Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 7, ETM-GOA

FLA [ 284 ] FLA
flame of fijlpbur and fpirit of wine is Uue ; the flame
of nitre and zinc, of a bright white ; that of copper, of
a greenifh blue, &c.—Thefe varieties afford an oppor¬
tunity of making a number of agreeable reprefentations
in fire-works, which could not be done if the flame
produced from every different fubftance was of the
fame colour. See Pyrotechnics.
FLAM-EN, in Roman antiquity, the name of an
order of priefts, inflituted by Romulus or Numa j au¬
thors not being agreed on this head.
They were originally only three, viz. the Flamen
Dialis, Flamen Marhalis, and Flamen Quirlnalis. The
Flamen Dialis was facred to Jupiter, and perfon of
the higheft confequence and authority in the ftate.
He difcharged feveral religious duties which properly
t>elonged to the kings, and was honoured with many
eminent privileges beyond all other officers, but was
obliged to obferve feveral fuperftitious reftraints. The
Flamen Martialis was facred to Mars, and was ordain¬
ed to infped the rites of that god. The Flamen
Quirinalis was facred to, and fuperintended thfe rites
of, Quirinus Romulus. The Flamines lafl mentioned,
though of high authority, were much inferior to the
Flamen Dialis. All three were chofen by the people,
and confecrated by the Pontifex Maximus. — In latter
times feveral priefts of the fame order and name were
added to them, but inferior in power. The whole
number at laft amounted to 15 : the three firft of
whom were fenators, and called Flamines majores ; the
other 12, taken from among the people, being deno¬
minated Flamines minores.—Some authors tell us the
Romans had a Flamen for every deity they worfhip-
ped. The greater Flamines wore the robe edged with
purple, like the great magiftrates; had an ivory chair,
and a feat in the fenate. They wore a little band of
thread about their heads, whence their name is faid to
be derived, Sluafi Filamines.—Wife of the Flamen
I>ialis was called Flaminica, and wore a flame colour¬
ed habit, on which waS painted a thunder-bolt, and
above her head-drefs fhe had green oak boughs, to
indicate that fhe belonged to Jupiter the thunderer, to
whom the oak was facred. The Flamines wore^ each
of them a hat or cap called Flammcum or Jlpex.
FLAMINGO, in ornithology. See Phoenicop-
TERUS.
FLAMINIUS, or Flamlninus, (T. Q^) a cele¬
brated Roman raifed to the confulfhip in the year of
Rome 554, though under the age of 30 He was trained
in the art of war againft Hannibal ; and he fhowed himfelf
capable in every refpect to difcharge with honour the
great office with which he was entrufted. He was fent
at the head of (he Roman troops againft Philip king of
Macedonia, and in his expedition he met with uncom¬
mon fuccefs. The Greeks gradually declared themfelves
his firmeft fupporters; and he totally defeated Philip on
the confines of Epirus, and made all Locris, Phocis,
and Theffaly, tributary to the Roman power. He
granted peace to the conquered monarch, and proclaim¬
ed all Greece free and independent at the Illhmian
games. i'his celebrated aftion procured the name of
Patrons of Greece to the Romans, and infenfibly paved
their way to univerfal dominion. Flaminius behaved
amonjr them with the greateft policy ; by his ready
compliance to their national cuiloms and prejudices, he
gained uncommon popularity, and received the name of
father and deliverer of Greece. He was afterwards Flajnniius
fent ambaffador to king Prufias, who had given refuge II
to Hannibal; and there his prudence and artifice haftened
out of the world a man who had long been the terror v
of the Romans. Flaminius was found dead in his bed,
after a life fpent in the greatefl glory, in which he had
imitated with,fuccefs the virtues of his model Scipio.
Flaminius, or FlaminiF, (Mark Anthony), one
of the heft Latin poets in the 16th century, of Imo-
la in Italy, fon and grandfon of very learned men.
The pope had chofen him fecretary to the council in
*545 5 t*111 he refufed that employment, becaufe, fa¬
vouring the new opinions, he would not employ his
pen in an affembly where he knew |hefe opinions were
to be condemned.— He paraphrafed 30 of the pfalmsin
Latin verfe, and alfo wrote notes on the pfalms; and
fome letters and poems which are efteemed. He died
at Rome in 1550.
FLAMSTED, a town of Hertfordlhire in Eng¬
land, 5 miles from St Alban’s and Dunftable, Hands on
the river Verlam, and was of old called Verlamftede.
The- land hereabouts is a clay. fo thickly mixed with
flints, that, after a fhower, nothing appears but a heap
of (tones; and yet it bears very good corn even in dry
fummers. This fertility is imputed to a warmth in
the flint, which preferves it from cold in the winter ;
and to its clolenefs, which keeps it from the fcorching
rays of the fun in the fummer. Edward VI. when an
infant, was brought hither for his health ; and, it is
faid, the bedftead he lay on, which is curioufly wrought,
is Hill preferved in the manor houfe juft by.
ELAMSTEED (John), an eminent Englifh aftro-
nomer in the 13th century, born at Derby in 1646.
He had early read a great deal of civil and ecclefiafti-
cal hiftory; but happening to fee John de Sacrobofco’s
book de Sphtera, this gave him a turn for aftronomy,
which ftudy he afterwards profecuted with great vi¬
gour. His father,, finding him in correfpondence with
feveral learned men, advifed him to go to London,
that he might be perfonally acquainted with them. In
1674, he wrote an ephemeris, in which he (bowed the
falfity of aftrology ; and gave a table of the moon’s
riling and fetting, carefully calculated, together with
the eclipfes and appulfes of the moon and planets to
fixed ftars. This fell into the hands of Sir Jonas More;
for whom, at hisrequeft, he made a table of the moon’s
true fouthings. In 1674, Jonas having informed
him, that a true account of the tides would be highly
acceptable to his majefty, he compofed a fmall ephe¬
meris for the king’s ufe : and when Sir Jonas (bowed
the king and duke of York our author’s telefcopes and
micrometer, and recommended him ftrongly, he pro¬
cured him a warrant to be king’s aftronomer, with the
falary of L. 10c per annum; on which occaljon he
was ordained. In 1675, ^ foundation of the royal
obfervatory at Greenwich was laid, and during the
building he lodged at Greenwich ; his quadrant and
telefcopes being kept in the queen’s houfe there. His
Doctrine of the Sphere was publiftted in 1681, in a
pofthumous work of Sir Jonas More, intitled, A new
Syjlem of the Mathematics. In 1684, he was prefent-
ed to the living of Burftow in Surry, which he enjoy¬
ed till he died in 1719. His Hijloria caleflis Britanni-
ca was publifhed at London in 1725, in 3 vols. Mr
Flamfteed likewife compofed the Britilh Catalogue of
the ■? f