FIR

ridge; in Pliny, to a bounding or terminating ' edge. It is now chiefly used for the Gothic ornament which finishes a pediment, pinnacle, &c.

And among the enemies spoiles, hee set up a navall coronet, and fastened it to the finial [fastigio] of his house Palatine, hard by another civick guirland, in token and memoriall of the ocean by him sailed over and subdued. Holland. Suetonius, p. 162.

His invention it was to set up gargils or antiques at the top of a gavill end, as a finiall to the crest tiles [personas tegularum extremis imbricibus] which in the beginning he called Protypa.-Id. Plinie, b. xxxv. c. 12.

Another between the same persons, for making and setting up the finyalls of the buttresses of the church.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. c. 4.

Your congees and trips

With your legs and your lips,

Your madams and lords,

And such finikin words.-Brome. The Leveller.

Be not too finical; but yet be clean:

And wear well-fashion'd cloathes like other men. Dryden. Ovid. Art of Love. At nineteen he [Enoch Zeeman] painted his own portrait in the inical manner of Denner, and executed the heads of an old man and woman in the same style afterwards.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iv. c. 1.

Nor had Gribelin any thing of greatness in his manner or capacity: his works have no more merit than finicalness, and that not in perfection, can give them. Id. Ib. vol. v. Engravers.

See FINE.

FINISH.
FIPPLE. Lat. Fibula, a clasp or fastener.
A stopper, (sc.) of a wind instrument.

Note again that some kind of wind instruments are blown at a small hole in the side, which straitneth the breath of the first entrance; the rather, in respect of their traverse, and stop above the hole, which performeth the fipple's part; as it is seen in flutes, and fifes, which will not give sound, by a blast at the end, as recorders, &c.

Bacon. Naturall Historie, s. 116.

FIR. A. S. Fuhr-wudu; Lat. Pinus, a pine tree. Somner, Skinner, and Junius, Abies; Dut. VueSkinner says, Perhaps from Fire, (Dut. Vuyr;) wood which may easily be set on fire.

ren.

And there wyll I cut downe the hye cedre trees & the fayrest fyre trees.-Bible, 1551. Of Esaye, c. 38.

There is great ods betweene fir trees, in regard of diverse countres and nations, where they grow. The best are those of the Alpes and Apennine hils. Holland. Plinie, b. xvi. c. 39. With cord and canvass, from rich Hamburgh sent, His navy's molted wings he imps once more: Tall Norway fir, their masts in battle spent, And English oak, sprung leaks and planks restore. Dryden. Annus Mirabilis. On Lebanon the sacred cedar waves And spiry fir-tree, where the stork conceals Her clam'rous young.

FIRE, v.

FIRE, n.

FIRELESS.

Hart, Ps. 104.

A. S. Fir, fyr; Dut. Vuyr, vier; Ger. Feuer; Gr. Пup, a Phrygian word, according to Plato. FIRER. "Consider, says Socrates, whether FRING, n. this name, up, is not of Barbaric FIERY. origin; for it is by no means FIERINESS. easy to adapt this to the Greek tongue; and it is manifest, that the Phrygians thus denominate fire, with a certain trifling deviation," (Plato, in Cratylo, by Taylor.) It is difficult to suppose that our northern progenitors had no name for the element of fire, until they borrowed it from the Greeks; it is more probable that there was some common origin for both the Greek and Saxon in the northern languages.

FIR

To ignite, to kindle, to burn; (met.) to warm, to heat, to inflame, to animate.

Fire, n. (met.) that which warms, inflames, heats, animates, inspirits; gives or causes life, vivacity, or liveliness, ardour, fervour, vigour. Fire-new,-new from the fire or forge. Fire is much used prefixed.

Seththe the luther emperour hadde in his herte joie, To thenche on fyur, that was in the bataile of Troie, Tho me barnde gret townes & courtes day & nygt, And thogte yt was mury joie, to se so fair alygt. R. Gloucester, p. 69. In which enetid [evening-tide] appered in the west ii. sterres of fuyry colour, on lite that other gret. Id. p. 484. Note. Wilde fire thei kast, the kyng to confound. R. Brunne, p. 170. And then falleth the fur. on false menne houses. Piers Plouhman, p. 43. He that seith, fool, schal be gilty unto the fire of helle. Wiclif. Matt. c. 5. But whosoeuer sayeth thou foole, shall be in daunger of hell fyre.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

And so I saygh horsis in visioun, and thei that saaten on hem hadden firi harburiouns.-Wiclif. Apocalips, c. 9.

And thus I sawe the horses in a vysyon and them that sate on them, hauyng fyry habergions.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

If both the herts love hath fired
Joy and wo they shal depart

And take euenly ech his part.-Chaucer. Rom. of the R.
She was so ful of turment and of rage,
That wilfully into the fire she sterte,
And brent hireselven with a stedfast herte.

Id. The Nonnes Preestes Tale, v. 15,373.

And over all this, to slen me utterly,
Love hath his firy dart so brenningly
Ystiked thurgh my trewe careful hert,
That shapen was my deth erst than my shert.
Id. The Knightes Tale, v. 1566.
Symon, which was made their espie
Within Troie, as was conspired,
Whan tyme was, a token fired.-Gower. Con. A. b. i.
And for to wissen hem by nyght
A firie piller hem alight.

Id. Ib. b. v.

Besides the wasting of our fields, the driving away of booties, as well of people as cattell, the firing of vilages, the ruine and havocke they made; and in euerie place nothing but fire and sword.-Holland. Livivs, p. 269.

Tho' I've no bags, that are with child with gold,
And though my fireless chimneys catch the cold,
For want of great revenues, yet I find
I've what's as good as all, a sated mind.

Brome. Epistle to his Friend Mr. J. B.
Legions of Loves with little wings did flie:
Darting their deadly arrowes fiery bright.

Spenser, son. 16. The Governor of Scotland hearing of the Protector's approach, and having no sufficient army ready to resist him, sent his heralds abroad into all parts of the realm, and commanded the fire-cross to be carried, (an ancient custom in cases of importance,) which was two fire-brands set in fashion of a cross, and pitched upon the point of a spear; and therewith proclamation to be made that all above 16 years of age, and under 60, should resort forthwith to Musselborough, and bring convenient provisions of victuals with them.-Baker. Chronicles. Edw. VI. an. 1547.

Q. M. Peace, master Marquisse, you are malapert, Your fire-new stampe of honor is scarce current.

Shakespeare. Rich. III. Act i. sc. 3.

Let me put the reader in mind, how if ever he mark'd children when they play with fire-sticks, they move and whirle them round so fast, that the motion will cosen their eyes and represent an entire circle of fire to them and were it somewhat distant, in a dark night that one play'd so with a lighted torch, it would appear a constant wheel of fire, without any discerning of motion in it. Digby. Of Bodies, c. 9.

Said Cymon overjoyed, "Do thou propose
The means to fight, and only show the foes:
For from the first, when love had fired my mind,
Resolv'd I left the care of life behind."

Dryden. Cymon & Iphigenia.
And as on high,
Those rolling fires discover but the sky,
Not light us here; so reason's glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day.

Id. Religio Laici. An Epistle. The ashes by their weight, their fieriness, and their dryness, put it past doubt that they belong to the elements of earth.-Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 470.

The rest, so smooth, so suddenly she went,
Look'd like translation through the firmament,
Or like the fiery car on the third erraud sent.

Dryden. Eleonora.

I[Maynard] think it is fitting that all Papists should resort to their own dwellings, and not depart without licences from the next justices; and another thing, that all those of that religion bring all their fire-arms in, unless for the necessary defence of their houses, to officers appointed.

Parl. Hist. an. 1688-9. Bill for Disarming Papists, But Peidloe was so impatient that he would not hear him, and then he did the fact, which was, that he put a fire ball at the end of a long pole, and lighting it with a piece of match he put it in at a window, and staid till he saw the house in a flame.

State Trials. Chas. II. Firing of London, an. 1666. Fired at the sound, my genius spreads her wing, And flies where Britain courts the western Spring; Where lawns extend that scorn Arcadian pride, And brighter streams than fam'd Hydaspes glide.

Goldsmith. The Traveller.

Mr. Steevens truly says, that this word is so variously used by the old writers, that it is almost impossible to ascertain its precise meaning.

In the mean time I will firk your father whether you see

or no.-Chapman. All Fools, Act iii. sc. 1.

She shall have bail.

Dash. And a firking writ

Of false imprisonment, she shall be sure

Of twelve pence damage, and five and twenty pound For suits in law.-Barry. Ram Alley, Act iv. sc. 1.

Just. Tutch. On on, I say.

Throate. Justice, the law shall firk you.-Id. I.

Musta. Stay, and stand quietly, or you shall fall else, Not to firk your belly up, flounder like, but never

To rise again.-Massinger. The Renegado, Act iii. sc. 1.

Pist. M. Fer. Ile fer him, and firk him, and ferret him: discusse the same in French vnto him.

Grace.

Shakespeare. Henry V. Act iv. sc. 4.

Out on him! These are his megrims, firks, and melancholies. Ford. The Broken Heart, Act iii. sc. 1. W. Small-sh. Sir, leave this firk of law, or by this light I'll give your throat a slit. Barry. Ram Alley, Act iii. sc. 1. FIRKIN, which Skinner writes Ferkin, and Minshew, Fircken; the latter derives it-a ferendo, quod facilè feratur. The former prefers the A. S. Feower; Ger. Wier, four, and the diminutive kin, (q.d.) feowerkin, or wierkin, that is, quadrantulus, respectu sc. majoris vasis; and in confirmation, he refers to tierce, qv. A firkin is

A vessel containing nine gallons, i. e. the fourth of a barrel, or 36 gallons.

And there were standinge there, syxe water pottes of stone after the maner of the purifiynge of the Jewes, contaynynge two or thre fyrkins a pece.-Bible, 1551. John, c. 2.

You heard of that wonder, of the lightning and thunder,
Which made the lye so much the louder:
Now list to another, that miracle's brother,
Which was done with a firkin of powder.

FIRM, v.
FIRM, n.
FIRM, adj.
FIRMAMENT.
FIRMAMENTAL.
FIRMITUDE.

FIRMITY.

FIRMLY.

Denham. A Second Western Wonder.

See AFFIRM, and CONFIRM. Fr. Fermer; It. Fermare; Sp. Firmar; Lat. Firmus, hoc est, stabilis, constans, a ferendo dictus quod constanter omnia ferat, (Perottus.) And see Martinius, and Vossius.

Firmament, - Fr. FirmaFIRMNESS. mente; It. Firmamento; Lat. Firmamentum, so called a naturæ suæ soliditate et firmitate, (1 (Minshew.) The Lat. Firmamentum, applied to the heavens, (firmamentum cœleste) is so used by Tertullian.

To strengthen, to give strength or support to, to fix steadily or strongly, to secure, to assure, to establish.

Sp. Firmar, to confirm; (sc.) by writing; by signature to a writing and firma, the signature: (sc.) of the person or persons confirming, giving validity to the instrument or document signed :applied to the name or title under which any person carries, or more persons carry on trade or business.

:

Myn affiaunce and my faith. is ferm [in] hus by leuye.
Piers Plouhman, p. 318.
As he wende, he bi huld toward heuene an hey,
And tho vp in the firmament an Angel he sey,
That huld a croys, and ther on y write was lo! this,
"Constantyne thorg this signe thou schalt be maister
iwis."
R. Gloucester, p. 85.

I wist vtterly

That your humble seruant, & your knight
Were in your harte yset so fermely
As ye in mine.

Chaucer. Troilus, b. iii.

O firste moving cruel firmament,
With thy diurnal swegh that croudest ay,
And hurtlest all from est til occident,
That naturally wold hold another way.

Id. The Man of Lawes Tale, v. 4715.
Lo now how it stood

With him, that was so negligent,
That fro the highe firmament,
For that he wold go to lowe,

He was anon downe ouerthrowe.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv.

And we will also that you George Killingworth and Richard Gray doe in the fine of April next send either of you vnto Henry Lane a whole, perfit, & iust accompt firmed with your awne hands of all the goods you haue solde and bought vntil the time, and what remaineth vnsolde.

Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. i. p. 299.

Christ putteth us in remembraunce of thys, that no man is mete to preache the Gospell, but he that hath tryed hymself, and is firme and strong agaynst all worldly desyres, agaynst excesse and her companions.-Udal. Matt. c. 4.

And God sayde: let there be a fyrmamente betwene the waters, & let it diuide the waters a sonder. Bible, 1551. Genesis, c. 1.

As touching the blessed sacrament of the altare, he sayde it is a necessary sacramét but he helde yt after the cōsecracio, there was none other thing therein but onely the very

substance of materyal bread, and so he said he firmely belieued, and that he woulde holde that oppinion to the death. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 346.

But that constauncye and firmness of mind că not be had, onles it be depeley fouded in a certaintie,& sure persuasio of faith.-Caluine. Foure Godlye Sermons, Ser. 2.

Afterwards the stream of the river brought down continually such mud and gravell, that it ever increasd in the heap of corn more and more, in such sort, that the force of the water could no more remove it from thence, but rather softly pressing and driving it together, did firm and harden it, and make it grow so to land.-North. Plutarch, p. 85.

Of the death of the Emperour they advertised Solyman, firming those letters with all their hands and seals.

Knolles. History of the Turks.

A privilege [was] given to Athemeus, the Archbishop [of Cyprus] in that age, to subscribe his name to all publick acts in red letters, which was an honour above that of any patriarch, who writes his name or firm in black characters. Rycaut. State of the Greek Caurch, p. 90.

So, earely, ere the grosse Earthes gryesy shade
Was all disperst out of the firmament,
They tooke their steeds, and forth upon thire journey
went.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 1.
What if all

Her stores were open'd, and this firmament
Of hell should spout her cataracts of fire?
Impendant horrors, threatning hideous fall
One day upon our heads.-Milton. Par. Lost, D. il.

The lion's royal whelp does not at first
For blood of Basan bulls or tigers thirst,
In timorous deer he hansels his young paws,
And leaves the rugged bear for firmer claws.

Cowley. The Davideis, b. iii.

For if you speak of an acquired, rational, discursive faith, certainly these reasons which make the object seem credible, must be the cause of it, and consequently the strength and firmity of my assent must rise and fall, together with the apparent credibility of the object.

Chillingworth. Rel. of Prot. Ch. pt. i. c. 6.

It is Jehovah that is merciful; and as Jehovah signifies firmitude of being, and is therefore compared to a rock, &c., so these his mercies are lik'ned to things of longest duration, to those things which to us men are such in our account. Goodwin. Works, vol. iv. p. 31.

His breast-plate first, that was of substance pure,
Before his noble hart he firmely bound,
That mought his life from yron death assure,
And ward his gentle corps from cruel wound.
Spenser. Muiopotmos.
In pure and fruitfull water we may see
Your mind from darknesse cleare, in bounty free:
And in the steddy resting of the ground,
Your noble firmenesse to your friend is found:
For you are still the same, and where you love
No absence can your constant mind remove.
Beaumont. To the Prince.

O thou, who freest me from my doubtful state
Long lost and wilder'd in the maze of fate!
Be present still: oh Goddess! in our aid:
Proceed, and firm those omens thou hast made.
Pope. Statius. Thebaid, b. i.
Genius of Britain, spare thy fears,
For know, within, our sovereign wears
The surest guard; the best defence;
A firm untainted innocence.

Pitt. On his Majesty's Playing with a Tiger.
An hollow crystal pyramid he takes,
In firmamental waters dipt above;
Of it a broad extinguisher he makes,
And hoods the flames that to their quarry drove.
Dryden. Annus Mirabilis.

Howe'er, I gave his wise proposal way,
Nay, urg'd him to go on; the shallow fraud
Will ruin him for ever with my enemies,
And make him firmly mine, spite of his fears,
And natural inconstancy.

Rowe. The Ambitious Step-mother, Act i.
Such heavenly beauty on thy face shall bloom,
As shall almost excuse the villain's crime;
But yet that firmness, that unshaken virtue,
As still shall make the monster more detested.

Smith. Phædra & Hippolitus, Act v.

O! then be firm-in this, my friends, remain
Our dearest hopes, all other hopes are vain!
Like us the foes have but two hands to wield,
One soul to fire them, and one life to yield.

Hoole. Orlando Furioso, b. xviii.
Incessant rains had drenched the floated ground,
And clouds o'ercast the firmament around.
Fawkes, Descrip. of Winter. From G. Douglas.
These wind, by subtle sap, their secret way,
Pernicious pioneers! while those invest,
More firmly daring in the face of heaven,
And win by regular approach, the cane.

Granger. The Sugar Cane, b. ii.

First is must used prefixed.

The fyrste age & tyme was from our firste fader Adam
To Noe, & seththe tho other from Noe to Abraham.
R. Gloucester, p. 9.

Uttred in his firste gere messengers he sent
For kynges & barons vntille his parlement,
In stede ther he it sette, thei wist what it ment.

R. Brunne, p. 8.
Hit was the furste frut. that the fader of hevene blessede.
Piers Plouhman, p. 309.
And the clennest creature. creatour ferste knowe
In kynges court and knyghtes.-Id. Ib.

And he sat and clepide the twelve, and seyde to him if ony mon wil be the firste among you he schal be the laste of alle, and the mynystre of all.-Wiclif. Mark, c. 9.

And he sat downe and called the twelue vnto hym, and sayde to them: yf anye man desyre to be fyrst, the same shal be laste of all, and seruaunt vnto all.-Bible, 1551. Ib. All the first-borne of thy sonnes thou muste nedes redeme. Id. Exodus, c. 31. The first of the first-fruites of thy lande, thou shalte brynge vnto the house of the Lord thy God.-Id. Ib.

Honoure the Lord with thy substaunce and with the firstlings of all thine encrease; so shal thy barnes bee filled with plenteousnesse and thy presses shall flowe ouer with swete wyne.-Id. Prouerbes, c. 3.

So that in election Christ held the primacy, the first-hood; as in dignity, so in order; that we were ordained for him. Goodwin. Works, vol. i. Ser. 6.

We are all, my lord,

The sons of Fortune, she hath sent us forth
To thrive by the red sweat of our own merits:
And since after the rage of many a tempest,
Our fates have cast us upon Britain's bounds,
We offer you the first-fruits of our wounds.
Middleton. The Mayor of Quinborough, Act ii. sc. 1.
A shepherd next,

More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock
Choicest and best; then sacrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incence strew'd
On the cleft wood, and all due rits perform'd.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. xi. And thus, readers, by the example which he hath set me, I have given ye two or three notes of him out of his titlepage, by which his firstlings fear not to guess boldly at his whole lump, for that guess will not fail ye.

Id. An Apology for Smectymnuus. All the firstling males that come to thy herd, and of thy flock, thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God.

Deuteronomy, xv. 19.

When I give, (as he acknowledges) a firstness of precedency and presidency to the Pope, he tells me, he is confident I know not how much more is allowed him by the universal consent of all Catholicks, as of divine institution, whatever I may have read in particular authors.

Hammond. Works, vol. ii. p. 163. For joys so great we must with patience wait, 'Tis the set price of happiness complete. As a first-fruit, Heaven claim'd that lovely boy The next shall live, and be the nation's joy.

Waller. Loss of the Duke of Cambridge.

I did yesterday complain to Mr. Secretary St. John, that Mr. Harley had not yet got the letter from the Queen to confirm the grant of the first-fruits; that I had lost reputation by it; and that I took it very ill of them both; and that their excuses of Parliament business, and grief for the loss in Spain, were what I would bear no longer.

A seat in this House, for good purposes, for bad purposes, for no purposes at all (except the mere consideration derived from being concerned in the publick councils) will ever be a first-rate object of ambition in England.

Burke. On a Bill for Shortening the Duration of Parliament.

FIRTH. Scotch, an estuary; used by Douglas Su. G. Fiaerd; in his Virgil as Sinus, a bay. Isl. Fiora-r. Some, says Jamieson, have derived it from Lat. Fretum, which itself, more probably, is from the Gothic; others from Moes. G. Far-an, navigare, as it properly denotes water that is navigable. G. Andr. refers it to Isl. Fiara, pl. ferder, litus, or maris refluxus et ejus locus.

Gr. Pokos; Lat. Fiscus; Fr.

Ne that a monk, whan he is rekkeles,

Is like to a fish that is waterless, That is to say, a monk out of his cloistre. Chaucer. The Prologue, v. 180. From this time forward we began to plie Northwards and the first of July fell with the land againe, where we fished, and found reasonable good store. Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 778. Most like a byrd that nere the bankes of seas his hunting keepes,

Its [Bittern Heron] flesh has much the flavour of that of a hare and nothing of the fishiness of that of the heron. Pennant. Zoology.

FISK. Sw. Fieska, from Foesa, instigare, and this from A. S. Fys-an, agere, abigere, fugare, to drive, to drive about. To fisk the tail about, whiska rumpan, (Serenius.) And Cotgrave has Trotiere, a fisking huswife. In Gammer Gurton's Needle, Act i. sc. 2, the edition quoted by Mr. Todd reads, " Fisking with her tail." In the Fynally, the fyshyng put them in remembraunce of the edition, 1575, reprinted in the A. B. Drama, vol. i. reads "Frysking." See To FRISK.

Among the fishfull rocks, and low byneth on water sweepes, Phaer. Virgill. Eneidos, b. iv.

newe fyshyng, whiche serued not to take fishes with nettes, to feade the bealie, but with the nette of the Gospell to catche men drouned with worldly cares, vnto a desyre of the heauenly life.-Udal. Matthew, c. 4.

Cæsar did with no lesse gratefull bountie, shew his liberalitie when he bestowed the goods of Aemilia Musa, a rich woman, falen to the fisque, vpon Aemilius Lepidus of whose house she seemed to have been.

Grenewey. Tacitus. Annales, p. 49.

Also seeing they may bee alienated, they may bee prescribed, especiallie (the kinges thus consenting whoe confirmed the same so long a time) which excludeth all right both fiscal and ecclesiasticall.

Fox. Martyrs, p. 333. The B. of Eduens Oration. War cannot be long maintained by the ordinary fiscal and receipt. Bacon.

When they had resolved to appropriate to the fisc, a certain portion of the landed property of their conquered country, it was their business to render their bank a real fund of credit; as far as such a bank was capable of becoming so.

Burke. On the French Revolution.

They certainly never have suffered and never will suffer the fixed estate of the church to be converted into a pension, to depend on the treasury, and to be delayed, withheld, or perhaps to be extinguished by fiscal difficulties.-Id. Ib.

The fiscal is of an active enterprising genius.

Swinburne. Spain, Let. 42. FIS-GIG. A kind of javelin with which sailors strike fish as they swim; from fish; Dut. Visch, and ghichten, torquere, (Skinner.)

There were some of those bonitos, which being galled by a fis-gig, did follow our shippe, coming out of Guinea 500 leagues.-Hacklwyt. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 520.

FISH, v. FISH, n. FISHER.

FI'SHERY.

Fr'SHFUL.

FI'SHIFY.

A. S. Fiscian, fisc; Dut. Vischer, visch; Ger. Fisch; Sw. Fiska, fisk. Junius (Gloss. Goth. in v. Fisk) has no doubt that this word, common to almost all European languages, is of the same origin with FI'SHING. the Lat. Pisc-is. But what that FISHY. is, he acknowledges to be very FI'SHINESS. obscure. Vossius presents three etymologies, with little confidence in any of them. To fish for any thing, (met.) is to try to find out or discover, catch or obtain, by throwing out a bait or temptation; with a concealed design.

For ge ben men beter y tagt to schouele and to spade,
To cartestaf and to plowstaf, and a fischyng to wade,
To hamer and to nedle, and to merchandise al so,
Than with swerd or hauberk eny batail to do.
R. Gloucester, p. 99.
That fischid in Temse on the nyght, whan thei their nettes
vp wond,

The body of Harald in a nette thei fond.-R. Brunne, p. 54.
Peter fyshed for hus fode. and hus fere Andreu
Som thei solde, and som thei sode. and so thei leveden
bothe.
Piers Plouhman, p. 286.
Right as fishes in flod, whenne hem faileth water
Dyen for dreuthe.
Id. p. 83.
And whanne thei hadden do this thing thei closiden
togider a greet mulitude of fischis and her net was brokun.
Wiclif. Luk, c. 5.
And when they had so done, they inclosed a great multi-
tude of fishes. And their net brake.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

And saygh two bootis standinge bisides the pool, and the fischeris weren gon doun, and waischiden her nettis. Wiclif. Ib. And saw two shyppes stande by the lake syde, but the fusher men were gone oute of them, and were washynge their nettes.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

Pipen he coude, fishe, and nettes bete,
And turnen cuppes, and wrastlen wel, and shete.

Chaucer. The Reves Tale, v. 3925

Behold, I will send for many fishers saith the Lord, and and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. Bible. Jeremiah, xvi. 16. Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay, With frie innumerable swarme, and shoales Of fish, that with thir finnes and shining scales Glide under the greene wave, in sculles that oft Bank the mid sea. Millon. Paradise Lost, b. vii. Yet Gwin and Nevern near, two fine and fishful brooks Do never stay their course.-Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 5. Britaine is watered with pleasant fishfull and navigable riuers, which yeeld safe havens and roads, and furnished with shipping and sailers that it may rightly be termed the Lady of the Sea.-Camden: Remaines. Britaine.

Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his roe, like a dried hering. O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified ?-Shakes. Romeo & Juliet, Act ii. sc. 4.

Cleopatra found it straight, yet she seemed not to see it, but wondered at his excellent fishing; but when she was alone by herself among her own people, she told them how it was, and bad them the next morning to be in the water to see the fishing. A number of people came to the haven, and got into the fisher-boats to see the fishing. North. Plutarch, p. 764. Where are the flowry fields, the fishy streames, The pasturing mountaines, and the fertile plaines, With shadowes oft, oft clad with Titan's beames As of Heaven's pleasures types, and of Hell's paines? Stirling. Doomes-day. The Third Houre. Due sustinence was a mean to virtue, and to subdue men's bodies to their soul and spirit, and was also necessary to encourage the trade of fishing, and for saving of flesh. Burnet. History of the Reformation, an. 1549.

Lie there, Lycaon: let the fish surround
Thy bloated corpse, and suck thy gory wound.

FISSILE. FISSI'LITY. FISSURE, v. Fr'sSURE, n. FI'ssipede.

Lat. Fissilis, that can or may be cleft, from findere, to cleave.

That can or may be cleft or split. Fissipede, cloven-footed.

The fissures in the seat, as also the blind and swelling piles in the fundament and all superfluous excressences of the bodie it cureth.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxi. c. 20.

It is described like fissipedes, or birds which have their feet or claws divided, whereas it is palmipedes or fin-footed like swans and geese.—Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. v. c. 2.

By which it is evident, that diamonds themselves have a grain or a flaky contexture, not unlike the fissility, as the schools call it, in wood.-Boyle. Works, vol. iii. p. 521.

By a fall or blow the scull may be fissured or fractured, and the hairy scalp whole, and this fracture or fissure may be under the contusion, or in some other parts.

Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. xxi. Fussen, capere, prehendere, constringere, i. e. to hold fast, (A. S. Fæstnian.) And from the A. S. Fæst, firmus, Junius derives it; quod validissima sit manus, omnium digitorum nodis in unum pugnum veluti compactis atque arctissime complicatis.

As, from some rock that overhangs the flood,
The silent fisher casts th' insidious food,
With fraudful care he waits the finny prize,
And sudden lifts it quivering to the skies.

Id. Ib. Odyssey, b. xii. Can it be expected, that Holland will suffer us to improve our fishery, which is to them a nursery for seamen, a livelihood to many families, and an immense treasure to the public.-Parliamentary History, vol. vi. App. p. 139. The tow ring eagles to the realms of light By their strong pounces claim a regal right; The swan contented with an humbler fate Low on the fishy river rows in state.

Fenton. To Mr. Lambard. Observe what you export thither; [Newfoundland,] a little spirits, provision, fishing lines, and fishing hooks. Burke. On a late State of the Nation.

Nature the bull with horns supplies,
The horse with hoofs she fortifies,
The fleeting foot on hares bestows,
On lions teeth, two dreadful rows!
Grants fish to swim, and birds to fly,
And on their skill bids men rely.

Philips. Anacreon, Ode 2.
Once, some few hours ere break of day,
As in their hut our fishers lay,

The one awak'd and wak'd his neighbour,
That both might ply their daily labour.

Wilkie. The Fisherman, from Theocritus.

I need not, I am sure, sir, inform the house, that the fisheries of Newfoundland have been for a century the constant object of rivalship between France and England.

Mr. Pitt. Speech, 27th November, 1800. Round the border,-representations in miniature of the customs, huntings, fishings, and productions of the country, all in the highest preservation, and so admirably executed, that it was believed of the pencil of Vandyck.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Puinting, vol. ii. c. 1.

And those sequester'd shores,
Through which, the thirsty town to lave,
Smooth flow the watery stores
Of fishy Hipparis, profoundest stream.
West. Pindar, Olymp. 5.

To hold fast, to gripe fast or firmly; also, to strike with the fist or hand fast closed. He bygan gong ynou,

To cuthe wat he woulde be, that so gong hys fustes adrou.
R. Gloucester, p. 345.

For God that al by gan in gynnynge of the worlde
Ferde furst as a fust with a fynger, yfolde togederes
Til hym liked and luste. to unclose the fynger
And profrede hit forth as with the paume. to what place it
sholde.
Piers Plouhman, p. 327.

That on of hem the cut brouht in his fest,
And bad hem drawe and loke wher it wold falle,
And it fell on the youngest of hem alle.

Chaucer. The Pardoneres Tale, v. 12.736.

And for men saine vnknowe vnkiste

Hir thome she holt in hir fiste

So close within hir owne honde

That there wynneth no man londe.-Gower. Con. A. b ii.

I commaunde you not

Fortune to trust, and eke full well ye wot,

I haue of her no brydle in my fist

She renneth loose, and turneth where she list.

Sir T. More. To them that seek Fortune. Fang. If I but fist him once: if he come but within my vice.-Shakespeare. 2 Pt. Hen. IV. Act ii. sc. 1.

Blynfold he was; and in his cruel fist

A mortall bow and arrowes keen did hold, With which he shot at random when him list, Some headed with sad lead, some with pure gold. Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 4. Sam. No man with-holds thee, nothing from thy hand Fear I incurable; bring up thy van, My heels are fetter'd, but my fist is free. Milton. Samson Agonistes, 1. 1246 Law. O to revenge my wrungs at fisty-cufjes. Beaum & Fletch. The Little French Lawyer, Act 1v. so. L

This God of ours hath evermore loved those games of prize. yea and was desirous to win the victory, having strove personally himself in playing upon the harp, in singing, in flinging the coit of brasse; yea, and some say, at hurl-bats and fist-fight.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 633.

Never a suit I wore to-day, but hath been soundly basted; only this faithful country case 'scaped fist-free. Tomkins. Albumazar, Act v. sc. 9.

With rain his robe and heavy mantle flow
And lazy mists are low'ring on his brow:
Still as he swept along, with his clinch'd fist,
He squeez'd the clouds; th' imprison'd clouds resist.
Dryden. Ovid. Metam. The Giant's War.

Q. The Lord Thanet having no stick, what assault did he make upon you?

A. With his fist, in this way, he shoved me down as I was going forward-he shoved me back.

Erskine. Speech. Trial of Earl of Thanet.

It is lucky for the women, that the seat of the fisty-cuff war is not the same with them as among men.

FISTULA. FISTULARY.

FISTULATE.

FI'STULOUS.

to

Fielding. Tom Jones, b. iv. c. 8. Lat. Fistula, quasi vơnλλa, a quoa-ev, flatu distend-ere, to stretch out or distend by blowing, (Vossius.) And thus applied

A pipe of reeds, or other things having the hollowness of a pipe.

It is not the fistula, where against thou hast geuen cauterie.-Golden Boke, c. 43.

Moreover you shall not see a part of the bodie but it is subject to the fistulas, which creep inwardly and hollow as they go.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxvi. c. 14.

On th' other part; Apollo, in his friend
Form'd th' art of wisedome; to the binding end
Of his vow'd friendship; and (for further meede)
Gaue him the farr-heard fistularie reede.

Chapman. Homer. A Hymne to Hermes.

As for the flesh of the polype, it is to see to, fistulous and spongeous, like unto hony-combs.-Holland. Plut. p. 827.

It [the topaze] is found beyond the farthest parts of India, among the inhabitants of the mountaine Caucasus, to wit, the Phicarians and Asdates; they grow into a very great bignesse; but the same is fistulous and full of filth. Id. Plinie, b. xxxvii. c. 8. The beginnings or first stamina in animals are their tubes, pipes or ducts, fistulated or hollowed, to circulate the blood and juices.-The Student, vol. ii. p. 379.

FIT, n. An ague coming by Fittes; febris FITFUL. per intervalla recurrens. It seems to be from the Dut. Vits, signifying swift, quick, (Jumus.) Perhaps, says Skinner, so called, quasi fights, for they are conflicts and struggles of nature. It is not improbably the Fr. Fait; Lat. Factum, done. See Tooke, pt. ii. c. 2.

Dr. Percy remarks, that, "Our ancient ballads and metrical romances being divided into several parts, for the convenience of singing them at publick entertainments, were in the intervals of the feast sung by fits or intermissions." A fit is—

1. A fact, feat, or performance; and thus applied (as an act in a play) to parts or portions of a song or poem, of music or dancing. And see Steevens on Troil. & Cress. Act iii. sc. 1.

2. A fact or feat, an act, affect, or effect; and thus applied to particular acts or effects; to violent and sudden affections, to paroxysms of temperature or distemperature of mind or body.

And in those cares so colde I force myself a heate,
As sicke men in their shaking fittes procure themselfe to
sweate.-Surrey. The Faithful Louer declareth &c.
Sainges there be, and sawes there be

to cure thy greedie care :

To master thyne assaltynge fyttes, to purchase thy welfare.

Drant. Horace. Epistle to Mecenas.
What wold ye doe with my harpe, he sayd,
If I did sell it yee?

To play my wife and me a fitt,
When a bed together wee bee.

Percy. Reliques, vol. i. King Estmere.

He, sitting me beside in that same shade,
Provok'd me to plaie some pleasant fit;
And when he heard the musicke that he made
He found himself full greatly pleas'd at it.
Spenser. Colin Clout's come Home again.

Duncane in his graue:

After life's fitful feuer he sleepe, well.

Shakespeare. Macbeth, Act iii. sc. 2. Rais'd on his knees, he now ejects the gore; Now faints anew, low sinking on the shore; By fits he breathes, half views the fleeting skies, And seals again, by fits his swimming eyes. Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. xiv. Antonius happened to be seized at that very time, with a fit of the gout, or pretended, at least to be so, that he might have no share in the destruction of an old friend [Catiline :] so that the command fell of course to a much better soldier and honester man, Petreius.

Middleton. The Life of Cicero, vol. i. s. 3. More near from out the Cæsar's palace came The owl's long cry, and interruptedly Of distant sentinels the fitful song Began and died upon the gentle wind.

FIT, v. FIT, adj. FITLY.

Byron. Manfred, Act iii. sc. 4. Kilian says,- Vitten. (Fland.) Convenire, quadrare, et accommodare; and this Junius would derive from Vits, frequens, citus, agilis. (See FIT.) Skinner, more reasonably, from the Fr. Fait, factum, q. d. factum, i.e. aptum ad hoc. And thus the Fr. Faictis is, neat, feat, comely, handsome, proper, well made, well featured, well set-together, (Cotgrave.) Will it do? Will it fit? Will it suit? are equivalent expressions.

FITMENT.
FITNESS.
FITTEDNESS.
FITTER.
FITTINGLY.

FITTINGNESS.

To make or match, to suit; to adapt, to accommodate, to adjust, to conform.

To fit out, to provide or furnish with things fit or suitable.

That done, we had then time to view our prize, which we found of great defence, and a notable strong ship, almost two hundred tun in burden, very well appointed, and in all things fitted for a man of warre.

Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 200. Nothyng fayre apeared thys stones vnto thys worlde, when they that were hewen, squared, and made fyt foundation, by the manyfold persecutions of tyrauntes. Bale. Image, pt. iii.

Such are not fit for Cupid's campe,
they ought no wages win,
Which faint before the clange of trump
or battel's broyle begin.

Turbervile. Lovers ought to shunne, &c.
Hir neck of so good sise, hir plume of colour white.
Hir legs and fete so finely made, thou seldom seene in
sight.

Eche part so filly pight as none mought chaunge his place, Nor any bird could lightly haue so good and braue a grace. Id. The Complaint.

And lastly came cold February, sitting

In an old waggon, for he could not ride, Drawn by two fishes for the season fitting, Which through the flood before did softly slyde And swim away.-Spenser. F. Queene. Of Mutabilitie. Then Paridel, in whom a kindly pride

Of gracious speech and skill his words to frame Abounded, being glad of so fitte tide, Him to commend to her, thus spake, of al well eide. Id. Ib. b. iii. c. 9.

To her I sing of loue, that loueth best, And best is loued of all aliue I weene; To her this song most filly is addrest, The Queen of Loue, and Prince of Peace from heaven blest. Id. Ib. b. iv. c. 1. Let Aristotle, and others have their dues; but if we can make farther discoveries of truth and fitnesse then they, why are we envied?-Ben Jonson. Discoveries.

Post. I am, sir,

His seruants fear his solemn fitles,
When if they ought did say,
He either answers not at all,

Or quite another way

The meaning is; not, that God will act arbitrarfly and without reason; as some have absurdly understood these words: but that he, and he only, is the competent, proper, and unerring judge, upon what persons, and on what conditions, 'tis fit for him to bestow his favours. Clark, vol. i. Ser. 21. And to whom could I more filly apply myself than to your lordship, who have not only an inborn but an hereditary loyalty.-Dryden. All for Love, Ded.

What things soe'er are to an end referr'd,
And in their motions still that end regard,
Always the fitness of the means respect,
These as conducive choose and those reject,
Must by a judgment, foreign and unknown,
Be guided to their end or by their own.

Blackmore. Creation, b. i. Sowing the sandy gravelly land in Devonshire and Cornwall with French furze seed, they reckon a great improver of their land, and a filter of it for corn-Mortimer. Husb.

Every year he applied for fresh Parliamentary supplies, he fitted out squadrons; and took six thousand Danes into British pay, for the same useful purposes, which some years before, had occasioned the hiring of twelve thousand Hessians.-Chesterfield. Memoirs, s. 4.

I mean the charters (i. e. formal recognition by the sovereign power) of King John and King Henry the Third, the things secured by these instruments may, without any deceitful ambiguity, be very filly called the chartered rights of men.-Burke. On Mr. Fox's East India Bill.

He who studies them [works of Nature] is continually delighted with new and wonderful discoveries; and yet is never perplexed by their multiplicity, because order, proportion, and fitness, prevail through the whole system. Beattie. Moral Science, pt. i. c. 1. s. 9. And thus I

Still on thy shores, fair Leman! may find room And food for meditation, nor pass by Much, that may give us pause, if ponder d fillingly. Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, c. 3.

FITCHAT. FITCHEW.

Dut. Visse, fisse, vitsche; Fr. Fissau. A fitch or fulmart, Skinner says, the fœtid ferret, perhaps from Lat. Fatere or putere, to stink. Lye, from fiest, Fr. Vessir, which Cotgrave says is to fuste, to let a fyste. It. Vessare; Dut. Visten; Lat. Visire, which Vossius thinks may be formed from the sound, or be from the Gr. ыdeais, (ejecto d,) from ßdeety, flatum ventris silentio emittere. See To Fizzle.

If I may descend to a lower game, what pleasure is it sometimes with gins to betray the very vermin of the earth! as namely, the fitchet, the fulimart, the ferret, the pole-cat, the moldwarp, and the like creatures that live upon the face and within the bowels of the earth.-Wallon. Angier, pt. i. c. l.

FITCHING, i. e. Firing. Nisi videro in manibus ejus fixuram clavorum. Fr. Ficheur, a fixing.

And he seide to hem but I se in hise hondis the filchung of the nailis, and putte my fyngir into the place of the nalis, and put myn hond into hise side I schal not bileue. Wiclif. Jon, c. 20. FITTERS. To beat or cut into fitters (says Skinner) frustulatim, seu minutatim concidere, comminuere, from the It. Fetta, a small segment. from the verb fendere, Lat. Findere, to cleave.

If you strike or pierce a solid body, that is brittle, as glass, or sugar, it breaketh not only where the immediate force is, but breaketh all about in shivers and fitters. Bacon. Naturall Historie, C. 1. s. 11. Sul. Where's the Frenchman? Ja. He's all to fitters.

Beaum. & Fletch. Custom of the Country, Act iii. sc. 3. None of your pieced-companions, your pind-gallants, That flie to filters, with every flaw of weather.

Id. The Pilgrim, Act i. sc. 1. But so brittle withall, that if it chaunced to fall upon a thing harder than itself it would break into fitters like glass, jeiiri modo fragilem.]—Holland. Plinie, b. xvi. c. 12.

Other [gallies] being taken up with certain engines fagtened within, one contrary from the other, made them turn in the air like a whirlegig, and so cast them upon the rocks by the town walls, and splitted them all to Alters, to the great spoil and murther of the persons that were within them.- North. Plutarch, p. 261.