F E A 
F E A 
FEE 
objects on the coast or in the adjacent coun- 
try. They exhibit by turns the city and sub- 
urb' of Messina, trees, animals, men, and 
mountains. They are certainly beautiful 
aerial moving pictures. There are some- 
times two or three prisms, equally perfect; 
and they continue in this state eight or ten 
liHHutes. After this some shining inequalities 
are observed upon the surface of the prism, 
which render confused to the eye the objects 
which had been before so accurately deline- 
ated, and the picture vanishes. The vapour 
forms other combinations, and is dispersed in 
air. Different accounts have been given of 
ttiis singular appearance; which for my part 
1 attribute to a bitumen that issues from cer- 
tain rocks at the bottom of the sea, and which 
is often seen to cover a part of its surface in 
the canal of Messina. The subtle parts of 
this bitumen bein£ attenuated, combined, and 
exhaled w ith the aqueous globules that are 
raised by the air, and formed into bodies of 
vapour, givs to this condensed vapour more 
consistence ; and contribute, by their smooth 
and polished particles, to lire formation of a 
kind of aerial crystal, which receives the 
light, reflects it to the eye, and transmits to it 
all the luminous points which colour the ob- 
jects exhibited in this phenomenon, and ren- 
der them visible.” 
FATHER, in church history, is applied 
to antient authors who have preserved in 
their writings the traditions of the church. 
Thus St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, &c. are call- 
ed Greek fathers, and St. Augustine and 
St. Ambrose Latin fathers. No author who 
wrote later than the twelfth century is dignified 
with the title of Father. 
Father and son. In law the father 
■shall not have action for taking any of his 
children, except his heir; and that is, because 
the marriage of his heir belongs to the father, 
but not of any other of his sons or daughters. 
And the father has no property or interest 
in the other children, which the law accounts 
may be taken from him. Cro. Eliz. 770. 
l he lather is obliged by the common law 
i to provide for his children. LordRaym. 41. 
Justices cannot order a maintenance for a 
child to be paid by the father, without ad- 
judging that the child is poor, or likely to be- 
come chargeable. Id. t>6y. 
FATHOM, a long measure containing six 
feet, chiefly used at sea for measuring the 
length of cables and cordage. 
FAVOR ITO, in music, as clioro favorito, 
a chorus in which are employed the best 
voices and instruments, to sing the recitatives, 
p'ay the ritornellas, &c. ; this is otherwise 
I called the little chorus, or clioro recitante. 
FAUSSE-BRAYE, in fortification, a small 
rampart without the true one, about three or 
four fathom wide, and bordered with a para- 
pet and banquet. See Fortification. 
FEAL-DIKES, a cheap sort of fence com- 
mon in Scotland, built with feal or sod dug 
up by the spade from the surface of grass- 
ground, consisting of the upper mould ren- 
dered tough and coherent by the matted roots 
ot the grass thickly interwoven with it. If 
only a very thin bit of the upper surface is 
pared off with a paring- spade, the pieces are 
railed divots. These being of a tinner con- 
sistence, are more durable when built into 
j; tliii es than feal, but much more expensive also. 
FEALTY, ill law, an oath taken on lhe 
admittance of any tenant, to be true to the 
lord of whom lie holds his land; by this oath 
the tenant holds in the freest manner, on ac- 
count, that all w ho have fee, hold per tidem 
et liduciam, that is, by fealty at the least. 
This fealty, at the first creation of it, bound 
the tenant to fidelity, the breach of which was 
the loss ot his fee. It has been divided into 
general and special ; general, that which is to 
be performed by every subject to his prince ; 
and special, required only of such as, in re- 
spect of their tee, are tied by oath to their 
lords. To all manner of tenures, except ten- 
anlcy at will and frank-almoign, fealty is in- 
cident, though it chiefly belongs to copyhold 
estates, held in fee and for life. The form of 
this oatli by stat. 17 Ed. II. is to run as fol- 
lows. “ I, A. B. will be to you mv lord D. 
true and faithful, and bear to you faith for the 
lands and tenements which I hold of you, 
and 1 will truly do and perform the customs 
and services that I ought to do to you. So 
help me God.” 
1* LAS 1 , or Festival, in a religious sense, 
is a day of teasting and thanksgiving. 
The four quarterly feasts, or stated times 
whereon rent on leases is usually reserved to 
be paid, are Lady-day, or the annunciation 
qt the blessed virgin Mary, or 25th of March ; 
the nativity of St. John the Baptist, held on 
the 24th ot June; the feast of St. Michael the 
archangel, on the 2Qth of September; and 
Christmas, or rather St. Thomas the apostle, 
on the 2 1 st of December. 
FEATHE R, in physiology, a general name 
tor the covering ot birds : it being common to 
all the animals of this class to have their 
whole body, or at least the greatest part of it, 
covered with feathers or plumage. 
1 here are two sorts ot feathers found on 
birds, viz. the strong and hard kind, called 
quills, found in the wings and tail ; and the 
other plumage, or soft feathers, serving for 
the defence and ornament of the whole bodv. 
AH birds, so far as vet known, moult the 
feathers of their whole body yearly. Feathers 
make a considerable article of commerce, 
particularly those ot the ostrich, heron, swan, 
peacock, goose, ike. for plumes, ornaments of 
the head, tilling of beds, writing-pens, &e. 
Geese are plucked in some parts of Great 
Britain live times in the year; and in cold 
seasons many of them die by this barbarous 
custom. Those feathers that ate brought 
from Somersetshire are esteemed the best, 
and those from Ireland the worst. 
Eider down is imported from Denmark ; 
the ducks that supply it being inhabitants of 
1 1 udson’s-bay, Greenland, Iceland, and Nor- 
way, All the islands west of Scotland breed 
numbers of these birds, which turn out a pro- 
fitable branch of trade to the poor inhabitants. 
Hudson’s-bay also furbishes very fine feathers, 
supposed to be of the goose kind. 'Hie 
down of the swan is brought from Dant- 
zic. 1 lie same place also sends us great 
quantities of the feathers of the cock and lien. 
T he London poulterers sell a great quantity 
of the feathers of those birds, and ot' ducks 
and turkeys; those of ducks, being a weaker 
feather, are inferior to those of the goose ; and 
turkey’s feathers are the worst of any. The 
best method of curing feathers is to lay them 
in a room, exposed to the air and sun ; and 
when dried, to put them in bags, and beat 
them well with poles to get off the dirt, 
4 U 2 
7 07 
leathers, when chemically anajvsed, seem 
to possess very nearly the same properties 
with hair. According to Mr. Hatchett, the 
quill is composed chiefly of coagulated albu- 
men, without any traces of gelatine. .See 
Hair. 
I 'eather-mill, in the salt-works, the pal'- 
ll! ion in the middle of the furnace, w hich it 
divides into two chambers. See the article 
Salt-making. 
Feather-edged, among carpenters, an 
appellation given to planks or boards which 
have one side thicker than the other. 
FECIALES. or F vciai.es, a college of 
priests instituted tit Rome by Nuina, con- 
sisting ot twenty persons' selected out of the 
best families. Their business was to be arbi- 
trators of all mattersjelatingtowar and peace, 
and to be the guardians of the public faith. 
It is probable that they were ranked among 
the officers of religion, to procure them the 
more deference and authority, and to render 
their persons more sacred among the people. 
If the commonwealth had received any in- 
jury from a foreign state, they immediately 
dispatched these officers to demand satisfac- 
tion, who, if they could not procure it, were 
to attest the Gods against the people and 
country, and to denounce w r ar: otherwise 
they confirmed the alliance, or contracted a 
new one, which they ratified by sacrificing a 
hog. 
FECULA. See Gi UTE.V. 
1‘ EE, in law. All our land here in England 
(the crown-lands being in the king’s own 
hands, in right of his crown, excepted) is in 
the nature of feudum or fee ; for though many 
have land by descent from theijr ancestors, 
and others have clearly purchased land with 
their money, yet is the land of such a nature, 
that it cannot come to any, either by descent 
or purchase, but with tlie burthen thgf was 
laid upon him who had novel fee, or first of 
all received it as a benefit from his lord to 
him, and to all such to whom it might de- 
scend, or auv way be conveyed from him ; so 
that in truth, no man has directum domi- 
nium, the very property or demesne, in any 
land, but only the prince in right of his 
crown. Cam,' Brit, 93 . See Feodal Sys- 
tem. 
I I ee Simple, is an estate of inheritance 
whereby a person is seised of lands, tenements 
or hereditaments, to hold to him and his heirs 
for ever, generally, absolutely, and entirely; 
without mentioning what heirs, but referring 
fluit to liis own Measure, or the disposition ot 
the law'. It is tlie most perfect tenure of any, 
when unincumbered; but although the great- 
est interest which by our law a subject can 
possess, yet it may be forfeited for treason 
or felony. To constitute an estate in fee, or 
ot inheritance, the word heir is necessary in 
tire grant or donation. Co. Lit. 1. P-lowd. 
49S. 2 Black. 48. 
Fee qualified, is such a freehold estate, 
as has a qualification subjoined to it, and 
which therefore must determine whenever 
the qualification is at an end. Co. Lit. 27. 
1' ee conditional. This estate was, at 
the common law, a fee restrained to some 
particular heirs, exclusive of others ; as to the 
heirs of a man’s body, or to the heirs male of 
his body: in which eases it was held, that as 
soon as the grantee luui ’issue born, the estate 
was thereby converted into fee pimple, at 
