223 



FOOT FORCE. 



feast of the iinmnciilnte conception of the mother of 

 God. To account for these celebrations, so opposed 

 to all our ideas of religion, decency, and common 

 sense, we must transfer ourselves to times when men, 

 less serious and less engaged in useful occupation 

 and study than at present, combined, with childish 

 simplicity, the most ridiculous with the noblest sub- 

 jects, and often with less injury than we should sup- 

 pose to the latter. When we gaze on the slender 

 and elegant columns of a Gothic church, we often 

 find, in the tracery of the capitals, a squirrel, a mon- 

 key, or even a miniature man in a ridiculous attitude, 

 as some quibble or stroke of humour is often inter- 

 spersed in the dramas of Shakspeare, in the midst of 

 the most tragic scenes. Burlesque or indecent 

 figures were even not unfrequently drawn in the 

 work of the large initial letters of the prayers in the 

 breviaries of this period, with a license which would 

 be most startling to an observer whose ideas were 

 formed entirely on the usage of later periods. 



FOOT ; a measure of length, derived from the 

 length of the human foot, containing twelve linear 

 inches. Square foot is a square whose side is one 

 foot, and is therefore equal to 144 square inches. 

 Cubic foot is a cube whose side is one foot, and the 

 cube contains 1728 cubic inches. See Measures. 



FOOT, in the Latin and Greek poetry ; a metre 

 or measure, composed of a certain number of long 

 and short syllables. These feet are commonly reck- 

 oned twenty-eight, of which some are simple, as con- 

 sisting of two or three syllables, and therefore called 

 dissyllabic or trisyllabic feet ; others are compound, 

 consisting of four syllables, and are therefore called 

 tetrasyllable feet. 



FOOTA JALLOO ; a country in the west part 

 of Africa, situated chiefly between the sources of the 

 Gambia and the Rio Grande, about 350 miles from 

 E. to W. and 200 from N. to S. The climate is 

 good ; the soil, dry and stony ; about one-third of it 

 very fertile, producing rice and maize. The inhabi- 

 tants are Mohammedans, considerably civilized, and 

 have numerous mosques. Chief towns, Teembo and 

 Laby. 



FOOTA TORRA ; a country in Africa, between 

 the Senegal and Gambia, N. of Woolly, N. W. of 

 Bondou. It is extensive, and occupied by Foulahs, 

 but is little known. 



FOOTE, SAMUEL, a comic writer and actor, was 

 born about 1721, at Truro, in Cornwall. He was 

 educated at Worcester college, Oxford, and entered 

 the temple; but, after a course of dissipation, to 

 which his small fortune fell a sacrifice, he turned his 

 attention to the stage. He appeared first in Othello, 

 but had little success as a tragedian, and soon struck 

 out an untrodden path for himself in his double 

 character of author and performer. In 1747, he 

 opened the little theatre in Haymarket, with a 

 dramatic piece,which he entitled the Diversions of the 

 Morning. It consisted of some very humorous imita- 

 tions ot well known characters, in detached scenes, 

 written by Foote, who always took the leading parts 

 himself. It succeeded so well, that, in order to 

 avoid the act for limiting the number of theatres, he 

 repeated it under the title of Mr Foote's giving Tea 

 to his Friends. The Auction of Pictures, a similar 

 device, proved equally successful ; and thus, having 

 discovered where his strength lay, he wrote several 

 two-act farces, which appeared from 1751 to 1757, 

 under the titles of Taste, the Englishman in Paris, the 

 Knights, the Englishman returned from Paris, and the 

 Author. From 1752 to 1761, he continued to perform 

 at one of the winter theatres every season, generally 

 for a stated number of nights, and usually to bring out 

 some pieces of his own composition. His embarrass- 

 ments compelled him, in 1760, to bring out his Minor, 



at the Haymarket, with such a company as he could 

 hastily get together. Henceforward he pursued the 

 scheme of constantly occupying the Haymarket 

 theatre when the others were shut up, and, from 176^ 

 to the season before his death, he regularly performed 

 there. In 1763, he brought out his Mayor of Garrat, 

 which was succeeded by the Patron and the Commis- 

 sary, abounding in general and personal ridicule. In 

 1766, he was thrown from his horse, and fractured 

 his leg in such a manner, that amputation was 

 necessary. He soon, however, recovered his health 

 and spirits, and even improved the incident to the 

 suggestion of characters for his own acting. This 

 accident also proved of service to his fortune, as it 

 induced the duke of York to procure for him a patent 

 for life of the Haymarket theatre. In 1775, the 

 duchess of Kingston having made herself the topic of 

 public conversation, Foote thought that she would 

 aHord a happy subject for the stage, and wrote a part 

 for her, under the character of lady Kitty Crocodile, 

 in a new piece which he was composing, called the 

 Trip to Calais. Taking care that his intention 

 should reach her ears, a negotiation was set on foot to 

 prevent its execution for a pecuniary consideration. 

 So much, however, was demanded, that the duchess 

 exerted her influence with the lord chamberlain, and 

 Foote was obliged to expunge the character from his 

 drama. He was soon after assailed by a charge of 

 an infamous nature, brought by a discarded man-ser- 

 vant, according to some accounts, instigated by 

 female revenge. He was, however, acquitted, in 

 full accordance with the sentiments of the judge ; but 

 he so felt the disgrace that his health declined, and, 

 a few months afterwards, he was seized, on the stage, 

 with a paralytic fit, which obliged him to retire and 

 spend the summer at Brighton. He was taken 

 suddenly ill at Dover, and died there in October, 

 1777. The character of Foote may be gathered from 

 the foregoing sketch. Of delicacy or feeling he was 

 wholly destitute ; as a humorist, he was irresistible, 

 which made him a constantly welcome guest at the 

 tables of the gay and great ; as a dramatic writer, he 

 possessed the vis comica in a superlative degree, and 

 there is a force of nature in some of his comic 

 delineations, which would not have discredited Mo- 

 liere. With the exception of the Mayor of Garrat, 

 none of his pieces, twenty in number, at present keep 

 the stage. His works have been published in 4 vols., 

 12mo. 



FORAGE, in military affairs, denotes the pro- 

 visions brought into the camp by the troops for the 

 sustenance of the horses. 



FORCE, in mechanics, denotes that unknown cause 

 which produces a change in the state of a body, as 

 to motion, rest, pressure, &c. ; that is, whatever 

 produces or tends to produce motion, or a change of 

 motion in any body, is called force. According to 

 this definition, the muscular power of animals, as 

 likewise pressure, impact, gravity, &c., are considered 

 as forces, or sources of nation, it being evident, from 

 daily experience, that bodies exposed to the free 

 action of any of these are either put into motion, or 

 have their state of motion changed. All forces, 

 however various, are measured by the effects which 

 they produce in like circumstances, whether the 

 effect be creating, accelerating, retarding, or deflect- 

 ing motions ; the result of some general and commonly 

 observed force is taken for unity, and with this any 

 others may be compared, and their proportions 

 represented by numbers or lines. Under this point 

 of view they are considered by the mathematician ; 

 all else falls within the province of the universal 

 philosopher, or the metaphysician. When we say 

 that a force is represented by a right line, A B, it 

 is to be understood that it would cause a material 



