

FEALTY. 



FEATHERS. 



34, 



the lower flanks of the bastions at Portsmouth, which are double jiaiiks, 

 and, in order to render the example complete, it is merely necessary to 

 suppose these second parapets continued along the curtains and before 

 the faces of the bastions. 



The fausse-braye, thus formed, was most probably employed before 

 the introduction of the covered way, a far more useful work : for the 

 terrepleins and crests of parapets of the two works being in the same 

 horizontal planes, it is evident that the fires could not be simultaneous, 

 and consequently that neither the musketry nor artillery fire of the 

 fausse-braye could be employed till the enemy were on the crest of the 

 glacis. It also afforded to the enemy some facilities in escalading the 

 rampart, by breaking the revetment into two steps, as it were ; the 

 first one, that of the fausse-braye, being about twenty-two feet, and 

 when the enemy were on it permitting him to circulate along the 

 rampart and rush in at more points than one at the same time. And 

 again, the defenders of the fausse-braye would be easily enfiladed by 

 the enemy's lodgments on the crests of the glacis three or four feet 

 above them ; and would be much injured by his shot and shell, which, 

 striking the revetments behind them, would cause great splinters, and 

 choke up the terreplein. On account of these defects, this kind of 

 fausse-braye has been long since suppressed, except opposite the curtain, 

 where it is supplied by the tenaille. [BASTION, fiy. 1.] It should be 

 observed, however, that Carnotand other more recent French engineers 

 have proposed constructions which may be considered as partial revivals 

 of the fausse-braye, but with circumstances which appear to render the 

 work free from the defects above mentioned. 



FKALTY. [FEUDAL SYSTEM.] 



FEAR is the dread or apprehension of any object or event, which 

 object or event however is sometimes purely imaginary. Absence of 

 fear is resolution or courage. Absence of all dread would be a repose 

 of the soul, for which, as it cannot exist, the language affords no term. 

 Dread is a minor species of affright or terror, but of a more enduring 

 nature. The highest and most excessive state of terror amounts to a 

 total deprivation of consciousness, and produces death. If these defi- 

 nitions are correct, a smaller degree of terror would consist in a quickly- 

 passing unconsciousness. Dread would consequently consist of a 

 succession of recurring periods of unconsciousness, alternating with 

 excessive rapidity with intervals of consciousness, of which only the 

 total impression is perceived (as in the vibratory strokes of vibrating 

 bodies in acoustics) ; this total impression constitutes dread. Fear is 

 only distinguished from dread through the imminence of danger, and 

 thence a fearful or a dreadful or frightful object are nearly synonymous. 

 The longer these periods of unconsciousness endure in a state of fear or 

 dread, the more powerful are the feelings, till at length (as in drowning 

 persons, or in children who are much alarmed) total unconsciousness 

 ensues, and, according to circumstances, death . 



If these definitions of fear and dread are psychologically correct, they 

 serve to explain all the consequent physiological phenomena. A violent 

 blow upon the head deprives us of consciousness, by occasioning an 

 interruption in the regular functions of the brain, through which recol- 

 lection ceases, and unconsciousness ensues. Any horrible appearance 

 to, or impression upon, the organs of sight may produce a similar effect ; 

 for if the nerves of vision are so powerfully affected as to re-act upon 

 the brain, the regularity of its action is similarly destroyed and the 

 same effects are produced as by a blow. It is the same with all the 

 ether senses ; and it is worthy of remark, that these feelings (of fear 

 or dread) evidently heighten the powers of the imagination. If there- 

 fore a powerful affection of the visual nerve will produce absolute 

 terror, so may a smaller degree of terror produce the more lasting 

 sensations of dread or fear, that is, interchanging pauses of conscious- 

 new and unconsciousness. With the brain and spinal marrow the 

 nerves are connected which lead to the lungs, to the stomach, to the 

 muscles, and other parts of the body. It is therefore not surprising 

 that dread or fear should display itself in shortness of breath, irregu- 

 larity of pulsation, an increased action of the heart, a disordered 

 stomach, sickness, and powerlessness of the limbs. 



Fear may be also produced through a disordered action occasioned 

 by gome local affection of the heart or the lungs, or through plethora 

 or disorders of the blood, or through a general sickness, as in the 

 cholera. 



FEAST or FESTIVAL, an anniversary day of civil or religious joy; 

 from the Latin fetttim. 



Among the Jews, the feast of Trumpets, that of Expiation, the feast 

 of Tabernacles, the feast of Dedication, the Passover, Pentecost, and 

 the fea*t of Purification, were the principal. The modern Jews have a 

 few more, but they are of later institution. 



The Greeks, and more especially the Athenians, had an abundance of 

 festivals. Such were the Aglauria, in honour of Aglauros, the daughter 

 of (Jecrops ; the Artemisia, in honour of Artemis ; the Dionysia, in 

 li'tn-.ur of Dionysus; the Eleusinia, in honour of Ceres; and the 

 Panathenaca, in honour of Athene : notices of the three last and most 

 important of them will be found under their several headings. 



'I h>- Human festivals were of two kinds ; first, those which were fixed 

 or stated ; secondly, those which were appointed annually on a certain 

 day by the magistrates or priests. Of the former kind were the 

 Agonalia, the Faunalia, Matronalia, Cerealia, Saturnalia, &c., through, 

 the several months ; the latter were the Ferire Latinse or Latin holidays, 

 the Paganalia in honour of the tutelary gods of the rustics, the 



ARTS AND act. DIV. vot. iv. 



Sementivae in seed-time, and the Compitalia. Dion (ix. 17) observes 

 ;hat so large a portion of the year was taken up with sacrifices and 

 holidays, to the great loss of the public, that Claudius abridged the 

 number. 



The Mohammedans, in addition to their weekly feast, or sabbath, 

 which is observed on Friday, have two festivals of a more solemn kind ; 

 the feast of Victims, celebrated on the 10th day of the last month of 

 their year, and the feast of Bairam. 



With us, some of our festivals are immoveable, and others moveable. 

 The immoveable festivals are Christmas Day, the Circumcision, the 

 Epiphany, Candlemas or the Purification, the Annunciation o the 

 Virgin Mary or Lady Day, All Saints, and All Souls. The greater part 

 of what are called Saints' Days have long ceased to be celebrated, except 

 in the calendar. The principal of the moveable feasts, and that by 

 which the rest are guided, and from which they keep their proper 

 distance, is Easter ; the others are Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Ash 

 Wednesday, Sexagesima, Ascension Day, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. 

 The four feasts from which leases are usually dated, and quarterly 

 payments made, are Lady Day, 25th March ; the Nativity of St. John 

 Baptist, June 24th; Michaelmas Day, September 29th; and Christmas 

 Day, December 25th. In the Roman Catholic and Greek churches the 

 festivals of the various saints are still preserved. 



The reader who would know more of the English festivals at an 

 earlier period, may consult the ' Liber Festivalis,' printed at Westminster 

 by W. Caxton, sm. fol. 1483, which consists chiefly of a collection of 

 sermons, preached to the common people upon them. See also ' Festa 

 Anglo-Romana,' 12mo, London, 1678 ; ' Historia Sacra, or the Holy 

 History, giving an exact and comprehensive account of all the Feasts 

 and Fasts of the Church of England,' 2nd edit.; .and Nelson's ' Fasts and 

 Festivals.' 



FEATHERS. In addition to their anatomical relation to the cover- 

 ings of birds, the principal uses to which feathers are applied are for 

 personal decoration, as plumes for ladies' head-dresses, or for the hats 

 of military officers ; as a soft and highly elastic material for filling 

 beds, cushions, and pillows ; or in the case of the larger quill-feathers, 

 as writing-pens, or small tubes for the manufacture of hair-pencils, or 

 similar purposes. 



For the first of these purposes their elegant appearance is their 

 great recommendation ; for the second, to which only the smaller 

 feathers are applied, their exquisite softness, and that elasticity and 

 peculiarity of structure which renders them less liable to clot together, 

 under the influence of pressure, than any kind of woolly or hairy 

 substance which is applied to the same purpose, are their great recom- 

 mendation ; while the last-mentioned use depends on their possession 

 of a hollow quill or barrel of a horny texture, which, though found in 

 all feathers, is only sufficiently large and strong in those of the wings 

 and tail to be useful for such a purpose. 



J'lumageri/. Of the various kinds of feathers employed as plumes 

 for head-dresses, the most important are those of the ostrich, of which 

 there are various qualities, almost wholly procured from Africa. Those 

 of the male bird are preferred, as being the whitest and most beautiful ; 

 those upon the back and above the wings being considered the best, 

 those of the wings next in quality, and the tail-feathers the least 

 valuable. The down, which is black in the males and gray in the 

 females, consists of the smaller feathers from other parts of the body, 

 which vary in length from four to fourteen inches. The finest white 

 feathers of the female bird are somewhat gray towards the end, which 

 lessens their value. The mode of preparing ostrich feathers for use, 

 and of dyeing them of various colours, is briefly as follows : They are 

 first washed or scoured by rubbing with the hand (being previously 

 tied up in bundles) in a lather of white soap and water, and sub- 

 sequently in clear water, as hot as the hand can bear. They are then 

 bleached by three successive operations, the first being to immerse and 

 agitate them well in hot water mixed with Spanish white, after which 

 they are rinsed in three clear waters in succession ; the second, which 

 is termed azurin;/, passing them quickly through a bath of cold water 

 containing a little indigo tied up in a fine cloth ; and the third, sul- 

 phuriny, or exposing them in a close vessel to the vapour of burning 

 sulphur, in the same way as in the bleaching of straw hats and 

 bonnets. The feathers are then dried by hanging upon cords, during 

 which they are shaken from time to time to separate their fibres. To 

 increase their pliancy the ribs are scraped with a bit of glass cut 

 circularly ; and to impart the requisite curly form to the filaments or 

 fibres, the edge of a blunt knife is drawn over them. The dyeing is 

 effected by various agents logwood, copperas, and acetate of iron for 

 black ; indigo for blue ; alum, Brazil wood, and cudbear for crimson ; 

 safBower and lemon-juice for pink; alum and Brazil wood for red; 

 alum, turmeric, and weld for yellow, &c. For all colours except black, 

 the feathers should be previously well bleached by exposure to the 

 action of sun and dew, which is effected by cutting the end of the 

 quill or tube to a sharp point, and sticking or planting the feathers 

 singly in grass ground, where they are left for fifteen days. 



Dr. Macgowan, United States consul at Ningpo, has recently given 

 an interesting account of the plumagery or feather-working of the 

 Chinese. Feathers are largely employed by that ingenious people in the 

 decoration of metallic ornaments, chiefly for head-dresses. The lustre 

 of the metal is softened by laying over it portions of a covering of blue 

 feathers, representing flowers, insects, birds, and the like. The art 



D 



