about with a large wooden spoon or ladle, to destroy the texture of the potatoes, and to reduce the soup to one uniform mass. When this is done, the vinegar and salt are added; and last of all, at the moment it is to be served up, the cuttings of bread. The soup should never be suffered to boil, or even to stand long before it is served up, after the cuttings of bread are put to it. It will, indeed, for reasons which will hereafter be explained, be best never to put the cuttings of bread into the boiler at all, but (as is always done at Munich) to put them into the tubs in which the soup is carried from the kitchen into the dining hall; pouring the soup hot from the boiler upon them, and stirring the whole well together with the iron ladles used for measuring out the soup to the poor in the hall. It is of more importance than can well be imagined, that this bread, which is mixed with the soup, should not be boiled. It is likewise of use it should not be cut as fine or thin as possible; and if it be dry and hard, it will be so much the better. The bread we use at Munich is what is called semel bread, being small loaves, weighing from two to three ounces; and as we receive this bread in donations from the bakers, it is commonly dry and hard, being that which, not being sold in time, remains on hand, and becomes stale and unsaleable; and we have found by experience, that this hard and stale bread answers for our purpose much better than any other, for it renders mastication necessary; and mastication seems very powerfully to assist in promoting digestion; it likewise prolongs the duration of the enjoyment of eating, a matter of very great importance indeed, and which has not hitherto been sufficiently attended to. The quantity of this soup furnished to each person at each meal, or one portion of it (the cuttings of the bread included) is just one Bavarian pound in weight; and as the Bavarian pound is to the pound avoirdupois as 1,125,842 to 1,-it is equal to about nineteen ounces and nine-tenths avoirdupois. Now, to those who know that a full pint of soup weighs no more than about sixteen ounces avoirdupois, it will not, perhaps, at the very first view, appear extraordinary, that a portion weighing nearly twenty ounces, and consequently making nearly one pint and a quarter of this rich, strong, savoury soup, should be found sufficient to satisfy the hunger of a grown person; but when the matter is examined narrowly, and properly analysed, and it is found that the whole quantity of solid food which enters into the composition of .one of these portions of soup does not amount to quite six ounces, it will then appear to be almost impossible that this allow ance should be sufficient. That it is quite sufficient, however, to make a good meal for a strong healthy person has been abundantly proved by long experience. I have even found that a soup composed of nearly the same ingredients, except the potatoes, but in different proportions, was sufficiently nutritive, and very palatable, in which only about four ounces and three-quarters of solid food entered into the composition of a portion weighing twenty ounces. But this will not appear incredible to those who know, that one single spoonful of salope, weighing less than one quarter of an ounce, put into a pint of boiling water, forms the thickest and most nourishing soup that can be taken; and that the quantity of solid matter which enters into the composition of another very nutritive food, hartshorn jelly, is not much more considerable. The barley in my soup seems to act much the same part as the salope in this famous restorative; and no substitute that I could ever find for it, among all the variety of corn and pulse of the growth of Europe, ever produced half the effect; that is to say, half the nourishment at the same expense. Barley may therefore be considered as the rice of Great Britain. It requires, it is true, a great deal of boiling; but, when it is properly managed, it thickens a vast quantity of water; and, as I suppose, prepares it for decomposition. It also gives the soup, into which it enters as an ingredient, a degree of richness which nothing else can give. It has little or no taste in itself, but, when mixed with other ingredients which are savory, it renders them peculiarly grateful to the palate. It is a maxim as ancient, I believe, as the time of Hippocrates, that whatever pleases the palate nourishes; and I have often had reason to think it perfectly just. Could it be clearly ascertained and demonstrated, it would tend to place cookery in a more respectable situation among the arts than it now holds. That the manner in which food is prepared is a matter of real importance; and that the water used in that process acts a much more important part than has hitherto been generally imagined, is, I think, quite evident; for it seems to me to be impossible, upon any other supposition, to account for the appearances. If the very small quantity of solid food which enters into the composition of a portion of some very nutritive soup were to be prepared differently, and taken under some other form, that of bread, for instance; so far from being sufficient to satisfy hunger, and afford a comfortable and nutritive meal, a person would absolutely starve upon such a slender allowance; and no great relief would be derived from drinking crude water to fill up the void in the stomach. But it is not merely from an observation of the apparent effects of cookery upon those articles which are used as food for man, that we are led to discover the importance of these culinary processes. Their utility is proved in a manner equally conclusive and satisfactory, by the effects which have been produced by employing the same process in preparing food for brute animals. It is well known that boiling the potatoes with which hogs are fed renders them much more nutritive; and, since the introduction of the new system of feeding horned cattle, that of keeping them confined in the stables all the year round (a method which is now coming fast into common use in many parts of Germany), great improvements have been made in the art of providing nourishment for those animals; and particularly by preparing their food, by operations similar to those of cookery; and to these improvements it is most probably owing, that stall feeding has in that country, been so universally successful. It has long been a practice in Germany for those who fatten bullocks for the butcher, or feed milch cows, to give them frequently what is called a drank or drink; which is a kind of pottage, prepared differently in different parts of the country and in different seasons, according to the greater facility with which one or other of the articles occasionally employed in the composition of it may be procured, and according to the particular fancies of individuals. Many feeders make a great secret of the composition of their drinks, and some have, to my knowledge, carried their refinement so far, as actually to mix brandy in them in small quantities; and pretend to have found their advantage in adding this costly ingredient. The articles most commonly used are, bran, oat meal, brewers' grains, mashed potatoes, mashed turnips, rye meal, and barley meal, with a large proportion of water; sometimes two or three or more of these articles are united in forming a drink: and, of whatever ingredients the drink is composed, a large proportion of salt is always added to it. There is perhaps nothing new in the method of feeding cattle with liquid mixtures, but the manner in which these drinks are now prepared in Germany is, I believe, quite new; and shows, what I wish to prove, that cooking renders food really more nutritive. These drinks were formerly given cold, but it was afterwards discovered that they were more nourishing when given warm; and of late their preparation is, in many places, become a very regular culinary process. Kitchens have been built, and large boilers provided and fitted up, merely for the cooking for the cattle in the stables; and I have been assured by many very intelligent farmers, who have adopted this new mode of feeding (and have also found by my own experience), that it is very advantageous indeed; that the drinks are evidently rendered much more nourishing and wholesome by being boiled; and that the expense of fuel, and the trouble attending this process, are amply compensated by the advantages derived from the improvement of the food. We even find it advantageous to continue the boiling a considerable time, two or three hours for instance; as the food goes on to be still farther improved, the longer the boiling is continued. These facts seem evidently to show, that there is some very important secret with regard to nutrition, which has not yet been properly investigated; and it seems to me to be more than probable, that the number of inhabitants who may be supported in any country upon its internal produce, depends almost as much upon the state of the art of cookery, as upon that of agriculture. The Chinese, perhaps, understand both these arts better than any other nation. Savages understand neither of them. But, if cookery be of so much importance, it certainly deserves to be studied with the greatest care; and it ought to be particularly attended to in times of general alarm on account of a scarcity of provisions; for the relief which may in many cases be derived from it is immediate and effectual, while all other sources are distant and uncertain.' After anticipating some objections to his plan, Count Rumford recommends the establishment of public kitchens in all towns and large villages throughout the kingdom. See KITCHEN. FOOL, n. s., v. n. & v. a.` FOOL'ERY, n. s. FOOL'ISH, adj. FOOL'ISHLY, adv. FOOL'ISHNESS, n. s. Greek φαυλος ; German faul, and probably foul in English. Thus, the original mean ing of fool is worthless, or good for nothing; dirty or idle: applied to the mind, weak, muddy in its ideas; slow of apprehension; reluctant to think It is now generally applied to a natural, au idiot; one to whom nature has denied reason; to one who counterfeits folly; a buffoon or jester. In Scripture the term is employed to designate a wicked man, to intimate that wickedness is folly; as it debases reason, and dishonors the character. The neuter verb is used in the sense to trifle; to toy; to play; to idle; to sport. The active signifies to treat with contempt; to disappoint; to frustrate; to cheat; to defeat; to infatuate; to allure from the dictates of reason and sobriety. Foolery is either habitual folly, or a solitary act, or the object of folly. Foolish, to be void of understanding; weak of intellect; imprudent; indiscreet; ridiculous; contemptible. Foolishly, weakly; without understanding. In Scripture all these terms signify wicked and wickedly. Foolishness is folly; want of understanding; actual deviation from the right. Fool is used in composition and in phrases idiomatic and peculiar the following are instances of both, and their illustrations are placed in the regular chronological order with those of their etymon. FOOL'BORN, adj. Fool and born. Foolish from the birth. FOOL-HAPPY, adj. Fool and happy. Lucky; without contrivance or judgment. FOOL-HARDINESS, n. 5. Fool and hardy. FOOL-HARDISE, n.s. FOOL-HARDY, adj. Mad rashness; cou rage without sense. The second noun is obsolete: it is however used by Spenser, and signifies adventurousness without judgment: the adjective signifies foolishly bold. FOOL'-LARGE, adj. Fool and large. Foolishly liberal. FOOL'-TRAP, n. s. Fool and trap. A snare to catch fools in, generally set by rogues. jester; to jest; to make sport; to act like one To play the fool. To play pranks like a hired void of common understanding. To make a fool of. To disappoint; to defeat. stance; to exchange without an adequate equivaTo fool away. To squander; to waste sublent. flattering his vanity, or cajoling his understandTo fool one of his money, is to cheat him by ing; that is, to rob him through the medium of his folly or his ignorance. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God. A ful gret fool is any conseillour, But for as moche as som folk ben unmesurable, men oughten for to avoid and eschue fool-largesse, the whiche men clepen waste. Certes, he that is fool-large, he geveth not his catel, but he leseth his catel. Id. The Pertones Tale. This is my lif but if that I wol fight; Id. Prologue to the Monkes Tale. As when a ship, that flies fair under sail, An hidden rock escaped unawares, That lay in wait her wreck for to bewail; The mariner, yet half amazed, stares At perils past, and yet in doubt he dares To joy at his fool-happy oversight. Faerie Queene. More huge in strength than wise in works he was, And reason with foolhardise over-ran; Stern melancholy did his courage pass, And was, for terror more, all armed in shining brass. Oce mother, when as her foolhardy child Pray do not mock me; I am a very foolish fond old man : I fear I am not in my perfect mind. Id. Shakspeare. Id. Reply not to me with a foolborn jest. We are come off Id. Like Romans: neither foolish in our stands, Twere as good a deed as to drink when a man's a-hungry, to challenge him to the field, and then to break promise with him, and make a fool of him. Id. Twelfth Night. Foolery, Sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines every where: I would be sorry, Sir, but the fool should be as oft with your master as with my Id. mistress. To over-reach; but with the serpent meeting, I scorn, although their drudge, to be their fool or jester. If any yet be so foolhardy, T'expose themselves to vain jeopardy; If they come wounded off and lame, Milton. No honour's got by such a maim. Hudibras. I returning where I left his armour, found another There is a difference betwixt daring and foolhardinoss: Lucan and Statius often ventured them too far, our Virgil never. Id. I am tired with waiting for this chemick gold, Which fools us young, and beggars us when old. Id. To be thought knowing, you must first put the fool It must be an industrious youth that provides against age; and he that fools away the one, must either beg or starve in the other. Id. He must be happy that knows the true measures of fooling. Id. Is it worth the name of freedom to be at liberty to play the fool, and draw shame and misery upon a Locke. man's self? If men loved to be deceived and fooled about their spiritual estate, they cannot take a surer course than by taking their neighbour's word for that, which can be known only from their own heart. South. A false glozing parasite would call his foolhardiness valour, and then he may go on boldly because blindly. Id. Foolishness being properly a man's deviation from right reason, in point of practice, must needs consist in his pitching upon such an end as is unsuitable to his condition, or pitching upon means unsuitable to the compassing of his end. Id. I would advise this blinded set of men not to give credit to those, by whom they have been so often fooled and imposed upon. Addison's Freeholder. A woman, who is not a fool, can have but one reason for associating with a man who is one. Congreve. Way of the World. He thanks his stars he was not born a fool, Pope. Swift. treating of things, where the difference lies only in It is mere foolery to multiply distinct particulars in words. Watts. He allows himself in foolish hatreds and resentments against particular persons, without considering Law. that he is to love every body as himself. Call me not Mother; for if I brought thee forth, it was Byron. Deformed Transformed. FOOLADOO, a district of Africa, near the sources of the Senegal, situated between Kaarta, instead thereof, and armed myself therein to play the Konkodoo, Jallonkadoo, and Manding. It is rocky, and watered by the numerous streams that fall into the Senegal, of which the principal are the Wonda, the Ba Lee, and the Ba Woollima. This country is the original residence of the Foulahs, a people widely diffused over Western Africa. FOOLICONDA, a town of Yani, in Western Africa, on the northern side of the Gambia, sixty miles north-west of Pisania. FOOL'STONES, n. s. A plant. FOOSHT, an island in the Red Sea, situated, according to the observations of Mr. Bruce, in N. lat. 15° 59′ 43′′. It is described by him as about five miles long from north to south, though only nine in circumference. It is low and sandy in the south, but the north rises in a black hill of inconsiderable height. It is covered with a kind of bent grass, which never arrives at any great length, by reason of want of rain and the constant browsing of the goats. There are great appearances of the black hill having once been a volcano; and near the north cape the ground sounds hollow like the Solfaterra in Italy. The inhabitants are poor fishermen of a swarthy color, going almost naked. FOOT, n. s., v. n. & v. a. FOOT'ED, adj. FOOT'ING, n. s. FEET, n. s. plural, FEET'LESS, adj. Sax. For; Scot. fut; Gothic and Swed. fot, Dan. foet; Teut. feus: qu. of Gr. 8? The lower part; the base; that on or by which any body or thing is supported; the lowest member of the human frame; the end; the lowest part. It is applied to the practice of walking; and to the posture and action of those that walk. It is used in a military sense to designate infantry from cavalry, and in this application has no plural. Footing seems to have been once proverbially used for the level; the square; the par. It metaphorically designates state; character; condition; scheme; plan; settlement. It is used in the singular, to characterise one of a certain number of syllables, constituting a distinct part of a verse which are called feet. It is also used for a measure containing twelve inches; on foot, a phrase denoting walking as distinguished from riding or being conveyed. The verb differs little from the noun, except in the following instances: to dance; to tread wantonly; to trip. Footed signifies, shaped in the foot. Footing is ground for the foot; support; root; basis; place; possession tread; walk; dance; steps; road; track; entrance; beginning; establishment; state; condition; settlement. The following are instances of its use in composition : FOOT-BALL, n. s. Foot and ball. A ball commonly made of a blown bladder, cased with leather, driven by the foot. The sport or practice of kicking the foot-ball. FOOT-BOY, n. s. Foot and boy. A male domestic servant, usually in livery. A FOOT-BRIDGE, n. s. Foot and bridge. bridge on which passengers walk; a narrow bridge. FOOT-CLOTH, n. s. ter cloth. Foot and cloth. A sump FOOT-FIGHT, n. s. Foot and fight. A fight made on foot, in opposition to that on horseback. FOOT-HOLD, n. s Foot and hold. Space to hold the foot; space on which one may tread surely. FOOT-LICKER, n. s. Foot and licker. A slave, a humble fawner: one who licks the foot. FOOT-MAN, n. s. Foot and man. A soldier belonging to the infantry, as distinguished from the cavalry; a domestic servant in or out of livery. One who practices to walk or run. FOOTMANSHIP, n. s. From foot-man. The art or faculty of a runner. FOOT-PACE, n. s. Foot and pace. Part of a pair of stairs, whereon, after four or five steps, you arrive to a broad place, where you make two or three paces before you ascend another step, thereby to ease the legs in ascending the rest of the stairs; a pace no faster than a slow walk. FOOT-PAD, n. s. Foot and pad A highwayman, that robs on foot. FOOT-PATH, n. s. way, which will not FOOT-POST, n. s. FOOTSTEP, n. s. Foot and path. A narrow admit horses or carriages. Foot and post. A post or messenger that travels on foot. FOOT-STALL, n. s. Foot and stall. A woman's stirrup. Foot and step. Impression left by the foot; hence trace; track-mark; print; impression, token, and evidence of any thing; To follow the footsteps of another is also to follow his example. FOOT-STOOL, n. s. Foot and stool. Stool on which he that sits places his feet. Antiochus departed, weening in his pride to make the land navigable, and the sea passable by foot. 2 Mac. v. 21. Ther, stomblen stedes strong, and doun goth all He rolleth under foot as doth a ball. Chaucer. The Knightes Tale. And eke his stede driven forth with staves Id. With footmen, bothe yemen and eke knaves. Feet, in our English versifying, without quantity and joints, be sure signs that the verse is either born deformed, unnatural, or lame. Ascham's Schoolmaster. A wounded dragon under him did ly,' Whose hideous tayle his lefte foot did enfold, And with a shafte was shot through either eye, That no man forth might draw, ne no man remedye. Spenser. By this the dreadful beast drew nigh to land, Half flying and half footing in his haste. Faerie Queene. Didst thou hear these verses? -0 yes, I heard them all, and more too; for some o' them had in them more feet than the verses would bear. Shakspeare. Yond' towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds, Must kiss their own feet. Id. Troilus and Creseide. Take heed, have open eye; for thieves do foot by Shakspeare. night. Shakspeare. Am I so round with you as you with me, That like a football you do spurn me thus? Id. The numbers levied by her lieutenant did consist of footmen three millions, of horsemen one million. Raleigh's History. Were it not for this easy borrowing upon interest, men's necessities would draw upon them a most sudden undoing, in that they would be forced to sell their means, be it lands or goods, far under foot. Bacon's Essays. An orange, lemon, and apple, wrapt in a linen cloth, being buried for a fortnight's space four foot deep within the earth, came forth no ways mouldy or He was carried in a rich chariot, litterwise, with two horses at either end, and two footmen on each side. Id. Like running weeds that have no certain root; or like footings up and down, impossible to be traced. Id. Henry VII. The Irish archers espying this, suddenly broke up. and committed the safety of their lives to their nimble footmanship. Hayward. For carrying such letters, every thoroughfare weekly appointeth a footpost, whose dispatch is well near as speedy as the horses. Carew. We are the earth, and they, Like moles within us, heave and cast about; And till they foot and clutch their prey, They never cool, much less give out. Herbert. Fretting, by little and little, washes away and eats out both, the tops, and sides, and feet of mountains. Hakewill. A man shall never want crooked paths to walk in, if he thinks that he is in the right way, wherever he has the footsteps of others to follow. Locke. All those sublime thoughts take their rise and footing here the mind stirs not one jot beyond those ideas which sense or reflection have offered. Id. Snouted and tailed like a boar, and footed like a goat. Grew. What colour of excuse can be for the contempt with which we treat this part of our species, the negroes, that we should not put them upon the common foot of humanity, that we should only set an insignificant fine upon the man who murders them? Addison. Like footmen running before coaches, To tell the inn what lord approaches. Prior When suffocating mists obscure the morn, Let thy worst wig, long used to storms be worn; This knows the powdered footman, and, with care, Beneath his flapping hat secures his hair. Gay. Let us turn our thoughts to the frame of our system, if there we may trace any visible footsteps of Divine wisdom and beneficence. Bentley's Sermons. And Sidney's verse halts ill on Roman feet. Pope. His brother's image to his mind appears, Inflames his heart with rage, and wings his feet with fears. Id. I ask, whether upon the foot of our constitution, as it stood in the reign of the late king James, a king of England may be deposed? Swift. Sacred Thespio! which in Sinai's grove First took'st thy being and immortal breath, And vaunt'st thy offspring from the highest Jove, Yet deign'st to dwell with mortals here beneath, With vilest earth, and men more vile residing; Come holy Virgin, to my bosom gliding; With thy glad angel-light my blind-fold footsteps guiding. Fletcher's Purple Islund. The trumpet sounds, your legions swarm abroad Through the ripe harvest lies their destined road; At every step beneath their feet they tread The life of multitudes, a nation's bread. Cowper. |