FASTS. of Lent. 2. The Ember days at the four seasons, being the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, the Feast of Pentecost, September 14th, December 13th. 3. The three Rogation days, being the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Holy Thursday, or the Ascension of our Lord. 4. All the Fridays in the year, except Christmas day. These days are mentioned in the 2 and 3 Edward VI. c. 19, and in 5 Elisabeth, c. 5; and by 12 Charles II. c. 14, the 30th of January is ordained to be a day of Fasting and repentance for the murder of Charles I. Other days of Fasting are occasionally appointed by the King's Proclamation. But no Ecclesiastical directions are given by the Church of England respecting Fasting, and even the ordinance prohibiting meat on Fast days in 2 and 3 Edward VI. c. 19, is framed politically for the increase of cattle and the encouragement of Fisheries and Navigation, not on Religious grounds. The act itself, however, is recommended in one of the Homilies, (Of Good Works, and first of Fasting,) it is declared to be "a withholding of meat, drink, and all natural food from the body for the determined time of Fasting;" and its ends are rationally and piously noted, "the first is, to chastise the flesh that it be not too wanton, but tamed and brought in subjection by the Spirit: the second, that the spirit may be more fervent and earnest in prayer: the third, that our Fast be a testimony and witness with us before God of our humble submission to his high Majesty, when we confess and acknowledge our sins unto him, and are inwardly touched with sorrowfulness of heart, bewailing the same in the affliction of our bodies."

There is a Statute during the course of the Reformation, 5 Elisabeth, c. 5, by which it almost appears as if it had been in contemplation at one time to abolish Fasting altogether: "Whosoever by preaching, teaching, writing, &c. affirms it to be necessary to abstain from flesh for the saving of the soul of man, or for the service of God, is to be punished as a spreader of false news." On another occasion, in 1580, Elisabeth successfully opposed a proposition of the Puritans among her Commons for one of those seditious meetings, which in a subsequent reign contributed so much to the overthrow of the Monarchy. On the 10th of January the Commons voted, "that as many of their members as conveniently could, should on the Sunday fortnight assemble and meet together in the Temple Church, there to have preaching, and to join together in Prayer with humiliation and Fasting, for the assistance of God's Spirit in all their consultations during this Parliament, and for the preservation of the Queen's Majesty and her Realms." Elisabeth's sagacity penetrated the object of these proposed assemblies, and she sent word by Sir Christopher Hatton, her Vice-Chamberlain, that "she did much admire at so great a rashness in that House, as to put in execution such an innovation without her privity and pleasure first made known to them." Upon this spirited message, the Commons resolved, that "the House should acknowledge their offence and contempt, and humbly crave forgiveness, with a full purpose to forbear committing the like for the future.' We borrow this account from Neale, (History of the Puritans, vol. i. ch. vi.) although with a very widely different feeling from that under which he relates it.

The Long Parliament appointed Fasts on the last Wednesday of every month, and their devotion on these days generally occupied them from nine o'clock till four.

South, with much wit, has given them a larger range. FASTS. They "usually lasted from seven in the morning till seven at night, the pulpit was always the emptiest thing in the Church, and there was never such a Fast kept by them, but their hearers had cause to begin a Thanksgiving as soon as they had done."

Many ordinances respecting them were issued from time to time, and in one which we have seen, A general Advertisement for the better observing and keeping of our Monthly Fasts, ordered to be printed and published by the Commons and Parliament in 1642, the following very ludicrous erratum occurs, "Let us obey their commandments, and if commanded to Fight let us Fast, if to Pray let us Pray." The King by a Proclamation, October 5, 1643, observing upon the "ill use which has been made of these public meetings, in Pulpits, in Prayers, and in the Sermons of many seditious leaders, to stir up and continue the Rebellion," commanded, "that such an hypocritical Fast, to the dishonour of God and slander of his Religion, be no longer continued and countenanced by our authority;" he therefore changed the day to the second Friday of each month. In 1644 the Parliamentary Fast occurred on Christmas day, and the Puritans annulled the Festival and observed the Fast by public ordinance. Foulis, in his History of the Wicked Plots and Conspiracies of our Pretended Saints, has shrewdly observed, " at the beginning of the Warrs a public monthly Fast was appointed, but no sooner had they got the King upon the scaffold, and the nation fully secured into the Rump's interest, but then they thought it needless to abuse and gull the people with multitude of Prayers and Sermons; and so by a particular act of their Worships (April 23, 1649) null❜d the Proclamation for the observation of the former: thus you see the reason of this new order of sanctity, and how easie it is to deceive the World with a counterfeit holiness." p. 215. There are few specimens of more nauseous cant than those exhibited by the numerous Fast Sermons of the time of the great Rebellion and the Commonwealth, many of which were printed; and the strong revulsion of public feeling which was occasioned by the overthrow of Puritanism on the Restoration of Monarchy and Church discipline, tacitly, no doubt, extends its influence even to our own days, in which the practice of Fasting, as far as abstinence from food is concerned, may be said to have become obsolete.

dans.

Mohammed commanded one Fast only, that in the Of the month Ramadán, the ninth of the Arabian year. Ra- Mohamme madán implies a heat which consumes; and this meaning may furnish an argument that the Arabian year was not always Lunar, as it is at present. The Prophet most probably adjusted his Fast to the season most fitted for it; but the Lunar computation now used throws it as often under the frosts of winter as under the rage of the Dogstar. The passage of the Koran which enjoins it is contained in the IId Chapter: "The month of Ramadán shall ye Fast, in which the Koran was sent down from Heaven, a direction unto men, and declarations of directions and the distinction between Good and Evil. Therefore, let him among you who shall be present (i. e. at home, not in a strange country wherein the Fast cannot be performed) in this month, Fast the same month; but he who shall be sick, or on a journey, shall Fast the like number of other days." Separation from their wives is not enjoined, they are to go in to them, "and eat and drink until ye can plainly distinguish a thread black from a thread White by the

FASTS. daybreak; then keep the Fast until night, and go not in unto them, but be constantly present in the places of worship. These are the prescribed bounds of God, therefore draw not near them to transgress them." Sale, i. 33. Chardin has given a full description of the severity with which the Ramadán is observed, in the IVth Volume (4to edition) of his Voyage en Perse, p. 158. It forms the VIIth Chapter of his Description de la Religion. Mr. Joseph Morgan, who resided twenty years at Tunis, has written the following account in his Mahometanism Explained, i, 52: "Nothing can possibly be more strictly observed than this great Fast, which is kept by the majority of this deluded people during the whole thirty days of its continuance. Some even keep a voluntary Fast during the two preceding months of Rejeb and Shabán. Though most writers say they have liberty all night to feast till sun-rising, I must crave their pardons; for long before the break of day they wash their mouths, and take nothing till after sun-set. They are not only to abstain from eating and drinking, but from tobacco in any kind, and from smelling to any scents, nay, even from putting any thing into their mouths, whether eatable or not. To kiss a woman would be a breach of the Fast, and any farther gallantry an unpardonable transgression. To drink wine, or any other strong intoxicating liquor, though by night, would in all the Mahometan dominions be punished with immediate death, and that most commonly by pouring melted lead down their throats." Mahomet Rabadan, the Spanish Moor, (whose curious work Mr. Morgan translated and published,) after lamenting his inability to describe the excellence and privileges of this sacred month in adequate terms, continues, (Mah. Expl. ii. 181,) "I shall, therefore, only lay down in the best manner I am able, what I have been taught concerning what all Musulmans are bound to observe during this holy Fast of Ramadán. First, then, we are entirely to govern and keep in absolute subjection our tongues, our senses, and all our faculties, deporting ourselves in such manner, that we may give apparent indications of the contrition and purity both of our inward and outward man. Let not any, but more especially a Musulman, imagine that this solemn Fast of ours consisteth only in a strict obligation wholly to abstain from eating and drinking, and the like from before the dawn till after sun-set; no,-all our faculties and senses must partake of the abstinence; our eyes, our tongues, our ears, our hands, our feet, nay, our very thoughts must be bridled in with strong reins. They must all be absolutely resigned to the obedience of that All-potent Sovereign to whom they are indebted for their existence, and, entirely employed in his service. At this time, much more than at any other, all their natural impulses must cease, or at least be vigorously resisted; all vicious inclinations must be strenuously repelled; no avaricious thoughts; no thirsting after what belongeth to another, must find the least corner in a believer's heart; all disputes, quarrels, animosities, resentments, envy, hatred, malice, enmity, ambition, violences, partiality, controversies, and parties, must wholly be laid aside, and buried in utter oblivion. Our souls must groan at the remembrance of our omissions, sins, and iniquities, and with contrite hearts we must resolve upon future amendment. We must set Satan at defiance, and, by so doing, his torments will be increased, at which every good Musulman ought to rejoice, and render praise and glory in abundance to Him who hath been so gracious as to endow him with

prudence to become sensible of his errors, to his own unspeakable benefit, and at his implacable enemy's

cost.

"In all other ordinary months for every good deed God bountifully returneth 10 for 1; in the four principal or distinguished months (to wit, Moharram, Rejeb, Dhú'lcadah, and Dhúl'l Hajjah, the Month of Pilgrimage,) 70 for one; but in Shabán, called the Prophet's own month, for one, a 100; and in Ramadán, for one, 1000. This month is called the Mother of the Company of Mahomet, meaning the True Believers; and it would be madness to attempt the summing up all the excellencies of these venerable days of abstinence. In this month innumerable numbers of transgressors, who have merited the fire of Hell, receive plenary absolution. On every night of this sacred month, we are assured from Holy Writ, that myriads of celestial Spirits descend from those blissful mansions, to accompany, surround, and assist the zealous Musulmans, who with watchful eyes and contrite hearts, are offering up their prayers to Him who made them." Ibid. ii. 212.

Though not commanded by their Prophet, Fasting is recommended by the Mohammedan Divines at other times also. One day of Fasting in the mouth Dhul'l Hajjah, is more efficacious than a similar observance during the whole of any common month. The chief Fast in Moharram is the tenth day, called Achours, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Hossein and Hassen, Sons of Ali.

Tradition records a promise of Mohammed, that any one who Fasts for seven days during the month Rejeb shall have seven gates of Hell closed against him; for eight, shall have eight gates of Heaven opened; for six, shall have the sins of 60 years remitted. The favour of God on the last day is assigned also to him who shall Fast only a single day during the month Shabán. Mohammed considered Fasting a duty of such great moment, that he styled it the Gate of Religion, and added, in singular opposition to received belief and experience, that "the odour of the mouth of him that fasteth is more grateful to God than that of musk."

Voluntary Fasts are recommended at 17 different seasons in the course of the year. 1. The first Thursday of every month. 2. The first Wednesday of the second decade of every month. 3. The last Thursday of every month. 4. The day of Komkadir, the 18th of Dhúl'l Hajjah. 5. The day Mobahile, the 24th or 25th of the same. 6. The Nativity of the Prophet, the 17th of Rabiael havel. 7. The Manifestation of the Prophet, the day on which he first avowed his Ministry, the 27th of Rejeb. 8. The Creation, the 25th of Zilcade. 9. The 10th of Moharram, on which day the Fast may be broken after noon; on the others not till sun-set. 10. The sacrifice of Abraham. 11. The 1st of Dhúll Hajjah. 12. The 1st of Rejeb. 13. The whole of Rejeb. 14. The whole of Chaaban. 15. Moonlight nights, that is the three nights on every month throughout the whole of which the moon continues shining. 16. All the Thursdays of every month. 17. All the Fridays of every month. Chardin, ut suprà. In the Compendium Theologie Mohammedica, which Reland translated from an Arabic MS., the following particulars are contained in a Chapter de Jejuniis. Ea quæ requiruntur ad legitimum jejunium tria sunt, ut quis 1. Moslimannus sive Mohammedanus sit; 2. puber, et 3. mentis compos. Instituta autem Divina in jejunio observanda quinque sunt 1. intentio animi; 2. abstinen

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FASTIDIOUS, Fr. fastidieux; It. fastidioso; FASTIDIOUSLY, Sp. fastidioso; Lat. fastidiosus, FASTIDIOUSNESS, from fastidire, quod proprie est FASTIDIO'SITY. nw cum fastu aspernari; fastus (from fari, to speak ;) pro superbia, because proud or arrogant persons speak great things, grandia fantur. Vossius. Affecting or arrogating superior taste or discernment; a nicer sensibility; disdaining ordinary or common gratifications; disdainful, contemptuous, squeamish, nauseating, disgusting,

Also by a cruel and irous mayster, the 'wyttes of chyldren be dulled: and that thynge, for the whiche chyldren be often tymes beaten, is to them after fastidious. Sir Thomas Elyot. Governour, book. ch. ix. H [Southistel] causeth fastidiousness or lothsomness of the stomacke. Id. The Castel of Helth, book ii.

Let their fastidious, vain, I
Commission of the brain

Run on, and rage, sweat, censure, and condemn :
They were not made for thee, less thou for them.

Ben Jonson. The Author's just Indignation.

As for the [ifs] that he is so fastidiously displeased with, he hath, I doubt not, judgment enough, to discern that all the severals so introduced, are things that we assume to have actually proved. Hammond. Works, vol. ii. fol. 273. Contumelies, ch. v. sec. 3.

What was blameable in the Pharisees, was not their bare using of some lawful indifferent, or else good, and commendable things, not commanded by God; but their teaching such for doctrines, and laying them as burthens on others, and what was consequent to this, their discriminating themselves proudly and fastidiously from other men, upon this account.

Id. Ib. vol. ii. part iii. fol. 192. Will-worship, &c. sec. 17. This knowledge, which so many neglect and despise, nay, which the generality of men do, more than any other, fastidiously slight, or studiously shun, is, next the knowledge of its prototype, that which best deserves our study, and it most concerns us to attain. Boyle. Works, vol. vi. p. 752. The second Part of the Christian Virtuoso.

Less licentious and more discerning times (which may be, perhaps, approaching) will repair the omissions and fastidiousness of the present, by an eminent gratitude to the names of those that have laboured to transmit to others, in the handsomest dress they durst give them, the truths themselves most valued.

Id. Ib. vol. ii. p. 309. Some Considerations touching the Style of Holy Scriptures. 118

15 07 byn byg bani. As mankind is now disposed, he receives much greater advantage by being diverted than instructed; his epidemical diseases being fastidiosity, amorphy, and oscitation.

galau ted art,po Id. Ib. Acts, ch. x. It [piety] fenceth him from insolence and fastuous contempt of others, rendereth him civil, condecensive, kind and helpfull to those who are in a meaner state. BH Barrow. Sermon 2. vol. i. p. 18. We are apt to despise or disregard others, demeaning ourselves insolently and fastuously toward them.

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Id. Sermon 29. vol. iii. fol. 318.

Junius says, that the Danish feed, as well as the A. S. fæt, seem derived from the A. S. fedan, pascere, nutrire, to feed, to nourish; thus, fat is, q. d. well-fed. D. vet; Ger. fett; which latter, Wachter says, is, properly, fedet, from föden, pascere, nutrire, to feed, to nourish.

And both fat, and food, in A. S. fæet, and fod, are, in Tooke's opinion, the past tense and past parFAT-KIDNEYED, ticiple of this verb, fed-an, to feed. FAT-WITTED. J To fat, or fatten, is d

To feed well; to feed, to nourish, to a state of fulness or plumpness of size, to coarseness or grossness of body, or bodily habit.

His flesshe wolde haue charged him with fatnesse but that the wontonnesse of his wombe with trauaile and fastynge he adaunteth, and in rydinge and goyng trauayleth myghteliche his youthe.

Id. p. 482. note 7.
And fatte by faucones. to culle wylde foules.
Piers Plouhman, Vision, p. 129.
On fat londe and ful of donge. foulest wedes groweth,
Id. Ib. p. 213.

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Sir John Cheke. The Hurt of Sedition, sig. G 4. They were very fat, so that we were constrained to cast the fat away.

Si Hakluyt, Voyage, &c. vol. iii. fol. 401. Mr. John Davis: T a basand praye him, for to make me sheepe,

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The ground they never fatten with mucke, dung or any thing, neither plow nor digge it as we in England.

Hakluyt. Voyage, &c. vol. iii. fol. 271 M. Thomas Hariot.
Next was November; he full gross and fat,

As fed with lard, and that right well might seeme; i non nell For he had been a fatting hogs of late,

That yet his browes with sweat did reek and steem.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, cam. 7.2 Of Mutabilities.

As the bear, the hedge-hog, the bat, the bee, &c. These all wax fat when they sleep, and egest not. The cause of their fattening during their sleeping time, may be the want of assimilating; for whatsoever assimilateth not to flesh, turneth either to sweat, or fat. Bacon. Natural History, Cent. ix. sec. 899.

She largely it bestows On marsh land, whose swoln womb with such abundance flows, As that her batt'ning breast her fatlings sooner feeds, And with more lavish waste, than oft the grasier needs. Drayton Poly-olbion, song 28. I

For like as cooks pray for nothing, but good store of fatlings to kill for the kitchen, and fishmongers plenty of fishes; even so curious and busy people wish for a world of troubles, and a number of affaires, great news, alterations and changes of state. I

Hall. Works, vol. i. fol. 444. An Holy Panegyrick. You may turn (almost) all flesh into a fatty substance. If you take flesh, and cut it into pieces, and put the pieces into a glass covered with parchment; and so let the glasse stand six or seven hours in boyling water. Bacon. Natural History, Cent. vii. sec. 678. ORLEANCE. What a wretched and peeuish fellow is this King of England, to mope with his fat-brain'd followers so farre out of his knowledge. Shakspeare. Henry V. fol. 82. PRIN. Peace ye fat-kydney'd rascall, what a brawling does thou keep. Id. Henry IV. fol. 54. Thou art so fat-witted with drinking of old sacke, and vnbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping vpon benches in the afternoone, that thou hadst forgotten to demand that truely, which thou wouldest truly know. Id. Henry IV. First Part, fol. 47. Cattle fatted by good pasturage, after violent motion, sometimes die suddenly; in such the liver is found to be inflamed and corrupted. Arbuthnot. On Aliments, p. 293.

11:

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Mark the fat cit, whose good round sum,
Amounts at least to half a plum;

11 Whose chariot whirls him up and down..
Some three or four miles out of town, (
For hither sober folks repair,
To take the dust which they call air.

Lloyd. A familiar Epistle. The purport of a vis shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard into prophetical language, would

run

wolf

shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the falling together: the cow and the bear shall feed, and their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."

Horne. Works, vol. v. p. 260. The Devout Soldier, disc. 17. The same voice, while it retains its proper distinctions, may yet be varied many ways, by sickness or health, youth or age, leanness or fatness, good or bad humour. Reid. Enquiry Of Hearing, ch. iv. sec. 1. That power is music: far beyond the stretch Of those unmeaning warblers on our stage; Those clumsy heroes, those fat-headed Gods, Who move no passion justly but contempt.

Armstrong. The Art of Preserving Health, book iv. FAT, now written VAT; A. S. fat, fata, fæt; D. vat, Ger. fass, dolium, cadus: all, says Skinner, from the Lat. vas. Wachter (including vas) from the Ger. fassen; D. vatten; Swe. fatta; capere, continere, to hold, to contain. Traces of the ancient word remain, (Mark, xii. 1; Luke, xiv. 23,) in the Gothic noun, fatha, sepes. Junius derives from the Dutch vatten. Put ye in the sicle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get ye down; the press is full, the fats ouerflow; for their wickedness is great, Bible. Joel, ch, iii. v. 13.