Chapter Factor to Fair Maid of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Factor to Fair Maid

Factor An agent; a substitute in mercantile affairs; a commission merchant. (Latin, facio, to do, whence the French facteur, one who does something for an employer.)

"Asleep and naked as an Indian lay,
An honest factor stole a gem away."
Pope: Moral Essays, Ep. iii. 361.

   Thomas Pitt, ancestor of the Earl of Chatham, was appointed by Queen Anne Governor of Fort St. George, in the East Indies, and in 1702 purchased there, for £20,400, a diamond weighing 127 carats, which he sold to the King of France. This gem is still called the Pitt diamond. Pope insinuates that Pitt stole the diamond. This is not exactly true. He obtained it for a price much below its value, and threatened the thief with exposure if he made a fuss about the matter.

Factotum One who does for his employer all sorts of services. Sometimes called a Johannes Factotum. Our "Jack-of-all-trades" does not mean a factotum, but one who does odd jobs for anyone who will pay him. (Latin, facere totum, to do everything required.)

Fad (A). A hobby, a temporary fancy, a whim. A contraction of faddle in "fiddle-faddle."

"Among the fads that Charley had taken up for a time was that of collecting old prints." - Eggleston: Faith Doctor, chap. iii.

Fada A fée or kobold of the south of France, sometimes called "Hada." These house- spirits, of which, strictly speaking, there are but three, bring good luck in their right hand and ill luck in their left.

Fadda Mahomet's white mule.

Fadge (1 syl.). To suit or fit together, as, It won't fadge; we cannot fadge together; he does not fadge with me. (Anglo-Saxon, fægen, to fit together; Welsh, ffag, what tends to unite.)

"How will this fadge?"
Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, ii. 2.

Fadge A farthing. A corrupt contraction of fardingal, i.e. farthingale. (See Chivy.)

Fadha (Al). Mahomet's silver cuirass, confiscated from the Jews on their expulsion from Medina.

Fadladeen' The great Nazir', or chamberlain of Aurungze'bë's harem, in Lalla Rookh. The criticism of this self-conceited courtier upon the several tales which make up the romance are very racy and full of humour; and his crest-fallen conceit when he finds out that the poet was the Prince in disguise is well conceived.

"He was a judge of everything - from the pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deepest questions of science and literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose-leaves to the composition of an epic poem ... all the cooks and poets of Delhi stood in awe of him." - T. Moore.

Faërie or Feerie. The land of the fays or faeries. The chief fay realms are Avalon, an island somewhere in the ocean; Oberon's dominions, situate "in wilderness among the holtis hairy;" and a realm somewhere in the middle of the earth, where was Pari Banou's palace.

"For learnëd Colin [Spenser] lays his pipes to gage,
And is to Faëry gone a pilgrimage."
Drayton: Eclogue, iii.

Faërie Queene A metrical romance in six books, by Edmund Spenser (incomplete). It details the adventures of various knights, who impersonate different virtues, and belong to the court of Gloriana, Queen of faërie land.
   The first book contains the legend of the Red Cross Knight (the spirit of Christianity), and is by far the best. The chief subject is the victory of Holiness over Error. It contains twelve cantos.
   The second book is the legend of Sir Guyon (the golden mean), in twelve cantos.
   The third book is the legend of Britomartis (love without lust), in twelve cantos. Britomartis is Diana, or Queen Elizabeth the Britoness.
   The fourth book is the legend of Cambel and Triamond (fidelity), in twelve cantos.
   The fifth book is the legend of Artegal (justice), in twelve cantos.
   The sixth book is the legend of Sir Calidore (courtesy), in twelve cantos.
   There are parts of a seventh book - viz. cantos 6 and 7, and two stanzas of canto three. The