Den it forms the closest pile of grass that it is ble to imagine. In April and May it pushed forth an innumerable quantity of flowertalks, that afforded an immense quantity of hay; being so close throughout, that the scythe could scarcely penetrate it. This was allowed to stand the seeds ripened; but the bottom of the saks were quite blanched, and almost rotten ir want of air before that time. It is found in por barren soils, where hardly any other plant a be made to grow at all; and on the surface dry worn out peat moss, where no moisture mains sufficient to support any plant whatever; bain neither of these situations does it thrive; Is there only a weak and unsightly plant, unlike what it is when it has the good forto be established upon a good soil; although seidomer met with in this last state than in Ce former. 1 F. rubra, red or purple fescue grass. Dr. Laderson gives the following character of this recies: It retains its verdure much better rye-grass during the winter season. It eise rises in the spring, as early as rye-grass.' Although this grass is very often found in old Patures, yet as it has but few flower stalks, and २ Therein may be discovered a little insect of a festucine or pale green, resembling a locust or grass. hopper. Browne. We speak of straws, or festucous divisions, lightly drawn over with oil. Id. Vulgar Errours. FET, v. a. & n. s. Sax. peccan, p FETCH, v. a., v. n. & n. s. tan; Swed. fatta; Goth. fa; Dan. fatte; Belg. vatten. Fet is our old word for fetch. To go and bring; hence to derive; to reach to, or at; obtain as a price; to bring out; to bring within particular ular line compass; to perform: as a verb neuter, to move round quickly: a fet or fetch is a something fetched; a trick or stratagem, i. e. something performed in an indirect or circuitous way. a or Go to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats. Genesis. We will take men to fetch victuals for the people. And they fet forth Urijah out of Egypt to Jehoiakim, who slew him with the sword. Jer. xxvi. 23. is greedily eaten by all domestic animals, See are seldom suffered to appear; so that it aily remains there unperceived. The leaves long and small, and appear to be roundish, ething like a wire; but, upon examination, are found not to be tubulated like a reed or ; the sides of the leaf being only folded toPer from the middle rib, exactly like the strong grass on the sea-shore. The flower stalk is and branches out in the head, a little reing the wild oat; only the grains are inuch ler, and the ears do not spread fully open the bending a little to one side. The stalks often spotted with reddish freckles, and the of the roots are usually tinged with the same ; from whence it has probably obtained its Fctive name of festuca rubra, or red fescue. soften to be met with in old garden walks; as its leaves advance very quickly after cutit may usually be discovered above the grasses, about a week or fortnight after the Walks are cut. Nor do they seem to advance d at one season, and then stop and decay, like rye-grass; but continue to advance during whole of the summer, even where they are cut; so that they sometimes attain to a very height. The leaves naturally trail upon the od, unless where they meet with some acMetal support; and if any quantity of it is sufad to grow for a whole season, without being down or cut, the roots of the leaves are alrotted by the overshadowing of the tops of the leaves, before the end of the season. From The conditions of weapons, and their improvements, are the fetching afar off; for that outruns My litel child, than wol I fetchen thee, Chaucer. Canterbury Tales. Get home with thy fewel, make ready to fet, An envious neighbour is easy to find, Spenser's Facrie Queene. On, you noblest English, They have devised a mean It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about. Id. It is a fetch of wit; fetching men again, when they swoon. as it is seen the danger, in ordnance and muskets. Id. The bottom clear Now laid with many a fet Jowth of this plant, it would seem to promise Of seed-pearl, ere she bathed her there Drayton. Mean time flew our ships, and straight we fetcht spleenless wind so stretcht a Chapman. If Moses had received a command, that rod which fetched water from the rock, could as well have fetched the blood of the Amalekites out of their bodies. Bp. Hall's Contemplations. mate is salubrious, and the soil a rich black loa with some sand, producing barley, oats, a kitchen roots. There is a considerable quanti of bog iron ore of a good quality in this islan So have we seen a hawk, cast off at a hernshaw, there are also some veins of copper. to look and fly a quite other way; and, after many General terms may sufficiently convey to the people what our intentions are, and yet not fetch us within the compass of the ordinance, Sanderson. These ways, if there were any secret excellence among them, would fetch it out, and give it fair opportunities to advance itself by. Milton. If earth, industrious of herself, fetch day Id. Paradise Lost. FETLOCK, n. s. Feet and lock. A tuft hair that grows behind the pastern joint of ma horses. Their wounded steeds Fret fetlock deep in gore, and with wild rage White were the fetlocks of his feet before, FETOR, n. s. strong and offensive smell. The fetor may discover itself by sweat and humo Brown When the symptoms are attended with a fetor any kind, such a disease will be cured by acesca substances, and none better than whey. Arbuthno FETTER, n. s., and commonly used in t plural, fetters, from feet; Sax. Ferrere. Chai for the feet; chains by which walking is h dered; to bind with such chains; to shackle. Doctrine unto fools is as fetters on the feet; a like manacles on the right hand. Eccles. xxi. 1 Fetter strong madness in a silken thread; Charm ach with air, and agony with words. The bids in dreams tormenting shapes appear, Tich shrieks that shock Imagination's ear. Darwin. FETTI (Dominico), an eminent painter in the syule of Julio Romano, born at Rome, in 1589, nd educated under Ludovico Civoli of Flo e. He excelled in historical pieces; his pictures are much sought after, and are scarce. He Fortened his days by excess, and died in his arty-fifth year. FETTLE, v. n. A diminutive of fet, probaDr. Johnson says, 'a cant word from feel.' Finse, that to fettle is 'to set or go about any ; to dress, prepare, or put in order.' It is a wind still used in this last sense in the North of Land. To do or prepare trifling business; bustle; to arrange household furniture. Now doth he inly scorne his Kendall-Greene, and his patcht cockers now despised beene. Meist he now go whistling to the carre sells his teme and fetleth to the warre. Bp. Hall's Satires. Then your master is most busy in company, come and pretend to fettle about the room; and if he s, say you thought he rung the bell. Swift. FETU, or AFFETU, a small kingdom of Africa, the Gold Coast, east of Commendo, extendog 160 miles in length, or into the interior, acring to some geographers; but not above fif or sixteen miles in breadth along the coast: Fis situated Cape Coast Castle, the capital of English settlements. It was formerly governed chief, assuming the title of dey, and belongthe class of fetishmen, or priests; but he * subdued by the Fantees, who are now, or relately, in this town, subjugated by the artees, See FANTEES. It was formerly very pous and powerful, but is now almost ruined, inhabitants not being sufficient to till the and; effects which Walker ascribes to war the slave trade. It is naturally fertile, Scoding in corn, fruits, trees, palm wine, oil, af cattle. The Dutch have a fort in it. FETUS, n. s. Lat. fatus. Properly therewritten fœtus. Any animal in embryo; any yet in the womb; unborn; young. That paradox of Hippocrates some learned physibave of late revived, that the fetus respires in womb. FEUD, n. s. Sax. peahd, enmity. ation; opposition; war. Boyle. Quarrel; Almighty Jove in wrathful mood, wreak the guilt of mortal sins is bent; Burls forth his thundering dart with deadly feud, ed in flames and smouldring dreariment. Faerie Queene. Though men would find such mortal feuds In sharing of their publick goods. Hudibras. Ia former ages it was a policy of France to raise cherish intestine feuds and discords in Great ale. Addison. a wift contrived an intercourse, from which they departed discontented; he procured second, only convinced him that the feud irrecor.. was Johnson. Life of Swift. Quarrels were transmitted from father to son, and, der the name of deadly feuds, subsisted for many Frations with unmitigated rancour. Robertson's History of Scotland. FEED, in ancient customs, is used for a capiquarrel or enmity, not to be satisfied but with the death of the enemy; and thence usually called deadly feud. Feud, called also feida, and faida, in the original German signifies guerram, i. e. war. Lambert writes it feeth, and says, 'it signifies capitales inimicitias, implacable hatred. In Scotland and the north of England, feud is particularly used for a combination of kindred, to revenge the death of any of their blood, against the killer and all his race, or any other great enemy. FEUD, Feoda, in law, the same with fief or fee. See FEUDAL SYSTEM. FEUDAL, adj. & n. s. Fr. (old) feudal; FEU'DATORY, n. s. & adj. ) Lat. feudalis. See FEODATORY. Pertaining to fees, feus, or tenures by which lands are held of a superior lord. A dependence; something held by tenure; a fee. A feudatory is one who holds lands by some conditional tenure from a superior. As an adjective it means, held by such tenure. The duke of Parma was tempted to be true to that enterprize, by no less promise than to be made feudatory, or beneficiary king of England, under the seignory in chief of the pope, and the protection of Spain. Bacon. Wales, that was not always the feudal territory of England, having been governed by a prince of their own, had laws utterly strange to the laws of England. Hale. Nothing is more suitable to feudal ideas, than that the same person should be both a lord and a vassal, independent in one capacity, and dependent in another. Robertson's History of Scotland. If the one crown had been considered not as imperial and independent, but as feudatory to the other, a Id. treaty of union could not have been concluded on equal terms. FEUDAL SYSTEM. About twelve centuries ago, this system was so universally received in law of nations in our western world.' Hence it Europe, that Sir Henry Spelman calls it 'the deserves our attention in a particular manner; a knowledge ads being being indispensably requisite for a proper understanding either of the civil government of our own country, or the laws by which its landed property is regulated. of the different feuds The military policy of the Celtic, or northern nations, known by the names of Goths, Vandals, Franks, Huns, and Lombards, furnished the original constitution or system of feuds These people, pouring out in vast multitudes from the same officina gentium, or store-house of nations, over-ran all the European countries on the declension of the Roman empire. They brought the feudal system along with them from the countries out of which they emigrated; and, supposing it to be the most proper method of securing their new conquests, they introduced it into their more southerly colonies. According to this system, the victorious general allotted considerable tracts of land to his principal officers; while they, in like manner, divided their possessions among the inferior officers, and the common soldiers who were thought to be the most deserving. Allotments of this kind were named feoda, fiefs, fees, or feuds, from a combination of words, in the language of these barbarians, signifying a reward or stipend bestowed on certain conditions. See FEOD. The conditior upon which these rewards were given, was that the possessors should faithfully serve the person from whom they were received, both at home and abroad, in the military way. To this they engaged themselves by a juramentum fidelitatis, or oath of fealty, in the event of a breach of which, either by not performing the service agreed upon, or by deserting their lord in time of battle, &c., the lands were to return to their original pos sessor. The possessors of feudal allotments thus became interested in the defence of them; and not only the receivers, but those who gave them, were equally and mutually bound to defend their possessions, none of them being able to pretend any right but that of conquest. For this purpose, government and subordination were absolutely necessary; it being impossible to conduct any system of defence where every thing was tumultuous and irregular. Every person, therefore, who was a feudatory, i. e. who had received lands, was bound to do every thing in his power to defend the lord of his fee; while, on the other hand, the latter was no less subordinate to his immediate superior; and so up to the prince himself. In like manner a reciprocal bond of defence existed down from the prince to the lowest feudists. Such were the foundations on which the feudal system was properly established; and the natural consequence was, a military subjection throughout the whole community. The prince could always collect an army of feudatories ready to defend not only the kingdom in general, but the particular possessions of each person; and the propriety of this constitution was soon apparent in the strength which these newly erected kingdoms acquired, and the valor with which their conquests were defended. Europe owed to it, in after ages, as Mr. Hallam has observed, the free constitution of England, the firm monarchy of France, and the federal union of Germany. Besides these feudal grants, however, which were held only on the terms of military service above mentioned, there were others called allodial, which were given upon more enlarged principles. To these every free man had a title; and could not only claim his territory as well as the rest, but dispose of it at his pleasure; and this freedom was denominated allodiality. These allodials, however, were not exempted from military service. A part of their freedom consisted in liberty to go to the wars; for this, in the barbarous times we speak of, was the only way to acquire any degree of renown. Only the serfs or villeins were destined to follow the arts of peace; while every free person was not only at liberty to defend his country, but under an obligation to do it in case of any urgent necessity. Thus there was a feudal and a national militia. The free people only were allowed to possess property; the feudal vassals constituted the army, properly so called; while the national militia was composed of the allodial proprietors. This allodiality, however, was not confined to landed property, but included likewise moveable estates or money; so that proprietors of the latter kind were obliged also in times of danger to bear arms and appear in the field. Between the feudal and allodial proprietors, however, there was this farther difference, that the latter had no concern with any private quarrels which might take place among the lords them selves; so that they were never obliged to ap pear in the field unless when called forth by th sovereign against the enemies of the nation a large. This circumstance we might suppose to be an advantage, but it ultimately operated otherwise; becoming the means of changing th allodial right into a feudal tenure. The holders of fiefs had for some time an emi nent advantage over the allodial proprietors. Thi was owing to the imperfection of the existin public governments; so that the nobles had it in their power to revenge their own quarrels, whil the weak were equally exposed to the insults o both parties. The lord and his vassals there fore were always formidable; but the allodia proprietors had scarcely any means of defend ing themselves. The reasons of this were, first that the law did not allow them to commit any hostilities: and secondly, they were too distan and unconnected to form any proper league fo mutual defence; and hence proceeded the necessit of converting allodial property into feudal tenure This was indeed owing in a great measure to the absurdity and violence of the times, by whicl gifts of property, burdened with service, and which might return to the person who granted them, were rendered superior in value to the ab solute and unconditional possession of a subject Other considerations likewise contributed t produce the same effect. As in those dark age no right existed but what had its origin in con quest, it thence followed, that the greatest con queror was the most honorable person. The king in whom the whole exploits of the communit centered, as being their head, was the most honor able person; all others derived from him tha portion of honor which they enjoyed, and which was most nicely adjusted in proportion as the approached him. Allodial proprietors, there fore, having no pretensions of this kind, wer treated with contempt as a kind of poltroons From this disagreeable situation they wished to free themselves, by converting their allodial pro perty into feudal tenures; while the princes supposing it their interest to extend those tenure as much as possible, discouraged the allodial pos sessions. As the feudists supported the im portance of the nation, and dignity of the monarch, it was not thought proper to allow the allodial proprietors any greater compen sations than what were given to vassals in simila cases. Thus they were exposed to continua mortifications in courts of justice; they wer neglected by the king; denied sufficient pro tection from the laws; exposed not only to con tinual insults, but to have their property on al occasions destroyed by the great; so that they were without resource except from the feuda tenures, and were obliged even to solicit the pri vileges which were bestowed in other cases of vassals. In these unhappy circumstances, the were glad to yield up their lands to any superio whom they thought most agreeable, and t receive them back from him as a feudal gift Thus the landed property was every wher changed into feudal tenures, and fiefs becam almost universal. See TENURE. For some time the feudal system was not onl useful in itself, but honorable in its principles; this continued no longer than while the importers of it into Europe adhered to their orirad simple and noble maxims. During that pened, the lord exercised his bounty to the wal, which the latter repaid by acts of gratiale; so that the intercourse between them was (the most affectionate kind; and this gave rise What are called the feudal incidents. The tants of fiefs were educated in the hall of the ior, while the tenures were precarious or for life: and, even when they became hereay, the lord took care of the son and estate of dressed vassal; not only protecting his perbut taking charge of his education, and diang the management of his affairs. He took sure in observing his approach to maturity; d when he came of age never failed to deliver m the lands, with the care of which he had entrusted, and which he had been careful to ove. This was called the incident of wardThe incident of relief was founded upon gratitude of the vassal; who, upon entering Aus fief, brought a present to his lord, as an knowledgment of his care of him during the ary part of his life, and in order to conciliate fature regard. The incident of marriage proded also upon the principle of gratitude on part of the vassal. The latter, conscious of favors he had received, did not choose to bimself with a family inimical to his chief: The the superior himself, ambitious to aggrane and augment the importance of his family, t the most advantageous match for his vasSometimes the superior himself was reod in his circumstances by war or other aridents: but from whatever cause his distress ceeded, even though it had arisen from his extravagance or prodigality, or when only tute of means to support his ambition or deur, his vassals were bound to support and eve him according to their circumstances; of this was called the incident of aid. The inat of escheat took place on the part of the wal, when, through cowardice, treachery, or remarkable misbehaviour, he rendered himunworthy of his fief. In that case, the ang it from him, and giving it to one more *thy, was called an escheat. While the lords vassals thus vied with one another in mutual * of friendship and benevolence, universal piness, liberty, and activity, were diffused arugh the society. The vassals behaved coursly towards the retainers, who were immediely below them; while they again were courted the lords as constituting their importance and Roth; the lords, lastly, giving a like imporre and dignity to the sovereign himself. Thus Mezular, powerful, and compact system of goment took place; a unanimity and attention aded the various departments of the state; Chat while the subjects were free, the nation larze was formidable. During this state of and tyranny of the Normans appear the more in tolerable. In process of time, the state of society began to suffer a remarkable alteration. The high and disinterested notions, from which the happiness above mentioned took its origin, declined; the romantic ideas of chivalry ceased (see CHIVALRY,) and much more interested notions of property came in their stead. The separation of the interests of the lords from their vassals was the first step towards the destruction of the feudal system. Then the incidents, which had hitherto promoted their happiness, now had a reverse tendency. Property being looked upon as a distinction superior to personal merit, introduced the most mercenary views. In consequence of these, the infant ward, the care of whom was wont to be considered as a sacred and honorary trust, was now only looked upon as a mean of procuring emolument to the superior. The latter regarded the profits of his vassals as so many diminutions of his own wealth. Instead of taking care to improve the state of his ward as formerly, he impoverished it; not only neglecting the education of the heir, but offering insults to himself: insomuch that the relations of the unfortunate vassal were often obliged to ransom from the avaricious superior both his person and effects. By merchandise of this kind the coffers of princes were filled, and wardships let out to strangers, who might exercise their rapacity with greater freedom. When the vassal at last attained the years of maturity, he came to the possession of his lands without any of that joy and festivity which usually took place on the occasion. He received an inheritance wasted and impoverished, while new grievances daily occurred, to augment the horrors of his situation. All the incidents, which formerly were so many expressions of gratitude on the part of the vassal, were now changed into taxes exacted at the pleasure of the lord. Before the vassal was invested in his land, the superior exacted from him a certain sum or gift, to be measured only by his own rapacity; and in case of delay or inability to pay this demand, the superior continued in possession of the estate. Such scandalous oppression could not but produce the greatest discontent and clamor. Applications were made to the law without success; nor were even the laws regarded which were fabricated on purpose for their relief. The incident of marriage now proved a source of the most dreadful oppression. The lord assumed a right of marrying his vassal to whom he pleased; and he not only exerted this right himself, but would sell it to a stranger, or allow the vassal to buy it himself; while the penalty annexed to a marriage without the consent of the superior involved no less punishment than the loss of the estate itself, or some such grievous infliction as for a crime of the first magnitude. The care was still worse with a female ward; whose beauty and accomplishments be , the members of the national assembly in came a source of gain to the superior, or were ery country in Europe appeared there in arms, Whether they came personally or by their repretatives. Such particularly was the case under te Anglo-Saxon government; and the happiness Ley at that time enjoyed made the oppression sacrificed to please his whim or caprice: so that her relations were frequently obliged to buy from him the privilege of marrying her to the person she or they thought most proper. In like man. ner the aid, which was formerly a voluntary gift |