Chapter Fons et Origo to Foot of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Fons et Origo to Foot

Fons et Origo (Latin). The primary cause. Fax et focus, the instigator, as Juno was the fax et focus of the Trojan war.

Font in printing, sometimes called Fount, a complete set of type of any one size, with all the usual points and accents; a font consists of about 100,000 characters. The word is French, fonte, from fondre (to melt or cast). When a letter of a different type to the rest gets into a page it is called a "wrong font," and is signified in the margin by the two letters wf. (See Type.)
   Taken to the font. Baptised. The font is a vessel employed for baptism.

Fontarabia Now called Fuenterrabia (in Latin, Fons rapidus), near the Gulf of Gascony. Here, according to Mariana and other Spanish historians, Charlemagne and all his chivalry fell by the sword of the Spanish Saracens. Mezeray and the French writers say that, the rear of the king's army being cut to pieces, Charlemagne returned and revenged their death by a complete victory.

"When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell
By Fontarabia."
Milton: Paradise Lost, book i. 587.

Food Sir Walter Scott remarks that live cattle go by Saxon names, and slain meat by Norman-French, a standing evidence that the Normans were the lords who ate the meat, and the Saxons the serfs who tended the cattle. Examples:
   Sheep Ox Calf Hog Pig (Saxon).
   Mutton Beef Veal Bacon Pork (Norman- French).
   Food of the gods. (See Ambrosia, Nectar.)

Food for Powder Raw recruits levied in times of war.

Foods and Wines Gastronomic curiosities.
   Foods.
   Sterlets from the Volga.
   Eels from the Tiber.
   Grouse from Scotland.
   Bustards from Sweden.
   Bears' feet from the Black Forest.
   Bison humps from America.
   Fillet of beef à la Chateaubriand.
   Ortolans à la Lucullus.

   Wines.

   Old Madeira with the soup.
   Chateau-Filhot `58 with the side dishes
   Johannisberger and Pichon- Longueville with the relevés.
   Chateau-Lafitte `48 with the entrées.
   Sparkling Moselle with the roast.

Fool In chess, the French call the "bishop" fou, and used to represent the piece in a fool's dress; hence, Regnier says, "Les fous sont aux échecs les plus proches des Rois" (14 Sat.). Fou is a corruption of the Eastern word Fol (an elephant), as Thomas Hyde remarks in his Ludis Orientalibus (i. 4), and on old boards the places occupied by our "bishops" were occupied by elephants.
   A Tom Fool. A person who makes himself ridiculous. (See Tom.)

"The ancient and noble family of Tom Fool."
- Quarterly Review.

Fool [a food ], as gooseberry fool, raspberry fool, means gooseberries or raspberries pressed. (French, fouler, to press.)

Fool Thinks As the fool thinks, so the bell clinks (Latin, "Quod valde volumus facile credimus"). A foolish person believes what he desires.

Fool in his Sleeve Every man hath a fool in his sleeve. No one is always wise. The allusion is to the tricks of jugglers.
   The wisest fool in Christendom. James I. was so called by Henri IV. but he learnt the phrase of Sully.

Fool or Physician at Forty Plutarch tells us that Tiberius said "Every man is a fool or his own physician at forty." (Treatise on the Preservation of Health.)

Fools (French, fol, Latin, follis.)
   (1) The most celebrated court fools:
   (a) Dagonet, jester of King Arthur; Rayère, of Henry I.; Scogan, of Edward IV.; Thomas Killigrew, called "King Charles's jester" (1611-1682); Archie Armstrong, jester in the court of James I. (died 1672).
   (b) Thomas Derrie, jester in the court of James I.
   (c) James Geddes, jester to Marry Queen of Scots. His predecessor was Jenny Colquhoun.
   (d) Patch, the court fool of Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII.
   (e) Will Somers, Henry VIII.'s jester. He died 1560.
   (f) W. F. Wallet, jester in the court of Queen Elizabeth.
   (g) Triboulet, jester of Louis XII. and Francois I. (1487- 1536); Brusquet, of whom Brantôme says "he never had his equal in repartee" (1512-1563); Chicot, jester