F A 1 
Uj 5 
F A I 
rather of the un'founclnefs of the counfels, or of fain turfs 
in following and effeteing the fame. Speifer.— -Timorouf- 
nefs; dcjeelion : 
The palenefs of this flow’r 
Bewray’d the faintnefs of my mailer’s heart. Skakefpeare. 
FAIN'T Y.adj. Weak ; feeble ; languid ; debilitated: 
enfeebled:. 
When winter frolfs conftrain the field with cold, 
The fainly root can,take no heady hold. Dryden. 
FAIR, adj. [paegeji, Sa x.faitr, Dan.] Beautiful; ele¬ 
gant of feature; handfome. Fair feems in the common 
acceptation to be relfrained, when applied to women, to 
the beauty of the face.—Thou art a fair woman to look 
upon. Gen. xii. 11. 
He only fair, and what he fair hath made, 
All other fair, like flowers, untimely fade. Spcnfr. 
Not black ; not brown ; white in the complexion.—Let us 
look upon men in feveral climates': the Ethiopians are 
black, flat-nofed, and crifp-haired : the Moors tawny ; the 
northern people large, and fair complexioned. Hale .— 
Pieafing to the eye ; excellent or beautiful in general to 
the eye or mind.—Thus was he fair in his greatnefs, 
and in the length of his branches. Ezek. xxxi. 7. 
For as.by depredations wafps proclaim 
The fairefl fruit, fo thefe the faired fame. Young. 
Clear; pure. — Even fair water, falling upon white paper 
or linen, will immediately alter the colour of them. Boyle. 
—Not cloudy; not foul; not tempeduous.— Fair weather 
cometh out of the earth. Job. 
Fair is foul, and foul is fair ; 
Hover through the fog and filthy air. Skakefpeare. 
Favourable ; profperous; as, a fair wind: 
In vain you tell your parting lover, 
You with fair winds may waft him over. Prior. 
Likely to fucceed.—The caliphs obtained a mighty em¬ 
pire, which was in a fair way to have enlarged, until they 
fell out. Raleigh. —Equal ; juft.—The king did fo much 
defire a peace, that no man need advife him to it or could 
divert him from it, jf fair and honourable conditions of 
peace were offered to him. Clarendon. — Not effected by 
any infidious or unlawful methods; not foul.—After all 
thefe eonquefts he palled the reft of his age in his own 
native country, and died a fair and natural death. Temple. 
Not pradlifing any fraudulent or infidious arts : as, a fair 
rival , a fair difputant: 
Virtuous and vicious ev’ry man mud be, 
Few in th’ extreme, but all in the degree; 
The rogue and fool by fits \% fair and wife, 
And ev’n the bed, by fits, what they defpife. Pope. 
Open ; diredl: 
For dill, methought, die fling not far away, 
At lad I found her on a laurel-fpr'ay ; 
Clofe by my fide die fat, and fair in fight, 
Full in a line, againft her oppofite. Dryden. 
Gentle; mild ; not compulfory.—All the lords came in, 
and, being by fair means wrought thereunto, acknow¬ 
ledged king Henry. Spenfer. —Mild ; not fevere : 
Not only do’ft degrade them, or remit 
To life obfeur’d, which were a fair difmiflion ; 
But throw’ll them lower than thou did’ft exalt them high. 
Milton. 
Pieafing ; civil.—When fair words and good counle! will 
not prevail upon us, we, mud be frighted into our duty, 
VEflrange .—-Equitable; not injurious:. 
His doom is fair. 
That dud I am, and {hall to dud return. Milton. 
Commodious; eafy.—I looked for the jugular veins, 
opened the fairefl, and took away a dozen ounces of blood. 
VFifeman. —Liberal ; not narrow : 
He through his virtue was as free from greedinefs, 
As through his fair livelihood, far from needinefs. Carcw. 
Vol. VII. No. 416. 
FAIR, adv. Gently; decently; without violence.—- 
He who fair and foftly goes deadily forward, in a courfe 
that points right, will fooner be at his journey’s end, than 
lie that runs alter every one, though he gallop. Locke .— 
Civilly ; complailantly.—One of the company (poke him 
fair , and would have dopt his mouth with acrud. L'lflrange. 
In this plain fable you th’ efFedt may fee, 
Of negligence, and fond credulity; 
And learn beddes of fiaft’rers to beware 
Then mod pernicious when they fpeak too fair. Dryden. 
Happily ; fuccefsfully : 
O, princely Buckingham, I’ll leifs thy hand, 
In fign of league and amity witli thee : 
Nowyizlr befall thee and thy noble houTe ! 
Thy garments are not fpotted with our blood. Skakefpeare .. 
On good terms. —There are other nice though inferior 
cafes, in which a man mud guard, if he intends to keep 
with the world, and turn the penny. Collier. 
“ Fair and foftly goes far.”—The French fay, Pas d 
pas on va bien loin: Step by dep, or by degrees, holds out 
longed. The Italians fay, Chi va piano vafano : He that 
goes foftly goes fafely. We fay iikewife, Soft fire makes 
fweetmalt. The Latins, Sat cito, ft fat bene-, and fo the 
French, Ce qvi cfl bien fait efl toujours afj'ez tot fait: That 
which is well done, is foon enough done. The Spaniards, 
as the French, Pdfifa pdfifo van a lexos. Thefe fayings ex¬ 
plain each other. 
FAIR,/! A beauty; elliptically a fair woman. — Gen¬ 
tlemen, who do not defign to marry, yet pay their devoirs 
to one part icular fair. Speflator. 
Of deep forfaken, to relieve his care, 
He fought the converfation of the fair. Dryden. 
Honedy ; juft dealing.—I am not much for that prefent ; 
we’ll fettle it between ourfelves; fair and fquare keeps 
friends together. Arbuthnot. —The beauty of a woman.— 
Thentell me,love, (hall I haveall thy fair? George-a-Grecn. 
My decayed fair 
A funny look of his would foon repair. Shakefpeare. 
FAIR,yi \_foire, Fr. feria, or forum, Lat.] An annual 
or Hated meeting of buyers and fellers; a time of traffic 
more frequented than a market. The privilege of hold¬ 
ing fairs in England is granted by the king.—The ancient 
Nundinae, or fairs of Rome, were kept every ninth day: 
afterwards the fame privileges were granted to the coun¬ 
try markets, which were at firft under the power of the 
confuls. Arbuthnot. 
His corn, his cattle, were his only care, 
And Ills fupreme delight a country fair. Dryden, 
The fird inftitution of fairs and markets feems plainly 
to have been for the better regulation of trade and com¬ 
merce, and that merchants and traders might be furnifhed 
with fuch commodities as they wanted, at a particular 
mart, without that trouble and lofs of time which mud 
necelfarily attend travelling about from place to place; 
and, therefore, as this is a matter of univerfal concern to 
the commonwealth, fo it hath always been held, that no 
perfon can claim a fair or market, unlefs it be by grant 
from the king, or by prefeription, which fnppofes fuch 
agrant. lhfl. 220. And, therefore, if any perfon lets up 
any fuch fair or market, without the king’s authority, a 
quo warranto lies againlt him; and the perfons who fre¬ 
quent fuch fair, &c. may be punidied by'fine to the king-. 
3 Mod. 127. Alio it feems, that if the king grants a pa¬ 
tent for holding a fair or market, without a writ ot ad 
quod damnum executed and returned, that the fame may 
be repealed by Jcire facias ; for though fuch fairs and 
markets are a benefit to the commonwealth, yet too 
great a number of them may become nuifunces to the pub¬ 
lic, as well as a detriment to thole who have more ancient 
grants. 3 Lev. 222. 
Fairs are generally kept once, twice, or thrice, in the 
year; and it has been o’bferved, that fairs were fird occa- 
U u iioned 
