But nothing will be found of such extensive use for supplying the ncies of Chaucer's metre, as the pronunciation of the e femidad as that pronunciation has been for a long time totally anti, it may be proper here to suggest some reasons for believing endently of any arguments to be drawn from the practice of er himself) that the final e in our ancient language was very ly pronounced, as the e feminine is at this day by the Catt's Chaucer, vol. i. p. 57. Essay on the Language and Ver- Of higher birth he seem'd, and better days, So femininely white it might bespeak Another sex, when match'd with that smooth cheek, More wild and high than woman's eye betrays. Byron. Works, vol. iii, p. 131. Ĺara, can. 1. st. 27. By marriage the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during mariage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of tusband: under whose protection, wing, and cover, she performs ey thing; and is therefore called in our law French a feme-covert, na viro co-operta. Blackstone. Commentaries, book i. ch. xv. FEMERN, or FEMEREN, a small Island of Denmark the Baltic, separated by a narrow strait, called mersund, from the North-Eastern promontory of the Dutchy of Holstein. Its circumference is about forty miles, and its population 7600. Part of the soil is under tillage, and yields good crops of grain, and another part is devoted to pasturage. The Island is deficient in springs and rivulets. The inhabitants subsist in a great measure by fishing, and many of the women are employed in knitting stockings. This spot has suffered severely by the devastations of war; in 1419 it was cruelly ravaged by King Erick of Pomerania, and most of the people were put to the sword. The only Town on it of any note is Borg or Burg on the South coast, an ancient place, with 1400 inhabitants. In 1490 it was invested with the Lubeck privileges. North latitude 54° 29', East longitude 11° 9'. FEMORAL, Lat. femur, the thigh, quia, says Perottus, ferat ac sustineat animal. Vossius, from the obsolete feo. Of or pertaining to the thigh. The largest crooked needle should be used in taking up the femoral arteries in amputation. Sharp. Surgery. FEN, FE'NNISH, In Goth. fani; A. S. fenn; Dutch venne. 'Fen, or fan, is the past FE'NNY, tense, and therefore past participle FEN-AFFECTOR, of fynigean, (to corrupt, to decay, FE'N-BORN, to wither, to fade, to spoil in any FE'N-MEN, manner;) and means,-corrupted, FE'N-SUCK'D. spoiled, decayed, withered. modern speech (Tooke continues) we apply fen only to stagnated or corrupted water; but it was formerly applied to any corrupted, or decayed, or spoiled substance." Div. of Pur. ii. 61 and 76. Nisus is said, by G. Douglas, to fall grufeling (grovelling) amid the fen or beistes blude of sacrifyce. And in Lybeaus Disconus, Ritson, Met. Rom. ii. 64, (referred to by Dr. Jamieson,) And thorughout Synadowne He lyeth amog the redes in the mosses, the fennes hyde hi with their shadowe, & the wylowes of the brake couer hym round about, Bible, Anno 1551. Job, ch. xl, Also the mylk of beastes, fedynge in large pastures, and out of fennes and marshes, is better than of them whiche be fedde in lyttell closes, or in watry grounds. Sir Thomas Elyot. The Castel of Helth, book ii. ch. xx. It was not the northerne wind, whiche blustereth colde out of the cloudes: nor the southerne winde, that bryngeth warmthe with hym oute of the marryshe and fennie places, pestilente to all liuyng bodies. Udall. The Actes, ch. ii. But now his cruelty so sore she drad, By reason that he [Hannibal] had overwatched himselfe, and the moist nights besides together with the dampe and moiste of the foggie fens stuffed his head and filled him full of rhewmes, and because neither time nor place served for any cure and to take physicke, he lost one of his eyes quite. Holland. Livius, fol. 433. Therefore is a little water proceeding from a good fountaine, hy stones and leade kept from things that may hurt it, hardlier putrifyed and corrupted, than all the fennishe waters in the whole country, than mightie pooles, yea than the Thames itselfe. Whitgift. Defence, fol. 378. O're hang this sad plaine with eternall night! Browne. The Shepheard's Pipe, Eclogue 4. Chapman. Homer. Batrachomyomachia. But the fen-men hold, that the sewers must be kept so, as the water may not stay too long in the spring, till the weeds and sedge be grown up, for then the ground will be like a wood, which keepeth out the sunne. Bacon. Natural History, Cent. vii. sec. 600. LE. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames Into her scornfull eyes: infect her beauty, You fen-suck'd fogges, drawne by the powerful sunne Thomson Liberty, part i. Quicken'd with fire below, your monsters breed Dryden. The Hind and the Panther. Nor need we wonder how in a ditch, bank or glass plat newly dig'd, or in the fen-banks in the Isle of Ely, mustard should abundantly spring up, where in the memory of man none hath been known to grow, for it might come of seed that had lain there more than man's age. Ray. On the Creation, part ii. Collins. Ah, luckless swain o'er all unblest, indeed! Ode, on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of He [Carausius] cut canals with vast labour and expence through all the eastern parts of Britain; at the same time, draining those fenny countries, and promoting communication and commerce. Burke. An Abridgement of English History, Anno 286. Above the sparkling flood Beattie. Ode to Hope. FEN FENCE. FENCE, v. FE'NCELESS, FEND, FENDER, FENDING. FENCE. Lat. fend-ere, (used only in Composition,) i. e. arcere, depellere; to drive away or repel; and thus, to keep safe or secure, guard or protect; and fence, That which keeps safe or secure, which guards or protects; a guard, security or protection; any hedge, enclosure, wall, mound, ditch, or other thing built or constructed for security or safety, or protection. Fender, i. e. defender, that which fends, defends or guards. A common word in Speech, but not in Writing. And fendede hem fro foule uvels. fevres and fluxes. Piers Plouhman. Vision, p. 368. For executynge of which disporte the place of Smithfelde by the kynge was appoynted, and barryd and fensyd for the same intent. Fabyan, vol. ii. Anno 1508. Such as are great men hauing ye rewle of thinges, & such as are euil, shal murmour and grutche againste your doctrine. Against these men doe I send you forth naked, wout weapō or fense. Udall. Luke, ch. x. Disciplina giadiatoria, is the precepts and way of trainyng men in he weapons, and the schooles that maysters of fence kepe. Id. Flowres of Latine Speaking, p. 133. Haue done therefore, assembil this cuntre, Douglas. Virgil. Eneados, book vii. The whiche bysshop had made there a stronge garyson, so that this castell doubted none assaute, for theri was a square toure thick walled and fensably furnisshed for the warre. Lord Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol. i. ch. 209. Drummond. The Speech of Caledonia. No pitched battaile in plaine field, no campe so well fortified, no citties and fortes howsoever fensed were able to withstand the puissant Romanes in force of open armes. Holland. Livius, fol. 336. Dear! on yon mountain stands my humble cot, That of a cabin make't a shady grot. Sherburne. A Shepherd inviting a Nymph to his Cottage. It is thought to be the surest fence, & strongest warde for that Religion, that they should be keapte still in ignorance, and know nothinge. Jewell. Replie vnto M. Hardinge, fol. 550. You were never at the dealing of fence blowes, but you had foure Of length prodigious, joyning to the wall Milton. Paradise Lost, book x. 1. 503. But to pourtraie in imagerie tables, and painted cloth, the publike shews of fencers and sword-players, and so set them up to be seen in open place to the view of the wond, began by C. Terentius, a Lucan. Holland. Fiinie, vnl ii. fol. 532. No fort so fencible, no wals so strong, Spenser Faerie Queene, book iii. can. 10. Now all this provision of foyle, fencing, stoning, planting, were FENCE. nothing without a continuall over-sight. Hall. Sermon, at a Publick Feast, Anno 1628. vol. ii. fol. 311. And now, when the fence-fabrickes and all devices else requisite for a siege, were in readinesse, toward the end of the second watch, when the night happening to be very light with the moon shine, shewed all thinges evidently to those that stood upon the bulwarkes, suddenly a multitude gathered together in one plumpe, opened the gates at once, and sallied foorth. Holland. Ammianus, fol. 253. Julianus. And if some that have bin good at the foils, have proved cowardly at the sharp, yet on the contrary, who ever durst point a single combat in the field, that hath not bin somewhat trained in the fenceschoole. Hall. Works, vol. i. fol. 74. Heaven upon Earth, sec. 11. There are those, who out of a naturall dexterity and their own frehandled their weapon with commendable skill, whom yet the fencequent practice, have got into a safe posture of defence, and have school might have raised to an higher pitch of cunning. Id. Ib. vol. iii. fol. 467. The Devout Soul, sec. 1. At four o'clock this morning. SIM. How at fencing-school! Massinger. The Old Law, act iii. sc. 2. After this, many champions exercise their fencing-skill before him, and at the sound of instruments, the chief nobles by two and two in a ranke, with their faces to the ground, doe reuerence. Purchas. Pilgrimage, book v. ch. x. sec. 3. Beaumont and Fletcher. The Humourous Lieutenant, act v. sc. 4. Dryden. The Hind and the Panther. Id. Horace. Epode 2. Pitt. Virgil. Eneid, book xii. A man, in his full tide of youthful blood, Congreve. Juvenal. Satire 11. ix. That all the fencible men in the nation, betwixt 60 and 16, be armed with bayonets and firelocks, all of a caliver; and continue always provided in such arms aud ammunition suitable. Parliamentary History, vol. vi. part ii. p. 117. Appendix, No. 1. When he [the Marquis of Northampton] was crossed, or contentious with any, he never replied to any answer; which, he said, was a manifest sign of no strong spirit. It was a manifest sign indeed of no contentious spirit, and that delighted not in fending and proving, as we say. Strype. Memorials. Edward VI. vol. iii. book ii. ch. xxviii. In the warm cot the wintry blast defies. Philips. Pastoral 6. The moderns, on the contrary, have their guards and fences about them; and we hold it an incivility to approach them without some decent periphrasis, or ceremonial title Where, then, ah! where shall poverty reside, Goldsmith. The Deserted Village. The most prominent of these objectionable estimates, he agreed with the honourable gentleman, was that of the Manx fencibles. Windham. Speeches, vol. ii. p. 350. Army Estimates, Feb. 26, 1816. In the American war the fencible regiments received higher bounties for limited service, than others did unlimited, and yet there was no complaint on the part of the latter. Id. Ib. vol. iii. p. 365. April 3, 1806. Monsieur La Fitte was well known to the inhabitants of the city of new Orleans, from his immediate connexion, and his once having been a fencing-master in that city of great reputation, which art he learnt in Buonaparte's army where he was a captain. Byron. Works, vol. iii. p. 99. Notes to the Corsair. We are unable to state any thing with precision respecting the invention of FENCING, as restricted to its modern sense, in which it implies the exercise of the thrusting sword. There can be little doubt, however, that it was of Italian origin, both as the terms first used in the Art belonged to that language, and the most celebrated early Professors were drawn from that country. Danet, a French Fencing-master, whom we shall presently have occasion to notice more at large, states, that of the two oldest Treatises on his Art with which he was acquainted one was by Cavalcabo of Bologna, the other by Patenostrier of Rome; but to neither of these does he assign any date, nor have we been able to meet with them. The first work on the subject which has fallen under our notice is an anonymous Tract in French, printed in the beginning of the XVIth century, which Danet had not seen: La noble Science des Joueurs d'Espee. This in the opening teaches the practice of the two-handed sword, but the second part contains la maniere pour aprendre à jouer à tout les braquemars, courtes espees de Suysses, et aultres semblables courtes espeez à tout une main. Nothing, however, can be more unlike modern Fencing than the precepts herein given, as the following directions for the Guard will sufficiently prove. La premiere pieche. Mectez vous contre luy, votre senestre coste devât, que votre alumelle soit aupres de ton droict genoulr, la pointe contre luy, s'il frappe par deseux, marchez le triangle, ou la faulce marche, remectez vous bien court, marchez, frappez au loing apres luy. Or, again, the instructions how to use a fallen adversary, a chance which never enters into the contemplation of a thoroughly trained Maitre en fait des Armes of later days. Comment on le tiendra à terre. Quant il est jectte à terre, si tobez sur luy au coste dextre, avec le genoul droict entre ses jambes, et avec la main senestre tombez devant à son col, luy prendât sa deffence, puis besoingnez à vostre plaisir. Ung aultre. Si tombe sur son doz. prenez donc avec vous deux mains ses jambes dessoubz les genoutx, les lovât à mont, puis tombez avec vostre genoul entre ses jabes, sur ses coulliós, le tenant ainsi avec les jambes à une main; du surplus faictez à vostre plaisir. The figures in the cuts to this very curious work FENCING: (imprimé en la ville d'Anvers par moy Guillame Vorsterman, demourant à Lycorne d'or, l'an mil cincq cens et xxxiii. as we learn from its colophon) are not a little grim and ferocious, and some of them, in the heat of contest, are twisted into wholly impossible contortions. In 1570 a work was published at Venice by Giacol'arme, si da offesa, come da difesa. The first part mo di Grassi, entitled Ragione di adoprar sicuramente treats briefly of the single rapier. It describes three Guards, alta, largha, and bassa, of which the first corresponds very nearly with the common Quarte Guard; the second is with the arm raised above the head; the third, the arm extended at right angles to the body. The author strongly points out the superiority of a thrusting over a cutting sword, and alleges in support of his position, that i Romani, che furon in tutte le imprese vittoriosi, assuefacevano i loro soldati delle legioni. a ferir di punta solamente, (21,) an assertion for which he leaves us to seek an authority. Another Tract of nearly the same date appears to have escaped the vigilance of Danet: Dell arte di Scrimia libri tre di M. Giovanni dall' Agocchie, Bolognese. Venetia 1572. In this volume we meet with the usual Italian vocabulary for the single rapier both cut and thrust, which we shall cite once for all, as explanatory of the several terms. Tutti i colpi saranno, o Mandritti, o Riversi, o Punte. Ma ciascuno di essi ha seco piu nature, secondo la diversità del suo colpire. Perchè il Mandritto sarà o Fendente, o Sgualimbro, o Tondo, o Ridoppio, o Tramazzone, ed il Riverso sarà similmente delle istesse qualità, come di sopra. La Punta poi si converte in tre nature, cioè, Imbroccata, Stoccata, et Punta Riversa.... Il Mandritto si dimanda cosi, perchè dalle parte dritte comincia, e si chiama Fendente perche, fende da capo a piedi per dritta linea. Ma Sgualimbro si chiama quello Mandritto, che par Sgualimbro trascorre, cioè dalla spalla manca al ginocchio destro dello avversario. Il Tondo o Traverso si domanda quello che al Traverso volta. Ridoppio e quello che si parte col filo dritto della spada di sotto, e va à finire alla punta della spalla dritta del nimico. Tramazzone è quello che si fa co'l nodo di mano a guisa di molinello. Ma i Riversi così si chiamano perchè sono opposti a' dritti, cominciando dalle manche parte e finendo alle dritte, e sono consimili a' Mandritti, cioè di quelle medesime nature. Ma, venendo alle Punte, quella che si fa sopra mano fu detta Imbroccata, è quella che si fa sotto mano Stoccata, e quella che dalle parti manche se diparte Punta Riversa. Besides these there are two feints, Falso dritto e manco, and eight Guards; four low, which are divisions of Coda lungha and Porta di ferro; and four high, all but the first (d'Alicorno, a similitudine dell' Alicorno, il quale essendo assalito, combatte a quella guisa co'l suo corno) named from the part which they protect. But to revert to the French, Henry de Sainct Didier, Gentilhomme Provençal, dedicated to Charles IX., in 1573, a book with the following long title: Traictè contenant les secrets du premier livre sur l'Espée seule, Mere de toutes Armes, qui sont espée, dague, cappe, targue, bouclier. rondelle, l'espée deux mains et les deux espées, avec ses pourtraictures, ayans les armes au poing pour se deffendre et offencer à un meme temps des coups qu'en peut tirer tant en assaillant qu'en deffendant, fort utile et profitable pour adextrer la Noblesse, et suposts de |