without interruption, and at which all the people of Gaul, and even all strangers who passed through that country, were made welcome. At these feasts they sometimes consulted about the most important affairs of state, and formed resolutions relating to peace and war; imagining that men spoke their real sentiments with the greatest freedom, and were apt to form the boldest designs, when their spirits were exhilarated with the pleasures of the table. The conversation at these entertainments, very frequently turned on the great exploits which the guests themselves or their ancestors had performed in war; which sometimes occasioned quarrels and even bloodshed. It was at a feast that the two illustrious British princes, Carbar and Oscar, quarrelled about their own bravery and that of their ancestors, and fell by mutual wounds, (Ossian, vol. ii. p. 8, &c). As to the drink used at those feasts, particularly in Britain, i* seems probable, that before the introduction of agriculture into the island, mead, or honey diluted with water, was the only strong liquor known to its inhabitants, as it was to many other ancient nations in the same circumstances. This continued to be a favorite beverage among the ancient Britons and their posterity long after they had become acquainted with other liquors. See MEAD. After the introduction of agriculture, ale or beer became the most general drink of all the British nations who practised that art, as it had long been of all the Celtic people on the continent. See ALE. If the Phoenicians or Greeks imported any wine into Britain, it was only in very small quantities; that liquor being very little known in this island before it was conquered by the Romans. The drinking vessels of the Gauls, Britons, and other Celtic nations were, for the most part, made of the horns of oxen and other animals; but those of the Caledonians consisted of large shells, which are still used by some of their posterity in the Highlands of Scotland. The dishes in which the meat was served up were either of wood or earthenware, or a kind of baskets made of osiers. These last were most used by the Britons, as they very much excelled in the art of making them both for their own use and for exportation. The guests sat in a circle upon the ground, with a little hay, grass, or the skin of some animal under them. A low table or stool was set before each person, with the portion of meat allotted to him upon it. In this distribution, they never neglected to set the largest and best pieces before those who were most distinguished for their rank, their exploits, or their riches. Every guest took the meat set before him in his hands, and, tearing it with his teeth, fed upon it in the best manner he could. If any one found difficulty in separating any part of his meat with his hands and teeth, he made use of a large knife, that lay in a particular place for the benefit of the whole company. Servants, or young boys and girls, the children of the family, stood behind the guests ready to help them to drink or any thing they wanted. As the ancient Britons greatly excelled and very much delighted in music, all their feasts were accompanied with the joys of song, and the music of harps In the words of

Ossian (vol. ii. p. 9, &c.) whenever the feast of shells is prepared, the songs of bards arise. The voice of sprightly mirth is heard. The trembling harps of joy are strung. They sing the battles of heroes, or the heaving breasts of love.' Some of the poems of that illustrious British bard appear to have been composed in order to be sung by the hundred bards of Fingal, at the feast of Selma. See vol. i. p 87, 209. Many of the songs of the bards, which were sung and played at the feast of the ancient Britons, were of a grave and solemn strain, celebrating the brave actions of the guests, or of the heroes of other times; but these were sometimes intermixed with sprightly and cheerful airs, to which the youth of both sexes danced.

On the subject of Anglo-Saxon feasting, Mr. Turner supplies us with a full quota of information.

"They boiled, baked, and broiled their victuals,' he says. "We read of their meat dressed in a boiling vessel, of their fish having been broiled, and of an oven heated for baking loaves. The term abacan is also applied to meat. In the rule of St. Benedict, two sanda, or dishes of sodden syflian, or soupe bouillie, are mentioned. Bede mentions a goose that hung on the wall taken down to be boiled. The word seathan, to boil, deserves notice, because the noun seath, from which it is derivable, implies a pit. As we read in the South Sea islands of the natives dressing their victuals in little pits lined with stones, the expression may have been originally derived from a similar practice. A cook appears as an appendix to every monastery, and it was a character important enough to be inserted in the laws. In the cloisters it was a male office; elsewhere it was chiefly assumed by the female sex. In the dialogue already cited, the cook says, 'If you expel me from your society, you would eat your herbs green, and your flesh raw.' He is answered, 'We can ourselves seethe what is to be seethed, and broil what things are to be broiled.' They seem to have attended to cookery not merely as a matter of taste, but of indispensable decorum. It was one of their regulations, that if a person eat any thing half dressed, ignorantly, he should fast three days; if knowingly, four days. Perhaps as the uncivilised Northmen were, in their pagan state, addicted to eat raw flesh, the clergy of the Anglo-Saxons were anxious to keep their improved countrymen from relapsing into such barbarous customs.

In the drawings which accompany some Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, we have some delineation of their customs at table. In one drawing a party is at table, seated with the females by the side of the men in this order: a man, a lady, a man, a lady, two men, and another lady. The first two are looking towards each other, as if talking together; the three in the middle are engaged with each other, and so are the two last; each have a cup or horn in their hand. The table is oblong, and covered with a table-cloth that hangs low down from the table; a knife, a horn, a bowl, a dish, and some loaves appear. The men are uncovered; the women have their usual head-dress. In another drawing, the table is a sharp oval, also covered with an ample

cloth; upon it, besides a knife and a spoon, there are a bowl, with a fish, some loaves of bread, and two other dishes. Some part of the costume is more like the manners of Homer's heroes than of modern times. At the angles of the tables two attendants are upon their knees, with a dish in one hand, and each holding up a spit with the other, from which the persons feasting are about to cut something. One of these persons, to whom the servants minister with so much respect, is holding a whole fish with one hand, and a knife in the other.

'In the drawing which accompanies Lot feast ing the angels, the table is oblong, rounded at the ends, and covered with a cloth. Upon it is a bowl, with an animal's head like a pig's; another bowl is full of some round things like apples. These, with loaves, or cakes of bread, seem to constitute the repast. There are two horns upon the table, and one of the angels has a knife. As no forks appear in any of the plates, and are not mentioned elsewhere, we may presume that our ancestors used their hands instead. There is one drawing of men killing and dressing meat. One man is holding a sheep by his horns, while a lad strikes at its neck with an axe; behind him is a young man severing an animal's head from his body with an axe. Another has put a long stick, with a hook attached to it, into a caldron, as if to pull up meat. The caldron is upon a trivet of four legs as high as the servant's knee, within which the fire is made, and blazing up to the caldron.'

It has been observed by some authors that no nation comes near the English in the magnificence of their public entertainments. Our coronation and instalment feasts, our civic charitable dinners, transcend the belief of foreigners; and yet it may be doubted whether those now given are comparable to the feasts of former ages. William the Conqueror, after he was peaceably settled on the throne of England, sent agents into different countries, to collect the most admired and rare dishes for his table; by which means, says John of Salisbury, this island, which is naturally productive of plenty and variety of provisions, was overflowed with every thing that could inflame a luxurious appetite. The same writer tells us, that he was present at an entertainment which lasted from 3 P. M. to midnight; at which delicacies were served up, which had been brought from Constantinople, Babylon, Alexandria, Palestine, Tripoli, Syria, and Phoenicia. These delicacies were doubtless very expensive. Thomas a Becket (says his historian Fitz-Stephen), gave £5, equivalent perhaps to £50 at present, for one dish of eels. The sumptuous entertainments which the kings of England gave to their nobles and prelates, at the festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, in which they spent a great part of their revenues, contributed very much to diffuse a taste for profuse and expensive banqueting. It was natural for a proud and wealthy baron to imitate in his own castle the entertainments he had seen in the palace of his prince. Many of the clergy too, both secular and regular, being very rich, kept excellent tables. The monks of St. Świthins, at Winchester, made a formal complaint to Henry II. against their

abbot, for taking away three of the thirteen dishes they used to have every day at dinner The monks of Canterbury were still more luxurious: for they had at least seventeen dishes every day dressed with spiceries and sauces, besides a dessert. Great men had many kinds of provisions at their tables, not now to be found in Britain. When Henry II. entertained his court, the great officers of his army, and the kings and great men of Ireland, in Dublin, at the Christmas feast of A. D. 1171, the Irish princes and chieftains were quite astonished at the profusion and variety of food which they beheld, and were with difficulty prevailed upon by Henry to eat the flesh of crares. In the remaining monuments of this period, we meet with the names of several dishes, as dellegrout, maupigyrnun, karumpie, &c., the composition of which is now unknown. The coronation feast of Edward III. cost at that period £2835. 18s. 2d. At the installation of Ralph abbot of St. Augustine, Canterbury, A. D. 1309, 6000 guests were entertained with a dinner consisting of 3000 dishes, which cost £287. 5s. 'It would require a long treatise (says Matthew Paris) to describe the astonishing splendor, magnificence and festivity, with which the nuptials of Richard earl of Cornwall, and Cincia daughter of Riemund earl of Provence, were celebrated at London, A. D. 1243. We are told that above 30,000 dishes were served up at the marriage dinner.' The nuptials of Alexander III. of Scotland, and the princess Margaret of England, were solemnised at York, A. D. 1251, with still greater pomp and profusion. If I attempted (says M. Paris) to display all the grandeur of this solemnity, the numbers of the noble and illustrious guests, the richness and variety of the dresses, the sumptuousness of the feasts,the multitudes of the minstrels, mimics, and others whose business it was to amuse and divert the company, those of my readers who were not present would imagine that I was imposing upon their credulity. The following particular will enable them to form a judgment of the whole. The archbishop of York made the king of England a present of sixty fat oxen, which made only one article of provision for the marriage feast, and were all consumed at that entertainment.' The marriage feast of Henry IV. and his queen Jane of Navarre, consisted of six courses; three of flesh and fowls, and three of fish. All these courses were accompanied and adorned with subtleties, as they were called. These were figures in pastry, of men, women, beasts, birds, &c., placed on the table, to be admired, but not touched. Each figure had a label affixed to it; containing some wise or witty saying, suited to the occasion. The installation feast of George Neville, archbishop of York and chancellor of England, exceeded most others in our history in splendor and expense, and in the number and quality of the guests. The reader may form some idea of this enormous feast from the following list of provisions prepared for it. In wheat, quarters, 300; in ale, tuns, 300; in wine, tuns, 100; in ipocrasse, pipes, 1; in oxen, 104; in wild bulls, 6; in swanns, 400; in geese, 2000; in cappons, 1000; in pigs, 2000; in plovers, 400; in quailes, 1200; in fowls called rees,

2400; in peacocks, 104; in mallards and teales, 4000; in cranes, 204; in kids, 204; in chickens, 2000; in pigeons, 2000; in connies, 4000; im bittors, 204; in heronshaws, 400; in pheasants, 200; in partridges, 500; in woodcocks, 400; in curliews, 100; in egritis, 1000; in stags, bucks, and roes, 500 and more; in pastries of venison, cold, 4000; in parted dishes of jellies, 1000; in plain dishes of jellies, 3000; in cold tarts, baked, 4000; in cold custards, baked, 3000; in hot pasties of venison, 1500; in hot custards, 2000; in pikes and breams, 308; in porpoises and seals, 12; spices, sugared delicates, and wafers, plenty.'

One of the most expensive singularities attending the royal feasts in those days consisted in what they called intermeats. These were representations of battles, sieges, &c., introduced between the courses, for the amusement of the guests. The French excelled in exhibitions of this kind. At a dinner given by Charles V. of France to the emperor Charles IV., A D. 1378, the following intermeat was exhibited :-A ship, with masts, sails, and rigging, was seen first: she had for colors the arms of the city of Jerusalem: Godfrey of Bouillon appeared upon deck, accompanied by several knights armed cap-apie: the ship advanced into the middle of the hall without the machine which moved it being perceptible. Then the city of Jerusalem appeared, with all its towers lined with Saracens. The ship approached the city; the Christians landed, and began the assault; the besieged made a good defence: several scaling ladders were thrown down; but at length the city was taken. Intermeats, at ordinary banquets, consisted of certain delicate dishes introduced between the courses, and designed rather for gratifying the taste than for satisfying hunger.

We conclude with an account of the coronation feast still given by our kings, and which is the most splendid relic of ancient English enter tainments known to modern times.

The great hall of Westminster is considered on this occasion as the hall of his majesty's palace, where he entertains the nobility and the public officers who have attended the coronation ceremony. The table at which their majesties are to dine is covered by the serjeant and gentlemen of the ewry and the officers of the pantry set

kings salt of state and cadinet on the table, with another cadinet for the queen.

Besides the royal table, which is at the upper end of the hall on the raised floor, there are usually tables along each side of the hall. The first on the west side is for the dukes of Normandy and Aquitain, the great officers, the dukes, duchesses, marquisses, and marchionesses; the second of the same side for earls and viscounts, and their ladies; the third for the barons and baronesses.The first table on the east side of the hall is for the archbishops, bishops, barons of the cinque-ports, judges, the king's ancient sergeant, attorney and solicitor general; the second for the serjeants at law, masters in chancery, six clerks, lord mayor, aldermen, and twelve citizens of London; and the third for the kings of arms, heralds, and pursuivants.

When the procession arrives at the hall, the noble and illustrious persons who compose it are conducted by officers of arms to their respective tables, and the king and queen pass up the hall and retire to the court of Wards, leaving the canopies which have been borne over them with the barons of the cinque-ports, who retain them as their fee. The heralds then retire to places appointed for them, and the king's trumpeters and musicians are stationed in a gallery at the lower end of the hall.

Dinner being ready, his majesty—with his crown on his head and his sceptre and orb in his hands, preceded by the lord great chamberlain, and the swords being borne before him-comes out of the court of Wards, and seats himself in his chair of state at the table. Immediately after, the queen, when present, with her crown on her head and the sceptre and ivory rod in her hands,-preceded by her chamberlain and followed by the ladies of the bedchamber,-comes through the court of Wards, and seats herself in her chair of state at the table, on the left hand of the king.

The First Course of hot meat is then served up. The lords the sewers go to the dresser of the kitchen, and the serjeant of the silver scullery calls for a dish of meat, wipes the bottom of the dish, and also the cover, takes assay of it, and covers it; and then it is conveyed to their majesties' table with a flourish of trumpets. This course is attended by,

Dinner being placed on the table oy the king's and queen's carvers and sewers, with their assistants, the lord great chamberlain and his majesty's cup-bearer and his assistants go to the king's cupboard; and, having washed, the lord great chamberlain-preceded by the usher of the black rod, attended by the cupbearer, and followed by his assistants before mentioned-brings up the great basin and ewer for his majesty to wash: upon which the king rises, and, having delivered the sceptre to the lord of the manor of Worksop, and the orb to one of the bishops, the cupbearer

pours out the water upon the king's hands; and the lord of the manor of Heydon in Essex (having accompanied the cupbearer from the cupboard) holds the towel to the king. The like ceremony is used with regard to her majesty's washing; after which the dean of the chapel royal says grace, and their majesties sit down to dinner, as do likewise the peers, peeresses, and others at the tables below.

On the king's right hand stand the noblemen who carry the four swords, holding them naked and erected all dinner-time; nearer the king stand

:

the lords who hold the orb and sceptre and on his left hand the lord great chamberlain. On the queen's left hand, stand her chamberlain and vice-chamberlain, who bear her sceptre and ivory

rod.

The Challenge. Before the second course is brought in, the king's champion, who holds that

office with the manor of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire, enters the hall completely armed

in guise

The Earl Marshal in his

robes and coronet, on horseback, with the staff

The Lord High Constable in his robes and coronet, on horseback, with his staff.

If any person, of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our sovereign lord -, king of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c., son and next heir to our Sovereign lord the last king deceased, to be right heir to the imperial crown of this realm of Great Britain, or that he ought not to enjoy the same; here is his champion, who saith that he lieth and is a false traitor, being ready in person to combat with him; and in this quarrel will adventure his life against him, on what day soever he shall be appointed.

The champion then throws down his gauntlet: which, having lain some small time, the herald takes up, and delivers it again to him. They then advance in the same order to the middle of the hall, where the herald makes proclamation as before; and lastly, to the foot of the steps, when the said herald, and those who precede him, going to the top of the steps, proclamation is made a third time; at the end of which the champion casts down his gauntlet, which being taken up, and redelivered to him by the herald, he makes a low obeisance to his majesty, whereupon the king's cupbearer brings to the king a gilt bowl of wine, with a cover; and his majesty drinks to the champion and sends him the bowl by the cupbearer; which the champion (having put on his gauntlet) receives, and, retiring a little, drinks thereof; he then makes his humble reverence to his majesty, and, accompanied as before, departs out of the hall, taking the bowl and cover as bis fee.

The Largess. Immediately after this the officers of arms, descending from their gallery, Garter; and the two provincial kings of arms-with their coronets on their heads, followed by the heralds and pursuivants-come to the lower end of the hall, and, making their obeisance to his majesty, proceed to the middle of the hall, where they make a second obeisance, and a third at the foot of the steps; and, having ascended, Garter cries out three times Largess: his majesty's largess is then given, which Garter proclaims

aloud in Latin, French, and English, in three different parts of the hall.

The Second Course is now carried up to their majesties' table by the gentlemen pensioners, with the same solemnities as the former; and various feudal services, by which property and manors are held, take place.

FEASTS, or FESTIVALS, in a religious sense, are ceremonies of feasting by way of thanksgiving. Such feasts have made part of the religion of almost all nations and sects; witness those of the Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Christians, and Mahommedans. Among the Greeks the first religious feasts were celebrated in solemn assemblies of the whole nation, on occasion of their games, as the Olympic, the Pythian, the Isthmian, and Nemæan in process of time they had many others, the principal of which are enumerated in this work, under their respective names. The Romans had also abundance of stated feasts in honor of their deities and heroes; such were the SATURNALIA, CEREALIA, LUPERCALIA, LIBERALIA, NEPTUNALIA, CONSUALIA, PORTUMNALIA, VULCANALIA, PALILIA, DIVALIA, &c. See these articles. They had also feasts instituted occasionally; as CARMENTALIA, QUIRINALIA, TERMINALIA, FLORALIA, COMPITALIA, LEMURIA, VERNALIA, besides other moveable and occasional ones: as to give thanks to the gods for benefits received; to implore their assistance or to appease their wrath, &c., as the PAGANALIA, FERALIA, BACCHANALIA, AMBARVALIA, AMBURBALIA, SUOVETAURILIA, and divers others, particularly denominated FERIE; as SEMENTINE, LATINE, &c. See these articles. The feasts were divided into days of sacrifice, and days of banqueting and feasting; days of games, and days of rest or feria. There being but little history written, or at least published in those days, one end of feasts was to keep up the remembrance of past occurrences.

FEASTS, JEWISH. The principal feasts of the Jews were the feast of TRUMPETS, that of the EXPIATION OF ATONEMENT, of TABERNACLES, of the DEDICATION, of the PASSOVER, of PENTECOST, and of PURIFICATION. See those articles, and our article JEWISH DISPENSATION. The modern Jews have other feasts marked in their kalendar of modern institution.

FEASTS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. The four feasts of which the English laws take particular notice are, the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, or Lady-day, the 25th of March; the nativity of St. John the Baptist, held on the 24th of June; the feast of St. Michael the archangel, on the 29th of September; and that of St. Thomas the Apostle, on the 21st of December: on which quarterly days rent on leases is usually paid. 5 & 6 Edw. VI. cap. 3; 3 Jac. I. cap. 1; 12 Car. II. cap. 30. Besides these feasts which are general, and enjoined by the church, there are others local and occasional, enjoined by the magistrate or voluntarily set on foot by the people; such are the days of thanksgiving for victories, delivery from wars, plagues, &c. Such also are the vigils or wakes in commemoration of the dedications of particular churches. See VIGIL, &c. The feasts of the church of England are either immoveable or moveable.

1. FEASTS, IMMOVEABLE, are those constantly celebrated on the same day of the year; the principal of these are CHRISTMAS or the NATIVITY, the CIRCUMCISION, EPIPHANY, CANDLEMAS or the PURIFICATION, the ANNUNCIATION called also the INCARNATION and CONCEPTION, ALL SAINTS, and ALL SOULS; besides the days of the several apostles, St. THOMAS, St. PAUL, &c, which in the church of England are feasts, though not feriæ. See these articles.

2. FEASTS, MOVEABLE, are those which are rot confined to the same day of the year. Ot these the principal is Easter, which gives law to all the rest, all of them following and keeping their proper distances from it; such are Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Ash-Wednesday, Sexagesima, Ascension day, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. See EASTER, PENTECOST, SEXAGESIMA, TRINITY, &c.

FEASTS IN THE CHURCH OF ROME. The prodigious increase of feast days in the Romish

church commenced towards the close of the fourth century, and was occasioned by the discovery that was then made of the remains of martyrs and other holy men, for the commemoration of whom they were established. These, instead of being set apart for pious exercises, were but too often abused in indolence and voluptuousness: and this has been defended by the theologians of this church on the ground of becoming all things to all men,' that some may be won. See Dr. Doyle's late Essay on the State of the Irish Catholics. Many of them were instituted on a pagan model.

FEASTS, MAHOMMEDAN. The Mahommedans, besides their feast or sabbath, which is kept on Friday, have two solemn feasts, the first of which is called the Feast of Victims, and celebrated on the 10th day of the last month of their year; and the second called Bairam. See BAIRAM.

FEASTS OF THE DEAD are solemn religious ceremonies in use among the American Indians. By some nations they are celebrated every eight years; by others, as the Hurons and Iroquois, every ten years. FEAT, n. s. & adj. FEAT'LY, adv. FEA'TEOUS, adj. FEA TEOUSLY, adv.

Fr. fait; Norm. Fr. feat; Ital. fatto; Lat. factum, a deed. An act, deed, or exploit: as an adjective, feat

means ready; skilful; ingenious: 'fine; neat; brave;' says Minsheu: the adjective is nearly obsolete, and both words have been generally applied with some degree of contempt: feateous, and feateously (both obsolete), have been used as synonymous with feat and featly.

Wherefore her father promised by crye that noble young men should meate at Peverell's place in the Peke, and he that provid hymself yn feates of armes should have Mellet his doughter, with the Castel of Whitington.

Leland. Thinges excerpted out of an old English Boke, &c. vol. i. p. 23.

Pyrocles is his name, renowned far
For his bold feats, and hardy confidence;
Full oft approved in many a cruel war.

Faerie Queenc.

And with fine fingers cropt full featously The tender stalks on high

Spenser

Our soldiers are men of strong neads for action, and perform such feats as they are not able to express. Addison's Spectator.

Down the deep vale, and narrow winding way,
They foot it featly, ranged in ringlets gay:
Tis joy and frolic all, where'er they rove,
And fairy people is the name they love.
FEATH'ER, n. s. & v. a.)
FEATH'ERBED,
FEATH'ERDRIVer,
FEATHERED, adj.
FEATHEREDGE, N. s.
FEATHEREDGED, adj.
FEATH'ERGRASS,
FEATH'ERLESS, adj.
FEATH'ERLY,

Beattie. Saxon, feder Goth. feaden ; Swed. and Teut. feder; perhaps from the Goth. fliader, plumage. Thompson. The plume of birds; any ornament; and (as birds are distinguished bytheir plumage) kind, or species; as in the expression, 'birds of a feather': to feather is to adorn with feathers or ornaments; to treat as a cock: feathered, clothed, or fitted with a feather. or feathers: featherless is without feathers: featherly, resembling, and feathery, covered with, feathers: the extracts explain the other derivatives, except feathergrass, which is another name for the herb also called shadowgrass, gramen plumotum.

FEATH'ERY.