the field of battle on which the achievements
or charges represented on it are supposed to have
been gained. In blazoning, the tincture or metal of
the field must be the first thing mentioned.
FIELD-ALLOWANCE, a daily allowance
granted to officers of the British army in consi-
deration of extra expense entailed upon them in
allowance, ranging from £1, 10s. for a general officer
to 1s. for a subaltern, is applicable when troops are
encamped at home or in the colonies. Hatra-
ordinary field-allowance is sanctioned when and
wherever troops are engaged in actual warfare : it
Strict rules are laid down that no officer shall
receive this allowance unless positively present with
the army.
FIELD-GLASS, is the lens usually interposed
between the object-glass and eye-glass of a micro-
scope, which, receiving the diverging rays from
the former before they form an image, contracts
the dimensions of the image, and increases its
brightness, so as to rehder it of a proper size
and degree of distinctness for being viewed by
means of the eye-glass. See FieLp or View, and
Microscore.
FIELD-MARSHAL, the highest rank of general
officers in the British and some foreign armies. In
the former, it is a special honour enjoyed by very few
officers, and only conferred by selection, either on
the ground of distinguished service or of royal birth.
When unemployed, the field-marshal has no higher
pay than any other general, but if commanding an
army, he receives £16, 8s. 9d. a day for staff-pay,
while a general has but £9, 9s. 64. The equiva-
lent rank in the navy is that of admiral of the
appointed, who had rank higher even than a field-
marshal.
certain species both of Mouse and of Vorr. See
these articles.
FIELD-OFFICERS, in the Army, are such as
are competent to command whole battalions—viz
majors, lieutenani-colonels, colonels—in contradis-
tinction to those merely intrusted with company
duties, as captains, lientenants, and ensigns.
FIELD OF VIEW is the whole space within
the image of an object may be seen by whole
pencils. That part of the image which is seen by
partial pencils of the light from the object speculum
diaphragm is employed to cut it off from the view of |
the observer altogether.
FIELD-TRAIN, a department of the Royal
Artillery, consisting of commissaries and conductors
ammunition, for the formation of proper depots of
shot, &c., between the front and the base of opera-
‘ tions, and that a due proportion shall be constantly
at the service of each gun during an engagement.
FIELD-WORKS are intrenchments and other |
temporary fortifications thrown up by an army in
the field, either as a protection from the onslaught |
of a hostile force, or to cover an attack upon some
stronghold. Field-works will be more particularly |
described under the article FORTIFICATION (9. v.).
FIELDFARE (7Turdus pilaris), a species of
Thrush (q. v.), in size about equal to the blackbird,
but with greater length of wing ; the general colour
gray, the feathers tipped with a brownish black
elongated spot; the throat and breast reddish
FIELD-ALLOWANCE—FIELDING.
consequence of military operations. Ordinary field- |
ranges for the above ranks from £2, 10s. to 1s. 6d. |
fleet. Formerly, a captain-general was occasionally |
FIELD-MOUSE, a name popularly given to |
which objects can be seen through an optical instru- 3
ment ; more strictly, it is the space within which |
or lens is called the ragged edge, and usually a |
| and 1736 he produced nearly a score of comedies
of stores, responsible for the safe custody of the |
| and F., whose strong, healthy, unconventional nature
yellow, streaked and spotted with black ; the fore-
part of the back and wings of a rich brown colour s
the tail slightly forked and nearly black; the
under parts white. The F. is a very common winter
visitant of Britain, although it rarely breeds even in
Fieldfare (Zurdus pilaris).
the northern parts of the island. It arrives from
more northern regions when the winter has fully
come, and departs again towards the end of spring.
| It is well known to youthful sportsmen, and affords
| much employment for their guns during the Christ-
' mas holidays, when it may - generally be found in
small flocks—often along with its smaller congener,
the redwing—in fields, if the weather is mild,
| feeding on worms, snails, &c., or, in severe weather,
| about hedges, thickets, and woods, wherever haws
and other such fruits or seeds are abundant. Its
winter migrations extend southward as far at least
as the islands of the Mediterranean. It is one of
the summer songsters of the north of Europe and of
| Siberia ; its song is soft and melodious, but is much
less familiar to us in Britain than its call-note,
which is harsh. It is extremely plentiful in Nor-
way, where its nests are very generally built in
| spruce firs, and, contrary to the ordinary habits of
thrushes, in society ; numerous nests being often to
be found in the same tree, and ‘two hundred nests
or more being frequently seen within a very small
space” The F. is easily tamed, and sings ‘well in
captivity.
FIELDING, HENRY, born April 22, 1707, was
the son of General Edmund Fielding, connected
| with the Earls of Denbigh. He was sent to Eton,
| and was afterwards transferred to the university of
Leyden, to prosecute legal studies. Returning to
London, he began to write for the stage, and
worked with so much industry that between 1727
and farces, which were forgotten with nearly as
| much speed as they were produced. He married in
1736, and falling heir to a small estate, he, with his
young wife, retired from London. But his was not
a Fortunatus’s purse, and his hand was continually
in it ; and in three years after his marriage, he was
back in London a student at the Temple. He was
called to the bar at the usual time, but gout inter-
vening, steady practice was rendered impossible.
Happily, a way of escape was at hand. Richardson
published Pamela ; the town was ringing with it ;
revolted from the moral priggishness of ¢ Virtue
Rewarded, resolved to write a counterpart, pur-
porting to be the adventures of Pamela’s brother,
Joseph Andrews. This work, begun in a satirical
mood, and intended merely to quiz Richardson,
deepened as it proceeded, and flowered out into
humorous adventure. The exquisite character of
317