£6o . FIE 
dence he has never examined. Locke. —Strong; forcible; 
violent; with celerity.—The (hips, though fo great, are 
driven of fierce winds ; yet are they turned about with a 
very fmall helm. Ja. iii. 4. 
FJER'CELY, adv. Violently; furiouf!y.—The air, 
if very cold, irritateth the flame, and maketh it burn 
more fiercely, as fire fcorcheth in frofty weather. Bacon. 
FIER'CENESS, f. Ferocity; favagenefs.—The de¬ 
feat of heat which gives fiercenefs to our natures, may con¬ 
tribute to that roughnefs of our language. Swift. —Eager- 
nefs for blood ; fury.—Suddenly there came out of a 
wood a monflrous lien, with a (he-bear not far from him, 
oflittle lefs fiercenefs. Sidney. —Qvucknefs to attack ; keen- 
nefs in anger and refentment: 
The Greeks are ftrong, and fkilful to their firength, 
Fierce to their (kill, and to their fiercenefs valiant. Skakefp. 
Violence ; outrageous paflion : 
His pride and brutal fiercenefs I abhor; 
But fcorn your mean fufpicions of me more. Dryden. 
Vehemence ; hafiy force. 
FI'ERl FA'CIAS, in law, a judicial writ of execu¬ 
tion, that lies where judgment is had for debt or damages 
recovered in the king’s courts ; by which writ the fheriff 
is commanded to levy the debt and damages of the goods 
and chattels of the defendant. See the article Execu¬ 
tion. This writ, though mentioned in the fiatute of 
Will. II. 13 Edw. I. c. 18, is a writ of execution at com¬ 
mon-law, and is called a fieri, facias, becaufe the words of 
the writ, directed to the Iheriff, are quod fieri facias de bonis 
(3 cata/lis, &c. and from thefe words the writ takes its de¬ 
nomination. Co. Lilt. 290 b. This writ is to be lued out 
within a year and a day after judgment; or the judgment 
muft be revived by feire facias ; but if a fieri facias fued in 
time, be not executed, a fecond fieri facias, or elegit, may 
be fued out. If a man recover debt againfl A. B. and 
levy part of it by fieri facias, and this writ is returned, yet 
he may take the body in execution by capias for the reft 
of the debt. RoL. Air. 904. The fheriff on a fieri facias is to 
do his beft endeavours to levy the money upon the goods 
and chattels of the defendant; and for that purpofe to 
enquire after his goods, &c. And the plaintiff may enquire 
and rearch if he can find any, and give notice thereof to 
the fheriff, who ex officio is to take and fell them if he can, 
or if not, by a writ of venditioni exponas. <■2 S/iep. Abr. 111. 
The (heriff cannot deliver the goods by him taken in 
execution to the plaintiff in futisfaction of his debt; be¬ 
caufe his authority is to fell the goods, tut. 589. And if 
a fheriff fells the goods taken by fieri facias at under-price, 
the fale is good, and the defendant can have no remedy ; 
though where there appears to be covin between the (he¬ 
riff and the buyer, the owner (hall have his adtion upon 
the cafe. 1 Salk. 28. On a fieri facias the fheriff has power 
to take any thing but wearing cloth.es; and if the defend¬ 
ant hath two gowns, &c. it is (aid lie may fell one. If 
the fheriff executes a writ of fieri facias, he may afterwards 
return nulla bona, if there appear a prerogative writ; or, 
on better information, that the goods taken were not the 
defendant’s. Comb 356. By the feizure of the goods, the 
fheriff hath a property in them * but goods of a ftranger, 
See. in the polfefiion of the defendant, (hall not be feized 
in execution; for the (heriff at his peril muft take notice 
whofe goods they are : though, if the (heriff enquires by 
a jury, where the property is lodged, and it is found that 
they are the defendant’s goods, v\ hen they are not, this 
will indemnify the fheriff. Wood's Inf. 6 08. The fheriff 
cannot break open the door of an houfe to execute a 
fieri facias upon the goods of the owner or occupier ; but 
a man’s houfe (hall be a protection for his own goods only, 
and not for the goods of another. 2 Nelf. Abr. 775. If the 
defendant is a beneficed clergyman, and the fheriff returns 
quod ejl clericus beneficiatus, (Be. a writ (hall go to the bifhop 
of the diocefe to levy the debt de bonis ccclefiajlicis, who 
thereupon fends forth a fequeftration of the profits of 
the clerk’s benefice, directed to the churchwardens., &c. 
F I F 
But this writ of fequeftration muft be renewed every term. 
2 Inf. 4, 47 2 ■ 
FI'ERINESS, f Hot qualifies; heat; acrimony.—= 
The allies, by their heat, their fierinefs, and their drynefs, 
belong to the element of earth. Boyle. —Heat of temper; 
intellectual ardour.—The Italians, notwithstanding their 
natural fierinefs of temper, affect always to appear fober 
and fedate. Addifn. 
FI'ERY, adj. Confiding of fire : 
Scarcely bad Phoebus in the gloomy eaft 
Yet harneffed his fiery-LootoA team, 
Ne rear’d above the earth his flaming creft, 
When the laft deadly-fmoak aloft did fteam. Spenfer. 
Hot like fire : 
Hath thy fiery heart fo parcht thy entrails, 
That not a tear can fall for Rutland’s death ? Shaiefpcare . 
Vehement; ardent; aCtive : 
Then fiery expedition be my wing, 
Jove’s Mercury, and herald for a king. Shakcfpcare. 
Paflionate ; outrageous; eafily provoked : 
You know the fiery quality of the duke 5 
How unremoveable and fixt is lie 
In his own courfe. Shakefpeare. 
Unreftrained ; fierce: 
Through Elis and the Grecian towns be flew ; 
Th’ audacious wretch four fiery courfers drew. Dryden. 
Heated by fire : 
See ! from the brake the whirring pheafant fprings, 
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings : 
Short is his joy ; he feels the fiery wound, 
Flutters in blood, and panting beats the ground. Pope. 
FI'ERY TRIPLI'CITY, in aftrology, are thofe figns 
of the zodiac w hich furpafs the reft in fiery qualities, viz. 
heat and drynefs, as Leo, Aries, and Sagittarius. 
FIESO'LA, a town of Italy, in the duchy of Tufcany, 
the fee of a bifhop, fuffragan of Florence: three miles 
north-eaft of Florence. 
FIFE, f. [fifre, Fr.] A pipe blown to the drum; mi¬ 
litary wind rnulic : 
Farewel the plumed troops, and the big war 
That make ambkion virtue! oh farewel ! 
Farewel the neighing (teed and the thrill trump, 
The fpirit-ftirring drum, the ear-piercingyf/e. Shakcfpcare . 
FIFE-RAILS, f. in a fliip, are fuch as are placed on 
bannifters on each fide of the top of the poop, &c. 
FI FENE'SS, a cape of Scotland, of the eaft coaft of the 
county of Fife : nine miles fouth-euft of St. Andrew’s. 
Lat. 56. 15. N. I011.0. 34. E. Edinburgh. 
FI'FESHIRE, a county of Scotland, bounded on the 
north by the riverTay ; on the eaft by the German Ocean; 
on the fouth by the Frith of Forth ; and on the weft by 
the counties of Ivinrofs and Perth ; about thirty-two miles 
in length from north-eaft to fouth-weft, and from feven 
to fixteen in breadth. This county, as well as the reft 
in the kingdom, was formerly fubject to a thane, which in 
the old Saxon language, as likewife in the Danifh, figni- 
fies a fervant of the king- but Malcolm Canmore appointed 
Macduff, who was thane of Fife, firft hereditary eaiTof 
Fife, for his fervices, granting to his pofterity the right 
of placing the king in his chair at his coronation, the 
command of the van in the king’s army, and power to 
compound for a fum of money for the accidental murder 
of a nobleman or commoner. The county of Fife is ex¬ 
tremely populous and fertile, abounding with cattle, coal, 
iron, lime-ftone, and well furnifhed with manufactures. 
The number of towns is unparalleled, for the whole (here 
from Grail to Culrofs, about forty Englifh miles, is one 
continued chain of towns and villages. Nor are the houfes 
of the nobility and gentry lefs numerous in the interior 
parts 
