Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/71

 F E B F E D 61 but more largely he devoted himself to the preparation of quill tooth-picks. The cutting up of the feathers in this way leaves the shaft and barbs unused, and these he utilized in various ingenious ways, the principal products being a kind of mat into which the barbs are woven, the shafts yielding a fibrous substance not unlike hogs bristles, from which useful brushes are fabric ited. (j. PA.) FEBRUARY, tho second month of the year. In or dinary years it contains 28 diys ; but in bissextile or leap year, by the addition of the intercalary day, it consists of 2 J days. This month was not in the Romulian calendar. In the reign of Numa two months were added to the year, namely, January at the beginning, and February at the end ; and this arrangement was continued until 452 B.C., when the decemvirs placed February after January. The ancient name of Februarius was derived from the verb februare, to purify, or from Februa, the Roman festival of general expiation and lustration, which was celebrated during the latter part of this month. In February also the Lupercalia were held, and women were purified by the priests of Pan Lyceus at that festival. The most gene rally noted days of February are the following : the 2d, Candlemas Day, one of the fixed quarter days used in Scot land ; the 14th, St Valentine s Day; and the 24th, St Matthias. The church festival of St Matthias was formerly observed on the 25th of February in bissextile years, but it is now invariably celebrated on the 24th. FECAMP, a seaport-town of France, department of Seine-Inferieure, is situated on the English Channel, at the mouth of the small river Fecamp, 23 miles N.N.E. of Havre. The town consists almost entirely of one street, which is upwards of two miles in length. It occupies the bottom and sides of a narrow valley, opening out towards the sea between two high cliffs, on one of which stands a lighthouse. Its port, though small, is one of the best on the Channel, and has been greatly improved by the con struction of an inner port with a fine quay. It carries on a considerable trade in Baltic and colonial produce, and in brandy and salt, and sends out vessels to the whale, cod, mackerel, and herring fisheries. In 1875 there entered the port 167 vessels, with a total tonnage of 26,321. Tbe river affords abundant water-power for numerous cotton, oil, and other mills. Fecamp has also sugar refineries, tanneries, forges, and building docks, and manufactures of hardware, candles, and soda. The church is a large and handsome edifice; and the other principal buildings are the sea-bathing establishment, the theatre, the hospital, and the Institute for Poor Sisters. The Latin name of Fecamp was Fiscarium or Fiscanium ; and the town owes its origin to a nunnery which was founded in 664, destroyed by the Normans in 841, and rebuilt for a Benedictine abbey by Richard I., duke of Normandy, in 998. The population in 1872 was 12,651. FECKENHAM, or FECKNAM, JOHN DE, the last abbot of Westminster, was born of poor parents in Feckenham Forest in Worcestershire. The family name wasHowman; and it is noted by Fuller (Worthies of England] that the abbot was the last clergyman who was &quot; locally sur- named.&quot; He was of good parts and fond of learning ; and, after receiving instruction from the parish priest, he was sent to the Benedictine monastery of Evesham, whence, at about the age of eighteen, he passed to Gloucester College, Oxford. He afterwards returned to Evesham, and there remained till the dissolution of the monastery in 1536, when he received a pension of a hundred florins. Resum ing his studies at Oxford, he took in 1539 his degree of B.D. He was successively chaplain to Bell, bishop of Worcester, and to Bonner, bishop of London. When the latter was deprived of his see (1549), Feckenham was com mitted to the Tower. His learning and eloquence, how ever, made him so weighty an advocate that he was tem porarily liberated (&quot; borrowed from the Tower,&quot; he says in old English phrase) for the purpose of holding discussions on the points in dispute between Romanists and Protestants. Among these disputations were four with Hooper, bishop of Worcester. Remanded to the Tower, he was released at the accession of Queen Mary and became her chaplain. In rapid succession he was appointed chaplain to Bishop Bonner and prebendary and dean of St Paul s. He was sent to Lady Jane Grey two days before her execution to commune with her, and &quot; to reduce her,&quot; says Fox, &quot; from the doctrine of Christ to Queen Mary s religion;&quot; and two months later he was one of the disputants at Oxford against Cranmer, at the martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer. II u showed, however, no eagerness of hostility to the martyrs ; and indeed throughout Queen Mary s reign he distinguished himself by generous endeavours in behalf of the persecuted reformers. He also pleaded earnestly for the release of the Lady Elizabeth, thereby offending the queen. In May 1556 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Oxford ; and in September following he was made abbot of Westminster, fourteen Benedictine monks being placed under him. Queen Elizabeth on her accession (1558) sent for the abbot and offered him, it is said, the archbishopric of Canterbury, but he could not conform to the new faith. He sat in her first parliament, and was the last mitred abbot that was seen in parliament. His influ ence there was steadfastly directed against all movements of reformation. In 1560 he was sent to the Tower, and, with intervals of freedom, remained in confinement more or less strict for the rest of his life. He died in Wisbeach Castle, in the Isle of Ely, in 1585. Among the few pieces published by Feckenham are the Conference-Dialogue held between the Lady Jane Grey and himself, and several funeral orations or sermons. FEDCHENKO, ALEXIS PAULOWITCH (1844-1873), a Russian naturalist and traveller, well known for his explo rations in Central Asia. He was born at Irkutsk, in Siberia, on 7th February 1844 ; and, after attending the gymnasium of his native town, proceeded to the university of Moscow, for the study more especially of zoology and geology. In 1868 he travelled through Turkestan, the district of the lower Sir-Darya, and Samarcand ; and shortly after his return he set out for Khokand, where he visited a large portion of territory till then unknown. Soon after his re turn to Europe he perished on Mount Blanc while engaged in an exploring tour in Switzerland, 15th September 1873. Accounts of the explorations and discoveries of Fedehenko have been published by the Russian Government, his Journeys in Turkestan in 1874, In the Klianat of Khokand in 1875, and Botanical Discoveries in 1876. See Petermaim s Mitthcilungcn , 1872-74. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. A federal union of sovereign states for mutual aid, and the promotion of inter ests common to all, is a procedure so consistent with self- interest that examples of it can be adduced from very early times. Had a federal union of Hellenic states been effected at the close of the Persian war, results would have been achieved which were vainly aimed at subsequently, as by Athens herself, after the capture of Olynthus by Philip of Macedon. The effort to effect a union of states for the common good then failed ; but at length, in the century following the death of Alexander, the J^tolian and Achaean confederacies were formed, and a spirit of unity was inspired which, if less tardily manifested, might have long perpetuated Hellenic freedom. For the first time a federa tive spirit contended effectively with the isolation which had so long animated the policy of the ancient world. Aristotle collected the constitutions of 150 governments of the time of Alexander, including many cities bounded