Fig. 306. Ostrich feathers. (An escroll for a coronet.)
Feathers, Her. The feathers borne as crests and badges are generally those of the ostrich, sometimes of the swan, the turkey, and a few other birds. Fig. [306] is a representation of an early plume of ostrich feathers, as they are carved, with an escroll in place of a coronet, in the Abbey Church of St. Albans. From the time of the accession of the House of Stuart to the crown of the United Kingdom, the coroneted plume of three ostrich feathers appears to have been regarded, as it is at this present day, as the special badge of the Princes of Wales.
Februa, Februales, R. A festival in honour of the dead instituted by Numa; it was celebrated every year on the ides of February.
Feet. In Christian art the feet of Our Lord, also of angels and of the Apostles, should always be represented naked, without shoes or sandals. (Fairholt.)
Felt (Fr. feutre). A sort of coarse wool, or wool and hair. Felt hats were first made in England by Spaniards and Dutchmen, in the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII. Felt was also used for the stuffing of garments.
Feminalia or Femoralia, R. (femur, the thigh). Short breeches or a kind of drawers which reached from the waist to about the knee. [Worn by Augustus Cæsar, who was very susceptible to cold.]
Fendace (armour). The old name for the gorget.
Fenestella, Chr. (lit. a small window). A niche made in the wall of a church, near the altar, and containing the stone basin in which the priest poured away the water in which he had washed the chalice.
Fenestra, Window. Fenestra biforis is a Gemel-window, formed by a double bay. Fenestra was the name given to the hole pierced in the ears to receive the ear-rings, as also to the loop-holes made in the walls of a fortress.
Fenestration, Arch. A term which expresses the disposition and arrangement of all the windows in a house.