Great ordnance and small shot thundered and showered upon our men from the rampier in front, and from the gallies that lay at sea in flank. Bacon's War with Spain. Gray was appointed to stand on the left side, in such sort as he might take the flank of the enemy. Hayward The belly shall be eminent by shadowing the fanu. Peacham, by a line running almost due so .th from Sluys, a smai. town opposite Flushing. Its capital is Ghent; its computed extent 1080 square miles; its population fully 600,000. The surface in the northern part is level, while to the south it consists of undulating plains. The soil is in general a heavy fertile loam. The climate, though moist, is not unhealthy: the chief productions are corn, pulse, flax, madder, tobacco, fruit; most of these are in great abundance; and the pasturages excellent. The manufactures are also here considerable. This province sends ten deputies to the provincial assembly, and is divided into the four circles of Ghent, Dendermonde, Oudenarde, and Eecloo. No part of it adjoins the sea, Dutch Flanders occupying the bank of the Scheldt; but it enjoys the benefit of water communication by canals, the principal of which lead to Bruges in the west, and to Sas Van Ghent in the north. West Flanders extends along a considerable tract of coast, in the central part of which is Ostend. This side faces the north; but the western boundary of the province adjoins the French territory. Its extent is nearly 1500 square miles, and its surface in general level, except the sand-hills on the coast. Here also the soil is fertile, and the agriculture excellent. The climate, like that of England, is humid and changeable; the products nearly the same as in East Flanders, and the language Flemish, except along the French frontier, where there is an intermixture of French. The manufactures are very considerable in lace and fine linen; cotton, stuffs, and leather; and there are extensive breweries and distilleries. The exports consist of manufactured articles, corn, pulse, rapeseed, tobacco, butter, oil, cheese, and cattle. This province sends eight deputies to the representative assembly; it is divided into four circles, that of Bruges (the capital), Furnes, Ypres, and Courtray. Ostend is its only harbour of consequence, but the province has several canals, which form a line of communication with France. Population 520,000. Wood is scarce: the common fuel is turf and coal. Both provinces are of the Catholic religion; and each has, in addition to its share in the general representative body, a local public assembly. Milten. To right and left the front By the rich scent we found our perfumed prey, He said, and poised in air, the jav❜lin sent : Through Paris' shield the forceful weapon went, His corselet pierces, and his garment rends, And glancing downward near his flank descends. Pope. FLANK, OF FLANC, in farriery and horsemanship. The flanks of a horse should be full, and at the top of each a feather. The distance between the last rib and haunch-bone, which is properly the flank, should be short, which they term well coupled, such horses being most hardy, and fit to endure labor A horse is said to have no flank, if the last of the short ribs be at a considerable distance from the haunchbone; or when his ribs are too much straitened in their compass. When FLANK, in military affairs, the side of a body of men. When a battalion is drawn up three deep, its flank files consist of three men. four deep, the flank files are termed double files; so that a column formed from any of these alignements will have all its relative flank files, be the depth of formation what it will. FLANK-COMPANY, a certain number of men drawn up on the right, or left, of a battalion. Thus the grenadiers compose the right, and the light infantry the left flank company; or, when these are detached, the two extreme battalion companies become such. The grenadiers and light infantry are generally called flank companies, whether attached, or not, to their several battalions. FLANKING-PARTY, a select body of men on FLANK, n. s. & v. a. 7 Fr. flanc; Teut. foot or on horseback, whose object is to harass FLANKER, n. s. & v. a. flank, or rather lank, the enemy, to get upon his wings, or by any according to Wachter, who derives our word manœuvre to hang upon the flank of an opfrom this, with the addition of f; Goth. lang; posing force. In flanking, a great deal depends Belg, and Swed. flank. The side; that part of upon the officer or serjeant; he must be exthe side of animals near the hinder thigh: in for-tremely active, and not only attend to the moveunication, that part of the bastion which reaches ments of the divisior from which he is detached, from the curtain to the face. See FORTIFICATION. To flank, in a military sense is to command or attack an enemy's side, or to secure an army on the side. A flanker is, in fortification, a lateral defence of any kind: to flanker is to deferd laterally, to protect or to attack sideways. Like storms of hail the stones fell down from high, Cast from the bulwarks, flankers, ports, and towers. Fairfax. The Turks, discouraged with the loss of their fellows, and sore beaten by the Spaniards out of their flankers, were enforced to retire. Knolles. but likewise to his flankers. FLANK OF A BASTION (flanc d'une bastion, face to the curtain, comprehended between the Fr.) in fortification, that part which joins the angle of the curtain and that of the shoulder. It is the principal defence of the place. Its use is to defend the curtain, the flank, and face of the opposite bastion, as well as the passage of the ditch; and to batter the salient angles of the counterscarp and glacis, whence the besieged generally ruin the flanks with their artillery; for the flanks of a fortification are those parts which the besiegers endeavour most to destroy, in order to take away the defence of the face of the opposite bastion. FLANNEL, n ns. Fr. flanelle; Swed. flanell; Belg. flanel; Welsh, gwlanen (i. e. woollen). A soft woollen stuff or cloth, for which Wales has been long famous. I cannot answer the Welch flannel. Shakspeare. Before her kitchen hearth the nodding dame, In flannel mantle wrapt, enjoys the flame; Hov'ring upon her feeble knees she bends, And all around the grateful warmth ascends. Gay. FLANNEL, OF FLANEL, a kind of slight, loose, woollen stuff, composed of a woof and warp, and woven on a loom with two treadles, after the manner of baize. Dr. Black assigns as a reason why flannel and other substances of the kind keep our bodies warm, that they compose a rare and spongy mass, the fibres of which touch each other so slightly, that the heat moves slowly through the interstices, which being filled only with air, and that in a stagnant stage, give little assistance in conducting the heat. Count Rumford has enquired farther into the matter, and finds that there is a relation betwixt the power which the substances usually worn as clothing have of absorbing moisture, and that of keeping our bodies warm. Having provided a quantity of each of the substances mentioned below, he exposed them, spread out upon clean China plates, for the space of twenty-four hours, to the warm and dry air of a room which had been heated by a German stove for several months, and during the last six hours had raised the thermometer to 84° of Fahrenheit; after which he weighed equal quantities of the different substances with a very accurate balance. They were then spread out upon a China plate, and removed into a very large uninhabited room upon the second floor, where they were exposed forty-eight hours upon a table in the middle of the room, the air of which was 45°. At the end of this space they were weighed, and then removed into a damp cellar, and placed on a table in the middle of the vault, where the air was at the temperature of 45°, and which by the hygrometer seemed to be fully saturated with moisture. In this situation they were allowed to remain three days and three nights; the vault being all the time hung round with wet linen cloths, to render the air as completely damp as possible. At the end of three days they were weighed, and the weights at the different times were found as in the following table. 1000 parts dried in the | Weighed on coming out of the cold room, the vault, hot room of Sheep's wool have a much greater attraction for water than any other; yet it would appear from what is related above, that those bodies which receive water in its unelastic form with the greatest ease, or are most easily wet, are not those which in all cases attract the moisture of the atmosphere with the greatest avidity. Perhaps the apparent dampness of linen to the touch, arises more from the ease with which that substance parts with the water it contains, than from the quantity of water it actually holds in the same manner as a body appears hot to the touch, in consequence of its parting freely with its heat; while another body which is really at the same temperature, but which withholds its heat with greater obstinacy, affects the sense of feeling much less violently. It is well known that woollen clothes, such as flannels, &c., worn near the skin, greatly promote insensible perspiration. May not this arise principally from the strong attraction which subsists between wool and the watery vapor which is continually issuing from the human body? That it does not depend entirely on the warmth of that covering, is clear; for the same degree of warmth produced by wearing more clothing of a different kind, does not produce the same effect. The perspiration of the human body being absorbed by a covering of flannel, it is immediately distributed through the whole thickness of that substance, and by that means exposed, by a very large surface to be carried off by the atmosphere; and the loss of this watery vapor, which the flannel sustains on the one side by evaporation, being immediately restored from the other, in consequence of the strong attraction between the flannel and this vapor, the pores of the skin are disencumbered, and they are continually surrounded by a dry and salubrious atmosphere.' Our author expresses his surprise, that the custom of wearing flannel next the skin should not have prevailed more universally. He is confident it would prevent a number of diseases; and he thinks there is no greater luxury than the comfortable sensation which arises from wearing it, especially after one is a little accustomed to it. It is a mistaken notion' says he, that it is too warm a clothing for summer. I have worn it in the hottest climates, and at all seasons of the year; and never found the least inconvenience from it. It is the warm bath of a perspiration confined by a linen shirt, wet with sweat, which renders the summer heats of southern climates so insupportable; but flannel promotes perspiration, and favors its evaporation; and evaporation, as is well known, produces positive cold.' It has been observed that new flannel, after some time wearing, acquires the property of shining in the dark, but loses it on being washed. FLAP, n. s., v. a. & v. n. FLAP DRAGON, n. s. & v. a. FLAP-JACK, n. s. Teut. flabbe; Belg. flup; Dan. and Swed. lap, lappe. See FLABBY. Any thing pendulous, or hanging loose: hence the motion of that which hangs loose; a disease in horses. To flap is to strike with something light or loose; to move with a flap-like-noise of motion. As a verb neuter, to ply the wings with a noise; to fall with flaps or broad pendulous parts. Flap-dragon is a curious synonyme of snap-dragon; a play at catching raisins out of burning spirits: hence to flapdragon is to devour eagerly. A flap-jack is a provincial name for a pan-cake. A flapper, a remonstrancer, as if with a flap or slight stroke of the hand. But to make an end of the ship, to see how the sea flapdragoned it. Shakspeare. Winter's Tale. He plays at quoits well, and eats conger and fennel, and drinks candles' ends for flapdragons, and rides the wild mare with the boys. Shakspeare. A whoreson, beetle-headed, flapeared knave. Id. We'll have moreover puddings and flap-jacks, and thou shalt be welcome. Id. Pericles. Another flap-mouthed mourner. Id. Venus and Adonis. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, This painted child of dirt, that stiuks and stings. Pope. I write to you by way of flapper, to put you in mind, &c. Chesterfield. When a horse has the flaps, you may perceive his lips swelled on both sides of his mouth; and that which is in the blisters is like the white of an egg: cut some slashes with a knife, and rub it once with salt, and it will cure. Farrier's Dictionary. FLARE, v.n. From Dutch flederen, to flutter, (Skinner): Lat. flagro: to glitter with transient or unsteady light or splendor. She shall be loose enrobed, With ribbands pendant flaring 'bout her head. Shakspeare. Doctrine and life, colours and light, in one When they combine and mingle, bring Herbert. A strong regard and awe; but speech alone Doth vanish like a flaring thing, And in the ear, not conscience, ring. When the sun begins to fling His flaring beams, me, goddess, bring To arched walks of twilight groves. FLASH, n. s., v. n. & v. a. Belg. vlengie (a flash); Goth. loga(see FLAME): Skinner says from blaze; but Minsheu suggests the Gr. Xog, flame, as the origin of this word, and Dr. Johnson adopts that etymology. Mr. Todd's conjecture that it must be connected with flas (Icel.) tumbling down from a high place,' as where it means a body of water driven with violence, appears quite superfluous: water flashes, or is made to flash when its surface is driven into a thousand luminous planes that reflect the light. A sudden, transitory blaze or gleam of light: any short transient state of things. Dr. Johnson says, 'a body of water driven by violence; but supplies no instance of this application of the word, and we find none: as a verb neuter, to flash means to glitter with a transient blaze or gleam of light; to burst out into violence or into sallies of wit, or bright thought: as a verb active, to dash water into motion, and thus cause the light to flash from it; to adorn or dress up in a showy manner: hence flashy is glittering; empty; showy; without substance; insipid. With his raging arms he rudely flashea The waves about, and all his armour swept, That all the blood and filth away was washed. Faerie QueenE, When the cross blue lightning seemed to open The breast of heaven, I did present myself Even in the aim and very flash of it. Shakspeare. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table in a roar? Id. By day and night he wrongs me; every hour Id. King Lear. We see a flash of a piece is seen sooner than the noise is heard, Bacon's Natural History. The tastes that most offend in fruits, herbs and roots, are bitter, harsh, sour, waterish, or flashy. Id. The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash, Bacon If the sea-water be flashed with a stick or oar, the same casteth a shining colour, and the drops resemble sparkles of fire. Carew. Flashy wits cannot fathom the whole extent of a large discourse. Digby on the Soul, Dedication. When they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw. Milton. Milton. And as Egeon, when with heaven he strove, Defyed the forky lightning from afar, At fifty mouths his flaming breath expires, And flash for flash returns, and fires for fires. Prior. Dryden. This mean conceit, this darling mystery, Which thou think'st nothing, friend! thou shalt not buy; Nor will I change for all the flashy wit. Id. Wicked men prefer the light flashes of a wanton mirth, which for a while suspend reflection, and hide the sinner from himself, to such discourses as awaken conscience. Rogers. They flash out sometimes into an irregular greatness of thought. Felton on the Classicks. Are we carried down by the torrent of vanity and vice? Will a flash of wit or a brilliant fancy make us excuse a profane expression? If so, we shall soon come to relish it when thus seasoned, and use it ourselves. Mason. To read froth and trifles all our life, is the way always to retain a flashy and juvenile turn; and only to contemplate our first (which is generally our worst). Id. Were I to compare Milton's genius with Tasso's, I would say, that the sublime of the latter is flashy and fluctuating, while that of the former diffuses an uniform, steady, and vigorous blaze; Milton is more majestic, Tasso more dazzling. Beattie. FLAS'KET. Id. Tempest. What a blow was there given! In the dawning of the next day we might plainly discern it was a land flat to our sight, and full of bos cage. Bacon. Because the air receiveth great tincture from the earth, expose flesh or fish, both upon a stake of wood some height above the earth, and upon the flat of the earth. Id. are FLASK, n. s. Sax. plaxa; Goth. Swed. Short speeches fly abroad like darts, and and Arab. flaska; Teut. flasche; Dan. flaske; Welsh flasg; Span. flasco; French thought to be shot out of secret intentions; but as for flasque, flasquet; Ital. fiasco, perhaps from the large discourses, they are flat things, and not so much Gr. (barb.) λaokη. Á flat bottle, basket, or drinking vessel; a powder-horn; a vessel in which viands are served up. Powder in a skilless soldier's flask Is set on fire. Shakspeare. Then for the Bourdeaux you may freely ask; But the Champaigne is to each man his flask. Another placed King. The silver stands with golden flaskets graced. FLAT, adj., n. s., v. a. & v. n.) Goth. & Swed. FLATLY, adv. FLAT NESS, FLATTEN, v. a. & v. n. flat; Danish Id. Faerie Queene. noted. Id. The ancients say, if you take two twigs of several fruit-trees, and flat them on the sides, and bind them close, and set them in the ground, they will come up in one stock. Id. Take two saucers, and strike the edge of the one against the bottom of the other within a pail of water, and shall find the sound groweth more flat, even you while part of the saucer is above the water; but that Id. flatness of sound is joined with a harshness. An orange, lemon, and apple, wrapt in a linen cloth, being buried for a fortnight four feet deep within the earth, though in a moist place and rainy time, were become a little harder than they were; otherwise fresh in their colour, but their juice somewhat flatted. To guard thee from the dæmons of the air; My flaming sword above 'em to display, All keen and ground upon the edge of day, The flat to sweep the visions from thy mind, The edge to cut 'em through that stay behind. Id. Milton's Paradise Lost is admirable; but am I therefore bound to maintain, that there are no flats amongst his elevations, when 'tis evident he creeps along sometimes for above an hundred lines together? Id. Here joys that endure for ever, fresh and in vigour, are opposed to satisfactions that are attended with satiety and surfeits, and flatten in the very tasting. L'Estrange. FLAT is a character in music, expressed by a small b, of which the effect is lowering the note to which it is affixed, a semitone minor. Flats on keyed instruments are the notes on the left hand of the natural notes, as sharps are on the right hand. There are two ways of using flats, the one accidental, which has no effect beyond the single bar in which it occurs; the other is the flat or flats placed at the clef, which affect all the notes on the same line or space throughout a movement, unless accidentally discharged by a natural,. The placing the flats at the clef is not arbitrary, as the first necessarily is on B, the second on E, the fourth above or fifth below, &c. For these five flats upon keyed instruments, there are five short keys; flats, however, sometimes occur in C and F, but for these the two long keys are obliged to be used of B and E natural, the two half notes below C and F natural. FLAT, of Dr. Boyce, in some parts of his MS., in the library of the Royal Institution, is = S, or 57 +f+ 5 m. is FLAT, of Liston, to the notes D, G, B, or C, S, or 47 + f + 4 m; and to the notes E, F, or A, is 3, or 36 +f+ 3m, the second flat of any note being always the reverse of its first one. FLAT, of Marsh, FLAT, of Maxwell, FLAT, of Overend, Gram. 1st ed. p. 112, this corresponds with theorems below. 3, or 36 Σ + f + 3 m. FLAT, of some writers, L, or 46 Σ + f + 4m. FLAT,of regularly tempered scales, is the minor limna of Dr. R. Smith, which, according to Mr. The upper end of the windpipe is endued with Farey's theorems, Phil. Mag. vol. xxxix, p. 44, several cartilages and muscles to contract or dilate it, as we would have our voice flat or sharp. Ray. is 58 +f+5m-seven times the temperament of the fifth; or, 38-7519656 Σ +f+ Deadness or flatness in cyder is often occasioned by third, or, 32-3228500 +f+2m + sevenmseven-fourths of the temperament of the the too free admission of air into the vessel. The miry fields, Mortimer's Husbandry. Rejoicing in rich mould, most ample fruit Of beauteous form produce; pleasing to sight, But to the tongue inelegant and flat. Philips. The houses are flat-roofed to walk upon, so that every bomb that fell on them would take effect. Addison on Italy. How fast does obscurity, flatness, and impertinency, flow in upon our meditations? 'Tis a difficult task to talk to the purpose, and to put life and perspicuity into our discourses. Collier. 3 thirds of the temperament of the sixth. FLAT, double, (bb), of Chambers and Overend; sometimes 2 P, or 116 +2f+10 m; at others, P+S, or 105 + 2f+9m. FIAT, double of Liston, is invariably S+f, or 83+2f+7m. FLAT-BOTTOMED BOATS are such as are made to sail in shallow water, and to carry a great number of troops, artillery, ammunition, &c. They are constructed with a twelve-pounder bow-chase, and an eighteen-pounder stern-chase; their keel is from ninety to 100 feet, and from twelve to twenty-four feet beam: they have one mast, a large square main-sail, and a jib-sail; are rowed by eighteen or twenty oars, and can carry 400 men each. The gun takes up one bow, and a bridge the other, along which the troops are to march. Those that carry horses have the fore part of the boat made to open when the men are to mount, and ride along a bridge. FLATA ISLANDS, a cluster of small islands of Scotland, near the south-east of North Uist, and one mile north-east of Rona. FLATBUSH, a town of New York, capital of |