m F R E 
to.—There were fynag'ogues for men to refort u.nto : our 
Saviour liimfelfaiid the apoltles frequented them. Hooker. 
To ferve my friends, the fenate I frequent ; 
And there what I before digefted, vent. . Denham. 
FREQUENT'ABLE, adj. Converfable; accefTible. 
A uwd not tfed, though not inelegant. —While youth lafted 
ill him, the exercifesof that age and his humour not yet 
fully difeovered, made him fomewhat the more frequenta~ 
ble aiid lefs dangerous. Sidney. 
FREQUENTA'TION, yi [frequentatio, Habit 
of frequenting.—The frequentation of courts checks this 
petiilancy of manner. Chejlcrfield. 
FR EQUEN F'ATI VE, adj. [frequentatif, Fr. frequen- 
iativits, I at.] A grammatical term applied to verbs ligni- 
fyi'-.g the frequent repetition of an adlion. 
FREQUENT'ER, f. One who often reforts to any 
place.—Ferfons under bad imputations are no great fre¬ 
quenters of churches. Sznift. 
FRRQUENT'I.NG, yi [from the participle.] The a£l 
of vidring frequently. 
FRE'QUENTLY, adv. ^frequenter, Lat.] Often; com¬ 
monly; not rarely ; not feldom ; a confiderable number 
ot times; manifold times.— I could not without much 
grief obferve how frequently both gentlemen and ladies 
are at a lofs for qnedions and anfwers. Swifr. 
FRE'QUENTNESS, f. F'requCncy. 
FRE'REN, or Vreren, a town of Germany, in the 
circle of Wedphalia, and county of Lingen : fix miles 
foiith-eafi of Lingen, 
FRERET' (Nicholas), born at Paris in i688, was the 
fen of a folicitor in parliament. He was brought up to 
the bar, and through complaifance to his family tpok an 
advocate’s gown, without any inclination to the profedion. 
His favourite fludies were hifiory anJ chronology, which 
he purfiied with fo much ardour and fuccefs, that he ob¬ 
tained adinifiion into the Academy of inferiptions at the 
age of twenty-five. He fignalifed his entrance by a Dif- 
courfe on the Origin of the French, a learned but bold 
performance ; which, in conjunction with fom.e impru¬ 
dent language on the quarrel between the princes of the 
blood and the regent, caufed him to be imprifoned in the 
Bafiile. During Ids confinement, aimed the only author 
given him to read was Bayle. He perufed him fo often, 
»iiat he had him almod by heart; and the fceptical prin¬ 
ciples of this philofopher impreded him fo deeply, that 
they were never obliterated. Their influence appeared 
in two of his works, the Letters from Thrafybulus to 
Leucippus, and the Examination of the Apologids of 
Chiidianity ; the latter a podhumous piece, printed in 
1767. After his liberation he addidled himfelf entirely 
to his former dudies. The fruits of thefe were, many 
Memoirs, inferted .in different volumes of the collection of 
papers by the Academy of Inferiptions, and replete with 
profound erudition and curious dilculfion : the preface, 
notes, and a part of the tranflation, of the Spanifh ro- 
inaiice entitled Tirante the White : i'everal light pieces, 
on fubjecds w hich ferved him as a relaxation from feverer 
talks. He wrote witli order and perfpicuity, but was 
fond of maintaining fingular opinions. He died in 1749. 
FRERON' (Elie-Catherine), born at Quimper in 1719. 
He entered young among the Jefuits, and his literary 
fade was ctiltivated by the fathers Brumqiand Boiigeant. 
Upon fome difgud he quitted the Jefuits in 1739, and be¬ 
came a coadjutor of the abbe Des Fontaines in his perio¬ 
dical publications. He then publifhed a critical journal 
of his own, under the title of Lettres de Mad, la Comptefe, 
1746, tamo, in which he treated with freedom the litera¬ 
ry reputation of fome authors, who had the credit to pro¬ 
cure the fuppredion of his work. It re-appeared, how. 
ever, in 1749, under the \.n\t of Lettres fur quelques Ecrits 
de ce Tezns, and was well received by the public, who were 
amufed by the livelinefs and feverity of its firiCtures. 
King Staniflaus gave his protection to the author, and 
took pains to free the work from the interruptions it occa- 
fionally met with. After publidiing thirteen volumes of 
F R E 
this journal, he dropt it in 1754 for a new one, entitled 
L’Anne'e Lilteraire ; and of this lie continued to ilTue eight 
volumes yearly as long as he lived. The fpirit of liis 
journal was that of attachment to ancient principles, and 
of zealagaind the new philofophy, as well as againd in- 
novation and neologifm of all kinds. This was fupport- 
ed by a confiderable fund of wit and gaiety, and general 
good fade, w-hen his judgment was not warped by preju¬ 
dice. His own dyle was pure, but not free from college 
pedantry. He had the misfortune of uniting againd him 
fome of the principal writers of the time, of whom the 
mod formidable was Voltaire. Freron had long carried 
on a warfare againd this didinguilhed author without 
provoking Ids notice. At length, on the occafion of a fe- 
vere criticifm upon his comedy of La Femme qui a Raifon, 
the wrath of the dramatid broke forth. He brought Freron 
upon the dage in his Eceffaife ; and never omitTed any op¬ 
portunity of throwing odium and contempt upon him and 
his works. It is faid, however, that Voltaire acknow¬ 
ledged^ him to polfefs tade, and extenfive acquaintance 
with FTench literature. Befides Iris periodical works, he 
publidied Opufcules, three volumes i2mo. confiding of 
pieces in prole and vet fe, the latter of which are judged 
to be compofitions of labour rather than of genius. He 
alfo wrote Les vrais Plaifirs, ou les Amours de Venus et 
Adonis, trandated from the Italian of Marino ; and he be¬ 
gan a trandation of Lucretius. He died in 1776. 
FRES'CA, f. in old records, frefli water. 
FRESCAD'ES, y. from the Italian, cool walks, fhady 
places. Scott. 
FRESCA'TI, or Frascati, a fmall town of Italy, 
fituated on tire brow of a hill, about twelve miles to the 
eadward of Rome. It derives its name from the coolnefs 
of the air, and fredi verdure of the fields around. It is 
built on the ruins of the ancient Tufculum ; and the 
Tufciilan villa where Cicero wrote his famous quedions 
is at a place now called Grotta Ferrata, about two miles dif- 
tant. There is a fine profpedt from this town into the 
neighbouring country, which abounds with the feats and 
chateaus of tiie nobility. It is the fee of a bifhop, who 
is one of the fix fenior cardinals. 
FRESCLO'NE, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of 
Naples, and province of Molife ; two miles fouth-wed of 
Adolife. 
FRES'CO,yi [Italian.] Coolnefs; fiiade; dufkinefs, 
like that of the evening or morning; 
Hellidi fprites 
Love more they-^o of the nights. • Prior. 
A pitSlure ufually drawn upon the fides of rooms, upon 
lofty walls, or in alcoves, &c. 
Here thy well-fiudy’d marbles fix our eye; 
A fadingy-yco here demands a figh. Pope. 
Painting in Fresco is performed with water-colours on 
frelh plader, or on a wall laid with mortar not quite dry. 
This mode of painting has a great advantage by incorpo¬ 
rating with the mortar, and drying along with it, by 
which means it becomes very durable. VitruviuSyWo. vii. 
cap. 4. calls it udo tedorio. The art is very ancient, hav¬ 
ing been prafticed in the early ages of Greece and Rome. 
It is chiefly performed on walls newly duccoed, pladered 
with lime and fand ; but the ducco is only to be laid as 
the painting goes on ; no more being to be done at once 
than the painter can difpatch in a day , while it dries. 
Before he begins to paint, a cartoon or defign is ufually 
made on paper, to be calked, and transferred to the- 
wall, about half an liour after the plader is applied. 
FRESH, adj. [ppepc, Sax. fraifehe^ Fr.] Cool ; 
not vapid with heat; 
I’ll cull the farthed mead for thy repad; 
The choiced herbs I to thy board will bring, 
And draw thy water from ihtfrefiejl fpring. Prior. 
Not fait.—They keep themfelves unmixt with the fait 
water; fo that, a very great way within the fea, men 
may 
