F L E 
many ftriking obfervations, and much excellent advice, 
which merit the attention both of the higher and lower 
orders of fociety. In 16S7, he publilhed his Inftitute of 
Ecclefiaffical Law, 2 vols. 12010. which has been praifed 
by able j drifts, and honoured with the encomiums of 
chancellor d’Aguefleau. His other works were, 1. A 
Hiftory of French Law, 1674. 2. The Life of La Mere 
d’Arbouze, who reformed the convent of Val-de-Grace, 
121110. 3. The Portrait of the Duke of Burgatndy, after¬ 
wards Dauphin, 12100. 1714; and an unfinilhed perform¬ 
ance, publifhed after his death, entitled A Treadle on 
Public Law, 2 vols. nrao. 
FLE'VUS, in ancient geography, the right branch of 
the Rhine, which formed a large lake on its falling into 
the fea, called Flevo , now Zuider-Zce. It was afterwards 
called Helium, now Ulie, when its breadth became more 
contracted, and a fort ereCted there obtained the name of 
Flevum FriJiorum. Tacitus. 
FLEW, the preterite of fly, not of fleer —The people 
flew upon the fpoil. 1 Sam. xiv. 32. 
O’er the world of waters Hermes flew, 
’Till now the dillant ifland rofe in view. Pope. 
FLEW, f. The large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound. 
Hanmer. 
FLEW'ED, adj. Chapped 5 mouthed: 
My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 
So flew'd, fo funded, and their heads are hung 
With ears that fweep away the morning dew. Shakefpeare. 
F'LEXA'NIMOUS, adj. [flexanimus, Lat.] Having 
power to change the difpolition of the mind.—That flex- 
animous and golden-tongued orator, hlowel. 
FLEXIBILITY,/ [flexibility Fr. from flexible. ] The 
quality of admitting to be bent; pliancy.—Do not the 
rays which differ in refrangibility differ alfo in flexibility? 
And are they not, by their different inflexions, feparated 
from one another, fo as after reparation to make the 
colours ? Newton .—Ealinefs to be perfuaded ; duCtility of 
mind; compliance; facility.—Refolve rather to err by 
too much flexibility than too much perverfenefs, by meek- 
nefs than by felt-love. Hammond. 
FLEX'IBLE, adj. [ flexibilis , Lat. flexible, Fr.] Poffible 
tobe bent; not brittle ; eafy to be bent; pliant; not (tiff: 
When fplitting winds 
Mak z flexible the knees of knotted oaks. Shakefpeare. 
Not rigid ; not inexorable ; complying ; obfequious.— 
Phocyon was a man of great feverity, and no ways flexible 
to the will of the people. Bacon. —DuCtile; manageable. 
•—Under whofe care foever a child is put to be taught, 
during the tender and flexible years of his life, it ffiould 
be one who thinks -Latin and language the leaft part of 
education. Locke .—That may be accommodated to various 
forms and purpofes.—-This was a principle more flexible 
to their pitrpofe. Rogers. 
FLEX'IBLENESS, f. Poflibility to be bent ; not brit- 
tlenefs; eafinefs to be bent; not ftiffhefs ; pliantnefs ; 
pliancy.—I will rather clioofe to wear a crown of thorns, 
than to exchange that of gold for one of lead, whofe em- 
bafed flexiblenefs (hall be forced to bend. King Charles .— 
I'acility ; obfequioufnefs ; compliance. DuCtility; ma- 
nageablenefs.—The flexiblenefs of the former part of a 
man’s age, not yet grown up to be headftrong, makes it 
more governable. Locke. 
FLEX'ILE, adj. [ ftexilis, Lat.] Pliant; eafily bent; 
obfequious to any power or impulle : 
Every flexile wave 
Obeys the blaft, th’ aerial tumult fwells. Thomfon. 
FLEX'ION,/ [ flexio, Lat.] The aCt of bending. A 
double ; abending ; part bent; joint.—Of a finuous pipe 
that may have fome four flexions, trial would be made. 
Bacon .—-A turn towards any part or quarter.—Pny caufeth 
fometimes tears, and a flexion or caff of the eye afiae. Bacon. 
FLEX'OR,/. [from fletto. Lat. to bend.] In anatomy, 
Vol. VII. No. 441. 
F L I 457 
a name applied to feveral mufcles, which are fo called 
from their office, which is to bend the parts to which 
' they belong ; in oppofition to the extenfors , which open 
or ftretch them. See Anatomy, vol. i, p. 575. —Flat¬ 
terers who have the flexor mufcles fo ftrong that they are 
always bowing and cringing, might in fome meafure be 
corrected by being tied down upon a tree by the back. 
Arbuthnot. 
FLEX'UOUS, or Flexuo'se, adj. [ flexuofus, Lat.] 
Winding ; full of turnsvand meanders; tortuous.—In re¬ 
gard to the foul, the numerous and crooked narrow 
cranies, and the reftrained flexuous rivulets, of corporeal 
things, are all contemptible. Digby. —Bending; not 
ftraigltt ; variable ; not fteady.—The trembling of a can¬ 
dle difeovers a wind, that otherwife we did not feel ; and 
the flexuous burning of flames doth fltew the air beginneth 
to be unquiet. Bacon. 
FLEX'URE, f. [ flexura , Lat.] The form or direction 
in which any thing is bent.—Contrary is the flexure of the 
joints of our arms and legs to that of quadrupeds : our 
knees bend forward, whereas the fame joint of their hind 
legs bends backward. Ray. —The aft of bending : 
The elephant hath jojnts, but none for conrtefy ; 
His legs are for neceflity, not flexure. Shakefpeare. 
The part bent ; the joint : 
His mighty ffrength lies in his able loins. 
And where the flexure of his navel joins. Sandys. 
Obfequious or fervile cringe. Not ufed. 
Think’ft thou the fiery fever will go out 
With titles blown from adulation ? 
Will give place to flexure and low bends ? Shakefpeare. 
To FLICK'ER, v. a. [fligheren, Dut. pliccejitan. 
Sax.] To flutter ; to play the wings ; to have a flutter¬ 
ing motion : 
At all her ffretch her little wings fire fpread, 
And with her feather’d arms embrac’d the dead ; 
Then flickering to his pallid lips fbe ffrove 
To print a kifs, the l.iff ellay of love. Dryden. 
FLIE,/ that part of the mariner’s compafs, on which 
the thirty-two points of the wind are drawn, and over 
which the needle is placed, and fattened underneath. 
FLIE, fee Vlielandt. 
FLIE, or Vlie, a river, or channel, which runs from 
the Zuyder See, near the coaft of Frielland, into the Ger¬ 
man Ocean, between the illands of Schell ing and Vlielandt. 
FLI'ER, / One that runs away; a fugitive; a run¬ 
away : 
The gates are ope, now prove good feconds; 
’Tis for the followers fortune widens them, 
Not for the fliers. Shakefpeare. 
That part of a machine which, by being put into a more 
rapid motion than the other parts, equalizes and regulates 
the motion of the red ; as in a jack : 
The flier, tlio’t had leaden feet, 
Turn’d fo quick, you fcarce could fee’t. Swift. 
F'LI'ESBACFI, a river of Germany, in the circle of 
Upper Saxony, which runs into the Black Elder, near 
Jeffen, in the electorate of Saxony. 
FLI'ESERYD, a town of Sweden, in the province 
of Smaland : twenty-nine miles north of Calmar. 
FLIGHT,/. The aCt of flying or running from dan¬ 
ger.—He thinks by flight his miftrefs muff be won. Dryden, 
As eager of the chace, the maid 
Beyond the foreft’s verdant limits ftray’d ; 
Pan law and lov’d, and burning with defire, 
Purfu’d her flight ; her flight increas’d his fire. Pope. 
The aCt of ufing wings ; volation : 
Winds that tempefts brew, 
When through Arabian groves they take their flight, 
Made wanton with rich odours, lofe their fpite. Dryden. 
6 A Removed 
