Chapter Flea to Flins of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

together with the Roding, the Lea, the Ravensbourne, and the Wandle, now serve as sewers to the great metropolis.

Fleet of the Desert A caravan.

Flemish Account A sum less than that expected. In Antwerp accounts were kept in livres, sols, and pence; but the livre or pound was only 12s. In Notes and Queries we have an example of a Flemish account, where £373 Flemish becomes £213 2s. 10d. English.

Flemish School A school of painting established by the brothers Van Eyck, in the fifteenth century. The chief early masters were Memling, Weyden, Matsys, Mabus, and Moro. Of the second period, Rubens and Vandyck, Snyders, Jordaens, Gaspar de Crayer, and the younger Teniers.

Flesh and Blood Human nature, as "Flesh and blood cannot stand it."

Flesh-pots Sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt. Hankering for good things no longer at your command. The children of Israel said they wished they had died "when they sat by the flesh-pots of Egypt" (Exodus xvi. 3) - i.e. when they sat watching the boilers which contained the meat they were to have for dinner. The expression also means abundance of appetising food.

Fleshed He fleshed his sword. Used it for the first time. Men fleshed in cruelty - i.e. initiated or used to it. A sportsman's expression. When a sportsman wishes to encourage a young dog or hawk, he will allow it to have the first game it catches for its own eating. This "flesh" is the first it has tasted, and fleshing its tooth thus gives the creature a craving for similar food. Hence, also, to eat with avidity.

"The wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent."
Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., iv. 5.

Fleshly School (The). A class of "realistic" British poets, such as Swinburne, Rossetti, Morris, etc. So called by Thomas Maitland [R. Buchanan ] in the Contemporary Review.

Fleta An excellent treatise on the common law of England, written in the fourteenth century by an unknown writer while a prisoner in the Fleet.

Fleur-de-Luce A corruption of Fleur-de-Lis. (See Flag .) In Italian the white iris is called fiordilisa. Made thus.

"They may give the dozen white luces in their coat." - Shakespeare: Merry Wives, i. 1.

Fleurs-de-Lys In the reign of Louis VII. (1137-1180) the national standard was thickly charged with flowers. In 1365 the number was reduced by Charles VI. to three (the mystical church number). Guillim, in his Display of Heraldrie, 1611, says the device is "Three toads erect, saltant;" in allusion to which Nostradamus, in the sixteenth century, calls Frenchmen crapauds (toads). Recently it has been thought that the device is really a "bee flying," because certain ornaments resembling bees were found in the tomb of Childeric, father of Clovis, when it was opened in 1653. These bees are now generally believed to be the fleurons of horse-trappings, and quite independent of the emblem.
   The fleur-de-lys or lily-flower was chosen by Flavio Gioja to mark the north point of the compass, out of compliment to the King of Naples, who was of French descent (1302).

Flibbertigibbet One of the five fiends that possessed "poor Tom." Shakespeare got it from Bishop Harsnet's account of the Spanish invasion, where we are told of forty fiends which the Jesuits cast out, and among the number was Fliberdigibet. Shakespeare says he "is the fiend of mopping and mowing, who possesses chambermaids and waiting women" (King Lear, iv. 2). And, again, that he "begins at curfew and walks till the first cock," giving men pins and needles, squint eyes, hare-lips, and so on. (Shakespeare: Lear, iii. 4.)

Flic (French). A policeman or sergeant de ville. "Une allusion à l'épée des sergents de ville, ou plutót aux flèches des archers primitifs" (Raille). Hence "flic-flacs," thumps and thwacks.