S34 
F E R 
in the department of the Seine and Marne, and chief 
place of a canton, in the diftriFt of Meaux, on the Marne ; 
ten miles end of Meaux. 
FERTE'-LOUPTIERE (La), a town of France, in 
the department of the Yonne, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the diftridft of Joigny : five leagues north-weft of 
Auxerre, and three fouth-weft of Joigny. 
FERTE'-MACE (La), a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment ot the Orne, and chief place of a canton, in tire 
diftrict of Domfront: four leagues eaft of Domfront, and 
feven north-wed of Alenyon. 
FERTE'-MILON (La), a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Aifne, and chief place of a canton, in the 
didrift of Chateau-Thierry, on the Ourque : four leagues 
and a quarter north-wed of Chateau-Thierry. 
FERTE'-SENNETERRE (La), a town of France, in 
the department of the Loiret, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the didrift of Orleans: four leagues fouth-ead of 
Beaugency, and four fouth of Orleans. 
FERTE'-VIDAME (La), a town of France, in the 
department of the Epre and Loire, and chief place of a 
canton, in the diftrifi of Chateauneuf: four leagues and 
a hall wed of Civateauneuf-en-Thimerais. 
FERTE'-VILLENEUILLE (La), a town of France, 
in the department of the Eure and Loire : two leagues 
fouth of Chateaudun, and eight fouth-weft of Janville. 
PERTH, or Forth. Common terminations, are the 
fame as in Englifh an army, coming from the Saxon word 
jryp^. Gibfon . 
FERTIE'RE, a town of Piedmont, in the marquifate 
of Sttfa, on the Dora : eight miles north of Sufa. 
FER'TILE, adj. [fertile, Fr.ferti/is, Lat.] Fruitful; 
abundant; plenteous.—I afli whether in the uncultivated 
wafte of America, a thoufand acres yield as many con- 
veniencies of life as ten acres of equally fertile land do in 
Devon (hire ? Locke. 
View the wide earth adorn’d with hills and woods, 
Rich in her herds, and fertile by her floods. Blac/tmore. 
With of before the tiling produced.—The earth is fertile 
of all kind of grain. Camden. —This happy country is ex¬ 
tremely fertile, as of tliofe above, fo likewife of its pro¬ 
ductions under ground. Woodward. 
FER'TILENESS, f Fruitfulnefs; fecundity. 
To FERTI'LITATE, v. a. To fecundate; to ferti¬ 
lize ; to make fruitful or productive. Not in ufe. —A cock 
will in one day fertilitate the whole racemation or duller 
of eggs not excluded in many weeks after. Brown. 
FERTI'LITY,yi [fertilitas, Lat.] Fecundity; abun¬ 
dance; fruitfulnefs; plenteoufnefs.—The quicknefs of 
the imagination is feen in the invention, the fertility in the 
fancy, and the accuracy in the expreflion. Dryden. 
I will go root away 
The roifome weeds, that without profit fuck 
The foil’s fertility from wholefome flowers. Shakefpeare. 
To FER'TILIZE, v. a. [fertilizer, Fr.] To make fruit¬ 
ful; to make plenteous ; to make productive ; to fecun- 
date.—Rain-water carries along with it a fort of terreftrial 
matter that fertilizes the land, as being proper for the 
formation of vegetables. Woodward. 
FER'TILY, or Fertilely, adv. Fruitfully; plente- 
oufiy; plentifully; abundantly. 
FERVAC'QUES, a town of France, in the department 
of the Calvados, and chief place of a canton, in the dif¬ 
trict of Lifieux : eight leagues fouth-eaft of Caen, and 
two fouth-eaft of Lifieux. 
FER'VENCY, f [fervens, Lat.] Heat of mind; ar¬ 
dour; eagernefs: 
Your diver 
Did hang a fifh upon his hook, which he 
With fervency drew up. Shakefpeare. 
Pious ardour; flame of devotion ; zeal.—We have on all 
fides loft molt of our firft fervency towards God. Hooker .—. 
F E R 
When you pray, let it be with attention, with fervency „ 
and with perfeverance. Wake. 
FF.R'VENT, adj. [ fervens , Lat. fervent, Fr.] Hot; 
boiling.—From the phlegmatic humour, the proper al¬ 
lay of fervent blood, will flow a future quietude and fere- 
nitude. Wotton. —Hot in temper; vehement.—They that 
are more fervent to difpute, be not always the moft able 
to determine. Hooker.—, Ardent in piety ; warm in zeal; 
flaming with devotion.—This man, being fervent in the 
fpirit, taught diligently the things of the Lord. Acts, 
xviii. 25. 
FER'VENTLY, adv. Eagerly; vehemently: 
They all that charge did fervently apply ; 
Witli greedy malice and importune toil. Spenfer. 
With pious ardour; with holy zeal.—Epaphras faluteth 
you, labouring fervently for you in prayer. Col. iv. 12. 
FER'VlD,a<//. [fervidus, Lat.] Hot; burning; boiling: 
The mounted fun 
Shot down direCt his fervid rays : to warm 
Earth’s inmoft womb. Milton . 
Vehement; eager; zealous. 
FERVIDITY,/. Heat; zeal; paflion; ardour. 
FER'VI DNESS, f. Ardour of mind ; zeal; paflion.— 
As to the healing of Malchus’s ear, in the account of the 
meek Lamb of God, it was a kind of injury done to him 
by the fervidnefs of St. Peter, who knew not yet what, 
fpirit he was of. Bentley. 
FE'RULA, or Ferule, f [ferule , Fr. from ferula, 
giant-fennel, Lat.] An inftrument of correction with- 
which young fcholars are beaten on the hand ; fo named 
becaufe anciently the (talks of fennel were ufed for this 
purpofe.—Thefe differ as much as the rod and ferula „ 
Shaw. —From the rod or ferule, I would have them free, 
as from the menace of them. Ben Jonfon. —In antiquity,, 
a place feparated from the body of the church in which 
the common hearers were kept, as nor being permitted to 
enter the more facred part of the edifice. 
FE'RULA, f [of Pliny : either a ferendo, becaufe the 
(talk was ufed for a walking-ftick ; or aferiendo , becaufe 
fchoolmafters ufed it for ftriking boys on the hand, whence 
Martial calls it feeptrumpadagogorum.] The plant Fennel- 
Giant. It is a genus of the clafs pentandria, order di. 
gynia, natural order of umbellatte or umbelliferae. The 
generic characters are—Calyx : umbel univerfal mani¬ 
fold, globular; partial fimilar;. involucre univerfal ca¬ 
ducous ; partial many-leaved, linear, fmall; proper peri- 
anthium fcarcely obfervablei Corolla: univerfal uni¬ 
form ; flofcules all fertile; proper conlifting of five oblong 
ftraightifh petals, nearly equal in fize. Stamina : fila¬ 
ments five, the length of the corolla; aritherae limple,. 
PiftiRum : germ turbinate, inferior; fiyles two, reflex ; 
ftigmas obtufe. Pericarpium: fruit oval, plane-com- 
preffed, fubmargined, marked on both fides with three 
raifed lines, ancTbipartile. Seeds: two, very large, el¬ 
liptic, flat on both fides, and marked with three diftinCt 
ftreaks. The peduncle of the primary umbel admits op- 
pofite lateral peduncles.— Effcntial CkaraHer. Fruit oval; 
plane-compreffed, with three ftreaks on each fide. 
Species. 1. Ferula communis, or common fennel-giant: 
leaflets linear, very long, Ample. Common fennel-giant, 
if planted in a good foil, will grow to a great height, and 
divide into many branches. The lower leaves fpread 
more than two feet every way, and branch out into many 
divifions, which are again fubdivided into many (mailer; 
they are of a lucid green, and fpread near the ground. 
From the centre of the plant comes out the flower-ftem, 
which, when the plants are ftrong, will be near as large 
as a common brootn-ftick, and ten or twelve feet high, 
with many joints; there iffues from it, when cut, a fetid 
yellowifli liquor, which will concrete on the furface of the 
wound. The (tern is terminated by large umbels of yel¬ 
low flowers, which come out at the end- of June or the 
beginning of July. The feeds ripen in September, and 
