382 
F I N 
FI'NELY, adj. Beautifully; elegantly; more than 
judly. Plutarch fays very finely, that a man fhould not 
allow himfelf to hate even his enemies; becaufe if you 
indulge this paflion on fome occafions, it will rife of itfelf 
in others. Addifon. —Keenly; (harply; with a thin edge 
or point.—Get you black, lead fliarpen’d finely. Peacham. 
—Not coarfely ; not meanly ; gaily.—He was alone, fave 
that he had two perfons of honour, dm either hand one, 
finely attired in white. Bacon. —In fmall parts; fubtilly ; 
not grofsly.—Saltpetre was but grofsly beaten ; for it 
fhould not be finely powdered. Boyle-. —[Ironically.] 
Wretchedly; in fuch a manner as to deferve contemp¬ 
tuous notice.—Let laws be made to obey, and not to be 
obeyed, and you will find that kingdom ybtc/j' governed 
in a fhort time. South. 
FI'NENESS, f. Elegance; beauty; delicacy.—The 
foftnefs of her fex, and the finenefs of her genius, con- 
fpire to give her a very diftinguilhing charadter. Prior .— 
Show ; fplendour; gaiety of appearance.—The finenefs of 
clothes dedroys the eafe : it often hel s men to pain, but 
can never rid them of any : the body may languifli under 
the mod fplendid cover. Decay of Piety. —Subtility ; art- 
fulnefs; ingenuity: 
Thofe with the finenefs of their fouls, 
By reafon guide his execution. Shakcfpeare. 
Purity; freedom from drofs or bafe mixtures.—The 
ancients were careful to coin their money in due weight 
and finenefs-, only in times of exigence they have dimi¬ 
ni fited both the weight and finenefs. Arbutknot. 
Fl'NER, f. One who purifies metals.—Take away the 
drofs from the the filver, and there fhall come forth, a 
veffel for the finer. Prov. xxv. 4. 
FI'NERY,/ - . Show ; fplendour of appearance ; gaiety 
of colours: 
Drefs up your houfes and your images, 
And put on all the city’s finery. 
To confecrate this day a feftival. Southern. 
FINES'SE,yi [French.] Artifice; firatagem.—A circ- 
umflance not much to be flood upon, in cafe it were not 
upon fome finejfc. Hayward. 
FIN'GAL, king of Morven, in ancient Caledonia, is 
faid to have flourilhed in the third century; and, accord¬ 
ing to the Irifh hiflories, to have died in 2S3. He is 
fuppofed to have been defcended from thofe Celtic tribes 
■tvho were the firft inhabitants of Britain. “ The cha¬ 
racter of Fingal (fays Dr. Blair) is, perhaps, the mod 
perfeCt that was ever drawn by a poet, for we may boldly 
defy all the writers of antiquity to (hew us any hero equal 
to Fingal. Throughout the whole of Odian’s. works, he 
is prefented to us in all that variety of lights which give 
the flill difplay of character. In him concur almoft all 
the qualities that can ennoble human nature; that can 
either make us admire the hero, or love the man. He is 
not only unconquerable in war, but he makes his people 
happy by his wifdom in the days of peace. He is truly 
the father of his people. He is known by the epithet of 
* Fingal of the milded look,’ and didinguidied on every 
occafion by humanity and generofity. He is merciful to 
his foes, full of affeCtion to his children, full of concern 
about his friends, and never mentions Agandecca, bis 
fird love, without the utmod tendernefs. He is the uni- 
verfal protector of the didrelfed ; none ever went fad 
from Fingal. ‘O Ofcar! bend the drong in arms, but 
fpare the feeble hand. Be thou a dream of many tides 
againd the foes of thy people ; but like the gale that 
moves the grafs to thofe who afk thine aid : fo Trenmor 
lived ; fuch Trathal was ; and fuch has Fingal been. My 
arm was the fupport of the injured ; the weak reded behind 
the lightning of my deel.’ Thefe were the maxims of 
true heroifm, to which he formed his grandfon. His fame 
is reprefented as every where fpread ; the greated heroes 
acknowledge his fuperiority ; his enemies tremble at his 
name 3 and the highed encomiums that can be bedowed 
F I N 
on one whom the poet would mod exalt, is to fay, That' 
his foul was like the foul of Fingal. Wherever he ap¬ 
pears, we behold the hero. The objeCts he purfues are 
always great; to bend the proud, to proteft the injured, 
to defend his friends, to overcome his enemies by gene¬ 
rofity more than by force. Some firokes of human im¬ 
perfection and frailty are what ufually give us the mod 
clear view and the mod fenfible impredion of a character, 
becaufe they prefent to us a man fuch as we have feen ; 
they recall known features of human nature. When poets 
go beyond this range, and attempt to defcribe a faultlefs 
hero, they, for the mod part, fet before us a fort of vague 
undidinguidiable character, fuch as the imagination can¬ 
not lay hold of, or realize to itfelf as the objeCt of affec¬ 
tion. But Fingal, though exhibited without any of the 
common human failings, is neverthelefs a real man; a 
character which touches and intereds every reader.” 
The abfolute exidence of this Scottiflt hero, with the 
dignified dory of his life and character, have in general 
been confidered as a romance. Yet Gibbon, fpeaking of 
the Caledonian war, as carried on by the emperor Seve¬ 
rn*, has the following padage : “ This war would ill de¬ 
ferve our attention, were it not that the invafion of Seve- 
rus is connected with this part of the Britifii hidory, or 
fable. Fingal, whofe fame, with that of his heroes and 
bards, has been revived in our language by a recent publi¬ 
cation, (Odian’s poems,) is faid to have commanded the 
Caledonians in that memorable juncture, to have eluded 
the power of Severus, and to have obtained a fignal vic¬ 
tory on the banks of the Carun, in which the fon of the 
king of the world, Caracul, fied from his arms along 
the fields of his pride. Something of a doubtful mid 
dill hangs over thefe illand traditions; nor can it be en¬ 
tirely dilpelled by the mod ingenious refearches of mo¬ 
dern criticifm : but if we could, with fafety, indulge the 
pleading fuppofition that Fingal lived, and that Odiart 
fung, the driking contrad of the fituation and manners of 
the Contending nations might amufe a philofophic mind» 
The parallel would be little to the advantage of the 
more civilized people, if we compared the unrelenting 
revenge of Severus with the generous clemency of Fin¬ 
gal ; the timid and brutal cruelty of Caracalla, with the 
bravery, the tendernefs, the elegant genius, of Odian 
the mercenary chiefs, who from motives of fear or in- 
tered ferved under the imperial dandard, with the free¬ 
born warriors who darted to arms at the voice of the king 
of Morven ; if, in a word, we contemplate the untutored 
Caledonians, glowing with the warm virtues of nature, 
and the degenerate Romans, polluted with the mean vices 
of wealth and davery.” See the article Ossian. 
FIN'GAL’s CAVE. See the article Staff.a, 
FIN'GER,/. [pmgep., Sax. from fangen, to hold.] 
The dexible member of the hand by which men catch 
and hold.—Th efingers and thumb in each hand confid 
of fifteen bones, there being three to each finger. Quincy , 
—A fmall meafure of extenfion ; the breadth of a finger. 
One of thefe bows with a little arrow did pierce through 
a piece of deel three fingers thick. Wilkins. 
Go now, go trud the wind’s uncertain breath,. 
Remov’d four fingers from approaching death ; 
Or feven at mod, when thicked is the board. Dryden, 
The hand ; the indrument of work ; manufadbure ; art: 
Fool, that forgets her dubborn look, 
This foftnefs from thy finger took. Waller. 
To FIN'GER, v. a. To touch lightly; to toy with.— 
One that is covetous is not fo highly pleafed with the 
mere fight and fingering of money, as with the thoughts 
of his being confidered as a wealthy man. Grew. —To 
touch unfeafonably or thievidtly—His ambition would 
needs be fingering the fceptre, and hoiding him into his 
father’s throne. South.— -To touch an indrument of nnific; 
She hath broke the lute ; 
I did but tell her (he inidook her frets, 
And bow’d her hand to teach her fingering. Shahe/peare. 
To 
