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manifests itself in a profligacy of public conduct, and a contempto! the obligations of religion and moral probity. 4. Fornicationperpetuates a disease, which may be accounted one of the sorestmaladies of human nature, and the effects of which are said tovisit the constitutions of even distant generations. The passionbeing natural, proves that it was intended to be gratified; but un-der what restrictions, or whether without any, must be collectedfront diderenl considerations. In the Scriptures, fornication isabsolutely and petemptorily condemned. ‘ Out of the heart pro-ceed cth evil thoughts, murder', adulteries, fornication', &c. thesepre the things which defile a man.’ These are Christ 's own words;and one word from him upon the subject is final. The apostlesare more full upon this topic. One well-known passage in theEpistle to the Hebrews may suffice, because, admitting the autho-rity by which the apostles wrote, it is decisive. ‘ Marriage andthe bed undeflled is honourable amongst all men, but whoremon-gers and adulterers God will judge;’ which was a great deal tosay, at a time when it was not agreed even amongst philosophersthat fornication was a crime. Mr. Paley adds the following justobservations, in his “ Moral and Political Philosophy,” p. 246.“ The Scriptures give no sanction to those austerities which havebeen since imposed upon the world under the name of Christ 'sreligion, as the celibacy of the clergy, the praise of perpetual vir-ginity, tlie prohilpUo concubitus cum gravida uxore ; but with ajust knowledge- of, and regard to, the condition and interest of thehuman species, have provided in the marriage of one man withone woman an adequate gratification for the propensities of theirnature, and have restrained them to that gratification. The avow-ed toleration, and in some countries the licensing, taxing, and re-gulating, of public brothels, lias appeared to the people, an autho-rizing of fornication, and has contributed, with other causes, so farto vitiate the public opinion, that there is no practice of which theimmorality is so little thought of, or acknowledged, althoughthere are few in which it can more plainly be made out. Thelegislators w ho have patronized receptacles of prostitution oughtto have foreseen this effect, as well as considered, that whateverfacilitates fornication, diminishes marriages. And as to the usualapology for this relaxed discipline, the danger of greater enor-mities if access to prostitutes were loo strictly watched and prohi-bited ; it will be time enough to look to that, after the laws andthe magistrates have done their utmost. The greatest vigilanceof both will do no more, than oppose some bounds and some dif-ficulties to this intercourse. And after all, these pretended fearsarc without foundation in experience. The men are in all re-spects the most virtuous in countries where the women are mostchaste. If fornication be criminal, all those incentives which leadto it are accessaries to tiie crime ; as lascivious conversation, whe-ther expressed in obscene, or disguised under modest phrases;
also wanton songs, pictures, books; the writing, . g, and
circulation of which, whether out of frolic or for some pitiful pro-fit, is productive of so extensive a mischief from so mean a temp-tation, that few crimes within the reach of private wickednesshave more to answer for, or less to plead in their excuse. Inde-cent conversation, and by parity of reason all the rest, are forbid-den by St. I’uul, Eph. iv. 29, < Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth ;’ and again, Col. iii. 8, ‘ I’ut tiltliv
communications out of your mouth.’ 'The invitation or volun-tary admission of impure thoughts, or the suffering them to getpossession of the imagination, falls within the same description,and is condemned by Christ , Matt. v. 28, ‘ Whosoever looketh
on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with heralready in his heart.’ Christ , bv thus enjoining a regulation ofthe thought, strikes at the root ot'the evil.”
FORNIX, in anatomy, part of the corpus callosum in thebrain ; so called, because of a distant resemblance it hath to thearches of ancient vaults w hen viewed in a particular manner.
FORSKOIILEA, in botany, a genus of tiie pentagynia order,and decandria class. Calyx four or live-leaved, longer than thecorolla ; petals ten, roundish before, with a linear base. Thereare three species.
FORS’I ER, John Reinhoi.d, a celebrated naturalist, wasborn in Pru sia in 1729. lie made, when young, a great progressin the learned and modern languages. In 1748 lie entered theuniversity of Halle, where lie studied divinity : from thence lieremoved to Dantzic, and commenced preacher, lie afterwards
went to Russia , in expectation of considerable preferment ; butbeing disappointed, lie proceeded to England, where for sometime be was tutor in the French and German languages at ar-rington. In 1772 lie accompanied Captain Cook on Ins voyageround the World , lie returned to England in 1773, and was ho-noured by the university of Oxford with the degree of LL. I).Having published, contrary to the engagement entered into withgovernment, a botanical account of plants discovered in this voy-age, he was treated with such coolness, that lie quitted Englandand went to Halle, where he was made professor of natural his-tory. lie died in 1798. Fie was the author of Obsenationsmade in a Voyage round the World ; History of Voyages andDiscoveries in the North ; on the Byssus of the Ancients; severalPapers in the Philosophical 'Transactions, the.
FORSTA, a town of Eusatia, on the Neiss, 54 miles N. N. E.of Dresden .
FORS'FERA , in botany, a genus of the diandria order, andgynandria class of plants. Periantliium double ; exterior one be-neath, three-leaved ; interior one above, six-deft; corolla tubular.
FORSTER’S Haiiuouk, a bay in Hudson’s Strait, Hudson’sBay. Ton. 73. 30. W. Lat. 62. 18. N.
FORT, in the military art, a small fortified place, environedon all sides with a moat, rampart, and parapet, its use is to se-cure some high ground, or the passage of a river, to make goodan advantageous post, to defend the lines and quarters of a siege,&c. Forts are made of different figures and extents, according asthe ground requires. Some are fortified with bastions, otheiswith demi-bastions. Some again are in form of a square, others ofa pentagon. A fort differs from a citadel, as this last is built tocommand some town.
FORTALICE, in Scots law, signified anciently a small placeof strength, originally built for tiie defence of the country ; andwhich on that account was formerly reckoned inter regalia, anddid not go along with the lands upon which it was situated, with-out a special grant from the crown. Now, forlalices are carriedby a general grant of tiie lands ; and the word is become synony-mous with manor-place, messuage, &c.
FORTESCUE, Sir John, lord high chancellor of England,under Henry VI . was descended from an ancient family in De-vonshire. lie studied the municipal law in Lincoln's Inn, ofwhich lie was made a governor, in the fourth and seventh years ofHenry VI . In 1430, lie was made a serjeant at law, and, in 1441,king’s serjeant. In 1442 he was made lord chief justice of theking’s bench ; and afterwards lord high chancellor. During thereign of Edward IV. he was many years in exile with Queen Mar-garet and Prince Edward her son. When they returned to Eng-, land, Sir John Fortescue accompanied them, but soon after the de-cisive battle of Tewksbury, he was thrown into prison and attaint-ed, with other Lancastrians; but was pardoned tiy Edward IV.He wrote, 1. A Commentary on the Politic Haws of England ; toone edition of which Mr. Selden wrote notes. 2. 'Flic differencebetween an absolute and a limited Monarchy, as it more particu-larly regards the English Constitution (which was published, withsome remarks, by John Fortescue, afterwards Lord Fortescue , in8vo. in 1714; anda second edition was published, with amend-ments, in 1719;) and several works which still remain in Mb.He died, near 90 years of age, and was buried in the parish'church of Ehburton, where a monument was erected to his me*inory in 1677.
FORTH, in geography, one of the finest rivers in Scotland .It takes its rise near the bottom of Lomond hills; and vunnim?from W. to E. receives in ift passage many considerable stream?,deriving theii waters from the eminences in the midland countiesof North Britain. Below Alloa the river expands itself to. a gr e;itbreadth between the counties of Lothian and Fife, till at Queens'berry it is contracted by promuiitoriesshooting into it from bothcoasts; so that, from being four or live miles broad, it is nothove two miles. .
Forth and Ci.yde Navigation. By these rivers, Scotland is almost divided into two parts. The Forth falls into the E-b'-low Edinburgh, and the Clyde falls into the Atlantic Ocean , > )C 'low Glasgow , and the neck of land between them iim©n» tl "bscarcely to 24 miles, gave rise to the idea of a junction, so as to °l ,r Jja communication across tiie kingdom, ail object of vast utility, '•»*which was at la»t happily completed, on the 28th July, 1790.