324 
F E R 
In FERE, adv. [old Eng.] In company : 
What lucklefs planet frowns 
Have drawn him and his hogs in fere 
To root our daified downs ? IV. Browne. 
FERE (Ea), a town of France, in the department of 
the Aifne, and chief place of a canton, in tlve diftrift of 
Chauny, (ituated in a marfliy foil, near the river Serre, 
which joins the Oife. It was fortified by cardinal Maza¬ 
rine, and made one of the ftrongeft places in the kingdom, 
"but was afterwards difmantled : eight polls north-weft of 
Rheims, and fixteen north-eaft of Paris. Lat.49.40. N. 
Ion. 2i. 1. E. Ferro. 
FERE CHAMPENOISE (La), a town of France, in 
the department of the Marne, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the diftridt of Sezanne : four leagues eaft-north- 
eaft of Sezanne : and fix fouth-weft of Chalons-fur-Marne. 
FERE EN TARDENOIS, a town of France, in the 
department of the Aifne, and chief place of a canton, in 
the diftridl of Chateau-Thierry : three leagues and a half 
north-north-eaft of Chateau-Thierry, and three fouth-weft 
of Fifmes. 
FERENTA'RIT, in Roman antiquity, auxiliary troops, 
lightly armed ; their weapons were a fword, bow, arrows, 
and a fling. 
FERENTI'NO, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of 
Naples, and province of Capitanatu : eleven miles'fouth- 
fouth-weft of St. Serveiro. 
FERENTI'NO, a town of Italy, in the date of the 
Church, the fee of a bilhop, immediately under the pope; 
containing fix churches, and three convents : three miles 
north of Alatri. 
FERENTI'NUM, anciently a town of the Hernici in 
Latiurn, which the Romans, after fubduing tiiat nation, 
allowed to be governed by its own laws : now Fcrentino , 
an epifcopal city in the Campania of Rome. 
FEREN'TUM, anciently a town of Apulia in Italy: 
now Ferenza, in the Bafilicata of Naples. 
FEREN'ZA, a town of Naples, in the province of Ba¬ 
filicata: four miles north-weft of Acerenza. 
FERE'T, a town of European Turkey, in the pro¬ 
vince of Romania: thirty-fix miles north-north-weft of 
Gallipoli. 
FE'RETORY, f. in ancient architecture, a chapel or 
place, in a church, wherein is erected a ftirine. A fitua- 
tion ftill retaining this appellation is behind the high 
altar, in Durham cathedral ; in this feretory once ftood 
the gorgeous Thrine of St. Cuthbert. 
FERE'TR I US, a furname of Jupiter; a fercnao, becaufe 
lie had ailifted the Romans ; or a fcriendo, becaule he had 
conquered their enemies under Romulus. He had a tem¬ 
ple at Rome, built by Romulus, where the fpoils called 
vpima were always carried. Only two generals obtained 
tliefe celebrated fpoils after the age of Romulus. Livi. 
FERE'TRUM, f. among the Romans, the bier ufed 
in carrying out the bodies of the dead, which duty was 
performed by the neareft male relations of the deceafed : 
thus foils carried out their parents, brothers their lif¬ 
ters, &c. 
FERET'TE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Upper Rhine, and chief place of a canton, in thedif- 
tridl of Alikirch, formerly the capital of a county of the 
fame name : three leagues and three quarters fouth-weft 
of Bale. 
FERG, or Fergue, (Francis Paul), a landfcape- 
painter, born at Vienna in 1689. He fucceflively prac- 
tifed under Hans Graf, Orient, and Thiele ; who, being 
painter to the court of Saxony, invited him to Drefden. 
From thence he. went into Lower Saxony, and painted for 
the duke of Brunfwick, and for the gallery of Salzdahl. 
From a feries of misfortunes he was obliged to fecrete 
himfelf in London, where he died fuddenly, in 1738. 
“ This pleafing artift (fays Mr. Walpole) had formed a 
manner of Isis own from various Flemifh painters, though 
PER 
refembling Poelemburg moft in the enamelled foftnefs 
and meliownefs of his colouring: but his figures'are 
greatly fuperior. More faithful to nature than Denner, 
he knew to omit exadnefs, when the refult of the whole 
demands a lefs precifion in parts. The greateft part of 
his works are in London and Germany ; and they now 
bear fuch a price as is the moft indubitable evidence of 
their real merit.” 
FERGA'NAH, or Farganai-i, a town of Afia, in the 
kingdom of Samarcand, fituated in a mountainous coun¬ 
try, which abounds in mines of coal, of gold, lilver, cop¬ 
per, and iron ; it is fituated near the Sihon, or J-axartes, 
in a province to which it gives name. 
FER'GUS, 3 river of Ireland, which joins the Shan¬ 
non, nine miles fouth from Ennis, in the county of 
Clare. 
FER'GUSON (James), an eminent experimental phi- 
lofopher, mechanift, and aftronomer, born at Keith, in 
Barnffshire, Scotland, in 1710, of very poor parents. At 
an early age his extraordinary genius began to unfold 
itfelf. He firft learned to read, by overhearing his father 
teach his elder brother: and he had made this acqui-fi- 
tion before any one fufpedted it. He foon difeovered a 
peculiar tafte for mechanics, which firft arofe on feeing 
his father ufe a lever. He purfued this ftudy a confider- 
able length, while he was yet very young; and made a 
watch in wood-work, from having once feen one. As he 
had at firft no inftruc’tor, nor any help from books, every 
thing he learned had all the merit of an original dif- 
covery; and fuch, with inexpreftible joy, he believed it 
to be. As foon as his age would permit, he went to fer- 
vice; in which he met with hardfhips, which rendered 
his conftitution feeble through life. While he was fer- 
vant to a farmer, (whofe goodnefs he acknowledges in 
the modeft and humble account of himfelf which he pre¬ 
fixed to one of his publications,) lie contemplated and 
learned to know the ftars, while he tended the ftieep ; 
and began the ftudy of aftronomy, by laying down, from 
his own obfervations only, a celeftial globe. His kind 
mafter, obferving tliefe marks of his ingenuity, procured 
him the countenance and afliftance of fonre neighbouring 
gentlemen. By their help and inftrmftions he went on 
gaining farther knowledge, having by their means been 
taught arithmetic, with home algebra, and practical'geo¬ 
metry. He had alfo fome notion of drawing ; and being 
fent to Edinburgh, he there began to take portraits in 
miniature, at a fmall price ; an employment by which he 
fupported himfelf and family for feveral years, both in 
Scotland and England, while he was purfuing more fe- 
rious ftudies. In London he'firft pubiilhed fome curious 
aftronomical tables and calculations ; and afterwards gave 
public leftiires in experimental phiiofophy, both in Lon¬ 
don and moft of the country towns in England, with the 
higheft marks of general approbation. He was eledted a 
fellow of the royal fociety, and was excufed the payment 
of the admiflion-fee and the ufual annual contributions. 
He enjoyed from tl>e king a penfion of fifty pounds a-year, 
befides other occafional prefents, which he privately ac¬ 
cepted and received from different quarters, till the time 
of his death ; by which, and the fruits of his own la¬ 
bours, he left behind him a fum to the amount of about 
fix thoufand pounds, though his friends had always en¬ 
tertained an idea of his great poverty. He died in 1776, 
at fixty-fix years of age. 
Mr. Fergufon mult be allowed to have been a very 
uncommon genius, efpecially in mechanical contrivances 
and workmanfliip ; for he executed many machines him¬ 
felf in a very neat manner. He had alfo a good tafte in 
aftronomy, with natural and experimental philofophy, 
and was poftelfed of a happy manner of explaining him¬ 
felf in an eafy, clear, and familiar, way. His mathemati¬ 
cal knowledge, however, was not profound. Of algebra 
he underftood but little more than the notation ; and he 
often told Dr. Hutton that he could never demenftrate 
one 
