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Ignis fatuus, or Will a’ wifp : 
Who fhould be lamps to comfort out our way, 
And not, like firedrahes, to lead men a dray. 
Mifierics of I/forced Marriage. 
FI'RELOCK, f. A foldier’s gun; a gun difcharged 
by driking deel with flint.—Prime all your firelocks, faden 
well the flake. Gay. 
FI'REMAN, / One who is employed to extinguifli 
burning houfes: 
The fireman fweats beneath his crooked arms ; 
A leathern cafque his ventrous head defends, 
Boldly he climbs where thickeft fmoke afcends. Gay. 
A man of violent paflions.—I had laft night the fate to 
drink a bottle with two of thefe firemen. Tatler. 
FI'REMASTER, f. Anofficerin the trainof artillery, 
who fuperintends the artillery, and gives directions for 
public fireworks. Scott. 
Fl'RENEW, adj. New from the forge; new from the 
melting-houfe. — Some excellent jefts, firenezu from the 
mint. Shakefipeare. 
FIRENZUO'LA (Agnolo), an Italian poet, born at 
Florence in 1493. He ftudied at Sienna and Perugia, in 
which latter place he contracted an intimacy with the 
famous Peter Aretin, whom he accompanied to Rome. 
He was brought up to the law, and for fome time exer- 
cifed the profeflion of an advocate, which he quitted in 
order to enter the congregation of monks of Vallambrofa. 
Religion appears to have had little part in this change, 
but rather tire expectation of an abbacy, of which he ac¬ 
quired that of Spoleti, and of St. Praflede in Rome; 
where he died about the year 1545. The writings of 
Firenzuola, in profe and verfe, rank among the lighter 
products of Italian literature. They have been feveral 
times printed, and were collected in three volumes at 
Florence, in 1763. 
FI'REOFFICE, f. The office of infurance for fire. 
FI'REPAN,/ Veffel of metal to carry fire.—His fire¬ 
pans, and all the veflels thereof, thou (halt make of brafs. 
Exod. xxvii. 3. 
FI'RER,/. An incendiary.—Others burned Mouflel, 
and the reft marched as a guard for defence of thefe firers. 
Carezu. 
FI'RESHOVEL, fi. The inftrument with which the 
hot coals are thrown up in kitchens.—Culinary utenfils 
and irons often feel the force of fire ; as tongs, Jirejhovels, 
prongs, and irons. Brown. 
FIRESI'DE, fi. The hearth ; the chimney.—What 
art thou afking of them, after ail ? Only to fit quietly at 
thy own firefide. Arbuthnot. 
Love no more is made 
By the firefide , but in the cooler fhade. Carezu. 
FI'RESTICK,/ A lighted flick or brand.—Children 
when they play with firfiicks, move and whirle them 
round fo fafl, that ihe motion will cozen their eyes, and 
reprefent an entire circle of fire to them. Digby on Bodies. 
FI'RESTONE, f. The Pyrites, which fee. — Fire- 
fione, if broke final 1, and laid on cold lands, rauil be of 
advantage. Mortimer. 
FI'REWOOD, fi. Wood to burn ; fewel. 
FI'REWOP LER , fi. One of the officers fubordinate 
to the fire mailer. 
FI'RING, Fewel.—They burn the cakes, firing being 
there fcarce. Mortimer. 
To FIRL, v. a. [ferio, Lat.] To whip ; to beat; to 
correCt ; to chaftife : 
Befides, ' is not only foppifh, 
But vile, idolatrous, and popifli. 
For one man out of his own (kin 
To firk and whip another’s fin. Hudibras. 
FPRKIN,/ [peo’Seji, Sax. the fourth part of a vef¬ 
fel.] An Englifh meafure of capacity ; being the fourth 
part of a barrel; and containing eight gallons of ale, foap, 
butter, or herrings; or nine gallons of beer. 
Vol.VII. No. 436. 
FIRLEYOW'K A, a town of Poland, in the palatinate 
of I.emherg : forty-eight miles eaft-north-eafl of Lemberg. 
FIR'LOT, fi. A dry meafure ufed in Scotland. The 
oat-firlot contains twenty-one pints and a quarter of that 
country, or about eighty-five Englifh pints ; and the 
barley-firlot, thirty-one flandard pints. The wheat firlot 
contains about 2211 cubic inches; and therefore exceeds 
the Englifh bufliel by fixty cubic inches, or almofl an 
Engli(h quart. 
FIRM, adj. [firmus, Lat.] Strong; not eafily pierced 
or fhaken ; hard, oppofed to fiofit. —That body, vvhofe 
parts are mod firm in themfelves, and are by their pecu¬ 
liar fhapes capable of the greateft contaCls, is the moll 
firm ; and that which has parts very (mail, and capable 
of the leaf! contaff, will be mod foft. Woodward. 
Love’s artillery then checks 
The breaflworks of the firmefi fex. Cleaveland. 
Conftant; fteady; refolute; fixed; unfhaken.—The great 
encouragement is the aflurance of a future reward, the 
firm perfuafion whereof is enough to raife us above any 
thing in this world. Tillotfon. 
The man that’s refolute and juft, 
Firm to his principles and truft, 
Nor hopes nor fears can blind. Waljh. 
Solid; not giving way ; not fluid.—God caufed the wind 
to blow to dry up the abundant (lime and mud of the 
earth, and make the land more firm. Raleigh. 
Sinking waters, the firm land to drain, 
Fill’d the capacious deep, and form’d the main. Roficommon. 
FIRM, f. [from the adj. ] The name or names under 
which any houfe of trade is eftabliflied. A commercial 
word.—The agents for the Globe Depofit Bank at Liver¬ 
pool, Leeds, Glafgow, Halifax, Hull, and fifty other great 
trading towns, would become the fubflitutes for the re- 
fpeftable firms, who are now found to be the fitted depo- 
fitaries of the furplus cafh of the furrounding diftrifts. 
Stonefireet’s Portentous Globe. 
To FIRM, v. a. \_firmo, Lat.] To fettle; to confirm ; 
to eftablifh ; to fix.—Of the death of the emperor they 
advertifed Solyman, firming thole letters with all their 
hands and feals. Knolles. 
O thou, who freed me from my doubtful (fate, 
Long loft and wilder’d in the maze of fate 1 
Be prefent (fill : oh goddefs, in our aid. 
Proceed, and firm thofe omens thou haft made ! Pope. 
To fix without wandering : 
He on his card and compafs firms his eye, 
The matters of his long experiment. Spenfer. 
FIR'MA, fi. in Scotland, the fee or acknowledgment 
which the tenant pays to his lord. In doomfday book, 
a tribute anciently paid towards the entertainment for the 
king of England for one night. 
FIR'MAMENT, f. [ firmamentum, Lat.] The fky ; 
the heavens.—The Almighty, whofe hierogiyphical cha- 
rafters are the unnumbered ftars, fun, and moon, written 
on thefe large volumes of the firmament. Raleigh. 
Even to the heavens their fhouting ftirill 
Doth reach, and all the firmament doth fill. Spenfer. 
FIRM AMEN'TAL, adj. Celeftial ; of the upper re¬ 
gions : 
An hollow cryftal pyramid he takes, 
In firmamental waters dipt above. Dryden. 
FIR'MAN, fi. a paflport or permit granted by the 
Great Mogul to foreign veflels, to trade within the terri¬ 
tories of his jurifdiftion. 
FIR'M ARY,/, a law term, the right of a tenant to his 
lands and tenements. 
FIRMA'TION,/. The aft of making firm, Scott. 
FIRME,/. in old records, a farm ; lands or tenements 
held at a certain rent. __ 
I K FIR'MEDj 
