Feast of Charity, or Love. See Ag.4p.e; Love-feast.
Feast of Fools, a festival celebrated during the Middle Ages in many countries of Europe, especiallj- in France, with grotesque ceremonies. It was an imi- tation of the Saturnalia, and, like that festival, was celebrated in December. The chief celebration fell on New Year's or Innocents' Day ; but the feast con- tinued from Christmas to the last Sunday of Epipha- ny. At first only the j'oung boj's of the choir and young sacristans plaj'ed the principal parts in it, but afterwards all the inferior servants of the Church were engaged, the bishop and the superior clergymen, with the canons, forming the audience. The young people who played the chief parts chose from their own num- ber a bishop or archbishop of fools, as he was called, and consecrated him, in the principal church of the place, with many absurd ceremonies. This mock- bishop then took the seat usually occupied bj' the bish- op, and caused high mass to be said. During the per- formance, the others who took part in the play, dressed in masks and different disguises, engaged in indecent songs and dances, and practised all kinds of follies. • It fell into disuse in the loth centurj', but some of its features yet remain in the Carnival (q. v.). — Tilliot, Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire de hi fete desfoux (Lau- sanne, 1751); Schrcickh, Kirchengeschichte, xxviii, 271 ; xxxii, 55 ; Siegel, Christl. -Kirchl. Alterthilmer, iv, 115. See Boy-bishop.
Feather. 1. riS''i3 or n^b, notsah' (from n:i3, to fy), a pinion or wing-feather, Ezek. xvii, 3, 7 (falsely "ostrich" in Job xxxix, 13; but it means the excre- ment of the crop in Lev. i, 16). 2. M"iSX, ebrah' (fem. of ^3N, Isa. xl, 21, which has the same meaning), likewise apinio7i or wing-feather, Psa. Ixviii, 13 ; xci, 4 (inexactly "wing," Deut. xxxii, 11; Job xxxix, 13). 3. Incorrectlj' for Il"l'^pf1, chasidah'. Job xxxix, 13, the stork, as elsewhere rendered. See Wing.
Feathering, or Foliation, an arrangement of small arcs, separated by projecting points or cusps, to ornament the inside of larger arches, or triangular or circular openings in Gothic architecture. Feathering was first introduced at the close of the earlv English style, and continued till the supplanting of the Gothic by the Renaissance architecture. When smaller arcs are added to ornament these small arcs, the feathering is said to be double. It is also sometimes made triple in the latest decadence of the Gothic architecture. — Parker, Glossary of A rchitecture.
Feathers' Tavern Association, a society of Englishmen, clergj-men and laymen, formed to secure a reformation of the English liturgy in the latter part of the 18th century. The name is derived from the "Feathers' Tavern," in London, where their meetings were held. The number of clergj^men in the body was nearly 300. Gilbert Wakefield (q. v.) was a lead- ing spirit in the association. "The}' signed a petition requesting the excision of the damnatory clauses in the Athanasian Creed, and the relief of their con- sciences in the matter of subscription ; and with this, no doubt, many of them would have been satisfied. But the laity went much further. In the war of pam- phlets which this affair created, some of them spoke of the Reformation, the doctrine of the Trinity, and the Thirty-nine Articles with ridicule. When the matter was debated in the House of Commons, the doctrines of the Church of England were treated with contempt. ' I would gladl}' exchange all the Thirty- nine Articles, 'said one of the speakers, 'for a fortieth, of which the subject should be the peace of the Church.' The doctrine of the Trinity was denounced bj' one of the writers of the association as ' an imposition — a de- ception of a much later date than Athanasius — a de- ception, too, on which an article of faith is rested.' The whole system of Christian doctrine, as taught by the Church of England, was assailed. The same writer affirms, with a degree of effrontery that might
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well rouse the indigration of the clergy, ' that certain parts ill the public service and doctrine of the Church are acknowledged by ever^' clergyman of learning and candor to be unscriptural and unfounded ; no man of sense and learning can maintain them' {Hints submit- ted to the Association, etc., etc., by a Layman, 178&). Bishop Horsley answered with force, but with the un- becoming asperity which defaces all his controversial writings." The society was not long-lived, and, for many j-ears after, any voice raised in the Church of England in favor of liturgical revision was silenced bj' the mention of "the J'eathers' Tavern." — Marsden, Churches and iSects, i, 314 ; Baxter, Church History of Englaml (London, 1849), p. 6G8.
Featly, Daniel, D.D., a learned divine, was born at Charlton, near Oxford, in 1582. His fatter was cook at Corpus Christi College, where the son received his education. In 1610, Sir Thomas Edmunds, ambas- sador of king James to France, chose him as his chap- lain at Paris, where he spent three years, and did great honor to the English nation and the Protestant cause. After his return he became successively rector of Northill in Cornwall, of Lambeth in Surrej'', and of All-hallows in London. This last he soon changed for Acton in Middlesex, and then became provost of Chelsea College. In 1626 he published his Ancilli Piefatts, or "The Handmaid to Private Devotion," which went through many editions. In 1643 he was appointed one of the assembly of divines, and was a witness against archbishop Laud. Hej'lin said of him that he always was a Calvinist in liis heart, but he never showed it opanly till then. But the Parliament- aiy party soon took offence at him, and he was thrown into prison, where he remained six months, and where h3 chiefly composed his celebrated answer to the Jes- uit's challenge published under the name of Roma Ruens. Nearly at the same time he wrote a book against the Baptists, called The Dipper Bipt. His suf- ferings in prison brought on the dropsy, of which he died April 1, 1645. Among his many writings (a list of which may be found in Wood's A thence Oxonienses) are Clavis Mystica, a key opening divers mystej-ious texts of Scripture, in 70 semions (Lond. 1636, fol.) : — Hex- atexium, or six cordials against the terrors of death (London, 1637, fol.).— Hook, Eccles. Biog. v, 59 ; Mid- dleton, Biog. Evangel, vol. iii; Neal, History of thz Puritans, Harper's edit., i, 473; ii, 20 sq.