pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
FEATHER, in Physiology, a general name for the covering of birds; it being common to the animals of this class to have their whole body, or at least the greater part of it, covered with feathers or plumage. Feathers form a considerable article in commerce, particularly those of the ostrich, heron, swan, peacock, and goose, for plumes, ornaments of the head, filling of beds, writing-pens, and the like.

Geese are plucked five times a year in some parts of Great Britain; and in cold seasons many of them die by this barbarous custom. Those feathers which are brought from Somersetshire are esteemed the best, and those from Ireland the worst.

Eider down is imported from Denmark; the ducks which supply it being inhabitants of Hudson’s Bay, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. Our own islands west of Scotland breed numbers of these birds, which form a profitable branch of trade to the poorer class of the inhabitants. Hudson’s Bay also furnishes very fine feathers, supposed to be of the goose kind. The down of the swan is brought from Dantzic.
FEBRIFUGE, an appellation given to such medicines as serve to mitigate or remove a fever.
FEBRUARY, in Chronology, the second month of Numa’s year. This month is not found in the calendar of Romulus, but was added to the year by Numa. It had its name from Februa, Februaca, or Februalis, all names of Juno, who presided over the purifications of women; in this month also the Lupercalia were held in honour of Juno, and women were purified by the priests of Pan Lyceus at that festival. February, in a common year, consists only of twenty-eight days; but in bissextile year it has twenty-nine, on account of the intercalary day added that year.
FECHINGSE, a small and neatly-built city of China, in the province of Pe-tche-li, near Pekin. It has a good appearance, though the houses are low, from the walls and pavilions being kept in good repair. Near the town is a fine bridge crossing the river; it is built of stone, and is 216 paces in length.
FECAMP, a sea-port city of the department of the Lower Seine, in France, situated at the mouth of the river of the same name. It has a good tide harbour. It contains 1000 houses and 7939 inhabitants, many of whom are employed in the herring and mackerel fisheries, some in ship-build-ing, and others in the manufacture of sail-cloth, flannels counterpanes, and tent-cloth. Long. 0. 16. 40. E. Lat 49 46. N.
FECIALES, or Foeciales, an order of priests or officers amongst the ancient Romans, consisting of tw enty persons, appointed to proclaim war, to negotiate peace, and to perform various other duties.

Festus derives the word from ferio, I strike, as ferire foedus signifies to conclude a treaty; and accordingly, instead of feciales he would have it written feriales. Others derive it from foedus, which was anciently written/«//«, probably from fides, faith; and others again ĩxoxo. faeio, feci, I make, because they made war and peace. Vossius chooses to derive it from fatu, the latter supine of the verb∕αri, to speak, in which sense the feciales should be the same with oratores ; and this opinion is also confirmed by the authority of Varro, who says that they were called indifferently feciales and oratores.

The feciales were a sort of heralds, who, when the Romans had any dispute with their neighbours, were sent first to demand the thing intended to be usurped, or to require satisfaction for the injury alleged to be done. If an answer satisfactory to the people and the senate was not returned by them, they were dispatched again to declare war; and the same thing took place in treating for peace, the feciales being the only persons appointed to negotiate between the senate and the enemy.

Plutarch, in the life of Numa, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, observe that the feciales were first instituted by that prince. The latter adds that they were originally chosen out of the best families in Rome; that their office, which was reputed a sort of sacerdotium, or priesthood, only ended with their life; that their persons were sacred and inviolable, like those of other priests; that they were even charged to see that the republic did not declare war unjustly; that they were authorized to receive the complaints and remonstrances of nations who pretended to have been in any way injured by the Romans; that if these complaints were found just, they were bound to seize the criminals, and to deliver them up to those whom they had offended; that they were invested with the rights and privileges of ambassadors; that they not only concluded treaties of peace and alliance, but took care that these were executed, and even abolished them, if they were found not to be equitable. Livy (lib. i. cap. 24) ascribes the institution of feciales to Ancus Martius, in the year of Rome 114. But Varro assures us, that in his time most of the functions of the feciales were set aside; though Plutarch observes that they had still some authority in his time.

The feciales were crowned with verbena or vervain when they proceeded to declare war. The head was covered with a veil, over which the crown was applied. In this equipage they proceeded to the frontiers of the country wine ι had been declared hostile, and threw a bloody dart or javelin into the ground within the same. In Livy and other ancient authors we have the formula used in such declarations.
FEE, in Law, signifies a complete feudal property. See Feudal Law. Fee also signifies a certain allowance or honοrarium to barristers, physicians, and certain other professional pesons, as a reward for their pains and labour.
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Fee-Farm, a kind of tenure without homage, fealty, or other service, except that mentioned in the feoffment, which is usually the full rent, or at least a fourth part of it.
FEEJEE Islands, a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, the exact number of which has not been ascertained. They are situated from about 15. 33. to 19. 15. of south latitude, and extend to about 175. east longitude. They are equally fertile with the generality of the islands in the South Pacific Ocean, and abound in the same sort of produce. Sandal wood is plentiful, and a considerable trade is carried on with the Europeans in this article. The inhabitants are a ferocious race, being all cannibals. These islands were originally discovered by Tasman in the year 1643. They were seen by Captain Bligh in the years 1789 and 1792; and many European vessels have since visited them.

FEET-Bearer, the name of an officer in the courts of the ancient Anglo-Saxon and Welsh princes. He was a young gentleman, whose duty it was to sit on the floor, with his back towards the fire, and hold the king’s feet in his bosom all the time he sat at table, in order to keep them warm and comfortable; a piece of state and luxury unknown, and, we may add, unnecessary, in modern times.
FEHRABAD, or Fahrabad, a town of Persia, in the province of Mazanderan, situated on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, at the mouth of a river. Its population, formerly computed at 16,000, consisted principally of Armenians and Georgians, who are represented as having been, lively, active, and industrious. The neighbouring country is fertile, producing sugar, cotton, and silk; and the inhabitants carry on a trade in rice, salt-fish, and pottery. It is 126 miles west of Asterabad, and 270 north of Ispahan. Long. 53. 12. E. Lat. 35. 56. N.
FELANICHE, a Spanish town on the island and in the province of Majorca, with some distilleries of brandy and wine, and with a population of 6800 souls. Long. 0. 14. W. Lat. 39. 32. N.
FELAPTON, in Logic, one of the six first modes of the third figure of syllogisms; the first proposition being an universal negative, the second an universal affirmative, and the third a particular negative.
FELEGYAZA, a city of Hungary, in the circle of the Hither Danube, where the archives of the circle are preserved, and all the legal processes are carried on. It is also the head quarters of the army. It contains 1028 houses and 9405 inhabitants. Long. 19. 45. E. Lat. 46. 43. N.
FELIBIEN, Andre', was born at Chartres in 1619, and went as secretary under the Marquis de Fontenay-Mareuil, who was French ambassador at the court of Rome in 1647. On his return Μ. Colbert procured him the place of historiographer to the king, and also that of superintendent of buildings, and of the arts and manufactures, in France. He became afterwards deputy comptroller-general of the bridges and dykes in that kingdom; and died in 1695. Felibien wrote several pieces relating to the fine arts, the principal of which is his Dialogues on the Lives and Works of the most eminent Painters.
FELICITAS, Felicity, or Happiness, was deified by the ancient Pagans. Lucullus built a temple to this goddess, and Lepidus erected another. The Greeks paid divine worship to Macaria, daughter of Hercules, who was the same with the Felicitas of the Romans. This deity is pictured upon medals, generally with a cornucopia in one hand, and a caduccus in the other.
FELICUDI, one of the Lipari Islands, in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to the kingdom of Naples. It is inhabited by about 1200 persons, who grow wheat and produce wine, some of which is shipped at the small haven.
FELO de Se, in Law, a person who deliberately lays violent hands on himself, and is the occasion of his untimely death, whether by hanging, drowning, stabbing, shooting, or in any other way.
FELON, in Law, a person guilty of felony.
FELT, in Commerce, a sort of stuff deriving all its consistence merely from being fulled, or wrought with lees and size, without either spinning or weaving. Felt is made either of wool alone, or of wool and hair.
FELTING, the method of working up hair or wool into a species of cloth, independently of either spinning or weaving. Felting in Britain is not much practised, excepting in the manufacturing of hats. See Hat-making.
FELUCCA, in nautical affairs, a little vessel rowed with six oars, and frequent in the Mediterranean. It has this peculiarity, that its helm may be applied either in the head or stern, as occasion requires.
FELUDJE, Felugia, a village of Asiatic Turkey, situated on the eastern shore of the Euphrates, north of Hil-Iah, in a fertile soil, productive in dates, grapes, grain, and cotton. Here a palace was erected by Soliman the Great, pasha of Bagdad. It was anciently a place of celebrity, and taken by the Romans under the Emperor Julian.
FELUDSJE, Feluja, a small island in the north-west part of the Gulf of Persia, near the Arabian shore. It ⅛ ten miles east of Koueit. Long. 48. E. Lat. 29. 45. N.
FEMALE (foemina), a term peculiar to animals, signifying that sex which conceives and generates its young.
FEMERN, an island in the Baltic Sea, a part of the kingdom of Denmark, the centre of which is in latitude 54. 29. north, and longitude 10. 24. east. The extent of it is fifty-two square miles, or 33,280 acres. It contains a city and market-town, and forty villages, with 7626 inhabitants. The soil is productive, and the sea around it abounds with fish, the taking of which affords occupation to many of the inhabitants. The capital is Burg.
FEMME Covert, in Law, signifies a married woman.

Femme Sole, an unmarried woman, whose debts, contracted before marriage, become those of her husband after it.
FEMININE, in Grammar, one of the genders of nouns, namely, the second.

The feminine gender is that which denotes that the noun or name belongs to a female. In the Latin the feminine gender is formed from the masculine by altering its termination, particularly by changing us into a. Thus, of the masculine bonus equus, a good horse, is formed the feminine bona equa, a good mare; and so, of parvus homo, a little man, is formed parva foemina, a little woman.

In French, the feminine gender is expressed, not by a different termination, but by a different article. Thus, le is joined to a male, and la to a female.

In English, we are generally more strict, and express the difference of sex, not by different terminations nor by different particles, but by different words; as boar and sow, boy and girl, brother and sister; though sometimes the feminine is formed by varying the termination of the masculine into ess, as in abbot, abbess, and the like.
FEN, a place overflowed with water, or abounding with bogs. Fens are either made up of a congeries of bogs, or consist of a multitude of pools or lakes, with dry spots of land intermixed, like as many little islands.
FENCE, in Gardening and Husbandry, a hedge, wall, ditch, bank, or other inclosure, made round gardens, fields, woods, and the like.

Fence - Month, the month in which deer begin to fawn, and during which it is unlawful to hunt in the forest. It commences fifteen days before midsummer, and ends fifteen days after it. This month, by ancient foresters, is called defence-month.
FEOD, or Feud. See Feudal Law.
FEODOSIA, one of the circles into which the Russian province of Taurida is divided. It stretches along the eastern side of the peninsula which separates the Black Sea from the Sea of Azoph. It is a fertile tract of land, and was formerly much more thickly peopled, and much better cultivated, than it is at present. The chief place, known before the Russian possession by the name of Kaffa, but now by that of the province, is situated on a bay in the Black Sea, and has an excellent harbour, though not safe in the winter. It contains from 400 to 500 houses, and about 4500 inhabitants. It was declared a free port in 1806, since which period its inhabitants and trade have greatly increased. It is situated in latitude 45. 4. N. and longitude 35. 14. E.
FEOFFMENT, in Law (from the verb feoffare or infeu- (lαre, to give one a fief), the gift or grant of any corporeal hereditament to another. He who so gives, or enfeofs, is called the feoffer, and the person enfeoffed is denominated the feoffee.
FERALIA, in Antiquity , a festival observed amongst the Romans on the 21st February, or, according to Ovid, on the 17th of that month, in honour of the manes of their deceased friends and relations.

Varro derives the word from inferi, or from fero, on account of a repast carried to the sepulchres of such as had that day the last offices rendered to them. Festus derives it from ferio, on account of the victims sacrificed. Vossius observes that the Romans called death fera, cruel, and that hence might arise the word feralia. Macrobius (Saturnalia, lib. i. cap. 13), refers the origin of the ceremony to Numa Pompilius. Ovid, in his Fasti, goes back for its institution as far as the time of Aeneas. He adds, that on the same day a sacrifice was performed to the goddess Muta, or Dumb; and that the persons who officiated were an old woman and a number of attendant young girls.

During the continuance of this festival, which lasted eleven days, presents were made at the graves of the deceased, marriages were forbidden, and the temples of the gods were shut. Whilst the ceremonies continued, it was imagined that the ghosts suffered no punishments in hell, but that their tormentors allowed them to wander round their tombs, and to feast upon the meats which their surviving friends had prepared for them.

At the feralia public feasts were sometimes given to the people, at the tombs of the rich and great, by their heirs or particular friends.
FER de Fourchette, in Heraldry, a cross having at each end a forked iron, like that formerly used by soldiers to rest their muskets on. It differs from the cross fourche, the ends of which were bent as well as forked; whereas, this has the same sort of fork fixed upon the square end. See Heraldry.
FERAH, a town of Persia, in the province of Seistan, ninety miles north-north-east of Zareng, and a hundred and fifty west of Candahar. Long. 62.22. E. Lat. 33. 20. N.
FERE, La, a town of the department of the Aisne, in France, at the junction of the rivers Serre and Oise. It is strongly fortified, and has in it an establishment for educating artillery officers. It contains 436 houses, and 2604 inhabitants. Long. 3. 13. E. Lat. 49. 40. N.
FERENTARII, in Roman antiquity, were auxiliary troops, lightly armed, whose weapons were a sword, a bow and arrows, and a sling
FERETRIUS, a surname of Jupiter, a ferendo, because he had assisted the Romans; or a feriendo, because he had conquered their enemies under Romulus. He had at Rome a temple built by Romulus, to which the spoils called opima were always carried.
FERETRUM, amongst the Romans, the bier used in carrying out the bodies of the dead, a duty which was performed by the nearest male relations of the deceased. Thus, sons carried out their parents, brothers their sisters, and so on.
FERG, or Fergue, Francis Paul, a landscape painter, was born at Vienna in 1689, and there learned the first principles of his art. He successively practised under Hans Graf, Orient, and Thicle. The last of these, who was painter to the court of Saxony, having invited him to Dresden to insert small figures in his landscapes, Ferg repaired to that city, whence he proceeded into Lower Saxony, and painted for the Duke of Brunswick and for the gallery of Salzdahl. From Germany he passed over to London, where he might have lived in esteem and affluence, if, by an indiscreet marriage, he had not been so effectually depressed, not to say degraded, that he was ever afterwards involved in difficulties. The necessities which arose out of his domestic troubles compelled him to diminish the prices of his paintings in order to procure immediate subsistence; and as these necessities increased, his pictures sunk still more in price, though not in intrinsic value. By a series of misfortunes, however, he became overwhelmed in debt, and, to avoid the pursuit of his creditors, was constrained to secrete himself in different parts of London. He died suddenly in the street one night as he was returning from some friends, about the year 1738, before he had attained his fiftieth year, and left four children wholly destitute. This pleasing artist, Mr Walpole observes, had formed a manner of his own from various Flemish painters, though resembling Poelemburg most in the enamelled softness and mellowness of his colouring; but his figures are greatly superior, every part of them being sufficiently finished, and every action expressive. He painted small landscapes, fairs, and rural meetings, with much natural truth; his horses and cattle are not inferior to those of Wouvermans; and his buildings and distances seem to owe their respective softness to the intervening air, not to the pencil. More faithful to nature than Denner, he knew how [7:9:510]to omit exactness, when the result of the whole demanded ' less precision in parts. The greater number of his works are in London and Germany; and the price they now bθar is the best proof of their real merit. He also etched well with aquafortis; and his prints of that description are generally esteemed by the curious.
FERIA, in the Roman Catholic breviary, is applied to the several days of the week; thus Monday is the feria secunda, and Tuesday the feria tertia, though these days are not working days, but holidays. The occasion of this was, that the first Christians were accustomed to keep the Easter week holy, calling Sunday the prima feria, and so on; hence the term feria was given to the days of every week. But besides these, there were extraordinary feriae, the three last days of Passion-weck, the two following Easter-day, and the second feriae of Rogation.
FERIAE, in Roman antiquity, holidays, or days upon which the people abstained from work. Proclamation was generally made by the herald, by command of the Rex Sacrorum or Flamines, that all should abstain from business; and whoever transgressed the order was severely fined.

The Feriae were of two kinds; public and private. The public feriae were fourfold: first, Stativae, which were kept as public feasts by the whole city upon certain immoveable days appointed by their calendar, as the Compitalia, Carmentalia, and Lupercalia ; secondly, Feriae Conceptivae, which were moveable feasts, the days for the celebration of which were fixed by the magistrates or priests, as the Feriae Latinae, Paganalia, Compitalia, and others, which happened every year, though the days for observing them were left to the discretion of the magistrates or priests; thirdly, Feriae Imperatives, which were instituted by the mere command of consuls, praetors, or dictators, upon the gaining of some victory or other fortunate event; and, fourthly, Nundinoe. The private feriae were holidays observed by particular persons or families, on several accounts, as birth-days, funerals, and the like. The feriae belonged to and formed one division of the dies festi. Feriae Latinae, a festival at which a white bull was usually sacrificed. On this occasion the Latin and Roman towns provided each a quantity of meat, wine, and fruits; and during the celebration, the Romans and Latins swore eternal friendship to each other, taking home a piece of the victim to every town. The festival was instituted by Tarquinius Superbus, when, having overcome the Etruscans and made a league with the Latins, he proposed to build a common temple to Jupiter Latialis, at which both nations might meet and offer sacrifices for their common safety. At first the solemnity lasted but one day, but it was at different times extended to ten days. It was held on the Alban Mount, and celebrated with chariot races at the capitol, where the victor was treated with a large draught of wormwood drink.
FERIANA, the ancient city of Thala in Africa, which was taken and destroyed by Metellus in the war with Jugurtha. It was visited by Bruce in his travels through Africa, and he expected to find many magnificent ruins in the place, but was disappointed.
FERMENT, any body which, being applied to another, produces fermentation.

Ferments are either matters already in the act of fermentation, or those which soon pass into this state. Of the first kind are the flowers of wine, yeast, fermenting beer, θr fermenting wine, and of the second are the newly-expressed vegetable juices of summer fruit.

Amongst distillers ferments are all those bodies which, when added to the liquor, only correct some fault in it, and, by removing some obstacle to fermentation, forward the process by secondary means; also such as, being added in time of fermentation, make the liquor yield a larger propor- s ^ r ; t, an d g* ve R a ^ nor flavour.
FERMENTATION may be defined a sensible internal motion of the constituent particles of a fluid, mixed, or compound, body; by the continuance of which motion ese particles are gradually removed from their former si- ι mtion or combination, and again, after some visible separation is made, combined together in a different order and arrangement, so that a new compound is formed, having qualities very sensibly differing from those of the original - fluid. See Brewing and Chemistry.
FERMO, one of the delegations of the papal dominions, in Italy, 580 square miles in extent. It contains one city, eleven market-towns, and thirty villages, with 77,089 inhabitants. It is situated on the shore of the Adriatic, and on that side is fruitful in wheat, maize, pease, břans, and fruit, and produces some silk. On the western side it consists of the Appennines, and is less fertile. The capital, of the same name, is about two miles from the shore, where is Porto Fermo, whence several fisheries are carried on. The city is surrounded with walls, and contains ten churches, besides the cathedral of the archbishop, eleven monasteries, and five nunneries. The inhabitants amounted in 1816 to 19,678, and are occupied in various trades. Long. 13. 36. 21. E. Lat. 43. 10. 18. N.
FERM0SELLE, a town of Spain, in the province of Leon, with an ancient castle adjoining it. The river Duero passes by it a little above the part at which the Tormes, that flows by Salamanca, joins that river. This town possesses a population of 3000 souls.
FERNANDO, or Fernandes, an island in the Pacific Ocean. See Juan Fernandes.