F1RENZUOLA FISHER. 



201 



which prevailed more particularly among the Per- 

 sians. See Gueber or Gheber. 



FIRENZUOLA. See Nannini. 



FIRMAMENT, in the Ptolemaic astronomy; the 

 eighth heaven or sphere, with respect to the seven 

 spheres of the planets which it surrounds; It is 

 supposed to have two motions, a diurnal motion, 

 given to it by the primum mobile, from east to west, 

 about the poles of the ecliptic ; and another oppo- 

 site motion, from west to east which last it finishes, 

 according to Tycho, in 25,412 years; according to 

 Ptolemy, in 36,000 ; and according to Copernicus, 

 in 25,800 ; in which time the fixed stars return to 

 the same points in which they were at the beginning. 

 This period is called the Platonic or great year. 



F I RM AN ; 1 . among the Turks, an order which the 

 grand vizier issues in the name of the sultan; 2. in the 

 East Indies, a written permission to trade. SeeTurkey. 



FIRST FRUITS and TENTHS, in law. First 

 fruits are the profits of every spiritual living for one 

 year; and tenths are the tenth of the yearly value of 

 such living, given anciently to the pope, throughout 

 all Christendom, but, in England, by stat. 26 Henry 

 VI II., c. 3, transferred to the king. By stat. 27 

 Henry VIII., c. 3, no tenths are to 'be paid for the 

 first year, as then the first fruits are due ; and, by 

 several statutes in the reign of queen Anne, benefices 

 under j50 per annum shall be discharged of the 

 payment of first fruits and tenths. She also restored 

 the profits of this revenue to the church, by estab- 

 lishing a perpetual fund therefrom, vested in trus- 

 tees, for the augmentation of poor livings under .50 

 a year. This is called queen Anne's bounty, and is 

 further regulated by subsequent statutes ; but, as the 

 number of livings under .50 was, at the commence- 

 ment of it, 5597, averaged at 23 per annum, its 

 operation will be very slow. 



FISC. Fiscus signified, in the Roman law, the 

 private treasury of the emperor, as distinguished 

 from the public treasury (the aerarium publicum). 

 In modern law, on the European continent, fiscus 

 denotes the public treasury, and the private treasure 

 of the monarch is called chatoulle. Fiscus is parti- 

 cularly used for the public treasury, when considered 

 in a legal point of view ; for instance, as entitled 

 to all fines, or goods without an owner, or which 

 are forfeited by the owner, &c. ; or when we speak 

 of its particular privileges. These privileges were 

 very extensive by the civil law; as, for instance, 

 the lien which the fiscus had on the property 

 of its officers, and of those who had made any con- 

 tract with it ; the right to demand interest, even 

 if it was not a part of the contract, and that of not 

 being obliged to allow interest in case of delay of 

 payment : a greater length of time was required to 

 bar actions on the part of the fiscus than on that of 

 private persons ; it was not obliged to give surety 

 nor to pay the costs of processes : there were many 

 other privileges, in part necessary and in part arbi- 

 trary and tyrannical. The fiscal right, that is, the 

 right of having a fiscus, with these privileges, apper- 

 tains only to the general government, but is often 

 conferred on cities, universities, provinces, corpora- 

 tions, &c. In Germany, when an individual brings 

 an action against the state or sovereign, the form of 

 the action is, " A B vs. the Fiscus." 



FISCAL, from fiscus (q. v.) ; in most German 

 states, an officer who represents the government 

 before the courts of justice, corresponding to the 

 French ministere public, and the solicitor and attor- 

 ney-general in England. In the ancient German 

 empire, there were imperial fiscals, whose duty it 

 was to prosecute violations of the laws of the 

 empire ; for instance, abuses of the right of coining, 

 disturbances of the public peace, &c. 



FISCHART, JOHN, also called Mentzer, and, in 

 his different works, by other names, was born ; 

 according to some, at Mentz, from which they derive 

 his name of Mentzer ; according to others, at Stras- 

 burg. He became doctor of laws, and, about 1586, 

 was bailiff of Forbach, near Saarbruck. He died 

 before 1591. Little is known of his life, and there 

 is much which is unintelligible in his writings ; they 

 are mostly satirical, partly in prose, partly in verse, 

 partly of both mixed together, and have the most 

 whimsical titles. As a satirist, he is the most unre- 

 strained of his age, inexhaustible in droll, humorous, 

 and witty thoughts, not seldom guilty of equivoque 

 and obscenity, intimately acquainted with the follies 

 of his age, and never at a loss whether to ridicule or 

 lash them. He treats the German language with the 

 greatest freedom, coining new words and turns of 

 expression, without any regard to analogy, and dis- 

 playing, in his most arbitrary formations, erudition, 

 and wit. In the broad comic and burlesque, he is not 

 to be surpassed ; and, even in his most satirical-effu- 

 sions, there is an honesty and good nature always ob- 

 servable. His most celebrated works are. a rifaccimi- 

 ento ofiheGargantua of Rabelais, first printed in 1552; 

 Das gluckhaft Schijf von Zurich (The lucky Ship of 

 Zurich), 1576, 4to, and several others. We. also find 

 in Fischart the first attempt at German hexameters, 

 which have been lately brought to perfection by 

 Aug. W. von Schlegel. J. Paul Richter says, he is 

 much superior to Rabelais in regard to language, 

 images and meaning, and is equal to him in erudi- 

 tion, and in an Aristophanic creation of words. He 

 is rather the reviver of Rabelais than his translator. 



FISH. See Ichthyology. 



FISHER, JOHN ; bishop of Rochester ; a learned 

 Catholic divine in the reign of Henry VIII. He 

 was born in 1459, at Beverley, in Yorkshire, and 

 received his education at Cambridge, where he 

 graduated and obtained a fellowship. In 1495, he 

 was chosen master of Michael-house, and entered 

 into holy orders. Soon after, he was made vice-chan- 

 cellor. Margaret, countess of Richmond, chose 

 him for her confessor; and, through his influence, 

 determined on the noble academical foundations 

 which have perpetuated her memory. In 1501, he 

 was admitted D. D., and the next year he became 

 the first Margaret professor of divinity at Cambridge. 

 In 1504, he was unexpectedly promoted to the see 

 of Rochester, on the recommendation of Fox, bishop 

 of Winchester. He subsequently declined transla- 

 tion to a more valuable bishopric ; and he was 

 accustomed to style his church his wife, declaring 

 that he would never exchange her for one that was 

 richer. The same year in which he was raised to 

 the bench, the office of chancellor of the university of 

 Cambridge was conferred on him. Deeply prepos- 

 sessed in favour of the ancient faith of the nation, he 

 opposed with zeal and perseverance the principles 

 of Luther and his followers. But the same conscien- 

 tious motives which induced Fisher to become the 

 champion of Henry VIII., impelled him to oppose 

 the king's measures for procuring a divorce from his 

 wife, and declaring himself head of the church. 

 His imprudence and weakness in listening to the 

 pretended prophecies of Elizabeth Barton, or the 

 maid of Kent, subsequently furnished the court with 

 an opportunity of punishing his opposition to the 

 royal designs. In 1534, an act of attainder was passed 

 against Barton and her accomplices, among whom 

 bishop Fisher was included; and, being adjudged 

 guilty of misprision of treason, he was condemned to 

 the forfeiture of his property, and imprisonment 

 during the king's pleasure. It does not, however, 

 appear that this sentence was executed, a fine of 

 300, it is said, having only been exacted. He was 



