the lower flanks of the bastions at Portsmouth, which are double flanks, and, in order to render the example complete, it is merely necessary to suppose these second parapets continued along the curtains and before

the faces of the bastions.

The fausse-braye, thus formed, was most probably employed before the introduction of the covered way, a far more useful work: for the terrepleins and crests of parapets of the two works being in the same horizontal planes, it is evident that the fires could not be simultaneous, and consequently that neither the musketry nor artillery fire of the fausse-braye could be employed till the enemy were on the crest of the glacis. It also afforded to the enemy some facilities in escalading the rampart, by breaking the revetment into two steps, as it were; the first one, that of the fausse-braye, being about twenty-two feet, and when the enemy were on it permitting him to circulate along the rampart and rush in at more points than one at the same time. And again, the defenders of the fausse-braye would be easily enfiladed by the enemy's lodgments on the crests of the glacis three or four feet above them; and would be much injured by his shot and shell, which, striking the revetments behind them, would cause great splinters, and choke up the terreplein. On account of these defects, this kind of fausse-braye has been long since suppressed, except opposite the curtain, where it is supplied by the tenaille. [BASTION, fig. 1.] It should be observed, however, that Carnot and other more recent French engineers have proposed constructions which may be considered as partial revivals of the fausse-braye, but with circumstances which appear to render the work free from the defects above mentioned.

FEALTY. [FEUDAL SYSTEM.]

FEAR is the dread or apprehension of any object or event, which object or event however is sometimes purely imaginary. Absence of fear is resolution or courage. Absence of all dread would be a repose of the soul, for which, as it cannot exist, the language affords no term. Dread is a minor species of affright or terror, but of a more enduring nature. The highest and most excessive state of terror amounts to a total deprivation of consciousness, and produces death. If these definitions are correct, a smaller degree of terror would consist in a quicklypassing unconsciousness. Dread would consequently consist of a succession of recurring periods of unconsciousness, alternating with excessive rapidity with intervals of consciousness, of which only the total impression is perceived (as in the vibratory strokes of vibrating bodies in acoustics); this total impression constitutes dread. Fear is only distinguished from dread through the imminence of danger, and thence a fearful or a dreadful or frightful object are nearly synonymous. The longer these periods of unconsciousness endure in a state of fear or dread, the more powerful are the feelings, till at length (as in drowning persons, or in children who are much alarmed) total unconsciousness ensues, and, according to circumstances, death

If these definitions of fear and dread are psychologically correct, they serve to explain all the consequent physiological phenomena. A violent blow upon the head deprives us of consciousness, by occasioning an interruption in the regular functions of the brain, through which recollection ceases, and unconsciousness ensues. Any horrible appearance to, or impression upon, the organs of sight may produce a similar effect; for if the nerves of vision are so powerfully affected as to re-act upon the brain, the regularity of its action is similarly destroyed and the same effects are produced as by a blow. It is the same with all the other senses; and it is worthy of remark, that these feelings (of fear or dread) evidently heighten the powers of the imagination. If therefore a powerful affection of the visual nerve will produce absolute terror, so may a smaller degree of terror produce the more lasting sensations of dread or fear, that is, interchanging pauses of consciousness and unconsciousness. With the brain and spinal marrow the nerves are connected which lead to the lungs, to the stomach, to the inuscles, and other parts of the body. It is therefore not surprising that dread or fear should display itself in shortness of breath, irregularity of pulsation, an increased action of the heart, a disordered stomach, sickness, and powerlessness of the limbs.

cholera.

Fear may be also produced through a disordered action occasioned by some local affection of the heart or the lungs, or through plethora or disorders of the blood, or through a general sickness, as in the FEAST or FESTIVAL, an anniversary day of civil or religious joy; from the Latin festum. Among the Jews, the feast of Trumpets, that of Expiation, the feast of Tabernacles, the feast of Dedication, the Passover, Pentecost, and the feast of Purification, were the principal. The modern Jews have a few more, but they are of later institution.

The Greeks, and more especially the Athenians, had an abundance of festivals. Such were the Aglauria, in honour of Aglauros, the daughter of Cecrops; the Artemisia, in honour of Artemis; the Dionysia, in honour of Dionysus; the Eleusinia, in honour of Ceres; and the Panathenæa, in honour of Athene: notices of the three last and most important of them will be found under their several headings.

The Roman festivals were of two kinds; first, those which were fixed or stated; secondly, those which were appointed annually on a certain day by the magistrates or priests. Of the former kind were the Agonalia, the Faunalia, Matronalia, Cerealia, Saturnalia, &c., through, the several months; the latter were the Feria Latina or Latin holidays, the Paganalia in honour of the tutelary gods of the rustics, the

ARTS AND SCL, DIV. VOL. IV.

Sementivæ in seed-time, and the Compitalia. Dion (ix. 17) observes that so large a portion of the year was taken up with sacrifices and holidays, to the great loss of the public, that Claudius abridged the

number.

The Mohammedans, in addition to their weekly feast, or sabbath, which is observed on Friday, have two festivals of a more solemn kind; the feast of Victims, celebrated on the 10th day of the last month of their year, and the feast of Bairam.

With us, some of our festivals are immoveable, and others moveable. The immoveable festivals are Christmas Day, the Circumcision, the Epiphany, Candlemas or the Purification, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary or Lady Day, All Saints, and All Souls. The greater part of what are called Saints' Days have long ceased to be celebrated, except in the calendar. The principal of the moveable feasts, and that by which the rest are guided, and from which they keep their proper distance, is Easter; the others are Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, Sexagesima, Ascension Day, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. The four feasts from which leases are usually dated, and quarterly payments made, are Lady Day, 25th March; the Nativity of St. John Baptist, June 24th; Michaelmas Day, September 29th; and Christmas Day, December 25th. In the Roman Catholic and Greek churches the festivals of the various saints are still preserved.

The reader who would know more of the English festivals at an earlier period, may consult the 'Liber Festivalis,' printed at Westminster by W. Caxton, sm. fol. 1483, which consists chiefly of a collection of sermons, preached to the common people upon them. See also Festa Anglo-Romana,' 12mo, London, 1678; Historia Sacra, or the Holy History, giving an exact and comprehensive account of all the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England,' 2nd edit.; and Nelson's Fasts and Festivals.' FEATHERS. In addition to their anatomical relation to the coverings of birds, the principal uses to which feathers are applied are for personal decoration, as plumes for ladies' head-dresses, or for the hats of military officers; as a soft and highly elastic material for filling beds, cushions, and pillows; or in the case of the larger quill-feathers, as writing-pens, or small tubes for the manufacture of hair-pencils, or similar purposes.

For the first of these purposes their elegant appearance is their great recommendation; for the second, to which only the smaller feathers are applied, their exquisite softness, and that elasticity and peculiarity of structure which renders them less liable to clot together, under the influence of pressure, than any kind of woolly or hairy substance which is applied to the same purpose, are their great recommendation; while the last-mentioned use depends on their possession of a hollow quill or barrel of a horny texture, which, though found in all feathers, is only sufficiently large and strong in those of the wings and tail to be useful for such a purpose.

Plumagery. Of the various kinds of feathers employed as plumes for head-dresses, the most important are those of the ostrich, of which there are various qualities, almost wholly procured from Africa. Those of the male bird are preferred, as being the whitest and most beautiful; those upon the back and above the wings being considered the best, those of the wings next in quality, and the tail-feathers the least valuable. The down, which is black in the males and gray in the females, consists of the smaller feathers from other parts of the body, which vary in length from four to fourteen inches. The finest white feathers of the female bird are somewhat gray towards the end, which lessens their value. The mode of preparing ostrich feathers for use, and of dyeing them of various colours, is briefly as follows: They are first washed or scoured by rubbing with the hand (being previously tied up in bundles) in a lather of white soap and water, and subsequently in clear water, as hot as the hand can bear. They are then bleached by three successive operations, the first being to immerse and agitate them well in hot water mixed with Spanish white, after which they are rinsed in three clear waters in succession; the second, which is termed azuring, passing them quickly through a bath of cold water containing a little indigo tied up in a fine cloth; and the third, sulphuring, or exposing them in a close vessel to the vapour of burning sulphur, in the same way as in the bleaching of straw hats and bonnets. The feathers are then dried by hanging upon cords, during which they are shaken from time to time to separate their fibres. To increase their pliancy the ribs are scraped with a bit of glass cut circularly; and to impart the requisite curly form to the filaments or fibres, the edge of a blunt knife is drawn over them The dyeing is effected by various agents-logwood, copperas, and acetate of iron for black; indigo for blue; alum, Brazil wood, and cudbear for crimson; safflower and lemon-juice for pink; alum and Brazil wood for red; alum, turmeric, and weld for yellow, &c. For all colours except black, the feathers should be previously well bleached by exposure to the action of sun and dew, which is effected by cutting the end of the quill or tube to a sharp point, and sticking or planting the feathers singly in grass ground, where they are left for fifteen days.

Dr. Macgowan, United States consul at Ningpo, has recently given an interesting account of the plumagery or feather-working of the Chinese. Feathers are largely employed by that ingenious people in the decoration of metallic ornaments, chiefly for head-dresses. The lustre of the metal is softened by laying over it portions of a covering of blue feathers, representing flowers, insects, birds, and the like. The art

D

pendent states is vested in some individual in those several states. These sovereign persons may agree respectively with each other and with all not to exercise certain functions of sovereignty in their several states, and to transfer these functions to be jointly exercised by the contracting sovereign persons. The consequence of such a compact will be that the contracting sovereign persons in their joint capacity will become sovereign in each state and in all the states. The several sovereign persons having for the time surrendered to the joint body certain powers incident to their several sovereignties are no longer severally sovereign in their several states. The powers surrendered to the joint body may be determined by written contract, the interpretation of which belongs to the joint body, yet in such a manner that there can be no valid interpretation unless the sovereign persons are unanimous; for if any number or majority could bind the rest, they might, by interpretation, deprive the several contracting persons of all the powers reserved to them by the contract. It follows also from the terms of the union, that any one party can withdraw from it at pleasure, and, as far as he is concerned, dissolve the union; for the essence of this union is the continuing consent of all.

This is the simplest possible form of a supreme federal government; one in which the contracting sovereign powers are individuals, and in which the sovereign persons in their aggregate capacity exercise the functions of sovereignty. Such a federation may never have existed, but any federation that does exist or can exist, however complicated it may seem, is reducible to these simple elements.

If the sovereign powers, instead of being in individuals, are in all the people of the respective states, the only difference will be that the functions of sovereignty, which in the first case we supposed to be exercised by the individual sovereigns in their joint capacity, must, in this case, be delegated to individual members of the sovereign body. The citizens of the several sovereign states must in the first instance of necessity delegate to some of their own body the proper authority for making the federal contract or constitution; and they must afterwards appoint persons out of their own body, in the mode prescribed by the federal contract, for executing the powers intrusted by the federal contract to persons so appointed. Thus the individuals who form the federal contract act therein severally as the agents of the sovereign states from which they receive their commission; and the individuals appointed to carry into effect the terms of the federal contract are the ministers and agents of that sovereign power which is composed of the several sovereign states, which again are composed of all the citizens. By whatever name of President, Senate, House of Representatives, or other name, the agents of the sovereign power are denominated, they are only the agents of those in whom the sovereign power resides. When the sovereign power is so distributed, the question as to the interpretation of the federal contract may in practice be more difficult, but in principle it is the same. No one state can be bound by the interpretation of the rest, for if this were once allowed there would be no assignable limit to the encroachments of the states exercising sovereign power in their aggregate capacity. It is a clear consequence of the nature of the compact, whether the several sovereign powers are nations or individuals, that each contracting power must exercise its judgment on the interpretation of the instrument to which it is a party, and that no interpretation from which any power dissents can, consistently with the nature of the compact, bind that power. In the case of complete dissent or disagreement by any one power, the contract is, by the very nature of its terms, at an end; for the contract being among sovereign powers, they cannot severally as such yield obedience to another sovereignty, which results from the aggregation of their several sovereign powers: their acts in their joint capacity must be acts of complete consent.

If the sovereign power in such a federal union has delegated the power of interpreting the written instrument of union to certain judiciary authorities, appointed under the federal compact for the purpose of carrying its provisions into effect, the several sovereign powers must still exercise, either by their legislatures or their judiciary authorities, their right to judge of the correctness of the interpretation, just as much as if the several sovereign persons, in the case first supposed, themselves exercised the functions of sovereignty in the supreme federal government.

What is commonly called the general government of the United States of North America is an example of a federation or federal government, or a supreme federal government. The contracting parties were sovereign states (the sovereignty in each state being in the citizens), which in their aggregate capacity formed a supreme federal government. The ministers for carrying into effect the federal government are the president and congress, and the judiciary of the United States. By the preamble to the constitution it is in fact declared that the "people of the United States" are the contracting parties.

The fifth article of the constitution provides that "The congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification

may be proposed by the congress; provided, &c., and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate." From this article it is clear that the framers of the constitution did not fully comprehend the nature of the supreme federal government; for it is assumed by this article that the several states may be bound without their unanimous consent, which is contrary to conditions essentially implied by the nature of the union. This article involves also the inconsistency that the sovereign in any state may bind his successors: if the case of a federation of individual sovereign persons had been that to be provided for, the impossibility of the provision would have been apparent; but the impossibility equally exists when the contracting sovereign powers are respectively composed of many individuals, for the abiding consent is still the essence of the union that has been formed.

This is not the proper place to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a supreme federal government, nor to examine into its stability. That it is necessarily deficient in one element of stability, namely, in there being a necessity for all the consenting parties to continue their consent, is evident in this respect it is like a partnership for an indefinite period, which may at any time be dissolved by any one of the partners. Such a power, which is incident to the nature of the partnership, so far from being an objection to it, is a great advantage. So long as all the parties agree, they have the benefit of the union: when they cannot agree, they take instead of it the benefit of the separation.

It is also foreign from our purpose to consider what is the tendency, in a union like that of the United States, resulting from the powers placed in the hands of the president and congress by the states acting in their aggregate capacity. If such power were placed in such hands by sovereign persons originally severally sovereign in their respective states, as in the case first supposed, the vigilance of these persons in their aggregate capacity, though somewhat less than the vigilance of a single sovereign person, would probably prevent any undue assumptions of power on the part of those to whom they had delegated certain fixed powers. But the farther the several sovereigns, who in their aggregate capacity form this federation, are removed from those to whom they delegate certain powers, and the more numerous are the individuals in whom this aggregate sovereignty resides, the greater are the facilities and means offered to, and consequently the greater is the tendency in, their ministers and agents practically to increase those powers with which they may have been intrusted. In their capacity of ministers and agents, having patronage at their command and the administration of the revenue, such agents may gradually acquire the power of influencing the election of their successors, when their own term of office is expired, and may thus imperceptibly, while in name servants, become in fact masters. That there is such a tendency to degenerate from its primitive form in all social organisation, as there is in all organised bodies to be resolved into their elements, seems no sufficient reason for not forming such union and deriving from it all the advantages which under given conditions it may for an indefinite time bestow on all the members of such federation.

Federations of a kind existed in ancient times, such as that of the Ionian States of Asia, which assembled at the Panionium at certain times (Herodotus, i. 142); the Achæan confederation; the Etolian confederation; and the Lycian confederation, which is described by Strabo (p. 664). The Roman system of fœderate states (civitates fœderata) is another instance of a kind of confederation; but it was of a peculiar kind, for Rome was neither absolutely sovereign over these states nor yet associated with them in a federation, as now understood. The relationship between Rome and the federate states rather resembled the relation of sovereign and subject than any other, though it was not precisely that.

A supreme federal government, or a composite state, is distinguished by Austin (Province of Jurisprudence Determined') from a system of confederated states in the latter," each of the several societies is an independent political society, and each of their several governments is properly sovereign or supreme." It is easy to conceive a number of sovereign powers, such as the German states, assembling and passing resolutions which concern all the members of the confederacy, and yet leaving these resolutions to be enforced in each state by its own sovereign power. Such a union, therefore, differs essentially from a supreme federal government, which enforces its commands in each and all the states. As to the existence of a written constitution, as it is called, in the one case, and a mere compact in the other, that makes no essential difference; for the federal constitution, as we have shown, is merely articles of agreement, which only derive their efficacy from the continued assent of all the members that contribute in their aggregate capacity to form the sovereign power in such federation. As to a system of confederated states, Austin adds, "I believe that the German Confederation, which has succeeded to the ancient empire, is merely a system of confederated states. I believe that the present diet is merely an assembly of ambassadors from several confederated but severally independent governments; that the resolutions of the diet are merely articles of agreement which each of the confederated governments spontaneously adopts; and that they owe their legal effect, in each of the compacted communities, to laws and commands which are fashioned upon them by its own immediate chief. I also believe that the Swiss Confederation was and is of the same nature. If, in

the case of the German or of the Swiss Confederation, the body of confederated governments enforces its own resolutions, those confederated governments are one composite state, rather than a system of confederated states. The body of confederated governments is properly sovereign; and to that aggregate and sovereign body each of its constituent members is properly in a state of subjection." FEE-FARM RENT. [RENT.] FEE-SIMPLE. [ESTATE.] FEE-TAIL. [ESTATE] FEELING. [TOUCH.]

FEES, certain sums of money claimed as their perquisite by official persons under the authority of various Acts of Parliament, and by prescription. The right to fees, as well as the amount payable in most cases connected with the administration of justice, has been regulated by several recent statutes.

Officers demanding improper fees are guilty of extortion. [EXTORTION.]

The rewards paid to barristers and physicians, attorneys and surgeons, for their several services, are called fees, which may be recovered by the three last-named by action. Barristers cannot recover their fees by any legal proceeding; nor can physicians, if they are members of a college of physicians which has enacted a bye-law to that effect. [COUNSEL; PHYSICIAN.]

FEHM GERICHTE, FEMGERICHTE, or VEHM GERICHTE, the celebrated courts of justice of Westphalia, which have been, on very slender authority, said to be the relic of an institution of Charlemagne, but which certainly flourished and possessed most enormous power and influence during the 13th and 14th centuries. It was chiefly confined to what was then known as Westphalia, which included nearly all the countries between the Rhine and the Weser, and extended from the mountains of Hesse on the south to Friesland on the north; and this district bore the mystic name of the red earth in the records of the time, though the exact derivation or meaning of the term is uncertain. It would seem that, whatever earlier institutions it may have been founded upon, the tribunal was first organised when, after the deposition and outlawry of the emperor Henry the Lion, the authority of the laws, both civil and ecclesiastical, gave way to force, which, in the hands of ignorance and rapacity, threatened society with dissolution. In order to check the audacity of those who, relying upon their power, thought themselves above the reach of the law, and for the protection of the defenceless and innocent, a secret tribunal was formed, called the sacred Fehme, or Fehm Gericht.

These tribunals arose from the like causes which formed the tradeguilds in towns, and the confederacy of the Hanse Towns, namely, the necessity of individuals following peaceful professions defending themselves by unions against the spoliation and tyranny exercised by the feudal nobility, and which neither the law nor the emperor was able to repress, nor, except in rare cases, to punish. When these confederations became sufficiently powerful to defend themselves, the neighbouring nobility were frequently desirous of becoming members of the community, in order that they might in some measure guide what they could no longer resist. It was in fact an early development of public opinion developed in forms peculiar to the period; and the sentences of the Fehm Gerichte itself, except that the institution was permanent, resembled in some of its features those of the Lynch-law in the back settlements of the United States of America. There was usually no concealment, the trial was held commonly in the open air, in the presence of an audience; and it was only on the conviction of an offender who failed to appear that his death was effected by the means which added so much mystery and terror to the judgments of the courts.

By the constitution of the tribunal, the Emperor of Germany was the nominal head, who was usually made a member of the Fehm on his coronation at Aachen: but very early the archbishop of Cologne was made the imperial lieutenant in Westphalia; and indeed it is stated that archbishop Engelbert was, in 1179, the first Freygraf. Under the archbishop were the tribunal lords (Stuhiherren), to each of whom a particular district was assigned, beyond which he had no jurisdiction. The Stuhlherr either presided in the courts himself or deputed a count (Freygraf) to take his place; for the country was divided into counties (Grafschaften), and every county had at least one Freygraf, who took an oath to judge truly and justly, and to be obedient to the emperor and his lieutenant. Next to the counts were the assessors or Schöppen, who formed the bulk of the society. These were nominated by the count, with the approval of the Stuhlherr, after having been recommended by two persons, already members of the tribunal, who vouched for the fitness of the candidate. The candidate was required to have been born in marriage, of free parents, to be a Christian, to be neither excommunicated nor outlawed, not to be involved in any process before the tribunal, not to belong to any spiritual order, and at first to have been a native of Westphalia; but latterly strangers were admitted. Kneeling bareheaded before the assembly, with his thumb and forefinger on a naked sword and a halter, he swore

before this free tribunal, under which I sit, all that belongs to the secret jurisdiction of the emperor, whether I know it to be true myself, or have heard it from trustworthy people, whatever requires correction or punishment, whatever is Fehm-free (that is, a crime committed in the county), that it may be judged, or, with the consent of the accuser, be put off in grace; and will not cease so to do, for love or for fear, for gold or for silver, or for precious stones; and will strengthen this tribunal and jurisdiction with all my five senses and power; and that I do not take on me this office for any other cause than for the sake of right and justice; moreover, that I will ever further and honour this free tribunal more than any other free tribunals; and what I thus promise will I steadfastly and firmly keep, so help me God and his Holy Gospel."

As soon as the neophyte had pronounced the oath, he was informed that the object of the association was to uphold peace, virtue, and honour against the open or concealed enemies of the law; and as the interest of the order required that the schöppen of the different counties and principalities should be known to each other, they had adopted a sign consisting of four letters, S.S.G.G., the signification of which is still involved in mystery. The neophyte was further presented with a rope, which he was obliged to carry in his left sleeve, and also a dagger, on which the four above-mentioned letters were engraved, together with other symbols. Moreover he was charged with the duty of accusing before the secret tribunal all those who could not be successfully prosecuted before the ordinary courts, and of executing capital punishment whenever required by the society to perform this duty.

The mode of proceeding against the accused was as follows: If the author of a crime absconded, or his residence was unknown, the schöppe was required to write four summonses, and post them on a cross road; but if the residence was known, the schöppe came at night, and nailed the summons with four nails, folded as a letter, containing an imperial farthing, on the man's door. He then rang the bell, and told the porter that he had brought a letter from the sacred tribunal for his master. The initiated could go through the country unimpeded, on foot or on horseback, for none was so daring as to stay or injure him. The summons required the accused to appear at a certain hour at the appointed spot, within a fortnight after its delivery, to answer for his base and criminal conduct before the sacred tribunal, or otherwise clear himself of the accusation; at the same time threatening to proceed against him for contempt in case of nonappearance. If the accused attended the summons, the schöppe who brought the accusation was called upon by the Freygraf to state all that he and his witnesses knew relating to the charge, after which the accused and his witnesses were heard. The judges assembled on a Tuesday in the open air. The count presided, and before him on the table lay a naked sword and a withy halter. On his right and left stood the clerks of the court, the assessors, and the audience, all bareheaded, their hands uncovered, and unarmed, signifying that they would cover no right with unright, that they would do nothing underhand, and that they were at peace with the emperor and the law. They wore short mantles to show that as the cloak covers the body so should their love cover justice. Each party was entitled to produce compurgators, and the verdict was left to the assessors. An appeal, however, lay, if claimed before the court broke up, to the Secret Closed Tribunal of the Imperial Chambers, which usually held its sittings at Dortmund. These proceedings were for the uninitiated; for the initiated it was sufficient that the accused, laying his two forefingers on the naked sword, swore he was innocent; but one of the initiated convicted of revealing the secrets of the tribunal was immediately hung. When the sentence was pronounced, the execution of which, in case of capital punishment, was intrusted to all the members of the order, the condemned, if present, was at once executed; if he had not appeared, the schöppen were set in pursuit of him. Whenever three schöppen (for that was the number necessary for an ordinary execution) met the person condemned, they seized him, and with one of the ropes which they carried in their sleeves, hung him on the next tree, fixing a dagger in the trunk to denote that the deceased was killed by the holy tribunal. When such an event occurred, no court of law dared to take notice of the affair; every man's tongue was struck silent, for fear of incurring the vengeance of this terrible body. This punishment, however, was seldom inflicted upon those who readily appeared; in such cases the judges were satisfied with causing the defender to redress the wrong that he had inflicted. But if the accused failed to attend the summons, which was repeated three times, judgment passed by default, and the accused was declared an outlaw. Every schöppe, though he were the father or son of the criminal, was in duty bound to put him to death by the rope, the dagger, the sword, or even poison, and to revenge any insult ofered to the tribunal upon man, woman, or child, noble or plebeian, freeborn or slave, house or farm, monastery or nunnery, that dared to shelter him.

The power of this tribunal was greater than that of the Holy Inquisition; it struck terror into all Germany, and especially in Westphalia, where it originated. Princes and nobles were anxious to enter into this order either for protection against their enemies, or to avoid the jurisdiction of a tribunal the power of which they were unable to withstand. Towards the end of the 15th century, the German empire having acquired more political consistency, and the objects for which

this tribunal was instituted having ceased to exist, it gradually lost its power, without being abolished by any legislative enactment. Some traces of the revival of this tribunal appear in the 17th century, but its efforts to regain its former importance were checked by the public authorities. It sunk at length into utter insignificance; and a remnant of it which continued to act as a kind of society for the suppression of vice was abolished in Westphalia by order of Jerome Bonaparte in the year 1811. The members of the order maintained that they were the true and genuine possessors of the secrets intrusted to the Fehm by Charlemagne, but no one would or could explain the signification of the mystical S.S.G G. Goethe has given a graphic picture of the working of this tribunal in his historical drama Goetz von Berlichingen; and Scott in his Anne of Geierstein,' has described the proceedings of the tribunal: but neither have confined themselves to the historical facts, and the last has wandered widely. The best historical accounts of its organisation are by Bork, Geschichte der Westphalischen Vehmgerichte,' Bremen, 1815; Paul Wigand, Das Femgericht Westfalens,' Hamm., 1827; and Usener, 'Die Frei und heimlichen Gerichte Westphalens,' Frankfurt, 1832. FEIGNED DISEASES. There are few subjects attended with more difficulty than the detection of feigned diseases, especially when they are the result of a system which permits of a constant refinement of the deceit by practice. This has been especially the case in France, where the object has been to escape the conscription. Foderé has observed, "that it was brought to such a perfection as to render it as difficult to detect a feigned disease as to cure a real one." The motives which usually lead to this practice are—1, A release from obligation. This is frequently the case in the army and navy, where the men will pretend to be ill to escape duty or to gain their discharge. In this form it has got the name of Malingering. Beggars, too, often feign illness when they are offered work, preferring the easy task of soliciting charity to the labour of an occupation. 2, The hope of gain. This motive comes into operation where the object is to obtain relief from the parish, to impose upon the benevolence of private persons, to procure the allowances of benefit societies, clubs, &c., to get admitted into an hospital, or to obtain compensation for some pretended injury. 3, To procure release from confinement or an exemption from punishment. This motive is a source of deceit with boys and girls at school, persons committed to prison, &c. To these may be added the love of exciting the sympathy or gaining the attention of others, where no hope or need of gain exists. This motive acts in all classes of society, and leads individuals of otherwise the highest moral character to imitate all forms of disease. It is observed most frequently in young and unmarried females, and is frequently carried to the extent of feigning diseases for which capital operations are required; and instances are not wanting where surgeons (not much however to their credit) have removed legs, breasts, and arms at the solicitation of such patients.

There is no natural limit to diseases which may be feigned; but some being much more easily imitated than others, and less easily detected, are most frequently assumed. Feigned diseases may be divided into, 1, those which are obvious to the senses; 2, those depending upon the description of the impostor, and 3, those of a complicated nature, presenting symptoms of both kinds. Amongst diseases obvious to the senses are an increased or diminished size of parts, wounds, malformations, ulcers, discharges, spasmodic and paralytic affections. A favourite mode of increasing the size of parts, and producing tumours, is by injecting air beneath the cellular membrane. In this way such diseases as dropsy, local and general, hernia, hydrocele, varicose veins, elephantiasis, adema of the extremities, may be simulated. Pressure also, by means of ligatures, &c. on the veins, will produce swellings of parts of the body. Swellings also of the joints, so as to resemble white swellings, are produced by the application of various acrid plants, as the ranunculus acris and sceleratus to the part. Polypi, hydatids, malignant tumours, and hæmorrhoids, are imitated by affixing in some manner the intestines and other viscera of animals to the parts of the body in which these diseases occur. Cancer has been imitated by a cow's spleen, and by a sponge moistened with milk fixed under the arm-pit. The various malformations of the body are feigned by obstinate and long-continued flexion of the part, aided by inaction and the use of tight bandages. Sometimes these contractions are accompanied by a wound, in order to prove that they have been effected by a burn. Many means have been proposed for detecting this class of impositions, such as compressing with a tourniquet the nerves that supply the contracted muscles; applying a wet bandage tightly round the limb, so that when it becomes dry it may overcome the contraction; moving the contracted limb during natural sleep or that produced by narcotics; or making extension whilst the person is under the influence of an emetic, or when his attention is directed to other objects; recommending the coast of Africa, or some other disagreeable thing, as a cure. Wounds and sores are produced in a variety of ways. Wounds, when self-inflicted, will always be in positions where persons can get at the spot where they exist, with their own hands. Accomplices are however sometimes engaged even in this. Ulcers are among the most common of feigned diseases. They are produced by red-hot iron, by caustics, as corrosive acids and alkalies, and the juices of various plants, as of the ranunculus acris and sceleratus, the spurge-laurel, the euphorbium, arum maculatum, and juniper. Where persons are suspected of

keeping up ulcers in their legs by irritants, the placing their legs in a box and locking them up will allow the ulcers to heal. The various forms of cutaneous disease are produced by the application of irritants to the skin, as pounded garlic, euphorbium, cantharides, gunpowder, nitric acid, bay salt, &c. The discoloration of jaundice is imitated by various dyes, as well as the appearance of bruises. Ophthalmia is a disease often feigned, and is commonly produced by the application of irritants, as snuff, pepper, tobacco, blue vitriol, salt, alum, &c. The progress of the inflammation in these cases is usually more rapid than in the idiopathic form. It is mostly also confined to one eye, for obvious reasons; and when occurring in the army it may be suspected, if epidemic, when it only comes on in privates and non-commissioned officers. Diseased discharges are often simulated. Vomiting is effected by pressing on the pit of the stomach, by swallowing air, by strong and sudden action of the abdominal muscles, by tickling the fauces, and the use of emetics. Diarrhoea and dysentery are produced by taking drastic purgatives. Fragments of brick, slate, small pebbles, pieces of quartz, and flint, have been introduced into the urethra, to bear out the alleged existence of urinary calculus. Hæmaturia has been simulated by tinging the urine with various colouring matters, and the disease has really been brought on by the taking of savin, cantharides, and turpentine. Spitting of blood is a favourite assumed disease. It is simulated by placing a sponge in the mouth filled with bullock's blood, by cutting the mouth and gums, and by sucking blood from other parts of the body. A vomiting of urine and fæces have taken place by the stealthy introduction of the contents of the bladder and rectum into the stomach.

The spasmodic diseases to which the system is subject have been imitated with great success, and none more so than epilepsy. It has for its peculiar recommendation, that the person who is subject to it may be well at intervals and assume the attacks when it best suits him. The best criterion of imposition is the want of the total insensibility which characterises the true fits. In the feigned disease the application of stimulants will seldom fail to elicit indications of sensibility. Hartshorn or burning sulphur may be introduced under the nose: alcohol and turpentine may be dropped into the eye, and mustard or common salt placed in the mouth. Pricking the skin with sharp-pointed instruments has also been recommended. This however is frequently resisted. Dr. Guy recommends "flecking" the feet with a wet towel. He says he has by this means aroused a patient from a mesmeric slumber when all other mechanical stimulants and cold affusions had failed. Convulsions are often imitated; but where they are fictitious they cannot be sustained for any length of time without great exhaustion. Chorea is also often imitated. Electricity and cold affusions are the best remedies for this disease, and are likely to be effectual in the case of impostors. Hysteria, catalepsy, tetanus, hydrophobia, some forms of tonic spasm, stammering, strabismus, and difficulty of swallowing, are other diseases of the nervous system which are often imitated. Paralytic affections are also frequently simulated. The treatment resorted to for the cure of these diseases, when natural, would be found a trying ordeal for most impostors. Cases however are related in which impostors have resisted the most active treatment; and a case of simulated lethargy is on record, in which an individual resisted with only a single groan the operation of trephining.

Another class of feigned diseases are those which depend chiefly upon the description given by the impostor. These are all embraced in increased and diminished sensations. Increased pain of one or many organs is commonly feigned. It is easily assumed but not easily detected, as many pains, such as that of tic douloureux, come on in an apparently healthy state of the system; and many pains of a severe character are dependent on exceedingly obscure causes. There are no rules which can be laid down for the detection of simulated pain; and it is only those who have extensively observed the effects of real pain on the system, that can readily distinguish that which is pretended. Of diminished sensations, blindness, and deafness are those most frequently feigned. Amaurosis may be really produced for a time by the application of belladonna, henbane, spurge laurel, and tobacco; but under these circumstances it disappears when the impostor is carefully watched. Deafness is often assumed, but it may be detected by unexpectedly or sharply calling out the name of the individual, by calling him by name when asleep, or letting a piece of money fall close to him. Dumbness has been successfully feigned, and cases are recorded which resisted every attempt at discovery. It may be frequently detected by giving the person a sudden and unexpected knock, or a prick with a pin.

Sometimes general diseases are assumed, embracing a collection of symptoms. Of these, the most frequently assumed are fever, ague, rheumatism, phthisis, asthma, dyspepsia, jaundice, inflammations of the bowels, stomach, and kidneys. These feigned diseases are only to be detected by a knowledge of the real diseases, when a correct diagnosis is not often difficult. Of diseases involving complicated symptoms, that of unsoundness of mind is most frequently and most successfully feigned. The success however does not depend so much on the ease with which the symptoms of true insanity are imitated, as upon the ignorance that prevails of the distinguishing characters of real insanity When these are once known an impostor may be easily detected. The most frequent form of assumed madness is general mania. In addition