Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 7, ETM-GOA

F E L r 199 ] FEE
Felt, his lands in fee-fimple, and alfo his goods and chattels;
rek-fpar. jn as are noj- punifhable, his goods and chattels
^ v only.
The Idea of felony is indeed fo generally connected
tmh that of capital punifhment, that vve find it hard
to feparate them ; and to this ufage the interpretations
of the law do now conform. And therefore, ifa flatute
makes any new offence felony, the law implies that it
(hall be punifhed with death, viz. by hanging, as well
as with forfeiture : unlefs the offender prays the be¬
nefit of clergy; which all felons are intitled once
to have, unlefs the fame is exprefsly taken away by
ftatute.
Felonies by ftatute are very numerous ; and as this
work will not admit of a proper enumeration, we muft
refer to the Table of the quarto edition of the Statutes,
where they are fet forth in alphabetical order.
FELT, in commerce, a fort of fluff deriving all
its confiftence merely from being fulled, or wrought
■with lees and iize, without either fpinning or wea-
*ing-
Felt is made either of wool alone, or of wool and
hair. Thofe of French make, 31 yards long, and i^-
broad, for cloaks, pay each 2 1. 14s. iTs%d. on im¬
portation ; and draw-back tl. 12s. 3d. on exporting
them again.
Ff.LT-Spar, or Rhombic $>uart%, the petuntfe of the
Chinefe, a genus of filiceous earths, aceotding to
Cronftedt, refembling the jafper in moll refpects. Its
German name is feld-fpat, from the word feld, which
fignihes a field, and likewife a compartment or regular
furface. Hence, according to Mr Forfter, the word
feld-fpat fignifies a fpar compofed of little compart¬
ments of rhombic or other figures. It ftnkes fire
with fteel, and melts in a violent heat. M. Bayen,
who analyfed it by acids, obtained a conliderable quan¬
tity of argillaceous and filiceous earths, a fmaller quan¬
tity of magnefia, and a ftill fmaller of calcareous earth
and iron. It is found either fparry or cryftallized.
The former fpecies has feveral varieties. 1. White.
2. Reddifh brown, occurring in the Swedifh and o-
ther granites. 3. Pale yellow. 4. Gteenifh, refem¬
bling the fchorl or cockle fpar, but lefs fufible, and
more irregular in the figure. The cryflallized kind is
found in an iron mine in Weftmanland in Sweden, fel-
dom in the form of veins, and ftill more rarely confli-
tuting the fubftance of whole mountains, but general¬
ly mixed either with quartz or mica; in which cafe it
is called granite. When mixed with jafper, along with
fome particles of quartz, cockle, and horn-blende, it is
named porphyry.
Another kind of this ftone, named by M. Bayen
'white felt-fpar, is found in the duchy of Lorrain. It
is of an opaque white colour, fpotted on the outfide
with ochre. It confifts of fhining particles, which
give it a fparry appearance ; it is very hard, and
ftrikes fire with fteel, is affe&ed by acids; and when
analyfed by them, appears to contain one half its
weight of filiceous earth, the other being compofed of
magnefia and iron.
Analogous to the felt-fpar is that beautiful ftorte
named Lalrador-flone, lately brought to Europe. It
was difeovered fome years ago by the Moravians, who
have a colony among the Efquimaux, in the countiy.
of Labrador in North America. It is found of alight Felt-fpar
or deep-grey colour, but for the moil part of a blackith „ , H
grey. When held in the light in various pofitions, it ;^ucca-
difeovets a variety of colours, fuch as the blue of lapis '
'lazuli, grafs-greeu, apple^green, pea-green, and fome-
times, but more feldom, a citrqu-yellow. Sometimes
it has a colour between that of red copper and tom-
buck-grey ; at other times the colours are between grey
and violet. For the moft part thefe colours are in
fpots, but fometimes in ftripes on the fame piece. The
ftones are found in pretty large angular pieces, appear
foliated when broken, and the fragments of a rhom-
boidal figure. Their fpecific gravity, is about 2.755,
and in other refpefts they agree with the felt-fpar.
Werner informs us, that he has feeu a piece of felt-
fpar at Gayer, which ftiowed a great variety of co¬
lours, but very pale.
Mr Kirwan obferves on the felt-fpar, in general,
that it is found of many different colours, as white,
yellow, red, brown, green, violet, &c. fometimes
cryftallized in rhombs, cubes, or parallelepipeds; at
other times without any regular figure. It breaks like
fpar, but the texture is clofe though lamellar. The
fpecific gravity, according to our author, is from 2.400
to 2.600, but Mr Gerchard fays he found it as high
as 3.500 ; in which cafe Mr Kirwan is of opinion
that it was mixed with fome metallic particles. It is
harder than the fluor fpars, but lefs fo than quartz. It
alfo melts without addition more perfe&ly and eafily
than the floors, forming a whitiih glafs, which does
not corrode the crucibles as that from fluor does. It is
entirely diffolved without effervefcence by the micro-
cofmic fait and by borax ; but unites with difficulty
to fixed alkalies. In its cryftallized ftate it decrepi¬
tates in the fire, but not otherwife. It is found in
loofe maffes, about two inches long at moft, without
forming either veins or ftrata. It is alfo found mixed
with fand or clay ; or it is fometimes found imbedded
in other ftones, as granite, &c. One hundred parts
of the white fpar contain 67 of filiceous, 14 of argil¬
laceous, 11 of ponderous earth, and 8 of magne¬
fia. According to Mr Kirwan, it is undoubtedly the
ftone ufed by the Saxons, as petuntfa, in their porce¬
lain manufa&ures.
Cronftedt, who fuppofes this ftone to be of the fame
nature wuh jafper, remarks, that “ if the rhombic
quartz and jafper were of the fame fpecies, that fort of
porphyry which is made up of thefe two bodies ought
only to be ranked with ihejafpers, inftead of being
placed with the faxa. It is obfervable, however, in
old monuments, which have been long expofed to the
air, that though porphyry had decayed in fuch a man¬
ner as to lofe its polifti, yet granite, though equally
old, and compofed for the moft part of rhombic
quartz, has preferved its luftre. This, however, does
not contradidV the poffibility of rhombic quartz being
the fame fubftanee with the jafper : the calcareous fpar,
for inftance, being found to bear the weather, and even
fire, better than limeftone.”
FELTRIA, (anc. geog.), a town on the borders-
of Rhaetia towards Italy. Now Felitri, in the terri¬
tory of Venice, on the Piava. E. Long. 12. 16. N,
Lat. 46‘>.
FELUCCA, m fea-affairs, a.little veffcl armed with
fix