F E R 
one propofition in Euclid’s Elements; his conftant me- 
tliod being to fatisfy himfelf, as to the truth of any pro¬ 
blem, with a meal'urement by fcale and compalTes. He 
was, neverthelefs, a man of a very clear judgment in any 
tiling that he profeffed, and of unwearied application to 
ftudy : benevolent, meek, and engaging in his manners ; 
humble, courteous, and communicative : inftead of pe¬ 
dantry, philofophy feemed to produce in him only diffi¬ 
dence and urbanity. Mr. Fefgufon’s principal works are 
as follow : i. Aftronomical Tables and Precepts, for cal¬ 
culating the true Times of New and Full Moons, &c. 
1 763. 2. Tables and Tracts relative to feveral Arts and 
Sciences, 1767. 3. An Eafy Introduction to Agrono¬ 
my, for young Gentlemen and Ladies, fecond edit. 1769. 
4. Altronomy explained upon Sir Ifaac Newton’s Princi¬ 
ples, filth edit. 1772. 5. LeCtitres on SeleCt Subjects in 
Mechanics, Ilydroftatics, Pneumatics, and Optics, fourth 
edit. 1772. 6. SeleCt Mechanical Exercifes ; with a 
fhort Account of the Life of the Author, by himfelf, 
1773. 7. The Art of Drawing in PerlpeCtive made eafy, 
1773. S. An Introduction to EleCtricity, 1775. 9. Two 
Letters to the Rev. Mr. John Kennedy, 1775. 10. A 
Third Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Kennedy, 1773. 
FE'RIA.yi [Latin.] In the Romiili breviary, a term ap¬ 
plied to the holidays obferved by the church of Rome. 
FE'RIA, a town of Spain, in Eftremadura, fituated on 
a fiiarp mountain, near the Guadixara. 
FE'RICE LATl'N^E, feftivals at Rome infiituted by 
Tarquin the Proud. The principal magifirates of forty- 
feven towns in Latium ufually aflembled on a mount 
near Rome, where they altogether with the Roman ma- 
giftrates offered a bull to Jupiter Latialis, of which they 
carried home fome part after the immolation, after they 
had fworn mutual friendfliip and alliance. It continued 
but one day originally ; but in procefs of time four days 
were dedicated to its celebration. Cicero. —The/erzieamong 
the Romans were certain days fet apart to celebrate fefti¬ 
vals; and during that time it was unlawful for any per- 
fon to work. They were either public or private. The 
public were of four different kinds. The feria Jlativa 
were certain immoveable days always marked in the ca¬ 
lendar, and obferved by the whole city with much fefti- 
vity and public rejoicing. The ferice conceptivee were 
moveable feafts ; and the day appointed for the cele¬ 
bration was always previoufly fixed by the magifirates 
or priefts. Among thefe were the ferice Latina, which were 
firft eftabliftied by Tarquin, and obferved by the confuls 
regularly, before they fet out for the provinces ; the 
Compitali, See. The ferice imperativa were appointed only 
by the command of the conl’ul, dictator, or praetor, as a 
public rejoicing for fome important victory gained over 
the enemy of Rome. The ferice nundince were regular 
days, in which the people of the country and neighbour¬ 
ing towns affembled together and expofed their ref'pec- 
tive commodities to fale. They were called nundince, be- 
caufe kept every ninth day. The firice privates were 
obferved only in families in commemoration of birth-days, 
marriages, funerals, and the like. The days on which 
the feria were obferved were called by the Romans fefi 
dies, becaufe dedicated to mirth, relaxation, and feftivity. 
FERIA'NA, the ancient city of Thala in Africa, de- 
ftroyed by Metellus in the war with Jugurtha. It was 
vifited by Mr. Bruce in his travels through Africa, who 
expeCted to have found many magnificent ruins in the 
place, but was difappointed. The only remarkable ob¬ 
jects he met with were the ancient hot baths, which flow 
from a fountain named EL Tartnid. Notwithftar.ding the 
heat of its water, the ftream is not deftitute of fifties. 
FERIA'TION,y. [ feriatio, Lat.] The aCt of keeping 
holiday ; ceffation from work.—As though there were 
any ferialion in nature, this feafon is commonly termed 
the phyfician’s vacation. Brown. 
FE'RINE, adj. [feriuus, Lat. ] Wild; favage.—The 
only difficulty is touching thofe ferine, noxious, and un- 
-tameable, beafts; as lions, tygers, wolves, bears. Hale, 
Vol. VII. Np. 430. 
F E R S25 
I'ERI'NEN£SS,yi Barbarity; lavagenefs; wildnefs. 
—A ferine and neceflitous kind of life, a converfation 
with thofe that were fallen into a barbarous habit of life, 
would aflimilate the next generation to barbarifm and fe- 
rinenefs. Hale. 
FE'RING, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Stiria: 
fourteen miles north of Rackeltburg. 
FERISH'TA, an hiftorical writer of confiderable emi¬ 
nence in Hindooftan. He was of noble rank, and high in 
office at the court of Ibrahim Adil Shah. He compiled 
the Hiftory of the Dhely Emperors; which has been 
tranflated into Englifh by colonel Dow ; and he wrote 
an hiftorical account of every province in India. That 
of the Deccan, or fouthern divifion of Hindooftan, has 
been lately tranflated by captain Scott, in two volumes 
quarto. Many complete copies of Ferifhta’s works are 
to be found in the principal libraries of England. Pen¬ 
nant, and almoft every writer on the affairs of the Afiatic 
peninfula, appear to owe much of their information to 
this Indian author. 
FE'RITY,/. [feritas, Lat.] Barbarity; cruelty; wild¬ 
nefs, favagenefs.—He reduced him from the molt abjeCt 
and ftupid ferity to his fenfes, and to fober reafon. Woodw. 
FER'LlNG,yi in old records, the fourth part of a pen¬ 
ny ; alfo the quarter of a ward in a borough. 
FERLINGA'TA, or Ferlin'guSjjT. an old law term 
for the fourth part of a yard land. 
FERMANA'GH, a county of Ireland, in the province 
of Ulfter; bounded on the north by the counties of Ty¬ 
rone and Donegal, on the eaft by the county of Mona¬ 
ghan, on the fouth by Cavan and Leitrim, and on the 
weft by Leitrim and Donegal ; about thirty-five miles 
long, and twenty-feven in its greateft breadth ; divided 
into two parts by the extenfive lake Lough Erne : the 
number of houfes is calculated at nearly 12,000, and the 
inhabitants at 72,000. The furface of the county is hilly, 
rugged, and uneven, in fome parts mountainous; but yield 
pafture for cattle, and no doubt with proper management 
might be made fertile in corn : the linen manufacture and 
railing cattle are the chief employment of the inhabitants 
of Fermanagh : the principal town is Ennifkillen, which, 
as well as the county, previous to the union, fent two 
members to the Irifh parliament. Lough Erne runs 
through the county ; belides which there are two other 
lakes, Lough Melvin, and Macnean. 
FERMANA'GH, a townfhip of the American States, 
in Mifflin county, Pennfylvania. 
FER'MAT, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the province 
of Caramania : twelve miles fouth-weft of Akfhehr. 
FER'MAT (Peter de), counfellor of the parliament 
of Touloufe, in France, born in 1390, and died in 1664. 
He was a man of extraordinary natural abilities, and re¬ 
markable for the extent and variety of his acquirements. 
Fie was an excellent clafiical fcholar, a good poet in the 
Latin, French, and Spanifh, languages, intimately con- 
verfant in antiquities, and one of the ableft lawyers in his 
day. At the fame time he was profoundly fkilled in all 
the branches of the mathematics, and poffeffed the fineft 
tafte for pure geometry, which he contributed greatly to 
improve, as well as algebra. Des Cartes, Merfenne, Tor¬ 
ricelli, Pafcal, Huygens, Roberval, and Carcavi, were 
among his intimate friends, as well as feveral other cele¬ 
brated philofophers. His works were collected and pub- 
liHied at Touloufe, in 1679, under the title of Opera va- 
ria Mathematica, Sec. in 2 vols. fol. Betides the author’s 
edition of Diophantus’s Treatife on Algebra, they con¬ 
tain a method for the quadrature of all forts of parabolas; 
a treatife on maximums and minimurns, which ferve not 
only for the determination of plane and folid problems, 
but alfo for drawing tangents and curve lines, finding 
the centres of gravity in folids, and the refolution of 
queftions concerning numbers, in a manner very fimilar 
to the fluxions of Newton ; an introduction to geometric 
loci, plane and folid ; a treatife on fpherical tangencies, 
in which are demonftrated the fame things in lolids, as 
4 G Vieu 
