Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/725

* FIRST FRUITS. 655 FIRTH. Feast of Tabernacles, in the seventh month, was held the great feast of the gathered in harvest, the final acknowledgment of the bounty of God in the fruits of the year (Ex. xxiii. 10; Lev. x.xiii. 33-34). Besides these public offerings of first fruits on the part of the entire people, individual Hebrews were bound to private offerings, each upon bis own behalf. A cake of the first dough, one twen- ty-fourth of the amount, was to be offered to the Lord (Num. xv. 21). The 'first of all the fruits' were to be placed in a basket, and carried to the appointed place, where the basket was to be offered with a prescribed formula, commemo- rative of the sojourn of Israel in Egypt, and of his deliverance by the strong band ( Deut. xxvi. 2 si|ij.). Fruit-trees were given three years for growing, then the fruit of the fourth year was to be given to God (Lev. xix. 23-25). All these offerings were divided into two classes — the first, which were called bikkurim, comprised the various kinds of raw produce, of which, although the law seems to contemplate all fruits, seven sorts only were considered by the rabbis to fall under the obligation of first-fruit offering — viz.: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. He who lived near Jerusalem brought fresh fruits; others could bring them dried. It was customary for offerers to make their obla- tions in companies of twenty-four, and with a singularly striking and effective ceremonial. The bi nd class, the reshith, were brought of pre- pared materials, dough, wine, oil, etc. The teru- moth were taxes consisting in the first ripe of the fruit, whether of the ground or of trees, levied for the support of the priests. There was no definite amount. Between one-fortieth and one- Bixtieth of the harvest could be given, but it does not appear that this regulation was ever strictly carried out except by a small minority of pious devotees, just as various other provisions of the Priestly Code remained a dead letter. With the destruction of the second temple, all offerings and sacrifices were abolished, though among orthodox Jews, as a reminiscence of the temple cult, a portion of the dough for baking bread is still thrown into the fire. Offerings analogous to the Jewish first fruits became usual very early in the Christian Church, as is clear from a passage in Irenaeus (Adv. Hipr. iv., 17 and 34) ; but the extent to which they prevailed, and the amount and general character of the oblation, are exceedingly uncertain. It appears to have been merged in the legal pro- vision established by the emperors. The mediaeval ecclesiastical impost known un- der the name of primitice, or first fruits, and sometimes of annates or annalia, was entirely different. By the word, in its mediaeval and mod- ern sense, is meant a tax imposed by the popes on persons presented directly by the Pope to those benefices which, by the canonical rules, or in vir- tue of privileges claimed by them, fall within the Papal patronage. Persons so presented were re- quired to contribute to the Roman See the first fruits (that is, the income of the first year) of their benefice. During the residence of the popes at Avignon, when the Papal necessities com- pelled the use of every means for eking out a pre- carious revenue, it was sought to extend the im- post to every benefice; and this claim was the subject of many contests, especially in Germany and in England, where the claim, so far as re- garded direct Papal presentation, had existed from the reign of King John. Henry VIII. with- drew the right of the tirsi fruits from the Pope, in order to transfer it to the King; and he estab- lished a special court for the administration of lii I Irnits, which, however, was soon abandoned. In the reign of Anne, the revenues arising from this impost in England were vested in a board, to be applied for the purpose of supplementing the incomes of small benefices. In France this tax was abolished by the 'pragmatic sanction' enacted ai Bourges in 1438, and subsequently by the concordat of Leo X. with Francis 1. in 1516. In Spain it ceased partially in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and finally under < haj V. In Germany it formed one of the first among the centum gravamina presented to the Emperor in 1521, and the claim ceased altogether from that period. Consult the Hebrew Arch eologies of Nowaek (Freiburg, 1894) and Benzinger (ib., 1894) ; Robertson Smith. Religion of the Semites (London, 1894). See Firstborn. FIRST GENTLEMAN OF EUROPE. A title given to King George IV. of England. FIRST GRENADIER OF FRANCE. A title given to Latour d'Auvergne (q.v.). FIRTH, or FRITH. A name used in Scot- land for deep inlets of the sea, in many eases of estuarine formation. The term firth is similar to the Norwegian 'fiord.' an inlet with high rocky walls; the Scottish firths often have the charac- teristics of fiords. See Estuary; Fiord. FIRTH, Ciiaki.es Harding ( 1S57— ). An Eng- lish historian, born in Sheffield. He studied at Balliol College,. Oxford, where he became a scholar in 187(5 and an instructor in 1883. From 1887 to 1893 he was a lecturer at Pembroke Col- lege, Oxford; in 1900 he became Ford's lecturer in English history in the University of Oxford, and in 1901 Fellow of All Souls' College there. His writings include: Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of tin Puritans in England (1900); and Cromwell's A run/, a History of the English Sol- dier During tlie Civil War, the Commonwealth, and the Protectorate (1902). He edited a number of lii-lo] ir.il and biographical works, among which are: Scotland and the Commonwealth; Litters and Papers Relating to the Militant Oovernmi ni of Scotland. 1651-53 (1895); and its sequel, Scotland and the Protectorate, 165! t -5d (1899). FIRTH, Mark (1819-80). An English steel manufacturer and philanthropist, born at Shef- field. He left school at the age of fourteen to enter the steel-works where his father was em- ployed. In 1843 he established his own business, which soon became very extensive and acquired a considerable trade in America. The firm manu- factured steel blocks for ordnance, spherical and elongated shot, and every variety of heavy forg- ings for engineering requirements. The manu- facturing and refining of steel from Swedish iron was successfully carried on; and nearly all the steel used in making English guns was produced by this firm. Firth was also celebrated as a public benefactor. His numerous gifts and en- dowments include the Mark Firth's Almshouses at Ranmoor, erected at a cost of £30,000, and con- sisting of thirty-six houses, left as a permanent legacy to the poor of Sheffield: a freehold park of thirty-six arte- for a recreation groundfopened by the Prince and Princess of Wales, August 16, 1875), and the Firth College, erected at a cost of