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F I R 
feigners as he bellowed benefices on here by way of pro- 
vilion; afterwards they were demanded of the clerks of 
all fpiritual patrons ; and at length of all other clerks on 
their admiflion to benefices: bur, upon the throwing off 
the pope’s fupremacy in the reign of Henry VIII. they 
were tranfiated to, and veiled in, the king, by 26 Hen. V 111 . 
c. 3. and a new valor beneficiorum was then made, by which 
the clergy are at prefent rated. This valor beneficiorum is 
what is commonly called the king’s books ; a tranfeript 
of which is given in ECton’s Thefaurus , and Bacon’s Liber 
Regis ; and for the ordering thereof, there was a court 
ereCted, 32 Hen. VIII. but difib!ved foon after. Though 
by 1 Eliz. c. 4, thefe profits arc reduced again to the 
crown, yet the court was never refiored ; for all matters 
formerly recognized therein, were transferred to the Ex¬ 
chequer, within the furvey of which court they now remain. 
By 26 Hen. VIII. the lord chancellor, bilhops, &c. are 
impowered to examine into the value of every eccle- 
lialtical benefice and preferment in their feveral diocefes ; 
and clergymen entered on their livings before the firft- 
fruits are paid or compounded for, are to forfeit double 
value. But 1 Eliz. c. 4, ordains, that if an incumbent 
on a benefice do not live half a year, or is oufted before 
the year expire, his executors are to pay only a fourth 
part of the firft.fruits ; and if he lives the year, and then 
dies, or be oufied in fix months after, but half the firft- 
fruits lhall be paid; if a year and a half, three quarters 
of them ; and if two years, then the whole : but not 
otherwife. The archbilhops and bilhops have four years 
allowed for the payment, and fhall pay one quarter every 
year, if they live fo long upon the bifhopric : other dig¬ 
nitaries in the church pay theirs in the fame manner as 
reftors and vicars. By 27 Hen. VIII. c. 8, no tenths are 
to be paid for the firft year, as then the firft-fruits are due ; 
and by feveral ftatutes of Anne, if a benefice be under 
fifty pounds per annum, clear yearly value, it lhall be dif- 
charged of the payment of firft-fruits and tenths. 
This queen alio reftored to the church what had at firft 
been thus indirefldy taken from it, not by remitting the 
tenths and firft-fruits entirely, but by applying thefe fu- 
perfluities of the larger benefices to make up the defi¬ 
ciencies of the fmaller ; for this purpofe file granted a 
charter, confirmed by 2 Anne, c. n, whereby all the re¬ 
venue of the firft-fruits and tenths is veiled in truftees for 
ever, to form a perpetual fund for the augmentation of 
poor livings, under fifty pounds a-year. This is ufually 
called Queen Anne's bounty , which has been dill further re¬ 
gulated by fubfequent ftatutes; though it is to be la¬ 
mented that the number of fuch poor livings is fo great, 
that this bounty, extenlive as it is, will be flow, and 
almoft imperceptible in its operation ; the number of 
livings under fifty pounds, certified by the bilhops at the 
commencement of the undertaking, being 5597 ; the re¬ 
venues of which, on a general average, did not exceed 
twenty-three pounds per annum. 1 Comm. 285,6. 
FIRST-MO'VER, in the old aftronomy, means the 
primum mobile, or that which gives motion to the other 
parts of the univerfe. 
FIRST'LING, aelj. That which is firft produced or 
brought forth.—All the firfiling males that come of thy 
herd, and ot thy flock, thou lhalt fanCtify unto the Lord 
thy God. Deuteronomy. 
FIRST'LING, f. The firft produce or offspring.—The 
firjllings of the fleck are doom’d to die. Pope. 
The tender firjllings of my woolly breed, 
Shall on his holy altar often bleed. Dryden. 
The thing thought or done before another : 
The flighty purpofe never is o’ertook, 
Unlefs the deed go with it: from this moment, 
The very firjllings of my heart lhall be 
The firjllings of my hand. Shakefipeare. 
FIRTH,/: [pphto, Sax. terror.] A bugbear; a 
frightful appearance. 
F I S 
FTRUZABA'D, or Firousabas, a town of Perfia, 
in the province of Farfiftan: feventy-five miles fouth- 
foutb-weft of Schiras. 
FISC, fi. [fificus, Lat.] The treafury of a prince or 
ftate. The word is derived from the Greek (pio-yj&, “a 
great balket,” ufed when they went to market. By the 
civil law, none but a fovereign prince has a right to have 
a fife or public treafury. At Rome, under the empe¬ 
rors, the term eerarium was ufed for the revenues deltined 
for the fupport of the charges of the empire; and fificus 
for thofe of the emperor’s own family. The treafury, in 
eftefl, belonged to the people, and the fifeus to the prince. 
Hence the goods of condemned perfons,' if appropriated 
to the life of the public, were diftinguilhed publican ; if 
to th.e fupport of the emperor or prince, confij'cari. 
FIS'CAL,/. [ fifeus , I.at. a treafury.] Exchequer; 
revenue.—War, as it is entertained by diet, fo can it not be 
long maintained by the ordinary fifical and receipt. Bacon. 
FIS'CAL, adj. Concerning the public revenue.—We 
proceed now to examine the king’s fifical prerogatives, or 
fuch as regard his revenue. Blackfione. 
FIS'C AL, a town of Spain, in the kingdom of Aragon : 
fifteen miles north-weft of Ainfa. 
FIS'CHA, a river of Germany, in the archduchy of 
Auftria, which runs into the Danube at Fifchamund. 
FISCHAM'UND, or Vischamund, a town of Ger¬ 
many, in the archduchy of Auftria, fituated near the Da¬ 
nube : twelve miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Vienna. 
FISCHAU'SEN, a town of Pruffia, on the Frifch-haff, 
built in the year 1269, and anciently the refidence of the 
bilhop of Samland : five milesweft: of Koniglberg. 
FISCHBA'CH, or Visp, a town of Swifferland, in the 
Valais; near which a battle was fought between the inha¬ 
bitants of the Valais, and Amadeus duke of Savoy, when 
the latter was defeated : twenty-feven miles eaft of Sion. 
FIS'CHER, a town of Germany, in th.e duchy of Car- 
niola : feventeen miles fouth-eaft of Stein. 
FISH,/. [pipe, Sax. vifich, Dutch.] An animal that 
inhabits the water. Fifii is ufed collectively for the race 
of fijhes. See the article Ichthyology. —There are 
fifilns that have wings, that are not ftrangers to the airy 
region ; and there are fome birds that are inhabitants of 
the water, whofe blood is as cold as fijhes ; and their 
flefli is fo like in tailed that the fcrupulous are allowed 
them on fiflt-days. Locke. 
And now the fifii ignoble fate efcape. 
Since Venus ow’d her fafety to their fttape. Creech. 
The flefli of fifii oppofed to that of terreftrial animals, by 
way of eminence called flefli.-—We mortify ourfelves with 
the diet of fifih, and think we fare coarfely if we abftain 
from the flelh of other animals. Brown. —[Sea term.] 
Any timber made fad; to the rnaft, or yards, to ftrengthen 
them. 
To FISH, v. n. To be employed in catching fifties. 
To endeavour st any thing by artifice : 
While others fifii, with craft for great opinion, 
I, with great truth, catch mere fimplicity. Shakefipeare. 
To FISH, v. a. To fearch water in quell of fifti, or any 
thing elfe.—Some have fifihed the very jakes for papers 
left there by men of wit. Swij't. 
Oft, as he fifii'd her nether realms for wit, 
The goddefs favour’d him, and favours yet. Pope. 
To Fish the Mafi, is to ftrengthen it againft ftrefs of 
weather. 
FISH-HOOK, /. A hook barbed at the point, and 
baited, with which fifii are caught.—A lliarp point, bended 
upward and backward, like a fifih-hook. Grew. 
FISH'ER,/ One who is employed in catching fifti : 
Left he fliould fufpeCt it, draw it from him, 
As fijhers do the bait, to make him follow it. Denham. 
We know that town is but with fijhers fraught, 
Where Thefeus govern’d, and where Plato taught. Sandys. 
FISH'ER, 
