56$ FOR 
carries it off on horfeback, the horfe (hall be forfeited, 
unlefs it be that of a ftranger ignorant of the fadt. 
Where heath is burnt in a foreft, the offenders may be 
fined : and if any man cuts down bufhes and thorns, and 
carries them away in a cart, he is fineable, and the cart 
and horfes (lull be feized by the foreft laws. But a man 
may prefcribe to cut wood, &c. And every freeman 
within tiie foreft may on his own. ground make a mill- 
dyke, or arable land, without inclofing fuch arable; 
but if it be a nuifance to others, it is punifhable. Chart. 
Forcjl. c. n. 12 Rep. 22. And if any having woods in his 
own ground, within any foreft, or chafe, fliall cut the 
fame by the king’s licence, &c. he may keep them feveral 
and inclofed, for fevenyears after felling. 22 Edzo. IV. c.7. 
By Charta de Forefla, 9 Henry III. 2. c. 2. no man fliall 
lofe life or member for killing the king’s deer in a foreft, 
but fliall be fined ; and if he have nothing to pay the 
fine, he fliall be imprifoned a year and a day; and then 
be delivered, if he can give good fecurity not to offend for 
the future ; and if not, he fliall abjure the realm. Be¬ 
fore this flatnte, it was felony to hunt the king’s deer. 
2 Rol. 120. To hunt in a foreft, park, See. in the night, 
difguifed, if denied or concealed, upon examination be¬ 
fore a juftice of peace, it is felony : but if confeffed, it is 
only fineable. 1 Hen. VII. c. 7. Keepers, &c. may feize 
inltruments ufed in unlawful cutting of trees. 4 Geo. III. 
c> 31. 
The cruel and infupportable hardfhips which the fo¬ 
reft laws created to the fubjedt, occafioned our anceftors 
to be as zealous for their reformation, as for the relaxa¬ 
tion of the feodal rigours, and the other exactions intro¬ 
duced by the Norman family. And accordingly we find 
the immunities of Charta de Forefla contended for and ex-, 
torted from the king, with as much difficulty, as thofe of 
Magna Charta itfelf. By this charter many forefts were 
difafi'orefted or (tripped of their oppreffive privileges; 
and regulations made in the regimen of fuch as remained. 
And by a variety of fubfequent flatutes, together with 
the long acquiefcence of the crown without exerting the 
foreft laws, this prerogative is become no longer a griev¬ 
ance to the fubjedt. 
FOR'EST, an ifland of North America, in the Britifh 
territories, at the mouth of Lake Ontario, between which 
and Grand Ifland is a narrow channel: nine miles fouth- 
erly of fort Frontinac, and fix north wefterly of Roebuck 
ifland in the fame lake, and within the line of the United 
States. 
FOR'EST (Black), or Schwartz-walp, a large 
foreft of Germany, in the circle of Swabia, on the right 
fide of the Rhine. This foreft confifts chiefly of moun¬ 
tains, which traverfe the greateft part of Swabia from 
north to fouth and from eaft to weft, and from them iffue 
mod of the rivers, which, after watering the country, 
lofe themfeives in the fthine or the Danube. The name 
is now principally confined to that part which is fituated 
between the Rhine, Swifferland, and the duchy of Wur- 
temburg, round the Foreft Towns. 
FOR'EST TOWNS, a name given to four towns in the 
Schwartz-wald, or Black Foreft, on the frontiers of Swif¬ 
ferland, viz. Rheinfeld, Seckingpn, Laufenburg, and. 
Waldfliut. They are ancient domains of the houle of 
Auftria. 
FOR'EST-SUR-SEVRE (La),atown of France, in the 
department of the two Sevres, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the diftridt of C’natillon, fituated on the Sevre- 
Nantoife : eight miles fouth-weft of Breffuire. 
FOR'ESTS (Department of the), a department of 
France, being one of the nine formed of part of the late 
Hainault, and the Auftrian Flanders, Brabant, and the 
country of Liege, and the duchy of Luxemburg. It is 
bounded on the north by the departments of the Ourthe, 
of the Sambre and Meufe, and of the Rhine and Mofelle; 
on the eaft, by this laft and that of Sarre ; on the fouth 
by thofe of the Mofelle, the Meufe, and the’Ardennes ; 
this laft, with that of the Sambre and Meiife, bounds it 
2 
FOR 
on the weft. Its fuperficies is about 1,353,952 fquare 
acres, or 691,035 hediares; its population is about 194,011 
individuals. It is divided into four communal diftricts. 
FO'R ESTAFF,y? an inftrument ufed at lea, for taking 
the altitudes of the heavenly bodies; being fo called, be- 
caufe the obferver, in ufing it, turns his face forward or 
towards the objedt, in contradiftindlion to the back-ftaff, 
with which he turns his back to the objedt. Itisalfo 
called the crofs-ftaff, becaufe it confifts of feveral pieces 
fet acrofs a (lari'. This inftrument is formed of a 
ftraight fquare ftaff AB, of about three feet long, 
having each of its four (ides graduated like a line 
of tangents, and four croffes, or vanes, FF, EE, DD, 
CC, Aiding upon it, of unequal lengths, the halves of 
which reprefent the radii to the lines of tangents on the 
different fides of the ftaff. The firft or fhorteft of thefe 
vanes, FF, is called the ten crofs, or ten vane, and belongs 
to the 10 fcale, or that fide of the inftrument on which 
divifions begin at 3 degrees, and end at 10. The next 
longer crofs, EE, is called the 30 crofs, belonging to that 
fide of the ftaff where the divifions begin at 10 degrees, 
and end at 30, called the 30 fcale. The third vane DD, 
is called the 60 crofs, and belongs to that fide where the 
divifions begin at 20 degrees, and end at 60. The laft 
or longed vane CC, called the 90 crofs, belongs to the 
fide where the divifions begin at 30 degrees, and end at 
90. The chief ufe of this inftrument, is to take the height 
of the fun, and ftars, or the diftance between two ftars : 
and the 10, 30, 60, or 90, crofs is to be ufed, according 
as the altitude is more or lefs; that is, if the altitude be 
lefs than 10 degrees, the 10 crofs is to be ufed ; if above 
10, but lefs than 30, the 30 crofs is to be ufed ; and fo on. 
To obferve an altitude with the fore-ftaff, apply the 
flat end of the ftaff to the eye, and Aide one of the croffes 
backwards and fortvards upon it, till over the upper end 
of the crofs be juft feen the centre of the fun or ftar, and 
over the under end the extreme horizon; then the de¬ 
grees and minutes cut by the crofs on the fide of the ftaff 
proper to the vane in ufe, gives the altitude above the 
horizon. In like manner, for the diftance between two 
luminaries ; the ftaff being fet to the eye, bring the crofs 
juft to fubtend or cover that diftance, by having the one 
luminary juft at the one end of it, and the other lumi¬ 
nary at the other end of it ; and the degrees and minutes, 
in the diftance, will be cut on the proper fide of the ftaff, 
as before. 
FOR'ESTAGE, f. The duty paid to the king by a 
forefter. 
To FORESTA'LL, v. a. [popej-tallan, Sax.] To an¬ 
ticipate ; to take up beforehand : 
What need a man forejlall his date of grief, 
And run to meet what he would mod avoid. Milton. 
To hinder by preoccupation or prevention : 
But for my tears, 
I had forejlall'd this dear and deep rebuke, 
Ere you with grief had .fpoke. Shakrfpeare. 
To feize or gain poffeffion of before another; to buy be¬ 
fore .another in order to raife the price : 
He bold fpake, fir knight, if knight thou be, 
Abandon \]\\s fnrejlalled place at erft, 
For fear of further harm, I counfel thee. Spenfcr. 
To deprive by fomething prior : with of. Not in ufe .— 
May this night forejlallhitm of the coming day. Shakefpeare. 
FORE- 
