living in holes, and preying upon fowls or small animals; by way of reproach, applied to a knave or cunning fellow. The sely widewe, and hire daughtrer troo, Chaucer. The Nonnes Preestes Tale. The fur barks not when he would steal the lamb. Shakspeare. He that trusts to you, Where he should find you lions, finds you ha res; Where fores, geese. Id. Macbeth. These retreats are more like the dens of robbers, or holes of fores, than the fortresses of fair warriours. Locke. Fox, in zoology. See CANIS. The fox is a great nuisance to the husbandman, by taking away and destroying his lambs, geese, poultry, &c. The common way to catch him is by gins; which being baited, and a train made by drawing raw flesh across in his usual paths or haunts to the gin, it proves an inducement to bring him to the place of destruction. The fox is also a beast of chase, and is taken with greyhounds, terriers, &c. See HUNTING. Fox (Charles James), an illustrious statesman, who took a large and important share in all the public business of the British empire, from 1768 to 1806. The period of Mr. Fox's political life was filled with measures of such interest and magnitude as would have conferred celebrity on a meaner agent; while his talents were so considerable as to exalt and dignify even the ordinary course of affairs. His era and character, therefore, mutually aid each other's immortality; and, when taken together, command a double portion of that historical interest which either of them would have separately possessed. Another accessary circumstance, which serves to augment his natural and intrinsic claims to fame, was the distinguished eminence of his chief political opponent. The mind, like the body, is generally disposed to exert no more of its power than the occasion reqnires; and, from the want of a sufficient stimulus, many have allowed their intellectual vigor to degenerate by inaction, and its extent to remain unknown both to others and themselves. But the co-existence and competition of Fox and Pitt tasked the facul ties of each to their full strength, and revealed to the world the ultimate resources of two of the most distinguished men that ever struggled for superiority, by eloquence and wisdom. The nearness of their deaths, too, secures the complete coincidence of their histories; so that, in all future periods, the name of the one must naturally suggest that of the other, and each communicate to his rival a portion of his own renown, It is fair, however, to observe that, if their comparative merit is to be weighed by their celebrity alone, the balance must incline towards the claims of him who, without place or power, and acting more as a commentator on great national measures, than as their author, created for himself a splendor of reputation equal to that of an opponent, who enjoyed nearly through life the most eminent and efficient station. antagonist of Godolphin or Harley, of Walpole or Pelham, fills so large a space in the eye of the historian, as these long established dispensers of profit and preferment: and even of the great Chatham it is the glorious administration, not the animated opposition, that is most frequently in the mouths of his admirers. If Fox, therefore, contrary to all former example, contrived, during a life of political adversity, to acquire an equal name with his more fortunate competitor, it is natural to ascribe to him a superiority of that genius which captivates popular attention. No Mr. Fox was born on the 13th of January, 1749. He was the second son of Henry lord Holland, who, by a public career in an opposite direction to that of his son, at once ennobled and enriched his family. The former was as zealous in maintaining, as the latter in resisting, the principles of the court; yet, notwithstanding this contrariety of conduct, some features of a family likeness may be traced between the father and the son. We find in both a certain masculine vigor of character, united with a kind, indulgent, and affectionate temper; political activity with domestic indolence; and an equal ardor in public enmities and private friendships. The more pleasing qualities in lord Holland's character were remarkably displayed towards his favorite boy, whose genius he had sufficient penetration very early to discern. To its growth he is reported to have given the fullest scope, by freeing him from every species of restraint; conversing with him on state affairs; and, at times, even profiting by his suggestions. mother was lady Georgina Caroline Lennox, sister to the late duke of Richmond, through whom he inherited the blood, and even the features, of the royal house of Stuart; but in character, as has been observed by Mr. Burke, he bore a much closer resemblance to Henry IV. of France, another of his royal progenitors. He enjoyed the full advantage of a public education, having been sent to Eton, during the mastership of Dr. Barnard, and under the private tuition of Dr. Newcome, the late primate of Ireland. Pitt spent his boyhood at home, and it is amusing to remark how complete a contrast, in every particular, these illustrious men have been destined to exhibit to the world; since they even assist us to appreciate, in minds nearly of equal force, the comparative benefits of public and private education. Fox, His |