F R E 
F R E 
will make any note; and, in the tops of lutes, the higher 
they go, thelefs diitance is between theyhij. Bacon. 
Tlie harp 
Had work, and refled not: the folemn pipe 
And dulcimer, all organs of fweet hop, 
All founds on fret hy firing or golden wire, 
Temper’d foff tunings, intermix’d with voice 
Choral or unifon. Mi/ton. 
Work rifing in protuberances.—The frets of houfes, and 
all equal figures, pleafe ; whereas unequal figures are but 
deformities. Bacon. —'We take delight in a profpedl well 
laid out, and diverfified with fields and meadows, woods 
and rivers, in the curious_/>-et-works of rocks and grottos. 
SpeBator. —Agitation of the mind ; commotion of temper; 
paliion : 
Calmnefs is great advantage : he that lets 
Another chafe, may warm him at his fire, 
Markall his wand'rings, and enjoy his frets' 
As cunning fencers fufferheat to tire. Herbert. 
To FRET, v.a. To agitate violently by external im- 
pulfe or adlion : 
You may as well forbid the mountain pines 
To wag their high tops, and to make a noife 
When they -dct fretted with the guffs of heav’n. Shakefpeare. 
To wear away by rubbing.—In the banks of rivers, with 
the wafhing of the water, there were divers times fretted 
out big pieces of gold. Abbot. —To hurt by attrition : 
Antony 
Is valiant and dejedled ; and, by ftarts, 
His fretted fortunes gave him hope and fear 
Of what he has and has not. Shahefpeare. 
To corrode; to eat away.—It isyref inward, whether it 
be bare within or without. Lev. xiii. 55. 
The painful hufband, plowing up his ground. 
Shall find all fret with ruft, both pikes and (liields, 
And empty helms under his harrow found. Hakewill. 
To form intoraifed work : 
Nor did there want 
Cornice or freeze, with boffy fculptures grav’n; 
The roof was fretted gold. Milton. 
To variegate ; to diverfify : 
Yon grey lines, 
Thoit fret the clouds, are meffengers of day. Shahefpeare. 
To make angry ; to vex.—Becaufe thou haft fretted me in 
all thefe things, behold 1 will recompenfe thy way upon 
thine head. kzek. xvi. 43. — Injuries from friendsyr^r and 
gall more, and the memory of them is not fo eafily obli¬ 
terated. Arbuthnot. 
To FRET, V. n. To be in commotion ; to be agitated : 
Th’ adjoining brook, that purls along 
Tlie vocal grove, now fretting o'er zrociny 
Now fcarcely moving through a ready pool. Thomfon. 
To be worn away ; to be corroded.—Take a piece of 
glovers’ leather that is very thin, and put your gold there¬ 
in, with fal armoniac, binding it clofe, and then hang it 
up ; the fal armoniac will fret away, and the gold remain 
behind. Peacham. —To make way by attrition or corro- 
fion.—It inflamed and fwelled very much ; many wheals 
arofe, nnA fretted one into another with great excoriation. 
V/ifeman. —To be angry; to bepeevifh; to vex himfelf. 
—His heart freiteth againft the Lord. Prov. xix. 3. 
Helplefs, what may it boot 
To fret for anger, or for grief to moan 1 Spenfer. 
Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care 
Who chafes, who frets, or where confpirers are. Shakefp. 
FRET'EVAL, a town of France, in the department 
of the Loir and Cher : two leagues north-eaft of Yen- 
dome, and fix north of Blois. 
FRET'FUL, adj. Angry; peevifli 5 in a ftate of vex- 
3.9 
ation.—They are extremely/r^f/u/and peevifh, never well 
at reft; but always calling for this or that, or clianging 
their pofture of lying or fitting. Harvey. 
Thy knotty and combined locks to part. 
And each particular hair to ftand on end. 
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine. Slwkeffeare. 
FRET'FULLY, adv. Peeviftily. 
FRET'FULNESS, /. Paliion ; peeviftinefs ; a difeafe 
or difturbance of the mind. It is net eafy to imagine, 
how a temper fo abhorrent to all fociabiiity, can inlinuate 
itlelfinto the heart of man; but life is pregnant with ex¬ 
amples of it. Perhaps, where it does not proceed from a 
fallen felfifiuiefs, from an unfympathifing fpirit ; it may 
generally owe its birth and growth to an excefs of care 
and anxiety; in fome inftances, to too delicate and fafti. 
dious feelings; and, what may feem ftrange, in a few, 
to even an excefs of tendernefs and love. An undue at¬ 
tachment to any one object.fo weds the heart to this fingle 
objedt, fo magnifies the importance of it, fo inflames, 
and gives fuch a corroding anxiety to, our hopes, that we 
live for no other objecl; we lofe the relifii for the thou- 
fand pleafantries of life ; we fear an enemy in every thing 
around us, in the ordinary occurrences of life ; the cheer¬ 
ful tone of the mind is gone; and, with all the defire of 
joy and liappineis, joy and happinefs hide themlelves from 
us, as if tliey fled from our prefence. An over-anxious 
attachment to children has robbed many a parent of all 
the affetlions of their children ; and many a one has driv¬ 
en away a friend by an over-nice delicacy and jealous at¬ 
tention to the punftilios of friendftiip. All the benevo¬ 
lent charities of life love to breathe a free, unreftrained, 
and pleafant, air ; their natural food is good-humour and 
cheeifulnefs, which the peevifli, .the fretful, and difeon- 
tentetl, man has not to give. As the difeafe arifes from 
furt'ering the affedtions to be narrowed and contradled to 
one or a few objeC's, fo there is no cure to be expedled 
but from the enlargement of the foul; we muft let limits 
to the attachment which has monopolifed us, by coun- 
teradling its influence, by throwing open the heart anew 
to the ten thoufand agreeable objefts with which God has 
been pleafed to enrich his world. We mull lay ourfelve.s 
out to find the agreeable and the good in many ways, as 
well as one ; and by indulging to the diverfified charities, 
bring back good temper and cheerfulnefs to the mind. 
This cure is indeed hard to be elFedled, fuch is the fullen 
obftinacy of the difeafe ; but it is poflible to him who will 
attempt it ; while the reprefentation of the ill is at leaft: 
of life to thofe, whom it has not invaded. It (hews the 
neceflity of not fulfering our hearts to be ftolen away by 
one ufurping objedt from all the other allowable good and 
comfort which the Creator has been pleafed to fpread be¬ 
fore man. He, w ho gives way to the unhappy fpirit of 
fretfulnefs, will foon lofe every friend whom he has ac- 
quired in his better days, and never know the happinefs 
of gaining a new one. 
FRETH’UN, a town of France, in the department of 
the Straits of Calais ; one league fouth of Calais. 
FRET'GY (Le), a town of France, in the department 
of the Oife, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of 
Noyon : five miles north-weft of Noyon. 
FRET'TY, adj. Adorned with railed work. 
FREU'DENBERG, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of Weftphalia, and principality of Naflau Siegen : five 
miles weft-north-weft of Siegen. 
FREU'DENBERG, a town of Germany,'in the circle 
of Bavaria, and Upper Palatinate; four miles eaft of 
Ambergl 
FREU'DENBERG, a town of Germany, in the cir¬ 
cle of Franconia, and county of Wertheim, on the Main ; 
eight miles north of Wertheim, and twenty-eight north= 
call of Heidelberg. 
FREU'DENSTADT, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of Swabia, and duchy of Wurtenberg, founded in the 
year 1600, as an afylum for the Proteftants who were per- 
fecuted 
