The

FEASTS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. four feasts of which the English laws take particular notice are, the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, or Lady-day, the 25th of March; the nativity of St. John the Baptist, held on the 24th of June; the feast of St. Michael the archangel, on the 29th of September; and that of St. Thomas the Apostle, on the 21st of December: on which quarterly days rent on leases is usually paid. 5 & 6 Edw. VI. cap. 3; 3 Jac. I. cap. 1; 12 Car. II. cap. 30. Besides these feasts which are general, and enjoined by the church, there are others local and occasional, enjoined by the magistrate or voluntarily set on foot by the people; such are the days of thanksgiving for victories, delivery from wars, plagues, &c. Such also are the vigils or wakes in commemoration of the dedications of particular churches. See VIGIL, &c. The feasts of the church of England are either immoveable or moveable.

1. FEASTS, IMMOVEABLE, are those constantly celebrated on the same day of the year; the principal of these are CHRISTMAS or the NATIVITY, the CIRCUMCISION, EPIPHANY, CANDLEMAS Or the PURIFICATION, the ANNUNCIATION called also the INCARNATION and CONCEPTION, ALL SAINTS, and ALL SOULS; besides the days of the several apostles, St. THOMAS, St. PAUL, &c, which in the church of England are feasts, though not feriæ. See these articles.

2. FEASTS, MOVEABLE, are those which are rot confined to the same day of the year. Of these the principal is Easter, which gives law to all the rest, all of them following and keeping their proper distances from it; such are Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Ash-Wednesday, Sexagesima, Ascension day, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. See EASTER, PENTECOST, SEXAGESIMA, TRINITY, &c.

FEASTS IN THE CHURCH OF ROME. The prodigious increase of feast days in the Romish church commenced towards the close of the fourth century, and was occasioned by the discovery that was then made of the remains of martyrs and other holy men, for the commemoration of whom they were established. These, instead of being set apart for pious exercises, were but too often abused in indolence and voluptuousness: and this has been defended by the theologians of this church on the ground of becoming all things to all men,' that some may be won. See Dr. Doyle's late Essay on the State of the Irish Catholics. Many of them were instituted on a pagan

model.

FEASTS, MAHOMMEDAN. The Mahommedans, besides their feast or sabbath, which is kept on Friday, have two solemn feasts, the first of which is called the Feast of Victims, and celebrated on the 10th day of the last month of their year; and the second called Bairam. See BAIRAM.

FEASTS OF THE DEAD are solemn religious ceremonies in use among the American Indians. By some nations they are celebrated every eight years; by others, as the Hurons and Iroquois, every ten years. FEAT, n. s. & adj. FEAT LY, adv. FEA'TEOUS, adj. FEA TEOUSLY, adv.

Fr. fait; Norm. Fr. feat; Ital. fatto; Lat. factum, a deed. An act, deed, or exploit: as an adjective, feat

means ready; skilful; ingenious: 'fine; neat; brave;' says Minsheu: the adjective is nearly obsolete, and both words have been generally applied with some degree of contempt: feateous, and feateously (both obsolete), have been used as synonymous with feat and featly.

Wherefore her father promised by crye that noble young men should meate at Peverell's place in the Peke, and he that provid hymself yn feates of armes should have Mellet his doughter, with the Castel of Whitington.

Leland. Thinges excerpted owt of an old English Boke, &c. vol. i. p. 23.

Pyrocles is his name, renowned far
For his bold feats, and hardy confidence;
Full oft approved in many a cruel war.

Faerie Queene.

And with fine fingers cropt full featously The tender stalks on high

Spenser.

Beattie.

Our soldiers are men of strong heads for action, and perform such feats as they are not able to express. Addison's Spectator. Down the deep vale, and narrow winding way, They foot it featly, ranged in ringlets gay: Tis joy and frolic all, where'er they rove, And fairy people is the name they love. FEATH'ER, n. s. & v. a.) FEATH'ERBED, FEATH'ERDRIVER, FEATHERED, adj. FEATHEREDGE, N. S. FEATHEREDGED, adj. FEATHERGRASS, FEATH'ERLESS, adj. FEATH'ERLY,

FEATH'ERY.

Saxon, feder; Goth. feaden; Swed. and Teut. feder; perhaps from the Goth. fliader, plumage. Thompson. The plume of birds;

any ornament; J and (as birds are distinguished bytheir plumage) kind, or species; as in the expression, 'birds of a feather': to feather is to adorn with feathers or ornaments; to treat as a cock: feathered, clothed, or fitted with a feather, or feathers: featherless is without feathers: featherly, resembling, and feathery, covered with, feathers: the extracts explain the other derivatives, except feathergrass, which is another name for the herb also called shadowgrass, gramen plumotum.

The soote bringes,

Au eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow, feathered from her own wing.

L'Estrange.

Not the bow they bend, nor boast the skill To give the feathered arrow wings to kill. Pope. Then ships of uncouth form shall stem the tide, And feathered people croud my wealthy side. Id. Among our Scythian ancestors, the number of pens was so infinite, that Herodotus had no other way of expressing it than by saying, that in the regions far to the north, it was hardly possible for a man to travel, the very air was so replete with feathers. Swift. Time is the feathered thing, And whilst I praise

The sparklings of thy locks, and call them rays,
Takes wing.

See then the quiver broken and decayed,
In which are kept our arrows! Rusting there
In wild disorder, and unfit for use,

VOL. IX.

Mayne.

They shame their shooters with a random flight,
Their points obtuse, and feathers drunk with wine!
Well may the church wage unsuccessful war
With such artillery armed.

Cowper.

Darwin.

While each light moment, as it dances by With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye, Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kiss, The callow nestlings of domestic bliss. Free let the feathery race indulge the song, Inhale the liberal beam, and melt in love : Free let the fleet hind bound her hills along, And in pure streams the watery nations rove. Beattie. FEATHERS. See ORNITHOLOGY. Feathers make a considerable article of commerce, particularly those of ostriches, herons, swans, peacocks, geese, hens, &c., for plumes, ornaments of the head, filling of beds, writing pens, &c. Geese are plucked sometimes in Great Britain five times in the year, and in cold seasons many of them die by this barbarous custom. See ANAS. The feathers that are brought from Somersetshire are esteemed the best, and those from Ireland the worst. Eider down is imported from Denmark; the ducks that supply it being inhabitants of Hudson's Bay, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. See Down. Our own Western Islands breed numbers of these birds, which turn out a profitable branch of trade to the inhabitants. poor Hudson's Bay also furnishes very fine feathers of the goose kind. The down of the swan is brought from Dantzic, as well as great quantities of the feathers of the cock and hen. The London poulterers deal largely in the feathers of those birds, and of ducks and turkies: those of ducks, being weaker, are inferior to those of the goose; and turkies' feathers are the worst of any. The best method of curing feathers is to lay them in a room, in an exposure to the sun, and when dried to put them in bags, and beat them well with poles. See QUILLS.

FEATLY (Daniel), an English divine, born at Charlton, in Oxfordshire, in 1582. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and afterwards became fellow of Corpus Christi. He was for some years chaplain to the English embassy in France, and soon after his return became chaplain to archbishop Abbot, who gave him the rectory of Lambeth. Dr. Featly was the last provost of Chelsea College, which station he quitted on his marriage in 1625. several polemical treatises, particularly against the church of Rome. When the civil wars com

He wrote

menced, he was chosen one of the assembly at Westminster, but his correspondence with archbishop Usher at Oxford being intercepted, he was sent to prison. On the trial of archbishop Laud, Featly appeared as a witness against him. He was the author of Clavis Mystica, a Key opening divers difficult Texts of Scripture, 1636, folio; and among his controversial tracts is one with a title too witty to be forgotten, The Dipper Dipt, or the Anabaptist plunged over Head and Ears and shrunk in the washing, 4to. Upon his liberation he retired to Chelsea College, where he died in 1644.

FEATURE, n. s. & v. a. I
FEATURED, part. adj.

Old Fr. faicture and facture ; making of a

Ital. fattura; Lat. factura, the

i

thing. The general cast, or make of the face: any lineament, or single part of the face; make, generally, and of the body in particular: to feature is to resemble, or to pourtray features. Dr. Johnson seems to have read the extract from Shakspeare's Cymbeline, 'featured,' erroneously; but we insert the passage, as he quotes it, being better sense, in our humble judgment, than the more approved reading, 'feated'; and finding the verbal form of the word adopted by other poets.

FEBRUARY, in chronology, was the second month of Numa's year, and under the protection of the god Neptune. It was not in the kalendar of Romulus, being added to the year by Numa. It had its name from Februa, a name of Juno, who presided over the purifications of women; and in this month the Lupercalia were held in honor of Juno, and women were purified by the priests of Pan Lyceus at that festival. See LuPERCALIA. February, in a common year, consists only of twenty-eight days; but every bissextile year it has twenty-nine, by the addition of the intercalary day.

FECAMP, an ancient sea-port of France, in the department of the Lower Seine, and late province of Normandy, containing about 1000 houses, and a ci-devant Benedictine abbey long famed for its riches. The church is one of the largest in France. The chief trade of the inhabitants is in linens, serges, laces, hats, and leather. Many vessels are employed in the herring fishery. Fecamp lies nine miles south-west of Dieppe, and fifteen N. N. E. of Montvilliers.

FE'CES, n. s. Fr. feces; Lat. faces. Dregs; sediments; subsidence; excrement.

Hence the surface of the ground with mud And slime besmeared, the feces of the flood Received the rays of heaven; and sucking in The seeds of heat, new creatures did begin.

Dryden.

The symptoms of such a constitution are a sour smell in their feces. Arbuthnot on Aliments.

FECES. See FAECES. or officers consisting of twenty persons among FECIALES, or FOECIALES, an order of priests the ancient Romans, appointed to proclaim war, negociate peace, &c. Festus derives the word from clude a treaty; and accordingly, instead of feciferio, I strike; as, ferire fœdus signifies, to conales, he would have it written feriales. Others

derive it from foedus, which was anciently written fedus; or from fidus, faith. Others from facio, feci, I make, &c., because they made war and peace. Vossius derives it from fatu, of the verb fari, to speak; in which sense the feciales should be the same with oratores; which sentiment is also confirmed by Varro, who says they were called indifferently feciales and oratores. The feciales were a fort of heralds, who, when the Romans had any dispute with their neighbours, were sent first to demand the thing pretended to be usurped, or require the satisfaction for the injury alleged to be done. If an answer was not returned by them, that was satisfactory to the people and the senate, they were despatched again to declare war, and the like in treating of peace; the feciales being the only persons appointed to negociate between the senate, &c., and the enemy. Plutarch, in the life of Numa, and Halicarnasseus (lib. ii.), observes, that they were first instituted by that prince. The latter adds, that they were chosen out of the best families in Rome; that their office, which was reputed a

The Romans compelled them, contrary to all federal right and justice, both to part with Sardinia, their lawful territory and also to pay them, for the future a double tribute. Grew.

The power to which our constitution has exclusively delegated the federative capacity, may find it expedient to make war upon them. Burke. FEE, n. s. & v. a. Į Sax. Feah; Goth. fe; FEEFARM. Swed. fæe; Dan. fee; Teut. fich; Su. Goth. fae; all perhaps from the Goth. fa, to acquire. Property in money, goods, or land; payment to official persons, or to the professors of law or medicine; portion; pittances: to fee is to pay, reward; hence bribe; keep in one's pay for FEE, see the article.

A wealthy doctor who can help a poor man, and will not without a fee, has less sense of humanity than a poor ruffian, who kills a rich man to supply his necessities. Tatler.

He does not refuse doing a good office for a man, because he cannot pay the fee of it. Addison. No man fees the sun, no man purchases the light, nor errs if he walks by it. South. Praise was originally a pension paid by the world; but the moderns, finding the trouble and charge too great in collecting it, have lately bought out the feesimple; since which time the right of presentation is wholly in ourselves. Swift.

When neebors anger at a plea,
An' just as wud as wud can be,
How easy can the barley-bree

Cement the quarrel!

It's aye the cheapest lawyer's fee,

To taste the barrel. Burns.

If he comes here to take a deposition,
By all means let the gentleman proceed;
You've made the apartment in a fit condition :-
There's pen and ink for you, sir, when you please—
Let every thing be noted with precision,

I would not you for nothing should be fee'd.

Byron.

I bere quod he all myne with me about: Wisedom he ment, not fortunes brotle fees. For nought he counted his that he might leese.

Have turned my captive state to liberty, At our enlargement what are thy due fees? Id. Henry VI. Here's the lord of the soil come to seize me for a stray, for entering his fee-simple without leave. Id. There is not a thane of them but in his house I have a servant feed. Id. Macbeth. John surrendered his kingdoms to the pope, and took them back again, to hold in feefarm; which brought him into such hatred, as all his lifetime after he was possessed with fear.

He thought he should be blest

Davies.

To have his heir of such a suffering spirit;
So wise, so grave, of so perplext a tongue,
And loud withal, that could not wag, nor scarce
Lie still without a fee.
Ben Jonson.
While freezing Matho, that for one leane fee
Wont terme auld Terme the Terme of Hilarie,
May now, in sted of those his simple fees
Get the fee-simple of fayre manneryes.
Bp. Hall. Satires.
Watch the disease in time; for when within
The dropsy rages, and extends the skin,
In vain for hellebore the patient cries,
And fees the doctor; but too late is wise.

Dryden.

FEE ABSOLUTE, or FEE SIMPLE. A tenant, says Blackstone, in fee simple, or, as he is frequently styled, tenant in fee, is he that hath lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to hold to him and his heirs for ever; generally, absolutely, and simply; without mentioning what heirs, but referring that to his own pleasure, or to the disposition of the law. The true meaning of the word fee (feodum), is the same with that of feud or fief (See FEUDAL SYSTEM), and, in its original sense, it is taken in contradistinction to allodium; which is property in its highest degree; and the owner thereof hath absolutum et directum dominium, and therefore is said to be seised thereof absolutely in dominio suo, in his own demesne. But this allodial property no subject in Britain has; it being a received and now undeniable principle in the law, that all lands are holden mediately or immediately of the king. A subject therefore hath only the usufruct, and not the absolute property of the soil. And hence, in the most solemn acts of law, the strongest and highest estate that any subject can have, is expressed by these words, he is seised thereof in his demesne, as of fee.' It is a man's demesne, dominium, or property, since it belongs to him and his heirs for ever: yet this property or demesne, is strictly not absolute or allodial, but qualified or feodal, it is in his demesne, as of fee; that is, it is not purely and simply his own, since it is held of a superior lord, in whom the ultimate property resides. This is the primary sense and acceptation of the word fee. But, as Sir Martin Wright very justly observes, the doctrine, that all lands are holden,' having been, for so many ages, a fixed and undeniable axiom, the English lawyers very rarely, of late years especially, use the word fee in this its primary original sense, in contradistinction to allodium or absolute property, with