He likeneth God to worldly tyrauntes, at whom no man may come, saue a few flatterers whiche minister vnto them all voluptuousness, & serue their lustes at all pointes, Tyndall. Workes, p. 297.

That is to saye, peruerse and cursed folkes to whom euery thynge well done is odyous and hatefull,namely, whan they see any person that hath dispyed wycked conuersacion, worldly gloses or flatterynges; and by holy penaunce is become a newe man.-Fisher. The Seven Psalmes, Ps. 38. This pestilēt vermine God hath suffred for the wyckednesse of his people, first flatteringly to crepe, to dissemble, glose, and speake fayre, promysynge prosperitie, vyctorie, long life, and heauen, after this departinge. Bale. Image, pt. i.

Johannes Casa being yet a younge springall before he ca ne to be a clerke and longe before he was a bishop or lega te, made certaine amorouse sonnettes in Italian rime folowinge the Italian poete Petrarcha, to whiche kinde of exercise the good wittes of Italy in youth are much giuen and without naminge any persone, flatteringly smoothed that heinous facte rather then praised.-Hardinge, in Jewell. Def. p. 382.

And [Darius] puffed vp with the vanitie, & flattery of the greate me which were about him, turned to Charidemus of Athens an expert man of warre (which for the displeasure that Alexander did beare him, was banished the country,) & asked him if he thought not that copanye sufficient to ouerthrowe the Macedones.-Brende. Quintus Curtius, fol. 21.

This is it that giveth unto a flatterer that large field, under pretence of friendship where he hath a fort (as it were) commodiously seated, and with the vantage to assail and endammage us, and that is, self-love; whereby every man being the first and greatest flatterer of himself, he can be very well content to admit a stranger to come neere and flatter him, namely, when he thinketh and is well willing withall to witness with him, and to confirme that good self conceit and opinion of his own.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 69.

With fiattering wordes he sweetly wooed her,
And offered faire guiftes t' allure her sight;
But she both offers and the offerer
Despysde, and all the fawning of a flatterer.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 8.

There is no such flatterer, as in a man's selfe; and there is no such remedy, against flatterie of a man's selfe, as the libertie of a friend.-Bacon. Ess. Of Friendship.

Those women who in times past were called in Cypres, Colacides, i. e. flatteresses.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 71.

Flattery is a fine picklock of tender eares, especially of those, whom fortune hath borne high upon their wings, that submit their dignity and authority to it, by a soothing of themselves.-B. Jonson. Discoveries.

The publick having once suffered 'em [authors] to take the ascendent, they become, like flattered princes, impatient of contradiction or advice.

Shaftesbury. Miscell. Refl. misc. 5. c. 1.

The person that hath the sheep's blood in his veins, is still very well, and like to continue so. If we durst believe himself, who is flatterously given, he is much better than he was before, as he tells us in a later account he brought into the society-Boyle. Works, vol. vi. p. 253.

We may be hypocrites to others and base flatterers, but our consciences whenever they are throughly awakened are always sincere and deal truly with us, and speak to us as they think.-Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 38.

Let these considerations prevail with us always to live, not with regard to the opinion of others, which may be grounded upon mistake, or may not indeed be their own opinion, but their flattery; but with regard to the judgment of our own conscience, which though it may sometimes be mistaken, can never be bribed and corrupted.-Id. Ib.

On the rising of the Carews in Devonshire, who were flattered with the hopes of this match, the princess [Elizabeth] and he [the last Earl of Devonshire] were committed to the Tower, and accused by Wyat as his accomplices.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. c. 6.

Here Cumberland 'ies, having acted his parts,
The Terence of England, the mender of hearts;
A flattering painter, who made it his care,
To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.
Goldsmith. Retaliation.

He [Lord Rockingham] had flatteringly told me that he was so perfectly satisfied with my public conduct, that he should be glad of an opportunity of serving the country in serving me.-Anecdotes of Bp. Watson, vol. i. p. 149.

Wouldst thou then exchange

Those heart-ennobling sorrows for the lot
Of him who sits amid the gaudy herd
Of silent flutterers bending to his nod.

Akenside. Pleasures of Imagination, b. iii. Flattery, if its operation be nearly examined, will be found to owe its acceptance, not to our ignorance, but knowledge of our failures, and to delight us rather as it consoles our wants than displays our possessions.-Rambler, No. 155. In Cotgrave, in v. Gorgiaser, but (not in our lexicographers,

FLAUNT, v. FLAUNT, %.

Minshew, Skinner, or Junius.) It is prooably from Fle-an, to flee or flie. Fle-aned, flean'd, fleant, flant or flaunt.

To move with an airy, flying motion; in a gaudy, giddy, showy, ostentatious or daring manner. Yield me thy flanting hood,

shake off those bells of thine, Such checking bussards yll deserves or bell or hood so fine.

Turberville. To his Friend that refused him, &c. Lod. How she goes flaunting too! she must have a Feather in her head, and a cork in her heel. Davenport. The City Night-cap, Act ii. sc. 1. When's understanding wav'd in a flaunting feather, and his best contemplation look'd no further than a newfashion'd doublet.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Elder Brother, Act v. sc. 1.

Dost thou come hither with thy flourishes,
Thy flaunts, and faces to abuse men's manners?

Mor. Pray tell me,

In Hackluyt, Drayton, &c. it is applied to a blast, a gust, from the Lat. Flare, to blow, say some etymologists.

Any thing flayed or excoriated; and thus, 'a defect, a defeazance, imperfection, fault, a weakSods, flayed or stripped, from the top or surface of the earth, are in the North called flaws. And further,

ness.

Any thing flayed, stript, rent, or torn off; a rent ;-a rush, a gust, a blast, a torrent, a tumult, a storm.

He would maintaine my right

and further aye my cause,

And bannish all dispaire that grewe

by frowarde fortune's flawes.

Is this stern woman still upon the flaunt

Of bold defiance? Id. The Tamer Tamed, Act ii. sc. 2.
Those gaudy garish flowers you choose,
In which our nymphs are flanting,
Which they at feast, and bridals use,
The sight and smell enchanting.

Drayton. The Muses' Elysium, Nymph. 6.

I never grudg'd, whate'er my foes report,
Your flaunting fortune in the Lion's court.

Dryden. The Hird and the Panther, pt. iii.
There, flaunting in immortal bloom,
The musk-rose scents the verdant bloom.

Fenton. Secundus. Bas. 2. Few earthly things found favour in his sight Save concubines and carnal companie, And flaunting wassailers of high and low degree. Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, c. 1. s. 2. FLAVOUR, v. Not in our early lexicoFLAVOUR, n. graphers. Perhaps from the "Fr. Flairer, to scent,

FLA'VOROUS.

smell; also, to perfume, cast a smell, yield a savour, breathe out a scent," Cotgrave. Also applied to the taste.

Nor did the dancing ruby Sparkling, out powr'd, the flavor, or the smell, Or taste that cheers the hearts of Gods or men, Allure thee from the cool chrystalline stream. Milton. Samson Agonistes. Wine wets the wit, improves its native force, And gives a pleasant flavour to discourse.

Pomfret. The Choice. Temper'd in this, the Nymph of form divine Pours a large portion of the Pramnian vine; With goat's milk cheese a flavorous taste bestows, And last with flour the smiling surface strowes. Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. xii. There casks of wine in rows adorn'd the dome (Pure flavorous wine, by Gods in bounty given, And worthy to exalt the feasts of heaven.)

Id. Ib. Odyssey, b. ii. Had there been a taste in water, be it what it might, it would have infected every thing we ate or drank with an

importunate repetition of the same flavour.

Paley. Natural Theology, c.21.

And see, my friends, this garden's little bound, So small the wants of nature, well supplies Our board with plenty; roots or wholesome pulse Or herbs, or favour'd fruits.-Dodsley. Agriculture, c. 2. The fruit produced by the righteous, through grace, copious, fair, and well flavoured, like that which once grew upon the tree of life, invites all beholders to come and partake, with its owner, of that glory and immortality with which it shall one day be crowned.

It is a cape subiect much to flawes, by reason it is a very hie land. Id. Ib. vol. iii. p. 586.

As I question'd

His tenure in particulars, he answer'd,
My worship needed not to flaw his right,
For if the humour held him, he could make

A jointure to my over-living niece,

Without oppression.-Ford. The Lady's Trial, Act ii. sc.2.
You shall, in faith, my scirvie baboon Don,
Bee curried, claw'd, and flaw'd, and taw'd, indeed.
B. Jonson. The Alchymist, Act iv. sc. 3.
When with his folk but few, not passing two or three,
Put forth again to sea, where after many a flaw,
Such as before themselves, scarce mortal ever saw.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 19.
And when at length her flagging pinion fails,
Panting she hangs upon the rattling sails.
And being forc'd to loose her hold with pain,
Yet beaten off, she straight lights on again,
And toss'd with flaws, with storms, with wind, with
weather,

Yet still departing thence, still turneth thither. Id. Surrey to Lady Geraldine. When as it could not be found how hardness of heart should be lessened by liberty of divorce, a fancy was devised to hide the flaw, by commenting that divorce was permitted only for the help of wives.

Milton. Doctrine of Divorce, b. ii. c. 15. The Bishop of the Diocese, who was the founder of the Priory in succession, had not given his consent to the translation of the said Priory into a Dean and Chapter: which flaw afterwards caused great trouble to this church under Queen Elizabeth.-Strype. Memorials. Edw. VI. an. 1547.

But the diamond being fair and flawless, and so thick, that the merchant told me it would be too deep for one ring, and therefore that he meant to split it into two: I had it weighed, and found it to amount to ten carats (or 40 grains.)-Boyle. Works, vol. v. p. 577.

No, the decree was just and without flaw;
And he, that made, had right to make, the law;
His sov'reign pow'r and pleasure unrestrain'd,
The wrong was his who wrongfully complained.

Cowper. Hope.

FLAWN. Fr. Flans; Ger. Flader; Dut. Vlaede. Of unknown etymology. Cotgrave says,-Flans;-flawns, custards, egg-pies. With deitie faunes brode and flat.

Chaucer. The Rom. of the Rose. Fall to your cheese-cakes, curds and clouted cream, Your fools, your flawns. B. Jonson. The Sad Shepherd, Act i. sc. 2. A. S. Flear; Dut. Vlas, vlasch ; Ger. Flachs. Junius, from λa-€‹¥,

FLAX. FLA'XED. FLA'XEN. to beat or bruise. Skinner, from FLAXY. Lat. Villus. Wachter, from Пλ€кEw, to weave, or яλокоs, сæsaries. Wyves and widoes. wool and flax spynneth.

Piers Ploukman, p. 128. A bresid reed he schal not breke, and he schal not quench smokynge flax til he caste out doom to victorie.

Wiclif. Matthew, c. 12.

A brosed reede shall he not brake, and flare that begynneth to burne, he shall not quenche tyll he send forth judgement vnto victorye.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

This pardoner had here as yelwe as war,
But smooth it hong, as doth a strike of flax.

Chaucer. The Prologue, v. 678 For (cosin) it is a thing right hard, to touch pitch, & neuer fyle ye fingers, to put flere vnto fyre, & yet kepe the fre burning.-Sir T. More. Werkes, p. 1200.

Ubald. I am so dry

I have not spittle enough to wet my fingers
When I draw my far from my distaff.

Massinger. The Picture, Act v1.

Malcolme, whan be it herd, fled for ferd.

Id. p. 221.

R. Brunne, p. 88. Alle fedden for fere. and flowen in to hernes Save Mede that Mayde.

Piers Plouhman, p. 36. But whanne ye schulen se the abomynacioun of discoumfort stondinge where it owith not, he that redith undirstonde, thanne thei that ben in Jude flee into hillis.

Wiclif. Mark, c. 13. Moreouer when ye see the abhomynacion that betokeneth desolacyon wherof is spoke by Daniel the Prophet, stand where it ought not, let hym that readeth vnderstand. Then let them that be in Jury fe to the mountaynes. Bible, 1551. 1b.

Preye ye that youre feyng be not maad in wynter, or in the Sabotis, for then schal be greet tribulacioun what manere hath not be fro the bigynnyng of the world til now, neither schal be mad.-Wiclif. Matthew, c. 24.

Sore after the midnight, Palamon

By helping of a frend brake his prison,
And fleeth the cite faste as he may go.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 1471.

For if I were of suche a fourme,

I sey than I would flee

In to hir chamber for to see

If any grace would falle.-Gower. Con. A. b. v.

Than Peter de Boyse had dyuers imaginations other to go forwarde, and to retourne agayne the fleers, and to fight with theyr enemies, who chased them, or elles to drawe to Courtray.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol. i. c. 375.

Malef. Take not thy flight so soon immaculate spirit: 'Tis fed already.-How the innocent, As in a gentle slumber, pass away.

Massinger. The Unnatural Combat, Act v. sc. 2. He [Jonah] considering the ungratefulness of the message, and doubting what entertainment he was like to have from a proud, and (as he might think) an obdurate city, diverts another way, and flees toward Tarshish.

Glanvill. Discourses, Ser. 9.

Which fear of the fleers away was no less ignominious, then if in sight they had turned their backs to the enemie. Grenewey Tacitus. Annales, p. 227.

With flashing flames his ardent eyes were fill'd,
And in his hand a naked sword he held:
He cheer'd the dogs to follow her who fled.

Dryden. Theodore & Honora.
These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these,
With sweet succession, taught e'en toil to please;
These round thy bow'rs their cheerful influence shed;
These were thy charms-but all these charms are fled.
Goldsmith. Deserted Village.

The voice that made those sounds more sweet

Is hush'd and all their charms are fled;

And now their softest notes repeat

A dirge, an anthem, o'er the dead!-Byron. Stanzas.

FLEECE, v.

FLEECE, n.

FLEECER.

FLE'ECING, n. FLEECY.

A. S. Fleos, flese, flyse; Dut. Vlies; from the A. S. Fle-an; Dut. Vlaen, excoriare, deglubere, to flea or flay. Lat. Vell-us, from vell-ere, to pluck. In all places they use not to sheare sheepe; for the manner of plucking their fells continueth still in some countries, (Plin. b. viii. c. 48.)

To flea or flay, and to fleece (by usage) are distinguished: to flea is to strip off the hide or skin; to fleece, to strip off the wool only; and (met.) to strip or despoil of wealth or property.

To fleece is also, to cover with fleece, (sc.) of wool; and (met.) to form into, to overspread with, the resemblances of such fleeces.

And ful meny fayre flus [fleece] falsliche wasshe.
Piers Ploukman, p. 161.

Ne they could not medle the bright fleeces of the country of Siriens, with the venime of Tiry, this to sain, they could not dien white feces of Sirien coûtry, with the blood of a maner shelfish, that men finden in Tiry, with which blood menne dien purple.-Chaucer. Boecius, b. ii.

There was a shepe, as it was tolde,
The whiche his fees bare all of golde,
And so the Goddes had it sette,

That it ne might awaie be fette.-Gower. Con. A. b. v.

And thus was peace concluded, and our Englishmen or rather sheep, came home against winter, and left their fleeces behind them.-Tyndall. Workes, p. 369.

Thou must retaine thy bookishe charge
in hansum ciuil sorte:

Not as the lambe vnder the arme
the sheppard doth reteine:
Or drunken Pyrrhe beares her wool
her flycesie filched gaine.

Drant. Horace. Epistle to Vinnius Asella. Those clergymen were not to be driven into the fold like sheep, as his simile runs, but to be driven out of the fold like wolves or thieves, where they sat fleecing those flocks which they never fed.-Milton. Answer to Eikon Basilikè. Fleec't the flocks and bleating rose, As plants. Id. Paradise Lost, b. vii. Had this [Lemster] our Colchos been unto the ancients known,

When honour was herself, and in her glory shown,
He then that did command the infantry of Greece,
Had only to our isle adventur'd for this fleece.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 7.
And though hee now present you with such wooll,
As from meere English flocks his Muse can pull,
He hopes when it is made up into cloath;
Not the most curious head here will be loath
To weare a hood of it; it being a fleece,
To match, or those of Sicily or Greece.

B. Jonson. Prologue to the Sad Shepherd.

Not fleecers, but feeders; not butchers, but shepherds. Huntley, (i. e.) Prynne. Brev. of the Prel. (1637.) p. 262.

They pray us that it would please us to let them still hale us, and worry us with their band-dogs and pursevants; and that it would please the Parliament that they may yet have the whipping, fleecing, and fleaing of us in their diabolical courts.-Milton. Of Reformation in England, b. ii.

And eke the gentle shepherd swaynes, which sat
Keeping their fleecy flockes as they were hyrd,
She sweetly heard complaine, both how and what
Her sonne had to them doen; yet she did smile thereat.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 6.

A body long and large, the buttocks equal broad
As fit to undergo the full and weighty load.
And of the fleece's face, the flank doth nothing lack,
But everywhere is stor'c.-Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 14.

Nor wonder how his fortune's sunk ;
His brothers fleece him when he's drunk.

Swift. The Beast's Confession to the Priest.
Meantime. light shadowing all, a sober calm
Fleeces unbounded ether; whose least wave
Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn
The gentle current.
Thomson. Autumn.

How, if on Swithin's feast the welkin lours,
And every penthouse streams with hasty showers,
Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain,
And wash the pavements with incessant rain.

FLEET, n.

Fr. Flotte; It. Flota; Sp. FLEET-PRISON. Flota; Dut. Viote; A. 8 Fleotan; Fr. Flotter; It. Fiottar; Sp. Flotar Dut. Vlieten; to flote. The A. S. Fleotan, Ju nius adds, is the frequentative from flow-an, fluere. Hence the noun is applied to an estuary, into which the tide floats or flows. The FleetPrison, so called, because situated upon the side of the water that floated in from the river Thames, See To FLOAT. called Fleet-ditch.

That which floateth; a collected number of ships.

Toward the south side turned thei thar flete,
Thar fader & thei o chance togider gan mete.

R. Brunne, p. 59.

Phillip therefore when he understode that the Carthaginencis hadde vanquished the Romaines againe, sent his open defiaunce vnto them and began to builde a fleet wherin to transport his armye into Italy.-Goldyng. Justine, fol. 120.

The same day the Generals seeing what weake estate our army was drawen into by sicknesse, determined to man and victuall twenty of the best ships for the ilands of Acores, with Generall Drake to see if he could meet with the Indian fleet, and Generall Norris to returne home with the rest. Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 150.

Then they commaunded the warden of the Fleete to carye him with other of the Stiliard that then were in like trouble with him vnto the Fleete from whence they came, and to keepe close prisoners, and in the morning to prouide v. faggots for Doctour Barnes and iiii. Stilliard men, the which was readely done the next day by viii. of the clock in the morning-Barnes. The Life of, by Fox.

But for all these excuses, Grafton was sent to the Fleete, and there remained vi. weekes, and before hee came out, was bound in ccc. li. that he should neither sell, nor imprint, or cause to be imprinted any mo Bibles, vntill the King and the Clergy should agree vpon a translation. Fox. Martyrs, p. 1087. R. Grafton Imprisoned for Printing the Bible.

This point of the vtmost sea the Roman feel then first of all doubling discouered Britannie to be an iland, and withall found out and subdued the iles of Orkney before that time neuer knowen.-Savile. Tacitus. Historie, p. 188.

Hee exhibited navall battailes performed in manner by full fleets and compleat navies; having digged out a great pit for a lake, and built a stone wall round about it neere vnto Tiberis and those he would behold in the greatest stormes and showers that were.-Holland. Ammianus, p. 261.

It was that memorable day, (June 3rd, 1665,) in the first summer of the late war, when our navy engaged the Dutch; a day wherein the two most mighty and best appointed fleets which any age had ever seen, disputed the command of the greater half of the globe, the commerce of nations, and the riches of the universe.

Dryden. Essay of Dramatick Poesy.

As it was Henry's chief object to render his discoveries usefull to his country, he immediately equipped a fleet to carry a colony of Portuguese to these islands. [Madeira.] Robertson. History of America, vol. i. b. i.

FLEET, v. FLEET, adj. FLEETNESS.

'Twas at the time, when new returning light
With welcome rays begins to cheer the sight;
When grateful birds prepare their thanks to pay,
And warble hymns to hail the dawning day;
When woolly flocks their bleating cries renew,
And from their fleecy sides first shake the silver dew.
Congrove. On the Death of the Marquis of Blandford.
With awe he now takes from her hand
That fleece-like flow'r of fairy land:
Less precious, whilom, was the fleece
Which drew the Argonauts from Greece.

Id. An Impossible Thing. (A Tale.)

In yonder aged dames the Parcæ know,
Who weave the thread of human life below:
Long as the fleeces last, so long extend
The days of man, but with the fleece they end.

Hoole. Orlando Furioso, b. xxxiv.

For this purpose, the poor unhappy natives must undergo a second fleecing for the benefit of the proprietors: so that they were to be robbed first, to enrich their governor, and afterwards they were to be plundered to furnish means to prevent a discovery of peculations.

Fox. Speech. East India Bills, Nov. 18, 1783.

With him two gay Arcadian swains reclin'd,
Who in the neighbouring vale their flocks had join'd,
Thyrsis, whose care it was the goats to keep,
And Corydon, who fed the fleecy sheep.-Beattie, Past. 7.

pass away.

Mr. Grose says, "Fleet, to skim or take off the surface or cream; whence fleet or fleeted milk, (North.") See also Mr. Moore's Suffolk words, and the quotation from the Collier of Croydon in v. Flitch.

Of which shrewes all be the hoost neuer so great, it is to dispise, for it is not gouerned with no leader of reason, but it is rauished onely by fletyng errour, folily and lightly. Chaucer. Boecius, b. i.

So stands the foole by fleeting floud
and looketh for a turne:
But riuer runnes and still will runne
and neuer shape returne.

Turbervile. That it is Hurtfull to Conceale, &c. The Sycambres from that time that the bridge was begon to be builded, preparing themselues to fyght, had by the counsell of such of the Usipits & Teucthers as they had with them, fleeled out of their country.-Goldinge. Cæsar, p. 96.

They say many yong gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time away carelessly as they did in the golden world.-Shakespeare. As You Like it, Act i. sc. 1.

In mail thir horses clad, yet fleet and strong.
Prauncing their riders bore, the flower and choice
Of many Provinces from bound to bound.

Milton. Paradise Regained, b. i

Disapproving the opinions of those whom a man sincerely thinks to be in the wrong, is not a work of the flesh, but the necessary duty of a Christian.-Clarke, vol. i. Ser. 40.

The sensual heat is a perpetual furnace, whose smoke darkens the mind, that it cannot discover sublime and heavenly excellencies; and whose impure heat fires the will, that it is earnest in the pursuit of fleshly pleasures. Bates. The Danger of Prosperity.

This, as they drew it forth, his midriff tore,
Its barbed point the fleshy fragments bore,
And let the soul gush out in streams of purple gore.
Crozall. Ovid. Met. b. iv.

But should his inward grief
Too feeble prove to work its own relief,
Himself can free with predetermin'd hand
His tortur'd spirits from her fleshly band.

Hoole. Orlando Furioso, b. xlv.

Joas van Cleeve, or Sotto Cleefe, an industrious painter of Antwerp: his colouring was good, and his figures fleshy and round.--Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. c. 6.

FLETCH, v. Fr. Flèche; Sp. Flecha; It. FLETCHER. Freccia, frezza, sagitta ;-all (says Skinner) from the verb to fledge, volitare, plumescere, to fly about; to feather. The Low Lat. Flecharius, from flecha, was the name given to him who made the arrows, not who merely fledged or prepared them with feathers, (Du Cange.) See To FLEdge. To fletch, is to

Fledge, or supply with feathers.

The care which the fletcher should take in the

Wherfore when we be so tender and ferible yt there apear in vs no power of arine and constant minde, we signifie and declare plainly that we be vtterly ignorant of God and his kingdom.-Caluine. Foure Godlie Sermons, Ser. 2.

Their origination may be either from the back, inwardly, as the chief flector, the psoas, &c. Smith. Portraiture of Old Age, p. 65.

I received those sparcles of piety you pleas'd to send me in a manuscript; and whereas you favour me with a desire of my opinion concerning the publishing of them, sir, I must confess that I found among them many most fervant and flexanimous strains of devotion.-Howell, b. ii. Let. 67. He shall heare these beastly sinnes applauded, varnished, and set out to sale with the most elegant expressions; the most rhetoricall, patheticall, fexanimous, encomiums. Prynne. Histrio-Mustix, pt. i. Act vi. sc. 3. His fore-alleadged words to this purpose, are so emphaticall and flexanimous, that they might even move an heart of adamant, and cause the most obdurate stage-hunters for to tremble.-Id. Ib. pt. i. Act vi. sc. 12.

Yet besides the general carelesness; the authority of the teachers, the flexibility of the taught, and the smalness of the things themselves at the beginning, even interest itself (which consists of two parts, fears and hopes) is able to produce great effects.-Hammond. Works, vol. ii. p. 664. They saw

That others, favour'd, did aspiring seek Their nephew from their counsels to withdraw, (Seeing him of a nature flexible and weak.) Daniel. Civil Wars, b. i. She [the soul] is a perpetuall agent, prompt and subtile; but often flexible, and erring, intangling herselfe like a silkeworme.-B. Jonson. Discoveries.

If this son of Chendanah had not a fore-head of brasse for

impudency, and a heart of lead for flexiblenesse to humours and times, he had never devised these horns of iron, wherewith his king was goared unto blood.

Bp. Hall. Cont. Ahab & Michaiah.

of God's hands, but most would fain hold the screw themFew will protest against flexibleness, under the depression selves, whereby they are iet down, for fear of falling too violently or too low."

choice and preparation of his feathers is minutely Dorian, and the Lydian, they say that in every one of them described by Ascham.

In so doinge, thei declare themselues to be magnified & exalted aboue him, if thei graunt the creator beter then the creature, & the fetcher beter then his bolt.

Mountague. Devoute Essayes, pt. i. Treat. 15. s. 5. There be three kinds of tunes and measures in musick according to Polymnestus Sacadus, to wit, the Phrygian, Sacadus made a certain flection or tune called strophe. Holland. Plutarch, p. 1019. The different conjugations in Greek are not varied in the Hammond. Works, vol. ii. p. 70. We know our declining nature does not so much as fall perpendicularly into extremities of vice, but commonly sinks and slides downward by flexious and oblique descents.

Joye. Exposicion of Daniel, c. 12. flexion, as the Latines are, but only in the characteristick.

The fetcher draweth a feather when it hath but one swappe at it with his knife, and then playnith it a little, with rubbing it over his knife. He pareth it when he taketh leysure and heede, to make everye part of the rybbe apt to stand straight and even on upon the stele.-Ascham. Toxophilus.

Thomas Searden, and John Stodder the king's Majesties bowyer and fletcher, doo presently repayre into those parties for the putting in ordre of the bowes and arrowes as well at Barwike as other places theire; and, for their helpe, have also with them three other bowyers and five fletchers.-Lodge. Illustrations, vol. i. p. 79. Lords of the Council, to the Earl of Shrewsbury.

Thy darts are healthful good, and downwards fall,
Soft as the feathers that they're fletch'd withall.

Cowley. The Davideis, b. ii. By the most unregenerate malice in the world, he [John Wesley] dips his curses in the gall of irony; and that they may strike the deeper, fletches them with a profane classical parody.-Warburton. Doctrine of Grace, b. ii. c. 10.

FLE WED.

Not in our early Lexicographers. Perhaps from the Dut. Flauw, languidus, remissus. Sir Thomas Hanmer remarks, that flows are the large chaps of a deep-mouthed wound, (T. Warton.)

The word is used by Golding, quoted by Warton. With other twaine that had a syre of Crete

And dam of Sparta; tone of them call'd Jollyboy, a great And large-flew'd hound.—Golding. Ovid. Met. b. iii.

Thes. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kinde, So fler'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung With eares that sweepe away the morning dew.

Shakespeare. Mids. Night's Dreame, Act iv. sc. 1,

Mountague. Devoute Essayes, pt. ii. Treat. 6. s. 3. But we know who changed this course of the soul of man and taught her this flexuous serpentine motion of self-love in which she seemeth now to revert to God.

Id. Ib. pt. i. Treat. 14. s. 2. Wherefore the Devil does not undertake to throw any down perpendicularly into hell, but leads them by winding and turning descents: the motion of the serpent being flexuous and crooked, the subject mooved must needs follow the manner of the moover.-Id. Ib. pt. ii. Treat. 6. s. 2. Thinks thou the fierie Feuer will go out With titles blowne from adulation? Will it giue place to flexure and low bending?

Shakespeare. Hen. V. Act iv. sc. 1. Fit. Remember kissing of your hand, and answering With the French time in flexure of your body.

B. Jonson. The Divelle is an Asse, Act iii. sc. 5.

Set him betimes to school, and let him be
Instructed there in rules of husbandry:
While yet his youth is flexible and green,
Nor bad examples of the world has seen.

Dryden. Virgil. Georgies, b. lii. True health consists in such a flexibility of fibres, as yield to the force of the heart, so as to admit the influent fluid, and then such a due spring to restore themselves so as to drive it forward.-Arbuthnot. Of Aliments, c. 6.

Those slender aerial bodies separated and stretched out (at least, as far as the neighbouring ones wil permit) otherwise, by reason of their flexibleness and weight, would flag or curl-Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 12.

Now prepare
Materials for thy mill: a sturdy pest
Cylindric, to support the grinder's weight
Excessive; and a ferile sallow, entrench'd,
Rounding, capacious of the juicy hoard.

J. Philips, Cider, b. ii. Which flexibility of the spine] we may also observe varies in different parts of the chain; is least in the back, where

strength, more than flexure, is wanted; greater in the loins, which it was necessary should be more supple than the back and greatest of all in the neck, for the free motion of the head.-Paley. Natural Theology, c. 8.

Supple and flexible as Indian cane,

To take the bend his appetites ordain.-Couper. Charity
This done; ye Nine, here ends your Poet's strain
In pity sung to soothe his Gallus' pain.
While leaning on a flowery bank I twine
The flexile osiers, and the basket join.

Beattie. Virgil, Past. 10. They throw the change and the pressure, produced by flexion, almost entirely upon the intervening cartilages. Paley. Natural Theology, c. 8

It is evident that the reciprocal energetick motion of the limbs, by which we mean motion with force in opposite directions, can only be produced by the instrumentality of opposite or antagonist muscles; of flexors and extensors answering to each other.-Id. Ib. c. 9.

Let us suppose, that he moves a limb by instinct, without having had any previous notion of space or motion. He has here a new sensation, which accompanies the flexure of joints, and the swelling of muscles.-Reid. Enquiry, c.5. s.6

FLICKER, v. A. S. Fliccer-ian; Dut. FLICKERING, n. Fliggeren; Gr. Flickem; Sw.

Fleckra. To fly or flutter about; to move flutteringly to have or use an unsteady motion.

Take her in armes two and kist her oft And her to glad, he did all his intent For which her gost, that flikered aie aloft Into her woful hart ayen it went.-Chaucer. Troilus, b. iv. And namely thise olde dotards holours, which wol kisse, and flicker, and besie hemself, though they may nought do. Id. The Persones Tale.

He [Tindall, our yong egle] was not so hygh flykered in ye ayer aboue at our heddes to learne it of his father the old egle heretike.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 684.

The flickering fame that flieth from ear to eare,
And aye her strength encreaseth with her flight,
Gives first the cause why men to heare delight
Of those whom she doth note for beautie bright.

Uncertaine Auctors. The Choice of a Wife,
Pot. Alas! I am not any flickering thing:
I cannot boast of that slight-fading gift
You men call beauty; all my handsomeness,
Is my good-breeding, and my honesty.

Cartwright. The Ordinary, Act iii. sc. 1. You shall heare the mountains and forests both, keep a sounding and rumbling noise, and then do they foretell some change of weather; nay, you shall marke the leaves of trees flicker and play themselves, and yet no wind at all stirring; but be sure then that you shall not be long without. Holland. Plinie, b. xviii. c. 35.

The tuneful lark already streach'd her wing,
And flickering on her nest, made short essays to sing:
When wakeful Palamon, preventing day,
Took, to the royal lists, his early way.

Dryden. Palamon & Arcite. Even as a flame unfed, which runs to waste With its own flickering, or a sword laid by Which eats inco itself, and rusts ingloriously. Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, c. 3. A. S. Fliht, that which fle-eth or flieth; the third person singular of the indicative of fleogan, to fly, (the terminating th,

FLIGHT, v. FLIGHT, n. FLIGHTY. FLIGHTINESS. changed into ht.)

That which flirth; as a flight of birds: also applied to the motion or action itself; as the flight of the birds; also to a motion, equalling, or endeavouring to equal, the flight of birds; (met.) to the mind; as the flights of fancy, &c.

To flight, to put to flight, to cause to fly. In the quotation below from B. Jonson, flights is a name used in archery, for long and light arrows employed in shooting rovers, i. e. uncertain lengths. See Bow.

Hym thogte he sey a gryslych beore fe in the eyr anhey,
That alle thauenes quakede of the jiggl hym thorgte he sey.
R. Gloucester, p. 202.

That the favrest fowel. foulest engendreth
And feblest fowel of flicht is.-Piers Plouhman, p. 239.
He fought, and slew him manly as a knight
In plaine bataille, and put his folk to flight.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 990.
To woodde cometh this Philomene,
And maketh her first yers flight,
Where as she singeth daic and night.-Gower. Con, A. b. v.

Darius's kynsmen and the squyers for his bodye that were on his left hand, left him and fledde awaye wyth a maine fight.-Brende. Quintus Curtius, fol. 97.

After, descending other fiue steps, and proceeding the space of a fight-shot, they find another arche like vnto the first.-Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 208.