F E R 
331 
F E R 
in the afternoon of the fame day; a ftrong plant will, 
however, throw out many bloffoms in fucceffion. By its 
ftrudture and economy, it approaches very near to the 
Sifyrinchium. It flowers from February to May. Native 
of the Cape of Good Hope. Cultivated in 1759, by Mr. 
Miller, to whom it was lent by Dr. Job Baiter, ot Zirkzee. 
Mr. Miller’s fecond fort, F. enfiformis, may perhaps 
he no more than a variety of this. It differs from it in 
having (mailer roots, and, longer fword.fliaped leaves, 
which have deeper veins ; the Italic alfo does not divide 
fo much, the' flowers are ffliallcr, and lefs fringed on 
their borders. 
2. Ferraria pavonia, or Mexican ferraria: fcape one- 
fiowcred. Native of Mexico, where it was obfcrved by 
M utis. 
Propagation and Culture. They are both propagated by 
offsets fe-nt out from the root's, in the fame way as the 
Ixia, and fliould be cultivated in the fame manner as is 
directed for thofe and the African gladiolus, being too 
tender to thrive in the open air in England, nor do they 
fucceed Well in a green r hdufe ; therefore the belt method 
is, to make a border four feet wide, either in the front of 
the green-hotife or (toves, covering it with a proper frame 
and glades, fo that the plants may enjoy the free air in 
mild weather, but be prote, died from froft. In fuch a 
frame, moft of the African bulbous and tuberous rooted 
plants may be brought to great perfection. 
FERR ARIEN'SIS. Sec SYLVESTRiF(Francis). 
FER'RARS' (George), a diftinguifhed lawyer and 
Writer of the fifteenth century, born near St. Alban’s, 
in Hertfordfhire, in 1510. He was educated at Oxford, 
w hence he removed to Lincol n’s-inn for the fhidy of the 
law ; and fuch was his proficience, that he became a dif¬ 
tinguifhed pleader in Weftminfter-hall. He was noticed 
by that able minifter, lord Cromwell, and obtained the 
favour of Henry VIII. whom he attended both in a mili¬ 
tary and a civil capacity. In 1335, a qonfiderable grant 
was made to him out of the royal demefnes in Hertford¬ 
fhire, comprehending the manor of Flamftead. Want of 
economy, however, brought his affairs into fuch a fitua- 
tion, that, in 1542, wheri attending his duty in parliament 
as reprefentative for Plymouth, he was arrefted for debt 
by a (herilf’s officer, and lodged-in the compter. This 
incident occafioned that remarkable law-cafe, reported in 
Hollinfned’s Chronicle, vol. ii. which is the foundation, 
or rather the precedent, of. pleading the privilege of par¬ 
liament, whereby its member-, during the fittings, cannot 
be held to bail in aCtions of debt. Ferrars was let at li¬ 
berty, and the fheriffs of London, officers, and creditor 
who procured the arrefl, were committed to prifon for 
contempt. Ferrars continued in favour during Henry’s 
reign, and was placed about the perfon of prince Edward. 
In the next reign he accompanied the protector, Somerfet, 
to Scotland, as one of the cominifli oners of the army. He 
afterwards added in a very different capacity, being created 
lord 0/mifrule ,.or mafter of the fports, at a feltivity held at 
Greenwich for twelve days, in order to amufe the young 
king. This appointment was probably owing to his re¬ 
putation as a poet, which he lias tranfmitted to pofterity 
by fome metrical (lories inferted in the Mirrour for Ma- 
giftrates, of which the fiift -edition appeared in 1559. 
More of his pieces are contained in the edition of 1587. 
On the authority of Stowe it appears that Ferrars was alfo 
the author of The Hi (lory of. the Reign of Queen Mary, 
in the Chronicle publifhed under the name of Richard 
Grafton. Before he quitted the profeflion of the law, he 
publilheda double Tranflation of Magna Charta, from the 
French into Latin and Englifh, and other Laws, enabled 
in the Time of Henry ill. and Edward I. tranllated into 
Englifh.- He died af his lioufe at Flamftead, in 1579. 
FER'RE (Vincent), a Spanifh monk, of diftinguilhed 
reputation among-the theologians of his time, born at 
Valencia, towards the beginning of the feventeenth cen¬ 
tury. After having,taught theology at Burgos, he w as 
appointed the firft profeffor in that faculty at Rome., 
where he continued for eighteen years. His next ap¬ 
pointment was to the office of prior of Salamanca ; after 
which he filled for three years the port of director of the 
(todies in that univerfity, where he died in 1682. He was 
the author of a work held in much eftimation by the 
Spaniards, and reprefented to be executed with great 
perfpicuity.and precifion, intituled Commentaries on the 
Summa of St. Thomas, in 8 vols. folio. 
FER'RE-A'NAH, a town of Africa, in the country 
of Tunis, with confiderable ruins, whence it is fuppofea 
to have been the ancient Thala : 130 miles fouth-vveft of 
Tunis. 
FERRF.l'RA, a town of Spain, in Granada: fix^miles 
fouth'-eaft of Guadix. 
FERREl'RA, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Alentejo : thirteen miles weft of Beja. 
FERREl'RA DE AV'ES, a town of Portugal, in the 
province of Beira : fifteen miles nortli-eaft of Vifeu. 
FER'REO'LA, f. [ferrum, Lat. iron; on account of 
the hardnefs of the wood.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs didecia, order hexandria. The generic characters 
are—Male. Calyx: perianthium one-leafed,. a little ven- 
tricofe, hairy, three-cleft ; clefts ovate, acute, ereCt, 
fhorter than the tube, the third dill (horter ^nd blunted. 
Corolla : one petalled, tubular, fmooth, fomewhat flelhy; 
border three-cleft; clefts ereCt, acute, hirfute on the out- 
fide with long white hairs, preffed clofe, within naked. 
Stamina: Filaments fix, (five, feldom more, K .) (hort, 
inferted round a femiglobofe receptacle, upright, much 
(horterthan'thetubeofthe corolla; antheras oblong, acute, 
ereCt, white, longer than the filaments. Female. Calyx 
and corolla.; as in the male. Piftillum : germ-oval; ftyle 
Ihort, (longer than the calyx, K.) ftigma flat, three- 
notched, (diyided into fmall lobes, commonly four, Ii.) 
Pericarpium: berry round, fmooth, red, pulpy, (ize of 
a large pea. Seeds : two, large on one fide flat, on the 
other round.— EJfential Chara&er. Calyx ; one-leafed, 
three-cleft ; corolla, one-petalled, three-cleft. Male. 
Filaments fix, inferted into a (emiglobofe receptacle. 
Female. Genii oval; berry round, fmooth, two-feeded. 
Ferreola buxifolia, is a fingle fpecies. It is the pi- 
Jhanna of the Telingas, and the irumbilli of the Tarnuls. 
Trunk irregular, covered with a dark ruft-coloured bark, 
dividing into very numerous irregular branches; leaves 
alternate, (hort-petioled, oval, entire, very fmooth, (hill¬ 
ing, firm, about half or three quarters of an inch long, 
and half an inch broad. Among the mountains' this 
grows to a fmall tree ; but in the lovv countries it is only 
a flirub. It flowers during the hot feafon. The berries, 
when ripe, are univerfally eaten, and are very well tafted. 
The wood is dark-coloured, remarkably hard and durable, 
and where its (ize will admit, is employed for fuch ufes 
as require the moft durable heavy wood. Native of Co¬ 
romandel. 
FER'REOUS, adj. [ ferreus , Lat.] Irony; of iron.— 
In the body of glafs there is no ferreous or magnetical na¬ 
ture. Brown. 
FERRE'RAS (Don John de), a Spanifti hiftorian and 
divine, born of a. noble family at Labaneza, in the djo- 
cefe of Aftorga, in 1652. I-le diftinguifhed him Rif by 
his talents for the pulpit, as well as by the extent and 
folidity of his knowledge. Fie was chofen a member of 
the Spanifh academy at its foundation in 1713, and foon 
after was made royal librarian. He was very ierviceable 
to the academy, particularly in the compilation of its 
dictionary, to which he contributed the articles under 
the letter G, and a difeourfe on the origin of the Cafti- 
lian tongue. He died at Madrid in 1735. Don Ferreras 
was.the author of various theological and literary works, 
and of fome p etical pieces; but he is beft known for 
his General Hiftory of Spain, 16 vols. 4to. 1 700 to 1721s, 
written in Spanifh. It is accounted one of the beft pro¬ 
ductions of the kind in that language, and has been tranf- 
lated into French by M. d’Hermilly. 
FFR'RET, /. Lfured, W.efth ; furet, Fr, ferret, Dut, 
viverra «. 
