Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/79

F E L F E N 69 through the centre. Such, a carpet is the same on both sides, and for it great durability, thickness, softness, and elasticity are claimed. Among the leading mechanical ap plications of felt may be enumerated the covering of steam boilers and cylinders, the lining of damp walls, steam- packing, non-conductors for kilns and refrigerators, filters, polishing wheels, lining between the planking and metal sheathing of ships, printers blankets, and the covering of roofs. In the coarser qualities of felt cow-hair is the leading ingredient, and waterproof felting for roofs, &c., is impreg nated with artificial asphalt and like substances. This manufacture was originally introduced by Croggon and Co. of London under a patent of Dr Ritchie of Belfast ; but the "roofing felt" now made is a misnomer, seeing it is a bituminous compound simply held together by waste flax and other vegetable fibres. FELTHAM, OWEN, a moral writer, whose essays were extremely popular during the 17th century. He is believed to have been the son of Thomas Feltham or Felltham of Mutford in Suffolk, and he was probably born about 1G09. He was secretary to the earl of Thomond, under whose roof he wrote, when a youth of eighteen, a volume of one hundred Resolves, Divine, Moral, and Political, short and pithy essays, of which two editions saw the light in 1G28. Of this book, which the author constantly augmented, eleven editions were printed before 1700 and several since. To later issues of the Resolves Feltham appended Lusoria, a collection of forty poems. Hardly anything is known of his life, except that Randolph addressed a poem of compli ment to him, and became his friend, and that Feltham attacked Ben Jonson in an ode shortly before the aged poet s death, but contributed a flattering elegy to the Jonsonus Virbius in 1638. Early in life Feltham visited Flanders, and published his observations in 1G52 under the title of A Brief Character of the Loiv Countries. He was a Royalist and a strict high-churchman. It is supposed that he died soon after 1677. Hallam, with excessive severity, has stigmatized Feltham as one of our worst writers. He has not, indeed, the elegance of Bacon, whom he emulated, and he is often obscure and affected after the fashion of his time ; but his copious imagery and genuine penetration give his reflections a charm to those who have leisure to peruse them. To the middle classes of the 17th century he seemed a heaven-sent philosopher and guide, and was only less popular than Quarles the emblematist. An edition published at London in 1806 contains an account of the life and writings of Feltham by James Camming. FELTRE, the ancient Feltria, a town of northern Italy, in the province of Belluno, and 16 miles S.W. of the town of that name. It stands on a hill at the foot of the Alps near the Piave, and is partially fortified. It possesses a beautiful town-hall with fagades said to be by Palladio, a cathedral, numerous churches, an episcopal gymnasium, a diocesan school, and an orphan asylum. It has some trade in corn, wine, and oil, and manufactures of silk twist, wax, and leather. A money-lending establishment founded there in the 15th century still exists, and is said to be the oldest in Europe. Of the old castle, which was frequently besieged in the Venetian wars of the 14th and 15th centuries, little now remains but a square tower. The population of Feltre in 1871 was 4852, and including the suburbs 6570. FELTRE, MORTO DA, a painter of the Venetian school, who w T orkedat the close of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th. His real name appears to have been Pietro Luzzo ; he is also known by the name Zarato or Zarotto, apparently from the place of his death : whether he was termed Morto (dead) from his joyless temperament is a disputed point. He may probably have studied painting first in Venice, but under what master is uncertain. At an early age he went to Rome, and investigated the ancient, especially the subterranean remains, and thence to Pozzuoli, where he painted from the decorations of antique crypts or "grotte." The style of fanciful arabesque which he formed for himself from these studies gained the name of " grottesche," whence comes " grotesque ; " not, indeed, that Morto was the first painter of arabesque in the Italian Renaissance, for art of this kind had, apart from his influ ence, been fully developed, both in painting and in sculp ture, towards 1480, but he may have powerfully aided its diffusion southwards. His works were received with much favour in Rome. He afterwards went to Florence, and painted some fine grotesques in the Palazzo Pubblico. Re turning to Venice towards 1505, he assisted Giorgione in painting the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, and seems to have remained with him till 1511. If we may trust Ridolfi, Morto eloped with the mistress of Giorgione, whose grief at this transaction brought him to the grave ; the allegation, however, is hardly reconcilable with other accounts. It may have been after 1511 that Morto returned to his native Feltre, then in a very ruinous condition from the ravages of war in 1509. There he executed various works, including some frescoes, still partly extant, and considered to be almost worthy of the hand of Raphael, in the loggia beside San Stefano. Towards the age of forty-five Morto, unquiet and dissatisfied, abandoned painting and took to soldiering in the service of the Venetian republic. He was made captain of a troop of two hundred men ; and, fight ing valorously, he died at Zara in Dalmatia, in 1519, or perhaps somewhat later. One of his pictures is in the Berlin Museum, an allegorical subject of Peace and War. Andrea di Cosimo was his pupil and assistant as a decora tive painter. FENCING is the proper use of a small-sword or foil. The small-sword is a light court-dress sword, made to taper gradually from the hilt to the point, and of a size regulated by the judgment of the wearer, if he understand the use of the weapon. The foil with which the art of fencing is practised is a small quadrangular blade, about the length of a small-sword, and mounted in nearly the same manner ; but, for the convenience of the exercise, it is made lighter, blunted, and covered with leather at the point, to prevent accidents in practice. The first weapon in use among mankind, whether for offensive or defensive purposes, appears to have been the sword. The most ancient records make frequent mention of it. The early swords were probably made of wood, like those used by the natives of Mexico when first visited by the Spaniards ; but after the discovery of metals, bronze swords were introduced, of which kind many have at dif ferent times been found. As soon, however, as the art of tempering steel had been discovered, that metal super seded all other substances in the fabrication of arms ; nor is it probable that any change in this respect will take place, or that any further improvement is attainable. The form of sword, however, has varied at different times and in different countries. Those used by the Roman legions were short and strong, with a blade seldom exceeding nineteen inches in length, but two-edged, and calculated both for the cut and the thrust. The British swords, called spathce, were large, long, and heavy ; and the Saxon and the Norman partook of the same character. The ancient practice of the weapon was probably carried to its greatest perfection amongst the Romans, whose partiality for gladiatorial exhibitions formed a remarkable feature of their character. The various and complicated methods of combat in which that people took delight are either alluded to or described by most of their writers, particularly by Livy, Juvenal, Seneca, and Suetonius. The history of the modern small-sword or rapier is in volved in some obscurity. The latter term, though now