FEME COVERT FENELON. 



165 



by the corpse, to show that it was r.ot a murder, but 

 a punishment inflicted by one of the Freischoffen. 

 How many judicial murders were perpetrated in this 

 manner, from revenge, interested motives, or malice, 

 may well be imagined. The Freischoffe who gave 

 the condemned a secret hint for his escape, was him- 

 self punished with death. With the greatest reason 

 may we call these secret tribunals the most execra- 

 ble and monstrous perversions of judicial institutions 

 which have ever existed among civilized nations. Simi- 

 lar societies existed in Italy. (S to! berg's Travels in 

 Italy, III. p. 443.) Paul VVigand has thrown light 

 upon this subject iu his work Das Femgerickt JVest- 

 falens, 1825. 



FEME COVERT, in law, signifies a married 

 woman, in contradistinction to a feme sole, or single 

 woman. By the common law of England, the legal 

 capacity of a woman to contract, and sue or be sued, 

 separately, ceases on her marriage. By the act of' 

 marriage, her husband becomes a party to her con- 

 tracts, existing at the time of the marriage. He is 

 liable to pay her debts, or he may collect for his own 

 use the debts due to her. All her personal property 

 also becomes his, and he may reduce it to his own 

 possession. And if she makes a contract during the 

 marriage, it is his contract as far as it has any force. 

 By the civil law. the wife's legal capacity is not 

 merged by the marriage to nearly the same extent. 

 She holds her property separately, and may, in re- 

 spect to it, commence and defend suits independently 

 of her husband ; and so she may contract, in respect 

 to her property or her separate business, independ- 

 ently of her husband. While lord Mansfield was 

 chief justice of the king's bench, it was decided by 

 that court, that, when a husband and wife voluntarily 

 separated by an agreement made between them- 

 selves for this purpose, and an allowance was made 

 by the husband to the wife for her support, the wife 

 might be sued, separately, on her contracts for 

 articles used in her ordinary course of living* This 

 decision was doubted, from time to time, and finally 

 overruled in the time of lord Kenyon, the successor 

 to lord Mansfield. But if the husband is transported 

 beyond sea, outlawed, or condemned to imprisonment 

 for life, or the parties are divorced from the bonds of 

 matrimony, or from bed and board, the wife's capa- 

 city to contract, and to sue in her own name, for 

 causes of action accruing subsequently, will be re- 

 vived. So in courts of" equity, following, in this 

 respect, more nearly the civil law, a wife may main- 

 tain suits separately from her husband, where this is 

 necessary in order to the attainment of justice. An 

 exception is also made, by a particular custom in 

 London, in favour of trade ; for a feme covert trader 

 in that city may contract, and sue or be sued, in her 

 own name, in concerns relating to her trade. 



FENCING ; the noblest branch of gymnastics. 

 (q. v.) Fencing is divided into fencing with the 

 broad sword and the small sword ; the latter being 

 the higher and more perfect, and highly useful in 

 the physical education of the male sex, as it gives 

 strength and flexibility to the limbs, quickness and 

 accuracy to the eye, and coolness and self-possession 

 to the mind. 



FEN ; a place overflowed with water, or abound- 

 ing with bogs; as the bogs in Ireland, the fens in 

 Lincolnshire, Kent and Cambridgeshire. These fens 

 abound in duck, teal, mallards, pike, eels, &c., and 

 an herbage that is very nourishing to sheep and 

 cattle. 



FENELON, FRANCOIS DE SAI.ICNAC T>E LA MOTTE ; 

 one of the most venerable of the French clergy, the 

 pattern of virtue in the midst of a corrupt court. He 

 was born in 1651, at the chateau Fenelon, in Peri- 

 gord, of a family illustrious in church and state. A 



gentle disposition, united with great vivacity ol 

 mind, and a feeble and delicate constitution, charac- 

 terized his youth. His uncle, the marquis of Fe"ne- 

 lon, had him educated under his own eye, at Cahors. 

 The youth made astonishing progress, and easily 

 mastered the most difficult studies. In his 15th 

 year, he preached with great applause. His uncle, 

 fearing that success and flattery might corrupt so 

 amiable a heart, advised his nephew to cultivate his 

 talents in retirement. He placed him under the 

 care of the abbe Tronson, superior of St Sulpice, in 

 Paris. At the age of twenty-four, Fenelon took 

 holy orders, and performed the fatiguing duties of 

 the parish of St Sulpice. Harlay, archbishop of 

 Paris, gave him the care of a society of female con- 

 verts, called the New Catholics, which office he dis- 

 charged during three years. In this station he first 

 displayed his powers of instruction and persuasion. 

 The king, having heard of the success of his labours, ap- 

 pointed him to take charge of a mission to Saintonge, 

 for the conversion of the Huguenots ,where his mild and 

 convincing eloquence, joined to his amiable manners, 

 met with astonishing success. It is to the honour of 

 Fenelon, that he would not accept this post, except 

 on condition that no other means should be employed 

 than those of charity and argument. In 1681, his 

 uncle conferred on him the priory of Carennac. Soon 

 after, he wrote his first work, On the Education of 

 Daughters, which was the basis of his future reputa- 

 tion. In 1689, Louis XIV. intrusted to him the edu- 

 cation of his grandsons, the dukes of Burgundy, 

 Anjou, and Berri. Fenelon was successful hi form- 

 ing the mind of the young duke of Burgundy, heir 

 presumptive to the throne of France, and sowed the 

 seeds of every princely virtue in his heart ; but his 

 premature death blasted the pleasing anticipations 

 entertained respecting* him. In 1694, Fenelon was 

 created archbishop of Cambray. A theological dis- 

 pute (see Quietism) with Bossuet, his former instruc- 

 ter, terminated in his condemnation by pope Innocent 

 XII., and his banishment to his diocese by Louis 

 XIV. Fenelon submitted without the least hesita- 

 tion. In this period (1694 97) was written his let- 

 ter to Louis XIV., first discovered in 1825, in which 

 he speaks bold truths to the deceived monarch. 

 (Lettre de Fenelon a Louis XI V., avec Facsimile, 

 Renouard, Paris, 1825). From this time, he lived 

 in his diocese, sustaining the venerable character of 

 a Christian philosopher, and scrupulously performing 

 his sacred duties. He died 1715, of a lung fever. 



His works in the departments of philosophy, theo- 

 logy, and the belles-lettres, have immortalized his 

 name. He was familiar with the best models of an- 

 cient and modern times, and his mind was animated 

 by a mild and gentle spirit of benevolence. His 

 style is fluent and pleasing, pure and harmonious. 

 His most celebrated work is Les ^ventures de Tele- 

 maque, in which he endeavoured to exhibit a model 

 for the education of a prince. It was carried oft' and 

 published by a valet employed to transcribe the 

 manuscript. On the appearance of this work, Louis 

 manifested displeasure towards Fenelon, conceiving 

 this historical romance to be a satire on his reign, ana 

 forbade the completion of the printing. Some mali- 

 cious persons pretended, what Fenelon himself never 

 thought of, that Calypso represented madame de 

 Montespan, Eucharis mademoiselle Fontanges, An- 

 tiope the duchess of Burgundy, Protesilaus Louvois, 

 Idomeneus the exiled king James, and Sesostris Louis 

 XIV. It is a masterpiece of its kind, delivering the 

 most excellent morality in pleasing language. Two 

 years after his death, his heirs published the Tele- 

 maque, complete in two volumes. Since that time, 

 there have been numerous editions. In 1819, a 

 monument was erected, by public sutecription, to his 



