FEDERATION, THE CHAMPS-DE-MARS, a grand fete celebrated in the Champs-de-Mars, Paris, on July 14, 1790, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille, at which deputies from the newly instituted departments assisted to the number of 80,000, as well as deputies from other nations, “Swedes, Spaniards, Polacks, Turks, Chaldeans, Greeks, and dwellers in Mesopotamia,” representatives of the human race, “with three hundred drummers, twelve hundred wind-musicians, and artillery planted on height after height to boom the tidings all over France, the highest recorded triumph of the Thespian art.”  Louis XVI. too assisted at the ceremony, and took solemn oath to the constitution just established in the interest of mankind.  See Carlyle’s “French Revolution.”

FEHMGERICHT.  See VEHMGERICHTE.

FEITH, a Dutch poet, born at Zwolle, where, after studying at Leyden, he settled and died; his writings include didactic poems, songs, and dramas; had a refining influence on the literary taste of his countrymen (1753-1824).

FELICITE, ST., a Roman matron, who with her seven sons suffered martyrdom in 164.  Festival, July 10.

FELIX, the name of five popes:  F. I., ST., Pope from 269 to 274, said to have been a victim of the persecution of Aurelius; F. II., Pope from 356 to 357, the first anti-pope having been elected in place of the deposed Liberius who had declined to join in the persecution of ATHANASIUS (q. v.), was banished on the restoration of Liberius; F. III., Pope from 483 to 492, during his term of office the first schism between the Eastern and Western Churches took place; F. IV., Pope from 526 to 530, was appointed by Theodoric in face of the determined opposition of both people and clergy; F. V., Pope from 1439 to 1449.  See AMADEUS VIII..

FELIX, CLAUDIUS, a Roman procurator of Judaea in the time of Claudius and Nero; is referred to in Acts xxiii. and xxiv. as having examined the Apostle Paul and listened to his doctrines; was vicious in his habits, and formed an adulterous union with Drusilla, said by Tacitus to have been the granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra; was recalled in A.D. 62.

FELIX HOLT, a novel of George Eliot’s, written in 1866.

FELL, JOHN, a celebrated English divine; Royalist in sympathy, he continued throughout the Puritan ascendency loyal to the English Church, and on the Restoration became Dean of Christ Church and a royal chaplain; was a good man and a charitable, and a patron of learning; in 1676 was raised to the bishopric of Oxford; was the object of the well-known epigram, “I do not like thee, Dr. Fell, The reason why I cannot tell” (1625-1686).

FELLAH, the name applied contemptuously by the Turks to the agricultural labourer of Egypt; the Fellahin (pl. of Fellah) comprise about three-fourths of the population; they are of good physique, and capable of much toil, but are, despite their intelligence and sobriety, lazy and immoral; girls marry at the age of 12, and the children grow up amidst the squalor of their mud-built villages; their food is of the poorest, and scarcely ever includes meat; tobacco is their only luxury; their condition has improved under British rule.