mode of taking the fish is this:-At the beginning of the season, the drag-net is used, which, being drawn along the banks, brings up various kinds of flat fish, as soles, plaice, thornbacks, and turbots; but, when the warm weather has driven the fish into deeper water, and upon banks of a rougher surface, where the drag-net is no longer practicable fishermen have then recourse to the hook and line. Each line extends from one to nearly three miles in length, and is armed with 600, 700, or 800, hooks, fixed to it at the distance of several yards from each other. To keep these long lines properly stretched, and prevent their being carried away by the tide, lead is used or small anchors. The Dutch are said to supply turbot to the value of £80,000 per annum to the London market.

It having been said that the English salt does not answer for curing fish, so well as that of St.

Ube's, St. Martin's, and Oleron; and that foreign salt is generally preferred for that purpose in the West of England; Dr. Henry, of Manchester, examined in 1809 the comparative strength and purity of British and foreign salt, and the result of his investigation has proved, that the quantity of pure muriate of soda contained in the large grained fishery salt of Cheshire, is considerably more than what exists in the celebrated salt of Oleron, which is the strongest of the foreign salts; and that the proportion of sulphate and muriate of magnesia is ten times, and of other impurities in foreign salt, three times as much, as in the Cheshire salt. An account of this analysis was read before the Royal Society, in January 1810, and published at Liverpool, in 1811. Dr. Henry's Table of the result of his experiments is so curious that we here insert it.

FISHING, RIGHt of. where the lord of the manor hath the soil on both sides of the river, it is a good evidence that he hath right of fishing; and it puts the proof upon him who claims liberam piscariam; but, where a river ebbs and flows, and is an arm of the sea, there it is common to all, and he who claims a privilege to himself, must prove it; for if the trespass is brought for fishing there, the defendant may justify, that the place is brachium maris, in quo unusquisque subditus domini regis habet et habere debet liberam piscariam. In the Severn the soil belongs to the owners of the land on each side; and the soil of the river Thames is in the king, but the fishing is common to all. He who is owner of the soil of a private river, hath separata piscaria; and he that hath libera piscaria, hath a property in the fish, and may bring a possessory action for them; but communis piscaria is like the case of all other commons. One that has a close pond, in which there are fish, may call them pisces suos, in an indictment, &c., but he cannot call

FISHING-FLY, a bait used in angling for divers kinds of fish. Of the artificial fly there are reckoned no fewer than twelve sorts, of which the following are the principal:-1. For March, the dun fly, made of dun wool, and the feathers of the partridge's wing; or the body made of black wool, and the feathers of a black drake. 2. For April, the stone-fly: the body made of black wood, dyed yellow under the wings and tail. 3. For the beginning of May, the ruddy fly; made of red wool, and bound about with black silk, with the feathers of a black capon hanging dangling on his sides next his tail.-4. For June, the greenish fly; the body made of black wool, with a yellow list on either side, the wings taken off the wings of a buzzard, bound with black broken hemp. 5. The moorish fly, the body made of duskish wool, and the wings of the blackish mail of a drake. 6. The tawny

fly, good till the middle of June: the body made of tawny wool, and the wings made to stand contrary, one against the other, of the whitish mail of a white drake. 7. For July, the wasp fly; the body made of black wool, cast about with yellow silk, and the wings of drakes' feathers. 8. The steel fly; proper in the middle of July; the body made with greenish wool, cast about with the feathers of a peacock's tail, and the wings made of those of the buzzard. 9. For August, the drake fly; the body made with black wool cast about with black silk; the wings of the mail of a black drake, with a black head. The best rules for fishing with the artificial fly are: To fish in a river somewhat disturbed with rain: or in a cloudy day, when the waters are moved by a gentle breeze; the south wind is best; and if the wind blow high, yet not so but that you may conveniently guard your tackle; the fish will rise in plain deeps; but, if the wind be small, the best angling is in swift streams. Keep as far from the water-side as may be; fish down the stream with the sun at your back, and touch not the water with your line. Always angle in clear rivers, with a small fly and slender wings; but in muddy places, use a larger. When, after rain, the water becomes brownish, use an orange fly; in a clear day, a light colored fly; a dark fly for dark waters, &c. Let the line be twice as long as the rod, unless the river be encumbered with wood. For every sort of fly, have several of the same, differing in color, to suit with the different complexions of several waters and weathers. Let the fly fall first into the water, and not the line, which will scare the fish. In slow rivers, or still places, cast the fly across the river, and let it sink a little in the water, and draw it gently back with the current. Flies for salmon should be made with their wings standing one behind the other, whether two or four. This fish delights in the gaudiest colors that can be; chiefly in the wings, which must be long, as well as the tail.

FISHING-FLOATS are little appendages to the line, serving to keep the hook and bait suspended at the proper depth, to discover when the fish has hold of them, &c. Of these there are divers kinds; some made of Muscovy duck quills, which are the best for slow waters; but, for strong streams, sound cork, without flaws or holes, bored through with a hot iron, into which is put a quill of exact proportion, is preferable: pare the cork to a pyramidal form, and make it

smooth.

FISHING-FROG. See LOPHIUS. FISHING-HOOK, a small instrument made of steel wire, of a bent form, to catch and retain fish. The fishing-hook, in general, ought to be long in the shank, somewhat thick in the circumference, the point even and straight. The bend should be in the shank. For setting the book on, use strong, but small silk, laying the hair on the inside of your hook; for if it be on the outside, the silk will fret and cut it asunder. There are several sizes of fishing-hooks, some big, some little, and of these some have peculiar names; as, 1. Single hooks. 2. Double hooks, which have two bendings, one contrary to the other. 3. Snappers, or gorgers, which are the

hooks to whip the artificial fly upon, or bait with the natural fly. 4. Springers, or spring hooks; a kind of double hooks, with a spring which flies open upon being struck into any fish, and so keeps its mouth open.

FISHING-LINE, a line made either of hair twisted, or silk; or the Indian grass. The best colors are the sorrel, white, and gray; the two last for clear waters, the first for muddy ones. The pale watery green color is given artificially, by steeping the hair in a liquor made of alum, soot, and the juice of walnut-leaves, boiled together.

FISHING-ROD, a long slender rod or wand, to which the line is fastened, for angling. Of these there are several sorts; as, 1. A troller, or trolling rod, which has a ring at the end of the rod, for the line to go through when it runs off a reel. 2. A whipper, or whipping rod; a top rod, that is weak in the middle, and top heavy, but all slender and fine. 3. A dropper, which is a strong rod, and very light. 4. A snapper, or snap rod, which is a strong pole, peculiarly used for the pike. 5 A bottom rod; being the same as the dropper, but somewhat more pliable.

FIS'SILE, adj. FISSIL'ITY, n.s. FIS'SURE, n.s. & v.a.

Lat. fissilis, fissura, from findo, to cleave. Easy to cleave; fissility is the quality of admitting to be cloven: fissure a cleft made; a narrow chasm or breach.

This crystal is a pellucid fissile stone, clear as water or crystal of the rock, and without color; enduring a red heat without losing its transparency, and in a very strong heat calcining without fusion.

Newton's Opticks.

FISSURE OF A BONE, in surgery, is when it is divided either transversely or longitudinally, not quite through, but cracked after the manner of glass, by any external force. See SURGERY.

FIST, n. s. & v. a. I Sax. Fyre; Goth. fast; FIST'ICUFFS. (Teut. faust; i. e. the hand in a fast or closed state. The hand clenched either to strike or hold: as a verb, to strike or grasp with the fist : fisticuffs are cuffs with the fist.

I commaunde you not Fortune to trust, and eke full well ye wot, I haue of her no brydle in my fist,

She renneth loose, and turneth where she lyst. Sir T. More.

She quick and proud, and who did Pas despise, Up with her fist, and took him on the face; Another time, quoth she, become more wise; Thus Pas did kiss her hand with little grace.

Sidney. I saw him spurning and fisting her most unmercifully. Dryden.

Tyrrheus, the foster-father of the beast, Then clenched a hatchet in his horny fist. Id. She would seize upon John's commons; for which they were sure to go to fisticuffs

Arbuthnot John Bull. My invention and judgment are perpetually at jisticuff, 'till they have quite disabled each other. Swift. Naked men belabouring one another with snagged sticks, or dully falling together by the ears at fisticuffs. More.

FIST'ULA, n. s. Fr. fistule; Lat. fistula. FIST'ULOUS, adj.) A sinuous ulcer. See below. That fistula which is recent is the easiest of cure:

those of a long continuance are accompanied with ulcerations of the gland and caries in the bone.

Wiseman's Surgery. How these sinuous ulcers become fistulous, I have shewn you. Id. FISTULA, in the ancient music, an instrument of the wind kind, resembling our flute or flageolet. The principal wind instruments of the ancients were the tibia and the fistula. Some had holes, some none; some again were single pipes; others a combination of several; witness the syringa of Pan.

FISTULA, in the veterinary art. See VETERINARY ART.

FISTULA, in surgery, a deep narrow ulcer, generally arising from abscesses. It differs from a sinus, in being callous, the latter not. See SURGERY.

FISTULA LACHRYMALIS. A disorder at the canal leading from the eye to the nose, which obstructs the natural progress of the tears, and makes them trickle down the cheek; but this is only the first and mildest stage of the disease: in the next there is matter discharged with the tears from the puncta lachrymalia, and sometimes from an orifice broke through the skin between the nose and the angle of the eye. The last and worst degree of it is, when the matter of one eye, by its long continuance, has not only corroded the neighbouring soft parts, but also affected the subjacent bone.

FISTULARIA, or Tobacco-pipe fish, a genus of fishes belonging to the order of abdominales. Of this genus Linnæus reckons two species. Three are now discovered. The F. tabacaria is generally about a foot in length; the fore part from the nose to half way the body of nearly equal bigness; from whence it grows

tapering to the tail, which is forked, and from which issues a slender taper whip, four inches long, of the consistence of whalebone; the mouth narrow, and the whole fish of a brown color. They are sometimes taken on the coasts of Jamaica. They feed on sea-insects, &c., which they drag easily from rocks on account of the peculiar formation of the snout. FIT, n. s. Sax. Fæt, Fæc; Swed. fet; FITFUL, adj. Belg. vat, Ital. fiata; as Skinner conjectures from fight; any fit of a disease being a struggle of nature:' Junius derives it more probably from the Flem. viit, frequent; and Gr. pirra, haste. The paroxysm or crisis of an intermittent disorder; any short return of an intermitting complaint: hence, disorder; distemperature, generally; any recommencement of an action after intermission; an interval: fitful is varied by paroxysms; changeful. The life did fit away out of her nest, And all his senses were with deadly fit opprest. Faerie Queene.

Mrs. Bull was so much enraged, that she fell downright into a fit. Arbuthnot's John Bull. Small stones and gravel collect and become very large in the kidneys, in which case a fit of the stone in that part is the cure. Sharp's Surgery.

All fits of pleasure we balance by an equal degree of pain or languor: 'tis like spending this year, part of the next year's revenue. Swift.

As his years increased, his fits of giddiness and deafness grew more frequent, and his deafness made conversation difficult. Johnson's Life of Swift.

FIT. See PAROXYSM.
FIT, adj. v. a. & v. n.
FIT'LY, adv.
FITMENT, n. s.
FITNESS,
FITTER,

FITTINGLY, adv.

Sax. Feze; Is fit; Kem. vitten; Belgic, voegt; Teut. fuight; (Sax. fegan, means to adapt. Thomson) Proper; meet; adapted: right; convenient: as an active verb, to make so; to accommodate or adapt one thing to another; taking out and up to give intensity to the meaning: as a neuter verb, to be proper or becoming.

Fitment is an obsolete word for

something adapted to a particular purpose. Men of valour, fit to go out for war and battle

1 Chron.

The whole of our duty may be expressed most fitly by departing from evil.

Tillotson.

This fury fit for her intent she chose, One who delights in wars and human woes. Dryden. A play, which if you dare but twice fit out, You'll all be slandered and be thought devout. Id. "Tis the great business of life to fit ourselves for our end, and no man can live well that hath not L'Estrange. It is a wrong use of my understanding to make it the rule and measure of another man's; a use which it is neither fit for, nor capable of.

death in his eye.

Locke.

Sowing the sandy gravelly land in Devonshire and Cornwall with French furze seed, they reckon a great improver of their land, and a fitter of it for corn.

Mortimer's Husbandry.

FITCH, in husbandry, is more generally known by the name of chick-pea. See CICER. Fitches are cultivated either for feeding cattle, or improving the land. They make a wholesome and nourishing food, whether given in the straw, or threshed out. soil, they are ploughed in just as they begin to When sown only to improve the blossom, by which means a tough stiff clay soil is much enriched.

There are two words in the Hebrew Old Testament, which our translators have rendered by fitches, np and D. The first occurs but once, and that in Isa. xxviii. 25. 27, where the connexion proves it to be some kind of seed, but what kind is a subject of dispute. Jerom, Maimonides, R. David, Kimchi, and the rabbin understand it to be the gith, called by the Greeks described by Ballester: 'It is a plant commonly Heλavolov, and by the Latins nigella. It is thus fennel; the flower blue, which disappearing, the met with in gardens, with leaves like those of ovary shows itself at the top like that of the poppy, and containing in its membranous cells seeds of a very black color, not unlike those of the leek, but of a very fragrant smell.' The Jewish rabbin mention the seeds as mixed with bread. The other word rendered fitches, is

, which the greatest number of commentaKimchi, as well as our English translators, contors render spelt; but Dr. Geddes, R. David sider it to be rye, which is supported by the Arabic translations. Dr. Shaw thinks it may be

rice.

FITCHAT, n. s. Į Fr. fissau; Dutch, fisse. FI'TCHEW. SA stinking little animal, that robs the hen-roost and warren. Skinner calls him the stinking ferret; but he is much

The fitchat, the sulimart, and the like creatures, live upon the face and within the bowels of the earth. Walton's Angler.

FITCHBURGH, a post-town of Massachusetts, in Worcester county, containing 1151 citizens in 1795; forty-two miles north-west of Boston, and 393 from Philadelphia.

FITCHE'E, in heraldry, from old Fr. ashe, i. e. fixed; a term applied to a cross when the lower branch ends in a sharp point. The reason of it Mackenzie supposes to be, that the Christians were wont to carry crosses with them wherever they went; and, when they stopped on their journey at any place, they fixed these portable crosses in the ground for devotion's sake.

FITISH, or FETISH, is the appellation given by the natives of Middle Africa to their idols, or charms, which are of almost endless variety in form and composition. The most common are milk, eggs, and birds; and the partridge is held so sacred, that if the foot of a dead one is known to have touched a dish of meat, no one will taste of it, although ready to die of hunger, They do not, however, regard milk or eggs with equal veneration, for they may be sometimes seen devouring each other's fitishes with the greatest harmony. Their portable fitishes consist of rude imitations of the human form, or of animals, with a piece of looking-glass fixed in the breast; the tusks of the young elephant, filled with a black paste, into which shells are stuck; tigers' claws and teeth; the minute horns of the chevrotten and other animals; sea-shells full of black paste, or even small parcels of partycolored rags, and diminutive flasks, containing consecrated gunpowder. No man takes a drink, without making an oblation to the master fitish, which is frequently an elephant's tooth. He holds it in the left hand, and, after licking its pasted head, squirts a mouthful of liquid over it in a shower; then muttering a few words, he

drinks the remainder himself.

FITZHERBERT (Sir Anthony), a learned lawyer in the reign of king Henry VIII., descended of an ancient family, and born at Norbury in Derbyshire. He was made a judge of the court of common pleas in 1523; and distinguished himself by many valuable works. His principal writings are, The Grand Abridgment; The Office and Authority of Justices of Peace; The Office of Sheriffs, Bailiffs of Liberties, Escheators, Constables, Coroners, &c.; Of the Diversity of Courts; Of the Surveying of Lands; and the Book of Husbandry. He died in 1538.

FITZJAMES (James, duke of Berwick), was the natural son of James II., by Mrs. Arabella Churchill, sister to the celebrated duke of Marlborough. He was born at Moulins in 1671,

and entered early into the French service. When only fifteen years of age, he was wounded at the siege of Buda. He was sent to Ireland in 1688, and distinguished himself at the siege of Londonderry, and at the battle of the Boyne. His superior merit recommended him to the French court, and he was created marshal of France, knight of the Holy Ghost, duke and peer of France, grandee of Spain, and commander-inchief of the French armies; in all which stations his behaviour was such, that few equalled, perhaps none surpassed him. He was killed by a cannon-ball at the siege of Philipsburgh in

1738.

FITZSTEPHEN (William), a learned monk of Canterbury, of Norman extraction, born of respectable parents in London, in the twelfth century. Being attached to archbishop Becket, he was present at the time of his murder. And in 1174 he wrote in Latin, The Life of St. Thomas, archbishop and martyr; in which, as Becket was a native of the metropolis, he introduces a description of London, with a detail of the manners and usages of the citizens, which is deservedly considered as a great curiosity, being the earliest professed account of London extant. He died in 1191.

FITZWILLIAM, a township of New Hampshire in Cheshire county; sixteen miles east of the Connecticut. FIVE, adj. FIVE-BAR,

FIVE-FOLD,

Saxon, FF; Goth. finif; Belg. fief; Teut. funf, seem FIVE-BARRED,ingly corrupted, says Minsheu, from the Lat. quinque. FIVE LEAVED. A number; four and one; five-bar and five-barred are, having five bars, usually applied to gates. Five-leaved is an epithet of cinquefoil. Drayton calls it 'five-leaf.'

and hidde hir fyve monethis and seyde.
And aftir these dayes Elizabeth his wif conseyvede
Wielif.
And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Matthew.