2(1 
F R E 
F R E 
i' a cannon foiindery, and manufaftures of military arti¬ 
cles, efla’ lilhed in 1756. 
FR ED'KRICTON, a confiderable towndiip of the 
American States, in tlte province of New-Bi iinfwick, 
ninety miles up St. John’s river, wliich is lo far navigable 
fer (loops. 
FRED'ERICTOWN, a poft town of the American 
States, in Maryland, and capital of Frederic county, 
fituated on both fides of Carroll’s creek, a dream 
that empties into Monocacy river, over whicli are two 
bridges. The dreets arc regularly laid out, interfeffing 
each other at right angles. The dwelling-houfes, chiefly 
of done and brick, are about 700 in number, many of 
■wh.icli are handfome and commodious. The arfenal ot 
the date of Maryland is placed heie, the dtuation being 
fecure and central. T he public edifices are, one church 
for Prefbyteriins, two for German Lutherans and Calvi- 
nids, and one for Baptids, an elegant court-hoitfe, a goal, 
and a market-houfe. It is a very flourilhing town, and 
has confiderable trade with the back fettlements. The 
Etna glafs-vvorks are fituated four miles above the town, 
on d'ufkarora creek.^ Fredcriftown is four miles call ot 
Cotoiffin mountain, forty-feven wed by north of Balti¬ 
more, twenty-four ead of Sharpfburg, and i48(outh-wed 
by wed of Philadelphia. Lat. 39. 24. N. 
F'RE'DUM, f. in the ancient law, acompofition made 
by a criminil, to be freed from profecution, ot which the 
third part was paid into the exchequer. Formerly com- 
pofitions were paid for crimes in general, particularly for 
murder. Tlie magidrate w'as to determine the compofi- 
tion, and protedf the offender againd the violence ot re- 
fentment. See Montefquieu's Spirit of Laws, 1 . 30. c. 20. 
FREE, adj. [ppeah, Saxon ; vry, Dutch.] At liber¬ 
ty ; not a vaiFal ; not endaved ; not a prifoner ; not de¬ 
pendent.—A free nation is that which has never been 
conquered, or thereby entered into any condition of fub- 
jeftion. Temple. 
Free to herfelf my potent mind remains. 
Nor fears the vigor’s rage, nor feels his chains. Prior. 
Uncompelled ; unredrained : 
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours, 
All which we pine for now. Shakefpeare. 
Not bound by fate ; not neceditated : 
Freely they dood who dood, and fell who fell ; 
Not free, what proof could they have given fincere 
Of true allegiance, condant faith, or love ? Milton. 
Permitted ; allowed : 
To gloomy cares my thoughts alone are/fee, 
111 the gay fports with troubled thoughts agree. Pope, 
Licentious; unredrained ; 
1 know there are to whofe prefumptuous thoughts 
Thofe/reer beauties, ev’n iu them, feem faults. Pope, 
Open ; ingenuous ; frank : 
Oadalio, I have doubts within my heart ; 
Will you be free and candid to your friend ? Otway. 
Acquainted ; converfing without referve : 
’Tis not to make me jealous, 
To fay my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company, ^ 
Is free of fpeech, fings, plays, and dances, well ; 
Wliere virtue is, thele make more virtuous. Shakefpeare. 
Liberal; not parfimonious : with of. —Alexandrian ver- 
fes, of twelve fyllables, fhould never be allowed but when 
I'ome remarkable beauty or propriety in them atones for 
the liberty : Mr. Dryden has been too freeoi thefe in his 
latter works. Pope. 
Glo’der too, a foe to citizens, 
O’erchargiiig your/fee purfes with large fines, 
That feeks to overthrow religion. Shakefpeare. 
Frank : not gained by importunity; not purchafed.—We 
4 
wanted words to exprefs our thanks : his noble free offers 
left us nothing to afk. Bacon. —Clear from didrefs ; 
Who alone fiiffers, fuffers mod i’tli’ mind, 
Leaving/;'e€ things and happy fliows behind. Shakefp, 
Guiltlefs ; innocent.—My hands are guilty, but my hearf 
is free. Dryden. 
Make mad the guilty, and appall the free. 
Confound the ign’rant. Shakefpeare, 
Exempt; with c/'anciently ; more properly/fo/n ; 
Such allow’d infirmities, that honedy 
Is never/fdV o/l Shakefpeare.. 
Who fears not to do ill, yet fears the name ; 
And free from confcience, is a Have to tame. Denham', 
Iiiveded with franchifes; peffeding any thing without vas- 
falage ; admitted to the privileges of any body : with^.- 
W hat do’d thou make a Ihipboard ? To what end 
Art thou (/'Bethlem’s noble college free? 
Stark-daring mad, that thou fhould’d tempt the fea ? 
Dryden. 
Without expence ; by charity, as zfreefchool. [Applied 
to aliorfe.] Willing to move.—Raunging the fored wide 
on courfer free. Spenfer. 
To FREE, V. a. [from tlie adjeftive.] To fet at liber¬ 
ty ; to refciie from flavery or captivity ; to manumit; to 
loofe.—He recovered the temple,/fec’^f the city, and up¬ 
held the laws which were going down. 2 Mac. it. 22. 
Should thy coward tongue 
Spread its cold poifon through the martial throng. 
My jav’lin (hall revenge lo bafe a part, 
And free the foul that quivers in thy heart. Pope. 
To rid from ; to clear from any thing ill ; with of or 
from .— It is no niarvail, that he could think of no better 
way to be/fcc’^f thefe inconveniencies the padions of 
thofe meetings gave him, than to didblve them. Clarendon. 
Hercules 
Free’d Erymanthus from the foaming boar, Dryden. 
To clear from impediments or obdruftions ; 
Fierce was the fight ; but had’ning to his prey, 
By force the furious lover free’d his way. Dryden. 
To banilh ; to fend away ; to rid. Not in ufe : 
Never any fabbath of releafe 
Could free his travels and afflictions deep. Daniel. 
To exempt.—For he that is dead is free’d from fin. Ro¬ 
mans vi. 7. 
F'REE-BENCH, f in law, that edate in copyhold 
lands which the wife hath on the death of her hulband 
for her dower, according to the cudom of the manor : 
but it is faid that fuch w ife ought to be efpoufed a virgin ; 
and is to hold the land only fo long as die lives foie and 
continent. Kitch.soz. Of this free-bench feveral manors 
have feveral cudoms; and Fitzherbert calls it a cudom, 
whereby in certain cities the wife fhall have the whole 
lands of the hulband for her dower. See, F.N.B. 150. 
In the manors of Ead and Wed Embourne in the county 
of Berks, and the manor of Torre in Devonfliire, and 
other parts of the wed of England, there is a cudom, 
that when a copyhold tenant dies, liis widow fhall have 
her free-bench in all his cudomary lands, dum fola & cajla 
fuerit-, but if die commits inconiinency, die forfeits her 
edate. 
FREE-CHAPEL, f a chapel that is exempt from the 
jurifdiCtion of the diocefan. Thofe chapels are properly 
free-cliapels which are of the king's foundation, and by 
him exempted from the ordinary’s viiltation ; alfo chapels 
founded within a paridi for the fervice of God, by the 
devotion and liberality of pious men, over and above the 
mother-church, and endowed with maintenance by the 
founders, which werfe free for the inhabitants of the pa¬ 
ridi to come to, were therefore called free-chapels. Reg. 
Orig, 40, The free-chapel of St. Martin-le-grand is men. 
tioned 
