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ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA.
4
Cncpclopactita Bntaiuuca
OR, A
DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND MISCELLANEOUS
LITERATURE;
ENLARGED AND IMPROVED.
THE SIXTH EDITION.
Sllusitratetr iutti) neatlp stv ftunliret* (Dngrabmgs!.
VOL. XL
INDOCTI DISCANT ; AMENT MEMINISSE PERITI.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY;
AND HURST, ROBINSON, AND COMPANY, 90, CHEAPSIDE,
LONDON.
1823.
♦ ♦
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•‘I'N.a*
Encyclopedia Britannica.
H Y D
Hydrogra- TTYDROGRAPHICAL Charts or Maps, more
phica! XJ. usually called sea-charts, are projections of some
Kydronic! P|art thG ^ °r C°aSt’ f°r tlle USC °f nav*gat»on. In
*— * these are laid down all the rhumbs or points of the
compass, the meridians, parallels, &c. with the coasts,
capes, islands, rocks, shoals, shallows, &c. in their pro-
per places and proportions.
HYDROGRAPHY, the art of measuring and
describing the sea, rivers, canals, lakes, &c.—With
regard to the sea, it gives an account of its tides,
counter-tides, soundings, bays, gulfs, creeks, &c. ; as
also of the rocks, shelves, sands, shallows, promonto¬
ries, harbours j the distance and bearing of one port
from another j with every thing that is remarkable,
whether out at sea or on the coast.
HYDROLEA, a genus of plants belonging to the
pentandria class, and in the natural method ranking
with those of which the order is doubtful. See Bo¬
tany Index.
HYDROMANCY, a method of divination by wa
ter, practised by the ancients. See Divination N° *7
HYDROMEL, honey dilated in nearly an’eqJ
weight of water. When this liquor has not fermented
it is called simple hydromel; and when it has under
gone the spmtuous fermentation, it is called the vinou.
hydromel or mead.
Honey, like all saccharine substances, vegetable 01
animal, is susceptible of fermentation in general, anc
particularly of the spirituous fermentation. To in.
duce this fermentation, nothing is necessary but to di¬
lute it sufficiently in water, and to leave this liquoi
exposed to a convenient degree of heat. To make
good vinous hydromel or mead, the whitest, purest
and best tasted honey must be chosen ; and this must
oe put into a kettle with more than its weight of wa¬
ter : a part of this liquor must be evaporated by boil¬
ing, and the liquor scummed, till its consistence is
such that a fresh egg shall be supported upon its sur-
face without sinking more than half its thickness into
1 , ,(luor 5 then the liquor is to be strained and pour¬
ed through a funnel into a barrel : this barrel, which
ought to be nearly full, must be exposed to a heat as
equable as is possible, from 20 to 27 or 28 degrees of
, r R^umur’s thermometer, taking care that the
King-hole be slightly covered, but not closed. The
puenomena of the spirituous fermentation will appear
1W XI °Partni WiH SUbsist two or three
H Y D
months, according to the degree of heat; after which Hydiomel
they will diminish and cease. During this fermenta- H
tion, the barrel must be filled up occasionally with
more of the same kind of liquor of honey, some of - P Ul”l‘
which ought to be kept apart on purpose to replace
the liquor which flows out of the barrel in froth.
When the fermentation ceases, and the liquor has be¬
come very vinous, the barrel is then to be put in a
cellar and well closed. A year afterwards the mead
will be fit to be put into bottles.
The vinous hydromel or mead is an agreeable kind
of wine: nevertheless it retains long a taste of honey,
which is unpleasing to some persons j but this taste it
is said to lose entirely by being kept a very long time.
1 he spirituous fermentation of honey, as also that
of sugar, and of the most of vinous liquors, when it is
very saccharine, is generally effected with more difficul-
ty, requires more heat, and continues longer, than that
of ordinary wines made from the juice of grapes ; and
these vinous liquors always preserve a saccharine taste
which shows that a part only of them is become spiri¬
tuous. f
HYDROMETER, an instrument to measure the
gravity, density, &c. of water and other fluids. For
an account of different hydrometers, see Hydrody¬
namics.
HYDROMPHALUS, in Medicine and Surgery,
a tumor in the navel, arising from a collection of wa¬
ter.
HYDROPHANES, or Oculus Mundi, a kind
of precious stone, which becomes transparent in water
much esteemed by the ancients.
HA DROPHOBIA, an aversion or dread of water :
a terrible symptom of the rabies canina; and which has
likewise been found to take place in violent inflamma¬
tions of the stomach and in hysteric fits. See IMedicine
Index
HYDROPHYLACIA, a word used by Kircher
and some others who have written in the same system,
to express those great reservoirs of water which he
places in the Alps and other mountains for the supply
of rivers which run through the several lower countries.
This he makes to be one of the great uses of mountains
in the economy of the universe.
HYDROPHYLLAX, a genus of plants belon^ino
to the tetrandria class. See Botany Index.
HYDROPHYLLUM, Water-leaf, a genus of
A plants
H Y G [ 2 ] H Y G
Hydro- plants belonging to the pentandria class, and in the na-
phjllum tural method ranking with those of which the order is
H doubtful. See Botany Index.
ur.me* HYDROPS, in Medicine, the same with Dropsy.
■ v ‘ ■ liYDROSCOPE, an instrument anciently used for
measuring time.
The hydroscope was a kind of water-clock, consist¬
ing of a cylindrical tube, conical at bottom : the cy¬
linder was graduated, or marked out with divisions, to
which the top of the water becoming successively con¬
tinuous, as it trickled out at the vertex of the cone,
pointed out the hour.
HYDROSTATICS, is that branch of physics which
treats of the weight, pressure, and equilibrium of fluids.
See Hydrodynamics.
HYDROTHORx\X, a collection of water in the
breast. See Medicine Index.
HYDRUNTUM, in Ancient GeograpJnj, a noble
and commodious port of Calabria, from which there
was a shorter passage to Apollonia (Pliny). Famous
for ifs antiquity, and for the fidelity and bravery of its
inhabitants. Now Otranto, a city of Naples, at the
entrance of the gulf of Venice. E. Long. 19. 15. N.
Lat. 40. 12.
HYEMANTES, in the primitive church, offend¬
ers who had been guilty of such enormities, that they
were not allowed to enter the porch of the churches
with the other penitents, but were obliged to stand
without, exposed to all the inclemency of the wea¬
ther.
HYGEIA, in Mythology. See Health.
HYGIEINE, 'rynm (formed of “ sound,
healthy”), that branch of medicine which considers
health, and discovers proper means and remedies, with
their use, in the preservation of that state.
The objects of this branch of medicine are, the non-
naturaK See Diet, Exercise, &c.
Hygieine, more largely taken, is divided into three
parts ; prophylactice, which foresees and prevents dis¬
eases ; synteritice, employed in preserving health y and
analeptice, whose office is to cure diseases, and restore
health.
HYGROMETER, an instrument for measuring
the degrees of dryness or moisture of the atmosphere,
in like manner as the barometer and thermometer mea¬
sure its different degrees of gravity or warmth.
Though every substance which swells in moist, and
shrinks in dry weather, is capable of becoming an hy¬
grometer ; yet this kind of instrument is far from be-
ing as yet arrived at such a degree of perfection as the
barometers and thermometers. There are three gene¬
ral principles on which hygrometers have been con-
Hyirrome- structed. I. The lengthening and shortening of strings
fcers of by dryness and moisture, or their twisting and untwist-
three kinds.Jng by the same. 2. The swelling and shrinking of
solid substances by moisture or dryness ; and, 3. By
the increase or decrease of the weight of particular bo¬
dies whose nature is t» absorb the humidity of the at¬
mosphere.
S«tcatoj»’s ^ie ^rst t*ieSe Pr*nc'P^es M*' Smeaton con-
' structed an hygrometer greatly superior to any that had
appeared before ; and of which the following account
is given in the 62d volume of the Philosophical Trans¬
actions.
“ Having some years ago attempted to make an ac¬
curate and sensible hygrometer by means of a hempen Hygr«»ie-
cord of a considerable length, I quickly found, that Ul'-
though it was more than sufficiently susceptible of eve- ^
ry change in the humidity of the atmosphere, yet the
cord was upon the whole in a continual state of length¬
ening. Though this change was the greatest at first,
yet it did not appear probable that any given time
would bring it to a certainty; and furthermore, it
seemed, that as the cord grew more determinate in
mean length, the alteration by certain differences of
moisture grew less. Now, as on considering wood,
catgut, paper, &c. there did not appear to be a like¬
lihood of finding any substance sufficiently sensible of
differences of moisture that would be unalterable under
the same degrees thereof; this led me to consider of a
construction which would readily admit of an adjust¬
ment; so that, though the cord whereby the instru¬
ment is actuated may be variable in its»lf, both as to
absolute length, and difference of length under given
degrees of moisture, yet that, on supposition of a ma¬
terial departure from its original scale, it might be
readily restored thereto j and, in consequence, that any
Humber of hygrometers, similarly constructed, might,
like thermometers, be capable of speaking the same
language.
“ The two points of heat the more readily determi¬
nable in a thermometer, are the points of freezing and
boiling water. In like manner, to construct hygrome¬
ters which shall be capable of agreement, it is necessa¬
ry to establish tvvo different degrees of a moisture which
shall be as fixed in themselves, and to which we can
have recourse as readily and as often as possible.
“ On« point is given by making the substance per¬
fectly wet, which seems sufficiently determinable y the
other is that of perfect dry, which I do not apprehend
to be attainable with the same precision. A readiness-
to imbibe wet, so that the substance may be soon and
fully saturated, and also a facility of parting with its
moisture on being exposed to the fire to dry, at the
same time, that neither immersion, nor a moderate
exposition to the warmth of the fire, shall injure its
texture, are properties requisite to the first mover ci
such an hygrometer, that in a manner exclude all sub¬
stances that I am acquainted with, besides hempen and
flaxen threads and cords, or substances compounded of
them.
“ Upon these ideas, in the year 1758, I constructed
two hygrometers as nearly alike as possible, in order
that I might have the means of examining their agree¬
ment or disagreement on similar or dissimilar treat¬
ment. The interval or scale between dry and wet I
divided into 100 equal parts, which I call the degrees
of this hygrometer. The point of o denotes perfect
dry y and the numbers increase with the degrees of
moisture to IOO, which denotes perfect wet.
“ On comparing them for some time, when hung
up together in a passage or staircase, where they would
be very little affected by fire, and where they would
be exposed to as free an air as possible in the inside of
the house, I found that they were generally within one
degree, and very rarely differed two degrees ; but as
these comparisons necessarily took up some time, and
were frequently interrupted by long avocations from
home, it was some years before I could form a tolerable
judo-ment of them. One thing I soon observed, not
altogether
Hygrome¬
ter.
Plates
cCLXXvr.
CCLXXVII.
fig. I. St 2
Fis-J.
Fig. 4.
h y g [3
altogether to my liking, which was, that the flaxen
cords made use of seemed to make so much resistance
to the entry of small degrees of moisture (such as is
commonly experienced within doors in the situation
above mentioned), that all the changes were comprised
within the first 30° of the scale ; but yet, on exposing
them to the warm steam of a wash-house, the index
quickly mounted to 100. I was therefore desirous ot
impregnating the cords with something of a saline na¬
ture, which should dispose them more forcibly to at¬
tract moisture j in order that the index might, with the
ordinary changes of the moisture in tiie atmosphere, tia-
vet over a greater part ot the scale ot ioo. How to do
this in a regular and fixed quantity, was the subject ot
many experiments and several years interrupted in¬
quiry. At last I tried the one hereafter described,
which seemed to answer my intention in a great mea¬
sure •, and though upon the whole it does not appear
probable that ever this instrument will be made capable
of such an accurate agreement as the mercurial ther¬
mometers are, yet if we can reduce all the disagree¬
ments of an hygrometer within ^th part of the whole
scale, it will probably be of use in some philosophical
inquiries, in lieu of instruments which have not yet
been reduced to any common scale at all.
“ Fig. 1. and 2. ABC is an orthographic delinea¬
tion of the whole instrument seen in front in its true
proportion. DE is that of the profile, or instru¬
ment seen edgewise. EG in both represents a flaxen
pdrd about 35 inches long, suspended by a turning peg
F, ar.d attached to a loop of brass wire at A, which
goes down into the box cover H, and defends the in¬
dex, &c. from injury ; and by a glass exposes the scale
to view.
“ Fig. 3. shows the instrument to a larger scale, the
upright part being shortened, and the box-cover re¬
moved j in which the same letters represent the same
parts as in the preceding figures j GI are two loops
or long links of brass wire, which lay hold of the in¬
dex KL, moveable upon a small stud or centre K. The
cord EG is kept moderately strained by a weight
M of about half a pound avoirdupois.—It is obvious,
that, as the cord lengthens and shortens, the extreme
end of the index rises and falls, and successively passes
over N 2 the scale disposed in the arch of a circle, and
containing 100 equal divisions. This scale is attached
to the brass sliding ruler QP, which moves upon the
directing piece RR, fixed by screws to the board, which
makes the frame or base of the whole ; and the scale
and ruler NQP is retained in any place nearer to or
further from the centre K, as may be required by the
screw S.
“ Fig. 4. represents in profile the sliding piece and
stud I (fig. 3 ), which traverses upon that part of the
index next the centre K j and which can, by the two
screws of the stud, he retained upon any part of the
index that is made parallel *, and which is done for
three or four inches from the centre, for that purpose.
The stud is filed to the edges, like the fulcrum of a
scale-beam j one being formed on the under side, the
other on the upper, and as near as may be to one
another. A hook formed at the lower end of the
wire-loops Cl, retains the index, by the lowermost
edge of the stud ; while the weight M hangs by a small
hook upon the upper edge: by these means the index
]
H Y G
is kept steady and the cords strained by the weight, Hyerome-
with very little friction or burthen upon the central lcr-
stud K.
“ Fig. ?. is a parallelogram of plate-brass, to keep Fig. 5.
out dust, which is attached to the upper edge of the
box-cover H ; and serves to shut the part of the box-
cover necessarily cut away, to give leave for the wire
GI to traverse with the sliding stud nearer to or fur¬
ther from the centre of the index K ; and where, in
fig. 3. « is a hole of about an inch diameter, for the
wire GI to pass through in the rising and falling of the
index freely without touching j £ is a slit of a lesser
size, sufficient to pass the wire, and admit the cover to
come off without deranging the cord or index ^ cc are
two small screws applied to two slits, by which the
plate slides lengthwise, in order to adapt the hole c
to the wire GI, at any place of the stud I upon the
index KE.
“ 1. In this construction, the index KL being 12
inches long, 4 inches from the extreme end are filed so
narrow in the direction in which it is seen by the eye,
that any part of these four inches lying over the divi¬
sions of the scale, becomes an index thereto. The scale
itself slides four inches, so as to be brought under any
part of the four inches of the index attenuated as above
mentioned.
“ 2. The position of the directing piece RR is so
determined as to be parallel to aright line drawn through
O upon the scale, and the centre K of the index *, con¬
sequently, as the attenuated part of the index forms a
part of a radius or right line from the same centre, it
follows, that whenever the index points to o upon the
scale, though the scale is moved nearer to or further
from the centre of the index, yet it produces no change
in the place to which the index points.
“ When the divided arch of the scale is at 10 inches
from the centre (that is, at its mean distance) ; then
the centre of the arch and the centre of the index are
coincident. At other distances, the extremes of which
are eight or twelve inches, the centre of the divisions,
and the centre of the index pointing thereto, not be¬
ing coincident, the index cannot move over the spaces
geometrically proportionable to one another in all si¬
tuations of the scale ; yet the whole scale not exceed-
ing 30° of a circle, it will be found on computation,
that the error can never be so great as T^oth part of
the scale, or l° of the hygrometer ; which in this in¬
strument being considered as indivisible, the mechani¬
cal error will not be sensible.
“ The cord here made use of is flax, and between
-jARi and yoth of an inch in diameter ; which can be
readily ascertained by measuring a number of turns
made round a pencil or small stick. It is a sort of cord
used in London for making nets, and is of that par¬
ticular kind called by net-makers flaxen three-threads
laid. A competent quantity of this cord was boiled
in one pound avoirdupois of water, in which was put
two pennyweights troy of common salt $ the whole
was reduced by boiling to six ounces avoirdupois,
which was done in about half an hour. As this ascer¬
tains a given strength of the brine, on taking out the
cord, it may be supposed that every fibre of the cord
is equally impregnated with salt. The cord being
dried, it will be proper to stretch it $ which may be
done so as to prevent it from untwisting, by tying
A 2 three
H Y G [
MvfcToaic- three or four yards to two nails against a wall, in an
horizontal position, and hanging a weight of a pound
or two to the middle, so as to make it form an obtuse
angle. This done for a week or more in a room, will
Jay the fibres of the cord close together, and prevent
its stretching so fast after being applied to the instru¬
ment as it would otherwise be apt to do.
“ The hygrometer is to be adjusted in the following
manner. The box -cover being taken oil to prevent its
being spoiled by the fire, and choosing a day natu¬
rally dry, set the instrument nearly upright, about a
yard from a moderate fire ; so that the cord may be¬
come dry, and the instrument warm, but not so near
as would spoil tbe finest linen by too much heat, and
yet fully evaporate the moisture j there let tbe instru¬
ment stay till the index is got as low as it will go j
now and then streaking the cord betwixt the thumb
and finger downwards, in order to lay the fibres there¬
of close together ; and thereby causing it to lengthen
as much as possible. When the index is thus become
stationary, which will generally happen in about an
hour, more or less as the air is naturally more or less
dry, by means of the peg at top raise or depress the
index, till it lies over the point o. This done, remove
the instrument from the fire; and having ready some
W'arm water in a tea-cup, take a middling camel’s hair
pencil, and dipping it in the water, gently anoint the
cord till it will drink up no more, and till the index
becomes stationary and water will have no more effect
upon it, which will also generally happen in about an
Jiour. If in this state the index lies over the degree
marked loo, all is right : if not, slack the screw S,
and slide the scale nearer to or further from the centre,
till the point 100 comes under the index, and then the
instrument is adjusted for use : hut if the compass of
the slide is not sufficient to effect this, as may proba¬
bly happen on the first adjustment, slack the proper
screws, and move the sliding stud I nearer to or fur¬
ther from the centre of the index, according as the
angle formed by the index between the two points of
dry or wet happens to be too small or too large for
the scale.”
Cor entry s.. On this principle, a simple hygrometer has been
made by Mr Coventry of Southwark, London. It is
not upon the most accurate constructiou, yet will act
Fig 6' very sensibly in the common changes of the air. Fig. 6.
represents the hygrometer as applied to a wall or board.
A is a string of whip-cord, catgut, &c. of any length
at pleasure : it is suspended on a bracket B, and kept
extended by a weight at the bottom C. DD is a slip
ot wood, which with the bracket is fixed perpendicu¬
larly to a wall or side of a room. It has a straight
line E drawn down in the middle of the board, ser¬
ving to point out the divisions upon the edges of the
two thin circular cards F and G. At the centre of
the bottom of each of these cards is glued a piece of
cork, through which the string A is drawn : These
cork pieces serve to preserve the horizontal position of
the cards. The upper card F is divided into 10 equal
parts or divisions, and the under card G into 100 equal
parts j the string A being measured into 10 equal
parts, from the point of suspension II to the surface
of the lower card I. The card F is hung at the first
part, from Hy and the card G at the loth part from
the same point: consequently, from the twisting and
] H Y G
untwisting of the string A by tbe different changes of Hygreme-
the air, the lower card G, from the mechanical prin- ter-
ciples of motion, will describe lo revolutions for one v
of the upper card F ; or when the lower card G has
made one revolution, the upper card F will have de¬
scribed but the loth part, or one of its divisions.
From whence it appears, that by the assistance of the
upper card F, an index is thereby obtained of the num¬
ber of revolutions the lower card G performs, which
are reckoned by the line E on the slip of wood.
Example. It must first be observed what division of
the card F the line is against, suppose 3 ; and also
what division of the lower card G is cut by tbe same
line, suppose 10 : it then appears, that the state of the
hygrometer is thus, 3 degrees and 10 hundredths of
another. If the whole 10 divisions of the card have
passed the line E, the lower card G will have revolved
10 times, or 10 hundred parts, equal to 1000 ; the ac¬
curacy to which the principle of this simple contrivance
answers. Before use, the hygrometer should be adjust¬
ed ; to do which, the cards F and G are first set to tbe
line E at the o of each, or commencement of the gra¬
duations . whatever direction the cards afterwards take
it must evidently be from the change to greater mois¬
ture or dryness in the airj and they will accordingly
point it out. 6 3
On this principle, but with a degree of inrrenuitye >
and pains perhaps never before employed, an b/grome- ^
ter has been constructed by M. de Saussure, professor
of philosophy at Geneva. In his Essais sur PHijgrt,-
metne, in 4to, 1783, is an important detail on the sub¬
ject of hygrometry; from which the following descrip¬
tion of his hygrometer is taken. The author found by
repeated experiments, that the difference between the
greatest extension and contraction of a properly
prepared, and having a weight of about three grains sus¬
pended to it, is nearly of its whole length j that is,
3t» or 34 lines in a foot. This circumstance suggested
the idea of a new hygrometer: and, in order to^render
those small variations perceptible and useful, tbe follow¬
ing apparatus was constructed.
Fig. 7. is a representation of the whole instrument,
with the hair and other appendages complete. The **’ 7‘
lower extremity of the hair is held by the chaps
of.the sciew pincers 6. Ihese pincers are represented
aside at B : by a screw at its end, it fastens into the
nut of the bottom plate C. This nut of the plate turns
independently of the piece that supports it, and serves
to raise or depress the pincers B at pleasure.
The upper extremity a of the hair is held by the
under chaps of the double pincers a, represented aside
at A. These pincers fasten the hair below, and above
fasten a very fine narrow slip of silver, carefully an¬
nealed, which rolls round the arbor or cylinder df a se¬
parate figure of which is shown at DF. This ’arbor,
which carries the needle or index ee, or E in the sepa¬
rate figure, is cut into tbe shape of a screw ; and the
intervals of the threads of this screw have their bases
flat, and are cut squarely so as to receive the slip of
silver that is fastened to the pincers o, and joined in this
manner with the hair. M. Saussure observes, that hair
alone fixed immediately to the arbor would not do; for it
curled upon it, and acquired a stiffness that the counter¬
poise was not able to surmount. The arbor was cut in
a screw form, in order that the slip .of silver in wind*
ing
H Y G [
Uvirroiwe- i11" upon it should not increase the diameter of the
ter. arbor, and never take a situation too oblique and vari-
able. The slip is fixed to the arbor by a small pin F.
The other extremity of the arbor D is shaped like a
pulley, flat at the bottom so as to receive a fine supple
silken string, to which is suspended the counterpoise
a- in the large figure, and G in the side one. This
counterpoise is applied to distend the hair ; and acts in
a contrary direction to that of the hair, and the move-
able pincers to which the hair is fixed. If then the
hair should be loaded with the weight of four grains,
the counterpoise must weigh four grains more than the
pincers. The arbor at ene end passes through the cen¬
tre of the dial, and turns therein, in a very fine hole,
on a pivot made very cylindrical and well polished : at
the other end is also a similar pivot, which turns in a
hole made in the end of the arm /i of the cock h t,
HI. This cock is fixed behind the dial by means of
the screw I.
The dial keek, divided into 360 degrees, is sup¬
ported by two arms //; these are soldered to two tubes,
which inclose the cylindrical columns m m m m. The
setting screws n n move upon these tubes, and serve
thereby to fix the dial and arbor to any height requi¬
red. The two columns which support the dial are firm¬
ly fastened to the case of the hygrometer, which rest
upon the four screws 0000; by the assistance of these
screws, the instrument is adjusted, and placed in a ver¬
tical situation.
The square column pp, which rests upon the base of
the hygrometer, carries a box q, to which is fixed a
kind of port-crayon r, the aperture of which is equal to
the diameter of the counterpoise g. When the hygro¬
meter is to be moved from one place to another j to pre¬
vent a derangement of the instruments from the oscil¬
lations of the counterpoise, the box q and the port¬
crayon r must be raised up so as the counterpoise may
fall into and be fixed in it, by tightening the screw s
and the box and counterpoise together by the screw t.
When the hygrometer is intended for use, the counter¬
poise must be disengaged by lowering the box, as may
be conceived from the figure.
Lastly, at the top of the instrument is a curved piece
of metal x, y, which is fastened to the three columns
just described and keeps them together. It has a square
hole at y, which serves to hang up the hygrometer by
when required.
The variations of which this hygrometer is capable,
are (all things besides equal) as much greater as the
arbor round which the slip of silver winds is than a
smaller diameter, and as the instrument is capable of
receiving a longer hair. INI. Saussure has had hygro¬
meters made with hairs 14 inches long, but he finds
one foot sufficient. The arbor is three-fourths of a
line in diameter at the base between the threads of
the screw or the part on which the slip winds. The
variations, when a hair properly prepared is applied to
it, are more than an entire circumference, the index
describing about 400 degrees in moving from extreme
dryness to extreme humidity. M. Saussure menlions
an inconvenience attending this hygrometer, viz. its
not returning to the same point when moved from one
place to another ; because the weight of three grains
that keeps the silver slip extended, cannot play so ex¬
actly as to act always with the same precision against the
5 ] H Y G
arbor round which it winds. But this weight cannot Hy^rome-
be sensibly increased without still greater inconvenien-
ces : he therefore observes, that this hygrometer is well v
calculated for a fixed situation in an observatory, and
for various hygrometrical experiments \ since, instead
of the hair, there may he substituted any other sub¬
stance of which a trial may be wanted j and it may be
kept extended by a counterpoise more or less heavy as
they may require : but the instrument will not admit
of being moved, nor serve even for experiments which
may subject it to agitation.
To obviate the objection above mentioned, M. Sans- Portable
sure has contrived another apparatus more portablel'y»iroine-
and convenient, and which, if not so extensive in its va*^el by
riations, is in fact very firm, and not in the least liable"
to be deranged by carriage and agitation. Fig. 8. is a Fig. S.
representation of this hygrometer, which he calls the
portable hygrometer, in distinction from the preceding,
which he calls the great hygrometer or the hygrometer
with the arbor. The material part of this instrument
is its index ab ce; an horizontal view of which, and
the arm that carries it, is seen in the separate figure
GBDEF. This index carries in its centre D a thin
tube hollow throughout, and projects out on each side
of the needle. The axis which passes through it, and
round which the index turns, is made thin in the
middle of its length and thick at the ends $ so that *
the cylindrical tube which it passes through touches it
only at two points, and acts upon it only at its extre¬
mities.
The part of the index serves to point out
and mark on the dial the degrees of moisture and dry¬
ness ; the opposite part f/i DB serves to fix both the
hair and counterpoise. This part which terminates in
a portion of a circle, and is about a line in thickness,
is cut on its edge in a double vertical groove, which
makes this part similar to the segment of a pulley with
a double neck. These two grooves, which are portions
of a circle of two lines radius, and have the same cen¬
tre with that of the index cl, serve in one of them to
contain the hair, and in the other the silk, to the end of
which the counterpoise is suspended. The same index
carries vertically above and below its centre two small
screw-pincers, situated opposite to the two grooves : that
above at a, opposite to the hindmost groove, serves to
fix to the silk to which the counterpoise is suspended j
and that below at b, opposite to the hithermost groove,
serves to hold one of the ends of the hair. Each of
these grooves has its partitions cut, as seen in the sec¬
tion B, and its bottom made flat in order that the hair
and silk may have the greatest freedom possible. The
axis of the needle DD goes through the arm gfGY,
and it is fixed to this arm by the tightening screw f¥.
All the parts of the index should be in perfect equili¬
brium about its centre j so that when it is on its pivot
without the counterpoise, it will rest indifferently in any
position it may he placed in.
It must he understood, that when the hair is fixed
by one of its extremities in the pincers e, and by the
other end on the pincers y at the top of the instrument,
it passes in one of the necks of the double pulley b,
whilst the counterpoise to which the silk is fixed in a
passes in the other neck of the same pulley : the coun¬
terpoise serves to keep the hair extended, and acts al¬
ways in the same direction and with the same force*
whatever
H Y G [6
Hyarame- whatever the situation of the index may be. When
ter. therefore the dryness contracts the hair, it overpowers
‘■““-'v ■ ‘ the gravity of the counterpoise, and the index descends :
when, on the contrary, the humidity relaxes the hair,
it gives way to the counterpoise, and the index ascends.
The counterpoise should weigh but three grains j so
that the index should be made very light and very easy
in its motion, in order that the least possible force may
move it and bring it back again to its point when
drawn aside.
The dial h e /f is a circular arch, the centre of which
is the same with that of the index. This arch is di¬
vided into degrees of the same circle, or into the hun¬
dredths of the interval which is found between the li¬
mits of extreme dryness and extreme humidity. The
interior edge of the dial carries at the distance h t a
kind of projecting bridle or stay i f, made of brass wire,
curved to the arch, and fixed in the points i i. This
bridle retains and guards the index, at the same time
leaving it to play with the requisite freedom. The
screw-pincers y, in which is fastened the upper extre¬
mity of the hair, is carried by a moveable arm, which
ascends and descends at pleasure the length of the frame
KK. This frame is cylindrical everywhere else, ex¬
cept its being here flattened at the hinder part to
about half its thickness, in order that the piece with
the screw which carries the arm should not project out
underneath, and that the arm may not turn. The
arm may be stopped at any desired height by means of
the pressing screw x. But as it is of use sometimes to
be able to give the instrument a very small and accurate
motion, so "as to bring the index exactly to the part that
may be wanted, the slide piece /, which carries the
pincers y, to which the hair is fixed, is to be moved by
the adjusting screw m.
At the base of the instrument is a great lever n oy y,
which serves to fix the index and its counterpoise when
the hygrometer is to be moved. The lever turns an
axis «, terminated by a screw which goes into the
frame j in tightening this screw, the lever is fixed in
the desired position. When the motion of the index
is to be stopped, the intended position is given to this
lever, as represented in the dotted lines of the figure.
The long neck p of theg lever lays hold of the double
pulley b of the index, and the short neck o of the coun¬
terpoise : the tightening screw q fastens the two necks
at oRce. In confining the index, it must be so placed,
that the hair be very slack; so that, if whilst it is
moved the hair should get dry, it may have room to
contract itself. Afterwards, when the instrument is
placed for use, the first thing to be done is to relax
the screw «, and turn back the double lever with great
caution, taking equal care at the same time not to
strain the hair. It is better to apply one hand to the
index near its centre, whilst the other hand is disenga¬
ging the pulley and the counterpoise from the lever
that holds them steady. The hook r serves to suspend
a thermometer upon ; it should be a mercurial one,
with a very small naked bulb or ball, so as to show in the
most sensible manner the changes of the air : it should
he mounted in metal, and guarded in such a manner as
not to vibrate so as to break the hair. Lastly a notch
is made under the top of the frame 5, to mark the point
of suspension, about which the instrument is in equili¬
brium, and keeps a vertical situation.
] H Y G
All the instrument should be made of brass : though
the axis of the index and its tube work more pleasantly ter.
together if made of bell metal.
The extent of this hygrometer’s variations is not
more than the fourth or fifth part of the hygrometer
with the arbor. It may be augmented by making the
segment of the pulley to which the hair is fixed of a
smaller diameter ; but then the hair, in moving about
it, would fret and contract a stifi'ness, which would cause
it to adhere to the bottom of the neck. M. Saussure
is of opinion, that the radius of this pulley should not
he less than two lines, at least that there should he
adapted a plate of silver or some other contrivance ;
but then the hygrometer would be too difficult to con¬
struct, and it would require too much attention and
care on the part of those who use it: his object was,
to make an instrument generally useful, and easy and
convenient in its use. The hygrometer with the arbor
may be used for observations which require an extreme
sensibility.
The variations of this instrument may be augment¬
ed by making it higher, because in that case longer hairs
might be adapted : but it would be then less portable.
Besides, if the hair is too long, when observations are
made in the open air, the wind has too great an efiect
upon it, and thus communicates to the index in¬
convenient vibrations. It is not proper therefore to
make it more than a foot in height. When it is of
this dimension, an hair properly prepared can be ap¬
plied to it, and its variations from extreme dryness to
extreme humidity are 80 or even IOO degrees; which
on a circle of 3 inches radius forms an extent sufficient
for observations of this kind. M. Saussure has even
made smaller instruments that may be carried conve¬
niently in the pocket, and to make experiments with
under small receivers : they were but seven inches high
by two inches of breadth ; which, notwithstanding their
variations, were very sensible.
Thus much for the construction of the various parts
of the instrument. The limits of this work will not
admit of our inserting the whole of M. Saussure’s sub¬
sequent account of the preparation of the hair, the man¬
ner of determining the limits of extreme humidity and
of extreme dryness, the pyrometrical variations of the
hair, and the graduation of the hygrometer. The fol¬
lowing extract must therefore suffice.
In the preparation of the hair, it was found ne¬
cessary to free it of a certain unctuosity it always
has in its natural state, which in a great measure de¬
prives it of its hygrometrical sensibility. A number
of hairs are boiled in a ley of vegetable alkali; and
among these are to be chosen for use such as are
most transparent, bright, and soft; particular pre¬
cautions are necessary for preventing the straining of
the hair, which renders it unfit for the intended pur¬
pose.
The two fixed points of the hygrometer are the ex¬
tremes both of moisture and dryness. The former is
obtained by exposing the instrument to air completely
saturated with water; and this is effected by placing
it in a glass receiver standing in water, the sides of
which are kept continually moistened. The point on
the dial, at which the hand after a certain interval re¬
mains stationary, is marked 100. The point of ex¬
treme dryness, not absolute dryness, for that does not
exist,
H Y G [ '
,i,„r0,nt. exist, but the greatest degree of it that can be obtain-
u-r. ed, is produced by introducing repeatedly into the same
  /—> receiver containing the instrument, and standing now
upon quicksilver, certain quantities of deliquescent al¬
kaline salts, which absorb the moisture of the air. The
highest point to which the hand can be brought by
this operation, not only when it will rise no. highei,
but when it becomes retrograde from the dilatation
occasioned by heat, is called oj and the arch between
these two points is divided into 100 equal parts, being
degrees of the hygrometer. The arch /?/>, upon which
the scale is marked in the instrument (represented in
fig. 2.) being part of a circle of three inches diameter;
hence every degree measures about one-third ot a line.
In the stationary hygrometer, fig. I. the scale upon the
complete circular dial is so much larger, that every
degree measures about five lines } hut this M. Saussure
considers so far from being a perfection, that it is ra¬
ther an inconvenience j since the instrument becomes
thereby so very susceptible of the least impression, that
there is even no approaching it without a sensible
variation. The thermometer, adapted as before men¬
tioned, serves to correct the changes of tempera¬
ture : towards the extreme of dryness, l° of the thermo¬
meter produces on the hair an effect of half a degree of
the hygrometer, but towards the extreme of moisture, the
same difference of temperature causes an efiect no less
than 30 on the hygrometer. He constructed two
tables, that gave the intermediate hygrometrical varia¬
tions for single degrees of the thermometer at different
parts of the scale.
The whole range of the atmospherical variations
takes in about 750 of this scale j a dryness of more
than 25° being always the effect of art. The sensibi¬
lity of this instrument is so very great, that being ex¬
posed to the dew, he mentions that it varies above 40
in about 20 minutes of time. Being removed from a
very moist into a very dry air, it varied in one instance
no less than 350 in three minutes. _ He says that
its variations were always found uniform m different
instruments suspended in different parts of the same at¬
mosphere. This hygrometer is considered by the au¬
thor as possessed of all the properties requisite in such
an instrument. These are, I. That the degrees in the
scale be sufficiently large, and to point out even the
least variation in the dryness or moisture of the at¬
mosphere. 2. That it be quick in its indications.
3. That it be at all times consistent with itself; viz.
that in the same state of the hair it always points to
the same degree. 4. That several of them agree with
one another. 5. That it be affected only by the aque¬
ous vapours. 6. That its variations be ever propor¬
tionate to the changes in the air.
But after all it must be observed, that a considerable
degree of trouble and delicacy is requisite in the pre¬
paration of the hair, and it is very fragile; circum¬
stances which may prevent it from coming into general
use among common observers, although probably it may
be the best in principle ol any yet made.
Instead of hairs or cat-gut, of which hygrometers
of the first kind are commonly made, Cassebois, a Be¬
nedictine monk at Mentz, proposed to make such hy¬
grometers of the gut of a silk-worm. When that in¬
sect is ready to spin, there are found in it two vessels
proceeding from the head to the stomach, to which
] H Y G
they adhere, and then bend towards the hack, where Hygromc-
they form a great many folds. The part of these ves- ter.
sels next the stomach is of a cylindric form, and about v—
a line in diameter. These vessels contain a gummy sort
of matter from which the worm spins its silk; and,
though they are exceedingly tender, means have been
devised to extract them from the insect, and to prepare
them for the above purpose. When the worm is
about to spin, it is thrown into vinegar, and suffered to
remain there twenty-four hours; during which time
the vinegar is absorbed into the body of the insect, and
coagulates its juices. The worm being then opened,
both the vessels, which have now acquired strength, are
extracted ; and, on account of their pliability, are ca¬
pable of considerable extension. That they may not,
however, become too weak, they are stretched only to
the length of about fifteen or twenty inches. It is
obvious that they must be kept sufficiently extended
till they are completely dry. Before they attain to
that state, they must be freed, by means of the nail of
the finger, from a slimy substance which adheres to
them. Such a thread will sustain a weight of six pounds
without breaking, and may be used for an hygrometer
in the same manner as cat-gut; but we confess that we
do not clearly perceive its superiority.
II. On the second general principle, namely, that of ]3e Luq’s,
the swelling of solid bodies by moisture, and their con-
ti'action by dryness, M. de Luc’s instrument is the best.
He makes choice of ivory for the construction of his
hygrometer, because he finds that, being once wetted,
ivory regularly swells by moisture, and returns exactly
to the same dimensions when the moisture is evapora¬
ted, which other bodies do not. This hygrometer is
represented in fig. 9. where a ab is an ivory tube open Fig. 5.
at the end a a, and close at Z>. It is made of a piece of
ivory taken at the distance of some inches from tlie top
of a pretty large elephant’s tooth, and likewise at the
same distance from its surface and from the canal
which reaches to that point. (This particular direc¬
tion is given, that the texture of the ivory in all dif¬
ferent hygrometers may he the same, which is of great
importance). This piece is to be bored exactly in the
direction of its fibres ; the hole must be very straight,
its dimensions 2^ lines in diameter, and 2 inches 8 lines
in depth from a a io c. Its bore is then to be exactly
filled with a brass cylinder, which however, must pro¬
ject somewhat beyond the ivory tube ; and thus it is to
be turned on a proper machine, till the thickness of
the ivory is exactly TV a liifj except at the two
extremities. At the bottom b the tube ends in a point;
and at the top a o it must for about two lines be left a
little thicker, to enable it to bear the pressure of ano¬
ther piece put upon it. Thus the thin or hygrometri¬
cal part of the tube will be reduced to 2? French
inches, including the concavity of the bottom. Before
this piece is used, it must be put into water, so that
the externa! part alone may be wetted by it; and here
it is to remain till the water penetrates to the inside,
and appears in the form of dew, which will happen
in a few hours. The reason of this is, that the ivory
tube remains somewhat larger ever after it is wetted
the first time.
For this hygrometer, a glass tube must be provided
about 14 inches long, the lower end of which is shown
in d d e e. Its internal diameter is about £ of a line.
H Y G [ 8 ] H Y G
Hygrome- If now the Ivory tube is exactly filled with mercury,
^ ^er* and the glass one affixed to it, as the capacity of the
v_ '' former decreases by being dried, the mercury will be
forced tip into the glass one.
The piece ffgg is intended to join the ivory with
■ the glass tube. It is of brass, shaped as in the figure.
A cyclindrical hole is bored through it, which holds
^ the glass tube as tight as possible without danger of
breaking it; and its lower part is to enter with some
degree of difficulty into the ivory pipe. To ■ hinder
that part of the tube which incloses the brass piece
from being affected by the variations of the moisture,
it is covered with a brass verrel represented in hliii.
The pieces must be united together with gum-lac or
mastich.
The introduction of the mercury is the next opera¬
tion. For this purpose, a slip of paper three inches
wide is first to be rolled over the glass tube, and tied
fast to the extremity nearest the ivory pipe. A horse¬
hair is then to be introduced into the tube, long enough
to enter the ivory pipe by an inch, and to reach three
or four inches beyond the extremity of the glass one.
The paper which has been shaped round the tube must
now be raised, and used as a funnel to pour the mer¬
cury into the instrument, which is held upright. The
purest quicksilver is to be used for this purpose, and it
will therefore be proper to use that revived from cinna¬
bar. It easily runs into the tube; and the air escapes
by means of the horse hair, assisted with some gentle
shakes. Fresh mercury must from time to time be
supplied, to prevent the mercurial tube from being to¬
tally emptied ; in which case, the mercurial pellicle
which always forms by the contact of the air, would, run
in along with it.
Some air-bubbles generally remain in the tube;
they may be seen through the ivory pipe, which is thin
enough to have some transparency. These being col¬
lected together by shaking, must be brought to the
top of the tube, and expelled by means of the horse¬
hair. To facilitate this operation, some part of the
mercury must be taken out of the tube, in order that
the air may be less obstructed in getting out, and the
horse-hair have a free motion to assist it. Air, how¬
ever, cannot be entirely driven out in this manner. It
is the weight of the mercury with which the tube is
for that reason to be filled, which in time completes
its expulsion, by making it pass through the pores of
the ivory. To hasten this, the hygrometers are put
into a proper box. This is fixed nearly in a vertical
direction to the saddle of a horse, which is set a trot¬
ting for a few hours. The shakes sometimes divide
the column of mercury in the glass tube, but it is easily
re-united with the horse-hair. When upon shaking the
hygrometer vertically, no small tremulous motion is
any longer perceived in the upper part of the column,
one may be sure that all the air is gone out.
The scale of this hygrometer may be adjusted, as
soon as the air is gone out, in the following manner.
The instrument is to be suspended in a vessel of water
cooled with ice, fresh quantities of which are to be add¬
ed as the former melts. Here it is to remain till it
has sunk as low as it will sink by the enlargement of
the capacity of the ivory tube, owing to the moisture it
has imbibed. This usually happens in seven or eight
, hours, and it is to be carefully noted. Ju two or three
3
hours the mercury begins to ascend, because the moi- ffyacomr
sture passes into the cavity, and forces it up. Tne tee.
lowest station of the mercury is then to be marked o ;' v 
and for the more accurate marking the degrees on the
scale, M. de Luc always chose to have his hygrome-
tncal tube made of one which had formerly belonged
to a thermometer. The reason of this is, that in the
thermometer the expansion of the mercury by heat had
been already determined. The distance between the
thei mometrical points of melting ice and boiling water
at 27 French inches of the barometer was found to be
I937 Parts* ’ll16 bulb of this preparatory thermome¬
ter was broke in a bason, in order to receive carefully
all the mercury that it contained. This being weighed
in nice scales amounted to 1428 grains. The hygro¬
meter contained 460 grains of the same mercury. Now
it is plain, that the extent of the degrees on the hygro¬
meter, ought to be to that of the degrees on the pre¬
paratory thermometer as the different weights of the
mercury contained in each ; consequently 1428 : 460 :
I937 : 624 nearly ; and therefore the corresponding in¬
tervals ought to follow the same proportion : and thus
the length of a scale was obtained, which might be di¬
vided into as many parts as he pleased.
Fig. 10. is a representation of De Luc’s hygrome-
ter when fully constructed. In elegance it far exceeds * **
Smeaton’s or any other, and probably also in accuracy ;
for by means of a small thermometer fixed on the board
along with it, the expansion of the mercury by heat
may be known with great accuracy, and of consequence
how much of the height of the mercury in the hygro¬
meter is owing to that cause, and how much to the
mere moisture of the atmosphere.
M. de Luc having continued his inquiries further in¬
to the modifications of the atmosphere, mentions in his
Idee sur la Metforologie another hygrometer, which he
finds to be the best adapted to the measure of local hu¬
midity. Ot all the hygroscopic substances which he
tried for this purpose, that which answers the best is s
slip of whalebone cut transversely to the direction of V
the fibres, and made extremely thin ; for on this de¬
pends its sensibility. A slip of 12 inches in length and
a line in breadth, he has made so thin as to weigh only-
half a grain ; and it may be made still thinner, but it
then of too great sensibility, being affected even by the
approach of the observer. This slip is kept extended
by a small spring, and the variations in its length are
measured by a vernier division, or by, which is perhaps
better, an index on a dial plate : the whole variation
from extreme dryness to extreme moisture is about | of
its length.
In these hygrometers, which are made by the instru¬
ment-makers in London, the slip of whalebone is mount¬
ed in a frame very similar to that belonging to M.
Saussure’s hygrometer before described (see fig. 7.).
The only material difference is, that a small concentric
wire spring is used, instead of a counterpoise, to keep
the slip of whalebone extended. M. Saussure had tried
such a spring applied to his hairs ; but the weakest
spring he found too strong for the hair ; and he was
further apprehensive, that the variations which the
cold, heat, and the weather infallibly make, would suf¬
fer from the force of the springs.
M. de Luc, in the hygrometers he formerly made, a*
before described (made ©f ivory), had graduated them
from
H Y G [
Hy^roiHc- ^roni one p°int only, that of extreme moisturey
ter. which is obtained by soaking them in water. He has
v~-—v— now very ingeniously contrived to fix the other ex¬
treme, that of dryness : but this being producible only
by means of strong fires, such as hygrometers cannot
v support, he uses an intermediate body, quicklime",
which after having been deprived, by force of fire,
of all its own humidity, has the property of slowly
imbibing humidity again from the bodies in its neigh¬
bourhood *, and whose capacity is such that all the
vapour that can be contained in a quantity of air equ,al
to its own bulk, can give it no sensible bumidity. These
hygrometers, inclosed with a large quantity of fresh
burnt lime in lumps, acquire in three weeks the same
degree of dryness with the lime, which cannot differ
sensibly from extreme drj/ness.
M. de Saussure makes choice of hairs, prepared by
maceration in alkaline lye. M. de Luc shows that hairs,
and all other animal or vegetable substances, taken
lengthwise, or in the direction of their fibres, undergo
contrary changes from dilferent variations of hnmidity :
that, when immersed in water, they lengthen at first,
and afterwards shorten ; that when they are near the
greatest degree of humidity, if the moisture is increased,
they shorten themselves j if it is diminished, they
lengthen themselves first before they contract again.
These irregularities, which obviously render them in¬
capable of being true measures of humidity, he shows
to he the necessary consequence of their organic reticu¬
lar structure.
M. de Saussure takes his point of extreme moisture
from the vapours of water under a glass bell, keeping
the sides of the bell continually moistened : and af¬
firms, that the humidity is there constantly the same
in all temperatures ; the vapours even of boiling water
having no more effect than those of cold. M. de
Luc shows, on the contrary, that the differences of
humidity under the bell are very great, though M.
Saussure’s hygrometer was incapable of discovering
them •, and that the real undecomposed vapour of boil¬
ing water has the directly opposite effect to that of
cold, the effect of extreme dryness: and on this point he
mentions an interesting fact, communicated to Jixm
by Mr Watt, viz. that wood cannot be employed in
the steam engine for any of those parts where the va¬
pour of the boiling water is confined, because it dries
so as to crack, just as if exposed to the fire. In M. de
Luc’s work above mentioned there are striking instances
related, in which the imperfection of M. Saussure’s
hygrometer led him into false conclusions respecting
phenomena, and into erroneous theories to account
for them.
III. On the third principle, namely, the alteration of
the weight of certain substances by their attracting the
moisture of the air, few attempts have been made, nor
do they seem to have been attended with much success.
Sponges dipped in a solution of alkaline salts, and
some kinds of paper, have been tried. These are sus¬
pended to one end of a very accurate balance, and
counterpoised by weights at the other, and show the
degrees of moisture or dryness by the ascent or descent
of one of the ends. But, besides that such kinds of
hygrometers are destitute of any fixed point from
whence to begin their scale, they have another incon¬
venience (from which indeed Sraeaton’s is not free, and
Vol. XI. Part I. t
i ] H Y G
which has been found to render it erroneous), namely, Hygrome-
that all saline substances are destroyed by long conti- ter.
nued exposure to the air in very small quantities, and
therefore can only imbibe the moisture for a certain
time. Sulphuric acid has therefore been recommended
in preference to the alkaline or neutral salts, and, in¬
deed, for such as do not choose to be at the trouble of
constructing a hygrometer on the principles of Mr
Smeaton or De Luc, this will probably be found the
most easy and accurate. Fig. II. represents an liygro-Fig. ir.
meter of this kind. A is a small glass cup containing
a small quantity of oil of vitriol, B an index counter¬
poising it, and C the scale ; where it is plain, that as
the oil of vitriol attracts the moisture of the air, the
scale will descend, which will raise the index, and vice
versa. This liquor is exceedingly sensible of the in¬
crease or decrease of moisture. A single grain, after
its full increase, has varied its equilibrium so sensibly,
that the tongue of a balance, only an inch and a half
long, has described an arch one-third of an inch in
compass (which arch would have been almost three
inches if the tongue had been one foot), even with so
small a quantity of liquor; consequently, if more li¬
quor, expanded under a large surface, were used, a
pair of scales might afford as nice an hygrometer as
any kind yet invented. A great inconvenience, how¬
ever, is, that as the air must have full access to the
liquid, it is impossible to keep out the dust, which, by
continually adding its weight, must render the hygro¬
meter false ; add to this, that even oil of vitriol itself
is by time destroyed, and changes its nature, if a small
quantity of it is continually exposed to the air.
The best hygrometer upon this principle, and for
ascertaining the quantity as well as the degree of
moisture in the variation of the hygrometer, is of the
contrivance of Mr Coventry, Southwark, London.
The account he has favoured us with is as follows.
“ Take two sheets, »f fine tissue paper, such as is used by
hatters ; dry them carefully at about two feet distance
from a tolerably good fire, till after repeatedly weigh¬
ing them in a good pair of scales no moisture remains.
When the sheets are in this perfectly dry state, reduce
them to exactly 50 grains j the hygrometer is then fit
for use. The sheets must be kept free from dust, and
exposed a few minutes in the open air; after which it
may be always known by weighing them the exact
quantity of moisture they have imbibed.
“ For many years the hygrometer has (says Mr Co¬
ventry) engrossed a considerable share of my attention;
and every advantage proposed by others, either as it
respected the substances of which the instrument was
composed, or the manner in which its operations were
to be discerned, has been impartially examined. But
(adds he) I have never seen an hygrometer so simple
in itself, or that would act with such certainty or so
equally alike, as the one I have now described". The
materials of which it is composed being thin, are
easily deprived wholly of their moisture ; which is a
circumstance essentially necessary in fixing a datum
from which to reckon, and which, I think, cannot be
said of any substance hitherto employed in the con¬
struction of hygrometers ; with equal facility they im¬
bibe or impart the humidity of the atmosphere, and
show with the greatest exactness when the least alte¬
ration takes place.”
B
When
H Y G t
When the paper is prepared, as already described, it
will serve, without the trouble of drying, as a standard
for any number of sheets intended tor the same pur¬
pose. But then the sheets must be kept together in
the open air for a few hours ; because whatever alte¬
ration may take place by this exposure, the paper al¬
ready weighed must have undergone the same ; being
consequently in the same state, they must be cut to
the same weight.
For easier weighing the paper, take a piece of round
tin or brass the size of a crown piece, through the
centre of which drill a hole, and also three others round
it at equal distances: then cut about one hundred
papers j and after putting them under the tin or brass,
drive though each hole a strong pin into a board, in
order to round them to the shape of the plate : the
papers must be then separated and exposed to life air
a few hours with that already weighed, and so many
of them taken as are equal to the weight already spe¬
cified. This done, threadle them together through
those holes made by the pins, putting between every
paper, on each thread a small bead, in order to prevent
the papers from touching each other, and also that
the air may be more readily admitted. The top of
the hygrometer is covered with a card cut to the same
size { and which, by reason of its stiffness, supports all
the papers, and keeps them in proper shape. Before
the papers are threaded, the beads, silk, card, and a
thin piece of brass about the size of a sixpence, which
must be placed at the bottom, and through which the
centre string passes, must be weighed with the greatest
exactness, in order to bring them to a certain weight,
suppose 50 grains ; now the paper in its driest state
being of equal weight, they will weigh together IOO
grains, consequently what they weigh more at any time
is moisture.
To obviate the trouble and difficulty of making ex¬
periments with weights and scales, Mr Coventry con¬
trived a machine or scale by which to determine at
one view the humidity or dryness of the atmosphere.
This, with its case, is represented by fig. 12. The
front and back of the case are glass the sides fine
gauze, which excludes the dust and admits the air •,
the case is about ten inches high, 8 inches broad, and
4 inches deep. A, a brass bracket in front, behind
which, at about 34 inches distance is another j these
support the axis of the index E, also of the beam D,
and another which supports the stem B, to which the
ivory scale of divisions C is fixed. G, a brass scale
10 ] H Y G
screws, two of which are seen at i that screw the Hygrome-
brackets to the top of the case. Tl<e axis of the ter.
scale of divisions is hung on pivots, one of which is ^ ^
seen at m, that, should the case not stand level, the stem
B may always be in a perpendicular situation.
The hygrometer, before use, should be adjusted as
follows : To the end of the beam when the hygro¬
meter is suspended, hang a weight of 100 grains, which
is equal to the weight of the scale ; then move the
sliding weight F up or down the index E, till one
grain will cause the index to traverse neither more nor
less than the whole scale of divisions *, then add half a
grain to the scale, in order to bring the index to o j
and the instrument, after taking off the 100 grain
weight and hanging on the papers, is fit for use 3 then
put grain weights in the scale till the index is brought
within compass of the scale of divisions. Example :
H is 3 grains on the brass scale, and the index points
at 103 consequently there is 3 grains and 10 hun¬
dredths of a grain of moisture in the papers. If four
grain weights are kept, viz. I, 2, 4, and 5, they will
make any number from 1 to 9, which are as many as
will be wanted. Sometimes the index will continue
traversing within the scale of divisions for many days
without shifting the weights 3 but if otherwise, they
must be changed as occasion may require.
“ One great advantage of this hygrometer above all
others that have attracted my notice is (says Mr Co¬
ventry), that it acts from a certain datum, namely, the
dry extreme ; from which all the variations towards
moist are calculated with certainty 3 and if constructed
with that precision represented by the drawing, it will
afford pleasure to the curious in observing the almost
perpetual alteration of the atmosphere, even in the
most settled weather. In winter it will be constantly
traversing from about eight in the morning till four or
five in the afternoon, towards dry; and in summer,
from about four in the morning till six or seven in the
evening, when the weather is hot and gloomy, the
hygrometer discovers a very great change towards
moisture 3 and when clear and frosty, that it contains
a much greater quantity of moisture than is generally
imagined.”
An improvement has been proposed of this kind of
hygrometer, of which the following circumstance, it is
said, suggested the first hint. While Mr Lowitz was
at Dmitriewsk in Astracan, he found, on the banks of
the W7olga, a thin bluish kind of slate which attracted
moisture remarkably soon, but again suffered it as soon
suspended in the usual manner to the end of a beam to escape. A plate of this slate weighed, when
I), and weighing exactly 100 grains. This scale is an brought to a red heat, 175 grains, and, when saturated
exact counterpoise to the papers I and the different with water, 247 : it had therefore imbibed,
counterpoise to the papers
apparatus. The particular manner of suspension in
this balance is, from the construction, as follows : The
axis of the beam g, which is made of brass, instead of
hanging on pivots, as in common scales, turns with
two steel edges k k, fixed in the extremities of the brass
axis : these edges are shaped like the edge of a knife,
and act on two steel concave edges 11, in order to ren¬
der the friction as small as possible. D, is a fine scale
beam fixed at right angles with the axis g. E, the
steel index fixed to the under side of the same axis.
F, a brass sliding weight: h \s the axis that holds the
stem B to which the scale of divisions C is fixed. AA,
the brass brackets which support the whole by four
between
complete dryness and the point of complete moisture,
72 grains of water. Lowitz suspended a round thin
plate of this slate at the end of a very delicate ba¬
lance, fastened within a wooden frame, and suspended
at the other arm a chain of silver wire, the end of
which was made fast to a sliding nut that moved up
and down in a small groove on the edge of one side of
the frame. He determined, by trial, the position of
the nut when the balance was in equilibrio and when it
had ten degrees of over-weight, and divided the space
between these two points into ten equal parts, adding
such a number more of these parts as might be neces¬
sary. When the stone was suspended from the one arm
of
/v.avv; rcLxxn.
HYGROMET E R.
Fi.h
Xh,?'f>yl\:X-/).ZSz<,rsXJmr
HYGROMETER
Ftp ■ 7 ■
V
* -i
PIATE rf LAMZf.
-Eng• Tf\S.'2J,Lr;ars£cY/n T
J^j 'p. fl .
H Y L [i
Ilygrotac. of the balance, and at the other a weight equal to 175
ter crajns, or the weight of the stone when perfectly dry,
ii t]ie nut in the groove shewed the excess of weight in
, H^as- , „rain8 when it and the chain were so adjusted that the
balance stood in equilibrio. A particular apparatus on
the same principles as a vernier, applied to the nut,
shewed the excess of weight to ten parts of a grain.
Lowitz remarked that this hygrometer in continued
wet weather gave a moisture of more than 15 grains,
and in a continued heat of 113 degrees of Fahrenheit
only It degree of moisture.
The hydrometer thus invented by Lowitz was, how¬
ever, attended with this fault, that it never threw oft
the moisture in the same degree as the atmosphere be¬
came drier. It was also sometimes very deceitful, and
announced moisture when it ought to have indicated
that dryness had again begun to take place in the at¬
mosphere. To avoid these inconveniences, M. Hoch-
heimer proposes the following method :
I. Take a square bar of steel about two lines in
thickness, and from ten to twelve inches in length, and
form it into a kind of balance, one arm of which ends
in a screw. On this screw let there be screwed a lead¬
en bullet of a proper weight, instead ol the common
weights that are suspended. 2. Take a glass plate
about ten inches long, and seven inches in breadth j de¬
stroy its polish on both sides, free it from all moisture
by rubbing it over with warm ashes, suspend it at the
other end of the balance, and bring the balance into
equilibrium by screwing up or down the leaden bullet.
3. Mark now the place to which the leaden bullet is
brought by the screw, as accurately as possible, for the
point of the greatest dryness. 4. Then take away the
glass plate from the balance, dip it completely in water,
give it a shake that the drops may run oft’ from it, and
wipe them carefully from the edge. 5. Apply the
glass plate thus moistened again to the balance, and
bring the latter into equilibrium by screwing the leaden
bullet. Mark then the place at which the bullet stands
&s the highest degree of moisture. 6. This apparatus
is to be suspended in a small box of well dried wood,
sufficiently large to suffer the glass plate to move up
and down. An opening must be made in the lid, ex¬
actly of such a size as to allow the tongue of the ba¬
lance to move freely. Parallel to the tongue apply a
graduated circle, divided into a number of degrees at
pleasure, from the highest point of dryness to the high¬
est degree of moisture. The box must be pierced with
small holes on all the four sides, to give a free passage
to the air; and to prevent moisture from penetrating
into the wood by rain, when it may be requisite to ex¬
pose it at a window, it must either be lackered or
painted. To save it at all times from rain, it may be
furnished with a sort of roof.
Fora description of Mr Leslie’s Hygrometer, fig. 13.
and in a more portable form, fig. 14. see Meteorolo¬
gy Index.
HYGROSCOPE. The same with Hygrometer.
HYL A,in Ancient Geography, a river of MysiaMi¬
nor, famous for Hylas the favourite hoy of Hercules,
who was carried down the stream and drowned. It is
said to run by Prusa j whence it seems to be the same
with the Rhyndacus, which runs north-west into the
Propontis.
HYLAS, in fabulous history, son of Theodamus,
r ] H Y M
was ravished by the nymphs of a fountain as he was ta¬
king out some water for Hercules, by whom he was be¬
loved.
HYLOZOISTS, formed of vAn, matter, and Za*,life,
the name of a sect of atheists among the ancient Greek
philosophers, who held matter to be animated $ main¬
taining that matter had some natural perception, with¬
out animal sensation, or reflection in itself considered >
but that this imperfect life occasioned that organiza¬
tion whence sensation and reflection afterwards arose.
Of these, some held only one life, which they called a
plastic nature, presiding regularly and invariably over
the whole corporeal universe, which they represented as
a kind of large plant or vegetable $ these were called
the cosmoplastic and stoical atheists, because the Stoics
held such a nature, though many of them supposed it
to be the instrument of the Deity. Others thought
that every particle of matter was endued with life,
and made the mundane system to depend upon a cer¬
tain mixture of chance and plastic or orderly nature
united together. These were called the Stratomci, from
Strato Lampsacenus, a disciple of Theophrastus, called
also Physicus (Cicero de Nat. Deor. lib. 1. cap. 13.),
who was first a celebrated Peripatetic, and afterwards
formed this new system of atheism for himself. Besides
these two forms of atheism, some of the ancient philo¬
sophers were Hylopathians, or Anaximandrians, de¬
riving all things from dead and stupid matter, in the
way of qualities and forms, generable and corruptible j
and others again adopted the atomical or Democri-
tical system, who ascribe the production of the universe
to atoms and figures. See on this subject Cudwort/ds
Intellectual System, book i. chap. 3.
HYMEN, or Hymeileus, a fabulous divinity, the
son of Bacchus and Venus Urania, was supposed by
the ancients to preside over marriages j and accord¬
ingly was invoked in epithalamiums, and other ma¬
trimonial ceremonies, under the formula Hymen, or
Hymencee !
The poets generally crown this deity with a chap¬
let of roses ; and represent him, as it were, dissolved
and enervated with pleasures, dressed in a yellow
robe and shoes of the same colour, with a torch in his
hand.—Catullus, in one of his epigrams, addresses him
thus :
Cinge tempora floribus
Suaveolentis amaraci.
It was for this reason, that the new married couple bore
garlands of flowers on the wedding-day : which custom
also obtained among the Hebrews, and even among
Christians, during the first ages of the church, as ap¬
pears from Tertullian, De corona militari, where he
says, Coronantet nuptce sponsos.—S. Chrysostom like¬
wise mentions these crowns of flowers j and to this day
the Greeks call marriage ri<pxvi»p.si, in respect of this
crown or garland.
Hymen, 'Y^V, in Anatomy, a thin membrane or skin,
sometimes circular, of different breadths, more or less
smooth, and sometimes semilunar, formed by the union
of the internal membrane of the great canal with that
on the inside of the alse, resembling a piece of fine
parchment. This membrane is supposed to be stretch¬
ed in the neck of the wombs of virgins, below the
nymphse, leaving in some subjects a very small opening,
B 2 in
H Y M [
Hymen, in others a larger, and in all rendering the external ori-
 v   fice narrower than the rest of the cavity, and to be
broke when they are deflowered $ an efl’usion of blood
following the breach.
The membranous circle may likewise suffer some
disorder by too great a flux of the menses, by impru¬
dence, levity, and other particular accidents.
The hymen is generally looked upon as the test of vir¬
ginity } and when broke, or withdrawn, shows that the
person is not in a state of innocence. This notion is
very ancient. Among the Hebrews, it was the custom
for the parents to save the blood shed on this occasion
as a token of the virginity of their daughter, and to
send the sheets next day to the husband’s relations.
And the like is said to be still practised in Portugal,
and some other countries.
And yet authors are not agreed as to the existence
of such a membrane. Nothing, Hr Drake observes,
has employed the curiosity of anatomists, in dissecting
the organs of generation in women, more than this
part : they have difl’ered not only as to its figure, sub¬
stance, place, and perforation, but even its reality j
some positively affirming, and others flatly denying it.
He Graaf himself, the most accurate inquirer into the
structure of these organs, confesses he always sought it
in vain, though in the most unsuspected subjects and
ages : all he could find was, a diflerent degree of strait-
ness or wideness, and diflerent corrugations, which were
greater or less according to the respective ages ; the
aperture being still the less, and the rugosities the
greater, as the subject was younger and more un¬
touched.
Dr Drake, on the other hand, declares, that in all’the
subjects he had opportunity to examine, he does not re¬
member to have missed the hymen so much as once,
where he had reason to depend on finding it. The
fairest view he ever had of it was in a maid who died
at thirty years of age j in this he found it a membrane
of some strength, furnished with fleshy fibres, in figure
round, and perforated in the middle with a small hole,
capable of admitting the end of a woman’s little finger,
and situated a little above the orifice of the urinary pas¬
sage, at the entrance of the vagina of the womb.
In infants it is a fine thin membrane, not very conspi¬
cuous, because of the natural straitness of the passage it¬
self, which does not admit of any great expansion in so
little room ; which might lead De Graaf into a notion
of its being no more than a corrugation.
This membrane, like most others, does probably
grow more distinct, as well as firm, by age. That it
not only exists, but is sometimes very strong and im¬
pervious, may be collected from the history of a case
reported by Mr Cowper. In a married woman, twenty
years of age, whose hymen was found altogether imper¬
vious, so as to detain the menses, and to be driven out
by the pressure thereof beyond the labia of the puden¬
dum, not unlike a prolapsus of the uterus j on divid¬
ing it, at least a gallon of grumous blood came forth.
It seems the husband, being denied a passage that way,
had found another through the meatus urinarius ; which
was found very open, and its sides extended like the
anus of a cock.
Upon a rupture of the hymen, after the consumma¬
tion of marriage, and especially delivery, its parts,
12 ] H Y O
shrinking up, are supposed to form those little fleshy nymeu
knots, called carunculje myrtifonnes. ' j|
HYMENyEA, the Bastard Locust Tree ; a Hyo-thy.
genus of plants, belonging to the decandria class ; and >01<3es-
in the natural method ranking under the 33d order, ,r~“
Lomentacece. See Botany Index.
HYMENiEAL, something belonging to marriage j
so called from Hymen.
HYMENOPTERA (derived from ipw, membrane,
and 5VT£§a», wing'), in the Linnsean system of natural
history, is an order of insects, having four membrana¬
ceous wings, and the tails of the females are furnished
with stings, which in some are used for instilling poi¬
son, and in others for merely piercing the bark and
leaves of trees, and the bodies of other animals, in
which they deposit their eggs. See Entomology
Index.
HYMETTUS, in Ancient Geography, a mountain
of Attica near Athens, famous for its marble quarries,
and for its excellent honey. Hymettius the epithet.
Pliny says that the orator Crassus was the first who had
marble columns from this place.
HYMN, a song or ode in honour of God y or
a poem, proper to be sung, composed in honour of some
deity.—The word is Greek, hymn, formed of the
verb celebro, “ I celebrate.”—Isidore, on ibis
word, remarks, that hymn is properly a song of joy, full
of the praises of God j by which, according to him, it
is distinguished from threna, which is a mourning song,
full of lamentation.
St Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, is said to have been
the first that composed hymns to be sung in churches,
and was followed by St Ambrose. Most of those
in the Roman Breviary were composed by Prndentius.
They have been translated into French verse by Mes¬
sieurs de Port Royal.—In the Greek Liturgy there are
four kinds of hymns $ but the word is not taken in the
sense of a praise offered in verse, but simply of a laud
or praise. The angelic hymn, or Gloria in excelsis,
makes the first kind; the trisagion the second; the
Cherubic hymn, the third ; and the hymn of victory and
triumph, called s;rw>e<os, the last.
The hymns or odes of the ancients generally con¬
sisted of three sorts of stanzas ; one of which, called
strophe, was sung by the band as they walked from east
to west ; another, called antistrophe, was performed as
they returned from west to east; the third part, or epode,
was sung before the altar. The Jewish hymns were ac¬
companied with trumpets, drums, and cymbals, to assist
the voices of the Levites and people.
HYOBANCHE, a genus of plants belonging to the
didynamia class. See Botany Index.
HA OIDES, in Anatomy, a hone placed at the root
of the tongue. See ANATOMY, N° 28.
HYOSCYAMUS, Henbane; a genus of plants
belonging to the pentandria class, and in the natural
method ranking under the 28th order, Luridce. See
Botany and Materia Medica Index.
HYOSERIS, a genus of plants belonging to the
syngenesia class, and in the natural method ranking
under the 49th order, Compositce. See Botany Index.
HYO-THYROIDES, in Anatomy, one of the
muscles belonging to the os hyoides. See Anatomy,
Table of the Muscles.
HYPALLAGE,
a
HYP
Hypallage HYPALLAGE, among grammarians, a species of
|i hyperbaton, consisting in a mutual permutation of one
Hypatia. case for another. Thus Virgil says, Dare classibus
' ' austros, for dare classes austris ; and again, Nec dum
Mis Libra admovi, for nec dum ilia labris admovt.
HYPANTE, or Htperpante, a name given by
the Greeks to the feast of the presentation of Jesus in
the temple.—This word, which signifies lowly or humble
meeting, was given to this feast from the meeting of old
Simeon and Anna the prophetess in the temple when
Jesus was brought thither.
HYPATIA, a learned and beautiful lady of anti¬
quity, the daughter of Theon a celebrated philosopher
and mathematician, and president of the famous Alex¬
andrian school, was born at Alexandria about the end
of the fourth century. Her father, encouraged by her
extraordinary genius, had her not only educated in all
the ordinarv qualifications of her sex, but instructed in
the most abstruse sciences. She made such great pro¬
gress in philosophy, geometry, astronomy, and the ma¬
thematics, that she passed for the most learned person
of her time. At length she was thought worthy to
succeed her father in that distinguished and important
employment, the government of the school of Alexan¬
dria ; and to teach out of that chair where Ammonius,
Hierocles, and many other great men, had taught be¬
fore 5 and this at a time too when men of great learn¬
ing abounded both at Alexandria and in many other
parts of the Roman empire. Her fame was so exten¬
sive, and her worth so universally acknowledged, that
we cannot wonder if she had a crowded auditory.
“ She explained to her hearers (says Socrates) the se¬
veral sciences that go under the general name of phi¬
losophy 5 for which reason there was a confluence to
her from all parts of those who made philosophy their
delight and study.”’ One cannot represent to himself,
without pleasure, the flower of all the youth of Europe,
Asia, and Africa, sitting at the feet of a very beauti¬
ful lady (for such we are assured Hypatia was), all
greedily swallowing instruction from her mouth, and
many of them, doubtless, love from her eyes $ though
we are not sure that she ever listened to any solicita¬
tions, since Suidas, who talks of her marriage with
Isiodorus, yet relates at the same time that she died
a maid.
Her scholars were as eminent as they were nume¬
rous ; one of whom was the celebrated Synesius, who
was afterwards bishop of Ptolemais. This ancient
Christian PlatonUt everywhere bears the strongest, as
well as the most grateful testimony of the virtue of
his tutoress; and never mentions her without the most
profound respect, and sometimes in terms of afl’ection
coming little short of adoration. But it was not Sy¬
nesius only, and the disciples of the Alexandrian school,
who admired Hypatia for her virtue and learning:
never was woman more caressed by the public, and
yet never woman had a more unspotted character. She
was held as an oracle for her wisdom, which made her
consulted by the magistrates in all important cases ;
and this frequently drew her amongst the greatest con¬
course of men, without the least censure of her manners.
In a word, when Nicephorus intended to pass the
highest compliment on the princess Eudocia, he thought
he could not do, it better than by calling her another
Hypatia.
HYP
While Hypatia thus reigned the brightest orna- Rypatta
ment of Alexandria, Orestes was governor of the same 1!
place for the emperor Theodosius, and Cyril was bi-
shop or patriarch. Orestes having had a liberal edu- tu"' .
cation, could not but admire Hypatia j and as a wise
governor frequently consulted her. This, together
with an aversion which Cyril had against Orestes,
proved fatal to the lady. About 500 monks assem¬
bling, attacked the governor one day, and would have
killed him, had he not been rescued by the townsmen j
and the respect which Orestes had for Hypatia caus¬
ing her to be traduced among the Christian multitude,
they dragged her from her chair, tore her in pieces,
and burned her limbs. Cyril is not clear from a sus¬
picion of fomenting this tragedy. Cave indeed en¬
deavours to remove the imputation of such an horrid
action from the patriarch $ and lays it upon the Alex¬
andrian mob in general, whom he calls levissimum ho-
minum genus; “ a very trifling inconstant people.”
But though Cyril should be allowed neither to have
been the perpetrator, nor even the contriver of it,
yet it is much to be suspected that he did not discoun¬
tenance it in the manner he ought to have done :
which suspicion must needs be greatly confirmed by
reflecting, that he was so far from blaming the out¬
rage committed by the monks upon Orestes, that he
afterwards received the dead body of Ammonius, one
of the most forward in that outrage, who had grie¬
vously wounded the governor, and who was justly pu¬
nished with death. Upon this riotous ruffian Cyril
made a panegyric in the church where he was laid,
in which he extolled his courage and constancy, as
one that had contended for the truth ; and changing
his name to Thaumasius, or “ the Admirable,” order¬
ed him to be considered as a martyr. “ However,
(continues Socrates), the wisest part of Christians did
not approve the zeal which Cyril showed on this man’s
behalf, being convinced that Ammonius had justly
suffered for his desperate attempt.”
HYPECOUM, Wild Cumin* a genus of plants
belonging to the tetrandria class j and in the natural
method ranking under the 24th order, Corydales. See
Botany Index.
HYPER, a Greek preposition frequently used in
composition, where it denotes excess j its literal signi¬
fication being above or beyond.
HY’PERBATON, in Grammar, a figurative con¬
struction inverting the natural and proper order of
words and sentences. The several species of the hyper¬
baton are, the anastrophe, the hysteron-proteron, the
hypallage, synchysis, tmesis, parenthesis, and the hyper¬
baton strictly so called. See ANASTROPHE, &c.
Hyperbaton, strictly so called, is a long retention
of the verb which completes the sentence, as in the
following example from Virgil:
Interea Reges : ingenti mole Latinus
Quadrijugo vchitur curru, cui tempora circum
Aurati bis sex radiifulgentia cingunt,
Solis avi specimen : bigis it Turnus in albis,
Rina manu Into crispans hastilia ferro :
Hinc Pater /Eneas, Romance stirpis origo,
Sidereo flagrans clypeo et coelestibus arnns ;
Etjuxta Ascanius, magnee spies altera Romce :
Procedunt castris.
hyperbola.
[ 13 ]
H .Y P [i.
Hyperbola, HYPERBOLA, a curve formed by cutting a cone
Hyperbole, in a direction parallel to its axis. See CoKIC Sec-
tions.
Hyperbola Deficient, is a curve having only one
asymptote, though two hyperbolic legs running out in-
. hnitely by the side of the asymptote, but contrary
ways.
HYPERBOLE, in Rhetoric, a figure, whereby the
truth and reality of things are excessively either enlar¬
ged or diminished. See Oratory, N° 58.
An object uncommon with respect to size, either
very great of its kind or very little, strikes us with
surprise 5 and this emotion forces upon the mind a mo¬
mentary conviction that the object is greater or less
than it is in reality : the same effect precisely attends
figurative grandeur or littleness ; and hence the hy¬
perbole, which expresses this momentary conviction.
A writer, taking advantage of this natural delusion,
enriches his description greatly by the hyperbole : and
the reader, even in his coolest moments, relishes this
figure, being sensible that it is the operation of nature
upon a warm fancy.
It cannot have escaped observation that a writer is
generally more successful in magnifying by a hyperbole
than in diminishing. The reason is, that a minute ob¬
ject contracts the mind, and fetters its powers of ima¬
gination ; but that the misad, dilated and inflamed with
a grand object, moulds objects for its gratification with
great facility. Longinus, with respect to a diminish¬
ing hyperbole, cites the following ludicrous thought
from a comic poet: “ He was owner of a bit of ground
not larger than a Lacedaemonian letter.” But, for the
reason now given, the hyperbole has by far the greater
force in magnifying objects j of which take the follow¬
ing example:
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give
it, and to thy seed for ever. And 1 will make
thy seed as the dust of the earth : so that if a
man can number the dust of the earth, then shall
thy seed also be numbered. Gen. xiii. 15, 16.
Ilia vel intactce segetis per samma volaret
Gramina, nec teneras cvrsu Icesisset aristas.
IRneid, vii. 808.
  Atcfue into barathri ter gurgite vast os
Sorbet in abrvptum fiuctus, rvrsmque sub auras
Erigit alternos, et sidera verberat undo.
JEneid, iii. 421.
. . .—-Hort'ificis juxta tonat Hina minis,
Interdumque atram prorumpit ad cethera nubem,
'Turbine fumantem piceo et candente javilla :
Attoliitque globos fiammarum, et sidera lambit.
JEneid, iii. 571.
Speaking of Polyphemus,
    Ipse arduus, altaque piilsat
Sidera. JEneid, iii. 619.
he speaks.
The air, a charter’d libertine, is still.
Henry V. act i. sc. I.
Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet clos’d,
To armour armour, lance to lance oppos’d,
5
] HYP
Host against host with shadowy squadrons drew, Hyperbole.
The sounding darts in iron tempests flew, v-.i
A ictors and vanquish’d join promiscuous cries,
And shrilling shouts and dying groans arise ;
With streaming blood the slipp’ry fields are dy’d,
And slaughter’d heroes swell the dreadful tide.
Iliad, iv. 508.
Quintilian is sensible that this figure is natural :
“ For (says he), not contented with truth, we natu¬
rally incline to augment or diminish beyond it} and
for that reason the hyperbole is familiar even among
the vulgar and illiterate j” and he adds, very justly,
“ That the hyperbole is then proper, when the object
of itself exceeds the common measure.” From these
premises, one would not expect the following infe¬
rence, the only reason he can find for justifying this
figure of speech, Conceditur enim amplius dicere, quid
dici quantum est, non potest: meliusque ultra quam ci-
tra slat oratioi1' (We are indulged to say more than
enough, because we cannot say enough ; and it is bet¬
ter to be above than under). In the name of wonder,
why this slight and childish reasoning, when immediate¬
ly before he had observed, that the hyperbole is found¬
ed on human nature ? We could not resist this personal
stroke of criticism j intended not against our author,
for no human creature is exempt from error } but a-
gainst the blind veneration that is paid to the ancient
classic writers, without distinguishing their blemishes
from their beauties.
Having examined the nature of this figure, and the
principle on which it is erected, let us proceed to the
rules by which it ought to be governed. And, in the
first place, it is a capital fault to introduce an hy¬
perbole in the description of an ordinary object or
event; for in such a case, it is altogether unnatural,
being destitute of surprise, its only foundation. Take
the following instance, where the subject is extremely
familiar, viz. swimming to gain the shore after a ship¬
wreck.
I'saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs : he trode the water j
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
The surge most swoln that met him : his bold head
’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar’d
Himself with his good arms, in lusty strokes
To th’ shore, that o’er his wave-born basis bow’d,
As stooping to relieve him. Tempest, act ii. sc. I.
In the next place, it may be gathered from what is
said, that an hyperbole can never suit the tone of any
dispiriting passion : sorrow in particular will never
prompt such a figure ; and for that reason the follow¬
ing hyperboles most be condemned as unnatural :
K. Rich. Aumerle, thou weep’st, my tender-heart-
, ed cousin !
We’ll make foul weather with despised tears:
Our sighs, and they, shall lodge the summer-corn,
And make a dearth in this revolving land.
Richard II. act iii. sc. 6.
Draw them to Tyber’s bank, and weep your tears
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shore of all.
Julius Caesar, act i. sc. 1,
Thirdly,
HYP [ 15 1 HYP
Hvperbole. Tliirdly, A writer, if he wish to succeed, ought al-
ways to have the reader in his eye : he ought, in par¬
ticular, never to venture a bold thought or expression,
till the reader be warmed and prepared. For this rea¬
son, an hyperbole in the beginning of a work can never
be in its place. Example :
Jam panca aratro jugera regice
Moles rclinquent. Horat. Carm. lib. ii. ode 15.
In the fourth place, The nicest point of all is, to
ascertain the natural limits of an hyperbole, beyond
which being overstrained, it has a bad effect. Longi¬
nus (chap, iii.), with great propriety of thought, en¬
ters a caveat against an hyperbole of this kind : he
compares it to a bow-string, which relaxes by over¬
straining, and produceth an effect directly opposite to
what is intended. To ascertain any precise boundary,
would be difficult, if not impracticable. We shall
therefore only give a specimen of what may be rec¬
koned overstrained hyperboles. No fault is more
common among writers of inferior rank 5 and instan¬
ces are found even among those of the finest taste ;
witness the following hyperbole, too bold even for an
Hotspur.
Hotspur talking of Mortimer :
In single opposition hand to hand,
He did confound the best part of an hour
In changing hardiment with great Glendower.
Three times they breath’d, and three times did they
drink,
Upon agreement, of swift Severn’s flood ;
Who then affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid his crisp’d head in the hollow bank,
Blood-stained with these valiant combatants.
First Part Henry IV. act i. sc. 4.
Speaking of Henry V.
England ne’er had a King until this time.
Virtue he had, deserving to command :
His brandish’d sword did blind men with its beams :
His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings :
His sparkling eyes, replete with awful fire,
More dazzled, and drove back his enemies,
Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces. ,
What should I say ? his deeds exceed all speech.
He never lifted up his hand, but conquer’d.
First Part Henry VI. act i. sc. 1.
Lastly, an hyperbole, after it is introduced with all
advantages, ought to be comprehended within the few¬
est words possible : as it cannot be relished but in the
hurry and swelling of the mind, a leisurely view dis¬
solves the charm, and discovers the description to be
extravagant at least, and perhaps also ridiculous. This
fault is palpable in a sonnet which passeth for one of
the most complete in the French language : Phillis, in
a long and florid description, is made as far to outshine
the sun as he outshines the stars :
Le silence regnoit stir la terre et sur Ponde,
Hair devenoit serrain et V Olimp vermeil,
Et Panioureux Zephir affranchi du someil,
Ressuscitoit lesjleurs d'une haieine fecondc.
HAurore deployoit Por de sa tresse blonde,
Et semoit de rubis le chemin du soleil;
Enjin ce F)ieu venoit au plus grand appareil
Qu'il soil jamais venu pour eclairer le monde :
Quand lajeune Phillis au visage riant,
Sortant de son palais plus clair que Porient.
Fit voir une lumiere et plus vive et plus belle.
Sucre Flambeau du jour, tden soii% point jahux,
Vous parutes alors atissi peu devant elle,
Que les feux de la nuit avoient fait devant vous.
Mallev We*
There is in Chaucer a thought expressed in a single
line, yvhich sets a young beauty in a more advanta¬
geous light than the whole of this much laboured
poem :
Up rose the sun, and up rose Emelie.
HYPERBOREAN, in the Ancient Geography.
The ancients denominated those people and places
Hyperborean which were to the northward of the Scy¬
thians. They had but very little acquaintance with
these Hyperborean regions •, and all they tell us of
them is very precarious, much of it false. Diodorus
Siculus says, the Hyperboreans were thus called by
reason they dwelt beyond the wind Boreas ; ime, sig¬
nifying, “ above or beyond,” and Boreas, the
“ north wind.” This etymology is very natural and
plausible 5 nothwithstanding all that Rudbeck has said
against it, who would have the word to be Gothic,
and to signify nobility. Herodotus doubts whether
or not there were any such nations as the Hyper¬
borean. Strabo, who professes that he believes there
are, does not take hyperborean to signify beyond Boreas
or the north, as Herodotus understood it: the prepo¬
sition inreg, in this case, he supposes only to help to
form a superlative ; so that hyperborean, on his prin¬
ciples, means no more than most northern; by which
it appears the ancients scarce knew themselves what the
name meant.—Most of our modern geopraphers, as
Hoffman, Cellarius, &c. have placed the Hyperboreans
in the northern parts of the European continent, among
the Siberians and Samoieds : according to them, the
Hyperboreans of the ancients were those in general
who lived farthest to the north. The Hyperboreans
of our days are those Russians who inhabit between
the Volga and the White sea. According to Cluvier,
the name Celtes was synonymous with that of Hyper¬
boreans.
HYPERCATALECTIC, in the Greek and La¬
tin poetry, is applied to a verse that has one or two
syllables too much, or beyond the regular and just mea¬
sure •, as,
Musce sorores sunt Minervee :
Also,
Musce sorores Palladis lugent.
HYPERCRITIC, an over-rigid censor or critic :
one who will let nothing pass, but animadverts se¬
verely on the slightest fault. See Criticism. The
word is compounded of super, “ over, above, be¬
yond j” and xgtltxoi, of judex, of xgow, judico,
“ I judge.”
Hyperbole
Hxpercri-
tic.
HYPERDULIA,
HYP [ 16 ] HYP
Hyperdulia HYPERDULIA, in the Romish theology, is the
H worship rendered to the holy virgin. The word is
Hrpobole Greek, composed of V7r(£, above, and dvXux,
* worship, service. The worship offered to saints is call¬
ed dalia ; and that to the mother of God, hyperdulia,
as being superior to the former.
HYPERIA, in Ancient Geography, the seat of the
Phasacians near the Cyclops, (Homer) : some commen¬
tators take it to be Camarina in Sicily ; but, according
to others, it is supposed to he an adjoining island, which
they take to be Malta, lying in sight of Sicily. And
this seems to be confirmed by Apollonius Rhodius.
Whence the Phaeacians afterwards removed to Coicyra,
called Scheria, P/ueacia, and Maoris; having been
expelled by the Phoenicians, who settled in Malta for
commerce, and for commodious harbours, before the
war of Troy, (Diodorus Siculus).
HYPERICUM, St John’s Wort, a genus of
plants belonging to the polyadelphia class, and in the
natural method ranking under the 20th order, Rotaceae.
See Botany Index.
HYPERIDES, an orator of Greece, was the dis¬
ciple of Plato and Isocrates, and governed the republic
of Athens. He defended with great zeal and courage
the liberties of Greece ; but wras put to death by An¬
tipater’s order, 322 B. C. He composed many ora¬
tions, of which only one now remains. He was one of
the ten celebrated Greek orators.
HYPERMNESTRA, in fabulous history, one of
the fifty daughters of Danaus king of Argos. She
alone refused to obey the cruel order Danaus had given
to all his daughters, to murder their husbands the first
night of their marriage j and therefore saved the life
of Lynceus, after she had made him promise not to
violate her virginity. Danaus, enraged at her disobe¬
dience, confined her closely in prison, whence Lynceus
delivered her some time after.
HYPERSARCOSIS, in Medicine and Surgery, an
excess of flesh, or rather a fleshy excrescence, such as
those generally rising upon the lips of wounds, &c.
HYPHEN, an accent or character in grammar,
implying that two words are to be joined, er connected
into one compound word, and marked thus -; as pre-
established, jive-leaved, &c. Hyphens also serve to
connect the syllables of such words as are divided by
the end of the line.
HYPNOTIC, in the Materia Medica, such medi¬
cines as any way produce sleep, whether called narco¬
tics, hypnotics, opiates, or soporifics.
HYPNOTICUS serpens, the Sleep-snake, in Zoo¬
logy, the name of an East Indian species of serpent,
called by the Ceylonese nintipolong, a word importing
the same sense. It is of a deep blackish brown, varie¬
gated with spots of white, and is a very fatal kind in
its poison : its bite it is said brings on a sleep which
ends in death ; hence this trivial name.
HYPNUM, Feather-moss, a genus of plants of
the natural order of musci, belonging to the cryptoga-
mia class. See Botany Index.
HYPO, a Greek particle, retained in the composi¬
tion of divers words borrowed from that language j li¬
terally denoting under, beneath.—In which sense it
stands opposed to v^reg, supra, “ above.”
HYPOBOLE, or Subjection, (from £*•«, and
AxXXtt, I east,) in Rhetoric, a figure, so called, when
several things are mentioned, that seem to make for pypobole
the contrary side, and each of them refuted in order. ii
This figure, when complete, consists of three parts ; a HvpoKas-
proposition, an enumeration of particulars with their tiltlw'
answer, and a conclusion. Thus Cicero, upon his re- V
turn from banishment, vindicates his conduct in with¬
drawing so quietly, and not opposing the faction that
ejected him. See Oratory, N° 81.
HYPOCATHARSIS (compounded of v^ra, under,
and jcxQstt^oi, Ipurge), in Medicine, a too faint or feeble
purgation.
HI POCAUSTUM, among the Greeks and Ro¬
mans, a subterraneous place, where was a furnace to
heat the baths. The word is Greek, formed of the
preposition vtto, under; and the verb xouu, to burn. 
Another sort of hypocaustum was a kind of kiln to
heat their winter parlours. The remains of a Roman
hypocaustum, or sweating-room, were discovered un¬
der ground at Lincoln in 1739. We have an account
of these remains in the Philosophical Transactions,
N°46i. § 29.—Among the moderns, the hypocaustum
is that place where the fire is kept which warms a
stove or hot-house.
HYPOCHiERIS, HawR’s-EYE, a genus of plants
belonging to the syngenesia class, and in the natural
method ranking under the 49th order, Compositce. See
Botany Index.
HA FOCHONDRIA, in Anatomy, a space on each
side the epigastric region, or upper part of the abdo¬
men. See Anatomy, N® 88.
HYPOCHONDRIAC passion, a disease in men,
similar to the hysteric affection in women. See Me¬
dicine Index.
HYPOCISTIS, in the Materia Medica, an inspis¬
sated juice obtained from the sessile asarum, much re¬
sembling the true Egyptian acacia. They gather the
fruit while unripe, and express the juice, which they
evaporate over a very gentle fire, to the consistence
of an extract, and then form into cakes, and ex¬
pose them to the sun to dry. It is an astringent
of considerable power; is good against diarrhoeas
and liEemorrhagies of all kinds ; and may be used in
repellent gargarisms in the manner of the true aca¬
cia $ but it is very rarely met with genuine in our
shops, the German acacia being usually sold under its
name.
HYPOCRISY, vTrox^icrif, in Ethics, denotes dissimu-
1 lation with regard to the moral or religious character.
In other words, it signifies one who feigns to be what
be is not j and is generally applied to those who as¬
sume the appearances of virtue or religion, without
having any thing in reality of either.
HYPOGiEUM, vTTcyctioy, formed of vtto, under, and
y*<«, earth, in the ancient architecture, is a name
common to all the parts of a building that are under
ground ; as the cellar, butteries, and the like places.
The term hypogceum was used by the Greeks and Ro¬
mans for subterraneous tombs in which they buried their
dead.
HyPOGJEUM, vT«y«j«y, in Astrology, is a name given
to the celestial houses which are below the horizon :
and especially the itnum codi, or bottom of heaven.
HYPOGASTRIC, an appellation given to the in¬
ternal branch of the iliac artery.
HYPOGASTRIUM, in Anatomy, the middle part
of
H Y
Hypogas- of the lower region of the belly,
ti.'um N® 88.
P HYPOGLOSSI externi, or majores, in Ana-
Hypostatis. tQmy, t[,e nint|1 paJr 0f nerves, called also linguales and
v ‘ rustatorii. See Anatomy.
° HYPOGLOTTIS, or Hypoglossis, (composed of
under, and yXwflct, tongue'), in Anatomy, is a name
given to two glands of the tongue. There are four-
large glands of the tongue ; two of them called hypo-
glottides, situated under it, near the venae ranulares: one
on each side of the tongue. They serve to secrete a
kind of serous matter of the nature of saliva, which
is discharged into the mouth by little ducts near the
gums.
Hypoglottis, or Hypoglossis, in Medicine, denotes
an inflammation or ulceration under the tongue ; called
also ranula.
HYPOPYON, in Medicine, a collection of purulent
matter under the corner of the eye.
HYPOSCENIUM, in antiquity, a partition under
the pulpit or logeum of the Greek theatre, appointed
for the music.
HYPOSTASIS, a Greek term, literally signifying
substance, ov subsistence ; used in theology for person.—
The word is Greek, > compounded of In*, sub,
“ under j” and sto, existo ; “ I stand, I exist 5”
q. d. sub sistentia. Thus we hold, that there is but
one nature or essence in God, but three hypostases or
persons.
The term hypostasis is of a very ancient standing in
the church. St Cyril repeats it several times, as also
the phrase union according to hypostasis. The first time
it occurs is in a letter from that father to Nestorius,
where he uses it instead of the word we com¬
monly render person, which did not seem expressive
enough. “ The philosophers (says St Cyril) have
allowed three hypostases: They have extended the Di¬
vinity to three hypostases : They have even sometimes
used the word trinity: And nothing was wanting hut
to have admitted the consubstantiality of the three hy¬
postases, to show the unity of the divine nature, exclu¬
sive of all triplicity in respect of distinction of nature,
and not to hold it necessary to conceive any respective
inferiority of hypostases.'1'1
This term occasioned great dissensions in the ancient
church first among the Greeks, and afterwards also
among the Latins. In the council of Nice, hypostasis
was defined to denote the same with essence or substance;
so that it was heresy to say that Jesus Christ was of a
different hypostasis from the Father j but custom altered
its meaning. In the necessity they were under of ex¬
pressing themselves strongly against the Sabellians, the
Greeks made choice of the word hypostasis, and the
Latins oi persona; which change proved the occasion
of endless disagreement. The phrase 'r^ii VTcoran^, used
by the Greeks, scandalized the Latins, whose' usual
way of rendering in their language was by
substantia. The barrenness of the Latin tongue in
theological phrases, allowed them but one word for
the two Greek ones, atria and j and thus dis¬
abled them from distinguishing essence and hypostasis.
For which reason they chose rather to use the term
tres personce, and ires hypostases.—An end was put to
logomachias, in a synod held at Alexandria about the
Vol. XI. Part I. f
HYP
year 362, at which St Athanasius assisted ; from which Mypjstasis
time the Latins made no great scruple of saying tres lJ
hypostases, nor the Greeks of three persons.
HYPOTHECA, in the Civil Law, an obligation,
whereby the effects of a debtor are made over to his
creditor, to secure bis debt. The word comes from
the Greek vtcoS/m, a thing subject to some obligation ;
of the verb vTrohUtiftzt, suppono, “ I am rejected j” of
vno, under, and ri6y^i,pono, “ I put.”
As the hypotheca is an engagement procured on pur¬
pose for the security of the creditor, various means have
been made use of to secure to him the benefit of the
convention. The use of the pawn or pledge is the
most ancient, which is almost the same thing with the
hypotheca ; all the difference consisting in this, that the
pledge is put into the creditor’s hands; whereas, in a
simple, hypotheca, the thing remained in the possession
of the debtor. It was found more easy and commo¬
dious to engage an estate by a civil covenant than by
an actual delivery: accordingly the expedient was first
practised among the Romans ; and from them the Ro¬
mans borrowed both the name and the thing : only the
Greeks, the better to prevent frauds, used to fix some
visible mark on the tiling, that the public might know
it was hypothecate or mortgaged by the proprietor;
but the Romans, looking on such advertisements as in¬
jurious to the debtor, forbade the use of them.
The Roman lawyers distinguished four kinds of hy-
pothecas : the conventional, which was with the will
and consent of both parties ; the legal, which was ap¬
pointed by law, and for that reason called tacit; the
praetor’s pledge, when by the flight or non-appearing
of the debtor, the creditor was put in possession of his
effects ; and the judiciary, when tlie creditor was put in
possession by virtue of a sentence of the court.
The conventional hypotheca is subdivided into gene¬
ral and special. The hypotheca is general, when all
the debtor’s effects, both present and future, are en¬
gaged to the creditor. It is special, when limited to
one or more particular things.
For the tacit hypotheca, the civilians reckon no less
than twenty-six different species thereof.
HYPOTHENUSE, in Geometry, the longest side
of a right-angled triangle, or that which subtends the
right angle.
HYPOTHESIS, formed of vtto, “ under,” and
Suns, positio, oi Tifapi, pono, “ I put”), is a proposition
or principle which v/e suppose, or take for granted, in
order to draw conclusions for the proof of a point in
question.
In disputation, they frequently make false hypothe¬
ses, in order to draw their antagonists into absurdities;
and even in geometry truths are often deducible from
such false hypotheses.
Every conditional or hypothetical proposition may
be distinguished into hypothesis and thesis : the first
rehearses the conditions under which any thing is af¬
firmed or denied ; and the latter is the thing itself af¬
firmed or denied. Thus, in the proposition, a triangle is
half of a parallelogram, if the bases and altitudes of the
two be equal ; the latter part is the hypothesis, “ if
the bases,” &c. and the former a thesis, “ a triangle
is half a parallelogram.”
In strict logic, we are never to pass from the hypo-
C thesis
See
[ 17
Anatomy,
Hypatra-
chelion.
HYP [i
Hypothesis thesis to the thesis ; that is, the principle supposed
must be proved to be true, before we require the con¬
sequence to be allowed.
Hypothesis, in Physics, &c. denotes a kind of
system laid down from our own imagination, whereby
to account for some phenomenon or appearance of
nature. Thus we have hypotheses to account for
the tides, for gravity, for magnetism, for the de¬
luge, &c.
The real and scientific causes of natural things ge¬
nerally lie very deep j observation and experiment, the
proper means of arriving at them, are in most cases ex¬
tremely slow, and the human mind is very impatient :
hence we are frequently driven to feign or invent some¬
thing that may seem like the cause, and which is cal¬
culated to answer the several phenomena, so that it may
possibly be the true cause.
Philosophers are divided as to the use of such fictions
or hypotheses, which are much less current now than
they were formerly. The latest and best writers are
for excluding hypotheses, and standing wholly on ob¬
servation and experiment. Whatever is not deduced
from phenomena, says Sir Isaac Newton, is an hypo¬
thesis } and hypotheses, whether metaphysical, or phy¬
sical, or mechanical, or of occult qualities, have no
place in experimental philosophy.
The Cartesians take upon them to suppose what af¬
fections in the primary particles of matter they please ;
iust what figures, what magnitudes, what motions, and
what situations, they find for their purpose. They
also feign certain unseen, unknown fluids, and endue
them with the most arbitrary properties \ give them a
subtility which enables them to pervade the pores of
all bodies, and make them agitated with the most un¬
accountable motions. But is not this to set aside the
real constitution of things, and to substitute dreams in
their place ? Truth is scarce attainable even by the
surest observations j and will fanciful conjectures ever
come at it ? They who found their speculations on hy¬
potheses, even though they argue from them regularly,
according to the strictest laws of mechanics, may be
said to compose an elegant and artful fable j but it is
still only a fable.
Hypothesis is more particularly applied in astro¬
nomy to the several systems of the heavens; or the
different ways in which different astronomers have
supposed the heavenly bodies to be ranged, mov¬
ed, &c.
The principal hypotheses are the Ptolemaic, Coper-
nican, and Tychonic. The Copernican is now become
so current, and is so well warranted by observation,
that the retainers thereto hold it injurious to call it an
hypothesis. See ASTRONOMY.
HYPOTIPOSIS. See Oratory, N° 91.
HYPOTRACHELION.in Architecture,™ used for
a little frieze in the Tuscan and Doric capital, between
the astragal and annulets j called also the colertn and
8 ]
H Y S
gorgerin. The word is applied by some authors in a
more general sense, to the neck of any column, or that
part of its capital below the astragal.
HYPOXIS, a genus of plants belonging to the hex-
andria class, and in the natural method ranking under
the 10th order, Coronarice. See Botany Index.
HYPSISTARII, (formed from v^iros, “ highest),”
a sect of heretics in the fourth century *, thus called
from the profession they made of worshipping the most
high God.
The doctrine of the Hypsistarians was an assemblage
of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity. They adored
the most high God with the Christians •, hut they also
revered fire and lamps with the heathens5 and observed
the sabbath, and the distinction of clean and unclean
things with the Jews.
The Hypsistarii bore a near resemblance to the Eu-
chites, or Massalians.
HYRCANIA, in Ancient Geography, a country of
the farther Asia, lying to the south-east of the Alare
Hyrcanum or Caspium; with Media on the west, Par-
thia on the south, and Margiana on the east. Famous
for its tygers (Virgil) j for its vines, figs, and olives,
(Strabo).
Hyrcania, in Ancient Geography, a town of Lydia,
in the campus Hyrcam/s, near Thyatira j so called from
colonists brought from Hyrcania, a country lying to
the south of the Caspian sea. The people called Hyr-
cani Macedones, because a mixed people (Pliny).—An¬
other Hyrcania, the metropolis of the country called
Hyrcania.. Thought to be the Tape of Strabo, the
Syrinx of Polybius, the Zeudracarta of Arrian, aud
the Asaac of Isidorus Characenus.—A third, a strong
place of Judea, built by Hyrcanus.
HYSSOP. See Hyssopus.
Hedge Hyssop. See Gratiola.
HYSSOPUS, Hyssop, a genus of plants belonging
to the didynamia class. See Botany and Materia
Medic a Index.
HYSTERIC affection, or Passion, (formed of
“ womb”) ; a disease in women, called also
cation of the womb, and vulgarly fits of the mother. It
is a spasmodico-convulsive affection of the nervous sys*-
tem, proceeding from the womb } for the symptoms and
cure of which, see Medicine.
HYSTERON proteron, in Grammar and Rhe¬
toric, a species of the hyperbaton, wherein the proper
order of construction is so inverted, that the part of
any sentence which should naturally come first is placed
last: as in this of Terence, Valet et vivit, for viint et
valet; and in the following of Virgil, Moriamur, et
in media arma ruamus, for In media arma ruamits, et
moriamur.
HYSTRIX, or Porcupine, a genus of quadru¬
peds belonging to the order of glires. See Mammalia
Index.
Ilvyoua-
chciion
R
Hvsdix.
I.
JAB
J A C
[ 19 1
I.
I
«
Jablonsk?,
I or i‘, the ninth letter and third vowel of the alpha-
9 bet, is pronounced by throwing the breath sud-
, denly against the palate, as it comes out of the larynx
with a small hollowing of the tongue, and nearly the
same opening of the lips as in pronouncing a or e. Its
sound varies : in some words it is long, as 6ig/i, mind,
See. j in others short, as bid, hid, sin, &c., in otheis,
again, it is pronounced like y, as in collier, onion, &c. j
and in a few, it sounds like ce, as in machine, maga¬
zine, &c. No English word ends in 1, e being either
added to it, or else the i turned into y.
But besides the vowel there is the jod consonant j
which because of its different pronunciation, has like-
wise a different form, thus J, j. In English, it has
the soft sound of nor is it used, but when g soft is
required before vowels, where g is usually hard: thus
we szy, jack, jet, join, &c. instead oi gack, get, gain,
&c. which would be contrary to the genius ot the En¬
glish language.
I, used as a numeral, signifies one, and stands tor
so many units as it is repeated times j thus I, one j
II, two ; HI, three, &c. ; and when put before a
hioher numeral, it subtracts itself, as IV, four, IX..
nine, &c. But, when set after it, so many are added
to the higher numeral as there are I’s added : thus
Y[ is 5-{- 1, or six ; VII, 5-I-2* or sevep 5 ^
or eight. The ancient Romans likewise used 13 for
500, C13 for 1000, 133 for 5000, CCI33 for
10,000. Farther than this, as Pliny observes, they
did not so in their notation ; but when necessary re¬
peated the last number, as CCCI333 CCCI333 for
200,000; CCCI333, CCCI333, CCCI333, for
300,000 ; and so on.
The ancients sometimes changed i into u ; decumus
for decimus > maxumus tor maximus, &c.
According to Plato, the vowel i is proper to express
delicate but humble things, as in this verse in Virgil
which abounds in f’s, and is generally admired :
Accipiunt inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscunt.
I used as an abbreviature, is often substituted for
the whole word Jesus, of which it is the first letter.
JABBOK, a brook on the other side of the Jordan,
the spring whereof is in the mountains of Gilead. It
falls into Jordan pretty near the sea of Tiberias, to the
south of this sea. Near this brook the patriarchy Ja¬
cob wrestled with the angel (Gen. xxxii. 22.). The
Jabbok separated the land of the Ammonites from the
Gaulanites, and the territories of Og king of Bashan.
JABESH, or Jabesh Gilead, was the name of a
city in the half tribe of Manasseh, beyond Jordan.
The scripture calls it generally Jabesh-Gilead, because
it lay in Gilead, at the foot of the mountains which go
by this name. Eusebius places it six miles from Pella,
towards Gerasa ; and consequently it must be eastward
of the sea of Tiberias.
JABIRU. See Mycteria, Ornithology Index.
JABLONSKI, Daniel Ernest, a learned Polish
Protestant divine, born at Dantzick in 1660. lie
became successively minister of Magdeburg, Eissa, Xo-
uingsberg, and Berlin ; and was at length ecclesiastical
counsellor, and president of the academy of sciences at Jablonski
the latter. He took great pains to effect an union
between the Lutherans and Calvinists; and wrote someJ;u
works which are in good esteem, particularly Medita¬
tions on the origin of the Scriptures, &c. He died in
1741.
Jablonski, Theodore, counsellor of the court of Prus¬
sia, and secretary of the royal academy of sciences in
Berlin, was also a man of distinguished merit. He lov¬
ed the sciences, and did them honour, without that
ambition which is generally seen in men of learning;
it was owing to this modesty that the greatest part of
Ins works were published without his name. He pub¬
lished, in 1711, a French and German Dictionary ;
a Course of Morality, in 1713 ; a Dictionary of Arts
and Sciences, 1721 ; and translated Tacitus de moribus
Germunorum into High Dutch, in I724*
JABNE, in Ancient Geography, a town of Palestine,
near Joppa ; called Jumnia or Jamnial, by the Greeks
and Romans. In Joshua xv. it seems to be called Jab-
neel; but in 2 Chron. xxvi. Jabne. It was taken from
the Philistines by Uzziah, who demolished its fortifica¬
tions. Its port, called Jamnitarum portus, lay between
Joppa and Azotus.
JACAMAR. See Alcedo, Ornithology Index.
JACCA, an ancient town of Spain, in the kingdom
of Arragon, with a bishop’s see, and a fort; seated oa
a river of the same name among the mountains of Jac-
ca, which are part of the Pyrenees. W. Long. o. 19.
N. Lat. 42. 26.
JACK, in Mechanics, a well-known instrument of
common use for raising great weights of any kind.
The common kitchen-jack is a compound engine,
where the weight is the power applied to overcome the
friction of the parts’and the weight with which the spit
is charged ; and a steady and uniform motion is obtain¬
ed by means of the fly.
Jack, in the sea language, a sort of flag or colours,
displayed from a mast erected on the outer end of a
ship’s bowsprit. In the British navy the jack is no¬
thing more than a small union flag, composed of the
intersection of the red and white crosses ; but in mer¬
chant-ships this union is bordered with a red field. See
the article Union.
Jack is used also for a horse or wooden frame to saw
timber upon; for an instrument to pull off a pair of
boots ; for a great leathern pitcher to carry drink in ;
for a small bowl that serves as a mark at the exercise
of bowling; and for a young pike.
Jack-Flag, in a ship, that which is hoisted up at the
sprit-sail top-mast head.
Jack-Daw, the English name of a species of corvus.
See Corvus, Ornithology Index.
This bird is very mischievous to the farmer and
gardener; and is of such a thievish disposition, that
he will carry away much more than he can make use
of. There is a method of destroying them by a kind
of springes much used in England; and is so useful,
that it ought to be made universal.=A stake of about
five feet long is to be driven firmly into the ground,
and made so fast that it cannot move, and so sharp ia
C 2 the
.1 A C [ 20 ] JAG
Jack-Daw the point that the hire! cannot settle upon it. Within
li a foot of the top there must lie a hole bored through
Jacobites, tjiree quarters of an inch diameter ; through
" vthis hole is to be put a stick of about eight inches
long ; then a horse-hair springe or noose is to be made
fast to a thin hazel-wand, and this brought up to the
place where the short stick is placed, and carried with
it through the hole, the remainder being left open un¬
der that stick. The other end of the hazel rod is to
be put through a hole in the stake near the ground,
and fastened there. The stake is to be planted among
the jack daw’s food, and he will naturally he led to
settle on it j but finding the point too sharp, he will
descend to the little cross stick. This will sink with
his weight; and the springe will receive his leg, and
hold him fast.
JACKALL, in Zoology. See Canis, Mammalia
Index.
JACOB, the son of Isaac and Rebekab, was born
in the year of the world 2168, before Jesus Christ
1836. The history of this patriarch is given at large
in the book of Genesis. He died in Egypt in the
147th year of his age. Joseph directed that the body
should be embalmed, after the manner of the Egyp¬
tians ; and there was a general mourning for him
throughout Egypt for seventy days. After this, Jo¬
seph and his brethren, accompanied with the principal
men of Egypt, carried him, with the king of Egypt’s
permission, to the burying-place of his fathers near He¬
bron, where his wife Leah had been interred. When
they were come into the land of Canaan, they mourned
for him again seven days; upon which occasion the
place where they staid was called Abelmisraim, or the
mourning of the Egyptians.
Jacob, Ben Hajim, a rabbi famous for the collec¬
tion of the Masorah in 1525; together with the text
of the bible, the Chaldaic paraphrase, and Rabbinical
commentaries.
Jacob, Ben Naphtali, a famous rabbi of the 5th
century: he was one of the principal massorets, and
bred at the school of Tiberias in Palestine with Ben
Aser, another principal massoret. The invention of
points in Hebrew to serve for vowels, and oi accents
to facilitate the reading of the language^ are ascribed
to these two rabbles ; and said to be done in an assembly
of the Jews held at Tiberias, A. D. 47^'
JACOBINE monks, the same with Dominicans.
JacoBINES, the name assumed by a party or club at
the beginning of the French revolution, composed of
members of the national assembly. The club held its
meetings in the hall belonging to the Jacobin friars,
from which it derived its name. lor an account of the
views and influence of the Jacobin club in the I rench
revolution, see France.
JACOBITES, a term of reproach bestowed on the
persons who, vindicating the doctrines of passive obe¬
dience and non-resistance with respect to the arbitrary
proceedings of princes, disavow the revolution in 1688,
and assert the supposed rights, and adhere to the inter¬
ests, of the late abdicated King James and his family.
Jacobites, in church history, a sect of Christians
in Syria and Mesopotamia ; so called, either from Ja¬
cob a Syrian who lived in the reign of the emperor
Mauritius, or from one Jacob a monk who flourished in
the year 550.
The Jacobites are of two sects, some following the Jacobite
rites of the Latin church, and others continuing se- i)
parated from the church of Rome. There is also a
division among tiie latter, who have two rival patri- -
archs. As to their belief, they hold but one nature
in Jesus Christ ; with respect to purgatory and prayers
for the dead, they are of the same opinion with the
Greeks and other eastern Christians : they consecrate
unleavened bread at the eucharist, and are against con¬
fession, believing that it is not of divine institution.
JACOBUS, a gold coin, worth 25 shillings ; so
called from King James I. of England, in whose reign
it was struck. See Coin.
We usually distinguish two kinds of Jacolus, the old
and the new; the former valued at 25 shillings, weigh¬
ing six penny-weights ten grains ; the latter, called also
Carolus, valued at 23 shillings, in weight five penny¬
weights twenty grains.
JAQUINIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
hexandria class, and in the natural method ranking
with those of which the order is doubtful. See Botany
Index.
JACULATOR, or Shooting-fish. See Ch^eto-
don, Ichthyology Index.
JADDESSES is the name of an inferior order of
priests in Ceylon, who have the care of the chapels
appropriated to the genii, who form a third order of
gods among these idolaters. These priests are applied
to by the people in a time of disease or calamity, who
offer a cock on their behalf to appease the anger of the
daemons.
JADE-stone, or Lapis Nephriticus, a species
of Mineral. See Mineralogy
JAFFA, an ancient town of Asia in Palestine, for¬
merly called Joppa. Its former grandeur is now great¬
ly diminished. It is situated 40 miles north-west of
Jerusalem. It has long been a favourite resort of pilgrims
proceeding to Jerusalem. It was taken by the French
under Bonaparte, in February I799> but afterwards re¬
taken and fortified. E. Long. 35. O. N. Lat. 32. 16.
JAFFATEEN ISLANDS, the name of four islands
in the Red sea, visited by Mr Bruce in his travels.
They are joined together by shoals or sunk rocks;
are crooked or bent like half a bow; and are dan¬
gerous for ships in the night-time, because there seems
to be a passage between them, to which, while the pi¬
lots are paying attention, they neglect two small sunk
rocks which lie almost in the middle of the entrance in
deep water.
JAFNAPATAN, a sea-port town, seated at the
north-east end of the island of Ceylon in the East In¬
dies. The Dutch took it from the Portuguese in
1658, but it is now with the rest of the island in pos¬
session of the British. They export from thence great
quantities of tobacco, and some elephants, which are
accounted the most docile of any in the whole world.
E. Long. 80. 25. N. Lat. 9. 40.
JAGENDORF, a town and castle of Silesia, capi¬
tal of a province of the same name, seated on the river
Oppa. E. Long. 17. 47. N. Lat. 50. 4.
JAGGERNAUT, a black pyramidal stone wor¬
shipped by the Gentoos, who pretend that it fell from
heaven, or was miraculously presented on the place
where their temple stands. There are many other
idols of this figure in India; which, however, are all
but
5
. JAG [2
Ja^crnaut accounted copies from the Jaggernaut. According
" II to the best information Mr Grose could obtain, this
.Taco. stone is meant to represent the power presiding over
un|versal generation, which they attribute to the ge¬
nial heat and influence of the sun acting in subordi¬
nation to it. Domestic idols of the form of the Jag¬
gernaut, and distinguished by the same name, are made
bv the Gentoos. These are niched up in a kind of
triumphal car, decorated with gilding and tinsel ;
which for some days they keep in the best apartment
in their house. During this time their devotion con*-
sists in exhibiting the most obscene postures, and act¬
ing all manner of lasciviousness, in sight as it were of
the idol, and as the most acceptable mode of worship
to that deity it represents ; after which they carry it
in its gilded car in procession to the Ganges, and throw
in all together as an acknowledgment to that river of
its congenial fertilization with that of the sun. For¬
merly this machine was decorated with jewels and other
expensive ornaments j but the Indians are now become
less extravagant, as they found that the Moors and
Christians, watching the places where they threw in
their idols, dived for them for the sake of the jewels
with which they were adorned.
Our author conjectures, that this pyramidal form of
the Gentoo idol was originally taken from that of
flame, which always inclines to point upwards. From
this Indian deity he supposes the shape of the Paphian
Venus to have been derived, for which Tacitus could
not account. This image had nothing of the human
form in it, but rose orbicularly from a broad basis, and
in the nature of a race goal tapering to a narrow con¬
vex a top ; which is exactly the figure of the idol in In¬
dia, consecrated to such an office as that heathen deity
was supposed to preside over, and to which, on the bor¬
ders of the Ganges especially, the Gentoo virgins are
brought to undergo a kind of superficial defloration be¬
fore they are presented to their husbands.
JAGHIRE, an assignment made in Bengal by an
imperial grant upon the revenue of any district, to de¬
fray civil or military charges, pensions, gratuities, &c.
JAGHIREDER, the holder of a jaghire.
JAGO, Richard, an ingenious poet, was vicar of
Snitterfield in Warwickshire, and rector of Kimcote in
Leicestershire. He was the intimate friend and corre¬
spondent of Mr Shenstone, contemporary with him at
Oxford, and, it is believed, his school-fellow ; was of
University college j took the degree of M. A. July 9.
I739 > was autbpr of several poems in the 4th and 5th
volumes of Dodsley’s Poems ; published a sermon, in
1755, on the Causes of Impenitence considered, preach¬
ed May 4. 1755, at Harbury in Warwickshire, where
he was vicar, on occasion of a conversation said to have
passed between one of the inhabitants and an appari¬
tion in the church-yard there $ wrote “ Edge-dull,” a
poem, for which he obtained a large subscription in
1767 and was also author of “ Labour and Genius,”
1768,410$ of “The Blackbirds,” a beautiful elegy
in the Adventurer $ and of many other ingenious per¬
formances. He died May 28. 1781.
St Jago, a large river of South America, which rises
in the audience of Quito in Peru. It is navigable $
and falls into the South sea, after having watered a fer¬
tile country abounding in cotton-trees, and inhabited
by wild Americans.
i ] J A G
St Jago, the largest, most populous, and fertile of jagp.
the Cape Verd islands, on the coast of Africa, and the v—
residence of the Portuguese viceroy. It lies about 13
miles eastward from the island of Mayo, and abounds
with high barren mountains $ but the air, in the rainy
season, is very unwholesome to strangers. Its produce
is sugar, cotton, wine, and some excellent fruits. The
animals are black cattle, horses, asses, deer, goats, hogs,
civet-cats, and some very pretty green monkeys with
black faces.
Sir George Staunton, in the account which he gives
of this island, observes, that it is liable to long and ex¬
cessive droughts, for which it is perhaps impossible to as¬
sign any philosophical cause. It was in a state of absolute
famine at the end of 1792, when visited by the embassy
to China, and the waters of the rivers were almost dried
up. The surface of the earth was devoid of herbage,
the cattle had nearly all perished, as much from the
want of food as from drought,
“ What vyere the uncommon circumstances (says Sir
George) that took place in the atmosphere of that part
of Africa to which the Cape de Verd islands lie conti¬
guous, or in the vast expanse of continent extending to
the east behind it, and from which this direful effect
must have proceeded (as they happened where no man
of science existed to observe or to record them), will
remain unknown, nor is theory bold enough to supply
the place of observation. Whatever was the cause
which thus arrested the bountiful hand of nature, by
drawing away the sources of fertility, it was observable,
that some few trees and plants preserved their luxuri¬
ance, indicating that they still could extract from the
arid earth whatever portion of humidity it was necessary
to derive from thence for the purpose of vegetable life,
though it was denied to others.”
Beside palm trees, frequently found verdant amidst
burning sands, nothing could be more rich in flavour,
or abound more with milky though corrosive juice,
than file asclepias giganlea, growing plentifully without
culture, but undisturbed. The physic nut tree appear¬
ed as if its perpetuity was not to be affected by any
drought. Some species of mimosa, or sensitive plant,
were most common, and did not appear to languish.
But the annual produce of agriculture had almost
wholly disappeared, and the sugar canes had little re¬
semblance to any thing like vegetation. Yet vegeta¬
tion quickly revived whenever any moisture could be
conveyed through the soil.
The residence of the viceroy is represented by Sir
George as a hamlet, consisting of 100 small dwellings,
only one story high, scattered nearly a mile in length,
and one-third as much in breadth. Not being com¬
manded by any eminence, it was a situation which ad¬
mitted of defence, yet the fort was nearly in ruins, and
the few guns mounted on it were mostly honey-combed.
Amidst the ruins of St Jago, was found a Portuguese,
to whom one of the party was recommended, by whom
they were hospitably received, and treated with every
species of tropical fruits from his garden.
St Jago, a handsome and considerable town of South
America, the capital of Chili, with a good harbour, a
bishop’s see, and a royal audience. It is seated in a
large and beautiful plain, abounding with all the ne¬
cessaries of life, at the foot of the Cordilleras, on the
river Mapocho, which runs across it from east to west.
mJ
J A L [ 22 ] JAM
Here are several canals and a dyke, by means of which
they water the gardens and cool the streets.—It is very
much subject to earthquakes. W. Long. 69. 35. S.
Lat. 33. 40.
St Jago de Cuba, a town situated on the southern
coast of the island of Cuba, in the bottom of a bay,
with a good harbour, and on a river of the same name.
W. Long. 76. 44. N. Lat. 20. O.
Jago de /os Caval/eros, a town of America, and one
of the principal of the island of Hispaniola. It is seat¬
ed on the river Yague, in a fertile soil, but bad air.
W. Long. 70. 5. N. Lat. 19. 40.
St Jago del Entcro, a town of South America, one
of the most considerable of Tucuman, and the usual
residence of the inquisitor of the province. It is
seated on a large river, in a flat country, where there
is game, tygers, guanacos, commonly called camel-
sheep, &c.
Jago de la Vega, otherwise called Spanish-town, is
the capital of the island of Jamaica, in the West Indies ;
and stands in 180 1' north latitude, and 76° 45' west
longitude. It is about a mile in length, and little more
than a quarter of a mile in breadth, and contains about
6000 inhabitants of all colours and denominations.
This town is situated in a delightful plain on the
banks of the Rio Cobre, 13 miles from Kingston, and
10 from Port Royal. It is the residence of the com¬
mander in chief: and here the supreme court of judi¬
cature is held, four times in the year, viz. on the last
Tuesdays of February, May, August, and November,
and sits three weeks.—St Jago de la Vega is the coun¬
tv-town of Middlesex, and belongs to the parish of St
Catharine.
JAGUAR, or Jaquar, a name given to the Brasi¬
lian ounce, a species of Felis. See Felis, Mamma¬
lia Index.
JAGUEER, in East India affairs, any pension from
the Grand Mogul, or king of Delhi ; generally such
as are assigned for military services.
JAGUEERDAR, the holder or possessor of a ja-
gueer. It comes from three Persian words, Ja, “ a
place gueriftun, “ to take 5” and dashtun, “ to
hold j” quasi, “ a place-holder or pensioner.” In the
times of the Mogul empire, all the great officers of the
court, called omrahs, were allowed jagueers, either in
lands of which they collected the revenues, or assign¬
ments upon the revenues for specified sums, payable by
the lord-lieutenant of a province : which sums were for
their maintenance, and the support of such troops as
they were necessitated to bring into the field when de¬
manded, by the emperor, as the condition of their ja¬
gueers, which were always revokable at pleasure.
JAIL-fever, a very dangerous distemper of the
contagious kind, arising from the putrescent disposition
of the blood and juices. See Medicine Index.
JAIS, a religious sect among the Hindoos. See
Supplement.
JALAP, the root of a species of convolvulus or
bind weed. See CONVOLVULUS, BoTANY and MatE-
ria Medic a Index.
JALEMUS, in antiquity, a kind of mournful song,
used upon occasion of death, or any other affecting ac¬
cident. Hence the Greek proverbs had their original,
tuXifAX or i. e. more sad or colder
3
than ajultmus, eis rug (XAS/utig gy]geemog, worthy to be jK]f
ranked among j ale muses. j
JALOFFS, or Yaloffs, are a W'arlike people, in- JarB
habiting most of that part of Africa, lying between Se- '
negal and the Mandingo states on the Gambia. Their
lips, according to Mr Park, are not so protuberant as
those of the generality of Africans ; and though their
skin is ol the deepest black, they are esteemed by the
white traders as the most sightly of the negroes in that
part of the continent. They are divided into several
independent states, and more resemble the Mandingoes
than any other nation in their manners and government,
but much exceed them in the manufacture of cotton
cloth, spinning the wool to a finer thread, weaving it
in a broader loom, and dyeing it of a better colour.
T. hey make excellent soap, by boiling ground nuts in
water, and then adding a ley of wood ashes. They
likewise manufacture very good iron, which they carry
to Bandore to exchange for salt. Their language, it
is said, is copious and significant, and is frequently
learned by Europeans trading to Senegal.
A generous disposition, according to the testimony
of Mr Park, is said to distinguish them above the ge¬
nerality of savages $ they know how to return an act of
kindness shewn them by others in distress, and their
conduct towards their enemies, in many instances, is
said to be worthy of imitation.
JAMADAR, an officer of horse or foot, in Hindo-
stan. Also the head or superintendant of the Peons in
the Sewaury or train of any great man.
JAMAICA, an island of the West Indies, the largest
of the Antilles, lying between 170 and 190 N. Lat. and
between 76° and 790 W. Long, j in length near 120
miles, and about 50 in breadth. It approaches in its
figure to an oval. The windward passage right before
it hath the island of Cuba on the west, and Hispaniola
on the east, and is about 20 leagues in breadth.
This island was discovered by Admiral Christopher
Columbus in his second voyage, who landed upon it
May 5. 1494 ; and was so much charmed with it, as
always to prefer it to the rest of the islands : in conse¬
quence of which, his son chose it for his dukedom. It
was settled by Juan d’Esquivel, A. D. 1509, who built
the town, which, from the place of his birth, he called
Seville, and 11 leagues farther to the east stood Melilla.
Oriston was on the south side of the island, seated oa
what is now called Blue Fields River. All these are
gone to decay; but St Jago, now Spanish-town, is still
the capital. The Spaniards held this country 160 years,
and in their time the principal commodity was cacao ;
they had an immense stock of horses, asses, and mules,
and prodigious quantities of cattle. The English land¬
ed here under Penn and Venables, May 11. 1654, and
quickly reduced the island. Cacao was also their prin¬
cipal commodity till the old trees decayed, and the new
ones did not thrive ; and then the planters from Barba-
does introduced sugar-canes, which hath been the great
staple ever since.
The prospect of this island from the sea, by reason
of its constant verdure, and many fair and safe bays, is
wonderfully pleasant. The coast, and for seme miles
within, the land is low ; but removing farther, it rises
and becomes hilly. The whole isle is divided by a
ridge of mountains running east and west, some rising
to
JAM [ 23 ] J A M
to a great height j and tiiese are composed of rock and
a very hard clay ; through which, however, the rains
that Vail incessantly upon them have worn long and
deep cavities, which they call gullies. These moun¬
tains, however, are far from being unpleasant, as they
are crowned even to their summits with a variety of fine
trees. There are also about a hundred rivers that issue
from them on both sides t and, though none of them
are navigable for any thing but canoes, are both plea¬
sing and profitable in many other respects. The cli¬
mate, like that of all countries between the tropics, is
very warm towards the sea, and in marshy places un¬
healthy •, but in more elevated situations cooler j and,
where people live temperately, to the full as wholesome
as in any part of the West Indies. The rains fall hea¬
vy for about a fortnight in the months of May and Oc¬
tober j and, as they are the cause of fertility, are styled
seasons. Thunder is pretty frequenr, and sometimes
showers of hail : but ice and snow are never seen, al¬
though on the tops of the mountains, and at no very
great height, the air is exceedingly cold.
° The most eastern parts of this ridge are known under
the name of the Blue Mountains, some of which exceed
5000 feet in height. This great chain of rugged rocks
defends the south side of the island from those boister¬
ous north-west winds, which might be fatal to their pro¬
duce. The streams, though small, supply the inhabi¬
tants with good water, which is a great blessing, as their
wells are generally brackish. The Spaniards were per¬
suaded that these hills abounded with metals : but we
do not find that they wrought any mines ; or if they
did, it was only copper, of which they said the bells in
the church of St Jago were made. They have several
hot springs, which have performed great cures. The
climate was certainly more temperate before the great
earthquake j and the island was supposed to be out of
the reach of hurricanes, which since that time it hath
severely felt. The heat, however, is very much tem¬
pered by land and sea breezes*, and it is asserted, that
the hottest time of the day is about eight in the morn¬
ing. In the night, the wind blows from the land on
all sides, so that no ships can then enter their ports.
In an island so large as this, which contains above/
four millions of acres, it may be very reasonably con¬
ceived that there are great variety of soils. Some of
these are deep, black, and rich, and mixed with a kind
of potters earth ; others shallow and sandy } and some
of a middle nature. There are many savannahs, or
wide plains, without stones, in which the native In¬
dians had luxuriant crops of maize, which the Spaniards
turned into meadows, and keep in them prodigious
herds of cattle. Some of these savannahs are to be met
with even amongst the mountains. Ail these different
soils may be justly pronounced fertile, as tiny would
certainly be found, if tolerably cultivated, and applied
to proper purposes. A sufficient proof of this will arise
from a very cursory review of the natural and artificial
produce of this spacious country.
It abounds in maize, pulse, vegetables of all kinds,
meadows of fine grass, a variety of beautiful flowers,
and as great a variety of oranges, lemons, citrons, and
other rich fruits. Useful animals there are of all sorts,
horses, asses, mules, black cattle of a large size, and
»heep, the flesh of which is well tasted, though their
wool is hairy and bad. Here are also goats and hogs
in great plenty ; sea and river fish ; wild, tame, and
water fowl. Amongst other commodities of great va¬
lue, they have the sugar cane, cacao, indigo, pimento,
cotton, ginger, and coffee 5 trees for timber and other
uses, such as mahogany, manchineel, white wood which
no worm will touch, cedar, olives, and many more.
Besides these, they have fustick, red wood, and various
other materials for dyeing. To these we may add a
multitude of valuable drugs, such as guaiacum, china,
sarsaparilla, cassia, tamarinds, vanellas, and the prickle-
pear or opuntia, which produces the cochineal ; with
no inconsiderable number of odoriferous gums. Near
the coast they have salt-ponds, from which at one time
they supplied their own consumption, and might cer¬
tainly make any quantity they pleased.
As this island abounds with rich commodities, it is
happy likewise in having a number of fine and safe
ports. Point Morant, the eastern extremity of the
island, hath a fair and commodious bay. Old Har¬
bour is also a convenient port, so is Maccary bay, and
there are at least twelve more between this and the
western extremity, which is Point Negrillo.
The town of Port Royal stood on a point of land
running far out into the sea, narrow, sandy, and inca¬
pable of producing any thing. Yet the excellence of
the port gradually attracted inhabitants, and there
were near two thousand houses in the town in its most
flourishing state, and which let at high rents. The
earthquake by which it was overthrown happened on
the 7th of June 1692, and numbers of people perished
in if. This earthquake was followed by an epidemic
disease, of which upwards of three thousand died : yet
the place was rebuilt ; hut the greatest part was re¬
duced to ashes by a fire that happened on the 9th of
January 1703, and then the inhabitants removed most¬
ly to Kingston. It was, however, rebuilt for the third
time j and was rising towards its former grandeur,
when it was overwhelmed by the sea, August 28. 1722.
There is, notwithstanding, a small town there at this
day. Hurricanes since that time have, often happened,
and occasioned terrible devastations.
The island is divided into three counties, Middlesex,
Surry, and Cornwall *, containing 20 parishes, over
earth of which presides a magistrate styled a custos.
The whole contain 36 towns and villages, and 18
churches and chapels. The population in 1787 was
estimated at 250,000 negroes, 30,000 whites, 10,000
people of colour, and 1400 maroons j in all 291,400
inhabitants.
In 1812, the number of slaves was 319,912. The
number of whites was not published j hut estimating it
at 40,000, the whole population would be 360,000.
The administration of public affairs is by a governor
and council of royal appointment, and the representa¬
tives of the people in the lower house of assembly.
They meet at Spanish-town, and things are conducted
with great order and dignity. The lieutenant-gover¬
nor and commander in chief has 5000I. currency, or
3571I. 8s. 6|;d. sterling, besides which, he has a house
in Spanish-town, a pen or a farm adjoining, and a po-
link or mountain for provisions $ a secretary, an under¬
secretary, and a domestic chaplain.
The honourable the council consists of a president
and
J AM [ 24 ] JAM
Jamaica, and 10 members •, with a clerk, a chaplain, usher of
'—’“'V—' the black rod, and messenger.
The honourable the assembly consists of 43 members,
one of whom is chosen speaker. To this assembly be¬
long a clerk, with 1000L salary j a chaplain, 150I.;
messenger, 700I. •, deputy, 140I.; and printer, 200I.
The number of members returned by each parish and
county are, for Middlesex, 17, viz. St Catharine 3, St
Dorothy 2, St John 2, St Thomas in the Vale 2, Cla¬
rendon 2, Vere 2, St Mary 2, St Ann 2 : For Surry
16, viz. Kingston 3, Port Royal 3, St Andrew 2, St
David 2, St Thomas in the East 2, Portland 2, St
Cleorge 2: For Cornwall 10, viz. St Elizabeth 2, West¬
moreland 2, Flanover 2, St James 2, Trelawney 2.
The high court of chancery consists of the chancel¬
lor (governor for the time being), 25 masters in ordi¬
nary, and 20 masters extraordinary j a register, and
clerk of the patents ; serjeant at arms, and mace-bear¬
er. The court of vice admiralty has a sole judge, judge
surrogate, and commissary, king’s advocate, principal
register, marshal, and a deputy-marshal. The court of
ordinary, consists of the ordinary (governor for the time
being), and a clerk. The supreme court of judicature
has a chief justice, and 16 assistant judges j attorney-
general clerk of the court; clerk of the crown ; soli¬
citor for the crown : 33 commissioners for taking affi¬
davits ; a provost-mardial-general, and eight depu¬
ties •, 18 barristers, besides the attorney general and
advocate-general; and upward of 120 practising attor¬
neys at law.
The commerce of Jamaica is very considerable, not
onlv with all parts of Great Britain and Ireland, but
with Africa, North and South America, the West In¬
dia islands, and the Spanish main. The ships annually
employed are upwards of 500 sail.
The average expence of the cultivation of sugar is
20s. rod. per cwt. independent of the interest of capi¬
tal and produce of rum. The works necessary for ma¬
king 200 hogsheads annually cost ic,oool. Jamaica
currency; and an estate producing such a quantity re¬
quires 40,000!. to establish it, viz. 250 negroes, at 70I.
each, amounting to 17,5001.5 180 cattle and mules, at Jamaica.
30I. each, 5400I. 5 buildings for the manufactures, and 1
houses for negroes and owners, 7000I. 5 and land,
lO,oool. The value of the buildings and machinery on
the sugar plantations varies from 4000I. to 25,000!.
sterling. Estates containing 1300 negroes, and a due
proportion of whites, require about io,oool. sterling of
supplies annually of British manufactures and provi¬
sions. One hundred barrels of herrings are required
for 250 negroes in the course of the year.
Coffee was little cultivated in Jamaica till 1788.
The coffee plantations are generally situated in hilly
districts, which are unfit for sugar plantations. The
cultivation has increased rapidly. In the three years
ending 1807, ^ie avei-age export was 28-J millions of
pounds, which, at 61. per cwt. its cost in Jamaica, pro¬
duces 1,700,000!. Cotton is not cultivated to a very
great extent. Very little indigo is raised ; and in all
probability it will never again become a staple commo¬
dity.
The following is a general view of the property and
chief produce of the whole island in 1786, as prefixed
by Mr Beckford to his descriptive account of Jamaica.
Counties.
Sugar
Estates
Other
Settle¬
ments.
Slaves.
Produce
Hhds. of
Sugar.
Cattle.
Middlesex
Surry
Cornwall
Total
323
35°
388
9J7
540
87100
75600
90000
34900
39000
75000
8coco
69500
1061
2018
255700
105400
22450c
It should be here observed, that where two hogsheads
of sugar are made, there is at least one puncheon of
rum ; but the proportion has been of late years more
considerable.
A comparative view between the years 1768 and 1786.
Sugar Estates-
Sugar Hhds.
Negroes
Cattle
Middlesex
in
1768 1786
239
24050
66744
59510
323
3I500
87100
75000
Surry
in
1768
146
I50IC
39542
21465
1786
35°
34900
7560c
80000
Cornwall
in
1768 1786
266
29100
60614
54775
388
39000
93000
69500
Total in
1768
651
68160
166900
I3575°
1786
1061
10540c
2557oc
22450c
Amount
of
Increase.
410
37240
88800
88750
The official value of the imports from Jamaica to Great Britain, and the exports to the island, were in
1809
1810
1809
1810
Coffee,
Cwt.
214,415
252,808
Imports. Exports.
L.4,068,897 L.3,033,234
4>303>337 2,303,179
The principal articles were
Sugar.
Cwt.
1,104,61 2
1,611,422
Hum.
Gallons.
3,470,250
3,428,452
Pimento.
Tbs.
2,219,367
2,372,964
Cotton.
Lbs.
1,886,748
i,798,i72
The
JAM [ 25 ] JAM
Jamaica
H
J awbiicus.
The common valuation of an estate in Jamaica is as
follows :
Cane land (the canes upon it valued Sterling.
separately) at - - L. 22 per acre.
Plants
Cane land, in ratoons and young plants,
Pasture land -
Wood land - - -
Provisions - - -
Negroes ...
Mules -
Steers - -
Breeding cattle, &c.
Works, water, carts, &c. - from
22
*5
8
4
57
22
10
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
7 to 10,000.
The revenues of the island amount to about 300,000!.
annually, Jamaica currency. They are derived from
taxes, consisting chiefly of a duty on negroes imported,
an excise on rum, &c. a poll tax on slaves and stock,
and a rate on rents and wheel carriages.
There are nineteen beneficed clergymen in the island,
each of whom receives 420I. per annum, subject to a
deduction of 10 per cent, for a widow’s fund. Besides
this stipend, there are surplus fees, which in Kingston,
Spanish-tovvn, and St Andrews, are very great. The last
has also considerable glebe lands ann'exed to the living.
All white males, from fifteen to sixty, are obliged by
law to provide themselves with arms, and to enter
either into the cavalry or infantry of the militia.
JAMBI, or Jambis, a sea-port town and small
kingdom of Asia, on the eastern coast of the island of
Sumatra. It is a trading place. The Dutch have a
fort here j and export pepper from thence, with the
best sort of canes. E. Long. 105. 55. S. Lat. o. 30.
JAMBIA vicus. See Yambo.
IAMBIC, in ancient poetry, a sort of verse, so cal¬
led from its consisting either wholly, or in great part,
•f iambus’s. See Iambus.
Ruddiman makes two kinds of iambic, viz. dimeter
and trimeter; the former containing four*feet, and the
latter six. And as to the variety of their feet, they
consist wholly of iambus’s, as in the two following ver¬
ses of Horace :
1 .2 3 4 5 6
Dim. Inar sit ce\stuo\sius\
Trim. Suis i\ psa Ro\ma vi\ribus\ruit.
Or, a dactylus, spondeus, anapestus, and sometimes
tribrachys, obtain in the odd places ; and the tri-
brachys also in the even places, excepting the last.—
Examples of all which may be seen in Horace ; as,
Dimeter.
* . . 2 3.4 5 6
Gamdi\a tra\ctavit\dapes\
Vide\re prope\rantes domum\
Trimeter.
Quo qii6[aeek\$ti rui\tis\aut\cur dex\teris.
Prius\que cce\lum si\det in\ferius\mari.
Aliti\bus at\que cani\bus /iomi\cid'> He\ctorem.
Piividtim\que lepo\r* out ad\venam laqueo\\gruem.
JAMBLICUS, the name of two celebrated Plato¬
nic philosophers, one of whom was of Colchis, and the
other of Apamea in Syria. The fy'st, whom Julian
equals to Plato, was the disciple of Aoatolius and
Vol. XI. Part I. f
Porphyry, and died under the reign of the emperor Jamblicas
Constantine.—The second also enjoyed great reputa- B
tion. Julian wrote several letters to him, and it is v?fta3es'
said he was poisoned under the reign of Valens.—It ifi
not known to which of the two we ought to attribute
the works we have in Greek under the name of Jam-
blicvs, viz. I. The history of the life of Pythagoras,
and the sect of the Pythagoreans. 2. An exhortation
to the study of philosophy. 3. A piece against Por¬
phyry’s letter on the mysteries of the Egyptians.
JAMBOLIFERA, a genus of plants, belonging to
the octandria class ; and in the natural method rank¬
ing with those of which the order is doubtful. See
Botany Index.
IAMBUS, in the Greek and Latin prosody, a poe¬
tical foot, consisting of a short syllable followed by a
long one ; as in
W — V — \J — U
0ib Asy«, Dei, meets.
Syllaba longa brevi subjectavocatur iambus, as Horace
expresses it; who also calls the iambus a swift, rapid
foot, pes citus.
The word, according to some, took its rise from
Iambus, the son of Pan and Echo, who invented this
foot; or, perhaps, who only used sharp biting expres¬
sions to Ceres, when afflicted for the death of Proser¬
pine. Others rather derive it from the Greek <•?, ve-
nenum, “ poison ;” or from maledico, “ I rail,
or revilebecause the verses composed of iambus’s
were at first only used in satire.
JAMES, St, called the Greater, the son of Zebe-
dee, and the brother of John the Evangelist, was born
at Bethsaida, in Galilee. He was called to be an
apostle, together with St John, as they were mending
their nets with their father Zebedee, who was a fisher¬
man ; when Christ gave them the name of Boanerges,
or Sons of Thunder. They then followed Christ, were
witnesses with St Peter of the transfiguration on Mount
Tabor, and accompanied our Lord in the garden of
olives. It is believed that St James first preached the
gospel to the dispersed Jews ; and afterwards returned
to Judea, where he preached at Jerusalem, when the
Jews raised up Herod Agrippa against him, who put
him to a cruel death about the year 44. Thus St
James was the first of the apostles who suffered martyr¬
dom. St Clement of Alexandria relates, that his ac¬
cuser was so struck with his constancy, that he became
converted and suffered with him. There is a magnifi¬
cent church at Jerusalem which bears the name of St
James, and belongs to the Armenians. The Spa¬
niards pretend, that they had St Janies for their apos¬
tle, and boast of possessing his body ; but Baronius,
in his Annals, refutes their pretensions.
James, St, called the Less, an apostle, the brother
of Jude, and the son of Cleophas and Mary the sister
of the mother of our Lord, is called in Scripture the
Just, and the brother of Jesus, who appeared to him
in particular after his resurrection. He was the first
bishop ol Jerusalem, whenoAnnanias II. high priest of
the Jews, caused him to be condemned and delivered
him into the hands of the people and the Pharisees,
who threw him down from the steps of the temple,
when a fuller dashed out his brains with a club, about
the year 62. His life was so holy, that Josephus con-
D skiers
JAM [ 26
James, siders the ruin of Jerusalem as a punishment inflicted
*■—V"” on that city for his death. He was the author of the
epistle which bears his name.
St James of the Sword, (San Jago del Espada'),
a military order in Spain, instituted in ll'jo, under
the reign of Ferdinand II. king of Leon and Gallicia.
Its end wTas to put a stop to the incursions of the
Moors ; three knights obliging themselves by a vow to
secure the roads. An union was proposed and agreed
to in 1x70 between these and the canons of St Floy ;
and the order was confirmed by the pope in nyi*
The highest dignity in that order is that of grand
master, which has been united to the crown of Spain.
The knights are obliged to make proof of their descent
from families that have been noble for four generations
on both sides j they must also make it appear that their
said ancestors have neither been Jews, Saracens, nor he¬
retics j nor even to have been called in question by the
the inquisition. The novices are obliged to serve six
months in the galleys, and to live a month in a mona¬
stery. Heretofore they were truly religious, and took
avow of celibacy j but Alexander III. gave them a per¬
mission to marry. They now make no vows but of po¬
verty, obedience, and conjugal fidelity j to which, since
the year 1652, they have added that of defending the
immaculate conception of the holy Virgin. Their ha¬
bit is a white cloak, with a red cross on the breast.
This is esteemed the most considerable of all the mili¬
tary orders in Spain : the king carefully preserves the
office of grand master in his own family, on account of
the rich revenues and offices, whereof it gives him the
disposal. The number of knights is much greater
now than formerly, all the grandees choosing rather to
be received into this than into the order of the Golden
Fleece j inasmuch as this puts them in a fair way of
attaining to commands, and gives them many consider¬
able privileges in all the provinces of Spain, but espe¬
cially in Catalonia.
James, the name of several kings of Scotland and
of Great Britain. See (Histories of) Scotland and
Britain.
James I. king of Scotland in 1423, the first of the
house of Stuart, was not only the most learned king,
but the most learned man, of the age in which he
flourished. This ingenious and amiable prince fell in¬
to the hands of the enemies of his country in his ten¬
der youth, when he was flying from the snares of his
unnatural ambitious uncle, who governed his domi¬
nions, and was suspected of designs against his life.
Having secretly embarked for France, the ship was
taken by an English privateer off Flamborough-head ;
and the prince and his attendants (among whom was
the earl of Orkney), were confined in a neighbouring
castle until they were sent to London. See (History
of) Scotland.
The king of England knew the value of the prize
he had obtained, and kept it with the most anxious
care. The prince was conducted to the Tower of
London immediately after he was seized, April 12.
A. D. 1405, in the 13th year of his age, and there
kept a close prisoner till June 10. A. D. 1407, when
he was removed to the castle of Nottingham, from
whence he was brought back to the Tower, March 1.
A.D. 1414, and there confined till August 3. in the
same year, when he was conveyed to the castle of
] JAM
Windsor, where he was detained till the summer of jamc«.
A. D. 1417 $ when Henry V. for political reasons, > ■. v—-/
carried him with him into France in his second expe¬
dition. In all these fortresses his confinement, from
his own account of it, was so severe and strict, that he
was not so much as permitted to take the air. In this
melancholy situation, so unsuitable to his age and
rank, books were his chief companion*!, and study his
greatest pleasure. He rose early in the morning, im¬
mediately applied to reading, to divert him from pain¬
ful reflections on his misfortunes, and continued his
studies, with little interruption, till late at night.
James being naturally sensible, ingenious, and fond of
knowledge, and having received a good education in
his early youth, under the direction of Walter Ward-
law, bishop of St Andrews, by this close application
to study, became an universal scholar, an excellent
poet, and exquisite musician. That he wrote as well
as read much we have his own testimony, and that of
all our historians who lived near his time. Bow-
maker, the continuator of Fordun, who was his con¬
temporary, and personally acquainted with him, spends
ten chapters in his praises, and in lamentations on his
death ; and, amongst other things, says, that his know¬
ledge of the scriptures, of law, and philosophy, was in¬
credible. Hector Boece tells us, that Henry IV. and
V. furnished their royal prisoner with the best teach¬
ers in all the arts and sciences *, and that, by their as¬
sistance, he made great proficiency in every part of
learning and the fine arts ; that he became a perfect
master in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, music, and all
the secrets of natural philosophy, and was inferior to
none in divinity and law. He observes further, that
the poems he composed in his native tongue were
so beautiful, that you might easily perceive he was
born a poet; but that his Latin poems were not so
faultless ; for though they abounded in the most sub¬
lime sentiments, their language was not so pure, ow¬
ing to the rudeness of the times in which he lived.
This prince’s skill in music was remarkable. Wal¬
ter Bower, abbot of Inchcolm, who was intimately
acquainted with that prince, assures us, that he ex¬
celled all mankind in that art, both vocal and in¬
strumental ; and that he played on eight diflerent
instruments (which he names), and especially on the
harp, with such exquisite skill, that he seemed to be
inspired*. King James was not only an excellent
performer, but also a capital composer both of sacred wfcon, lib.
and secular music; and his fame on that account wasxvi. e. 18.
extensive, and of long duration. Above a century af¬
ter his death, he was celebrated in Italy as the inven¬
tor of a new and pleasing kind of melody, which had
been admired and imitated in that country. This
appears from the following testimony of Alessandro
Tassoni, a writer who was well informed, and of un¬
doubted credit. “ We may reckon among us mo¬
derns, James king of Scotland, who not only compo¬
sed many sacred pieces of vocal music, but also of him¬
self invented a new kind of music, plaintive and melan¬
choly, different from all other ; in which he hath beenf Alessand.
imitated by Carlo Gesualdo, prince of Venosa, who, Tass.Pensi-
in our age, hath improved music with new and admi-^J
rable inventions f.” As the prince of Venosa imitated j0i,n’Haw_
King James, the other musicians of Italy imitated thekin*, vol.iv.
prince of Venosa. “The most noble Carlo Gesual-P-5>
do,
JAM
[
Jamcf. do, l!ie prince of musicians of our age, introduced such
—v—— a style of modulation, that other musicians yielded the
preference to him j and all singers and players on
stringed instruments, laying aside that of others, every-
# Id. vol. iii. where embraced his*. All the lovers, therefore, of
j> 212. Italian or Scotch music, are much indebted to the
admirable genius of King James I. who, in the gloom
and solitude of a prison, invented a new kind of music,
plaintive indeed, and suited to his situation, but at the
same time so sweet and soothing, that it hath given
pleasure to millions in every succeeding age.
As James I. of Scotland was one of the most ac¬
complished princes that ever filled a throne, he was
also one of the most unfortunate. After spending al¬
most 20 years in captivity, and encountering many
difficulties on his return into his native kingdom, he
was murdered by barbarous assassins in the prime of
life. In the monuments of bis genius, he hath been
almost equally unfortunate. No vestiges are now re¬
maining of his skill in architecture, gardening, and
painting ; though we are assured by one who was well
fStfcAc/tro-acquainted with him, that he excelled in all these artsf.
nicon, lib. Many of the productions of his pen have also perish-
xvi. cap.jo.gd . for hg te][s us himself that he wrote much J j and
Quab-"1 we know of only three of his poems that are now ex-
canto i. tant, viz. Christ’s Kirk on the Green—Peebles at the
stan. 13. Play—and the King’s Quair, which was lately disco¬
vered by Mr Warton, and hath been published by ano-
§ See Foett-ther gentleman §. But slender as these remains are,
crt/Rmams they afford sufficient evidence, that the genius of this
h{bTs^r°-Val l>0e,: WaS n°*' *n^er*or 1:0 that of any of his con-
znd'war-' temporaries j and that it was equally fitted for the
ton's Hist, gayest or the gravest strains.
Pod. vol. ii. James II. king of Scotland, 1437, succeeded his
P-I25- father, being then not seven years of age; and was
killed at the siege of Roxburgh in 1460, aged 29.
James III. king of Scotland, succeeded his father,
in 1460, in the 7th year of his age. The most striking
feature in the character of this prince, unjustly repre¬
sented as tyrannical by several historians, was his fond¬
ness for the fine arts, and for those who excelled in
them, on whom he bestowed more of his company,
confidence, and favour, than became a king in his
circumstances. This excited in Iris fierce and haugh¬
ty nobles dislike and contempt of their sovereign, and
indignation against the objects of his favour ; which
produced the most pernicious consequences, and ended
in a rebellion that proved fatal to James, who was slain
in 1488, aged 36.
James IV. king of Scotland, succeeded his father
in 1488. He was a pious and valiant prince ; sub¬
dued his rebellious subjects ; and afterwards, taking
part with Louis XII. against Henry VIII. of Eng¬
land, he was slain in the battle of Flowden-field in
1513, aged 41.—This king is acknowledged to have
had great accomplishments both of mind and body.
His Latin epistles are classical, compared with the bar¬
barous style of the foreign princes with whom he cor¬
responded. Like his father, he had a taste for the fine
arts, particularly that of sculpture. The attention
he paid to the civilization of his people, and his distri¬
bution of justice, merit the highest praise. After all,
the virtues of James appear to have been more shining
than solid : and his character was that of a fine gentle¬
man and a brave knight, rather than a wiie or a great
27 } J A M
monarch. At the time of his death, he was only in
his forty-first year. Like all the princes of his family
(to bis great grandson James VI.) his person was hand¬
some, vigorous, and active. From their coins, it does
not appear that either he, or any of his predecessors
of the Stuart race, wore their beards, as did all his
successors, to the reign of Charles II.
James V. king of Scotland, in 1513, was but 18
months old when his father lost his life. When of age,
he assisted Francis I. king of France against the em¬
peror Charles V. ; for which service Francis gave
him his eldest daughter in marriage, in 1535. This
princess died in two years ; and James married Mary of
Lorraine, daughter of Claud duke of Guise, and wi¬
dow of Louis d’Orleans, by whom he had only one
child, the unfortunate Mary queen of Scots, born on¬
ly eight days before his death, which happened De¬
cember 13. 1542, in the 35th year of his age. This
was the first prince of his family who died a natural
death since its elevation to the throne. He died,
however, of a broken heart, occasioned by differences
with his barons. He was formed by nature to be the
ornament of a throne and a blessing to his people ; but
his excellent endowments were rendered in a great
measure ineffectual by an improper education. Like
most of his predecessors, he was born with a vigorous,
graceful person, which, in the early part of his reign,
was improved by all the manly exercises then in use.
This prince was the author of a humorous composition
in poetry, which goes by the name of the Gaberlunxie
Man.
James VI. king of Scotland in 1567, and of Eng¬
land in 1603, was son of Mary queen of Scots; whom he
succeeded in Scotland, as he did Elizabeth in England.
Strongly attached to the Protestant religion, he signa¬
lized himself in its support ; which gave rise to the
horrid conspiracy of the Papists to destroy him and
all the English nobility by the Gunpowder Plot, dis¬
covered November 5. 1605. The following year, a
political test of loyalty was required, which secured
the king’s person, by clearing the kingdom of those
disaffected Roman Catholic subjects who would not
submit to it. The chief glory of this king’s reign con¬
sisted in the establishment of new colonies, and the
introduction of some manufactures. The nation enjoy¬
ed peace, and commerce flourished during his reign.
Yet his administration was despised both at home and
abroad : for, being the head of the Protestant cause in
Europe, he did not support it in that great crisis, the
war of Bohemia; abandoning his son-in-law the elector
Palatine; negociating when he should have fought;
deceived at the same time by the courts of Vienna and
Madrid; continually sending illustrious Ambassadors to
foreign powers, but never making a single ally. He
valued himself much upon bis polemical writings; and
so fond was he of theological disputations, that to
keep them alive, he founded, for this express purpose,
Chelsea-college; which was converted to a much bet¬
ter use by Charles II. His Basilican Doron, Com¬
mentary on the Revelation, writings against Bellar-
mine, and his D&monologia, or doctrine of witchcraft,
are sufficiently known. There is a collection of his
writings and speeches in one folio volume. Several
other pieces of his are extant; some of them in the
Cabala, others in manuscript in the British Museum,
D 2 and
.Tame*.
Janie*.
jam r 28 ] JAM
and others in Howard’s collection. He died in 1625,
in the 59th year ot his age, and 23d of his reign.
James II. king of England, Scotland, &c. 168?,
grandson of James I. succeeded his brother Charles II.
It is remarkable, that this prince wanted neither cou¬
rage nor political abilities whilst he was duke of York;
on the contrary, he was eminent for both : but when
he ascended the throne, he was no longer the same
man. A bigot from his infancy to the Romish reli¬
gion and to its hierarchy, he sacrificed every thing to
establish them, in direct contradiction to the experi-
ence he had acquired, during the long reign of his
brother, of the genius and character of the people he
was to govern. Guided by the Jesuit Peters his con¬
fessor, and the infamous chancellor Jeffries, he violated
every law enacted for the security of the Protestant re¬
ligion ; and then, unable to face the resentment of his
injured subjects, he fled like a coward, instead of dis¬
arming their rage by a dismission of his Popish mini¬
sters and priests. He rather chose to live and die a bi¬
got, or, as he believed, a saint, than to support the
dignity of his ancestors, or perish beneath the ruins of
his throne. The consequence was the revolution of
1689. James II. died in France in 1710, aged 68.
He wrote Memoirs of his own life and campaigns to
the Restoration ; the original of which is preserved in
the Scotch college at Paris. This piece is printed at
the end of Ramsay’s life of Marshal Turemie. 2. Me¬
moirs of the English affairs, chiefly naval, from the
year 1660 to 1673. 3. The royal' sufferer, King
James II. consisting of meditations, soliloquies, vows,
&c. said to be composed by his majesty at St Ger¬
mains. 4. Three letters ; which were published by
William Fuller, gent, in 1702, with other papers re¬
lating to the court of St Germains, and are said in the
title page to be printed by command.
JAMES, Thomas, a learned English critic and di¬
vine, born about the year 1571. He recommended
himself to.the office of keeper of the public library at
Oxford, by the arduous undertaking of publishing a
catalogue of the MSS. in each college library at both
universities. He was elected to this office in 1602,
and held it 18 years, when he resigned it to prosecute
his studies with more freedom. In the convocation
held with the parliament at Oxford in 1625, of which
he was a member, he moved to have proper commis¬
sioners appointed to collate the MSS. of the fathers in
all the libraries in England, with the Popish editions,
in order to detect the forgeries in the latter; but this
proposal not meeting with the desired encouragement,
he engaged in the laborious task himself, which he con¬
tinued until his death in 1629. He left behind him a
great number of learned works.
James, Richard, nephew of the former, entered in¬
to orders in 1615: but, being a man of humour, of
three sermons preached before the university, one con¬
cerning the observation of Lent was without a text,
according to the most ancient manner; another against
the text ; and the third beside it. About the year
1619,' he travelled through Wales, Scotland, Shet¬
land, into Greenland and Russia, of which he wrote
observations. He assisted Selden in composing his
Marmora Arundeliana; and was very serviceable to
Sir Robert Cotton, and his son Sir Thomas, in dis¬
posing and settling their noble library. He died in
1638 ; and has an extraordinary character given him James,
by Wood for learning and abilities. Jamesone.
James, Dr Robert, an English physician of great<J"' »
eminence, and particularly distinguished by the prepa¬
ration of a most excellent fever powder, was born at
Kinverston in Staffordshire, A. D. 1703: his father a
major in the army, his mother a sister of Sir Robert
Clarke. He was of St John’s-college in Oxford,
where he took the degree of A. B. and afterwards
practised physic at Sheffield, Lichfield, and Birming¬
ham successively. Then he removed to London, and
became a licentiate in the college of physicians; but in
what years is not known. At London he applied
himself to writing as well as practising physic ; and in
1 743» published a Medical Hictionary, in 3 vols folio.
Soon after he published an English translation, with a
Supplement by himself, of Rama%%ini de morbis artifi-
cum; to which he also prefixed a piece of Frederic
Hoffman upon Endemical Distempers, 8vo. In 1746,
The Practice of Physic, 2 vols 8vo ; in 1760, On Ca¬
nine Madness, 8vo; in 1764, A Dispensatory, 8vo.
June 25. 1755, when the king was at Cambridge,
James was admitted by mandamus to the doctorship
of physic. In 1788, were published, A Dissertation
upon Fevers, and A Vindication of the Fever-powder,
8vo ; with A Short Treatise on the Disorders of Chil¬
dren, and a very good print of Dr James. This was
the 8th edition of the Dissertation, of which the first
was printed in 1751 ; and the purpose of it was, to
set forth the success of this powder, as well as to de¬
scribe more particularly the manner of administering it.
The Vindication was posthumous and unfinished : for
he died March 23. I77^> vvhile he was employed up¬
on it.—Dr J ames was married, and left several sons and
daughters.
James's Powder, a medicine prepared by Robert
James, which is known also by the name of James's
fever powder. See Materia Medica Index.
James's Town, a borough and market town of Ire-.
land, in the county of Leitrim, and province of Con¬
naught ; situated five miles north-west of Carrick on
Shannon, and 73 north-west of Dublin, in N. Lat. 53.
44. W. Long. 8. 15. It has a barrack for a company
of foot, and returns two members to parliament ; pa¬
tronage in the family of King.—It has three fairs.
St James's Day, a festival of the Christian church,
observed on the 25th of July, in honour of St James
the greater, son of Zebedee.
Epistle of St James, a canonical book of the New
Testament, being the first of the catholic or general
epistles ; which are so called, as not being written to
one but to several Christian churches.
This general epistle is addressed partly to the belie¬
ving and partly to the infidel Jews ; and is designed t©
correct the errors, soften the ungoverned zeal, and re¬
form the indecent behaviour of the latter ; and to com¬
fort the former under the great hardships they then
did, or shortly were to suffer, for the sake of Chris¬
tianity.
JAMESONE, George, an excellent painter, just¬
ly termed the Vandyck of Scotland, was the son of An¬
drew Jamesone, an architect; and was born at Aber¬
deen, in 1586. He studied under Rubens, at Ant¬
werp ; and, after his return, applied with indefatiga¬
ble industry to portraits in oil, though he sometimes
practised
J A N [ 29 ] JAN
j,u«csoue practised In miniature, and also In history and land-
11 scapes. His largest portraits were somewhat less than
J.nie. ]Jfe> f£is earliest works are chiefly on board, after-
wards on a fine linen cloth smoothly primed with a
proper tone to help the harmony of his shadows. His
excellence is said to consist in delicacy and softness,
with a clear and beautiful colouring ; his shades not
charged, but helped by varnish, with little appearance
of the pencil. When King Charles I. visited Scotland
in 1633, the magistrates of Edinburgh, knowing his
majesty’s taste, employed this artist to make drawings
of the Scottish monarchs j with which the king was
so pleased, that, enquiring for the painter, he sat to
him, and rewarded him with a diamond ring from his
own finger. It is observable, that Jamesone always
drew himself with his hat on, either in imitation of
bis master llubens, or on having been indulged in that
liberty by the king when he sat to him. Many of
Jamesone’s works are in both the colleges of Aber¬
deen ; and the Sibyls there he is said to have drawn
from living beauties in that city. His best works are
from the year 1630 to his death, which happened at
Edinburgh in 1644.
JAMYN, Amadis, a celebrated French poet in
the 16th century. He is esteemed the rival of Ron-
sard, who was his cotemporary and friend. He was se¬
cretary and chamber reader in ordinary to Charles IX.
and died about 1585. He wrote, I. Poetical works,
two vols. 2. Philosophical discourses to Pasicharis and
Rodanthe, with seven academical discourses. 3. A
translation of the Iliad of Homer, begun by Hugh
Sahel, and finished by Jamyn •, with a translation into
French verse of the first three books of the Odyssey.
JANE 0/'Flanders, a remarkable lady, who seems
to have possessed in her own person all the excellent
qualities of both sexes, was the wife of John de Mount-
fort, a competitor for the dukedom of Brittany upon the
death of John HI. This duke, dying without issue,
left his dominions to his nice Jane, married to Charles
de Blois nephew to the king of France j but John de
Mountfort, brother to the late duke though by a second
marriage, claimed the duchy, and was received as suc¬
cessor by the people of Nantes. The greatest part of
the nobility swore fealty to Charles de Blois, thinking
him best supported. This dispute occasioned a civil
war ; in the course of which John was taken prisoner,
and sent to Paris. This misfortune would have entire¬
ly ruined his party, had not his interest been support¬
ed by the extraordinary abilities of his wife, Jane of
Flanders. Bold, daring, and intrepid, she fought like
a warrior in the field ; shrewd, sensible, and sagacious,
she spoke like a politician in the council ; and endow¬
ed with the most amiable manners and winning address,
she was able to move the minds of her subjects by the
force of her eloquence, and mould them exactly accord¬
ing to her pleasure. She happened to be at Rennes
when she received the news of her husband’s captivity}
but that disaster, instead of depressing her spirits, ser¬
ved only to rouse her native courage and fortitude. She
forthwith assembled the citizens ; and, holding in her
arms her infant son, recommended him to their care
and protection in the most pathetic terms, as the male
heir of their ancient dukes, who had always governed
them with lenity and indulgence, and to whom they
had ever professed the most zealous attachment. She
declared herself willing to run all hazards with them in .lane
so just a cause } pointed out the resources that still re- tl
mained in the alliance of England ; earnestly beseech- ,Taln^iUICN';
ing them to make one vigorous effort against an usur¬
per, who being forced upon them by the intrigues of
France, would, as a mark of bis gratitude, sacrifice
the liberties of Brittany to his protector. The people
moved by the affecting appearance, and animated by
the noble conduct of the princess, vowed to live and die
with her in defending the rights of her family } and
their example was followed by almost all the Bretons.
The countess went from place to place, encouraging
the garrisons of the several fortresses, and providing
them with every thing necessary for their subsistence :
after which she shut herself up with her son in Henne-
hon, where she resolved to wait for the succours which
the king of England (Edward III.) had promised to
send to her assistance. Charles de Blois, accompanied
by the dukes of Burgundy and Bourbon, and many
other noblemen, took the field with a numerous army,
and having reduced Rennes, laid siege to Hennebon,
which was defended by the countess in person. This
heroine repulsed the assailants in all their attacks with
the most undaunted courage } and observing one day
that their whole army had left the camp to join in a
general storm, she rushed forth at a postern-gate, with
three hundred horse, set fire to their tents and baggage,
killed their sutlers and servants, and raised such a ter¬
ror and consternation through all their quarters, that v
the enemy gave over their assault, and getting betwixt
her and the wall?, endeavoured to cut off her retreat to
the city. Thus intercepted, she put the spurs to her
horse, and without halting, galloped directly to Brest,
which lay at the distance of two-and-twenty miles from
the scene of action. There being supplied with a bo¬
dy of five hundred horse, she immediately returned,
and fighting her way through one part of the French
camp, was received into Hennebon, amidst the accla¬
mations of the people. Soon after this the English
succours appeared, and obliged the enemy to raise the
siege.
JANEIRO, or Rio Janeiro, a river and province
of Brasil in South America, seated between the tropic
of Capricorn and 22° of S. Lat. See Rio-Janeiro.
JANICULUM, or Janicularis, a hill of ancient
Rome, added by Ancus Martins *, the burial place of
Numa, and of Statius Csecilius the poet: to the east and
south, having the Tiber; to the west, the fields } to the
north, a part of the Vatican. So called, either from
an ancient city, (Virgil) ; or because it was a janua,
or gate, from which to issue out and make incursions1
on the Tuscans, (Verrius Flaccus). Now called Mans
Aureus, corruptly Montorius, from its sparkling sands.
From this hill, on account of its height, is the most
extensive prospect of Rome : but it is less inhabited,
because of its gross air ; neither is it reckoned among
the seven hills. Hither the people retired, and were
hence afterwards recalled by Q. Hortensius the dicta¬
tor, (Pliny).
JANIZARIES, an order of infantry in the Turkish
armies} reputed the grand seignior’s foot-guards.
Vossius derives the word from genixers, which in the
Turkish language signifies novi homines or tnilites.
D’Herbelot tells us, thatjenitcheri signifies a new band,
or troop; and that the name was first given by Amu-
JAN [ 30 1 JAN
Janizaries, rath I. called the Conqueror, who choosing out one-fifth
Jansen- part of the Christian prisoners whom he had taken from
'~’'v the Greeks, and instructing them in the discipline of
war and the doctrines of their religion, sent them to
Hagi Bektasche (a person whose pretended piety ren¬
dered him extremely revered among the Turks), to the
end that he might confer his blessing on them, and at
the same time give them some mark to distinguish them
from the rest of the troops.—Bektasche, after blessing
them in his manner, cut off one of the sleeves of the
fur-gown which he had on, and put it on the head of
the leader of this new militia ; from which time, viz.
the year of Christ 1361, they have still retained the
namejenitcheri, and the fur-cap.
As, in the Turkish army, the European troops are
distinguished from those of Asia j the Janizaries are al¬
so distinguished inio janizaries of Constantinople, and
of Damascus. Their pay is from two aspers to twelve
per diem ; for when they have a child, or do any sig¬
nal piece of service, their pay is augmented.—Their
dress consists of a dolyman, or long gown, with short
sleeves, which is given them annually by the grand
seignior on the first day of Ramazan. They wear no
turbeau ; but, in lieu of that, a kind of cap, which
they call •xarcola, and a long hood of the same stuff
flanging on their shoulders. On solemn days they are
adorned with feathers, which are stuck in a little case
on the fore part of the bonnet.—Their arms, in Europe,
in time of war, are a sabre, a carabine or musket, and
a cartouch-box hanging on the left side. At Constan¬
tinople, in time of peace, they wear only a long staff
' in their hand. In Asia, where powder and fire-arms
are more uncommon, they wear a bow and arrows, with
a poignard, which they call /ia?rzrtn?.-«-*Though the ja¬
nizaries are not prohibited marriage, yet they rarely
marry, nor then but with the consent of their officers j
as imagining a married man to make a worse soldier than
a bachelor.—It was Osman, or Ottoman, or, as others
will have it, Amurath, who first instituted the order of
janizaries. They were at first called jaja, that is,
footmen, to distinguish them from the other Turks, the
troops whereof consisted most of cavalry. The number
of janizaries is generally above 40,000 ; divided into
162 companies or chambers called odas, in which they
live together at Constantinople as in a convent. They
are of a superior rank to all other soldiers, and are al¬
so more arrogant and factious, and it is by them that
the public tranquillity is mostly disturbed. The go¬
vernment may therefore be said to be in the hands of
the janizaries. They have, however, some good qua¬
lities : they are employed to escort travellers, and es¬
pecially ambassadors and persons of high rank, on the
road ; in which case they behave with the utmost zeal
and fidelity.
Janizaries, at Rome, are officers or pensioners of
the pope, called all participantes, on account of certain
rites or duties which they enjoy in the annates, bulls,
or expeditions, and the Roman chancery.—Most au¬
thors are mistaken in the nature of their office: the
truth is, they are officers of the third bench or college
of the Roman chancery. The first bench consists of
writers, the second of abbreviators, and the third of
jaitixaries ; who are a kind of correctors and revisors
of the pope’s bulls.
JANSEN, Cornelius, bishop of Ypres, one of the
most learned divines of the 17th century, and prinei- jajucn
pal of the sect called from his name Jansenists. lie Jansmists.
was born in Holland of Catholic parents, and studied 1 v—~
at Louvain. Being sent into Spain to transact some
business of consequence relating to the university, the
Catholic king, viewing with a jealous eye the intriguing
policy of France, engaged him to write a book to ex^
pose the French to the pope as no good Catholics,
since they made no scruple of forming alliances with
Protestant, states. Jansen performed this task in his
Mars Galliens ; and was rewarded with a mitre, being
promoted to the see of Ypres in 1635. l'a(li
among other writings, before this, maintained a con¬
troversy against the Protestants upon the points of
grace and predestination ; but his Augustinus was the
principal labour of his life, on which he spent above 20
years. See the next article.
JANSENISTS, in church history, a sect of the Ro¬
man Catholics in France, who followed the opinions of
Jansenius, bishop of Ypres, and doctor of divinity of
the universities of Louvain and Douay, in relation to
grace and predestination.
In the year 1640, the twTo universities just mention¬
ed, and particularly Father Molina and Father Leonard
Celsus, thought fit to condemn the opinions of the Je¬
suits on grace and free-will. This having set the con¬
troversy on foot, Jansenius opposed to the doctrine of
the Jesuits the sentiments of St Augustine j and wrote
a treatise on grace, which he entitled Augustinus.
This treatise was attacked by the Jesuits, who accused
Jansenius of maintaining dangerous and heretical opi¬
nions j and afterwards, in 1642, obtained of Pope Ur¬
ban vm. a formal condemnation of the treatise written
by Jansenius : when the partizans of Jansenius gave
out that this bull was spurious, and composed by a per¬
son entirely devoted to the Jesuits. After the death of
Urban VIII. the affair of Jansenism began to be more
warmly controverted, and gave birth to an infinite num¬
ber of polemical writings concerning grace. And what
occasioned some mirth, was the titles which each party
gave to their writings j one writer published The torch
of St Augustine, another found Snuffers for St Augus¬
tine'1 s torch, and Father Vernon formed A Gag for the
Jansenists, &c. In the year 1650, 68 bishops of France
subscribed a letter to Pope Innocent X. to obtain an
inquiry into and condemnation of the five following pro¬
positions, extracted from Jansenius’s Augustinus : 1.
Some of God’s commandments are impossible to be ob¬
served by the righteous, even though they endeavour
with all their power to accomplish them. 2. In the
state of corrupted nature, we are incapable of resisting
inward grace. 3. Merit and demerit, in a state of
corrupted nature, do not depend on a liberty which ex¬
cludes necessity, but on a liberty which excludes con¬
straint. 4. The Semipelagians admitted the necessity
of an inward preventing grace for the . performance of
each particular act, even for the beginning of faith :
but they were heretics in maintaining that this grac®
was of such a nature, that the will of man was able ei¬
ther to resist or obey it. It is Semipelagianism to say,
that Jesus Christ died, or shed his blood, for all man¬
kind in general.
In the year 1652, the pope appointed a congrega¬
tion for examining into the dispute in relation to grace.
In this congregation Jansenius was condemned j and
the
JAN [ 31 ] JAN
jamenrsts, the bull of condemnation, published in May 1653, fill-
'Janssens, ed all the pulpits in Paris with violent outcries and
alarms against the heresy of the Jansenists. In the year
1656, Pope Alexander VII. issued out another bull,
in which he condemned the five propositions of Janse-
nius. However, the Jansenists affirm, that these pro¬
positions are not to be found in this book 5 but that
some of his enemies having caused them to be printed
on a sheet, inserted them in the book, and thereby de¬
ceived the pope. At last Clement XI. put an end to
the dispute by his constitution of July 17. 1705 j in
which, after having recited the constitutions of his pre¬
decessors in relation to this affair, he declares, “ That
in order to pay a proper obedience to the papal consti¬
tutions concerning the present question, it is necessary
to receive them with a respectful silence.” The clergy
of Paris, the same year, approved and accepted this
bull, and none dared to oppose it.
This is the famous bull Unigenitus, so called from
its beginning with the words Unigenitus Dei Films,
&c. which has occasioned so much confusion in
France.
JANSSENS, Abraham, history-painter, was born
at Antwerp in 1569. He was cotemporary with Ru¬
bens, and also his competitor, and in many of the finest
parts of the art was accounted not inferior to that cele¬
brated master. It is reported, that having wasted his
time and his substance by a life of dissipation and
pleasure, and falling into necessitous circumstances,
which he imputed more to ill fortune than to his own
neglect of his business, he grew envious at the grandeur
in which Rubens appeared, and impatient at his merit
and success j and with peevish insolence challenged him
to paint a picture with him only for fame, which he was
willing to submit to impartial judges. But Rubens
rejected the proposal, answering with modesty, that he
freely submitted to him, and the world would certain¬
ly do justice to them both.
Sandrart, who had seen several of his works, assures
us, that he not only gave a fine roundness and relief
to his figures, but also such a warmth and clearness to
the carnations, that they had all the look of real flesh $
and his colouring was as durable as it was beautiful,
retaining its original lustre for a number of years. His
most capital performance is said to be the resurrection
of Lazarus, which is in the cabinet of the elector Pa¬
latine, and is an object of admiration to all who behold
it.
Janssens, Victor Honorius, history-painter, was born
at Brussels in 1664, and was a disciple of one Volders,
under whose direction he continued for seven years j
in which time he gave many proofs of a genius far su¬
perior to those who were instructed in the same school.
He afterwards went to Rome, where he attended par¬
ticularly the works of Raphael 5 he designed after the
antiques, and sketched the beautiful scenes around that
city 5 and in a short time his paintings rose in esteem,
and the principal nobility of Rome were desirous to
employ him. He associated with Tempesta, the cele¬
brated landscape-painter, for several years, and painted
the figures in the works of that great master as long as
they resided together.
Janssens composed historical subjects, both in a small
and a large size j but he found the demand for his
small pictures so considerable, that he was induced to
paint most frequently in that size. During 11 years jans«en«
he continued at Rome, which barely sufficed for his Januanus.
finishing those pictures for which he was engaged ; nor ' v—•*
could he have even then been at his liberty, had he not
limited himself to a number’, and determined not to un¬
dertake more.—Returning to Brussels, his performances
were as much admired there as they had before been
in Italy; but having married, and gradually become
the father of 11 children, he was compelled to change
his manner of painting in small, and to undertake only
those of the large kind, as being more lucrative, more
expeditious, and also more agreeable to his genius and
inclination. He adorned most of the churches and pa¬
laces of his own country wdth his compositions.—The
invention of this artist w'as fruitful ; he designed cor¬
rectly, his colouring is natural and pleasing, his pencil
free, and the airs of his heads have beauty and ele¬
gance. As to the difference between his large and small
paintings, it is observed, that in correctness and taste
they had an equal degree of merit; but the colouring
of the former appears more raw and cold than the co¬
louring of the latter; and it is agreed, that for small
historical pictures, he was preferable to all the painters
of his time.
Janssen, Cornelius, ca\\e& Johnson, an eminent pain¬
ter of portraits, was born at Amsterdam (though in
the Chronological tables, and in Sandrart, it is impro¬
perly asserted that he was born in London), and he
resided in England for several years; where he was en¬
gaged in the service of King James I. and painted se¬
veral excellent portraits of that monarch, as also of his
children and of the principal nobility of his court. He
had not the freedom of hand, nor the grace of Van-
dyck ; but in other respects he was accounted his equal,
and in the finishing his pictures superior. His paint¬
ings are easily distinguished by their smooth, clear,
and delicate tints, and by that character of truth and
nature with which they are strongly marked. He ge¬
nerally painted on board ; and, for the most part, his
draperies are black ; probably because the opposition
of that tint made his flesh colours appear more beauti¬
fully bright, especially in his female figures. It is said
that he used a quantity of ultramarine in the black
colours, as well as in his carnations ; which may be
one great cause of their preserving their original lustre
even to this day. Frequently he painted in a small size
in oil, and often copied his own works in that manner.
His fame began to be somewhat obscured, on the arri¬
val of ^andyck in England; and the civil war break¬
ing out some time after, induced him to return to his
own country, where his paintings were in the highest
esteem. He died in 1685.
St JANUARI.US, the patron saint of Naples,
where his head is occasionally carried in procession, in
order to stay the eruption of Vesuvius. The lique¬
faction of his blood is a famous miracle at Naples.
The saint suffered martyrdom about the end of the
third century, When he was beheaded, a pious lady
of Naples caught about an ounce of his blood, which
has been carefully preserved in a bottle ever since,
without having lost a single grain of its weight. This
of itself, were it equally demonstrable, might be con¬
sidered as a greater miracle than the circumstance on
which the Neapolitans lay the whole stress, viz. that
the blood which has congealed, and acquired a solid
form
t
JAN [ 32 ] JAN
.Faiumrius form by age, is no sooner brought near the head of the
January, saint, than, as a mark of veneration, it immediately li-
v—qiiefies. This experiment is made three different times
every year, and is considered by the Neapolitans as a
miracle of the first magnitude.
The substance in the bottle, which is exhibited for
•the blood of the saint, has been supposed to be some¬
thing naturally solid, but which melts with a small
degree of heat. When it is first brought out of the
cold chapel, it is in its natural solid state j but when
brought before the saint by the priest, and rubbed be¬
tween his warm hands and breathed upon for some
-time, it melts; and this is the whole mystery. But
Dr Moore, though he confesses himself unable to ex¬
plain on what principle the liquefaction depends, is
convinced that it must be something different from
this: “ For he had it (he informs us) from the most
satisfactory authority, from those who had opportuni¬
ties ef knowing, and who believe no more in the mi¬
racle than the staunchest Protestant, that this con¬
gealed mass has sometimes been found in a liquid state
in cold weather, before it was touched by the priest,
or brought near the head of the saint; and that, on
other occasions, it has remained solid when brought
before him, notwithstanding all the efforts of the priest
to melt it. When this happens, the superstitious,
which, at a very moderate calculation, comprehends
99 in too of the inhabitants of this city, are thrown
into the utmost consternation, and are sometimes
wrought up by their fears into a state of mind which
is highly dangerous both to their civil and ecclesiastical
governors. It is true, that this happens but seldom :
for, in general, the substance in the phial, whatever it
may be, is in a solid form in the chapel, and becomes
liquid when brought before the saint: but as this is not
always the case, it affords reason to believe, that what¬
ever may have been the case when this miracle or
trick, call it which you please, was first exhibited, the
principle on which it depends has somehow or other
been lost, and is not now understood fully even by the
priests themselves ; or else they are not now so expert
as formerly, in preparing the substance which represents
the saint’s blood, so as to make it remain solid when it
ought, and liquefy the instant it is required.”
The head and blood of the saint are kept in a kind
of press, with folding doors of silver, in the chapel of
St Januarius belonging to the cathedral church. The
real head is probably not so fresh and well preserved
as the blood. On that account, it is not exposed to
the eyes of the public; but is inclosed in a large silver
bust, gilt and enriched with jewels of high value. This
being what appears to the people, their idea of the
saint’s features and complexion are taken entirely from
the bust.—The blood is kept in a small repository by
itself.
JANUARY, the name of the first month of the
year, according to the computation now used in the
west. The word is derived from the Latin Januarius,
a name given it by the Romans from Janus, one of
their divinities, to whom they attributed two faces,
because on the one side the first day of January looked
towards the new year; and on the other towards the
old one. The word Januarius may also be derived
{romjanua, “ gate;” in regard this month being the
first, is, as it were, the gate of the year.
3
January and February were introduced into the year
by Numa Pompilius; Romulus’s year beginning in the
month of March.— The kalends, or first day of this
month, was under the protection of Juno, and in a pe¬
culiar manner consecrated to Janus by an offering of a
cake made of new meal and new salt, with new frank¬
incense and new wine. On the first day of January a
beginning was made of every intended work, the con¬
suls elect took possession of their office, who, with the
flamens, offered sacrifices and prayers for the prosperi¬
ty of the empire. On this day all animosities were sus¬
pended, and friends gave and received new year’s gifts,
called Strence. On this day too the Romans above all
things took care to be merry and divert themselves, and
oftentimes such a scene of drunkenness was exhibited,
that they might with propriety enough have distin¬
guished it with the name of All-fools day.
The Christians heretofore fasted on the first day of
January, by way of opposition to the superstitions and
debaucheries of the heathens.
JANUS, in the heathen worship, the first king of
Italy, who, it is said, received Saturn into his domi¬
nions, after his being driven from Arcadia by Jupiter.
He tempered the manners of his subjects, and taught
them civility ; and from him they learned to improve
the vine, to sow corn, and to make bread. After his
death, he was adored as a god.
This deity was thought to preside over all new un¬
dertakings. Hence, in all sacrifices, the first libations
of wine and wheat were offered to Janus, all prayers
prefaced with a short address to him; and the first
month of the year was dedicated to and named from
him. See January.
Janus was represented with two faces, either to de¬
note his prudence, or that he views at once the past
and approaching years ; he had a sceptre in his right
hand, and a key in his left, to signify his extensive au¬
thority, and his invention of locks.
Though this is properly a Roman deity, the abhe la
Pluche represents it as derived from the Egyptians,
who made known the rising of the dog-star, which
opened their solar year, with an image with a key in its
hand, and two faces, one old and the other young, to
typify the old and new year.
Temple of Janus, in ancient history, a square build¬
ing at Rome (as some say) of entire brass, erected by
Romulus, and so large as to contain a statue of Janus
five feet high, with brazen gates on each side, which
were always kept open in time of war, and shut in time
of peace. But the Romans were so much engaged in
war, that this temple was shut only twice from the
foundation of Rome till the reign of Augustus, and six
times afterwards. It was first shut during the long reign
of Numa, who instituted this ceremony. 2. In the
year of the city 519, after the end of the first Punic
war. 3. By Augustus after the battle of Actium, in
the year of Rome 725. 4. On Augustus’s return from
the war which he had against the Cantabrians in Spain,
in the year of Rome 729. 5. Under the same emperor, in
744, about five years before the birth of Christ, when
there was a general peace throughout the whole Ro¬
man empire, which lasted 12 years. 6. Under Nero,
811. 7. Under Vespasian, 824. 8. Under Constan¬
tins, when, upon Magnentius’s death, he was left
■ole possessor of the empire, 1105. Some dispute the
authority
January,
Janui,
JAP [ 33 ] JAP
Janus, authority on which it is said to have been shut by Con-
Japan. stantius, and say that the last time of its being shut
■—w— was under Gordian, about the year of Rome 994.
Virgil gives us a noble description of this custom,
Mn. lib. iii. ver. 607. The origin of this custom is
not certainly known.
Janus was also the name of a street in Rome, inha¬
bited for the most part by bankers and usurers. It was
so called from two statues of Janus which were erected
there, one at the top, the other at the bottom, of the
street. The top of the street was therefore called Ja¬
nus Sumtnus, the bottom Janus Imus, and the middle
Janus Medius. Hence Horace, lib. I. epist. 1.
Hcec Janus summus ab imo perdocst.
And Sat. 3. Lib. 2.
1 —Postguam
omnis res mca Janum
Ad medium fracta sst. 
JAPAN, a general name for several islands lying
between the eastern coast of Asia and the western
coast of America, and which all together form a large
and powerful empire. They extend from the 30th to
the 41st degree of north latitude, and from the 129th
to the 143d of east longitude.
Were South and North Britain divided by an arm of
the sea, Japan might be most aptly compared to Eng¬
land, Scotland, and Ireland, with their respective smaller
islands, peninsulas, bays, channels, &c. all under the
same monarch.
The Europeans call the empire Japan; but the in¬
habitants Niphon, from the greatest island belonging
to it; and the Chinese Ciphon, probably on account of
its eastern situation ; these names signifying, in both
languages, the Basis or Foundation of the Sun. It was
first discovered by the Portuguese about the year of
Christ 1542.
Most of the islands which compose it are surrounded
with such high craggy mountains, and such shallow
and boisterous seas, that sailing about them is extreme¬
ly dangerous ; and the creeks and bays are choked
up with such rocks, shelves, and sands, that it looks
as if Providence had designed it to be a kind of little
world by itself. These seas have likewise many dan¬
gerous whirlpools, which are very difficult to pass at
low water, and will suck in and swallow up the largest
vessels, and all that comes within the reach of their
vortex, dashing them against the rocks at the bottom ;
insomuch that some of them are never seen again, and
others thrown upon the surface at some miles distance.
Some of these whirlpools also make a noise terrible
to hear.
The Chinese pretend that the Japan islands were
first peopled by themselves: but it is more probable
that the original inhabitants were a mixture of different
nations, driven thither by those tempestuous seas, at
different times.
As these islands lie in the fifth and sixth climates,
they would be much hotter in summer than England,
were not the heats refreshed by the winds which conti¬
nually blow from the sea around them, and to which
they are much exposed by the height of their situa¬
tion : this circumstance, however, not only renders
their winters excessively cold, but the seasons more in¬
constant. They have great falls of snow in winter,
Vol. XL Part I. ,
which are commonly followed by hard frosts. The Japan,
rains in summer are very violent, especially in the /"***
months of June and July, which on that account are
called sat-suki, or water-months. The country is al¬
so much subject to dreadful thunders and lightnings,
as well as storms and hurricanes, which frequently do
a great deal of damage.
The soil, though naturally barren and mountainous,
by the industry of the inhabitants, not only supplies
them with every necessary of life, but also furnishes
other countries with them ; producing, besides corn,
the finest and whitest rice and other grains, with a
great variety of fruits, and vast numbers of cattle of
all sorts. Besides rice, and a sort of wheat and bar¬
ley, with two sorts of beans, they have Indian wheat,
millet, and several other kinds in great abundance.
Their seas, lakes, and rivers, abound with fish j and
their mountains, woods, and forests, are well stocked
with horses, elephants, deer, oxen, buffaloes, sheep,
hogs, and other useful animals. Some of their moun¬
tains also are enriched with mines of gold, silver, and
copper, exquisitely fine, besides tin, lead, iron, and
various other minerals and fossils $ whils£ others abound
with several sorts of marble and precious stones. Of
these mountains, some may be justly ranked among
the natural rarities of the country } one, in particu¬
lar, in the great island of Niphon, is of such prodi¬
gious height as to be easily seen forty leagues oft at
sea, though its distance from the shore is about eigh¬
teen. Some authors think it exceeds the famous’Peak
of Teneriffe; but it may rather be called a cluster or
group of mountains, among which are no less than
eight dreadful volcanoes, burning with incredible fury,
and often laying waste the country round about them :
but to make some amends, they afford great variety
of medicinal waters, of different degrees of heat j one
of these, mentioned by Varenius, is said to be as hot as
burning oil, and to scorch and consume every thing
thrown into it.
The many brooks and rivers that have their sources
among the mountains, form a great number of delight¬
ful cascades, as well as some dreadful cataracts. A-
mong the great variety of trees in the forests here,
the cedars exceed all of that kind through India, for
straightness, height, and beauty. They abound in most
of the islands, especially the largest.
Their seas, besides fish, furnish them with great quan¬
tities of red and white coral, and some pearls of great
value, besides a variety of sea plants and shells j which
last are not inferior to those that are brought from Am-
boyna, the Molucca and other easterly islands.
The vast quantity of sulphur with which most of
the Japan islands abounds, makes them subject to fre¬
quent and dreadful earthquakes. The inhabitants are
so accustomed to them, that they are scarcely alarmed
at any, unless they chance to be very terrible indeed,
and lay whole towns in ruins, which very often proves
the case. On these occasions, they have recourse to
extraordinary sacrifices, and acts of worship, to their
deities or demons, according to the different notions
of each sect, and sometimes even proceed to offer hu¬
man victims ; but in this case they only take some of
the vilest and most abandoned fellows they can meet
with, because they are only sacrificed to the malevo¬
lent deities.
E • The
JAP [ 34 1 JAP
The religion throughout Japan, it is well known, is
Pagan, split into several sects, who live together in the
greatest harmony. Every sect has its own temples anti
priests. The spiritual emperor, the Dairo, is the chief
of their religion. They acknowledge and honour a
Supreme Being. The author of this relation (Dr
Thunberg) saw two temples of the God ol gods of a
majestic height. The idol that represented this*god
was of gilded wood, and of so prodigious a size, that
upon his hands six persons might sit in the Japanese
fashion ; his shoulders were five toises broad. In the
other temple, the infinite power of this god was repre¬
sented by little gods to the number of 33,333, all stand¬
ing round the great idol that represented God. The
priests, who are numerous in every temple, have nothing
to do but to clean the pavement, light the lamps, and
dress the idol with flowers. The temples are open to
every body, even to the Hollanders; and in case they
are in want of a lodging in the suburbs, when they go
to the court of Jeddo, they are entertained with hospi¬
tality in these temples.
The Roman Catholic religion had once made a
considerable progress in this country, in consequence
of a mission conducted by the Portuguese and Spa¬
nish Jesuits; among whom the famous Saint Fran¬
cis’ Xavier was employed, but soon relinquished the ser¬
vice. There were also some Franciscan friars of Spain
engaged at last. The Jesuits and friars were supplied
from Goa, Macao, and the Manilhas. At first the un¬
dertaking proceeded with the most rapid success, but
ended at last in the most tragical manner, all owing to
the pride and haughtiness, the misconduct, rapacity,
and senselessextravagantconspiracy of the fathers against
the state. This folly and madness produced a persecu¬
tion of 40 years duration, terminated by a most hox*-
rible and bloody massacre, not to be paralleled in his¬
tory. After this the Portuguese, as likewise the Chri¬
stian religion, were totally expelled the country, and
the most effectual means taken for preventing their re¬
turn. The natives are for this purpose prohibited from
going out of the country; and all foreigners are exclu¬
ded from an open and free trade; for as to the Dutch,
and Chinese, under which last name some other eastern
nations go thither, they are shut up whilst they remain
there, and a most strict watch is set upon them, insomuch
that they are no better than prisoners; and the Dutch,
it is said, to obtain a privilege even so far, declared
themselves to be no Christians, but Dutchmen. This ca¬
lumny, however, Dr Kempfer has endeavoured to wipe
off, but not altogether to satisfaction.
It was about the year of Christ 1549, or six years af¬
ter the first discovery, that the fathers of the society ar¬
rived there, being induced by the favourable represen¬
tations of a young Japanese who had fled to Goa.
Till the year 1625, or near 1630, the Christian reli¬
gion spread through most of the provinces of the em¬
pire, many of the princes and lords openly embracing it;
and “ there was very good reason to hope, that within
a short compass of time the whole empire would have
been converted to the faith of our Saviour, had not the
ambitious views, and the impatient endeavours of the
fathers to reap the temporal as well as the spiritual
fruits of their care and labour, so provoked the supreme
majesty of the empire as to raise against themselves and
their converts a persecution which hath not its parallel
in history, whereby the religion they preached, and all Japan,
those that professed it, were in a few years time entirely ——v—
exterminated.”—The fathers had made a progress so
great, that the princes of Bungu, Arima, and Omura,
who had been baptized, “ sent, in the year 1582, some
of their nearest relations, with letters and presents to
pay homage to the then pope, Gregory XIII. and
to assure his holiness of their filial submission to the
church ; an account of which most celebrated embassy
hath been given in the works of that incomparable
historian Thuanus, and by many other Roman Catholic
writers.”
But notwithstanding this pleasing prospect, the em¬
peror, anno 1586, issued proclamations for the suppr es¬
sion of the religion, and tire persecution began. This,
however, at first had not that efi'ect which the govern¬
ment expected ; for though, according to the letters of
the Jesuits, 20,570 persons suffered death for the faith
of Christ in the year 1590 only, yet in 1591 and 1592,
when all the churches were actually shut up, they made
12,000 new converts. The business was finally con¬
cluded by the massacre at Simabara, about the year
1640. The reasons of the emperor’s proclamations,
making it death to embrace the religion, were as
follow: I. The new religion occasioned considerable
alterations in the Japanese church, and was prejudi¬
cial in the highest degree to the heathen clergy. 2. It
was feared the innovation in religion might be attended
with fatal consequences even in regard to the state ; but
what more immediately gave rise to them was, as the
Japanese of credit confessed to Dr Kempfer, pride and
covetousness ; pride among the great ones, and cove-
tousnesss in people of less note ; the spiritual fathers
aiming not only at the salvation of their souls, but ha¬
ving an eye also to their money and lands, and the mer¬
chants disposing of their goods in the most usurious and
unreasonable manner. To confine ourselves to the cler¬
gy here : they “ thought it beneath their dignity to walk
on foot any longer; nothing would serve them but they
must be carried about in stately chairs, mimicking the
pomp of the pope and his cardinals at Rome. They, not
only put themselves on an equal footing with the greatest
men of the empire, but, swelled with ecclesiastical pride,
fancied that even a superior rank was nothjng but their
due. It one day happened, that a Portuguese bishop
met upon the road one of the counsellors of state on his
way to court. The haughty prelate would not order
his chaise to be stopped, in order to alight and to pay
his respects to the great man, as is usual in that coun¬
try ; but without taking any notice of him, nay, indeed
without showing him so much as common marks of ci¬
vility, he very contemptuously bid his men carry him
by. The great man, exasperated at so signal an affront,
thenceforward bore a mortal hatred to the Portuguese,
and, in the height of his just resentment, made his com¬
plaint to the emperor himself, with such an odious pic¬
ture of the insolence, pride, and vanity of this nation,
as he expected could not but raise the emperor’s utmost
indignation.” This happened in 1566. The next year
the persecution began anew, and 26 persons, of the num¬
ber whereof were two foreign Jesuits, and several other
fathers of the Franciscan order, were executed on the
cross. The emperor Jiojas had usurped the crown on
his pupil Tidajori, who, as likewise the greater part of
his court and party, had been either Christians them¬
selves,
JAP [ 35 ] JAP
Japan, selves, or at least very favourably inclined to that re-
V-—i* ligion ; so that reasons of state mightily co-operated to
forward the persecution.
Some Franciscan friars, whom the governor of the
Manilhas had sent as his ambassadors to the emperor of
Japan, were guilty at this time of a most imprudent
step : they, during the whole time of their abode in the
country, preached openly in the street of Meaco where
they resided j and of their own accord built a church,
contrary to the imperial commands, and contrary to the
advice and earnest solicitations of the Jesuits.
Some time after, a discovery of a dangerous conspi¬
racy, which the fathers, and the yet remaining adhe¬
rents of their religion, entered into against the person
of the emperor as a heathen prince, put a finishing
stroke to the affair, and hastened the sentence which
was pronounced soon after, that the Portuguese should
for ever be banished the ejnperov'ls dominions •, for till
then the state seemed desirous to spare the merchants
and secular persons, for the purpose of continuing trade
and commerce with them, which was looked upon as an
affair independent of religion. The afi’air of the conspi¬
racy was as follows : the Dutch had had an eye to the
trade of Japan before 1600, and in 1611 had liberty of
a free commerce granted them by the imperial letters
patent, and had actually a factory at Firando. The
Dutch were then at war with Spain, which was then
sovereign of the Portuguese dominions ; so that it was
natural for them to be trying to supplant them. The
Portuguese, on their parts, made use of all malicious in¬
ventions to blacken their characters, calling them re¬
bels and pirates, whence it was natural for the Dutch
to endeavour to clear, and even to revenge themselves.
Now they “ took an homeward-bound Portuguese ship
near the Cape of Good Hope, on board of which they
found some traitorous letters to the king of Portugal,
written by one Captain Moro, who was chief of the
Portuguese in Japan, himself a Japanese by birth, and
a great zealot for the Christian religion. The Dutch
took special care to deliver the said letters to their pro¬
tector the prince of Firando, who communicated them
without loss of time to the governor of Nagasaki, a
great friend to the Portuguese. Captain Moro having
been taken up, boldly, and with great assurance, denied
the fact, and so did all the Portuguese then at Nagasa¬
ki. However, neither the governor’s favour, nor their
constant denial, were able to clear them, and to keep off
the cloud which was ready to break over their heads.
Hand and seal convicted them ) the letter was sent up
to court, and Captain Moro sentenced to be burnt alive
on a pale, which was executed accordingly. This let¬
ter laid open the whole plot which the Japanese Chri¬
stians, in conjunction with the Portuguese, had laid
against the emperor’s life and throne $ the want they
stood in of ships and soldiers, which were promised them
from Portugal j the names of the Japanese princes con¬
cerned in the conspiracy ; and lastly, to crown all, the
expectation of the papal blessing. This discovery made
by the Dutcli was afterwards confirmed by another let¬
ter written by the said Captain Moro to the Portuguese
government at Macao, which was intercepted and
brought to Japan by a Japanese ship.”
Considering this, and the suspicions which the court
had then already conceived against the Portuguese, it
was no difficult matter thoroughly to ruin the little cre¬
dit and favour they had as yet been able to preserve *, Japan,
and the rather, since the strict imperial orders notwith- -v—
standing, they did not leave off privately to bring over
more ecclesiastics. Accordingly, in the year 1637, an
imperial proclamation was sent to the governors of Na¬
gasaki, with orders to see it put in execution. It was
then that the empire of Japan was shut for ever both to
foreigners and natives.
Now, although the governors of Nagasaki, on receipt
of these commands, took care they should be obeyed,
yet the directors of the Portuguese trade maintained
themselves in Japan two years longer, hoping to obtain
leave to stay in the island of Desima, and there to con¬
tinue their trade. But they found themselves at last
wholly disappointed j for the emperor was resolved to
get rid of them *, and on assurance given him by the
Duch East India company that they would supply for
the future what commodities had been imported by the
Portuguese, he declared the Portuguese and the Casti¬
lians, and whoever belonged to them, enemies of the
empire, forbidding the importation of even the goods
cf their country, Spanish wines only excepted, for the
use of the court. And thus the Portuguese lost their
profitable trade and commerce with Japan, and were
totally expelled the country before the latter end of the
year 1639 or 1640: and thus ended the fruitless popish
mission in this empire, for the Portuguese have never
been able to restore themselves $ and the Dutcli have
it not in their power to do any one thing in favour of
religion, were they so inclined ; but, as it appears, they
are very indifferent as to that, and are in but little cre¬
dit with the Japanese.
According to Dr Thunberg’s researches, the Japa¬
nese have never been subdued by any foreign power,
not even in the most remote periods ; their chronicles
contain such accounts of their valour, as one would ra¬
ther incline to consider as fabulous inventions than ac¬
tual occurrences, if later ages had not furnished equally
striking proofs of it. When the Tartars, for the first
time in 790, had overrun part of Japan, and when,
after a considerable time had elapsed, their fleet was
destroyed by a violent storm in the course of a single
night, the Japanese general attacked, and so totally de¬
feated his numerous and brave enemies, that not a single
person survi ved to return and carry the tidings of such
an unparalleled defeat. In like manner, when the Japa¬
nese were again, in 1281, invaded by the warlike Tar¬
tars, to the number of 240,000 lighting them, they gain¬
ed a victory equally complete. The extirpation of the
Portuguese, and with them of the Christian religion,
towards the beginning of the 17th century, as already
mentioned, was so complete, that scarce a vestige can
now be discerned of its ever having existed there.
With respect to the government of these islands, it
is and has been for a long, time monarchical j though
formerly it seems to have been split into a great num¬
ber of petty kingdoms, which were at length all swal¬
lowed by one. The imperial dignity had been en¬
joyed for a considerable time before the year 1500,
by a regular succession of princes, under the title of
dait'os, a name supposed to have been derived from
Dairo, the head of that family. Soon after that
epoch, such a dreadful civil war broke out, and lasted
so many years, that the empire was quite ruined. Du¬
ring these distractions and confusions, a common sol-
E 2 dier,
JAP [ 3
Japan, tlier, hy name Tayckoy, a person of obscure birth,
"—-v-*1 -J but of an enterprising genius, found means to raise
himself to the imperial dignity j having, in little more
than three years time, by an uncommon share of good
fortune, subdued all his competitors and opponents,
and reduced all their cities and castles. The dairo
not being in a condition to obstruct or put a stop to
his progress, was forced to submit to his terms; and
might perhaps have been condemned to much harder,
had not Tayckoy been apprehensive lest his soldiers,
who still revered their ancient natural monarch, should
have revolted in his favour. To prevent this, he grant¬
ed him the supreme power in all religious matters, with
great privileges, honours, and revenues annexed to it ;
whilst himself remained invested with the whole civil
and military power, and was acknowledged and pro¬
claimed king of Japan. This great revolution hap¬
pened in 1517, and Tayckoy reigned several years
with great wisdom and tranquillity ; during which he
made many wholesome laws and regulations, which still
subsist, and are much admired to this day. At his
death, he left the crown to his son Tayckossama, the**
a minor ; but the treacherous prince under whose guar¬
dianship he was left deprived him of his life before he
came of age. By this murder, the crown passed to the
family of Jejassama, in which it still continues. Tayc¬
koy and his successors have contented themselves with
the title of cubo, which, under the dairos, was that of
prime minister, whose office is now suppressed ; so that
the cubo, in all secular concerns, is quite as absolute
and despotic, and has as extensive a power over the
lives and fortunes of all his subjects, from the petty
kings down to the lowest persons, as ever the dairos had.
The dairo resides constantly at Meaco, and the cubo
at Jeddo.
The inhabitants of Japan are well-grown, agile, and
active, and at the same time stout-limbed, though they
do not equal ia strength the northern inhabitants of
Europe. The colour of the face is commonly yellow ;
which sometimes varies to brown, and sometimes to
white. The inferior sort, who during their work in
summer have often the upper parts of the body naked,
are sun-burnt and browner ; women of distinction, who
never go uncovered into the open air, are perfectly white.
The national character consists in intelligence and
prudence, frankness, obedience, and politeness, good¬
nature and civility, curiosity, industry, and dexterity,
economy and sobriety, hardiness, cleanliness, justice
and uprightness, honesty and fidelity ; in being also
mistrustful, superstitious, haughty, resentful, brave and
invincible.
In all its transactions, the nation shows great intel¬
ligence, and can by no means be numbered among the
savage and uncivilized, but rather is to he placed
among the polished. The present mode of govern¬
ment, admirable skill in agriculture, sparing mode of
life, way of trading with foreigners, manufactures, &c.
afford convincing proofs of their cunning, firmness,
and intrepid courage. Here there are no appearances
of that vauity so common among the Asiatics and A-
fricans, of adorning themselves with shells, glass-beads,
and polished metal plates: neither are they fond of
the useless European ornaments of gold and silver lace,
jewels, &c. but are careful to provide themselves, from
6 ] J A P ,
the productions of their own country, with neat clothes, Japan,
well-tasted food, and good weapons.
Their curiosity is excessive ; nothing imported by the
Europeans escapes it. They ask for information con¬
cerning every article, and their questions continue till
they become wearisome. It is the physician, among
the traders, that is alone regarded as learned, and par¬
ticularly during the journey to court and the residence
at Jeddo, the capital of the empire, that he is regarded
as the oracle, which they trust can give responses in all
things, whether in mathematics, geography, physics,
chemistry, pharmacy, zoology, botany, medicine, &c.
Economy has its peculiar abode in Japan. It is a
virtue admired as well in the emperor’s palace as in the
meanest cottage. It makes those of small possessions
content with their little, and it prevents the abundance
of the rich from overflowing in excess and voluptuous¬
ness. Hence it happens, that what in other countries
is called scarcity and famine, is unknown here ; and
that, in so very populous a state, scarce a person in ne¬
cessity, or a beggar, should be found.
The names of families, and of single persons, are
under very different regulations from ours. The family
name is never changed, but is never used in ordinary
conversation, and only when they sign some writing ;
to which they also for the most part affix their seal.
There is also this peculiarity, that the surname is al¬
ways placed first; just as in botanical books the generic
name is always placed before the specific name. The
praenomen is always used in addressing a person; and it
is changed several times in the course of life. A child
receives at birth from its parents a name, which is re¬
tained till it has itself a son arrived at maturity. A
person again changes his name when he is invested with
any office ; as also when he is advanced to a higher
trust: some, as emperors and princes, acquire a new
name after death. The names of women are less vari¬
able ; they are in general borrowed from the most beau¬
tiful flowers.
After marriage, the wife is confined to her own
apartment, from whence she hardly ever stirs, except
once a-year to the funeral-rites of her family ; nor is
she permitted to see any man, except perhaps some
very near relation, and that as seldom as can be. The
wives, as well as in China and other parts of the east,
bring no portion with them, but are rather bought by
the husband of their parents and relations. The bride¬
groom most commonly sees his bride for the first time
upon her being brought to his house from the place of
the nuptial ceremony : for in the temple where it is
performed she is covered over with a veil, which reach¬
es from the head to the feet. A husband can put his
wives to a more or less severe death, if they give him
the least cause of jealousy, by being seen barely to con¬
verse with another man, or suffering one to come into
their apartment.
The dress of the Japanese deserves, more than that of
any other people, the name of national; since they are
not only different from that of all other men, but are also
of the same form in all ranks, from the monarch to his
meanest subject, as well as in both sexes ; and what
exceeds all credibility, they are said not to have been
altered for at least 2444 years. They universally con¬
sist of night-gowns, made long and wide, of which se¬
veral
JAP [ 37 ] JAP
Japan, veral are worn at once by all ranks and all ages. 1 he
m0re distinguished and the rich have them ot the finest
silk ; the poorer sort of cotton. Those of the women
reach down to the ground, and sometimes have a train ;
in the men, they reach down to the heels : travellers,
soldiers, and labourers, either tuck them up, or wear
them only down to the knees. The habit of the men
is generally of one colour : the women have theirs va¬
riegated, and frequently with flowers of gold interwo¬
ven. In summer, they are either without lining, or
have but a thin one; in winter they are stuffed to a
great thickness with cotton or silk. The men seldom
wear a great number; but the women thirty, fifty, or
more, all so thin, that they scarce together amount to
five pounds. The undermost serves for a shirt, and is
therefore either white or blue, and for the most part
thin and transparent. All these gowns are fastened
round the waist with a belt, which in the men are about
a hand’s-breadth, in the women about a foot ; of such
a length that they go twice round the waist, and after¬
wards are tied in a knot with many ends and bows.
The knot, particularly among the fair sex, is very con¬
spicuous, and immediately informs the spectator whe¬
ther they are married or not. The unmarried have it
behind, on their back; the married before. In this
belt the men fix their sabres, fans, pipe, tobacco, and
medicine boxes. In the neck the gowns are always cut
round, without a collar ; they therefore leave the neck
bare ; nor is it covered with cravat, cloth, or any thing
else. The sleeves are always ill made, and out of all
proportion wide : at the opening before, they are half
sewed up, so that they form a sack, in which the hands
can be put in cold weather; they also serve for a pock¬
et. Girls in particular have their sleeves so long that
they reach down to the ground. Such is the simplicity
of their habit, that they are soon dressed ; and to un¬
dress, they need only open their girdle and draw in
their arms.
As the gowns, from their length, keep the thighs
and legs warm, there is no occasion for stockings ;
nor do they use them in all the empire. Among
poorer persons on a journey, and among soldiers, who
have not such long gowns, one sees buskins of cotton.
Shoes, or, more properly speaking, slippers, are of all
that is worn by the Japanese, the simplest, the meanest,
and the most miserable, though in general use among
high and low, rich and poor. They are made of in¬
terwoven rice-straw ; and sometimes, for persons of dis¬
tinction, of reeds split very thin. They consist only of
a sole, without upper leathers or quarters. Before,
there passes over, transversely, a bow of linen, of a
finger’s breadth: from the point of the shoe to this bow
goes a thin round band, which running within the great
toe serves to keep the shoe fixed to the foot. The
shoe being without quarters, slides, during walking,
like a slipper. Travellers have three bands of twisted
straw, by which they fasten the shoe to the foot and
leg, to prevent its falling oft'. The Japanese never en¬
ter the houses with shoes, but put them off in the en¬
trance. Tliis precaution is taken for the sake of their
neat carpets. During the time the Dutch reside in Ja¬
pan, as they have sometimes occasion to pay the natives
visits in their houses, and as they have their own apart¬
ment at the factory covered with the same sort of car¬
pets, they do not wear European shoes, but have in
their stead red, green, or black slippers, which can ea- Japan,
sily be put off at entering in. They, however, wear ' v—~
stockings, with shoes ol cotton, fastened by buckles.
These shoes are made in Japan, and may be washed
whenever they become dirty.
The way of dressing the hair is not less peculiar to
this people, and less universally prevalent among them,
than the use of their long gowns. The men shave the
head from the forehead to the neck ; and the hair re¬
maining on the temples, and in the nape, is well be¬
smeared with oil, turned upwards, and then tied with ,
a white paper thread, which is wrapped round severaj
times. The ends of the hair beyond the bead, are cut
cross-ways, about a finger’s length being left. Ibis
part, after being pasted together with oil, is bent in
such a manner that the point is brought to the crown ot
the head ; in which situation it is fixed by passing the
same thread round it once. Women, except such as
happen to be separated from their husbands, shave no
part of their head.
The head is never covered with hat or bonnet in
winter or in summer, except when they are on a jour¬
ney ; and then they use a conical hat, made ot a sort
of grass, and fixed with a ribband. Some travelling
women, who are met with on the roads, have a bonnet
like a shaving bason inverted on the head, which is
made of cloth, in which gold is interwoven. On other-
occasions, their naked heads are preserved, both from
rain and the sun, by umbrellas. Travellers, moreover,
have a sort of riding-coat, made of thick paper oiled.
They are worn by the upper servants of princes,' and
the suite of other travellers. Dr Tliunberg and his
fellow-travellers, during their journey to court, were
obliged to provide such for their attendants when they
passed through the place where they are made.
A Japanese always has his arms painted on one or
more of his garments, especially on the long and short
gowns, on the sleeves, or between the shoulders ; so
that nobody can steal them ; which otherwise might
easily happen in a country where the clothes are so
much alike in stuff, shape, and size.
The weapons of the Japanese consist of a how and ar¬
rows, sabre, halbert, and musket. The bows are very
large, and the arrows long, as in China. When the
bows are to he bent and discharged, the troop always
rests on one knee, which hinders them making a speedy
discharge. In the spring the troops assemble to practise
shooting at a mark. Muskets are not general; Dr
Thunberg only saw them in the hands of persons of di¬
stinction, in a separated and elevated part of the audi¬
ence room. The barrel is of the common length ; but
the stock is very short, and there is a match in the
lock. The sabre is their principal and best weapon,
which is universally worn, except by the peasants.
They are commonly a yard long, a little crooked, and
thick in the back. The blades are of an incomparable
goodness, and the old ones are in very high esteem.
They are far superior to the Spanish blades so celebrat¬
ed in Europe. A tolerably thick nail is easily cut in
two without any damage to the edge; and a man, ac¬
cording to the account of the Japanese, may be cleft
asunder. A separate sash is never used, but the sword
is stuck in the belt, on the left side, with the edge up¬
wards, which to a European appears ridiculous. All
persons in office wear two such sabres, one of their own,
JAP [ 38 ] JAP
and the other the sword of office, as it is called j the
latter is always the longer. Both are worn in the belt
on the same side, and so disposed as to cross each other.
When they are sitting, they have their sword of office
laid on one side or before them.
The sciences are very far from having arrived at the
same height in Japan as in Europe. The history of the
country is, notwithstanding, more authentic, perhaps,
than that of any other country ; and it is studied, with¬
out distinction, by all. Agriculture, which is consider¬
ed as the art niost necessary, and most conducive to the
support and prosperity of the kingdom, is nowhere in
the world brought to such perfection as here ; where
neither civil nor foreign war, nor emigration, diminishes
population •, and where a thought is never entertain¬
ed, either of getting possession of other countries, or to
import the useless and often hurtful productions of fo¬
reign lands ; but where the utmost care is taken that
no turf lies uncultivated, and no produce of the earth
unemployed. Astronomy is pursued and respected ; but
the natives are unable, without the aid of Chinese, and
sometimes of Dutch almanacks, to form a true kalen-
dar, or calculate an eclipse of the sun or moon within
minutes and seconds. Medicine has neither arrived,
nor is it likely to arrive, at any degree of perfection.
Anatomy is totally unknown 5 the knowledge of dis¬
eases imperfect, intricate, and often fabulous. Botanv,
and the knowledge of medicines, constitute the whole
of their skill. They use only simples ) and these gene¬
rally in diuretic and diaphoretic decoctions. They are
unacquainted with compound medicines. Their physi¬
cians always indeed feel the pulse ; hut they are very
tedious, not quitting it for a quarter of an hour j be¬
sides, they examine first one, and then the other arm,
as if the blood was not driven by the same heart to
both pulses. Besides those diseases wdiich they have in
common with other countries, or peculiar to themselves,
the venereal disease is very frequent, which they only
understood how to alleviate by decoctions, thought to
purify the blood. Salivation, which their physicians
have heard mentioned by the Dutch surgeons, appears
to them extremely formidable, both to conduct and to
undergo j but they have lately learned the art of em¬
ploying the sublimate with much success.—Jurispru¬
dence is not an extensive study in Japan. No country
has thinner law-books, or fewer judges. Explanations
fit the law, and advocates, are things altogether un¬
known j but nowhere, perhaps, are the laws more cer¬
tainly put in force, without respect to persons, without
partiality or violence. They are very strict, and law¬
suits very short. The Japanese know little more of
physic or chemistry than what they have learned of late
years of the Europeans.
Tlieir computation of time takes its rise from Min o,
or 660 years before Christ. The year is divided ac¬
cording to the changes of the moon •, so that some years
consist of twelve, and others of thirteen, months ; and
the beginning of the year falls out in February or
March. They have no weeks consisting of seven days,
or of six working days, and a holiday ; but the first and
fifteenth days of the month serve for holidays. On
these days, no work is done. On new-year’s-day they go
round to wish one another a good new-year, with their
whole families, clad in white and blue chequered, their
holiday-dress ; and they rest almost the whole of the
5
first month. The day is divided only into twelve hours ; Japan,
and in this division they are directed the whole year'-—v—
by the rising and setting of the sun. They reckon six
o’clock at the rising, and six likewise at the setting of
the sun. Mid-day and mid-night are always at nine.
Time is not measured by clocks or hour-glasses, but
with burning matches, which are twisted together like
ropes, and divided by knots. When the match is burnt
to a knot, which indicates a certain portion of time
elapsed, notice is given during the day, by striking the
bells of the temples 5 and in the night, by the watch¬
men striking two boards against one another. A child
is always reckoned a year old at the end of the year of
his birth, whether this happen at the beginning or the
close. A few days after the beginning of the year, is
performed the horrid ceremony of trampling on images
representing the cross and the Virgin Mary with her
child. The images are of melted copper, and are said
to be scarce a foot in height. This ceremony is intend¬
ed to impress every individual with hatred of the Chris¬
tian doctrine, and the Portuguese, who attempted to in¬
troduce it there*, and also to discover whether there is
any remnant of it left among the Japanese. It is per¬
formed in the places where the Christians chiefly resided.
In Nagasaki it lasts four days ; then the images are
conveyed to the circumjacent places, and afterwards are
laid aside against the next year. Every person, except
the Japanese governor and his attendants, even the smal¬
lest child, must be present j but it is not true, as some
have pretended, that the Dutch are also obliged to
trample on the image. Overseers are appointed in
every place, who assemble the people in companies in
certain houses, call over the name of every one in his
turn, and take care that every thing goes on properl?.
The children, not yet able to walk, have their feet
placed upon it ; older persons pass over it from one
side of the room to the other.
The Japanese are much addicted to poetrv, music,
and painting : the first is said to be grand as to the
style and imagery, loftiness, and cadence $ but, like
that of the Chinese, is not easily understood or relished
by the Europeans. The same may be said of their mu¬
sic, both vocal and instrumental.
They pretend, like the Chinese, to have been the in¬
ventors of printing from time immemorial, and their
method is the same with theirs on wooden blocks j but
they excel them in the rteatness of cutting them, as well
as in the goodness of their ink and paper. Golownin
found translations of some European works, among
which was a geographical description of the Russian
empire. They likewise lay claim to the invention of
gunpowder; and are vastly superior to the Chinese in
the use of all sorts of fire-arms, especially of artillery,
as well as the curiousness of their fire-works.
Their manner of writing is much the same as that of
the Chinese, viz. in columns from top to bottom, and
the columns beginning at the right and ending at the
left hand. Their characters were also originally the
same, but now differ considerably.
Their language hath some affinity with the Chinese,
though it appears from its various dialects to have been
a kind of compound of that and other languages, deri¬
ved from the various nations that first peopled those
islands. It is not only very regular, polite, elegant,
and copious, but abounds with a great variety of sy¬
nonyms,
JAP [ 39 ] J A P
an nonyma, adapted to the nature of the subject they are
Uiy—— upon, whether sublime, familiar, or low 5 and to the
quality, age, and sex, both of the speaker and person
spoken to.
The Japanese are commonly very ingenious in most
handicraft trades ; and excel even the Chinese in se¬
veral manufactures, particularly in the beauty, good¬
ness, and variety of their silks, cottons, and other
stuffs, and in their Japan and porcelain wares. No
eastern nation comes up to them in the tempering and
fabricating of scimitars, swords, muskets, and other
such weapons.
The Japanese architecture is in much the same taste
and style as that of the Chinese, especially as to their
temples, palaces, and other public buildings j but in
private ones they affect more plainness and neatness
than show. These last are of wood and cement, con¬
sisting of two stories : they dwell only in the lower ;
the upper chamber serving for wardrobes. The roofs
are covered with rush-mats three or four inches thick.
In every house there is a small court, ornamented w ith
trees, shrubs, and flower-pots ; as likewise with a place
for bathing. Chimneys are unknown in this country,
although tire is needed from the cold month of Octo¬
ber till the end of Mapcb. They heat their rooms with
charcoal contained in a copper stove, which they sit
round. Their cities are generally spacious, having
each a prince or governor residing in them. The capi¬
tal of Jeddo is 2i French leagues in circumference. Its
Streets are straight and large. There are gates at little
distances, with an extremely high ladder, which they
ascend to discover fires. Villages differ from cities in
haying but one street; which often extends several
leagues, Some of them are situated so near each other
that they are only separated by a river or a bridge.
The principal furniture of the Japanese consists in straw-
mats, which serve them for seats and beds ; a small ta¬
ble for every one who chooses to eat is the only move-
able. The Japanese sit always upon their hams. Be¬
fore dinner begins, they make a profound bow and
drink to the health of the guests. The women eat by
themselves. During tbfe courses, they drink a glass of
sakki, which is a kind of beer made of rice kept con¬
stantly warm ; and they drink at each new morse]. Tea
and sakki are the most favourite drink of this people ;
wine and spirits are never used, nor even accepted when
offered by the Dutch. Sakki, or rice beer, is clear as
wine, and of an agreeable taste: taken in quantity, it
intoxicates for a few nioments, and causes headach.
Both men and women are fond of tobacco, which is in
universal vogue and smoked continually. The gardens
about their houses are adorned with a variety of flowers,
trees, verdure, baths, terraces, and other embellish¬
ments. The furniture and decorations of the houses of
persons of distinction consist in japan-work of various
colours, curious paintings, beds, couches, skreens, cabi¬
nets, tables, a variety of porcelain jars, vases, tea-equi¬
page, and other vessels and figures, together with swords,
guns, scimitars, and other arms. Their retinues are
more or less numerous and splendid according to {heir
rank; but there are few of the lords who have less than
50 or 60 men richly chid and armed, some on foot,
but most on horseback. As for their petty kings and
princes, they are seldom seen without 300 or 200 at
least, when they either wait on the emperor, which is japan<
one-half of the year or attend him abroad. —y—.
When a prince or great man dies, there are com¬
monly about 10, 20, or more youths of his household,
and such as were his greatest favourites, who put them¬
selves to a voluntary death, at the place where the bo¬
dy is buried or burned : as soon as the funeral pile,
consisting of odoriferous woods, gums, spices, oils,
and other ingredients, it set on fire, the relations and
friends of the deceased throw their presents into it,
such as clothes, arms, victuals, money, sweet herbs,
flowers, and other things which they imagine will be of
use to him in the other world. Those of the middle
or lower rank commonly bury their dead, without any
other burning than that of some odoriferous woods,
gums, &c. The sepulchres in which the hones and
ashes of persons of rank are deposited, are generally
very magnificent, and situated at some distance from the
towns.
The Dutch and Chinese are the only nations allowed
to traffic in Japan. The Dutch at present send but two
ships annually, which are fitted out at Batavia, and sail
in June, and return at the end of the year. The chief
merchandise is Japanese copper and raw camphor. The
wares which the Dutch company import are, coarse su¬
gar, ivory, a great quantity of tin and lead, a little cast
iron, various kind of fine chintzes, Dutch cloth of dif¬
ferent colours and fineness, serge wood for dyeing, tor¬
toise-shell, and costus Arabicus. The little merchandise
brought by the officers on their own account, consists of
saffron, theriaca, sealing-wax, glass-beads, watches, &c.
&c. About the time when the Dutch, ships are expect¬
ed, several outposts are stationed on the highest hills by
the government ; they are provided with telescopes,
and long before their arrival give the governor of Na¬
gasaki notice. As soon as they anchor in the harbour,
the upper and under officers of the Japanese immediately
betake themselves on board, together with interpreters;
to whom is delivered a chest, in which all the sailors
books, the muster-roll of the whole crew, six small bar¬
rels of powder, six barrels of balls, six muskets, six
bayonets, six pistols, and six swords are deposited; this
is supposed to be the whole remaining ammunition after
the imperial garrison has been saluted. These things
are conveyed on shore, and preserved in a separate ware¬
house, nor are they returned before the day the ship
quits the harbour.
Duties are quite unknown as well in the inland part
as on the coast, nor are there any customs required ei¬
ther for exported or imported gosds ; an advantage en¬
joyed by few nations. But, to prevent the importation
of any forbidden wares, the utmost vigilance is obser¬
ved ; then the men and things are examined with the
eyes of Argus, When any European goes on shore, he
is examined before he leaves the ship, and afterwards
on his landing. This double search is exceedingly
strict ; so that not only the pockets and clothes are
streaked with the hands, but the pudenda of the mean¬
er sort are pressed, and the hair of the slaves. All the
Japanese who come on hoard are searched in like man¬
ner, except only their superior officers : so also are the
wares either exported or imported, first on board, and
then at the factory, except the great chests, which are
opened at the factory, and so carefully examined that
they,
JAP [40] JAP
Japan, they strike the very sides lest they should be hollow.
Ja pa tilling. The bed-clothes are often opened, and the feathers
v"" f examined : rods of iron are run into the pots of butter
and confections : a square hole is made in the cheese,
and a long pointed iron is thrust into it in all direc¬
tions. Their suspicion is carried so far, that they take
out and break one or two of the eggs brought from Ba-
tavia.
The interpreters are all natives; they speak Dutch
in different degrees of purity. The government per¬
mits no foreigner to learn their language, lest they
should by means of this acquire the knowledge of the
manufactures of the country; but 40 or 50 interpreters
are provided to serve the Dutch in their trade, or on
any other occasion.
The interpreters are very inquisitive after European
books, and generally provide themselves with some
from the Dutch merchants. They peruse them with
care, and remember what they learn. They besides
endeavour to get instruction from the Europeans j for
which purpose they ask numberless questions, particu¬
larly respecting medicine, physics, and natural history.
Most of them apply to medicine, and are the only
physicians of their nation who practice in the European
manner, and with European medicines, which they
procure from the Dutch physicians. Hence they are
able to acquire money, and to make themselves re¬
spected.
Among the vegetable productions peculiar to Japan,
we may take notice of the alctris japonica, camellia ja•
ponica, and the volkameria japonica. The trumpet-
liower, or bignonia catalpa of Linnaeus, is very com¬
mon, bearing a resemblance to the epidendrum vanilla,
the berries of which are said to constitute an article of
commerce. Here also we find the mimosa arborea, and
tallow tree, together with the plantain, cocoa-nut tree,
the chamcerops excels a, and the eyas circtnalis, adorn¬
ing the woods near the sea shore.
°Jt is a singular circumstance, that in the whole em¬
pire of Japan, neither sheep nor goats are to be met
with, the goats being deemed pernicious to cultivation 5
and the vast quantities of silk and cotton with which it
abounds, are considered as an excellent substitute for
wool. There are few quadrupeds of any kind, either
swine, horses, or cattle, as the Japanese live upon fish,
poultry, and vegetables. Some wolves are seen in the
northern provinces j and foxes are considered as demons
incarnate.
Gold and silver abound in Japan, and copper richly
impregnated with gold, which constitutes the clnet
wealth of many provinces. Iron is said to be scarcer
than any other metal, which of consequence they are
not fond of exporting. Amber, sulphur, pit-coal, red
agate, asbestos, porcelain clay, pumice and white
marble, are also found in considerable quantities; but,
according to Kempfer, neither antimony nor mercury.
As Europeans have seldom visited the interior parts of
the country, the natural curiosities of Japan are but
very little known.
Japan Earth. See Mimosa and Terra Japonica,
Materia Medica Index.
JAPANNING, the art of varnishing and drawing
fipures on wood, in the same manner as is done by the
natives of Japan in the East Indies.
The substances which admit of being japanned are
3
almost every kind that are dry and rigid, or not too japsnn;Bg,
flexible j as wood, metals, leather, and paper pre-*——v——
pared.
Wood and metals do not require any other prepara¬
tion, but to have their surface perfectly even and clean j
but leather should be securely strained either on frames
or on boards j as its bending or forming folds would
otherwise crack and force off the coats of varnish : and
paper should be treated in the same manner, and have
a previous strong coat of some kind of size $ but it is
rarely made the subject of japanning till it is converted
into papier mache, or wrought by other means into such
form, that its original state, particularly with respect
to flexibility, is lost.
One principal variation from the method formerly
used in japanning is, the using or omitting any priming
or undercoat on the work to be japanned. In the older
practice, such priming was always used j and is at pre¬
sent retained in the French manner of japanning coaches
and snuff-boxes of the papier mache; but in the Bir¬
mingham manufacture here, it has been always reject¬
ed. The advantage of using such priming or undercoat
is, that it makes a saving in the quantity of varnish
used j because the matter of which the priming is com¬
posed fills up the inequalities of the body to be varnish¬
ed 5 and makes it easy, by means of rubbing and water-
polishing, to gain an even surface for the varnish : and
this was therefore such a convenience in the case of
wood, as the giving a hardness and firmness to the
ground was also in the case of leather, that it became
an established method ; and is therefore retained even
in the instance of the papier mach£ by the French, who
applied the received method of japanning to that kind
of work on its introduction. There is nevertheless this
inconvenience always attending the use of an undercoat
of size, that the japan coats of varnish and colour will
be constantly liable to be cracked and peeled off by any
violence, and will not endure near so long as the bodies
japanned in the same manner, but without any such
priming ; as may be easily observed in comparing the
wear of the Paris and Birmingham snuff-boxes $ which
latter, when good of their kind, never peel or crack,
or suffer any damage, unless by great violence, and such
a continued rubbing as wastes away the substance of the
varnish j while the japan coats of the Parisians crack
and fly off in flakes, whenever any knock or fall, par¬
ticularly near the edges, exposes them to be injured.
But the Birmingham manufacturers, who originally
practised the japanning only on metals, to which the
reason above given for the use of priming did not ex¬
tend, and who took up this art of themselves as an in¬
vention, ef course omitted at first the use of any such
undercoat ; and not finding it more necessary in the
instance of papier maclit than on metals, continue still
to reject it. On which account, the boxes of their ma¬
nufacture are, with regard to wear, greatly better than
the French.
The laying on the colour in gum-water, instead of
varnish, is also another variation from the method of
japanning formerly practised : but the much greater
strength of the work, where they are laid on in varnish
or oil, has occasioned this way to be exploded with
the greatest reason in all regular manufactures : how¬
ever, they who may practice japanning on cabinets, or
ether such pieces as are not exposed to much wear ami
violence,
JAP [ 41 ] JAP
Janaiining. violence, for their amusement only, and consequently
.-y—w/ may not fjntj worth their while to encumber them¬
selves with the preparations necessary for the other
methods, may paint with water-colours on an under¬
coat laid on the wood or other substance of which the
piece to be japanned is formed ; and then finished with
tiie proper coats of varnish, according to the methods
below taught : and if the colours are tempered with
the strongest isinglass size and honey, instead of gum-
water, and laid on very flat and even, the work will
not be much inferior in appearance to that done by
the other method, and will last as long as the old
japan.
0/ Japan Grounds.—The proper grounds are either
such as are formed by the varnish and colour, where
the whole is to remain of one simple colour; or by the
varnish either coloured or without colour, on which
some painting or other decoration is afterwards to be
laid. It is necessary, however, before we proceed to
speak of the particular grounds, to show the manner of
laying on the priming qr undercoat, where any such is
used.
This priming is of the same nature with that called
clear-coating, or vulgarly clear-coaling, practised erro¬
neously by the house-painters ; and consists only in
laying on and drying in the most even manner a com¬
position of size and whiting, or sometimes lime in¬
stead of the latter. The common size has been gene¬
rally used for this purpose : but where the work is of a
nicer kind, it is better to employ the glovers or the
parchment size ; and if a third of isinglass be added, it
will be still better, and if not laid on too thick, much
less liable to peel and crack. The work should be pre¬
pared for this priming, by being well smoothed with
the fish-skin or glass-shaver ; and being made tho¬
roughly clean, should be brushed over once or twice
with hot size, diluted with two-thirds of water, if it
Handmaid ^ie common strength. The priming should
ta the Arts .then be laid on with a brush as even as possible ; and
should be formed of a size whose consistence is be¬
twixt the common kind and glue, mixed with as much
whiting as will give it a sufficient body of colour to
hide the surface of whatever it is laid upon, but not
more.
If the surface be very clean on which the priming
is used, two coats of it laid on in this manner will be
sufficient; but if, on trial with a fine wet rag, it will
not receive a proper water-polish on account of any
inequalities not sufficiently filled up and covered, two
or more coats must be given it: and whether a greater
or less number be used, the work should be smoothed
after the last coat but one is dry, by rubbing it with
the Dutch rushes. When the last coat is dry, the
water polish should be given, by passing over every
part of it with a fine rag gently moistened, till the
whole appear perfectly plain and even. The priming
will then be completed, and the work ready to receive
the painting or coloured varnish ; the rest of the pro¬
ceedings being the same in this case as where no prim¬
ing is used.
When wood or leather is to be japanned, and no
priming is used, the best preparation is to lay two or
three coats of coarse varnish composed in the following
manner.
“ Take of rectified spirit of wine one pint, and of
Vol. XI. Part I. f
coarse seed-lac and resin each two ounces. Dissolve Japnjun'n
the seed-lac and resin in the spirit; and then strain oft —y—«
the varnish.”
This varnish, as well as all others formed of spirit of
wine, must be laid on in a warm place ; and if it can
be conveniently managed, the piece of work to be var¬
nished should be made warm likewise : and for the
same reason all dampness should be avoided ; for either
cold or moisture chills this kind of varnish, and pre¬
vents it taking proper hold of the substance on which
it is laid.
AVhen the work is so prepared, or by the priming
with the composition of size and whiting above de¬
scribed, the proper japan ground must be laid on,
which is much the best formed of shell-lac varnish,
and the colour desired, if white be not in question,
which demands a peculiar treatment, or great bright¬
ness be not required, when also other means must be
pursued.
The colours used with the shell-lac varnish may be
any pigments whatever which give the teint of the
ground desired ; and they may be mixed together to
form browns or any compound colours.
As metals never require to be undercoated with
whiting, they may be treated in the same manner as
wood or leather, when the undercoat is omitted, except
in the instances particulaidy spoken of below.
White Japan Grounds.—The forming a ground per¬
fectly white, and of the first degree of hardness, re¬
mains hitherto a desideratum, or matter sought for, in
the art of japanning, as there are no substances which
form a very hard varnish but what have too much co¬
lour not to deprave the whiteness, when laid on of a
due thickness over the work.
The nearest approach, however, to a perfect white
varnish, already known, is made by the following com¬
position.
“ Take flake-white, or white lead, washed over and
ground up with a sixth of its weight of starch, and
then dried ; and temper it properly for spreading with
the mastich varnish prepared as under the article
Varnish.
“ Lay these on the body to be japanned, prepared
either with or without the undercoat of whiting, in
the manner as above ordered ; and then varnish it
over with five or six coats of the following varnish :
“ Provide any quantity of the best seed-lac ; and
pick out of it all the clearest and whitest grains, re¬
serving the more coloured and fouler parts for the
coarse varnishes, such as that used for priming or pre¬
paring wood or leather. Take of this picked seed-lac
two ounces, and of gum-animi three ounces; and dis¬
solve them, being previously reduced to a gross powder
in about a quart of spirit of wine; and strain off the
dear varnish.”
The seed-lac will yet give a slight tinge to this
composition; but cannot be omitted where the varnish
is wanted to be hard ; though, when a softer will an¬
swer the end, the proportion may be diminished, and a
little crude turpentine added to the gum-animi to take
off the brittleness.
A very good varnish, free entirely from all brittle¬
ness, may be formed by dissolving as much gum-animi as
the oil will take, in old nut or poppy oil, which must be
made to boil gently when the oil is put into it. The
F ground
JAP [ 42 ] JAP
ground of white colour itself may he laid on in this ground of leaf-gold, which renders the colour extreme. j;lpann}ni
varnish, and then a coat or two ot it may be put over ly brilliant and pleasing, v——y-™
the ground $ but it must be well diluted with oil 0
turpentine when it is used. This, though free from
brittleness, is nevertheless liable to suffer by being
indented or bruised by any slight strokes j and it will
not well bear any polish, but may be brought to a very
smooth surface without, if it be judiciously managed in
the laving it on. It is likewise somewhat tedious in
drying, and will require some time where several coats
are laid on ; as the last ought not to contain much oil
of turpentine.
Blue Japan G/’OM?2f7,y.—Blue japan grounds may be
formed of bright Prussian blue, or of verditer glazed
over by Prussian blue, or of smalt. The colour may
be best mixed with sbell-lac varnish, and brought to a
polishing state by five or six coats of varnish of seed-
lac : but the varnish, nevertheless, will somewhat in¬
jure the colour by giving to a true blue a cast of green,
and fouling in some degree a warm blue by the yellow
it contains : where therefore a bright blue is required,
and a less degree of hardness can be dispensed with, the
method before directed in the case of white grounds
must be pursued.
Bed Japan Grounds^—For a scarlet japan ground,
vermilion may be used : but the vermilion has a glar¬
ing effect, that renders it much less beautiful than the
crimson produced by glazing it over with carmine or
fine lake } or even with rose pink, which has a very
good effect used for this purpose. For a very bright
crimson, nevertheless, instead of glazing with carmine,
the Indian lake should be used, dissolved in the spirit
of which the varnish is compounded, which it readily
admits of when good ; and in this case, instead of glaz¬
ing with the shell-lac varnish, the upper or polishing
coats need only be used ; as they will equally receive
and convey the tinge of the Indian lake, which may be
actually dissolved by spirit of wine : and this will be
found a much cheaper method than the using carmine.
If, nevertheless, the highest degree of brightness be re¬
quired, the white varnishes must be used.
Yellow Japan Grounds.— For bright yellow grounds,
the king’s yellow, or the turpeth mineral, should be
employed, either alone or mixed with fine Dutch pink :
and the effect may he still more heightened by dissolv¬
ing powdered turmeric root in the spirit of wine of
which the upper or polishing coat is made •, which spi¬
rit of wine must be strained from off the dregs before
the seed-lac be added to it to form the varnish.
The seed-lac varnish is not equally injurious here,
and with greens, as in the case of other colours} be¬
cause being only tinged with a reddish yellow, it is
little more than an addition to the force of the co¬
lours.
Yellow grounds may be likewise formed of the Dutch
pink only j which, when good, will not be wanting in
brightness, though extremely cheap.
Green Japan Grounds.—Green grounds may be pro¬
duced by mixing the king’s yellow, and bright Prussian
blue, or rather the turpeth mineral and Prussian blue 5
and a cheap but fouler kind, by verdegris with a little
of the above-mentioned yellows, or Dutch pink. But
where a very bright green is wanted, the crystals of
verdegris, called distilled verdegris, should be employed $
and to heighten the effect, they should be laid on a
They may any of them be used successfully with
good seed-lac varnish, for the reason before given j but
will be still brighter witii white varnish.
Grange-coloured Japan Grounds.—Orange-coloured
japan grouri'ds may be formed by mixing vermilion or
red-lead with king’s yellow, or Dutch pink •, or the
orange-lac, which will make a brighter orange ground
than can be produced by any mixture.
Purple Japan Groimds.—Purple japan grounds may
be produced by the mixture of lake and Prussian
blue ; or a fouler kind, by vermilion and Prussian
blue. They may be treated as the rest with respect
to the varnish.
Black Japan Grounds to be produced with Heat.—
Black grounds may be formed by either ivory-black or
lamp-black : but the former is preferable where it is
perfectly good.
These may he always laid on with shell-lac varnish ;
and have their upper or polishing coats of common
seed-lac varnish, as the tinge or fulness of the varnish
can be here no injury.
Common Black Japan Grounds on Iron or Copper^
produced by means of Heat.—For forming the common
black japan grounds by means of heat, the piece of
work to be japanned must be painted over with dry¬
ing oil; and, when it is of a moderate dryness, must be
put into a stove of such degree of heat as will change
the oil to black, without burning it so as to destroy or
weaken its tenacity. The stove should not be too hot
when the work is put into it, nor the heat increased
too fast j either of which errors would make it blister :
but the slower the heat is augmented, and the longer
it is continued, provided it be restrained within the
due degree, the harder will be the coat of japan.—
This kind of varnish requires no polish, having re¬
ceived, when properly managed, a sufficient one from
the heat.
The fine Tortoise-shell Japan Ground produced by
means ofiHeat.—The best kind of tortoise-shell ground
produced by heat is not less valuable for its great hard¬
ness, and enduring to be made hotter than boiling wa¬
ter witiiout damage, than for its beautiful appearance.
It is to be made by means of a varnish prepared in the
following manner :
“ Take, of good linseed oil one gallon, and of umbre
half a pound : boil them together till the oil become
very brown and thick : strain it then through a coarse
cloth, and set it again to boil ; in which state it must
he continued till it acquire a pitchy consistence j when
it will be fit for use.”
Having prepared thus the varnish, clean well the
iron or copper plate or other piece which is to be ja¬
panned ; and then lay vermilion tempered with shell-
lac varnish, or with drying oil diluted with oil of tur¬
pentine, very thinly, on the places intended to imitate
the more transparent parts of the tortoise-shell. When
the vermilion is dry, brush over the whole with the
black varnish, tempered to a due consistence with oil
of turpentine ; and when it is set and firm, put the
work into a stove, where it may undergo a very
strong heat, and must be continued a considerable
time •, if even three weeks er a month, it will be the
better.’
5
This
JAP [ 43 1 JAP
Japanning. This was given amongst other receipts by Kunckel ;
— v—'■ ’ hut appears to have been neglected till it was revived
with great success in the Birmingham manufactures,
where it was not only the ground of snuff-boxes, dress¬
ing-boxes, and other such lesser pieces, but of those
beautiful tea-waiters which have been so justly esteemed
and admired in several parts of Europe where they
have been sent. This ground may be decorated with
painting and gilding, in the same manner as any other
varnished surface, which had best be done after the
ground has been duly hardened by the hot stove ; but
it is well to give a second annealing with a more gentle
heat after it is finished.
Method of Painting Japan Work,—Japan work ought
properly to be painted with colours in varnish, though,
in order for the greater dispatch, and, in some very
nice works in small, for the freer use of the pencil, the
colours are sometimes tempered in oil ; which should
previously have a fourth part of its weight of gum ani-
nii dissolved in it j or, in default of that, of the gums
sand a rac or mastich. When the oil is thus used, it
should be well diluted with spirit of turpentine, that
the colours may be laid more evenly and thin $ by
which means, fewer of the polishing or upper coats of
varnish become necessary.
In some instances, water-colours are laid on grounds
of gold, in the manner of other paintings j and are
best, when so used, in their proper appearance, without
any varnish over them ; and they are also sometimes so
managed as to have the effect of embossed work. The
colours employed in this way, for painting, are both
prepared by means of isinglass size corrected with ho¬
ney or sugarcandy. The body of which the embossed
work is raised, need not, however, be tinged with the
exterior colour j but may be best formed of very strong
gum-water, thickened to a proper consistence by bole-
armenian and whiting in equal parts \ which being laid
on the proper figure, and repaired when dry, may be
then painted with the proper colours tempered in the
isinglass size, or in the general manner with shell-lac '
varnish.
Manner of Varnishing Japan Work,—The last and
finishing part of japanning lies in the laying on and
polishing the outer coats of varnish ; which are neces¬
sary, as well in the pieces that have only one simple
ground of colour, as with those that are painted. This
is in general best done with common seed-lac varnish,
except in the instances and on tiiose occasions where
we have already shown other methods to be more ex¬
pedient : and the same reasons which decide as to the
fitness or impropriety of the varnishes, with respect to
the colours of the ground, hold equally with regard to
those of the painting : for where brightness is the
most material point, and a tinge of yellow will injure
it, seed-lac must give way to the whiter gums; but
where hardness, and a greater tenacity, are most essen¬
tial, it must be adhered to; and where both are so ne¬
cessary, that it is proper one should give way to the
other in a certain degree reciprocally, a mixed varnish
must be adopted. \
This mixed varnish, as we have already observed,
should be made of the picked seed-lac. The com¬
mon seed-lac varnish, which is the most useful pre¬
paration of the kind hitherto invented, may be thus
made:
“ Take of seed-lac three ounces, and put it into Japanning.
water to free it from the sticks and filth that are fre-  -J
quently intermixed with it; and which must be done
by stirring it about, and then pouring olf the water,
and adding fresh quantities in order to repeat the ope¬
ration, till it he freed from all impurities, as it very
effectually may be by this means. Dry it then, and
powder it grossly, and put it, with a pint of rectified
spirit of wine, into a bottle, of which it will not fill
above two-thirds. Shake the mixture well together;
and place the bottle in a gentle heat, till the seed ap¬
pear to be dissolved ; the shaking being in the mean
time repeated as often as may he convenient: and then
pour oif all that can be obtained clear by this method,
and strain the remainder through a coarse cloth. The
varnish thus prepared must be kept for use in a bottle
well stopt.”
When the spirit of wine is very strong, it will dis¬
solve a greater proportion of the seed-lac : but this will
saturate the common, which is seldom of a strength suf¬
ficient for making varnishes in perfection. As the
chilling, which is the most inconvenient accident at¬
tending those of this kind, is prevented, or produced
more frequently, according to the strength of the spi¬
rit ; we shall therefore take this opportunity of show¬
ing a method by which weaker rectified spirits may
with great ease, at any time, be freed from the phlegm,
and rendered of the first degree of strength.
“ Take a pint ol the common rectified spirit of
wine, and put it into a bottle, of which it will not fill
above three parts. Add to it half an ounce of pearl-
ashes, salt of tartar, or any other alkaline salt, heated
red hot, and powdered, as well as it can he without
much loss of its heat. Shake the mixture frequently
for the space of half an hour; before which time, a
great part of the phlegm will be separated from the
spirit, and will appear, together with the undissolved
part of the salts, in the bottom of the bottle. Let the
spirit then be poured olf, or freed from the phlegm
and salts, by means of a tritorium or separating funnel ;
and let half an ounce of the pearl-ashes, heated and
powdered as before, be added to it, and the same
treatment repeated. This may be done a third time,
if the quantify of phlegm separated by the addition of
the pearl-ashes appear considerable. An ounce of
alum reduced to powder and made hot, but not burnt,
must then be put into the spirit, and suffered to remain
some hours ; the bottle being frequently shaken : after
which, the spirit, being poured oil’ from it, will be fit
for use.”
The addition of the alum is necessary, to neutralize
the remains of the alkaline salt or pearl-ashes; which
would otherwise greatly deprave the spirit with respect
to varnishes and laquer, where vegetable colours are
concerned ; and must consequently render another di¬
stillation necessary.
The manner of using the seed-lac or white var¬
nishes is the same, except with regard to the substance
used in polishing ; which, where a pure white or great
clearness of other colours is in question, should be it¬
self white ; whereas the browner sorts of polishing dust,
as being cheaper, and doing their business with greater
dispatch, may be used in other cases. The pieces of
work to be varnished should be placed near a fire, or
in a room where there is a stove, and made perfectly
F 3 dry ;
JAP [ 44 1 JAR
Japanning, dry J and then the varnish may he rubbed over them
Japhetfi. by the proper brushes made for that purpose, begin-
vning in the middle, and passing the brush to one end j
and then with another stroke from the middle, passing
it to the other. But no part should be crossed or
twice passed over, in forming one coat, where it can
possibly be avoided. When one coat is dry, another
must be laid over it ; and this must be continued at
least five or six times, or more, if on trial there be not
sufficient thickness of varnish to bear the polish, with¬
out laying bare the painting or the ground colour un¬
derneath.
When a sufficient number of coats is thus laid on,
the work is fit to be polished : which must be done, in
common cases, by rubbing it with a rag dipped in
Tripoli or pumice-stone, commonly called rotten stone,
finely powdered : but towards the end of the rubbing,
a little oil of any kind should be used along with the
powder; and when the work appears sufficiently bright
and glossy, it should be well rubbed with the oil alone,
to clean it from the powder, and give it a still brighter
lustre.
In the case of white grounds, instead of the Tripoli
or pumice-stone, fine putty or whiting must be used ;
both which should be washed over to prevent the dan¬
ger of damaging the work from any sand or other
gritty matter that may happen to be commixed with
them.
It is a great improvement of all kinds of japan
work, to harden the varnish by means of heat ; which,
in every degree that it can be applied, short of what
would burn or calcine the matter, tends to give it a
more firm and strong texture. Where metals form
the body, therefore, a very hot stove may be used,
and the pieces of work may be continued in it a
considerable time j especially if the heat be gradually
increased ; but where wood is in question, heat must
be sparingly used, as it would otherwise warp or shrink
the body, so as to injure the general figure.
JAPHETH, the son of Noah. His descendants
possessed all Europe and the isles in the Mediterranean,
as well those which belong to Europe, as others which
depend on Asia. They had all Asia Minor, and the
northern parts of Asia above the sources of the Tigris
and Euphrates. Noah, when he blessed Japheth, said
to him, “ God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall
dwell in the tents of Shem j and Canaan shall be
his servant.1’ This blessing of Noah was accom¬
plished, when the Greeks, and after them the lio-
mans, carried their conquests into Asia and Africa,
which were the dwellings and dominions of Shem and
Canaan.
The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madar,
Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The scripture
says. “ that they peopled the isles of the Gentiles, and
settled in ditferent countries, each according to his lan¬
guage, family, and people.” It is supposed, that Co¬
mer was the father of the Cimbri, or Cimmerians ;
Magog of the Scythians; Madai of the Macedonians
' or Medes ; Javan of the lonians and Greeks ; Tubal of
the Tibarenians ; Meshech of the Muscovites or Rus¬
sians ; and Tiras of the Thracians. By the isles of
the Gentiles, the Hebrews understand the isles of the
Mediterranean, and all the countries separated by the
sea from the continent of Palestine ; whither also the Japlietk
Hebrews could go by sea only, as Spain, Gaul, Italy, |!
Greece, Asia Minor. Jarcht.
Japbeth was known by profane authors under the v ~ '
name of Japetus. The poets make him the father of
heaven and earth. The Greeks believe that he was the
father of their race, and acknowledged nothing more
ancient than him. Besides the seven sons of Japheth
above mentioned, the Septuagint, Eusebius, the Alex¬
andrian Chronicle, and St Austin, give him an eighth
called Eliza, who is not mentioned either in the He¬
brew or Chaldee, and the eastern people affirm that
Japheth had eleven children.
JAPYDIA, in Ancient Geography, a western di¬
strict of Illyricum, anciently threefold ; the first
extending from the springs of the Timavus to Istria ;
the second, from the river Arsia to the river Tetla-
nius ; and the third, called Inalpina, situated in Mount
Albius and the other Alps, which run out above Is¬
tria. Japodes, or Japydes, the people, Now consti¬
tuting the south part of Carniola, and the west of Aus¬
trian Croatia.
JAPYGIA, Calabria anciently so called by the
Greeks. Japyges, the people.
JAPYGIUM, in Ancient Geography, a promontory
of Calabria ; called also Salentinnm. Now Capo di
S. Maria di Leuca.
JAQUELQT, Isaac, a celebrated French Pro¬
testant divine, born in 1647, at Vassy in Champagne,
where his father was minister. The revocation of the
edict of Nantz, obliging him to quit France, he took
refuge first at Heidelberg, and then at the Hague,
where he procured an appointment in the Walloon
church. Plere he continued till that capital was taken
by the king of Prussia, who, hearing him preach, made
him his French minister in ordinary at Berlin; to
which city he removed in 1702. While he lived at
Berlin, he entered into a warm controversy with M:
Bayle on the doctrine advanced in his dictionary fa¬
vouring manichseism, which continued until death im¬
posed silence on both parties : and it was in this dis¬
pute that M. Jaquelot openly declared in favour of the
Remonstrants. He wrote, among other works, r.
Dissertations sur Vexistence de Dien. 2. Dissertations
snr le Messie. 3. Lettres a Messieurs les Prekits de
VEglise Gallicane. He was employed in finishing an
important work upon the divine authority of the
holy scriptures, when he died suddenly in 1708, aged
61.
JAR, or JaRR, an earthen pot or pitcher, with a big
belly and two handles.—The word comes from the Spa¬
nish jarra or jarro, which signifies the same.
Jar is used for a sort of measure or fixed quantity
of divers things.—The jar of oil is from 18 to 26
gallons ; the jar of green ginger is about 100 pounds
weight.
JARCHI, Solomon, otherwise Paschi and Isaaki
Solomon, a famous rabbi, born at Iroyes in Cham¬
pagne, who flsurished in the 12th century. He was
a perfect master of the talmud and gemara ; and he
filled the postils of the bible with so many talmudical
reveries, as totally extinguished both the literal and
moral sense of it. A great part of his commentaries
are printed in Hebrew, and some have been translated
2
JAR [ 45 ] JAY
J'arelii into Latin by the Christians. They are generally es-
jj teemed by the Jews, who have bestowed on the author
Jaraac. )_j!e title of prince of commentators.
—JARDYN, or Jardin, Karel DU, painter of con¬
versations, landscapes, &c. was born at Amsterdam in
1640, and became a disciple of Nicholas Berchem. He
travelled to Italy whilst he was yet a young man ; and
arriving at Rome, he gave himself alternately up to
study and dissipation. Yet, amidst this irregularity of
conduct, his proficiency in the art was surprising; and
his paintings rose into such high repute, that they were
exceedingly coveted in Rome, and bought up at great
prices. With an intention to visit his native city he at
last left Rome j but passing through Lyons, and meet¬
ing some agreeable companions, they prevailed on him
to stay there for some time, and he found as much em¬
ployment in that city as he could possibly undertake or
execute. But the profits which arose from his paintings
were not proportionable to lus profusion j and in order
to extricate himself from the encumbrances in which
his extravagance had involved him, he was induced to
marry his hostess, who was old and disagreeable, but
very rich. Mortified and ashamed at that adventure,
he returned as expeditiously as possible to Amsterdam,
accompanied by his wile, and there for some time fol¬
lowed lus profession with full as much success as he had
met with in Italy or Lyons. He returned to Rome the
second time 5 and atter a year or two spent there in his
usual extravagant manner, he settled at Venice. In
that city his merit was well known before his arrival,
which procured him a very honouiable reception. He
lived there highly caressed, and continually employed j
but died at the age of 38. He was sumptuously inter¬
red, out of respect to his talents 5 and, although a Pro¬
testant, permitted to be laid in consecrated ground.
This painter, in his colouring and touch, resembled his
master Berchem j but he added to that manner a foice
which distinguishes the great masters of Italy ; and it
is observed, that most oi his pictures seem to express
the warmth of the sun, and the light of mid-day. His
pictures are not much encumbered ; a few figures, some
animals, and a little landscape for the back-grounds,
generally comprise the whole of his composition. How¬
ever, some of his subjects are often more extensive, con¬
taining more objects, and a larger design. His works
are as much sought after, as they are difficult to be met
with.
JARGON, or Zircon, a kind of precious stone
found in Ceylon. This mineral contains a peculiar
earth, called jargonia, or •zirconia ; for an account oi
the properties of which, see CHEMISTRY, page 611 ;
see also Mineralogy Index.
JARGONIA, or ZlRCONlA, in Chemistry, a pecu¬
liar earth obtained from the preceding mineral. See
Chemistry, p. 611.
JARIMUTH, Jarmuth, or Jerimoth, Josh. xv. a
town reckoned to the tribe of Judah, four miles from
Eleutheropolis, westward, (Jerome). Thought to be
the same with Ramoth and Remeth, Joshua xix. and
Nehem. x, 2. (Reland).
JARNAC, a town of France, in Orleanois, and
in Angumois, remarkable for a victory gained by
Henry III. over the Huguenots in 1569. It is seated
on the river Charente, in W. Long. o. 13* N. Lat.
45. 40.
JAROSLOW, a handsome town of Poland, in the j;uoslow
palatinate of Russia, with a strong citadel. It is re- ||
markable for its great fair, its handsome buildings, and ^va-
a battle gained by the Swedes in 1656, after which ""■""V—”
they took the town. It is seated on the river Saine, in
E. Long. 22. 23. N. Lat. 49. 58.
JASHER, The Book of. This is a book which
Joshua mentions, and refers to in the following pas¬
sage : “ And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
until the people had avenged themselves upon their
enemies : is not this written in the book of Jasher?”
It is difficult to determine what this book of lasher,
or “ the upright,” is. St Jerome and the Jews be¬
lieved it to be Genesis, or some other book of the
Pentateuch, wherein God foretold he would do won¬
derful things in favour of his people. Huetius sup¬
poses it was a book of morality, in which it was said
that God would subvert the course of nature in favour
of those who put their trust in him. Others pretend,
it was public annals, or records, which were styled jky-
tice or upright, because they contained a faithful ac¬
count of the history of the Israelites. Grotius believes,
that this book was nothing else but a song, made to
celebrate this miracle and this victory. This seems
the more probable opinion, because the words cited by
Joshua as taken from this work, “ Sun, stand thou still
upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon,”
are such poetical expressions as do not suit with histo¬
rical memoirs •, besides that in the 2d book of Samuel
(i. 18.) mention is made of a book under the same ti¬
tle, on account of a song made on the death of Saul and
Jonathan.
JASIONE, a genus of plants belonging to the
syngenesia class ; and in the natural method ranking
under the 29th order, Campanacece. See Botany
Index.
JASMINE. See Jasminum.
Arabian Jasmine. See Nyctanthes, Botany
Index.
JASMINUM, Jasmine, or Jessamine Tree, a genus
of plants belonging to the diandria class ; and in the
natural method ranking under the 44th order, Sepiarice.
See Botany Index.
JASON, the Greek hero who undertook the Ar-
gonautic expedition, the history of which is obscured
by fabulous traditions, flourished about 937 B. C. See
Argonauts.
JASPACHATES. See Jade-stone, Mineralo¬
gy Index.
JASPER, a species of mineral belonging to the sili¬
ceous genus of stones, and of which there are many va¬
rieties, some of which being extremely beautiful, are
much sought after, and employed as trinkets and orna¬
ments. See Mineralogy Index.
JASPONYX, an old term in mineralogy, import¬
ing, as appears from the name, a compound of jasper
and onyx.
JATROPHA^ the Cassada Plant, a genus of
plants belonging to the moutEcia class 5 and in the na¬
tural method ranking under the 38th order, Tricoccce.
See Botany Index.
JAVA, a large island of the East Indies, lying be¬
tween 105° and 1150 E. Long, and from 6° to 8° S.
Lat. extending in length 700 miles, and in breadth
about 100. It is situated to the south of Borneo, and
south-east
J A V [ 46 ] J A V
south east from the peninsula of Malacca, having Su¬
matra lying before it, from which it is separated by a
narrow passage, now' so famous in the world by the
name of the Straits of Suncla. The country is moun¬
tainous and woody in the middle j but a flat coast, full
of bogs and marshes, renders the air unhealthful. It
produces pepper, indigo, sugar, tobacco, rice, coffee,
cocoa-nuts, plantains, cardamoms, and other tropical
finits. Gold also, but in no great quantities, hath
been found in it. It is diversified by many mountains,
woods, and rivers j in all which nature has very boun¬
tifully bestowed her treasure. Many of the moun¬
tains are so high as to be seen at the distance of
a number of leagues. That which is called the Blue
Mountain is by far the highest of them all, and seen
the farthest off at sea. They have frequent and very
terrible earthquakes in this island, which shake the city
of Batavia and places adjacent, to such a degree, that
the fall of the houses is expected every moment. The
waters in the road are excessively agitated, insomuch
that their motion resembles that of a boiling pot j
and in some places the earth opens, which affords a
strange and terrible spectacle. The inhabitants are of
opinion, that these earthquakes proceed from the moun¬
tain Parang, which is full of sulphur, saltpetre, and
bitumen. The fruits and plants of this island are in
their several kinds excellent, and almost out of num¬
ber. There are abundance of forests scattered over it,
in which are all kinds of wild beasts, such as buffaloes,
tyorers, rhinoceroses, and wild horses, with an infinite
variety of serpents, some of them of an enormous size.
Crocodiles are prodigiously large in Java, and are found
chiefly about the mouths of rivers ; for, being amphi¬
bious animals, they delight mostly in marshes and sa¬
vannahs. This creature, like the tortoise, lays its eggs
in the hot sands, without taking any further care of
them ; the sun hatches them at the proper season, when
the young run instantly into the water. There is, in
short, no kind of animal wanting here : fowls they
have of all sorts, and exquisitely good, especially pea¬
cocks, partridges, pheasants, wood-pigeons and, for
curiosity, they have the Indian bat, which diflers little
in form from ours but its wings, when extended,
measure a full yard, and the body of it is of the size of
a rat. They have fish in great plenty, and very good;
so that for the value of three-pence there may be
enough bought to dine six or seven men. They have
likewise a multitude of tortoises, the flesh of which is
very little inferior to veal, and there are many who
think it better.
Very extravagant ideas formerly prevailed respect¬
ing the number of inhabitants in Java. By a census
taken in 18x5, it was found to be 4,600,000. Of
these, three millions are in the provinces directly sub¬
ject to European authority ; the rest are subject to the
native princes. The principal European capitals, Ba¬
tavia, Samarang, and Surabya, contain respectively
60,000, 25,000, and 20,000 inhabitants: the chief na¬
tive capitals, Surakerta, and Yug Yukerta, about
105,000 each. The Chinese, amounting to 94,000,
form the most active and industrious part of the popu¬
lation.
There are a great many princes in the island, of
which the most considerable are, the emperor of Ma-
teran, and the kings of Bantam and Japara. Upon the
first of these many of the petty princes are dependant;
but the Dutch are absolute masters of the greatest part
of the island, particularly of the north coast, though
there are some of the princes beyond the mountains, on
the south coast, who still maintain their independency.
The natives of the country, who are established in the
neighbourhood of Batavia, and for a tract of about 40
leagues along the mountains of the country of Bantam,
are immediately subject to the governor-general. The
company send drossards, or commissaries, among them,
who administer justice and take care of the public re¬
venues.
The city of Batavia is the capital not only of this
island but of all the Dutch dominions in India. It
is an exceeding fine city, situated in the latitude of
6° south, at the month of the river Jucatra, and in
the bosom of a large commodious bay, which may be
considered not only as one of the safest harbours in
India, but in the world. The city is surrounded by
a rampart 21 feet thick, covered on the outside with
stone, and fortified with 22 bastions. This rampart is
environed by a ditch 45 yards over, and full of water,
especially when the tides are high, in the spring. The
avenues to the town are defended by several forts,
each of which is well furnished with excellent brass
cannon : no person is suffered to go beyond these forts
without a passport. The river Jucatra passes through
the midst of the town, and forms 15 canals of run¬
ning water, all faced with free-stone, and adorned
with trees that are evergreen: over these canals are
56 bridges, besides those which lie without the town.
The streets are all perfectly straight, and each, ge¬
nerally speaking, thirty feet broad. The houses are
built of stone, after the manner of those in Hollands
The city is about a league and a half in circumference,
and has five gates ; but there are ten times the num¬
ber of houses without that there are within it. There
is a very fine town-house, four Calvinist churches, be¬
sides other places of worship for all sorts of religions,
a spin-huys or house of correction, an orphan-house,
a magazine of sea stores, several for spices, with wharfs
and cord manufactories, and many other public build¬
ings. The garrison consists commonly of between
2000 and 3000 men. Besides the forts mentioned
above, there is the citadel of Batavia, a very fine
regular fortification, situated at the mouth of the
river, and flanked with four bastions ; two of which
command the sea, and the other two the town. It
is in the citadel that the governor-general of the In¬
dies has his palace ; over against which is that of the
director-general, who is the next person to the gover¬
nor. The counsellors, and other principal officers of
the company, have also their apartments there ; as
have likewise the physician, the surgeon, and the a-
pothecary. There are in it, besides, arsenals and ma¬
gazines furnished with ammunition for many years.
The city of Batavia is not only inhabited by Dutch,
French, Portuguese, and other Europeans, established
here on account of trade; but also by a vast number
of Indians of different nations, Javanese, Chinese,
Malayans, Negroes, Amboynese, Armenians, natives
of the isle of Bali, Mardykers or Topasses, Macassers,
Timers, Bougis, See. Of the Chinese, near 30,000
resided
JAY [ 47 1 IB Y
resided in the city till the year I 740, when the Dutch,
pretending that they were in a plot against them, sent
a body of troops into their quarter, and demanded
their arms, which the Chinese readily delivered up ;
and the next day the governor sent another body, with
orders to murder and massacre every one of the Chi¬
nese, men, women, and children. Some relate there
were 20,000, others 30,000, that were put to death,
without any manner of trial : and yet the barbarous
governor, who was the instrument of this cruel pro¬
ceeding, had the assurance to embark for Europe, ima¬
gining he had amassed wealth enough to secure him
against any prosecution in Holland : but the Dutch,
finding themselves detested and abhorred by all man¬
kind for this piece of tyranny, endeavoured to throw
the odium of it upon the governor, though he had
the hands of all the council of Batavia, except one,
to the order for the massacre. The states, therefore,
dispatched a packet to the Cape of Good Hope, con¬
taining orders to apprehend the governor, and send
him back to Batavia to be tried. lie was accordingly
apprehended at the Cape j but was never heard of af-
tenvards. It is supposed he was thrown over-board in
his passage to Batavia, that there might be no farther
inquiries into the matter ; and it is said, all the wealth
this merciful gentleman had amassed, and sent over
before him in four ships, was cast away in the passage.
As Holland after its annexation to France came in¬
to a state of hostility with Great Britain, a British
force landed in the island in August 1811, and Bata¬
via the capital was taken on the 10th August. The
Dutch commander was afterwards pursued to the east¬
ern extremity of the island, and compelled to capitu¬
late. Under the government of Sir Stamford Raffles,
many important improvements were made in the judi¬
cial system, the collection of the revenue, and the re¬
gulation of trade. Agreeably to the terms of the peace
in 18x5, this island was restored to the Dutch govern¬
ment. in the following year. See Java, Supple¬
ment.
JAVELIN, in antiquity, a sort of spear five feet
and a half long j the shaft of which was of wood,
with a steel point.—Every soldier in the Homan ar¬
mies had seven of these, which were very light and
slender.
JAWER, a city of Silesia, capital of a province of
the same name, with a citadel, and a large square,
surrounded with piazzas. It is 12 miles south-east of
Lignitz, 30 south-west of Breslau, and 87 east of
Prague. PL Long. 16. 29. N. Lat. 50. 36.
JAUNDICE (derived from the French jaunisse,
“ yellowness,” otjaune, “ yellow”) ; a disease consist¬
ing in a suffusion of the bile, and a rejection thereof
to the surface of the body, whereby the whole exte¬
rior habit is discoloured. See Medicine Index.
JAUTS, a people of Hindostan. See Supplement.
JAWS. See Maxilla.
Locked Jaw, is a spasmodic contraction of the lower
jaw, commonly produced by some external injury
affecting the tendons or ligaments. See Medicine
Index.
JAY, see Corvus, Ornithology Index.
Jay, Guy Michael le, a French gentleman, who
distinguished himself by causing a polyglot bible to be
printed at his own expence in 10 vols folio : but he
ruined himself by that impression, first because he
would not suffer it to appear under the name of Cardi¬
nal Richelieu, who, after the example of Cardinal Xi-
nienes, was ambitious of eternizing his name by this
means ; and next, because he made it too dear for the
English market; on yvhich Dr Walton undertook his
polyglot bible, which, being more comnjodious, redu¬
ced the price of M. le Jay’s. After the death of his
wife, M. le Jay took orders, was made dean of Veze-
lay in the Nivernois, and Louis XIV. gave him the
post of counsellor of state.
JAZER, or Jaser, in Ancient Geography, a Levi-
tical city in the territory of the Amorrhites beyond
Jordan, 10 miles to the west, or rather south-west, of
Philadelphia, and 15 miles from Esebon, and therefore
situated between Philadelphia and Heshbon, on the
east border of the tribe of Gad, supposed to be the
Jazorem of Josephus. In Jeremiah xlviii. mention is
made of the sea of Jazer, that is, a lake ; taken either
for an effusion or overflowing of the Arnon, a lake
through which it passes, or from which it takes its
rise.
IBERIA, Spain so called by the ancients, from
the river Iberus. Iberes the people, from the nomi¬
native Iber. See Hispania.
Iberia was also the name of an inland country of
Asia, having Colchis to the west, with a part of Pon-
tns j to the north Mount Caucasus •, on the east Alba¬
nia ; and on the south Armenia Magna : Now the
western part of Georgia (see Georgia). Iberia, ac¬
cording to Josephus, was first peopled by Tubal, the
brother of Corner and Magog. His opinion is con¬
firmed by the Septuagint j for Meshech and Tubal are
by these interpreters rendered Moschi and Iberians.
We know little of the history of the country till the
reign of Mithridates, when their king, named Artocis,
siding with that prince against Luculius, and after¬
wards against Pompey, was defeated by the latter with
great slaughter; but afterwards obtained a peace, up¬
on delivering up his sons as hostages. Little notice is
taken of the succeeding kings bv the ancient histori¬
ans. They were probably tributary to the Romans
till that empire was overturned, when this, with the
other countries in Asia bordering on it, fell succes¬
sively under the power of the Saracens and Turks.
IBERIS, Sciatica Cresses, or Candy-tuft, a genus
of plants belonging-to the tetradynamia class, and in
the natural method ranking under the 39th order, Sili-
quosce. See Botany Index.
IBEX, a species of goat. See Capra, Mammalia
Index.
IBIS. See Tantalus, Ornithology Index.
IBYCUS, a Greek lyric poet, of whose works
there are only a few fragments remaining, flourished
550 B. C. It is said, that he was assassinated by
robbers; and that, when dying, he called upon some
cranes he saw flying to bear witness. Some time after,
one of the murderers seeing some cranes, said to his
companions, “ There are the witnesses of Ibycus’s
death which being reported to the magistrates, the
assassins were put to the torture, and having confessed
the fact, were hanged. Thence arose the proverb
Ibyci Grues.
Jiy
I)
Ibycus.
ICE L 48 1 ICE
ICE, in Thysiologij, a solid, transparent, and brittle
body, formed of some fluid, particularly water, by
means of cold.
The young Lemery observes, that ice is only a re¬
establishment of the parts of water in their natural
state $ that the mere absence of fire is sufficient to ac¬
count for this re-establishment ; and that the fluidity
of water is a real fusion, like that of metals exposed to
the fire ; differing only in this, that a greater quantity
of fire is necessary to the one than the other. Galileo
was the first that observed ice to be lighter than the
waiter which comp'osed it: and hence it happens, that
ice floats upon water, its specific gravity being to that
of water as eight to nine. This rarefaction of ice seems
to be owing to the air-bubbles produced in water by
freezing ; and which, being considerably large in pro¬
portion to the water frozen, render the body so much
specifically lighter : these air-bubbles, during their pro¬
duction, acquire a great expansive power, so as to burst
the containing vessels, though ever so strong.
M. Mairan, in a dissertation on ice, attributes the
increase of its bulk chiefly to a different arrangement
of the parts of the water from which it is formed j the
icy skin on the water being composed of filaments,
which, according to him, are found to be constantly
and regularly joined at an angle of 6o° •, and which,
by this angular disposition, occupy a greater volume
than if they were parallel. He found the augmenta¬
tion of the volume of water by freezing, in difl’erent
trials, a 14th, an 18th, a 19th j and when the water
was previously purged of air, only a 22d part: that
ice, even after its formation, continues to expand by
cold $ for, after water had been frozen to some thick¬
ness, the fluid part being let out by a hole in the bot¬
tom of the vessel, a continuance of the cold made the
ice convex ; and a piece of ice, which was at first only
a 14th part specifically lighter than water, on being
exposed some days to the frost, became a 12th part
lighter. To this cause he attributes the bursting of ice
on ponds.
Wax, resins, and animal fats, made fluid by fire, in¬
stead of expanding like watery liquors, shrink in their
return to solidity: for solid pieces of the same bodies
sink to the bottom of their respective fluids j a proof
that these bodies are more dense in their solid than in
their fluid state. The oils which congeal by cold, as
olive oil, and the essential oil of aniseeds, appear also to
shrink in their congelation. Hence, the dilferent dis¬
positions of dilferent kinds of trees to be burst by, or
to resist, strong frosts, are by some attributed to the
juices with which the tree abounds 5 being in the one
case watery, and in the other resinous or oily.
Though it has been generally supposed that the na¬
tural crystals of ice are stars of six rays, forming angles
of 6o° with each other, yet this crystallization of wa¬
ter, as it may properly be called, seems to be as much
aflected by circumstances as that of salts. Hence we
find a considerable difference in the accounts of those
who have undertaken to describe these crystals. M.
Mairan informs us, that they are stars with six radii $
and bis opinion is confirmed by observing the figure of
frost on glass. M. Rome de L’Isle determines the form
of the solid crystal to be an equilateral octaedron. M.
Hassenfratz found it to be a prismatic hexaedron j but
M. d’Antic found a method of reconciling these seem¬
ingly opposite opinions. In a violent hail-storm, where
the hailstones were very large, he found they had sharp
wedge-like angles of more than half an inch; and in
these he supposed it impossible to see two pyramidal
tetraedra joined laterally, and not to conclude that
each grain was composed of octaedrons converging to a
centre. Some had a cavity in the middle; and he saw
the opposite extremities of two opposite pyramids, which
constitute the octaedron ; he likewise saw the octaedron
entire united in the middle ; all of them were there¬
fore similar to the crystals formed upon a thread im¬
mersed in a saline solution. On these principles M.
d’Antic constructed an artificial octaedron resembling
one of the largest hailstones ; and found that the angle
at the summit of the pyramid was 450, but that of the
junction of the two pyramids 145®. It is not, however,
easy to procure regular crystals in hailstones where the
operation is conducted with such rapidity : in snow and
hoar-frost, where the crystallization goes on more slow¬
ly, our author is of opinion that he sees the rudiments
of octaedra.
Ice forms generally on the surface of the water : hut
this too, like the crystallization, may be varied by an
alteration in the circumstances. In Germany, particu¬
larly the northern parts of that country, it has been ob¬
served that there are three kinds of ice. 1. That which
forms on the surface. 2. Another kind formed in the
middle of the water, resembling nuclei or small hail.
3. The ground ice which is produced at the bottom,
especially where there is any fibrous substance to which
it may adhere. This is full of cells like a wasp’s nest,
hut less regular; and performs many strange effects in
bringing up very heavy bodies from the bottom, by
means of its inferiority in specific gravity to the water
in which it is formed. The ice which forms in the mid¬
dle of the water rises to the top, and there unites into
large masses ; but the formation both of this and the
ground ice takes place only in violent and sudden colds,
where the water is shallow^ and the surface disturbed
in such a manner that the congelation cannot take
place. The ground ice is very destructive to dykes
and other aquatic works. In the more temperate Eu¬
ropean climates these kinds of ice are not met with.
In many countries the warmth of the climate ren¬
ders ice not only a desirable, but even a necessary
article ; so that it becomes an object of some conse¬
quence to fall upon a ready and cheap method of pro¬
curing it. We shall here take notice of some attempts
made by Mr Cavallo to discover a method of produ¬
cing a sufficient degree of cold for this purpose by the
evaporation of volatile liquors. He found, however,
in the course of these experiments, that ether was in¬
comparably superior to any other fluid in the degree
of cold it produced. The price of the liquor natu¬
rally induced him to fall upon a method of using it
with as little waste as possible. The thermometer he
made use of had the ball quite detached from the ivory
piece on which the scale was engraved. The various
fluids were then thrown upon the ball through the ca¬
pillary aperture of a small glass vessel shaped like a
funnel ; and care was taken to throw them upon it so
slowly, that a drop might now and then fall from the
under part, excepting when those fluids were used,
which
ICE [ 49 ] ICE
Ice. which evaporate very slowly ; in which case it was
—v——1 sufficient barely to keep the ball moist, without any
drop falling from it. During the experiment, the
thermometer was kept very gently turning round its
axis, that the fluid made use of' might fall upon every
part of its ball. He found this method preferable to
that of dipping the ball of the thermometer into the
fluid and taking it out again immediately, or even of
anointing it constantly with a feather. The evapora¬
tion, and consequently the cold, produced by it, may
be increased by blowing on the thermometer with a
pair of bellows 5 though this was not used in the ex¬
periments now to be related, on account of the diffi¬
culty of its being performed by one person, and like¬
wise because it occasions much uncertainty in the re¬
sults.
The room in which the experiments were made was
heated to 64° of Fahrenheit ; and with water it was
reduced to 56°, viz. 8° below that of the room or of
the water employed. The effect took place in about
two minutes ; but though the operation was continued
for a longer time, it did not sink lower. With spirit
of wine it sunk to 48°. The cold was greater with
highly rectified spirit than with tiie weaker sort ; but
the difference is less than would be expected by one
who had never seen the experiment made. The pure
spirit produces its effect much more quickly. On using
various other fluids which were either compounded
of water and spirituous liquors, or pure essences, he
found that the cold produced by their evaporation was
generally some intermediate degree between that pro¬
duced by water and the spirit of wine. Oil of turpen¬
tine sunk the mercury three degreesj but olive oil and
others, which evaporate very slowly, or not at ail, did
not sensibly affect the thermometer.
To observe how much the evaporation of spirit of
wine, and consequently the cold produced by it, would
be increased by electricity, he put the tube containing
it into an insulating handle, and connected it with the
conductor of an electrical machine, which was kept in
action during the time of making the experiment ; by
which means one degree of cold seemed to be gained,
as the mercury now sunk to 470 instead of 48°, at
which it had stood formerly. On trying the three mi¬
neral acids, he found that they heated the thermometer
instead of cooling it $ which effect he attributes to the
heat they themselves acquired by uniting with the mois¬
ture of the atmosphere. The vitriolic acid, which was
very strong and transparent, raised the mercury to
102°, the smoking nitrous acid to 7 2°, and the marine
to 66°.
quantity
ass tube
which is
to be fixed upon the bottle containing the ether.
Found the lower part of the neck at A some thread
is wound, in order to let it fit the neck of the bottle.
When the experiment is to be made, the stopper of the
bottle containing the ether is to be removed, and the
tube just mentioned put in its room. The thread
round the tube ought also to be previously moistened
with water or spittle before it is put into the neck of
the bottle, in order the more effectually to prevent the
escape of the ether betwixt the neck of the phial and
I'isr. ?. tube. Hold then the bottle by its bottom FG (fig. 2.')
Vol. XI. Part I. +
Plate The apparatus for using the least possible
cclxxviii, 0f ether for freezing water consists in a s.
* I* (%• 1.) terminating in a capillary aperture,
and keeping it inclined as in the figure, the small iCe.
stream of ether issuing out of the aperture D of thev—
tube DE, is directed upon the ball of the thermome¬
ter, or upon a tube containing water or other liquor
that is required to he congealed. As ether is very vo¬
latile, and has the remaikable property of increasing
the hulk of air, there is no aperture requisite to al¬
low the air to enter the bottle while the liquid flows
out. The heat of the hand is more than sufficient to
force out the ether in a continued stream at the aper¬
ture D.
In this manner, throwing the stream of ether upon
the ball of a thermometer in such a quantity that a
drop might now and then, every ten seconds for in¬
stance, fall from the bulb of the thermometer, Mr Ca*
vallo brought the mercury down to 30, or 290 below
the freezing point, when the atmosphere was somewhat
hotter than temperate. AVhen the ether is very good,
i. e. capable of dissolving elastic gum, and has a small
bulb, not above 20 drops of it are required to pro¬
duce this tfleet, and about two minutes of time j but
the common sort must be used in greater quantity, and
for a longer time ; though at last the thermometer is
brought down by this very nearly as low as by the
best sort.
lo freeze water by the evaporation of ether, Mr
Cavallo takes a thin glass tube about four inches long,
and one-fifth of an inch diameter, hermetically sealed
at one end, with a little water in it, so as to take up
about half an inch of the cavity, as is shewn at CB in
3- Int0 tube a slender wire H is also intro-3-
duced, the lower extremity of which is twisted into a
spiral, and serves to draw up the bit of ice when form¬
ed. He then holds the glass tube by its upper part
A with the fingers of the left hand, and keeps it conti¬
nually and gently turning round its axis, first one way
and then the other: whilst with the right hand he
holds the phial containing the ether in such a man¬
ner as to direct the stream on the outside of the tube,
and a little above the surface of the water contained in
it. The capillary aperture D should be kept almost
in contact with the surface of the tube containing the
water 5 and by continuing the operation for two or
three minutes, the water will be frozen as it were in
an instant 5 and the opacity will ascend to C in less
than half a second of time, which makes a beautiful ap¬
pearance. This congelation, however, is only super¬
ficial : and in order to congeal the whole quantity of
water, the operation must be continued a minute or
two longer ■, after which the wire H will be found kept
very tight by the ice. The hand must then be applied
to the outside of the tube, in order to soften the sur¬
face of the ice ; which would otherwise adhere very
firmly to the glass ; but when this is done, the wire H
easily brings it out.
Sometimes our author was accustomed to put into
the tube a small thermometer instead of the wire H ;
and thus he had an opportunity of observing a very
curious phenomenon unnoticed by others, viz. that in
the winter time water requires a smaller degree of cold
to congeal it than in the summer. In the winter, for
instance, the water in the tube AB will freeze when
the thermometer stands about 30°; but in the summer,
or even when the thermometer stands at 6o°, the quick¬
silver must be brought down 10, 15, or even more de-
G grees
ICE [50
grees below the freezing point before any congelation
can take place. In the summer time, therefore, a
greater quantity of ether, anti more time, will be re¬
quired to congeal any given quantity of water than in
winter. When the temperature of the atmosphere has
been about 40°, our author lias been able to congeal a
quantity of water with an equal quantity of good ether j
but in summer, two or three times the quantity are re¬
quired to perform the effect. “ There seems (says he)
to be something in the air, which, besides heat, inter¬
feres with the freezing of water, and perhaps of all
fluids ; though I cannot say from my own experience
whether the above-mentioned difference between the
freezing in winter and summer takes place with other
fluids, as milk, oils, wines,” &c.
The proportion of ether i*equisite to congeal water
seems to vary with the quantity of the latter; that
is, a large quantity of water seems to require a pro-
aortionably less quantity of ether to freeze it than a
smaller one. “ In the beginning of the spring (says
Mr Cavallo), 1 froze a quarter of an ounce of water
with about half an ounce of ether: the apparatus be¬
ing larger, though similar to that described above.
Now as the price of ether, sufficiently good for the
purpose, is generally about l8d. or 23. per ounce, it is
plain, that with an ex pence under two shillings, a
quarter of an ounce of ice, or ice-cream, may be made
in every climate, and at any time, which may afford
great satisfaction to those persons, who, living in those
places where no natural ice is to be had, never saw or
tasted any such delicious refreshment. When a small
piece of ice, for instance, of about ten grains weight,
is required, the necessary apparatus is very small, and
the expence not worth mentioning. I have a small
box four inches and a half long, two inches broad, and
one and a half deep, containing all the apparatus ne¬
cessary for this purpose j viz. a bottle capable of con¬
taining about one ounce of ether ; two pointed tubes,
in case one should break ; a tube in which the water
is to be frozen, and a wire. With the quantity of
ether contained in this small and very portable appa¬
ratus, the experiment may be repeated about ten times.
A person who wishes to perform such experiments in
hot climates, and in places where ice is not easily pro¬
cured, requires only a larger bottle of ether besides
the whole apparatus described above.” Electricity in¬
creases the cold produced by means of evaporating
ether but very little, though the effect is perceptible.
Having thrown the electrified and also the unelectri-
iied stream of ether upon the bulb of a thermometer,
the mercury was brought down two degrees lower in
the former than in the latter case.
Our author observes, for the sake of those who may
be inclined to repeat this experiment, that a cork
confined this volatile fluid much better than a glass
stopple, which it is almost impossible to grind with such
exactness as to prevent entirely the evaporation of the
ether. When a stopple, made very nicely out of an
uniform and close piece of cork, which goes rather
tight, is put upon a bottle of ether, the smell of that
fluid cannot be perceived through it; but he never saw
a glass stopple which could produce that effect. In
this manner, ether, spirit of wine, or any other vola¬
tile fluid, may be preserved, which dees not corrode
cork by its fumes. When the stopple, however, is very
I C E
often taken out, it becomes loose, as it will also be by ]c
long keeping : in either of which cases it must he —v
changed.
Blink of the Ice, is a name given by tbe pilots
to a bright appearance near the horizon, occasion¬
ed by the ice, and observed before the ice itself is
seen,
Ics-Boats, boats so constructed as to sail upon ice,
and which are very common in Holland, particular¬
ly upon the river Maese and the lake Y. See Plate
CCLXXVIII. They go with incredible swiftness,
sometimes so quick as to affect tbe breath, and are
found very useful in conveying goods and passengers
over lakes and great rivers in that country. Boats of
different sizes are placed in a transverse form upon a
2? or 3 inch deal board 5 at the extremity of each end
are fixed irons, which turn up in tbe form of skaits j
upon this plank the boat rests, and the two ends serve
as out-riggers to prevent oversetting j whence ropes
are fastened that lead to the head of the mast in the
nature of shrouds, and others passed through a block
across tbe bowsprit : tbe rudder is made somewhat like
a hatchet with the head placed downwards, which being
pressed down, cuts the ice, and serves all the purposes
of a rudder in the water, by enabling the helmsman to
steer, tack, &c.
Method of making Ice-Cream. Take a sufficient
quantity of cream, and, when it is to be mixed with
raspberry, or currant, or pine, a quarter part as much
of the juice or jam, as of the cream : after beating and
straining the mixture through a cloth, put it with a
little juice of lemon into the mould, which is a pewter
vessel, and varying in size and shape at pleasure ; cover
the mould, and place it in a pail about two-thirds full of
ice, into which two handfuls of salt have been thrown ;
turn the mould by the hand-hold with a quick motion
to and fro, in the manner used for milling chocolate, for
eight or ten minutes; then let it rest as long, and turn
it agf.in for the same time $ and having left it to stand
half an hour, it is fit to be turned out of the mould and
to be sent to table. Lemon juice and sugar, and
the juices of various kinds of fruits, are frozen with¬
out cream j and when cream is used, it should be well
mixed.
Ice-HMs, a sort of structure or contrivance common
upon the river Neva at Petersburg, and which afford
a perpetual fund of amusement to the populace. They
are constructed in the following manner. A scaffolding
is raised upon the river about 30 feet in height, with a
landing place on the top, the ascent to which is by a
ladder. From this summit a sloping plane of boards,
about four yards broad and 30 long, descends to the
superficies of the river j it is supported by strong poles
gradually decreasing in height, and its sides are defend¬
ed by a parapet of planks. Upon these boards are laid
square masses of ice about four inches thick, which be¬
ing first smoothed with the axe and laid close to each
other, are then sprinkled with water: by these means
they coalesce, and, adhering to the boards, immediate¬
ly form an inclined plane of pure ice. From the bot¬
tom of this plane the snow is cleared away for the length
of 200 yards, and the breadth of four, upon the level
bed of tbe river; and the sides of this course, as well
as the sides and top of the scaffolding, are ornamented
With firs and pines. Each person, being provided with
ICE [ Si ] ICE
a sledge, mounts the ladder } and having attained the
summit, he seats himself upon his sledge at the upper
extremity of the inclined plane, down which he sufl’ers
it to glide with considerable rapidity, poising it as he
goes down j when the velocity acquired by the de¬
scent carries it above 100 yards upon the level ice of
the river. At the end of this course, there is usually
a similar ice-hill, nearly parallel to the former, which
begins where the other ends; so that the person imme¬
diately mounts again, and in the same manner glides
down the other inclined plane of ice. This diversion
he repeats as often as he pleases. The boys also are
continually employed in skaiting down these hills :
they glide chiefly upon one skait, as they are able
to poise themselves better upon one leg than upon
two. These ice-hills exhibit a pleasing appearance up¬
on the river, as well from the trees with which they
are ornamented, as from the moving objects which at
particular times of the day are descending without in¬
termission.
Ice-House, a repository for ice during the summer
months. The aspect of ice-houses should be towards the
east or south-east, for the advantage of the morning sun
to expel the damp air, as that is more pernicious than
warmth : for which reason trees in the vicinity of an
ice-house tend to its disadvantage.
The best soil for an ice-house to be made in is chalk,
as it conveys away the waste water without any artifi¬
cial drain ; next to that, loose stony earth or gravelly
soil. Its situation should be on the side of a hill, for
the advantage of entering the cell upon a level, as in
the drawing, Plate CCLXXVIII.
To construct an ice-house, first choose a proper place
at a convenient distance from the dwelling-house, or
houses it is to serve : dig a cavity (if for one family, of
the dimensions specified in the design) of the figure of
an inverted cone, sinking the bottom concave, to form
a reservoir for the waste water till it can drain off; if
the soil requires it, cut a drain to a considerable di¬
stance, or so far as will come out at the side of the hill,
or into a well, to make it communicate with the
springs, and in that drain form a stink or air-trap, mark¬
ed /, by sinking the drain so much lower in that place
as it is high, and bring a partition from the top an inch
or more into the water, which will consequently be in
the trap *, and will keep the well air-tight. Work up
a sufficient number of brick piers to receive a cart¬
wheel, to be laid with its convex side upwards to re¬
ceive the ice •, lay hurdles and straw upon the wheel,
which will let the melted ice drain through, and serve
as a floor. The sides and dome of the cone are to be
nine inches thick—the sides to be done in steened
brickwork, i. e. without mortar, and wrought at right
angles to the face of the work : the filling in behind
should be with gravel, loose stones, or brick-bats, that
the water which drains through the sides may the more
easily escape into the well. The doors of the ice¬
house should be made as close as possible, and bundles
of straw placed always before the inner door to keep
out the air.
Description of the parts referred to by the letters.—
« The line first dug out. b The brick circumference
of the cell, c The diminution of the cell downwards,
s/The lesser diameter of the cell, c The cartwheel
or joists and hurdles, The piers to receive the wheel rce.
or floor, g The principal receptacle for straw, h The
inner passage, i the first entrance, k the outer door,
passages having a separate door each. I An air trap.
m The well. n The profile of the piers, o The ice
filled in. p The height of the cone. q The dome
worked in two half brick arches, r The arched pas¬
sage. s The door-ways inserted in the walls, t The
floor of the passage, u An aperture through which the
ice may be put into tbe cell; this must be covered next
the crown of the dome, and then filled in with earth.
x The sloping door, against which the straw shopld be
laid.
The ice when to be put in should be collected du¬
ring the frost, broken into small pieces, and rammed
down hard in strata of not more than a foot, in order
to make it one complete body 5 the care in putting it
in, and well ramming it, tends much to its preserva¬
tion. In a season when ice is not to he had in sufficient
quantities, snow may be substituted.
Ice may be preserved in a dry place under ground,
by covering it well with chaff, straw, or reeds.
Great use is made of chaff in some places of Italy to
preserve ice : the ice-house for this purpose need only
be a deep hole dug in the ground on the side of a hill,
from the bottom of which they can easily carry out a
drain, to let out the water which is separated at any
time from the ice, that it may not melt and spoil the
rest. If the ground is tolerably dry, they do not line
the sides with any thing, but leave them naked, and on¬
ly make a covering of thatch over the top of the hole 1
tills pit they fill either with pure snow, or else with ice
taken from the purest and clearest water; because they1
do not use it as we do in England, to set tbe bottle*
in, but really mix it with tbe wine. They first cover
the bottom of the bole with chaff, and then lay in the
ice, not letting it anywhere toucli the sides, but ram¬
ming in a large bed of chaff all the way between: they
thus carry on the filling to the top, and then cover
tbe surface with chaff; and in this manner it will keep
as long as they please. When they take any of it
out for use, they wrap the lump up in chaff, and it
may then be carried to any distant place without waste
or melting.
It appears from the investigation of Professor Beck¬
man, in his History of Inventions, that the ancients
from the earliest ages were acquainted with the method
of preserving snow for the purpose of cooling liquors in
summer. “ This practice, (he observes), is mentioned
by Solomon*; and proofs of it are so numerous in *
the works of the Greeks and the Romans, that it isKXT*
unnecessary for me to quote them, especially as they
have been collected by others. How the repositories
for keeping it were constructed, we are not expressly
told ; but it is probable that the snow was preserved
in pits or trenches.
“ When Alexander the Great besieged the city of
Petra, he caused 30 trenches to be dug, and filled with
snow, which was covered with oak branches; and which
kept in that manner for a long time. Plutarch says,
that a covering of chaff and coarse cloth is sufficient",
and at present a like method is pursued in Portugal.
Where the snow has been collected in a deep gulf,
some grass or green sods, covered with dung from tbe
G 2 sheep
ICE [5
shetp pens, i* tin own over it j and under these it is so
well preserved, that the whole summer through it is
sent the distance of 60 Spanish (nearly 180 English)
miles to Lisbon.
“ When the ancients, therefore, wished to have cool¬
ing liquors, they either drank the melted snow, or pot
some of it in their wine 5 or they placed jars filled with
wine in the snow, and suffered it to cool there as long
as they thought proper. That ice was also preserved for
the like purpose, is probable from the testimony of va¬
rious authors j but it appears not to have been used so
much in warm countrhs as in the northern. Even at
present snow is employed in Italy, Spain, and Portugal
but in Persia ice. I have never any where found an
account of Grecian nr Roman ice-houses. By the writ¬
ers on agriculture they are not mentioned.”
IcE-Islund, a name given by sailors to a great quan¬
tity of ice collected into one huge solid mass, and float¬
ing about upon the seas near or within the Polar circles.
—Many of these fluctuating islands are met with on
the coasts of Spitsbergen, to the great danger of the
shipping employed in the Greenland fishery. In the
midst of those tremendous masses navigators have been
arrested and frozen to death. In this manner the brave
Sir Hug!) Willoughby perished with all his crew in
I553 •, and in the year 1/73, Lord Mulgrave, after e-
very effort which the most finished seaman could make to
accomplish the end of his voyage, was caught in the ice,
and was near experiencing the same unhappy fate. See
the account at large in P/iipps's Voyage to the North
Pole. As there described, the scene, divested of the
horror from the eventful expectation of change, was
the most beautiful and picturesque:—7'wo large ships
becalmed in a vast bason, surrounded on all sides by
islands of various forms : the weather clear : the sun
gilding the circurpambient ice, which was low, smooth,
and even j covered with snow, excepting where the
pools of water on part of the surface appeared crystal¬
line with the young ice : the small space of sea they
were confined in perfectly smooth. After fruitless at¬
tempts to force a way through the. fields of ice, their
limits vrere perpetually contracted by its closing ; till at
length it beset each vessel till they became immoveahly
fixed. The smooth extent of surface was soon lost j
the pressure of the pieces of ice, by the violence of the
swell, caused them to pack : fragment rose upon frag¬
ment till they were in many places higher than the
main-yard. The movements of the ships were tremen¬
dous and involuntary, in conjunction with the sur¬
rounding ice, actuated by the currents. The water
shoaled to 14 fathoms. The grounding of the ice or
of the ships would have been equally fatal : The force
of the ice might have crushed them to atoms, or have
lifted them out of the water and overset them, or have
left them suspended on the summits of the pieces of ice
at a tremendous height, exposed to the fury of the
winds, or to the risk of being dashed to pieces by
the failure of their frozen dock. An attempt was made
to cut a passage through the ice ; after a perseverance
worthy of Britons, it proved fruitless. The comman¬
der, at all times master of himself, directed the boats
to be made ready to be hauled over the ice, till they
arrived at navigable water (a task alone of seven days),
and in them to make their voyage to England. The
boats were drawn progressively three whole days. At
5 ] ICE
length a wind sprung up, the ice separated sufficiently Ice,
to yield to the pressure of the full-sailed ships, which, beber»«.
after labouring against the resisting fields of ic«', arrived
on the lOtli of August in the harbour of Smeeringherg,
at the west end of Spitzbergen, between it and Hack-
luyt’s Headland.
The forms assumed by the ice in this chilling cli¬
mate are extremely pleasing to even the most incu¬
rious eye. The surface of that which is congealed
from the sea water (for we must allow it two origins)
is fiat and even, hard, opake, resembling white sugar,
and incapable of being slid on, like the British ice. The
greater pieces, or fields, are many leagues in length :
the lesser are the meadows of the seals, on which these
animals at times frolic by hundreds. The motion of
the lesser pieces is as rapid as the currents: the greater,
which are sometimes 200 leagues, long, and 60 or 80
broad, move slow and majestically ; often fix for a time,
immoveable by the power of the ocean, and then pro¬
duce near the horizon that bright white appearance cal¬
led the blink. The approximation of two great fields
produces a most singular phenomenon : it forces the
lesser (if the term can be applied to pieces of several
acres square) out of the water, and adds them to their
surface; a second and often a third succeeds; so that
the whole forms an aggregate of a tremendous height.
These float in the sea like so many rugged mountains,
and are sometimes 300 or 600 yards thick ; but the
far greater part is concealed beneath the water. "These
are continually increased in height by the freezing of
the spray of the sea, or of the melting of the snow,
which (alls on them. Those which remain in this fro¬
zen climate receive continual growth ; others are gra¬
dually wafted by the northern winds into southern la¬
titudes, and melt by degrees, by the heat of the sun, till
they waste away, or disappear in the boundless element.
The collision of the great fields of ice, in high lati¬
tudes, is often attended with a noise that for a time
takes away the sense of hearing any thing else ; and the
lesser with a grinding of unspeakable horror. The wa¬
ter which dashes against the mountainous ice freezes in¬
to an infinite variety of forms ; and gives the voyager
ideal towns, streets, churches, steeples, and every shape
which imagination can frame.
IcE-Plant. See Mesembryanthemum, Botaxy
Index.
ICEBERGS, are large bodies of ice filling the val¬
leys between the high mountains in northern latitudes.
Among the most remarkable are those of the east coast
of Spitzbergen (see Greenland, N° 10.). They are
seven in number, but at considerable distances from
each other ; each fills the valleys for tracts unknown
in a region totally inaccessible in the internal parts.
The glaciers* of Switzerland seem contemptible x0*Ohv
these ; but present often a similar front into some lower CkK'
valley. The last exhibits over the sea a front 300 feet
high, emulating the emerald in colour ; cataracts of
melted snow precipitate down various parts, and black
spiring mountains, streaked with white, bound the
sides, and rise crag above crag, as far as eve can reach
in the back ground. See Plate CCLXXVIH. At times
immense fragments break oft’, and tumble into the water,
with a most alarming dashing. A piece of this vivid f Phipps'g
green substance has fallen, and grounded in 24 fathoms *
water, and spired above the surface 50 feet f. Simi-P'
lar
I C E B E R O
pla '/'/■: ccLxxvm
£. MrPAe//J'r,a/,
>
ICE [ S3 ] ICE
Icebergs, lar Icebergs are frequent in all the Arctic regions ; and
lueinud. to their lapses is owing the solid mountainous ice which
jnfe!its those seas.-—>Frost sports wonderfully with these
icebergs, and gives them majestic as well as other most
singular forms. Masses have been seen assuming the
shape of a Gothic church, with arched windows and
doors, and all the rich drapery of that style, composed
of what an Arabian tale would scarcely dare to relate,
of crystal of the richest sapphirine blue •, tables with
one or more feet ; and often immense flat-roofed tem¬
ples, like those of Luxor on the Nile, supported by
round transparent columns of cerulean hue, float by the
astonished spectator. These icebergs are the creation
of ages, and receive annually additional height by the
falling of snows and of rain, which often instantly
freezes, and more than repairs the loss occasioned by
the influence of the melting sun.
ICELAND, a large island lying in the northern
part of the Atlantic ocean, between 63 and 67 degrees
of north latitude, and between 16 and 24 degrees of
west longitude j its greatest length being about "joo
miles, and its breadth 300.
General This country lying partly within the frigid zone, and
account of being liable to be surrounded with vast quantities of ice
siie conn- which come from the polar seas, is, on account of the
coldness of its climate, very inhospitable } but much
more so for other reasons. It is exceedingly subject to
earthquakes •, and so full of volcanoes, that the little
part of it which appears fit for the habitation of man
seems almost totally laid waste by them. The best ac¬
count that hath yet appeared of the island of Iceland
is in a late publication, intitled “ Letters on Iceland,
&c. written by Uno Von Troii, D. D. first chaplain
to his Swedish majesty.” This gentleman sailed horn
London on the 12th of July 1772, in company with
Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and Dr James Lind of Edin¬
burgh, in a ship for which 100!. sterling was paid eve¬
ry month. Alter visiting the Western islands of Scot¬
land, they arrived on the 28th of August at Iceland,
where they cast anchor at Bessestedr or Bessastadr, ly¬
ing in about 64° 6' N. Lat. in the western part of the
island. The country had to them the most dismal ap¬
pearance that can be conceived. “ Imagine to your¬
self (says Dr Troii) a country, which from one end
to the other presents to your view only barren moun¬
tains, whose summits are covered with eternal snow,
and between them fields divided by vitrified cliffs, whose
high and sharp points seem to vie with each other to
deprive you of the sight of a little grass which scantily
springs up among them. These same dreary rocks
likewise conceal the few scattered habitations of the
natives, and no where a single tree appears which might
afford shelter to friendship and innocence. The pros¬
pect before us, though not pleasing, was uncommon and
surprising. Whatever presented itself to our view bore
the marks of devastation ", and our eyes, accustomed to
behold the pleasing coasts of England, now saw nothing
but the vestipes of the operation of a fire, Heaven knows
2 how ancient.”
Account The climate of Iceland, however, is not unwhole-
the cli- some, or naturally subject to excessive colds, notwith-
wate. standing its northerly situation. There have been
instances indeed of Fahrenheit’s thermometer sinking
to 240 below the freezing pqint in winter, and rising to
IO40 in summer. Since the year 1749, observations Iceland,
have been made on the weather ; and the result of these * ■" v"—~-
observations hath been unfavourable, as the coldness of
the climate is thought to be on the increase, and of
consequence the country is in danger of becoming un¬
fit for the habitation of the human race. Wood, which
formerly grew in great quantities all over the island,
cannot now be raised. Even the hardy firs of Norway
cannot be reared in this island. They seemed indeed
to thrive till they were about two feet high *, but then
their tops withered, and they ceased to grow. This
is owing chiefly to the storms and hurricanes which
frequently happen in the months of May and June, and
which are very unfavourable to vegetation of every
kind. In 1772, Governor Thodal sowed a little bar¬
ley, which grew very briskly ; hut a short time before
it was to be reaped, a violent storm so effectually de¬
stroyed it, that only a few grains were found scattered
about. Besides these violent winds, this island lies un¬
der another disadvantage, owing to the floating ice al¬
ready mentioned, with which the coasts are often beset.
This ice comes on by degrees, always with an easterly
wind, and frequently in such quantities as to fill up all
the gulfs on the north-west side of the island, and
even covers the sea as far as the eye can reach ; it also
sometimes drives to other shores. It generally comes in
January, and goes away, in March. Sometimes it only
reaches the land in April ; and, remaining there for a
long time, does an incredible deal of mischief. It con¬
sists partly of mountains of ice, said to be sometimes 60
fathoms in height j and partly of field ice, which is
neither so thick nor so much dreaded. Sometimes
these enormous masses are grounded in shoal-water; and
in these cases they remain for many months, nay years,
undissolved, chilling the atmosphere for a great way
round. When many such bulky and lofty ice-masses
are floating together, the wood which is often found
drifting between them, is so much chafed, and pressed
with such violence together, that it sometimes takes
fire: which circumstance has occasioned fabulous ac¬
counts of the ice being in flames.
In 1753 and 1754, this ice occasioned such a vio¬
lent cold, that horses and sheep dropped down dead by
reason of it, as well as for want of food ; horses were,
observed to feed upon dead cattle, and the sheep ate off
each other’s wool. In 1755, towards the end of the
month of May, the waters were frozen over in one
night to the thickness of an inch and five lines. In
1756, on the 26th of June, snow fell to the depth of
a yard, and continued falling through the months of
July and August. In the year following it froze very
hard towards the end of May and beginning of June,
in the south part of the island, which occasioned a
great scarcity of grass. These frosts are generally fid-
lowed by a famine, many examples of which are to be
found in the Icelandic chronicles. Besides these cala¬
mities, a number of bears annually arrive with the ice,
which commit great ravages among the sheep. The
Icelanders attempt to destroy these intruders as soon as
they get sight of them. Sometimes they assemble toge¬
ther, and drive them back to the ice, with which they
often float oil’ again. For want of fire-arms, they are
obliged to use spears on these occasions. The gover-
ment also encourages the destruction of these animals.
ICE - [ 54 ] ICE
Iceland, by paying a premium of 10 dollars for every bear that
is killed, and purchasing the skin of him who killed
it.
Notwithstanding this dismal picture, however, taken
from Von Troil’s letters, some tracts of ground, in high
cultivation, are mentioned as being covered by the
great eruption of lava in 1783. It is possible, there¬
fore, that the above may have been somewhat exagge¬
rated.
Thunder and lightning are seldom heard in Iceland,
except in the neighbourhood of volcanoes. Aurora
Borealis is very frequent and strong. It most com¬
monly appears in dry weather j though there are not
wanting instances of its being seen before or after rain,
or even during the time of it. The lunar halo, which
prognosticates bad weather, is likewise very frequent
here ; as are also parhelions, which appear from one
to nine in number at a time. These parhelions are ob¬
served chiefly at the approach of the Greenland ice,
which an intense degree of frost has produced, and the
frozen vapours fill the air. Fire-balls, sometimes round
and sometimes oval, are observed, and a kind of ignis
fatuus which attaches itself to men and beasts j and co¬
mets are also frequently mentioned in their chronicles.
This last circumstance deserves the attention of astro¬
nomers.
Iceland, besides all the inconveniences already men¬
tioned, has two very terrible ones, called by the na¬
tives skrida and snioflodi: the name of the first imports
large pieces of a mountain tumbling down and destroy¬
ing the lands and houses which lie at the foot of it:
this happened in 1554, when a whole farm was ruined,
and thirteen people buried alive. The other word sig¬
nifies the effects of a prodigious quantity of snow, which
covers the top of the mountains, rolling down in im¬
mense masses, and doing a great deal of damage : of
this there was an instance in 1699, during the night,
when two farms were buried, with all their inhabitants
and cattle. This last accident Iceland has in common
with all very mountainous countries, particularly Swit-
3 zerland.
Account of “ Iceland abounds with hot and boiling springs, some
the hot ^ 0f which spout up into the air to a surprising height.
Iceland -A-ll the jets d’eau which have been contrived with so
from Von much art, and at such an enormous expence, cannot by
Trail's any means be compared with these wonders of nature
Letters. in Iceland. The water-works at Herenhausen throw
up a single column of water of half a quarter of a yard
in circumference to a height of about 70 feet; those at
the Winterkesten at Cassel throw it up, but in a much
thinner column, 130 feet; and the jet d’eau at St
Cloud, which is thought the greatest of all the French
water-works, casts up a thin column 80 feet into the
air ; but some springs in Iceland pour forth columns of
water several feet in thickness to the height of many
fathoms ; and many affirm of several hundred feet.
“ These springs are unequal in their degrees of heat;
but we have observed none under 188 degrees of Fah¬
renheit’s thermometer; in some it is 192, 193, 212,
and in one small vein of water 213 degrees. From
some the water flows gently, and the spring is then
called lai/g, “ a hath ;” from others it spouts with a
great noise, and is then called Huer, or kit tel. It is
very common for some of these spouting springs to close
3
up, and others to appear In their stead. All these hot Iceland,
waters have an incrusting quality, so that we very com- 1
monly find the exterior surface from whence it bursts
forth covered with a kind of rind, which almost resem¬
bles chased work, and which we at first took for lime,
but which was afterwards found by Mr Bergman to he
of a siliceous or flinty nature. In some places the wa¬
ter tastes of sulphur, in others not; but when drank as
soon as it is cold, tastes like common boiled-water. The
inhabitants use it at particular times for dyeing; and
were they to adopt proper regulations, it might be of
still greater use. Victuals may also he boiled in it, and
milk held over its steam becomes sweet ; owing, most
probably, to the excessive heat of the water, as the
same effect is produced by boiling it a long time over
the fire. They have begun to make salt by boiling sea
water over it, which when it is refined, is very pure
and good. The cows which drink this hot water yield
a great deal of milk. Egbert Olafsen relates, that the
water does not become turbid when alkali is thrown
into it, nor does it change the colour of syrup of violets.
Horrebow asserts, that if you fill a bottle at one of the
spouting springs, the water will boil over two or three
times while the spring throws forth its water; and if
corked too soon, the bottle will burst. ^
“ Among the many hot springs to be met with in A partieu.
Iceland, several bear the name of geyser: the followingdescrip,
is a description of the most remarkable of that name, oue
and in the whole island. It is about two days journey
from Hecla, near a farm called Haukadul. Here a
poet would have an opportunity of painting whatever
nature has of beautiful and terrible, united in one pic¬
ture, by delineating this surprising phenomenon. Re¬
present to yourself a large field, where you see on one
side, at a great distance, high mountains covered with
ice, whose summits are generally wrapped in clouds, so
that their sharp and unequal points become invisible.
This loss, however, is compensated by a certain wand,
which causes the clouds to sink, and cover the mountain
itself, when its summit appears as it were to rest on the
clouds. On the other side Hecla is seen, with its three
points covered with ice, rising above the clouds, and,
with the smoke which ascends from it, forming other
clouds at some distance from the real ones: and on an¬
other side is a ridge of high rocks, at the foot of which
boiling water from time to time issues forth ; and fur¬
ther on extends a marsh of about three English miles
in circumference, where are 40 or 50 boiling springs,
from which a vapour ascends to a prodigious height.—
In the midst of these is the greatest spring geyser, which
deserves a more exact and particular account. In tra¬
velling to the place, about an English mile and a half
from the hver, from which the ridge of rocks still divi¬
ded us, we heard a loud roaring noise, like the rushing
of a torrent precipitating itself from stupendous rocks.
We asked our guide what it meant ; he answered, it
was geyser roaring ; and we soon saw with our naked
eyes what before seemed almost incredible.
“ The depth of the opening or pipe from which
the water gushes cannot well be determined ; for some¬
times the water sunk down several fathoms, and some
seconds passed before a stone which was thrown into
the aperture reached the surface of the water. The
opening itself was perfectly round, and 19 feet in dia¬
meter,
r.-elaud.
ICE [ 55 ] ICE
meter, and terminated in a bason 59 feet in diameter.
Both the pipe and the bason were covered with a
rough stalactitic rind, which had been formed by the
force of the water: the outermost border of the bason
is nine feet and an inch higher than the pipe itself.
The water here spouted several times a-day, but always
by starts, and after certain intervals. The people who
lived in the neighbourhood told us, that they rose
higher in cold and bad weather than at other times ;
and Egbert Olafsen and several others affirm, that it has
spouted to the height of 60 fathoms. Most probably
they guessed only by the eye, and on that account their
calculation may be a little extravagant j and indeed it
is to be doubted whether the water was ever thrown up
so high, though probably it sometimes mounts higher
than when we observed it. The method we took to
observe the height was as follows. Every one in com¬
pany wrote down, at each time that the water spouted,
how high it appeared to him to he thrown, and we af¬
terwards chose the medium. The first column marks
the spoutings of the water, in the order in which they
followed one another} the second, the time when these
effusions happened } the third, the height to which the
water rose } and the last, how long each spouting of
water continued.
N°
Time.
Height. Duration.
1 At VI 42 m.
2   51
3  VII16
4  31
5  51
6—VIII17
7  29
8  36
30 feet.
6
6
12
60
24
18
12
20 seconds.
20
10
x5
6
3°
40
40
The pipe was now for the first time full of water, which
ran slowly into the bason.
9 IX 25 48 1 10
10 X 16 24 1 00
“ At 35 minutes after twelve we heard, as it were,
three discharges of a gun under ground, which made
it shake: the water flowed over immediately, but in¬
stantly sunk again. At eight minutes after two, the
water flowed over the border of the bason. At 15 mi¬
nutes after three, we. again heard several subterranean
noises, though not so strong as before. At 43 mi¬
nutes after four, the water flowed over very strongly
during the space of a minute. In six minutes after,
we heard many loud subterraneous discharges, not on¬
ly near the spring, but also from the neighbouring
ridge of rocks, where the water spouted. At 51 mi¬
nutes after six', the fountain spouted up to the height
of 92 feet, and continued to do so for four minutes.
After this great effort, it sunk down very low into the
pipe, and was entirely quiet during several minutes }
hut soon began to bubble again : it was not, how¬
ever, thrown up into the air, hut only to the top ot the
pipe.
“ The force of the vapours which throw np these
waters is excessive : it not only prevents the stones
which are thrown into the opening from sinking, hut
even throws them up to a very great height, together
with the water. When the bason was full, we placed
ourselves before the sun in such a manner that we Iceland,
could see our shadows in the water} when every one
observed round the shadow of his own head (though
not round that of the heads of others), a circle of al¬
most the same colours which compose the rainbow, and
round this another bright circle. This most pro¬
bably proceeded from the vapours exhaling from the
water.
“ Not far from this place, another spring at the
foot of the neighbouring ridge of rocks spouted water
to the height of one or two yards each time. The
opening through which this water issued was not so
wide as the other: we imagined it possible to stop up
the hole entirely by throwing large stones into it, and
even flattered ourselves that our attempts had suc¬
ceeded : hut, to our astonishment, the water gushed
forth in a very violent manner. We hastened to the
pipe, and found all the stones thrown aside, and the
water playing freely through its former channel. In
these large springs the waters were hot in the highest
degree, and tasted a little of sulphur} but in other
respects it was pure and clear. In the smaller
springs of the neighbourhood the water w’as tainted :
in some, it was as muddy as that of a clay-pit : irt
others, as white as milk} and in some few, as red as
blood. ,
“Iceland abounds with pillars of basaltes, which Account ef
the lower sort of people imagine have been piled upon the basaltic
each other by the giants, who made use of superna-l^flars> ^cc*
tural force to effect it. They have generally from
three to seven sides } and are from four to six feet in
thickness, and from 12 to 16 yards in length, without
any horizontal divisions. But sometimes they are only
from six inches to one foot in height, and they-are
then very regular, insomuch that they are sometimes
made use of for windows and door-posts. In some
places they only peep out here and there among the
lava, or more frequently among the tufa} in other
places they are quite overthrown, and pieces of broken
pillars only make their appearance. Sometimes they
extend without interruption for two or Ithree miles in
length. In one mountain they have a singular appear¬
ance : on the top the pillars lie horizontally, in the
middle they are sloping } the lowest are perfectly per¬
pendicular} and in some parts they are bent into a
semicircular figure. The matter of the Iceland basaltes
seems to he the same with that of Staffa ; though in
some it is more porous, and inclines to a gray. Some
we observed which were of a blackish gray, and com¬
posed of several joints. Another time we observed a
kind of porous glassy stone, consequently a lava, which
was so indistinctly divided, that we were for some time
at a loss to determine whether it was basaltes or not,
though at last we all agreed that it was.
Iron ore is found in some parts of the island, and
that beautiful copper ore called malachites. Horrebow
speaks of native silver. A stratum of sulphur is found
near Myvatu from nine inches to two feet in thickness}
partly of a brown colour, and partly of a deep orange.
Immediately over the sulphur is a blue earth } above
that a vitriolic and aluminous one } and beneath the
sulphur a reddish bole. 6
At what time the island of Iceland was first peopled History of
is uncertain. An English colony indeed is said ^ the island,
have been settled there in the beginning of the fifth
century j
ICE [ 56 ] ICE
Iceland, century ; but of this there are not sufficient proofs.
—v— -1 There is, however, reason to suppose that the English
and Ii’ish were acquainted with this country under
another name, long before the arrival ol the Norwe¬
gians ; for the celebrated Bede gives a pretty accurate
description of the island. But of the original inhabi¬
tants we cannot pretend to say any thing, as the Ice¬
land chronicles go no farther back than the arrival ot
the Norwegians. What they relate is to the following
purpose.
Naddodr, a famous pirate, was driven on the coast
of Iceland in 861, and named the country Snio-land,
“ Snow-land,” on account of the great quantities of
snow with which he perceived the mountains covered.
He did not remain there long : but on his return ex¬
tolled the country to such a degree, that one Garder
Suafarson, an enterprising Swede, was encouraged by
his account to go in search of it in 864. He sailed
quite round the island, and gave it the name of Gar-
dalsholmur, or Carder’s island. Having remained in
Iceland during the winter, he returned in the spring to
Norway, where he described the new-discovered island
as a pleasant well-wooded country. This excited a
desire in Floke, another Swede, reputed the greatest
navigator of his time, to undertake a voyage thither.
As the compass was then unknown, he took three
ravens on board to employ them on the discovery. By
the way he visited his friends at Ferro ; and having
sailed farther to the northward, he let fly one of his
ravens, which returned to Ferro. Some time after, he
dismissed the second, which returned to the ship again,
as he could find no land. The last trial proved more
successful j the third raven took his flight to Iceland,
where the ship arrived a few days after. Floke staid
here the whole winter with his company; and, be¬
cause he found a greal deal of floating ice on the north
side, he gave the country the name of Iceland, which it
has ever since retained.
When they returned to Norway in the following
spring, Floke, and those that had been with him, made
a very different description of the country. Floke de¬
scribed it as a wretched place ; while one of his com¬
panions named Thorvlfr, praised it so highly, that he
affirmed butter dropped from every plant ; which ex¬
travagant commendation procured him the name of
Thoralfr-smior, or Butter-Thorulfr.
From this time there are no accounts of any voyages
to Iceland, till Ingolfr and his friend Leifr undertook
one in 874. They spent the winter on the .island, and
determined to settle there for the future. Ingolfr
returned to Norway, to provide whatever might be
necessary for the comfortable establishment of a colony,
and Leifr in the mean time went to assist in the war
in England. After an interval of four years, they
again met in Iceland, the one bringing with him a
considerable number of people, with the necessary tools
and instruments lor making the country habitable j and
the other imported bis acquired treasures. After this
period many people went there to settle ; and, in the
space ot 60 years, the whole island was inhabited.
The tyranny of Harold king of Norway contributed
not a little to the population of Iceland ; and so great
was the emigration of his subjects, that be was at last
obliged to issue an order, that no one should sail from
J
Norway to Iceland without paying four ounces of fine Iceland,
silver to the king. < 1 - ■
Besides the Norwegians, new colonies arrived from
diflerent nations, between whom wars soon commen¬
ced j and the Icelandic histories are full of the accounts
of their battles, lo prevent these conflicts lor the future,
a kind of chief was chosen in ^28, upon whom great
powers were conferred. This man was the speaker in
all their public deliberations 5 pronounced sentence in
difficult and intricate cases j decided all disputes; and
published new laws, after they had been received and
approved of by the people at large : but he had no
power to make laws without the approbation and con¬
sent of the rest. He therefore assembled the chiefs
whenever the circumstances seemed to require it; and
alter they had deliberated among themselves, he repre¬
sented the opinion of the majority to the people, whose
assent was necessary before it could be considered as a
law. His authority among the chiefs and leaders,
however, was inconsiderable, as he was chosen by them
and retained his place no longer than while he preser¬
ved their confidence.
This institution did not prove sufficient to restrain
the turbulent spirit of the Icelanders. They openly
waged war with each other ; and, by their intestine
conflicts, so weakened all parties, that the whole be¬
came at last a prey to a few arbitrary and enterprising
men ; who, as is too generally the case, wantonly
abused their power to the oppression of their country¬
men, and the disgrace of humanity. Notwithstanding
these troubles, however, the Icelanders remained free
from a foreign yoke till 1261 ; when the greatest part
of them put themselves under the protection of Hakans
king of Norway, promising to pay him tribute upon
certain conditions agreed on between them ; and the
rest followed their example in 1264. Afterwards,
Iceland, together with Norway, became subject to
Denmark. For a long time the care of the island
was committed to a governor, who commonly went
there once a-year ; though, according to his instruc¬
tions, he ought to have resided in Iceland. As the coun¬
try suffered incredibly through the absence of its go¬
vernors, it was resolved a few years ago that they
should reside there, and have their seat at Bessesstedr,
one of the old royal domains. He has under him a
bailiff, two laymen, a sheriff, and 21 si/sselmen, or ma¬
gistrates who superintend small districts ; and almost
every thing is decided according to the laws of Den¬
mark.
At the first settlement of the Norwegians in Iceland, ;vian Jer,
they lived in the same manner as they had done in their See. ot the
own country, namely, by war and piracy. Their si-Icelanders,
tuation with regard to the kings of Norway, however,
soon obliged them to apply to other states, in order to
learn as much of the knowledge of government and
politics as was necessary to preserve their colony from
subjugation to a foreign yoke. For this purpose they
often sailed to Norway, Denmark, Sweden, England,
and Scotland. The travellers, at their return were
obliged to give an account to their chiefs of the state
of those kingdoms through which they passed. For
this reason, history, and what related to science, was
held in high repute as long as the republican form of
government lasted ; and the great number of histories
to \
ICE- [ 57 ] ICE
Iceland *° l,e met ‘n l*ie country, show at least the desire
'v— '. of the Icelanders to be instructed. To secure them¬
selves, therefore, against their powerful neighbours,
they were obliged to enlarge their historical knowledge.
They likewise took great pains in studying perfectly
their own laws, for the maintenance and protection of
their internal security. Thus Iceland, at a time
when ignorance and obscurity overwhelmed the rest of
Europe, was enabled to produce a considerable number
of poets and historians. When the Christian religion
was introduced, about the end of the loth century,
more were found conversant in the law than could have
been expected, considering the extent ot the country,
and the number of its inhabitants. Fishing was fol¬
lowed among them ; but they devoted their attention
considerably more to agriculture, which has since en¬
tirely ceased. -
Two things have principally contributed towards
producing a great change both in their character and
way of life, viz. the progress of the Christian religion,
and their subjection first to Norway, and afterwards to
Denmark. For if religion, on one side, commanded
them to desist from their ravages and warlike expedi¬
tions ; the secular power, on the other, deprived them
of the necessary forces for the execution of them :
and, since this time, we find no farther traces of their
heroic deeds, except those which are preserved in their
iiistories.
The modern Icelanders apply themselves to fishing
and breeding of cattle. They are middle-sized and
well made, though not very strong ; and the women
are in general ill-featured. Vices are much less com¬
mon among them, than in other parts where luxury
and riches have corrupted the morals of the people.
Though their poverty disables them from imitating
the hospitality of their ancestors in all respects, yet
they continue to show their inclination to it : they
cheerfully give away the little they have to spare, and
express the utmost joy and satisfaction if you are plea¬
sed with their gift. They are uncommonly obliging
and faithful, and extremely attached to government.
They are very zealous in their religion. An Icelander
never passes a river or any other dangerous place, with¬
out previously taking off his hat, and imploring the
divine protection ; and he is always thankful for the
protection of the Deity when he has passed the dan¬
ger in safety. They have an inexpressible attachment
to their native country, and are nowhere so happy.
An Icelander therefore rarely settles in Copenhagen,
thougli ever such advantageous terms should be offered
him. On the other hand, we cannot ascribe any great
industry or ingenuity to these people. They work on
in the way to which they have all along been accus¬
tomed, without thinking of improvements. They are
not cheerful in conversation, but simple and credulous;
and have no aversion against a bottle, if they can find
an opportunity. When they meet together, their
chief pastime consists in reading their history. The
master of the house makes the beginning, and the rest
continue in their turns when he is tired. Some of
them know these stories by heart ; others have them
in print, and others in writing. Besides this, they are
great players at chess and cards, but only for their
amusement, since they never playTor money; which,
however, seems to have been formerly in use among
VOL. XI. Part I. f
them ; since by one of their old laws, a fine is im- Iceland,
posed upon those who play for money. "
The modern Icelanders have made very little alte- . s
ration in their dress trom what was iormerly in use.
The men all wear a linen shirt next to the skin, with
a short jacket, and a pair of wide breeches over it.
When they travel, another short coat is put over all.
The whole is made of coarse black cloth, called wad*
vial; but some wear clothes of a white colour. On
their head they wear large three-cornered hats, and on
the feet Iceland shoes and worsted stockings. Some
of them indeed have shoes from Copenhagen ; but, as
they are rather too dear for them, they generally make
their own shoes, sometimes of the hide of oxen, but
more frequently of sheeps leather. They make them
by cutting a square piece of leather, rather wider than
the length of the foot; this they sew up at the toes
and behind at the heel, and tie it on with leather
thongs. These shoes are convenient enough where the
country is level ; but it would be very difficult for us
who are not accustomed to walk with them amongst
the rocks and stones, though the Icelanders do it with
great ease.
The women are likewise dressed in black wadmal. i
They wear a bodice over their shifts, which are sewed
up at the bosom ; and above this a jacket laced be¬
fore with long narrow sleeves reaching down to the
wrists. In the opening on the side of the sleeve, they
have buttons of chased silver, with a plate fixed to
each button ; on which the lover, when lie buys them
in order to present them to his mistress, takes care to
have his name engraved along with hers. At the top
of the jacket a little black collar is fixed, of about
three inches broad, of velvet or silk, and frequently
trimmed with gold cord. The petticoat is likewise of
wadmal, and reaches down to the ankles. Round the
top of it is a girdle of silver or some other metal, to
which they fasten the apron, which is also of wadmal,
and ornamented at top with buttons of chased silver.
Over all this they wear an upper dress nearly resem¬
bling that of the Swedish peasants ; with this differ¬
ence, that it is wider at bottom : this is close at the
neck and wrists, and a hand’s-breadth shorter than the
petticoat. It is adorned with a facing down to the
bottom, which looks like cut velvet, and is generally
wove by the Icelandic women. On their fingers they
wear gold, silver, or brass sings. 1 heir head-dress
consists of several cloths wrapped round the head al¬
most as high again as the face. It is tied fast with a
handkerchief, and serves more for warmth than orna¬
ment. Girls are not allowed to wear this head-dress
till they are marriageable. At their weddings they
are adorned in a very particular manner ; the bride
wears, close to the face, round her head-dress, a crown
of silver gilt. She has two chains round her neck,
one of which hangs down very low before, and the
other rests on her shoulders. Besides these, she wears
a lesser chain, from whence generally hangs a little-
heart, which may be opened to put some kind of per¬
fume in it. This dress is worn by all the Icelandic
women without exception : only with this difference,
that the poorer sort have it of coarse wadmal; with
ornaments of brass ; and those that are in easier cir¬
cumstances have it of broad cloth, with silver orna¬
ments gilt.
H The
I C/ E [ 58 1 ICE
Iceland. Tiie houses of the Icelanders are very indifferent,
' » - but the worst are said to be on the south side of the
^ ^ 9 island. In some parts they are built of drift-wood, in
others of lava, almost in the same manner as the stone¬
walls we make for inclosures, with moss stuffed be¬
tween the pieces of lava. In some houses the walls are
wainscotted on the inside. The roof is covered with
sods, laid over rafting, or sometimes over the ribs of
whales; the walls are about three yards high, and the
entrance somewhat lower. Instead of glass, the win¬
dows are made of the chorion and amnios of sheep, or
the membranes which surround the womb of the ewe.
These are stretched on a hoop, and laid over a hole in
the root. In the poorer sort of houses they employ for
the windows the inner membrane of the stomach of ani-
IO mals, which is less transparent than the others.
Diet. As the island of Iceland produces no kind of grain,
the inhabitants of consequence have no bread but what
is imported ; and which being too dear for common
use, is reserved for weddings and other entertainments.
The following list of their viands is taken from Troil’s
Letters.
“ 1. Flour afjialgras, {lichen islandicui), or rock-
grass. The plant is first washed, and then cut into
small pieces by some; though the greater number dry
it by fire or in the sun, then put it into a bag in which
it is well beaten, and lastly work it into a flour by
stamping.
“ 2. Flour of komsT/gr, {polygonum bistort o'), is pre¬
pared in the same manner, as well as the two other
sorts of wild corn mclur {ai'undo arenaria, and arundo
fohorum latenbus convnlulis"), by separating it from the
chaff, pounding, and lastly grinding it.
“ 3. Surt smoer, (sour butter). The Icelanders
seldom make use of fresh or salt butter, but let it grow
sour before they eat it. In this manner it may be kept
for 20 years, or even longer ; and the Icelanders look
upon it as more wholesome and palatable than the but¬
ter used among other nations. It is reckoned better
the older it grows; and one pound of it then is valued
as much as two of fresh butter.
“ 3. String, or whey boiled to the consistence of sour
milk, and preserved for the winter.
“ 4. I ish ot all kind-, both dried in the sun and in
the air, and either salted or frozen. Those prepared in
the last manner are preferred by many.
“ 5. The flesh of bears, sheep, and birds, which
is partly salted, partly hung or smoked, and some
preserved in casks with sour or fermented whey poured
over it.
“ 6. Misost, or whey boiled to cheese, which is very
good. But the art of making other kinds of good
cheese is lost, though some tolerably palatable is sold
in the east quarter of Iceland.
“ 7* Beina string, bones and cartilages of beef and
mutton, and likewise bones of cod, boiled in whey till
they are quite dissolved : they are then left to ferment,
and are eaten with milk.
u 8. Skyr. The curds from which the whey is
squeezed are presetved in casks or other vessels; they
are sometimes mixed with black crow-berries or juni¬
per-berries, and are likewise eaten with new milk.
* “ 9. Syra, is sour whey kept in casks, and left to
ferment; which, however, is not reckoned fit for use
till a year old.
“10. Blanda, is a liquor made of water, to which
a twelfth part of syra is added. In winter, it is ■v-~.
mixed with the juice of thyme and of the black crow-
berries.
“ II. They likewise eat many vegetables, some of
which grow wild, and some are cultivated ; also shell¬
fish and mushrooms.”
The Icelanders in general eat three meals a-day, at
seven in the morning, two in the afternoon, and nine
at night. In the morning and evening they common¬
ly eat curds mixed with new milk, and sometimes with
juniper or crow-berries. In some parts, they also have
pottage made of rock-grass, which is very palatable,
or curdled milk boiled till it becomes of a red colour,
or new milk boiled a long time. At dinner, the food
consists of dried fish, with plenty of sour butter; they
also sometimes eat fresh fish, and, when possible, a lit¬
tle bread and cheese with them. It is reported by
some, that they do not eat any fish till it is quite rot¬
ten ; this report perhaps proceeds from their being
fond of it when a little tainted : they however fre¬
quently eat fish which is quite fresh, though, in the same
manner as the rest of their food, often without salt.
The common beverage is milk, either warm from
the cow or cold, and sometimes boiled : they likewise
use butter-milk with or without water. On the coasts
they generally drink blanda and sour milk; which is
sold after it is skimmed at two-fifths of a rixdollar
per cask : some likewise send for beer from Copenha¬
gen, and some brew their own. A few of the princi¬
pal inhabitants also have claret and coffee. The com¬
mon people sometimes drink a kind of tea, which they
make from the leaves of the dryas octopetala, and the
veronica officinalis.
On the coasts the men employ themselves in fish-r-
ing, both summer and winter. On their return home, rae^Hia-
when they have drawn and cleaned their fish, they give nufacunts,
them to their wives, whose care it is to dry them. InS*c»
the winter, when the inclemency of the weather pre¬
vents them from fishing, they are obliged to take care
of the cattle, and spin wool. In summer, they mow
the grass, dig turf, provide fuel, go in search of sheep
and goats that were gone astray, and kill cattle. They
prepare leather with the spircea vlmaria instead of
bark. Some few work in gold and silver ; and others
are instructed in mechanics, in which they are tolerable
proficients. The women prepare the fish, take care
of the cattle, manage the milk and wool, sew, spin,
and gather eggs and down. When they work in
the evening, they use, instead of an hour-glass, a
lamp with a wick made of epilobium dipt in train
oil, which is contrived to burn four, six, or eight
hours.
Among the common people of Iceland, time is not
reckoned by the course of the sun, but by the work
they have done, and which is prescribed by law. Ac¬
cording to this prescription, a man is to mow as much
hay in one day as grows on 30’fatlioms of manured soil,
or 40 fathoms ofland which has not been manured; or
he is to dig 700 pieces of turf eight feet long and three
broad. If as much snow falls as reaches to the horses
bellies, a man is required daily to clear a piece of ground
sufficient for 100 sheep. A woman is to rake together
as much hay as three men can mow, or to weave three
yards of wadmal a-day.
The
ICE t 59 ] ICE
Iceland. The wages of a man are fixed at lour dollars and
v'—"*' 12 yards of wadmal j and those of a woman at two
dollars and five yards of wadmal. When men are sent
a fishing out of the country, there is allowed to each
man, by law, from the 25th of September to the 14th
of May, six pounds of butter, and 18 pounds of dried
fish every week. This may seem to be too great an
allowance j but it must be remembered that they have
nothing else to live upon. When they are at home,
and can get milk, &.c. every man receives only five
pounds of dried fish and three quarters of a pound of
tt butter a week.
Diseases. The food and manner of life of the Icelanders by no
means contribute to their longevity. It is very rare
indeed to see an inhabitant of Iceland exceed the age
of 50 or 60 j and the greater part are attacked by
grievous diseases before middle age. Of these the
scurvy and elephantiasis or leprosy are the worst. They
are also subject to the gout in their hands, owing to
their frequent employment in fishing, and handling
the wet fishing-tackle in cold weather. St Anthony’s
fire, the jaundice, pleurisy, and lowness of spirits, are
frequent complaints in this country. The small pox
also is exceedingly fatal, and not long ago destroyed
16,000 persons. By these diseases, and the frequent
famines with which the country has been afflicted, the
inhabitants are reduced to a much smaller number than
they formerly were, insomuch that it is computed they
13 do not in all exceed 60,000.
Commerce The exports of Iceland consist of dried fish, salt-
and iera- C(j mU([on aru} ]amb, beef, butter, tallow, train oil,
coarse woollen cloth, stockings, gloves, raw wool,
sh eep-skins, lamb-skins, fox-furs of various colours,
eider down, feathers, and formerly sulphur ; but there
is no longer a demand for this mineral. On the other
hand, the Icelanders import timber, fishing-lines and
hooks, tobacco, bread, horse-shoes, brandy, wine, salt,
linen, a little silk, and a few other necessaries, as well
as superfluities for the better sort. The whole trade
of Iceland is engrossed by a monopoly of Danes, in¬
dulged with an exclusive charter. This company
maintains factories at all the harbours of Iceland,
where they exchange their foreign goods for the mer¬
chandise of the country $ and as the balance is in fa¬
vour of the Icelanders, pay the overplus in Danish
money, which is the only current coin in this island.
All their accounts and payments are adjusted accord¬
ing to the number of fish : two pounds of fish are
worth two skillings in specie, and 48 fish amount to
one rixdollar. A Danish crown is computed at 30
fish: what falls under the value of 12 fish cannot be
paid in money j but must be bartered either for fish
or roll-tobacco, an ell of which is equal to one fish.
The weights and measures of the Icelanders are nearly
the same with those used in Denmark. The Icelanders
being neither numerous nor warlike, and altogether
unprovided with arms, ammunition, garrisons, or fleets,
are in no condition to defend themselves from invasion,
but depend entirely on the protection of his Danish ma¬
jesty, to whom they are subject. The revenues which he
draws from this island consist of the income of divers
estates, as royal demesne, amounting to about 8000 dol¬
lars per annum ; of the money paid by the company
for an exclusive trade, to the value of 20,000 dollars j
and of a fixed proportion in the tythes of fish paid in icejan^
some particular districts. ' v——
Iceland is noted for the volcanoes with which it 34
abounds, as already mentioned, and which seem to be jS
more furious than any yet discovered in the other parts
of the globe. Indeed, from the latest accounts, it
would seem that this miserable country were little
other than one continued volcano. Mount Hecla has
been commonly supposed to be the only burning moun¬
tain, or at least the principal one, in the island : (see
Hecla). It has indeed been more taken notice of
than many others of as great extent, partly from its
having had more frequent eruptions than any single
one, and partly from its situation, which exposes it to
the sight of ships sailing to Greenland and North
America. But in a list of eruptions published in the
appendix to Pennant’s Arctic Zoology, it appears, that
out of 51 remarkable ones, only one-third have pro¬
ceeded from Hecla, the other mountains it seems being
no less active in the work of destruction than this
celebrated one. These eruptions take place in the
mountains covered with ice, which the inhabitants
call Jokuls. Some of these, as appears from a large
map of Iceland made by order of his Danish majesty
in 1734* have been swallowed up. Probably the great
lakes met with in this country may have been occa¬
sioned by the sinking of such mountains, as several
instances of a similar nature are to be met with in other
parts of the world. The great Icelandic lake called
My vatu may probably have been one. Its bottom is
entirely formed of lava, divided by deep cracks, which
shelter during winter the great quantity of trout which
inhabit this lake. It is now only 30 feet deep, but
originally was much deeper ; being nearly filled up in
the year 1718 by an eruption of the great mountain
Krajie. The fiery stream took its course towards
Myvatu, and ran into it with an horrid noise, which
continued till the year 1730.
“ The mountains of Iceland (says Mr Pennant) are
of two kinds, primitive and posterior. The former
consist of strata usually regular, but sometimes confu¬
sed. They are formed of different sorts of stone without
the least appearance of fire. Some are composed of
sand and free-stone, petrosilex or chirt, slaty or fissile
stone, and various kinds of earth or bole, and steatites j
different sorts of breccia or conglutinated stones 5 jas¬
pers of difi’erent kinds, Iceland crystal 5 the common
rhomboid spathum, chalcedonies stratified, and botryoid;
zeolites of the most elegant kinds ; crystals, and va¬
rious other substances that have no relation to vol¬
canoes. These primitive mountains are those called
Jokuls, and are higher than the others. One of them,
called JEsian or Bias, is 6000 feet high. It seems to
be composed of great and irregular rocks of a dark,
gray colour, piled on each other. Another, called
Enneberg, is about 3000 feet high ; the Sncefeld Jokul,
2287 yards; the SnceJ'eldnas or promontory of Sncefeld
is from 30c to 403 fathoms. Harnstrand or the coast
by the north Cape Nord is very high, from 300 to 400
fathoms. The rocks of Id tan go are seven in number,
of a pyramidal figure, rising out of the sea at a small
distance from the cliffs, four of which are of a vast
height, and hate a most magnificent appearance.
“ Eastward from the Sncefeld begins the Eisberge,
H 2 soaring
ICE [ 60 ] ICE
Iceland,
15
The coun¬
try almost
desolated
by an erup
lion in
i/sd-
snaring to avast height; many parts of which have
J felt the effects of fire, anti in some of the melted rocks
are large cavities. Budcla-lekkur, a rock at one end of
this mountain, is also volcanic, and has in it a great
cavern hung with staluctitce. The name of Solvahamar
is given to a tremendous range of volcanic rocks, com¬
posed entirely of slags, and covered in the season with
sea-fowl. It would be endless, however, to mention
all the places which hear the marks of fire in various
forms, either by having been vitrified, changed into a
fiery colour, ragged and black, or hear the marks of
having run for miles in a sloping course towards the
sea.”
These volcanoes, though so dreadful in their effects,
'seldom begin to throw out fire without giving warning.
A subterraneous rumbling noise, heard at a consider¬
able distance, as in other volcanoes, precedes the erup¬
tion for several days, with a roaring and cracking in
the place from whence the fire is about to burst forth ;
many fiery meteors are observed, but generally un¬
attended with any violent concussion of the earth,
though sometimes earthquakes, of which several in¬
stances are recorded, have accompanied these dreadful
conflagrations. The drying up of small lakes, streams,
and rivulets, is also considered as a sign of an impend¬
ing eruption; and it is thought to hasten the eruption
when a mountain is so covered with ice, that the holes
are stopped up through which the exhalations former¬
ly found a free passage. The immediate sign is the
bursting of the mass of ice with a dreadful noise ;
flames then issue forth from the earth, and lightning
and fire balls from the smoke ; stones, ashes, &.c. are
thrown out to vast distances. Egbert Olafsen relates,
t,hat, in an eruption of Kaitle giaa in 1755, a stone
weighing 290 pounds was thrown to the distance of 24
English miles. A quantity of white pumice stones is
thrown up by the boiling waters : and it is conjectured
with great probability, that the latter proceeds from
the sea, as a quantity of salt, sufficient to load several
horses, has frequently been found after the mountain
has ceased to burn.
To enumerate the ravages of so many dreadful vol¬
canoes, which from time immemorial have contributed
to render this dreary country still less habitable than it
is from the climate, would greatly exceed our limits.
It will he sufficient to give an account of that which
happened in 1783, and which from its violence seems
to have been unparalleled in history.
Its first signs were observed on the 1st of June by
a trembling of the earth in the western part of the
province of Skapterfm/L It increased gradually to the
1 ith, and became at last so great that the inhabitants
quitted their houses, and lay at night in tents on the
ground. A continual smoke or steam was perceived
rising out of the earth in the northern and unin¬
habited parts of the country. Three fire-spouts, as
they were called, broke out in different places, one
in Ulfarsdal, a little to the east of the river Skapta ; the
other two were a little to the westward of the river
called Ihoerfsfiot. The river Skapta takes its rise in
the north east, and running first westward, it turns to
the south, and falls into the sea in a south-east direction.
Part of its channel is confined for about 24 English
miles in length, and is in some places 200 fathoms
deep, in others 100 or 150, and its breadth in some
places 100, 50, or 40 fathoms. Along the whole of this rceian(j.
part of its course the river is very rapid, though there '——/-—■
are no considerable cataracts or falls. There are seve¬
ral other such confined channels in the country, but this
is the most considerable.
The three fire-spouts, or streams of lava, which hail
broke out, united into one, after having risen a consi¬
derable height into the air, arriving at last at such an
amazing altitude as to be seen at the distance of more
than 200 English miles ; the whole country, for double
that distance, being covered with a smoke or steam not
to be described.
On the 8th of June this fire first became visible.
Vast quantities of sand, ashes, and other volcanic
matters were ejected, and scattered over the count!y
by the wind, which at that time was very high. The
atmosphere was filled with sand, brimstone, and ashes,
in such a manner as to occasion continual darkness ;
and considerable damage was done by the pumice
stones which fell, red hot, in great quantities. Along
with these a tenacious substance like pitch fell in vast
quantity ; sometimes rolled up like halls, at other
times like rings or garlands, which proved no less
destructiv’e to vegetation than the other. This shower
having continued for three days, the fire became very
visible, and at last arrived at the amazing height already
mentioned. Sometimes it appeared in a continued
stream, at others in flashes or flames seen at the dis¬
tance of 30 or 40 Danish miles (180 or 240 of ours),
with a continual noise like thunder, which lasted the
whole summer.
The same day that the fire broke out there fell a
vast quantity of rain, which running in streams on the
hot ground tore it up in large quantities, and brought
it down upon the lower lands. This rain-water was
much impregnated with acid and other salts, so as to be
highly corrosive, and occasion a painful sensation when
it fell on the hands or face. At a greater distance from
the fire the air was excessively eold. Snow lay upon
the ground three feet deep in some places; and in
others there fell great quantities of hail, which did
very much damage to the cattle and every thing with¬
out doors. Thus the grass and every kind of vege¬
tation in those places nearest the fire was destroyed,
being covered with a thick crust of sulphureous and
sooty matter. Such a quantity of vapour was raised
by the contest of the two adverse elements, that the
sun was darkened and appeared like blood, the whole
face of nature seeming to he changed ; and this ob¬
scurity seems to have reached as far as the island of
Britain; for during the whole summer of 1783* 311
obscurity reigned throughout all parts of this island ;
the atmosphere appearing to be covered with a con¬
tinual haze, which prevented the sun from appearing
with his usual splendour.
The dreadful scene above described lasted in Iceland
for several days ; the whole country wfas laid waste,
and the inhabitants fled everywhere to the remotest
parts of their miserable country, to seek for safety from
the fury of this unparalleled tempest.
On the first breaking out of the fire, the river
Skapta was considerably augmented, on the east side of
which one of the fire spouts was situated ; and a simi¬
lar overflow of water was observed at the same time
in the great river Piorsa, which runs Into the sea a
little
I C E \ [ 61 ] ICE
Iceland, little to the eastward of a town called Orrcbakka, and
-—•v-—^ into which another river called Tuna, after having run
through a large tract of barren and uncultivated land,
empties itself. But on the Ilth of June the waters of
the Skapta were lessened, and in less than 24 hours
totally dried up. The day following, a prodigious
stream of liquid and red-hot lava, which the fire-spout
had discharged, ran down the channel of the river.
This burning torrent not only filled up the deep chan¬
nel above mentioned, but, overflowing the banks of
it, spread itself over the whole valley, covering all
the low grounds in its neighbourhood ; and not ha¬
ving any sufficient outlet to empty itself by, it rose to
a vast height, so that the whole adjacent country was
overflowed, insinuating itself between the hills, and
covering some of the lower ones. The hills here are
not continued in a long chain or series, but are sepa¬
rated from one another, and detached, and between
them run little rivulets or brooks ; so that, besides
filling up the whole valley in which the river Skapta
ran, the fiery stream spread itself for a considerable
distance on each side, getting vent between the above-
mentioned hills, and laying all the neighbouring coun¬
try under fire.
The spouts still continuing to supply fresh quanti¬
ties of inflamed matter, the lava took its course up the
channel of the river, overflowing all the grounds above,
as it had done those below the place whence it issued.
The river was dried up before it, until at last it was
stopped by the hill whence the Skapta took its rise.
Finding now no proper outlet, it rose to a prodigious
height, and overflowed the village of Buland, consu¬
ming the houses, church, and every thing that stood
in its way : though the high ground on which this vil¬
lage stood seemed to ensure it from any danger of this
kind.
The fiery lake still increasing, spread itself out in
length and breadth for about 36 English miles ; and
having converted all this tract of land into a sea of fire,
it stretched itself toward the south, and getting out
again by the river Skapta, rushed down its channel
with great impetuosity. It was still confined be¬
tween the narrow banks of that river for about six
miles (English) ; but coming at last into a more open
place, it poured forth in prodigious torrents with
amazing velocity and force } spreading itself now to¬
wards the south, tearing up the earth, and carrying
on its surface flaming woods and whatsoever it met
with. In its coarse it laid waste another large district
of land. The ground where it came was cracked, and
sent forth great quantities of steam long before the fire
reached it ; and every thing near the lake was either
burnt up or reduced to a fluid state. In this situation
matters remained from the 12th of June to the 13th
of August j after which the fiery lake no longer spread
itself, but nevertheless continued to burn ; and when
any part of the surface acquired a crust by cooling, it
was quickly broken by the fire from below; and
tumbling down among the melted substance, was roll¬
ed and tossed about with prodigious noise and crack¬
ling*, and in many parts of its surface, small spouts or
at least ebullitions, were formed, which continued for
some length of time.
In other directions this dreadful inundation proved
no less destructive. Having run through the narrow Iceland.
part of the channel of Skapta as early as the 12th of' 
June, it stretched out itself towards the west and south¬
west, overflowing all the flat country, and its edge
being no less than 70 fathoms high at the time it got
out of the channel of the river. Continuing its de¬
structive course, it overflowed a number of villages,
running in every direction where it could find a vent.
In one place it came to a great cataract of the river
Skapta, about 14 fathoms in height, over which it
was precipitated with tremendous noise, and thrown in
great quantities to a very considerable distance. In an¬
other place it stopped up the channel of a large river,
filled a great valley, and destroyed two villages by
approaching only within 100 fathoms of them. Others
were overflowed by inundations of water proceeding
from the rivers which had been stopped in their cour¬
ses ; until at last all the passages on the south, east, and
west, being stopped, and the spouts still sending up in¬
credible quantities of fresh lava, it burst out to the north
and north-east, spreading over a tract of land 48 miles
long and 36 broad. Here it dried up the rivers Tuna
and Aocasydri; but even this vast effusion being insuffi¬
cient to exhaust the subterraneous resources of liquid
fire, a new branch took its course for about eight miles
down the channel of the river Ilwerjisfliot, when coming
again to an open country, it formed what our author
calls a small lake of fire, about twelve miles in length
and six in breadth. At last, however, this branch also
-stopped on the 16th of August ; the fiery mountains
ceased to pour forth new supplies, and this most a-
stonishing eruption came to a period.
The whole extent of ground covered by this dread¬
ful inundation was computed at no less than 90 miles
long and 42 in breadth ; the depth of the lava being
from 16 to 20 fathoms. Two rivers were dried up, 20
or 21 villages were destroyed, and 224 people lost their
lives. The extent above mentioned, however, is that
only on the south, east and west j for that towards the
north being over uninhabited land, where no body
cared to venture themselves, was not exactly known.
Some hills were covered by this lava: others were
melted down by its heat ; so that the whole had the
appearance of a sea of red hot and melted metal.
After this eruption two new islands were thrown up
from the bottom of the sea. One, about three miles
in circumference, and about a mile in height, made its
appearance in the month of February 1784, where
there was formerly 100 fathoms of water. It was about
100 miles south-west from Iceland, and 48 from a clus¬
ter of small islands called Gierfugal. It continued for
some time to burn with great violence, sending forth
prodigious quantities of pumice-stones, sand, &c. like
other volcanoes. The other lay to the north-west, be¬
tween Iceland and Greenland. It burnt day and night
without intermission for a considerable time ; and was
also very high, and larger than the former. Since that
time, however, one or both of these islands have been
swallowed up.
All the time of this great eruption, and for a con¬
siderable time after, the whole atmosphere was loaded
with smoke, steam, and sulphureous vapours. The
sun was sometimes wholly invisible 5 and when it could
be seen was of a reddish colour. Most of the fishe¬
ries
ICE [ 62 ] ICE
Iceland, ries were destroyed ; the banks where the fish used to
'J’"' resort being so changed, that the fishermen could not
know them again j and the smoke was so thick, that
they could not go far out to sea. The rain water, fall¬
ing through this smoke and steam, was so impregnated
with salt and sulphureous matter, that the hair and
even the skins of the cattle were destroyed j and the
whole grass of the island was covered with soot and
pitchy matter, that what had escaped the destructive
effects of the fire became poisonous j so that the cattle
died for want of food, or perished by eating those un¬
wholesome vegetables. Nor were the inhabitants in a
much better situation $ many of them having lost their
lives by the poisonous qualities of the smoke and steam
with which the whole atmosphere was filled ; particu¬
larly old people, and such as had any complaint in the
breast and lungs.
Before the fire broke out in Iceland, there is said to
have been a very remarkable eruption in the uninha¬
bited parts of Greenland ; and that in the northern
parts of Norway, opposite to Greenland, the fire was
visible for a long time. It was also related, that when
the wind was in the north, a great quantity of ashes,
pumice, and brimstone, fell upon the north and west
coasts of Iceland, which continued for the whole sum¬
mer whenever the wind was in that quarter 5 and the
air was always very much impregnated with a thick
smoke and sulphureous smell.
During the fall of the sharp rain formerly mention¬
ed, there was observed at Trondheim, and other places
in Norway, and likewise at Faw, an uncommon fall of
sharp and salt rain, which totally destroyed the leaves
of the trees, and every vegetable it fell upon, by
scorching them up, and causing them to wither. A
considerable quantity of ashes, sand, and other volca¬
nic matters, fell at Faro, which covered the whole sur¬
face of the ground whenever the wind blew from Ice¬
land, though the distance between the two places is not
less than 480 miles. Ships that were sailing betwixt
Copenhagen and Norway were frequently covered with
ashes and sulphureous matter, which stuck to the masts,
sails, and decks, besmearing them all over with a black
and pitchy substance. In many parts of Holland,
Germany, and other northern countries, a sulphureous
vapour was observed in the air, accompanied with a
thick smoke, and in some places a light gray-coloured
substance fell upon the earth every night j which, by
yielding a bluish flame when thrown into the fire, evi¬
dently showed its sulphureous nature. On those nights
in which this substance fell in any quantity, there was
little or no dew observed. These appearances conti¬
nued, piore or less, all the months of July, August, and
*6 September.
Viiorke- Some curious particulars relative to the ancient state
» h-c- p js]aR(j have lately been published by a Mr
the ancient Vhorkelyn, a native ot the country, i rom his work
state of the it appears that Iceland, for a very considerable space
island. 0f time, viz. from the beginning of the 10th to the
middle of the 13th century, was under a republican
form of government. At first the father, or head of
every family, tvas an absolute sovereign 5 but in the
progress of population and improvement, it became ne¬
cessary to form certain regulations for the settlement of
disputes concerning the frontiers of different estates.
For this purpose the heads of the families concerned as-
3
sembled themselves, and formed the outlines of a re- iee|ani.
public. In the mean time they carried on a prosper- —v—-j
ous trade to different parts ; sending ships even to the
Levant, and to Constantinople, at that time celebra¬
ted as the only seat of literature and humanity in the
world. Deputies were likewise sent from this island
over land to that capital, for the improvement of their
laws and civilization ; and this a whole century before
the first crusade. In these ancient Icelandic laws, there¬
fore, we meet with evident traces of those of the Greeks
and Romans. For example, besides a body of written
laws winch were read every third year to the people,
they had two men chosen annually by the heads of fa¬
milies, with consular power, not only to enforce the
laws then in being, but when these proved deficient, to
#ct as necessity required.
These laws do not appear to have inflicted capital
punishments upon any person. Murderers were banish¬
ed to the ivood; that is, to the interior and uncultiva¬
ted parts of the island : where no person was allowed
to approach them within a certain number of fathoms.
In cases of banishment for lesser crimes, the friends of
the offender were allowed to supply him with necessa¬
ries. The culprit, however, might be killed by any
person who found him without his bounds j and he
might even be hunted and destroyed in his sanctuary,
provided he did not withdraw himself from the island
within a twelvemonth after his sentence, which it was
supposed he might accomplish by means of the annual
arrival and departure of ships. Every man’s person
was free until he had forfeited his rights by some crime
against society j and so great was their respect for in¬
dependence, that great indulgence was allowed for the
power of passion. If any provoking word or behaviour
had been used, no punishment was inflicted on the par¬
ty who resented it, even though he should have killed
his adversary.
By the laws of Iceland, the poor were committed to
the protection of their nearest kindred, who had a right
to their labour as far as they were able to work, and
afterwards to indemnification if the poor person should
acquire any property. Children were obliged to main¬
tain their parents in their old age ; but if the latter had
neglected to give them good education, they were ab¬
solved from this duty.
While the republic of Iceland continued free and
independent, ships were sent from the island to ail parts
of the world. Till very lately, however, not a ship
belonged to it, the little commerce it enj»yed being
monopolized by a Danish company, until in 1786 it
was laid open to all the subjects of Denmark. “ There
is at present (says Mr Pennant *) a revival of the cod* { ,
fishery on the coast of Iceland from our kingdom. A- ta Arctic
bout a dozen of vessels have of late sailed from the isle Zoology,
of Thanet, and a fewr from other parts of Great Bri-P' l9-
tain. They are either sloops or brigs from 50 to 80
tons burden. A lugsail boat, such as is used in the
herring fishery, sailed last season from Yarmouth thus
equipped. The crew consisted of five men from the
town, and five more taken in at the Orkneys. They
had twelve lines of 120 fathoms each, and 2CO or 300
hooks; six heading knives, twelve gutting and twelve
splitting knives. They take in 18 tons of salt at Leith,
at the rate of three tons to every thousand fish ; of
which six or seven thousand is a load for a vessel of
this
I C H [ 63 ] I C H
this kind. They go to sea about the middle of Aprii j
return by the Orkneys to land the men $ and get into
their port in the latter end of August or beginning of
September. Pytheas says, that Iceland lies six days
sailing from Great Britain. A vessel from Yarmouth
was, in the last year, exactly that time in its voyage
from the Orkneys to Iceland. With a fair wind it
might be performed in far less time; but the winds
about the Ferroe isles are generally changeable.
Iceland Agate, a kind of precious stone met with
in the islands of Iceland and Ascension, employed by
the jewellers as an agate, though too soft for the pur¬
pose. It is supposed to be a volcanic product; being
solid, black, and of a glassy texture. When held be¬
tween the eye and the light, it is semitransparent and
greenish like the glass bottles which contain much
iron. In the islands which produce it, such large
pieces are met with, that they cannot be equalled in
any glasshouse.
ICF.NI, the ancient name of the people of Suffolk,
Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, in
England.
1CH dien. See Heraldry, chap. iv. sect. 2.
ICHNEUMON, in Zoology. See Viverra, Mam¬
malia Index.
Ichneumon is also the name of a genus of flies of
the hymenoptera order. See Entomology Index.
ICHNOGRAPHY, in Perspective, the view of any
thing cut off by a plane, parallel to the horizon, just at
the base of it.—The word is derived from the Gn?ek
WS, footstep, and y^xtyu, I write, as being a descrip¬
tion of the footsteps or traces of a work.
Among painters it signifies a description of imasres
or of ancient statues of marble and copper, of busts and
semi-busts, of paintings in fresco, mosaic works, and
ancient pieces of miniature.
ICHNOGRAPHY, in Architecture, is a transverse or
horizontal section of a building, exhibiting the plot of
the whole edifice, and of the several rooms and apart¬
ments in any story ; together with the thickness of
the walls and partitions ; the dimensions of the doors,
windows, and chimneys ; the projectures of the co¬
lumns and piers, with every thing visible in such a
section.
ICHOGLANS, the grand signior’s pages serving
in the seraglio. These are the children of Christian
parents, either taken in war, purchased, or sent in
presents from the viceroys and governors of distant
provinces : they are the most sprightly; beautiful, and
well-made that can be met with ; and are always re¬
viewed and approved of by the grand signior himself,
before they are admitted into the seraglios of Pera,
Constantinople, or Adrianople, being the three col¬
leges where they are educated, or fitted for employ¬
ment, according to the opinion the court entertains of
them.
ICHOR, properly signifies a thin watery humour Ichor,
like serum ; but is sometimes used for a thicker kind lelnhvo-
fiowing from ulcers, called also sanies. co la.
ICHTHYOCOLLA, I singlass, a preparation v ~
from the. fish known by the name of huso. See Acci-
PENSER. The word is Greek, formed of t'/fv;, fish,
and ntiEXx, glue.—-The method of making isinglass was
long a secret in the hands of the Russians; but. hath
lately been discovered, and the following account of
it published by Humphrey Jackson, Esq. in the 63d
volume of the Philosophical Transactions.
“ All authors who have hitherto delivered pro¬
cesses for making ichthyocoila, fish-glue, or isinglass,
have greatly mistaken both its constituent matter and
preparation.
“ To prove this assertion, it may not be improper to
recite what Pomet says upon the subject, as be appears-
to be the principal author whom the jest have copied.
After describing the fish, and referring to a cut en¬
graved from an original in bis custody, he says : ‘ As
to the manner of making the isinglass, the sinewy parts
of the fish are boiled in water till all of them be dis¬
solved that will dissolve ; then the gluey liquor is
strained, and set to cool. Being cold, the fat is care¬
fully taken off, and the liquor itself boiled to a just
consistency, then cut to pieces and made into a twist,
bent in form of a crescent, as commonly sold ; then
hung upon a string, and carefully dried.’
“ From this account, it might be rationally con¬
cluded, that every species of fish which contained gela¬
tinous principles would yield isinglass: and this parity
of reasoning seems to have given rise to the hasty con¬
clusions of those who strenuously vouch for the extrac¬
tion of isinglass from sturgeon; but as that fish is easily
procurable, the negligence of ascertaining the fact by
experiment seems inexcusable.
“ In my first attempt to discover the constituent
parts and manufacture of isinglass, relying too much
upon the authority of some chemical authors whose ve¬
racity I had experienced in many other instances, I
found myself constantly disappointed. Glue, not isin¬
glass, was the result of every process; and although, in
the same view, a journey to Russia proved fruitless, yet
a steady perseverance in the research proved not only
successful as to this object, but in the pursuit to disco¬
ver a resinous matter plentifully procurable in the Bri¬
tish fisheries, which has been found by ample experi¬
ence to answer similar purposes. It is now no longer
a secret that our (a) lakes and rivers in North Ame¬
rica are stocked with immense quantities of fish, said
to be the same species with those in Muscovy, and
yielding the finest isinglass; the fisheries whereof, un¬
der due encouragement, would doubtless supply all Eu¬
rope with this valuable article.
“ No artificial heat is necessary to the production of
isinglass, neither is the matter dissolved for this purpose;
for,
j
(a) As the lakes of North America lie nearly in the same latitude with the Caspian sea, particularly Lake
Superior, which is said to be of greater extent, it was conjectured they might abound with the same sorts of
fisji; and in consequence of public advertisements distributed in various parts of North America, ofl'ering pre¬
miums lor the sounds ol sturgeon and other fish, for the purpose of making isinglass, several specimens of fine
isinglass, the produce of fish taken in these parts, have been lately sent to England, with proper attestatiens as
to the unlimited quantity which may be procured.
I C H [64
Iclithyo- ftn’, as the continuity of its fibres would be destroyed by
col a. solution, the mass would become brittle in drying, and
““"‘"'v—""'1 snap short asunder", which is always the case with glue,
but never with isinglass. The latter, indeed, may be re¬
solved into glue with boiling water; but its fibrous re¬
composition would be found impracticable afterwards, and
a fibrous texture is one of the most distinguishing cha¬
racteristic of genuine isinglass.
“ A due consideration that an imperfect solution of
isinglass, calledjft/KVzg by the brewers, possessed a pecu¬
liar property of clarifying malt liquors, induced me to
attempt its analysis in cold subacid menstruums. One
ounce and a half of good isinglass, steeped a few days
in a gallon of stale beer, was converted into good fining,
of a remarkable thick consistence : the same quantity of
glue, under similar treatment, yielded only a mucilagi¬
nous liquor, resembling diluted gum-water, which, in¬
stead of clarifying beer, increased both its tenacity and
turbidness, and communicated other properties in no re¬
spect corresponding with those of genuine fining. On
commixing three spoonfuls of the solution of isinglass
with a gallon of malt liquor, in a tall cylindrical glass,
a vast number of curdly massesbecame presently formed,
by the reciprocal attraction of the particles of isinglass
and the feculencies of the beer, which increasing in
magnitude and specific gravity, arranged themselves ac¬
cordingly and fell in a combined state to the bottom,
through the well-known laws of gravitation ; for, in this
case, there is no elective attraction, as some have imagi¬
ned, which bears the least affinity with what frequently
occurs in chemical decompositions.
“If what is commercially termed long or sJiorl stapled
isinglass be steeped a few hours in fair cold water, the
untw'isted membranes will expand, and reassume their
original beautiful (b) hue, and, by a dexterous address,
piay be perfectly unfolded. By this simple operation,
we find that isinglass is nothing more than certain mem¬
branous parts of fishes, divested of their native mucosity,
rolled and twisted into the forms above mentioned, and
dried in open air.
“ The sounds, or air-bladders, of fresh-water fish in
general, are preferred for this purpose, as being the most
transparent, flexible, delicate substances. These consti¬
tute the finest sorts of isinglass ; those called book and
, ordinary staple are made of the intest ines, and probably
of the peritonaeum of the fish. The belluga yields the
greatest quantity, as being the largest and most plenti¬
ful fish in the Muscovy rivers ; but the sounds of all
fresh-water fish yield, more or less, fine isinglass, par¬
ticularly the smaller sorts, found in prodigious quan¬
tities in the Caspian sea, and several hundred miles be¬
yond Astracan, in the Wolga, Yaik, Don, and even as
far as Siberia, where it is called kle or kla by the natives,
which implies a glutinous matter; it is the basis of the
Russian glue, which is preferred to all other kinds for
its strength.
“ The sounds, which yield the finer isinglass, consist
of parallel fibres, and are easily rent longitudinally ;
but the ordinary sorts are found composed of double
membranes, whose fibres cross each other obliquely, re-
] I C H
sembling the coats of a bladder: hence the former are jcj)t^y0
more readily pervaded and divided with subacid li- colla.
quors ; but the latter, through a peculiar kind of inter- ^
woven texture, are with great difficulty torn asunder,
and long resist the power of the same menstruum ; yet
when duly resolved, are found to act with equal energy
in clarifying liquors.
“ Isinglass receives its different shapes in the follow¬
ing manner.
“ The parts of which it is composed, particularly
the sound, are taken from the fish while sweet and
fresh, slit open, washed from their slimy sorofes,'divest¬
ed of every thin membrane which envelopes the sound,
and then exposed to stiffen a little in the air. In this
state, they are formed into rolls about the thickness of
a finger, and in length according to the intended size
of the staple : a thin membrane is generally selected
for the centre of the roll, round which the rest are
folded alternately, and about half an inch of each ex¬
tremity of the roll is turned inwards. The due di¬
mensions being thus obtained, the two ends of what
is called short staple are pinned together with a small
wooden peg; the middle of the roll is then pressed a
little downwards, which gives it the resemblance of a
heart-shape ; and thus it is laid on hoards, or hung up
•in the air to dry. The sounds, which compose the
long-staple, are longer than the former; but the ope¬
rator lengthens this sort at pleasure, by interfolding
the ends of one or more pieces of the sound with each
other. The extremities are fastened with a peg, like
the former: but the middle part of the roll is bent
more considerably downwards, and, in order to pre¬
serve the shape of the three obtuse angles thus formed,
a piece of round stick, about a quarter of an inch dia¬
meter, is fastened in each angle with small wooden
pegs, in the same manner as the ends. In this state,
it is permitted to d^y long enough to retain its form,
when the pegs and sticks are taken out, and the
drying completed ; lastly, the pieces of isinglass are
colligated in rows, by running pack-thread through
the peg-holes, for convenience of package and exporta¬
tion.
“ The membranes of the book sort, being thick
and refractory, will not admit a similar formation with
the preceding; the pieces, therefore, after their sides
are folded inwardly, are bent in the centre, in such
manner that the opposite sides resemble the cover of a
hook, from whence its name ; a peg being run across
the middle, fastens the sides together, and thus it is
dried like the former. This sort is interleaved, and
the pegs run across the ends, the better to prevent its
unfolding.
“ That called cake-isinglass is formed of the hits
and fragments of the staple sorts, put into a flat me¬
talline pan, with a very little water, and heated just
enough to make the parts cohere like a pancake when
it is dried ; but frequently it is overheated, and such
pieces, as before observed, are useless in the business of
fining. Experience has taught the consumers to reject
them.,
“ Isinglass
(b) If the transparent isinglass be held in certain positions to the light, it frequently exhibits beautiful prisma¬
tic colours. 5
I C H [ 65 ] I C H
Ichthyo* “ Isinglass is best made in the summer, as frost
coll a. gives it a disagreeable colour, deprives it of weight,
and impairs its gelatinous principles ; its fashionable
forms are unnecessary, and frequently injurious to its
native qualities. It is common to find oily putrid
matter, and exuvice of insects, between the implicated
membranes, which, through the inattention of the
cellerman, often contaminate wines and malt liquors in
the act of clarification. These peculiar shapes might
probably be introduced originally with a view to con¬
ceal and disguise the real substance of isinglass, and
preserve the monopoly 5 but, as the mask is now taken
off, it cannot be doubted to answer every purpose more
effectually in its native state, without any subsequent
manufacture whatever, especially to the principal con¬
sumers, who hence will be enabled to procure sufficient
supply from the British colonies. Until this laudable
end can be fully accomplished, and as a species of isin¬
glass, more easily produceable from the marine fisheries,
may probably be more immediately encouraged, it may
be manufactured as follows :
“ The sounds of cod and ling bear great analogy
with those of the accipenser genus of Linn?eus and Ar-
tedi $ and are in general so well known as to require
no particular description. The Newfoundland and
Iceland fishermen split open the fish as soon as taken,
and throw the back-bones with the sounds annexed in
a heap 5 but previous to incipient putrefaction, the
sounds are cut out, washed from their slimes, and salt¬
ed for use. In cutting out the sounds, the intercostal
parts are left behind, which are much the best j the
Iceland fishermen are so sensible of this, that they beat
the bone upon a block with a thick stick, till the
pockets, as they term them, come out easily, and thus
preserve the sound entire. If the sounds have been
cured with salt, that must be dissolved by steeping
them in water before they are prepared for isinglass 5
the fresh sound must then be laid upon a block of
wood, whose surface is a little elliptical, to the end of
which a small hair brush is nailed, and with a saw-knife
the membranes on each side of the sound must be scra¬
ped off. The knife is rubbed upon the brush occa¬
sionally, to clear its teeth $ the pockets are cut open
with scissars, and perfectly cleansed of the mucous mat¬
ter with a coarse cloth j the sounds are afterwards
washed a few minutes in lime-water in ordes to absorb
their oily principle, and lastly in clear water. They
are then laid upon nets to dry in the air $ but if in¬
tended to resemble the foreign isinglass, the sounds of
cod wjll only admit of that called book, but those of
ling both shapes. The thicker the sounds are, the bet¬
ter the isinglass, colour excepted ; but this is immate¬
rial to the brewer, who is its chief consumer.
“ This isinglass resolves into fining, like the other
sorts, in subacid liquors, as stale beer, cyder, old hock,
&c. and in equal quantities produces similar effects Ichthyo-
upon turbid liquors, except that it falls speedier and colla.
closer to the bottom of the vessel, as may be demon- v 111
strated in tall cylindrical glasses \ but foreign isinglass
retains the consistency of fining preferably in warm
weather, owing to the greater tenacity of its native
mucilage.
“ Vegetable acids are, in every respect, best adapted
to fining : the mineral acids are too corrosive, and even
insalubrious, in common beverage.
“ It is remarkable, that during the conversion of
isinglass into fining, the acidity of the menstruum seems
greatly diminished, at least to taste, not on account of
any alkaline property in the isinglass,, probably, but
by its enveloping the acid particles. It is likewise re¬
duced into jelly with alkaline liquors, which indeed
are solvents of all animal matters ; even cold lime-wa¬
ter dissolves it into a pulpous magma. Notwithstanding
this is inadmissible as fining, on account of the men¬
struum, it produces admirable effects in other respects :
for, on commixture with compositions of plaster, lime,
&c. for ornamenting walls exposed to vicissitudes of
weather, it adds firmness and permanency to the ce¬
ment 5 and if common brick-mortar be worked up
with this jelly, it soon becomes almost as hard as the
brick itself; but for this purpose, it is more commodi-
ously prepared, by dissolving it in cold water, acidu¬
lated with vitriolic acid 5 in which case, the acid quits
the jelly, and forms with the lime a selenitic mass,
while, at the same time, the jelly being deprived in
some measure of its moisture, through the formation
of an indissoluble concrete amongst its parts, soon dries,
and hardens into a firm body } whence its superior
strength and durability are easily comprehended.
“ It has long been a prevalent opinion, that stur¬
geon, on account of its cartilaginous nature, would
yield great quantities of isinglass; but, on examina¬
tion, no part of this fish, except the inner coat of the
sound, promised the least success. This being full of
rngce, adheres so firmly to the external membrane,
which is useless, that the labour of separating them
supersedes the advantage. The intestines, however,
which in the larger fish extend several yards in length,
being cleansed from their mucus, and dried, were
found surprisingly strong and elastic, resembling cords
made with the intestines of other animals, commonly
called cat-gut, and, from some trials, promised supe¬
rior advantages when applied to mechanic opera¬
tions.”
Isinglass is sometimes used in medicine j and may be
given in a thin acrimonious state of the juices, after
the same manner as the vegetable gums and mucilages,
regard being had to their different disposition to putres¬
cence.
I
Vol. XL Part I.
f
ICHTHYOLOGY.
[ 66 ]
ICHTHYOLOGY.
CHAP. I. HISTORY OF ICHTHYOLOGY.
Deftnition. JCHTHYOLOGY (from the Greek “ a fish,”
X am] “ discourse,”) is that part of zoology
which treats of fishes.
Fishes are such animals as have a heart with one au¬
ricle and one ventricle, with cold red blood, which in¬
habit water, and breathe by means of gills. Most of
the species are likewise distinguished by fins and
scales.
Difficulty The very element in which fishes live prevents us
of studying from following their motions with exactness, from stu-
fishes. dying their instincts, and from noting with fidelity their
specific differences. Their colours often vary, accord¬
ing to the accidental circumstances of age, sex, climate,
season, breeding, &c. and often vanish in the open air,
or with the principle of life. On the same shores un¬
known kinds seldom occur j and when they do, they
may pass unnoticed by the illiterate fisherman. Hence,
the natural history of the finny tribe has, in all ages,
been involved in greater obscurity than that of land
animals, which are more readily subjected to the inves¬
tigation of the learned and the curious. Hence, Ari-
Anciefu stotle, P/iny, and AElian, in treating of fishes, have
writers on mingled much fable with some truths, and have even
iishes. confounded classes which nature has distinctly separa¬
ted. Such, too, is the ambiguity which now attaches to
their vague and unscientific nomenclature, and such,
we may add, is the indispensable limitation of our plan,
that we shall forbear enlarging on the ichthyological
portions of their writings. The classical and inquisitive
reader may, however, derive entertainment and some
instruction from a careful perusal of their text, and of
some of the most ingenious and judicious annotations of
more recent scholars and naturalists. To the names
just mentioned, we may add that of At/ienceus, who, in
the seventh book of his Deipnosop/iistce, discourses of
fishes. Qi’zV/celebrates them in liis ffa/ieuticon ; and
bis example has been followed, not without success, by
Oppuin, a Greek poet, who flourished in the second
century, under the reign of Caracalla, Ausoniutt, a
native of Bourdeaux, who died towards the conclusion
of the fourth century, in his admired poem on the Mo¬
selle, has not forgotten to sing of its inhabitants.
Modern. In the more downward periods of the dark and mid¬
dle ages, no writer of eminence appears in this depart¬
ment of natural history. Indeed, the first who laid the
foundation of ichthyological arrangement was Pierre
JBelon, a French physician, born in 1518, and advan¬
tageously known by his travels in Judaea, Greece, and
Arabia, as well as by his writings in natural history.
Some of his divisions of fishes, as the eleventh, which
comprises the flat species that are not cartilaginous j the
twelfth, those that are both flat and cartilaginous ; the
thirteenth, which includes the squall, &c. are deduced
from natural resemblances j but others are more fanci¬
ful ; and the wooden cuts are deficient in accuracy and
Scion. neatness. Belon was an industrious, and rather an
2
acute observer, who wrote with pleasing naivete, and Histery,
who should rank high in the estimation of the learned 1 y J
world, when we reflect on the few resources of which
he could avail himself. His history of fishes appeared
in 1551. That of his countryman, Rondelet, was pub¬
lished three years afterwards, and exhibited more accu¬
rate descriptions and figures, with many excellent re¬
marks, the result of his own observation. In point of
arrangement, however, Rondelet’s work is extremely Ron{ieicy
imperfect, and even puerile. He tells us, for example,
that, after very mature deliberation, he resolved to be¬
gin with the gilt-head, because it was best known to the
ancients and moderns, and highly pri%ed for its delicacy.
He had, however, the merit of exciting a general taste
for the study of ichthyology $ and Salviani, Bossveti,
Conrad Gesner, Pison, &c. who followed him in rapid
succession, contributed their share to the stock of scien¬
tific tacts, though they made few advances to the con¬
struction of a natural order. (
In 1605, Aldrovandus, who published a large com-Aldrovan-
pilation on natural history, distributed the fishes accord-dus.
ing to the nature of their residence j thus, his first book
treats of those that frequent rocks j the second is de¬
voted to the littoral ; the third to the pelagian, &c.
Several authors, whom we cannot stay to name, dis¬
played their talents, with more or less felicity, on the
same subject. But their labours were eclipsed by those
of Willoughby, whose work, entitled De Historia Pis-
cium, was printed at Oxford in 1686, and unfolded by. &
many new and accurate notions relative to the anatomy
and physiology of fishes. His arrangement may be con¬
sidered as an improved modification of that of Belon.
The celebrated Pay published, in 1707, his Synopsis
Msthodica Piscium, which may he regarded as an abrid¬
ged and corrected view of Willoughby’s larger work,
and as indicating, if not fixing, a series of genera. This
valuable descriptive catalogue continued to be appealed
to as a standard, till the combined genius of Artedi
and Linnaeus effected an important reform in the sci¬
ence of ichthyology.
Artedi, the countryman and friend of the great
Swedish naturalist, had adopted his principles, and was
engaged in applying them to the systematic illustration
of fishes, when death prematurely ai'rested the prosecu¬
tion of his design. His illustrious friend put the finish¬
ing hand to his papers, and published them in the form
of two octavo volumes, under the title of Bibliotheca
Ichthyologic a, and Philosophia Ichthyologic a, which
Walbaum re-edited, in four volumes, in 1792. Thus,
then, to Artedi we may ascribe the merit of having first n)et}103
traced the outlines of that classification of fishes which 0|-arian„e„
has now become so popular in Europe 5 for he first in- ment,
stituted orders and genera, and defined the characters
on which these divisions are founded. Independently of
the cetaceous tribes, which are now generally classed
with the mammalia, and of which we have treated iu
the
Chap. I.
History.
at first To!
lowed by
J.innaiiis
Method of
Klein
the article Cetolqgy,
great divisions or orders, namely, the Maiacopterygiun,
Acanthoplerygian, Branchiostegous, and Chondroptery-
vian. The first denoted those species which have soft
fins, or fins with bony rays but without spines, and in¬
cluded twenty-one genera ; the second, those with spiny
fins, containing sixteen genera 5 the third, correspond¬
ing to the amphibia nantes of Linnceus which want the
operculum or branchiostegous membrane ; and the
fourth, the Linnaean amphibia nantes which have not
true bones, but only cartilages, and the rays of whose
fins hardly differ from a membrane. In bis first edi¬
tion of the System of Nature, Linnaeus wholly adopted
the Artedian method. With regard to the changes
which he afterwards introduced, it would be unneces¬
sary to state them in this rapid historical sketch, espe¬
cially as we purpose to follow his divisions in our syste¬
matic exposition.
Those ichthyologists who have proposed methods in
opposition to that of Linnaeus, have usually fallen shoit
of the latter in point of simplicity. Thus Klein, who
vainly attempted to rival the professor of Upsala, distri¬
buted fishes into three sections, according as they had
lungs, and visible or invisible gills; but his subdivisions
were so numerous and complex, that his scheme has ne¬
ver been adopted. That of Gronovius was, at least
for a few years, much more favourably received. It is
principally founded on the presence or absence, and the
number or the nature, of the fins, file first class in¬
cludes all the cetaceous animals, and the second all the
fishes. The chnndropterygian, and the osseous or bony,
form two great divisions; and the osseous are subdivid¬
ed into branchiostegous and branchial. These last are
grouped according to the Linnsean rules; but, in the
formation of the genera, the number of dorsal fins is
admitted as a character, which Linnaeus has, perhaps
injudiciously, overlooked, and which gives rise to several
genera which are not to be found in the System of Na¬
ture. Brunnich laboured, with much pains and consi¬
derable ingenuity, to combine the Lmncean and Arte¬
dian divisions ; but his system remained without encou-
sad others, ragement or support.——(ScopoA boldly struck out a new
path, and assumed the position of the anus as the basis
of his three primary divisions. His secondary charac¬
ters sometimes coincide with those of Lronovius, and
sometimes with those of Linnreus; while his third series
of distinctions is sometimes drawn from the form of the
body, and sometimes from the teeth. Gouan, the ce¬
lebrated professor of botany at Montpelier, preserved
the Lihnaean genera, but formed his greater divisions
from the union of those of Linnceus and Artedi. His
two principal sections are, of fishes with complete, and
of those with incomplete, gills ; and the first is divided
into two others, viz. acanthopterygian, and malacoptery-
gian, in each of which are ranged the apodal, jugular,
thoracic, and abdominal species. The same process is
followed in the second section, which includes the
branchiostegous and the chondropterygian.
All the authors who have just passed under our re¬
view, with the exception of Belon, Rondelet, and Gro¬
novius, published their works without any regular series
of plates illustrative of their descriptions. Among those
who embellished their volumes with valuable figures,
we have to mention Seba, in his large collection of
I C II T H Y O L O G Y.
iis method consisted of four subjects belonging to natural history,
Catesly, in his
Natural History of Carolina,*—Broussonet, in his Ich- u
thyologia,—and Bloch, in his Natural History of Fishes,
first published at Berlin in German, and in French in
1785, and recently republished in a small form, by De-
terville, at Paris, forming part of the extensive work
entitled Trlistoire Naturellc de Bvjffbn, &c. Bloch’s ori¬
ginal work includes about 600 species of fishes, which
are generally described with great accuracy, figured, as
nearly as circumstances will admit, of the natural size,
and beautifully coloured. The author enters with some
minuteness into the history of those which afford food
for man, or which suggest facts worthy of remark. He
has followed the Linnaean method, and made consider¬
able additions to the number of genera.
La Cepede, the friend and continuator of Buffon, has Of La Ce.
likewise executed an elaborate and extensive undertak-
ing on the natural history of fishes. He divides this
class of animals into two secondary classes, viz. the car¬
tilaginous and the osseous. Each of these subordinate
classes consists of four divisions, taken from the combi¬
nations of the presence or absence of the operculum,
and of the branchial membrane ; thus, the first division
of the cartilaginous includes those fishes which have nei¬
ther operculum nor branchial membrane ; the second,
those which have no operculum, but a membrane ; the
third, those which have an operculum, but no mem¬
brane ; and the fourth, those which have both. The
same characters, stated in the inverse order, determine
the divisions of the osseous species. Each of these divi¬
sions is again distributed into the Linnaean orders, and
these, in turn, into the Linnaean genera. The con¬
tents of the latter, however, do not always correspond
with the enumerations in the System of Nature ; for
the French zoologist has withdrawn many species from
their former categories, and ranged them under new
genera. His innovations in this respect are, perhaps,
not always improvements ; and some of his generic ap¬
pellations, as gobie, gobiosore, gobioide, gobiomere, and
gobiomordide, pomacanthe, pomacentce, pomadasys, and
pomatome, &c. are too nearly allied in sound and ortho¬
graphy, to be readily discriminated by the memory.
We have, moreover, to regret that the plates are not
coloured, and that they are executed on too small a
scale. Yet, after every deduction which even rigid
criticism may require from the merits of this publica¬
tion, enough will remain to attest the industry and the
talents of its author, and to justify the high rank
which he has obtained among the writers on ichthyo-
logy.
Before closing even these very condensed notices, it Of Pen-
would be unpardonable to omit reminding our readers, nanL
that the British fishes have found an able and entertain¬
ing expositor in Mr Pennant, to whom the natural his¬
tory of this country is under many obligations. In the
third volume of his British Zoology, this author de¬
scribes the fishes under the thcee great divisions of ceta¬
ceous, cartilaginous, and bony. The latter, which is
by far the most numerous, he subdivides into four sec¬
tions, entitled, agreeably to the Linneean orders, apo¬
dal, thoracic, jugular, and abdominal.
Besides the sources of information to which we have
referred, the curious inquirer into the history of fishes
may occasionally resort to Duhamel’s General Treatise
la on
68
Anatomy on the Fisheries, Fabricius’s Fauna Grccnlandica, I la-
oF Fishes. men on the different kinds of fresh-water fishes, Fors-
—  1 kaPs Fauna Aralnca, Johnston’s Historia Naturalis de
Piscibus et Celts, Kolreuter’s papers in different vo¬
lumes. of the Petersburg Transactions, the fourth vo-
Chap. II.
lume of Marsigli’s F)anuhius Pannonico Mysius, &c. Anatomy
Monro’s Anatomy of Fishes, Pallas’s Spicilegia Zoolo- of Fishes
gtca, &c. Vicq d’Azyr’s Memoirs on the Anatomy •rmm J
of Fishes, and the two volumes of the Enci/clopedie Me-
thodique which are devoted to the article Poissons.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
CHAP. II. ANATOMY OF FISHES.
Form of THE shape of the body of fishes is subject to consi-
the body, derable varieties. It is said to be compressed, when the
diameter, from side to side, is less than from back to
belly ; and depressed, on the contrary, when the diame¬
ter, from side to side, is greater than from back to bel¬
ly. It is cylindrical, when it is circular in the greater
part of its length ; ensiform, or sword-shaped, when the
back and belly terminate in a sharp edge, or when the
body gradually tapers from the head to the tail’; cul¬
trated, or knife-shaped, when the back is somewhat
flat, and the angle below acute ; carinated, or keel¬
shaped, when the back is rounded, and the under part
of the belly acute, through its length ; oblong, when
the longitudinal diameter is much longer than the
transverse j oval, when the longitudinal diameter not
only exceeds the transverse, but the base is circular,
and the apex more acute •, orbicular, when the longitu¬
dinal and transverse diameters are nearly equal j lamel-
lated, or spear-shaped, when oblong, and attenuated at
both extremities •, cuneiform, or wedge-shaped, when
the body gradually flattens towards the tail j conical,
when it is cylindrical, and grows gradually more slen¬
der towards the tail j ventricose, when the belly is very
prominent-, gibbous, when the back presents one or
more protuberances j annulated, ivhen the body is sur¬
rounded by rings, or elevated lines ; articulated, when
it is covered with connected and bony plates ; trigon,
tetragon, pentagon, and hexagon, when the sides are
plain, with three, four, or six longitudinal angles $ if
the number of these angles exceed six, it is termed a
polygon.
The surface of the body of fishes is termed naked,
when it is destitute of scalesscaly, when provided
with them j smooth, when the scales are without angles,
furrows, roughness, or inequalities \ lubricous, or slip¬
pery, when invested with a mucus or slimy humour j
tuberculated, or rough, when covered with prominent
warts or tubercles $ papillous, when covered with fleshy
points ; spinous, when the asperities are elongated, and
pointed at their extremities loricated, or mailed,
when the body is inclosed in a hard, callous, or bony
integument, or in scales so closely united as to seem
but onefasciated, or banded, when marked with
transverse zones from the back to the belly j striped,
when marked with very narrow, scattered, and colour¬
ed streaks ; vitiated, when marked with longitudinal
zones along the sides, from the head to the tail ; reti¬
culated, or chequered, when marked with lines form¬
ing the appearance of net-work ; pointed, or dotted,
when marked with points, either longitudinally dispo¬
sed, or without order j and variegated, when of differ¬
ent colours.
The parts of the body are either external, or inter¬
nal: the former include the head, trunk, andfins\i the
latter, the skeleton, muscles, and viscera.
I. The HEAD is always placed at the anterior part The head,
of the body, and reaches from the extremity of the^-®-
nose to the gills.
Several of the technical terms already defined, are
applied to the head as well as to the whole body j but
others, which are more appropriate, require to be ex¬
plained. Obtuse or truncated, denotes that the head is
blunt, or terminated by a transverse line ; acute, that
it terminates in an acute angle ; slanting, that it pre¬
sents an inclined plane, from the top of the anterior
part to the extremity of the nose j aculeated, or prickly,
that it is armed with sharp points or spines j unarmed,
that it is without spines or tubercles $ beardless, that it
is without cirrhi, &c.
The head contains the mouth, nose, jaws, lips, teeth,
tongue, palate, nostrils, eyes, branchial opercules, the
branchiostegous membrane, the aperture of the gills,
and the nape.
The mouth is that cavity, which is terminated in
front by its own orifice ; on the sides, by the branchial
opercula ; and behind, by the throat. It is superior,
when placed at the upper part of the head ; inferior,
when at the lower part $ vertical, when it descends
perpendicularly from the upper part j transverse or ho¬
rizontal, when it is parallel to the surface of the water
when the fish swims j oblique, when it is neither verti¬
cal nor horizontal j tubular, or fstular, when the ori¬
fice is narrow, round, and deep j simous, or flat-nosed,
when the orifice is not prominent or deep.
The fiose, or snout, is the fore part of the head, ex¬
tending from the eyes to the extremity of the jaws. Ik
is cuspidated when its apex terminates in a sharp point
or bristle j spatula-shaped, when its extremity is flatten¬
ed and extended j bifid, forked, or lobed, when its ex¬
tremity is divided into two lobes ; triquetrous and te-
traquetrous, when it has three or four flat sides $ and
reflex, when it is incurved towards the belly.
The jaws are always two in number, and differ in
different species chiefly in respect of figure and propor¬
tion. They are subulate, or awl-shaped, when they are
rounded at the base, and are gradually attenuated to¬
wards the apex; carinated, or keel-shaped, when the
low'er jaw is longitudinally ridged, either without or
within j equal, when both are of the same length 5 un¬
equal, when one projects beyond the other 5 naked,
when not covered with lips ; labiate, when covered
with one or tw'O lips 5 edentulated, when destitute of
teeth ; dentated, or toothed, when furnished with teeth
of unequal size ; dentato-crenated, when the bones are
formed into the appearance of teeth ; cirrated, or cir-
rose, when furnished with cirrhi, or bristly membrana¬
ceous appendages, which hang from one or both jaws j
vaginated, or sheathed, whea the margin of one covers
that of the other arched, or covered, when furnished
with a membranaceous veil, attached before, and loose
behind,
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Chap. II.
Anatomy behind, within which, and the upper or under part of
of Fishes, the mouth, the fish lays its tongue, or discharges water
' v 1 from its mouth j and moveable, when they can be thrust
out or drawn in.
The lips are obvious only in a few fishes, and are ei¬
ther of a fleshy or bony consistence. They are also dis¬
tinguished into plicated, or consisting of folds, and re¬
tractile, or capable of being drawn out or in, at the
pleasure of the animal.
The teeth are acute, when their extremity terminates
in a point *, obtuse, when it is rounded j granular, when
the teeth are of the size and shape of small grains ;
plane, when flat on the sides j semi-sagittate, when hook¬
ed on one side only; serrated, when toothed like a saw
on the margin j emarginate, when the extremity is
somewhat cleft recurved, when inclined towards the
gullet} parallel, when of the same direction, length,
and figure diverging, when the apices stand wide, or
distant from each other j similar, when they are all of
the same size and figure*, dissimilar, when some are
acute, and others obtuse ; ordinate, when disposed in
one or more rows ; confused, when crowded, and not
disposed in any regular order.
The longue is teruted acute or obtuse, according as
its extremity terminates in a point, or is rounded ; it is
emarginate, or bifid, when the extremity is divided in¬
to two lobes*, carinated, when angulated on the upper
or lower surface *, dentated, when its surface is furnish¬
ed with teeth j and papillous, when covered with fleshy
points.
The palate is that part of the mouth which is in¬
cluded between the base of the jaws and the origin of
the oesophagus. It is either smooth, when its surface
is destitute of tubercles, teeth, and asperities 5 or den¬
ticulated, when furnished with teeth.
The nostrils are orifices, almost always situated in
the rostrum, before the eyes. They are anterior, when
they occupy the fore part of the rostrum, and are some¬
what distant from the eyes j posterior, when situated at
the base of the rostrum, and very near the eyes ; su¬
perior, when on the crown of the head, between the
eyes, and close to them *, cylindrical, when they form a
tube j single, or solitary, when there is only one on each
side of the head $ and double, when there are two on
each side.
Eyes. The eyes are always two, and are composed of two
principal parts, which as they are visible from without
belong to the description of the external structure.
These parts are the pupil and the ins. The first occu¬
pies the centre of the globe *, and is usually spherical,
but sometimes oval ; and the second is the coloured
circle which surrounds the pupil, and is often furnished
with a distinct ring. It is, for the most part, black or
gold-coloured, hut sometimes it assumes a silvery hue.
—The eyes are said to be covered, when they are en¬
veloped in the skin, or in a nictitating membrane *,
semi-covered, when this membrane is arched, or lunu-
lated, or perforated like a ring ; naked, when destitute
of nictitating membrane *, vertical, when situated on
the crown of the head j lateral, when placed on the
sides of the head ; binate, when they are both on the
same side of the head j plane, or depressed, when the
convexity of the ball does not exceed the surface of
the head j convex, when the convexity projects beyond
this surface 5 salient, when the eyes are very promi- Anatomy
nent. of Fishes.
The branchial opercles, are scaly or bony processes, ^ TT*
situated on both sides of the head, behind the eyes,
closing the aperture of the gills, and sustaining the 1
branchial membrane. They are termed simple, when
composed of a single piece *, diphyllous, triphyllous, or
tetraphyllous, when consisting of two, three, or four
pieces ; flexile, or soft, when they can he easily bent ;
sub-arcuated, when the posterior margin is rounded ;
fistulous, when the branchial opening seems to be exca¬
vated out of the substance of the opercula *, acuminated,
when the hinder plate runs out into a sharp process j
ciliated, when the posterior margin is fringed, or set
with membranous setaceous appendages ; Jrenated, or
bridled, when connected with the body by means of a
membrane ; scabrous, when their surface is covered
with asperities j striated, when marked with hollow
and nearly parallel lines ; radiated, when the lines run
like rays, from the centre to the edge ; graved, when
the lines appear in no regular order j aculeaied, when
the posterior margin is terminated by one or more
spines $ serrated, when it is cut like the teeth of a saw ;
scah/, when the surface of the opercles is covered with
scabs.
The branchial or branchiostegous membrane, is a true And mem-
fin, formed of cartilaginous crooked hones, joined by abraI!e‘
thin membrane, lurking under the opercula, to which
it adheres, and is capable of being folded or expanded,
as necessity requires. This membrane is said to be pa¬
tent, when it projects beyond the margin of the oper¬
cula 5 retracted or latent, when it is concealed under
them ; covered, when concealed under them, yet so as
to be visible without hurting them.
The aperture of the gills, is a cleft commonly lateral,
which opens between the opercula and the trunk, by
means of the gills. It is arcuated, or arched, when it
represents a crescent j operculated, when quite covered
by the opercula j pipe-shaped, when in the form of a
tube. Its place, in some of the cartilaginous species, is
supplied by vents, or spiracles, which are either round,
arched, lateral, or inferior, i. e. placed underneath the
body.
The nape is the hind and terminating part of the
head, which is attached to the first vertebra of the
trunk, in the region of the gills. It is carinated, when
its surface is sharply angulated $ plane, when flat, and
on a level with the body $ and sulcated, when ridged
or furrowed.
2. The TRUNK is that part of the body, which ex- The trunk,
tends from the nape and branchial aperture, to the ex¬
tremity of the tail. It comprehends the gills, throat,
thorax, hack, sides, abdomen, lateral line, anus, tail,
and scales.
The gills, or branchiee, consist, for the most part, of
four crooked, parallel, unequal hones, furnished, on the
outer or convex part, with small soft appendages, like
the beards of a feather, and generally of a red colour.
They are aculeated, when the concave or interior part
has spines instead of tubercles ; anomalous, whea some
are ciliated, others tuberculated, or of a different struc¬
ture : denuded, when wanting opercles, the branchi-'
ostegons membrane, or both ; pectinated, when the con¬
vex or exterior part, towards the branchial aperture,
is .v
70 I C H T H Y
Anaiomyofis furnisbetl with red setaceous rays, or lamellae j with-
Fiihes drawn, when not conspicuous, lying nearer the throat
'' than the aperture j simple, when furnished either with
filaments or tubercles ; approaching, when they corre¬
spond to the same aperture.
The throat is that part which corresponds to the
branchial apertures, and is placed between them. It is
swelling, when it exceeds the level of the body and the
head ; carinated, when angulated underneath *, plane,
when on a level with the thorax and head.
The thorax is that part which begins at the extre¬
mity of the throat, and is terminated by a line drawn
to the insertion of the pectoral fins.
The back is the upper part of the trunk, extending
from the nape to the origin of the tail. It is aptery-
gious, without fins ; mojiopterygious, dipterygious, &c.
with one, or two fins j convex, higher in the middle
than toward the sides j serrated, having a deep longi¬
tudinal furrow for the same purpose.
The sides are that part of the trunk, which reaches
from the gills to the anus, between the back and the
abdomen. They are sometimes marked with zones,
lines, spots, or points.
The abdomen is the under part of the trunk, between
fche posterior extremity of the thorax and the origin of
the tail. It is carinated, or acute through its length j
serrated, when the scales forming the carina are dispo¬
sed like the teeth of a saw 5 plane, when without pro¬
minence or depression.
The lateral line usually commences at the extremity
of the branchial operctes, runs along the sides, and
terminates at the caudal fin. It is formed by lines,
dots, or small tubercles. It is straight, when it pre¬
sents no inflexion through its length j curved, when it
inclines to the back or belly ; broken, when divided
into two or more parts, which follow different direc¬
tions ; obliterated, when scarcely perceptible j double,
when there are two on each side j smooth, when with¬
out prickles or tubercles: aculeated, when furnished
with spines j descending, when it runs obliquely from
the head to the tail; inferior, when situated on the
lower part of the side 5 loricated, or mailed, when rough
with small bones, or hard scaly tubercles j mean, when
situated in the middle of the side; obsolete, when near¬
ly effaced ; porous, when punctured with small holes ;
sinuous, when bent in a waving line •, solitary, when
there is one line on each side ; superior, when on the
upper part of the side, near the back; banded, when
covered with a longitudinal zone, coloured or silvery.
The anus is the external orifice of the rectum. It
is jugular, when situated under the branchial opercles j
pectoral, when under the gills j mean, when equally
removed from the head and extremity of the tail j
remote, when near the tail.
The tail is the solid part of the trunk, which it ter¬
minates, being situated behind the anus. It is round,
as in the lamprey and eels j carinated, when its surface
presents some sharp angle j muricated, when beset with
spines or tubercles ; apterygious, when destitute of fins j
dipterygious, when the fin is divided at the base.
The scales are pellucid, cartilaginous, or horny te¬
guments, which usually cover the trunk. They are
oval, when one extremity is rounded, and larger than
the other ", orbiculate, when nearly round $ smooth, when
O L O G Y. Chap. II.
destitute of sensible angles or asperities ; ciliated, when Anatomy of
the margin is set with setaceous processes j serrated. Fishes,
when the margin is toothed like a saw j imbricated, » J
when the scales partly cover one another, like tiles on
a roof 5 rare, when sensibly separated from one ano¬
ther j deciduous, when they easily fall off; tenacious,
when they are detached with difficulty 5 remote, when
separated from one another j verticillate, when surround¬
ing the body in rings.
3. The FINS consist of several rays connected by a Fins,
tender film, or membrane 5 and they are raised, ex¬
panded, or moved in various directions, by means of
appropriate muscles. The rays of the fins are either
jointed and flexible small bones, whose extremity is of¬
ten divided into two parts; or bard and prickly, without
division at the extremity. In some cases, those on the
back of the fish are furnished with membranaceous ap¬
pendages, simple, or palmated, and adhering to the apex
or sides.—The fins, according to their position, are de¬
nominated dorsal, pectoral, ventral, anal, or caudal.
The dorsal fins are situated on the upper part of the
body, between the bead and the tail. Their number
varies from one to three, and so gives rise to the epi¬
thets monopterygious, dipterygious, and tripterygious. If
the back lias no fin, it is said to be apterygm/s. The
form, size, and situation of the dorsal fins have like¬
wise suggested various technical appellations; biit few
of these require to be particularly defined. We shall
notice, therefore, only the fleshy, which are covered
with a thick skin, or muscular substance ; and the ra-
mentaceous, which are furnished with membranaceous
or filamentous appendages.
The pectoral fins are situated on each side, about the
aperture of the gills. In some species, they are want¬
ing; in others, solitary, or one on each side; in a few
they are double, i. e. two on each side ; in some, they
are falcated, or arched above, and concave below.
The ventral or inferior fins are always placed on
the under part of the fish ; but at a greater distance
from the mouth. They are abdominal, when placed in
the belly, behind the pectoral fins, and not fixed in the
sternum, but in the ossa pelvis ; diffbrm, when they
have a spine or cirrhus, besides the ossicles ; jugular,
when placed under the throat before the pectoral fins,
and fixed to the clavicles ; multiradiated, when they
have several rays, though seldom exceeding seven ; tho¬
racic, when placed under the pectoral fins, often a lit¬
tle behind them, but always fixed to the sternum.
The anal fin is placed between the anus and the cau¬
dal fin. It is bifurcated, or two forked, when the ossi¬
cles in the middle are shortest; coalescing, when united
with the caudal fin ; longitudinal, when it extends from
the anus to the tail ; posterior, when placed at the end
of the tail, near the caudal fin.
The caudal fin is situated vertically, at the extremi¬
ty of the body. It is equal, or entire, when its rays
are of equal length ; lanceolated, when the rays in the
middle are longer than the others j emarginate, when
they are shorter than the others ; bifid, when they are
very short; trifid, when the fin is divided into three
lobes ; coalescing, when united with the dorsal and anal
fins ; cuspidated, when attenuated at the apex, or ter¬
minating in a setaceous point; setiferous, when a fili¬
form appendage proceeds from the division.
Internal
Chap. II.
Anatomy
of Fishes.
Skeleton.
Internal Parts.
' i. The SKELETON of a fish is the assemblage of bones
which constitutes the frame-work of its body. The
number of these bones is not uniform in each indivi¬
dual, but varies according to age and species. They
may be conveniently divided into those of the head,
thorax, abdomen, and fins.
The /lead contains a considerable number of bones $
that of the perch, for example, has eighty. As the
limited nature of our plan precludes minute specifica¬
tion, we shall indicate only a few of the most import¬
ant. The sku/l covers the whole head, its sides fre¬
quently forming the sockets of the eyes, the temples,
and the cheeks. The upper and lower jaw-bones are
placed on the fore part of the head. The upper is
more or less of an arched form. In some fishes it is
wanting, and its place is supplied by a portion of the
skull. The lower jaw is usually arched or triangular,
and its length regulates that of the snout, or rostrum.
The bones of the palate are, for the most part, four, viz.
two on each side of the fauces, oval, and nearly plane,
often crowded with teeth, or rough with tubercles, or
furrowed transversely, the base of the one connected
with the apex of the other. The gills are attached to
these ossicles on each side by a cartilage. The opercu¬
lar bones are situated at the hind part of the jaws, on
each side of the head, and behind the eyes. In some
species, they form a part of the upper jaw. The hyoid
bone is an ossicle situated between the two sides of the
lower jaw, serving as a basis for the tongue, presenting
the figure of a V, and occasionally furnished with a
hook.
The thorax is a cavity principally formed by the
vertebrae, the sternum, the clavicles, and the scapulae.
The vcrtebrce form the. back-bone, which reaches from
the skull to the extremity of the tail. They are strong¬
er and thicker towards the head, and grow weaker and
more slender towards the tail. Each species has a de¬
terminate number of vertebrae, which grow with the
body. They are furnished with transverse and spiny
processes, the former of which are marked by transverse
lines, by the number of which, it is supposed, the age
of fishes may be known. The spinal marrow is con¬
tained in the canal which passes through the vertebrae.
The sternum in fishes is not cartilaginous, as in other
animals, but always bony. Its form varies consider¬
ably, being sometimes triangular, sometimes rounded
before, and pointed behind, but most frequently of a
rhomboidal figure. It occupies the fore part of the
thorax, and closes that cavity. The clavicles are two
bones situated transversely behind the opening of the
gills ; and are sometimes formed by two ossicles united.
They are attached to the first vertebra. The scapulce
are two flat, rhomboidal, or arched bones, situated on
the lateral side of the body, under the posterior margin
of the clavicles, and serving as a base to the pectoral
fins. When the scapulae are wanting, the pectoral fins
are attached to the sternum, or to the margin of the
clavicles.
The abdomen forms a cavity always larger than that
of the thorax, extending from the extremity of the
latter to the anus. It is encompassed by the ribs
and tbe ossa pelvis. The ribs are bony arches, si¬
tuated obliquely ou the lateral parts of the abdomen,
ICHTHYOLOGY. 71
having their upper extremity articulated with the ex- Anatomy
tremity of the transverse processes of the vertebra;, of fishes.
Their number is very variable. In those species which 1 ■" v"~' J
are without ribs, the absence of the latter is compen¬
sated by the length and direction of the transverse pro¬
cesses of the vertebrae. The ossa pelvis are two bones
which defend tbe viscera contained in the abdomen.
The ventral fins are usually attached to their posterior
margin. When these fins are wanting, or when they
are attached under the throat, or on the thorax, the
ossa pelvis are also wanting. The tail is composed of
certain bones, which terminate the vertebral column.
The processes of each vertebra of the tail are incident
to great variety in respect of number and dimensions.
The fins are formed of a certain number of ossicles,
connected to one another by firm membranes. The
dorsal and anal fins are supported by the inter-spinous
bones (ossa interspinosd), which lie between the pointed
processes of the vertebrae, and are connected with them
by a ligament. The rays of the anal fin have nearly
the same conformation as those of the dorsal.
2. The MUSCLES are an assemblage of small bundles Muscles,
of fleshy fibres, partly red, and partly whitish, envelo¬
ped in a common membrane. The first of these is called
the fleshy portion of the muscle^ the secoad, the tendon.
Each muscle, thus composed, is susceptible of contrac¬
tion and dilatation. The former is accompanied by
a visible swelling, hardening, wrinkling, and shorten¬
ing of the muscle, and the latter by its elongation, ex¬
pansion, and recovery of its former softness and flexi¬
bility. Its force, in general, depends on tbe quantity
of fibrous matter which enters into its composition, and
its moving power on the length and size of the fibres.
The muscles vary much in respect of number, size, and
situation. There are two which proceed from the head
to the tail, along the sides of the body, and thence de¬
nominated lateral muscles. Each of these seems to be
composed of several transverse muscles, which are simi¬
lar and parallel. There are four situated at the cau¬
dal fin, namely, three superior, and one inferior. Of
the two former, one is straight, and two are oblique.
The fourth occupies the half of the lower extremity of
the tail. There are likewise four at each pectoral fin,
namely, tv/o erectors two depressors ; the two former
situated on the external surface of the clavicles and
scapulae, and the two latter under these parts. Each
ventral fin has three muscles, one erector and two de¬
pressors ; the first placed over the whole external sur¬
face of the os pelvis, and the two latter on the internal
surface of the same part. The carinal muscles of the
back and tail are slender, and closely united, occupy¬
ing the space that is left between the lateral muscles.
Their number is always proportioned to that of the
dorsal fins. Fishes, for example, which have no dorsal
fin, have but one pair of carinal muscles, those which
have one dorsal fin, have two pairs, and those which
have two dorsal fins, have three pairs, viz. one pair
between the first and second fin, another between the
two fins, and a third between the second dorsal and the
caudal fin. The proper inter-spinous muscles ai*e those
whose office it is to raise or depress the dorsal and anal
fins. Each inter-spinous ray is furnished with four,
two erectors, and two depressors. The dilating muscle
of the branchiostegous membrane is small, and attached
by its anterior extremity, partly under the angle of the
loweE
Brain and
other or¬
gans.
Anatomy lower jaw, and partly to the sides of the os pelvis. It
ot Hshes. is fixed to the branchial membrane by as many tendons
rn°™r~v"" as there are tendons in the membrane.
3. Organs and VISCERA.—The brain of fishes is a
very small organ, relative to the size of the head. It
is divided into three equal lobes, of which the two an¬
terior are contiguous 5 the third being placed behind,
and forming the cerebellum. These three lobes are
surrounded by a frothy matter, resembling saliva. In
this region the optic and olfactory nerves are easily
discovered.
The otsopkagus, or gullet, begins at the bottom of the
throat, and descends, in a straight line, to the upper
orifice of the stomach. It is membranous, smooth, and
lined with a mucous humour.
The stomach is a membranous sack, sometimes cy¬
lindrical or spherical, and sometimes divided into two
lobes.
The swimming, or air-bladder, or sound, is an ob¬
long, white, membranous bag, sometimes cylindrical,
sometimes elliptical, and sometimes divided into two
or three lobes, of different lengths. It is usually situ¬
ated between the vertebrae and the stomach, and in¬
cluded within the peritonaeum. In some fishes it com¬
municates with the stomach, and in others, with the
oesophagus. The fiat fishes are unprovided with this
organ.
The intestines, which in man are placed transversely,
have a longitudinal position in fishes, and are all con¬
nected with the substance of the liver. They are in
general very short, making only three turns, the last
of which terminates in a common outlet or vent. The
appendices, or secondary intestines, are very numerous,
composing a groupe of worm-like processes, all ulti¬
mately terminating in two large canals, opening into
the first intestine, into which they discharge their pe¬
culiar fluid.
The liver is commonly of a yellowish colour. It is
situated on the right or left side, or in the anterior re¬
gion of the abdomen, of whose cavity it fills about two-
thirds. It is sometimes simple, and sometimes divided
into two, three, or more lobes. It usually contains a
large portion of oil or fat.
The gall-bladder is oval or oblong, and lies under the
right side of the liver. It communicates with the sto¬
mach or the intestines, by means of the cystic duct and
the choledochic canal.
The spleen varies in form and position. Sometimes
it is all of a piece 5 sometimes divided into many lobes,
which adhere only by very slender filaments. In some
individuals it is black, in others it has the red hue of
clotted blood. It is placed near the backbone, and at
a place where it is subject to an alternate constriction
and dilatation, from the pressure of the air-bag, which
is situated in its neighbourhood.
Almost all fishes are provided with the urinary blad¬
der. Its form is nearly oval. It terminates under the
tail ; and has no communication with the rectum.
The kidneys are two flat bodies, of a pyramidal form,
as long as the abdomen, and of a reddish colour. They
are attached to the vertebras, separated from the cavity
of the abdomen by the peritoneum, and frequently pro¬
longed from the diaphragm to the region of the uri¬
nary bladder.
The diaphragm is a white and shining membrane
3
ICHTHYOLOGY. Chap. II.
which separates the thorax from the abdomen. This
partition is partly fleshy and partly tendinous.
The peritoncnrm, or membrane investing the con- '
tents of the abdomen, is thin and of a blackish colour.
The ova, in the females, are disposed into two large
oblong bodies, one on each side of the abdomen 5 and
the milt or soft-roe, in the male, appears in a similar
form in the same part.
The pericardium is a small bag which contains the
heart.
The heart is a viscus situated on the sternum, under
the posterior gills. It varies considerably in form, be¬
ing sometimes flat, frequently triangular or pyramidal,
&c. Its position is not transverse, as Artedi has al¬
leged, but longitudinal, as in quadrupeds. It consists
of one ventricle and one auricle. The sides of the
former are rugose, and exhibit may small cavities.
The latter is a very slender muscular bag, with a larger
cavity than that of the ventricle, and forming the com¬
munication between the heart and
The venous sinus. The capacity of this last is still
greater than that of the auricle. Its position is trans¬
verse, corresponding to that of the diaphragm. It com¬
municates with the auricle by a large aperture, and
receives at the other end three large trunks of veins.
The aorta is an artery attached to the apex of the
heart, and sending out numberless branches to the gills,
on which it is subdivided into ramifications so minute
as to escape the eye unless assisted by a glass.
The blood of fishes is red, and the red particles are
not round as in the mammalia, but oval as in the am¬
phibia.
Dr Monro’s elaborate description of the absorbent
system in fishes, is thus stated by Dr Shaw in the fourth
volume of his General Z.oology.
“ On the middle of the belly, immediately below
the outer skin, a lymphatic vessel runs upwards from
the vent, and receives branches from the sides of the
belly and the fin below the vent} near the head this
lymphatic passes between the two pectoral fins, and
having got above them, receives their lymphatics : it
then goes under the juncture of the two bones which
form the thorax, where it opens into a net-work of very
large lymphatics which lie close to the pericardium,
and almost surrounds the heart: this net-work, besides
that part of it behind the heart, has a large lymphatic
on each side, which receives others from the kidney,
runs upon the bone of the thorax backwards, and when
it has got as far as the middle of that bone, sends off a
large branch from its inside to join the thoracic duct j
after detaching this branch, it is joined by the lympha¬
tics of the thoracic fins, and soon after by a lymphatic
which runs upon the side of the fish 5 it is formed of
branches, which give it a beautiful penniform appear¬
ance. Besides these branches, there is another set lying
deeper, which accompanies the ribs $ after the large
lymphatic has been joined by the above-mentioned ves¬
sels, it receives others from the gills, orbit, nose, and
mouth: a little below the orbit another net-work ap¬
pears, consisting in part of the vessels above described,
and of the thoracic duct: this net-work is very com¬
plete, some of its vessels lying on each side the muscles
of the gills, and from its internal part a trunk is sent
out, which terminates in the jugular vein.
“ The lacteals run on each side of the mesenteric ar¬
teries,
Anatomy
of Fishes.
Chap. III.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
73
Physiology
and
HabitHdes
of Fishes.
teries, anastomosing frequently across those vessels : the
receptacle into which they enter is very large in pro¬
portion to them, and consists at its lower part of two
branches, one of which lies between the duodenum
and the stomach, and runs a little way upon the pan¬
creas, receiving the lymphatics of the liver, pancreas,
lower part of the stomach, and the lacteals from the
greatest part of the small intestines : the other branch
of the receptacle receives the lymphatics from the rest
of the alimentary canal. The receptacle formed by
these two branches lies on the right side of the upper
part of the stomach, and is joined by some lymphatics
in that part, and also by some from the sound and gall¬
bladder: the thoracic duct takes its rise from the re¬
ceptacle, and lies on the right side of the oesophagus,
receiving lymphatics from that part; and running up
about half an inch, divides into two ducts, one of
which passes over the oesophagus to the left side, and
the other goes strait upon the right side, passing by the
upper part of the kidney, from which it receives some
small branches, and soon afterwards is joined by a
branch from the large lymphatic that lies above the
bone of the thorax, as formerly mentioned : near this
part it likewise sends off a branch to join the duct of
the opposite side $ and then, a little higher, is joined
by those large lymphatics from the upper part of the
gills and from the fauces.
“ The thoracic duct, after being joined by these
vessels, communicates with the net-work near the orbit, Physiology
where its lymph is mixed with that of the lymphatics and
from the posterior part of the gills, and from the supe- Mabitudes
rior fins, belly, &c. and then from this net-work a ves- .0 ^ ie'''.
sel goes into the jugular vein just below the orbit.
This last vessel, which may be called the termination
of the whole system, is very small in proportion to the
net-work from which it rises $ and indeed the lympha¬
tics of the part are so large as to exceed by far the size
of the sanguiferous vessels.
“ The thoracic duct from the leftside, having passed
under the oesophagus from the right, runs on the inside
of the vena cava of the left side, receives a branch
from its fellow of the opposite side, and joins the large
lymphatics which lie on the left side of the pericardium,
and a part of those which lie behind the heart, and
afterwards makes, together with the lymphatics from
the gills, upper fins, and side of the fish, a net-work,
from which a vessel passes into the jugular vein of this
side : in a word, the lymphatics of the left side agree
exactly with those of the right. Another part of the
system is more deeply seated, lying between the roots
of the spinal processes of the back-bone. This part
consists of a large trunk that begins from the lower
part of the fish, and as it ascends receives branches
from the dorsal fins and adjacent parts of the body : it
goes up near the head, and sends a branch to each
thoracic duct near its origin.”
CHAP. III. PHYSIOLOGY AND HABITUDES OF FISHES.
MOST of the observations which belong to this sec¬
tion may be referred to the general topics of respiration,
external senses, motion, nourishment, reproduction, and
duration.
i. Hcspiraiion.
Respiratioa This important animal function is performed, in
S| performed fishes, by means of gills, which supply the place of
**7 gills. lungs. Though all fishes live in water, the presence of
air is not less necessary to their existence than to our
own. If a carp, for example, be put into a large vase
of ivater, fiom which the air is extracted by the air-
pump, a number of bubbles are observable on the sur¬
face of the fish’s body •, soon after, the animal breathes
swifter and with greater difficulty 5 it then rises to the
surface to get more air 5 the bubbles on its surface be¬
gin to disappear ; next, the belly, which was swollen,
will suddenly fall, and the fish sink to the bottom, con-
vitlsed and expiring. For the same reason, if the ex¬
ternal air be excluded from a small pond by a sufficient
and durable covering of ice, the fish within it will be
killed : or if a hole be made in the ice, before it be too
late, they will all come near it for a fresh supply of
air. In ordinary cases, a fish in the water first receives
a quantity of that element by the mouth, from which
it is driven to the gills ; these close and prevent the
water so swallowed from returning by the mouth, at
the same time that their bony covering prevents it
from passing through them, until the proper quantity
ol air has been drawn from it. The covers then open,
and give it a free passage : by which means the gills al¬
so are again opened, and admit a fresh body of water.
Vol. XI. Part I. f
Should the free play of the gills be suspended, or their
covers kept from moving, by a string tied round them,
the fish would soon fall into convulsions, and die in a
few minutes. Though the branchial apparatus be com¬
prised in a small compass, its surface, if fully extended,
would occupy a very considerable space, since that of the
common skate is equal to the surface of the human body.
This single fact may convince us of the numberless con¬
volutions and ramifications in which the included water
is elaborated and attenuated in the course of given out
its air in the respiratory process. This process, in fishes,
as in the human subject, is carried on during sleep, and
is repeated about twenty-five times in a minute.
Atmospheric air, though in small quantities, is Change
thus imparted to the blood at the ramifications ofPro.(Jllced
the gills, without, however, depriving it of a large11 011
share of the hydrogenated and carbonized substances^*
furnished by the aliments $ and, consequently, without
communicating to it so much of the vermilion tinge as
is observable in warm-blooded animals with lungs.
Hence the oily quality of the blood of fishes, and the
greasy congestions which take place in their livers, and
in the abdominal regions of animals whose respiration is
slow or scanty. The act of breathing is, in reality, a
species of combustion ; and the tempfcfature of animals,
in whose system this combustion is imperfectly perform¬
ed, is necessarily low. As that of fishes is little elevated
above the mean temperature of water, some species, as
eels and gudgeons, are occasionally benumbed by the
winter’s cold, and remain concealed in the mud or
sand, without motion, food, or breathing, till the
warmth of spring rouses them from their torpor. At
K th®
74
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Chap. III.
Physiology the bottom of the sea, however, probably preserves a
and pretty equal degree of heat at all times, the myriad
Habitudes tribes which inhabit it are permanently secured against
of Fishes. tjje inclemency of the season. The tardy circulation
v~" @f the blood in fishes may likewise, in some measure,
depend on their mode of respiration. The heart of the
carp contracts only thirty-six times in the course of a
minute, or about half as often as that of a man. In
the carnivorous species of fishes, as the shark, pike, sal¬
mon, &c. the heart is comparatively larger, the circu¬
lation more rapid, and the breathing more powerful.
Active, robust, and courageous, they are also less en¬
cumbered with fat, and their liver is less bulky than in
the other species. It deserves to be remarked, how¬
ever, that the blood in fishes, after being thrown by the
heart into the ramification of the gills, is collected a-
gain by a vast number of small veins, somewhat in the
same manner as in the mammalia j but instead of re¬
turning to the heart again, these vessels unite and form
a descending aorta, without the intervention of an au¬
ricle and ventricle, a circumstance which may also ma¬
terially contribute to ^he slowness of the circulation.
Tor some time it was believed, that the cartilaginous
fishes were provided with internal lungs, an idea which
has been abandoned by later physiologists, who have
proved, that the supposed lungs are only a peculiar
modification of gills. To the want of lungs we may
ascribe the want of voice : for, though some kinds of
fishes, as those of the genus batistes, when seixed, dis¬
charge a quantity of air and water with a rustling noise,
and the rubbing of the fins on the scales sometimes pro¬
duces an indistinct rattling sound j yet both are very
different from any thing like audible language that can
be understood among the individuals of a species.
2. External Senses.
Sense of That fishes possess the faculty of seeing, is evident
seeing. from the accuracy with which they direct their motions
to the objects of their pursuit. Their organs of vision,
too, are admirably adapted to the circumstances of their
condition. As their eyes are not placed in the fore¬
part, hut in the sides of the head, they cannot look, at
the same time, with both on one object, so convenient¬
ly as quadrupeds. Their optic nerves, accordingly, are
not confounded with one another, in their middle pro¬
gress betwixt their origin and the orbit, but the one
passes over the other without any communication ; so
that the nerve which comes from the left side of the
brain, goes distinctly to the right eye, and vice versa.
As fishes are continually exposed to injuries in the un¬
certain element in which they reside, and as they are in
perpetual danger of becoming a prey to the larger ones,
it was necessary that their eyes should never be shut j
and as the cornea is sufficiently washed by the element
in which they live, they are not provided with eyelids;
yet, as in the current itself, the eye must be exposed to
several injuries, it is defended by a firm pellucid mem¬
brane, being a ^mtinuation of the same transparent
cuticle which covers the rest of the head, and which,
being insensible and destitute of vessels, is not liable to
obstructions and opakeness. We may likewise observe,
that the optic nerve and crystalline lens are larger than
in other animals, that the choroides is composed of two
separate membranes, and that all these parts are differ¬
ently modified and arranged, according to the manners
and habits of different species. Those fishes which un- Physiology
dertake long voyages, and traverse much space in a aHd
short time, as the trout, salmon, salvelin, &c. have the
conformation of the eye like that of birds ; whose sight ■ t .j
is very acute. Were we, indeed, to form our judge¬
ment of the power of vision in fishes merely from the
external appearance of their eyes, we should conclude,
that it is far from perfect, and that the small convexity
of the cornea would occasion very little refraction in
the rays of light j but this defect is sufficiently com¬
pensated by the structure of the crystalline lens, which
is almost spherical, and more dense than in terrestrial
animals. In its natural state, it is transparent, and
not much harder than a jelly ; and it forms that little
hard pea-like substance which is found in the eyes of
fishes after boiling. As the rays fall on this convex
humour, they undergo a powerful refraction, gradually
approach one another, and unite at the axis of the eye,
where they form their impressions. In most fishes the
eyes are naked ; but those of the skate tribe are distin¬
guished by a digitated curtain, which hangs over the
pupil, and which may exclude the light when the ani¬
mal rests j and, in the genera Gadus-AnAElennius, the
eyes are covered with an internal nictitating mem¬
brane.
That fishes possess the sense of hearing, has been al- Hearing,
ternately maintained and denied by the most celebrated
naturalists, since the days of Aristotle. Among the
moderns, Artedi, Linnaeus, and Govan have contended
for the non-existence of this faculty, although some
very ordinary facts naturally lead to an opposite con¬
clusion. It is well known that fishes are affected
noise, and that they seem to be alarmed at loud ex¬
plosions. On the coast of Britanny, they aie frequent¬
ly chased into nets by the sound of a drum ; in China,
by that of the tam-tam ; and in ponds, they have been
taught to assemble at the ringing of a bell. These
sounds, however, it has been alleged, produce certain
changes or vibrations in the water, which are seen by
the animals, or which affect them in some way differ¬
ent from acting on the organ of hearing, an organ
which naturalists and anatomists had long laboured in
vain to discover. As the eruptions of Etna are some¬
times felt at Malta, and an earthquake will sometimes
visibly agitate the sea, at the distance of many leagues,
it is supposed that smaller commotions in the atmosphere
may communicate similar impressions to the finny tribes,
independently of the medium of hearing. The labo¬
rious Klein spared no pains in searching for some hid¬
den organ, by which he hoped to demonstrate that
fishes are not more destitute of the faculty of bearing
than other animals^ but though his investigations proved
fruitless, we are indebted to him for many curious ob¬
servations on the number and figure of the small bones
which are to be found in the head of various species.
Geoffrey also made some important discoveries, hut
without arriving at decisive results. At length, the
abbe Nollet proved, that water is a conductor of sound,
and that even the tones and articulation of the human
voice may be transmitted through its medium. All
that now remained to set the question completely at
rest, was to detect the parts of the auditory organ in
fishes, and these the celebrated Camper has distinctly
revealed in consequence of numerous dissections. For
his particular description of the figure and mechanism
o£»
ot' Fishes.
Chap. Ill- I C H T H Y
Physiology of the whole apparatus, we must refer our readers to
and the seventh volume of the Haerlem Memoirs, and to a
Habitudes aper w|nch he has inserted in one of the volumes of
the Journal des Sfavans Etrangers. Suffice it for the
present to note, that this curious organ is contained in
the cavity of the head, and that it consists of three se¬
micircular, cartilaginous canals, and an elastic bag,
which includes one or two very moveable ossicles, float¬
ing in a jelly more or less thick, and slightly adhering
to the contiguous parts. The moment that the vibra¬
tion of the water, which is analogous to that of the air,
is communicated to the fish’s head, the impression is
transmitted to the ossicles, which, acting in the ratio
of their mass multiplied by the force of the impulse,
impart their movement to the hole of the elastic bag
and to the semicircular canals. The sentient principle
is more or less alive to the action of the ossicles on the
nerves, that is to say, in Camper’s own language,
“ that the fish perceives sound, but sound peculiar to
the watery element.” Hunter, who observed the same
organs in the head of fishes, remarks that their structure
varies in different species. His minute and ingenious
observations on this subject are published in the 77th
volume of the Philosophical Transactions. “ Fishes,
particularly of the skate kind, (says Dr Shaw) have a
bag at some distance behind the eyes, which contains a
fluid, and a soft cretaceous substance, and supplies the
place of the vestibule and cochlea: there is a nerve dis¬
tributed upon it, similar to the portio mollis in man :
they have semicircular canals, which are filled with a
fluid, and communicate with the bag : they have like¬
wise a meatus externus, which leads to the internal ear.
The cod-fish, and others of the same shape, have an or¬
gan of hearing somewhat similar to the former •, but
instead of a soft substance contained in the bag, there
is a hard cretaceous stone.”
The sense of touch is probably very imperfect in
fishes, because it results from the contact and immediate
application of the surface of some object to that of the
animal, and all parts of the body are not equally fit to
be applied to the surface of foreign substances. The
hand alone, which is divided into several flexible and
moveable parts, and is capable of being applied to dif¬
ferent portions of the same surface, at the same time,
seems peculiarly destined to convey the ideas of size
and form$ and even it would ill discharge such an office,
if its contact with objects should be intercepted by any
intermediate substance, as hair, feathers, shells, scales,
&c. A rough and hard skin blunts the sense of touch,
while a fine and delicate one renders it more lively and
exquisite. Hence, we may presume, that fishes, which
are destitute of palmated extremities, are incapable of
recognizing the forms of bodies. Besides, as they are
invested with a rough skin, which is frequently cover¬
ed with tubercles, or numberless scales, they appear to
be unsusceptible of that delicacy of feeling which nature
has bestowed on many of the quadrupeds.
In the mouth of man, and of those animals which
are endowed with sensibility of teste, there are number¬
less nervous papillae, large, porous, constantly supplied
with an abundance of lymph, and covered with a de¬
licate skin, or inserted in sheaths of very unequal
lengths. The savorous matters are arrested by these
asperities, diluted by the lymph, and absorbed by the
pores, which convey them to the nervous papillae, on
Touch.
Tasle.
O L O G Y. 75
which they act as stimulants. The tongue is the prin-Physiology
cipal seat of this system of organs, and is extremely sus- and
ceptible of impression, being composed of fleshy fibres, Ha!”t“des
encompassed by a medullary tissue. In fishes, however, of FlJ e*-.
few pores have been discovered in the interior region of
the mouth, the lymph is constantly carried off by the
passage of the water, the tongue is sometimes imperfect
and sometimes cartilaginous, and the palate is general¬
ly hard and bony. If to these circumstances we add
the want of mastication, we may justly infer, that fishes
are nearly destitute of the discriminating powers of
taste. Accordingly, they are remarked for voracity,
rather than for particular relishes ; and they will often
swallow substances which can afford them no nourish¬
ment.
The organ of smelling, on the other hand, is large 5 Smelling,
and the animals have a power of contracting and dila¬
ting the entry to it as they have occasion. All have
one or more nostrils j and even those which have not
the holes perceptible without, yet have the proper for¬
mation of the bones for smelling within. The olfac¬
tory nerves, which are extended over the nostrils, are
probably the instruments by which they are enabled to
distinguish their food. A fish will discover a worm
that is thrown into the water, at a considerable di¬
stance j and that this is not done by the eye, is mani¬
fest from the consideration, that after the same worm
has remained for some time in the water, and lost its
smell, no fishes will come near it; but if you make se¬
veral little incisions into it, so as to let out more of the
odoriferous effluvia, the creatures again approach it.
“ We may frequently observe them (says the intelli¬
gent naturalist quoted above), allowing themselves to be
carried down with the stream, that they may ascend
again leisurely against the current of the water; thus
the odoriferous particles swimming in that medium, be¬
ing applied more forcibly to their organs of smell, pro¬
duce a stronger sensation.”
3. Motion.
Most fishes present us with the same external form, Motions of
being sharp at either end, and swelling in the middle, ^slies jex'
whereby they are enabled to traverse their native fluidv
with greater ease and celerity. We wisely endeavour
to imitate this peculiar shape in the construction of ves¬
sels designed to sail with the greatest swiftness j yet, the
progress of a machine moved forward in the water by
human contrivance, is nothing ,to the rapidity of an
animal formed to reside in that element. The large
fishes are known to overtake a ship in full sail with the
greatest ease, to play round it without effort, and to
outstrip it at pleasure. The flight of an arrow is not
more rapid than the darting of a tunny, a salmon, or a
gilt-head, through the water. It has been calculated
that a salmon will glide over 86,400 feet in an hour,
and 24 feet in a second, that it will advance more than
a degree of the meridian of the earth in a-day, and
make the tour of the world in the course of some
weeks. Every part of the body seems exerted in this
dispatch $ the fins, the tail, and the motion of the
whole back-bone assist progression; and it is to that
flexibility of body which mocks the efforts of art, that
fishes owe their great velocity.
The chief instruments in a fish’s motion are its finSjin^u.
air-bladder, and tail. With at least two pair, and three ments of
K 2 singl.e motion.
76 I C H T H Y
Physiology single fins, it will migrate with great rapidity, and take
and voyages of a thousand leagues in a season, without in-
Habitudes (licat.mg any visible symptoms of languor or fatigue.
/ ’ 11^‘iCS,i jt does not always happen, that fishes which have
the greatest number of fins, have also the swiftest mo¬
tion : the shark, for example, which is reckoned one
of the swiftest swimmers, wants the ventral fins ; while
the haddock, which has its full complement of fins, is
more tardy in its progress.
The fins serve not only to assist the animal in pro¬
gression, but in rising or sinking, in turning, or even
in leaping out of the water. To answer these purposes,
the pectoral fins, like oars, serve to push the animal
forward, and have, therefore, not unaptly, been com¬
pared to the wings of a bird. By their help and con¬
tinued motion, the flying-fish is sometimes seen to dart
out of the water, and to fly above a hundred yards.
The pectoral fins likewise serve to balance the head,
•when it is too large for the body, and prevent it from
tumbling prone to the bottom, as happens to large-head¬
ed fishes, when the pectoral fins are cut oflf. The ven¬
tral fins which lie flat in the water, in whatever situa¬
tion the fish may be, serve rather to raise or depress
the body, than to assist its progressive motion. The
dorsal fin acts as a poiser, in preserving the animal’s
equilibrium, at the same time that it aids the forward
movement. The anal is designed to maintain the ver¬
tical or upright position of the body.
By means of the air-bladder, fishes can increase or
diminish the specific gravity of their body. When
they contract it, or press out the included air^by means
of the abdominal muscles, the bulk of the body is di¬
minished, its weight in proportion to the water is in¬
creased, and the fish swims easily at a great depth. On
relaxing the operation of the abdominal muscles, the
swimming-bladder again acquires its natural size, tbe
* body increases in bulk, consequently becomes lighter,
and enables the fish to swim easily near the surface. So
fishes which have no air-bladder, or those whose blad¬
der has been injured, keep always at the bottom.
Lastly, the tail may be regarded as the directing
instrument of motion, to which the fins are only sub¬
servient. To illustrate all this by a simple experiment
-—If we take a live carp, and put it into a large vessel,
the fish, when in a state of repose, will be seen to spread
all its fins, and to rest on the pectoral and ventral near
the bottom j and, if it fold up either of its pectoral fins,
it will incline to the side on which the folding takes
place. When it desires to have a retrograde motion,
striking with the pectoral fins, in a contrary direction,
effectually produces it. If it desires to turn, a blow
from the tail sends it about j but if the tail strike both
ways, the motion is progressive. If the dorsal and ven¬
tral fins be cut off, the fish reels to the right and left,
and endeavours to supply its loss by keeping the rest of
its fins in constant exercise. If the right pectoral fin
be cut off, the fish leans to that side ; and, if the ven¬
tral fin on the same side be cut away, it loses its equi¬
librium entirely. Wfien the tail is removed, the fish
loses all motion, and abandons itself to the impulse of
the water.
The slimy glutinous matter which is secreted from
the pores of most fishes, not only defends their bodies
from the immediate contact of the surrounding fluid,
but facilitates their progressive motion.
O L O G Y. Chap. III.
The pelagian tribes of fishes, which traverse large Physiology
portions of the ocean, as the salmon, tunny, asd several ai,d
species of coryp7i(enci, gadus, spams, scicena, &c. are
furnished with large and strong fins, to enable them to .° ^ e*j.
struggle against large waves and rapid currents ; where¬
as those which frequent the shores and fresh waters have*
their fins smaller and weaker ; while those with soft fins
seldom expose themselves to the fury of the storm, and
confine themselves to depths that are not affected by
the most impetuous winds. A more ample explanation
of these particulars will be found in Borelli’s work de
Motu Animalivm.
Notwithstanding the astonishing agility of their
movements, fishes often remain in a state of inactivity
and supineness, till roused by the calls of hunger or love,
or stimulated by the dread of an approaching enemy.
The periodical and extensive migrations of certain tribes
of fishes are not irreconcileable with this remark, since
the want of food, or the important occupation of breed¬
ing, may induce them to change their station. But we
cannot give implicit credit to the relations of those na¬
turalists, who, copying from one another, affect on this
subject the language of wonder and mystery. In re-Reputed
gard to the reputed migrations of immense shoals of migration
herrings from the polar regions to the south of Europe,^ou,>tec^
and which have been generally ascribed to the depre¬
dations of the cetaceous tribes, we may be allowed to
ask, why these small fishes proceed some hundred leagues
beyond the reach of their enemies, and why they re¬
turn in winter to the very haunts of their gigantic de¬
stroyers ? If it be alleged, that those monstrous ani¬
mals drive them into bays and inlets $ why do they
equally abound in the North sea and the Baltic, which
are not frequented by whales P If mere want of
food compels the herrings to detach their crowded co¬
lonies ; how happens it that the migration always
takes place at the same time, and at the same season of
the year ? It is difficult to conceive, that their stock
of provisions should regularly be exhausted at the year’s
end ? Besides, if the arctic pole be the native country
of the herrings, as has been usually supposed, they should
make their appearance, like birds of passage, in nume¬
rous troops at certain seasons, and very few or none
should be seen during the rest of the year. Yet it is
well known, that great quantities of them are caught
in Norway, during the whole of summer ; in the same
country, and in Swedish Pomerania, the fishery is very
productive from January to March ; on the coast of
Gothland, from October to December ; in the north
of Holland, in February, March, and April ; and in
Sweden, in the middle of winter. That part of the
migrating shoal regularly directs its course to the coast
of Iceland, is an assertion unsupportable by respectable
testimony. Horrehow, who passed some years on that
island, affirms, that a single herring will sometimes not
be seen for many years j and Olafl'sen, ./Egidius, Otho-
Fabricius, and others, corroborate his assertions.
To account, then, for the movements of the herring,
cod, tunny, anchovy, &c. it is in vain to have recourse
to the rapacity of the whale, or to the urgent pressure of
hunger j and least of all should we adopt the marvel¬
lous tales of periodical voyages, performed with the ut¬
most oi’der and exactitude. M. Bloch explains in a much
more simple and natural manner the arrival and disap¬
pearance of the respective shoals. According to him,
herrings
Chap. Ill,
Physiology herrings have the same propensity as other fishes, and
and usually live in the depths of the water, till stimulated
j; Habitudes ^ ^ JegJre 0f reproducing their species. They then
|, ol Fiblies. ^ujt tjiejr retreat, and suddenly appear in places where
they were not formerly seen: and, as the spawning time
occurs sometimes sooner, and sometimes later, accord¬
ing to the temperature of the water, and the age of the
fishes, we can easily conceive why those species which
are reputed migratory, should be observed at different
times. Those sea fishes which ascend rivers in spring,
only return to their several haunts in autumn. The
herrings are, doubtless, guided by an analogous instinct j
and if we may be allowed to suppose, that they some¬
times spawn more than once in the course of the ye»r,
we shall be at no loss to account for the circumstances
of their wandering.
4. Nourishment.
Among fishes, as among quadrupeds and birds, some
search for their food in the mud ; others live on worms,
insects, or marine plants. The former have their ante¬
rior extremity adapted to the extraction of peculiar
juices from the earth; the latter have the conforma¬
tion of their jaws or teeth suited to the capture and
Most fishes destruction of their appropriate prey. The greatest
carnivorous number of species, however, are carnivorous and ex-
cioiis !l tremely voracious, subsisting chiefly on other fishes, and
frequently not sparing even their own offspring. When
taken out of the water, and almost expiring, they will
often greedily swallow the very bait which lured them
to their ruin. In the sequel, we shall have occasion to
adduce some striking instances of the violent and indis¬
criminate appetite of several fishes. The digestive power
of their stomach is no less remarkable, and seems to
increase with the quantity of food received into it.
This food, though reduced to a gelatinous state, usually
preserves its natural form; a circumstance which leads
us to conclude, that the process of digestion is perform¬
ed by the solvent power of some particular menstruum,
and not by any trituration.
Fishes, in general, manifest a predilection for what¬
ever they can swallow possessed of life. Some that have
very small mouths, feed on w’orms and the spawn of
other fish : others, whose mouths are larger, seek larger
prey j it matters not of what kind, whether of another
or their own. Those with the largest mouths, pursue
almost every thing that has life ; and often meet each
other in fierce opposition, and the victor devours his
antagonist. Thus are they irritated by the continual
desire of satisfying their hunger; and the life of a fish,
from the smallest to the greatest, is but one scene of ho¬
stility, violence, and evasion. The smaller fry, which
stand no chance in the unequal combat, resort to those
shallows, where the greater are unable or too heavy to
pursue. There they become invaders in turn, and live
on the spawn of large, fishes, which they find floating
on the surface of the water, till they are imprisoned and
leisurely devoured by the mussel, oyster, or scallop,
which lie in ambush at the bottom,
but can Notwithstanding the astonishing voracity of fishes,
ttiaence sorne °f ^iem are capable of suffering at least the apparent
want of food for a long time. This is particularly the
case with the gold and silver fishes which are kept in
vases, and which seem to enjoy perfect health, though
deprived of sustenance for months. But they may pro-
ICHTHYOXiOGY. 77
bably feed on minute invisible insects, or be endowed Physiology
with the power of decomposing water, ami of converting
and
its elements into the means of subsistence. Much, in
fact, remains to be discovered on the interesting subject .  
of the food of fishes ; for while the incessant craving
and gluttony of some are obvious to the most superficial
observation, the methods by which others are maintain¬
ed in existence have only been surmised by conjecture.
Meanwhile, it is of importance to remark, that in the
water, as on the land, nature has nicely adjusted the
balance of destruction and renovation, thus providently
guarding against an overwhelming accumulation of pu¬
trid carcases, and multiplying, at the same time, the
sources and centres of vitality and animal enjoyment,
5. Reproduction.
In most, if not in all fishes, there is a difference in
sex, though Bloch and others make mention of indivi¬
duals, which seemed to unite the two sexes, and to be
real hermaphrodites. The number of males, it has
been remarked, is about double that of females ; and
were it not for this wise provision of nature, a large
proportion of the extruded eggs would remain unfecun¬
dated. A few species, indeed, as the eel, blenny, &c.
are viviparous ; but by far the greater number are pro-Most fishes
dueed from eggs. These last compose the roe.or ova-oviparous,
ries of the females, which lie along the abdomen. The
milt of the males is disposed along the back-bone, in
one or two bags, and consists of a whitish glandular
substance, which secretes the spermatic fluid. Though
the history of the generation of fishes be still involved
in considerable obscurity, it seems to be ascertained,
that no sexual union takes place among the oviparous
kinds, and that the eggs are fructified after exclusion.
They are of a spherical form, and consist of a yolk, a
white part, and a bright crescent-like spot, or germ.
The yolk, which is usually surrounded by the white,
is round, and not placed in the middle, but towards
one of the sides ; and the clear spot, or embryo, is si¬
tuated between the yolk and the white. In this spot
there is obsexwable, on the day after fecundation, a
moveable point, of a somewhat dull appearance. On
the third day, it assumes the appearance of a tbickish
mass, detached on one side, and on the other strongly
adhering to the yolk, and presenting the contour of the
heart, which, at this period, receives an increase of
motion, while the disengaged extremity, which forms
the rudiments of the tail, is perceived to move at inter¬
vals. On the fourth day, the pulsations of the heart
- and the movements of the whole body occur in quicker
succession. On the fifth, the circulation of the hu¬
mours in the vessels may be discerned, when the fish is
in a particular position. On the sixth, the back-bone
may be distinctly recognised. On the seventh, two
black points, which are the eyes, and the whole form
of the animal, are visible to the naked eye. Although
. the yolk gradually diminishes as the embryo enlarges,
the included animal cannot yet stretch itself at length,
and makes a curve with its tail. Its motions are then
so brisk, that when it turns its body, the yolk turns
with it; and these motions become more and more fre¬
quent, as the moment of birth, which happens be¬
tween the seventh and ninth day, approaches. By re¬
peated strokes of the tail, the covering of the egg at
length
78 ICHTHYOLOGY. Chap. III.
Physiology length gives way, and the fish comes forth, first by the
amt tall, redoubling its efforts, till it detach its, bead; and
Habitudes t{ien m0ves nimbly, and at liberty, in its new ele-
of Fishes. ment< Such, at least, are the result* of some particu¬
lar observations : but it is obvious, that they must vary
considerably according to circumstances j particularly,
that the spawn must continue in the egg state in some
species longer than in others, and this in proportion to
the animal’s size. The embryo salmon, for instance,
continues in the egg from the beginning of December
to the beginning of April, and the carp not above
three weeks.
Fishes have different seasons for depositing their
spawn. Some which live in the depths of the ocean,
are said to choose the winter months; but, in general,
those with which we are acquainted, choose the hottest
months in summer, and prefer such water as is some¬
what tepified by the beams of the sun. They then
leave the deepest parts of the ocean, which are the
coldest, and shoal round the coasts, or swim up the
fresh-water rivers, which are warm as they are compa¬
ratively shallow, depositing their eggs where the sun’s
influence can most easily reach them, and seeming to
take no farther charge of their future progeny.
Of the eggs thus deposited scarcely one in a hundred
brings forth an animal, as they are devoured by all the
lesser fry which, frequent the shores, by aquatic birds
near the margin, and by the larger fish in deep water.
Still, however, the sea is amply supplied with inhabi¬
tants $ and, notwithstanding their own rapacity, and
that of various tribes of fowls, the numbers that escape
are sufficient to relieve the wants of a considerable por¬
tion of mankind. Indeed, when we consider the fe¬
cundity of a single fish, the amount will seem astonish-
Numbei. of ing. If we should be told, for example, that a single
eS8* i*a- being could in one season, produce as many of its kind
HTtnse. as there are inhabitants in England, it would strike us
with surprise ; yet the cod annually spawns, according
to Lewenhoeck, above nine million of eggs contained
in a single roe. The flounder is commonly known to
produce above one million; and the mackarel above
five hundred thousand; a herring of a moderate size
will yield at least ten thousand; a carp, of 14 inches
in length, contained, according to Petit, two hundred
and sixty-two thousand, two hundred and twenty-four;
and another, 16 inches long, contained three hundred
and forty-two thousand, one hundred and forty-four; a
perch deposited three hundred and eighty thousand, six
hundred and forty; and a female sturgeon, seven mil¬
lion, six hundred and fifty-three thousand, two hun¬
dred.—The viviparous species are by no means so fruit¬
ful ; yet the blenny brings forth two or three hundred
at a time, all alive and playing round the parent toge¬
ther.
Some naturalists have suspected, that there are fishes
which undergo certain metamorphoses in the early pe¬
riod of their existence, like the tadpoles of frogs. Ma¬
demoiselle Merian, in her splendid work on the Insects
of Surinam, even describes frogs, which are transform¬
ed into fishes. Spelmann makes mention of aquatic
animals of an ambiguous nature, which he met with at
all seasons of the year, and which he terms proteuses;
and Schranck and Laurenti have remarked in the Ty-
rolian lakes particular races of animals, which seem to
form a gradation between tadpoles and branchiostegous
3
fishes. Perhaps they are larvre, or imperfect animals, physiology
whose developement is still obscure ; yet it is not im- and
probable that some fishes may undergo transformations Habitudes
analogous to those of young frogs and salamanders. ,c ies^
The history of the ostracion and dioclon families will
warrant such a supposition ; and the siren lacertina of
Linnaeus seems to be alike connected with reptiles and
fishes.
For several curious and interesting experiments rela¬
tive to the artificial fecundation of the spawn of fishes,
we must refer our readers to M. Jacobi’s Memoir, in¬
serted in the Berlin Transactions for 1764. By pres¬
sing the contents of the milt of salmon and trout on the
spawn of these fishes, he succeeded in rendering the
ova fruitful, and obtained live fish. Among these were
several monsters, such as trouts with two heads, others
in the form of a cross, &c. none of which lived beyond
six weeks, exhausting in that time the juices of their
own stomach, and the yolk of the egg to which they
were attached.
6. Duration*
It is extremely difficult to ascertain the precise term
which nature has assigned to the existence of those crea¬
tures which inhabit a medium different from our own.
It is probable, that the life of fishes which escape the
numerous snares that are laid for them, is considerably
longer than their mere size would seem to indicate. In
the first stages of their existence, their growth is, no
doubt, rapid ; but their fibres quickly become hard, and
less susceptible of extension. When newly excluded
from its egg, the fish grows four lines in the short space
of eight hours ; but three weeks at least elapse, before
it acquire an additional line. Nor is the rate of growth
at all equal in different species. Thus a carp attains
only to the length of six or seven inches in three years,
and to the weight of 12 pounds in ten years. The
growth of the tench is still more tardy, since twelve
years are required to give it the length of twenty
inches.
There have been two methods devised for determin¬
ing the age of fishes, the one, by the circles of the
scales, the other, by the transverse section of the back¬
bone. When a fish’s scale is examined through a mi¬
croscope, it will be found to consist of a number of cir¬
cles, one within another, in some measure resembling
those which appear on the transverse section of a tree,
and which are supposed to afford the same information.
For, as in trees, we can tell their age by the number
of their circles, so in fishes, we can tell theirs by the
number of circles in every scale, reckoning one ring
for every year of the animal’s existence. By this me¬
thod, the count de Bufi’on found a carp, whose scales
he examined, to be not less than a hundred years old.
Gesner adduces an instance of one of the same age, and
Albertus of one more than double that period.—The
age of the skate and the ray, which are destitute of
scales, may be known by the other method, which con¬
sists in separating the joints of the back-bone, and then
minutely observing the number of rings which the sur¬
face where it was joined exhibits. But whatever ^egree Great a;e
of precision we may attach to such evidence, we have0fgomg
no reason to doubt the great age of some fishes. Those fishes,
persons who have ponds often know the oldest by their
superior size and other indications. The carp which
were
ICHTHYOLOGY.
j)hap. IV.
Apodal were bred in the ditches of Pont-Chartrain, are quoted
Fbhes. Buft'on, as exceeding a hundred and fifty years ; and
 ' ti,ose In the royal gardens of Charlottenburg, in Prussia,
are said by Bloch to have their heads overgrown with
moss. Ledelius alleges, that in some pools in Lusatia
there are carp about 200 years old. At Manheim,
there is the skeleton of a pike, ip feet in length, and
which is said to have weighed, when alive, 350 pounds.
It was caught at Kayserlautern, in 1497 5 and a Greek
inscription on a brass ring, inserted at the gills, an¬
nounced that it had been put into the pond by the em¬
peror Frederick II. that is to say, 267 years before it
was taken. Borne species, however, are known to have
a much shorter existence •, thus, the eel usually lives
about 15 years j the bream and the tench, from 10 to
12, and the fifteen-spined stickle-back seldom survives
two.—The comparative simplicity of their structure,
the flexibility of their frame, the strength of their di¬
gestive power, their want of sensibility, and the equal
temperature of the element which they inhabit, proba- Apodal
bly all contribute to the longevity of fishes. The same Fishes,
causes may, perhaps, exempt them from many diseases
which are incident to other races of animals. Yet we
know for certain, that they are occasionally subject to
indisposition and distempers. Before the spawning sea¬
son, they undergo a change of their external covering,
analogous to moulting amongst the feathered tribes j
their scales and skins are renewed, and the colours of
the more beautiful kinds assume more fresh and vivid
hues. But this annual change is not effected without
evident symptoms of languor, decline, and suffering.
Some kinds of salmon trout are liable to a leprous af¬
fection, the carp to smallpox, and the eruption of small
tumours on the head and back, the perch to dropsy,
eels to a cutaneous disorder which often proves fatal,
and most species to ulcerated livers, or injured viscera,
from the worms and insects of various descriptions which
multiply within them.
CHAP. IV. SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION OP PISHES.
THE Linnsean orders of fishes have been instituted
from the situation, presence, or absence of the ventral
fins.
1. Such as are entirely destitute of these fins, are
termed pisces apodes, apodal or footless fishes. .
2. The jugulares, or jugular, are those which have
ventral fins, placed more forward than the pectoral fins,
or under the throat.
3. The thoracici, or thoracic, include those whose
ventral fins are placed immediately under the pectoral
fins, or on the breast.
4. The ahdominales, or abdominal, comprise those
whose ventral fins are situated behind the pectoral fins,
or on the abdomen*
5. There still remains a particular tribe, denominat¬
ed cartilaginei, which, as their name imports, have a
cartilaginous instead of a bony skeleton. I his tribe was
by Linnaeus separated from the rest, on the mistaken
idea, that the individuals which compose it were fur¬
nished both with lungs and gills, and should be ranked
in the class of amphibious animals.
The genera which pertain to the preceding orders are
determined by the number of rays in the branchioste-
gous membrane, the condition of the teeth, the figure
of the body, and of other remarkable parts.
The characters of the species are taken chiefly from
the number of rays in the fins, which differs in the dif¬
ferent species. But, as the precise enumeration of these
rays is sometimes a matter of difficulty, and, as they
are likewise subject to variation, it is necessary to have
recourse to other marks, and to adopt, as subsidiary
characters, the form and situation of particular fins, the
proportion of the head to the body, the condition of
the lateral line, the number of the vertebrae and
ribs, &c.
7 -y
I. APODAL.
The fishes of this order approach very near to the
amphibia, and some of them even resemble the serpent
tribe. They have a smooth slippery skin, which is, in
general, naked, or covered in some species only, with
small, soft, and distant scales. Their body is long and
slender j they have teeth in the jaws, and live in the
sea j but some are found in rivers and standing waters.
They feed on other animals.
Genus I. MuRJENA. Marwiia.
Head smooth j nostrils tubular; eyes covered by the
common integument; gill-membrane ten-rayed j bo¬
dy nearly cylindrical, smooth, and slippery *, dorsal,
caudal, and anal fins united; spiracles behind the
head or pectoral fins.
Roman murcena, or murey. No pectoral fins ; body hekna.
eel-shaped, and variegated j spiracle on each side the
neck.—The colour of this fish is a dusky-greenish
brown, diversified with dull yellow patches, and form¬
ing a kind of obscure net-work. The head is rather
small; the month moderately wide, and the teeth sharp.
The fins are of a dusky colour, with whitish spots.
The murey is capable of living with equal facility in
fresh or salt water, though principally found in the lat¬
ter, especially on the coasts of the Mediterranean. It
attains to a size at least equal, if not superior to the
common eel, which it much resembles in its manners
and voracity. The Romans prized it as an exquisite
luxury, and kept it in appropriate reservoirs.
Snake eel, or sea serpent. Snout lengthened ; tail ophis.
pointed, and finless ; body round. The head of this
species is long and slender, the gape very wide, the
teeth very sharp, and the colour a very pale yellowish
brown above, and bluish white beneath. It is a native
of the Mediterranean and northern seas, where it often
arrives at a very considerable size, and has probably gi¬
ven rise to the marvellous tales of huge sea serpents in
the northern ocean.—The anguilla ophis, or spotted eel
of Shaw, seems to be a distinct species, or else a mark¬
ed variety, being spotted with brown, and chiefly found
in the Indian seas, though sometimes also in the Medi¬
terranean, &c.
Common eel.—The lower jaw longer than the up- anguilla.
per}
Bo
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Apodal
Fishes.
■confer.
perbody olive-brown above, somewhat silvery beneath.
The figure and appearance of this species are too well
known to require a particular description. It is a na¬
tive of almost all the waters of the ancient continent,
frequenting not only rivers but stagnant pools, and oc¬
casionally salt marshes and lakes. In spring it is found
even in the Baltic and other seas. In some places near
the mouths of the Baltic, they are taken in such abund¬
ance that they cannot be used fresh, but are smoked
and salted, and conveyed by waggon-loads into Saxony,
Silesia, &c. We are told that 2000 have been taken
in Jutland at a single sweep of the net, and 60,000 in
the Garonne in one day, by a single net. It is gene¬
rally alleged that the eel cannot bear the water of the
Danube •, and it is rarely found either in that river or
the Wolga, though very common in the lakes and
rivers of Upper Austria. Its ordinary size is from
two to three feet, though it has been known to attain
to the length of six feet, and to weigh fifteen pounds.
Dale and others mention some of uncommon magni¬
tude, but which were probably congers. Though im¬
patient of heat and cold, the eel can live longer out
of the water than any other fish, and is extremely te¬
nacious of life, as its parts will move a considerable
time after it has been skinned, and cut into pieces. It
sometimes quits the water, and wanders about mea¬
dows and moist grounds in quest of particular food, as
snails, worms, &c. It is also said to be fond of new-
sown peas, and to have sometimes taken refuge from
severe frosts in adjoining hay-ricks. Its usual food con¬
sists of water-insects, worms, and the spawn of fishes.
It will also devour almost any decayed animal sub¬
stance. It is viviparous, producing its young about
the end of summer $ though both eggs, and ready-form¬
ed young are occasionally observed in the same indivi¬
dual. Its skin, which is proverbially slippery, from the
large proportion of mucus with which it is furnished,
serves, in some countries, from its toughness and pellu-
cidity, as tackle for carriages, See. and glass for win¬
dows. Though we learn from Athenseus, that the Sy¬
barites exempted from every kind of tribute the vend¬
ers of eels, the Romans seem to have held this fish very
cheap as an article of food. In modern times it is
reckoned highly nutritious, though somewhat difficult
of digestion, and hurtful when taken to excess.
Conger eel.—‘Two tentaeula at the rostrum, the la¬
teral line whitish and dotted. The first of these cha¬
racters is not constant. But the conger may be di¬
stinguished from the common eel by other marks, such
as its darker colour, larger eyes, its shorter lower jaw,
and the greater size to which it usually attains. Speci¬
mens from the Mediterranean have sometimes been
taken of the length of ten feet, and of the weight of
more than a hundred pounds. It is likewise an inha¬
bitant of the northern seas, and of those which surround
some of the American islands. The conger is only an
occasional visitant of fresh water, frequenting the
mouths of rivers in spring. In the mouth of the Se¬
vern incredible quantities of the fry are taken in April,
under the name of elvers. In its full-grown state the
conger is also reckoned a useful article of food in many
parts of Europe. The great quantities that are taken
on the coast of Cornwall are chiefly exported to Spain
and Portugal. Much of their abundant oil is drained
away in the process of drying, the weight being re-
2
Chap. IV
duced nearly eighty per cent. Congers are extremely Apodal
voracious, preying on other fishes, and on various kinds Fishes;
of Crustacea, particularly on the small crabs during
their soft state after they have cast their shell.
Southern mureenci.—No pectoral fins j brown, with echidna,
black variegations j depressed head and very turgid
neck. This species, which inhabits the southern ocean,
has a repulsive appearance, grows to a very consider¬
able size, and affords excellent food.
The siren.—Pectoral fins like hands with four siren.
fingers, gill membrane with three pinnatifid bones.
This is the siren lacertina of former editions of the
System of Nature. It is peculiar to the muddy swamps
of South Carolina, preys on serpents, which it seizes
and holds with its strong and firm teeth. It is some¬
times a foot and a half in length j its heart has but one
ventricle j it has ribs and a bony tail j and is so fragile,
that if cast on the ground, it breaks into three or four
pieces.
The other species are, colubrlna, serpens, myrus, gut¬
tata, cc&ca, catenata, reticulata, africana, •zebra, niele-
agris, and viridis.
Gen. 2. Synbrakchus.
Body eel-shaped ; no pectoral fins $ spiracle single be¬
neath the neck.
Synbran-
okus.
Marbled synbranchus.—Olive-brown, marbled with marmora-
blackish spots $ the body yellow beneath. Native of tus.
the fresh waters of Surinam.
Plain synbranchus.—Of a plain unvariegated brown immacu-
colour. A native of Surinam. latus.
Gen. 3. MoHofTERi/s.
Body eel-shaped j nostrils placed between the eyes j fin
caudal.
Mouop-
(erus.
Javan monopterus.—Livid brown or blackish, with
a very sharp-pointed tail. This fish, which has the^
appearance and habits of a muraena, is a native of the
Indian seas, and very common about the coasts of Java,
where it is considered as an excellent food.
Gymnotas.
Gen. 4. Gymnotus.
Head with lateral opercula 5 two beards or tentacula
on the upper lip j eyes covered by the common in¬
tegument $ gill-membrane five-rayed $ body com¬
pressed, without dorsal fin (in most species), but ca-
rinated by a fin beneath.
Carapo gymnotus.—Brown, with the vent-fin of thocarapo.
length of the attenuated tail, and the upper jaw longer
than the lower. This fish is a native of the American
seas, and is said to be most frequent about the coast of
Surinam. Its ordinary length is from one to two feet.
It is reckoned excellent by the South Americans.
Electrical gymnotus, or cramp-fish.—Without scales electria<i ''
or dorsal fin ; the caudal very obtuse, and joined to the
anal fin. This fish bears a considerable resemblance to
a large eel, though somewhat thicker, and commonly of
an uniform blackish-brown. It was first announced to
the philosophers of Europe on account of its remark¬
able electrical or galvanic properties, in 1677, by M.
Richer, who was commissioned by the French Acade¬
my to make some mathematical observations in Cay¬
enne.
Ihap. IV.
Apodal enne. It would be tedious to recite all the remarks and
Fishes, experiments of succeeding observers, which conspire to
—v prove the voluntary electricity of the gymnotus, which,
however, occasionally exhibits some variations from the
phenomena of common electricity. If a person touches
the animal with one hand, in such a manner as to irri¬
tate it considerably, while the other is held at a small
distance from it in the water, he will experience as
strong a shock as from a charged Leyden phial. The
shock is also readily communicated through a circle of
eight or ten persons at once, the person at one extre¬
mity putting his hand in the water near the fish, while
the other touches the animal. It is by this extraordi¬
nary faculty that the gymnotus supports its existence,
the smaller fishes and other animals which happen to
approach it being instantly stupified, and then falling
an easy prey. It is even capable of depriving those
who approach it in its native waters, of sense and mo¬
tion. It is a native of the warmer regions of Africa
and America, in which last it inhabits the large rivers,
particularly those of Surinam. In Africa, it is said
to occur chiefly in the branches of the Senegal. In
the 65th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, our
readers will find an accurate description of the external
form of the electrical gymnotus, by the late ingenious
Dr Garden, and one equally accurate of its internal
structure by the celebrated Mr John Hunter.
acus> Needle gymnotus. Naked, with finless tail and belly,
the anal fin of sixty rays, terminating before it reaches
the t;p of the tail. The only European species yet
discovered, being a native of the Mediterranean, and
described by Brunnich in his history of the fish of Mar¬
seilles.
To the same genus he\<mg fasciatus, cdbus, alhifrons,
rostratus, notopterus, and asiaticus.
Prichiurus, Gen. 5. TriCHIURUS.
Head stretched forwards, with lateral gill covers j teeth
ensiform, semi-sagittated at the points, the foreteeth
the largest 5 gill-membrane seven-rayed 5 body com¬
pressed and ensiform, with a subulate and finless tail.
8l
which have fore teeth and grinders. Of three speci- Apodal
mens examined by Dr Bloch, one had six rows of grin- Fishes,
ders in the upper jaw, and as many in the lower ; ano- ^
ther had six rows above, and four below j and a third
had five above, and three below. The disposition and
structure of all the teeth are excellently adapted for
breaking and comminuting the crabs, lobsters, scallops,
large whelks, <&c. which this voracious animal grinds
to pieces, and swallows with the shells. When caught,
it fastens on any thing within its reach. Schonfelde
relates, that it will seize on an anchor and leave the
marks of its teeth behind 5 and we are informed by
Steller, that one which he saw taken on the coast of
Kamtschatka, seized with great violence a cutlass with
Which it was attempted to be killed, and broke it in
pieces as if it had been made of glass. The fishermen,
dreading its bite, endeavour as soon as possible to beat
out its fore teeth, and then kill it by striking it on the
head. Its flat and grinding teeth are often found in a
fossil state, and known by the name of bufonites, or
toad-stones, to which many superstitious virtues were
formerly ascribed. The sea wolf grows to a very con¬
siderable size, being frequently four, and sometimes
even seven feet in length. It has small scales and a la¬
teral line, though described by most naturalists as desti¬
tute of both. It commonly frequents the deep parts of
the sea, in the northern regions of the globe, and some
parts of the British coasts, approaching the shores in
spring, to deposit its spawn among the marine plants.
It swims slowly, and with the serpentine motion of the
eel. Owing to its forbidding appearance, it is not ge¬
nerally brought to market; but the fishermen, the
Greenlanders, and the Scotch, find it excellent food.
The latter call it the sea enZ, and take off the head and
skin before dressing it. The strigosus is now generally
admitted to be only a variety of the preceding.
Smaller wolf jish.—With very sharp cartilaginous minor.
teeth. Inhabits the coast of Greenland.
Panther JFYellow, or fulvous, spotted vixthpanthcri-
brown. In other particulars it agrees with the com-nus.
mon species. Native of the northern seas.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
epturus. Silvery irichiurus, or gymnogaster.—The lower jaw
longer than the upper. This fish is distinguished by
the singularity of its shape, and the silver brilliancy of
its colour. It is from two to three feet long, very vo¬
racious, and a rapid swimmer. In the pursuit of its
prey, it sometimes leaps into small vessels which happen
to be sailing by. It frequents the rivers and larger
lakes of South America, and is also said to occur in
some parts of India and China.
ndicus. Indian or electrical trichiurus.—Jaws of equal length.
Inhabits the Indian seas, and is said to possess a degree
of electrical power.
narebi-
tas.
pus.
Gen. 6. Anarchicas.
Head somewhat obtuse; fore teeth both above and be¬
low, conical, diverging, strong ; six or more grin¬
ders in the under jaw, and palate rounded ; gill-
membrane six-rayed, body roundish, caudal fin dis¬
tinct.
Wolf fish, sea wolf, or ravenous ivolfifish.—Of a
blackish gray colour, the sides, anal and caudal fins,
and abdomen lighter. This is one of the few fishes
Vol. XL Part I. f
Gen. 7. Odontognathus. Odonlogna-
u , • thus.
Mouth furnished with a strong moveable lamina or
process on each side of the upper jaw ; gill-membrane
five-rayed.
Aculeatedodontognathus.-—A.\)^omeoo,c\x\e^tei[. Na.- aculeatus.
tive of the American seas, and common about the
coasts of Cayenne, where it ranks among the edible
fishes.
Gen. 8. Triurus. tHui-us.
Snout cylindrical; one tooth in each jaw'; dorsal and
anal sin extended beyond the tail. ^
Commersoman triple-tail.-*—be branchial orifice clo- comtner-
sed at pleasure by a valve. In general appearance and so/z/V.
size it resembles a herring. It is distinguished from the
whole class of fishes by the circumstance noted in the
specific character. Native of the Indian seas.
Gen. 9. AmModytes. Ammo-
Head compressed, narrower than the body ; upper lipd> teS’
doubled, the lower jaw narrow, and pointed ; teeth
L smalf
82
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Chap. IV.
Apodal small and sharp •, gill-memhrane seven-rayed-, body
Fishes. long* roundish, with very small scales j tail distinct.
tobianus. Sand hwncc, or sand ea’.—The lower jaw longer
than the upper. A native of the northern parts of Eu¬
rope, commonly frequenting the coasts, and lying im¬
bedded in the sand, in the summer months, at the depth
of half a foot, or a foot, with its body rolled into a spi¬
ral form. In this situation it is tah.en at the recess of
the tide, either for bait by the fishermen, or as an arti-
cle of food, being regarded as a delicacy. It lives on
worms and small fishes, not even excepting its own spe¬
cies ; and it is itself preyed on hy the porpoise, and
larger fishes, particularly by the mackerel. Most ot
the older ichthyologists have erroneously represented it
as destitute of scales, and Klein has improperly divided
it into two species.
Ophidium. Gen. 10. OpHIDIUM.
Head somewhat naked j teeth in the jaws, palate, and
fauces j gill-membrane seven-rayed, patulous 5 body
sword shaped.
barbatum. Bearded ophidium.—Four cirrhi on the lower jaw.
This species, which- is frequent in the Mediterranean
and lied seas, grows to ten or twelve inches long, is of
a silvery hue, with a shade of pink, and maiked with
irregular linear spots; its skin is covered with soft ob*-
long scales, adhering at their anterior edge. Accord¬
ing to Belon, the Ilomans prized its flesh, which is
white, but rather coarse.
imberbe. Beardless ophidium.—Jaws beardless ; tail rather ob-
tqse j in other respects, mueb allied to the former. In¬
habits the Mediterranean, and has also been taken near
Weymenth.
Viride, aeulealmn, and mastacembalus, the other spe¬
cies, are but imperfectly known.
Stroniateus. Gen. II. STjROMATEUS.
Head compressed; teeth in the jaws and palate; body
oval, broad, and slippery ; tail bifid.
fiatola. Striped strofnateus.—Marked with transverse undu¬
lated bands. This species, which is beautifully variega¬
ted, inhabits the Mediterranean and lied sea, and is
known to the modern Romans by its specific appella-
paru.
cinereus.
argentcus.
niger.
tion.
Bam stromateus.—Gold-coloured back, and silvery
abdomen. General size, that of a turbot. Much es¬
teemed as a food. Native of South America and iran-
quebar. The cumarca of Gmelin’s Linnaeus seems to
he only a variety of this.
Ash-coloured stromateus.—Tail forked, the lower
lobe longer than the upper. Native of the Indian seas,
and served at ta^le, as a dainty, under the name of
pampel.
Silver stromateus.—With the lobes of the tail equal.
Nearly allied to the preceding, a native of the same
seas, and equally esteemed as an article of food.
Black stromateus.—Entirely of a blackish colour.
This also frequents the Indian seas; but is seldom pre¬
pared for the table, on account of its colour and the
circumstance of its feeding on wood-lice, which are
sometimes found in its mouth.
5
Gen. 12. XlFHIAS.
Apodal
Fislies.
Head with the upper jaw terminating in a sword-shaped '
spout; mouth without teeth; gill-membrane eight-"lias’
rayed ; body roundish, and scaleless.
Common or Sicilian sword-fish.—The dorsal fin ni-glcduis.
tenuated at the hind part. The body of the sword-fish
is long, round, and gradually tapers towards the tail ;
the head is fbttish, and the mouth wide, both jaws ter¬
minating in a point, but the upper stretched to a great
distance beyond the lower, forming what is commonly
called the sword, by which it pierces and kills the
smaller kinds of fishes. It sometimes measures twenty
feet in length, and is of an active and ravenous dispo¬
sition. The method of taking it, described by Strabo-,
exactly agrees with the modern practice. A man as¬
cends one of the cl id’s that overhang the sea, and as
soon as he spies the fish, gives notice by voice or sig¬
nal of the course it takes. Another person in a boat
climbs up the mast, and on seeing the fish, directs the
rowers to it. The moment that he thinks they have got
within reach, he descends and taking his spear in his
hand, strikes into the fish, which, after wearying itself
with its agitations, is seized and dragged into the boat.
Its flesh is much esteemed by the Sicilians, who cut it
in pieces and salt it. The pieces from the belly and
tail are most esteemed, and the salted fins are sold
under the name of callo. The sword-fish is frequently
found in the Mediterranean, especially on the coasts of
Sicily, where the male and female usually appear iu
pairs. It also occasionally occurs in the northern seas,
and sometimes in the Pacific ocean ; but Adlan errone¬
ously asserts that it is at the same time a flesh-water
fish, and an inhabitant of the Danube.
Broad-finned sword fish.—Distinguished from the/^tyP^*
preceding by a very broad back fin, and very long^5,
sharp-pointed thoracic appendages. Found not only in
the Brasilian and East Indian seas, but also in the
Northern ocean. It is said to have frequent combats
with whales. The bottom of an East Indiaman was
pierced by a fish of this species, in such a manner, that
the sword was driven through almost to its base, and
the animal killed by the violence of the effort. The
wood, together with the sword imbedded in it, is now
in the British Museum. When this species does not
exceed four feet, it is considered as an eatable fish ;
but it is found of the length of twenty feet, and some¬
times even much longer.
Short-snouted sword-fish.—Blackish ; with snout 0{fnax(nra,
middling length, and two bony tubercles on each side
of the tail. Resembles the common sword-fish, except
that the snout is much shorter and thicker.
Gen. 13. Sternoptyx. Sternopt)X.
Head obtuse ; mouth turning up ; teeth very small; no
gill-membrane ; body compressed, without visible
scales ; breast carinated, and folded both ways ; ab¬
domen pellucid.
Transparent sternoptyx.—Silvery; with carinateddiaphana,
breast, and pellucid abdomen ; two or three inches long,
broad, and compressed, the back rising into a sharp
edge, and the abdomen terminating in a carina. Na¬
tive of the American seas.
Gen. 14.
Chap. IV.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Gan. 14. Leptocephalus.
83
Apodal
1 Fishes.
'—v—' Head narrow ; body very thin and compressed $ no
Lcpioce- pectoral fins.
phalus. r
morrisiL Morris launcey or Anglesea morris.—First discovered
on the coast of Anglesea by Mr Morris, and described
by Pennant under bis name. Four inches in length j
the head very small ; the body extremely thin, and
almost transparent.
Stylepho-
Gen. 15. Stylephorus.
Eyes pedunculated, standing on a short thick cylinder j
snout lengthened, directed upwards, retractile to¬
wards the head by means of a membrane 5 mouth
without teeth ; gills three pair beneath the throat ;
pectoral fins small j dorsal the length of the back $
caudal short, with spiny rays ; body very long, com¬
pressed.
chordatus Chordatecl stylephorus.—Silvery, with an extreme¬
ly long caudal thread. We shall here transcribe Dr
Shaw’s description of this very extraordinary species.
“ The rostrum or narrow part which is terminated
by the mouth, is connected to the back part ot the
head by a flexible leathery duplicature, which permits
it to be either extended in such a manner that the
mouth points directly upwards, or to fall back, so as
to be received into a sort of case formed by the upper
part of the head. On the top of the head are placed
the eyes, which are of a form very nearly approaching
to those of the genus cancer, except that the columns
or parts on which each eye is placed, are much broader
or thicker than in that genus 5 they are also placed close
to each other, and the outward surface of the eyes when
magnified, does not show the least appearance of a re¬
ticulated structure. The colour of the eyes, as well as
of the columns on which they stand, is a clear chesnut
brown, with a sort of coppery gloss. Below the head,
on each side, is a considerable compressed semicircular
space, the fore part of which is bounded by the cover¬
ing of the gills, which covering seems to consist ol a
single membrane of a moderately strong nature. Be¬
neath this, on each side, are three small pair ol bran-
ehiEe. The body is extremely long, and compressed
very much, and gradually diminishes as it approaches
the tail, which terminates in a string or process of an
enormous length, and finishes in a very fine point.
This string, or caudal process, seems to be strengthened
throughout its whole length, or at least as far as the
eye can trace it, by a sort of double fibre or internal
part. The pectoral fins are very small, and situated
almost immediately behind the cavity on each side the
thorax. The dorsal fin, which is of a thin and soft
nature, runs from the head to within about an inch of
the tail, when it seems suddenly to terminate, and a
bare space is left of about a quarter of an inch. I am,
however, not altogether without my doubts whether it
might not, in the living animal, have run on quite to
the tail, and whether the specimen might not have re¬
ceived some injury in that part. From this place com¬
mences a smaller fin which constitutes part ot the cau¬
dal one. The caudal fin itself is furnished with five re¬
markable spines, the roots or originations of which may
he traced to some depth in the thin part of the tail.
Calh'ony-
mus.
The general colour of this fish is a rich silver, except Jugular
on the flexible part belonging to the rostrum, which is
of a deep brown, the fins and caudal processes are also 1 1
brown, but not so deep as the part just mentioned.
There is no appearance of scales on this fish. Irom
the very singular figure and situation of the, eyes, I
have given it the generic name of stylephorus, and as
the trivial name cannot be taken from any circumstance
more properly than from the extraordinary thread-like
process of the tail, I have applied to it the title of chor¬
datus. It is a native of the West Indian seas, and was
taken between Cuba and Martinico, near a small clus¬
ter of little islands about nine leagues from shore, where
it was observed near the surface. The whole length of
this uncommon animal, from the head to the extremity
of the caudal process, is about 32 inches, of which the
process itself measures 22.”
II. JUGULAR.
The fishes of this order have their ventral fins si¬
tuated before the pectoral fins, and, as it were, under
the throat. They are mostly inhabitants of the sea.
Their body is sometimes covered with scales, and
sometimes not. With a very few exceptions, they
have spines in the dorsal and anal fins j and their
gills have bony rays.
Gen. 1. Callionymus.
The upper lip doubled; eyes near each other; the
gill-membrane six-rayed ; two breathing apertures
in the hind part of the head ; opercula close ; body
scaleless; ventral fins very distant.
Gemmeous dragonet.—The first ray of the first dorsal [yra,
fin as long as the body. In this beautiful species, the
pupils of the eyes are of a rich sapphire, the irides of a
fine flame colour; the pectoral fins light brown, and
the body yellow, blue, and white. “ The blue,” says
Mr Pennant, “ is of an inexpressible splendour ; the
richest ccerulean, glowing with a gemmeous brilliancy;
the throat black.” Dr Tyson has described it, in the
24th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, under
the improper appellation of the yellow gurnard. It
grows to the length of 10 or 12 inches; the body is
slender, round, and smooth ; and the membranes of all
the fins extremely thin and delicate. It is found as far
north as Norway and Spitzbergen, and as far south as
the Mediterranean, and is not unfrequent on the Scar¬
borough coasts, where it is taken by the hook in 30 or
40 fathoms water. It is often found in the stomach
of the cod fish. Its flesh is white and well flavoured.
Ilondelet compares it to that of the gudgeon. Pont-
oppidan, who never saw it, asserts, with his usual cre¬
dulity, that it can fly in the air to the distance of se¬
veral musket shot.
Sordid dragonet.—The rays of the first dorsal fin dracuncu-
shorter than the body. In most other respects it agrees
with the preceding.
This genus likewise comprises indicus, baikalensis,
ocellatus, sagitta, ?ix\A japanicus.
Gen. 2. UranoSCOFUS. Uranosco-
Head depressed, rough and large ; mouth turned up ;pus*
the upper jaw shortest; gill-membrane papillary and
L 2 dentated;
84 I C H T H Y
Ju«ular dentated ; with six rays, gill-covers membranaceous
I'ishc?. anil ciliated ; anus in the middle of the body.
scaber. Bearded star-gazer.—Back smooth j usual length
about 12. inches. The head is large, squarish, and co¬
vered with a bony case. The mouth is wide, and opens
in an almost vertical direction. The eyes are situated
very near each other on the top of the head. A long
cirrhus or beard extends beyond the lips, which are
themselves edged with smaller ones ; frequenting shal¬
lows near the shores ; it lies concealed in the mud, ex¬
posing only the tip of the head, and waving its beards
in various directions, and thus decoying the smaller
fishes and marine insects, which mistake these organs
for worms. It is said to sleep during the day. Is found
chiefly in the Mediterranean. Its flesh is white, but
tough, coarse, and meagre.
japonicus. Japanese star-gazer.— Back rough, with a series of
spinous scales. Body roundish ; yellow above $ white
underneath. Native of the coasts of Amboyna.
Traeliinus. Gen. 3. TrachiVUS.
Head slightly rough, compressed 5 gill-membrane six-
rayed ; inferior plate of the gill-covers serrated $
vent near the breast.
draco. Dragon weever. Somewhat silvery hue, with trans¬
verse yellowish streaks; the first dorsal fin black, and
five-rayed : of a lengthened shape, much compressed,
and covered with small deciduous scales. The mouth
and eyes, in respect of position, resemble those of the
star-gazer. The usual length of this fish is from 10 to
12 inches. It frequently imbeds itself in the sand, and
if trodden on, endeavours to wound the aggressor with
the spines of its first dorsal fin. The punctures are
very troublesome and painful, though it does not ap¬
pear that the spines contain any poisonous matter. It
feeds principally on marine insects, worms, and small
fishes, and is very tenacious of life, being capable of
existing many hours out of the water. From this cir¬
cumstance the French call it vive and vwert which we
have corrupted into weever. It frequents not only the
Mediterranean, but the northern seas, and is found
abundantly on the coasts of Holland and East Friez-
land. Its flesh is well flavoured, easy of digestion, and
highly esteemed by the Hutch. The greater weever,
described by Pennant, hardly deserves to be considered
as a distinct species.
osbeckii. Osbeckian weever. White, spotted with black; both
jaws of equal length. Native of the Atlantic ; found
about the isle of Ascension, &c. and described by Os-
beck in his voyage to China.
Gadus. Gen. 4. Gadus.
Head smooth ; gill-membrane with seven round rays;
body oblong, with deciduous scales ; fins covered
with a common skin ; more dorsal and anal fins
than one ; the rays not prickly ; the pectoral fins
attenuated to a point.
* With three dorsalJins, cirrhi at Vie mouth.
xplefinus. Haddock. Whitish ; the tail bilobated, the upper
jaw the longest. Another distinguishing character may
he deduced from the large black spot on each side
O L O G Y. Ghap. IV.
above the pectoral fins. Superstition assigns this mark jucnitai
to the impression which St Peter left with his finger Fishes.
and thumb, when he took the tribute out of the mouth ' J
ol a fish of this species, and which has. been continued
to the whole race. The haddock is usually of a mo¬
derate size, measuring about 18 inches or two feet in
length, and the best for the table weighing from two
to four pounds. It is found in the northern seas in
prodigious shoals, visiting particular coasts at stated
seasons, and for the most part attended by immense
quantities of dog-fish, which, with seals, and other in¬
habitants of the ocean, are its constant devourers. Its
food consists of small fishes, worms, crabs, and sea in¬
sects, and it fattens on herrings. In January, it depo¬
sits its spawn on the fuci near the shore, and is out of
season till May. Its flesh is white, firm, delicate, and
easy of digestion.
Doise. Varied, with an even tail, and upper jaw collariast
longest. Somewhat smaller than the haddock, seldom
exceeding the weight of two pounds. Its colour is
subject to vary with age and seasons. It inhabits the
northern seas, the Baltic, and the Mediterranean. Otto
Fabricius found in its stomach the sea-scorpion, sand-
eel, crabs, and different species of sea-worms. It spawns
in January and February, i& taken both by the line
and net, and is reckoned delicate eating.
Common cod.—Tail nearly equal, the first ray of the morJ.ua
anal fin armed with a spine. This well-known and im¬
portant species, which yields food and wealth to large
districts of country, is found in immense shoals. It
measures from two to three feet long, is of a cinereous
colour with yellowish spots above and white below,
and has larger scales than the other species of this
genus. The young are sometimes reddish, with orange-
coloured spots. It feeds on sopite, crabs, and fishes, not
even sparing its own species, catching at any small body
it perceives moved by the water, and throwing up
what it does not digest. Its range of climate lies prin¬
cipally between the latitudes 50° and 66°. The great
rendezvous of cod is on the banks of Newfoundland,
and the other sand-banks that lie off the coasts of Cape
Breton, Nova Scotia, and New England. This fish
likewise abounds off the Hebrides, Ireland, the coast of
Holland, &c. and is generally fattest and most numer¬
ous where the greatest sea runs. In our seas they be¬
gin to spawn in January; though some continue in
roe till the beginning of April. As they recover sooner
after spawning than most other fish, it is customary
to take some good ones all the summer. When out of
season they are thin-tailed and lousy ; and the lice
chiefly fix themselves on the inside of their mouths.
Those most esteemed for the table are of a middling
size, and are chosen by their plumpness and roundness,
especially near the tail, by the depth of the furrow
behind the head, and by the regular undulated appear¬
ance of the sides, as if they were ribbed. The glutin¬
ous parts about the head lose their delicate flavour after
it has been four-and-twenty hours out of the water.
The fish itself d ies on being removed from salt-water,
or put into fresh. The fishermen are well acquainted
with the use of the air-bladder, and dexterously perfo¬
rate the living fish with a needle, in order to let out the
air ; for without this operation the fish could not be
kept under water in the well-boats, and brought fresh
to market. The sounds, when salted, are reckoned a
delicacy5
Chap.
Jugular
t Fishes,
utcus-
IV. I e H T H Y
delicacy, and are often brought in this state from New¬
foundland. The Icelanders prepare from this part of
the fish a species of isinglass. Pennant makes men¬
tion of a cod taken at Scarborough in 1755, which was
five feet eight inches in length, and weighed 78
pounds. But. the general weight of these fish in the
Yorkshire seas is from 14 to 40 pounds.
Bib.—-The first ray of the ventral fin setaceous j
about a foot longj body deep, and sides compressed;
eyes covered with a loose membrane, so as to be blown
up at the pleasure of the animal. The mouth is small,
and under the chin is a cirrhus about an inch long.
Native of the European seas, and prized as an article
of food.
-xirbatus. Whiting pout.—Seven punctures on each side of. the
lower jaw. Much deeper in proportion to its length
than any of the genus, rarely exceeding a foot in
length ; and one of that size being nearly four inches
in the broadest part. Inhabits the Mediterranean and
northern seas ; burrows in the sand, and feeds on the
blenny, salmon, and even young crabs. Its flesh is
white and delicate, but somewhat dry.
Poor.—Vent in the middle of the body. Little
more than six inches long,; a small beard on the chin,
and the eyes covered with a loose membrane. The
abdomen is lined with a black peritonseum. The poor
is supposed to feed chiefly on worms and insects, or on
the young and soft testaceous animals. It occurs in the
Baltic and Mediterranean, and in some parts of the
northern seas. It is reckoned a wholesome food, but is
not fit for being salted or dried.
Blennoidgadus.—With didactyle ventral fins. Has
the habit of a whiting, and frequents the Mediterra-
ninutus.
dennidi
mda.
wrens.
ncrlan-
?us.
Saida gadus.—Bluish, with brown back, white abdo¬
men, and the second ray of the ventral fins terminating
in a long bristle. Length about eight inches. Eatable,
but dry and juiceless. A native of the White sea.
** Three dorsal Jins, and no cirrhi.
Green gadus.— Greenish back and forked tail. Near¬
ly resembles the pollack. Abounds in the northern
seas. v
Whiting.—White ; the upper jaw longest. Usual
length about ten or twelve inches, and the largest sel¬
dom exceeding twenty. Specimens from four to eight
pounds in weight have been taken in the deep water at
the edge of the Dogger bank. It is a fish of an ele¬
gant make ; the body rather long, and covered with
small round silvery scales , the head and back are of a
pale brown, and the sides are slightly streaked with yel¬
low. Though found in the Baltic, it is much more
numerous in the north seas, and appears in shoals on
the coasts of Holland, France, and England, during
the spring, keeping at the distance of from half a mile
to three miles from the shore. The whiting feeds on
small crabs, worms, and young fishes, and is particular¬
ly fond of sprats and young herrings, with which the
fishermen generally bait for it, and in default of them,
with pieces of fresh herring. This species begins to
spawn at the end of the year, and continues to the be¬
ginning of February, its flesh is white, tender, and
delicate ; but insipid when the fish is out of season.
The chief time of the whiting fishery in France is in
~V~- 
earhona-
O L O G Y. 85
January and February, though in England and Holland Jugular
it is practised at a much later period. Fishes.
Coal-fish.—The under jaw longest, the lateral line
straight. When full grown, this species will frequent¬
ly measure two feet and a half in length, and four or rius%
five inches in breadth, and is distinguished from its
congeners by its very dark or black colour, though
the young are brown or olive. It is of an elegant
tapering shape, with a pretty large and forked tail.
It inhabits the Baltic, the northern, and Mediterranean
seas, and swarms round our rocky and deep coasts, par¬
ticularly those of Scotland and the Orkneys, affording
by its fry, subsistence to numbers of the poor. In its
full grown state it is coarse food.
Pollack.—The under jaw longest, the lateral Wne pollachms*
curved. This species is broad, and of a brown colour;
feeds chiefly on small fishes, especially launces ; and
seldom grows to a very large size, though some have
been taken at Scarborough which weighed nearly 28
pounds. It is found in the Baltic and northern sea,
and is very common on many of our rocky coasts.
During summer it is seen frolicking on the surface of
the water, and will bite at any thing that appears on
the top of the waves. It is reckoned a good eating
fish.
* » #
With two dorsal f ns.
Hake.—Beardless ; the under jaw longest. Consider- merlucci-
ably lengthened, measuring from one to two feet; the J/iy-
body pale ash-colour on the backhand whitish on the
sides and abdomen. This fish, which is very voraci¬
ous, frequents the Mediterranean and northern seas.
Its flesh is eatable and flaky, but little esteemed. It is
salted and dried as food , for the lower orders of people.
One of the most considerable hake-fisheries is carried
on about the coasts of Brittany, both by the hook and
net. It is practised chiefly by night. The baits prin¬
cipally used are launces, sardines, and other small fishes.
Ling.—Bearded; the upper jaw longest. Long and molva.
slender ; the sides and back sometimes of an olive hue,
and sometimes cinereous; abdomen and ventral fins
white, and the tail marked near the end with a trans¬
verse black bar, and tipped with white. Its ordinary
length is from three to four feet, but it will sometimes
grow to seven. It is an inhabitant of the northern
seas, chiefly frequenting deep water, living on small
fishes, shrimps, &c. ; and depositing its spawn in June,
among the fuel in oozy bottoms. In the Yorkshire
seas, it is in perfection from the beginning of February'
to the beginning of May, during which season the liver
is very white, and abounds with a fine flavoured oil.
In many places ling is salted both for exportation and
home consumption. An excellent isinglass is prepared
from its sound.
Leveriangadus.—Somewhat cinereous, with ocellated leverian-
whitish spots. Supposed to be a native of the Southern
ocean.
Whitish gadus-—Bearded; ventral fins didactyle and albidus.
elongated. Inhabits the Mediterranean.
Toad gadus.—-Bearded; gill-covers with three spines; tau.
the first dorsal fin with three rays. Native of the Ame¬
rican and Indian seas.
Burbat.—Bearded ; the jaws of equal length. Body
much lengthened, somewhat cylindrical, of a brownish-
yellow
86
Jugular
Fishes.
71111$ telu.
eimbrhis.
mediter-
i'(incus.
brosme.
Blcnnius.
gabi'ita.
cristalus.
cornutus.
oce Haris,
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Chap; IV.
yellow colour, and white below; but the shades vary at
different seasons, and in different individuals. It is a
fresh-water fish, affecting clear lakes and rivers ; feed¬
ing voraciously on all the smaller fishes, as well as on
frogs, worms, and aquatic insects ; spawning in the
finest season of the year, and rapidly attaining to full
growth. The largest which are taken in England rare¬
ly exceed the weight of three pounds ; but in some
parts of Europe they are found of more than double
that weight, and of the length of three feet and more.
They occur in great plenty and perfection in the lake
of Geneva, and are by no means rare in many places
in Europe, Siberia, and India. In England it frequents
the lakes of the northern counties, some of the Lin¬
colnshire fens, and the rivers YVitham and Trent. Its
flesh is white, delicate, and easy of digestion ; and its
liver, when in season, is reputed a peculiar dainty. Al-
drovandus makes mention of an old German countess
who expended the greatest part of her income in the
purchase of this dish. According to Bloch the burbat
fishery once proved so productive in the Oder, that the
fattest were cut into narrow thongs, which were dried,
and used as matches.
JFeasel gad us,Ji ve- bearded cod,ox whistle-fish.—Five
cirrhi ; the first dorsal fin incomplete. Grows to near¬
ly 19 inches ; feeds on the testaceous and crustaceous
marine animals ; deposits its spawn in autumn ; is co¬
vered with mucus and very thin scales ; and is of a
brownish yellow colour, with black spots, and white be¬
low. The tricirratus and the rusticus are only varieties
of this species.
Cimbrian gadus.—Four cirrhi; first dorsal fin in¬
complete, with the first ray hastated. Nearly allied to
the preceding. Native of the Atlantic and northern
seas.
brown broad dorsal fin, marked by a black ocellated Jugular
spot. Length about six or eight inches. Inhabits the Fishes.
Mediterranean, among the rocks and sea-plants near J
the shore. Its flesh is meagre and not much esteemed.
Fasciated blenny.—Two simple cirrhi between thefasciatus.
eyes ; the vent fin with 19 rays. Native of the Indian
seas.
Salient blenny.—Brown, streaked with black, with a salicns.
simple cirrhus on the head, and very large pectoral fins.
Observed by Commerson about some of the southern
islands, particularly those of New Britain. It was seen
swimming by hundreds ; and, as it were, flying over the
surface of the water, occasionally springing up and down
with great rapidity among the rocks.
Gattorugine.—Small palmated fins on the oyohrovisgattorvgi-
and nape. Inhabits the Mediterranean and Atlantic ;
and is reckoned eatable.
Supercilious blenny palmated superciliary super cilia-
cirrhi, the lateral line curved. Grows to the length ofsws.
about twelve inches; is viviparous; and inhabits the
Indian seas.
Tentaculated blenny.—A simple cirrhus over the eyes, tentacula-
and a large ocellated spot on the back fin. Nearly al- iis.
lied to the horned species ; and is found in the Medi¬
terranean.
Simons blenny.—With a very small cirrhus over the simus.
eyes ; dorsal fin united behind to the caudal fin, and
crooked lateral line. Length about three inches and
a half. Described by Swief, from a specimen in the
museum of the Petersburgh Academy.
Hake blennyy or forked hake.—Nostrils somewhat phycis.
crested, a cirrhus on the upper lip, and two dorsal fins.
Grows to be eighteen inches long; inhabits the Medi¬
terranean, and occurs on the coast of Cornwall. Im¬
properly classed by Pennant among the gadi.
**** With one dorsal fin.
Mediterranean gadus.—Two cirrhi on the upper lip,
and one on the lower. Native of the Mediterranean.
Considered by La Cepede as a blenmus.
Torsky or tusk.—Mouth bearded ; tail oval and acute.
About twenty inches in length ; colour of the head
dusky, of the back and sides yellow, of the belly white.
Inhabits the northern seas, about the Shetland islands,
and is not observed lower than the Orkneys. Both
barrelled and dried, it forms a considerable article of
commerce.
Gen. 5. BLENNIUS.
Head sloping, and covered with scales ; gill-membrane
six-rayed; body lanceolate; ventral fins with two
spineless processes, the anal fin detached.
* With crested head.
Crestedblenny.—Crest transverse, and skinny. Length
about four or five inches ; body long, compressed, and
slippery. The crest erected or depressed at pleasure.
Inhabits the European seas, and is sometimes found
about the rocky coasts of Great Britain.
Funarn.—Longitudinal setaceous crest between the
eyes. Native of the Indian seas.
Horned blenny.—Simple ray between the eyes; and
single dorsal fin. Inhabits the Indian seas.
Ocslluted blenny.—Blueish-green ; subfasciated with
** Head plain, or crestless.
Trifurcated blenny, or trifurcated hake.—Brown tr if urea-
with white lips, and three-rayed open ventral fins. ius.
Much allied io gadus tau ; was first discovered by Mr
Davies near Beaumaris, and described by Mr Pennant
as a gadus.
Functulated blenny.—Whitish, scaly, with irregularjPttwcfw/a-
brown points, and elongated ventral fins. Head large ; tus.
size about five inches. Described from a specimen in
the Paris Museum.
Smooth blenny.—The lateral line curved, and soh- pholis.
bifid. This species, which frequents the northern and
Mediterranean seas, lying among stones and sea-weed,
and occasionally entering the mouths of rivers, will
grow to the length of seven or eight inches, but is usual¬
ly much smaller. It bites fiercelv, when first taken,
and is so tenacious of life, that it may be kept 24 hours
out of water. It feeds on smaller fishes and their spawn,
as well as on shell-fish, sea-insects, &c. It is smooth,
and covered with mucus. Being a coarse fish, it is
principally used as a bait.
Foscian blenny.—Olivaceous, with brown and whitish boscianus.
clouds ; vent in the middle of the body. Very much
allied to the preceding. Native of the American seas,
and very common in the bay of Charlestown. It has
its name from M. Bose, by whom it was discovered.
Gunnel, spotted blenny, or butter fs/i.—The dorsal gemellus.
fin marked with ten ocellated black spots. About
nine or ten inches in length; head small, body com¬
pressed,
ao. IV.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
87
"horacic pressed, and the colour of the body yellow brown,
■ lsl,es* clouded and freckled with deeper specks. This species
inhabits the Baltic, Mediterranean, and northern seas.
Though coarse, it is often dried and eaten by the
Greenlanders. The number of spots on the back fin
. varies from nine to twelve.
rustelans jpcasel blenny.—The anterior dorsal fin three-rayed.
Native of the Indian seas.
Wiparus. Viviparous blenny.—Two tentacula at the mouth. Is
sometimes found of the length of a foot, or even of 15
indies. Of a somewhat slender form, with a smooth
slippery skin, covered with small scales of a yellowish
olive colour, paler beneath, and marked on the upper
parts by several moderately large dusky spots, forming
a kind of bars on the dorsal fin and over the back.
The ravs of all the fins are soft. This species is a lit¬
toral fish, frequenting the coasts of the Mediterranean,
Baltic, and northern seas; sometimes entering the mouths
of rivers, and feeding like its congeners on the smaller
fishes, insects, &c. Its ova are hatched internally, and
the young acquire their perfect form before the time of
their birth. Not less than two or even three hundred
of these have been sometimes observed in a single fish.
When the latter is advanced in its pregnancy, it is
scarcely possible to touch the abdomen without causing
the immediate exclusion of some of the young, which
are immediately capable of swimming with great viva¬
city. It probably breeds more than once in the course
of the year ; at least naturalists have assigned different
seasons to the production of its young. Its flesh is
white and fat; but a prejudice has been entertained
against it, because the bones, like those of the gar-fish,
become green by boiling. According to the observa¬
tion of Linnaeus, they are also phosphorescent in the
I ' dark.
wipenus. Areolated blenny.—Yellowish, with subcylindric bo¬
dy, marked on the back by brown patches. Inhabits
the deep sandy shores of the Mediterranean, and con¬
ceals itself among fuci, stones, &c. Sometimes grows
] . to 10 or 12 inches.
wnmus. JVr0g blenny.—Brown, with obscurely six-cleft ven¬
tral fins, and gular cirrhus. Native of the northern
seas and of the Swedish lakes ; in habit resembling the
gadus tail. Is not eatable, and is said to frighten away
jf . other fish.
muccmi- Murcenoid blenny.—Gill-membrane three-rayed ;
ventral fins one-rayed, with very minute spines. Body
compressed, sword-shaped, smooth, and without visible
scales. Described by Swief from a specimen in the
Museum of the Petersburgh academy.
4s.
luitus.
\dicus.
Gen. 6. Kurtus.
Body carinated above and below, back elevated, gill-
membrane two-rayed.
Indian kurtns.—Silvery, with gold-coloured back.
Inhabits the Indian seas. Length, including the tail,
about ten inches, and the greatest breadth somewhat
more than four inches. Feeds on shell-fish, small
crabs, &c.
III. THORACIC.
The fishes of this order have the ventral fins at the
breast, or nearly under the pectoral fins. They are
generally voracious, preying on other fishes ; they are Thoracic
mostly inhabitants of the sea ; and their skins, with a Fishes,
few exceptions, are furnished with scales. None of v~—^
them are viviparous.
Gen. I. CiEPOLA. Ctepola.
Head roundish and compressed ; mouth turning up, a
single row of curved teeth ; gill-membrane six-ray¬
ed ; body sword-shaped and scaleless; the abdomen
scarcely so long as the head.
Common band fish, ribband-Jish, or tape-fish.—Can- tcenia.
dal fin attenuated, head very obtuse. Very thin, and
almost transparent, so that its vertebrae are visible.
Grows to the length of four or five feet. It swims
with rapidity, and haunts the muddy or weedy shores
of the Mediterranean. Scarcely eatable, having little
or no flesh.
Rubescent band-fish.—Caudal fin attenuated, fswsrubescetis.
pointed. A rare species, and not very distinctly de¬
scribed by authors. It is said to inhabit the Mediter¬
ranean.
The other species are trachyptera and hsrmaniana.
Gen. 2. Gymnetrus. Gymnetrus.
Body very long and compressed ; teeth numerous and
subulate ; gill-membrane four or five-rayed ; anal fin
wanting.
Ascanian gymnetrus.—Silvery, speckled longitudi-ascanii.
nally with brown points, and with the ventral cirrhi di¬
lated at the tips. This singular fish, which is but im¬
perfectly described in the leones Rerum Naturaliwn of
Professor Ascanius, is distinguished by the peculiar con¬
formation of its ventral fins, which have more the ap¬
pearance of long single rays or processes terminated by
a small ovate and expanded tip. It is said either to
precede or accompany the shoals of herrings in the nor¬
thern seas, and is popularly denominated kins; of the
herrings. That described by Dr Shaw from a draw¬
ing and notes in the possession of Dr Russel, is perhaps
either a variety or sexual difference of the ascanian.
Haivkinsian or Blochiangymnetrus—Bluish,silvery, hawkenii.
with oblique, linear, brown bands, and rounded spots,
red fins, and four long ventral processes. Described by
Dr Bloch, from a drawing communicated by J. Haw¬
kins, Esq. In general appearance, much allied to the
other kinds of gymnetrus; from which, however, it is
readily distinguished by its two pair of ventral pro¬
cesses with their finny extremities, and large distant
round spots on the hotly. A native of the Indian seas.
A specimen was thrown on the coast of Cornwall in
February 1798.
Cepedian gymnetrus.—Described by La C6pede,/awcf0/a.
from a coloured Chinese drawing, therefore very im- ius
perfectly known.
Gen. 3. Vandellius.
Vandellms,
Body very long and sword-shaped ; gill-membrane five
or six-rayed; teeth subulate, and those in front lar¬
gest.
Lusitanian vandel.—Silvery, with forked tail. Oc- lusitani-
curs, though very rarely, in the Mediterranean and cus^
Atlantic seas. It has been sometimes taken near Lis-
' bon.
88 I C H T H Y
Thoracic bon. Dr Vandelli considers it as nearly related to the
Fishes, genus trichiuvus. There is in the British Museum a
dried specimen, which is four feet eight inches in length,
the breadth three inches and a half, and the thickness
very slight in proportion.
Echeneis. Gen. ‘4. EcHENEIS.
Head oily, naked, aad depressed, flat above, and emar-
ginated, transversely sulcated, and the sulci serrated;
gill-membrane ten-raved ; body scaleless.
remora Mediterranean remora, or sucking-fish. —Tai 1 fork¬
ed ; head with eighteen striae or bars. This number,
however, is subject to vary, and cannot be safely as¬
sumed as a certain character. Grows to the length of
about eighteen inches, and is usually of an uniform
brown colour. It is remarkable for the apparatus on
its head, by which it firmly adheres to rocks, ships, or
animals, being incapable of swimming easily to any
considerable distance. From this adhesive property
arose the marvellous account of the ancients, who al¬
leged that the remora could arrest a ship under full
sail in the midst of the ocean. They also pretended,
that it completely subdued the passion of love. Five
individuals of this species have been found fastened to
the body of a single shark. The latter fish, it is said,
will not swallow them. The Indians of Cuba and Ja¬
maica formerly kept and fed sucking-fishes for the pur¬
pose of catching others. The owner, on a calm morn¬
ing, would carry one of them out to sea, secured to his
canoe by a small but strong line, many fathoms in
length ; the creature fastened on the first fish in its
way. The Indian, meanwhile, loosened and let go the
line, which was provided with a buoy to mark the course
which the sucking-fish had taken ; and he pursued it
in his canoe, until he perceived his game to be nearly
exhausted. He then gradually drew the line towards
the shore, the remora still so inflexibly adhering to Im
prey, as not easily to be removed. Oviedo says, he has
known turtle taken by this mode, of a weight that no
single man could support. This species inhabits the
ocean and the Mediterranean. Its flesh is said to taste
like fried artichokes.
neucraies. Indian remora, or longest sucking-fish.—Tai 1 entire;
24 bars on the head. Occurs more frequently in the
Indian and American seas than in those of Europe, and
is very common about the Mozambique coast, where
it is used in catching turtle. It is found of the length
of two or three feet, or even of seven. The upper parts
of the body are olive green, and the under parts are
whitish. Its flesh is tough and meagre.
lineata. Lineated remora.—Tail wedge-shaped ; head with
ten bars, two longitudinal white lines on each side of
. the body. Inhabits the Pacific ocean.
Corypbser.a. Gen. 5* CoRYPHiENA.
Head much sloping and truncated ; gill membrane five-
rayed ; the dorsal fin of the length of the back.
Common coryphene, or dolphin. Forked tail. In¬
habits the Mediterranean, Indian, and Atlantic seas,
often appearing in large shoals, playing round ships,
and eagerly devouring any articles of food that happen
to be thrown overboard. It will even swallow indi¬
gestible substances, sach as iron nails, &c. Like its
3
hippurus.
O L O G Chap. IV
congeners, it exhibits splendid and vivid hues in the Thopacic
water, being of a bright and beautiful blue-green, ac- Fishes,
companied by a golden gloss. When taken out oG v
the water, this fine combination of colouring gradually
vanishes with the principle of life. Its ordinary length
is about three feet; but it is often seen of four, or even
five feet in length. It is strong and voracious, pursuing
the smaller fishes, and especially persecuting the flying-
fish. In spring and autumn it frequents shores, to de¬
posit its spawn. As its flesh is much esteemed, it is
taken both with the line and net. Though popularly
called dolphin, it is not to be confounded with the
delphinus of the ancients.
Of the following, which more or less resemble the
preceding, the history is too obscure to detain us :
equisetis, plumieri, ccerulea,pentadactyla, novaada, chry-
surus, pompilus, Jasciolata, vehfera, psittacus, scombe-
roides, acuta, sima, virens, hemiptera, branchiostega,
jqponica, clypeata, lineata, and sinensis.
Gen. 6. Macrourus. Macrourus.
Head and eyes large; body at the hind part attenuated
into the tail.
Long-tailed imminset. Two dorsal fins, of which the rupcstris.
first has the first, ray toothed at the back. This is the
corypheena rupestris of Linnaeus. It chiefly occurs about
the coasts of Greenland and Iceland, where it is re¬
garded as a dainty. The head is large and thick, and
the body is covered with rounded scales, each of which
is furnished with a toothed carina, ending in a pointed
tip, so that the hand is wounded by drawing it over
the fish from the tail towards the head. When taken,
its body swells, as if with rage, and its eyes project in
a hideous manner.
Gen. 7. Godius. oobia..
Head small, with two approximated pores between the
eyes, one pore placed before the other; gill-mem¬
brane four-rayed ; body small, compressed on both
sides, covered with small scales, and furnished with
a pimple behind the vent; the ventral fins coalescing
into an oval shape ; two dorsal fins.
Common, or black goby, sea gudgeon, or miller'1 s- njCrer,
thumb. Fourteen rays in the second dorsal fin. Grows b
to the length of six inches. The body is wedge-shaped,
soft, and slippery, and overspread with small dusky or
blackish specks. This species is said to affix itself to
the rocks by the union of its ventral fins in the form of
a funnel, from which circumstance it is sometimes call¬
ed rock-fish. It is a native of the Mediterranean and
southern seas, frequenting the shores in the beginning
of summer, when it deposits its spawn. It is edible,
but not held in particular estimation.
To this numerous genus also belong bicolor, cruenta-
tus, paganellus, arabicus, nebulosus, eleotris, aphya,
minutus,joczo,pcctinirostris, schlosseri, melanurus, bod-
daertii, lagocephalus, cypj-inoides, lanceolatus, boscii,
ccerulens, broussoneti, plumieri, ocellaris, ater, and an-
guillaris.
Gen. 8. GOBIOMORUS. Gob icir.o-
Habit as in the preceding genus ; ventral fins distinct. rui’'
Southern gobiomore. Gobrius strigatus of Linnaeus, australis.
Blue
Chap. IV. ICHTHYOLOGY.
Thoracic green, with red spots $ whitish beneath j head va-
Fishes. negated with yellow, and the fins with red.
-’Y"-—^ of the southern ocean.
89
-Native
Gen. 10. Scorpjena.
Thoracic
Fishes.
Cottas.
Gen. Q. Cottus.
eata-
phraclus.
quadricor-
grunmens.
tcorpius.
Head broader than the body, and armed with spines ;
eyes vertical, furnished with a nictitating membrane }
gill membrane six-rayed; body round, without scales,
attenuated towards the tail; dorsal fins more than one.
Mailed or armed bull-head, or pogge.—Covered with
a hard crust; two bifid warts on the rostrum ; head fur¬
nished with cirrhi below. General length about five or
six inches. The head large, bony, and rugged ; the
body octagonal, and covered with a number of strong
bony crusts.—Frequents the European seas, and is
plentiful on our own coasts, living on worms and water
insects, particularly young crabs, and spawning in the
month of May. It is dressed for the table, but not
esteemed a luxury.
Four-horned bull-head, with four bony tubercles on
the head.—Native of the Mediterranean, Baltic, and
northern seas. Used chiefly as a bait.
Grunting bull-head.—Throat shagged with cirrhi;
body naked.—When first taken, it utters, like some of
the gurnards, a kind of abrupt grunting sound, by the
sudden expulsion of air from the internal cavities,
through the gill-covers and mouth. It is reckoned es¬
culent ; but the liver is said to be hurtful. Native of
the Indian and American seas.
Lasher hill-head, or father-lasher.—Several spines on
the head ; the upper jaw rather longer than the lower.
Inhabits the Mediterranean, and the northern ocean of
Europe and America.—It is very strong, swims with
great rapidity, and is very voracious, preying on the
blennies, cod, herring, salmon, as well as on smaller
fishes and insects. It is very frequent in Greenland,
where it sometimes attains to the length of six feet,
and where it is much relished as an article of food. It
is said to be able to live a considerable time out of wa¬
ter, having the power of closing the gill-covers so as to
exclude the effects of atmospheric air. Like the grunt¬
ing bull-head, it utters a strong sound when first
taken.
River bull-head, or miller's thumb.—Smooth, with
two spines on the head.—Inhabits the clear rivers and
brooks of Europe and Siberia, generally lying on the
gravel, or concealing itself beneath the stones, preying
on worms, water insects, and very young fishes. It
deposits its spawn in March or April. In this country
its length seldom exceeds three inches and a half; but
in other parts of Europe it seems to arrive at a superior
size, and is even found of the length of seven inches.
It is of a yellow olive colour, has a large head, slippery
skin, and tapers to the tail. It is most readily caught
during the night, and its flesh, which grows red by
boiling, is esteemed good and wholesome.
insidiator. Insidious hull-head.—Head marked above by sharp
lines, and on each side by two spines.—Native of the
Arabian seas, in which it conceals itself under the sand,
and springs on such of the smaller fishes as happen to
approach its haunts.
To this genus also appertain scabcr, japoiiicus, massi-
liensis, monoptcrygius, madgascariensis, niger, and au¬
stralis.
Vol. XI. Part I. f
gobio.
Head large, aculeated, cirrhated, obtuse, scaleless, and Seo'pw'ia-
subcompressed ; eyes approximated ; teeth in the
jaws, palate, and fauces ; gill membrane seven-ray¬
ed ; body fleshy ; one dorsal fin, long ; the first rays
spinous.
Porcine scorpcena, little sea scorpion, or sea devil.—parens.
Cirrhi at the eyes and nostrils. Common in the Medi¬
terranean. Seldom exceeds a foot in length. Wounds
with the spines of its dorsal fin. Flesh tough, and
scarcely eatable.
Rufous scorpcena, or larger sea scorpion.—Two civyVi scrofa.
on the under lip. Larger than the preceding, being
sometimes four feet in length. It preys not only on
the smaller fishes, but, occasionally, on marine birds.
Inhabits the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and northern
seas.
Horn'd scorpcena.—Scattered over with callous tu- horrida.
bercles. Of a very uncouth and forbidding aspect.
Measures from 12 to 15 inches in length, and inhabits
the Indian seas.
Flying scorpcena.—Thirteen rays in the dorsal fin ; volitam.
six cirrhi, the pectoral fins longer than the body. Like
fishes of the exoccetus and trigla genus, it uses its pec¬
toral fins for the purposes of occasional flight. Native
of the rivers of Japan, Amboyna, &c. where it is rec¬
koned excellent food.
Besides the preceding, naturalists reckon plumieri,
commersonii, bicapillata, brachiata, aculeata, barbata,
antennata, capensis, spinosa, and americana.
Gen. 11. Zeus. Zeu*.
Head compressed, and sloping; upper lip arched with
a transverse membrane; tongue subulated; gill mem¬
brane with seven perpendicular rays, the lowest trans¬
verse ; body compressed, thin, and shining; the rays
of the first dorsal fin ending in filaments.
Brasilian dory.—The second ray of the dorsal and vomer.
anal fin very long. Of a vhomboidal shape, about six
or eight inches long, very thin, and scaleless. Native
ot the American seas, and sometimes seen in those of
the north of Europe. Edible, but not much in re¬
quest.
Insidious dory.—With a narrow mouth. Native ofinsidiator*
the rivers and fresh waters of India.
Indian dory.—The tenth ray of the dorsal and ihegallus.
second of the anal fin longer than the body. Native of
the American and Indian seas.
Ciliated dory.—With some of the rays in the dorsal ciHaris.
and anal fin very long. Native of the Indian seas.
Common dory.—The tail rounded ; a brown centralfaber.
spot on each side of the body ; two anal fins. Grows
to nearly 18 inches in length, and weighs from 10 to
12 pounds. The head is abrupt, the mouth wide, the
back much arched, and furnished with a row of strong
small prickles. The body is covered with very minute
scales, dusky brown above, and of a shining greenish
yellow on the sides. ‘ We are indebted (says Mr Pen¬
nant) to that judicious actor and bon vivant, the late
Mr Quin, for adding a most delicious fish to our table,
who overcoming all the vulgar prejudices on account of
its deformity, has effectually established its reputation.’
M The
9o
I C H T H Y
Pleuronec-
tes.
Thoracic The dory is extremely voracious, and, when first taken,
Fishes, makes the same kind of sound, as the gurnards and
' v scorprenas. It is a native of the Mediterranean, Atlan¬
tic, and northern seas. It is fished on the southern
coasts of England *, hut the largest are found in the
hay of Biscay.
aper. Red dory.—Tail even-, body reddish. Resembles the
preceding, but is much smaller. Native of the Medi¬
terranean.
opa/i. Opah dory.—Tail somewhat lunated ; body reddish,
with white spots. This beautiful species measures from
four to five feet in length j the general colour some¬
times a brilliant silvery green, and sometimes a bright
gold colour, variegated with pretty numerous, and mo¬
derately large, oval white spots while the fins and tail
are bright scarlet. It is the %eus Inna of Linnteus.
Found, though rarely, in the Mediterranean and north¬
ern seas.
quadratus Square dory.—Tail even; body cinereous, with trans¬
verse dusky bars. Native of the coasts of Jamaica.
Gen. 12. Pleuronectes.
Head small ; eyes spherical, both on the same side of
the head, and near each other j mouth arched ; jarvs
with teeth, and unequal ; gill-membrane, with four
to seven rays j the gill-cover, in most of the species,
consisting of three plates j body compressed, carina-
ted ; the one side somewhat convex, answering to
the back 5 the other, of a paler colour, to the belly j
the vent nearer the head than the tail.
The fishes of this genus are remarkable for having
both eyes on one side of the head j and they are divid¬
ed into two sections, according as they have the eyes
towards the right, when the animal is laid with its co¬
loured side upwards, with its abdomen towards the
spectator; or to the left, when the fish is in the same
situation.
* With eyes towards the right.
hippovfos- Halibut.—'The whole body smooth. Dusky above,
i~us. pure white beneath. Narrow in respect to its length.
Individuals have been taken on the English coast, which
weighed from 200 to 300 pounds ; and the Icelanders
have caught some which weighed 400 pounds. Olafsen
mentions, that he saw one which measured five ells ;
and we are told by the Norwegian fishermen, that a
single holibut will sometimes cover a whole skiff. 1 his
species, then, is more entitled to the epithet w/a.rwiM^,
than that to which it is applied. Though it inhabits
the Mediterranean, it arrives at a larger size in the
northern seas of Europe and America. It is so voraci¬
ous, that it devours rays, crabs, haddocks, and even
lump-fish, of which it seems to be very fond. I he part
of the body nearest the fins, is fat and delicate, but
surfeiting ; the rest of the fish is regarded as coarse
food. The Greenlanders cut it into thin slips, and dry
them in the sun. This fish deposits its spawn in spring,
among rocks near the shore.
cynoglos- Smaller holibut.—Ro&y smooth, oblong ; teeth ob-
sus.0 tuse ; tail roundish. Very like the preceding, but small¬
er, and more relished as an article of food. Native of
the northern seas.
Plaise. Body smooth, with six tubercles on the
p atessa. Readily distinguished by its very broad and fiat
O L O G Y. Chap. IV.
shape, its pale brown colour above, and the orange-co- Thoracic
loured spots with which it is marked. One of eight or i'^bes. ^
nine pounds is reckoned a large fish, though instances v—
occur of their weighing 15 pounds. rIhey spawn in
the beginning of May, and are common in the Baltic
and northern seas. The best are said to be taken oft
Rye, on the Sussex coast, and near Holland. They
are in considerable request in the fish-market, though
far inferior to the sole and turbot.
Flounder.—With a rough lateral line, and a series/fcsiw.
of spines at the base of the fins. Easily distinguished
from the rest of the genus by the specific character ;
and very generally known, as it inhabits every part of
the British sea, and even frequents our rivers at a con¬
siderable distance from salt water. It likewise occurs
in the northern, Baltic, and Mediterranean seas. In
size, it is much inferior to the plaise ; but it aflords a
light and wholesome food.
Dab.—Scales ciliated; small spines at the origin ofUmanda.
the dorsal and anal fins ; teeth obtuse. Of a very
broad, ovate shape, yellowish brown above, and white
beneath. Inhabits the same seas as the plaise and floun¬
der ; but is less common, of a smaller size, and more
prized as an article of food.
Smear-dab, or kit.—Yellowish brown, with smooth he vis.
scales ; five dusky spots, white beneath. Caught on
the Cornish coast.
Long dab.—Body oblong and rough, lateral Wne Umando-
straight and broad. Much longer than the dab. In- ides.
habits the northern seas, and is esteemed at table.
Rose-coloured flounder.—Colour of a delicate rose ; roseus.
and general proportions those of a flounder. Taken in
the Thames, and preserved in the Leverian museum.
Sole.—Body oblong and rough; upper jaw longest. Wra.
More narrow and oblong than any other of the genus.
Sometimes grows to the length of more than two feet,
and to the weight of eight pounds. Its general size,
however, is much smaller. Those of moderate size are
generally in most request for the table ; and next to
the turbot, are reckoned the most delicate of the genus.
The sole is an inhabitant of the northern, Baltic, Me¬
diterranean, and American seas. On the west coast of
Great Britain it attains to a much larger size than on
the east. The principal sole-fishery is at Brixham, in
Torbay.
Smooth sole.—White, transparent, with small, thin, diaphanu.
deciduous scales. Found about the coasts of Cornwall,
where it is called lantern-fish.
* * With eyes towards the left.
Whijf.— Ro&y broad and rough. Native of i\wpunctatui
northern sea.
Pearl.—Body smooth ; pale brown above, marked rhombus.
by scattered yellowish, or rufous spots, and white be¬
neath. Resembles the turbot, but is inferior in size.
Native of the European seas.
Turbot, or bret; pleuronectes maximas of Linnaeus.—— tulercuh
Body rough. This fish, wnich is reckoned such deli- tus.
cate eating, is found both in the Mediterranean and
northern seas. It is broader and squarer than any
of the genus, except the pearl, and is of a dark brown •
above, marbled with blackish spots of difterent sizes,
and white beneath. Like the rest of this genus, the
turbot generally lies in deep water, preying on worms,
shell-fish, small fishes, &c. It is taken in great quan¬
tities
Chap
Thoracic
Fishes.
3. IV.
titles about the northern coasts of England, as well as
those of France, Holland, &c. They are so ex
tremely delicate in their choice of baits as not to touch
a piece of herring or haddock that has been 12 hours
out of the sea. Though the turbot and holibut are
often confounded in our markets, the former may be
easily recognised by the large, unequal, and obtuse tu¬
bercles on its upper part.
In this numerous genus are also classed trichodacty-
It/s, “zebra, plagiusa, ocellatus, rondeletn, linguatula,
glacialis, platessoides, argenteus, barbatus, marmoratvs,
pavoninus, lineatus, bilineahis, ornatus, dentatus, ma-
crolepidotuSy passer^ papillosus, argus, stellatzis, and
japonicus.
Chetodon. Gen. 13. ChjETODON.
Head small; mouth narrow, with retractile lips; teeth
generally setaceous, flexible, moveable, equal, very
numerous, and close; eyes round, small, vertical,
and furnished with a nictitating membrane j gill-
membrane from three to six-rayed $ body broad, thin,
compressed, covered with hard scales, and coloured ;
dorsal and anal fins rigid, fleshy, scaly, and general¬
ly terminated with pickles.
To avoid much unnecessary repetition, we shall ob¬
serve, in general, that upwards of €0 species of chaeto-
dons have been distinctly ascertained •, that they are
mostly natives of the American and Indian seas; that
they are distinguished by the great depth and highly
compressed form of the body, which is often beautiful¬
ly variegated by transverse, oblique, or longitudinal
bands, and covered with strong scales, finely denticula¬
ted on the margins; and that the dorsal and anal fins
are remarkably broad, and, in many species, of an un¬
usual length.
One of the most remarkable species of this genus is
the rostratus, rostrated or beaked chcetodon, with an en¬
tire tail, nine spines in the dorsal fin, an ocellated spot
on the sides, and the beak cylindrical. It is of a
roundish-ovate shape, about six or eight inches in length,
of a whitish colour, with a dusky tinge on the back,
and marked by fine transverse and nearly equi distant
brown bands, with milk-white edges. It is a native of
the fresh waters of India, and feeds principally on flies
and other small winged insects which hover about the
surface of its native waters. When it sees a fly at a di¬
stance, alighted on any of the plants in the shallow wa¬
ter, it approaches very slowly, and with the utmost cau¬
tion, coming as much as possible perpendicularly un¬
der the object. Then putting its body in an oblique
direction, with the mouth and eyes near the surface,
it remains a moment immoveable. Having fixed its
eyes directly on the insect, it darts at it a drop of wa¬
ter from its tubular snout, but without shewing its
mouth above the surface, from which only the drop
«eems to rise, and that with such effect, that, though at
the distance of four, five, or six feet, it very seldom
fails to bring its prey into the water. With the closest
attention the mouth could never be discovered above
the surface, although the fish has been seen to spout se¬
veral drops successively, without leaving the place, or
in the smallest apparent degree moving its body. This
very singular mode of attacking its prey was reported
to M. Homel, governor of the hospital at Batavia, and
ICHTHYOLOGY. 91
so far excited his curiosity, that he ordered a large tub Thoracic
to be filled with sea-water, and had some of the fishes Fishes,
caught and put into it. When they were reconciled to
their confinement, he caused a slender stick, with a fly
fastened at the end, to be placed in such a manner on
the side of the vessel, as to enable the fish to strike it;
and it was not without inexpressible delight, that he
daily saw them exercising their skill in shooting at it,
with amazing force, and seldom missing their mark.
This faculty is possessed by a few other species belong¬
ing to very diflerent genera. The flesh of the rostrated
chaetodon is white and well-tasted.
Angel chcetodon, or angel-Jish of Catesby, is of a finecatei^eti.
gold-green colour, with the scales covered by smaller
ones. The pectoral, ventral fins, and tail, are of a vi¬
vid orange ; and the dorsal and anal, violet-blue at the
base, and bright crimson towards the tips.—It is com¬
mon off Carolina and the Bahama isles, where it is
much esteemed for its delicacy.
Imperial chcetodon, is a magnificent species, growing imperator
to the length of a foot or more. Its ground colour is a
golden-yellow, which is longitudinally, though some¬
what obliquely, striped with very numerons bright blue
parallel rays. It is a native of Japan, and said to be
superior to the salmon in flavour.
Sea bat, or bat chcetodon, surpasses all the other spe- vespertilio
cies in the great extent and breadth of the dorsal and
anal fins, both which nearly equal the body itself in size,
and are of a somewhat triangular shape. It is a na¬
tive of Japan.
Red-striped chcetodon, is distinguished by numerous
red stripes on the body, and an eye-shaped spot and
bristle on the dorsal fin.
Three-coloured chcetodon, is golden-yellow on the fore- tricolor,
part, jet black behind, except the tail, which is yellow,
and red near the end, while the edges of the gill-co¬
vers, and of all the fins, are bright red.
Gen. 14. AcantHURUS. Acanthurn*
Teeth small, and in most species lobated ; tail aculeated
on each side. This genus comprises such species of
the Linnaean chcetodon as, in contradiction to the
principal character of that genus, have moderately
broad and strong teeth, rather than slender and seta¬
ceous ones.
Unicorn acanthurus.—Gray-brown ; with a frontal unicornis.
horn projecting over the snout, and two spines on each
side of the tail. Of the length of three feet or up¬
wards. Its horn-shaped process is strong and conical,
terminating rather obtusely.—It is a native of the In¬
dian and Arabian seas, in the latter of which it is usual¬
ly seen in shoals of two or four hundred, swimming
with great strength, and feeding principally on the dif¬
ferent kinds of sea-weed. It is singular that so remark¬
able a fish should have been entirely overlooked by Lin-
n£eus, even in the twelfth edition of the SystemaNaturce.
The other species are denominated nasus, teuthis, ni¬
gricans, militaris, triostegus, harpurus, sohal, nigro-fus-
cus, achilles, lineatus, umbratus, meleagris, and velifer.
Gen. 15. EquES. Eques.
Teeth in several rows ; body banded.
American knight-Jish.—Chcetodon lanceolatus, Lin. americct-
Body oblong; yellowish, with three black bands, the amj.
M 2 first
92
ICHTHY
Thoracic first across the eyes, the second across the thorax, anti
Fishes, the third along the body. Native of the American
1 seas.
Trichopus. Gen. l6. FrICHOPUS.
Body compressed ; ventral fins, with a very long fila-
ment.
goratwj.
Goramy trichopus.—Rufescent, with a silvery cast
on the sides ; and the second ray of the ventral fins ex¬
tremely long. Native of the fresh waters of China,
where it is much prized as an article of food.
arabicus. Arabian trichopus. Labi'usgallus, Lin.—Greenish,
with violet and blue stripes, and second ray of the
ventral fins very long. Native of the Arabian seas.
Satyr trichopus.—With sinking forehead, projecting
chin, and extremely long, single-rayed, ventral fins.
Native of the Indian seas.
Pallasian trichopus. Labrus trichopttrus, Lin.—
Brown, with pale undulations, a black spot on each
side of the body and tail, and long single-rayed ventral
fins. Native ef the Indian seas.
Monodactik trichopus.—Silvery, with brownish back,
and short, single-rayed, rigid ventral fins. Native of
the Indian seas.
salyrus.
pallasii.
monodac-
tylus.
Sparus. Gen. 17. Sparus.
Strong cutting or canine teeth, with obtuse and close-
set grinders j lips double ; gill membrane five-rayed,
gill covers scaly j body compressed, lateral line cur¬
ved behind j pectoral fins rounded.
Of this very extensive genus, most of the species are
■exotic*, and Iheir history is very imperfectly known.
Considerable confusion takes place with respect to the
characters by which they ought to be discriminated
from the labi'i, a family to which they are much allied.
We shall briefly notice only a few of the most striking
and best known species.
aurata. Gilt-head, has a lunulated spot between the eyes.
A more permanent character may he assumed from the
six cutting teeth in each jaw. This species is about 15
inches long, but sometimes of a much larger size. It
is of a silvery bluish cast, with gold-coloured brown,
and sometimes with several brownish longitudinal stripes.
The body is broad and thin, and the back elevated.
The gilt-head is a native of the Mediterranean, Atlan¬
tic, and Indian seas j frequenting deep water on hold
rocky shores ; and living chiefly en testaceous animals.
It is said to sleep at stated times, and to be very suscep¬
tible of cold. The Greeks and Romans reckoned it a
most delicate morsel, and the former held it to be con¬
secrated to Venus.
erylhri- Rose sparus, is remarkable for its beautiful rose-red
Hus. colour. In size and shape, it resembles the perch. It
is a native of the Mediterranean and Indian seas, in the
latter of which it is said to acquire noxious qualities.
fasciatus. Fasciated sparus, is of a squarish elongated shape j
with transverse dusky bands, and the fins edged with
black. It is a native of Japan.
chlorou- Green-tailed sparus, is a native of the American seas,
rus. and a highly elegant species 5 having its yellowish and
large scales crossed by a green band, green fins, and
rose-coloured gill-eovers. The green tail is strongly
lunulated, and marked by minute pale specks.
O L O G Y. Chap. IV,
A striking disposition of colours likewise distinguish- Thoracic
es the chrysurus, or gold-tailed sparu^, which is found Fishes,
in the seas of South America. Its general complexion v1 v”**1’
is a bright rose red, which is deepest on the back 5 a
gold yellow stripe runs on each side from the gills to
the tail, and a second on each side of the bottom of the
abdomen.
Spined sparus, lias the dorsal spines recumbent, and spinifer,
the five in the middle filiform and elongated. It is of
a reddish silvery hue, with the back and the lines on
the body dusky j shape ovate j and length, a foot and
a half. It inhabits the Red sea } and is reckoned a de¬
licious fish for the table.
Squirrel sparus, squirrel-fish, or grunt.—Gray- sciurus.
brown, with large scales bordered with yellow, and
head marked longitudinally by numerous blue and yellow
lines. According to Bloch, the blue lines also run
along the body. Native of the American seas. It is
the perca formosa of Linnaeus.
Insidious sparus.—Red, yellowish on the sides; tailinsidiator*
sub-forcipated. Length about ten inches. Native of
the Indian seas, where, through its long tubular snout,
it shoots a drop of water at the insects on which it feeds,
in the same manner as the rostrated chaetodon.
Galileean sparus.—-Greenish, with whitish abdomen.galilaus^
Very common in the lake of Genesareth, and therefore
supposed to have been the principal species in the mi¬
raculous draught of fishes recorded by St Luke.
Desfontaine's sparus.—With 23 rays in the dorsal desfonta-
fin, 11 in the ana!, and a black spot on the gill-covers.mV.
Inhabits the warm waters of Cassa in Tunis, which, in
January, are about 30 degrees of Reaumur’s thermo¬
meter above the freezing point ; but it is also found in
the cold and brackish waters surrounding the date plan¬
tations at Tozzar.
Argus sparus.—Of a silvery blue ; with many ocel-argw.
lated brown spots. A very elegant species, of which
the native country is uncertain.
Climbing sparus.—Olive-green, with yellowish &\Ao- scandejis.
men, and gold-coloured eyes. Length about a span ;
skin covered by a blackish mucus. “ This fish (says
Dr Shaw) is remarkable for its power of climbing,
which it performs by the assistance of the spines of its
gill covers, moving itself at pleasure up the stems of
trees growing near the waters it frequents. In this si¬
tuation it was observed in the month of November 1791,
at Tranquebar, by Lieutenant Daldorff, who communi¬
cated its description to Sir Joseph Banks. It was seen
ascending a fissure in the stem of the palm called boras-
sus flabellifer, growing near a pool of water, and was
observed to move itself forwards by alternately apply¬
ing the spiny sides of the gill-covers to the sides of the
fissure, assisting itself at the same time by the spines on
each side ot the tail, and had already ascended to the
height of more than five feet above the water when it
was first observed : it was found to be very tenacious
oi hfe, moving about on dry sand, many hours after it
was taken.”
Gen. 18. Scarus. Scarus.
Instead of teeth, the jaws are eminent, crenated, and
bony, with a toothed margin; gill-membrane five-
rayed, gill-cover entire, lateral line generally branch¬
ed.
Cretan
Chap. IV,
Thmacic Cretan scams.—Green, yellowish beneath, with very
Fishes, l^rge scales, ramified lateral line, and sublimated tail.
' '/~7~ Native of the Mediterranean and Indian seas. Com-
cretensis. mon about Crete.
■vividis. Green scams.—Yellowish green ; with large scales,
edged with green ; lateral line interrupted towards the
tail. Native of the Japanese seas.
rivulatus. Rivulated scams.—Bluish, spotted with black, and
marked by longitudinal yellow undulations. Native of
the Red sea.
stellatus. Stellated scams.—Oval, blackish ; variegated with
subhexagonal pale rings. Native of the Arabian
seas.
eroicensis. Red scants.—Rose-red, with silvery abdomen. Na¬
tive of the Indian seas.
psittacus. Parrot scams.—Greenish, marked with yellowish
lines, and with the edges ol the fins, abdominal band,
and variegations of the head, blue. Native of the Ara¬
bian seas.
purpura- Purpled scams.—Dull-green, with three longitudinal
tus. serrated purple bands on each side, and blue abdomen.
Native of the Arabian seas.
niger. Black scams.—Ovate-oblong *, blackish brown, with
red lips, and the margin of the fins greenish-blue. Na¬
tive of the Arabian seas.
ghobban. Blue-striped scams.—Whitish, with the scales mark¬
ed by transverse bluish bauds, and double lateral line.
Native of the Arabian seas.
ferrugi- Ferruginous scams.—Brown-ferruginous, with the
neus. jaws and margins of the fins green, and tail even. Na¬
tive of the Arabian seas.
sordidus. Sordid scarus.—Brown-ferruginous, with darker-co¬
loured fins, and rising, even tail. Native of the Ara¬
bian seas.
harid. Scahj-tailed scams.—Tail forked, the middle of its
back beset with scales. Native of the Arabian seas.
schlosseri. Schlosserian scarus.—Gold-coloured, with five dusky
spots on each side, brownish baek? and nearly even tail.
Native of Java.
Gomphosus. Gen. ip. GompHOSUS.
Jaws lengthened into a tubular snout; teeth small, those
in the front larger.—This genus, instituted by La
Cepede, contains two species, both natives of the
Indian seas, and both agreeing in the remarkable
form of the mouth, which consists of a tubular pro¬
cess, somewhat truncated at the tip.
93
purple. This beautiful fish is a native of Ceylon, where Thoracic
it is reckoned edible. t ;
Jacu/ator, or shooting labrns.—Gray, clouded with .
vellow five transverse dusky bands j and lower jaw-'
longer than the upper. Darts water on its prey, like
the rostrated cheetodon and insidious sparus. Native of
the Indian seas.
Scare labrus.—Whitish, mixed with red 5 with trans- scarus.
verse appendages on each side of the tail. Native of
the Mediterranean j where it feeds principally on fuci,
and swims in shoals. It was in high esteem with the
ancients as a food, and considered by the Romans as
one of the principal delicacies of the table.
Ballan labrus, or ballan wrasse.—Yellow, with ful- ballanas.
vous spots, reflex lips, and ramentose dorsal fin. Weighs
about five pounds. Appears annually in great shoals off
Filey-bridge, near Scarborough.
Ancient labrus, ancient wrasse, or old wife.—Beak tinea.
bent upwards-, end of the tail circular. Size and habit
of a tench. Native of the European seas, and usually
found in deep waters, about rocky coasts. Liable to
vary much in colour.
Parrakeet labrus.—Green, with three longitudinalyJSiVtacw-
red stripes on each side, and yellow dorsal fin marked
by a longitudinal red band. A beautiful species, which
inhabits the American seas.
Beautiful lahms.—Red, with longitudinal, interrupt-formosus.
ed, flexuous, blue streaks j and fins edged with blue.
Jurella labrus.—Sides bluish, both marked by a lon-julis.
gitudinal, fulvous, and dentated band. Length about
eight inches, and form somewhat lengthened. Occurs
in shoals in the Mediterranean. The more ancient ich¬
thyologists erroneously considered it as poisonous, and
as the most beautiful of the finny tribes.
Gen. 21. OPHICEFHALUS. Ophicepha-
lus.
Head coated with dissimilar scales; body elongated.
Punctated Dusky, paler beneath, withpunctatus.
the head pierced by pores, and the body speckled with
black points. Length about ten inches. Frequents
rivers and lakes in India y and is reckoned a delicate
and wholesome food.
Striated ophicephalus.-—Dusky, with the abdomen
and fins striated with dusky and whitish variega¬
tions. Length about twelve inches. Native of In¬
dia ; inhabiting lakes, and equally esteemed with the
former as food.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
cteruletis. Blue gomphosus.-—Yjn\\ve\y blue. About the size of a
tench.
mriega- Variegated gomphosus.—Variegated with red, yellow,
tus. and blue. Smaller than the preceding.
Lfthrus. Gen. 20. Labrus,
Teeth acute; lips not doubled; gill-membrane six ray¬
ed ; gill-covers scaly ; the rays of the dorsal fin fur¬
nished behind with a filiform process ; the pectoral
fins acuminated ; and lateral line straight.
From this very numerous genus, the discrimination of
which has never been accomplished with accuracy, we
can afford to select only a few species.
%eijlani. Ceylonese labrus, or Ceylon wrasse.—Green, purplish
cus. beneath, with blue head, and gill-covers variegated with
Gen. 22. LoNCHURUS, Lonchurus,
Head scaly ; ventral fins separate ; tail lanceolate.
Beardedlonchurus.—Ferruginous-brown; with slight- lar},aluSt
]y lengthened nose; two beards at the lower jaw; and
the first ray of the ventral fins elongated into a
bristle. Length about twelve inches. Native ef Su¬
rinam.
Gen. 23. SciAtNA. Scisena.
The whole head covered with scales ; gill-membrane
six-rayed; a furrow on the back, in which the dorsal
fin is seated.
Most of the species of this genus are exotic, and but
obscurely known.
Cirrhose
94
Thoracic
Fishes.
cirrhosa.
labrax.
Perea.
jluviatilis.
tucioperca
cernua.
pusilla.
marina.
Holoceu-
trus.
$ogo.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Chap. IV.
Ctrrhose or bearded scicena, lias the upper jaw long¬
er than the lower, and a beard on the latter. It has the
habit of a carp, and measures from one to two feet.
Native of the Mediterranean. Was valued by the
Greeks and Romans as an article of food.
Basse scicena, or basse. Perea labrax of Lin.—Sub-
argenteous, with brown back, yellowish-red fins, and
dusky tail. Habit of a salmon. Native of the Me-
diterannean and northern seas 5 frequently entering ri¬
vers. Known to the ancients by the names of labrax
and lirpus, and greatly prized, particularly by the Ro¬
mans.
about a foot in length. Native of the Mediterranean, Thoracic
Indian, and American seas, and considered as an ex- Fishes,
cellent fish for the table.
Spur-gilled holocentrus.—Subargenteous, with brown- calcarijer,
ish back, large scales, and spurred gill-covers. Native
of Japan.
Surinam holocentrus.—Brownish ; with yellowish surina-
clouds, red head, and anterior gill-covers ciliated with
spines. Native of Surinam, where it is reckoned one
of the best fishes which the country produces.
26. BoDIANUS. Bodianus.
Gen. 24. Perca.
Jaws unequal, armed with sharp-pointed and incurved
teeth ; gill-covers consisting of three plates, of which
the uppermost is serrated ; gill-membrane seven-
rayed, the lateral line following the arch of the
back j the scales hard and rough $ fins spiny j and
vent nearer the tail than the head.
Common perch.—The second dorsal fin with 16 rays,
of a brown olive, sometimes accompanied by a slight
gilded tinge on the sides, and commonly marked by
five or six broad, blackish, transverse bars. This well-
known fish usually measures from 10 inches to two
feet, and weighs from two to four pounds, though
some have iveighed eight, nine, or ten pounds. The
perch inhabits clear rivers and lakes in most parts of
Europe, haunts deep holes in gently flowing rivers,
spawns early in spring, is of a gregarious disposition,
very voracious, and so tenacious of life, that it may be
carried to the distance of 60 miles in dry straw, and yet
survive the journey. It feeds on aquatic insects and
the smaller fishes, and is preyed on by the pike, eel,
&c. Its flesh is firm and delicate, and was held in re¬
pute at the table of the ancient Romans. In some of
the northern countries a sort of isinglass is prepared
from the skin.
Sandre perch.—The second dorsal fin with 23 rays ;
of a larger size, and more like a pike, than the prece¬
ding. Native of clear rivers and lakes in the middle
parts of Europe.
Ruffe perch, or ruffe.—Dorsal fin with 27 rays, of
which 15 are spiny. Length from six to eight inches,
and shape more slender than that of the common perch.
Feeds on worms, insects, and young fishes, and is fre¬
quently preyed on by the pike, larger fishes, and aqua¬
tic fowls. Spawns in March and April ; inhabits clear
rivers in many parts of Europe, especially towards the
north ; and affords excellent food.
Small perch. Body ovate, compressed, rough. Scarce¬
ly exceeding the length of an inch and a half. Native
of the Mediterranean.
Sea perch.—The dorsal fin with 15 spiny rays, and
14 soft ones j the body variegated with dusky lines.
Colour red, marked with dusky transverse lines on the
sides. Inhabits the Northern, Mediterranean, and At¬
lantic seas, and is in high esteem for the table.
25. Holocentrus.
Habit of the genus perca $ gill-covers scaly, serrated
and aenleated j scales in most species smooth.
Purple-bached tWrorc.—Gold yellow, with purple bodianus,
back. Shape like that of a trout j length about 14
inches. Native of the South American seas.
Five-spined bodian.—Rose-coloured, with silvery vb-pentacan-
domen, and dorsal fin yellow on the fore part. Native thus.
of the Brasilian seas. Accounted good food.
Aya bodian.—Red, with silvery abdomen, single-0^0.
spined gill-covers, and lunated tail. This highly
beautiful species is said to grow to the length of three
feet. It is found in the Brasilian seas, and regarded
as a delicacy.
Large-scaled bodian.—Gray brown, with large round- macrole-
ed scales denticulated at the edges. Length about apidotus.
foot. Native of the East Indies.
Spotted bodian.—Olivaceous yellow, with blue spots maculatus
and reddish fins. Native of Japan.
Louti bodian.—Oblong lanceolate, with smallish v\o-louti,
laceous spots, and fins edged with yellow. Native of
the Arabian seas.
Palpebralbodian.—Somewhat ferruginous, with ochre-
coloured eyes, protected by a moveable yellow valve, tus.
Shape nearly that of a perch. Native of the seas about
Amboyna.
Silvery bodian.—Silvery, with bluish back. Native orgrntewj.
of the Mediterranean.
Apua bodian.—Red, with the back spotted, the body apua.
speckled, and the fins edged with black. Native of
the Brasilian seas.
Guttated bodian, jew-Jish, or Jacob iversten,—guttatus.
lowish brown, with body and fins marked by small
ocellated deep brown spots. Native of the Indian and
American seas. Esteemed as an edible fish.
Zebra bodian.—Yellowish, with the body marked by
transverse, and the head by longitudinal, brown bands.
Native of Japan.
Rogaa bodian.—Blackish rufescent, with black fins, rogaa.
Native of the Arabian seas.
Lunated bodian.—Blackish ferruginous, with black
fins, whitish transparent towards the back part. Na¬
tive of the Arabian seas.
Black and white bodian.—Silvery, with irregular,7^/0720^
transverse, black bands. Native of the Indian seas. cus.
Star-eyed bodian.—Silvery, with yellowish back, andstellifer.
orbits spiny beneath. Native of the seas about the Cape
of Good Hope.
Habit of the genus perca ; gill-covers scaly, serrated,
and aculeatedj scales, in most species, hard and rough.
Sogo holocentrus.—§\\xtry red, with longitudinal
yellow lines on each side. A highly beautiful species,
J
Gen. 27. Gasterosteus. Gasteroste-
Head oblong and smooth, the jaws armed with small1*8’
teeth; tongue short and obtuse; palate smooth ; eyes
moderately sized, scarcely prominent, lateral ; gill-
membrane
Cha;). IV.
ICHTH
Thoracic membrane six or seven-rayed ; gill-cover consisting
Kifches. of two plates, rounded and striated ; body at the
tail carinated at both sides, and covered with shields,
distinct prickles before the dorsal fin ; the back and
lateral line parallel and straight j the ventral fins
behind the pectoral, but above the sternum.
acukatus. Common stickleback, banstickle, sharplmg, &c. with
three spines on the back. Length two inches, or three
at most. In the early part of summer, the gills and
abdomen are of a bright red, the back a fine olive
green, and the sides silvery. Lives only two or three
years, is very active and very voracious, devouring the
young and spawn of other fishes, worms, insects, and
their larvae. The stronger inhabitants of the waters
shun it on account of its spines •, but it is infested by
intestinal worms. In April and May it deposits its
spawn in small quantities on aquatic plants, especially
on the white and yellow water lily. It occurs very
commonly in ponds, rivers, and marshes, and in some
parts, as about Dantzic and the fens of Lincolnshire,
in extreme profusion. At Spalding, according to Mr
Pennant, they appear in the Welland once in seven or
eight years in such amazing shoals that they are used
as manure, and a man has got for a considerable time
four shillings a-day by selling the/n at the rate of a
halfpenny per bushel.
saltatrix. Skipping stickleback.—Light dorsal spines connected
by a membrane. Native of the seas about Carolina,
where it is often observed skipping out of the water.
pungiti- Smaller or tens pined stickleback.—Ten dorsal spines.
cns. The number of spines is sometimes only nine, and some¬
times, though rarely, eleven. This is smaller than the
common species, seldom exceeding an inch and three
quarters. It is found both in seas and lakes, and en¬
ters the mouths of rivers in spring.
spinachia. Fifteen-spined stickleback.—Fifteen dorsal spines.
From five to seven inches long, of a slender form, with
the head produced, and somewhat tubular. Frequents
shallow places in the European seas, and preys on ma¬
rine insects, and the spawn and fry of other fishes.
spinarella Minute stickleback.— Four serrulated spines at the
hind part of the head : the lateral ones as long as the
abdomen. Native of India.
To the same genus belong japonicus, carolinus, ca-
nadus.
Scomber. Gen. 28. ScOMBEIt.
Head compressed and smooth ; gill-membrane seven-
rayed j body smooth, the lateral line carinated be¬
hind, often spurious fins towards the tail.
* Spinous Jinlets distinct.
scomber. Common mackrel.—With five finlets. Its ordinary
length is from 12 to 16 inches, though it has sometimes
been found of a much greater size. Its elegant shape
and the beauty of its colouring are too well known to
require particular description, and its qualities as an
edible fish have been long duly appreciated. It dies
very soon after it is taken out of the water, exhibits
for a short time a phosphoric light, and partly loses the
brilliancy of its hues. It is very voracious, and makes
great havock among the shoals of herrings. It dwells
in the European and American seas, chiefly affecting
the regions within the Arctic circle, and appearing at
YOLO GY. - 95
stated seasons about particular ranges of coast. Its al- ThoracU:
leged migrations, like those of the herring, begin to be Fishes,
questioned by some acute observers, and it is more pro- ‘ *"
bable that it resides at the bottom of the waters during
winter at no great distance from the places where it
visibly abounds in summer. A film grows over its eye
in winter, when it probably conceals itself in muddy
bottoms, and becomes torpid. It is very prolific, and
deposits its spawn among the rocks about the month of
Ju ne. The tenderness of its flesh renders it unfit for
carriage in a fresh state ; but in Cornwall, and several
parts of the continent, it is preserved by salting and
pickling. Caviar is prepared from the roes on the
coasts of the Mediterranean j and the celebrated ga-
rum of the Romans is said to have been a condiment
prepared from this fish.
Coly mackrel.—Bright green and azure. Somewhat colias.
smaller than the preceding, which it very much resem¬
bles. Found on the coasts of Sardinia.
Bomto mackrel.—-vi>e\en inferior finlets ; body m&xV.-pclatnis.
ed on each side by four black lines. Resembles the
tunny, but is more slender. Frequents the Atlantic
and tropical seas, persecuting flying fishes and other
species, and tormented in turn by internal worms.
'Funny.—Eight finlets above and below, Usual thynnus*
length about two feet, but sometimes grows to eight,
or even ten. The upper part of the body is of a dusky
blue, and the abdomen silvery. The tunny is grega¬
rious, and inhabits the Mediterranean, Northern, In¬
dian, and American seas, preying with fierceness on all
kinds of smaller fish, and persecuting the mackrel and
flying fish. The Greeks and Romans admired its flesh,
though rather coarse, and established their tunny-
fisheries on various parts of the Mediterranean coast,
where this species is still taken in great quantities.
The smaller fishes are chiefly sold fresh, and the larger
cut in pieces and salted.
* * Spurious Jinlets connate.
Scad or Horse mackrel.—Dorsal fin recumbent, la- iracJiurus
teral line marked. Length from I 2 to 18 inches. Na¬
tive of the European seas, and nearly equal to the com¬
mon kind in point of flavour.
We forbear to enumerate several other species which
have been recently defined, but whose history is still
very incomplete, and shall terminate this abridged ac¬
count of the genus by the
Pilot mackrel, or pilot jish ; gasterosteus ductor oiauctor.
Linnaeus.—-Silvery blueish, with four transverse blue
bands ; four dorsal spines, and tail barred with black.
Length about 18 inches j general shape that of the
tunny, but the head much shorter. Inhabits the Ame¬
rican and Indian seas, and has its name from often
swimming near or before sharks, which, it is said, it
guides to their prey.
Centroga-
fcter.
Gen. 29. Centrogaster.
Head compressed, smooth ; gill-membrane generally
seven-rayed ; body depressed and smooth j fins spiny j
ventral fins united by a membrane, which is furnish¬
ed with four acute spines and six soft rays.
Brownish Brownish, whitish beneath yj'usccscens
tail somewhat forked. Native of the Japanese seas.
96
Thoracic
Fishes.
argenta-
tus.
ecjuula.
rhombeus.
Mullus.
barbatus.
surmule-
tus.
Trigla.
cata-
pki'acta.
lyra.
gurnar-
dus.
hirundo.
ICHTHYOLOGY. Chap. IV.
Silvery centrogaster.—SWveYy, with a large brown
spot on the nape, and a blackish one on the dorsal fin.
Native of the Japanese seas.
Saddled centrogaster.—Finlets and dorsal fin con¬
nate. Native of the Arabian seas.
Rhombic centrogaster.—Ventral fins one-rayed. Na¬
tive of the Red sea.
Gen. 30. Mullus.
Head compressed, sloping, covered with scales ; eyes
oblong, approximated, and vertical, with a nictitat¬
ing membrane ; nostrils small and double j jaws and
palate rough, with very small teeth *, tongue short,
narrow, smooth and motionless; gill-membrane three-
rayed ; gill covers consisting of three finely striated
plates; the apertm-e moderate ; body round, elonga¬
ted, red, with large and deciduous scales.
Red surmullet,—Two cirrhi; the body red. Length
from 12 to 15 inches; colour a fine rose-red, with an
olive tinge on the back, and a silvery hue towards the
abdomen. It is found in the Mediterranean and north¬
ern seas, is very strong and active, and feeds principally
on smaller fishes, worms, and insects. The Roman epi¬
cures expended large sums in purchasing this fish for
their tables; contemplated, with inhuman pleasure, the
changes of its colours, during its slow expiration ; and
feasted on it with delight, when it was dressed with rare
and costly sauces.
Striped surmullet.—Two cirrhi, and light-yellow lon¬
gitudinal lines. Nearly resembling the preceding, and
equally delicate as a food. Inhabits the Mediterra¬
nean, and is sometimes found in the Atlantic.
The other species are japonicus, auriflamma, in di¬
et/s, bandi, vittatus, trifasciatus, bifasciatus, macula-
tusy aureovittatus, and imberbis.
Gen. 31. Trigla.
Head large, mailed, with rough lines; eyes large,
round, and placed near the top of the head; gape wide,
palate and jaws set with acute teeth ; nostrils double;
gill-aperture large ; cover consisting of one radiated
aculeated plate ; gill-membrane seven-rayed ; body
covered with small scales ; back straight, with a
longitudinal furrow, spiny on both sides ; lateral line
near the back, straight; belly thick ; ventral and
pectoral fins large ; at each of the latter free and ar¬
ticulated finger-shaped processes.
Mailed gurnard.—Double fingers, snout forked, and
elongated; body mailed ; length about 12 inches. Na¬
tive of the Mediterranean.
Piper Triple fingers ; nostrils tubular ;
length from one to two feet; bright rose-red, silvery
beneath. Native of the European seas ; considered as
an excellent fish for the table.
Gray gurnard.—Triple fingers ; back marked with
black and red spots; length of the preceding. Native
of the European seas, and not uncommon about our own
coasts. Feeds on testaceous and crustaceous animals,
spawns in May and June, and is good eating.
Tub-fish, or sapphirinegurnard.—Triple fingers, la¬
teral line aculeated. Size of the gray gurnard. Native
of the European seas. Occasionally springs out of the
water to some distance.
Flying gurflarr/.—Sextuple fingers, connected by a Abdominal
membrane. A highly singular and beautiful species, Fishes,
which inhabits the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and In- '—~y—**
dian seas, where it swims in shoals, and frequently fczsVohtans.
out of the water to a considerable distance.
The Carolina, (data, minuta, cavillone, punctata,
adnatica, pint, chabrontera, cuculus, lucerna, lineata,
asiatica, and evolans, also belong to this genus.
Gen. 32. TraCHICHXHYS. Traehieh-
Head rounded in front ; eye large ; mouth wide,
toothless, descending ; gill-membrane furnished with
eight rays, of which the four lowermost are rough on
the edges; scales rough; abdomen mailed with large
carinated scales.
Southern trachichthys.—Mailed abdomen. The whole australis.
of this curious fish is strongly coated, and of a bright
pink ferruginous colour. It is a native of the coasts of
New Holland, and is minutely described by Dr Shaw,
in his Naturalists Miscellany, and in the fourth volume
of his General Zoology ; a work from which we have
derived much assistance in the compilement of the pre¬
sent article.
iv! ABDOMINAL.
The fishes of this order have the ventral situated be¬
hind the pectoral fins, or on the abdomen. They are
mostly inhabitants of the fresh waters.
Gen. 1. Cobitis. Cobitis.
Head small, oblong, and scaleless ; eye in the upper
part of the head ; nape fiat; gill-membrane from
four to six rayed ; gill-covers formed of a single
plate, shutting close below; body covered with mu¬
cus and small deciduous scales, and variegated with
bands and spots, almost equal ; the tail towards the
caudal fin being a little narrowed ; back straight,
with a single fin ; lateral line scarcely visible; vent
near the tail, and the tail rounded.
Common or beardedloche.—Six beards ; head smooth, £ar£afw/flr,
and compressed. About three inches in length ; mouth
small, toothless, and placed beneath. Common in clear
rivulets in many parts of Europe. Lives on aquatic
insects, worms, &c. Spawns in spring, is very proli¬
fic, dies very soon after being taken out of the water,
and even when placed for any length of time in still
water. It is very delicate eating, but quickly loses its
fine flavour.
Spiny loche or the armed loche.—Six beards, a spine tcenia.
below the eyes. Resembles the preceding, and is found
in various parts of Europe, concealing itself below
stones, feeding on worms, aquatic insects, and the spawn
and fry of fishes. It is about five inches long, is tena¬
cious of life, utters a hissing sound when handled, and
is seldom eaten by man.
Great loche.—Eight beards; a spine above the eye.Jbssilis.
The largest of the genus, inhabiting large lakes, and
marshes in the midland countries of Europe. Restless
on the approach of stormy weather.
The other known species are heteroclita and ja-
ponica.
Gen. 2.
Chap. IV. I C H T H
Abdominal
Fishes. Gen. 3. AnABLEFS.
Anableps. Head somewhat depressed j mouth terminal j teeth
small, and placed on the jaws $ eyes protuberant,
with double pupils j gill-membrane six-rayed.
fttroph-
ihalmus.
Four-eyed anableps. Cobitis anableps of Linnaeus.—-
Yellowish-gray, with longitudinal black lines on each
side. Length from six to eight or ten inches. Its
general appearance like that of a loche ; but its eyes
differ from those of every known fish, each being ap¬
parently divided into two distinct eyes, united in a com¬
mon receptacle ; on dissection, however, this observation
is found to apply only to the anterior half of the organ.
This fish is a native of South America, principally fre¬
quenting the rivers of Surinam, near the sea-coasts.
Amia. Gen. 3. AMIA.
Head bony, naked, rough, and furnished with sutures j
teeth acute, and close in the jaws and palate j two
beards at the nose 5 gill-membrane twelve-rayed 5
body scaly.
caha. Carolinian amia.—With a black spot at the tail;
small, of a roundish form, and seldom eaten. Inhabits
Carolina.
Silurus. Gen. 4. SlLURUS.
Head naked, large, broad, and compressed ; mouth fur¬
nished with beards j gape and throat wide; lips thick;
jaws dentated ; tongue thick, smooth, and very short;
eyes small ; gill-membrane furnished with from four
to sixteen rays; body elongated, compressed, scale¬
less, covered with viscid slime ; lateral line near the
back ; the first ray of the pectoral fins, or of the dor¬
sal fin, spiny, and dentated backward.
glam's. Sly, or European silurus.—One soft dorsal fin ; six
beards. Grows to the length of eight, ten, or even fif¬
teen feet, and to the weight of three hundred pounds ;
but its ordinary size is from two to three or four feet.
It is sluggish, and usually lies half imbedded in the soft
bottoms of the rivers which it frequents, with its mouth
half-open, moving about its beards, which the smaller
fishes mistaking for worms, lay hold of, and are entrap¬
ped. It inhabits the larger rivers of Europe, as well
as some parts of Asia and Africa, but is in no high es¬
timation as a food.
electricus. Electric silurus.—With one adipose dorsal fin, and
six beards. About twenty inches long, very broad in
the fore-part, depressed, and of a cinereous colour, with
some blackish spots towards the tail. Is found in some
rivers in Africa, and when struck, gives a galvanic
shock, though not so strong as that from the torpedo
and gymnotus. It is used as food.
ascita. Ascitic silurus.—Brown, ash-coloured beneath, with
beards longer than the body ; forked tail, and eleven
rays in the anal fin. The young of this species are ex¬
cluded in the form of large ova, the integuments of
which they soon break, but adhere to the parent till
the yolk is consumed. Native of India.
oatus. Cat silurus.—The hinder dorsal fin adipose ; tu’enty
rays in the anal fin, and eight beards. Inhabits the sea
and rivers of North America, preying on all kinds of
smaller fishes, and not sparing even those of its own
VOL. XI. Part I.
Y O L O G Y;
97
kind. Tastes like an eel, and is much relished by the Abdominal
Americans. JE'ishe*.
The other species are denominated militaris, bagre,
hert%bergii, inermis, galeatus, nodosus, bimaculatus,
fasciatus, clarias, yuadrimaculatus, erythropterus, ba-
truchus, fossihs, vittatus, athennoides, asotus, mystus,
anguillans, undccimalis, cornutus, felis, cous, carina-
tus, docmac, chilensis, and bajad.
Gen. 5. Platystacus. Platysta-
cus*
Habit of silurus ; mouth beneath, bearded wfith cinhi;
body scaleless, depressed ; tail long, compressed.
Acetabulatedplatystacus. Silurus aspredo of Linnseus. cotylepho-
Grows to the length of a foot or more, has a very un- rus.
couth appearance, and is remarkable for the many small
acetabular processes, or suckers, with which the body is
beset. Native of the Indian seas and rivers.
Smooth platystacus.—Eight beards, and plain abdo- leevus.
men. Very like the preceding, but wants the abdo¬
minal suckers.
Wartedplatystacus.—Brown, marked above by Ion- verruco-
gitudinal warted lines, with short anal fin. Smaller,
and less elongated than the two preceding. Native of
the Indian seas.
Eel-fshaped platyslacus.—Brown, with longitudinal anguilta-
white stripes, and the second dorsal, anal, and caudal rw.
fin united. Length twelve or fifteen inches. Native
of the Indian seas.
Gen. 6. LoRICARIA. Lorlc&ria.
Head smooth, depressed ; mouth without teeth, and re¬
tractile ; gill-membrane six-rayed ; body covered
with a hard crust.
Fibbed loricaria. Silurus costatus of Linnaeus.-—Yel* costata.
lowish brown, mailed with a single row of shields on each
side ; tail forked. This is a species of great strength
and boldness, which inflicts very painful and dangerous
wounds with its spines. It is a native of the Indian
and American seas.
Armed loricaria.—One dorsal fin, two beards; length cata-
about ten or twelve inches. Much allied to the phracta.
ceding, but has a rounded tail. Native of the Ameri¬
can seas.
Soldier loricaria. Silurus callichthys of Linnaeus.— callich-
Brovvn, with depressed rounded head; double row of
scales on each side, and rounded tail. Native of South
America, where it is in considerable esteem as a food.
Speckled loricaria.—Yellow, with brownish back \punctata.
double row of scales on each side; fins speckled with
black ; and forked tail. Only five or six inches long,
but very elegant. Native of the rivers of Surinam.
Toothed loricaria.—Lengthened ; yellowish brown ; dentata
with toothed, bearded mouth, and slightly pointed
snout. Native of the Indian seas.
Yellow lovicaria. Loricaria plecostomus of Linnaeus.—• flavat
Yellow, spotted with brown ; two dorsal fins; and tair
marked by transverse bands. Native of the Indian seas.
Gen. 7. Salmo. Salmo<
Head smooth and compressed ; mouth large ; lips small;
tongue white, cartilaginous, and moveable; eyes
middle-sized; lateral teeth in the jaws and tongue;
gill-membrane furnished with four to ten rays; gill-
f N cover
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Abdominal cover consisting of three plates j body elongated,
Fishes. covered with round scales minutely striated j back
L’r"     straight *, lateral line straight, and near the back j
hinder dorsal fin adipose j ventral fins many-rayed.
Most of the fishes of this genus frequent pure and
rapid streams j a few ol them inhabit the sea, but enter
rivers for the purpose of depositing their spawn in
spring, and return to the sea in autumn. They feed
on insects and other fishes, and their flesh is much re¬
lished as a food. We shall confine our notices to a few
of the most important and remarkable species.
salar. Common salmon.—The upper jaw projecting boyond
the under. The general length ot the salmon is from
two and a half to three feet j but is said to be some¬
times found the length of six feet, and Mr Pennant
mentions one of 74 pounds weight as the largest he ever
heard of. The general colour of both sexes is a silvery
gray, of a much darker cast on the back } the sides of
the male are marked with many small, dusky and cop¬
per-coloured spots, while the markings on the female are
larger, more distant, and roundish, or lunated. The male
is also of a more slender form than the female. This fish,
which is so highly esteemed for the delicacy of its
flavour, and which forms such an important article of
commerce, occurs chiefly in the salt and fresh waters of
the northern regions, being unknown in the Mediter¬
ranean and other warm climates; but frequenting some
of the rivers in France, which empty themselves into
the ocean, and being found as far north as Greenland
and the northern parts of North America. It quits the
sea at certain periods to deposit its spawn in the gravelly
beds of rivers, often ascending to a great distance from
theirmouths,forcing itself against the mostrapid streams,
and leaping with surprising agility over cataracts of a
considerable height. On the river LifFey, the salmon
are often observed to fall back before they surmount the
cataract, which is 19 feet high ) and baskets are placed
near the edge of the stream to catch them as they fall.
At the falls of Kilmorack in Scotland, where the sal¬
mon are very numerous, the country people are ac¬
customed to lay branches of trees on the edge of the
locks, and thus intercept such of the fish as miss their
leap. Alongside one of these falls the late Lord Lovat
ordered a kettle full of water to be placed over a fire,
and many minutes had not elapsed before a large salmon
made a false leap and fell into it. When the salmon
enter the fresh water in winter, they are more or less
infested with the salmon louse, (Lerncea sulmonealAn.')
and are then reckoned to be in bigh season. These in¬
sects, however, soon die and drop off, and the fish be¬
comes lean at spawning time. The male and female
unite in forming a receptacle in the sand or gravel,
about 18 inches deep, for the ova, and having covered
up the latter, which are not batched till the ensuing
spring, hasten to the salt water much emaciated, and soon
recover their plumpness. The fry appear about the end
of March, and are five or six inches in length, in the be¬
ginning of May, when they are called salmon smelts or
smouts. The first flood sweeps them in immense swarms
into the sea. About the middle of June, the largest of
these begin to return into the rivers. Towards the end
of July, they are called gilse, and weigh from six to
nine pounds. Their food is other fish, insects, and
worms $ but as no food is found in their stomach during
Chap. IV.
spawning time, it is probable that they neglect it during Abdominal
that season. The fishing season commences in the Tweed Fishes
on the 30th of November, and ends about old Michael-
mas day. A particular account of this fishery occurs in the
third volume of Pennant’s British Zoology, to which
we beg leave to refer our readers.—“ A person of the
name of Graham (says Mr Bingley), who farms the sea-
coast fishery at Whitehaven, has adopted a successful
mode of taking salmon, which lie has appropriately de¬
nominated salmon-hunting. When the tide is out, and
the fish are left in shallow waters, intercepted by sand
banks, near the mouth of the river ; or when they are
found in any inlets up the shore, where the water is
not more than from one foot to four feet in depth, the
place where they lie is to be discovered by their agitation
of the pool. This man, armed with a three-pointed
barbed spear, with a shaft of 15 feet in length, mounts
his horse, and plunges, at a swift trot, or moderate gal¬
lop, belly deep, into the water. He makes ready his spear
with both hands $ when he overtakes the salmon, he
lets go one hand, and with the other strikes the spear,
with almost unerring aim, into the fish : this done, by
a turn of the hand he raises the salmon to the surface of
the water, turns his horse head to the shore, and runs
the salmon on dry land without dismounting. This
man says, that by the present mode he can kill from 40
to 50 in a day : ten are however no despicable day’s
work for a man and horse. His father was probably
the first man that ever adopted this method of killing
salmon on horseback.”—In the intestinal canal of sal¬
mon is often found a species of taenia, about three feet in
length ; and Dr Bloch mentions, that in a specimen
which had been three weeks dead, he found one of these
worms still living.
Gray salmon, or gray.—With ash-coloured spots, the criox.
extreme part of the tail equal. Weighs from 13 to 20
pounds. The head is larger in proportion than in the
preceding species; it is a strong fish, and does not ascend
the fresh water till August, when it rushes up with great
violence, and is seldom taken.
Salmon trout, sea trout, or bull trout.—Marked with tru-tta.
black ocellated spots, the middle brownish, six dots on
the pectoral fins. The general appearance very like
the common salmon, but seldom equal to it in size.
Like the salmon it inhabits the European seas, passing
into rivers to deposit its spawn. Its flesh, too, is of
equal delicacy. The viscid mucus which covers the
skin possesses the quality of exhibiting phosphoric light.
Common -With red spots, the lower jaw ra-fario.
ther longer than the upper. The general length of this
species is from 12 to 15 or 16 inches j the ground co¬
lour yellowish gray, darker on the back, and marked
on the sides by several straggling, round, bright-red
spots, each surrounded by a tinge of pale blue gray.
The colouring however, is subject to considerable variety.
The trout is a common inhabitant of European streams
and lakes, preferring those that are clear and cold,
living on worms, small fishes, and aquatic insects and
their larvae. Like the salmon, it occasionally springs
over obstacles in its course. It usually spawns in Sep¬
tember or October. Those which are in most request
for the table, are natives of the clearest waters.—Tlie
gillaroo trouts which are found in the lakes of Galway,
in Ireland, are not specifically different from the com¬
mon, but their stomachs acquire an extraordinary de¬
gree
Chap. IV.
Abdominal gree of thickness and muscular force, a circumstance
Fishes, which is ascribed to their living much on shell-fish, and
swallowing small stones.
hucho. Hucho salmon.—Oblong, two rows of teeth in the
palate, marked with slightly blackish spots. More
slender shaped than the common salmon, and its flesh
not so firm. Inhabits the Danube, the Bavarian and
Austrian lakes, and the rivers of Russia and Siberia.
alpinus. Alpine trout, or charr.—Back black, sides bluish,
belly reddish yellow. Length about a foot. In great
request for the table. Native of the Alpine lakes and
rivers, as well as of those of Germany, Lapland, Swe¬
den, &c. Found in some of the lakes of Cumberland
and Westmoreland, Loch-Leven in Scotland, &c.
salvelinus Salvelin trout, or red charr.—About a foot in length,
the upper jaw longest. Inhabits nearly the same re¬
gions as the preceding, and is equally esteemed for the
delicacy of its flavour.
eperlanus. Smelt salmon, ov smelt; spirling ox sparling of the
Scotch.—Head transparent, 17 rays in the anal fin.
Of an elegant, tapering form, and of a very peculiar
flavour, which some compare to rushes, others to vio¬
lets, and others to cucumbers. It varies in length,
from six to 12 inches, inhabits the seas of Europe, and
ascends rivers for the purpose of spawning, early in
spring. In the Thames and the Dee, however, they
are taken in great quantities in November, December,
and January. There is a smaller variety which abounds
in the north of Europe.
lavaretus. Gwiniad salnion, ox gwiniad.—The upper jaw long¬
est, 14 rays in the dorsal fin. Resembles a trout, but
is thicker in proportion. Inhabits the lakes of the Al¬
pine parts of Europe, and those of Cumberland, Wales,
and Ireland. It occurs also in Loch Lomond, in Scot¬
land, where it is called powan. A fisherman at Ulls-
water is said to have taken between seven and eight
thousand of this species at one draught. Its usual
length is from 10 to 12 inches. According to Dr
Bloch, the gwiniad also inhabits the northern sea, and
the Baltic.
albida. Marcenula salmon.—Jaws without teeth, the under
one longest. Length about six inches j shape like that
of a trout, but more slender. Native of several of the
European lakes, and much esteemed as a food. At
Lochmaben, the only place in Scotland where it oc¬
curs, it is called iuvangis. According to tradition, it
was brought to Lochmaben, from England, in the time
of Robert Bruce.
thymallus Grayling salmon, or grayling.—Upper jaw the long¬
est, 23 rays in the dorsal fin. About the length of 18
inches. Frequents the clearer and colder rivers in
many parts of Europe and Asia, particularly those
which flow through mountainous countries. It is an
elegant species, voracious, and of quick growth $
spawns in April and May; has white, firm, and fine-
flavoured flesh, and is considered to be in highest sea¬
son in the middle of winter.
To this genus also belong lenok, nelina, taisnen, ery-
thrinus, phinoc, salmulus, schieffertniilleri, gcedenii, sal-
tnarmus, carpio, lepechini, lacustris, vmbla, argentinus,
arcticus, stagnalis, rivalis, stroemii, saurtis, tumbil,
fattens, grotnlandicus, dentex, gibbostts, notatus, bima-
culatus, immaculatus, cyprinoides, niloticus, cegyptius,
pulverulcntus, anastomus, rhombeus, gasteropelecus,
falcatus, fasciatus,friderici, unimctculatus, melanurus,
ICHTHYOLOGY.
fidvu.
99
migratorms, autumnalis, wartmanm, rostra- Abdominnf
tus, nasus, maratna, peled, pidschem, mudschan, scho- Fishes.
kur, miilleri, vimba, oxyrhinchus, leucichthys, and cdcn- v
tulus.
Gen. 8. Acanthonotus.
Body elongated, without dorsal fin.
the back and abdomen.
Several spines on
AcantUo-
notus
Snouted acanthonotus.—Gray, with the hack tran?-rasas.
versely barred with brown. The only known species of
this genus, I he specimen described by Bloch mea¬
sured two feet and a half. Native of the Indian seas.
Gen. 9. Fistularia. Fistalaria.
Snout cylindrical, with jaws at the apex j gill mem¬
brane seven-rayed.
Slender fistularia, or tobacco-pipefish.—Tail bifid tabacaria.
and setiferous. Length three or four feet, shape re¬
sembling that of an eel; the head about nine inches
long, from the eyes to the tip of the mouth. From the
middle of the furcature of the tail, proceeds a very long
and thickish bristle, like whalebone, which gradually
tapers to a very fine point. The spine of this singular
fish is also of a very peculiar structure, the first verte¬
bra being of immoderate length, the three next much
shorter, and the rest gradually decreasing as they ap¬
proach the tail. It inserts its long snout into the hol¬
lows of rocks, under stones, &c. to lay hold on the smal¬
ler fishes, worms, and sea insects on which it chiefly
feeds. Inhabits America and Japan, and is edible.
Chinese fistularia, or Chinese trumpet fish.—Simple chincnsis.
rounded tail. Body thicker in proportion than in the
preceding species. Native of the Indian seas, though
its fossil impressions have been found under the volca¬
nic strata of Monte Boka, near Verona.
Paradoxical fistularia.—Finely reticulated, withparadoxa.
slightly prominent lines, and lanceolate tail. Length
from two to four inches, body angular, and the whole
fish bearing a close resemblance to a Syngnathus. Na¬
tive of the Indian seas.
Esox,
Gen. 10. Esox.
Head somewhat flat above ; mouth and gullet wide ;
jaws dentated, unequal j the upper plane, under punc¬
tured j tongue broad and loose j palate smooth j eyes
round, middle sized, and lateral; nostrils double; near
the eyes rays ; body elongated, covered with hard
scales, convex above, compressed at the sides ; lateral
line straight, nearest the hack, scarcely conspicuous ;
dorsal and anal fins very short and opposite.
Sea-pike, or spit-fish.—Two dorsal fins, the anterior sphijrcena
spiny. Of a silvery bluish colour, dusky on the back,
and slightly tinged with yellow on the head and about
the gills. Grows to the length of nearly two feet. In¬
habits the Mediterranean and Atlantic ; and has some¬
what the flavour of the cod.
Bony-scaled pike.—Upper jaw the longest, scalesowcws.
bony. This last character gives it a very singular ap¬
pearance. It attains to the length of three to four feet,
inhabits the American lakes and rivers, is very vora¬
cious, and is an excellent fish for the table.
Common pike, ox pickerel.—Snout depressed, and near- lucius.
ly equal. Head very flat; the teeth very sharp and nu¬
merous, being disposed not only in front of the upper
Na jaw,
100
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Chap. IV.
.Abdominal jaw, but in both sides of the lower, in the roof of the
tisbes. mouth, and often on the tongue, amounting to at least
The ordinary colour of this fish is pale olive gray,
deepest on the back, and marked on the sides by several
yellowish spots; the abdomen is white, slightly spotted
with black. According to Pennant, the largest speci¬
men of English growth weighed 35 pounds. Those of
Lapland sometimes measure eight feet. It is a prover¬
bially voracious species. “We have known one, (says Mr
Pennant), that was choked by attempting to swallow
one. of its own species that proved too large a morsel.
Yet its jaws are very loosely connected, and have on
each side an additional bone like the jaw of a viper,
which renders them capable of greater distension when
it swallows its prey. It does not confine itself to feed
on fish and frogs ; it will devour the water rat, and
draw down the young ducks as they are swimming about.
In a manuscript note, which we found, p. 244. of our
copy of P'ott's History of Staffordshire, is the following
extraordinary fact : “ At Lord Gower's canal at
Trent ham, a pike seized the head of a swan as she was
feeding under water, and gorged so much of it as kil¬
led them both. The servants perceiving the swan with
its head under water for a longer time than usual, took
the boat, and found both swan and pike dead.”—The
smaller fishes manifest the same uneasiness and horror
at the presence of the pike, as little birds at the sight
of the hawk or owl. If we may credit some natu¬
ralists of name, the longevity of the pike is not less
remarkable than its voracity. Rzaczynski, in his Na¬
tural History of Poland, tells us of one that was 90
years old; hut Gesner relates, that in the year 1497* one
was taken near Hailburn, in Swabia, with a brazen
ring affixed to it, on which were these words in Greek
characters : “ I am the fish which was first of all put
into this lake by the hands of the Governor of the
Universe, Frederick the Second, the 5th of October
1230.”—The pike spawns in March and April, and is
Said to be of very quick growth.
lelort. Gar-pike, gar-fish, or horn-fish.—Both jaws subulat-
ed. General length from two to three feet, the body
slender, and the belly flat. The hack is of a very fine
green, beneath which is a rich changeable blue and
purple cast, while the sides and belly are of a bright
silver colour. The jaws are very long and slender, and
the edges of both are armed with numerous short slen¬
der teeth. Native of the European seas, arriving in
shoals on the British coasts, preceding the matkrel.
The spine and bones acquire a green colour by boiling,
notwithstanding which it is eaten with perfect safety.
The other species are barracuda, wipes, vialahari-
eus, synodus, hepsetus, argenteus, gymnocephalus, bra-
sdiensis, chirocentrus, chinensis, aureoviridis, becuna,
saurus, cepedianus, chilensis, viridis, and stomias.
Poljpterus. Gen. II. PoLYPTERUS.
Gill-membrane single-rayed ; dorsal fins numerous.
niloticus. Nilotic polyplerus.—Green, with the abdomen spot¬
ted with black. Of a long and serpentine shape, the
body being nearly cylindrical, and covered with strong
and adhering scales. The pectoral and ventral fins are
attached by a scaly base ; and the dorsal, to the num¬
ber of 16, 17, or 18, and of an ovate shape, run along
the whole length of the back. Native of the Nile, and
one of the best fishes which that river produces, hut Abdominal
very rare. The Egyptians call it bichin Fi»hes.
Gen. 12. Elops, JElups.
Head smooth ; numerous small teeth in the margin of
the jaw and in the palate ; gill-membrane with 30
rays, and armed in the middle externally with five
teeth.
Saury elops, great saury, seinfsh, or sea gally-wasp. jamas,
—The tail armed above and below with a spine.
About 14 inches long, and has some resemblance to a
salmon, but wants the adipose fin. Native of the
American seas.
Gen. 13. Argentina. Argentina.
Teeth in the jaws and tongue ; gill-membrane eight-
rayed ; vent near the tail ; ventral fins with many
rays.
Pearl-bladdercd argentine.—A.nn\ fin nine-rayed. A sphyrwiw,
small brilliant fish, inhabiting the Mediterranean, and
affording, by its air-bladder and scales, some of the he-t
kind of silvery matter used in the preparation of artifi¬
cial pearls.
The other species glossodonla, Carolina, and mat h-
nata.
Gen. .4. Atherina. Aitart...
The upper jaw somewhat flat; gill-memhrane six-rayed,
a silvery stripe along the side.
Mediterranean atherine.—About 12 rays in the anal hepsetus.
fin. An elegant species, oflhe length of six or seven
inches, and shaped like a smelt. Native of the Medi¬
terranean and Red seas. Also found on the coast of
Southampton, where they are often called by the name
of smelts.
To the same genus belong menidia, sihama, juponica,
brosonii, and pinguis.
Gen. 15. Mugil. . WogiL
Lips membranaceous, the under one carinated within ;
no teeth, but a denticle above the opening of the
mouth; gill-membrane 7-rayed; gill-covers smooth,
rounded ; body whitish.
Mullet, or common mullet.—Five rays in the first iephalus.
dorsal fin.—Length from 12 to 16 inches; colour blu¬
ish gray, darker on the back, and silvery on the abdo¬
men. Very common in the Mediterranean and north¬
ern seas, chiefly haunting the shallows near the shores,
and-feeding on marine worms, insects, and plants. It
likewise occurs in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. In
the spring and early summer months, it ascends rivers.
The roe is often prepared into an inferior kind of ca¬
viar, called botargo-, and the fish itself, though not fa¬
shionable in our own country, is reckoned excellent for
the table. In plentiful seasons, it is dried and salted.
The other species are crenilabis, a/bula, malubarii us,
tang, plumieri, cceruleomaeulatus, chilensis, and chums.
Gen. 16. Exocoetus.
Head scaly, no teeth ; jaws convex on both sides; gill-
membrane ten-rayed ; body whitish, belly angulat-
ed ; pectoral fins very long, adapted to flying; the
rays carinated before.
Exie ottus.
Oceanic
Chap. IV.
AbJoin nal Oceanic Jhjing fish.—Abilome 11 carinafed on both
Fibhes. sides. Of a bright silver colour, gradually deepening
^into purplish brown on the back ; the pectoral fins dus-
f oh tans, k y, the dorsal and anal yellowish, and the ventral
fins and tail reddish. It is a native of the American
and Indian seas, but is occasionally observed in the
Mediterranean j and Pennant mentions an instance of
its being seen about the British coasts. The largeness
of the air-bladder, and the peculiar structure of the
month, which can be closed while the jaws are open,
assist its power of flight.
texiliens. MediterraneanJlying-Jlsh.—The ventral fins reaching
to the tail. The general length of this species is from
12 to 15 or 16 inches $ and its general shape is not
unlike that of a herring, to which it is also compared
as an eatable fish. It is of a bright silvery cast, with
a blue or dusky tinge on the upper part. It is frequent¬
ly observed in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, some¬
times singly, and sometimes in shoals. During the de¬
cline of its flight, it sometimes falls into ships j the
height, however, at which it generally exercises its
flight, is about three feet above the surface of the wa¬
ter. From the length and size of the pectoral fins, it is
enabled to continue this motion through the air to the
distance of 200 or 300 feet, when the fins becoming
dry, it is again obliged to have recourse to the water.
Here it is persecuted by the dorado, bonito, dolphin,
and other predaceous fishes, while, in its aerial career,
it is equally harassed by the gull and the albatross.
mesoga- American fiying-fish.—Silvery bluish, with the ven-
v/r/'. tral fins situated in the middle of the abdomen. Na¬
tive of the Atlantic ocean.
(o/nmerso- Commemonianflying-fish.—With a dark blue spot
nii. on the dorsal fin. Native of the Indian seas.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Poiynemiis.
paradise-
us.
plcbe
/us.
Gen. 17. Polynemus.
Head compressed and scaly j snout very obtuse and pro-
minentj gill-membrane with five or seven rays, se¬
parate finger-like processes at the pectoral fins.
Paradise po/ynemc, the fish of Paradise, or mango-
fish.—Seven fingers, and forked tail. Grows to the
length of about I 2 or 15 inches, and the thoracic fila¬
ments are very long, the outer ones often extending
beyond the tail, and the others gradually shortening.
It inhabits the Indian seas, and is reckoned by much
the most delicate fish at Calcutta.
Plebeian pohyneme.—Five fingers, the first reaching
beyond the vent, the others gradually shorter. Resem¬
bles a mullet, except that the head is much blunted.
It sometimes measures upwards of four feet, is a native
of the Indian and American seas, and is considered as
an excellent fish for the table.
(^uimjuarius, ni/oticus, dccadactyhis, indicus, tetra-
dactylus, virginicusy commersonii, and plu/nieri, com¬
pose the rest of the genus.
Gen. 18. Clupea.
Head compressed j mouth compressed, and denticulat¬
ed within *, jaws unequal, the upper furnished with,
serrated side-plates; tongue short, rough, with teeth
turned inwards; eyes middle-sized, round and mar¬
ginal; gills internally setaceous, their covers consist¬
ing of three or four plates, the membranes eight-
IOI
rayed ; body compressed, elongated, covered with Abdominal
scales ; lateral line straight, near and parallel to the Fishes,
back; under part of the abdomen forming a serrated v~*" -*
ridge ; ventral fins often with nine rays, caudal long
and forked.
Herring.—Without spots ; the under jaw the long- harengus.
est. In size, this well-known fish is found to vary very
considerably, though the general length may be reckon¬
ed from 10 to 12 or 13 inches. The back is of a dusky
blue or greenish, and in the recent or living fish, the
gill-covers are marked by a reddish or violet-coloured
spot. The scales are rather large, and adhere slightly.
The fins are rather small, and the tail is much forked.
In most specimens, the anal fin has 17 rays. The her¬
ring inhabits the northern seas of Europe, and the At¬
lantic ocean, and is seldom found farther south than the
coast of France. Its food principally consists of small
fishes, sea worms, and a minute species of crab, cancer
hulecum, which abounds in the Norwegian seas. When
it has fed on this last, its intestines are filled with the
red ova of the insect, and is unfit for being salted. At
spawning time its stomach is always empty, which seems
to indicate that, like the salmon, and some other fishes,
it is, at that season, quite negligent of food. Herrings
spawn at different seasons, some in spring, some in sum¬
mer, and some in autumn, when they approach our
shores in immense shoals. But the reality of their long
and periodical migrations is by no means ascertained.
On the contrary, it is more probable, that, like the
mackrel, they pass the winter in deep water, or in the
soft mud at the bottom, at no very great distance from
the shores. They are, in fact, found about some of
the European coasts at almost every season of the Year;
and the alleged rapidity of their northern voyages great¬
ly exceeds the swiftest progress of which they are capa¬
ble. They are the ceaseless prey of several of the ceta¬
ceous tribe of animals, of various fishes, and of different
sorts of sea fowl, particularly of the gannet, or solan
goose. Notwithstanding the great importance of this
fish to the inhabitants of modern Europe, we find no
certain desciiption of it in any of the Greek or Roman
writers. The Dutch engaged in the herring-fishery in
1164, and the discovery of the pickling process is as¬
cribed to JPHliam Peukelen, of Biervlet, near Sluys.
He died in 1397 ; and Charles V. in honour of his
memory, paid a solemn visit to his tomb. x
Pilchard.—Silvery, with dusky back, and Yarg&pilchar*
strongly adherent scales. Very like the preceding, but dus.
smaller and thicker, with larger scales, and the dorsal
fin placed exactly in the centre of gravity. Very fre¬
quent on some of the European coasts. Usually visits
the shores of Cornwall in vast shoals, about the middle
of July, and disappears on the commencement of win¬
ter. On the 5th of October, 1767, there were includ¬
ed in St Ives’ Bay 7000 hogsheads, each of which
contained 35,000 fish, in all 24 millions.
Sprat.—With 16 or 17 rays in the dorsal fin. Aspratfus.
very small species, like the fry of herring ; but it has
a strongly serrated abdomen, and only 48 veitebrre in
the back-bone, whereas the herring has 56. Inhabits
the northern and Mediterranean seas, and approaches
the shores in countless swarms, in autumn.
Shad.—Black spots on the sides, the snout bifid. In alosa.
general appearance resembles the pilchard; but is much
larger,
2<’-'
% .. £
ho'£>
102
Abdominal larger, and much thinner in proportion. Native of
Fishes, the Mediterranean and northern seas. In spring, it
^ ascends rivers for the purpose of depositing its spawn.
Like the herring, it dies almost immediately on being
taken out of the water. Though prepared for the table
in many countries, it is rather coarse and insipid.
encrasico- Anchovy.—The upper jaw longest. Usual length
/?/.?. from three to four inches, of a somewhat lengthened
form, and covered with large, thin, and easily deciduous
scales. Native of the Mediterranean, northern, and
Atlantic seas. Spawns from December to March. It
is in great request as a pickle, the bones dissolving en¬
tirely in boiling. The principal anchovy fishery is
about the small island of Gorgona, near Leghorn.
The remaining species are malabarica, africana, si¬
nensis, thrissa, gigantea, atherinoides, setirvstris, dorab,
tuberculata, chrysoptej'a,fas:iata, nasus, macrocephala,
and tropica.
Cypfinus. Gen. 19. Cyprinus.
Without teeth ; mouth in the apex of the head, and
bisulcated^ gill-membrane three-rayed •, body smooth
and whitish $ ventral fins generally nine-rayed.
Most of the cyprini inhabit the fresh waters, and are
much esteemed as food. They live on clay, mould,
worms, insects, and leguminous and aquatic plants,
though some of them also prey on other fishes. Most
of them spawn in April or May.
barbus. Barbel.—Anal fin seven-rayed, four beards ; second
ray of the dorsal fin serrated on both sides. Has some¬
what the habit of a pike, and is usually found in deep
and rapid rivers in most of the middle and southern parts
of Europe. It is easily distinguished by its two pair of
long and unequal beards. Its ordinary length is from
18 inches to two feet. Though capable of swimming
with strength and rapidity, it sometimes allows itself to
be taken by the hand by divers employed for that pur¬
pose. It is a coarse fish; and the roe is said to operate
as an emetic and cathartic.
carpio. Carp.—Anal fin nine-rayed, four beards, the second
ray of the dorsal fin serrated behind. The most com¬
mon colour of this species is a yellowish olive, much
deeper on the back, with a gilded tint on the side. In
our own country it measures from 12 to 16 inches in
length; but in warmer climates attains to a much lar¬
ger size, and sometimes weighs from 20 to 40 pounds.
It feeds chiefly on worms and water insects, and fre¬
quents the lakes and small rivers in the southern parts
of Europe, usually decreasing in size the farther it is
removed into a northern region. It is very tenacious
of life, and may be kept for a considerable time in any
damp place, though not immersed in water ; and well
authenticated instances are quoted of its attaining to the
age of more than a century. It is said to have been
introduced into England about the year 1514. In Ger¬
many and Poland, it is cultivated as a considerable ar¬
ticle of commerce. A carp of three pounds weight
will produce 237>ooo ova, and one of nine pounds,
621,600. A green pigment is obtained from its bile,
and isinglass from its air-bladder. It is reckoned one
of the most delicate of fresh-water fishes. A variety
occurs in some parts of Germany, with very large scales,
and termed by Bloch rex cyprinorum.
gobio. Gudgeon,—knaX fin eleven-rayed, two beards. Ge-
Chap. IV.
neral length from four to five or six inches ; the body Abdominal
thick and somewhat cylindrical, for the most part of a Flihes.
pale olive brown above, the sides silvery, and the ab- 11 J
domen white. This is a very prolific species, and de¬
posits its spawn, at intervals, in the spring. Inhabits
small lakes and gently flowing rivers in most parts of
Europe, and is particularly abundant in some parts of
Germany, especially in autumn. In request for the
table.
Tench.—Anal fin with 25 rays ; tail entire ; body tinea,
slimy ; two beards. The ordinary length of the tench
is about 12 or 14 inches; but it varies considerably
both in size and colour, according to its situation. It
resides in stagnant waters with muddy bottoms, in most
parts of the globe, deposits its minute greenish ova in
May and June, is very prolific, of quick growth, and
is supposed by some to hibernate in the mud of the wa¬
ters which it inhabits. It is reputed a delicate fish for
the table. In Mr Daniel’s Rural Sports, we find the
following remarkable passage. “ A piece of water, at
Thornville Royal, Yorkshire, which had been ordered
to be filled up, and wherein wood, rubbish, &c. had
been thrown for years, was, in November 1801, di¬
rected to be cleared out. Persons were accordingly
employed; and, almost choked up by weeds and mud,
so little water remained, that no person expected to see
any fish, except a few eels ; yet nearly 200 brace of
tench, of all sizes, and as many perch, were found.
After the pond was thought to be quite free, under
some roots there seemed to be an animal, which was
conjectured to be an otter; the place was surrounded,
and on opening an entrance among the roots, a tench
was found of a most singular form, having literally as¬
sumed the shape of the hole, in which he had of course
for many years been confined. His length from fork
to eye, was two feet nine inches ; his circumference,
almost to the tail, was two feet three inches; his weight
11 pounds, nine ounces and a quarter : the colour was
also singular, his belly being that of a charr, or a ver¬
milion. This extraordinary fish, after having been in¬
spected by many gentlemen, was carefully put into a
pond ; but either from confinement, age, or bulk, it
at first merely floated, and at last, with difficulty, swam
gently away. It is now alive and well.”
Crusian.—Anal fin ten-rayed, lateral line straight. corowrW.
Length from eight to ten inches ; shape very deep,
with considerable thickness ; colour deep olive yellow,
with a silvery tint on the abdomen. Inhabits ponds
and large stagnant waters in many parts of Europe.
Grows slowly, and is much infested by the lerncea cypri-
nacea. Spawns but once in two years, and is in consi¬
derable esteem as an eatable fish.
Golden carp, ov gold fish. Two anal fins, the cau-Af/rafr/.?.
dal transverse and forked. This favourite ornament of
our houses and gardens, is a native of the southern parts
of China, and exists in its natural state in a large lake
in the province of Kiang, whence it has been diffused
over the country, and cherished with fondness and at¬
tention. It is said to have been first introduced into
England in 1691. In its domestic state, it is subject
to very considerable variations in colour, form, and even
number of fins. It may be fed with fine bread crumbs,
small worms, water-snails, yolk of eggs dried and pow¬
dered, &c. and should be Supplied with a frequent
change of water.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Minow.
Cha[
Abdominal
Fishes.
phoxinus.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Anal fin eight-rayed 5 a brown spot at the
leuciscus.
rutilus.
erijthro
phthul-
jescs.
alburnus.
brami.
3 , IV.
Minoiv.
tail j body transparent. A small but elegant and fa
miliar species, frequenting the small gravelly streams
in many parts of Europe and Siberia. In our own
country it appears first in March, and disappears about
the beginning of October, when it secretes itself in the
mud. - It is gregarious, and fond of warmth, often
swimming in shoals near the surface of the water, in
clear hot weather. It feeds on herbs and worms, is
very prolific, and of a delicate flavour, though seldom
prepared for the table, on account of its smallness.
It is more frequently used as bait for other fishes.
Dace, or dat'e.—Eighteen rays in the anal, and nine
in the dorsal fin. Length from six to eight or ten
inches. In manners allied to the roach, and inhabits
lakes and rivers in many parts of Europe. Little
esteemed for the table.
Roac/i.—Anal fin with 12 rays; ventral rays of a
blood-red colour. Silvery, with a cast of dull yellow,
more dusky on the upper parts; fins red. Frequents
deep, still, and clear rivers in most of the middle parts
of Europe, often appearing in large shoals, preceded
by one or more, apparently stationed as a kind of guard.
It spawns about the middle of Mav, and is very prolific.
It usually weighs about a pound, or a pound and a
half. Its flesh is white, firm, and well tasted, but not
held in any great repute.
Orf.—Thirteen rays in the anal fin. Length from
10 to 12 inches, or more. Resembles the gold-fish,
and kept in small ponds on account of its beautiful ap¬
pearance. Native of many parts of Germany, Russia,
&c.
Rud.—Anal fin with 15 rays; fins red. About 8
or IQ inches long. Native of several parts of Europe,
in lakes and rivers with a gravelly bottom. Reputed
edible, and in season in summer.
Chub.—Fourteen rays in the anal fin ; snout rounded.
Resembles the tench, but has a more lengthened form,
and a thicker head in proportion. Ordinary length
from 14 to 18 inches. Native of many parts of Eu¬
rope, and not uncommon in Great Britain, occurring
chiefly in clear and rapid rivers. Rather coarse and
unpalatable, and apt to acquire a yellow colour in
boiling.
Bleak.—Twenty rays in the anal fin. Length five
or six inches; shape slender; colour bright silvery.
From its scales is prepared the silvery matter used in
the manufacture of artificial pearls.
Bream.—Twenty-seven rays in the anal fin ; the fins
brown. Of a very broad or deep shape, and from two
feet to two and a half long. Of an olive hue, with a
pale or flesh-coloured tinge on the under parts. Inha¬
bits the lakes and rivers of many parts of Europe. As
tin article of food, it is reckoned rather coarse and insi¬
pid.
Besides the above, this genus likewise comprehends
the rondeletii,gibelio, blicca, ballerus, pomeranicus, fim-
briatus, cirrhosus, falcatus, americanus, bidrkna, fare-
nus, grislagine, bynni, bulatmai, eapotta, caucus, mal-
chus, julus, buphthalmus, quadrilobus, ti/icaurea,ferru-
gineus, nigro-auratus, viridi-violaceus, punctatus, ama-
rus, sericeus, capita, cultratus, cephalus, aspius, idus,
tiasus, serta, dobula, lancastriensis, mursa, regius, la-
bco, leptaccphalus, catastomus, gallon, clupcdides, gemo-
rhynchut, aphya, and rivularis.
Gen. 20. Mormyrus.
Snout produced ; mouth terminal; teeth several, and
IO3
Cr r.i!agi-
nous F»s,hes*
emarginated; aperture without gill-cover; gill-mem-
brane single-rayed ; body scaly.
In consequence of Geoffroy’s recent investigations,
this hitherto obscure genus is ranked in the abdominal
order; and the number of species has been increased
from three to nine. They are all natives of the Nile.
Anguilliform mormyrus, has a sharp snout, equal anguil-
jaws, 26 rays in the dorsal fin, and a bifid acute loules.
tail.
The other species are kannume, oxyrhynchus, salahia,
bebe, herse, cyprinoides, bane, and hasselquistn.
V. CARTILAGINOUS.
The fishes of this order have their fins furnished with
cartilaginous rays. Their lungs are more similar to the
gills ot fishes than to the pulmonary system of the mam¬
malia and amphibia ; and in some of the genera are
found both lungs and gills.
Gen. I. OsTRAClON. Ostracion.
Teeth pointing forward; body mailed by a bony cover¬
ing.
Triquetral or three-sided trunk-fish.—Yio&'j triangu- triquetcr,
lar and unarmed. This species is of a trigonal shape,
measures about 12 inches in length, and except to with¬
in a small distance from the tail, is completely enve¬
loped in a bony covering, divided into hexagonal spaces.
Its prevailing colour is brown, with a white spot in the
centre of each hexagon, whicli is also marked by fine
rays diverging from the centre to the edges. Native of
the Indian and American seas, and highly esteemed as
an eatable fish among the East Indians.
The generio characters of the trunk-fishes are readily
recognised ; but the specific marks are not easily ascer¬
tained. Dr Shaw enumerates, in addition to the pre¬
ceding, trigonus, biaculeatus, cornutus, tricornis, qua-
dricornis, turritus, concatenatus, nasus, eubicus, me lea-
gris, aurilus, striatus, tubcrculalus, and gibbosus.
Gen. 2. Tetrodon.
Tetrodcn.
Jaws bony, divided at the tip; body roughened be¬
neath ; no ventral fins.
The fishes of this genus, like the diodons, have the
power of inflating their body at pleasure, by means of
an internal membrane for that purpose; and during the
time of inflation, the small spines dispersed over the
sides and abdomen are raised in such a manner as to
operate as a defence against their enemies. They are
chiefly natives of the tropical seas, though sometimes
seen in the higher northern and southern latitudes, and
are supposed to live principally on the crustaceous and . 3
testaceous animals.
Electric tetrodon.—Body brown above, yellow on the cfegricus.
sides, sea green beneath, and varied with red, green,
and white spots. Length seven or eight inches. Inha¬
bits rocky places among the corals, in the Indian and
American seas ; and, when touched, affects the hand
with a galvanic shock, ,
Ocellated
104 I C H T H Y
Cartiiagi- OceUatcd letrodon.—'DuW green •, whitish beneath,
nous Fishes, with a black crescent over the shoulders, and spot on
  the back, both edged with yellow. Inhabits the In-
ocellatus. seaSj anij sometimes the adjoining rivers, particu¬
larly those of China and Japan. It is of a very poison¬
ous nature j and the emperor of Japan prohibits his sol¬
diers, under very severe penalties, from eating it. The
sceleratus is also reputed highly noxious.
The other species are lagocephalus, Uneatus, hispidus,
te$tudi?ieus, spejiglcri, honkenii, oblongvs, Icevigatm,
stedatus, punctatus, ttieleagris, and rostratus.
DumJou. Gen. 3. Diodon.
Jaws bony, undivided j body beset with moveable
spines.
Jiystrix. Porcupine diodon.—Of a spherical form, with trian¬
gular spines. Of a considerable size, sometimes mea¬
suring two feet in length. It possesses the power of in¬
flating and contracting itself at pleasure, remarkable in¬
stances of which property it is said to exhibit when ta¬
ken with a line and hook. Its flesh is coarse, though
sometimes eaten by the inhabitants of the West Indian
islands.
atinga. Oblong diodon.—With round spines. Nearly allied
to the preceding, and considered as poisonous.
The remaining species are denominated orbicularis^
plutnieri, and liturosus.
('eplialus. Gen. 4* Cephalus.
Jaws bony ; body terminating abruptly, so as to resem¬
ble the head of a fish.
brevis. Short sun-fish, or short diodon. Tetrodon viola of
Linnaeus.—Body suborbicular, very short and broad,
terminating abruptly on the hind part, where it is
edged by a shallow fin. The general colour brown,
with a silvery cast on the sides and abdomen. Native
of the northern seas, where it sometimes arrives at the
length of eight or even ten feet, and to the weight ef
500 pounds. Also a native of the Atlantic and Ethi¬
opian sea. It is said to exhibit a strong phosphoric
light during the night. The oblong is probably only a
variety of this species, as La Cdpede has observed inter¬
mediate gradations between the two. The variegated
is distinguished by whitish undulations and spots ; and
the pallasian by its silvery hue, brownish back, and
spiny carinated abdomen.
Syngnathus. Gen. 5. SyngNATHUS.
Snout subcylindrical, with terminal mouth; body length¬
ened, jointed, and mailed ; no ventral fins.
qcus. Great pipe-fish, av longer pipe-fish.—Caudal, anal,and
pectoral fins radiated ; body hexangular. Generally
from twelve to fifteen inches long, but sometimes from
two to three feet; of a very slender form, and of a
pale yellowish brown colour, with broad alternate zones
of a deeper brown. In spring, as in others of this genus,
the ova appear in an appropriate channel at the lower
part of the abdomen, and the young are excluded from
them completely formed. Native of the European seas.
The tijphle, or smaller pipe-fish, seems to be only a va¬
riety.
hippocam- Seta-horse, or sea-horse pipe-fish.—Tail quadrangular,
pus. 5
O L O G Y. Chap. W.
without a terminating fin ; body heptangular and tu- Cartilagi-
berculated. General length from six to ten inches ; nous Fhhes.
body much compressed ; colour greenish brown, varied v" f
with darker and lighter specks. In its living state, the
head and tail are carried nearly strait, but when dry or
contracted, it resembles the skeleton of a horse. It is
a native of the Mediterranean, northern, and Atlantic
seas.
Foliated pipe fish.—T$\ack\sh olive, with white specks fbhatus.
and leaf-shaped appendages. These last are situated on
very strong, rough, square spines or processes attached
to the back, tail, and abdomen, and give the whole
animal a very grotesque and anomalous appearance.
This curious species is a native of the Indian seas ; but
nothing particular seems to be known relative to its
habits or natural history.
The ophidian, biaculeatus, pelagicus, eequoreus, and
barbarus, require no particular description.
Gen. 6. Pegasus. Pegasa*..
Mouth beneath, with a retractile proboscis ; upper jaw
elongated, denticulated, ensiform under the snout and
linear; gill-aperture simple, placed before the pec¬
toral fins ; body compressed, articulated with bony
incisures, and covered with a hard crust; ventral fins
placed behind the pectoral.
Little or dragonpegasvs.—Snout conical. Only three draconis.
or four inches long, with large pectoral fins, which
enable it to support itself for some moments in the air,
when it springs occasionally over the surface of the wa¬
ter. Native of the Indian seas.
Flying pegasus.—Snout ensiform and denticulated, volans.
Length three inches. Native of the Indian seas.
Swimming pegasus.—Snout ensiform and unarmed.
Length three or four inches ; more slender than the
preceding. Native of the Indian seas.
Gen. 7. Centriscus. Cenlriscus,
Head produced into a very narrow snout; no teeth ;
the lower jaw longest; gill-aperture waving; body
compressed ; abdomen carinated; ventral fins united.
Mailed or shielded trumpet-fish.— Back smooth, with scutatus. j
a hard shield, like a thin plate ; eight inches long.
Native of the Indian seas.
Snipe centriscus.—Body scaly and rough ; tail straitscolopax.
and extended. Smaller than the preceding. Native of
the Mediterranean and Indian seas. Banked among
edible fishes.
Light-armed centriscus.—Half-shielded, silvery, with velitans.
subreenmbent dorsal spine. Length about two inches.
Native of the Indian seas.
Gen. 8. Balistes. Balistes.
Head compressed, and an apparent continuation of the
trunk, in some species, armed with a spine between
the eyes ; mouth narrow; eight teeth in each jaw;
the two foremost longer than the rest; three interior
teeth on both sides, lesting against as many lateral
ones ; gill-aperture narrow, above the pectoral fins;
gill-covers wanting; gill-membrane two-rayed ; body
compressed, carinated on the sides, with scales grow¬
ing on the skin, and rough with sharp prickles.
Most
Chap. IV.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
nionoce-
ros.
capnscus.
Cattilagi- Mest of the species of this genus are natives of the
nous bishef. Indian and American seas. They can in some degree
inflate their abdomen by means of a strong bone, rough
with small prickles, which lies under the skin. They
feed on other fishes. Some of them are very large,
and some remarkable for the brilliancy aud variega¬
tions of their colours. In general, they are reckoned
poisonous.
Uniform file-fish.—A fin of one ray on the head j
rays of the caudal fin carinated. The body is of an
oval form, from one to two feet long, and covered all
over with very minute spines. The general colour is
gray, inclining to brown on the upper parts, and varied
with irregular wavings and spots. Just above the eyes
is a single spine of considerable length, a little recurved,
and serrated on the hind part. Its food chiefly consists
of crustaceous and testaceous animals.
Mediterranean file-fish.—Violet-gray, with red or
blue variegations, single ventral fin, and rounded tail.
Length of the preceding, and shape ovate. Almost the
only species found in the European seas. The rays of
the first dorsal fin are so continued as to act in concert
with considerable force in raising the fin at the pleasure
of the animal.
Ancient file-fish, or old wife—First dorsal fin three-
rayed, ventral fin longitudinal $ caudal bifid. Length
from one to two feet, or more ; general colour yellowish-
olive, paler beneath. Several blue streaks on the front
and cheek, and some transverse and longitudinal strips
on the body. This species is supposed to have obtain¬
ed its name from the mouth, when viewed in front, or
from the slightly murmuring noise which it utters when
first taken.
undulatus. Undulated file fish.—Black, but waved by oblique
red lines, Observed about the shores of Sumatra by
Mr Mungo Park.
The other sorts described by the most recent ichthy¬
ologists are, hispidus, tomentosus, papillosus, chinensis,
ringens, liturosus, Uevis, sonneratii, bicolor, virescens,
fasciatus, unimaculatus, cinereus, maculatus, aculeatus,
verrucosus, biaculeatus, forcipatus, signatus, ptmctatus,
cupistratus, kleinii, curctssdvius, and assasi.
vetula.
Cycfop.
tenu.
lumpus.
Gen. 9. Cyclcfterus.
Head obtuse; mouth standing forward; tongue short
and thick ; ja\VS armed with Small sharp teeth ; gill-
membrane four-rayed ; gill-cover of one plate ; body
short, thick, and scaleless ; Ventral fins united into
an orbicular membrane.
Lump sucker, lump-fish, sea-owl or cock-paddle.-—
Body angulated, with bony tubercles ; grows to the
length of 19 inches, and to the weight of seven pounds.
It is of a deep and very thick shape, and swims edge¬
wise ; the back is sharp and elevated, and the belly
flat. There are four rows of large tubercles, and the
whole skin is rough with smaller ones. On the upper
part of the back is a thick ridge, destitute of spines.
Beneath the pectoral fins is an oval aperture, surround¬
ed with a fleshy muscular substance, edged with small
fililorm processes, which act as claspers. By means of
this organ it adheres very strongly to any thing it
pleases. The belly is of a bright crimson colour. In¬
habits the northern, American, and Indian seas. De¬
posits its orange-coloured ova near the shore in April
Vol. XI. Part I. f
105
and May. The Greenlanders boil the roe, which is Cartiiagi-
very large, and eat both it and the fish. In England, nous Fishes,
the latter is sometimes stewed, but is flabby and insipid.' * r
The lump suckers are frequently devoured by seals,
which leave the skins ; numbers of which, thus emptied,
may often be found in the spring, along those districts
of shore which are frequented by this species. “ It is
easy, (adds Mr Pennant), to distinguish the place
where seals are devouring this or any unctuous fish, by
a smoothness of the water immediately above the spot.”
The pavoninus, or pavonian sucker, agrees with this
species in all particulars, except size, and is, therefore,
probably only a variety. Thegibbosus of Willoughby,
or pyramidal sucker, seems also to belong to the same
species, and to be distinguished only by the pyramidal
elevation of the back.
Small sucker.—Body naked; snout marked ahoT/Qininutus.
the mouth by three tubercles. A very small species,
which inhabits the Atlantic ocean, and seems to be
allied in habit to the common lump-fish. The body is
compressed, of a whitish colour, and has two white un¬
equal tubercles on each side.
Unctuous or snail sucker.—Body naked ; dorsal, anal, liparis.
and caudal fins united. The length varies from five to
eighteen inches. The shape is elongated, thick, com¬
pressed ; the skin thin and lax, and covered with a vis¬
cid humour, like a snail. It is brownish, with darker
stripes above, white beneath, and slightly yellow on
the head and sides. It inhabits the northern seas, and
sometimes ascends rivers.
Cornish or jura sucker, or lesser sucking-fish.—Of a cor nub i-
purplish brown colour, with lengthened front. About e/ijw.
four inches long; skin without scales, and slippery.
Native of the European seas. Found by Dr Borlaseon
the coast of Cornwall, and by Mr Pennant in the sound
of Jura.
Bimaculated sucker.—Body without scales ; pectoral bimacula-
fins placed very high ; a round black spot on each side tus.
of the ventral membrane. About an inch and a half
long; the colour of the head and body fine pink. In¬
habits the sea about Weymouth.
The remaining known species of this genus are, den-
lex, gelatinosus, veritricosus, lineatus, and bispinosus.
Lophius.
Gen. 10. Lophius.
Plead depressed ; many sharp-pointed teeth ; tongue
broad, and armed with teeth ; eyes on the upper
part of the head ; nostrils small ; gills three ; one
lateral aperture ; pectoral fins placed on the long
branchiae ; dorsal and anal fins opposite, amd near
the tail ; body scaleless, covered with a thin and lax
skin ; vent in the middle ; no lateral line.
The fishes of this genus are of a singularly uncouth
appearance ; the body being thick and shapeless ; the
head excessively large, and the fins short and broad.
European or common angler, frog-fish, toad-fish,piscato-
fishing-frog, sea-devil, &c.—-Depressed ; head rounded, rius.
The ordinary length of this species is from two to four
feet, though it sometimes measures six or even seven
feet. Its form resembles that of a tadpole. The skin
of the trunk is smooth, but that of the upper parts
marked by various inequalities. The eyes are large
and whitish ; the lower jaw is considerably longer than
the upper. Two or three long thread-like processes
O proceed
ic6
t-artilagi- proceed from Uie upper part of the head, and some
nous Fishes, shorter ones from the back, while the edges of the
body are fringed at intervals with shorter appendages
of a somewhat similar nature. The upper surface is
brown, with deeper or pale variegations, and the under
surface whitish. The frog-fish inhabits the European
seas } swims slowly 5 lies in ambush, in shallows, half-
concealed by sea-plants or mud, and decoying its prey
by moving its worm-like processes. It feeds on the
dog-fish and smaller fishes. The coniubiensis, cornish
or long angler, or fishing-frog of Mount"1 s bay, described
by Borlase and Pennant, is so nearly allied to this that
it may be regarded as only a variety.
histriOt, Harlequin angler, ox American toad fish.—Compress¬
ed } of a yellowish brown colour, with irregular black¬
ish spots, and beards on the head and body. This,
which is one of the most grotesque ami singular of fishes,
is a native of the Indian and American seas, growing
to the length of ten or twelve inches, and in manners
resembling the European angler.
The other species are, muricatus, vespcrtilio, striatus,
pictus, marmoratus, and commersonii.
Acopenscr. Gen. II. AcciPENSER.
Head obtuse; mouth placed under the head; retractile,
toothless; four beards under the snout and before the
mouth.
The fishes of this genus are among the largest of the
tribe. They are all inhabitants of the sea, though some
occasionally ascend rivers in great shoals. All the
species are large, seldom measuring, when full grown,
less than three or four feet in length. Their flesh is
reckoned delicate and nutritious; and they form a very
considerable article of commerce on the banks of the
Caspian sea, and many parts both of Europe and Ame¬
rica. They feed principally on worms and other fish.
shimo. Common sturgeon—Snout obtuse ; the transverse di¬
ameter of the mouth equal to the longitudinal ; the
beards on the snout near the end of it; lips bifid. Of
a kmg, slender, and pentagonal form, attaining some¬
times to eighteen feet in length, and weighing five
hundred pounds. The whole length of the body is
covered by five rows of large, strong, and bony tuber¬
cles, rounded at the base, radiated from the centre,
and terminated above by a sharp curved point in a re¬
versed direction. The whole skin, on the upper parts
and sides, is also roughened with very small tubercles
of a similar structure. The general colour is cinereous
above, and whitish or yellowish beneath. Though gene¬
rally a sluggish fish, it sometimes springs out of the wa¬
ter with great force. It feeds on fishes, particularly
the herring, salmon, mackrel, and coal-fish. It spawns
in spring, and is amazingly prolific, Lewenhoeck having
found in the roe of one of them 150,000,000,000 ova !
It inhabits the ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Red,
Black, and Caspian seas, especially such parts of them
as are not remote from the Eestuaries of large rivers,
which they occasionally ascend in great multitudes. In
some of the rivers of Virginia they are so numerous
that six hundred have been taken in two days merely
by a pole, with a strong hook fixed to the end of it.
The flesh is very delicate, white, and firm, and when
roasted, is said to resemble veal. In this country it is
usually served in a pickled state, being, imported frQui
Chap. IV.
America and the Baltic. It is sometimes, however, Cartila^i-
taken in our rivers in the salmon-nets. The sturgeon nous Fishef,
was a fish in high repute with the Greeks and Romans,' v 
and, according to Pliny, was brought to table with
much pomp, and ornamented with flowers, the slaves
who carried it being also ornamented with garlands,
and accompanied by music. Caviar is made of the
dried and salted roe. The skin makes a good covering
for carriages.
Sterlet sturgeon.—Brownish, with the sides spotted ruthenus.
with pale red, and the body shielded above by a triple
series of tubercles. The smallestand most delicate species
of the genus. Native of the Caspian sea ; found also
in the Volga and Ural, and occasionally in the Baltic.
In seasons when this fish happened to be unusually dear,
Prince Potemkin paid three hundred rubles for a single
tureen of sterlet soup, which formed the mere prelude
to his repast.
Isinglass sturgeon, or beluga.—Snout very obtuse, huso.
transverse diameter of the mouth less than the longitu¬
dinal ; beards near the mouth ; lips not cleft. Larger
than the common species, and sometimes measuring
25 feet in length. The tubercl«s are smaller than
those of the sturio, and seem to fall off with age. In¬
habits the northern, Caspian, and Mediterranean seas.
Isinglass is prepared from its sound or air-bladder, and
an inferior sort from the skin, tail, stomach, and intes¬
tines. See IcHTHYOCOLLA.
To these may he added schypa, and stellatus ; the first
perhaps only a smaller variety of sturio, and the latter
distinguished by the star-like marks on its head.
Gen 12. CHIMiERA. Chimoepa-
Head sharp-pointed; spiracles solitary, in four divisions
under the neck; mouth under the head; upper lip
with five divisions ; fore teeth like cutting teeth, two
in each jaw ; body long, with a single spine on the
back ; the tail ending in a bristle, and longer than
the rest of the body.
Sea-monster,northern chimcera.—Punctured foldsbe- mMstrcu
low the snout. A singularly grotesque species, inhabit¬
ing the northern and Atlantic ocean ; frequenting the
deepest recesses, preying on smaller fishes and mollusca
and testacea ; and rarely approaching the shore, except
during the breeding season. It is from three to four
feet long, of a lengthened and compressed form, tapering
to the tail, which is produced into a long and slender
filament. The head and eyes are very large; and at
the base of each ventral fin, in the male, is a lengthen¬
ed process, rough with numerous sharp prominences in
a reversed direction. The whole body is of a yellow-
brown above the lateral line, and of a bright silvery
colour beneath it, variegated with numerous irregular
deep brown or'-blackish spots and patches. Its flesh is
considered as coarse and uneatable.
Elephant fish, or southern chimcera.—Snout pro- caiorlnjn-
duced beneath into an inflected lip. Native of thec/W.
southern seas.
Gen. 13. SQUALUS. Sqaahi*.
Head obtusfe, from four to seven semilunar spiracles on
the sides of the neck ; eyes oblong, half covered,
placed before the temporal opening; mouth in the
under part of the head, armed with several.rows of
serrated
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Chap. IV.
Caxtilagt- serrated sharp-pointed teeth, some of which are move-
nousFishes, able, some fixed, and of different forms j body ob-
^ long, round, rough, with slender prickles j ventral
fins, for the most part, less than the pectoral, close,
placed about the vent, and in the males about the
organs of generation.
The animals which compose this tribe are entirely
marine, and more frequent in the hot than in the tem¬
perate climates. In general they are solitary, and often
wander to great distances, devouring almost every thing
that comes in their way, and that they are capable of
swallowing. Some of them will follow vessels several
hundred leagues for the carcases and offals. They
sometimes attain to an enormous size, as they often
weigh from one to four thousand pounds each. Some
few species are gregarious, and live on the mollusca
and other marine worms. They are all viviparous, and
like the rays, protrude their young in pellucid horny
cases, terminated at the four corners by long, slender
filaments, and which are generally found twisted round
corallines, sea-weed, and other fixed substances. Their
flesh is so tough, coarse, and unsavoury, that even the
young are hardly eatable. Their bodies emit a phos¬
phoric light in the dark.
caniciila. I*anther shark, greater or spotted dog-Jish.—Nos¬
trils surrounded by a small lobe, and a vermiform ap¬
pendage, ventral fins separated. Three or four feet
long; brownish, with red or black spots; body cylin¬
drical, but compressed at both extremities ; skin rough,
and when dried, used for polishing and other purposes.
Inhabits the sea almost everywhere. The female breeds
frequently, and brings about nineteen young at a
time.
catulus. Spotted shark, or lesser spotted dog-fish.—Nostrils
surrounded by a small lobe and a vermiform appendage;
ventral fins united. Length from two to three feet.
Colour pale brick-red, with very numerous small dusky
spots. Very common in the European seas, very vo¬
racious, and a great annoyance to the fishermen. Ac¬
cording to Pennant, it breeds from nine to thirteen at
a time. Its liver is said to be highly noxious, inducing
long continued stupor, succeeded by an universal itch¬
ing and loss of the cuticle.
galeus. Tope.—Teeth nearly triangular, and denticulated on
the upper margin. Grows to five feet or more, is
round and elongated, and often weighs upwards of 27
pounds. It is of a lighter or darker cinereous hue
above, and whitish below. It smells very rank, and is
so bold as to pursue its prey to the very edge of the
shore. It inhabits the European ocean, and is fre¬
quently seen about the British coasts.
‘xygcena. Hammer-headed shark, or balance-fish.—Head very
broad and transverse, somewhat in the shape of a ham¬
mer. This deformed species measures from five to fif¬
teen or seventeen feet. The body is rather slender,
and somewhat cylindrical ; the head dilated on each
side to a great extent, with the eyes which are very
large, placed at each extremity. It is brown above,
and paler, or whitish beneath. Native of the Medi¬
terranean and Indian seas, where it attacks such as are
accidentally exposed to its fury, or are incautiously
bathing or swimming in its neighbourhood. The na¬
tives ol Otaheite, trusting to their dexterity in swim¬
ming, appear to hold it in contempt.
IO7
Heart-headed shark.—Head very broad and heart- Cariilagi-
shaped. Li other respects greatly allied to the preced- nous Fishes,
ing, but is much more rare, and chiefly inhabits the
South American seas., tiburo.
Slue shark.—Sides of the tail smooth, a cavity ong/awc?/.?.
the back of the tail. Of a more slender and elegant
shape than the other species, measures from ten to four¬
teen feet, is of a blue-green above and white be¬
neath. It is very bold and voracious ; inhabits the
European seas, and frequents several of the British
coasts, especially those of Cornwall during the pilchard
season.
Porbeagle shark.—A longitudinal fold on each side cornubi-
of the tail. Length from three to eight feet; shaped-
round, except near the tail, where it is depressed ; co¬
lour deep on the back, and white or silvery beneath,
Inhabits the sea about Cornwall. The monensis. or
Peauman s shark ot Bennant, is now regarded only as
a variety of cornabicus.
Tasking shark.—With conical teeth, not serrated.
Body slender, and from three to twelve yards in length,
of a deep lead colour above, and white below-. The
upper jaw is blunt at the end, and much longer than
the lower. The mouth is furnished with a great mul¬
titude of small teeth, of which those in .root are much
bent, and the remote ones conical and sharp pointed.
It has two dorsal, two pectoral, two ventral fins, and
one small anal fin. This species inhabits the northern
seas, and derives its name from its propensity to lie on
the surface of the water, as if to bask in the sun, gene¬
rally on its belly, and sometimes on its back. It feeds
on sea-plants and medusse, and betrays none of that fe¬
rocity of disposition which characterizes most of the
shark tribe ; on the contrary, it seems so little afraid
of mankind, as often to suffer itself to be patted and
stroked. Ihese animals frequent our seas during the
warm summer months, and appear in shoals on the
Welsh and Scottish coasts, after intervals of a certain
number of years. They are observed in the frith of
Clyde and among the Hebrides in small troops of seven
or eight, or more commonly in pairs, about midsum¬
mer, and disappear about the latter end of July. They
swim very deliberately, and generally with their upper
fins above water. Sometimes they n ay be seen sporting
among the waves, and springing’several feet above the
surface. They are pursued and taken by the fishermen
lor the sake of the oil contained in the liver; that vis-
cus sometimes weighing a thousand pounds, and yield¬
ing eight barrels of oil, and two of useless sediment.
When pursued, they do not quicken their motion till
the boat is almost in contact with them, when the har-
pooner strikes his weapon into the body, as near the
gills as he can. Sometimes they remain in the same
place till the united strength of two men Ife exerted to
force the instrument deeper. Then they plunge head¬
long to the bottom, and frequently coil the rope round
their bodies, and endeavour to get rid of the harpoon
by rolling on the, ground. Discovering that these ef¬
forts are vain, they swim with such strength and rapi¬
dity, that one instance has occurred of a basking shark
towing to some distance a vessel ol 70 tons burthen,
against a fresh gale. I hey sometimes run off with 200
fathoms ot line, and two harpoons in them, and will
employ the men from 12 to 24 hours before they are
Subdued. A large fish has afforded the captors a pro-
O 2 fit
ICHTHYOLOGY.
ioB
c:,uti!anj. fit of 20 pounds.
cnrcha
rias.
ICHTHY
“ A male of this species (says Dr
nous Fishes. Shaw) was taken in the year i8ot, at Abbotsbury in
».. --v—.< Dorsetshire, entangled in a fishing seine, and after a
violent resistance, was dragged ashore. It is said to
have received 17 musket-balls before it expired; its
length was 28 feet, and its circumference in the thick¬
est part about 20 feet; its tail, from point to point,
near eight feet ; the teeth, according to its proprietor,
who took the pains to count them, amounted to the
number of four thousand.” The skin makes excellent
shagreen.
White shark.—Triangular serrated teeth. This spe¬
cies, so remarkable for its powers of destruction, is a
native of most seas, but occurs more frequently in the
warm than the cold latitudes. It arrives at the length
of more than 30 feet, and is rather thicker and broader
than most of its congeners. The mouth is very wide,
and furnished on the margin of each jaw with from
three to six rows of strong, flat, triangular, sharp point¬
ed, and finely serrated teeth, which can he raised or
depressed at pleasure. The general colour of the ani¬
mal is a pale ash, darker or browner on the upper
parts. So great is the strength of the tail, that a young
shark of six feet in length, is able by a stroke of this
part to break a man’s leg; hence it is usual for sailors
to cut off the tail the instant they drag a shark on
hoard. Gillius quotes a specimen which weighed four
thousand pounds, and another in whose belly was found
an entire human body ; and Muller asserts, that in one
taken at the isle of St Margaret, there was found a
ho'-se which had probably been thrown overboard from
some ship. The size of the fossil teeth of this species,
so often found in the isle of Malta, &c. affords a con¬
vincing proof of the enormous specimens which have
once existed. Sharks are the dread of sailors in all hot
climates, where they constantly attend the ships, in ex¬
pectation of what may drop overboard ; and a man
who has that misfortune is almost instantly devoured.
In the pearl-fisheries of South America, every negro,
to defend himself against these animals, carries with him
into the water a sharp knife, which, if the fish offers
to assault him, lie endeavours to strike into its belly,
on which it generally swims off. The officers who are
in the vessels keep a watchful eye on these voracious
creatures, and on discovering them, shake the ropes
fastened to the negroes, to put them on their guard.
Many, when the divers have been in danger, have
thrown themselves into the water, with knives in their
hands, and hastened to their defence : but too often
all their dexterity and precaution have been of no
avail.
Saw-snouted shark, or saw fish.—With a long flat
snout, set with teeth on both sides through its whole
length. Inhabits the southern arid northern oceans,
grows to fifteen feet in length, and is readily distin¬
guished by its produced and saw-like snout, which is
often preserved in museums.
acanthias. Picked shark, or picked dog fish.—Dorsal fin spinous;
body somewhat round. Length from three to four feet;
colour brownish ash above and white beneath ; rough,
with minute prickles, hooked backwards. Common in
the European seas, especially about the coasts of Scot¬
land and Norway. When split and dried, it is eaten
by the common people.
tqualina. Angel-shark, or angelfish.—Pectoral fins very large
5
priitis.
O L O G Y. Chap. IV.
and emarginated before. A deformed species, with Coni!,id-
large head and pectoral fins, and depressed body, attain- non* t ribes,
ing to six or eight feet in length. ,It is a native of the  v—
European seas, and is extremely voracious, fierce, and
dangerous. It produces twelve or thirteen young at a
birth.
The other known species of this genus are vulpcs,
stellaris, mustelus, spin ax, centrina, philippinus, cine-
reus, spinosus, isahe/lu, cirrhatus, barhatus, africanus,
ocellatus, griseus, mnericanus, sfjvamosits, denticidatus,
punctulatus, ‘zebra.gronovianus, tentaculalus, and stmi-
sagittatus.
Spatularia.
Gen. 14. Spatularia.
Spiracles single on each side of the neck, concealed ly
a large gill-cover; snout produced, and shaped like a
spatula ; mouth beneath the head, large, and fur¬
nished with sharp serrated teeth.
Reticulated spatularia.—In habit and appearance this reticulata*
remarkable species is allied to the sharks, but dis¬
tinguished by its thin snout, of the form of a spatula,
and nearly equal in length to the whole remainder of
the animal. Its history and manners are very imper¬
fectly known.
Gen. 15. ll.UA. Kaia.
Spiracles on the under part of the neck, ten on each
side, oblique ; mouth under the iiead, small, acumi¬
nated, as if continuous with the breast, transverse
and dentated ; body thin, depressed, and of a rhom¬
boid figure.
The species of this genus are entirely confined to the
sea, and, being destitute of an air bladder, live chiefly
at the bottom, generally in deep water, covering them¬
selves in winter in sand or mud. They live on shell¬
fish, or other animal substances that fall in their way.
Some of them become of a size so large as to weigh two
hundred pounds and upwards. They seldom produce
more than one young at a time, which, as in the sharks,
is inclosed in a four-cornered capsule, ending in slender
points, but not, as in the former, produced into long
filaments. The liver is large, and often produces a
great quantity of oil. They are mostly edible.
Torpedo, torpedo ray, cramp ray, cramp fish, &c.— torpedo.
Wholly smooth. The body of this species is of a some¬
what circular form, slightly convex above, marked
along each side of the spire by several small pores; about
eighteen inches or two feet in length, and for the most
part of a pale reddish brown on tbe upper surface,
sometimes marked by five large circular and dusky
spots, and whitish or flesh-coloured beneath. It inha¬
bits most seas, but seems to thrive best in the Mediter¬
ranean, usually lying in water of about forty fathoms
depth, in company with some of its congeners. It
preys on smaller fish, which it is supposed to stupefy by
its electric or galvanic faculty. This property, which
has been so much exaggerated both by ancient and mo¬
dern writers, is nevertheless, sufficiently remarkable.
From some experiments which were made by Mr Walsh
on a very stout and healthy fish, it appears that no spark
could be discovered to proceed from it, and that pith-
balls were never found to be affected by it. When in¬
sulated, it gave a shock to persons who were likewise
insulated.
Chap. IV.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
i ,09
c:»rtil«ci- iusiilnted, and even to several who took hold of each
nous h'slies-other’s hands; this it did forty or fifty times successive-
'—nr—" Iv, and with very little diminution of force. If touch¬
ed only with one finder, the shock was so great as to
he felt with both hands. Yet the animal was not able
to transmit the shock across the minutest tract of air,
nor from one link of a small chain freely suspended to
another, nor through an almost invisible separation
made by a penknife in a slip of tin-foil pasted on seal¬
ing-wax.
batiti' Skate.—Back smooth in the middle, with one row of
spines. Common in the European seas. The general
colour on the upper parts is a pale ash-brown, varied
urith several dusky undulations, and of the under parts
white, marked with numerous distant black spines. In
the male, the pectoral fins are bent towards their tips
or edges with numerous small spines. In October, the
skate is usually poor and thin, hut begins to improve
in November, and is reckoned to be in the highest per¬
fection in May. Willoughby makes mention of a single
skate of two hundred pounds weight, which was sold in
the fish market at Cambridge to the cook of St John’s
College in that university, and was found sufficient
to dine the whole society, consisting of more than 120
persons.
ovi/riti~ S/iarj^nosed ray.—Ten aculeated tubercles along the
chus. middle of the back. In shape, resembles the preced¬
ing, but has a longer and sharper snout in the form of
a spontoon. Native of the Mediterranean and northern
seas.
mualetus. Mirror ray.—Back and belly smooth ; spines at the
region of the eyes, and a triple row of them at the tail.
Each of the pectoral fins is marked about the middle,
or near the body, with a large circular, eye-shaped spot,
consisting of a purplish or dusky circle, with a whitish
or yellowish centre. Inhabits the Mediterranean.
I rebus. Rough ray.—One row of prickles on the back, and
three on the tail. Greatly allied to the thorn-back ;
and rough, with many spines. Inhabits the Mediter¬
ranean and other seas.
pastmaca. Sting ray.—Body smooth ; long serrated spine on
the fore part of the tail; no dorsal fin. Shape some¬
what rhomboidal ; snout pointed ; colour of the body
yellowish olive above, and whitish beneath. With its
long flattened spine, which is finely serrated in a reverse
direction on both sides, it is capable of inflicting very
severe wounds. As it is annually cast, the new spine
sometimes arrives at a Considerable size before the old
one drops off, in which state the animal has been occa¬
sionally described as a distinct species. Though form¬
erly supposed to contain a very active poison, this wea¬
pon is found to be wholly destitute of any venomous
quality. Inhabits the European, Red, and Indian seas,
and is ranked among the edible rays.
[||i davata. Thorn-back.—Prickly; teeth tuberculated; a trans¬
verse cartilage on the abdomen. Resembles the com¬
mon skate, but is somewhat broader in proportion, and
is easily distinguished from it by the very strong cuived
spines with which its upper surface is covered. It is an
inhabitant of the Mediterranean and other seas, and
esteemed as a food. The thorn-back begins to be in
season in November, and continues so later than the
skate ; but the young of both are good at all times of
the year.
To complete the specific catalogue of this genus, we
have to add fullonica, eglanteria, acus, nigra, picia, an~ Cartila*ii-
chdata, alba, marginata, chagrinea, aquila, guttata, fas- homs Fishes
data, lymna, cuculus, sephen, tubcrculata, poecilina, —y-—«*
diabolas, manaiia, giormi, fabroniana, bcinksiami,jun-
briata, maculata, bicolor, sinensis, rhinobatos, thouini-
ana, djiddensis, and cuvieri,
Gen. 16. PetROMYZON. Pctromy-
TT 1 >r0n'
Plead more slender than the body ; mouth larger above
than below; teeth orange-coloured, hollow within,
surrounded with a lleshy rim, curved within, broad
below ; seven spiracles at the sides of the neck ; a
fistulous opening at the back part of the head ; no
pectoral or ventral fins.
Lamprey, great lamprey, or sea lamprey.—Month marinus.
within covered with papillae ; the hinder dorsal fin se¬
parate from the tail. In general appearance, approaches
nearly to the eel tribe, especially to the muraense.
Though it sometimes exceeds three feet in length, the
British specimens are usually of inferior size. Its gene¬
ral colour is a dull brownish olive, clouded with yel¬
lowish white variegations; the fins are tinged with dull
orange, and the tail with blue. On the top of the head
is a small orifice for the discharge of the superfluous
water taken in at the mouth and gills. Among the car¬
tilaginous fishes, none is so destitute of all appearance
of real bone as the lamprey, in which, the spine itself
is no other than a mere soft cartilage, without any pro¬
cesses or protuberances. The heart, instead of being
inclosed in a soft pericardium, as in other animals, is
guarded by a strong cartilaginous one; and the liver is
of a fine grass-green colour. It inhabits the ocean, and
ascends rivers chiefly during the latter end of winter
and the early months of spring. It is viviparous ; and
the young are of slow growth. Though capable of
swimming with rapidity, it is more commonly seen at¬
tached by the mouth to some large stone qr other sub¬
stance, and that with such power of adhesion, that a;
weight of more than twelve pounds may he raised with¬
out forcing the fish to forego its hold. It is supposed
to live principally on worms and young fidi. Like the
eel, it is remarkably tenacious of life, the several parts,
when cut in pieces, continuing to move, and the head
strongly attaching itself for several hours to a stone,
though by far the greater part of the body be cut away
from it. “ As an article of food, (observes Dr Shaw),
the lamprey has for many ages maintained its credit as
an exquisite dainty; and has uniformly made its appear¬
ance at the most splendid of our ancient entertainments.
The death of King Henry I. it is well known, is at¬
tributed to a too luxurious indulgence in this his fa¬
vourite dish. It still continues to be in high esteem ;
and we are told by Mr Pennant, that the city of Glo-
cester continues to send yearly, at Christmas, a present
of a rich lamprey pye to the king. It sometimes hap¬
pens that the lampreys at that season are so rare, that a
guinea is demanded for the price of a single fish. They
are most in season during March, April, and May, and
are observed to be much more firm when fresh arrived
from sea than when they have been a considerable time
in fresh water. They are found in several of the Bri¬
tish rivers, but that which is most celebrated for them
is the Severn.”
Lesser lamprey, or lampern.—The hinder dorsal fin ftuviatilis.,
angulated,’
no • I C H T H Y
Gartilagi- angulated. From 10 to 15 inches long*, the back
hous Fishes, brown or dusky, sometimes clouded, or mixed with
blue } the upper part of the body marked by numerous
annular lines, and the whole under sides silvery. In¬
habits the sea, and ascends, in spring, most of the Eu¬
ropean rivers, in which it is found much more frequent¬
ly and plentifully than the great lamprey. It is often
potted with the latter, and by some preferred to it, on
account of its milder taste. The Dutch purchase vast
quantities of this species as bait for their cod and tur¬
bot fisheries. In the river Bauster, in Courland, great
quantities are taken from beneath the ice, with nets j
they are much larger than those found elsewhere, and
are packed in snow, and sent to any distance ; and,
when put into cold water, recover themselves. This
species is so tenacious of life, that it will live many days
out of the water.
bronchia- Minute lamprey or pride.—The hinder dorsal fin li-
lis. near 5 the lips behind lobated. Has a worm-like ap¬
pearance j measures from four to seven inches in length ;
is not observed to adhere to other bodies ; inhabits the
European rivers, and is more frequent in the Isis than
elsewhere, in England.
The remaining species are planeri, twher, sangui-
suga, argenteus, plumbeus, and bicolor.
Oastro. Gen. 17. Gastrobranchus.
branchus.
Body eel-shaped $ mouth beneath, with numerous
pectinate teeth ; two spiracles beneath the abdo¬
men.
ececus. Blind gastrobranchus. Myxine glutinosa, Lin.—Li¬
vid, paler beneath ; with eight beards at the mouth.? Re¬
moved to the class of fishes, in consequence of Dr Bloch’s
accurate examination of its external and internal struc¬
ture. In general appearance, in the situation of the
mouth, and in the orange colour of the teeth, it ap¬
proaches very near to the lamprey. But it is remark¬
able for the total want of eyes, no vestige of any such
organ being discoverable by the most attentive exami¬
nation. The body is destitute of scales, lateral line,
and fins, except that shallow one which forms the tail.
Beneath the body, from head to tail, runs a double row
of equidistant pores. The spiracles, which are a pair
of oval apertures, are situated beneath the body, at some
distance from the head. This singular species is said to
enter into the bodies of such fishes as it happens to find
on the fishermen’s hooks, and which consequently have
not the power of escaping its attack, and by gnawing
its way through the skin, to devour all the internal
parts, leaving only the bones and the skin remaining.
Such is its uncommon glutinous nature, that, if put in¬
to a large vessel of sea water, it scon renders the whole
so viscid, as easily to be drawn out into the form of
threads. It inhabits the northern seas, and seems also
to occur in those of the southern hemisphere.
dombeyi. Dombeyan gastrobranchus.—Head tumid. Much
larger than the European species 5 the head rounded,
and larger than the body j four beards on the upper
lip, the number of those on the lower uncertain, the
specimen being described in a dried state. Eyes and
nostrils imperceptible. Native of the South Ame¬
rican seas. Observed by M. Dombey, and described
by La Cepede from the dried skin in the Paris mu¬
seum. V
O L O G Y. Chap. IV.
Before we conclude this article, it may be proper to Naturaii-
direct the reader’s attention to M. Nouel’s paper rela-zation, &.c.
live to two methods of multiplying fishes. The first con- or fishes,
sists in conveying from the lakes to the rivers, and from ’
the rivers to the lakes, fish found only in one of them j
the second, in introducing into fresh water, as it were
insensibly, and by means of artificial ponds, fish produ¬
ced in salt water, giving the preference to those spe¬
cies, which, by their habits and manner of living,
might be most adapted to this kind of naturalization.
The first of these methods has been successfully prac¬
tised in Germany, with regard to the shad, in ponds
and clear stagnant waters, with a bottom of sand or
gravel. Perch and trout have, in like manner, been
conveyed into lakes and rivers in Scotland, and have
thriven remarkably well. The carp, which affects a
warm temperature, has been successively introduced in¬
to the rivers and ponds of Prussia, Denmark, and Eng¬
land. M. Poivre first brought the gourami of Ben¬
gal into the isle of France, where it has greatly mul¬
tiplied.
“ Our rivers (says this judicious waiter), do not
contain more than about twenty indigenous species, and
some migratory fishes, which at certain periods of the
year ascend to a certain distance from their months, or,
like the salmon, swim towards their sources as far as
they can. The small rivers possess still fewer species j
the greatest part even are confined to the tench, the
trout, eels, and some smaller fish of little value. How
advantageous would it be to introduce into these rivers
a multitude of foreign fish, which, in these waters could
find aliment more agreeable to their taste, and which
would enjoy a temperature as analogous to their wants,
as favourable to their reproduction !
“ The Seine, which I shall take as an example,
nourishes many species oi salmo and cyprinus: but how
many other fish of the same kind might be propagated
in it! If the Seine possess the salmon, it wants the
thymallus, the umber of Auvergne, the lavaretus, the
murcena of Germany, the grilse of Scotland, the pala
of Swisserland, the ferra of the lake of Geneva, &c.
Why should not the carp of the lago di Guarda, and
the schwartx-ritter of the lakes of Berchstoldgaden,
an excellent kind of salmon, highly praised by Baron
de Moll, a naturalist of Salzbourg, succeed in France,
if that bottom, to which they are most attached, were
procured for them, at the foot of the Cevennes or the
Y6ges P Why might they not be afterwards gradually
introduced into our small rivers ? Can it be believed,
that the numerous tribe of the trout kind, which swarm
in the rivers of Scotland, would refuse to supply our co¬
lonies with their species ? No. There can be no doubt
that they would bring thither that fecundity, abun¬
dance, and riches, which render them so valuable to
their native streams. The case would be the same with
the boudelles and hiiglings presented to us by the lakes
of Swisserland, and with the gudgeon, the cyprinus
ballarus, and the salmo umbla, bred in the rivers of
Lower Germany. Let us open, then, with these coun¬
tries a philosophical and liberal exchange of the best
fish of France for those of which we wish to be pos¬
sessed.”
Nature herself seems to point to the success of the
second method. In many instances, salmon and stur¬
geon have habituated themselves to a fresh-water resi¬
dence.
3
1 C H T H Y
Nahu-iili- dence. Pallas tllscovered the sea-dog in the lake Bai-
zitiou, &c. kal j and Lianconrt found the herring in several of the
ofFUhes. rivers of North America. It likewise deserves to he
  v ' remarked that the large plaise, transported from the
North sea to the ponds of East Friesland, have increas¬
ed by myriads, and imparted great value to water which
was formerly unproductive.
“In the year 1799, (continues M. Nouel), I had
the honour of reading, in one of the sittings of the
National Institute, a memoir on the means and advan¬
tages of naturalizing the herring, a salt-water fish, in
the waters of the Seine, near its mouth, &c. The ac¬
count of the processes for accomplishing this end, which
I there pointed out, are not susceptible of analysis, and
cannot, therefore, be introduced into this essay; it will
be sufficient for me to say, that the report of La Cepede,
Cuvier, and Tessier, was entirely in their favour. At
present, l am still more convinced of the efficacy of the
means which I then proposed ; and I have no doubt
that, if artificial ponds were formed on the edges of ri¬
vers, the experiment would he attended with complete
success. ‘ Every man, (says Dr Franklin), who catches
'a fish, draws from the water a piece of money.’ Let
not the maxims and example of this philosopher be lost
to posterity; let them rather produce fruit, like strong
and vigorous seed sown in a fertile soil. Having ob¬
served in New England, that the herrings ascended
from the sea into one river of that country, while a
O L o G Y. j j t
single individual was never seen in another river, sepa- Naturali-
rated from the former by a narrow tongue of land, and nation. £rc.
which communicated also with the sea, this philosopher ot fishes,
took the leaves of some plants on which the herrings '
had deposited their ova, already fecundated, and con¬
veyed them to the river which was deprived of the an¬
nual visit of these fish. T. he success of this experiment
surpassed his expectations ; the ova were completely
productive ; and the following year the river was peo¬
pled with a numerous shoal of herrings, which, since
that time, have continued to frequent it.
“ T-his fish is not the only one which I wish to see
naturalized in fresh water; to the herring I would add
several species of pleuronectes—also the mullet, goby,
whiting, gar-fish, and perhaps, one or two species of
the gurnard. I would pay the greatest attention possi¬
ble to the nature of the water proper for each species.
This happy choice is the principal condition, and that
which could ensure success ; but I would select in par¬
ticular for this colonization, the fish found in lakes,
which, though little known, are more numerous than is
commonly supposed, and ought to be so.”
By the adoption of this plan, which is susceptible of
more ample developement, society would gain an in¬
creased quantity of provision, and the naturalist would
multiply his opportunities of observation.
For the modes of preserving fish in cabinets, see
Preserving Fish, means of.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
Plate CCLXXIX.
Explanation of Terms.—o, (fig. 2.) pectoral fins;
b, ventral fins ; c, c, anal fins ; r/, caudal fin, or tail ;
r, <?, e, dorsal fins; f bony plates that cover the gills ;
g, branchiostegous rays and their membranes; h, late¬
ral or side line.
Fig. 1. Anguilla Conger. Conger Eel.—Example of
apodal fishes, in which the ventral fins are wanting.
I he launce or sand-eel, the wolf-fish, and sword-fish,
belong to this order.
Fig. 2. The Haddock, an example of jugular fishes,
in which the ventral fins b, are placed before the pec¬
toral fins a. .10 this order belong the dragonet, the
cod-fish, the blenny, &c.
Pig-3* The Father-lasher, an example of thoracic
fishes, in which the ventral fins a, are placed beneath
the pectoral b; as in the bull’s-head, the dory, the
mackrel, the perch, &c.
Fig. 4. The Minow, an example of abdominal fishes,
having the ventral fins a, placed behind the pectoral
fins b. To this order belong the salmon, the herring,
the carp, &c.
Fig. 5. The Dog-fish, an example of cartilaginous -
fishes, in which the muscles are supported by cartilages
instead of bones, and which breathe by means of aper¬
tures placed near the neck instead of gills; a the lateral
apertures.
Fig. 6. Gymnotus Electricus, Electrical Gynmotus,
or Cramp-fish.
Fig. 7. Trichwrus lepturus, Silvery Trichiurus.
Fig. 8. Anarchichas Lupus, Sea-wolf.
Fig. 9. Odontognathus Acukatus.
1 ig. 10. Ammodytes Tobianus, Sand-eel.
Fig. 11. Ophidium Barbatum, Bearded Ophidium.
Plate CCLXXX.
Fig. 12. Sternoptyx Diaphana, Transparent Sternop-
tyx.
Fig. 13. Leptocephalus Morrisii, Morris Launce.
Fig. 14. Stylephorus Chordatus, Chordated Style-
phorus.
Fig. 15. Callionymus Dracumidus, Sordid Dragonet.
Fig. 16. Uranoscopus Scaber, Bearded Star-gazer.
Fig. 17. Trachinus Draco, Dragon Weever.
Fig. 18. Gadus Molva, Ling.
Fig. 19. Blenmus Pholis, Smooth Blenny.
Fig. 20. Kurtus Indicus, Indian Kurtus.
Fig. 21. Echineis Femora, YviKwa Remora, or Long¬
est Sucking-fish.
Plate CCLXXXI.
Fig. 22. Corypluena Hippurus, Dolphin.
Fig. 23. MacrourusE.upestris,ijong‘\.a\\ei!iImn\instt*
Fig. 24. Coitus Scorpius, Lasher, Bull-head, or Fa¬
ther-lasher.
Fig. 25. Scorpeena Antennata, Antennated Scorpaena.
Fig. 26. Zeus Faber, Common Dory.
Fig. 27* Pleuronectes Platessa, Plaise.
Fig. 28. Chcetodon Rostratus, Beaked Chaetodon.
Fig. 29. Acanthuru$ Unicornus, Unicorn Acanthurus.
Pig- 30°
112
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Fig. 3c. Eques Americatws, American KnighUfish.
Fig. 31. Trichopus Satijrus, Satyr Trichopus.
Plate CCLXXXII.
Fig. 32. Labrus Cyanoptcrus, Blue-finned Labrus.
Fi<*. 33. SczVzna F/iwjoew/ata,Single-spotted Sciaena.
Fig. 34. Perea Cernaa, Ruffe, or Ruffe Perch.
Fig. 3 5. Gasterosteus Spinachia, Fifteen-spined Stic-
kle-back.
Fig. 36. Mullus Aurijlamma, Oriflamme Surmullet.
Fig. 37. Trachichthys Australis.
Index.
Fig. 38. Cobitis Tcenia, Spiny loche.
Fig. 39. Esox Aureo-viridis, Gold-green Pike.
Fig. 40. Exoccctus Volitans, Oceanic Flying-fish.
Plate CCLXXXIII.
Fig. 41. Ostracion Cornutus. Horned Trunk-fish.
Fig. 42. Diodon Brevis, Short Sun-fish.
Fig. 43. Centriscus Scolopax, Snipe Centriscus.
Fig. 44. Pegasus Dracojiis, Dragon Pegasus.
Fig. 45. Accipenser Huso, Isinglass Sturgeon.
Fig. 46. Squalus Canicula, Panther Shark.
INDEX.
A
ABDOMINAL fishes, order of,
Acanthonotus, characters of,
species of,
Acanthurus, characters ol,
species of,
Accipenser, characters of,
species of,
Age of fishes,
Amia, characters of,
species of,
Ammodytes, characters of,
species of,
Anarcluchas, characters of,
species of,
Anableps, characters of,
species of,
Anatomy of fishes,
Anchovy, see Clupea,
Ancient writers on fishes,
Angel-fish, see Cha todon,
Apodal fishes, oi’der of,
Argentina, characters of,
species of,
Artedi, a writer on fishes,
Atherina, characters of,
species of,
B
Balistes, characters of,
species of,
Band fish, see Ccepola,
Belongs history of fishes,
Bleak, see Cyprinus,
Blenniozdes,
Blennius, characters of,
species ot,
Bodianus, characters of,
species of,
Body of fishes, form of,
Branchial opercles,
membrane,
Bream, see Cyprinus,
Bullhead, see Coitus,
c
Callionymus, characters of,
species of,
p. 96
99
ib.
P1
ib.
106
ib.
78> 79
97
ib.
81
82
81
ib.
97
ib.
68—73
102
66
91
79
ICO
ib.
66
100
ib.
104
ib.
«7
66
102
85
86
ib.
94
ib.
68
69
ib.
102
89
83
ib.
Carp, see Cyprinus, p. 102
remarkably prolific, ib.
Cartilaginous fishes, order of, 103
Ccepola, characters of, 87
species of, ib.
Cenlriscus, characters of, 104
species of, ib.
Centrogaster, characters of, 95
species of, ib.
Cephalus, characters of, 104
species of, ib.
Chcetodon, characters of, 91
species of, ib.
Charr, see Salmo, 97
red, ib.
Chinese trumpet-fish, see Fistularia, 99
Circulation in fishes slow, 74
Clupea, characters of, 101
species of, ib.
Coal-fish, see Gudus, 84
Cobitis, characters of, 96
species of, ib.
Cod, common, see Gadus, 84
Chub, see Cyprinus, 102
Cock-paddle, see Cyclopterus, 105
Conger eel, species of tnursena, 80
Coryphccna, characters of, 88
species of, ib.
hippurus, or dolphin, histo¬
ry of, ib.
Cottus, characters of, 89
species of, ib.
Cramp-fish, see Gymnotus, 80
Cyclopterus, characters of, IOJ
species of, ib.
Cyprinus, characters of, 102
species of, ib,
Diodon, characters of, 104
species of, ib.
Dolphin, see Coryphcena, 88
Dory, see Xeus, 89
Dragon weever, see Trachinus, 84
Dragonet, see Callionymus, 83
Duration or age of fishes, 78, 79
Echeneis, characters of, p. 88
species of, ib.
remora, singular history of, ib.
Eel, snake, 1
common, > see Murcena, 78
conger, J
sand, see Ammodytes, 81
Elops, characters of, 100
species of, ib.
Eques, characters of, pi,
species of, ib.
Esox, characters of, 95
species of, ib.
Exocoetus, characters of, IOC
species of, ib,
Eyes of fishes, anatomy of, 6c,
File-fish, see Balistes, lOz
Fins of fishes, 7c
Fishes, ancient writers on, 6f
moderns, ib
history of, by Belon, ib
Rondelet, 6
Aldrovandus, ib
"Willoughby, ib
Artedi, ib
arrangement of, by Klein, ib
Linnteus, ib
La C6pede on, il
Pennant, it
anatomy of, ^ 6<
form of the body of, il
head of, it
eyes of, 6
opercles of, it
branchial membrane of, i
trunk of, il
fins of, 7
skeleton of, 7
muscles of,
viscera of, 7
physiology of, 7
respiration of,
effects of air on,
Fishc
' >4^3e// tyfircn. //«/. ferric it
«
Plate C C LXXX
v ■/ -
ICHTHYOLOGY.
PLATE CCLXXXIL
Fig .40
Eng^TryJL.Wilson Edznr
PLATE CCLXXXfll.
Index.
Fishes, sense of seeing of,
hearing of,
touch of,
taste of,
smelling of,
motions of,
instruments of motion of,
migration of,
mostly voracious,
oviparous,
eggs of, immense,
great age of some,
systematic exposition of,
orders of,
Fistularia, characters of,
species of,
Flounder, see Fleuronectes,
Flying-fish, see Exocoetus,
G
Gadus, characters of,
species of,
Gasterosteus, characters of,
species of,
Gastrolranchus, characters of,
species of,
Gills, the organs of respiration in
fishes,
Gilt-head, see Sparus,
greatly prized by the Greeks
and Romans, ib.
GobiomOrus, characters of, 80
species of, ib.
Gobius, characters of, 88
species of, ib.
Gold-fish, or gold*carp, see Cyprinus, 102
Gomphosus, characters of,
species of,
Grayling, see Salmo,
Gudgeon, sea, or goby, see Gobius,
Gurnard, see Trigla,
Gymnetrus, characters of,
species of,
Gymnotus, characters of,
species of,
P- 74
ib.
75
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
76
77
ib.
78
ib.
79
ib.
99
ib.
90
IOO
84
ib.
95
ib.
no
ib.
73
92
93
ib.
98
88
96
?7
ib.
80
ib.
H
Haddock, see Gadus,
Hake, species of gadus,
Head of fishes, anatomy of,
Hearing, sense of, in fishes,
Heart of fishes, anatomy of,
Herring, see Clupea,
history of,
first pickled,
Halibut, see Fleuronectes,
Holocentrus, characters of,
species of,
84
85
68
74
72
101
ib.
ib.
91
94
ib.
66
ICHTHYOLOGY.
K
Knight-fish, see Eques,
Kurtus, characters of,
species of,
p. 91
ib.
Ichthyology, definition of,
difficulties in the study of, ib.
Imminset, see Macrourus, 88
Jugular fishes, order of, 83
Vol. XI. Part I.
Labrus, characters of, 93
species of, ib.
La Ceptde, a writer on fishes, 67
his arrangement, • ib.
Lamprey, or sea-lamprey, see Fctro-
my%on, 109
Leptocephalus, characters of, 83
species of, ib.
Ling, species of gadus, 84
Loche, see Colitis, 96
Lonchurus, characters of, 93
species of, ib.
Lophius, characters of, 105
species of, ib.
Loricaria, characters of, 97
species of, ib.
Lump-fish, or lump-sucker, see Cyclop-
ter us, 105
M
Macrourus, characters of, 88
species of, ib.
Mackrel, see Scomber, 93
Membrane, branchial, 69
Menan, Mad. too credulous on the
transformation of fishes, 78
Metamorphoses of fishes, ib.
Miller's thumb, see Gobius, 88
Modern writers on fishes, 66
Minow, see Cyprinus, 102
Mormyrus, characters of, 103
species of, ib.
Motion of fishes very rapid, 75
instruments of, ib.
Migration of fishes doubted, 76
Monopterus, characters of, 80
species of, ib.
Morris launce, see Leptocephalus, 83
Mugil, characters of, 100
species of, ib.
Mullus, characters of, 96
species of, ib.
barbatns, esteemed much by
the Romans, ib.
Multiplication of fishes, methods pro¬
posed, no
Murcena, 79
helena, a Roman luxury, ib.
Muscles of fishes, 71
N
Nouel, M. his plan for the multipli¬
cation of fishes, no
Nourishment of fishes, 77
O
Odontognathus, characters of, 81
species of, ib.
t
Old-wife, see Balistes,
Operates, branchial,
Ophicephalus, eharacters of,
species of,
Ophidium, characters of,
species of,
Orders of fishes, characters of,
Organs of fishes,
Ostracion, characters of,
species of.
Ova of fishes, evolution of,
number of, immense,
are deposited in differ¬
ent seasons,
I 13
. 104
69
93
ib.
82
ib.
79
72
103
ib.
77
78
ib.
Pegasus, characters of,
species of,
Perea, characters of,
species of,
Perch, see Perea,
esteemed by the Romans,
Petromyzon, characters of,
species of,
Physiology of fishes,
Pike, see Esose,
voracity of,
Pilot-fish, see Scomber,
Pilchard, see Clupea,
Plaise, see Pleuronectes,
Platystaehus, characters of,
species of,
Pleuronectes, characters of,
species of,
Polynemus, characters of,
species of,
Polypterus, characters of,
species of,
R
Haia, characters of, 108
species of, ib.
Hay, a writer on fishes, 66
Remora, or sucking-fish, see Echeneis, 88
marvellous account of, among
the ancients, ib.
Reproduction of fishes, qq
Respiration of fishes, yg
performed by gills, ib.
effects of, on the air, ib.
Roach, see Cyprinus, 102
Roe, ac ova of fishes, -72
104
ib.
94
ib.
ib.
ib.
109
ib.
73
99
100
95
tor
9r
97
ib.
ib.
101
ib.
100
ib.
Salmo, characters of,
species of,
Salmon hunting,
trout,
Saury, see Elops,
Sand-eel, or sand launce, see Ammo-
dytes,
Scarus, characters of,
species of,
Scomber, characters of.
97
98
ib.
ib.
IOO
89
93
ib.
95
Scomber,
I
114
Scomber, species of, p
Scorpcena, characters of,
species of,
Scorpion, sea j see Scorpcena,
Sciana, characters of,
species of,
Sea-horse, see Syngnatkus,
Sea-owl, see Cycloptervs,
Sea-devil, see Lop hive.
Seeing, sense of, in fishes,
Senses, external, in fishes,
Serpent, sea, species of nauraena,
Shad, see Clvpea,
Shark, see Squalus,
Short sun-fish, see Cephah/t,
Sihtrus, characters of,
species of,
Skate, see Raia,
Skeleton of fishes.
Smelling, sense of, in fishes,
Smelt, see Salmo eperlanus.
Soft-roe 05 milt of fishes.
Sale, see Pleuroncctes,
Sparling and spirling, see JEperlanus,
Sparus, characters of,
species of,
Spatularia, characters cf,
species of.
Sprat, see Clupea,
Squalus, characters of,
species of,.
Stylephorus, characters cf,.
species of,
Siermptyx, characters of,
species of,
Stickleback, see Gasterostms,
Sironicteus, characters of,
fpecies of.
•95
89
ib.
ib.
93
94
104
105
ib.
74
ib.
79
aoi
306
304
97
ib.
308
7i
75
99
73
9*
99
9a
ib.
308
sb.
3 os
106
ib.
g3
ib.
82
ib.
95
82
ib.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
Sturgeon, see Accipenser, p. 106
remarkably prolific, ib.
aflbrds isinglass, ib.
Sucking-fish, see Echeneis, 88
Surmullet, red, see Multus, 96
highly esteemed by the
Romans, ib.
Swimming or air-bladder, of fishes, ^2
Stvord-Jish, see Xiphias, 8?
Synbranchus, generic characters of, 80
species of, ib.
Syngnathus, characters of, 104
species of, ib.
System, absorbent, of fishes, 7 2
T
Taste, sense of, in fishes,
Tench, see Cyprinus,
singular history of one.
Teirodon, characters of,
species of,.
Toad-fish, see Lophius,
Tobacco-pipe fish, see Fistularia,
Torpedo, see Raia,
Torsk, see Gadus,
Touch, sense of, in fishes,
Thorn-back, see Raia,
Trachichthys, characters of,
species of,
Trachinus, characters of,
species of,
Trichiurus, characters of,
species of,
Trichopus, characters of,
species of,
Tifgla, characters of,
species of,
Triurus, characters of,
75
302
ib.
303
ib.
105
99
308
84
75
208
96
ib.
$4
ib.
81
ib.
92
ib.
96
ib.
81
Index
Triurus, species of, p. 8
Trout, see Saltno, 9
Trunk of fishes, 6
Trunk-fish, see Ostracion, 10
Tunny, see Scomber, 9
admired by the Greeks and
Romans, il
Turbot, see Pleuronectes, 9
Tusk, see Gadus, 8
U
Unicornis,
Uranoscopus, characters of,
species of,
V
Vandellius, characters of, 8
species of, il
Voracity of fishes, remarkable, 7
W
Weever, dragon, see Trachinus, £
r'W"%o»t(}see Gadu,'
Willoughby, a writer on fishes, 6
Wolffish, or sea-wolf, see Anarchi-
chas, !
smaller, i
panther, i
X
Xiphias, characters of, i
species of, j
Z
Heus, characters of, }i
species of, i
I C H
lcTstb.ro- IGHTHYOPHAGI, Fish-eaters, a name given
a people, or rather to several different people, who
i^ed wholly on fishes •, the word is Greek, compounded
V—v——' of !£&*>!, piscis, “ fish,” and edere, " to eat.”
The Ichthyophagi spoken of by Ptolemy are placed
by Sanson in the provinces of Nanquin and Xantong.
Agatharcides calls all the inhabitants between Carma-
nia and Gedrosia by the name Ichthyophagi.
From the accounts given us of the Ichthyophagi by
Herodotus, Strabo, Soitnus, Plutarch, &e. it appears
indeed that they had cattle, but that they made no use
of them, excepting to feed their fish withal. They made
their houses of large fish-bones, the ribs oi whales ser¬
ving them for their beams. The jaws of these animals
served them for doors •, and the mortars wherein they
pounded their fish, and baked it at the sun, were noth¬
ing else but1 their vertebree.
ICHTHYPERPA, an old term in Natural History,
which 38 epplicd 1 by Dr ^HHl to the bony palates and
v ’ a.
I c o
mouths of fishes, usually met with either fossil, in sin- Icbtbvp*
gle pieces, or in fragments. They are of the same sub-
stance with the bufonitse; and are of very various fi-
gures, some broad and short, others longer and slender *. . \jr
some very gihhose, and .others plainly arched. They
are likewise of various sizes, from the tenth of an ipch
to two inches in length, and an inch in breadth.
ICKENILD-street, is that old Roman highway,
denominated from the Icenians, which extended frpm
Yarmouth in'Norfiolk, tfie east part of the kingdom of
the Iceni, to Barley in Hertfordshire, giving name in
the way to several villages, as Ickworth, Ickljpgbam,
and Ickleton in that kingdom. From Bay ley to Roy-
ston ittdivides the counties of Cambridge and Hert¬
ford. From Ickkford it runs by Tring, crosses Bucks
and Oxfordshire, passes the Thames at Goring, (Sipd, ex¬
tends to the west part pf England.
XCOLMKIL. SeeJoNA.
ICONIUM, at present CoGNI, formerly.the capital
■'[city
<x> eeUs
Jtonocias-
tc^.
I c o
city of Xvycaonia in Asia Minor.
[ i
St Paul coming to
Tconium (Acts xiii. 51. xiv. 1. &c.) in tlie )ear of
Christ 45, converted many Jews and Gentiles there.
It is believed, that in his first journey to this city, he
converted St Thecla, so celebrated in the writings of
the ancient fathers. But some incredulous Jews ex¬
cited the Gentiles to rise against Paul and Barnabas,
so that they were upon the point of offering violence
to them, which obliged St Paul and St Barnabas to
fly for security to the neighbouring cities. St Paul
undeitoo'k a second journey to Iconium in the year
i;x ; but we know no particulars of his journey, which
relate peculiarly to Iconium.
ICONOCLASTES, or Iconoclasts, breakers of
images ; a name which the church of Borne gives to
all who reject the use of images in religious matters.-—
The word is Greek, formed from uxuy, imago, and
rumpere, “ to break.”
In this sense, not only the reformed, but some of
the eastern churches, are called Jcortoc/oi/e.?, and esteem¬
ed by them heretics, as opposing the worship of the
images of God and the saints, and breaking their fi¬
gures and representations in churches.
The opposition to images began in Greece under the
reign of Bardanes, who was created emperor of the
Greeks a little after the commencement of the eighth
century, when the worship of them became common.
See Image. But the tumults occasioned by it were
quelled by a revolution, which, in 713, deprived Bar¬
danes of the imperial throne. The dispute, however,
broke out with redoubled fury under Leo the Isaurian,
who issued out an edict in the year 726, abrogating, as
some say, the worship of images, and ordering all the
images, except that of Christ’s crucifixion, to he re¬
moved out of the churchesj hut according to others, this
edict only prohibited the paying to them any kind of
adoration or worship. This edict occasioned a civil war,
which broke out in the islands of the Archipelago, and
by the suggestions of the priests and monks, ravaged a
part of Asia, and afterwards reached Italy. The civil
commotions and insurrections in Italy were chiefly pro¬
moted by the Roman pontiffs, Gregory I. and II. Leo
was excommunicated, and his subjects in the Italian
provinces violated their allegiance, and rising in arms
either massacred or banished all the emperor’s deputies
and officers. In consequence of these proceedings, Leo
assembled a council at Constantinople in 730, which de¬
graded Germanus, the bishop of that city, who was a
patron of images j and he ordered all the images to be
publicly burnt, and inflicted a variety of severe punish¬
ments upon such as were attached to that idolatrous wor¬
ship. Hence arose two factions j one of which adopted
the adoration and worship of images, and on that account
were called iconoduli or icnnolatrce; and the other main¬
tained that such a worship was unlawful,and that nothing
was more worthy the zeal of Christians than to demolish
and destroy those statues and pictures which were the
occasions of this gross idolatry ; and hence they were
distinguished by the titles of iconomachi, (from tium,
image, and I contend,') and iconoclast#. The zeal
of Gregory II. in favour of image worship, was not
only imitated, but even surpassed by bis successor Gre¬
gory III. in consequence of which the Italian provin¬
ces were torn from the Grecian empire,
Constantine, called Copronymus, from ***&{, “ ster-
15 ] ICO
cus,” and tup#, (i name,” because he was said to have teosaeJa*.
defiled the sacred font at bis baptism, succeeded bis tes
father Leo in 741, and in 754 convened a council at
Constantinople, regarded by the Greeks as the seventh
oecumenical council, which solemnly condemned the
worship and use of images. Those who, notwithstand¬
ing this decree of the council, raised commotions in
the state, were severely punished ; and new laws were
enacted, to set hounds to the violence of monastic rage.
Leo IV. who was declared emperor in 775, pursued
the same measures, and had recourse to the coercive
influence of penal laws, in order to extirpate idolatry
out of the Christian church. Irene, the wife of Jjeo,
poisoned her husband in 780 ; assumed the reins of
empire during the minority of her son Constantine,
and in 786 summoned a council at Nice in Bithynia,
known by the name of the second Nicene council, which
abrogated the laws and decrees against the new ido¬
latry, restored the worship of images and of the cross,
and denounced severe punishments against those who
maintained that God was the only object of religious
adoration. In this contest, the Britons, Germans, ami
Gauls, were of opinion, that images might be lawfully
continued in churches, but they considered the worship
of them as highly injurious and offensive to the Su¬
preme Being. Charlemagne distinguished himself as a
mediator in this controversy : he ordered four books
concerning images to be composed, refuting the rea¬
sons urged by the Nicene bishops to justify the worship
of images, which he sent to Adrian the Roman pon¬
tiff in 790, in order to engage him to withdraw his ap¬
probation of the decrees of the last council of Nice.
Adrian wrote an answer \ and in 794, a council of
300 bishops, assembled by Charlemagne at Francfort
on the Maine, confirmed the opinion contained in the
four books, and solemnly condemned the worship of
images. In the Greek church, after the banishment
of Irene, the controversy concerning images broke, out
anew, and was carried on by the contending parties,
during the half of the ninth century, with various and
uncertain success. The emperor Nicephorus appears
upon the whole to have been an enemy to this idola¬
trous worship. His successor, Michael Curopalates,
surnamed llhangabe, patronized and encouraged it. But
the scene changed on the accession of Leo the Arme¬
nian to the empire who assembled a council at, Con¬
stantinople in 814, that abolished the decrees of the
Nicene council. His successor Michael, surnamed Bal-
bus, disapproved the worship of images, and bis sou
Theophilus treated them with great severity. How¬
ever, the empress Theodora, after his death, and du¬
ring the minority of her son, assembled a council at
Constantinople in 842, which reinstated the decrees of
the second Nicene council, and encouraged image
worship by a law. The council held at the same place
under Photius, in 879, arid reckoned by the Greeks
the eighth general council, confirmed and renewed the
Nicene decrees, In commemoration of this council, a
festival was instituted by the superstitious Greeks, call¬
ed the feast of orthodoxy. The Latins were generally
of opinion, that images might be suffered as the means
of aiding the memory of the faithful, and of calling
to their remembrance the pions exploits and virtuous
actions of the persons whom they represented; but
they detested all thoughts of paying them the least
I* 2 marks
ICO
Tconodas marks af religious homage or adoration. The coun¬
ter cil of Paris, assembled in 824 by Louis the Meek, re-
11 solved to allow the use of images in the churches, but
Igosandna. severe]y prohibited rendering them religious worship.
^ ' 1 Nevertheless, towards the conclusion of this century,
the Gallican clergy began to pay a kind of religious
homage to the images of saints, and their example was
followed by the Germans and other nations. How¬
ever, the Iconoclasts still had their adherents among
the Latins ; the most eminent of whom was Claudius
bishop of Turin, who, in 823, ordered all images, and
even the cross, to be cast out of the churches, and
committed to the flames ; and he wrote a treatise, in
which he declared both against the use and worship of
them. Ke condemned relicks, pilgrimages to the Holy
Land, and all voyages to the tombs of saints j and to
his writings and labours it was owing, that the city of
Turin, and the adjacent country, was, for a long time
after his death, much less infected with superstition
than the other parts of Europe. The controversy con¬
cerning the sanctity of images was again revived by
Leo bishop of Chalcedon, in the Ilth century, on
occasion of the emperor Alexius’s converting the fi¬
gures of silver that adorned the portals of the churches
into money in order to supply the exigencies of the
state. The bishop obstinately maintained that he had
been guilty of sacrilege •, and published a treatise, in
which he affirmed, that in these images there resided
an inherent sanctity, and that the adoration of Chri¬
stians ought not to be confined to the persons repre¬
sented by these images, but extended to the images
themselves. The emperor assembled a council at Con¬
stantinople, which determined, that the images of Christ
’and of the saints were to be honoured only with a re¬
lative worship; and that invocation and worship were to
be addressed to the saints only as the servants of Christ,
and on account of their relation to him as their ma¬
ster. Leo, dissatisfied even with these absurd and su¬
perstitious decisions, was sent into banishment. In the
western church, the worship of images was disapproved
and opposed by several considerable parties, as the Pe-
trobossians, Albigenses, Waldenses, &c. till at length
this idolatrous practice was entirely abolished in many
parts of the Christian world by the Reformation. See
Image.
ICONOGRAPHIA (derived from “ image,”
and y^xtpa), “ I describe), the description of images or
ancient statues of marble and copper ; also of busts and
semi-busts, penates, paintings in fresco, mosaic works,
and ancient pieces of miniature.
ICONOLATRiE, or Iconolaters (from uxui
and Xxrt^ivu, “ I worship,”) or Iconoduli (from wtvv
and “ I serve ;”) those who worship images : A
name which the Iconoclastes give to those of the Ro¬
mish communion, on account of their adoring images,
and of rendering to them the worship only due to God.
See Iconoclasts and Image.
ICOSilHEDRON, in Geometry, a regular solid,
consisting of 20 triangular pyramids, whose vertices
meet in the centre of a sphere supposed to circumscribe
it; and therefore have their height and bases equal ;
wherefore the solidity of one of these pyramids multi-
plied by 20, the number of bases, gives the solid con-
' tents of the icoiahedron.
ICOSANDRIA (from ” twenty,” and.*^,
I D E
** a man or husband”) ; the name of the I 2th class in Ico
Linnaeus’s sexual method, consisting of plants with her¬
maphrodite flowers, which are furnished with 20 or
more stamina, that are inserted into the inner side of
the calyx or petals. See Botany, p. J92.
ICTINUS, a celebrated Greek architect who lived
about 430 B. C. built several magnificent temples, and
among others that of Minerva at Athens.
IDA, in Ancient Geography, a mountain situated in
the heart of Crete where broadest; the highest of all
in the island ; round, and in compass 60 stadia (Stra¬
bo) ; the nursing place of Jupiter, and where his tomb
was visited in Varro’s time.—Another Jr/a, a mountain
of Mysia, or rather a chain of mountains (Homer,
Virgil), extending from Zeleia on the south of the ter¬
ritory of Cyzicus to Lectum the utmost promontory of
Troas. The abundance of its waters became the source
of many rivers, and particularly of the Simois, Sca-
mander, iEsopus, Granicus, &c. It was covered with
green wood, and the elevation of its top opened a fine
extensive view of the Hellespont and the adjacent coun¬
tries ; from which reason it was frequented by the gods
during the Trojan war, according to Homer. The top
was called Gargara (Homer, Strabo) ; and celebrated
by the poets for the judgment of Paris on the beauty of
the three goddesses, Minerva, Juno, and Venus ; to the
last of whom he gave the preference.
IDALIUM, in Ancient Geography, a promontory
on the east side of Cyprus. Now Capo di Griego ;
with a high rugged eminence rising over it, in the form
of a table. It was sacred to Venus ; and hence the
epithet Idalia given her by the poets. The eminence
was covered by a grove j and in the grove was a lit¬
tle town, in Pliny’s time extinct. Idalia, according
to Bochart, denotes the place or spot sacred to the god¬
dess.
IDEA, the reflex perception of objects, after the
original perception or impression has been felt by
the mind. See Metaphysics, passim; and Logic,
Part I.
IDENTITY, denotes that by which a thing is it¬
self, and not any thing else ; in which sense identity
differs from similitude, as well as diversity. See Me¬
taphysics.
IDES, in the ancient Roman kalendar, were eight
days in each month; the first of which fell on the 15th
of March, May, July, and October; and on the 13th
day of the other months.—The origin of the word is
contested. Some will have it formed from iZttv, “ to
see ;” by reason the full moon was commonly seen on
the days of the ides ; others from ui»s, “ species, fi¬
gure,” on account of the image of the full moon then
visible : others from idulium or ovis idulis, a name gi¬
ven by the Hetrurians to a victim offered on that day
to Jupiter: others from the Hetrurian word iduo, i. e.
divido ; by reason the ides divided the moon into two
nearly equal parts.
The ides came between the Kalends and the
Nones ; and were reckoned backwards. Thus they
called the 14th day of March, May, July, and October,
and the 12th of the other months, the pridie idus, or
the day before the ides ; the next preceding day they
called the tertia idus; and so on, reckoning always
backwards till they came to the Nones. This method
of reckoning time is still retained iu the chancery of
Rome.
[ n6 ]
1 D I [ i
If]es Rome, and in the kalendar of the Breviary.—The
Wiocy. ides of May were consecrated to Mercury : the ides
‘■'■“"V" of March were ever esteemed unhappy, after Caesar’s
murder on that day : the time after the ides of June
was reckoned fortunate for those who entered into ma¬
trimony : the ides of August were consecrated to Di¬
ana, and were observed as a feast day by the slaves.
On the ides of September, auguries were taken for
appointing the magistrates, who formerly entered into
their offices on the ides of May, afterwards on those of
March.
IDIOCY, a defect of understanding. Both idiocy
and lunacy excuse from the guilt of crimes; (see
Crime, pur. ult.'). For the rule of law as to lunatics,
which may also be easily adapted to idiots, is, that fit-
Black- riosus furore solum punitur. In criminal cases, there-
stone'tCom-fore, idiots and lunatics are not chargeable for their
■mentaries. own ac^s> |f committed when under these incapacities :
no, not even for treason itself. Also, if a man in his
sound memory commits a capital offence, and before
arraignment for it he becomes mad, he ought not to
be arraigned for it: because he is not able to plead to
it with that advice and caution that he ought. And
if, after he has pleaded, the prisoner becomes mad,
he shall not be tried : for how can he make his de¬
fence ? If, after he be tried and found guilty, he loses
his senses before judgment, judgment shall not be pro¬
nounced $ and if, after judgment, he becomes of non-
sane memory, execution shall be stayed : for perad-
venture, says the humanity of the English law, had
the prisoner been of sound memory, he might have al¬
leged something in stay of judgment or execution. In¬
deed, in the bloody reign of Henry VIII. a statute
was made, which enacted, that if a person, being com¬
pos mentis^ should commit high treason, and after fall
into madness, he might be tried in his absence, and
should suffer death, as if he were of perfect memory.
But this savage and inhuman law was repealed by the
statute l & 2 Ph. & M. c. 10. For, as is observed by
Sir Edward Coke, “ the execution of an offender is
for example, ut poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes per-
veniat: but so it is not when a madman is executed ;
but should be a miserable spectacle, both against law,
and of extreme inhumanity and cruelty, and can be no
example to others.” But if there be any doubt whe¬
ther the party be compos or not, this shall be tried by
a jury. And if he be so found, a total idiocy, or ab¬
solute insanity, excuses from the guilt, and of course
from the punishment, of any criminal action commit¬
ted under such deprivation of the senses ; but if a lu¬
natic hath lucid intervals of understanding, he shall an¬
swer for what he does in those intervals, as if he had
no deficiency. Yet, in the case of absolute madmen,
as they are not answerable for their actions, they should
not be permitted the liberty of acting unless under pro¬
per controul $ and, in particular, they ought not to be
suffered to go loose, to the terror of the king’s subjects.
It was the doctrine of our ancient law, that persons de¬
prived of their reason might be confined till they re¬
covered their senses, without waiting for the forms of a
commission or other special authority from tha crown ;
and now, by the vagrant acts, a method is chalked out
for imprisoning, chaining, and sending them to their
proper homes. .
Tbfe matrimonial contract likewise cannot take place
17 ] I D I
in a state of idiocy. It was formerly adjudged, that idiocy,
the issue of an idiot was legitimate, and his marriage l—v—
valid. A strange determination ! since consent is ab¬
solutely requisite to matrimony, and neither idiots
nor lunatics are capable of consenting to any thing.
And therefore the civil law judged much more sen¬
sibly, when it made such deprivations of reason a pre¬
vious impediment, though not a cause of divorce if
they happened after marriage. And modern resolu¬
tions have adhered to the sense of the civil law, by de¬
termining that the marriage of a lunatic, not being in
a lucid interval, was absolutely void. But as it might
be difficult to prove the exact state of the party’s mind
at the actual celebration of the nuptials, upon this ac¬
count (concurring with some private family reasons*), * See Pn-
the statute 15 Geo. II. c. 30. has provided, that the vale acts,
marriage of lunatics and persons under phrensies (|f23Geo. II.
found lunatics under a commission, or committed toC‘6’
the care of trustees under any act of parliament) before
they are declared of sound mind by the lord chancel¬
lor, or the majority of such trustees, shall be totally
void.
Idiots and persons of nonsane memory, as well as in¬
fants and persons under duress, are not totally disabled
either to convey or purchase, but sub modo only. For
their conveyances and purchases are voidable, but not
actually void. The king, indeed, on behalf of an idiot,
may avoid his grants or other acts. But it hath been
said, that a non compos himself, though he be after¬
wards brought to a right mind, shall not be permitted
to allege his own insanity in order to avoid such grant:
for that no man shall be allowed to stultify himself, or
plead his own disability. The progress of this notion
is somewhat curious. In the time of Edward I. non
compos was a sufficient plea to void a man’s own
bond: and there is a writ in the register for the alie¬
nor himself to recover lands alienated by him during his
insanity ; dum fuit non compos mentis sucey ut dicit, &c.
But under Edward III. a scruple began to arise, whe¬
ther a man should be permitted to blemish himself, by
pleading his own insanity ; and, afterwards, a defend¬
ant in assize having pleaded a release by the plaintiff
since the last continuance, to which the plaintiff re¬
plied (ore tenus, as the manner then was) that he was
out of his mind when he gave it, the court adjourned
the assize j doubting, whether as the plaintiff was sane
both then and at the commencement of the suit, he
should be permitted to plead an intermediate depriva¬
tion of reason; and the question was asked, how he -
came to remember to release, if out of his senses when
he gave it ? Under Henry VI. this way of reasoning
(that a man should not be allowed to disable himself, by-
pleading his own incapacity, because he cannot know
what he did under such a situation) was seriously adopt-
ed by the judges in argument j upon a question whe¬
ther the heir was barred of his right of entry by the
feoffment of his insane ancestor ? And from these loose
authorities, which Fitzherbert does not scruple to re¬
ject as being contrary to reason, the maxim that a man
shall not stultify himself, hath been handed down as
settled law: though later opinions, feeling, the incon¬
venience of the rule, have in many points endeavoured
to restrain it. And, clearly, the next heir or other
person interested, may, after the death of the idiot or
non compos^ takd advantage of his incapcity and avoid
the* '
I D L [ i
the grant. And so, too, if he purchases under this
U disability, and does not afterwards upon recovering his
JiUeness. genses agree to the purchase, his heir may either wave
"r or accept the estate at his option. In like manner, an
infant may wave such purchase or conveyance, when
be comes to full age ; or, if he does not then actually
agree to it, his heir may wave it after him. Persons,
also, who purchase or convey under duress, may affirm
or avoid such transaction, whenever the duress is ceas¬
ed. For all thpse are under the protection of the law ;
which will not suffer them to be imposed upon through
the imbecility of their present condition j so that their
acts are only binding, in case they be afterwards agreed
to when such imbecility ceases. Aet the guardians
or committees of a lunatic, by the statute II Geo. III.
c. 20, are empowered to renew in his right, under the
directions of the court of chancery, any lease for lives
or years, and apply the profits of such renewal for the
benefit of such lunatic, his heirs, or executors. See
Lunacy. . ..
IDIOM, among grammarians, properly signifies
the peculiar genius of each language, but is often used
in a synonymous sense with dialect. The word is
Greek, “ proprietyformed of “ proper,
own.”
IDIOPATHY, in Physic, a disorder peculiar to a
certain part of the body, and not arising from any pre¬
ceding disease j in which sense it is opposed to sym¬
pathy. Thus, an epilepsy is idiopathic when it hap¬
pens merely through some fault in the brain *, and
sympathetic when it is the consequence of some other
disorder. . .
IDIOSYNCRASY, among physicians, denotes a
peculiar temperament of body, whereby it is rendered
more liable to certain disorders than persons of a dif¬
ferent constitution usually are.
IDIOT, or Ideot, in our laws, denotes a natural
fool, or a fool from his birth. See Idiocy.
The word is originally Greek, iJiaruf, which prima¬
rily imports a private person, or one who leads a pri¬
vate life, without any share or concern in the govern¬
ment of affairs.
A person who has understanding enough to measure
a yard of clpth, number twenty rightly, and tell the
days of the week, &c. is not an idiot in the eye of
the law. But a man who is born deaf, dumb, and
blind, is considered by the law in the same state as an
idiot. . . .
Idiot is also used, by ancient writers, tor a person
ignorant or unlearned : answering to ilhteratus, or im-
peritus. In this sense, Victor tells us, in his Cbroni-
con, that in the consulship of Messala, the Holy Gos¬
pels, by command of the emperor Anastasius, were cor¬
rected and amended, as having been written by idiot
evangelists: Tanquam ab idiotis evangelistis eomposita.
IDLENESS, a reluctancy in people to be employed
in any kind of work.
Idleness in any person whatsoever is a high oi-
fence against the public economy. In China it is a
maxim, that if there be a man who does not work, or
a woman that is idle, in the empire, somebody must
suffer cold or hunger; the produce of the lands not
being more than sufficient, with culture, to maintain the
inhabitants; and therefore, though the idle person
may shift off the want from himself, yet it must m the
8 ] I to O
end fall somewhere, The court also of Areopagus at fjfcrit>s
Athens punished idleness, and exerted a right of exainin- j)
ing every citizen in what manner he spent las time; Idolatry,
the intention of which ivas, that the Athenians, know- v" 1 ^
ing they were to give an account of their occupations,
should follow only such as were laudable, and that there
might be no room left for such as lived by unlawful
arts. The civil law expelled all sturdy vagrants from
the city ; and, in our own law, all idle persons or va¬
gabonds, whom our ancient statutes describe to be
“ such as wake on the night and sleep on the day, Btacl-it.
and haunt customable taverns and ale-houses, and routs
about; and no man wot from whence they come, ntia,l€S•
whether they go;” or such as are more particularly
described by statute 17 Geo. If. c. 5. and divided into
three classes, idle and disorderly persons, rogues and
vagabonds, and incorrigible rogues ;—all these are of¬
fenders against the good order, and blemishes in the
government, of any kingdom. They are therefore all
punished, by the statute last mentioned ; that is to
say, idle and disorderly persons with one month’s im¬
prisonment in the house of correction; rogues and va¬
gabonds with whipping, and imprisonment not exceed¬
ing six months ; and incorrigible rogues with the like
discipline, and confinement not exceeding two years ;
the breach and escape from which confinement in one
of an inferior class, ranks him among incorrigible
rogues; and in a rogue (before incorrigible) makes
him a felon, and liable to be transported for seven
years. Persons harbouring vagrants are liable to a fine
of forty shillings, and to pay all expences brought up¬
on the parish thereby : in the same manner as, by our
ancient laws, whoever harboured any stranger for more
than two nights, was answerable to the public for any
offence that such his inmate might commit.
IDOL, in pagan theology, an image, or fancied
representation of any of the heathen gods.—-This
image, of whatever materials it consisted, was, by cer¬
tain ceremonies, called consecration, converted into a
god. While under the artificer’s hand, it was only a
mere statue. Three things were necessary to turn it
into a god ; proper ornaments, consecration, and ora¬
tion. The ornaments were various, and wholly design¬
ed to blind the eyes of the ignorant and stupid multi¬
tude, who are chiefly taken with show and pageantry.
Then followed the consecration anil oration, which
were performed with great solemnity among the Ro¬
mans. See Image.
IDOLATRY, or the worship of idols, may be di¬
stinguished into two sorts. By the first, men adore the
works of God, the sun, the moon, the stars, angels,
daemons, men, and animals: by the second, men wor¬
ship the work of their own hands, as statues, pictures,
and the like: and to these may be added a third, that
by which men have worshipped the true God under
sensible figures and representations. This indeed may
have been the case with respect to each of the above
kinds of idolatry ; and thus the Israelites adored God
under the figure of a calf.
The stars were the first objects of idolatrous wor¬
ship, on account of their beauty, their influence on
the productions of the earth, and the regularity of
their motions, particularly the sun and moon, which are
considered as the most glorious and resplendent images
of the Deity: afterwards, as their sentiments became
moro
IDO [I
Idolatry, iN°re corrupted, they began to form Images, and to en-
tdowcaeas. tertain the opinion, that by virtue of consecration, the
—Y-—' gods were called down to inhabit or dwell in their sta¬
tue?. Hence Arnobius takes occasion to rally the
Pagans for guarding so carefujly the statues of their
gods, who, if they were really present in their images,
might save their worshippers the trouble of securing
them from thieves and robbers.
As to the adoration which the ancient Pagans paid
to the statues of their gods, it is certain, that the wiser
and more sensible heathens considered them only as sim-
pV representations or figures designed to recal to their
minds the memory of their gods. This was the opinion
of Varro and Seneca: and the same sentiment is clear¬
ly Jaid down in Plato, who maintains, that images are
inanipiate, and that all the honour paid to them has
respect to the gods whom they represent.^ But as to
the vulgar, they were stupid enough to believe the sU-
tue.s themselves to be gods, and to pay divine worship
to stocks and stones.
' §0011 after the flood, idolatry seems to have been the
prevailing religion of all the world : for wherever we
cast our eyes at the time of Abraham, we scarcely see
any thing but false worship and idolatry, And it ap¬
peal's from Scripture, that Abraham’s forefathers, and
even Abraham bimself, vveye for a time idolaters.
The ^lebrews were indeed expressly forbidden to
make any representation of God : they were not so
much as to look upon an idol; and from the time of
the Maccabees to the destruction of Jerusalem, the
Jews extended this precept to the making the figure
bfpy man: by the law of Moses, they were obliged
to destroy all the images they found, and were for-
ijidden to apply any of the gold or silver to their own
Use, that no one might receive the least profit from
any thing belonging to an idol. Of this the Jews,
after they fiad smarted for their idolatry, were so sen-
sihje, that they thought it unlawful to use any vessel
Jiat had been employed in sacrificing to a false god,
to warm themselves with the wood of a grove after
it was cut down, or to shelter themselves under its
^hade.
But the preaqbiug of the Christian religion, where-
ever it prevailed, entirely rooted out idolatry; as did
also that of Ajahomet, which is built on the worship
of* ope god. It must not, however, be forgotten,
that the Projestant Christians charge those of the
church of Rojpe with paying an idolatrous kind of
worship to the pictures or images of saints and mar¬
tyrs: before these they burn lamps and wax candles j
.before these, they burn incense, and, kneeling, offer
Up their vows and petitions; they, like the Pagans,
believe that the saint to whom the image is dedi¬
cated, presides jn a particular manner about its shrine,
and worhs miracles by |he intervention of its image ;
and that if the image was destroyed qr taken away,
the saint .\yould no longer perform any miracle in that
place.
PDOMENPUS, in fabulous history, succeeded his
father Ijeucalign on the throne of Crete. He accom¬
panied the Greeks to the Trojan war with a fleet of <50
ships. During this celebrated war he rendered himself
famous by his valour, and slaughtered many of the ene¬
my. At his return from the Trojan war, he made a
vow to Neptune in a dangerous tempest, that if he
Jedtlo.
19 j J E P
escaped from the fury of the seas and storms, he would Idomenexs
oft’er to the god whatever living creature first presented
itself to his eye on the Cretan shore. This was no other ,
than his son, who came to congratulate his father upon
his safe return. Idomeneus performed his promise to
the god; and the inhumanity and rashness of this sa¬
crifice rendered him so odious in the eyes of his sub¬
jects, that he left Crete, and migrated in quest of a
settlement. He came to Italy, and founded a city on
the coast of Calabria, which he called Salentum. He
died in extreme old age, after he had had the satis¬
faction of seeing his new kingdom flourish and his
subjects happy. According to the Greek scholiast of
Lycophron, v. 1217, Idomeneus, during his absence in
the Trojan war, intrusted the management of his king¬
dom to Leucos, to whom lie promised his daughter
Clisithere in marriage at his return. Deuces at first
governed with moderation, but he waS persuaded by
Nauplius "king of Euboea to put to death Meda the
wife of his master, with her daughter Clisithere, and
to seize the kingdom. After these violent measures he
strengthened himself on the throne of Crete, and Ido¬
meneus at’his return found it impossible to expel the
usurper.
IDUMAEA. See Edom.
JEALOUSY, in Ethics, is that peculiar uneasiness
which arises from the fear that some rival may rob us
of the affection of one whom we greatly love, or suspi¬
cion that he has already done it. The first sort of jea¬
lousy is inseparable from love, before it is in possession
of its object; the latter is often unjust, generally mis¬
chievous, always troublesome. '
Waters of Jealousy. See Waters.
IDYLLION, in ancient poetry, is only a diminutive
of the word EIDOS, and properly signifies any poem of
moderate extent, without considering the subject. But
as the collection of Theocritus’s poems were called
Idyllia, and the pastoral pieces being by far the best in
that collection, the term Idjjllion seems to be now ap¬
propriated to pastoral pieces.
JEABS, or Geers, in the sea language, an assem¬
blage of tackles, by which the lower yards of a ship
are hoisted along the mast to their usual station, or
lowered from thence as occasion requires: the former
of which operations is called and the latter
striking.
JEBUSAEI, one of the seven ancient peoples of Ca¬
naan, descendants of Jebusi, Canaan’s son; so warlike
and brave, as to have stood their ground, especially in
Jehus, afterwards called Jerusalem, down to the time of
David, Judges i. 21. I Sam. v. 6.
JEDBURGH, a parliament town of Scotland, ca¬
pital of Tiviotdale or Roxburghshire, is situated nearly
in the middle of the county, on the banks of the river
Jed, whence it derives its name, It is well built and
populous, and has a good market for corn and cattle.
On the west side of the river, near its junction with
the Teviot, stand the beautiful ruins ofan abbey found¬
ed by David I. a part of which ancient pile serves for
a parish church.—Jedburgh is tlie seat of the sheriff’s
court and of a presbytery. The population of this town
in 1811 was 4454.
JEDDO, the capital town or city of the islands of
Japan, where the emperor resides. It is open on all
sides, having neither walls nor ramparts; and the
houses >
J E F [ 120 ] J E F
Jeddo houses are built with earth, and boarded on the out-
Jj side to prevent the rain from destroying the walls. In
Jeffreys, every street there is an iron gate, which is shut up in
v 1 ~ the night; and a kind of customhouse or magazine,
to put merchandise in. It is a large place, and has
been said to contain a million of inhabitants, hut this is
undoubtedly an exaggeration. A fire happened in 1658,
which, in the space of 48 hours, burnt down many thou¬
sand houses, and in which a vast number of inhabitants
perished. The emperor’s palace and all the rest were
reduced to ashes ; but they are all rebuilt again. The
royal palace is in the middle of the town ; and is defend¬
ed with walls, ditches, towers, and bastions. Where
the emperor resides, there are three towers nine stories
' high, each covered with plates of gold; and the hall
of audience is said to be supported by pillars of massy
gold. Near the palace are several others, where the
relations of the emperor live. The empress has a pa¬
lace of her own, and there are 20 small ones for the
concubines. Besides, all the vassal kings have each a
palace in the city, with a handsome garden, and stables.
The houses of the common sort are nothing but a
ground floor, and the rooms are parted by folding
skreens; so that they can make the rooms larger or
smaller at pleasure. It is seated in an agreeable plain,
at the bottom of a fine bay ; and the river which crosses
it, is divided into several canals. E. Long. 139. 40.
N. Lat. 35. 45.
JEFFERSONIA, in Botany, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the class pentandria, and order monogynia.
The calyx is composed of five short oval imbricated
leaves ; the corolla is monophyllous and funnel-shaped ;
the margin hypocrateriform; the stigma is quadrifid.
One species only has been discovered, sempervirens,
which is a shrub with round, polished, shining stems,
which climb on bushes and small trees. This shrub is
very abundant in the woods of Georgia in North Ame¬
rica, where it was discovered by Dr Brickel, and it is
covered with blossoms for many months of the year.
JEFFERY. See Geoffrey.
JEFFREYS, Sir George, Baron Wem, common¬
ly called Judge Jeffreys, ws the sixth son of John Jef¬
freys, Esq. of Acton in Denbighshire ; and was edu¬
cated at Westminster school, whence he removed to
the Inner Temple, where he applied himself to the stu¬
dy of the law. Alderman Jeffreys, who was probably
related to him, introduced him among the citizens of
London, and be being a merry bottle companion,
soon came into great business, and was chosen their
recorder. He was afterwards chosen solicitor to the
duke of York; and in 1680 was knighted, and made
chief-justice of Chester. At length, resigning the re-
cordership, he obtained the post of chief-justice of the
king’s bench, and, soon after the accession of James II.
the great seal. During the reign of King Charles II.
he showed himself a bitter enemy to those dissenting
ministers who, in that time of persecution, were tried
by him : he was one of the greatest advisers and pro¬
moters of all the oppressions and arbitrary measures
carried on in the reign of James II.; and his sangui¬
nary and inhuman proceedings against Monmouth’s un-
. happy adherents in the west will ever render his name
infamous. Whenever the prisoner was of a different
party, or he could please the court by condemning him,
3
instead of appearing, according to the duty of his office, Jeffrey.*.
as his counsel, he would scarce allow him to speak for ' y—•
himself; but would load him with the grossest and
most vulgar abuses, browbeat, insult, and turn to ridi¬
cule the witnesses that spoke in his behalf; and even
threaten the jury with fines and imprisonment, if they
made the least hesitation about bringing in the prisoner
guilty. Yet it is said, that when he was in temper,
and matters perfectly indifferent came before him, no
one became a seat of justice better. Nay, it even ap¬
pears, that when he was under no state influence, he
was sometimes inclined to protect the natural and civil
rights of mankind, of which the following instance
has been given -The mayor and aldermen of Bris¬
tol had been used to transport convicted criminals
to the American plantations, and sell them by way of
trade. This turning to good account, when any pilfer¬
ers or petty rogues were brought before them, they
threatened them with hanging; and then some offi¬
cers who attended, earnestly persuaded the ignorant
intimidated creatures to beg for transportation, as the
only way to save them ; and in general their advice was
followed. Then, without more form, each alderman
in course took one, and sold him for his own benefit;
and sometimes warm disputes arose between them a-
bout the next turn. This infamous trade, which had
been carried on many years, coming to the knowledge
of the lord chief justice, he made the mayor descend
from the bench and stand at the bar, in his scarlet and
fur, with his guilty brethren the aldermen, and plead
as common criminals. He then obliged them to give
securities to answer informations; but the proceedings
were stopped by the revolution.—However, the bru¬
tality Jeffreys commonly showed on the bench, where
his voice and visage were equally terrible, at length
exposed him to a severe mortification. A scrivener of
Wapping have a cause before him, one of the oppo¬
nent’s counsel said he was a strange fellow, and some¬
times went to church, and sometimes to conventicles ;
and it was thought he was a trimmer. At this the
chancellor fired : “ A trimmer ? (said he) ; I have
heard much of that monster, but never saw one. Come
forth Mr Trimmer, and let me see your shape.” He
then treated the poor fellow so roughly, that, on his
leaving the hall, he declared he would not undergo the
terrors of that man’s face again to save his life, and he
should certainly retain the frightful impressions of it as
long as he lived. Soon after, the prince of Orange
coming, the lord chancellor, dreading the public re¬
sentment, disguised himself in a seaman’s dress, in or¬
der to leave the kingdom ; and was drinking in a cellar,
when this scrivener coming into the cellar, and seeing
again the face which had filled him with such horror,
started ; on which Jeffreys, fearing he was known, feign¬
ed a cough, and turned to the wall with his pot of
beer in his hand. But Mr Trimmer going out, gave
notice that he was there ; and the mob rushing in, seiz¬
ed him, and carried him before the lord mayor, who
sent him with a strong guard to the lords of the coun¬
cil, by whom he was committed to the Tower, where
he died in 1689.—It is remarkable, that the late coun¬
tess of Pomfret met with very rude insults from the po¬
pulace on the western road, only because she was grand¬
daughter to the inhuman Jeffreys.
JEHOVAH,
JEN [ i
Jehovah JEHOVAH, one of the Scripture names of God,
U signifying the Being who is self-existent and gives exist-
Jeuisa. ence to others.
So great a veneration had the Jews for this name,
that they left off the custom of pronouncing it, where¬
by its true pronunciation was forgotten. They call it
tetragrammatori) or, “ the name with four letters j” and
believe, that whoever knows the true pronunciation of
it cannot fail to be heard by God.
JEJUNE style. See Style.
JEJUNUM, the second of the small guts ; thus
called from the Latin jV/w;2i/.?, “ hungry,” because al¬
ways found empty. See Anatomy, N° 93.
JELLALvEAN, or Gelal/ean Calejidar, Epocha,
and Year. See Calendar, Epocha, and Year.
JELLY, a form of food, or medicine, prepared
from the juices of ripe fruits, boiled to a proper con¬
sistence with sugar; or the strong decoctions of the
horns, bones, or extremities of animals, boiled to such
a height as to be stiff and firm when cold, without the
addition of any sugar.—The jellies of fruits are cool¬
ing, saponaceous, and acescent, and therefore are good
as medicines in all disorders of the primse viae, arising
from alkalescent juices, especially when not given alone,
but diluted with water. On the contrary, the jellies
made from animal substances are all alkalescent, and
are therefore good in all cases in which an acidity of
the humours prevails: the alkalescent quality of these
is, however, in a great measure taken off, by adding
lemon juice and sugar to them. There were formerly
a sort of jellies much in use, called compound jellies;
these had the restorative medicinal drugs added to them,
but they are now scarce ever heard of.
JELLY-Oat, a preparation of common oats, recom¬
mended by many of the German physicians in all hec¬
tic disorders, to be taken with broth of snails or cray
fish—It is made by boiling a large quantity of oats,
with the husk taken off, with some hartshorn shavings,
and currants, together with a leg of veal cut to pieces,
and with the bones all broken ; these are to be set over
the fire with a large quantity of water, till the whole is
reduced to a sort of jelly ; which when strained and cold
is firm and hard. A few spoonfuls of this are to be
taken every morning, diluted with a bason of either
of the above-mentioned broths, or any other warm li¬
quor.
JEMPTERLAND, a province of Sweden, bound¬
ed on the north by Angermania, on the east by Me-
dalpadia, on the south by Helsingia, and on the west
by Norway. It is full of mountains ; which afford ores
of copper and iron, the latter of which is manufactur¬
ed, and forms part of the trade with the Norwegians.
JENA, a strong town of Germany, in the circle of
Upper Saxony, and in Saxe Weimar, with an universi¬
ty. It is seated on the river Sala, in E. Long. 11.30.
N. Lat. 50. 54. . . ' .
JENCAPORE, a town of Asia, in the peninsula of
Indostan, capital of a territory of the same name. It
is seated on the river Chau!, in E. Long. 76. 25. N.
Lat. 30. 30.
JLNCOP1NG, a town of Sweden, in the province
of S maland, seated on the south side of the lake Wer-
ter, with a strong citadel. The houses are all built with
wood. E. Long. 14. 20. N. Lat. 57. 22.
JENISA, a river of the Russian empire that runs
Vol. XL Part I. f
21 ] JEN
from north to south through Siberia, and falls into the
Fi ozen ocean.
JENISKQI, a town of the Russian empire, in Si¬
beria, seated on the river Jenisa. It is large, populous,
and pretty strong ; and there are villages for several
miles round it. It is subject to the Tungusians, who
are Pagans, and live chiefly on the above river. Thev
pay a tribute to the emperor for every bow, reckoning
a man and a woman for one. The climate is extreme¬
ly cold ; and no other fruits grow there but black and
red currants, strawberries, and gooseberries. Corn,
butchers meat, and wild fowls, are very cheap. E. Long.
92. 35. N. Lat. 57. 46.
JENKINS, Henry. See Longevity.
Jenkins, Sir Leohne, a learned civilian and able
statesman of the 17th century, born in Glamorganshire
about the year 1623. Being rendered obnoxious to
the parliament during the civil war by adhering to the
king’s cause, he consulted his safety by flight; but re¬
turning on the Restoration, he was admitted an advo¬
cate in the court of arches, and succeeded Dr Exton
as judge. When the queen mother Henrietta died in
1669 at Paris, her whole estate, real and personal, was
claimed by her nephew Louis XIV.: upon which Dr
Jenkins’s opinion being called for and approved, he
went to Paris, with three others joined with him in a
commission, and recovered her effects ; for which he
received the honour of knighthood. He officiattd as
one of the mediators at the treaty of Nimeguen, in
which tedious negotiation he was engaged about four
years and a half; and was afterwards made a privy
counsellor and secretary of state. He died in 1685;
and as he never married, bequeathed his whole estate
to charitable uses: he was so great a benefactor to Je¬
sus College, Oxford, that be is generally looked on as
the second founder. All his letters and papers were
collected and printed in 1724, in two vols. folio.
JENNY wren, a name given by writers on song
birds to the wren. See Wren, Ornithology Index.
JENTACULUM was, among the Romans, a morn¬
ing refreshment like our breakfast. It was exceeding¬
ly simple, consisting, for the most part, of bread alone ;
labouring people indeed had something more substan¬
tial to enable them to support the fatigues of their em¬
ployment. What has been here said may be observed
of the Jews and Christians also. The Greeks distin¬
guished this morning meal by the several names of
ux.g'XlKrpof, or uK£o[\io-plzt though ojgirev is generally ap¬
plied to dinner. See Eating and Dinner.
JENA NS, Soame, a distinguished English writer,
was horn in Great Ormond-street, London, in the year
1703-4. Sir Roger Jenyns, his father, was descended
from the family of the Jenyns of Churchill in Somer¬
setshire. The country residence of Sir Roger was at
Ely, in the isle of the same name, where he turned his
attention to such kinds of business as rendered him most
beneficial to his neighbours, for which amiable deport¬
ment in particular the honour of knighthood was con¬
ferred upon him by William III. Our author’s mo¬
ther, a lady ot rank, learning and piety, superintended
his education till it was necessary to place him under a
tutor, for which purpose a Mr Hill was taken into tlje
family, by whom he was instructed in the first rudi¬
ments of language, with such other branches of know¬
ledge as were suited to his years. At this time Mr
Q Hill
JEN [ 122 1 J E P
Hill was called to a situation more advantageous, and
a Mr White succeeded him in the office ot tutor to
young Jenyns, a man eminent for his learning, taste,
and ingenuity, by whom he was qualified for attending
the university.
He was admitted into St John’s College, Cambridge,
in the year 1722, under Hr Edmondson, who was at
that time one of the leading tutors of the college.
Here his diligence and regular deportment did him the
greatest honour, and the strict discipline observed in
the college was perfectly agreeable to his natural incli¬
nations. After quitting the college, his winter resi¬
dence was in London, and he lived in the country du¬
ring the summer season, being chiefly employed in the
prosecution of such studies as were of a literary nature.
His first publication, a poetical essay on the art of dan¬
cing, appeared without his name in 1727 i but he was
very soon discovered, and it was considered as a presage
of his future eminence.
Soon after the death of his father, he was chosen in
1742 one of the members of parliament for the county
of Cambridge, and from this period he retained his
seat in the house of commons till the year 1780. The
high opinion entertained by his constituents of his par¬
liamentary conduct, may be learned from the unanimi¬
ty of their choice ; for he never but once experienced
any opposition. He was chosen one of the commission¬
ers of the board of trade and plantations in 175J>
which office he retained till an alteration was made in
the constitution of it by authority of parliament. He
was married, first to the only daughter of Colonel
Soame, of Hereham in Norfolk, who died without issue,
and afterwards to the daughter of Henry Gray, Esq.
of Hackney, who survived him. He died himself of a
fever, after a few days illness, on the 18th of Hecem-
ber, 1787, leaving no issue.
His temper was mild, sweet, and gentle, which he
manifested indiscriminately to all. It was his earnest
wish never to give ofience to any 5 yet he made such
liberal allowances for diversities of temper, that he was
very rarely offended with others. He was punctual in
the discharge of the duties of religion both in public
and private, professing to be better pleased with the
government and discipline ot the church of England
than of any other in Christendom, which, however, he
considered* as capable of important alterations and
amendments, if it were previously and deliberately de¬
termined what these alterations should be. He posses¬
sed an uncommon vein of the most lively and genuine
wit, which he never made use of to wound the feelings
of others, but was rather very much offended with those
who did, being convinced that distinguished endow¬
ments of the mind are as much intended to promote the
felicity of others, as of those who possess them.
No man was ever a mere genuine philanthropist, as
he felt most sensibly for the miseries of others, and used
every mean in his power to render them as happy as
possible. His indigent neighbours inf the country he
viewed as a part of his family, in which light he con¬
sidered them as entitled to his care and protection. As
an author, Soame Jenyns certainly deserves a place
among those who have excelled, whether we view him as
a poet, or a writer of prose, in which latter capacity he
ranks with the purest and most correct writers of the
English language. He reasons with closeness and pre¬
cision, and comes to the conclusion, he means to esta- Jenvns
blish by a regular chain of argument. His first publi- y
cation, on account of which he was attacked, was his Jepmhah.
Free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil j but
in a preface to the second edition he fully vindicated it
against all the calumny, slander, and misrepresentation
which had been thrown out against it, with that tem¬
per and moderation which distinguished him so eminent¬
ly upon all occasions. His view of the Internal Evi¬
dences of the Christian Ileligion rvas published without
his name in the year 1776, which gave delight and sa¬
tisfaction to many eminent judges, and made converts
of numbers who had been infidels belore.
JEOFAILE, (compounded of three French words,
Pay faille, “ I have failed”), a term in law, used for
an oversight in pleading or other proceeding at law.
The showing of these defects or oversights was for¬
merly often practised by the counsel; and when the
jury came into court in order to try the issue, they said,
This inquest you ought not to take ; and alter ver¬
dict they would say to the court, To judgment you
outrht not to go. But several statutes have been made
to avoid the delays occasioned by such suggestions ; and
a judgment is not to he stayed after verdict lor mista¬
king the Christian or surname of either of the parties,
or in a sum of money, or in the day, month, year, &c.
where the same are rightly named in any preceding re¬
cord.
JEPHTKAH, judge of Israel, and successor to Jair
in the government of the people, was a native of Miz-
peh, and the son of one Gilead by a harlot. This Gi¬
lead having married a lawful wife, and had children by
her, these children drove Jephthah from his father’s
house, saying that he should not be heir with them.
Jepthah retired into the land of Tob, and there he
became captain of a band of thieves and such other
people as he had picked up together. At that time,
the Israelites beyond Jordan, seeing themselves pressed
by the Ammonites, came to desire assistance from
Jephthah ; and that he would take upon him the com¬
mand of them. Jephthah at first reproached them with
the injustice which they had done him, or at least which
they had not prevented, when he was forced from his
father’s house. But as these people were very earnest in
their request, he told them, that he would succour them,
provided that at the end of the war they would ac¬
knowledge him for their prince. This they consented
to, and promised with an oath.
Jephthah, in the year of the world 2817, having
been acknowledged prince of the Israelites in an assem¬
bly of the people, was filled with the spirit of God,
and began to get his troops together ; to that end, he
went over all the land which the children of Israel pos¬
sessed beyond Jordan. At the same time he made a
vow to the Lord, that if he were successful against the
Ammonites, he would offer up for a burnt-offering
whatever should first come out of his house to meet
him. The battle being fought, Jephthah remained
conqueror, and ravaged all the land of Ammon. But
as he returned to his house, his only daughter came
out to meet him with timbrels and with dances : where¬
upon Jephthah tore his clothes, and said, “ Alas, my
daughter, thou hast brought me very low, for I have
made a vow unto the Lord, and cannot fail in the per¬
formance of it.” His daughter answered, “ My fa¬
ther,
J E R \ [ i
Jepluhah if thou hast made a vow unto the Lord, do with
y me as thou hast promised ; grant me only the favour
Jeremiah. tjia^ j {,e at liberty to go up to the mountains, and
~~v " there for two months bewail my virginity with my
companions.” Jephthah granted her this liberty $ and
at the end of two months, he offered up his daughter,
who died a virgin, a burnt-offering, agreeable to his
vow, according to the opinion of most commentators.
In the mean time, the Ephraimites, jealous of the
victory obtained by Jephthah over the Ammonites,
passed the river Jordan in a tumultuous manner, came
and complained to Jephthah that he had not invited
them to this war, and threatened to set fire to his
house. Jephthah answered them, that he had sent to
desire their assistance j but observing that they did not
come, be put his life in his hands and hazarded a battle.
The Ephraimites not being satisfied with these reasons,
Jephthah assembled the people of Gilead, gave them
battle, and defeated them; so that there were two and
forty thousand men of the tribe of Ephraim killed that
day. We know nothing more in particular concerning
the life of Jephthah, only that he judged Israel six
years, and was buried in a city of Gilead.
St Paul (Heb. xi. 32.) places Jephthah among the
saints of the Old Testament, the merit of whose faith
distinguished them. But it must be observed, that there
is something so extraordinary in Jephthah’s vow, that
notwithstanding the Scripture speaks of it in very plain
and clear terms, yet such difficulties arise concerning
it as perplex commentators. Some maintain, that this
daughter of Jephthah was not sacrificed, as that would
have been a violation of the law of Moses j and espe¬
cially, when by the same law he might have redeem¬
ed his daughter for ten shekels of silver : therefore
they contend, that it was something else Jephthah did
to his daughter, such as devoting her to a state of ce¬
libacy, or dedicating her to the service of God. On
the other hand, those who maintain the affirmative, or
that Jephthah’s daughter was actually sacrificed, urge,
that the times wherein Jepththah lived were sadly ad¬
dicted to idolatry ; also the manner wherein he lived
before he was called to the assistance of his country j
but above all, the clear, evident, and express meaning
of the text. They observe, that vows of perpetual vir¬
ginity are institutions of a modern date ; and had there
been no more in it, there would have been little occa¬
sion for rending his clothes, and bemoaning himself as
he did j besides the bitter lamentations made by herself,
and by all the daughters of Israel in succeeding times.
But if she was sacrificed, we may safely and confident¬
ly aver with Josephus, who says that she w'as, that this
sacrifice was neither lawful nor acceptable to God ; but,
on the contrary, an abominable crime, that might, not-
withstanding, have proceeded from a mistaken principle
of religion.
JERBOA, a species of quadruped belonging to the
genus dipus, and resembling, in some of its characters,
the mouse tribe. See Dipus, Mammalia Index.
JEREMIAH, (the Prophecy of), a canonical book
of the Old Testament. This divine writer was of the
race of the priests, the son of Hilkiah of Anathoth, of
the tribe of Benjamin. He w'as called to the prophetic
office when very young, about the 13th vear of Josiah,
and continued in the discharge of it about 40 years.
He was not carried captive to Babylon with the other
23 ] J E E
Jews, hut remained in Judea to lament the desolation Jeremiah,
of his country. He was afterwards a prisoner in E- Jericho,
gypt with his disciple Baruch, where it is supposed he 1 " ■''
died in a very advanced age. Some of the Christian
lathers tell us he was stoned to death by the Jews, for
preaching against their idolatry ; and some say he was
put to death by Pharaoh Hophrah, because of his pro¬
phecy against him. Part of the prophecy of Jeremiah
relates to the time after the captivity of Israel, and be¬
fore that of Judah, from the first chapter to the 44th \
and part of it was in the time of the latter captivity,
from the 44^^ chapter to the end. The prophet lays
open the sins of Judah with great freedom and bold¬
ness, and reminds them of the severe judgments which
had befallen the ten tribes for the same offences. He
passionately laments their misfortune, and recommends
a speedy reformation to them. Afterwards he predicts
the grievous calamities that W’ere approaching, parti¬
cularly the 70 years captivity in Chaldea. He like¬
wise foretels their deliverance and happy return, and
the recompense which Babylon, Moab, and other
enemies of the Jews, should meet with in due time.
There are likewise several intimations in this prophecy
concerning the kingdom of the Messiah j also several
remarkable visions, and types, and historical passages
relating to those times. The J2d chapter does not
belong to the prophecy of Jeremiah, but probably was
added by Ezra, and contains a narrative of the tak¬
ing of Jerusalem, and of what happened during the
captivity of the Jews, to the death of Jechonias. St
Jerome has observed upon this prophet, that his style
is more easy than that of Isaiah and Hosea $ that he
retains something of the rusticity of the village where
he was born j but that he is very learned and majestic,
and equal to those two prophets in the sense of his pro¬
phecy.
JERICHO, or Hierichus, in Ancient Geography,
a city of Judea j situated between Jordan and Jerusa¬
lem, at the distance of 15c stadia from the latter, and
60 from the former. Josephus says, “ the whole space
from Jerusalem is desert and rocky, and equally barren
and uncultivated from Jericho to the lake Asphaltites j
yet the places near the town and above it are extreme¬
ly fertile and delicious, so that it may be justly called &
divine plain, surpassing the rest of the land of Canaan,
no unfruitful country, and surrounded by hills in the
manner of an amphitheatre. It produces opobalsa-
mum, myrobalans, and dates ; from the last of which it
is called the city of palm trees, by Moses. The place
is now called llaha ; and is situated, M. Volney in¬
forms us, “ in a plain six or seven leagues long, by
three wide, around which are a number of barren moun¬
tains, that render it extremely hot.” Here formerly
was cultivated the balm of Mecca. From the de¬
scription of the Hadjes, this is a shrub similar to the
pomegranate tree, with leaves like those of rue : it
bears a pulpy nut, in which is contained a kernel that
yields the resinous juice rve call balm or balsam. At
present there is not a plant of it remaining at Raha ;
but another species is to be found there, called •zak*
koun, which produces a sweet oil, also celebrated for
healing wounds. This zakkoun resembles a plum-
tree ; it has thorns four inches long, with leaves like
those of the olive tree, but narrower and greener, and
prickly at the end ; its fruit is a kind of acorn, with-
Q 2 out
J E R [ 124 ] J E R
ont a calyx, under the hark of which is a pulp, and
then a nut, the kernel of which gives an oil that the
Arabs sell very clear ; this is the sole commerce of Ra¬
ils, which is no more tlian a ruinous village,
JERIMOTH. See Jarimuth.
JEROME, St, in Latin Hieronymus, a famous
doctor of the church, and the most learned of all the
Latin fathers, was the son of Eusebius ; and was born
at Stridon, a city of the ancient Pannonia, about the
year 340. He studied at Rome under Donatus, the
learned grammarian. After having received baptism,
he went into Gaul, and there transcribed St Hilary’s
book de Synodis. He then went into Aquileia, where
he contracted a friendship with Heliodorus, who pre¬
vailed on him to travel with him into Thrace, Pontus,
Bithynia, Galatia, and Cappadocia. In 372 St Jerome
retired into a desert in Syria, where he was persecuted
by the orthodox of Melitius’s party, for being a Sabel-
lian, because he made use of the word Hypostasis, which
had been used by the council of Rome in 369. This
obliged him to go to Jerusalem *, where he applied him¬
self to the study of the Hebrew language ; in order to
receive a more perfect knowledge of the Holy Scrip¬
tures j and about this time he consented to be ordained,
on condition that he should not be confined to any par¬
ticular church. In 381, he went to Constantinople to
hear St Gregory of Nazianzen ; and the following year-
returned to Rome, where he was made secretary to Pope
Damasus. He then instructed many Roman ladies in
piety and the knowledge of the sciences, which exposed
him to the calumnies of those whom he zealously re¬
proved for their irregularities; and Pope Siricius not
having all the esteem for him which his learning and
virtue justly entitled him to, this learned doctor left
Rome, and returned to the monastery of Bethlehem,
where he employed himself in writing against those
whom he called heretics, especially against Vigilantius
and Jovinian. He had a quarrel with John of Jerusa¬
lem and Rufinus about the Origenists. He was the
first who wrote against Pelagius •, and died on the 30th
of September 420, at about 80 years of age. There
have been several editions of his works j the last, which
is that of Verona, is in 11 vols. folio. His principal
works are, I. A Latin version of the Holy Scriptures,
distinguished by the name of the Vulgate. 2. Commen¬
taries on the Prophets, Ecclesiastes, St Matthew’s Gos¬
pel, and the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Titus,
and Philemon. 3. Polemical treatises against Montanus,
Helvidius, Jovinian, Vigilantius, and Pelagius. 4. Se¬
veral letters. 5. A treatise on the lives and writings of
the ecclesiastical authors who had flourished before his
time.—St Jerome’s style is lively and animated, and
sometimes sublime.
Jerome of Fragile, so called from the place of his
birth, in Bohemia. He was neither a monk nor
clergyman, but had a learned education. Having em¬
braced the opinions of John Huss, he began to pro¬
pagate them in the year 1480. In the mean time the
council of Nice kept a watchful eye over him, and
considering him as a dangerous person, cited him to
appear before them and give an account of his faith.
In obedience to this citation, he went to Constance j
but on his arrival, in 1415, finding Huss in prison, he
set out for his own country. Being seized, however,
on the way, imprisoned, and examined, he was so in¬
timidated, that he retracted, and pretended to approve
of the condemnation of WicklilF’s and Huss’s opinions ;
but on the 26th of May J416, he condemned that -V
recantation in these terms: “I am not ashamed to'”
confess here publicly my weakness. Yes, with horror
I confess my base cowardice. It was only the dread
of the punishment by fire which drew me to consent,
against my conscience, to the condemnation of the doc¬
trine of Wicklifl and Huss.” Accordingly senttnee
was passed on him in pursuance of which he was de¬
livered to the secular arm, and burnt in 1416. He
was a person of great parts, learning, and elocution.
JERONYMITES, Hieronymites, a denomina¬
tion given to divers orders or congregations of religious j
otherwise called Hermits of St Jerome.
JERSEY, an island in the English channel, believed
to be the island called in the Itinerary Casarea, in
succeeding times Augia, by us Gersey, more frequent¬
ly Jersey. It is situated in the English channel, 18
miles to the west of Normandy, and 84 to the south
of Portland in Dorsetshire, and in the time of the
Romans was called Ccesarea. It is not above 12
miles in length, nor much above 6 where broadest,
which is at the two extremities. It is defended by
rocks and dangerous quicksands. On the north side
the clifis rise 40 or 50 fathoms high, which render it
inaccessible on that side ; but on the south the shore is
almost level with the water. In the west part of the
island is a large tract of land once cultivated and very
fertile, but now a barren desert, caused by the westerly
winds throwing up sand from the bottom to the top
of the highest cliffs. The higher lands are diversified
by gritty, gravelly, stony, and fine mould j the lower
by a deep, rich, and heavy soil. The middle part of
the island is somewhat mountainous, and so thick
planted with trees, that at a distance it resembles one
entire forest, though in walking through it there is
hardly a thicket or any other thing to be seen but
hedge-rows and orchards of apple-trees. The valleys
under the hills are finely watered by brooks, and have
plenty of cattle and small sheep, with very fine wool,
and very sweet meat, which is ascribed to the short¬
ness of the grass. The horses are good for draught ;
but few fit for the saddle. The island produces variety
of trees, roots, and herbs ; but not corn enough for the
inhabitants, who therefore send for it to England and
France, and sometimes to Dantzic. The fields are
inclosed by great mounds of earth, raised from 6 to 8
or 10 feet high, proportionally thick and solid, plant¬
ed with quicksets and trees. As the air of this island
is very healthy, those of the inhabitants who are tem¬
perate live to a great age : but the coast is very sub¬
ject to storms by westerly winds, from which they have
no land to shelter them nearer than North America j
and there is a vast chain of rocks about the island,
among which the tides and currents are so strong and
rapid, that the*navigation is dangerous to those who
are not perfectly acquainted with the coast. The
buildings of this island are generally of rag stone j but
some of the wealthy inhabitants have their houses front¬
ed with a reddish white stone, capable of being polished
like marble, and of which there is a rich quarry on a
hill called Montmado. The ordinary dwellings are
thatched. The churches are very plain buildings,
most of them with square steeples j and the com¬
munion
J E B [ 125 ] J E B
Jersey, mmiion table Is not at the east end, as In llie English
churches, but placed just under the pulpit. The
staple manufacture Is knit stockings and caps, many
thousand pairs of which are weekly sold at St Heller to
the merchants : also cyder, of which 25,000 hogsheads
have been made here In one year. Their principal
foreign trade is to Newfoundland ; whither, particu¬
larly in 1732, they sent 24 ships ; these proceed
from thence to the Mediterranean to dispose of their
fish.
On.the south of the island the sea seems to have en¬
croached upon the land (which, as we have before ob¬
served, declines on that side), and to have swallowed
upwards of six square miles, making a very beautiful
bay of about three miles long, and near the same in
breadth. In the east corner of this hay stands the town
of St Holier, very happily situated. But the princi¬
pal haven is in the western corner of the bay, which
receives its name from it, being called St Aubin's.
There are, besides these, several other havens of less
note ; as, St Brelade’s bay, at the back of St Au-
bin’s : the great bay of St Ouen, which takes in the
greatest part of the west side of the island, where the
largest ships may ride in 12 and 15 fathoms, safe
from all but east winds. La Crevasse is a port only for
boats 5 Greve de Lecq and Port St John are also small
havens on the north side, where is likewise Bonnenuit.
On die east there is the bay of St Catharine, and the
harbour of Ilosel. To the south-west lies "the haven
de la Cliaussee. The last we shall mention is the
Port de Pas, a very little to the eastward of St Aubinrs
bay.
The towns of St Helier and St Aubin, which, as al¬
ready mentioned, stand both in the same hay called
St Aubin's bay, opening to the south, are about three
miles asunder. St Helier took its name from Elerius
or lldiev, a holy man who lived in this island many
centuries ago, and was slain by the Pagan Normans
at their coming hither. He is mentbned among the
martyrs in the martyrology of Coutance. His little
cell with the stone bed is still shown among the rocks*,
and in memory of him a noble abbey of canons regu¬
lar was founded in the little island in this bay, and
annexed to Cherburg abbey in Normandy in the reign
of Henry I. and suppressed as an alien priory. The
town of St Helier stands at the foot of a long and high
rocky hill at the east end. It is a well-built and popu¬
lous place *, greatly improved and enlarged within the
last twenty years, and contained in 1806, 6460 inha¬
bitants. It has been greatly strengthened by fortifica¬
tions. The market-place in the centre is spacious, sur¬
rounded with handsome houses, among which is the
Cohue-lloyale or court of justice. At the top of the
market-place is a statue of George II. of bronze gilt.
The market is held on Saturday, and much frequented.
St Aubin at the west end of the bay is principally
inhabited by merchants and masters of ships, whom
the neighbourhood of the port has invited hither. It
is not more than half the size of the other town,
though greatly increased within these 100 years ; and
has a good stone pier carried far into the sea, where
ships of considerable burden lie safe under the guns of
the adjoining fort.
The isle of St Helier, more to the east in the same
Lay, is in circuit near a mile, surrounded by the sea at
er about every half fiood. On the site of the abbey Jersey,
before mentioned is now Elizabeth castle, one of the —v~—-
largest and strongest fortresses in Britain. Queen Eli¬
zabeth began it, and gave it her name. Charles I, en¬
larged, and Charles II. who was twice here, completed
it. It was the last fortress that held out for the king.
It is th e residence of the governor and garrison, and oc¬
cupies the whole isle, from whence at low water is a
passage called the bridge, half a mile long, formed of
sand and stones. A citadel was begun in the last war
on a hill, whence the castle might be bombarded, but
since the peace left off.
Mount Orgueil castle, called also Gourray from the
neighbouring village of that name, lies to the south
of Rosel harbour in the bay of St Catharine. It was a
place of strength before Henry V.’s time, and bid
defiance to the attempts of the French under the con¬
stable De Guesclin, 1374, at the end of the reign of
Ed ward in. it was repaired by Queen Elizabeth,
but is now neglected, yet preserves an air of grandeur
answering its name even in ruins. The ascent to its
top is by near 200 steps j and from thence by a tele¬
scope may be seen the two front towers of the cathedral
of Coutance. The famous William Prynne was con¬
fined in it three years.
The island is divided into 12 parishes, which are so
laid out that each has a communication with the sea j
these are subdivided into 52 vintaines, so called from
the number of 20 houses, which each is supposed to have
formerly contained, just as in England 10 houses an¬
ciently made a tything. The whole number of inhabi¬
tants amounted to 22,855111 1806, of which above 3000
are able to bear arms, and are formed into regiments.
Their general review is on the sandy bay between the
two towns, when they are attended with a train of
above 20 brass field pieces, and two small bodies of
horse in the wings.
Tiie chief officer is the governor, who has the cus¬
tody of his majesty’s castles, with the command of the
garrisons and militia. The civil government is admi¬
nistered by a bailiff, assisted by 12 jurats. They have
here also what they call an assembly of the states.
These are convened by the governor or his deputy j
the bailiff consists of himself and the jurats, the dean
and clergy, and the 12 high constables.
There were formerly many druidical temples and al¬
tars in Jersey, some remains of which are still to he
seen. The cromlichs are here called pouquelays, and
there are some tumuli and keeps. Roman coins have
also been dug up in this island ; and there are the re¬
mains of a Roman camp in the manor of Dilamant.
Christianity was first planted here in the middle of
the 6th century, and the island made part of the see
of Dol in Bretagne, and it is now governed by a dean.
Besides the abbey of St Helier, here were four priories,
Noirmont, St Clement, Bonnenuit, and le Leek, and a-
bove 20 chapels, now mostly ruined. During the last
war this island, together with that of Guernsey, became
an object of desire to France, whose vanity, no less
than her interest, was concerned in depriving Britain of
those last remains of her continental possessions. The
first attempt to achieve this conquest took place in
the year 1779. A force of 5000 or 6000 men was ,
embarked in flat-bottomed boats, and endeavoured, to
land in the bay of St Ouen, on the first of May. In
this
J E R [i
Jersey, this attempt they were supported try five frigates and
-—vr—other armed vessels 5 but met with such a vigorous
resistance from the militia of the island, assisted by a bo¬
dy of regulars, that they were compelled to retire
without having landed a single person. Much discon¬
tent and mutual recrimination took place among the
- French naval and military officers on this failure j and
though the expedition was represented by many as ill
concerted, and destitute of every hope of success, ano¬
ther attempt was resolved on. Both the troops and
seamen that had been employed in the former expedi¬
tion were equally desirous of retrieving their honour $
but they were for some time prevented from making
any attempt of this kind by bad weather j and, before
another opportunity offered, the squadron which was
designed to cover their descent was attacked by Sir
James Wallace, who drove them ashore on the coast of
Normandy, silenced a battery under whose guns they
had taken shelter, captured a frigate of 34 guns, with
two rich prizes, burnt two other large frigates, and a
considerable number of smaller vessels.
Thus the scheme of invading the island of Jersey
was totally disconcerted, and laid aside for that time,
but was resumed in the year 1781. The conduct of
this second expedition was given to the baron de
Rullecourt, who had been second in command when
the former attempt was made. He was a man of cou¬
rage, but fierce and violent in his disposition, and seems
to have been very deficient in the prudence and conduct
necessary for bringing any military enterprise to a suc¬
cessful issue. The force entrusted to him on the pre¬
sent occasion consisted of 2000 men 5 with whom he
embarked in very tempestuous weather, hoping that
he might thus be able to surprise the garrison. Many
of his transports, however, were thus dispersed, and he
himself, with the remainder, obliged to take shelter in
some islands in the neighbourhood of Jersey. As soon
as the weather grew calmer, he seized the opportunity
of a dark night to effect landing at a place called Grou-
yille, where he made prisoners of a party of militia.
Hence he proceeded with the utmost expedition to
St Heller’s, the capital of the island, about three miles
distant. His arrival was so unexpected, that he seized
on a party of men who guarded it, together with the
commanding officer, and the magistrates of the island.
Rullecourt then drew up a capitulation, the terms of
which were, that the island should be instantly surren¬
dered to the French, and the garrison be sent to Eng¬
land ; threatening the town with immediate destruction
in case of non-compliance. It was in vain represented
to him that no act of the deputy-governor and magi¬
strates could be valid while they remained in his power
but, as Rullecourt still insisted, they were obliged to
comply, lest his menaces should have been carried into
execution. This point being gained, he advanced to
Elizabeth castle in the neighbourhood of the town,
summoning it to surrender in virtue of the capitulation
for the town and island just concluded. To this a pe¬
remptory refusal was given, and followed by such a vi¬
gorous discharge of artillery, that he was obliged to
retire into the town. In the mean time the British
troops stationed in the island began to assemble from
every quarter under the command of Major Pierson ;
who, on being required by the French commander to
submit, replied, that if the French themselves did not,
3
26 ] J E It
within 20 minutes, lay down their arms, he would Jersey,
attack them. This being refused, an attack was in-New Jersey
stantly made with such impetuosity, that the French ' 1 v r
were totally routed in less than half an hour, and dri¬
ven into the market-place, where they endeavoured to
make a stand. Their commander, exasperated at this
unexpected turn of affairs, endeavoured to wreak his
vengeance on the captive governor, whom he obliged
to stand by his side during the whole time of the con¬
flict. This, however, was quickly over j the French
were broken on all sides, the baron himself mortally
wounded, and the next in command obliged to surren¬
der himself and the whole party prisoners of war j while
the captive governor escaped without a wound. This
second disaster put an end to all hopes of the French
ministry of being able to reduce the island of Jersey,
and was indeed no small mortification to them ; 800
troops having been landed at that time, of which not
one escaped. A monument was erected at the public
expence in the church of St Helier, to the memory of
Major Pierson, to whom the deliverance of the island
was owing j but who unhappily fell in the moment of
victory, when only 24 years of age.
All the landing places and creeks round the island
are now fortified with batteries, and 17 or 18 watch-
houses are erected on the headlands. These are round
towers with embrasures for small cannon and loop-holes
for musketry j the entrance by a door in the wall
out of the reach of man, and to be ascended by a lad¬
der afterwards drawn up. This island, with those of
Guernsey, Sark, Alderney, and their appendages, were
parcel of the duchy of Normandy, and were united to
the crown of England by the first princes of the Nor¬
man line. The language of the pulpit, and the bar, is
the French, which is that generally spoken by the
people at large. They are governed by their own
laws, which are for the most part the ducal customs of
Normandy, being collected in an ancient book of cus¬
toms Le grand coustumier. The king’s writ,
or process from the courts of Westminster, is here of no
force j but his commission is. They are not bound by
any common acts of our parliaments, unless particular¬
ly named. All causes are originally determined by
their own officers, the bailiff and jurats of the islands.
But an appeal lies from them to the king and council
in the last resort.—Jersey is an earldom in the Villiers
family.
New Jersey, or, as it is commonly called, t/ie Jer-
seys, (being two provinces united into one government,)
one of the united states of North America, lying from
39 to 41 degrees of north latitude, and from 73 to 75
degrees 30 minutes longitude west from London j in
length 160 miles, in breadth 52.
It is bounded on the east by Hudson’s river and the
sea 5 on the south by the sea ; on the west by Dela¬
ware bay and river, which divide it from the states of
Delaware and Pensvlvania j and on the north, by a
line drawn from the mouth of Mahakkamak river, in
latitude 410 24', to a point on Hudson’s river, in lati¬
tude 410; containing about 8320 square miles, equal
to 5,324,800 acres. New Jersey is divided into 13
counties, which are subdivided into 116 townships or pre¬
cincts. In 1810, a census of the inhabitants was made
by order of the legislature, when they amounted to
245,562, of which 18,694 were blacks. Of these
blacks
J E K [i
\rew blacks 10,851 were slaves; so that the proportion of
Jersey, slaves to the whole of the inhabitants in the state is as
—*' " f one to 24. The population for every square mile is 37.
As to the face of the country, soil, and productions,
the counties of Sussex, Morris, and the northern part
Bergen, are mountainous. As much as live-eighths of
most of the southern counties, or one-fourth of the whole
state, is sandy and barren, unfit for cultivation. The land
on the sea coast in this, like that in the most southern
states, has every appearance made ground. The soil
is generally a light sand; and by digging, on an ave¬
rage, about 50 feet below the surface (which can be
done, even at the distance of 20 or 30 miles from the
sea, without any impediment from rocks or stones),
you come to salt marsh. This state has all the va¬
rieties of soil from the worst to the best kind. It has a
greater proportion of barrens than any of the states.
The barrens produce little else but shrub oaks and
white and yellow pines. In the hilly and mountai¬
nous parts of the state, which are not too rocky for cul¬
tivation, the soil is of a stronger kind, and covered in
its natural state with stately oaks, hickories, chesnuts,
&c. &c. and, when cultivated, produces wheat, rye,
Indian corn, buck wheat, oats, barley, flax, and fruits
of all kinds common to the climate. The land in this
hilly country is good for grazing, and the farmers feed
great numbers of cattle for New York and Philadel¬
phia markets, and many of them keep large dairies.
The markets of New York and Philadelphia receive a
very considerable proportion of their supplies from the
contiguous parts of New Jersey. And it is worthy of
remark that these contiguous parts are exceedingly well
calculated, as to the nature and fertility of their soils,
to aft'ord these supplies; and the intervention of a great
number of navigable rivers and creeks renders it very
convenient to market their produce. These supplies
consist of vegetables of many kinds, apples, pears,
peaches, plums, strawberries, cherries, and other
fruits ; cyder in large quantities and of the best qua¬
lity ; butter, cheese, beef, pork, mutton, and the lesser
meats.
The trade of this state is carried on almost solely
with and from those two great commercial cities, New
York on one side, and Philadelphia on the other;
though it wants not good ports of its own. The
articles exported, besides those already mentioned, are
wheat, flour, horses, live cattle, hams, which are cele¬
brated as being the best in the world, lumber, flax¬
seed, leather, and iron in great quantities in pigs and
bars. Formerly copper ore was reckoned among their
most valuable exports ; but the mines have not been
worked since the commencement of the late war.
The iron manufacture is the greatest source of wealth
to the state. Iron works are erected in Gloucester,
Burlington, Morris, and other counties. The moun¬
tains in the county of Morris give rise to a number of
streams necessary and convenient for these works, and
at the same time furnish a copious supply of wood and
ore of a superior quality. In this county alone are
no less than seven rich iron mines, from which might
be taken ore sufficient to supply the United States;
and to work it into iron are two furnaces, two rolling
and slitting mills, and about thirty forges, containing
from two to four fires each. These works produce
annually about 540 tons of bar iron, 800 tons of pigs,
27 ] J E R
besides large quantities of hollow ware, sheet iron, and New
nail rods. In the whole state, it is supposed there is Jersey,
yearly made about 1200 tons of bar iron, 1230 do. of —
]»>> 80 do. of nail rods, exclusive of hollow ware,
and various other castings, of which vast quantities are
made.
The character, manners, and customs of the people
are various in different parts of the state. The inlui-
hitants are a collection of Low Dutch, German, Eng¬
lish, Scotch, Irish, and New Englanders, or their de¬
scendants. National attachment and mutual conveni¬
ence have generally induced those several kinds of peo¬
ple to settle together in a body ; and in this way their
peculiar national mariners, customs, and character, are
still preserved, especially among the lower class of peo¬
ple, who have little intercourse with any but those of
their own nation. Religion, although its tendency is
to unite people in those things that are essential to hap¬
piness,occasions wide differences as to manners, customs,
and even character. The Presbyterian, the Quaker,
the Episcopalian, the Baptist, the German and Low
Dutch Calvinist, the Methodist, and the Moravian,
have each their distinguishing characteristics, either in
their worship, their discipline, or their dress. There is
still another very perceptible characteristical difference,
distinct from either of the others, which arises from the
intercourse of the inhabitants with different states. The
people in West Jersey trade to Philadelphia, and of
course jmitate their fashions, and imbibe their manners.
The inhabitants of East Jersey trade to New York, and
regulate their fashions and manners according to those
of New York. So that the difference in regard to fa¬
shions and manners between East and West Jersey, is
nearly as great as between New York and Philadelphia.
The people of New Jersey are generally industrious,
frugal, and hospitable. There are, comparatively, but
few men of learning in the state, nor can it be said that
the people in general have a taste for the sciences. The
lower class, in which may be included three-fifths of the
inhabitants of the whole state, are ignorant, and are
criminally neglectful in the education of their children.
There are, in this state, sixty-four Presbyterian congre¬
gations, subject to the care of three presbyteries, viz.
that of New York, of New Brunswick, and Philadel¬
phia ; 40 congregations of the Friends ; 24 of the Bap¬
tists, 25 of Episcopalians ; 33 of the Dutch, besides a
few Moravians and Methodists.
There are two colleges in New Jersey; one at Prince¬
ton, called Nassau Hall; the other at Brunswick, call¬
ed Queen's-college. The college at Princeton was first
founded about the year 1738, and enlarged by Gover¬
nor Belcher in 1747. It has an annual income of about
1000I. sterling, exclusive of certain funds for the edu¬
cation of poor and pious youth destined for the church.
There is a grammar-school of about 30 scholars, con¬
nected with the college, under the superintendance of
the president, and taught by two masters. Before the
late revolution this college was furnished with a phi¬
losophical apparatus worth 500I. which (except the
elegant orrery constructed by Mr Rittenhouse) was
almost entirely destroyed during the war, as was also
the library, which now consists of between 2000 and
3000 volumes.—The charter for Queen’s-college at
Brunswick was granted just before the war, in conse¬
quence of an application from a body of the Dutch
churcbj,
J E R [ 128 ]
churcli. Its funds, raised wholly by free donations,
amounted soon after its establishment to 40001.5 but
they were considerably diminished by the war. The
students are under the care of a president. This college
has lately increased both in numbers and reputation.
There are also a number of flourishing academies in
this state j one at Trenton, another in Hakkensak,
others at Orangedale, Freehold, Elizabeth-town, Bur¬
lington, Newark, Springfield, Morristown, Borden-
town, and Amboy : but there are no regular establish¬
ments for common schools. The usual mode of educa¬
tion is for the inhabitants of a village or neighbourhood
to join in affording a temporary support for a school¬
master, upon such terms as is mutually agreeable. But
the encouragement which these occasional teachers meet
with, is generally such as that no person of abilities
adequate to the business wdll undertake it, and of course
little advantage is derived from these schools.
There are a number of towns in this state, nearly
bf equal size and importance.—-TVcwtow is the largest
town in New Jersey. This town, with Lamberton,
which joins it on the south, contained 6312 inhabitants
in 1810. Here the legislature meets, the supreme
court sits, and the public offices are all kept, except
the secretary’s, which is at Burlington. On these ac¬
counts it is considered as the capital of the state.—
Burlington stands on the east side of the Delaware, 20
miles from Philadelphia by water, and 17 by land.
The island, which is the most populous part of the city,
is a mile and a quarter in length, and three quarters of
a mile in breadth. Burlington contained 2419 inha¬
bitants in 18x0. There are two houses for public wor¬
ship in the town, one for the Friends and Quakers, who
are the most numerous, and one for the Episcopalians.
The other public buildings are two market-houses, a
court-house, and the best gaol in the state. Besides
these, there is an academy, a free school, a nail manu-
factorv, and an excellent distillery, if that can be called
excellent which produces a poison both of health and
morals.—Berth Amboy stands on a neck of land inclu¬
ded between Raritan river and Arthur Kull sound. It
lies open to Sandy Hook, and has one of the best har¬
bours on the continent. Vessels from sea may enter
it in one tide, in almost any weather.—Brunswick
was incorporated in 1784, and is situated on the south¬
west side of Raritan river, 12 miles above Amboy.
It contains about 200 houses and 1600 inhabitants,
one-half of which are Dutch. Its situation is low and
unpleasant, being on the bank of the river, and under
a high hill which rises back of the town.—Princeton
is a pleasant healthy village, 52 miles from New York,
and 43 from Philadelphia.—Elizabeth town and New¬
ark are pleasant towns ; the former is 15, and the lat¬
ter nine miles from New York. Newark is famed for
its good cyder.
The government of this state is vested in a governor,
legislative council, and general assembly. The govern¬
or is chosen annually by the council and assembly
jointly. The legislative council is composed of one
member from each county, chosen annually by the
people. The general assembly is composed of three
members from each county, chosen by the freemen.
The council choose one of their members to be vice-
president, who, when the governor is absent from the
J E R
state, possesses the supreme executive power. The
council may originate any bills, excepting preparing
and altering any money bill, which is the sole pxeroga- Jerusaltn
tive of the assembly. s——y——
The first settlers of New Jersey were a number of
Dutch emigrants from New York, who came over be¬
tween the years 1614 and 1620, and settled in the
county of Bergen. Next after these, in 1627, came
over a colony of Swedes and Finns, and settled on the
river Delaware. The Dutch and Swedes, though not
in harmony with each other, kept possession of the
country many years. In March 1664, Charles II.
granted all the territory called by the Dutch New Ne¬
therlands, to his brother the duke of York. And in
June 1664, ^ie duke granted that part now called Nc‘W
.Jersey to Lord Berkeley of Stratton, and Sir George
Carteret, jointly ; who, in 1665, agreed upon certain
concessions with the people for the government of the
province, and appointed Philip Carteret, Esq. their
governor.—The Dutch reduced the country in 1672 j
but it was restored by the peace of Westminster, Fe¬
bruary 9. 1674.
This state was the seat of war for several years, du¬
ring the bloody contest between Great Britain and
America ; and her losses, both of men and property,
in proportion to the population and wealth of the
state, were greater than of any other of the thirteen
states.
Jersey, among woolcombers, denotes the finest
wool, taken from the rest by dressing it with a Jersey
comb.
JERUSALEM, a very famous and ancient city,
capital of Judea or Palestine, now a province of Turkey
in Asia. According to Manetho, an Egyptian histo¬
rian, it was founded by the shepherds who invaded ^
Egypt in an unknown period of antiquity *. Accord- rrj ,){
ing to Josephus, it was the capital of MelchisedekV ’
kingdom, called Salem in the book of Genesis : and
the Arabians assert, that it was built in honour of
Melchisedek by 12 neighbouring kings; which, when
they had done, he called it Jerusalem. We know no¬
thing of it with certainty, however, till the time of
King David, who took it from the Jebusites, and made
it the capital of his kingdom, which it ever after con¬
tinued to be. It was first taken in the days of Je-
hoash, by Hazael the king of Syria, who slew all the
nobility, but did not destroy their city. It was after¬
wards taken by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
who destroyed it, and carried away the inhabitants.
Seventy years after, permission was granted by Cyrus
king of Persia to the Jews to rebuild their city, which
w'as done; and it continued the capital of Judea (though
frequently suffering much from the Grecian monarchs
of Syria and Egypt), till the time of Vespasian emperor ^
of Rome, by whose son Titus it was totally destroyed!U ec Ci
It was, however, rebuilt by Adrian ; and seemed like¬
ly to have rt covered its former grandeur, being sur¬
rounded with walls, and adorned with several noble
buildings; the Christians also being permitted to settle
in it. But this was a short-lived change; so that when
the empress Helena, mother ot Constantine the Great,
came to visit this city, she found it in the most forlorn
and ruinous situation. Having formed a design of re¬
storing it to its ancient lustre, she caused, with a great
deal
J
J E R [ 129 ] J E R
Jemsaleai. or cost and labour, ah the rubbish that had been
—V—thrown upon those places where our Saviour had suffer¬
ed, been buried, &c. to be removed. In doing this,
they found the cross on which he died, as Well as those
of the two malefactors who suffered with him ; and, as
the writers of those times relate, discovered by a mira¬
cle that which had borne the Saviour of mankind. She
then caused a magnificent church to be built, which in¬
closed as many of the scenes of our Saviour’s sufferings
as could conveniently be done, and adorned the city
w’ltli several other buildings. The emperor Julian is
said to have formed a design of rebuilding the temple of
Jerusalem, and of restoring the Jewish worship. This
scheme was contrived on purpose to give the lie to our
Saviour’s prophecy concerning the temple and city of
Jerusalem; namely, that the first should be totally de¬
stroyed, without one stone being left upon another ; and
that Jerusalem should he trodden down of the Gentiles
till the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled. In this at¬
tempt, however, according to the accounts of the Chri¬
stian writers of that age, the emperor was frustrated by
an earthquake and fiery eruption from the earth, which
totally destroyed the work, consumed the materials which
had been collected, and killed a great number of the
workmen.
This event hath been the subject of much dispute.
Warburton, who hath published a treatise express¬
ly on the truth of this fact, hath collected the follow¬
ing testimonies in favour of it. The first is that of
Ammianus Marcellinus, who tells us, “ Julian (hav¬
ing been already thrice consul), taking Sallust, pre¬
fect of the several Gauls, for his colleague, entered a
fourth time on this high magistracy ; and although
his sensibility of the many and great events which
this year was likely to produce made him very
anxious for tire future, yet he both pushed on the va¬
rious and complicated preparatives for this expedition
with the utmost application, and, having an eye in
every quarter, and being desirous to eternize his reign
by the greatness of his achievements, he projected to
rebuild at an immense expence the proud and magni¬
ficent temple of Jerusalem ; which (after many com¬
bats, attended with much bloodshed on both sides,
during the siege by Vespasian) was with great diffi¬
culty taken and destroyed by Titus. He committed
the conduct of this affair to Alypius of Antioch, who
had formerly been lieutenant in Britain. When there¬
fore this Alypius had set himself to the vigorous exe¬
cution of his charge, in which he had all the assistance
that the governor of the province could afford him,
horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations,
with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place
from time to time inaccessible to the scorched and blast¬
ed workmen; and the victorious element continuing,
in this manner, obstinately and resolutely bent, as it
were, to drive them to a distance, Alypius thought best
to give over the enterprise.”
1 he next testimony is that of Gregory Nazianzen.
Speaking of the emperor Julian, he says, “ After
having run through a course of every other tyrannical
experiment against the faith, and upon trial despising
all of them as trifling and contemptible, lie at last
brought down the whole body of the Jews upon us;
whom, for their ancient turn to seditious novelties,
and an inveterate hatred of the Christian name, he
Vol. XL Part I. +
chose as the fittest instrument for his machinations.
I hese, under a show of great good-will, which hid
his secret purpose, he endeavoured to convince from
their sacred books and traditions, which he took upon
him to interpret, that now was come the time fore¬
told when they should return to their own land, re¬
build their temple, and restore the law to its ancient
force and splendour. When these things had been
thoroughly insinuated, and heartily entertained (for
deceit finas easy admittance when it flatters our pas¬
sions), the Jews set upon the work of rebuilding with
great attention, and pushed on the project with the
utmost labour and application. But when, now driven
from their work by a violent whirlwind and a sudden
earthquake, they fled together for refuge to a certain
neighbouring church (seme to deprecate the impend¬
ing mischief ; others, as is natural in such cases, to
catch at any help that presents itself; and others
again, enveloped in the crowd, were carried along
with the body of those who fled) ; there are who say,
the church refused them entrance ; and that when they
came to tiie doors, which were wide open but a mo¬
ment before, they found them on a sudden closed by
a secret and invisible hand ; a hand accustomed to
work these wonders by the terror and confusion of the
impious, and for the security and comfort of godly
men. This, however, is now invariably affirmed and
believed by all, that as they strove to force their way
in by violence, the fire which burst from the founda¬
tions of the temple, met and stopped them. One
part it burnt and destroyed, and another it desperate¬
ly maimed, leaving them a living monument of God’s
commination and wrath against sinners. Thus the
aflair passed ; and let no man continue incredulous
concerning this or the other miraculous works of
God. But still the thing most wonderful and illus¬
trious was, a light which appeared in the heavens, of
a cross within a circle. That name and figure which
impious men before esteemed so dishonourable upon
earth, was now raised on high, and equally objected
to the common view of all men ; advanced by God
himself as the trophy of his victory over unbelievers ;
of all trophies the most exalted and sublime. Nay
further, they who were present, and partakers of the
miracle we are now about to speak of, shew to this
very day the sign or figure of the cross which was then
marked or impressed upon their garments. For at that
time, as these men (whether such as were of us or
strangers) were showing these marks, or attending to
others who showed them, each presently observed the
wonder, either on himself or his neighbour; having a
radiant mark on his body or on his garment, in which
there is something that, in art and elegance, exceeded
all painting or embroidery.”
Notwithstanding these testimonies, however, this
fact hath been strenuously contested by others; and
indeed it must be owned that the testimonies above
mentioned are by no means unexceptionable. In the
last, particularly, the propensity to the marvellous is so
exceedingly great, that everyone must at first sight
be struck with it. It is true indeed, the most mira¬
culous part of it, as it seemed to be to Gregory,
namely, the appearance of crosses upon the garments
and bodies of some of the people who were struck,
may be explained upon a natural principle ; since we
B are
J E II [ 13° ] - J L It
Jerusalem, are assured that lightning will sometimes produce ef-
' v fects of this kind*: but even this is no decisive proof
* See 0|' t])e authenticity of the relation though it cannot hy
Lightning. any means (];scredit it, as some think. On the whole,
however, it is not a matter of any consequence whether
this event happened with the circumstances above men¬
tioned or not. If Julian did make any attempt to re¬
build the temple, it is certain that something obstructed
the attempt, because the temple was never actually re¬
built. If he made no such attempt, the prophecy of
our Saviour still holds good $ and it surely cannot be
thought to detract from the merit of a prophecy, that
no body ever attempted to elude it, or prove it to be a
falsehood.
Jerusalem continued in the hands of the eastern em-
perox-s till the reign of the caliph Omar, who reduced
it under bis subjection. The Saracens continued in
possession of it till the year 1099, when it was taken
by the Crusaders. They founded a new kingdom, of
which Jerusalem was the capital, which lasted 88 years
under nine kings. At last this kingdom was utterly
ruined by Saladin ; and though the Christians once
more got possession of the city, they were again obliged
to relinquish it. In 1217, the Saracens were expelled
by the Turks, who have ever since continued in posses¬
sion of it.
The city of Jerusalem, in its most flourishing state,
was divided into four parts, each inclosed with its own
walls ; viz. 1. The old city of Jehus, which stood on
Mount Zion, where the prophets dwelt, and where
David built a magnificent castle and palace, which
became the residence both of himself and successors j
on which account it was emphatically called the City
of David. 2. The lower city, called also the Daugh¬
ter of Zion, being built after it; on which stood the two
magnificent palaces which Solomon built for himsell
and his queen ; that of the Maccabean princes ; and
the stately amphitheatre built by Herod, capable of
containing 80,000 spectators ; the strong citadel, built
by Antiochus, to command and overtop the temple, but
afterwards razed by Simon the Maccabee, who reco¬
vered the city from the Syrians ; and lastly, a second
citadel, built by Herod, upon a high and craggy rock,
and called by him Antonia. 3. The new city, mostly
inhabited by tradesmen, artificers, and merchants ;
and, 4. Mount Moriah, on which was built the so famed
temple of Solomon, described in the sixth and seventh
chapters ot the second book of Kangs; and, since then,
that rebuilt by the Jews on their return from Babylon,
and afterwards built almost anew and greatly adorned
and enriched by Herod.
Some idea of the magnificence of this temple may
he had from the following considerations. 1. That
there were no less than 163,300 nien employed in the
work. 2. Th^t notwithstanding that prodigious num¬
ber of hands, it took up seven whole years in build¬
ing. 3. That the height of this building was 120
cubits, or 82 yards, rather more than less ; and the
courts round it about half as high. 4. That the
front on the east ,side, was sustained by ramparts of
square stone, of vast bulk, and built up from the val¬
ley below, which last was 300 cubits high, and be¬
ing added to that of the edifice amounted to 420
cubits; to which, if we add, 5. The height of the
principal tower above all the rest, viz. 6c, will bring
it to 480 cubits, which reckoning at two feet to a Jerusalem,
cubit, will amount to 960 feet; but according to the —v—
length of that measux-e, as others reckon it, viz. at two
feet and a half, it will amount to I2CO leet ; a pro¬
digious height this from the ground, and such as
might well make Josephus say, that the very design of
it was sufficient to have turned the brain of any but
Solomon. 6. These ramparts, which were raised in
this manner, to fill up the prodigious chasm made by
the deep valley below, and to make the area of a suf¬
ficient breaiUh and length for the edifice, were icco
cubits in length at the bottom, and 800 at the top,
and the breadth of them ICO more. 7. The huge
buttresses which supported the ramparts were of the
same height, square at the top, and 50 cubits broad,
and jutted out 150 cubits at the bottom. 8. The
stones, of which they were built, were, according to
Josephus, 40 cubits long, 12 thick, and 8 high, all
of marble, and so exquisitely joined, that they seemed
one continued piece, or rather polished rock. 9. Ac¬
cording to the same Jewish historian, there were J453
columns of Parian marble, and twice that number of
pilasters; and of such thickness, that three men could
hardly embrace them, and their height and capitals pro¬
portionable, and of the Corinthian order. But it is
likely Josephus hath given us these two last articles from
the temple of Herod, there being nothing like them
mentioned by the sacred historians, but a great deal
about the prodigious cedai'S of Lebanon used in that no¬
ble edifice, the excellent workmanship of them adapted
to their several ends and designs, together with their
gildings and other curious ornaments. The only thing
moi-e we shall venture to add is, what is affirmed in
Scripture, that all the materials of this stupendous fabric
were finished and adapted to their several ends before
they were brought to Jerusalem, that is, the stones xn
their quarries, and the cedars in Lebanon ; so that
there was no noise of axe, hammer, or any tool, heard
in the rearing of it.
At present Jerusalem is called by the Turks Cud-
setnbaric, and Coudsheriff; and is reduced to a poor
thinly inhabited town, about three miles in circumfe¬
rence, situated on a rocky mountain, surrounded on
all sides, except the north, with steep ascents and deep
valleys; and these again environed with other hills
at some distance from them. In the neighbourhood
of the city there grew some corn, vines, olives, &.c.
The stately church erected by the empress Helena, on
Mount Calvary, is still standing. It is called the church
of the sepulchre; and is kept in good repair by the
generous oflerings of a constant concourse ot pil¬
grims, who annually resort to it, as well as by the
contributions of several Christian princes. The walls
of this church ax-e of stone, and the roof ot cedar; the
east end incloses Mount Calvary, and the west the holy
sepulchre : the former is covered with a noble cupola,
open at top, and supported by 16 massive columns.
Over the high altar, at the east end, is another stately
dome. The nave of the church constitutes the choir ;
and in the inside aisle are shown the places where the
most remarkable circumstances ot our Saviour’s pas¬
sion were transacted, together with the tombs of God¬
frey and Baldwin, the two first Christian kings of Je¬
rusalem. In the chapel of the crucifixion is shown
the very hole in the rock in which the cross is said to
J E R [ i.
Jerusalem, have been fixed. The altar in this chapel hath three
-v-*” 1 crosses on it; and is richly adorned, particularly with
four lamps of immense value that hang before it, and
are kept constantly burning. At the west end is that
of the sepulchre, which is hewn in that form out of
the solid rock, and hath a small dome supported by
pillars of porphyry. The cloister round the sepulchre
is divided into sundry chapels, appropriated to the se¬
veral sorts of Christians who reside there j as Greeks,
Armenians, Maronites, Jacobites, Copts, Abyssines,
Georgians, &c. and on the north-west side of it are
the apartments of the Latins, who have the care of
the church, and are forced to reside constantly in it $
the Turks keeping the keys of it, and not suffering
any of them to go out, but obliging them to re¬
ceive their provisions in at a wicket. At Easter
there are some grand ceremonies performed in the
church, representing our Lord’s passion, crucifixion,
death, and resurrection, at which a vast concourse
of pilgrims commonly assist. For a particular ac¬
count of them, we refer the reader to Doctors Shaw
and Pococke.
On Mount Moriah, on the south-east part of the
city, is an edifice called Solomon's Temple, standing
on’or near the same spot as the ancient 5 but when
or by whom erected is uncertain. In the midst of
it is a Turkish mosque, where the Jewish sanctum
sanctorum is supposed to have stood. The building,
which Dr Pococke thinks must have been formerly
a Christian church, is held in the utmost veneration
by the Turks.
* The city is now under the government of a sangiac,
who resides in a house said to have been that of Pon¬
tius Pilate, over-against the castle of Antonia built by
Herod the Great. Many of the churches erected in
memory of some remarkable gospel transaction, have
been since converted into mosques ; into some of which
money will procure admittance, but not into others.
Both the friars and other Christians are kept so poor
by the tyranny of the government, that the chief sup¬
port and trade of the place consists in providing stran¬
gers with food and other accommodations, and selling
them beads, relics, and other trinkets, for which they
are obliged to pay considerable sums to the sangiac,
as well as to his officers ; and those are seldom so well
contented with their usual duties, but they frequently
extort some fresh ones, especially from the Franciscans,
whose convent is the common receptacle for all pil¬
grims, and for which they have considerable allowan¬
ces from the pope, and other crowned heads, besides
the presents which strangers generally make them at
their departure. The most remarkable antiquities in
the neighbourhood of Jerusalem are, 1. The pools of
Bethesda and Gihon ; the former 120 paces long, 40
broad, and at least eight deep, but now without wa¬
ter; and the old arches, which it still discovers at the
west end, are quite damned up : the other, which is
about a quarter of a mile without Bethlehem gate, is
a very stately relick, 106 paces long, and 60 broad,
lined with a wall and plaster, and still well stored with
water. 2. The tomb of the Virgin Mary, in the val¬
ley of Jehoshaphat, into which one descends by a mag¬
nificent flight of 47 steps. On the right band, as one
goes down is also the sepulchre of St Ann, the mo¬
ther, and on the left that of Joseph the husband, of
i ] J E S
the virgin mother: some add likewise that of Jehoia-Jerusalem,
kim her father, In all these are erected altars for Jesi,
priests of all sorts to say mass, and the whole is cut in-
to the solid rock. 3. The tomb of King Jehoshaphat,
cut likewise into the rock, and divided into several
apartments j in one of which is his tomb, Tvhicb is a-
dorned with a stately portico and entablature over it.
4. That commonly called Absalom's pillar or place,
as being generally supposed to be that which he is said
to have erected in his lifetime to perpetuate his me¬
mory, as he had no male issue. The place, however,
both within and without, hath more the resemblance
of a sepulchre than any thing else: though we do not
read that he was buried there, neither do the people
here affirm that he was. There is a great heap of
stones about it, which is continually increasing j the
superstitious Jews and Turks always throwing some as
they pass, in token of their abhorrence of Absalom’s
unnatural rebellion against so good and holy a parent.
The structure itself is about 20 cubits square, and 60
high, rising in a lofty square, adorned below with four
columns of the Ionic order, with their capitals, enta¬
blatures, &c. to each front. From the height of 20
to 40 cubits, it is somewhat less, and quite plain, ex¬
cepting a small fillet at the upper end j and from 40
to the top it changes into a round, which grows gra¬
dually into a point, the whole cut out of the solid rock.
There is a room within, considerably higher than the
level of the ground without, on the sides of which are
niches, probably to receive coffins. 5. A little east¬
ward of this is that called the tomb of Zechariah, the
son of Barachiah, whom the Jews slew between the
temple and the altar, as is commonly supposed. This
fabric is all cut out of the natural rock, 18 feet high,
and as many square $ and adorned with Ionic columns
on each front, cut likewise out of the same rock, and
supporting a cornice. The whole ends in a pointed
top, like a diamond. But the most curious, grand,
and elaborate pieces, in this kind, are the grotts with¬
out the walls of Jerusalem, styled the royal sepulchres ;
but of what kings is not agreed on. They consist of
a great number of apartments, some of them spacious,
all cut out of the solid marble rock j and may just¬
ly be pronounced a royal work, and one of the most
noble, surprising, and magnificent. For a particular
account of them we must refer the reader, for want
of room, to Pococke’s Travels. In the neighbour¬
hood of Jerusalem is a spot of ground, about 30 yards
long, and 15 broad, now the burying place of the
Armenians, which is shown as the Aceldama, or Field
of Blood, formerly the Potters Field, and since styled
Campo Sancto, or the Holy Field, purchased with the
price of Judas’s treason, for the burial of strangers.
It is walled round, to prevent the Turks abusing
the bones of Christians ; and one half of it is ta¬
ken up by a building in the nature of a charnel
house. Besides the above, a great many other an¬
tiquities in the city and its environs are shown to
strangers j there being scarce any place or transac¬
tion mentioned either in the Old or New Testament,
but they show the very spot of ground where the one
stood, and the other was done 5 not only here, but all
over Judea.
JESI, an ancient town of Italy, in the territory of
the church, and in the marca or march of Ancona,
R 2 with
J E S [ 132 ] J E S
Jew with a bishop’s see. It is seated on a mountain, near
I] a river of the same name, in E. Long. 12. 20. N. Lat.
Jesuits.
lj” ' ^_ JESSO, Jedso, or Yadso, a large island of Asia,
to the north of Niphon, and said to be governed by a
prince tributary to the empire of Japan ; but is very
little knovrn to the Europeans, so that nothing can be
said with certainty concerning it.
JESSES, ribbons that hang down from garlands or
crowns in falconry j also short straps of leather fastened
to the hawk’s legs, and so to vervels.
JESTING, or concise wit, as distinguished from
continued wit or humour, lies either in the thought,
or the language, or both. In the first case it does
not depend upon any particular words or turn of the
expression. But the greatest fund of jests lies in the
language, i. e. in tropes or verbal figures $ those
afforded by tropes consist in the metaphorical sense of
the words, and those of verbal figures principally turn
upon a double sense of the same word, or a similitude of
sound in different words. The third kind of jokes, which
ue both in the sense and language, arise from figures of
sentences, where the figure itself consists in the sense,
but the wit turns upon the choice of the words.
JESUITS, or the Society of Jesus; a famous reli-
1 . gious order of the Romish church, founded by Ignatius
rV't're rn Loyola. See Ignatius.—The plan which this fana-
tic formed of its constitution and laws was suggested,
as he gave out, and as his followers still teach, by the
immediate inspiration of heaven. But notwithstand¬
ing this high pretension, his design met at first with
violent opposition. The pope, to whom Loyola had
applied for the sanction of his authority to confirm the
Institution, referred his petition to a committee of car¬
dinals. They represented the establishment to be un¬
necessary as well as dangerous, and Paul refused to
grant his approbation of it. At last, Loyola removed
ail bis scruples by an offer which it was impossible for
any pope to resist. He proposed, that besides the
three vows of poverty, of chastity, and of monastic
obedience, which are common to all the orders of re¬
gulars, the members of his society should take a fourth
vow of obedience to the pope, binding themselves to
go whithersoever he should command for the service
of religion, and without requiring any thing from the
holy see for their support. At a time when the papal
authority had received such a shock by the revolt of so
many nations from the Romish church j at a time when
Vevery part of the popish system was attacked with so
1 much violence and success, the acquisition of a body
Conftrmed Gf men, thus peculiarly devoted to the see of Rome,
fo >e and am^ w^om might set in opposition to all its enemies,
from’what was an °^ject °f the highest consequence. Paul in-
jKotivet. stantly perceiving this, confirmed the institution of the
Jesuits by his bull, granted the most ancient privileges
to the members of the society, and appointed Loyola
to he the first general of the order. The event hath
fully justified Paul’s discernment, in expecting such be¬
neficial consequences to the see of Rome from this in¬
stitution. In less than half a century, the society ob¬
tained establishments in every country that adhered to
the Roman Catholic church : its power and wealth in¬
creased amazingly ; the number of its members became
great: their character as well as accomplishments
were still greater j and the Jesuits were celebrated by
the friends and dreaded by the enemies of the Romish Jesuit*,
faith as the most able and enterprising order in the * »--v—■..<
church.
I he constitution and laws of the society were per¬
fected by Laynez and Aquaviva, the two generals who
succeeded Loyola ; men far superior to their master in
abilities and in the science of government. They
framed that system of profound and artful policy which
distinguishes the order. The large infusion of fanati¬
cism mingled with its regulations should be imputed to
Loyola its founder. Many circumstances concurred
in giving a peculiarity of character to the order of
Jesuits, and in forming the members of it not only to
take greater part in the affairs of the world than any
other body of monks, but to acquire superior influence
in the conduct of them.
The primary object of almost all the monastic orders xhe object
is to separate men from the world, and from any con-of the or-
earn in its affairs. In the solitude and silence of tbeder 6illSu-
cloister, the monk is called to woik out his own salva-*ar'
tion by extraordinary acts of mortification and piety.
He is dead to the world, and ought not to mingle in
its transactions. Pie can be of no benefit to man¬
kind but by his example and by bis prayers. On the
contrary, the Jesuits are taught to consider themselves
as formed for action. They are chosen soldiers, bound
to exert themselves continually in the service of God,
and of the pope his vicar on earth. Whatever tends
to instruct the ignorant, whatever can be of use to re¬
claim or to oppose the enemies of the holy see, is their
proper object. That they may have full leisure for
this active service, they are totally exempted from
those functions the performance of which is the chief
business of other monks. They appear in no proces¬
sions ; they practise no rigorous austerities j they do
not consume one half of their time in the repetition
of tedious offices : but they are required to attend to
a.ll the transactions of the world, on account of the
influence which these may have upon religion j they
are directed to study the dispositions of persons in
high rank, and to cultivate their friendship ; and by
the very constitution as well as genius of the order, a
spirit of action and intrigue is infused into all its
members. 4
As the object of the society of Jesuits differed from Peculiari-
that of the other monastic orders, the diversity wasl*es *n *t&
no less in the form of its government. The other or-*'°**c*'
ders are to be considered as voluntary associations, in
which whatever affects the whole body is regulated by
the common suffrage of all its members. The execu¬
tive power is vested in the persons placed at the head
or each convent or of the whole society 5 the legisla¬
tive authority resides in the community. Affairs of
moment, relating to particular convents, are determi¬
ned in conventual chapters j such as respect the whole
order are considered in general congregations. But
Loyola, full of the ideas of implicit obedience, which
he had derived from his military profession, appointed
that the government of his order should be purely mo¬
narchical. A general, chosen for life by deputies from
the several provinces, possessed power that was supreme
and independent, extending to every person and to
every ease. He, by his sole authority, nominated •
provincials, rectors, and every other officer employed
in jthe government of the society, and could remove
them
J E S
ts them at pleasure. In him was vested the sovereign
—administration of the revenues and funds of the order.
Every member belonging to it was at his disposal $
and by his uncontrollable mandate he could impose on
them any task, or employ them in what service soever
he pleased. To his commands they were required to
0f yield not only outward obedience, but to resign up to
ie- him the inclinations of their own wills and the senti¬
ments of their own understandings. They were to
listen to his injunctions as if they had been uttered by
Christ himself. Under his direction they were to be
mere passive instruments, like clay in the hands of the
potter, or like dead carcases incapable of resistance.
Such a singular form of policy could not fail to impress
its character on all the members of the order, and to
give a peculiar force to all its operations. There is
not in the annals of mankind any example of such
a perfect despotism, exercised not over monks shut up
in the cells of a convent, but over men dispersed among
all the nations of the earth.
As the constitutions of the order vest in the general
such absolute dominion over all its members, they care¬
fully provide for his being perfectly informed with re¬
spect to the character and abilities of his subjects.
Every novice who offers himself as a candidate for en¬
tering into the order is obliged to manifest his con¬
science to the superior, or a person appointed by him $
and is required to confess not only his sins and defects,
but to discover the inclinations, the passions, and the
bent of his soul. This manifestation must be renewed
every six months. The society, not satisfied with pe¬
netrating in this manner into the innermost recesses of
the heart, directs each member to observe the words
and actions of the novices : they are constituted spies
upon their conduct, and are bound to disclose every
thing of importance concerning them to the superior.
In order that this scrutiny into their character may be
as complete as possible, a long noviciate must expire,
during which they pass through the several gradations
of ranks in the society ; and they must have attained
the full age of thirty-three years before they can be
admitted to take the final vows, by which they become
professed members. By these various methods, the supe¬
riors, under whose immediate inspection the novices are
placed, acquire a thorough knowledge of their dispo¬
sitions and talents. In order that the general, who is
the soul that animates and moves the whole society,
may have under his eye every thing necessary to inform
or direct him, the provincials and heads of the several
houses are obliged to transmit to him regular and fre¬
quent reports concerning the members under their in¬
spection. In these they descend into minute details
with respect to the character of each person, his abi¬
lities natural or acquired, his temper, his experience
in affairs, and the particular department for which he
is best fitted. These reports, when digested and ar¬
ranged, are entered into registers kept of purpose, that
the general may, at one comprehensive view, survey
the state of the society in every corner of the earth ;
observe the qualifications and talents of its members j
and thus choose, with perfect information, the instru¬
ments which his absolute power can employ in any ser¬
vice for which he thinks meet to destine them.
As it was the professed intention of the order of
Jesuits to labour with unwearied zeal in promoting
J E S
the salvation of men, this engaged them of course in Jesuits,
many active functions. From their first institution, —j——.
they considered the education of youth as their peculiar 6
province ; they aimed at being spiritual guides and^1^*^8
confessors; they preached frequently in order to in-an^
struct the people; they set out as missionaries to con-ence of the
vert unbelieving nations. The novelty of the iustitu-order.
tion, as well as the singularity of its objects, procured
the order many admirers and patrons. The governors
of the society had the address to avail themselves of
every circumstance in its favour ; and in a short time
the number ^rs well as influence of its members in¬
creased wonderfully. Before the expiration of the
sixteenth century, the Jesuits had obtained the chief
direction of the education of youth in every catholic
country in Europe. They had become the confessors
of almost all its monarchs ; a function of no small im¬
portance in any reign, but, under a weak prince, su¬
perior even to that of minister. They were the spi¬
ritual guides of almost every person eminent for rank
or power. They possessed the highest degree of con¬
fidence and interest with the papal court, as the most
zealous and able champions for its authority. The
advantages which an active and enterprising body of
men might derive from all these circumstances are ob¬
vious. They formed the minds of men in their youth.
They retained an ascendant over them in their advan¬
ced years. They possessed, at different periods, the
direction of the most considerable courts in Europe.
They mingled in all affairs. They took part in every
intrigue and revolution. The general, by means of
the extensive intelligence which he received, could re¬
gulate the operations of the order with the most per¬
fect discernment; and, by means of his absolute power,
could carry them on with the utmost, vigour and ef¬
fect.
Together with the power of the order, its wealth con- Of its
tinued to increase. Various expedients were devised wealth,
for eluding the obligation of the vow of poverty. The
order acquired ample possessions in every catholic coun¬
try •, and by the number as well as magnificence of its
public buildings, together with the value of its proper¬
ty, moveable or real, it vied with the most opulent of
the monastic fraternities. Besides the sources of wealth
common to all the regular clergy, the Jesuits possessed
one which was peculiar to themselves. Under pretext
of promoting the success of their missions, and of faci¬
litating the support of their missionaries, they obtain¬
ed a special license from the court of Home to trade
with the nations which they laboured to convert. In
consequence of this, they engaged in an extensive and
lucrative commerce both in the East and West Indies.
They opened warehouses in different parts of Europe,
in which they vended their commodities. Not satisfied
with trade alone, they imitated the example of other
commercial societies, and aimed at obtaining settle¬
ments. They acquired possession accordingly of a large
and fertile province in the southern continent of Ame¬
rica, and reigned as sovereigns over some hundred
thousand subjects. g
Unhappily for mankind, the vast influence which Pernicious
the order of Jesuits acquired by all these different elIects
means, has been often exerted with the most perniciouson
effect. Such was the tendency of that discipline ob-#;etyS°“
served by the society in forming its members, and such
tbs
[ 133 1
J E S L 134 ] J £ S
Jesuits, the fundamental maxims in its constitution, that every
 j Jesuit was taught to regard the interest of the order
as the capital object to which every consideration was
to be sacrificed. This spirit of attachment to their or¬
der, the most ardent perhaps that ever influenced any
body of men, is the characteristic principle of the Je¬
suits, and serves as a key to the genius of their policy
as well as the peculiarities in their sentiments and con¬
duct.
As it was for the honour and advantage of the so¬
ciety that its members should possess an ascendant over
persons in high rank or of great power *, the desire of
acquiring and preserving such a direction of their con¬
duct with greater facility has led the Jesuits to pro¬
pagate a system of relaxed and pliant morality, which
accommodates itself to the passions of men, which
justifies their vices, which tolerates their imperfec¬
tions, which authorises almost every action that the
most audacious or crafty politician would wish to per¬
petrate.
As the prosperity of the order was intimately con¬
nected with the preservation of the papal authority,
the Jesuits, influenced by the same principle of at¬
tachment to the interests of their society, have been
the most zealous patrons of those doctrines which
tend to exalt ecclesiastical power on the ruins of civil
government. They have attributed to the court of
Home a jurisdiction as extensive and absolute as was
claimed by the most presumptuous pontiffs in the dark
ages. They have contended for the entire indepen¬
dence of ecclesiastics on the civil magistrates. They
have published such tenets concerning the duty of op¬
posing princes who were enemies of the Catholic faith,
as countenanced the most atrocious crimes, and tended
to dissolve all the ties which connect subjects with their
rulers.
As the order derived both reputation and authority
from the zeal with which it stood forth in defence of
the Romish church against the attacks of the reform¬
ers, its members, proud of this distinction, have con¬
sidered it as their peculiar function to combat the
opinions and to check the progress of the Protestants.
They have made use of every art, and have employed
every weapon against them. They have set them¬
selves in opposition to every gentle or tolerating mea¬
sure in their favour. They have incessantly stirred up
against them all the rage of ecclesiastical and civil per¬
secution.
Monks of other denominations have indeed ventu¬
red to teach the same pernicious doctrines, and have
held opinions equally inconsistent with the order and
happiness of civil society. But they, from reasons
which are obvious, have either delivered such opinions
with greater reserve, or have propagated them with
less success. Whoever recollects the events which have
happened in Europe during two centuries, will find
that the Jesuits may justly be considered as responsible
for most of the pernicious effects arising from that
corrupt and dangerous casuistry, from those extrava¬
gant tenets concerning ecclesiastical power, and from
that intolerant spirit, which have been the disgrace
of the church of Rome throughout that period, and
which have brought so many calamities upon civil so¬
ciety.
But, amidst many bad consequences flotving from
3
the institution of this order, mankind, it must be ac- Jesuits,
knowledged, have derived from it some considerable —v-—>
advantages. As the Jesuits made the education of 9
youth one of their capital objects, and as their first^omea^*
attempts to establish colleges for the reception of stu-
dents were violently opposed by the universities in dif-from the
ferent countries, it became necessary for them, as theinetitutioi
most effectual method of acquiring the public favour, t*lls or'
to surpass their rivals in science and industry. This 1
prompted them to cultivate the study of ancient lite¬
rature with extraordinary ardour. This put them up¬
on various methods for facilitating the instruction of
youth j and by the improvements which they made
in it, they have contributed so much towards the pro¬
gress of polite learning, that on this account they have
merited well of society. Nor has the order of Jesuits
been successful only in teaching the elements of lite¬
rature ; it has produced likewise eminent masters in
many branches in science, and can alone boast of a
greater number of ingenious authors than all the other
religious fraternities taken together.
But it is in the new world that the Jesuits have ex¬
hibited the most wonderful display of their abilities,
and have contributed most effectually to the benefit of
the human species. The conquerors of that unfortu¬
nate quarter of the globe had nothing in view but to
plunder, to enslave, and to exterminate its inhabitants.
The Jesuits alone have made humanity the object of io
their settling there. About the beginning of the 17th Settleinei
century, they obtained admission into the fertile pro-,n *>ara'
vince of Paraguay, which stretches across the south-
ern continent of America, from the bottom of the
mountains of Potosi to the confines of the Spanish
and Portuguese settlements on the banks of the river
De la Plata. They found the inhabitants in a state
little different from that which takes place among men
when they first begin to unite together $ strangers to
the arts, subsisting precariously by hunting or fishing,
and hardly acquainted with the first principles of sub¬
ordination and government. The Jesuits set them¬
selves to instruct and to civilize these savages. They
taught them to cultivate the ground, to rear tame ani¬
mals, and to build houses. They brought them to
live together in villages. They trained them to arts
and manufactures. They made them taste the sweets
of society, and accustomed them to the blessings of se¬
curity and order. These people became the subjects
of their benefactors, who have governed them with a
tender attention, resembling that with which a father
directs his children. Respected and beloved almost to
adoration, a few Jesuits presided over some hundred
thousand Indians. They maintained a perfect equa¬
lity among all the members of the community. Eacli
of them was obliged to labour, not for himself alone,
but for the public. The produce of their fields, to¬
gether with the fruits of their industry of every spe¬
cies, were deposited in common storehouses, from which
each individual received every thing necessary for the
supply of his wants. By this institution, almost all
the passions which disturb the peace of society, and
render the members of it unhappy, were extinguished.
A few magistrates, chosen by the Indians themselves,
watched over the public tranquillity, and secured obe¬
dience to the laws. The sanguinary punishments fre¬
quent under other governments were unknown. An
admonition
J E S [ 135 ] J E S
ad-
;es
lie
ition
or.
0
iraet
ra.
Jesuit?, admonition from a Jesuit, a slight mark of infamy, or,
u—y—' on some singular occasion, a few lashes with a whip,
were sufficient to maintain good order among these in¬
nocent and happy people.
Eut even in this meritorious effort of the Jesuits
for the good of mankind, the genius and spirit of
their order have mingled and are discernible. They
plainly aimed at establishing in Paraguay an indepen¬
dent empire, subject to the society alone, and which,
by the superior excellence of its constitution and po¬
lice, could scarcely have failed to extend its dominion
over all the southern continent of America. With
this view, in order to prevent the Spaniards or Portu¬
guese in the adjacent settlements from acquiring any
dangerous influence over the people within the limits
of the province subject to the society, the Jesuits en¬
deavoured to inspire the Indians with hatred and con¬
tempt of these nations. They cut off all intercourse
between their subjects and the Spanish or Portuguese
settlements. They prohibited any private trader of
either nation from entering their territories. When
they were obliged to admit any person in a public cha¬
racter from the neighbouring governments, they did
not permit him to have any conversation with their
subjects j and no Indian was allowed even to enter the
house where these strangers resided unless in the pre¬
sence of a Jesuit. In order to render any communi¬
cation between them as difficult as possible, they in¬
dustriously avoided giving the Indians any knowledge
of the Spanish or of any other European language 5
but encouraged the different tribes which they had
civilized to acquire a certain dialect of the Indian
tongue, and laboured to make that the universal lan¬
guage throughout their dominions. As all these pre¬
cautions, without military force, would have been in¬
sufficient to have rendered their empire secure and per¬
manent, they instructed their subjects in the European
arts of war. They formed them into bodies of cavalry
and infantry, completely armed and regularly discipli¬
ned. They provided a great train of artillery, as well
as magazines stored with all the implements of war.
Thus they established an army so numerous and well-
appointed, as to be formidable in a country where a
few sickly and ill-disciplined battalions composed all
the military force kept on foot by the Spaniards or
Portuguese.
bownfal Such were the laws, the policy, and the genius of
f the orJer this formidable order j of which, however, a perfect
a Europe, knowledge has only been attainable of late. Europe
bad observed, for two centuries, the ambition and
power of the order. But while it felt many fatal ef¬
fects of these, it could not fully discern the causes to
which they were to be imputed. It was unacquainted
with many of the singular regulations in the political
constitution or government of the Jesuits, which form¬
ed the enterprising spirit of intrigue that distinguish¬
ed its members, and elevated the body itself to such a
height of power. It was a fundamental maxim with
the Jesuits, from their first institution, not to publish
the rules of their order. These they kept concealed
as an impenetrable mystery. They never communi¬
cated them to strangers, nor even to the greater part
of their own members. They refused to produce them
rvhen required by courts of justice ; and, by a strange
solecism in policy, the civil power in different countries
authorized or connived at the establishment of an order ts
of men, whose constitution and laws were concealed \\
with a solicitude which alone was a good reason for Jesus
having excluded them. During the prosecutions late- f nri't‘
ly carried on against them in Portugal and France,
the Jesuits have been so inconsiderate as to produce
the mysterious volumes of their institute. By the aid
of these authentic records, the principles of their go¬
vernment may be delineated, and the sources of their
power investigated, with a degree of certainty and
precision, which, previous to that event, it was impos¬
sible to attain.
The pernicious effects, however, of the spirit and
constitution of this order, rendered it early obnoxious
to some of the principal powers in Europe, and gra¬
dually brought on its downfal. The emperor Charles V.
saw it expedient to check its progres in his domi¬
nions ; it was expelled England, by proclamation of
James I. in 1604; Venice, in 1606; Portugal, in
1739 J France, in 1764 j Spain and Sicily, in 1767 ;
and totally suppressed and abolished by Pope Clement
XI\ . in 1773.
JESUITS bark. See Cinchona, Botany Index;
and for its history and properties, see Cinchona and
Materia Medica Index.
JESUS, the Son of Sirach, a native of Jerusalem,
composed about 200 B. C. the Book of Ecclesiasticus,
called by the Greeks tlxvcegsjof, “ replenished with vir¬
tue who also quote it under the title of the Wisdom
oj Jesus the son oj Sirah. His grandson, who was
also of the same name, and a native of Jerusalem,
translated it from the Hebrew into Greek about 121
B. C. We have the Greek version, but the Hebrew
text islost.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Saviour of
mankind, descended from heaven, and took upon him
the human nature in Judaea, towards the conclusion of
the reign of Herod the Great, king of that country.
The place of his birth was Bethlehem, a flourishing
city of Judah; but the year in which he was born is
not properly ascertained. The most general opinion is
that it happened about the year of Borne 748 or 749,
and about .18 months before the death of Herod. Four
inspired writers have transmitted to us an account of
the life of J esus Christ. They mention particularly
his birth, lineage, family, and parents j but say very
little concerning his infancy and earlier youth. Herod
being informed that the Messiah, or king of the Jews,
so much spoken of by the prophets, was now born,
being afraid that his kingdom should now be taken
away, contrived how to destroy his supposed rival :
but Christ, being carried, while very young, into
Egypt, escaped the cruelty of the tyrant $ who, being
determined to make sure work, made a general mas¬
sacre of the infants about Bethlehem, from the age of
two years and under.
After the death of Herod, our Saviour was brought \
hack to Judea j but we are totally ignorant of what
his employment was during the interval between his
return thither and the time of his entering upon the
ministry. We know only, that when he was but 12
years of age, he disputed in the temple with the most
learned ol the Jewish doctors •, whom he surprised with
his knowledge, and the answers he gave to their
questions. After this, as the scripture tells us, he
continued
J E S L 1 JET
Jesui continueil with his parents,- and was subject to them,
Christ. t)|} j)e entered upon his ministry. It is said, indeed,
w v though upon no sure foundation, that during this pe¬
riod he followed the trade of his father, who was a
carpenter. In the 30th year of his age, he began his
public ministry J to which the attention of the people
was drawn by the preaching of John, a prophet mira¬
culously inspired of God to proclaim the existence of
the Saviour, as now descended upon earth, and visible
to the eyes of all j and by this prophet Christ himself
was baptized in the waters of Jordan, that he might
not, in any point, neglect to answer the demands of
the Jewish law.
It is not necessary here to enter into a particular
detail of the life and actions of Jesus Christ. livery
one knows, that his life was one continued scene of
the most perfect sanctity, and the purest and most ac¬
tive virtue ; not only without spot, but also beyond
the reach of suspicion. And it is also well known,
that by miracles of the most stupendous kind, and not
more stupendous than salutary and beneficent, he dis-
plaved to the universe the truth of that religion which
he brought with him from above, and demonstrated
the reality of his divine commission in the most illus¬
trious manner. For the propagation of his religion
through the country of Judaea, our Saviour chose 12
apostles} whom, however, he sent out only once, and
after their return kept them constantly about his per¬
son. But, besides these, he chose other 70, whom he
dispersed throughout the country.
There have been many conjectures concerning the
reason why the number of apostles was fixed at 12,
and that of the other teachers at 70. The first, how¬
ever, was, according to our Saviour’s own words-(Matt,
xix. 28.), an allusion to the 12 tribes of Israel, there¬
by intimating that he was the king of these 12 tribes j
and as the number of bis other messengers answers
evidently to that of the senators who composed the
Sanhedrim, there is a high degree of probability in
the conjectures of those who think that Christ by this
number designed to admonish the Jews, that the au¬
thority of their Sanhedrim was now at an end, and
that all power with respect to religious matters was
vested in him alone. His ministry, however, was con¬
fined to the Jews ; nor, while he remained upon earth,
did he permit his apostles or disciples to extend their
labours beyond this favoured nation. At the same
time, if we consider the illustrious acts of mercy and
benevolence that were performed by Christ, it will be
natural to conclude, that his fame must soon have
spread abroad in other countries. Indeed this seems
probable from a passage in scripture, where vve are
told that some Greeks applied to the apostle Philip in
order to see Jesus. We learn also from authors of no
* See Ab- small note, than Abgarus * king of Edessa, being seized
garvs. with a severe and dangerous illness, wrote to our Lord,
imploring his assistance ; and that Jesus not only sent
him a gracious answer, but also accompanied it with
his picture, as a mark of his esteem lor that pious
prince. These letters are still extant; but by the ju¬
dicious part of mankind are universally looked upon
as spurious ; and indeed the late Mr Jones, in his
treatise entitled A new and full method of settling the
canonical authority of the New Testament, hath offered
reasons which seem almost unanswerable against the jesll,
authenticity of the whole transaction. ( hri-t,
The preaching of our Saviour, and the numberless Jct-
miracles he performed, made such an impression on '
the body of the Jewish nation, that the chief priests
and leading men, jealous of his authority, and pro¬
voked with his reproaching them with their wicked
lives, formed a conspiracy against him. For a consi¬
derable time their designs proved abortive $ but at last
Jesus, knowing that lie had fulfilled every purpose for
which he came into the world, suffered himself to be
taken through the treachery of one of his disciples,
named Judas Iscariot, and was brought before the San¬
hedrim. In this assembly he was accused of blasphemy j
and being afterwards brought before Pilate the Bo-
man governor, where he was accused of sedition, Pi¬
late was no sooner set down to judge in this cause,
than he received a message from his wife, desiring him
to have nothing to do with the aflair, having that very
day had a frightful dream on account of our Saviour,
whom she called that just man. The governor, inti¬
midated by this message, and still more by the majesty
of our Saviour himself, and the evident falsehood of
the accusations brought against him, was determined
if possible to save him. But the clamours of an en¬
raged populace, who at last threatened to accuse Pi¬
late himself as a traitor to the Roman emperor, got
the better of his love of justice, which indeed on other
occasions was not very fervent.
Our Saviour was now condemned by his judge,
through contrary to the plainest dictates of reason and
justice ; was executed on a cross between two thieves,
and very soon expired. Having continued three days
in a state of death, he rose from the dead, and made
himself visible to his disciples as formerly. He con¬
versed with them 40 days after his resurrection, and
employed himself during that time in instructing them
more fully concerning the nature of his kingdom ;
and having manifested the certainty of his resurrec¬
tion to as many witnesses as he thought proper, he was,
in the presence of many of his disciples, taken up into
heaven, there to remain till the end of the world. See
Christianity.
JET, a black inflammable substance of the bitumi¬
nous kind, harder than asphaltum, and susceptible of a
good polish. It becomes electrical by rubbing, attract¬
ing light bodies like yellow amber. It swims on water,
so that its specific gravity must be less than 1000,;
notwithstanding which it has been frequently con¬
founded with the lapis obsidianus, the specific gravity
of which, according to Kirwan, is no less than 1744.
It also resembles cannel-coal extremely in its hardness,
receiving a polish, not soiling the fingers, &c. so that
it has also been confounded with this. The distinction,
however, is easily made betwixt the two ; for cannel-
coal wants the electrical properties of jet, and is like¬
wise so heavy as to sink in water j its specific gravity
being no less than 1273 j whereas that of jet, as has
already been said, is less than 1000.
M. Magellan is of opinion that jet is a true amber,
differing from the yellow kind only in the mere cir¬
cumstance of colour, and being lighter on account
of the great quantity of bituminous matter which
enters into its composition. When burning it emits
a
JEW [ ij7
a bituminous smell. It is never found in strata or con¬
tinued masses like fossil stones; but always in separate
and unconnected heaps like the true amber. Great
quantities of it have been dug up in the Pyrensean
mountains ; also near Batalka, a small town of Portu¬
gal j and in Gallicia in Spain. It is found also in Ire¬
land, Sweden, Prussia, Germany, and Italy. It is used
in making small boxes, buttons, bracelets, mourning
jewels, &e. Sometimes also it is employed in conjunc¬
tion with proper oils in making varnishes. When mix¬
ed with lime in powder, it is said to make very hard
and durable cement.
Jet cVEliu, a French term, frequently also used with
us, for a fountain that casts up water to a considerable
height in the air.
JETTE, the border made round the stilts under a
pier, in certain old bridges, being the same with star¬
ling} consisting of a strong framing of timber filled
with stones, chalk, &c. to preserve the foundations of
the piers from injury.
JETTY-HEAD, a name usually given in the royal
dock-yards to that part of a wharf which projects be¬
yond the rest; but more particularly the front of a
wharf, whose side forms one of the cheeks of a dry or
wet dock.
JEWEL, any precious stone, or ornament beset with
them. See Diamond, Euby, &c.
Jewels made a part of the ornaments with which
the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, especially their ladies
of distinction, adorned themselves. So prodigious was
the extravagance of the Roman ladies, in particular,
that Pliny the elder says he saw Lollio Paulina with an
equipage of this kind amounting, according to Dr
Arbuthnot’s calculation, to 322,916!. 133.4(1. of our
money. It is worthy of observation, that precious
stones among the Romans and all the ancients were
much scarcer, and consequently in higher esteem, than
they are amongst us, since a commerce has been opened
with the Indies.—The ancients did not know how to
cut and polish them to much perfection ; but coloured
stones were not scarce, and they cut them very well
either hollow or in relief.—When luxury had gained
ground amongst them, the Romans hung pendants and
pearls in their ears; and for this purpose the ears of
both sexes were frequently bored. See Ears.
Jewel, John, a learned English writer and bishop,
was born in 1522, and educated at Oxford. In 1540
he proceeded A. B. became a noted tutor, and was
soon after chosen rhetoric lecturer in his college. In
February 1544, he commenced A. M. He had early
imbibed Protestant principles, and inculcated the same
to his pupils; but this was carried on privately till
the accession of King Edward VI. in 1546, when he
made a public declaration of his faith, and entered
into a close friendship with Peter Martyr, who was
made professor of divinity at Oxford. In 1550, he
took the degree of B. D. and frequently preached be¬
fore the university with great applause. At the same
time he preached and catechised every other Sunday
a£ Sunningwell in Berkshire, of which church he was
rector. Upon the accession of Queen Mary to the
crown, in 1553, he was one of the first who felt the
rage of the storm then raised against the reformation ;
for before any law was made, or order given by the
queen, he was expelled Corpus Christ! college by the
Vol. XL Part I. 7 j
]
JEW
fellows, by their own private authority; but he con¬
tinued in Oxford till he was called upon to subscribe
to some of the Popish doctrines, under the severest
penalties, which he submitted to. However, this did
not procure his safety; for he was obliged to fly, and
after encountering many difficulties, arrived at Frank-
foit, in the 2d year of Queen Mary’s reign, where he
made a public recantation of his subscription to the
Popish doctrines. . Thence he went to Strasburg, and
afterwards to Zurich, where he attended Peter Mar¬
tyr, in whose house he resided. He returned to Eng¬
land in 1558, after Queen Mary’s death ; and in 1559
was consecrated bishop of Salisbury. This promotion
was given him as a reward for his great merit and
learning; and another attestation of these was given
him by the university of Oxford, who, in 1565, con¬
ferred on him in his absence the degree of D. D*. In
this character he attended the queen to Oxford the
following year, and presided at the divinity disputa¬
tions held before her majesty on that occasion. He
had before greatly distinguished himself by a sermon
preached at St Paul’s cross, presently after he was
made a bishop, wherein he gave a public challenge to
all the Roman Catholics in the world, to produce but
one clear and evident testimony out of any father or
famous writer, who flourished within 600 years after
Christ, for any one of the articles which the Roma¬
nists maintain against the church of England; and
two years afterwards, he published his famous apology
for this church. In the mean time, he gave a parti¬
cular attention to his diocese; where he began in his
first visitation, and perfected in his last, such a refor¬
mation, not only in his cathedral and parochial
churches, but in all the churches of his jurisdiction, as
procured him and the whole order of bishops due’re¬
verence and esteem. For he was a careful overlooker
and strict observer, not only of all the flocks, but also
of the pastors, in his diocese; and he watched so nar¬
rowly upon the proceedings of his chancellor and arch¬
deacons, and of his stewards and receivers, that they
had no opportunities of being guilty of oppression, in¬
justice, or extortion, nor of being a burden to the peo¬
ple, or a scandal to himself. To prevent these and the
like abuses, for which the ecclesiastical courts are often
too justly censured, he sat often in his consistory-court,
and saw that all things were carried rightly there:
he also sat often as assistant on the bench of civil jus¬
tice, being himself a justice of the peace. Amidst these
employments, however, the care of his health was too
much neglected; to which, indeed, his general course
of life was totally unfavourable. He rose at four
o’clock in the morning; and, after prayers with his
family at five, and in the cathedral about six, he was
so fixed to his studies all the morning, that he could
not without great violence be drawn from them : After
dinner, his doors and ears were open to all suitors •
and it was observed of him, as of Titus, that he never
sent any sad from him. Suitors being thus dismissed,
he heard, with great impartiality and patience, such
causes debated before him, as either devolved to him
as a judge, or were referred to him as an arbitrator;
and if he could spare any time from these, he reckoned
it as clear gain to his study. About nine at night he
called all his servants to an account how they had spent
the day, and he went to prayers with them. From
^ the
Jewel.
JEW [ 138
jewel, the chapel he withdrew again to his study till near
Jews. midnight, and from thence to his bed ; in which,
when he was laid, the gentleman of his bed-chamber
read to him till he fell asleep. This watchful and la¬
borious life, without any recreation at all, except what
his necessary refreshment at meals and a very few hours
of rest afforded him, wasted his life too fast. He died
at Monkton-Farley, in 1571, in the 50th year of his
a're. He wrote, 1. A view of a seditious bull sent in¬
to England by Pope Pius V. in 1569. 2. A treatise
on the Holy Scriptures. 3. An exposition of St Paul’s
two epistles to the Thessalonians. 4. A treatise on
the sacrament. 5. An apology for the national church.
6. Several sermons, controversial treatises, and other
works.
“ This excellent prelate (says the Eev. Mr Granger)
was one of the greatest champions of the reformed re¬
ligion, as he was to the church of England what Bel-
larmine was to that of Rome. His admirable Apology
was translated from the Latin by Anne, the second of
the four learned daughters of Sir Anthony Coke, and
mother of Sir Francis Bacon. It was published, as it
came from her pen, in 1564, with the approbation of
the queen and the prelates. The same Apology was
printed in Greek at Constantinople, under the direc¬
tion of St Cyril the patriarch. His Defence ot his
Apology, against Harding and other Popish divines,
was in such esteem, that Queen Elizabeth, King
Janies I. King Charles I. and four successive arch¬
bishops, ordered it to be kept chained in all parish-
churches for public use.
Jewel Blocks, in the sea language, a name given
to two small blocks which are suspended at the extre¬
mity of the main and fore top-sail yards, by means of
an eye-bolt driven from without into the middle of the
yard-arm, parallel to its axis. The use of these blocks
is, to retain the upper part of the top-mast studding-
sails beyond the skirts of the top-sails, so that each
of those sails may have its full force of action, which
would be diminished by the encroachment of the other
over its surface. The haliards, by which those stud¬
ding-sails are hoisted, are accordingly passed through
the jewel-blocks ; whence, communicating with a block
on the top-mast head, they lead downwards to the top
or decks, where they may be conveniently hoisted.
See Sail.
JEWS, a name derived from the patriarch Judah,
and given to the descendants of Abraham by his eldest
son Isaac, who for a long time possessed the land of Pa¬
lestine in Asia, and are now dispersed through all na¬
tions in the world.
The history of this people, as it is the most singular,
so is it also the most ancient in the world $ and the
greatest part being before the beginning of profane
history, depends entirely on the authenticity of the
Old Testament, where it is only to be found.—To
repeat here what is said in the sacred writings would
both be superfluous and tedious, as those writings are
in every person’s hands, and may be consulted at plea¬
sure. It seems most proper therefore to commence the
history of the Jews from their return to Jerusalem from
Babylon, and the rebuilding of their city and temple
under Ezra and Nehemiah, when the scripture leaves off
any farther accounts, and profane historians begin to
take notice of them. We shall, however, premise a
] J E W
chronological list of their judges and kings down to the jtWs.
captivity.
The Israelites had no king of their nation till Saul.
Before him, they were governed, at first by elders, as
in Egypt} then by princes of God’s appointment, as
Moses and Joshua ; then by judges, such as Othniel,
Ehud, Shamgar, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Eli, Sa¬
muel ; and last of all by kings, as Saul, David, Solo¬
mon, Rehoboam, &c.
A List of the Judges of Israel in a Chronological Order*
The Numbers prefixed denote the Years of the TForld.
2570. The death of Joshua.
2585. The government of the elders for about 15
years.
2592. An anarchy of about 7 years. The history of
Micah, the conquest of the city of Laish by part
of the tribe of Dan, and the war undertaken by
the 11 tribes against Benjamin, are all referred
to this time.
2591. The first servitude under Cushan-rishatliaim king
of Mesopotamia began in 2591, and lasted eight
years to 2599.
2599. Othniel delivered Israel in the 40th year after
peace established in the land by Joshua.
2662. A peace of about 62 years, from the deliverance
procured by Othniel, in 2599, to 2662, when the
second servitude under Eglon king of the Moa¬
bites happened. It lasted 18 years.
2679. Ehud delivers Israel.
After him Shamgar governed, and the land was
in peace till the 80th year after the first deliver¬
ance procured by Othniel.
2699. The third servitude under the Canaanites, which
lasted 20 years, from 2699 to 27I9*
2719. Deborah and Barak deliver the Israelites: from
the deliverance procured by Ehud to the end
of Deborah and Barak’s government, were 40
years.
2768. Abimelech the natural son of Gideon is acknow¬
ledged king by the Shechemites.
2771. He died at the siege of Thebez in Palestine.
2772. Tola after Abimelech governs for 23 years, from
2772 to 2795.
2795. Jair succeeds Tola, and governs 22 years, from
2795 to 2816.
2799. The fifth servitude under the Philistines, which
lasted 18 years, from 2799 to 2817.
2817. The death of Jair.
2817. Jephthah is chosen head of the Israelites beyond
Jordan j he defeated the Ammonites, who op¬
pressed them. Jeplithah governed six years,
from 2817 to 2823.
2823. The death of Jephthah.
2830. Ibzan governs seven years, from 2823 to 2830.
2840. Elon succeeds Ibzan. He governs from 2830 to
2840.
Abdon judges Israel eight years, from 2840 to
2848.
2848. The sixth servitude, under the Philistines, which
lasted 40 years, from 2848 to 2888.
2848. Eli the high-priest, of the race of Itbamar, go¬
verned 40 years, the whole time of the servitude
under the Philistines.
2$49. The birth of Samson.
2887.
JEW
[ 139 3
JEW
2887. The death of Samson, who was judge of Israel
j during the judicature of Eli the high-priest.
2888. The death of Eli, and the beginning of Samuel’s
government, who succeeded him.
2909. The election and anointing of Saul, first king of
the Hebrews.
A Chronological List of the Kings of the Hebreivs.
Saul, the first king of the Israelites, reigned 40
years, from the year of the world 2909 to 2949.
Ishbosheth the son of Saul succeeded him, and reigned
six or seven years over part of Israel, from 2949 to 2956.
David was anointed king by Samuel in the year of
the world 2934', but did not enjoy the regal power till
the death of Saul in 2949, and was not acknowledged
king of all Israel till after the death of Ishbosheth in
2956. He died in 2990 at the age of 70.
Solomon his son succeeded him ; he received the
royal unction in the year 2989. He reigned alone af¬
ter the death of David in 2990. He died in 3029, af¬
ter a reign of 40 years.
After his death the kingdom was divided ; and the
ten tribes having chosen Jeroboam for their king, Ke-
hoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned only over the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
The Kings of Judah.
Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, reigned
17 years $ from the year 3029 to 3046.
Abijam, three years, from 3046 to 3049.
Asa, 41 years, from 3049 to 3090.
Jehoshaphat, 25 years, from 3090 to 3115.
Jehoram, four years, from 3115 to 3119.
Ahaziah, one year, from 3119 to 3120.
Athaliah, his mother, reigned six years, from 3120
to 3126.
Joash was set upon the throne by Jehoiada the high-
priest, in 3126. He reigned 40 years, to the year 3x65.
Amaziah, 29 years, from 3165 to 3194.
Uzziah, otherwise called Azariah, reigned 27 years,
to the year 3221. Then attempting to offer incense
in the temple, he was struck with a leprosy, and obliged
to quit the government. He lived after this 26 years,
and died in 3246.
Jotham his son took upon him the government in the
year of the world 3221. He reigned alone in 3246,
and died in 3262.
Ahaz succeeded Jotham in the year of the world
3262. He reigned 16 years, to 3278.
Hezekiah, 28 years, from 3278 to 3306.
Manasseb, 55 years, from the year of the world
3306 to 3361.
Amon 2 years, from 3361 to 3363.
Josiah, 31 years, from 3363 to 3394.
Jehoahaz, three months.
Eliakim, or Jehoiakim, 11 years, from the year 3394
to 3405.
Jehoiachin, or Jechoniah, reigned three months and
ten days, in the year 3405.
Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, reigned 11 years, from
3403 to 3416. In the last year of his reign Jerusa¬
lem was taken, the temple burnt, and Judah carried
into captivity beyond the Euphrates.
Kings of Israel.
Jeroboam reigned 22 years, from 3029 to 3051.
Nadab, one year. He died in 3051.
Baasha, 22 years, from 3052 to 3074. jew,.
Elah, two years. He died in 3075. —v——'
Zimi’i, seven days. •
Omri, 11 years, from 3075 to 3086. He had a
competitor Tibni, who succeeded, and died in what
year we know not.
Ahab, 21 years, from 3086 to 3107.
Ahaziah, two years, from 3106 to 3108.
Jehoram, the son of Ahab, succeeded him in 3108,
He reigned 12 years, and died in 3120.
Jehu usurped the kingdom in 3120, reigned 28
years, and died in 3148.
Jehoahaz reigned 17 years, from 3148 to 3165.
Joash reigned 14 years, from 3165 to 3179.
Jeroboam II. reigned 41 years, from 3179 to 3220.
Zachariah, 12 years, from 3220 to 3232.
Shallum reigned a month. He was killed in 3233.
Menahem, jo years, from 3233 to 3243.
Pekahiah, two years, from 3243 to 3245.
Pekah 20 years, from 3243 to 3265.
Hoshea, 18 years, from 3265 to 3283. Here the
kingdom of Israel had an end after a duration of 253
years. t
Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, having conquered Cyrus pub-
Babylon and almost all the western parts of Asia, per-bshes a de¬
ceiving the desolate and ruinous condition in which fie.e/01 re‘
the province of Palestine lay, formed a design of re-jei.Hsajenii
storing the Jews to their native country, and permit-
ing them to rebuild Jerusalem and re-establish their
worship. For this purpose he issued out a decree in the
first year of his reign, about 536 B. C. by which they
were allowed not only to return and rebuild their city,
but to carry along with them all the sacred vessels
which Nebuchadnezzar had carried off, and engaged
to defray the expence of building the temple himself.
This offer was gladly embraced by the more zealous
Jews of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levij but
many more, being no doubt less sanguine about their
religion, chose to stay where they were.
In 534. B. C. the foundations of the temple were
laid, and matters seemed to go on prosperously, when
the undertaking was suddenly obstructed by the Sa¬
maritans. These came at first, expressing an earnest
desire to assist in the work, as they worshipped the
same God with the Jews : but the latter refused their
assistance, as they knew they were not true Israelites,
but the descendants of those heathens who had been
transplanted into the country of the ten tribes after
their captivity by Shalmanezer. This refusal proved
the source of all that bitter enmity which afterwards
took place between the Jews and Samaritans j and
the immediate consequence was, that the latter made
all the opposition in their power to the going on of a
the work. At last, however, all obstacles were sur-Tha temple
mounted, and the temple finished as related in the See. fmisb-
books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The last of these chiefs®^*
died about 409 B. C. after having restored the Jewish
worship to its original purity, and reformed a number
of abuses which took place immediately on its com¬
mencement.
But though the Jews were now restored to the free
exercise of religion, they were neither a free nor a
powerful people as they had formerly been. They
were few in number, and their country only a pro¬
vince of Syria, subject to the kings of Persia. The
S 2 Syrian
JEW [ Ho ] JEW
Jews.
Admini¬
stration of
affairs con¬
ferred on
the Uigh-
priests.
4
;rview
he liigh-
■st with
xander
Great.
Syrian governors conferred the administration of af¬
fairs upon the high-priests •, and their accepting this
office, and thus deviating from the law of Moses, must
he considered as one of. the chief causes of the mis¬
fortunes which immediately befel the people, because
it made room for a set of men, who aspired at this
high office merely through ambition or avarice, with¬
out either zeal for religion or love for their country.
It besides made the high-priesthood capable of being
disposed of at the pleasure of the governors, whereas
the Mosaic institution had fixed it unalienably in the
family of Aaron.—Of the bad effects of this practice
a fatal instance happened in 373 B. C. Bagoses, go¬
vernor of Syria, having contracted an intimate friend¬
ship with Jeshua the brother of Johanan the high-
priest, promised to raise him to the pontifical office
a few years after his brother had been invested with
it. Jeshua came immediately to Jerusalem, and ac¬
quainted his brother with it. Their interview hap¬
pened in the inner court of the temple j and a scuffle
ensuing, Jeshua was killed by his brother, and the
temple thus polluted in the most scandalotis manner.
The consequence to the Jews was, that a heavy fine
was laid on the temple, which was not taken off till
seven years after.
The first public calamity which befel the Jewish na¬
tion after their restoration from Babylon, happened
in the year 351 B. C.: for having some how or other
disobliged Darius Ochus king of Persia, he besieged
and took Jericho, and carried off all the inhabitants
captives. From this time they continued faithful to
the Persians, insomuch that they had almost drawn
upon themselves the displeasure of Alexander the Great.
That monarch having resolved upon the siege of Tyre,
and being informed that the city was wholly supplied
with provisions from Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, sent
to Jaddua, then high-priest, to demand of him that
supply which he had been accustomed to pay to the
Persians. The Jewish pontiff excused himself on ac¬
count of his oath of fidelity to Darius ; which so pro¬
voked Alexander, that he had no sooner completed
the reduction of Tyre than he marched against Jeru¬
salem. The inhabitants, then, being with good rea¬
son thrown into the utmost consternation, had re¬
course to prayers ; and Jaddua is said, by a divine re¬
velation, to have been commanded to go and meet
Alexander. He obeyed accordingly, and set out on
■his journey, dressed in his pontifical robes, at the
head of all his priests in their proper habits, and at¬
tended by the rest of the people dressed in white gar¬
ments. Alexander is said to have been seized with
such awful respect on seeing this venerable procession,
that he embraced the high-priest, and paid a kind of
religious adoration to the name of God engraven on
the front of his mitre. His followers being surprised
at this unexpected behaviour, the Macedonian mo¬
narch informed them, that he paid that respect not to
the priest, but to his God, as an acknowledgment
for a vision which he had been favoured with at
Dia j where he had been promised the conquest of
Persia, and encouraged in his expedition, by a person
of much the same aspect and dressed in the same ha»
bit with the pontiff before him. He afterwards ac¬
companied Jaddua into Jerusalem, where he ottered
sacrifices in the temple. The high priest showed him
also the prophecies of Daniel, wherein the destruction Jews,
of the Persian empire by himself is plainly set forth j y—«J
in consequence of which the king went away highly sa¬
tisfied, and at his departure asked the high-priest if
there was nothing in which he could gratify himself
or his people ? Jaddua then told him, that, according
to the Mosaic law, they neither sowed nor ploughed
on the seventh year; therefore would esteem it a hich
favour if the king would he pleased to remit their tri¬
bute in that year. To this request the king readily
yielded $ and having confirmed them in the enjoyment
of all their privileges, particularly that of living under
their own laws, he departed.
Whether this story deserves credit or not (for the
whole transaction is not without reason called in que¬
stion by some), it is certain that the Jews were much
favoured by Alexander $ but with him their good
fortune seemed also to expire. The country of Judea Miscrahle
being situated between Syria and Egypt, became sub-stale of the
ject to all the revolutions and wars which the amhi-^1"3 after.
tious successors of Alexander waged against each other, *
At first it was given, together with Syria and Phe-
nicia, to Leomedon the Mitylenian, one of Alexander’s
generals j but he being soon after stripped of the other
two by Ptolemy, Judea was next summoned to yield
to the conqueror. The Jews scrupled to break their
oath of fidelity to Leomedon j and were of conse¬
quence invaded by Ptolemy at the head of a power¬
ful army. The open country was easily reduced 5 but
the city being strongly fortified both by art and na¬
ture, threatened a strong resistance. A superstitious
fear for breaking the sabbath, however, prevented the
besieged from making any defence on that day ; of
which Ptolemy being informed, he caused an assault
to be made on the sabbath, and easily carried the
place. At first he treated them with groat severity,
and carried 100,000 men of them into captivity 5 but
reflecting soon after on their known fidelity to their
conquerors, he restored them to all the privileges
they had enjoyed under the Macedonians. Of the
captives he put some into garrisons, and others he
settled in the countries of Libya and Gyrene. From
those who settled in the latter of these countries de¬
scended the Cyrenean Jews mentioned by the writers
of the New Testament.
Five years after Ptolemy had subdued Judea, li«
was forced to yield it to Antigomis, reserving to him¬
self only the cities of Ace, Samaria, Joppa,'and Gaza 5
and carrying off an immense booty, together with a
great number of captives, whom he settled at Alexan¬
dria, and endowed with considerable privileges and im¬
munities.—Antigonus behaved in such a tyrannical
manner, that great numbers of his Jewish subjects fled
into Egypt, and others put themselves under the pro¬
tection of Seleucus, who also granted them consider¬
able privileges. Hence this nation came gradually
to be spread over Syria and Asia Minor; while Ju¬
dea seemed to be in danger of being depopulated till
it was recovered by Ptolemy in 292. The affairs of
the Jews then took a more prosperous turn, and con¬
tinued in a thriving way till the reign of Ptolemy Phi-
lopater, when they were grievously oppressed by the in¬
cursions of the Samaritans, at the same time that An-
tiochus Theos king of Syria invaded Galilee. Ptole¬
my, however, marched against Antiochus, and defeated
him ^
t
J E W [ 141 ] JEW
jcw«. liifll 'r after which, having gone to Jerusalem to offer
—v—' sacrifices, he ventured to profane the temple itself by
going into it. He penetrated through the two outer
courts ; but as he was about to enter the sanctuary, he
was struck with such dread and terror that he fell down
half dead. A dreadful persecution was then raised
against the Jews, who had attempted to hinder him in
his impious attempt 5 but this persecution was stopped
by a still more extraordinary accident related under the
article Egypt, N° 30, and the Jews again received in-
6 to favour.
ubducd hy About the year 204 B. C. the country of Judea was
sntiochus guhdued by Antiochus the Great; and on this occa-
ke Cheat. ^ j0ya|ty 0f ti,e Jews to the Egyptians failed
them, the whole nation readily submitting to the king
of Syria. This attachment so pleased the Syrian mo¬
narch, that he sent a letter to his general, wherein he
acquainted him that he designed to restore Jerusalem
to its ancient splendour, and to recal all the Jews that
had been driven out of it; that out of his singular re¬
spect to the temple of God, he granted them 20,000
pieces of silver, towards the charges of the victims,
frankincense, wine, and oil j 1400 measures of fine
wheat, and 375 measures of salt, towards their usual
oblations : that the temple should be thoroughly re¬
paired at his cost *, that they should enjoy the free ex¬
ercise of their religion; and restore the public service
of the temple, and the priests, Levites, singers, &c. to
their usual functions : that no stranger, or Jew that was
unpurified, should enter farther into the temple than
was allowed by their law ; and that no flesh of unclean
beasts should be brought into Jerusalem ; not even their
skins : and all these under the penalty of paying 3000
pieces of silver into the treasury of the temple. He
further granted an exemption of taxes for three years to
ail the dispersed Jews that should come within a limited
time to settle in the metropolis ; and that all who had
been sold for slaves within his dominions should be im-
7 mediately set free.
(readt'ul This sudden prosperity proved of no long duration.
About the year 176, a quarrel happened between
Onias, at that time high-priest, and one Simon, gover¬
nor of the temple, which vvas attended with the most
fatal consequences. The causes of this quarrel are un¬
known. The event, however, was, that Simon finding
he could not get the better of Onias, informed Apol¬
lonius governor of Coelosyria and Palestine, that there
was at that time in the temple an immense treasure,
which at his pleasure might he seized upon for the use
of the king of Syria. Of this the governor instantly
sent intelligence to the king, who dispatched one He-
liodorus to take possession of the supposed treasure.
This person, through a miraculous interposition, as the
Jews pretend, failed in his attempt of entering the
temple; upon which Simon accused the high-priest to
the people, as the person who had invited Heliodorus
to Jerusalem. This produced a kind of civil war, in
which many fell on both sides. At last Onias having
complained to the king, Simon was banished ; but soon
after, Antiochus Epiphanes having ascended the throne
of Syria, Jason, the high-priest’s brother, taking ad¬
vantage of the necessities of Antiochus, purchased from
him the high priesthood at the price of 350 talents, and
obtained an order that his brother should be sent to
Antioch, there to be confined for life.
J
Jason’s next step was to purchase liberty, at the price Jews,
of 150 talents more, to build a gymnasium at Jerusa- —y—
lem, similar to those which were used in the Grecian
cities, and to make as many Jews as he pleased free ci¬
tizens of Antioch. By means of these powers, he be¬
came very soon able to form a strong party in Judea ;
for bii* countrymen were exceedingly fond of the Gre¬
cian customs, and the freedom of the city of Antioch §
was a very valuable privilege. From this time there-A general
fore a general apostasy took place ; the service of thesPostasy
temple was neglected, and Jason abandoned himselfta es ^lacc*
without remorse to all the impieties and absurdities of
Paganism.
He did not, however, long enjoy his ill-acquired
dignity. Having sent his brother Menelaus with the
usual tribute to Antiochus, the former took the oppor¬
tunity of supplanting Jason in the same manner that he
had supplanted Onias. Having ofl’ered for the high-
priesthood 300 talents more than his brother had gi¬
ven, he easily obtained it, and returned with his new
commission to Jerusalem. He soon got himself a strong
party : but Jason proving too powerful, forced Mene¬
laus and his adherents to retire to Antioch. Here,
the better to gain their point, they acquainted Anti¬
ochus that they were determined to renounce their old
religion, and wholly conform themselves to that of the
Greeks : which so pleased the tyrant, that he imme¬
diately gave them a force sufficient to drive Jason out
of Jerusalem ; who thereupon took refuge among the
Ammonites.
Menelaus being thus freed from his rival, took cars
to fulfil his promise to the king with regard to tha
apostasy, but forgot to pay the money he had promi¬
sed. At last he vvas summoned to Antioch ; and find¬
ing nothing hut the payment of the promised sum
would do, sent orders to his brother Lysimachus to con¬
vey to him as many of the sacred utensils belonging to
the temple as could be spared. As these were all of
gold, the apostate soon raised a sufficient sum from them
not only to satisfy the king, but also to brifie the cour¬
tiers in his favour. But his brother Onias, who had been
all ibis time confined at Antioch, getting intelligence
of the sacrilege, made such bitter complaints, that an
insurrection was ready to take place among the Jews at
Antioch. Menelaus, in order to avoid the impending-
danger, bribed Andronicus, governor of the city, to
murder Onias. This produced the most vehement
complaints as soon as Antiochus returned to the capi¬
tal (he having been absent for some time in order to
quell an insurrection in Cilicia; which at last ended
in the death of Andronicus, who was executed by the
king’s order. By dint of money, however, Menelaus
still found means to keep up his credit ; but was obli¬
ged to draw such large sums from Jerusalem, that the
inhabitants at last massacred his brother Lysimachus,
whom he had left governor of the city in his absence.
Antiochus soon after took a journey to Tyre ; upon
which the Jews sent deputies to him, both to justify
the death of Lysimachus, and to accuse Menelaus of
being the author of all the troubles which had hap¬
pened. The apostate, however, was never at a loss while
he could procure money. By means of this powerful
argument, he pleaded his cause so effectually, that the
deputies were not only cast, but put to death ; and this
unjust sentence gave the traitor such a complete victory
OVtSi
JEW
Jerusalem
takeu by
Antiochus
Jews, over all bis enemies, that from thenceforth he com-
"“’'V"" menced a downright tyrant. Jerusalem was destitute
of protectors ; and the sanhedrim, if there were any
zealous men left among them, were so much terrified,
that they durst not oppose him, though they evidently
saw that his design was finally to eradicate the religion
and liberties of his country.
In the mean time, Antiochus was taken up with the
conquest of Egypt, and a report was somehow or other
spread that he had been killed at the siege of Alexan¬
dria. At this news the Jews imprudently showed some
signs of joy; and Jason thinking this a proper oppor¬
tunity to regain his lost dignity, appeared before Je¬
rusalem at the head of about looo resolute men. The
gates were quickly opened to him by some of his
friends in the city ; upon which Menelaus retired into
the citadel, and Jason, minding nothing but his re¬
sentment, committed the most horrid butcheries. At
last he was obliged to leave both the city and country,
on the news that Antiochus was coming with a power¬
ful army against him j for that prince, highly provoked
at this rebellion, and especially at the rejoicings the
Jews had made on the report of his death, had actually
resolved to punish the city in the severest manner.
Accordingly, about 170 B. C. having made himself
master of the city, he behaved with such cruelty, that
Epiphaucs. within three days they reckoned no fewer than 40,000
killed, and as many sold for slaves. In the midst of
this dreadful calamity, the apostate Menelaus found
means not only to preserve himself from the general
slaughter, but even to regain the good graces of the
king, who having by his means plundered the temple
of every thing valuable, returned to Antioch in a kind
of triumph. Before he departed, however, he put Ju¬
dea under the government of one Philip, a barbarous
Phrygian ; Samaria under that of Andronicus, a per¬
son of a similar disposition •, and left Menelaus, the most
hateful of all the three, in possession of the high-priest¬
hood.
Though the Jews suffered exceedingly under these
tyrannical governors, they were still reserved for greater
calamities. About 168 B. C. Antiochus having been
most severely mortified by the Romans, took it into
his head to wreak his vengeance on the unhappy Jews.
For this purpose he dispatched Apollonius at the head
of 22,000 men, with orders to plunder all the cities of
Judea, to murder all the men, and sell the women and
children for slaves. Apollonius accordingly came with
his army, and to outward appearance with a peaceable
intention ; neither was he suspected by the Jews, as he
was superintendant of the tribute in Palestine. He
kept himself inactive till the next sabbath, when they
were all in a profound quiet; and then, on a sudden,
commanded his men to arms. Some of them he sent
to the temple and synagogues, with orders to cut in
pieces all whom they found there; whilst the rest go¬
ing through the streets of the city massacred all that
came in their way; the superstitious Jews not attempt¬
ing to make the least resistance for fear of breaking
j j the sabbath. He next ordered the city to be plun-
Tiie templedered and set on fire, pulled down all their stately
profaned buildings, caused the walls to be demolished, and car¬
ried away captive about 10,000 of those who had
escaped the slaughter. From that time the service of
the temple was totally abandoned; that place having
3
Jews.
10
His mon¬
strous
cruelty.
and tlie
Jewish re¬
ligion abo¬
lished,
.[ 142 ] ‘ J E W
been quite polluted, both with the blood of multitudes
who had been killed, and in various other ways. The
Syrian troops built a large fortress on an eminence in
the city ol David ; fortified it with a strong wall and
stately towers, and put a garrison in it to command the
temple, over against which it was built, so that the
soldiers could easily see and sally out upon all those who
attempted to come into the temple; so many of whom
were continually plundered and murdered by them,
that the rest, not daring to stay any longer in Jerusalem,
fled lor refuge to the neighbouring nations.
Antiochus, not yet satiated with the blood of the
Jews, resolved either totally to abolish their religion, or
destroy their whole race. He therefore issued out a de¬
cree that all nations within his dominions should for¬
sake their old religion and gods, and worship those
of the king under the most severe penalties. To make
his orders more effectual, he sent overseers into every
province to see them strictly put in execution; and as
he knew the Jews were the only people who would dis¬
obey them, special directions were given to have them
treated with the utmost severity. Atheneas, an old
and cruel minister, well versed in all the pagan rites,
was sent into Judea. He began by dedicating the
temple to Jupiter Olympius, and setting up his statue
on the altar of burnt-offerings. Another lesser altar was
raised before it, on which they offered sacrifices to that
false deity. All who refused to come and worship this
idol were either massacred or put to some cruel tor¬
tures till they either complied or expired under the
hands of the executioners. At the same lime, altars,
groves, and statues, were raised everywhere through
the country, and the inhabitants compelled to worship
them under the same severe penalties; while it was in¬
stant death to observe the sabbath, circumcision, or any
other institution of Moses.
At last, when vast numbers had been put to
deaths, and many more had saved their lives by their^Matta
apostasy, an eminent priest, named Mattathias, began t^as‘
to signalize himself by his bravery and zeal for reli¬
gion. He had for some time been obliged to retire to
Modin his native place, in order to avoid the persecu¬
tion which raged at Jerusalem. During his recess there,
Apelles, .one of the king’s officers, came to oblige the
inhabitants to comply with the above-mentioned orders.
By him Mattathias and his sons were addressed in the
most earnest manner, and had the most ample promises
made them of the king’s favour and protection, if they
would renounce their religion. But Mattathias answer¬
ed, that though the whole Jewish nation, and the whole
world, were to conform to the king’s edict, yet both
be and his sons would continue faithful to their God
to the last minute of their lives. At the same time per¬
ceiving one of his countrymen just going to offer sacri¬
fices to an idol, he fell upon him and instantly killed
him, agreeable to the law of Moses in such cases. Up¬
on this his sons, fired with the same zeal, killed the
officer and his men; overthrew the altar and idol ; and
running about the city, cried out, that those who were
zealous for the law of God should follow them; by
which means they quickly saw themselves at the head
of a numerous troop, with whom they soon after with¬
drew into some of the deserts of Judea. They were fol¬
lowed by many others, so that in a short time they
found themselves in a condition to resist their enemies ;
and
it
cruel Restored
J E W
[
Jews.
mm-y-mmrnJ
l3
xploils of
udas Mac-
abeus,
U
)readl'al
eath of
iitiochus
piphanes.
and having considered the danger to which they were
exposed by their scrupulous observance of the sabbath,
they resolved to defend themselves, in case of an attack,
upon that day as well as upon any other.
In the year 167 B. C. Mattathias finding that his
followers daily increased in number, began to try his
strength by attacking the Syrians and apostate Jews.
As many of these as he took he put to death, but
forced a much greater number to fly for refuge into
foreign countries; and having soon struck his enemies
with terror, he marched from city to city, overturned
the idolatrous altars, opened the Jewish synagogues,
made a diligent search after all the sacred books, and
caused fresh copies of them to be written ; he also caus¬
ed the reading of the Scriptures to be resumed, and all
the males born since the persecution to be circumcised.
In all this he was attended with such success, that he
had extended his reformation through a considerable
part of Judea within the space of one year : and would
probably have completed it, had he not been prevented
by death.
Mattathias was succeeded by his son Judas, surna-
med Maccabeus, the greatest uninspired hero of whom
the Jews can boast. His troops amounted to no more
than 6000 men •, yet with these he quickly made him¬
self master of some of the strongest fortresses of Judea,
and became terrible to the Syrians, SamaritatiiS, and
apostate Jews. In one year he defeated the Syrians in
five pitched battles, and drove them quite out of the
country ; after which he purified the temple, and re¬
stored the true worship, which had been interrupted
for three years and a half. Only one obstacle now re¬
mained, viz. the Syrian garrison above-mentioned,
which had been placed over against the temple, and
which Judas could not at present reduce. In order to
prevent them from interrupting the worship, however,
he fortified the mountain on which the temple stood,
with a high wall and strong towers round about, leaving
a garrison to defend it j making some additional forti¬
fications at the same time to Bethzura, a fortress at
about 20 miles distance.
In the mean time Antiochus being on his return
from an unsuccessful expedition into Persia, received
the disagreeable news that the Jews had all to a man
revolted, defeated his generals, driven their armies out
of Judea, and restored their ancient worship. This
threw him into such a fury, that he commanded his
charioteer to drive with the utmost speed, threatening
utterly to extirpate the Jewish race, without leaving a
single person alive. These words were scarce uttered,
when he was seized with a violent pain in his bowels,
which no remedy could cure or abate. But notwith¬
standing this violent shock, suffering himself to be hur¬
ried away by the transports of his fury, he gave orders
for proceeding with the same precipitation in his jour¬
ney. But while he was thus hastening forward, he fell
from his chariot, and was so bruised by the fall, that
his attendants were forced to put him into a litter.
Not being able to bear even the motion of the litter,
he was forced to halt at a town called Tabce on the
confines of Persia and Babylonia. Here he kept his
bed, suffering inexpressible torments, occasioned chief¬
ly by the vermin which bred in his body, and the
stench, which made him insupportable even to himself.
But the torments of his mind, caused by his reflecting
43 ] J E W
on the former actions of his life, surpassed by many jewg.
degrees those of his body. Polybius, who in his ac- --v   
count of this prince’s death agrees with the Jewish hi¬
storians, tells us, that the uneasiness of his mind grew
at last to a constant delirium or state of madness, by
reason of several spectres and apparitions of evil genii
or spirits, which he imagined were continually re¬
proaching him with the many wicked actions of which
he had been guilty. At last, having languished for
some time in this miserable condition, he expired, and
by his death freed the Jews from the most inveterate
enemy they had ever known.
Notwithstanding the death of Antiochus, however,
the war was still carried on against the Jews 5 but
through the valour and good conduct of Judas, the
Syrians were constantly defeated, and in 163 B. C. a
peace was concluded upon terms very advantageous to
the Jewish nation. This tranquillity, however, was
of no long continuance j the Syrian generals renewed
their hostilities, and were attended with the same ill
success as before. Judas defeated them in five engage¬
ments j but in the sixth was abandoned by all his men
except 800, who, together with their chief, were slain
in the year 161 B. C. j -
The news of the death of Judas threw his country-Exploits ot
men into the utmost consternation, and seemed to give^onatban»
new life to all their enemies. He was succeeded, how- ^mon> and
ever, by his brother Jonathan 5 who conducted mat- y
ters with no less prudence and success than Judas had
done, till he was treacherously seized and put to death
by Tryphon, a Syrian usurper, who shortly after mur¬
dered his own sovereign. The traitor immediately
prepared to invade Judea j but found all his projects
frustrated by Simon, Jonathan’s brother. This pontiff
repaired all the fortresses of Judea, and furnished them
with fresh garrisons, took Joppa and Gaza, and drove
out the Syrian gai-rison from the fortress of Jerusalem ;
but was at last treacherously murdered by a son-in-law '
named Ptolemy, about 135 B. C.
Simon was succeeded by his son Hyrcan $ who not
only shook off the yoke of Syria, but conquered the
Samaritans, demolished their capital city, and became
master of all Palestine, to which he added the provinces
of Samaria and Galilee j all which he enjoyed till with¬
in a year of his death, without the least disturbance
from without, or any internal discord. His reign was
no less remarkable on the account of his great wisdom
and piety at home than his conquests abroad. He
was the first since the captivity who had assumed the
royal title j and be raised the Jewish nation to a greater
degree of splendour than it had ever enjoyed since that
time. The author of the fourth book of the Macca¬
bees also informs us, that in him three dignities were
centered which never met in any other person, name¬
ly, the royal dignity, the high priesthood, and the gift
of prophecy. But the instances given of this last are
very equivocal and suspicious. The last year of his
reign, however, was embittered by a quarrel with the
Pharisees j and which proceeded such a length as was
thought to have shortened his days. Hyrcan had al¬
ways been a great friend to that sect, and they had
hitherto enjoyed the most honourable employments
in the state j but at length one of them, named Elea¬
nor, took it into his head to question Hyrcan’s legiti-
macy, alleging, that his mother had formerly been a
great con
queror
j: E W [ i
Jews, slave, and consequently that he was incapable of en-
^ —-v—-I joying the high-priesthood. This report was credited,
or pretended to be so, by the whole sect j which irri¬
tated the high-priest to such a degree, that he joined
the Sadducees, and could never afterwards be recon¬
ciled to the Pharisees, who therefore raised all the
troubles and seditions they could during the short time
he lived.
Hyrcan died in 107 B. C. and was succeeded by
his eldest son Aristobulus, who conquered Iturea, but
proved a most cruel and barbarous tyrant, polluting
his hands with the blood even of his mother and one
16 of his brothers, keeping the rest closely confined du-
Alexander rjng reign, which, however, was but short. He
Januants, a wag succee(je(l ja i0(. by Alexander Jannaeus, the
orjpnf Pfin. ^ •' T_ .
greatest conqueror, next to King JJavid, that ever sat
on the Jewish throne. He was hated, however, by
the Pharisees, and once in danger of being killed in a
tumult excited by them $ but having caused his guards
to fall upon the mutinous mob, they killed 6000 of
them, and dispersed the rest. After this, finding it
impossible to remain in quiet in his own kingdom, he
left Jerusalem, with a design to apply himself wholly
to the extending of his conquests ; but while he was
busied in subduing his foreign enemies, the Pharisees
raised a rebellion at home. This was quashed in the
year 86 B. C. and the rebels were treated in the most
inhuman manner. The faction, however, was by this
means so thoroughly quelled, that they never dared to
lift up their heads as long as he lived : and Alexan¬
der having made several conquests in Syria, died about
79 B„ C.
The king left two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus j
but bequeathed the government to his wife Alexandra
as long as she lived : but as he saw her greatly afraid,
and not without reason, of the resentment of the Pha-
betwecnhis risees, he desired his queen, just before his death, to
sons Hyr- sencl f0r the principal leaders of that party, and pre¬
tend to be entirely devoted to them ; in which case, he
assured her, that they would support her and her sons
after her in the peaceable possession of the government.
With this advice the queen complied j but found her¬
self much embarrassed by the turbulent Pharisees, who,
after several exorbitant demands, would at last be con¬
tented with nothing less than the total extermination
of their adversaries the Sadducees. As the queen was
unable to resist the strength of the pharisaic faction, a
most cruel persecution immediately took place against
the Sadducees, which continued for four years 5 until
at last, upon their earnest petition, they were disper¬
sed among the several garrisons of the kingdom, in
order to secure them from the violence of their ene¬
mies. A few years after this, being seized with a
dangerous sickness, her youngest son Aristobulus col¬
lected a strong party in order to secure the crown to
himself J but the queen being displeased with his con¬
duct, appointed her other son Plyrcanus, whom she
had before made high-priest, to succeed her also in the
royal dignity. Soon after this she expired, and left
her two sons competitors for the crown. The Phari¬
sees raised an army against Aristobulus, which almost
instantly deserted to him, so that Hyrcanus found
himself obliged to accept of peace upon any terms;
which, however, was not granted, till the latter had
abandoned all title both to the royal and pontifical
44 ]
J E W
*7
Contests
canus and
Aristobu-
1 us.
dignity, and contented himself with the enjoyment of Je^
his peculiar patrimony as a private person. * 1
But this deposition did not extinguish the party of
Hyrcanus. A new cabal was raised by Antipater an
Idumean proselyte, and father of Herod the Great ;
who carried off Hyrcanus into Arabia, under pretence
that his life was in danger if he remained in Judea.
Here he applied to Aretas king of that country, who
undertook to restore the deposed monarch ; and for
that purpose invaded Judea, defeated Aristobulus, and Ig
kept him closely besieged in Jerusalem. The latter The Ro-
had recourse to the Romans ; and having bribed Scan-mans call
rus, one of their generals, he defeated Aretas within ^ Ari'
the loss of 7000 of his men, and drove him quite outStobul,,!s'
of the country. The two brothers next sent presents
to Pompey, at that time commander in chief of all
the Roman forces in the east, and whom they made
the arbitrator of their differences. But he, fearing
that Aristobulus, against whom he intended to declare,
might obstruct his intended expedition against the Na-
batheans, dismissed them with a promise, that as soon
as he had subdued Aretas, he would come into Judea
and decide their controversy.
This delay gave such offence to Aristobulus, that he
suddenly departed for Judea without even taking leave
of the Roman general, who on his part was no less
offended at this want of respect. The consequence
was, that Pompey entered Judea with those troops
with which he had designed to act against the Naba-
theans, and summoned Aristobulus to appear before
film. The Jewish prince would gladly have been ex¬
cused ; but was forced by his own people to comply
with Pompey’s summons, to avoid a war with that ge¬
neral. He came accordingly more than once or twice
to him, and was dismissed with great promises and
marks of friendship. But at last Pompey insisted, that
he should deliver into his hands all the fortified places
he possessed ; which let Aristobulus plainly see that he
was in the interest of his brother, and upon this he
fled to Jerusalem with a design to oppose the Romans
to the utmost of his power. He was quickly followed
by Pompey ; and to prevent hostilities was at last for¬
ced to go and throw himself at the feet of the haugh¬
ty Roman, and to promise him a considerable sum of
money as the reward of his forbearance. This sub¬
mission was accepted ; but Gabinius, being sent with
some troops to receive the stipulated sum, was repul¬
sed by the garrison of Jerusalem, who shut the gates
against him, and refused to fulfil the agreement. This
diappointment so exasperated Pompey, that he im¬
mediately marched with his whole army against the
city.
The Roman general first sent proposals of peace ; *9
but finding the Jews resolved to stand out to the last,
he began the siege in form. As the place was strong- Pompey.
ly fortified both by nature and art, he might have
found it very difficult to accomplish his design, had not
the Jews been suddenly seized with a qualm of con¬
science respecting the observance of the sabbath-day.
Prom the time of the Maccabees they had made no
scruple of taking up arms against an offending enemy
on the sabbath ; but now they discovered, that though
it was lawful on that day to stand on their defence in
case they were actually attacked, yet it was unlawful
to do any thing towards the preventing of those pre¬
paratives
JEW [
Jews. paratlves which the enemy made towards such future
*—v"——' assaults. As therefore they never moved an hand to
hinder the erection of mounds and batteries, or the
making of breaches in the walls, on the sabbath, the
besiegers at last made such a considerable breach on
that day, that the garrison could no longer resist them.
The city was therefore taken in the year 63 B. C.
12,000 of the inhabitants were slaughtered, and many
more died by their own hands j while the priests, who
were offering up the usual prayers and sacrifices in the
temple, chose rather to be butchered along with their
brethren, than suffer divine service to be one moment
interrupted. At last, after the Homans had satiated
their cruelty with the death ef a vast number of the in¬
habitants, Hyrcanus was restored to the pontifical dig¬
nity with the title prince; but forbid to assume the
title of king, to wear a diadem, or to extend his terri¬
tories beyond the limits of Judea. To prevent future
revolts, the walls were pulled down ; and Scaurus was
left governor with a sufficient force. But before be de¬
parted, the Reman general gave the Jews a still greater
offence than almost any thing he had hitherto done j
and that was by entering into the most sacred recesses
of the temple, where he took a view of the golden ta¬
ble, candlestick, censers, lamps, and all the other sa¬
cred vessels 5 hut, out of respect to the Deity, forbore
to touch any of them, and when he came out command¬
ed the priests immediately to purify the temple accord¬
ing to custom.
Pompey having thus subdued the Jewish nation, set
out for Rome, carrying along with him Aristobulus
and his two sons Alexander and Antigoruis, as cap¬
tives, to adorn his future triumph. Aristobulus him¬
self and his son Antigonus wTere led in triumph ; but
Alexander found means to escape into Judea, where
he raised an army of 10,000 foot and 1500 horse, and
began to fortify several strong-holds, from whence he
made incursions into the neighbouring country. As
for Hyrcanus, be bad no sooner found himself freed
from his rival brother, than he relapsed into his former
indolence, leaving the care of all his affairs to Anti¬
pater, who, like a true politician, failed not to turn
the weakness of the prince to his own advantage and
the aggrandizing of his family. Pie foresaw, however,
that he could not easily compass his ends, unless he
ingratiated himself with the Romans ; and therefore
spared neither pains nor cost to gain their favour.
Scaurus soon after received from him a supply of corn
and other provisions, without which his army, which
be had led against the metropolis of Arabia, would
have been in danger of perishing j and after this, he
prevailed on the king to pay 300 talents to the Ro¬
mans, to prevent them from ravaging his country.
Hyrcanus was now in no condition to face his enemy
Alexander j and therefore again had recourse to the
Romans, Antipater at the same time sending as mstny
troops as he could spare to join them. Alexander ven¬
tured a battle ; but was defeated with considerable loss,
and besieged in a strong fortress named Alexandrian.
Here he would have been forced to surrender j but his
mother, partly by her address, anxl partly by the ser¬
vices she found means to do the Roman general, pre¬
vailed upon him to grant her son a pardon for what
was past. The fortresses were then demolished, that
they might not give occasion to fresh revolts: Hyrca-
Vol. XI. Ran I. f
45 ] JEW
nus was again restored to the pontifical dignity ; and Jews,
the province was divided into five several districts, in —v—-'
each of which a separate court of judicature was erect¬
ed. The first of these was at Jerusalem, the second ycv s ;
at Gadara, the third at Amath, the fourth at Jeri- vernment
cho, and the fifth at Sephoris in Galilee. Thus was the changed
government changed from a monarchy to an aristocra- b1 an
cy, and the Jews now fell under a set of domineering ar*stociacy’
lords.
Soon after this, Aristobulus found means to escape
from his confinement at Rome, and raised new troubles
in Judea, but was again defeated and taken prisoner:
his son also renewed his attempts j but was in like man¬
ner defeated, with the loss of near 10,000 of his follow¬
ers ; after which Gabinius, having settled the affairs of
Judea to Antipater’s mind, resigned the government of
his province to Crassus. The only transaction during
his government was his plundering the temple of all its
money and sacred utensils, amounting in the whole to
10,000 Attic talents, i. e. above two millions of our
money. After this sacrilege, Crassus set out on his ex¬
pedition against Parthia, where he perished ; and his
death was by the Jews interpreted as a divine judgment
for bis impiety.
The war between Caesar and Pompey afforded the Jews fa-
Jew's some respite, and likewise an opportunity of in-',ouie^
gratiating themselves with the former, which the art-Ciiesar”
ful Antipater readily embraced. His services were re¬
warded by the emperor. He confirmed Hyrcanus in
his priesthood, added to it the principality of Judea, to
be entailed on his posterity for ever, and restored the
Jewish nation to their ancient rights and privileges ;
ordering at the same time a pillar to be erected, where¬
on all these grants, and his own decree, should be en¬
graved, which was accordingly done y and soon after,
when Caesar himself came into Judea, lie granted liber¬
ty also to fortify the city, and rebuild the wall which
had been demolished by Pompey.
During the lifetime of Caesar, the Jews were so
highly favoured, that they could scarcely be said to feel
the Roman yoke. After his death, however, the na¬
tion fell into great disorders; which were not finally
quelled till Herod, who was created king of Judea by
Mark Antony in 40 B. C. was fully established on the
throne by the taking of Jerusalem by his allies the 22
Romans in 37 C. The immediate consequence ofWei'od
this was another cruel pillage and massacre : then fol-ia*secl
lowed the death of Antigonus the son of Aristobulus,
who had for three years maintained his ground against
Herod, put to death his brother Phasael, and cut off
Hyrcanus’s ears, in order the more effectually to inca¬
pacitate him for the high-priesthood.
I he Jews gained but httle by this change of mas-His tyranny
ters. The new king proved one of the greatest tyrants all^c,’ue^lJ*
mentioned in history. He began his reign with a cruel
persecution of those who had sided with his rival An¬
tigonus ; great numbers of whom he put to death, sei¬
zing and confiscating their effects for his own use.
Nay, such was his jealousy in this last respect, that he
caused guards to be placed at the city'gates, in order
to watch the bodies of those of the Antigonian fac¬
tion who were carried out to be buried, lest some
of their riches should be carried along with them.
His jealousy next prompted him to decoy Hyrcanus,
the banished pontiff, from Parthia, where he had taken
T refuge,
JEW
[ 146 ]
JEW
Jtws.
refuge, that he might put him to death, though con¬
trary to his most solemn promises. His cruelty then
fell upon his own family. He had mai’ried Mariamne,
the daughter of Hyrcanus $ whose brother, Aristohulus,
a young prince of great hopes, was made high priest at
the intercession of his mother Alexandra. But the ty¬
rant, conscious that Aristobulus had a better right to
the kingdom than himself, caused him soon after to be
drowned in a bath. The next victim was his beloved
queen Mariamne herself. Herod had been summoned
to appear first before Mark Antony, and then before
Augustus, in order to clear himself from some crimes
laid to his charge. As he was, however, doubtful of
the event, he left orders that in case he was condemn¬
ed, Mariamne should he put to death. This, together
with the death of her father and brother, gave her such
an aversion for him, that she showed it on all occasions.
By this conduct the tyrant’s resentment was at last so
much inflamed, that having got her falsely accused of
infidelity, she was condemned to die, and executed ac¬
cordingly. She suffered with great resolution ; but
•with her ended all the happiness of her husband. His
love for Mariamne, increased so much after her death,
that for some time he appeared like one quite distract¬
ed. His remorse, however, did not get the better of
his cruelty. The death of Mariamne was soon follow¬
ed by that of her mother Alexandra, and this by the
execution of several other persons who had joined with
her in an attempt to secure the kingdom to the sons of
the deceased queen.
Herod, having now freed himself from the greatest
part of his supposed enemies, began to show a greater
contempt for the Jewish ceremonies than formerly ; and
introduced a number of heathenish games, which made
him odious to his subjects. Ten bold fellows at last
took it into their heads to enter the theatre where the
tyrant was celebrating some games, with daggers con¬
cealed under their clothes, in order* to stab him or some
of his retinue. In case they should miscarry in the
attempt, they had the desperate satisfaction to think,
that, if they perished, the tyrant would be rendered
still more odious by the punishment inflicted on them.
They were not mistaken : for Herod being informed
of their design by one of his spies, and causing the
assassins to be put to a most excruciating death, the
people were so much exasperated against the informer,
that they cut and tore him to pieces, and cast his flesh
to the dogs. Herod tried in vain to discover the au¬
thors of this affront ; but at last having caused some
women to be put to the rack, he extorted from them
the names of the principal persons concerned, whom
lie caused immediately to be put to death, with their
families. This produced such disturbances, that, ap¬
prehending nothing less than a general revolt, he set
about fortifying Jerusalem with several additional
works, rebuilding Samaria, and putting garrisons in¬
to several fortresses in Judea. Notwithstanding this,
however, Herod had shortly after an opportunity of re¬
gaining the affections of his subjects in some mea¬
sure, by his generosity to them during a famine } but
as he soon relapsed into his former cruelty, their love
was again turned into hatred, which continued till his
death.
Herod now, about 23 B. C. began to adorn his
the temple, cities with many stately buildings. The most re-
24
ItebuiJds
markable and magnificent of them all, however, was
the temple at Jerusalem, which he is said to have
raised to a higher pitch of grandeur than even Solo¬
mon himself had done. Ten thousand artificers were
immediately set to work, under the direction of 1000
priests, the best skilled in carving, masonry, &c. all of
whom were kept in constant pay. A thousand carts
were employed in fetching materials j and such a num¬
ber of other hands were employed, that every thing
was got ready within the space of two years. After
this, they set about pulling down the old building,
and rearing up the new one with the same expedition :
so that the holy place, or temple properly so called,
was finished in a year and a half, during which vse
are told that it never rained in the day time, but only
in the night. The remainder was finished in some¬
what more than eight years. The temple, properly
so called, or holy place, was but 60 cubits high, and
as many in breadth j but in the front he added two
wings or shoulders, which projected 20 cubits more on
each side, and which in all made a front of 120 cu¬
bits in length, and as many in height ; with a gate 70
cubits high and 20 in breadth, hut open and without
any doors. The stones were white marble, 25 cubits
in length, 12 in height, and 9 in breadth, all wrought
and polished with exquisite beauty ; the whole resem¬
bling a stately palace, whose middle being considera¬
bly raised above the extremities of each face, made it
afford a beautiful vista at a great distance, to those
who came to the metropolis. Instead of doors, the
gates closed with very costly veils, enriched with a
variety of flowering of gold, silver, purple, and every
thing that was rich and curious j and on each side of
the gates were planted two stately columns, from
whose cornices hung golden festoons and vines, with
their clusters of grapes, leaves, &c. curiously wrought.
The superstructure, however, which was improperly
reared on the old foundation, without sufficient addi¬
tions, proved too heavy, and sunk down about 20 cubits j
so that its height was reduced to 100. This founda¬
tion was of an astonishing strength and height, of which
an account is given under the article .Jerusalem.
rI he platform was a regular square of a stadium or
furlong on each side. Each front of the square had a
spacious gate or entrance, enriched with suitable or¬
naments ; but that on the west had four gates, one of
which led to the palace, another to the city, and the
two others to the suburbs and fields. This inclosure
was surrounded on the outside with a strong and high
wall ol large stones, well cemented, and on the inside
had on each front a stately piazza or gallery, supported
by columns of such a bigness, that three men could but
just embrace them, their circumference being about 17
feet. There were in ail 162 of them, which support¬
ed a cedar cieling of excellent workmanship, and form¬
ed three galleries, the middlemost of which was the
largest and highest, it being 45 feet in breadth and
100 in height, whereas those on each side were but 30
feet wide, and 50 in height.
The piazzas and court were paved with marble of
various colours ; and at a small distance from the gal¬
leries, was a second inclosure, surrounded with a flight
of beautiful marble rails, with stately columns at pro¬
per distances, on which were engraven certain admo¬
nitions in Greek and Latin, to forbid strangers, and
those
JEW [i
those Jews that were not purified, to proceed farther
under pain of death. This inclosure had but one gate
on the east side; none on the west ; but on the north
and south it had three, placed at equal distances from
each other.
A third enclosure surrounded the temple, properly
so called, and the altar of burnt offerings ; and made
what they called the court of the Hebrews or Israelites.
It was square like the rest ; but the wall on the outside
was surrounded by a flight of 14 steps, which hid a
considerable part of it; and on the top was a terrace,
of about 12 cubits in breadth, which went quite round
the whole cincture. The east side had but one gate ;
the west none ; and the north and south four, at equal
distances. Each gate was ascended by five steps more
before one could reach the level of the inward court ;
so that the wall which enclosed it appeared within to
he hut 25 cubits high, though considerably higher
on the outside. On the inside of eacli of these gates
were raised a couple of spacious square chambers,
in form of a pavilion, 30 cubits wide, and 40 in
height, each supported by columns of 12 cubits in cir¬
cumference.
This inclosure had likewise a double flight of gal¬
leries on the inside, supported by a double row of
columns ; but the western side was only one conti¬
nued wall, without gates or galleries. The women
likewise had their particular court separate from that
of the men, and one of the gates on the north and
south leading to it.
The altar of burnt-offerings was likewise high and
spacious, being 40 cubits in breadth, and 15 in height.
The ascent to it was, according to the Mosaic law,
smooth, and without steps ; and the altar of unhewn
stones. It was surrounded at a convenient distance,
with a low wall or rail, which divided the court of
the priests from that of the lay Israelites; so that these
last were allowed to come thus far to bring their offer¬
ings and sacrifices; though none but the priests were
allowed to come within that inclosure.
Herod caused a new dedication of this temple to be
performed with the utmost magnificence, and presented
to it many rich trophies of his former victories, after
the custom of the Jewish monarchs.
This, and many other magnificent works, however,
did not divert the king’s attention from his usual jea¬
lousies and cruelty. His sister Salome, and one of his
sons named Antipater, taking advantage of this dispo¬
sition, prompted him to murder his two sons by Ma-
riamne, named Alexander and Aristobulus, who had
been educated at the court of Augustus in Italy, and
were justly admired by all who saw them. His cruelty
soon after broke out in an impotent attempt to destroy
the Saviour of the world, but which was attended with
no other consequence than the destruction of 2000 in¬
nocent children of his own subjects. His misery was
almost brought to its summit by the discovery of An-
tipater’s designs against himself; who was accord¬
ingly tried and condemned for treason. Something
still more dreadful, however, yet awaited him ; he was
seized with a most loathsome and incurable disease, in
which he was tormented with intolerable pains, so that
his life became a burden. At last he died to the great
joy of the Jews, five days after he had put Antipater to
death, and after having divided his kingdom among his
47 1 J E W
sons in the following manner.—Archelaus had Judea ;
Anti pas, or Herod, was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea ;
and Philip had the regions of Trachonitis, Gaulcn, Ba-
tanea, and Panias, which he erected likewise into a te-
trarchy. Io his sister Salome he gave 30,000 pieces
of money, together with the cities of Jamnia, Azotus,
and Phasaelis ; besides some considerable legacies' to
bis other relations.
The cruelty of this monster accompanied him to
his grave ; nay, lie in a manner carried it beyond the
grave. Being well apprised that the Jews would re¬
joice at being freed from such a tyrant, he bethought
himself of the following infernal stratagem to damp
their mirth. A few days before his death, he sum¬
moned all the heads of the Jews to repair to Jericho
under pain of death ; and, on their arrival, ordered
them all to be shut up in the circus, givino- at the
same time Strict orders to his sister Salome'and her
husband to have all the prisoners butchered as soon as
his breath was gone out. “ By this means (said he),
1 shall not only damp the people’s joy, but secure a real
mourning at my death.” These cruel orders, how¬
ever, were not put in execution. Immediately after .
tne king’s death, Salome went to the Hippodrome,
where the heads of the Jews were detained, caused the
gates to be flung open, and declared to them, that
now the king had no further occasion for their attend¬
ance, and that they might depart to their respective
homes ; after which, and not till then, the news of the
king’s death was published. I umults, seditions, and
insurrections, quickly followed. Archelaus was op-Nevy (im¬
posed by his brethren, and obliged to appear at Rome sion of the
before Augustus, to whom many complaints were k‘ugd°m
brought against him. After hearing both parties, bj'.Ausus‘
the emperor made the following division of the king- ^
dom: Archelaus had one half, under the title of
et/march, or governor of a nation ; together with a
promise that he should have the title of king, as soon
as he showed himself worthy of it. This ethnarchy
contained Judea Propria, Idumea, and Samaria: but
this last was exempted from one-fourth of the taxes
paid by the rest, on account of the peaceable beha¬
viour of the inhabitants during the late tumults. The
remainder was divided between Philip and Herod ;
the former of whom had Trachonitis, Batanea, and
Auracitis, together with a small part of Galilee ; the
latter had the rest of Galilee and the countries be¬
yond the Jordan. Salome had half a million of silver,
together with the cities of Jamnia, Azotus, Phasaelis’
and Ascalon.
For some years Archelaus enjoyed his government
in peace ; but at last, both Jews and Samaritans, tired
out with his tyrannical behaviour, joined in a petition
to Augustus against him. The emperor immediately
summoned him to Rome, where, having heard his ac¬
cusation and defence, he banished him to the city of Archdaus
Vienne in Dauphiny, and confiscated all his eflects.banished,
Judea being by this sentence reduced to a Romanand a a°*
province, was ordered to be taxed : and Cyrenius theman Sove,'“
governor of Syria,_ a man of consular dignity, was pointed
sent thither to see it put in execution : which having over Judea,
done, and sold the palaces of Archclaus, and seized
upon all his treasure, he returned to Antioch, leaving
the Jews in no small ferment on account of this new
tax.
T 2
Thus
JEW [ 148 ] JEW
Jews, Thus were the seeds of dissension sown between the
v—Jews and Romans, which ended in the most lamentable
catastrophe of the former. The Jews, always impatient
of a foreign yoke, knew from their prophecies, that the
time was now come when the Messiah should appear.
Of consequence, as they expected him to be a great and
powerful warrior, their rebellious and seditious spirit
was heightened to the greatest degree ; and they ima¬
gined they had nothing to do hut take up arms, and
victory would immediately declare on their side. From
this time, therefore, the country was never quiet; and
the infatuated people, while they rejected the true Mes¬
siah, gave themselves up to -the direction of every im¬
postor who chose to lead them to their own destruction.
The governors appointed by the Romans were also fre¬
quently changed, but seldom for the better. About the
16th year of Christ, Pontius Pilate was appointed gover¬
nor ; the whole of whose administration, according to
Josephus, was one continued scene of venality, rapine,
tyranny, and every wicked action ; of racking and put¬
ting innocent men to death, untried and uncondemned ;
and of every kind of savage cruelty. Such a governor
was but ill calculated to appease the ferments occasion¬
ed by the late tax. Indeed Pilate was so far from at¬
tempting this, that he greatly inflamed them by taking
every occasion of introducing his standards with images
and pictures, consecrated shields, &c. into their city ;
and at last attempting to drain the treasury ol the tem¬
ple, under pretence of bringing an aqueduct into Jeru¬
salem. The most remarkable transaction of his govern¬
ment, however, was his condemnation of Jesus Christ;
seven years after which he was removed from Judea ;
and in a short time Agrippa, the grandson of Herod die
28 Great, was promoted by Caius to the regal dignity.
Agiippa jje did not> however, long enjoy this honour; for, on
wade k hju com;ng ;nt0 Judea, having raised a persecution
against the Christians, and blasphemously suffering him¬
self to he styled a God by some deputies from Tyre and
Sidon, he was miraculously struck with a disease, which
soon put an end to his life. The sacred historian tells
us, that he was eaten of worms; and Josephus, that he
was seized with most violent pains in his heart and bow¬
els ; so that he could not but reflect on the baseness of
those flatterers, who had but lately complimented him
with a kind of divine immortality, that was now about
to expire in all the torments and agonies of a nuseiable
29 mortal.
The king- Qn the death of Agrippa, Judea was once more
Join again educed to a province of the Roman empire, and^ had
L Unman ° new governors appointed over it. These were \ enti-
provir.ee. dius, Felix, Festus Aibinus, and Gessius FI or us.—
Under their government the Jewish affairs went on
from bad to worse ; the country swarmed with robbers
and assassins ; the latter committing everywhere the
most unheard-of cruelties under the pretence of reli¬
gion ; and about 64 A. C. were joined by 18,000
workmen, who had been employed in further repair¬
ing and beautifying the temple. About this time
also, Gessius Florus, the last and worst governor the
Jews ever had, was sent into the country. Josephus
seems at a loss for words to describe him by, or a
monster to compare him to. His rapines, cruelties,
conniving for large sums with the banditti, and in a
word, his whole behaviour, was so open and bare¬
faced, that he was looked upon by the Jews more like
a bloody executioner, sent to butcher, than a magi- Jews,
strate to govern them. In this distracted state of the —v——^
country, many of the inhabitants forsook it to seek
for an asylum somewhere else; while those who re¬
mained applied themselves to Cestius Galius, governor
of Syria, who was at Jerusalem at the passover ; be¬
seeching him to pity their unhappy state, and free
them from the tyranny of a man who had totally
ruined their country. Florus, who was present when
these complaints were brought against him, made a
mere jest of them ; and Cestius, instead of making a
strict inquiry into his conduct, dismissed the Jews with
a general promise that the governor should behave
better for the future; and set himself about computing
the number of Jews at that time in Jerusalem, by the
number of lambs offered at that festival, that he
might send an account of the whole to Nero. By his
computation, there were at that time in Jerusalem
2,536,000 ; though Josephus thinks they rather amount¬
ed to 3,000,000.
In the year 67 began the fatal war with the Romans, Cause cl"
which was ended only by the destruction of Jerusalem, the
The immediate cause was the decision of a contest v^‘ ^Vl1^
with the Syrians concerning the city of Caesarea. The 1UU1S-
Jews maintained that this city belonged to them, be¬
cause it had been built by Herod ; and the Syrians,
pretended that it had always been reckoned a Greek
city, since even that monarch had reared temples and
statues in it. The contest at last came to such an
height, that both parties took up arms against each
other. Felix put an end to it for a time, by sending
some of the chiefs of each nation to Rome, to plead
their cause before the emperor, where it hang in sus¬
pense till this time, when Nero decided it against the
Jews. No sooner was this decision made public, than
the Jews in all parts of the country flew to arms ;
and though they were everywhere the sufferers, yet,
from this fatal period, their rage never abated. No¬
thing was now to be heard of but robberies, murders,
and every kind of cruelty. Cities and villages were
filled with dead bodies of all ages, even sucking babes. f
The Jews, on their part, spared neither Syrians nor Tlse Jew*
Romans, where they got the better of them ; and this terribly
proved the destruction of great numbers of their peace-»)aiss;acrc^
ful brethren ; 20,000 were massacred at Csesarea*
50,000 at Alexandria, 2000 at Ptolemais, and 3500
at Jerusalem.
A great number of assassins, in the mean time, ha¬
ving joined the factious Jews in Jerusalem, they beat
the Romans out of Antonia, a fortress adjoining to
the temple, and another called Massada ; and likewise
out of the towers called Phasael and Mariamne, kill¬
ing all who opposed them. The Romans were at
last reduced to such straits, that they capitulated on
the single condition that their lives should be spared ;
notwithstanding which, they were all massacred by
the furious zealots; and this treachery was soon re¬
venged on the faithful Jews of Scythopolis. These
had offered to assist in reducing their factious bre¬
thren ; but their sincerity being suspected by the
townsmen, they obliged them to retire into a neigh¬
bouring wood, where, on the third night, they were
massacred to the number of 13,000, and all their
wealth carried off. The rebels, in the mean time,
crossed the Jordan, and took the fortresses of Machserora.
and
JEW [H9] J E W
jov>-. ami Cyprus; which last they razed to the ground,
—v—after having put all the Romans to the swrord.—This
brought Cestius Gallus, the Syrian governor, into
ieatCe&tius^udea with all his forces; but the Jews, partly by
Galium treachery and partly by force, got the better of him,
and drove him out 0? the country with the loss of 5000
men.
All this time such dreadful dissensions reigned a-
mong the Jews, that great numbers of the better sort,
foreseeing the sad effects of the resentment of the Ro¬
mans, left the city as men do a sinking vessel ; and
the Christians, mindful of their Saviour’s prediction,
retired to Pella, a city on the other side of Jordan,
whither the war did not reach. Miserable was the
33 fate of such as either could not, or would not, leave
Vespasian t]evoted city. Vespasian was now ordered to
leave Greece, where he was at that time, and to march
with all speed into Judea. He did so accordingly at
the head of a powerful army, ordering his son Titus
in the mean time to bring two more legions from A-
lexandria ; but before he could reach that country, the
Jews had twice attempted to take the city of Ascalon,
and were each time repulsed With the loss of 10,000
of their number. In the beginning of the year 68,
Vespasian entered Galilee at the head of an army of
60,000 men, all completely armed and excellently
disciplined. He first took and burnt Gadara: then he
laid siege to Jotapa, and took it after a stout resistance;
at which he was so provoked, that he caused every one
of the Jews to be massacred or carried into captivity,
not one being left to carry the dreadful news to their
brethren. Forty thousand perished on this occasion :
only 12CO were made prisoners, among whom was
Josephus the Jewish historian. Japha next shared the
same fate, after an obstinate siege ; all the men being
massacred, and the women and children carried into
captivity- A week after this, the Samaritans, who
had assembled on Mount Gerizzim, were almost ail
put to the sword, or perished. Joppa fell the next
victim to the Roman vengeance. It had been for¬
merly laid waste by Cestius ; but was now repeopled
and fortified by the seditious Jews who infested the
country. It was taken by storm, and shared the same
fate with the rest. Four thousand Jews attempted to
escape by taking to their ships ; but were driven back
by a sudden tempest, and all of them were drowned or
put to the sword. Tarichea and Tiberias were next
taken, but part of their inhabitants were spared on ac¬
count of their peaceable dispositions. Then followed
the sieges of Gamala, Gischala, and Itabyr. The first
was taken by storm, with a dreadful slaughter of the
Jews ; the last by stratagem. The inhabitants of Gis-
cbala were inclinable to surrender : but a seditious
Jew of that town, named John, the son of Levi, head of
the faction, and a vile fellow, opposed it; and, having
the mob at his back, overawed the whole city. On the
sabbath he begged of Titus to forbear hostilities till
to-morrow, and then he would accept his offer ; but
instead of that, he fled to Jerusalem with as many as
would follow him. The Romans, as soon as they
were informed of his flight, pursued, and killed
6ooo of his followers on the road, and brought back
near 3000 women and children prisoners. The inha-
1‘itants then surrendered to Titus;, and only the factious
were punished ; and this completed the reduction of Jews.
Galilee. v1-11 1 '
The Jewish nation by this time was divided into J)U
two very opposite parties : the one foreseeing thatfactions
this war, if continued, must end in the total ruin among the
of their country, were for putting an end to it by sub-Jews,
mitting to the Romans; the other, which was the
remains of the faction of Judas Gaulonites, breathed
nothing but war and confusion, and opposed all peace¬
able measures with invincible obstinacy. This last,
which was by far the most numerous and powerful,
consisted of men of the vilest and most profligate cha¬
racters that can be paralleled in history. They were
proud, ambitious, cruel, rapacious, and committed
the most horrid and unnatural crimes under the mask
of religion. They affirmed everywhere, that it was
offering the greatest dishonour to God to submit to
any earthly potentate ; much less to Romans and to
heathens. This, they said, was the only motive that
induced them to take up arms, and to bind themselves
under the strictest obligations not to lay them down
till they had either totally extirpated all foreign au¬
thority, or perished in the attempt.—This dreadful
dissension was not confined to Jerusalem, but had in¬
fected all the cities, towns, and villages, of Palestine.
Even houses and families were so divided against each
other, that, as our Saviour had expressly foretold, a
man’s greatest enemies were often those of Ins own
family and household. In short, if we may believe
Josephus, the zealots acted more like incarnate devils
than like men who had any sense of humanity left
them.—This obliged the contrary party likewise to
rise up in arms in their own defence against those mis¬
creants ; from whom, however, they suffered much
more than they did even from the exasperated Ro¬
mans.—The zealots began their outrages by murder- Cruelty of
ing all that opposed them in the countries round about.the zealots.
Then they entered Jerusalem ; but met with a stout
opposition from the other party headed by A nanus,
who bad lately been high-priest. A fierce engage¬
ment ensued between them ; and the zealots were dri¬
ven into the inner cincture of the temple, where they
were closely besieged. John of Gischala above-men¬
tioned, who had pretended to side with the peaceable
party, was then sent with terms of accommodation ;
but, instead of advising the besieged to accept of then;,
he persuaded them still to hold out, and call the Idu-
means to their assistance. They did so, and procured
20,000 of them to come to their relief; but these new
allies were refused admittance into the city. On that
night, however, there happened such a violent storm,
accompanied with thunder, lightning, and an earth¬
quake, that the zealots from within the inner court
sawed the bolts and hinges of the temple-gates with¬
out being heard, forced the guards of the besiegers,
sallied into the city, and led in the Idumeans. The
city was instantly filled with butcheries of the most
horrid kind. Barely to put any of the opposite party
to death was thought too mild a punishment ; they
must have the pleasure of murdering them by inches :
so that they made it now their diversion to put them
to the most exquisite tortures that could be invented ;
nor could they be prevailed upon to dispatch them till
the violence of their torments had rendered them
quits
JEW [ 150 ] J E W
Jews, quite incapable of feeling them, In this manner pe-
rished 12,000 persons of noble extraction, and in the
flower of their age 5 till at last the Idumeans com¬
plained so much against the putting such numbers to
death, that the zealots thought proper to erect a kind
of tribunal, which, however, was intended not for
judgment but condemnation: for the judges having
once acquitted a person who was manifestly innocent,
the zealots not only murdered him in the temple, but
deposed the new-created judges as persons unht for
their office.
The zealots, after having exterminated all those of
any character or distinction, began next to wreak their
vengeance on the common people. This obliged many
of the Jews to forsake Jerusalem, and take refuge with
the Romans, though the attempt was very hazardous ;
for the zealots had all the avenues well guarded, and
failed not to put to death such as fell into their hands.
Vespasian in the mean timestaid atCsesareaan idlespec-
tator of their outrages j well knowing that the zealots
-A were fighting for him, and that the strength of the
They turn Jewish nation was gradually wasting away. Every thing
their arm* succeeded to his wish. The zealots, after having mas-
eacirotiier sacre(^ or driven away the opposite party, turned their
’ arms against each other. A party was formed against
John, under one Simon who had his head-quarters at the
fortress of Massada. This new miscreant plundered,
burned, and massacred, wherever he came, carrying the
spoil into the fortress above-mentioned. To increase
his party, he caused a proclamation to be published, by
which he promised liberty to the slaves, and propor¬
tionable encouragement to the freemen who joined
him. This stratagem had the desired effect, and he
soon saw himself at the head of a considerable army.
Not thinking himself, however, as yet master of force
sufficient to besiege Jerusalem, he invaded Idumea with
20,000 men. The Idumeans opposed him with 25,000 ;
and a sharp engagement ensued, in which neither party
was victorious. But Simon, soon after, having corrupted
the Idumean general, got their army delivered up to
him. By this means he easily became master of the
country; where he committed such cruelties, that the
miserable inhabitants abandoned it to seek for shelter in
Jerusalem.
In the city, matters went in the same way. John
tyrannized in such a manner, that the Idumeans re¬
volted, killed a great number of his men, plundered
his palace, and forced him to retire into the temple.
In the mean time the people, having taken a notion
that he would sally out in the night and set fire to
the city, called a council, in which it was resolved to
admit Simon with his troops, in order to oppose John
and his zealots. Simon’s first attempt against his rival,
however, was ineffectual, and he was obliged to con¬
tent himself with besieging the zealots in the temple.
In the mean time, the miseries of the city were in¬
creased by the starting up of a third party headed by
one Eleazar, who seized on the court of the priests,
and kept John confined within that of the Israelites.
Eleazar kept the avenues so well guarded, that none
were admitted to come into that part of the temple
but those who came thither to offer sacrifices j and it
was by these offerings chiefly that he maintained him¬
self and his men. John by this means found himself
hemmed in between two powerful enemies, Simon be¬
low, and Eleazar above. He defended himself, how, ,Tt.w
ever, against them both with great resolution ; and v—
when the city was invested by the Remans, having
pretended to come to an agreement with his rivals,
he found means totally to cut off or force Eleazar’s men
to submit to him, so that the factions were again redu¬
ced to two.
Ibe Romans, in the year 72, began to advance to- The jL,
wards the capital. In their way they destroyed many n,’,ins ad-
tnnnaonric tvo c I-1^ „ * I    , 1 vunsto
thousands, wasting the country as they went alon</- Viince to
and in the year 73 arrived before the walls of Jerusui-Jtnisaltni
lem, under Titus afterwards emperor. As he was a
man of an exceedingly merciful disposition, and greatly
desired to spare the city, he immediately sent offers of
peace; but these were rejected with contempt, and he
himself put in great danger of his life, so that he re¬
solved to begin the siege in form. In theHnean time,
Simon and John renewed their hostilities with greater
fury than ever. John now held the whole temple,
some of the out-parts cf it, and the valley of Cedron!
Simon had the whole city to range in ; in some parts
of which John had made such devastations, that they
served them for a field of battle, from which they
sallied unanimously against the common enemy when¬
ever occasion served ; after which they returned to
ther usual hostilities, turning their arms against each
other, as if they had sworn to make their ruin more
easy to the Romans. These drew still nearer to the
walls, having with great labour and pains levelled all
the ground between Scopas and them, by pulling down
all the houses and hedges, cutting down the trees
and even cleaving the rocks that stood in their wav^
from Scopas to the tomb of Herod, and Bethara
or the pool of serpents ; in which work so many
hands were employed, that they finished it in four
days.
Whilst this was doing, Titus sent the besieged some
r— _ r  1 r * ... Offers of
35
oilers of peace; and Josephus was pitched upon to he
the messenger of them : but they were rejected with Eed^’
indignation. He sent a second time Nicanor and Jo¬
sephus with fresh offers, and the former received a
wound in his shoulder; upon which Titus resolved to
begin the assault in good earnest, and ordered his men
to raze the suburbs, cut down all the trees, and use
the materials to raise platforms against the wall. Every
thing was now carried on with invincible ardour ; the 39
Romans began to play their engines against the city T*ie-Sj*C
with all their might. The Jews had likewise thei^ wiirl0“
machines upon the walls, winch they plied with un-gour.
common fury ; they had taken them lately from Ce-
stius ; but were so ignorant in their use, that they did
little execution with them, till they were better in¬
structed by some Roman deserters: till then, their
chief success was rather owing to their frequent sallies ;
but the Roman legions, who had all their towers and
machines before them, made terrible havock. The least
stones they threw were near 100 weight; and these
they could throw the length of a quarter of a mile
against the city, and with such a force, that they could
do mischief on those that stood at some distance be¬
hind them. Titus had reared three towers 50 cubits
high ; one of which happening to fall in the middle of
the night, greatly alarmed the Roman camp, who im¬
mediately ran to arms at the noise of it; but Titus,
upon knowing the cause, dismissed them, and caused
h
.Tews.
J E W [ i
zt to be set up again. These towers, being plated
with iron, the Jews tried in vain to set fire to them,
but were at length forced to z-etire out of the reach of
their shot : by which the battering-rams were now at
full liberty to play against the wall. A -breach was
soon made in it, at which the Romans entei'ed : and
the Jews, abandoning this last inclosure, retired
behind the next. This happened about the 28th
of April, a fortnight after the beginning of the
siege.
John defended the temple and the castle of Antonia,
and Simon the rest of the city. Titus marched close
to the second wall, and plied his battering-rams so fu¬
riously, that one of the towers, which looked towards
the north, gave a prodigious shake. The men who
were in it, made a signal to the Romans, as if they
would surrender j and at the same time, sent Simon
word to be ready to give them a warm reception.
Titus, having discovered their stratagem, plied his
work more furiously, whilst the Jews that were in the
tower set it on fire, and flung themselv.es into the
flames. The tower being fallen, gave them an en¬
trance into the second enclosure, five days after gain¬
ing the first; and Titus, who was bent on saving the
city, would riot sufl'er any part of the wall or streets to
he demolished j which left the breach and lanes so
narrow, that when his men were furiously repulsed by
Simon, they had not room enough to make a quick
retreat, so that there was a number of them killed in
it. This oversight was quickly rectified j and the at¬
tack renewed with such vigour, that the place was car¬
ried four days after their first repulse,
um aeand The famine, raging in a terrible manner in the city,
estileuce was soon followed by a pestilence ; and as these two
3 lhe city* dreadful judgments increased, so did the rage of the
factious, who by their intestine feuds, had destroyed
such quantities of provisions, that they were forced to
prey upon the people with the most unheard-of cnzelty.
They forced their houses 5 and, if they found any
victuals in them, they butchered them for not appri¬
sing them of it j and, if they found nothing but bare
walls, which was almost everywhere the case, they put
them to the most severe tortures, under pretence that
they had some provision concealed. “ I should (says
Josephus) undertake an impossible task, were I to en¬
ter into a detail of all the cruelties of those impious
wretches $ it will he sufficient to say, that I do not
think, that since the creation any city ever sufl’ered
such dreadful calamities, or abounded with men so
41 fertile in all kinds of wickedness.”
'ffers of Titus, who knew their miserable condition, and was
- re- gtJii willing to spare them, gave them four days to
cool •, during which he caused his army to be muster¬
ed, and provisions to be distributed to them in sight
of the Jews, who flocked upon the walls to see it. Jo¬
sephus was sent to speak to them afresh, and to exhort
them not to run themselves into an inevitable ruin by
obstinately persisting in the defence of a place which
could hold out but a very little while, and which the
Romans looked upon already as their own. But this
stubborn people, after many bitter invectives, began
to dart their arrows at him ; at which, not at all dis¬
couraged, he went on with greater vehemence: but
all the effect it wrought on them was, that it pre¬
vailed on great numbers to steal away privately to the
;i ] JEW
Romans, whilst the rest became only the more despe- jews
rate and resolute to hold out to the last, in spite of —y—
Titus’s merciful offers.
To hasten therefore their destined ruin, he caused
the city to be surrounded with a strong wall, to pre¬
vent either their receiving any succours or provision
from abroad, or their escaping his resentment by flight.
This wall, which was near 40 stadia or five miles in
circuit, was yet carried on with such speed, and by so
many hands, that it was finished in three days j by
which one may guess at the ardour of the besiegers to
make themselves masters of the city.
There was now nothing to be seen through the streets
of Jerusalem but heaps of dead bodies rotting above
ground, walking skeletons, and dying wretches. As
many as were caught by the Romans in their sallies,
Titus caused to be sacrificed in sight of the town, to
strike terror among the rest : but the zealots gave it
out, that they were those who fled to him for protec¬
tion ; which when Titus understood, he sent a prisoner
with his hands cut off to undeceive, and assure them,
that he spared all that voluntarily came over to him ;
which encouraged great numbers to accept his offers,
though the avenues were closely guarded by the factious,
who put all to death who were caught going on that
errand. A greater mischief than that was, that even
those who escaped safe to the Roman camp w^ere mi¬
serably butchered by the soldiers, from a notion which
these had taken that they had swallowed great quan¬
tities of gold j so that two thousand of them were rip¬
ped up in one night, to come at their supposed treasure.
When Titus was apprised of this barbarity, he would
have condemned all those butchering wretches to
death ; but they proved so numerous, that he was forced
to spare them, and contented himself with sending a
proclamation through his camp, that as many as should
be suspected thenceforward of that horrid villany should
he put to immediate death: yet did this not deter
many of them from it, only they did it more privately
than before ; so greedy were they of that bewitching
metal. All this while the defection increased still
more through the inhumanity of the faction within,
who made the miseries and dying groans of their star¬
ving brethren the subject of their cruel mirth, and
carried their barbarity even to the sheathing of their
swords in sport in those poor wretches, under pretence
of trying their sharpness.
When they found therefore that neither their guards
nor severities could prevent the people’s flight, they
had recourse to another stratagem equally impious and
cruel : which was, to hire a pack of vile pretenders to
prophecy, to go about and encourage the despairing
remains of the people to expect a speedy and miracu¬
lous deliverance ; and this imposture proved a gx-eater
expedient with that infatuated nation than their other
precautions. ^
Nothing could be m6re dreadful than the famished Miserable
condition to which they were now reduced. The poor,cont^tl011
having nothing to trust to but the Roman’s mercy oroft,ieJew
a speedy death, ran all hazards to get out of the city}
and if in their flight, and wandering out for herbs "or
any other sustenance, they fell into the hands of any of
Titus’s parties sent about to guard the avenues, they
were unmercifully scourged, and crucified if they made
the least resistance. The rich within the walls were
J E W
[ iS2 ]
J E W
43
A Miotlier
eats her
own child.
44
Titus
swears the
total ruin
of the sity.
now forced, though in the most private manner, to give
half, or all they were worth, for a measure of wheat,
and the middling sort for one of barley. This they
were forced to Convey into some private place in their
houses, and to feed upon it as it was, without daring
to pound or grind it, much less to boil or bake it, lest
the noise or smell should draw the rapacious zealots to
come and tear it from them. Not that these were re¬
duced to any real want of provisions: but they had a
double end in this barbarous plunder ; to wit, the star¬
ving what they cruelly styled all useless persons, and
the keeping their own stores in reserve. It was upon
this sad and pinching juncture, that an unhappy mo¬
ther was reduced to the extremity of butchering and
eating her own child.
When this news was spread through the city, the hor¬
ror and consternation were as universal as they were
inexpressible. It was then that they began to think
themselves forsaken by the Divine Providence, and to
expect the most terrible effects of his anger against the
poor remains of their nation $ insomuch that they be¬
gan to envy those that had perished before them, and
to wish their turn might come before the sad expected
catastrophe. Their fears were but too just •, since Ti¬
tus, at the very first hearing of this inhuman deed,
swore the total extirpation of city and people. “ Since
(said he) they have so often refused my proffers of
pardon, and have preferred war to peace, rebellion to
obedience, and famine, such a dreadful one especially,
to plenty, I am determined to bury that accursed me¬
tropolis" under its ruins, that the sun may never shoot
his beams on a city where the mothers feed on the flesh
of their children, and the fathers, no less guilty than
they, choose to drive them to such extremities, rather
than lay down their arms.”
The dreadful action happened about the end of July,
by which time the Romans, having pursued their at¬
tacks with fresh vigour, made themselves masters of
the fortress Antonia j which obliged the Jews to set
fire to those stately galleries which joined it to the
temple, lest they should afford an easy passage to the
besiegers into this last. About the same time Titus,
with much difficulty, got materials for raising new
mounds and terraces, in order to hasten the siege, and
save, if possible, the sad remains of that once glorious
4S,
John plan.
4ers the
‘ijaiple.
structure 5 but his pity proved still worse and worse
bestowed on those obstinate wretches, who only be¬
came the more furious and desperate by it. Titus at
length caused fire to he set to the gates, alter having
had a very bloody encounter, in which his men were
repulsed with loss. The Jews were so terrified at it,
that they suffered themselves to be devoured by the
flames, without attempting either to ex-tirrguish them
or save themselves. All this while Josephus did not
cease exhorting the infatuated people to surrender, to
represent to them the dreadful consequences of an ob¬
stinate resistance, and to assure them that it was out of
mere compassion to them that he thus hazarded his
own life to save theirs : he received one day such a
wound in his head by a stone from the battlements, as
laid him for dead on the ground. The Jews sallied
out immediately, to have seized on his body : but the
Romans proved too quick and strong for them, and car¬
ried him off.
By this time the two factions within, but especially
5
that of John, having plundered rich and poor of all Jews,
they had, fell also on the treasury of the temple, -v—-
whence John took a great quantity of golden uten¬
sils, together with those magnificent gifts which had
been presented to that sacred place by the Jewish kings,
by Augustus, Livia, and many other foreign princes,
and melted them all to his own use. The repositories
of the sacred oil which was to maintain the lamps, and
of the wine which was reserved to accompany the usual
sacrifices, were likewise seized upon, and turned into
common use ; and the last of this to such excess, as
to make himself and his party drunk with it. All
this while, not only the zealots, but many of the
people, were still under such an infatuation, that though
the fortress Antonia was lost, and nothing left but
the temple, which the Romans were preparing to bat¬
ter down, yet they could not persuade themselves that
God would suffer that holy place to be taken by hea¬
thens, and were still expecting some sudden and mira¬
culous deliverance. Even that vile monster John,
who commanded there, either seemed confident of it,
or else endeavoured to make them think him so. For,
when Josephus was sent for the last time to upbraid
his obstinately exposing that sacred building, and the
miserable remains of God’s people, to sudden and
sure destruction, he only answered him with the bit¬
terest invectives j adding, that he was defending the
Lord’s vineyard, which he was sure could not be taken
by any human force. Josephus in vain reminded him
of the many ways by which he had polluted both city
and temple j and in particular of the seas of blood
which he caused to be shed in both those sacred places,
and which, he assured him from the old prophecies,
were a certain sign and forerunner of their speedy sur¬
render and destruction. John remained as inflexible
as if all the prophets had assured him of a deliverance,
till at length Titus, foreseeing the inevitable ruin of
that stately edifice, which he was still extremely de¬
sirous to save, vouchsafed even himself to speak to
them, and to persuade them to surrender. But the
factious, looking upon this condescension as the ef¬
fects of his fear rather than generosity, only grew the
more furious upon it, and forced him at last to come
to those extremities which he had hitherto endeavour¬
ed to avoid. That his army, which was to attack the
temple, might have the freer passage towards it through
the castle Antonia, he caused a considerable part of
tbe wall to be pulled down and levelled j which proved
so very strong, that it took him up seven whole days,
by which time they were far advanced in the month of
Ju,y- 4tf
It was on the 17th day of that month, as all Jose-The daily
phus’s copies have it, that the daily sacrifice ceased for sacrifice hi
the first time since its restoration by the brave Judasten'uPtc^
Maccabeus, there being no proper person left in the
temple to ofl’er it up. Titus caused the factious to be
severely upbraided for it*, exhorted John to set up
whom he would to perform that office, rather than suf¬
fer the service of God to be set aside ; and then chal¬
lenged him and his party to come out of the temple,
and fight on a more proper ground, and thereby save
that sacred edifice from the fury of the Roman troops.
When nothing could prevail on them, they began to
set fire again to the gallery which formed a communi¬
cation between the temple and the castle Antonia. The
Jews
JEW [ i
Jews.
47
’he gates
f the
emple set
ti fire.
Jews had already burnt about 20 cubits of it in length ;
J but this second blaze, which was likewise eucouraged
by the besieged, consumed about 14 more ; after which,
they beat down what remained standing. On the 27th
of July, the Jews, having filled part of the western por¬
tico with combustible matter, made a kind of flight $
upon which, some of the forwardest of the Romans
having scaled up to the top, the Jews set fire to it,
which flamed with such sudden fury, that many of the
former were consumed in it, and the rest, venturing to
jump down from the battlements, were, all but one,
crushed to death.
On the very next day, Titus having set fire to the
north gallery, which inclosed the outer court of the
temple, from Fort Antonia to the valley of Cedron, got
an easy admittance into it, and forced the besieged in¬
to that of the priests. He tried in vain six days to bat¬
ter down one of the galleries of that precinct with an
helepolis : he was forced to mount his battering-rams
on the terrace, which was raised by this time; and yet
the strength of this wall was such, that it eluded the
force of these also, though others of his troops were
busy in sapping it. When they found that neither
rams nor sapping could gain ground, they bethought
themselves of scaling ; but were vigorously repulsed in
the attempt, with the loss of some standards, and a
number of men. When Titus therefore found that his
desire of saving that building was like to cost so many
lives, he set fire to the gates, which, being plated
with silver, burnt all that night, whilst the metal dropt
down in the melting. The flame soon communicated
itself to the porticoes and galleries $ which the besieged
beheld without offering to stop it, but contented them¬
selves with sending whole volleys of impotent curses
against the Romans. This was done on the 8th of
August j and, on the next day, Titus, having given
orders to extinguish the fire, called a council, to de¬
termine whether the remainder of the temple should
be saved or demolished. That general was still for
the former, and most of the rest declared for the lat¬
ter ; alleging, that it was no longer a temple, but a
scene of war and slaughter, and that the Jews would
never be at rest as long as any part of it was left
standing: but when they found Titus stiffly bent on
preserving so noble an edifice, against which he told
them he could have no quarrel, they all came over
to his mind. The next day, August the 10th, was
therefore determined for a general assault: and the
night before the Jews made two desperate sallies on
the Romans j in the last of which, these, being time¬
ly succoured by Titus, beat them back into their inclo¬
sure.
But whether this last Jewish effort exasperated the
besiegers, or, which is more likely, as Josephus thinks,
pushed by the hand of Providence, one of the Roman
soldiers, of his own accord, took up a blazing fire¬
brand, and, getting on his comrade’s shoulders, threw
it into one of the apartments that surrounded the sanc¬
tuary, through a window. This immediately set the
whole north side in a flame up to the third story, on
the same fatal day and month in which it had been
formerly burnt by Nebuchadnezzar. Titus, who was
gone to rest himself a while in his pavilion, was awaked
at the noise, and ran immediately to give orders to
have the fire extinguished. He called, praved, threat-
Vol. XI. Part I. ' f
S3 1 J E W
ened, and even caned his men, but in vain ; the con- Jews,
fusion was so great, and the soldiers so obstinately bent \
upon destroying all that was left, that he was neither
heard nor minded. Those that flocked thither from
the camp, instead of obeying his orders, were busy, -
either in killing the Jews, or in increasing the flames.
When Titus observed that all his endeavours were
vain, he entered into the sanctuary and the most holy
place, in which he found still such sumptuous uten¬
sils and other riches as even exceeded all that had
been told him of it. Out of the former he saved the
golden candlestick, the table of shew-bread, the altar
of perfumes, all of pure gold, and the book or volume
of the law, wrapped up in a rich gold tissue : but in
the latter he found no utensils, because, in all proba¬
bility, they had not made a fresh ark since that of So¬
lomon had been lost. Upon his coming out of that
sacred place, some other soldiers set fire to it, and obli¬
ged those that had staid behind to come out; they all
fell foul on the plunder of it, tearing even the gold
plating oft’the gates and timber work, and carried oil
all the costly utensils, robes, &c. they found, insomuch
that there was not one of them who did not enrich him¬
self by it. _ 4s
An horrid massacre followed soon after, in which a A Ireadfig
great many thousands perished; some by the flames,massacre.]
others by the fall from the battlements, and a great¬
er number by the enemy’s sword, which destroyed all
it met with, without distinction of age, sex, or qua¬
lity. Among them w'ere upwards of 6000 persons
who had been seduced thither by a false prophet, who
promised them that they should find a speedy and mi¬
raculous relief there on that very day. Some of them
remained five whole days on the top of the walls, and
afterwards threw themselves on the general’s mercy ;
but were answered that they had outstaid the time,
and were led to execution. The Romans carried their
fury to the burning of all the treasure-houses of the
place, though they were full of the richest furniture,
plate, vestments, and other things of value, which had
been laid up in those places for security. In a w'ord,
they did not cease burning and butchering, till they
had destroyed all, except two of the temple-gates, and
that part of the court which was destined for the wo¬
men.
In the mean time the seditious made such a vigor¬
ous push, that they escaped the fury of the Romans,
at least for the present, and retired into the city. But
here they found all the avenues so well guarded, that
there was no possibility left for them to get out; which
obliged them to secure themselves as well as they
could on the south side of it, from whence Simon, and
John of Gischala, sent to desire a parley with Titus.
They were answered, that though they had been the
cause of all this bloodshed and ruin, yet they should
have their lives spared, if they laid down their arms
and surrendered themselves prisoners. To this they
replied, that they had engaged themselves, by the
most solemn oaths, never to surrender; and, therefore,
only begged leave to retire into the mountains with
their wives and children : which insolence so exaspe¬
rated the Roman general, that he caused an herald to
bid them stand to their defence; for that not one of
them should be spared, since they had rejected his last
offers of pardon. Immediately after this, he aban-
U doned
JEW L 154 ] J E Z
Jew-, donee! the city to the fury of the soldiers, who fell
L—v-"—' forthwith on plundering, setting fire everywhere, and
murdering all that fell into their hands ; whilst the
factious, who were left, went and fortified themselves
in the royal palace, where they killed 8000 Jews who
had taken refuge there.
In the mean time, great preparations were making
for a vigorous attack on the upper city, especially on
the royal palace j and this took them up from the
20th of August to the 7th of September, during
which time great numbers came and made their sub¬
mission to Titus. The warlike engines tlfen played so
furiously on the factious, that they were taken with a
sudden panic ; and instead of fleeing to the towers
of Plippicos, Phasael, or Mariamne, which were yet
untaken, and so strong that nothing but famine could
have reduced them, they ran like madmen towards
Siloah, with a design to have attacked the wall of cir-
cumvallation, and to have escaped out of the city ;
but, being there repulsed, they were forced to go and
hide themselves in the public sinks and common sew¬
ers, some one way and some another. All whom the
Romans could find were put to the sword, and the ci¬
ty was set on fire. This was on the eighth of Sep¬
tember, when the city was taken and entered by Ti¬
tus. lie would have put an end to the massacre j but
his men killed all, except the most vigorous, whom
they shut up in the porch of the women just mention¬
ed. Pronto, who had the care of them, reserved the
youngest and most beautiful for Titus’s triumph 5
and sent ail that were above seventeen years of age in¬
to Egypt, to be employed in some public works there ;
and a great number of others were sent into several ci¬
ties of Syria, and other provinces, to be exposed on the
public theatre, to exhibit fights, or he devoured by
wild beasts. The number of those prisoners amounted
10 97,000, besides about 11,000 more, who were either
starved through neglect, or starved themselves through
sullenness and despair.—The whole number of Jews
who perished in this war is computed at upwards of
1,400,000.
Besides these, however, a vast number perished in
caves, woods, wildernesses, common-sewers, &c. of
whom no computation could be made. Whilst the
soldiers were still busy in burning the remains of the
49 city, and visiting all the hiding-places, where they
Simon and killed numbers of poor creatures who had endeavoured
John takeB.^0 ev;u]e their cruelty, the two grand rebels Simon
and John were found, and reserved for the triumph of
the conqueror. John, being pinched with hunger,
soon came out ; and having begged his life, obtained
it •, but was condemned to perpetual imprisonment.
Simon, whose retreat had been better stored, held out
till the end of October. The two chiefs, with 700
of the handsomest Jewish captives, were made to at¬
tend the triumphal chariot ; after which Simon was
dragged through the streets with a rope about his
neck, severely scourged, and then put to death ; and
John was sent into perpetual imprisonment.—Three
castles still remained untaken, namely, Herodion,
Macliaeron, and Massada. The two former capitulat-
Besperate ed but Massada held out. The place was exceedingly
end of the strong both by nature and art, well stored with all
gamson of kinds cf provisions, and defended by a numerous gar-
Maisada. x
rison of zealots, at the head of whom was one Elea- Jtm,
zar, the grandson of Judas Gauloniles, formerly men- Jezides.
tioned. The Roman general having in vain tried his ''T-”-'
engines and battering-rams against it, bethought him¬
self ol surrounding it with a high and strong wall, and
then ordered the gates to be set on fire. The wind
pushed the flames so fiercely against the Jews, that
Eleazar in despair persuaded them first to kill their
wives and children, and then to choose ten men by lot,
who should kill all the rest ; and lastly one out of the
surviving ten to dispatch them and himself j only this
last man was ordered to set fire to the place before he
put an end to his own life. All this was accordingly
done j and on the morrow, when the Homans were pre¬
paring to scale the walls, they were greatly surprised
neither to see nor hear any thing move. On this they
made such an hideous outcry, that two women, who
had concealed themselves in an aqueduct, came forth
and acquainted them with the desperate catastrophe of
the besieged. 51
Thus ended the Jewish nation and worship j nor ®tate
have they ever since been able to regain the smallest
footing in the country of Judea, nor indeed in any degtract;oa
other country on earth, though there is scarce any partoftheit
of the globe where they are not to be found. They«ity.
continue their vain expectations of a Messiali to deli¬
ver them from the low estate into which they are fal¬
len j and, notwithstanding their repeated disappoint¬
ments, there are few who can ever be persuaded to
embrace Christianity. Their ceremonies and religious
worship ought to be taken from the law of Moses 5
but they have added a multitude of absurdities not
worth the inquiring after. In many countries, and in
different ages, they have been terribly massacred, and
in general have been better treated by the Mahome¬
tans and Ragans than by Christians. Since the revi¬
val of arts and learning, however, they have felt the
benefit of that increase of humanity which has diffused
itself almost over the globe. It is said, that in this
country the life of a Jew was formerly at the disposal
of the chief lord where he lived, and likewise all his
goods. So strong also were popular prejudices and su¬
spicions against them, that in the year 1348, a fatal
endemic distemper raging in a great part of Europe,
it was said that they bad poisoned the springs and
wells j in consequence of which a million and a half of
them were cruelly massacred. In 1492, half a million
of them were driven out of Spain, and 150,000 from
Portugal. Edward 1. did the same. In short, they
were everywhere persecuted, oppressed, and most rigo¬
rously treated.
In this enlightened period a more generous system is
followed. France lias allowed them the rights of citi¬
zens which induces numbers of the most wealthy Jews
to fix their residence in that country. Poland granted
them very great privileges and immunities 5 England,
Holland, and Prussia tolerate and protect them ; and
the emperor has revoked some restrictions, for which
an edict was passed : Spain, Portugal, and some of the
Italian states, are still, however, it is said, averse to
their dwelling among them.
JEZIDES, among the Mahometans ; a term of si¬
milar import with heretics among Christians.
The Jezides are a numerous sect inhabiting Turkey
- and
I G L v [i
Jcz’dus and Ptrsia, so called from their head Jezid, an Ara-
fi bian prince, who slew the sons of Ali, Mahomet’s fa-
lsiH,,v' , tlier in law ; for which reason he is reckoned a parri¬
cide, and his followers heretics, There are about
20,000 Jezides in Turkey and Persia j who are of
two sorts, black and white. The white are clad like
Turks ; and distinguished only by their shirts, which
are not slit at the neck like those of others, hut have
only a round hole to thrust their heads through. This
is in memory of a golden ring, or circle of light, which
descended from heaven upon the neck of their cheq,
the head of their religion, after his undergoing a fast
ot forty days. 1 lie black Jezides, though married,
are the monks or religious of the order; and these are
called Fakirs.
The Turks exact excessive taxes from the Jezides,
who hate the Turks as their mortal enemies ; and when,
in their wrath, they curse any creaturq, they call it
tnussuhnan : hut they are great lovers of the Christians,
being more fond of Jesus Christ than of Mahomet, and
are never circumcised but when they are forced to it.
They are extremely ignorant, and believe both the
bible and the koran without reading either of them :
they make vows and pilgrimages, but have no places
of religious worship.
All the adoration they pay to God consists of some
songs in honour of Jesus Christ, the virgin, Moses,
and sometimes Mahomet; and it is a principal point
of their religion never to speak ill of the devil, lest he
should resent the injury, if ever he should come to be
in favour with God again, which they think possible ;
whenever they speak of him, they call him the angel
Peacock. They bury their dead in the first place they
come at, rejoicing as at a festival, and celebrating the
entry of the deceased into heaven. They go in com¬
panies like the Arabians, and change their habitations
every 15 days. When they get wine, they drink it
to excess ; and it is said, that they sometimes do this
with a religious purpose, calling it the blood of Christ.
They buy their wives ; and the market-price is 200
crowns for all women, handsome or not, without dis¬
tinction.
J EZRAEL, or Jezreel, a town in the north of
Samaria, towards Mount Carmel, where stood a palace
of the kings of Israel, (1 Kings xxi. 18.). On the
borders of Galilee (Joshua xix.) said to be one of
the towns of Issachar.—The valley of Jezreel (Judges
vi. 17.) was situated to the north of the town, run¬
ning from west to east for ten miles, between two
mountains; the one to the north, commonly called
Herman, near Mount Tabor ; the other Gilboa: in
breadth two miles.
IF, an island of France, in Provence, and the most
eastern of the three before the harbour of Marseilles.
It is very well fortified, and its port one of the best in
the Mediterranean.
IGIS, a town of the country of the Grisons, in
Caddea, with a magnificent castle, in which is a cabi¬
net of curiosities, and a handsome library ; 23 miles
south-west of Choira, and 23 south of Claris. E. Long.
9. o. N. Lat. 49. xo.
IGLAW, a considerable and populous town of
Germany, in Moravia, where they have a manufactory
ot good cloth, and excellent beer. It is seated on the
55 1 I G N
river Igla, 40 miles west of Brin, and 62 south-east of
Prague, E. Long. 15. 42. N. Lat. 47. 8.
IGNAT I A, a genus of plants, belonging to the
pentandria class. See Botany Index.
IGNAT XUS Loyola, (canonized), the founder
of the well-known order of the Jesuits, was born at
the castle of Loyola, in Biscay, 1491 ; and became
first page to Ierdinand V. king of Spain, and then an
otiicer in his army. In this last capacity, he signalized
himself by his valour; and was wounded in both legs
at the siege ol Pampeluna, in 1521. To this curcum-
stance the Jesuits owe their origin ; for, while he was
under cure of his wound, a Life of the Saints was put
into his hands, which determined him to forsake the
military for the ecclesiastical profession. IIis first de¬
vout exercise was to dedicate himself to the blessed vir¬
gin as her knight: he then went a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land ; and on his return to Europe, be conti¬
nued his theological studies in the universities of Spain,
though he was then 33 years of age. After this he
went to Paris; and in I'ranee laid the foundation of
this new order, the institutes of which he presented
to Pope Paul III. who made many objections to them,
hut at last in 1540 confirmed the institution. The
founder died in 1553, and left his disciples two famous
books ; 1. Spiritual exercises ; 2. Constitutions or rules
of the order. But it must be remembered, that though
these avowed institutes contain many privileges ob¬
noxious to the welfare of society, the most diabolical
are contained in the private rules, intitled Monitasecre-
ta, which were not discovered till towards the close of
the last century; and most writers attribute these, and
even the Constitutions, to Laynez, the second general
of the order.
Ignatius, St, surnamed Theophrastus, one of the
apostolical fathers of the church, was born in Syria,
and educated under the apostle and evangelist St John,
and intimately acquainted with some other of the
apostles, especially St Peter and St Paul. Being fully
instructed in the doctrines of Christianity, he was, for
his eminent parts and piety, ordained by St John, and
confirmed about the year 67 bishop of Antioch, by
these two apostles, who first planted Christianity in that
city, where the disciples also were first called Christians.
Antioch was then not only the metropolis of Syria,
but a city the most famous and renowned of any in the
east, and the ancient seat of the Roman emperors, as
well as of the viceroys and governors. In this impor¬
tant seat he continued to sit somewhat above 40 years,
both an honour and safeguard of the Christian reli¬
gion, till the year 107, when Trajan the emperor,
flushed with a victory which he had lately obtained
oyer the Scythians and Daci, about the ninth year of
his reign,^ came to Antioch to make preparations for
a war against the Parthians and Armenians. He en¬
tered the city with the pomp and solemnities of a tri¬
umph ; and, as his first care usually was about the con¬
cernments of religion, he began presently to inquire
into that affair. Christianity had by this time made
such a progi ess, that the Romans grew jealous and
uneasy at it. This prince, therefore, had already
commenced a persecution against the Christians in
other parts of the empire, which he now resolved to
carry on here. However, as he was naturally of a
F 2 mild
I G N [I;
miKl disposition, though he ordered the laws to be put
■' in force against them if convicted, yet he forbade them
to he sought after.
In this state of affairs, Ignatius, thinking it more
prudent to go himself than stay to be sent for, of his
own accord presented himself to the emperor 5 and, it
is said, there passed a long and particular discourse be¬
tween them, wherein the emperor expressing a surprise
how he dared to trangress the laws, the bishop took
the opportunity to assert his own innocency, and to
explain and vindicate his faith and freedom. rLhe is¬
sue of this was, that he was cast into prison, and this
sentence passed upon him, That, being incurably over¬
run with superstition, he should be carried hound by
soldiers to Home, and there thrown as a prey to wild
beasts.
He was first conducted to Seleucia, a port of Syria,
ajt about 16 miles distance, the place where Paul and
Barnabas set sail for Cyprus. Arriving at Smyrna in
Ionia, he went to visit Polycarp bishop of that place,
and was himself visited by the clergy of the Asian
churches round the country. In return for that kind¬
ness, he wrote letters to several churches, as the Ephe¬
sians, Magnesians, and Trallians, besides the Homans,
for their instruction and establishment in the faith ; one
of these was addressed to the Christians at Home, to
acquaint them with his present state, and passionate de¬
sire not to be hindered in the course of martyrdom
which he was now hastening to accomplish.
His guard, a little impatient of their stay, set sail
with him for Troas, a noted city of the lesser Phry¬
gia, not far from the ruins of old Troy j where, at
bis arrival, be was much refreshed with the news he
received of the persecution ceasing in the church of
Antioch: hither also several churches sent their mes¬
sengers to pay their respects to him $ and hence too he
dispatched two epistles, one to the church of Phila¬
delphia, and the other to that of Smyrna-, and, to¬
gether with this last, as Eusebius relates, he wrote pri¬
vately to Polycarp, recommending to him the care and
inspection of the church of Antioch.
From Troas they sailed to Neapolis, a maritime
town in Macedonia; thence to Philippi, a Roman co¬
lony, where they were entertained with all imaginable
kindness and courtesy, and conducted forwards on their
journey, passing on foot througu Macedonia and Epi¬
rus, till they came to Epidamnium, a city of Dalma¬
tia : where again taking shipping, they sailed through
the Adriatic, and arrived at Rhegium, a port-town in
Italy ; directing their course thence through the Tyr¬
rhenian sea to Puteoli, whence Ignatius uesired to
proceed by land, ambitious to trace the same way by
which St Paul went to Rome: but this wish was not
complied with ; and, after a stay of 24 hours, a pros¬
perous wind quickly carried them to the Roman port,
the great harbour and station for their navy, built
near Ostia, at the mouth of the Tyber, about 16 miles
from Rome j whither the martyr longed to come, as
much desirous to be at the end of his race, as his
keepers, weary of their voyage, were to be at the end
of their journey. v . .
The Christians at Rome, daily expecting his arrival,
were come out to meet and entertain him, and accor¬
dingly received him with a mixture of joy and sorrow j
but when some of them intimated, that possibly the
3
6 ] T G N
populace might be taken off from desiring his death, j^n n-as
he expressed a pious indignation, intreating them to Ignis-
cast no rubs in his way, nor do any thing that might faUr,i*-
hinder him, now he was hastening to his crown. There v
are many such expressions as this in his epistle to the
Romans, which plainly show that he was highly am¬
bitious nf the crown of martyrdom. Yet it does not
appear that he rashly sought or provoked danger. As
mong other expressions of his ardour for suffering, he
said, that the wild beasts had feared and refused to
touch some that had been thrown to them, which he
hoped would not happen to him. Being conducted
to Rome, he was presented to the praefect, and the
emperor’s letters probably delivered concerning him.
The interval before his martyrdom was spent in pray¬
ers for the peace and prosperity of the church. That
his punishment might be the more pompous and pub¬
lic, one of their solemn festivals, the time of their Sa¬
turnalia, and that part of it when they celebrated their
Sigillaria, was pitched on for his execution; at which
time it was their custom to entertain the people with
the bloody conflicts of gladiators, and the hunting and
fighting with wild beasts. Accordingly, on the 13th
kal. January, i. e. December 20. he was brought out
into the amphitheatre, and the lions being let loose
upon him, quickly dispatched their meal, leaving no¬
thing but a few of the hardest of his bones. These
remains were gathered up by two deacons who had
been the companions of his journey ; and being trans¬
ported to Antioch, were interred in the cemetery,
without the gate that leads to Daphne ; whence, by
the command of the emperor Theodosius, they were
removed with great pomp and solemnity to the Ty-
cheon, a temple within the city, dedicated to the pub¬
lic genius of it, but now consecrated to the memory of
the martyr.
St Ignatius stands at the head of those Antinicene
fathers, who have occasionally delivered their opinions
in defence of the true divinity of Christ, whom he calls
the Son of God, and his eternal word. He is also reck¬
oned the great champion of the doctrine of the epis¬
copal order, as distinct and superior to that of priest
and deacon. And one, the most important, use of his
writings respects the authenticity of the Holy Scrip¬
tures, which he frequently alludes to, in the very ex¬
pressions as they stand at this day.—Archbishop Ush¬
er’s edition of his works, printed in 1647, *s thought
the best: yet there is a fresher edition extant at Am¬
sterdam, where, besides the best notes, there are the
dissertations of Usher and Pearson.
St Ignatius's Bean, the fruit of a plant. See Igna-
tia, Botany Index.
IGNIS-fatuus, a kind of light, supposed to be of
an electric nature, appearing frequently in mines,
marshy places, and near stagnating waters. It was
formerly thought, and is still by the superstitious
believed, to have something ominous in its nature,
and to presage death and other misfortunes. There
have been instances of people being decoyed by these
lights into marshy places, where they have perished ;
whence the names of Ignisfatuus, Will- with-a-w isp,
and Jack-with-a-kmthorn, as if this appearance were
an evil spirit which took delight in doing mischief
of that kind. The general opinion is, that this light is
owing to the decomposition of animal or vegetable mat¬
ters,.
r g n
I-uis- ters» or to the evolution of gases which spontaneously
fatuus inflame in the atmosphere.
11 IGNITION, properly signifies the setting fire to
tgnoranee. any substance j the sense is sometimes limited to that
' kind of burning which is not accompanied with flame,
such as that of charcoal, cinders, metals, stones, and
other solid substances. The effects of ignition, according
to the old chemical doctrine, are first to dissipate what
is called \\\e phlogiston of the ignited substance, after
which it is reduced to ashes. Vitrification next fol¬
lows ; and, lastly, the substance is totally dissipated in
vapour. All these effects, however, depend on the
presence of the air 5 for in vacuo the phlogiston of any
substance cannot be dissipated. Neither can a body
which is totally destitute of phlogiston be ignited in
such a manner as those which are not deprived of it:
for as long as the phlogiston remains, the heat is kept
up in the body by the action of the external air upon
it ; but when the phlogiston is totally gone, the air
always destroys, instead of augmenting, the heat. But
for the explanation of the phenomena of ignition, ac¬
cording to the views of modern chemistry, see Combus¬
tion, Chemistry Index.
IGNOBILES, amongst the Romans, was the desig¬
nation of such persons as had no right of using pictures
and statues. See Jus Imaginis.
IGNOMINIA, a species of punishment amongst the
Romans, whereby the offender suffered public shame,
either by virtue of the praetor’s edict, or by order of
the censor. This punishment, besides the scandal, de¬
prived the party of the privilege of bearing any offices,
and almost all other liberties of a Roman citizen.
IGNORAMUS, in Law, is a word properly used
by the grand inquest empannelled in the inquisition
of causes criminal and public, and written upon the
bill, whereby any crime is offered to their consideration,
when, as they mislike their evidence as defective or too
weak to make good the'presentment j the effect of
which word so written is, that all farther inquiry upon
that party for that fault is thereby stopped, and he
delivered without farther answer. It hath a resem¬
blance with that custom of the ancient Romans, where
the judges, when they absolved a person accused, did
write A. upon a little table provided for that pur¬
pose, i. e. ahsolvimus; if they judged him guilty,
they wrote C. i. e. condemnamus; if they found the
c-ause difficult and doubtful, they wrote N. L. i. e. non
liquet.
IGNORANCE, the privation or absence of know¬
ledge. The causes of ignorance, according to Locke,
are chiefly these three. I. Want of ideas. 2. Want
of a discoverable connexion between the ideas we have.
3. Want of tracing and examining our ideas. See Me¬
taphysics.
Ignorance, in a more particular sense, is used to
desote illiteracy. Previous to the taking of Rome by
the Gauls, such gross ignorance prevailed among the
Romans that few of the citizens could read or write, and
the alphabet was almost unknown. During three ages
there were no public schools, but the little learning their
children had was taught them by their parents; and how
little that was may be partly concluded from this circum¬
stance, that a nail was annually driven into the wall of
the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, on the 15th of Sep¬
tember, to assist the ignorance of the people in reckon-
J I B
ing the years, because they were unacquainted with Ignorance
letters or figures. The driving of the nail was after- {]
wards converted into a religious ceremony, and per- ;
formed by the dictator, to avert public calamities. w,“'v
Ignorance, or mistake, in Law, a defect of will,
whereby a person is excused from the guilt of a crime,
when, intending to do a lawful act. be does that which
is unlawful. For here the deed and the will acting
separately, there is not that conjunction between them
which is necessary to form a criminal act. But this
must be an ignorance or mistake of fact, and not an
error in point of law. As if a man intending to kill
a thief or house-breaker in his own house, by mistake
kills one of his own family, this is no criminal action :
but if a man thinks he has a right to kill a person
excommunicated or outlawed wherever he meets him,
and does so ; this is wilful murder. For a mistake in
point of law, which every person of discretion not
only may, but is bound and presumed to know, is, in
criminal cases, no sort of defence. Ignorantia juris
quod quisque tenetur scire, neminem excusat, is as well
the maxim of our own law as it was of the Roman.
IGUANA, a species of Lacerta. See Erpeto
LOGY Index.
Mud Iguana, a species of fish. See.- Muraina,
Ichthyology Index.
IHOR, Johor, or Jor, a town of Asia, in Ma¬
lacca, and capital of a province of the same name in
the peninsula beyond the Ganges. It was taken by
the Portuguese in 1603, who destroyed it, and car¬
ried off the cannon; but it has since been rebuilt, and
was afterwards in possession of the Dutch. E. Long.
93* 55* N-Lat. 1. I5._
JIB, the foremost sail of a ship, being a large stay¬
sail extended from the outer end of the bowsprit pro¬
longed by the jib-boom, towards the fore-top mast
head. See Sail.
The jib is a sail of great command with any side¬
wind, but especially when the ship is close hauled, or
has the wind upon her beam; and its effort in casting
the ship, or turning her head to leeward, is very
powerful and of great utility, particularly when the
ship is working through a narrow channel.
Iiu-Boom, a boom run out from the extremity of
the bowsprit, parallel to its length, and serving to ex¬
tend the bottom of the jib, and the stay of the fore-
top-gallant mast. This boom, which is nothing more
than a continuation of the bowsprit forward, to which
it may be considered as a top-mast, is usually attached
to the bowsprit, by means of two large boom-irons, or
by one boom-iron, and a cap on the outer end of the
bowsprit; or, finally, by the cap without and a strong
lashing within, instead of a boom-iron, which is gene¬
rally the method of securing it in small merchant
ships. It may therefore be drawn in upon the bow¬
sprit as occasion requires ; which is usually practised
when the ship enters a harbour, where it might very
soon be broken or carried away, by the vessels which
are moored therein, or passing by under sail.
JIBBEL or Gebbel Aurey, the Mons Aurasius
of the middle age, an assemblage of many very rocky
mountains in Africa, in the kingdom of Algiers. Here
Mr Bruce met with a race of people much fairer in the
complexion than any of the nations to the southward of
Britain : their hair was red, and their eyes blue : they
maintain
[ 157 ]
JIB L 158 ] JIG
Jihljei maintain their independence, and arc of a savage dis-
Aurey, position, so that our traveller found it difficult to ap-
lidga. proach them with safety. They are called Neardia ;
and each of them has a Greek cross in the middle be¬
tween the eyes, marked with antimony. They are
divided into tribes, but, unlike the other Arabs, have
huts in the mountains built of mud and straw •, and
are, by our author, supposed to be a remnant of the
Vandals. He even thinks that they may be descended
from the remainder of an army of Vandals mentioned
by Procopius, which was defeated among these moun¬
tains. They live in perpetual war with the Moors,
and boast that their ancestors were Christians. They
pay no taxes.
JIDDA, a town of Arabia, situated, according to
Mr Bruce, in N. Lat. 28® o' 1", E. Long. 390 16' $$",
while others make it 21° 28', and E. Long. 39® 22'.
It is situated in a very unwholesome, barren, and de¬
sert part of the country. Immediately without the gate
to the eastward is a desert plain filled with the huts of
the Bedoweens or. country Arabs, built of long bundles
of spartum or bent-grass put together like fascines.
These people supply the town with milk and butter.
“ There is no stirring out of the town (says Mr Bruce)
even for a walk, unless for about half a mile on the
south side by the sea, where there is a number of stink¬
ing pools of stagnant water, ■which contributes to make
the town very unwholesome.”
From the disagreeable and inconvenient situation of
this port, it is probable, that it would have been long
ago abandoned, had it not been for its vicinity to
Mecca, and the vast annual influx of wealth occasioned
by the India trade j which, however, does not continue,
but passes on to Mecca, whence it is dispersed all over
the east. The town of Jidda itself receives but little
advantage, for all the customs ai’e immediately sent to
the needy and rapacious sheriff of Mecca and his de¬
pendents. “ The gold (says Mr Bruce) is returned
in bags and boxes, and passes on as rapidly to the
ships as the goods do to the market, and leaves as
little profit behind. In the mean time provisions rise
to a prodigious price, and this falls upon the towns¬
men, while all the profit of the traffic is in the hands
of strangers j most of whom, after the market is over
(which does not last six weeks) retire to Yemen and
other neighbouring countries, which abound in every
sort of provision.”
From this scarcity, Mr Bruce supposes it is, that
polygamy is less common here than in any other part
of Arabia. “ Few of the inhabitants of Jidda (says
our author) can avail themselves of the privilege grant¬
ed by Mahomet. He cannot marry more than one
wife, because he cannot maintain more j and from this
cause arises the want of people and the number of un¬
married women.”
The trade at Jidda is carried on in a manner which
appeared very strange to our traveller. “ Nine ships
(says he) were there from India $ some of them worth
I suppose 200,000!. One merchant, a Turk, living
at Mecca, 30 hours journey off, where no Christian
dares go, whilst the continent is open to the Turk for
escape, offers to purchase the cargoes of four out of
these nine ships himself; another of the same cast
comes and says he will buy none unless he has them
all. The samples are shown, and the cargoes of the
whole nine ships are carried into the wildest parts of Jjd
Arabia by men with whom one would not wish to Ji
trust himself alone in the field. This is not ail ; two
India brokers come into the room to settle the price ;
one on the part of the India captain, the other on
that of the buyer the Turk. They are neither Ma¬
hometans nor Christians, hut have credit with both.
They sit down on the carpet, and take an India shawl
which they carry on their shoulder like a napkin, and
spread it over their hands. They talk in the mean time
indifferent conversation, as if they were employed in
no serious business whatever. After about 20 minutes
spent in handling,each others fingers below the shawl,
the bargain is concluded, say for nine ships, without
one word ever having been spoken on the subject, or
pen or ink used in any shape whatever. There never
was one instance of a dispute happening in these sales.
But this is not all ; the money is yet to be paid. A
private Moor, who has nothing to support him but
bis character, becomes responsible for the payment of
these cargoes. This man delivers a number of coarse
hempen bags full of what is supposed to be money.
He marks the contents upon the bag, and puts his
seal upon the string that ties the mouth of it. This is
received for what is marked upon it without any one
ever having opened one of the hags *, and in India it is
current for the value marked upon it as long as thu
bag lasts.
The port of Jidda is very extensive, and contains
numberless shoals, small islands, and sunk rocks, with
deep channels, however, between them ", hut in the
harbour itself ships may ride secure, whatever wind
blows. The only danger is in the coming in or going
out} but as the pilots are very skilful, accidents are
never known to happen. The charts of this harbour,
as Mr Bruce informs us, are exceedingly erroneous.
While he staid here, he was desired by Captain
Thornhill to make a new chart of the harbour j but
finding that it had been undertaken by another gentle¬
man, Captain Newland, he dropped it. He argues in
the strongest terms against the old maps, which he says
can be of no use, but the contrary j and he gives it
as a characteristic of the Red sea, “ scarce to have
soundings in any part of the channel, and often on
both sides j whilst ashore, soundings are hardly found
a boat length from the main. To this, says he, I will
add, that there is scarce one island on which I ever
was, where the bowsprit was not over the land, while
there were no soundings by a line heaved over the
stern. Of all the vessels in Jidda, only two had
their log-lines properly divided, and yet all were
so fond of their supposed accuracy, as to aver they
had kept their course within five leagues between In¬
dia and Babelmandel. Yet they had made no estima¬
tion of the currents without the straits, nor the different
very strong ones soon after passing Socotra ; their half-
minute glasses, upon a medium, ran 57 seconds j they
had made no observations on the tides or currents in
the Red sea, either in the channel or in the inward
passage $ yet there is delineated in this map a course of
Captain Newland’s, which he kept in the middle of
the channel, full of sharp angles and short stretches;
you would think every yard was measured and sound¬
ed !”
JIG. See Music, N® 252.
JILLIFREE,
11a.
I L A t x
JillilVee JILLIFREE, a town on the northern bank of the
river Gambia, opposite to James’s island, where the
English had formerly a small port. The kingdom of
Barra, in which it is situated, produces abundance of
the necessaries of life-, but the chief trade of the inha¬
bitants is in salt, which they carry up the river in ca¬
noes; and, in return, bring down Indian corn, cotton*
cloths, elephants teeth, small quantities of gold dust,
&c. The number of canoes and people continually
employed in this trade, make the king of Barra, ac¬
cording to Mr Park, more formidable to Europeans,
than any other chieftain on the river, and have encou¬
raged him to establish those extravagant duties, which
traders of all nations are obliged to pay at entry, a-
mounting almost to 2ol. on each vessel, great and small.
These duties are commonly collected in person by the
governor of Jillifree, who is attended by a troublesome
train of dependants, who have some knowledge of the
English language, in consequence of their intercourse
with them, and beg with such importunity, that traders
are often under the necessity of complying with their
demands, in order to get rid of them. N. Lat. 13. 16.
W. Lon g. 16. 10. from Greenwich.
JIN. See Genii.
1KENILD STREET, one of the four famous ways
which the Romans made in England, called Stratum
Lccnorum, because it began in the country of the Iceni,
who inhabited Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire.
ILA, Ilat, or Isla, one of the chief of the Hebrides
or Western isles of Scotland, lying to the west of Jura,
from which it is separated by a narrow channel. It ex¬
tends 24 miles in length from north to south, and is
18 in breadth from east to west. On the east side there
are many lofty sterile mountains 5 but in the interior,
and to the southward and westward, the land is in good
cultivation. A great body of limestone of a bluish co¬
lour, lying in the middle part of the island, stretches al¬
most through its whole length, and is now extensively
employed for the purposes of manure. Marl, which
is also abundant, is applied to the same use. Lead-ore
has been dug out in several places, and at so early a
period as the time of the Danes. The principal har¬
bour in Is!a is at Lochindaal, but there are several
others which are safe and commodious. Here are seve¬
ral rivers and lakes well stored with trout, eels and
salmon. In the centre is Loch Finlagan, about three
miles in circuit, with the little isle of that name in the
middle. Here the great lord of the Isles once resided
in all the pomp of royalty ; but his palaces and offices
are now in ruins. Instead of a throne, Macdonald
stood on a stone seven feet square, in which there was
an impression made to receive his feet j here he was
crowned and anointed by the bishop of Argyle and
seven inferior priests, in presence of the chieftains.
I his stone still exists. The ceremony (after the new
lord had collected his kindred and vassals) was truly
patriarchal. After putting on his armour, his helmet
and his sword, he took an oath to rule as his ancestors
59 I ILA
had done ; that is, to govern as a father would his
children : his people in return swore that they would
pay the same obedience to him as children would to
their parent. The dominions of this potentate, about
the year 1586, consisted only of Hay, Jura, Knap-
dale, and Cantyre : so reduced were they from what
they had been before the deprivation of the great earl
of Ross in the reign of James III. Near this is
another little isle, where he assembled his council, Ila7i
na Corlle, or “ the island of council 5” where 13
judges constantly sat to decide differences among his
subjects; and received for their trouble the nth part
of the value ot the affair tried before them. In the
first island were buried the wives and children of the
lords of the Isles; but their own persons were deposited
in the more sacred ground of Iona. On the shores of
the lake are some marks of the quarters of his Carnauch
and Gilli-glassBS, “ the military of the isles;” the first
signifying a strong man, the last a grim-looking fellow.
I he first were light-armed, and fought with darts
and daggers ; the last with sharp hatchets. These are
the troops that Shakespeare alludes to, when he speaks
of a Donald, who
——   -From the Western isles
Of Kernes and Gallow-glasses was supplied.
Besides those already mentioned, the lords bad a house
and chapel at Lagan, on the south side of Lochin¬
daal : a strong castle on a rock in the sea, at Dung*
walk, at the south-east end of the country ; for they
made this island their residence after their expulsion
from that of Man in 1304—There is a tradition, that
while the isle of Man was part of the kingdom of the
Isles, the rents were for a time paid in this country:
those in silver were paid on a rock, still called Crcig-
a-nione, or “ the rock of the silver rentthe other,
Creg-a-nairgid, or “ the rock of rents in kind.” These
lie opposite to each other, at the mouth of a harbour
on the south side of this island. T here aie several
forts built on the isles in fresh water lakes, and divers
caverns in different parts of the island, which have
been used occasionally as places of strength. The
island is divided into four parishes, viz. Kildalton,
Kiharow, Kilchoman, and Kilmenie. The produce is
corn of different kinds ; such as bear, which sometim**
yields eleven fold ; and oats six fold. Much flax is
raised here, and about 2000!. worth sold out of the
island in yarn, which might better be manufactured
on the spot, to give employ to the poor natives. Not¬
withstanding the excellence of the land, above 1000I.
worth of meal is annually imported (a). Ale is fre¬
quently made in this island of the young tops of heath,
mixing two-thirds cf that plant with one of malt,
sometimes adding hops. Boethius relates, that this
liquor was much used among the Piets; hut when that
nation was extirpated by the Scots, the secret of ma¬
king it perished with them. Numbers of cattle are
bred here, and about 1700 are annually exported at
the
Jla.
so !ol bim,g ? • ,CaSe. in the t,,me of Pennant> from whom the above account is taken. It is not
beina not nnl0vUS1 16laS ,ncreasecI ^nearly I2>000. jsla intjeed enjoys the peculiar advantages of
of miluL T! graZ,tS 3 Tn C°Untry’ anJd-Can tllU3 afford a very considerable exportation of both species
ptoduce. I he number of cattle now exported far exceeds that stated above by Pennant.
* Voyage
to the He¬
brides, ii.
I L A [ 160 ] I L C
the price of 50 shillings each. Ihe island is often
overstocked, and numbers die in March for want of
fodder. None but milch-cows are housed : cattle of
all other kinds, except the saddle-horses, run out du¬
ring winter.
The number of inhabitahts, when Islay was visited by
Pennant, is computed to have been between seven and
eight thousand. About 700, says he, are employed in
the mines and in the fishery: the rest are gentleman-
farniers, and subtenants or servants. The women spin.
The servants are paid in kind ; the sixth part of the
crop. They have houses gratis $ the master gives
them the seed for the first year, and lends them horses
to plough annually the land annexed.
The quadrupeds of this island, as enumerated by
Mr Pennant*, are stots, weesels, otters, and hares :
the last small, dark-coloured, and bad runners. The
birds are eagles, peregrine falcons, black and red game,
and a very few ptarmigans. Red-breasted goosanders
breed on the shore among the loose stones, wild geese
in the moors, and herons in the island in Loch-guirm.
The fish are plaise, smeardab, large dabs, mullets, bal-
Jau, lump-fish, black goby, greater dragonet, and that
rare fish the lepadogaster of M. Gouan. Vipers swarm
in the heath : the natives retain the vulgar error of
their stinging with their forked tongues (b) ; that a
sword on which the poison has fallen will hiss in water
like a red-hot iron ; and that a poultice of human or¬
dure is an infallible cure for the bite.
In this island, Mr Pennant informs us, several an¬
cient diversions and superstitions are still preserved: the
last indeed are almost extinct, or at most lurk only a-
naongst the very meanest of the people. The late-
wakes or funerals, like those of the Romans, were at¬
tended with sports, and dramatic entertainments com¬
posed of many parts, and the actors often changed their
dresses suitably to their characters. The subject ot the
drama was historical, and preserved by memory.—The
power of fascination is as strongly believed here as it
was by the shepherds of Italy in times of old.
Nescio quis teneros oculis mihi fascinat agnos ?
But here the power of the evil eye affects more the
milch-cows than lambs. If the good housewife per¬
ceives the effect of the malicious on any of her kine,
she takes as much milk as she can drain from the en¬
chanted herd (for the witch commonly leaves very
little). She then boils it with certain herbs, and adds
to them flints and untempered steel j after that she
secures the door, and invokes the three sacred persons.
This puts the witch into such an agony, that she comes
nilling-willing to the house, begs to be admitted, to
obtain relief by touching the powerful pot: the good
woman then makes her terms 5 the witch restores the
milk to the cattle, and in return is freed from her
pains. But sometimes, to save the trouble of those
charms (for it may happen that the disorder may arise
from other causes than an evil-eye), the trial is made
by immerging in milk a certain herb, and if the cows
are supernaturally affected, it instantly distils blood.
The unsuccessful lover revenges himself on his happy
rival by charms potent as those of the shepherd Al* l!?.,
phesibseus, and exactly similar : Ikhester
Nccte tribus nodis terncs, Amarylli, colores:
Necte, Amarylli, modo.
Donald takes three threads of different hues, and
ties three knots on each, three times imprecating the
most cruel disappointments on the nuptial bed : but
the bridegroom, to avert the harm, stands at the altar
with an untied shoe, and puts a sixpence beneath his
foot.
History furnishes very few materials for the great
events or revolutions of Bay. It seems to have been
long a seat of empire, probably jointly with the isle of
Man, as being most conveniently situated for the go¬
vernment of the rest of the Hebrides ; for Crovan the
Norwegian, after his conquest of that island in 1066,
retired and finished his days in Hay. There are more
Danish or Norwegian names of places in this island
than any other : almost all the present farms derive
their titles from them j such as Persibus, Torridale,
Torribolse, and the like. On the retreat of the Danes
it became the seat of their successors the lords of the
isles ; and continued, after their power was broken, in
the reign of James III. in their descendants the Mac¬
donalds, who held or ought to have held it from the
crown. It was in the possession of a Sir James Mac¬
donald, in the year 1598, the same who won the
battle of Traii-dhruinard. His power gave umbrage
to James VI. who directed the lord of Macleod,
Cameron of Lochiel, and the Macneiles of Barra,
to support the Macleans in another invasion. The ri¬
val parties met near the hill of Benbigger, east of Kil-
larow } a fierce engagement ensued, and the Macdo¬
nalds were defeated and almost entirely cut off. Sir
James escaped to Spain $ but returned in 1620, was
pardoned, received a pension, and died the same year
at Glasgow , and in him expired the last of the great
Macdonalds. But the king, irritated by the distur¬
bances raised by private wars waged between these and
other clans, resumed the grant made by his predeces¬
sor, and transferred it to Sir John Campbell of Calder,
who held it on paying an annual feu-duty of five hun¬
dred pounds sterling, which is paid to this day. The
island was granted to Sir John as a reward for his
undertaking the conquest : but the family considered
it as a dear acquisition, by the loss of many gallant
followers, and by the expences incurred in support
of it.
ILCHESTER, a town of Somersetshire in Eng¬
land, seated on the river Yeovil, 129 miles from London,
is so called, because it once had a castle, and stands on
the river Ivel. It is a place of great antiquity, as ap¬
pears by the Roman coins which are sometimes dug
up. It is likewise evident, from the ruins and from
two towers on the bridge, that it was once a large place,
and encompassed with a double wall. It also had seve¬
ral parish-churches, though now but one. It is governed
by two bailiffs, who with the twelve burgesses are lords
of the manor. In the reign of Edward III, the assizes
for the county were fixed here, which have since been
held
(b) This vulgar error is by no means limited to the natives of Islay.
I L D [ j
J!cHe*tcr, alternately at Wells, Taunton, and Bridgewater,
lldtfoaso. Tlie knights of the shire are always chosen here, and it
“"■'’V-*--' is the place for the county courts and jail. On the lat¬
ter is its chief dependence, and therefore it cannot be
very polite. It is noted for being the birth-place of Ro¬
ger the famous Friar Bacon. Ilchester is an earldom
in the Fox family.
ILDEFONSO, St, a celebrated royal residence of
Spain, distant about two miles from Segovia. It was
erected by Philip V. in the midst of a solitary wood,
jpnd in the bosom of steep mountains. It is chiefly re¬
markable for its gardens. There is nothing magnifi¬
cent in the palace, particularly in its exterior appear¬
ance. The front on the side of the garden is of the
Corinthian order, and not destitute of elegance. Here
are the king’s apartments, which look upen a parterre
surrounded with vases and marble statues, and a cas¬
cade which, for the richness of its decorations, may be
compared with the finest of the kind.
The purity and clearness of the water is indeed in¬
comparable. Philip V. could not, in this respect, be
better served by nature. From the mountains which
shade the palace descend several rivulets, which supply
the reservoirs. These waters answer the double pur¬
pose of supplying numerous fountains, and of diffusing
life and verdure through the magnificent gardens, the
sight of which alone is a sufficient recompense for a
journey into Spain. They are on the inside a league
in circumference. The inequality of the ground af¬
fords every moment new points of view. The princi¬
pal alleys answer to different summits of neighbouring
mountains j and one in particular produces the most
agreeable effect. It is terminated at one end by the
grand front of the palace. From this point are seen,
at one view, five fountains, ornamented with elegant
groups, rising into an amphitheatre, above which ap¬
pear the summits of lofty mountains. The most ele¬
vated of these groups is that of Andromeda fastened
to a rock. When seen at a little distance it is perhaps
defective, because the rock appears too diminutive by
the side of the monster which threatens Andromeda,
and of Perseus, by whom it is attacked ; but the whole
contributes to the beauty of the view. The most re¬
markable of the five groups is that of Neptune.
“ Genius (says M. Bourgoannef) presided at the
composition and in the choice of the situation ; the
deity of the ocean appears erect, surrounded by the
marine court. His attitude, his threatening counte¬
nance, and the manner of holding his trident, announce
that he has just imposed silence on the mutinous waves ;
and the calm which reigns in the bason, defended
from every wind by the triple wall of verdure by
which it is surrounded, seems to indicate that he has not
issued his commands in vain. Often have I seated
myself, with Virgil in my hand, by the side of this
silent water, under the shade of the verdant foliage, nor
ever did I fail to recollect the famous Quos Ego!
“ There are other fountains worthy of the attention
of the curious j such as that of Latona, where the
limpid sheaves, some perpendicularly, and others in
every direction, fall from the hoarse throats of the
Lycian peasants, half transformed into frogs, and
spouting then* forth in such abundance, that the statue
of the goddess disappears under the wide mantle of
liquid crystal; that also of Diana in the bath, sur-
Vol. XI. Part I. f
61 ] , I L D
rounded by her njiiphs ; in the twinkling of an eye IMefotuo,
all the chaste coutt is hidden beneath the waters j the ——v——
spectator imagines he hears the whistling of aquatic
birds, and the roaring of lions, from the place whence
this momentary deluge escapes by a hundred canals.
The fountain of Fame is formed by a single jet-d’eau,
which rises 130 feet, exhibiting to the distance of seve¬
ral leagues round the triumph of art over nature, and
falls in a gentle shower upon the gazing spectators.
There are some situations in the gardens of St IldefS|§q,
whence the eye takes in the whole or the greater part*
of these fountains, and where the ear is delighted with
the h armony of their murmurs; The traveller, who
wishes to charm all his senses at once, must take his
station on the high flat ground^ front of the king’s
apartment. In the thick part of the foliage are con¬
trived two large arbours, from the top of which are
seen twenty crystal columns rising into the air to the
height of the surrounding trees, mixing their resplen¬
dent whiteness with the verdure of the foliage, uniting
their confused noise to the rustling of the branches, and
refreshing and embalming the air: if the traveller here
experience no pleasing sensations, let him return home :
he is utterly incapable of feeling either the beauties of
art or nature.
“ The reader may here imagine (continues our au¬
thor) my enthusiasm too extravagant. He is mista¬
ken ; let him follow me to the great reservoir of abun¬
dant and limpid waters. He will have to climb for
some minutes, but will not regret the trouble he has
taken. Let us suppose ourselves arrived at the long
and narrow alley which takes up the whole of the up¬
per part of the gardens j proceed to the middle, and
turn your face towards the castle. To the vast horizon
around you, no other boundaries are discovered but
those which limit the human sight j these alone pre¬
vent you from discovering the Pyrenees. Observe the
steeple, which seems but a point in the immense ex¬
tent : you will perhaps imagine it to be that of the
parish-church of St Udefonso $ but, in reality, it is the
cathedral of Segovia, at two leagues distance. The
gardens, through which you have passed, become nar¬
rower to the eye. You suppose yourself close to the
royal habitation j the alleys, fountains, and parterres,
have all disappeared j you see but one road, which, in
the form of a vessel, upon the prow of which you seem
to stand, has its stern on the top of the palace. Af¬
terward turn and take a view of the little lake behind
you, of which the irregular borders do not, like what
we call our English gardens, merely ape the disorder
of nature. Nature herself has traced them, except on
the side where you stand. This straight alley is united
at each end to the curve which surrounds the reservoir.
The waters, which stream in abundance from the sides
of the mountain in front, meet in this reservoir, and
thence descend by a thousand invisible tubes to other re¬
servoirs, whence they are spouted in columns or sheets
upon the flowery soil to which they were strangers.
The birds, drawn by their clearness, come to skim and
agitate their crystal. The image of the tufted woods
which surround them is reflected from their immove¬
able surface, as is also that of some simple and rural
houses, thrown as by accident into this delightful pic¬
ture, which Lorrain would have imitated, but perhaps
could not have imagined. The opposite bank is ob-
X scured
I L D [ 162 ] I L E
secured by thick shade. Some hollows, overshadowed
by arching trees, seem to be the asylums of the Naiades.
Disturb them not by indiscreet loquacity, but silently
admire and meditate.
et It is impossible, however, not to go to the source
of these waters ; let us follow the meandering of their
course, and observe the winding paths which there ter¬
minate, after appearing and disappearing at intervals
through the copse. Let us listen to the bubbling of
the rivulets which from time to time escape from our
sight, and hasten to the rendezvous assigned them by
the descendants of Louis XIV. They formerly lost
themselves in the valleys, where they quenched the
thirst of their humble inhabitants, but are now conse¬
crated to the pleasures of kings. Ascending the back
of the pyramidical mountain, behind which their source
is concealed, we arrive at the wall which confines a part
of them in the garden, and which was hidden by the
trees j nothing, however, ought here to recal to mind
exclusive property and slavery. Woods, waters, and
the majestic solitude of mountains, which are at a di¬
stance from the tumult of courts and cities, are the
property of every man.—Beyond this wall, which
forms the exterior enclosure of the gardens, is an emp¬
ty ahd flat ground, where the infant Don Louis, bro¬
ther to the king, chose a place which he consecrated to
cultivation. Farther on, the mountain becomes more
steep, and is covered with trees to its summit. Let us
now return ; as we seek amusement and not fatigue.
We will follow the course of the waters; they descend
in bubbling streams from one level of the gardens to
the other. In their course, in one place they water
the feet of the trees, in others they cross an alley to
nourish more slowly the plants of a parterre. From
the bason of Andromeda they run betwen two rows
of trees in the form of a canal, the too sudden incli¬
nation of which is taken off by cascades and windings.
They receive and carry with them from the gardens
the rivulets; which after having played amongst the
gods and nymphs, and moistened the throats of the
swans, tritons, and lions, humbly descend under ground,
and run on into the bosom of the neighbouring mea¬
dows, where they fulfil purposes less brilliant but more
useful.
“ We must not quit these magnificent gardens with¬
out stopping at a place which appears to promise much,
but produces not any very great effect. This is the
square of the eight alleys, Plapa de las ocho calles. In
the centre is the group of Pandora, the only one which
is of whitened stone, all the others are of white marble
or lead painted of a. bronze colour. Eight alleys an¬
swer to this centre, and each is terminated by a foun¬
tain. Pints of verdure fill up the intervals between the
alleys, and each has an altar under a portico of white
marble by the side of a bason sacred to some god or
goddess. These eight altars, placed at equal distances,
and decorated, among other jets-d’eau, have two which
rise in the form of tapers on each side of their divini¬
ties. This cold regularity displeased Philip V. who
a little before his death, when visiting the gardens,
made some severe reproaches to the inventor upon the
subject. Philip had not the pleasure of completely en¬
joying what he had created; death surprised him when
the works he had begun were hut half finished. The
undertaking was however the most expensive one of his
reign. The finances of Spain, so deranged under the
princes of the house of Austria, (thanks to the wise cal¬
culations of Orry, to the subsidies of France, and still
more to the courageous efforts of the faithful Castili¬
ans) would have been sufficient for three long and
ruinous wars, and for all the operations of a monarchy
which Philip V. had conquered and formed anew, as
well as to have resisted the shocks of ambition and poli¬
tical intrigue ; but they sunk beneath the expensive ef¬
forts of magnificence.
It is singular that the castle and gardens of St Ilde-
fonso should have cost about 45,000,000 of piastres, pre¬
cisely the sum in which Philip died indebted. This enor¬
mous expence Will appear credible, when it is known
that the situation of the royal palace was at the begin¬
ning of this century the sloping top of a pile of rocks:
that it was necessary to dig and hew out the stones,
and in several places to level the rock; to cut out of
its sides a passage for a hundred different canals, to carry
vegetative earth to every place in which it was intended
to substitute cultivation for sterility, and to work a mine
to clear a passage to the roots of the numerous trees
which are there planted. All these efforts were crown¬
ed with success. In the orchards, kitchen-gardens,
and parterres, there are but few flowers, espaliers, or
plants, which do not thrive ; but the trees, naturally of
a lofty growth, and which consequently must strike
their roots deep into the earth, already prove the in¬
sufficiency of art when it attempts to struggle against
nature. Many of them languish with withered trunks,
and with difficulty keep life in their almost naked
branches. Every year it is necessary to call in the aid
of gunpowder to make new beds for those which are to
supply their place ; and none of them are covered with
that tufted foliage which belongs only to those that
grow in a natural soil. In a word, there are in the
groves of St Ildefbnso, marble statues, basons, cascades,
limpid waters, verdure, and delightful prospects, every
thing but that which would be more charming than al
the rest, thick shades.
The court of Spain comes hither annually during
the heat of the dog days. It arrives towards the e,m!
of July, and returns at the beginning of October.
The situation of St Ildefonso, upon the declivity of
the mountains which separate the two Castiles, and
fronting a vast plain where there is no obstacle to the
passage of the north wind, renders this abode delight¬
ful in summer. The mornings and evenings of the
hottest days are agreeably cool. Yet as this palace
is upwards of 20 leagues from Madrid, and half of
the road which leads to it crosses the broad tops of
mountains, extremely steep in many places, it is much
more agreeable to the lovers of the chase and solitude
than to others.
1LERDA, in Ancient Geography, the capital of the
Iligertes ; situated on an eminence between the rivers
Sicoris and Cinga : An unhappy city, often besieged,
and often taken, because lying exposed to the incur¬
sions from Gaul ; and under Gallienus it w’as destroy¬
ed by the Germans. Now Lerida, in Catalonia, on
the river Segra.
ILEX, the Holm or Hoi.LY-Tree; a genus of
plants belonging to the tetrandria class ; and in the
natural method ranking under the 43d order, Dumosce.
See Botany Index*
ILERACOMB
ILL C 163 ! ill
Ufracuwb ILFRACOMB, a town of Devonshire, seated on
|| the Severn sea, almost opposite to Swansea in Glamor-
lllecebrtmi. ganshire, 181 miles from London. Ffe has a consider-
able trade, especially in herrings, which are caught in
the Bristol-channel. It is noted for maintaining con¬
stant lights to direct the sailors 5 for its convenience of
building.and repairing ships $ and for the safe shelter
ships from Ireland find here, when it is extremely dan¬
gerous for them to run into the mouth of the Taw. J,t
had a quay or pier 850 feet long; but by time and the
violence of .the sea all went to decay •, to remedy whiph,
the parliament passed an act in 1734, and .in 176011
was partly rebuilt, lengthened and enlarged. It is go¬
verned by a mayor, bailiffs, &c. and consists chiefly of
one street of scattered houses almost a mile dong. The
number of inhabitants in 1811 is stated at 1934. W.
Long. 3. 10. N. Lat. 51. 11.
ILIAC passion, a violent and dangerous kind of
colic called also volvulus, miserere met, and chordap-
sus. It takes its name from the intestine ilion, on ac¬
count of its being usually affected in this distemper j or
.perhaps from the Greek verb u\uv, “ to wind or twist 5”
whence also it is the Latins call it volvulus. See Me¬
dicine Index.
ILIAD, the name of an ancient epic poem, the first
and finest of those composed by Homer.
The poet’s design in the Iliad was to show the Greeks,
who were divided into several little states, how much it
was their interest to preserve a harmony and-good un¬
derstanding among themselves ; for which end he sets
before them the calamities that befel their ancestors from
, the wrath of Achilles, and his misunderstanding with
Agamemnon ; and the advantages that afterwards ac¬
crued to them from their union. The Iliad is divided
into 24 books or rhapsodies, which are marked with the
letters of the alphabet.
ILISSUS, a river running to the east of Athens ;
which, with the Eridanus running on the west side,
falls below the city into the sea. Sacred to the muses,
called Iliassides; on whose bank their altar stood, and
where the lustration in the less mysteries was usually
performed.
ILIUM, Ilion, or llios, in Ancient Geography, a
name for the city of Troy, hut most commonly used ,by
the poets, and distinguished by the epithet Veins. Ac¬
cording to Strabo, the ancient city was 30 stadia far¬
ther east than New Ilium. The position of the latter
was discovered by Dr Clarke. It is upon a low emi¬
nence, about three miles from the promontory Sigeum,
now called Jenitchere. New or modern Ilium was a
village which Alexander, after the battle of Granicus,
called a city, and ordered to be enlarged. His or¬
ders were executed by Lysimachus, who encompassed
it with a wall of 40 stadia. It was afterwards adorned
by the Romans, who granted it immunities as to their
mother-city. From this city the Ilias ofHomev takes its
name. The various disasters of the Greeks and Tro¬
jans, as described by the poet, gave rise to the proverb
Ilias Malorum.
ILKUCH, a town of Poland, iu the palatinate of
Cracow, remarkable for its mines of silver and lead. It
is seated in a barren and mountainous country, in E.
Long. 20. o. N. Lat. 50. 26.
ILL EC E B RU M, a genus of plants belonging to
the pentandria class $ and in the natural method ranking
under the 12th order, Holoracece. See Botany Index.
ILLE AND Vilaine, a department in the north¬
west of France, comprising part of the ancient Bri-
tanny. It has some good pastures, but abounds in
forests and heaths. Rennes is the chief town.
ILLINOIS, one of the United States of the North
American republic. It is bounded by the Mississippi
on the west, the Ohio on the south, the Wabash on the
east, and by a line passing along the parallel of4i° 3c/
on the north. It contains about 58,000 square miles.
The suriace of the country is in general low and wood¬
ed, but fertile and well watered. The principal river
entirely in the state is the Illinois, which rises near
Lake Michigan, and after a course of 500 miles joins the
Mississippi. The population in 1810 amounted only
to 12,2825 but it increased so rapidly, that in 1818 it
was admitted into the union as an independent state.
ILLICIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the do-
decandria class; and in the natural method ranking
with those of which the order is doubtful. See Bo¬
tany Index.
Hie
ILLUMINATI, the name of a secret society, or
order in Germany and other countries of Europe,
whose professed object, it is said, was to propagate
the purest principles of virtue j but whose real views
were to subvert every established government and re¬
ligion, and delivering mankind from the necessary and
salutary restraints of civil society, to bring them to an
imaginary state of freedom and independence. Of this
order much has been said, much has been written ; but
that a society has existed, regularly organized in
the way this has been represented, working in secret,
and, at the same time, possessing such extensive
power and influence, no proof whatever has been ad¬
duced. The thing indeed seems impossible. See Ma¬
sonry, Free.
ILLUMINATING, a kind of miniature painting,
anciently much practised for illustrating and adorning
books. Besides the writers of hooks, there were ar¬
tists whose profession was to ornament and paint manu¬
scripts, who were called illuminators; the writers of
books first finished their part, and the illuminators em¬
bellished them with ornamented letters and paintings.
We frequently find blanks left in manuscripts for the
illuminators, which were never filled up. Some of the
ancient manuscripts are gilt and burnished in a style
superior to later times. Their colours were excellent,
and th ir skill in preparing them must have been very
great.
The practice of introducing ornaments, drawings,
emblematical figures, and even portraits, into manu¬
scripts, is of great antiquity. Varro wrote the lives of
700 illustrious Romans, which he enriched with their
portraits, as Pliny attests in his Natural History (lib.
xxxv, chap. 2.). -'Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Ci¬
cero, was the author of a work on the actions of the
great men amongst the Romans, which he ornamented
with their portraits, as appears in his life by Cornelius
Nepos (chap. 18.). But these works have not been
transmitted to posterity. There are, however, many
precious documents remaining, which exhibit the ad¬
vancement and decline of the arts in different ages and
countries. These inestimable paintings and illumina¬
tions display the manners, customs, habits ecclesiastical,
civil, and military, weapons and instruments of war,
utensils and architecture of the ancients 5 they are of
the greatest use in illustrating many important facts re-
X 2 lative
ILL [ 164 ] ILL
lilttminat- lative to the history of the times in which they were
executed. In these treasures of antiquity are preserved
1 a great number of specimens of Grecian and Roman art,
which were executed before the arts and sciences fell
into neglect and contempt. The manuscripts contain¬
ing these specimens form a valuable part of the riches
preserved in the principal libraries of Europe. The
Royal, Cottonian, and Harleian libraries, as also those
in the two universities in England, the Vatican at
Rome, the imperial at Vienna, the royal at Paris, St
Mark’s at Venice, and many others.
A very ancient MS. of Genesis, which was in the
Cottonian library, and almost destroyed by a fire in
1731, contained 250 curious paintings in water colours.
Twenty-one fragments, which escaped the fire, are en¬
graven by the society of antiquarians of London. Se¬
veral specimens of curious paintings also appear in Lam-
becius’s catalogue of the imperial library at Vienna, par¬
ticularly in vol. iii. where 48 drawings of nearly equal
antiquity with those in the Cottonian library are engra¬
ven j and several others may be found in various cata¬
logues of the Italian libraries. The drawings in the
Vatican Virgil, made in the fourth century, before the
arts were entirely neglected, illustrate the different sub¬
jects treated of by the Roman poet. A miniature draw¬
ing is prefixed to each of the gospels brought over to
England by St Augustin in the 6th century, which is
preserved in the library of Corpus Christi college, Cam¬
bridge : in the compartments of those drawings are de¬
picted representations of several transactions in each go¬
spel. The curious drawings, and elaborate ornaments
in St Cuthbert’s gospels, made by St Etbelwald, and
cow in the Cottonian library, exhibit a striking speci¬
men of the state of the arts in England in the 7th cen¬
tury. The same may be observed with respect to the
drawings in the ancient copy of the four gospels preser¬
ved in the cathedral church of Litchfield, and those in
the Codex Rushworthianus in the Bodleian library at
Oxford. The life of St Paul the hermit, now remain¬
ing in Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, (G. 2.), af¬
fords an example of the style of drawing and ornament¬
ing letters in England in the 8th century ; and the co¬
py of Prudentius’sP^cowac^/bin the Cottonian library
(Cleop. c. 8.) exhibits the style of drawing in Italy in
the 9th century. Of the 10th century there are Ro¬
man drawings of a singular kind in the Harleian libra¬
ry (N° 2820.). N0s 5280, 1802, and,43 2, in the same
library, contain specimens of ornamented letters, which
are to be found in Irish MSS. from the 12th to the
14th century. Caedmon’s Poetical Paraphrase of the
book of Genesis, written in the nth century, which is
preserved amongst F. Junius’s MSS. in the Bodleian li¬
brary, exhibits many specimens of utensils, weapons, in-
struments of music, and implements of husbandry used
by the Anglo-Saxons. The like may be seen in ex¬
tracts from the Pentateuch of the same age in the Cot¬
tonian library (Claud. B. 4.). The manuscript copy
of Terence in the Bodleian library (D. 17.) displays
the dresses, masks, &c. worn by comedians in the 12th
century, if not earlier. The very elegant Psalter in
the library of Trinity college, Cambridge, exhibits spe¬
cimens of the art of drawing in England in the same
century. The Virgil in the Lambeth library of the
13th century (N® 471.), written in Italy, shows both
by the drawings and writing, that the Italians produced
3
works much inferior to ours at that period. The copy IliuiuinRt
of the Apocalypse in the same library (N° 209.), con- »np>.
tains a curious example of the manner of painting in the
14th century.—The beautiful paintings in the history of
the latter part ot the reign of King Richard IT. in the
•Harleian library (N° 1319.), afford curious specimen*
of manners and customs, both civil and military, at the
close of the 14th and in the beginning of the 15th cen¬
tury } as does N° 2278. in the same library.—Many
other instances might be produced j but those who de¬
sire farther information may consult Strutt’s Regal and
Ecclesiastical Antiquities, 4to, and his Horda Angel-
cynnan lately published in 3 vols.
This art was much practised by tbe clergy, and
even by some in the highest stations in the church.
“ The lamous Osmund (says Bromton), who was conse¬
crated bishop of Salisbury, A. D. 1076, did not disdain
to spend some part of his time in writing, binding, and
illuminating books.” Mr Strutt, as already noticed,
has given the public an opportunity of forming some
judgment of tbe degree of delicacy and art with which
these illuminations were executed, by publishing prints
of a prodigious number of them, in his “ Regal and
Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England,” and “ View of
the Customs, &c. ot England.” In the first of these
works we are presented with the genuine portraits, in
miniature, of all the kings, and several of the queens
of England, from Edward the Confessor to Henry VII.
mostly in their crowns and royal robes, together with
tbe portraits of many other eminent persons of both
sexes.
Tbe illuminators and painters of this period seem to
have been in possession of a considerable number of co¬
louring materials, and to have known the arts of pre¬
paring and mixing them, so as to form a great variety
of colours : for in the specimens of their miniature-
paintings that are still extant, we perceive not only
the five primary colours, hut also various combinations
of them. Though Strutt’s prints do not exhibit the
bright and vivid colours of the originals, they give os
equally a view, not only of the persons and dresses of
our ancestors, but also of their customs, manners, arts,
and employments, their arms, ships, houses, furniture,
&.c. and enable us to judge of their skill in drawing.
The figures in those paintings are often stiff and formal;
but tbe ornaments are in general fine and delicate, ami
the colours clear and bright, particularly tbe gold ami
azure. In some of these illuminations the passions are
strongly painted. How strongly, for example, is ter¬
ror painted in the faces of the earl of Warwick’s sailors,
when they were threatened with a shipwreck, and grief
in the countenances of those who were present at the
death of that hero*? After the introduction of print-* See ftruti
ing, this elegant art of illuminating gradually declined, vol. ii.
and at length was quite neglected. plates ;<?,
Before concluding, it may not be improper to ob-^'
serve, that from the 5th to tbe 10th century, the minia¬
ture paintings which we meet with in Greek manu¬
scripts are generally good, as are some which we find
among those of Italy, England, and France. From
the 10th to tbe middle of the 14th century they are
commonly very bad, and may he considered as so many
monuments of the barbarity of those ages; towards the
latter end of the 14th, the paintings in manuscripts
were much improved ; and in the two succeeding cen¬
turies,
ILL [ 165 ] IMA
ItlaminaU
mg
It
fltyiius.
turies, many excellent performances were produced,
especially after the happy period of the restoration of
the arts, when great attention was paid to the works of
the ancients, and the study of antiquity became fashion¬
able.
ILLUMINATORS. See Illuminating.
ILLUMINED, Illuminati, a church term, an¬
ciently applied to such persons as had received baptism.
This name was occasioned by a ceremony in the bap¬
tism of adults j which consisted in putting a lighted
taper in the hand of the person baptized, as a symbol
of the faith and grace he had received in the sacra¬
ment.
Illumined, Illuminati, is also the name of a sect of
heretics, who sprang up in Spain about the year 1575,
and were called by the Spaniards Alambrados. Their
principal doctrines were, that by means of a sublime
manner of prayer, which they had attained to, they
entered into so perfect a state, that they had no occasion
for ordinances, sacraments, nor good works j and that
they could give way even to the vilest actions, without
sin. The sect of Illumined was revived in France in
the year 1634, and were soon after joined by the Gue-
rinets, or disciples of Peter Guerin, who together made
but one body, called also Illumined; but they were so
hotly pursued by Louis XIII. that they were soon de¬
stroyed. The brothers of the Rosy Cross are sometimes
also called Illumined. See Rosycrusian.
ILLUSTRIOUS, Illustris, was heretofore, in the
Roman empire, a title of honour peculiar to people of
a certain rank. It was first given to the most distin¬
guished among the knights, who had a right to bear the
latus clavus: afterwards, those were intitled illustrious
who held the first rank among those called honoraii;
that is, the praefecti praetorii, praefecti urbis, treasurers,
comites, &c.
There were, however, different degrees among the
illustrious ; as in Spain they have grandees of the first
and second class, so in Rome they had their illustrcs,
whom they called great, majores; and others less, call¬
ed illustres minores.—For instance ; the praefectus prae-
torii was a degree below the master of the offices, though
they were both illustres.
The Novels of Valentinian distinguish as far as five
kinds of illustres ; among whom, the illustres admini¬
strator es bear the first rank.
ILLYRICUM, {Solum perhaps understood) Livy,
Herodian, St Paul ; called Illyris by the Greeks, and
sometimes Illyria; the country extending from the
Adriatic to Pannonia thus called. Its boundaries are
variously assigned. Pliny makes it extend in length
from the river Arsia to the Drinius, thus including Li-
burnia to the west, and Dalmatia to the east: which is
also the opinion of Ptolemy ; who settles its limits from
Mount Scardus and the Upper Moesia on the east, to
Istria in the west. A Roman province, divided by
Augustus into the Superior and Inferior, but of which
the limits are left undetermined both by ancient hi¬
storians and geographers, lllyrii the people ; called
Illy res by the Greeks. The country is now called
Sclavonia.
ILLYR1US, Mathias, Flaccus, or Francowitz,
one of the most learned divines of the Augsburg con¬
fession, born in Istria, anciently called lllyrica, in 1520.
He is said to have been a man of vast genius, extensive
learning, of great zeal against Popery ; but of such a lUvrius
restless and passionate temper, as overbalanced all his Image,
good qualities, and occasioned much disturbance in the y-—-
Protestant church. He published a great number of
books, and died in 1575.
IMAGE, in a religious sense, is an artificial repre¬
sentation or similitude of some person or thing, used ei¬
ther by way of decoration and ornament, or as an ob¬
ject of religious worship and adoration : in which last
sense it is used indifferently with the word Idol.
The noble Romans preserved the images of their
ancestors with a great deal of care and concern, and
had them carried in procession at their funerals and
triumphs : these were commonly made of wax, or
wood, though sometimes of marble or brass. They
placed them in the vestibules of their houses; and they
were to stay there, even if the houses happened to be
sold, it being accounted impious to displace them.
Appius Claudius was the first who brought them into
the temples, in the year of Rome 259, and he added
inscriptions to them, showing the origin of the persons
represented, and their brave and virtuous achieve¬
ments.—It was not, however, allowed for all, who had
the images of their ancestors in their houses, to have
them carried at their funerals j this was a thing only
granted to such as had honourably discharged them¬
selves of their offices ; for those who failed in this re¬
spect forfeited that privilege ; and in case they had
been guilty of any great crime, their images were bro¬
ken in pieces. See Ignobiles and Jus.
The Jews absolutely condemn all images, and do
not so much as suffer any statues or figures in their
houses, much less in their synagogues or places of
worship.
The use and adoration of images are things that have
been a long time controverted in the world.
It is plain, from the practice of the primitive church,
recorded by the earlier fathers, that Christians, for the
first three centuries after Christ, and the greater part
of the fourth, neither worshipped images nor used
them in their worship. However, the greater part of
the Popish divines maintain, that the use and worship
of images were as ancient as the Christian religion
itself: to prove this, they allege a decree, said to have
been made in a council held by the Apostles at An¬
tioch, commanding the faithful that they may not err
about the object of their worship, to make images of
Christ and worship them. Baron, ad ann. 102. But
no notice is taken of this decree, till 700 years after
the Apostolic times, after the dispute about images had
commenced. The first instance that occurs in any
credible author of images among Christians, is that re¬
corded by Tertullian de Pudicit. c. 10. of certain cups,
or chalices, as Bellarmine pretends, on which was re¬
presented the parable of the good shepherd carrying
the lost sheep on his shoulders : but this instance only
proves, that the church, at that time, did not think em¬
blematical figures unlawful ornaments of cups or chali¬
ces. Another instance is taken from Eusebius, Hist.
Eccl. lib. vii. cap. 18. who says, that in his time there
were to be seen two brass statues in the city of Paneas
or Caesarea Philippi ; the one of a woman on her knees,
with her arms stretched out, the other of a man over
against her, with his hand extended to receive her :
these statues were said to be the images of our Saviour
and
IMA [ 166 ] IMA
Image, and tlie woman whom he cured of an issue of blood.
' From the foot of the statue representing our Saviour,
says the historian, sprung up an exotic plant, which, as
soon as it grew to touch the border of his garment, was
said to cure all sorts of distempers. Eusebius, however,
vouches none of these things : nay, he supposes that the
woman who erected this statue of our Saviour was a
pagan, and ascribes k to a pagan custom. Farther,
Philostorgius, Eecl. Hist, kb. via.c. 3. expressly says, that
this statue was carefully preserved by the Christians,
but that they paid no kind of worship to it, because it
is not lawful for Christians to worship brass, or any
other matter. Ibe primitive Christians abstained from
the worship of images, not, as the Papists pretend, from
tenderness to heathen idolaters, but because they thought
it unlawful in itself to make any images of the Deity.
Justin Mart. Apol. ii. p. 44. Clem. Alex. Strom. 5.
Strom. I. and Protr. p. 46. Aug. de Civit. Dei. lib. vii.
c. 5. and lib. iv. c. 32. Id. de Fide et Symb. c. 7. Lac-
tant. lib. ii. c. 3. Teitull. Apol. c. 12. Arnob. lib. vi.
p. 202. Some of the fathers, as Tertullian, Clemens
Alexandrinus, and Origen, were of opinion, that by
the second commandment, the arts of painting and
engraving were rendered unlawful to a Christian, styling
them evil and wicked arts. Tert. de Idol. cap. 3. Clem.
Alex. Admon. ad. Gent. p. 41. Grig, contra Celsum.
lib. vi. p. 182. The wieoiimages in churches, as orna¬
ments, was first introduced by some Christians in Spain,
in the beginning of the fourth century ; but the practice
was condemned as a dangerous innovation, in a coun¬
cil held at Eliberis in 305. Epiphanius, in a letter
preserved by Jerome, tom. ii. ep. 6. bears strong testi¬
mony against images, and may be considered as one of
the first ICONOCLASTS. The custom of admitting
pictures of saints and martyrs into the churches (for
tins was the first source of zi/igge-worship) was rare in
the latter end of the fourth century ; but became
common in the fifth : however, they were still consider¬
ed only as ornaments’, and even in this view, they met
with very considerable opposition. In the following
century the custom of thus adorning churches became
almost universal, both in the east and west. Petavius
expressly says (de Incar. lib. xv. cap. 14.), that no
statues were yet allowed in the churches ; because
they bore too near a resemblance to the idols of the
Gentiles. Towards the close of the fourth or begin¬
ning of the fifth century, images, which were introduced
by way of ornament, and then used as an aid to devo¬
tion, began to be actually worshipped. However, ft
continued to be the doctrine of the church in the sixth
and in the beginning of the seventh century, that
images were to be used only as helps to devotion, and
not as objects of worship. The worship of them was
condemned in the strongest terms by Pope Gregory the
Great •, as appears by two letters of bis written in 601.
From this time to the beginning of the eighth century,
there occurs no single instance of any worship given or
allowed to be given to images by any council or assem¬
bly of bishops whatever. But they were commonly wor¬
shipped by the monks and populace in the beginning of
the eighth century; insomuch, that in the year 726,
when Leo published his famous edict, it had already
spread into all the provinces subject to the empire.
The Lutherans condemn the Calvinists for break¬
ing the images in the churches of the Catholics, look¬
5
ing on it as a kind of sacrilege ; and yet tliey condemn Image
the Ilomanists (who are piofessed image-worshippers) B
as idolaters : nor can these last keep pace with the
Greeks, who go far beyond them in this point; which
has occasioned abundance of disputes among them*
See Iconoclasts.
The Mahometans have a perfect aversion to zwoges ,•
which was what led them to destroy most of the beauti¬
ful monuments of antiquity, both sacred and profane,
at Constantinople.
Image, in Rhetoric, also signifies a lively description
of any thing in discourse.
Images, in discourse are defined by Longinus, to be,
in general, any thoughts proper to produce expressions,
and which present a kind of picture to the mind.
But, in the more limited sense, he says, images are
such discourses as come from us, when, by a kind of
enthusiasm, or an extraordinary emotion of the soul,
we seem to see the things whereof we speak, and pre¬
sent them before the eyes of those who hear us.
Images, in Rhetoric, have a very different use from
what they have among the poets : the end principally
proposed in poetry is, astonisiiment and surprise ;
whereas the thing chiefly aimed at in prose, is to paint
things naturally, and to show them clearly. They
have this, however, in common, that they both tend
to move, each in its kind.
These images, or pictures, are of vast use, to give
weight, magnificence, and strength, to a discourse.
They warm and animate it; and when managed with
art, according to Longinus, seem, as it were, to tame
and subdue the hearer, and put him in the power of the
speaker.
Image, in Optics, a figure in the form of any ob¬
ject, made by the rays of light issuing from the several
points of it, and meeting in so many other points, ei¬
ther at the bottom of the eye, or on any other ground,
or on any transparent medium, where there is no sur¬
face to reflect them. Thus we are said to see all ob¬
jects by means of their images formed in the eye.
IMAGINARY Quantities, or Impossible Quanti¬
ties, in Algebra, are the even roots of negative quanti¬
ties ; which expressions are imaginary, or impossible, or
opposed to real quantities; as —a a, or 4y'—a4,
&o. For as every even power of any quantity what¬
ever, whether positive or negative, is necessarily positive,
or having the sign r}-, because -f- by -f-, or — by —
give equally -|- ; hence it follows that every even power,
as the square for instance, which is negative, or having
the sign —, has no possible root; and therefore the
even roots of such powers or quantities are said to
be impossible or imaginary. The mixt expressions ari¬
sing from imaginary quantities joined to real ones, are
also imaginary ; as o — ^— a a, ov b -}- -v/ —« a.
Imaginary Roots of an equation, are those roots or
values of the unknown quantity, which contain some
imaginary quantity. Thus, the roots of the equation *
xx-\-aa~o, are the two imaginary quantities -J- -y/—aa
and —y/—a a, or -f-oy/—1 and —fly/—1.
IMAGINATION, a power or faculty of the
mind, whereby it conceives and forms ideas of things
communicated to it by the outward organs of sense.
See Metaphysics.
Force of Imagination. See Monster.
IMAGO, in Natural Histoiy, is a name given by
Linnaeus
- I M E [
tmigo Linnaeus to the third state of insects, when they ap-
II pear in their proper shape and colours, and undergo no
Imeretia.^ furt|ier transformation.
-r , lj- JiVIAM, or Iman, a minister in the Mahometan
church, answering to a parish priest among us. The
word properly signifies what we call a prelate, antistes,
one who presides over others ; but the Mussulmans fre¬
quently apply it to a person who has the care and in¬
tendency of a mosque, who is always there at first, and
reads prayers to the people, which they repeat after
him.
Imam is also applied, by way of excellence, to the
four chiefs or founders of the four principal sects in the
Mahometan religion. Thus Ali is the imam of the
Persians, or of the sect of the Schiaites j Abu-beker
the imam of the Sunnites, which is the sect followed
by the Turks $ Saphii, or Safi-y, the imam of another
sect, &c.
The Mahometans do not agree among themselves
about this imamate or dignity of the imam. Some
think it of divine right and attached to a single family,
as the pontificate of Aaron.—Others hold, that it is in¬
deed of divine right, but deny it to be so attached to
any single family, as that it may not be transferred to
another. They add, that the imam is to be clear of
all gross sins; and that otherwise he may be deposed,
and his dignity may be conferred on another. How¬
ever this be, it is certain, that after an imam has once
been owned as such by the Mussulmans, he who denies
that his authority comes immediately from God is ac¬
counted impious ; he who does not obey him is a rebel ;
and he who pretends to contradict what he says is es¬
teemed a fool, among the orthodox of that religion.
The imams have no outward mark of distinction ; their
habit is the same with that of the Turks in common,
except that the turban is a little larger, and folded
somewhat differently.
IMA US, in Ancient Geography, the largest moun¬
tain of Asia (Strabo) ; and a part of Taurus (Pliny) ;
from which the whole of India runs off into a vast
plain, resembling Egypt. It extends far and wide
through Scythia, as far as to the Mare Glaciale, divid¬
ing it into the Hither or Scythia intra Imaum, and in¬
to the Farther, or Scythia extra Imaum (Ptolemy) ;
and also stretching out along the north of India to the
eastern ocean, separates it from Scythia. It had va¬
rious names according to the different countries it run
through ; Postellus thinks it is the Sephar of Scrip¬
ture.
IMBECILITY, a languid infirm state of body,
which, being greatly impaired, is not able to perform
its usual exercises and functions.
IMBIBING, the action of a dry porous body, that
absorbs or takes up a moist or fluid one : thus, su¬
gar imbibes water ; a sponge, the moisture of the
air, &c.
IMBRICATED, is used by some botanists, to ex¬
press the figure of the leaves of some plants, which
are hollowed like an imbrex, or gutter-tile, or are
laid in close series over one another like the tiles of a
house.
IMERETIA, or Imeretta, the name of a king¬
dom, or rather principality, of Georgia, consisting of
four provinces, is under the dominion of a prince
named David. See Georgia.
[67 ] I M I
The capital, where Prince David resides, is called Imeretta
Curlays. The remains of a church announce that Cur- Imitation,
tays was formerly a large city ; but at present it can —v-*-'
scarcely be accounted a village.
Solomon, the father of the present sovereign, order¬
ed the city to be destroyed, as well as the ramparts of
the city; for he thought, and very wisely, that Cauca¬
sus was the only fortification capable of being defended
by an army of 6000 men undisciplined and destitute of
artillery.
The number of the inhabitants of Imeretta is rec¬
koned to be 20,coo families; but the greater part of
them live neither in towns nor villages, but are dis¬
persed throughout the level country, each of them
possessing a small hut or cottage. These people have
fewer strangers among them, and they are more enga¬
ging in their appearance, than the Georgians. They
are of a milder and less pusillanimous character ; and
the principal branch of their commerce consists in
wines, a considerable quantity of which they export in
skins as far as the confines of Georgia. They are ac¬
quainted with no other trade ; for they are poor and
miserable, and greatly oppressed bv their lords.
The ordinary revenues of Imeretta, like those of
Georgia, arise from a tythe which vassals are obliged
to pay in wines, cattle, and corn, and some subsidies
furnished annually by neighbouring princes. The ex¬
traordinary revenues for the most part arise from con¬
fiscations of every kind ; but notwithstanding this,
the finances of the prince are so limited, that he is
often under the necessity of going from house to house,
to live at the expence of his vassals, never quitting their
habitations until the pressing wants of his hosts abso¬
lutely compel him. < It is therefore probable, that the
court of the sovereign of Imeretta is as deficient in
brilliancy as his table is in splendour when he dines at
home. His principal dishes consist of a certain food
called gom, which is a kind of millet boiled, and a
piece of roast meat, with some high-seasoned sauce.
He never eats but with his fingers, for forks and spoons
are unknown in Imeretta. At table he generally gives
audiences respecting affairs of the first consequence,
which he determines as he thinks proper ; for in every
country subject to his dominions there is no other law
hut his will.
On Friday, which is the market day, all his new
edicts are published by a kind of herald, who climbs up
into some tree, in order to proclaim the will of his
sovereign. The Imerettans profess the religion of the
Greek church. Their patriarch must be of the royal
family ; but it seldom that he can either read or
write ; the priests who compose the rest of the clergy
are not much more enlightened. The greater part of
their churches are pitiful edifices, which can scarcely
he distinguished from the common huts of the inhabi¬
tants hut by a pasteboard crucifix, and a few coarse1
paintings of the Virgin, which are seen in them.
IMITATION, derived from the Latin imitare, to
“ represent or repeat,” a sound or action, either exactly
or nearly in the same manner as they were originallyj
exhibited. I
Imitation, in Music, admits of two different senses.^
Sound and motion are either capable of imitating them¬
selves by a repetition of their own particular modes,
or of imitating other objects of a nobler and more ab¬
stracted]
I M I [ 168 ] I M I
tmiuttoa. slracteJ Mature. Nothing perhaps is 00 purely mental,
''  ' nothing so remote from external sense, as not to be
iniitableby music. But as the description of this in M.
Rousseau, article Imitation, is nobly animated, and com¬
prehends all that is necessary to be said on the subject,
we translate it as follows.
“ Dramatic or theatrical music (says he) contri¬
butes to imitation no less than painting or poetry : it
is in this common principle that we must investigate
both the origin and the final cause of all the fine arts 5
vSeeBfm/xas M. le Batteaux has shown *. But this imitation is
Avis rfduit not eqUally extensive in all the imitative arts. What-
« u»e roe-zn^eyer the imagination can represent to itself is in the
department of poetry. Painting, which does not pre-
sent its pictures to the imagination immediately, but
to external sense, and to one sense alone, paints only
such objects as are discoverable by sight. Music might
appear subjected to the same limits with respect to the
ear 5 yet it is capable of painting every thing, even
such images as are objects of ocular perception alone :
by a magic almost inconceivable, it seems to transform
the ears into eyes, and endow them with the double
function of perceiving visible objects by the mediums
of their own ; and it is the greatest miracle of an art,
which can only act by motion, that it can make that
very motion represent absolute quiescence. Night,
sleep, silence, solitude, are the noble efforts, the grand
images, represented hy a picturesque music. We know
that noise can produce the same effect with silence,
and silence the same effect with noise j as when one
sleeps at a lecture insipidly and monotonically de¬
livered, but wakes the instant when it ends. But
music acts more intimately upon our spirits, in exci¬
ting by one sense dispositions similar to those which
we find excited by another ; and, as the relation be¬
tween these images cannot be sensible unless the im¬
pression be strong, painting, when divested of this en¬
ergy, cannot restore to music that assistance in imita¬
tions which she borrows from it. Though all nature
should be asleep, he who contemplates her does not
sleep j and the art of the musician consists in substitu¬
ting, for this image of insensibility in the object, those
emotions which its presence excites in the heart of
the contemplator. He not only ferments and agitates
the ocean, animates the flame to conflagration, makes
the fountain murmur in his harmony, calls the rattling
shower from heaven, and swells the torrent to resistless
rage; but he paints the horrors of a boundless and
frightful desert, involves the subterranean dungeon in
tenfold gloom, soothes the tempest, tranquillizes the
disturbed elements, and from the orchestra difluses a
recent fragrance through imaginary groves; nay, he
excites in the soul the same emotions which we feel
from the immediate perception and full influence of
these objects.”
Under the word Harmony, Rousseau has said, that no
assistance can be drawn from thence, no original prin¬
ciple which leads to musical imitation j since there can¬
not be any relation between chords and the objects
which the composer would paint, or the passions which
he would express. In the article Melody, he imagines
he has discovered that principle of imitation which
harmony cannot yield, and what resources of nature are
employed by music in representing these objects and
these passions.
It is hoped, however, that in our article of Melody, imitation,
we have shown upon what principle musical imitation —y——
may be compatible with harmony ; though vj admit,
that from melody it derives its most powerful energy,
and its most attractive graces. Yet we must either be
deceived beyond all possibility of cure, or we have felt
the power of imitative harmony in a high degree. We
are certain that the fury, the impetuosity, the rapid
vicissitudes, of a battle, may be successfully and vividly
represented in harmony. We have participated the
exultation and triumph of a conquest, inspired by the
sound of a full chorus. We have felt all the solemnity
and grandeur of devotion from the slow movement, the
deep chords, the swelling harmony, of a sentimental
composition played upon the organ. Nor do we ima¬
gine harmony less capable of presenting the tender
depression, the fluctuating and tremulous agitation, of
grief. As this kind of imitation is the noblest effort
of music, it is astonishing that it should have been over¬
looked by M. d’Alembert. He has indeed apologi¬
zed, by informing us, that his treatise is merely ele¬
mentary : but we are uncertain how far this apology
ought to be regarded as sufficient, when it is at the
same time considered, that he has given an account of
imitation in its mechanical, or what Rousseau calls its
technical, sense; which, however, to prevent ambiguity,
we should rather choose to call mymesis or anacephaUo-
sis. To Rousseau’s account of the word in this accepta¬
tion, we return.
“ Imitation (says he) in its technical sense, is a
reiteration of the same air, or of one which is similar,
in several parts where it is repeated by one after the
other, either in unison, or at the distance of a fourth,
a fifth, a third, or any other interval whatever. The
imitation may be happily enough pursued even though
several notes should be changed ; provided the same air
may always be recognised, and that the composer does
not deviate from the laws of proper modulation. Fre¬
quently, in order to render the imitation more sensible,
it is preceded by a general rest, or by long notes which
seem to obliterate the impression formerly made by the
air till it is renewed with greater force and vivacity by
the commencement of the imitation. The imitation
may be treated as the composer chooses ; it may be
abandoned, resumed, or another begun, at pleasure ;
in a word, its rules are as much relaxed as those of the
fugue are severe ; for this reason, it is despised by the
most eminent masters ; and every imitation of this kind,
too much affected, almost always betrays a novice in
composition.”
Imitation, in Oratory, is an endeavour to resemble
a speaker or writer in those qualities with regard to
which we propose them to ourselves as patterns. The
first historians among the Romans, says Cicero, were
very dry and jejune, till they began to imitate the
Greeks, and then they became their rivals.- It is well
known how closely Virgil has imitated Homer in his
iEneid, Hesiod in his Georgies, and Theocritus in
his Eclogues. Terence copied after Menander ; and
Plautus after Epicarmus, as we learn from Horace,
lib. ii. ep. ad August, who himself owes many of his
beauties to the Greek lyric poets. Cicero appears,
from many passages in his writings, to have imitated
the Greek orators. Thus Quintilian says of him, that
he has expressed the strength and sublimity of De-
. mosthenes.
IMP [
Imitation mofctlienes, the copiousness of Piato, and the delicacy
R of Isocrates.
—IMMACULATE, something without stain, chief-
ly applied to the conception of the holy Virgin. See
Conception, Immaculate.
IMMATERIAL, something devoid of matter, or
that is pure spirit. See Metaphysics.
IMMEDIATE, whatever is capable of producing
an efiect without the intervention of external means j
thus we say, an immediate cause, in opposition to a me¬
diate or remote one.
IMMEMORIAL, an epithet given to the time or
duration of any thing whose beginning we know no¬
thing of.
In a legal sense, a thing is said to be of time imme¬
morial, or time out of mind, that was before the reign
of our king Edward II.
IMMENSITY, an unlimited extension, or which
no finite and determinate space, repeated ever so often,
can equal.
IMMER, the most easterly island of all the New
Hebrides in the South sea. It lies about four leagues
from Tanka, and seems to be about five leagues in cir¬
cumference j it is of a considerable height, with a flat
top. ~
IMMERETTA, or Imeretia. See Imeretia.
IMMERSION, that act by which any thing is plun¬
ged into water or other fluid.
It is used in chemistry for a species of calcination,
when any body is immersed in a fluid to be corroded :
or it is a species of lotion j as when a substance is plun¬
ged into any fluid, in order to deprive it of a bad qua¬
lity, or communicate to it a good one.
Immersion, in Astronomy, is when a star or planet
is so near the sun with regard to our observations, that
we cannot see it*, being, as it were, enveloped and hid
in the rays of that luminary. It also denotes the be¬
ginning of an eclipse of the moon, or that moment when
the moon begins to be darkened, and to enter into the
shadow of the earth.
IMMOLATION, a ceremony used in the Roman
sacrifices j it consisted in throwing upon the head of
the victim some sort of corn and frankincense, together
with the mala or salt cake, and a little wine.
IMMORTAL, that which will last to all eter¬
nity, as having in it no principle of alteration or cor¬
ruption.
IMMUNITY, a privilege or exemption from some
office, duty, or imposition j as an exemption from tolls,
&:c.
Immunity is more particularly understood of the li¬
berties granted to cities and communities.
IMMUTABILITY, the condition of a thing that
cannot change. Immutability is one of the divine at¬
tributes. See God,
IMOLA, a town of Italy, in the territory of the
church, and in Romagna, with a bishop’s see. It
is a very handsome populous place *, and is seated on
the river Santerno, in E. Long. u. 43. N. Lat. 44.
28.
IMPACT, the simple or single action of one body
upon another to put it in motion. Point of impact is
the place or point where a body acts.
IMPALE, in Heraldry, is to con join two coats of
Vol. XL Part I.
f
169 ] IMP
arms pale-wise. Women impale their coats of arms
with those of their husbands. See Heraldry.
lo impale cities, camps, fortifications, &c. is to in¬
close them with pallisadoes.
To Impale, or Empale, signifies also to put to death
by spitting on a stake fixed upright.
IMPALPABLE, that whose parts are so extremely
minute, that they cannot be distinguished by the senses
particularly by that of feeling.
IMPANATION, a term used by divines to signify
the opinion of the Lutherans with regard to the eucba-
rist, who believe that the species of bread and wine re¬
main together with the body of our Saviour after con¬
secration.
IMPANNELLING, in Law, signifies the writing
down or entering into a parchment, list, or schedule,
the names of a jury summoned by the sheriff to appear
for such public services as juries are employed in.
IMPARLANCE, in Law, a petition in court for a
day to consider or advise what answer the defendant
shall make to the plaintiff’s action j and is the continu¬
ance of the cause till another day, or a longer time gi¬
ven by the court.
IMPASSIBLE, that which is exempt from suffer¬
ing; or which cannot undergo pain or alteration. The
Stoics place the soul of their wise men in an impassible,
imperturbable state. See Apathy.
IMPASPAIION, the mixture of varipus materials
in different colours and consistencies, baked or bound
together with some cement, and hardened either by the
air or by fire.
IMPATIENS, Touch-me-not, and Balsamine ; a
genus of plants belonging to the syngenesia class $ and
in the natural method ranking under the 24th order,
Cory dales. See Botany Index.
IMPEACHMENT, an accusation and prosecution
for treason and other crimes and misdemeanours. Any
member of the lower house of parliament may impeach
any one belonging either to that body, or to the house
of lords. The method of proceeding is to exhibit ar¬
ticles on the behalf of the commons, by whom mana¬
gers are appointed to make good their charge. These
articles are carried to the lords, by whom every per¬
son impeached by the commons is always tried; and
if they find him guilty, no pardon under the great seal
can be pleaded to such an impeachment. 12 Will. III.
cap. ii.
IMPECCABlLES, in church history, a name gi¬
ven to those heretics who boasted that they were impec¬
cable, and that there was no need of repentance : such
were the Gnostics, Priscillianists, &c.
IMI ECCABILIPA , the state of a person who can¬
not sin ; or a grace, privilege, or principle, which puts
him out of a possibility of sinning.
The schoolmen distinguish several kinds and degrees
of impeccability: that of God belongs to him by na¬
ture : that 01 Jesus Christ, considered as man, belongs
to him by the hypostatical union: that of the blessed
is a consequence of their condition-: that of men is the
effect of a confirmation in grace, and is rather call¬
ed impeccance than impeccability; accordingly divines
distinguish between these two : this distinction is found
necessary in the disputes against the Pelagians, in or¬
der to explain certain terms in the Greek and Latin
Y fathers,
IMP [170] IMP
Impaccabi- fathers’, which without this distinction are easily con-
founded.
!l IMPEDIMENTS, in Laiv, are such hinderances
^ as put a stop or stay to a person’s seeking for his right
1 ^ ■ by a due course ot law. Persons under impediments
are those under age or coverture, non compos mentis,
in prison, beyond sea, &c. who, by a saving in our
Jaws, have time to claim and prosecute their rights,
after the impediments are removed, in case of fines
levied, &c.
IMPENETRABILITY, in Philosophy, that pro¬
perty of body, whereby it cannot be pierced by another :
Thus, a body which so fills a space as to exclude all
others, is said to be impenetrable.
IMPERATIVE, one of the moods of a verb, used
when we would command, intreat, or advise : thus, go
read, take pity, be advised, are imperatives in our lan¬
guage. But in the learned languages, this mood has
a peculiar termination to distinguish it from others, as
i, or ito, “ go j” lege, or legito, “ read,” &c. and not
only so, but the termination varies, according as you
address one or more persons, as audi, and aicdite ; aKtila,
stKXtiaii, ccxxHwhv, &c.
IMPERATOR, in Roman antiquity, a title of ho¬
nour conferred on victorious generals by their armies,
and afterwards confirmed by the senate.
Imperator w'as also the title adopted by the Roman
emperors.
IMPERATORIA, Masterwort, a genus of plants
belonging to the pentandria class ", and in the natural
method ranking under the 45th order, Umbellatce. See
Botany Index.
IMPERFECT, something that is defective, or that
wants some of the properties found in other beings of
the same kind.
Imperfect Humber, is that whose aliquot parts,
taken all together, do not make a sum that is equal to
the number itself, but either exceed it, or fall short of
it ; being an abundant number in the former case, and
a defective number in the latter. Thus 12 is an abun¬
dant imperfect number, because the sum of all its ali¬
quot parts, I, 2, 3, 4, 6, makes 16, which exceeds the
number 12. And 10 is a defective imperfect number,
because its aliquot parts I, 2, 5, taken all together,
make only 8, which is less than the number 10 itself.
Imperfect Tense, in Grammar, a tense that denotes
some preterite case, or denotes the thing to be at that
time present, and not quite finished j as senbebam, “ I
was writing.” See Grammar.
IMPERIAL, something belonging to an emperor,
or empire. See Emperor and Empire.—Thus we
say, bis imperial majesty, the imperial crown, imperial
arms, &c.
Imperial Crown. See Heraldry.
Imperial Chamber, is a sovereign court, establish¬
ed for the affairs of the immediate states of the empire.
See Chamber, and Germany.
Imperial Cities, in Germany, are those which own
no other head but the emperor. These are a kind of
little commonwealths j the chief magistrate whereof
does homage to the emperor; but in other respects,
and in the administration of justice, is sovereign. Im¬
perial cities have a right of coining money, and of keep¬
ing forces and fortified places. Their deputies assisted
at the imperial diets, where they are divided into two
branches, that of the Rhine and that of Suabia. There Impciiaf
were formerly 22 in the former and 37 in the latter 5 Cities
but since 181 c there are only four, Hamburg, Bremen, II. .
Lubec, ami Frankfort.
Imperial Diet, is an assembly or convention of all
the states of the empire. See Diet and Germany.
IMPERSONAL VERB, in Grammar, a verb to
which the nominative of any certain person cannot be
prefixed ; or, as others define it, a verb destitute ot
the two first and primary persons, as decet, oportet, &c.
the impersonal verbs of the active voice end in t, and
those of the passive in tur ; they are conjugated through
the third person singular of almost all the tenses and
moods : they want the imperative, instead of which we
use the present of the subjunctive } as pocniteat, pugne-
tur, &c. nor, but a few excepted, are they to be met
with in the supines, participles or gerunds.
IMPERVIOUS, a thing not to be pervaded or pass¬
ed through, either by reason of the closeness of its pores,
or the particular configuration of its parts.
IMPETIGO, in Medicine, an extreme roughness
and foulness of the skin, attended with an itching and
plentiful scurf.
The impetigo is a species of dry pruriginous itch,
wherein scales or scurf succeed apace; arising from
saline corrosive humours thrown out upon the exterior
parts of the body, by which means the internal parts
are usually relieved.
IMPETRATION, the act of obtaining any thing
by request or prayer.
Impetration was more particularly used in our sta¬
tutes for the pre-obtaining of benefices and church-ot-
fices in England from the court of Rome, which did be¬
long to the disposal of the king and other lay patrons
of the realm ; the penalty whereof is the same with that
of provisors, 25 Ed. III.
IMPETUS, in Mechanics, the force with which one
body strikes or impels another.
IMPLICATION, in Law, is where something is
implied that is not expressed by the parties themselves
in their deeds, contracts, or agreements.
To IMPLY, or Carry, in Music. These we have
used as synonymous terms in that article. They are
intended to signify those sounds which ought to be
the proper concomitants of any note, whether by its
own nature, or by its position in artificial harmony.
Thus every note, considered as an independent sound,
may be said to carry or imply its natural harmonics,
that is to say, its octave, its twelfth, and its seven¬
teenth 5 or, when reduced, its eighth, its fifth, and its
third. But the same sound, when considered as consti¬
tuting any part of harmony, is subjected to other laws
and different limitations. It can then only be said to
carry or imply such simple sounds, or complications of
sound, as the preceding and subsequent chords admit
or require. For these the laws of melody and har¬
mony must he consulted. See Melody and Har¬
mony.
IMPORTATION, in Commerce, the bringing
merchandise into a kingdom from foreign countries ;
in contradistinction to exportation. See Exporta¬
tion.
For the principal laws relating to importation, see
Customhouse Laws.
IMPOSITION of hands, an ecclesiastical action by
which
IMP [i
Imposition which a bishop lays his hand on the head of a person,
H in ordination, confirmation, or in uttering a blessing.
Impos- This practice is also frequently observed by the dissen-
■ B”ie* ters at the ordination of their ministers, when all the
ministers present place their hands on the head of him
whom they are ordaining, while one of them prays for
a blessing on him and his future labours. This some
of them retain as an ancient practice, justified by the
example of the apostles, when no extraordinary gifts
are conveyed. However, they are not agreed as to the
propriety of this ceremony ; nor do they consider it as
an essential part of ordination.
Imposition of hands was a Jewish ceremony, intro¬
duced not by any divine authority, but by custom ; it
being the practice among those people whenever they
prayed to God for any person to lay their hands on his
head.
Our Saviour observed the same custom, both when
he conferred his blessing on children, and when he
cured the sick; adding prayer to the ceremony. The
apostles likewise laid hands on those upon whom they
bestowed the Holy Ghost.—The priests observed the
same custom when any one ivas received into their
body.—'And the apostles themselves underwent the
imposition of hands afresh every time they entered
upon any new design. In the ancient church impo¬
sition of hands was even practised on persons when
they married, which custom the Abyssinians still ob¬
serve.
IMPOSSIBLE, that which is not possible, or which
cannot be done or effected. A proposition is said to
be impossible, when it contains two ideas which mutu¬
ally destroy each other, and which can neither be con¬
ceived nor united together. Thus it is impossible that
a circle should be a square ; because we conceive clear¬
ly that squareness and roundness destroy each other by
the contrariety of their figure.
There are two kinds of impossibilities, physical and
moral.
Physical impossibility is that which is contrary to
the law of nature.
A thing is morally impossible, when of its own na¬
ture it is possible, but yet is attended with such diffi¬
culties, as that, all things considered, it appears im¬
possible. Thus it is morally impossible that all men
should be virtuous ; or that a man should throw the
same number with three dice a hundred times suc¬
cessively.
A thing which is impossible in law, is the same with
a thing impossible in nature : and if any thing in a
bond or deed be impossible to be done, such deed, &c.
is void. 21 Car. I.
IMPOST, in Architecture, a capital or plinth, to a
pillar or pilaster, or pier that supports an arch, &c.
Impost, in Law, signifies in general a tribute or
custom, but is more particularly applied to signify that
tax which the crown receives for merchandises import¬
ed into any port or haven.
IMPOSTHUME, or abscess, a collection of mat¬
ter or pus in any part of the body, either owing to
an obstruction of the fluids in that part, which makes
them change into such matter, or to a translation of
it from some other part where it was generated. See
Surgery Index.
'i ] I M P
IMPOSTOR, in a general sense, denotes a person fmpoKtoi
who cheats by a fictitious character. ‘ (j
Religious Impostors, are such as falsely pretend to ^’Potency,
an extraordinary commission from heaven ; and who ‘
terrify and abuse the people with false denunciations
of judgments. These are punishable in the temporal
courts with fine, imprisonment, and infamous corporal
punishment.
IMPOTENCE, or Impotency, in general, de¬
notes want of strength, power, or means, to perform
any thing.
Divines and philosophers distinguish two sorts of
impotency; natural and moral. ’Ihe first is a want of
some physical principle, necessary to an action; or where
a being is absolutely defective, or not free and at liber¬
ty to act: The second only imports a great difficulty ;
as a strong habit to the contrary, a violent passion, or
the like.
Impotekcy is a term more particularly used for a
natural inability to coition. Impotence with respect
t0 men is the same as sterility in women ; that is, an
inability of propagating the species. There are many
causes of impotence ; as, a natural defect in the organs
of generation, which seldom admits of a cure : acci¬
dents or diseases ; and in such cases the impotence may
or may not be remedied, according as these are curable
or otherwise.—The most common causes are, early and
immoderate venery, or the venereal disease. We have
instances, however, of unfitness for generation in men,
by an impediment to the ejection of the semen in coi¬
tion, from a wrong direction which the orifice at the
verumontanum got, whereby the seed was thrown up
into the bladder. M. Petit cured one patient under
such a difficulty of emission, by making an incision
like to that commonly made in the great operation for
the stone.
On this subject we have some curious and original
observations by the late Mr John Hunter in his Trea¬
tise on the Venereal Disease *. He considers impo-*P. 20i.
tenoy as depending upon two causes. One he refers to&c *dedu.
the mind ; the other to the organs.
i. As to impotency depending upon the mind, he ob¬
serves, that as the “ parts of generation are not neces¬
sary lor the existence or support of the individual, but
have a reference to something else in which the mind
has a principal concern; so a complete action in those
parts cannot take place without a perfect harmony of
body and of mind; that is, there must be both a power
of body and disposition of mind ; for the mind is subject
to a thousand caprices, which affect the actions of these
parts.
“ Copulation is an act of the body, the spring of
which is in the mind ; but it is not volition : and ac¬
cording to the state of the mind, so is the act per¬
formed. To perform this act well, the body should
be in health, and the mind should be perfectly confi¬
dent of the powers of the body; the mind should he
in a state entirely disengaged from every thing else :
it should have no difficulties, no fears, no apprehen¬
sions, not even an anxiety to perform the act well:
for even this anxiety is a state of mind different from
what should prevail; there should not be even a fear
that the mind itself may find a difficulty at the time
the act should be performed. Perhaps no function of
Y 2 the
IMP [ 172 ] IMP
Impoteney. the machine depends so much upon the state of the
  mind as this.
“ The will and reasoning faculty have nothing to do
with this power; they are only employed in the act, so
far as voluntary parts are made use of: and if they
ever interfere, which they sometimes do, it often pro¬
duces another state of mind which destroys that which
is proper for the performance of the act j it produces a
desire, a wish, a hope, which are all only diffidence
and uncertainty, and create in the mind the idea of a
possibility of the want of success, which destroys the
proper state of mind or necessary confidence.
“ There is perhaps no act in which a man feels him¬
self more interested, or is more anxious to perform well j
his pride being engaged in some degree, which if with¬
in certain bounds would produce a degree of perfection
in an act depending upon the will, or an act in volun¬
tary parts ; but when it produces a state of mind con¬
trary to that state on which the perfection of the act
depends, a failure must be the consequence.
“ The body is not only rendered incapable of per¬
forming this act by the mind being under the above in¬
fluence, but also by the mind being, though perfectly
confident of its power, yet conscious of an impropriety
in performing it ; this, in many cases, produces a state
of mind which shall take away all power. The state of
a man’s mind respecting his sister takes away all power.
A conscientious man has been known to lose his powers
on finding the woman he was going to be connected
with unexpectedly a virgin.
“ Shedding tears^arises entirely from the state of the
mind, although not so much a compound action as the
act in question ; for none are so weak in body that they
cannot shed tears j it is not so much a compound action
of the mind and strength of body joined, as the other
act is; yet if we are afraid of shedding tears, or are
desirous of doing it, and that anxiety is kept up through
the whole of an affecting scene, we certainly shall not
shed tears, or at least not so freely as would have hap¬
pened from our natural feelings.
“ From this account of the necessity of having the
mind independent respecting the act, we must see that
it may very often happen that the state of mind will he
such as not to allow the animal to exert its natural
powers; and every failure increases the evil. We must
also see from this state of the case, that this act must
be often interrupted ; and the true cause of this inter¬
ruption not being known, it will be laid to the charge
of the body or want of powers. As these cases do not
arise from real inability, they are 10 be carefully distin¬
guished from such as do; and perhaps the only way to
distinguish them is, to examine into the state of mind
respecting this act. So trifling often is the circum¬
stance which shall produce this inability depending on
the mind, that the very desire to please shall have that
effect, as in making the woman the sole object to be
gratified.
“ Cases of this kind we see every day; one of which
I shall relate as an illustration of this subject, and also
of the method of cure.—A gentleman told me, that he
had lost his virility. After above an hour’s investiga¬
tion of the case, I made out the following facts: that
he had at unnecessary times strong erections, which
showed that he had naturally this power ; that the
erections were accompanied with desire, which are all
the natural powers wanted ; but that there was still a Impotent
defect somewhere, which I supposed to be from the -y~—
mind. I inquired if all women were alike to him P bis
answer was, No ; some women he could have connec¬
tion with as well as ever. This brought the defect,
whatever it was, into a smaller compass : and it appear¬
ed that there was but one woman that produced this in¬
ability, and that it arose from a desire to perform the
act with this woman well ; which desire produced in
the mind a doubt or fear of the want cf success, which
was the cause of the inability of performing the act.
As this arose entirely from the state of the mind produ¬
ced by a particular circumstance, the mind was to be
applied to for the cure; and I told him that he might
be cured, if he could perfectly rely on his own power of
self-denial. When I explained what I meant, he told
me that he could depend upon every act of his will or
resolution. I then told him, that, if he had a perfect
confidence in himself in that respect, he was to go to
bed to this woman, but first promise to himself that
he would not have any connection with her for six
nights, let his inclinations and powers be what they
would ; which he engaged to do, and also to let me
know the result. About a fortnight after, he-told me,
that his resolution had produced such a total alteration
in the state of his mind, that the power soon took
place ; for instead of going to bed with the fear of ina¬
bility, he went with fears that he should be possessed
with too much desire, too much power, so as to become
uneasy to him ; which really happened ; for he would
have been happy to have shortened the time ; and when
he had once broke the spell, the mind and powers went
on together, and his mind never returned to its former
state.
2. Qfimpotencyfvom a want of proper correspondence
between the actions of the different organs. Our au¬
thor, in a former part of his Treatise, when considering
the diseases of the urethra and bladder, had remarked,
that every organ in an animal body, without exception,
was made of different parts, whose functions or actions
were totally different from one another, although all
tending to produce one ultimate effect. In all such or¬
gans, when perfect (he observes), there is a succession
of motions, one naturally arising out of the other, which
in the end produces the ultimate effect ; and an irregu¬
larity alone in these actions will constitute disease," at
least will produce very disagreeable effects, and often
totally frustrate the intention of the organ. This prin¬
ciple Mr Hunter, on the present occasion, applies to
the “ actions of the testicles and penis: for we find that
an irregularity in the actions of these parts sometimes
happens in men, producing impotence; and something
similar probably may be one cause of barrenness in wo¬
men.
“ In men, the parts subservient to generation may be
divided into two ; the essential and the accessory. The
testicles are the essential; the penis, &c. the accessory.
As this division arises from their uses or actions in
health, which exactly correspond with one another, a
want of exactness in the correspondence or susceptibility
of those actions may also be divided into two : where
the actions are reversed, the accessory taking place
without the first or essential, as in erections of the penis,
where neither the mind nor the testicles are stimulated
to action; and the second is where the testicles perform
the
IMP ' [
>npotency, the action of secretion too readily for the penis, which
has not a corresponding erection. The first is called
priapism; and the second is what ought to be called^.
minal iveakness.
“ The mind has considerable effect on the correspon¬
dence of the actions of these two parts : but it would
appear in many instances, that erections of the penis
depend more on the state of the mind than the secretion
of the semen does ; for many have the secretion, but
not the erection ; but in such, the want of erection ap¬
pears to be owing to the mind only.
“ Priapism often arises spontaneously j and often
from visible irritation of the penis, as in the venereal
gonorrhoea, especially when violent. The sensation
of such erections is rathe'r uneasy than pleasant; nor is
the setjsation of the glans at the time similar to that ari¬
sing from the erections of desire, but more like to the
sensation of the parts immediately after coition. Such
as arise spontaneously are of more serious consequence
than those from inflammation, as they proceed probably
from causes not curable in themselves or by any known
methods. The priapism arising from inflammation of
the parts, as in a gonorrhoea, is attended with nearly
the same symptoms ; but generally the sensation is that
of pain, proceeding from the inflammation of the parts.
It may be observed, that what is said of priapism is
only applicable to it when a disease in itself, and not
when a symptom of other diseases, which is frequently
the case.
“ The common practice in the cure of this complaint
is to order all the nervous and strengthening medicines;
such as bark, valerian, musk, camphor, and also the
cold bath. 1 have seen good effects from the cold
bath ; but sometimes it does not agree with the consti¬
tution, in which case I have found the warm bath of
service. Opium appears to be a specific in many cases;
from which circumstance I should be apt, upon the
whole, to try a soothing plan.
“ Seminal weakness, or a secretion and emission of
the semen without erections, is the reverse of a priapism,
and is by much the worse disease of the two. There is
great variety in the degrees of this disease, there being
all the gradations from the exact correspondence of the
actions ol ah the parts to the testicles acting alone ; in
every case of the disease, there is too quick a secretion
and evacuation of the semen. Like to the priapism, it
does not arise from desires and abilities; although when
mild it is attended with both, but not in a due propor¬
tion ; a very slight desire often producing the full ef¬
fect. The secretion of the semen shall be so quick,
that simple thought, or even toying, shall make it
flow.
“ Dreams have produced this evacuation repeatedly
rn the same night; and even when the dreams have been
so slight, that there has been no consciousness of them
when the sleep has been broken by the act of emission.
J have known cases where the testicles have been so
ready to secrete, that the least friction on the glans has
173 ] IMP
produced an emission : I have known the simple action In,potency,
of walking or riding produce this effect, and that re- '-^v——*
peatedly, in a very short space of time.
“ A young man, about four or five and twenty years
ot age, not so much given to venery as most young
men, had these last mentioned complaints upon him.
Three or four times in the night he would emit; and
if he walked fast, or rode on horseback, the same thing
would happen. He could scarcely have connection
with a woman before he emitted, and in the emission
theie was hardly any spasm. He tried every supposed
strengthening medicine, as also the cold bath and sea¬
bathing, but with no effect. By taking 20 drops of
laudanum on going to bed, he prevented the night
emissions; and by taking the same quantity in the
morning, he could walk or ride without the before-
mentioned inconvenience. I directed this practice to
be continued for some time, although the disease did
not return, that the parts might be accustomed to this
healthy state of action ; and I have reason to believe
the gentleman is now well. It was found necessary, as
the constitution became more habituated to the opiate,
to increase the dose of it.
“ The spasms, upon the evacuation of the semen in
such cases are extremely slight, and a repetition of
them soon takes place ; the first emission not preventing
a second ; the constitution being all the time but little
aflected (A). When the testicles act alone, without
the accessory parts taking up the necessary and natural
consequent action, it is still a more melancholy disease ;
lor the secretion arises from no visible or sensible esuse,
and does not give any visible or sensible effect, but runs
oft similar to involuntary stools or urine. It lias been
observed that the semen is more fluid than natural in
some of these cases.
“ There is great variety in the diseased actions of
these parts ; ol which the following case may be consi¬
dered as an example. A gentleman has had a stricture
in the urethra for many years, for which he has fre¬
quently used a bougie, but has of late neglected it. He
has had no connection with women for a considerable
time, being afraid of the consequences. He has often
in his sleep involuntary emissions, which generally
awake him at the paroxysm ; but what surprises him
most is, that often he has sr.ch without any semen
passing forwards through the penis, which makes him
think that at those times it goes backward into the
bladder. This is not always the case, for at other
times the semen passes forwards. At the time the
semen seems to pass into the bladder, he has the erec¬
tion, the dream ; and is awaked with the same mode
of action, the same sensation, and the same pleasure,
as when it passes through the urethra, whether dream¬
ing or waking. My opinion is, that the same irritation
takes place in the bulb of the urethra without the se¬
men that takes place there when the semen enters, in
consequence of all the natural preparatory steps, where¬
by the very same actions are excited as if it came into
the
^ 1S. to. considered, that the constitution is commonly affected by the spasms only, and in pro¬
portion to their violence, independent of the secretion and evacuation of the semen. But in some cases even,
place” °n S°,nS ■ mtI,0Ut the sPasra3 on the emission, shall produce the same debility as if they had taken
IMP
t 174 ]
I M P
Imimtencv the passage: from which one would suppose, that either
|| semen is not secreted 5 or it it be, that a retrograde mo-
luipvessing. i|on takes place in the actions of the acceleratores un-
  *—Ilse. But if the first be the case, then we may suppose,
that in the natural state the actions of those muscles do
not arise simply from the stimulus of the semen in the
part, hut from their action being a termination of a
preceding one, making part of a series of actions. Thus
they may depend upon the friction, or the imagination
of a friction, on the penis j the testicles not doing their
part, and the spasm in such cases arising from the
friction and not from the secretion. In many ot those
cases of irregularity, when the erection is not stiong, it
shall go off without the emission 5 and at other times
an emission shall happen almost without an erection j
but these arise not from debility, but affections ol the
mind. t .
“ In many of the preceding cases, washing the
penis, scrotum, and perinseum, with cold water, is of¬
ten of service j and to render it colder than it is in
some seasons of the year, common salt may be added to
it, and the parts washed when the salt is almost dissol-
ved.” < . ..
Impotency is a canonical disability, to avoid mar¬
riage in the spiritual court. The marriage is not void
ah initio, but voidable only by sentence of separation
during the life of the parties.
IMPRECATION, (derived from f«, and precor,
“ I pray*,”) a curse or wish that some evil may befal
any one.
The ancients had their goddesses called Imprecations,
in Latin, Dirce, i. e. Deorum irce, who were supposed
to be the executioners of evil consciences. They were
called in heaven, Furies on earth, and Fumenides
in hell. The Romans owned but three of these Im-
precations, and the Greeks only two. They invoked
them with prayers and pieces of verses to destroy their
enemies.
IMPREGNATION, the getting a female with
child. See Conception.
The term impregnation is also used, in pharmacy, for
communicating the virtues of one medicine to another,
whether by mixture, coction, digestion, &c.
IMPRESSING seamen. The power of impressing
sea-faring men for the sea-service by the king’s com¬
mission, has been a matter of some dispute, and submit¬
ted to with great reluctance ; though it hath very
clearly and learnedly been shown by Sir Mfchael For¬
ster, that the practice of impressing, and granting
powers to the admiralty for that purpose, is of a very
ancient date, and hath been uniformly continued by a
regular series of precedents to the present time : whence
he concludes it to be part of the common law. The
difficulty arises from hence, that no statute has express¬
ly declared this power to be in the crown, though many
of them very strongly imply it. The statute 2 Rich. II.
c. 4. speaks of mariners being arrested and retained for
the king’s service, as of a thing well known, and prac¬
tised without dispute j and provides a remedy against
their running away. By a later statute, if any water¬
man, who uses the river Thames, shall hide himself
during the execution of any commission of pressing for
the king’s service, he is liable to heavy penalties. By
another (1; Eliz. c. 5.) no fisherman shall be taken by
the queen’s commission to serve as a mariner \ but the
3
commission shall he first brought to two justices of the inipressii
peace, inhabiting near the sea coast where the mariners y
are to be taken, to the intent that the justices may la'pnsoi
choose out and return such a number of able-bodied , U1C”1'
men, as in the commission are contained, to serve her
majesty. And by others, especial protections are al¬
lowed to seamen in particular circumstances, to prevent
them from being impressed. Ferrymen are also said to
be privileged from being impressed, at common law.
All which do most evidently imply a power of impres¬
sing to reside somewhere; and if anywhere, it must,
from the spirit of our constitution, as well as from the
frequent mention of the king’s commission, reside in the
crown alone.—After all, however, this method of man¬
ning the navy is to be considered as only defensible
from public necessity, to which all private considera¬
tions must give way.
The following persons are exempted from being im¬
pressed : Apprentices for three years 5 the master,
mate, and carpenter, and one man for every 100 tons,
of vessels employed in the coal trade j all under 18
years of age, and above 55; foreigners in merchant-
ships and privateers 5 landmen betaking themselves to
sea for two years \ seamen in the Greenland fishery, and
harpooners, employed, during the interval of the fishing
season, in the coal-trade, and giving security to go to
the fishing next season.
IMPRESSION is applied to the species of objects
which are supposed to make some marker impression on
the senses, the mind, and the memory. The Peripate¬
tics assert, that bodies emit species resembling them,
which are conveyed to the common sensorium, and they
are rendered intelligible by the active intellect $ and,
when thus spiritualized, are called expressions, or ex¬
press species, as being expressed from the others.
Impression also denotes the edition of a hook, re¬
garding the mechanical part only j whereas edition, be¬
sides this, takes in the care of the editor, who corrected
or augmented the copy, adding notes, &c. to render
the work more useful.
IMPRISONMENT, the state of a person restrain¬
ed of his liberty, and detained under the custody of an¬
other.
No person is to be imprisoned but as the law directs,
either by the command or order of a court of record,
or by lawful warrant 5 or the king’s process, on which
one may be lawfully detained. And at common law,
a person could not be imprisoned unless he were guilty
of some force and violence for which his body was
subject to imprisonment, as one of the highest execu¬
tions. Where the law gives power to imprison, in
such case it is justifiable, provided he that does it in
pursuance of a statute exactly pursues the statute in
the manner of doing it; for otherwise it will be deem¬
ed false imprisonment, and of consequence it is unjusti¬
fiable. Every warrant of commitment for imprisoning
a person ought to run, “ till delivered by due. course
of law,” and “ not until farther order 5” which has
been held ill : and thus it also is, where one is impri¬
soned on a warrant not mentioning any cause for
which he is committed. See Arrest and Commit¬
ment.
False Imprisonment. Every confinement of the
person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common
prison, or in a private house, or in the stocks, or even
by
IMP [ i
uiprison* by forcibly detaining one in the public streets. Un-
raent lawful or false imprisonment consists in such confinement
II or detention without sufficient authority : which autho-
impurity^ ma^ ar|se eltl,er from some process from the courts
of justice $ or from some warrant from a legal power to
commit, under his hand and seal, and expressing the
cause of such commitment ; or from some other special
cause warranted, for the necessity of the thing, either
by common law or act of parliament j such as the ar¬
resting of a felon by a private person without warrant,
the impressing of mariners for the public service, or the
apprehending of waggoners for misbehaviour in the
public highways. False imprisonment also may arise
by executing a lawful warrant or process at an unlawful
time, as on a Sunday ; or in a place privileged from
arrests, as in the verge of the king’s court. This
is the injury. The remedy is of two sorts j the one
removing the injury, the other making satisfaction for
it.
The means of removing the actual injury of false im¬
prisonment are fourfold : l. By writ of MainprizE.
2. By writ De Odio et Alia. 3. By writ De Homine
lieplegiando. 4. By writ ef Habeas Corpus. See
those articles.
The satisfactory remedy for this injury of false impri¬
sonment, is by an action of trespass vi et armis, usually
called an action of false imprisonment; which is gene¬
rally, and almost unavoidably, accompanied with a
charge of assault and battery also; and therein the party
shall recover damages for the injuries he has received ;
and also the defendant is, as for all other injuries com¬
mitted with force, or vi et artnis, liable to pay a fine
to the king for the violation of the public peace.
IMPROMPTU, or Infromptu, a Latin word fre¬
quently used among the French, and sometimes in Eng¬
lish, to signify a piece made off-hand, or extempore,
without any previous meditation, by mere force and vi¬
vacity of imagination.
IMPROBxVITON, in Scots Law, the name of any
action brought for setting any deed or writing aside up¬
on the bead of forgery.
IMPROPRIATION, in ecclesiastical law. See
Appropriation.
IMPULSION, in Mechanical Philosophy, a term
employed for expressing a supposed peculiar exertion of
the powers of body, by which a moving body changes
the motion of another body by hitting or striking it.
The plainest case of this action is when a body in mo¬
tion hits another body at rest, and puts it in motion by
the stroke. The body thus put in motion is said to be
IMPELLED by the other ; and this way of producing
motion is called impulsion, to distinguish it from PRES-
SION, THRUSTING, or PROTRUSION, by which we push
a body from its place without striking it. The term
has been gradually extended to every change of motion
occasioned by the collision of bodies. See Mecha¬
nics.
IMPURITY, in the law of Moses, is any legal de¬
filement. Of these there were several sorts. Some
were voluntary, as the touching a dead body, or any
animal that died of itself, or any creature that was
esteemed unclean ; or the touching things holy, by one
who was not clean, or was not a priest; the touching
one who had a leprosy, one who had a gonorrhoea, or
who was polluted by a dead carcase, &c. Sometimes
5 ] I N A
these impurities were involuntary ; as when any one impurity
inadvertently touched Imnes, or a sepulchre, or any [)
thing polluted ; or fell into such diseases as pollute, as Inanity,
the leprosy, &c. ‘~v "
The beds, clothes, and moveables, which had touch¬
ed any thing unclean, contracted also a kind of impuri¬
ty, and in some cases communicated it to others.
These legal pollutions were generally removed by
bathing, and lasted no longer than the evening. The
person polluted plunged over head in the water, and
either had his clothes on when he did so, or washed
himself and his clothes separately. Other pollutions
continued seven days, as that which was conti’acted by
touching a dead body. That of women in their month¬
ly courses lasted till this was over with them. Other
impurities lasted 40 or 50 days; as that of women who
were lately delivered, who were unclean 40 days after
the birth of a boy, and 50 after the birth of a girl.
Others again lasted till the person was cured.
Many of these pollutions were expiated by sacrifices;
and others by a certain water or ley made with the
ashes of a red heifer, sacrificed on the great day of ex¬
piation. When the leper was cured, be went to the
temple, and offered a sacrifice of two birds, one of
which was killed and the other set at liberty. He who
had touched a dead body, or had been present at a fu¬
neral, was to be purified with the water of expiation,
and this upon pain of death. The woman who had
been delivered, ofi'ered a turtle and a lamb for her ex¬
piation ; or if she was poor, two turtles or two young
pigeons.
These impurities, which the law of Moses has ex¬
pressed with the greatest accuracy and care, were only
figures of other more important impurities, such as the
sins and iniquities committed against God, or faults
committed against our neighbour. The saints and pro¬
phets of the Old Testament were sensible of this ; and
our Saviour, in the gospel, has strongly inculcated, that
they are not outward and corporeal pollutions which
render us unacceptable to God, hut such inward pollu¬
tions as infect the soul, and are violations of justice,
truth, and charity.
IMPUTATION, in general, the charging some¬
thing to the account of one which belonged to another:
thus, the assertors of original sin maintain, that Adam’s
sin is imputed to all his posterity.
In the same sense, the righteousness and merits of
Christ are imputed to true believers.
INACCESSIBLE, something that cannot be ap¬
proached, by reason of intervening obstacles, as a river,
rock, &c. It is chiefly used in speaking of heights and
distances. See Mensuration.
INACHUS, founder of the kingdom of Argos,
1856 B. C. See Argos.
INALIENABLE, that which cannot be legally
alienated or made over to another : thus the dominions
of the king, the revenues of the church, the estates of
a minor, &c. are inalienable, otherwise than with a re¬
serve of the right of redemption.
INANIMATE, a body that has either lost its soul,
or that is not of a’nature capable of having any.
INANITION, among physicians, denotes the state
of the stomach when empty, in opposition to reple¬
tion.
INANITY, the school term for emptiness or ab¬
solute
INC [ 176 ] INC
-fnanity solute vacuity, and implies the absence of all body and
U matter whatsoever, so that nothing remains but mere
Incarna- space<
, INARCHING, in Gardening, a method of graft¬
ing, commonly called grafting by approach. See Gar¬
dening Index.
INAUGURATION, the coronation of an empe¬
ror or king, or the consecration of a prelate : so called
from the ceremonies used by the Romans, when they
were received into the college of augurs.
INCA, or Ynca, a name given by the natives of
Peru to their kings and the princes of the blood. Pe¬
dro de Cieca, in his Chronicles of Peru, gives the ori¬
gin of the incasj and says, that that country was, for
a long time, the theatre of all manner of crimes, of
war, dissension, and the most dreadful disorders, till at
last two brothers appeared, one of whom was called
Mangocapa ; of this person the Peruvians relate many
wonderful stories. He built the city of Cusco, made
laws, established order and harmony by his wise regu¬
lations j and he and his descendants took the name
of inca, which signifies king or great lord. These in-
cas became so powerful, that they rendered themselves
masters of all the country from Paste to Chili, and from
the river Maule on the south to the river Augasmago
on the north j these two rivers forming the bounds
of their empire, which extended above thirteen hun¬
dred leagues in length. This they enjoyed till the di¬
visions between Inca Guascar and Atabalipa : which
the Spaniards laying hold of, made themselves masters
of the country, and destroyed the empire of the incas.
See Peru.
INCAMERATION, a term used in the chancery
of Rome, for the uniting of lands, revenues, or other
rights, to the pope’s domain.
INCANTATION, denotes certain ceremonies, ac¬
companied with a formula of words, and supposed to
be capable of raising devils, spirits, &c. See Charm,
' &c. '
INCAPACITY, in the canon-law, is of two
kinds : 1. The want of a dispensation for age in a mi¬
nor, for legitimation in a bastaid, and the like : this
renders the provision of a benefice void in its original.
2. Crimes and heinous offences, which annul provisions
at first valid.
INCARNATION, in Theology, signifies the act
whereby the Son of God assumed the human na¬
ture ; or the mystery by which Jesus Christ, the eter¬
nal word, was made man, in order to accomplish the
work of our salvation. The era used among Chris¬
tians, whence they number their years, is the time of
the incarnation, that is, of Christ’s conception in the
virgin’s womb.
Ibis era was first established by Dionysius Exiguus,
about the beginning of the sixth century, till which time
the era of Dioclesian had been in use.
Some time after this, it was considered, that the
years of a man’s life were not numbered from the time
of his conception, but from that of his birth : which
occasioned them to postpone the beginning of this era
for the space of one year, retaining the cycle of Dio-
Eysius entire in every thing else.
At Rome they reckon their years from the incar¬
nation or birth of Christ, that is, from the 25th of
December, which custom has obtained from the year
5
1431. In Franee, and several other countries, they also Incarn*
reckon from the incarnation: but then they differ tion
from each other in the day of the incarnation, fixing B
it, after the primitive manner, not to the day of the .Incense
birth, but conception of our Saviour $ though the *r”"
Florentines retain the day of the birth, and begin their
year from Christmas.
Incarnation (formed from in and caro “ flesh,”)
in Surgery, signifies the healing and filling up of ulcers
and wounds with new flesh. See Surgery.
INCARNA FIVES, in Surgery, medicines which
were supposed to assist nature in filling up wounds or
ulcers with flesh.
INCENDIARV, in Law, is applied to one who
is guilty of maliciously setting fire to another’s dwell¬
ing-house, and all outhouses that are parcel thereof,
though not contiguous to it, or under the same roof,
as barns and stables. A bare intent or attempt to do
this, by actually setting fire to a house, unless it ab¬
solutely burns, does not fall within the description of
incendit et coinbussit. Rut the burning and consuming
of any part is sufficient j though the fire be afterwards
extinguished. It must also be a malicious burning j
otherwise it is only a trespass. This offence is called
arson in our law.
Among the ancients, criminals of this kind were to
be burnt. Qwf aides, acervumque frumenti juxta do-
mum positum sciens, prudensque dolo malo combusserit,
vinctus igni necatur.
The punishment of arson was death by our ancient
Saxon laws and by the Gothic constitutions : and in
the reign of Edward I. incendiaries were burnt to
death. The stat. 8 Hen. VI. c. 6. made the wilful
burning of houses, under special circumstances, high
treason ; but it was reduced to felony by the general
acts of Edward VI. and Queen Mary. This offence
was denied the benefit of clergy by 21 Hen. VIII. c. 1.
which statute was repealed by 1 Edw. VI. c. 12.: and
arson was held to be ousted of clergy, with respect to
the principal, by inference from the stat. 4 and 5 P.
and M. c. 4. which expressly denied it to the accessory ;
though now it is expressly denied to the principal also,
by 9 Geo. I. c. 22.
INCENSE, or Frankincense, in the Materia Me-
dwa, &c. a dry resinous substance, known among au-
thors by the names thus and olieanum.
Incense is a rich perfume, with which the Pagans
and the Roman Catholics still perfume their temples,
altars, &c—The word comes from the Latin incen-
sum, q. d. burnt; as taking the effect for the thing it¬
self. 6
The burning of incense made part of the daily ser-
% Re ot the ancient Jewish church. Ihe priests drew
lots to know who should offer it : the destined person
took a large silver dish, in which was a censer full of
incense j and being accompanied by another priest
carrying some live coals from the altar, went into the
temple. There, in order to give notice to the peo¬
ple, they struck upon an instrument of brass placed
between the temple and the altar £ and being returned
to the altar, he who brought the fire left iAhere, and
went away. Then the offerer of incense having said
a prayer to two, waited the signal, which was the
burning of the holocaust; immediately upon which he
set fire to the incense, the whole multitude continuing
all -1
INC [ 177 1 INC
lireensc all (he time m prayer. The quantity of incense ofier-
ed each day was half a pound in the morning and as
inch Com. muc|j aj- nJg|it.
One reason of this continual burning of incense might
be, that the multitude of victims that were continually
offered up, would have made the temple smell like a
slaughter-house, and consequently have inspired the
comers rather with disgust and aversion, than awe and
reverence, had it not been overpowered by tbe agree¬
able fragrance of those perfumes.
INCEPTIVE, a word used by Dr Wallis to ex¬
press such moments, or first principles, which, though
of no magnitude themselves, are yet capable of produ¬
cing such as are. Thus a point has no magnitude it¬
self, hut is inceptive of a line which it produces by its
motion. So a line, though it have no breadth, is yet
inceptive of breadth j that is, it is capable, by its mo¬
tion, of producing a surface which has breadth, &c.
INCEST, the crime of venereal commerce between
persons who are related in a degree wherein marriage
is prohibited by the laws of the country.
Some are of opinion, that marriage ought to be
permitted between kinsfolks, to the end that the af¬
fection so necessary in marriage might be heightened
by this double tie : yet the rules of the church have
formerly extended this prohibition even to the seventh
degree; hut time has now brought it down to the third
or fourth degree.
Most nations look on incest with horror, Persia and
Egypt alone excepted. In the history of the ancient
kings of those countries we meet with instances of the
brother’s marrying the sister ; the reason was, because
they thought it too mean to join in alliance with their
own subjects, and still more so to have married into
any foreign family.
Incest, Spiritual, a crime committed in like manner
between persons who have a spiritual alliance by means
of baptism or confirmation.
Spiritual incest is also understood of a vicar, or other
beneficiary, who enjoys both the mother and daughter ;
that is, holds two benefices, the one whereof depends
upon the collation of the other.
Such a spiritual incest renders both the one and the
other of these benefices vacant.
INCH, a well-known measure of length ; being the
twelfth part of a foot, and equal to three barley-corns in
length.
Inch of Candle, (sale by). See Candle.
Inch (contracted from the Gaelic innis, “ an
island”), a word prefixed to the names of difierent
places in Scotland and Ireland.
Inch Colm, avColumba, the isle of Columba, an island
situated in the frith of Forth in Scotland, and famous
for its monastery. See Forth.
This monastery was founded about 1123, by Alex¬
ander I. on the following occasion. In passing the frith
of Forth he was overtaken by a violent storm, which
drove him to this island, where he met with the most
hospitable reception from a poor hermit, then residing
here in the chapel of St Columba, who, for the three
days that the king remained there tempest-bound, en¬
tertained him with the milk of his cow, and a few
shell-fish. His majesty, from the sense of the danger
he had escaped, and in gratitude to the saint to whom
Vol. XI. Part I. +
he attributed his safety, vowed some token of respect j incjj $;0im
and accordingly founded here a monastery of Angus- (}
tines, and dedicated it to St Columba. Allan de Mor- Inchoative
timer, lord of Aberdour, who attended Edward III. in verhs-
his Scotch expedition, bestowed half of those lands on ^
the monks of this island, for the privilege of a family
burial-place in their church. The buildings made in
consequence of the piety of Alexander were very con-
sideiahle. There are still to be seen a large square,
tower belonging to the church, the ruins of the church,
and of several other buildings. The wealth of this
place in the time of Edward III. proved so strong a
temptation to his fleet, then lying in the Forth, as to
suppress all the horror of sacrilege and respect*to the
sanctity of the inhabitants. The English landed, and
spared not even the furniture more immediately conse¬
crated to divine worship. But due vengeance overtook
them $ for in a storm which instantly followed, many of
them perished $ those who escaped, struck with the.
justice of the judgment, vowed to make ample recom¬
pense to the injured saint. The tempest ceased ; and
they made the promised atonement.—The Danish mo¬
nument, figured by Sir Robert Sibbald, lies on the
south-east side of the building, on a rising ground. It
is of a rigid form, and the surface ornamented with
scale-like figures. At each end is the representation of
a human head.
Inch Keith, a small island situated in the same frith,
midway between the port of Leith and Kinghorn on
the opposite shore. See Forth.
This island is said to derive its name from the gal¬
lant Keith, who so greatly signalized himself by his
valour in 1010, in the battle of Barry, in Angus,
against the Danes $ after which he received in reward
the barony of Keith, in Lothian, and this little
isle. In 1549 the English fleet, sent by Edward VI.
to assist the lords of tbe congregation against the
queen-dowager, landed, and began to fortify this
island, of the importance of which they grew sen¬
sible after their neglect of securing the port of Leith,
so lately in their power. They left here five com¬
panies to cover the workmen under the command of
Cotterel ; but their operations were soon interrupted
by M. Desse, general of the French auxiliaries, who
took the place, after a gallant defence on the part of
the English. The Scots kept possession for some years ;
but at last the fortifications were destroyed by act of
parliament, to prevent it from being of any use to the
former. The French gave it the name of Disle de.s
chevaux, from its property of soon fattening horses.
—In 1497, order of council, all venereaf patients
in the neighbourhood of the capital were transported
there, to prevent their disease from spreading, ne quid
detrimeniirespuhlica caperet. A lighthouse, which must
prove highly beneficial to the shipping which frequent
the Forth, was erected in 1803,
Inch Garvie, a small island, also lying in the frith
of Forth, near Queensferry. See FoRTHt
INCHANTMENT. See Witchcraft.
INCHOATIVE, a term signifying the beginning
of a thing or action} the same with what is otherwise
called inceptive.
Inchoative verbs, denote, according to Priscian and
other grammarians, verbs that are characterised by the
Z termination
INC [ 178 ] INC
Inchoative termination sco or scor, added to their primitives; as
[] augesco from cm geo ^ calc sco from cqIco^ dulcesco fiom
luconibus- fluids, irascor from if a, &c.
tii;le- INCIDENCE, denotes the direction in which one
body strikes on another. See Optics and MECHANICS.
Angle of Incidence. See Angle.
INCIDENT, in a general sense, denotes an event,
or a particular circumstance of some event.
Incident, in Law, is a thing appertaining to, or
following another that is more worthy or principal.
A court baron is inseparably incident to a manor > and
a court of pie powders to a fair.
Incident Diligence, in Scots Law, a warrant grant¬
ed by a lord ordinary in the court of session for citing
witnesses for proving any point, or for production of
any writing necessary for preparing the cause for a
final determination, or before it goes to a general
proof.
Incident, in a poem, is an episode, or particular
action, joined to the principal action, or depending
on it.
A Good comedy is to he full of agreeable incidents,
which divert the spectators, and form the intrigue.
The poet ought always to make choice of such inci¬
dents as are susceptible of ornament suitable to the
nature of his poem. The variety of incidents well con¬
ducted makes the beauty of an heroic pcfem, which
ouo-ht always to take in a certain number of incidents
to suspend the catastrophe, that would otherwise break
out too soon.
INCINERATION, (derived from in, and cinis,
“ ashes,”) in chemistry, the reduction of any substance
into ashes by burning.
INCISIVE, an appellation given to whatever cuts
or divides '• thus, the fore teeth are called dentes incisivi,
or cutters 5 and medicines ot an attenuating nature, in¬
cidents, or incisive medicines.
INCLE, a kind of tape made of linen yarn.
INCLINATION, is a word frequently used by
mathematicians, and signifies the mutual approach,
tendency, or leaning of two lines or two planes to¬
wards each other, so as to make an angle.
Inclination, in a moral sense. See Appetite.
INCLINED plane, in Mechanics, one that makes
an oblique angle with the horizon. See MECHANICS.
INCOGNITO, or incog, is applied to a person
who is in any place •where he would not be known :
but is more particularly applied to princes, or great
men, who enter towns, or walk the streets, without
their ordinary train or the usual marks of their distinc¬
tion and quality.
INCOMBUSTIBLE cloth. See Asbestos, Mi¬
neralogy Index. On this Cronstedt observes, that
the natural store of the asbesti is in proportion to their
economical use, both being very inconsiderable. li It
is an old tradition (says he), that in former ages they
made cloths of the fibrous asbesti, which is said to be
composed of the word byssits; but it is not very pro¬
bable, since if one may conclude from some trifles now
made of it, as bags, ribbons, and other thing, such a
dress could neither have an agreeable appearance, nor
be of any conveniency or advantage. It is more pro¬
bable that the Scythians dressed their dead bodies which
were to be burned, in a cloth manufactured of this
stone; and this perhaps has occasioned the above
S
fable.” M, Magellan confirms this opinion of Cron- incorabus.
stedt’s, and informs us that some of the Romans also nble
inclosed dead bodies in cloth of this kind. In the year fl
1756 or 1757 he tells us, that he saw a large piece of
asbestos cloth found in a stone tomb, with the ashes ot. ^ t
a Roman, as appeared by the epitaph. It was kept,
with the tomb also, if our author remembers rightly,
in the right hand wing of the Vatican library at Rome.
The under-librarian, in order to show that it was in¬
combustible, lighted a candle, and let some drops of
wax fall on the cloth, which he set on fire with a candle
in his presence without any detriment to the cloth. Its
texture was coarse, but much softer than he could have
expected.
Incombustible, something that cannot be burnt or
consumed by fire. See Asbestos.
INCOMMENSURABLE, a term in Geometry,
used where two lines, when compared to each other,
have no common measure, how small soever, that will
exactly measure them both. And in general, two
quantities are said to be incommensurable, when no
third quantity can be found that is an aliquot part of
both.
Incommensurable Numbers, are such as have no
common divisor that will divide them both equally.
INCOMPATIBLE, that which cannot subsist with
another without destroying it: thus cold and heat are
incompatible in the same subject, the strongest over¬
coming and expelling the weakest.
INCONTINENCE, inordinacy of the sexual ap¬
petite ; lust. It is the opposite of chastity. See Chas¬
tity and Continence.
Incontinence, in the eye of the law, is of divers
kinds j as in cases of bigamy, rapes, sodomy, or buggery,
getting bastards 5 all which are punished by statute.
See’25 Hen. VIII. cap. 6. 18 Eliz. cap. 7. I Jac. I.
cap. 11. Incontinency of priests is punishable by the
ordinary, by imprisonment, &c. 1 Hen. VII. cap. 4.
Incontinence, in Medicine, signifies an inability
in any of the organs to retain what should not be dis¬
charged without the concurrence of the will. It is
most frequently applied to an involuntary discharge of
urine. See Medicine Index.
INCORPORATION, in Pharmacy, is the reduc¬
tion of dry substances to the consistence of a paste, by
the admixture of some fluid : thus pills, boles, &c.
are made by incorporation.
Incorporation, or Body-Corporate. See Corpora¬
tion.
INCORPOREAL, spiritual j a thing, or substance,
which has no body. Thus the soul of man is incor¬
poreal, and may subsist independent of the body. See
Metaphysics.
INCORRUPTIBLE, that which cannot be cor¬
rupted. Thus spiritual substances, as angels, human
souls, &c. and thus also, glass, gold, mercury, &c. may
be called incorruptible.
INCORRUPTIBLES, Incoruptibiles, the name
of a sect which sprung out of the Eutychians.—Their
distinguishing tenet was, that the body of Jesus Christ
was incorruptible j by which they meant, that after
and from the time wherein he was formed in the
womb of his holy mother, he was not susceptible of
any change or alteration j not even of any natural and
innocent passions, as of hunger, thirst, &c. so that he
ate,
■
I N D [ 179 ] I N D
Incorrupti-"ate'without any occasion, before his tleath, as well as
after his resurrection. And hence it was that they
li took their name.
r^"tar^ INCRASSATING, in Pharmacy, &c. the ren¬
dering of fluids thicker by the mixture of other sub¬
stances less fluid, or by the evaporation of the thinner
parts.
INCUBATION, the action of a hen, or other
fowl, brooding on her eggs. See Hatching.
INCUBUS, Night-mare, a disease consisting in
an oppression of the breast, so very violent, that the
patient cannot speak or even breathe. The word is
derived from the Latin incubare, to “ lie down” on
any thing and press it: the Greeks call it npicttfn
q. d. saltator, “ leaper,” or one that rusheth on a per¬
son.
In this disease the senses are not quite lost, but
drowned and astonished, as is the understanding and
imagination ; so that the patient seems to think some
huge weight thrown on him, ready to strangle him.
Children are very liable to this distemper j so are fat
people, and men of much study and application of
mind : by reason the stomach in all these finds some
difficulty in digestion.
INCUMBENT, a clerk or minister who is resident
on his benefice ; he is called incumbent, because he
does, or at least ought to, bend his whole study to dis¬
charge the cure of his church.
INCURVATION of the Rays of Light, their
bending out of a rectilinear straight course, occasioned
by refraction. See Optics.
INCUS, in Anatomy, a bone of the internal ear,
somewhat resembling one of the anterior dentes mo-
lares. See Anatomy, N® 141.
INDEFEASIBLE, a term in law for what cannot
be defeated or made void j as an indefeasible estate of
inheritance, &c.
Indefeasible Right to the Throne. See Here¬
ditary Right.
INDEFINITE, that which hath no certain bounds,
or to which the human mind cannot affix anv.
INDEFINITE, in Grammar, is understood of nouns,
pronouns, verbs, participles, articles, &c. which are
left in an uncertain indeterminate sense, and not fixed
to any particular time, thing, or other circumstance.
INDELIBLE, something that cannot be cancelled
or effaced.
INDEMNITY, in Law, the saving harmless; or a
writing to secure one from all damage and danger that
mav ensue from any act.
INDENTED, in Heraldry, is when the outline of
an ordinary is notched like the teeth of a saw.
INDENTURE, in Law, a writing which com¬
prises some contract between two at least j being in¬
dented at top, answerable to another part which has
the same contents. See Deed.
LN DEPENDENTS, a sect of Protestants, so called jn(jei>€llj
from their maintaining that each congregation of Chris- dents,
tians, which meets in one house for public worship,
is a complete church, has sufficient power to act and
perform every thing relating to religious government
within itself, and is in no respect subject or account¬
able to other churches.
The Independents, like every other Christian sect, Their orb
derive their own origin from the practice of the gin-
apostles in planting the first churches ; but they were
unknown in modern times till they arose in England
during the reign of Elizabeth. The hierarchy esta¬
blished by that princess in the churches of her domi¬
nions, the vestments worn by the clergy in the cele¬
bration of divine worship, the book of common prayer,
and above all the sign of the cross used in the admini¬
stration of baptism, were very offensive to many of her
subjects, who during the persecution of the former
reign had taken refuge among the Protestants of Ger¬
many and Geneva. Those men thought that the
church of England resembled, in too many particulars,
the antichristian church of Rome ; and^ they called
perpetually for a more thorough reformation and a
worship. From this circumstance they were stiir-
matized by their adversaries with the general name of
Puritans, as the followers of Novatian (a) had been in
the ancient church. Elizabeth was not disposed to
comply with their demands ; and it is difficult to say
W’hat might have been the issue of the contest, had the
Puritans been united among themselves in sentiments,
views, and measures. But the case was quite other¬
wise. That large body, composed of persons of dif¬
ferent ranks, characters, opinions, and intentions, and
unanimous in nothing but in their antipathy to the
forms of doctrine and discipline that were established
by law, was all of a sudden divided into a variety of
sects. Of these the most famous was that which was
formed about the year 1581 by Robert Brown, a man
insinuating in his manners, but unsteady and inqon-
sistent in his views and notions of men and things.
See Brown.
This innovator differed not in point of doctrine ei¬
ther from the church of England, or from the rest of
the Puritans ; but he had formed notions, then new
and singular, concerning the nature of the church and
the rules of ecclesiastical government. He was for
dividing the whole body of the faithful into separate
societies or congregations ; and maintained, that such
a number of persons as could be contained in an or¬
dinary place of worship ought to be considered as a
church, and enjoy all the rights and privileges that are
competent to an ecclesiastical community. These small
societies he pronounced independent jure divino, and en¬
tirely exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishops, in
whose hands the court had placed the reins of spi¬
ritual government; and also from that of presbyteries
Z 2 and
(a) The followers of Novatian were called Puritans, because they would not communicate with the Catho¬
lic church, under pretence that her communion was polluted by admitting those to the sacred mysteries who
through infirmity had sacrificed to idols in times of persecution. These unhappy men were not received by
the. church till after a long course of penance. The Novatians would not receive them at all, however lonir
their penance, or however sincere their sorrow, for their sin. In other respects, the ancient Puritans were^
like the English, orthodox in the faith, and of irreproachable morals.
I N D [ i
Independ- anil synoils, which the Puritans regarded as the supreme
ents. visible sources of ecclesiastical authority. He also main-
tained, that the power of governing each congrega¬
tion resided in the people ; and that each member
had an equal share in this government, and an equal
l ight to order matters for the good of the whole so-
, ciety. Hence all points both of doctrine and disci¬
pline were submitted to the discussion of the whole con¬
gregation ; and whatever was supported by a majority
of voices passed into a law. It was the congregation
also that elected certain of the brethren to the of¬
fice of pastors, to perform the duty of public instruc¬
tion, and the several branches of divine worship ; re¬
serving, however, to themselves the power of dismissing
these ministers, and reducing them to the condition of
private members, whenever they should think, such a
change conducive to the spiritual advantage of the com¬
munity. It is likewise to be observed, that the right
of the pastors to preach was by no means of an exclu¬
sive nature, or peculiar to them alone •, since any mem¬
ber that thought proper to exhort or instruct the bre¬
thren, was abundantly indulged in the liberty of pro¬
phesying to the whole assembly. Accordingly, when
the ordinary teacher or pastor had finished his discourse,
all the other brethren were permitted to communicate
in public their sentiments and illustrations upon any
useful or edifying subject.
The zeal with which Brown and his associates
maintained and propagated these notions was in a high
degree intemperate and extravagant. He affirmed,
that all communion was to be broken off with those
religious societies that were founded upon a dift’erent
plan from his $ and treated, more especially, the church
of England, as a spurious church, whose ministers were
unlawfully ordained, whose discipline was popish and
antichristian, and whose sacraments and institutions
were destitute of all efficacy and virtue. The sect of
this hot headed innovator, not being able to endure the
severe treatment which their own violence had brought
upon them from an administration that was not distin¬
guished by its mildness and indulgence, retired into
the Netherlands, and founded churches at Middlebourg
in Zealand, and at Amsterdam and Leyden in the pro¬
vince of Holland $ but their establishments were nei-
thes solid nor lasting. Their founder returned into
England; and having renounced his principles of sepa¬
ration, took orders in the established church, and ob¬
tained a benefice. The Puritan exiles, whom he thus
abandoned, disagreed among themselves, ivere split into
parties, and their affairs declined from day to day. This
engaged the wiser part of them to mitigate the severity
of their founder’s plan, and to soften the rigour of his
2 uncharitable decisions.
The person who had the chief merit of bringing
about this reformation was one of their pastors called
John Robinson, a man who had much of the solemn
piety of the times, and no inconsiderable portion of
learning. This well-meaning reformer, perceiving the
defects that reigned in the discipline of Brown, and in
the spirit and temper of his followers, employed his
zeal and diligence in correcting them, and in new-
modelling the society in such a manner as to render it
less odious to its adversaries, and less liable to the just
censure of those true Christians, who looked upon cha¬
rity as the end of the commandments. Hitherto the
And pro¬
gress.
8o ] I N D
sect had been called Brownists; but Robinson having, Jndepcnd
in his Apology, affirmed, Ccetum quemlibet particular ents.
rem, esse totam, integrum, et perfectam ecclesiam ex —
suis partibus constantem immediate et independenteh
{cpioad alias ecclesias') sub ipso Christo,—the sect was
henceforth called Independents, of which the apologist
was considered as the founder.
The Independents were much more commendable
than the Brownists. They surpassed them both in the
moderation of their sentiments, and in the order of
their discipline. They did not, like Brown, pour forth
bitter and uncharitable invectives against the churches
which were governed by rules entirely different from
theirs, nor pronounce them on that account unworthy
of the Christian name. On the contrary, though they
considered their own form of ecclesiastical government
as of divine institution, and as originally introduced by
the authority of the apostles, nay by the apostles them¬
selves ; they had yet candour and charity enough to
acknowledge, that true religion and solid piety might
flourish in those communities which were under the
jurisdiction of bishops or the government of synods
and presbyteries. This is put beyond all doubt by Ro¬
binson himself, who expresses his own private senti¬
ments and those of his community in the following
clear and precise words : “ Rrofitemur coram Deo et
hommibus, adco nobis eonvenire cum ccclesiis reforma-
tis Belgicis in re religionis, ut omnibus et singulis ear-
undem ecclesiarum jidei articulis, prout habentur in
harmoniu confessionum Jidei, parati simus subscribere.
Ecclesias reformatas pro veris et genuinis habcmus,
cum iisdem in sacris Dei communionem projitemur, et,
quantum in nobis est, colimus. They were also much
more attentive than the Brownists, in keeping on foot
a regular ministry in their communities : for while the
latter allowed promiscuously all ranks and orders of msn
to teach in public, the Independents had, and still have,
a certain number of ministers, chosen respectively by
the congregations where they are fixed ; nor is any
person among them permitted to speak in public, before
he has submitted to a proper examination of bis capaci¬
ty and talents, and been approved of by the heads of
the congregation.
This religious society still subsists, and has produced
divines as' eminent for learning, piety, and virtue, as
any church in Christendom. It is now distinguished
from the other Protestant communities chiefly by the '
two following circumstances. ^
1. The Independents reject the use of all creeds and In what
confessions drawn up by fallible men, requiring of their t*le5r rVe.
teachers no other test of orthodoxy than a declaration nolV|‘1^uri
of their belief in the gospel of Jesus, and their adhe-fl0m other
rence to the Scriptures as the sole standard of faith Protett-
and practice. ants.
2, They attribute no virtue whatever to the rite of
ordination, upon which some other churches lay so
much stress ; for the Independents declare, that the
qualifications which constitute a regular minister of the
New Testament, are, a firm belief in the gospel, a
principle of sincere and unaffected piety, a competent
stock of knowledge, a capacity for leading devotion
and communicating instruction, a serious inclination to
engage in the important employment of promoting the
everlasting salvation of mankind, and ordinarily an in¬
vitation to the pastoral office from some particular so¬
ciety
2ND [ i8i ] IN D
ndepend- ciety of Christians. Where these things concur, they
*nts. consider a person as fitted and authorised for the dis-
l"’’ charge of every duty which belongs to the ministerial
function ; and they believe that the imposition of the
hands of bishops or presbyters would convey to him no
powers or prerogatives of which he was not before
possessed.
When the reformers separated from the church of
Rome, they drew up public confessions of faith or ar¬
ticles of religion, to which they demanded subscription
from their respective followers. Their purpose in this
was to guard against dangerous heresies, to ascertain
the meaning of Scripture-language, and, we doubt not,
to promote the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace. These were laudable ends $ but of the means
chosen for attaining them, the late Dr Taylor of Nor¬
wich, the glory of the Independent churches, and
whose learning would have done honour to any church,
4 expresses his opininn in the following indignant lan-
iieir ar» guage : “ How much so ever the Christian world va-
, meats ]„et|j these creeds and confessions, I confess, for mv
ainst the . , r . J
e 0j- own part, that I have no opinion ot them. Rut we
i»eds. are told that they were generally drawn up by the
ablest divines. But what evidence is there of this P
are divines in vogue and power commonly the most
knowing and upright ? But granting that the refor¬
mers were in those days the ablest divines; the ablest
divines educated in popish schools, notwithstanding
any pretended learning, might comparatively be very
weak and defective in scripture knowledge, which was
a thing in a manner new to them. In times of great
ignorance they might be men of eminence; and yet
far short of being qualified to draw up and decide the
true and precise rules of faith for all Christians. Yea,
their very attempting to draw up, decide, and establish,
such rules of faith, is an incontestable evidence of their
surprising ignorance and weakness. How could they
be able divines, when they imposed upon the consciences
of Christians their own decisions concerning gospel-
faith and doctrine ? Was not this in fact to teach and
constrain Christians to depart from the most fundamen¬
tal principle of their religion, subjection and allegiance
to Christ, the only teacher and lawgiver ? But if they
were able men, were they infallible ? No : they pub¬
licly affirmed their own fallibility ; and yet they acted
as if they had been infallible, and could not be mistaken
in prescribing faith and doctrine.
“ But even if they were infallible, who gave them
commission to do w'hat the Spirit of God had done al¬
ready ? Could the first reformers hope to deliver the
truths of religion more fully and more dearly than the
Spirit of God ? Had they found out more apt expres¬
sions than had occurred to the Holy Spirit ? The Son
of God * spake not of himself; but as the Father said
unto him, so he spake,’ (John xii. JO.). ‘ The Spirit
of truth spake not of himself; but whatsoever he heard,
that he spake,’ John Xvi. 13.). ‘ The things of God
the apostles spake, not in the words which man’s wis¬
dom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.’
(1 Cor. ii. 13.). If the Christian revelation was thus
handed down to us from the Fountain of Light with
so much care and exactness, both as to matter and
words, by the Son of God, by the Spirit, and by the
apostles ; who were the ancient doctors and bishops ? or
who were the first reformers ? or who were any synods
or assemblies of divines, that they dared to model Chri- ludepead-
stian faith into their own invented forms, and impose it cat*,
upon the minds of men in their own devised terms and —v——'
expressions ?
“ Hath Christ given authority to all his ministers to
the end of the world, to new-mould his doctrines by the
rules of human learning whenever they think fit ? or
hatn he delegated his power to any particular persons ;
Neither the one nor the other. His doctrines are not
of such a ductile nature ; but stand fixed, both as to
matter and words, in the Scripture. And it is at any
man’s /?er*7, who pretends to put them, as they are rules
of faith, into any new dress or shape. I conclude,
tnerefore, that the first reformers, and all councils, sy¬
nods, and assemblies, who have met together to collect,
detei mine, and decide, to prescribe and impose matters
pertaining to Christian faith, have acted without any
warrant from Christ, and therefore have invaded the
prerogative of him who is the sole Prophet and Lawgi¬
ver to the church. Peace and unity, I know, is the
pretended good design of those creeds and confessions.
But as God never sanctified them for these ends, so all
the world knows they have produced the contrary ef¬
fect ; discord, division, and the spilling of whole seas
of Christian blood for 1400 years together.”
Such sentiments as these are now maintained by
Christians of various denominations; hut biiey were
first avowed by the Independents, to whom therefore
the merit or demerit of bringing them to light pro¬
perly belongs. Our readers will think differently of
them according to their preconceived opinions; but
it is not our province either to confirm or to confute
them. They rise almost necessarily out of the inde¬
pendent scheme of congregational churches ; and we
could not suppress them without deviating from our
fixed resolution of doing justice to all religious parties,
as well those from whom we differ as those with whom
tve agree. It ought not, however, to be rashly con¬
cluded, tnat the Independents of the present age,
merely because they reject the use of all creeds of hu¬
man composition, doubt or disbelieve the doctrines
deemed orthodox in other churches. Their predeces¬
sors in the last century were thought to be more rigid
Calvinists than the Presbyterians themselves ; as many
of those may likewise be who in the present century
admit not the confessions and formulas of the Calvinistic
churches. They acknowledge as divine truth every 5t]lerc_
doctrine contained in the Scriptures; but they think fore nesesl
that scripture-doctrines are most properly expressed insar^y hete-
scripture-language ; and the same spirit of religious redox•
liberty, which makes them reject the authority of bi¬
shops and synods in matters of discipline, makes them
reject the same authority in matters of faith. In ei¬
ther case, to call any man or body of men their masters,
would, in their opinion, be a violation of the divine
law, since, “ one is their master, even Christ, and they
are all brethren.” ^
^ In support oi their scheme of congregational churches, Theii arga-
they observe, that the word 2it)iXrtrict, which vve translate,nents lo*
church, is always used in Scripture to signify either atheinde-
single congregation, or the-place where a single congre- ofcoS
gation meets. Thus that unlawful assembly at Ephesus gationll "
brought together against Paul by the craftsmen, is churches,
called exK>.usr;«, a church, (Acts xix. 32, 39, 41.). The
word, however, is generally applied to a more sacred
use* ,
I N D [ 182 ] I N D
luckpend. use but still it signifies either the ioc/y assembling, or
outs. the place in which it assembles. The whole body of
,^|ie disciples at Corinth is called the church, and spoken
of as coming together into one place, (1 Cor. xiv. 23.)
The place into which they came together we find like¬
wise called a church', “ when ye come together in the
church,—when ye come together into one place,”
(1 Cor. ix. 18. 20.). Wherever there were more con¬
gregations than one, there were likewise more churches
than one : Thus, “ Let your women keep silence in
the churches,’1'’ r> rccig ixxhucriitts, (1 Cor. xi. 18.). The
whole nation of Israel is indeed called a church, but it
was no more than a single congregation ; for it had but
one place of public worship, viz. first the tabernacle,
and afterwards the temple. The Catholic church of
Christ, his holy nation and kingdom, is likewise a single
congregation, having one place of worship, viz. heaven,
where all the members assemble by faith and hold com¬
munion •, and in which, when they shall all be fully
» gathered together, they will in fact be one glorious as¬
sembly. We find it called “ the general assembly and
church of the first-born, whose names are written in
heaven.”
Besides these, the Independent can find no other de¬
scription of a church in the New Testament; not a
trace of a diocese or presbytery consisting of several
congregations all subject to one jurisdiction. The
number of disciples in Jerusalem was certainly great
before they were dispei’sed by the persecution in which
Paul bore so active a part: yet they are never men¬
tioned as forming distinct assemblies, but as one assem¬
bly meeting with its elders in one place ; sometimes in
the temple, sometimes in Solomon’s porch, and some¬
times in an upper room. After the dispersion, the
disciples who fled from Jerusalem, as they could no
longer assemble in one place, are never called a church
by themselves, or one church, but the churches of Judea,
Samaria, and Galilee, (Acts ix. 31. Gal. i. 22.).
Whence the Independent concludes, that in Jerusalem
the words church and congregation were of the same
import} and if such was the case there, where the gos¬
pel was first preached, he thinks we may reasonably ex¬
pect to find it so in other places. Thus when Paul on
his journey calls the elders of the church of Ephesus to
Miletus, he speaks to them as the joint overseers of a
single congregation : “ Take head to yourselves, and
to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers,” (Acts xxi. 28.). Had the church at
Ephesus consisted of different congregations united
under such a jurisdiction as that of a modern presby¬
tery, it would have been natural to say, “ Take heed
to yourselves, and to the flocks over which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers but this is a way of
speaking of which the Independent finds not an in¬
stance in the whole New Testament. The sacred wri- Indepes
ters, when speaking of all the Christians in a nation or cuts
province, never call them the church of such a nation
or province, but the churches of Galatia (Gal. i. 2.),
the churches of Macedonia (2 Cor. viii. 1.), the churches
of Asia (1 Cor. xvi. 10.). On the other hand, when
speaking of the disciples in a city or town, who might
ordinarily assemble in one place, they uniformly call
them a church; saying, the church of Antioch, the
church at Corinth, the church of Ephesus, and the
like. . 7
In each of these churches or congregations there were In each
elders or presbyters and deacons ; and in every church eongreg
there seems to have been more than one elder, in sometp°aI)1™^
a great many, “ who all laboured in word and dec-or
trine.” Thus we read (Acts xiv. 23.) of Paul andpresbyte
Barnabas ordaining elders in every church ; and (Acts whose 0
xx. 17.) of a company of elders in the church of Ephesus,
who were exhorted to “feed the flock, and te
heed to themselves and to all the flock over which theb
Holy Ghost had made them overseers but of such el¬
ders as are to be found in modern preshyterian churches,
who neither teach nor are apt to teach, the Indepen¬
dent finds no vestige in the Scriptures, nor in the ear¬
liest uninspired writers of the Christian church. I he
rule or government of this presbytery or eldership in a
church is not their own, but Christ’s. They are not
lords over God’s heritage, nor can they pretend to more
power over the disciples than the apostles had. But
when the administration of the apostles in the church
of Jerusalem, and other churches where they acted as
elders, is inquired into by an Independent, it does not
appear to him that they did any thing of common
concern to the church without the consent of the
multitude ; nay, it seems they thought it necessary to
judge and determine in discipline in presence of the
whole church (Acts vi. 1—6. xv. 22. I Cor. v. 3, 4, 5.)
Excommunication and absolution were in the power of
the church at Corinth, and not of the elders as distin- s
guished from the congregation (1 Cor. v. 2 Cor. ii.).Excom
The apostle indeed speaks of bis delivering some nnto”^^
Satan (1 Tim. i. 20.) : but it is by no means clear that ^ in
he did it by himself, and not after the manner pointed atpower (
1 Cor. v. 4, 5 •, even as it does not appear, from his say- each cc
ing, in one epistle, that the gift was given unto Timothy greSatl
by the putting on of his hands, that this was not done
in the presbytery of a church, as in the other epistle
we find it actually was. The trying and judging of
false apostles was a matter of the first importance : but
it was done by the elders with the flock at Ephesus
(Rev. ii. 2. Acts xx. 28.) ; and that whole flock did
in the days of Ignatius all partake of the Lord’s sup¬
per, and pray together in one (b) place. Even the
power of binding and loosing, or the power of the keys,
as
(b) The evidence upon which this is said by Mr Glass (for the whole of this reasoning is extracted from his
works) is probably the following passage in the epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians : E/ vies kui hvhfou
•rr^oerivKYi, “ For if the prayer of one or two be of such force as we are told, how much more prevalent must that
lie which is made by the bishop and the whole church ? He then that does not come together into the same place
with it, is proud, and hath condemned himself; for it is written, God resisteth the proud. Let us not therefore
resist the bishop, that we may be the servants of God.” The sentence, as it thus stands by itself, certainly
countenances Mr Glass’s scheme ; but the reader who thinks any regard due to the testimony of Ignatius, will
do well to peruse the whole epistle as published by Yossius.
I N D C 183 ] r N D
ulepend* as It has been called, was by our Saviour conferred not
euts. upon a particular order of disciples, but upon the
» " 1J church: “ If thy brother shall trespass against thee,
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone :
if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one
or two more, that in the mouth of one or two witnesses
every word may be established. And if he shall ne¬
glect to hear them, tell it unto the church : but if he
neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an
heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you,
whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound,”
&c. (St Mat. xviii. 15, 16, 17, 18.). It is not said,
if he shall neglect to hear the one or two, tell it to the
elders of the church j far less can it be meant that the
offended person should tell the cause of his offence to
all the disciples in a presbytery or diocese consisting of
9 many congregations : but he is required to tell it to
which tl,at particular church or congregation to which they
lenience belong; and the sentence of that assembly, pro¬
nounced by its elders, is in a very solemn manner de¬
clared to be final, from which there lies no appeal to
10 any jurisdiction on earth.
iat With respect to the constitutingo£elders in any church
s m a ' or congregation, the Independent reasons in the fol-
irch. lowing manner : The officers of Christ’s appointment
are either ordinary and permanent in the church, or
they were extraordinary and peculiar to the planting of
Christianity. The extraordinary were those who were
employed in laying the plan of the gospel churches,
and in publishing the New Testament revelation. Such
were the apostles, the chosen witnesses of our Saviour’s
resurrection $ such were the prophets inspired by the
Holy Ghost for explaining infallibly the Old Testa¬
ment by the things written in the New j and such were
the evangelists, the apostles ministers. These can be
succeeded by none in that which was peculiar to them,
because their work was completed by themselves. But
they are succeeded in all that was not peculiar to them
by elders and deacons, the only two ordinary and per¬
manent orders of ministers in the church. We have
already seen, that it belongs to the office of the elder
to feed the flock of Christ: and the only question to
be settled is, how men are ordinarily called to that
office ? for about the office of the deacon there is little
or no dispute. No man now can pretend to be so
called of God to the ministry of the word as the apo¬
stles and other inspired elders were, whom he chose
to be the publishers of his revealed truth, and to whose
mission he bore witness in an extraordinary manner.
But what the apostles were to those who had the di¬
vine oracles from their mouths, that their writings are
to us; and therefore as no man can lawfully pretend a
call from God to make any addition to those writings,
so neither can any man pretend to be lawfully called
to the ministry of the word already written but in the
manner which that word directs. Now there is no¬
thing of which the New Testament speaks more clear¬
ly than of the characters of those who should exercise
the office of elders in the church, and of the actual ex¬
ercise of that office. The former are graphically drawn
in the epistles to Timothy and Titus ; and the latter is
minutely described in Paul’s discourse to the Ephesian
elders, in Peter’s exhortation to elders, and our Lord’s
commission to those ministers, with whom he promised
to be always present even unto the end of the world, independ-
It is not competent for any man or body of men to add ents.
to, or diminish from, the description of a gospel mini- 1 ‘-f
ster given in these places, so as to insist upon the ne¬
cessity of any qualification which is not there mention¬
ed, or to dispense with any qualification as needless n
which is there required. Neither has Jesus Christ, Arguments
the only legislator to the church, given to any mini-®^^1^6
sters or people any power or right whatsoever to caffieveiTkiiid
send, elect, or ordain, to that office, any person who is ot ministe-
not qualified according to the description given in his1"^ ordina-
law j nor has he given any power or right to reject thet*ou’
least of them who are so qualified, and who desire the
office of a bishop or elder. Let a man have hands laid
upon him by such as could prove an uninterrupted de¬
scent by imposition of hands from the apostles; let him
be set apart to that office by a company of ministers
themselves, the most conformable to the scripture cha¬
racter, and let him be chosen by the m^t holy people
on earth ; yet if he answer not the New Testament
description of a minister, he is not called of God to
that office, and is no minister of Christ, but is indeed
running unsent. No form of ordination can pretend
to such a clear foundation in the New Testament as
the description of the persons who should be elders of
the church ; and the laying on of hands, whether by
bishops or presbyters, is of no more importance in the
mission of a minister of Christ, than the waving of
one’s hand in the air or the putting of it into his"bo¬
som ; for now when the power of miracles has ceased,
it is obvious that such a rite, by whomsoever perform¬
ed, can convey no powers, whether ordinary or extra¬
ordinary. Indeed it appears to have been sometimes
used, even in the apostolic age, without any such inten¬
tion. When Paul and Barnabas were separated to the
particular employment of going out to the Gentiles,
the prophets and teachers at Antioch “ prayed and
laid their hands on them But did this ceremony con¬
fer upon the two apostles any new power or authority
to act as ministers of Christ ? Did the imposition of
hands make those shining lights of the gospel one whit
better qualified than they were before to convert and
baptize the nations, to feed the flock of God, to teach,
rebuke, or exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine.
It cannot be pretended. Paul and Barnabas had un¬
doubtedly received the Holy Ghost before they came
to Antioch ; and as they were apostles, they were of
course authorized to discharge all the functions of the
inferior and ordinary ministers of the gospel. In a
word, whoever in his life and conversation is conform¬
able to the character which the inspired writers give of
a bishop or elder, and is likewise qualified by his
“ mightiness in the scripture” to discharge the duties
of that office, is fully authorized to administer the sa- 11
craments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, to teach,an<* eveu
exhort, and rebuke, with all long-suffering and doc-agaimt tJlt\
trine, and has all the call and mission which the Lord ^pomtlarUl
now gives to any man ; whilst he who wants the qua-call,
lifications mentioned, has not God’s call, whatever
he may have, nor any authority to preach the gos¬
pel of Christ, or to dispense the ordinances of his reli¬
gion.
From this view of the Independent principles, which
is faithfully taken from their own writers, it appears,
that, according to them, even the election of a congre¬
gation, .
I N D [ 184 ] I N D
Ift'iepend- gallon confers upon the man whom they may choose
ents. for their pastor no new powers, but only creates a new
■ 1. * rejajjon between him and a particular flock, giving
him an exclusive right, either by himself or in con¬
junction with other pastors constituted in the same
manner, to exercise among them that authority which
he derives immediately from Christ, and which in a
greater or less degree is possessed by every sincere
Christian according to his gifts and abilities. Were
the ministers of the gospel constituted in any other way
than this j by imposition of hands, for instance, in suc¬
cession from the apostles 5 the case of Christians would,
in the opinion of the Independents, be extremely hard,
and the ways of God scarcely equal. We are strictly
commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together, hut to continue stedfast in the apostles doc¬
trine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and
in prayer : “ but can any man (asks one of their ad¬
vocates) bring*himself to believe, that what he is com¬
manded to do in point of gratitude, what is made his
own personal act, an act expressive of certain dutiful
and pious affections, can possibly be restricted to the in¬
termediate offices or instrumentality of others, who act
by powers which he can neither give nor take away ?
To suppose a thing necessary to my happiness, which
is not in my own power, or wholly depends upon the
good pleasure of another, over whom I have no au¬
thority, and concerning whose intentions and disposi¬
tions I can have no security, is to suppose a constitu-
' tion the most foolish and ill-natured, utterly inconsistent
with our ideas of a wise and good agent.” Such are
some of the principal arguments by which the Inde¬
pendents maintain the divine right of congregational
churches, and the inefficacy of ministerial ordination to
constitute a minister of Christ. We mean not to re¬
mark upon them, as the reader will find different con¬
stitutions of the church pleaded for under the words
Presbyterians and Episcopacy, to which we refer indeoraJ
him for farther satisfaction. We shall only observe at ents
present, what it would be affectation to pass un- d
noticed, that the mode of reasoning adopted by the
last quoted advocate for the Independents, if pushed V"*"H
as far as it will go, necessarily leads to consequences
which will not readily be admitted by a Christian of
any denomination, or indeed by a serious and consistent
Theist.
INDETERMINATE, in general, an appellation
given to whatever is not certain, fixed, and limited j
in which sense it is the same with indefinite.
INDEX, in Anatomy, denotes the fore-finger. It
is thus called from indico, “ I point or direct j” because
that finger is generally so used : whence also the ex¬
tensor indicis is called indicator.
Index, in Arithmetic and Algebra, shows to what
power any quantity is involved, and is otherwise called
its exponent. See Algebra.
Index of a Book, is that part annexed to a book,
referring to the particular matter or passages therein
contained.
Index of a Globe, is a little style fitted on to the
north pole, and turning round with it, pointing to cer¬
tain divisions in the hour-circle. It is sometimes also
called gnomon. See Globe.
Expurgatory Index, a catalogue of prohibited books
in the church of Rome.
By a bull of Clement VIII. in 1595, the use of the
Scriptures in the vulgar tongue is forbidden to all per¬
sons without a particular- license *, and it is ordained,
that no book shall be printed at Rome without the ap¬
probation of the Pope’s vicar, or some person delegated
by the Pope; nor in any other places, unless allowed
by the bishop of the diocese, or some person deputed by
him, or by the inquisitor of heretical pravity.
INDIA.
India. TNDIA. See HiNDOSTAN.—By the name of India
X t}ie ancients understood only the western peninsula,
on this side the Ganges, and the peninsula beyond
it, having little or no knowledge of the countries which
lie farther to the eastward j though by the moderns all
those vast tracts from the eastern parts of the Persian
empire to the islands of Japan, are confounded under
the general name of East Indies. Even the ancients,
though originally they wei’e acquainted only with the
western parts of Hindostan, gradually extended the
name of India over the other countries they discovered
to the eastward j so that probably they would have in¬
volved all the rest in the same general designation, had
, they been as well acquainted with them as the moderns
Conjecture are. By whom these countries were originally peopled,
concerning js a question which in all probability will never he resol-
the peo- vet^ Certain it is, that some works in these parts disco¬
ver marks of astonishing skill and power in the inhabi¬
tants, such as the images in the island of Elephanta j
the rocking stones of immense weight, yet so nicely ba¬
lanced that a man can move them with his hand ; the
Indie
pling of
India.
observatory at Benares, &c. These stupendous works
are by Mr Bryant attributed to the Cushites or Baby¬
lonians, the first distinct nation in the world, and who
of consequence must for some time have possessed in a
manner the sovereignty of the whole earth j and it
can by no means appear improbable, that the subjects
of Nimrod, the beginning of whose kingdom was in
Shinar, might extend themselves eastward, and thus
fill the fertile regions of the east with inhabitants, with¬
out thinking it worth while for a long time to meddle
with the less mild and rich countries to the westward.
Thus would be formed that great and for some time in- ^ ^
superable division betwixt the inhabitants of India and jnd7anb!
other countries j so that the western nations knew not western
even of the existence of the Indians but by obscure nations
report j while the latter, ignorant of their own ori-were
gin, invented a thousand idle tales concerning the
tiquity of their nation, which some of the modernsther,
have been credulous enough to believe and regard as
facts.
The first among the western nations who distinguish¬
ed
<1«,
India.
—
INDIA.
ed themselves by their application to navigation and Idumeans some maritime places
185
Account of
he expedi-
lon of Se-
ostris to
ndia.
4
)r RobciU
jii’s rea¬
ms for dis.
cJieving it
commerce, and who were of consequence likely to
discover these distant nations, were the Egyptians and
Phoenicians. The former, however, soon lost their
inclination for naval affairs, and held all seafaring peo¬
ple in detestation as profane persons 5 though the ex¬
tensive conquests ol Sesostris, if we can believe them,
must have in a great measure supplied this defect.
"Without regaru to the prejudice of his people against
maritime affairs, he is said to have fitted out a fleet of
400 sail in the Arabian gulf or Red sea, which con¬
quered all the countries lying along the Erythrean
sea (a) to India ; while the army led by himself march¬
ed through Asia, and subdued all the countries to the
Ganges; after which he crossed that river, and ad¬
vanced to the eastern ocean.
Great disputes have been carried on with respect to
this conqueror, and the famous expedition just now
related j but the learned Dr Robertson, in his Dis¬
quisition concerning ancient India, declares himself in
doubt whether any such expedition ever was made, for
the following reasons. 1. Few historical facts seem to
be better established than that of the aversion the E-
gyptians entertained to seafaring people and naval af¬
fairs ; and the .Doctor considers it as impossible even
for the most powerful monarch to change in a few years
a national habit confirmed by time and sanctified by
religion. The very magnitude of the armaments is an
argument against their existence; for besides the 400
ships of war, he had another fleet in the Mediterra¬
nean j and such a mighty navy could not have been con¬
structed in any nation unaccustomed to maritime affairs,
in a few years. 2. Herodotus makes no mention of
Fucia.
Mierceiirse
Whe Ty-
i 11 nt with
the conquests of India by Sesostris, though he relates
his history at some length. Our author is of opinion
that the story was fabricated betwixt the time of He¬
rodotus and that of Diodorus Siculus, from whom rve
have the first account of this expedition. Diodorus
himself informs us that he had it from the Egyptian
priests j and gives it as his opinion, that “many
things they related flowed rather from a desire to pro¬
mote the honour of their country than from attention
to truth and he takes notice that both the Egyp¬
tian priests and Greek writers differ widely from one
another in the accounts which they give of the actions
of Sesostris. 3. Though Diodorus declares that he
has selected the most probable parts of the Egyptian
narrative, yet there are still so many improbabilities,
or rather impossibilities, contained in his relation, that
we cannot by any means give credit to it. 4. For the
reason just mentioned, the judicious geographer Strabo
rejected the account altogether, and ranks the exploits
of Sesostris in India with the fabulous ones of Bacchus
and Hercules.
But whatever may be determined with regard to the
Egyptians, it is certain that the Tyrians kept up a con¬
stant intercourse with some parts of India by naviga¬
ting the Arabian gulf, now the Red sea. Of this na¬
vigation they became masters by taking from the
* on the coast of the
Red sea : but as the distance betwixt the nearest place '
of that sea and Tyre was still considerable, the land-
carriage would have been very tedious and expensive ;
for which reason it was necessary to become masters of
a port on the eastern part of the Mediterranean, near¬
er to the Red sea than Tyre, that so the goods
might be shipped from thence to Tyre itself. With
this view they took possession of Rhinocolura, the nearest
port on the Mediterranean to the Arabian gulf; and
to that port all the goods from India were conveyed
by a much shorter and less expensive route than over
land.—This is the first authentic account of any in¬
tercourse betwixt India and the western part of the
world ; and to this we are without doubt in a great
measure to ascribe the vast wealth and power for which
the city of Tyre was anciently renowned ; for in other
respects the whole territory of Phenicia was but of
little consequence. Notwithstanding the frequency
of these voyages, however, the ancients are able to
give little or no account of them. The most particu¬
lar description we have of the wealth, power, and
commerce of ancient lyre, is in the prophecies of Eze¬
kiel ; so that if the Tyrians themselves kept any jour¬
nals of their voyages, it is probable that they were
entirely lost when the city was destroyed by Alexander
the Great. ^
1 hough the Jews, under the reigns of David and So-TJie Jews
lomon, carried on an extensive and lucrative commerce, did not vi-
yet our author is- of opinion that they did not trade tosit India-
any part of India. There are only two places mention¬
ed to which their ships sailed, viz. Ophir and Tarshish ;
both of which are now supposed to have been situated
on the eastern coast of Africa : the ancient Tarshish
according to Mr Bruce, was the present Mocha ; and*
Ophir, the kingdom of Sofala, so remarkable in former
times for its mines, that it was called by Oriental wri¬
ters the goldeti Sofala *. * See Ophir
Thus the Indians continued for a long time unknown^ Tar~
to the western nations, and undisturbed by them; pro-SA*iA‘
bably in subjection to the mighty empire of Babylon,
from which the country was originally peopled, or in
alliance with it; and the possession of this vast reo-ion
will easily account for the immense and otherwise'al¬
most incredible wealth and power of the ancient Baby¬
lonish monarchs. Soon after the destruction of that Conquests
monarchy by the Persians, however, we find their mo-ol tllc F’er-
narch Darius Hystaspes undertaking an expedition si.ans in In*
against the Indians t. His conquests were not exten-fl* u
sive, as they did not reach beyond the territory watered f/osAm, ^
by the Indus; nevertheless, such as they were, theN0*.’
acquisition seems to have been very important, as the
revenue derived from the conquered territory, according
to Herodotus, was near a third of that of the whole
Persian empire. According to his account, however
we must form a much more diminutive opinion of the
riches of the Persian monarch than has commonly been
• sjnCe Herodotus tells us, that the empire was
done
divided into 20 satrapies or governments; all of which
yielded
(A) This must not be confounded with the Red sea, notwithstanding the similarity of names. The Erythrean
sea was that part of the ocean which is interposed betwixt the straits of Babelmandel and the Malabar coast,
now called the Indian sea or ocean. 3
Vol. XI. Part I. A a
186 I N D
India, yielded a revenue of 14,560 Euboic talents, amount-
   ing in the whole to 2,807,437!. sterling.^ The amount
of the revenue from the conquered provinces of India,
therefore, must have been considerably short of a mil¬
lion. Very little knowledge of the country was dif¬
fused by the expedition of Darius, or the voyage of
Scylax whom he employed to explore the coast j for
the Greeks paid no regard to the transactions of those
whom they called Barbarians ; and as for Scylax him¬
self, he told so many incredible stories in the account
he gave of his voyage, that he had the misfortune to
be disbelieved in almost every thing, whether true or
8 false.
Of Alexan- The expedition of Alexander is so fully taken notice
Great16 un(^er tlie article HiNDOSTAN, that nothing more re-
mains to be said upon it in this place, than that he went
no farther into the country than the present territory
of the Panjab, all of which he did not traverse. Its
south-west boundary is formed by a river anciently call¬
ed the Hysudrus, now the Setlege. The breadth of
the district from Ludhana on the Setlege, to Attock
on the Indus, is computed to be 259 geographical
miles in a straight line j and Alexander’s march, com¬
puted in the same manner, did not exceed 200; ne¬
vertheless, by the spreading of his numerous army over
the country, and the exact measurement and delinea¬
tion of all his movements by men of science whom he
employed, a very extensive knowledge of the western
part of India was obtained. It is, however, surprising
that having marched through so many countries in
the neighbourhood of India, where the people must
have been well acquainted with the nature of the cli¬
mate, the Macedonian conqueror did not receive any
information concerning the difficulties he would meet
with from the rains which fell periodically at a certain
season of the year. It was the extreme distress occa¬
sioned by them which made his soldiers finally resolve
to proceed no farther ; and no wonder indeed that they
did adopt this resolution, since Diodorus informs us,
that it had rained incessantly for 70 days before their
departure. These rains, however, according to the
testimony both of ancient and modern writers, fall
only in the mountainous parts, little or none being ever
seen in the plains. Aristobulus informs us, that in the
country through which Alexander marched, though
* heavy rains fell among the mountains, not a shower
was seen in the plains below. The district is now sel¬
dom visited by Europeans ; but Major Kennel was in¬
formed by a person of credit, who had resided in the
Panjab, that during great part of the S. W. monsoon,
or at least in the months July, August, and part of
September, which i? the rainy season in most other
parts of India, very little rain falls in the Delta of the
Indus, except very near the sea, though the atmosphere
is generally clouded, and very few showers fall through¬
out the whole season. Captain Hamilton relates, that
when he visited Tatta, no rain had fallen there for three
years before. We may have some idea of what the
Macedonians suffered, by what happened afterwards to
Nadir Shah, who, though possessed of vast wealth and
power, as well as great experience in military affairs,
yet lost a great part of his army in crossing the moun¬
tains and rivers of the Panjab, and in battles with the
savage inhabitants who inhabit the countries betwixt
the Qxus and the frontiers of Persia. Hq marched
I A.
through the same countries, and nearly in the same India,
direction, that Alexander did. u—
By his voyage down the river Indus, Alexander
contributed much more to enlarge our geographical
knowledge of India than by all his marches and con¬
quests by land. According to Major Kennel, the space
of country through which he sailed on the Indus, from
the Hyphasis to the ocean, was not less than 1000
miles j and as, during the whole of that navigation,
he obliged the nations on both sides the river to sub¬
mit to him, we may be very certain that the country
on each side was explored to some distance. An ex¬
act account not only of his military operations, but of
every thing worthy of notice relating to the countries
through which he passed, was preserved in the journals
of his three officers, Lagus, Nearchus, and Aristobu¬
lus j and these journals, Arrian informs us, he followed ^
in the composition of his history. From these authors State of fc.
we learn, that in the time of Alexander, the western dja in the
part of that vast tract named India was possessed by}“1,e of A-j
seven very powerful monarchs. The territory of King
Porus, which Alexander first conquered, and then re¬
stored to him, is said to have contained no fewer than
2000 towns } and the king of the Prasii had assembled
an army of 20,000 cavalry, 2000 armed chariots, and
a great number of elephants, to oppose the Macedonian
monarch on the banks of the Ganges. The navigable
rivers with which the Panjab country abounds, afford¬
ed then, and still continue to afford, an intercourse from
one part to another by water : and as at that time
these rivers had probably many ships on them for the
purposes of commerce, Alexander might easily collect
all the number he is said to have had, viz. 2000 j since
it is reported that Semiramis was opposed by double the
number on the Indus when she invaded India. When
Mahmud Gazni also invaded this country, a fleet was
collected upon the Indus to oppose him, consisting of
the same number of vessels. From the Ayeen Akbery,
also, we learn that the inhabitants of this part of India
still continue to carry on all their communication with
each other by water j and the inhabitants of the cir-
car of Tatta alone have 40,000 vessels of various con¬
structions. t0 1
Under the article HiNDOSTAN we have mentioned why Ale
Major Kennel’s opinion concerning the silence of Alex- amler’sbi
ander’s historians about the expedition of Scylax ; butior‘ans.tal
Dr Robertson accounts for it in another manner. “ It
is remarkable (says he), that neither Nearchus, nor 0f Scylax.
Ptolemy, nor Aristobulus, nor even Arrian, once men¬
tion the voyage of Scylax. This could not proceed
from their being unacquainted with it, for Herodotus
was a favourite author in the hands of every Greek
who had any pretensions to literature. It was proba¬
bly occasioned by the reasons they had to distrust the
veracity of Scylax, of which I have already taken no¬
tice. Accordingly, in a speech which Arrian puts in
the mouth of Alexander, he asserts, that, except Bac¬
chus, he was the first who had passed the Indus ; which
implies that he disbelieved what is related concerning
Scylax, and was not acquainted with what Darius
Hystaspes is said to have done in order to subject that
part of India to the Persian crown. This opinion is
confirmed by Megasthenes, who resided a considerable
time in India. He asserts that, except Bacchus and
Hercules (to whose fabulous expeditions Strabo is !>
astonished
I N D
India. astonished that he should have given any credit), Ales-
—'v—ander was the first who had invaded India. Arrian
informs us that the Assaceni, and other people who in¬
habited the country now called Candahar, had been
tributary first to the Assyrians and then to the Medes
and Persians. As all the fertile provinces on the
north-west of the Indus were anciently reckoned to be
part of India, it is probable that what was levied from
them is the sum mentioned in the tribute-roll from
which Herodotus drew his account of the annual re¬
venue of the Persian empire, and that none of the pro¬
vinces to the south of the Indus were ever subject to
the kings of Persia.”—-The Doctor differs from Mr
Rennel with respect to the surprise which Alexander
and his army expressed when they saw the high tides
at the mouth of the Indus. This he thinks might
very naturally have been the case, notwithstanding what
Herodotus had written concerning the flux and reflux
observable in the Red sea. All that has been men¬
tioned by Herodotus concerning this phenomenon is,
that “ in the Red sea there is a regular ebb and flow
of the tide every day.” No wonder, therefore, that
the Macedonians should be surprised and terrified at
the very high tides which presented themselves in the
Indian ocean, which the few words of Herodotus
above-mentioned had by no means led them to ex¬
pect. In the like manner the Romans were surprised
at the tides in the Atlantic, when they had conquered
some of the countries bordering upon that ocean. Cae¬
sar describes the astonishment of his soldiers at a spring
tide in Britain which greatly damaged his fleet $ and,
indeed, considering the very little rise of the tide in the
Mediterranean, to which alone the Greeks and Romans
had access, we may reckon the account given us by
Arrian highly probable.
The country on each side the Indus was found, in the
time of Alexander, to be in no degree inferior in popu¬
lation to the kingdom of Porus already mentioned.
The climate, soil, and productions of India, as well as
the manners and customs of the inhabitants, are exact¬
ly described, and the descriptions found to correspond
in a surprising manner with modern accounts. The
stated change of seasons now known by the name of
monsoons, the periodical rains, the swellings and in¬
undations of the rivers, with the appearance of the
country during the time they continue, are particu¬
larly described. The descriptions of the inhabitants
are equally particular; their living entirely upon vege¬
table food, their division into tribes or casts, with many
of the particularities related under the article Hindoo,
are to be met with in the accounts of Alexander’s ex¬
pedition. His military operations, however, extended
but a very little way into India properly so called ; no
farther indeed than the modern province of Labor, and
the countries on the banks of the Indus from Moultan
to the sea ; though, had he lived to undertake another
expedition as he intended, it is very probable that he
would have subdued a vastly greater tract of country;
nor indeed could any thing probably have set bounds to
bis conquests but death or revolts in distant provinces
of his empire. In order to secure the obedience of those
ii countries he subdued, Alexander found it necessary to
''Alex'11'1' build a number of fortified cities ; and the farther east-
iderTn 'var<^ extended his conquests, the more necessary did
dia. he find this task. Three he built in India itself; two
I A.
on the banks of the Hydaspes, and a third on the Ace-
sines, both navigable rivers, falling into the Indus af¬
ter they have united their streams. By means of these
cities he intended not only to keep the adjacent coun¬
tries in awe, but to promote a commercial intercourse
betwixt different parts both by land and water. With
this view, also, on his return to Susa, he surveyed in
person the course of the Euphrates and Tigris, causing
the cataracts or dams to be removed which the Persian
monarchs had built to obstruct the navigation of these
rivers, in conformity to a maxim of their superstition,
that it was unlawful to defile any of the elements, which
they imagined was done by navigators. After the na¬
vigation was opened in this manner, he proposed that
the valuable commodities of India should be imported
into the other parts of his dominions by means of the
Persian gulf; while through the Red sea they were con¬
veyed to Alexandria in Egypt, and thence dispersed all
over Europe.
_ The death of Alexander having put an end to all
his great schemes, the eastern part of his dominions
devolved first on Pytho the son of Agenor, and after¬
wards on Seleucus. The latter was very sensible of
the advantages to be derived from keeping India in 12. ,
subjection. With this view he undertook an ex-FrXi,e,dltl0U
pedition into that country, partly to establish his tolndTaT*
authority^ more perfectly, and partly to defend the
Macedonian territorities against Sandracottus king of
t]ie Prasii, who threatened to attack them. The par¬
ticulars of his expedition are very little known ; Justin
being the only author that mentions them, and his
authority is but of little weight, unless corroborated
by the testimony of other historians. Plutarch, who
tells us that Seleucus carried his arms farther into In¬
dia than Alexander, is subject to an imputation of the
same kind ; but Pliny, whose authority is of consider¬
ably greater weight, corroborates the testimony of Plu¬
tarch in this instance, though his words are so obscure
that learned men differ in opinion concerning their
meaning. Bayer thinks they imply that Seleucus
marched from the Hyphasis, the boundary of Alexan¬
der’s conquests, to the Hysudrus, from thence to Pali-
bothra, and then to the mouth of the Ganges; the dis¬
tances .of the principal stations being marked, and
amounting in all to 2244 Roman miles. Notwithstand¬
ing this authority, however, Dr Robertson thinks it
very improbable that the expedition of Seleucus should
have continued so long, as in that case “ the ancients
would have had a more accurate knowledge of that part
of the country than they seem ever to have possessed.”
The career of Seleucus in the east was stopped by
Antigonus,. who prepared to invade the western part
of his dominions. The former was therefore obliged
to conclude a treaty with Sandracottus, whom he al¬
lowed to remain in quiet possession of his territories :
but Dr Robertson is of opinion, that during the life¬
time of Seleucus, which continued 42 years after the
death of Alexander, no diminution of the Macedo- 13
man territories took place. Whth a view of keepino1
11 n a fripnmtz inT 1!  • ra 0 confirminj
up a friendly intercourse with the Indian nrince Se^ c,oneern5ng
1  —. n,r .. - - - r ’ ^ the situa-
leucus sent Megasthenes, one of Alexander’s officers, UoVofTa-
to Palibothra, capital of the kingdom of the Prasii, libotlwa.
situated on the banks of the Ganges. This city is by
Dr Robertson supposed to be the modern Allahabad,
seated at the conflux of the Jumna and Ganges, con-
A a 2 trary
*
188
INDIA.
14
chusthe
OJreat into
Itnlia.
Account of
ndia. trary to the opinion of Major Rennel, wlio supposes it
to be Patna *. As Megastlienes resided in this city
for a considerable space of time, be had an opportunity
of making many observations on tbe country of India
in general and these observations he was induced af¬
terwards to publish. Unhappily, however, he mingled
with his relations the most extravagant fables. To him
may he traced the ridiculous accounts of men with ears
so large that they could wrap themselves up in them ;
of tribes with one eye, without mouths or noses, &c.
whence the extracts from his hook, given by Arrian,
.Diodorus, and other ancient writers, can scarcely he
credited, unless confirmed by other evidence.
After the embassy of Megastlienes to Sandracottus,
and that of his son Damaichus to Allitrochidas, the
successor of Sandracottus, we hear no more of the af¬
fairs of India with regard to the Macedonians, until
the time of Antiochus the Great, who made a short
incursion into India about 197 years after the death of
Expedition Seleucus. All that we know of this expedition is,
ot'Antio- that the Syrian monarch, after finishing a war he car¬
ried on against the two revolted provinces of Parthia
and lUctria, entered India, where he obliged Sopha-
gasenus, king of the country which he invaded, to pay
a sum of money, and give him a number of elephants.
It is probable that the successors of Seleucus were obli¬
ged soon after his death to abandon all their Indian ter-
O
ritories.
After the loss of India by the Syrians, an intercourse
the Grecian was kept up for some time betwixt it and the Greek
Kingdom of kingdom of Bactria. This last became an independent
liaetna. state about 69 years after the death of Alexander *, and,
according to the few hints we have concerning it
in ancient authors, carried on a great traffic with
India. Nay, the Bactrian monarchs are said to have
conquered more extensive tracts in that region than
Alexander himself had done. Six princes reigned
over this new kingdom in succession ; some of whom,
elated with the conquests they had made and the power
they had acquired, assumed the title of Great King,
by which the Persian monarchs were distinguished in
their highest splendour. Strabo informs us, that the
Bactrian princes were deprived of their territories by
the Scythian Nomades, who came from the country
beyond the Jaxartes, and were known by the names of
Assi, Pasiani, Tachari, and Scarauli. This is confirmed
by the testimony of some Chinese historians quoted by
M. de Guignes. According to them, about 126 years
before the Christian era, a powerful horde of Tartars,
pushed from their native seats on the confines of China,
and obliged to move farther to the west, passed the
Jaxartes, and, pouring in upon Bactria like an irresist¬
ible torrent, overwhelmed that kingdom, and put an end
to the dominion of the Greeks after it had lasted near
16 130 years. _
Intercourse From this time to the close of the 15th century,
bet wist E- ajj thoughts of establishing any dominion in India were
gypt and totally abandoned by the Europeans. The only ob¬
ject now was to promote a commercial intercourse with
that country : and Egypt was the medium by which
that intercourse was to be promoted. Ptolemy the son
of Lagus, and first king of Egypt, first raised the
power and splendour of Alexandria, which he knew
had been built by Alexander with a view to carry on
a trade to India : and in order to make the navigation
India.
more secure, he built the celebrated light-house at
Pharos 5 a work so magnificent as to be reckoned one
of the wonders of the world. His son Ptolemy Phi-
ladelphus prosecuted the same plan very vigorously.
In h is time the Indian commerce once more began to
centre in Tyre 5 but to remove it efiectuullv from
thence, he formed a canal between Arsinoe on the Red
sea, not far from the place where Suez now stands,
and the Pelusiac or eastern branch of the Nile. This
canal was 100 cubits broad and 30 deep; so that by
means of it the productions of India might have been
conveyed to Alexandria entirely by water. We know
not whether this work was ever finished, or whether it
was found useless on account of the dangerous naviga¬
tion towards the northern extremity of the Red sea ; but
whatever was the cause, it is certain that no use was made
of it, and a new city named Berenice, situated almost
under the tropic, upon the western shore of the Red
sea, became the staple of Indian commerce. From
thence the goods were transported by land to Coptos,
a city distant only three miles from the Nile, to which
it was joined by a navigable canal. Thus, however,
there was a very tedious land carriage of no less than
258 Roman miles through the barren desert of The-
bais : but Ptolemy caused diligent search to be made
everywhere for springs, and wherever these were found,
he built inns or caravanseras for the accommodation of
travellers ; and thus the commerce with India was car¬
ried on till Egypt became subject to the Romans. The
ships during this period set sail from Berenice, and
coasting along the Arabian shore to the promontory
of Syagrus, now Cape Rasalgate, held their course
along the coast of Persia till they arrived at the mouth
of the western branch of the river Indus. They either
sailed up this branch till they came to Pattala, now
Tatta, situated at the upper part of the Delta, or
continued their course to some other emporium on the
western part of the Indian coast. A more convenient
course was afterwards found by sailing directly to Zi-
zenis, a place concerning which there is now some
dispute. Montesquieu will have it to be the kingdom
of Sigertis, on the coast adjacent to the Indus, and which
was conquered by the Bactrian monarchs ; but Major
Rennel is of opinion that it was a port on the Malabar
coast. Dr Robertson does not pretend to decide this
dispute ; but is of opinion, that during the time of
the Ptolemies very little progress was made in the
discovery of India. He contests the opinion of Ma¬
jor Kennel, that “ under the Ptolemies the Egyptians
extended their navigation to the extreme point of
the Indian continent, and even sailed up the Ganges
to Palibothra, now Patna.” In this case he thinks
that the interior parts of India must have been much
better known to the ancients than we have any reason
to believe they were. He owns indeed that Strabo
mentions the sailing up the Ganges, but then it f*
only cursorily and in a single sentence ; “ whereas rf
such a considerable inland voyage of above 400 miles,
through a populous and rich country, had been cus¬
tomary, or even if it had been ever performed by the
Roman, Greek, or Egyptian traders, it must have
merited a particular description, and must have been
mentioned by Pliny, and other writers, as there was
nothing similar to it in the practice of navigation
among thejincients.”—The extreme danger of navi-
gating
India
'T
India
I N
gating the Red sea in ancient times (which even in
the present improved state of navigation is not entirely
got over) seems to have been the principal reason which
induced Ptolemy to remove the communication with
India from Arsinoe to Berenice, as there were other
harbours on the same coast considerably nearer to the
Nile. After the ruin of Coptos by the emperor
Dioclesian, the Indian commodities were conveyed
from the Red sea to the Nile from Cosseir, supposed by
J)r Robertson to be the Philoteras Portus of Ptolemy,
to Cous, the Vic us Apollinus, a journey of four days.
Hence Cous from a small village became an opulent
city; but in process of time, the trade from India re¬
moved from Cous to Kene, farther down the river.
In modern times such Indian goods as are brought
by the Red sea come from Gidda to Suez, and are
carried across the isthmus on camels, or brought
by the caravan returning from the pilgrimage to
,y Mecca.
Vhy the It was to this monopoly of Indian commerce that
viisii mo- Egypt owed its vast wealth and power during the
ot attempt t*me ‘ts Macedonian monarchs ; but it appears sur-
rival the prising that no attempt was made by the Syrian mo-
jptians. narchs to rival them in it, especially as the latter tvere
in possession of the Persian gulf, from whence they
might have imported the Indian commodities by a
much shorter navigation than could be done by the
Egyptians. For this neglect several reasons are assign¬
ed by our learned author. I. The Egyptians, under
their Greek monarchs, applied themselves to maritime
affairs; and W'ere in possession of such a powerful fleet
as gave them a decided superiority at sea. 2. No inter¬
course by sea was ever kept up betwixt Persia and In¬
dia, on account of the aversion which the Persians had
to maritime affairs. All the Indian commodities were
then conveyed in the most tedious and difficult manner
over land, and dispersed throughout the various pro¬
vinces, partly by means of navigable rivers and partly
by means of the Caspian sea. 3. Many of the ancients,
by an unaccountable error in geography, imagined the
Caspian sea to be a part of the great northern ocean ;
and thus the kings of Syria might hope to convey the
Indian commodities to the European countries without
attempting to navigate those seas which the Egyptian
monarchs deemed their own property. Seleucus Nica-
tor, the first and greatest of the Syro-Macedonian mo¬
narchs, formed a project of joining the Euxine and
Caspian seas by a navigable canal, which would have
effectually answered the purpose, but was assassinated
before he could put it in execution, and none of his suc¬
cessors had abilities to execute such an undertaking. 
Alexander the Great had given orders, a little before
his death, to fit out a squadron on the Caspian sea, in
order to discover whether it had any communication
with the northern ocean, the Euxine sea, or Indian
ocean ; but Dr Robertson justly thinks it surprising that
such errors concerning this sea should have existed a-
mong the ancients, as Herodotus had long before de¬
scribed it properly in the following words: Tire Cas¬
pian is a sea by itself, unconnected with any other. Its
length is as much as a vessel with oars can sail in 1 5
days ; and its greatest breadth as much as it can sail
in eight days.” Aristotle describes it in like manner,
and insists that it ought to be called a great lake, and
not a sea.
D I A.
189
_ On the conquest of Egypt by the Romans, the In- In(Jia#
dian commodities continued as usual to be imported to —y——'
Alexandria in Egypt, and from thence to Rome; but lS
besides this, the most ancient communication betwixt
the eastern and western parts of Asia seems never to nlame
have been entirely given up. Syria and Palestine are India,
separated from Mesopotamia by a desert; but the pas¬
sage through it was much facilitated by its affording a
station which abounded in water. Hence the possession
of this station became an object of such consequence,
that Solomon built upon it the city called in Syria Tad-
tnor, and in Greek Palmyra. Both these names are
expressive of its situation in a spot adorned with palm-
trees. I hough its situation for trade may to us seem
very unfavourable (being 60 miles from the Euphrates,
by which alone it could receive the Indian commodi¬
ties, and 203 from the nearest coast of the Mediterra¬
nean), yet the value and small bulk of the goods m
question rendered the conveyance of them by a long
carriage over land not only practicable but lucrative and
advantageous. Hence the inhabitants became opulent
and powerful, and long maintained its independence
even after the Syrian empire became subject to Rome.
After the reduction of Palmyra by the emperor Aure-
lian, however, it did not any more recover its splendour;
the trade gradually turned into other channels, and the
city was reduced to ruins, which still exist, and mani¬
fest its former grandeur. See Palmyra.
The excessive eagerness of the Romans for Asiatic
luxuries of all kinds kept up an unceasing intercourse
with India during the whole time that the empire con¬
tinued in its power; and even after the destruction of
the western part, it was kept up betwixt Constantinople
«nd those parts of India which had been visited former- t
ly by merchants from the western empire. Long be- New route
fore this period, however, a much better method of to India dis-
sailing to India had been discovered by one Hippalusco.vercd
the commander of an Indian ship, who’lived about 80 ,liW!l!us-
years after F.gypt had been annexed to the Roman em¬
pire. Ibis man having observed the periodical shifting
of the monsoons, and how steadily they blew from the
east or west during some months, ventured to leave the
coast, and sail boldly across the Indian ocean from the
mouth of the Arabian gulf to Musiris, a port on the
Malabar coast; which discovery was reckoned a mat¬
ter of such importance, that the name of Hippalus was
given to the wind by which he performed the voyage.
Pliny gives a very particular account of the manner in
which the Indian traffic was now carried on, mention¬
ing the particular stages, and the distances between
them, which are as follow. From Alexandria to Ju-
liopolis was two miles ; and there the cargo destined for
India was shipped on the Nile, and carried to Coptos,
distant 303 miles, the voyage being usually performed
in twelve days. From Coptos they were conveyed by
land to Berenice, distant 258 miles, and halting at dif¬
ferent stations as occasion required* Flie journev was
finished on the 12th day; but by reason of the'heat
the caravan travelled only in the night. The ships
left Berenice about midsummer, and in 30 days reached
O cel is, now Ctclla^ at the mouth of the Arabian gulf,
or Cane (now Cape Far toque) on the coast of Arabia
lelix: from whence they sailed in 40 days to Musiris
already mentioned. Their homeward voyage began
early in the month of December; when setting sail
witli
INDIA.
India. with a north-east wind, and meeting with a south or
1 ■—     south-west one when they entered the Arabian gulf,
the voyage was completed in less than a year. With
regard U) the situation of Musiris, as well as of Barace,
another Indian port to which the ancients traded,
Major Rennel is of opinion, and Dr Robertson agrees
with him, that they stood somewhere between Goa and
Tellicherry; and that probably the modern Meerzaw
or Merjee is the Musiris, and Barcelore the Barace of
to the ancients.
Ptolemy’s Ptolemy, who flourished about 200 years after the
account of commencement of the Christian era, having the ad-
Ut,a’ vantage of so many previous discoveries, gives a more
particular description of India than what is to be met
with in any of the ancient writers j notwithstanding
which, his accounts are frequently inconsistent not on¬
ly with modern discoveries, but with those of more an¬
cient geographers than himself. A most capital error
in his geography is, that he makes the peninsula of In¬
dia stretch from the Sinus Barygazenus, or gulf of Cam-
bay, from west to east, instead of extending, according
to its real direction, from north to south j and this er¬
ror must appear the more extraordinary, when we con¬
sider that Megasthenes had published a measurement
of this peninsula nearly consonant to truth, which had
been adopted with some variations by Eratosthenes,
Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Pliny. His information
concerning the situation of places, however, was much
more accurate. With respect to some districts on the
eastern part of the peninsula, as far as the Ganges, he
comes nearer the truth than in his descriptions of any
of the rest. These are particularly pointed out by
M. D’Anville, who has determined the modern names
of many of Ptolemy’s stations, as Kilkare, Negapatam,
the mouth of the river Cauveri, Masulipatam, &c. The
river' Cauveri is the Chabaris of Ptolemy j the king¬
dom of Arcot, Arcati Reg to ; and probably, says Dr
Robertson, the whole coast has received its present name
of Coromandel from Sor Mandulam, or the kingdom of
Soras, which is situated upon it. Ptolemy had like¬
wise acquired so much knowledge concerning the river
Ganges, that he describes six of its mouths, though his
delineation of that part of India which lies beyond the
Ganges is hardly less erroneous than that of the nearer
peninsula. M. D’Anville, however, has been at great
pains to elucidate those matters, and to illustrate
those parts of the writings of Ptolemy which appear
to be best founded. According to him, the Golden
;Cbersonesus of Ptolemy is the peninsula of Malacca ;
he supposes the gulf of Siam to be the great bay of
Ptolemy ; and the Sinae Metropolis of the same writer
he looks upon to be Sin-hoa in the western part of the
kingdom of Cochin-China, though Ptolemy has erred
in its situation no less than 50 degrees of longitude and
20 of latitude. M. Gosselin, however, differs from his
countryman M. D’Anville, in a late work intitled “ The
Geography of the Greeks analysed j or the systems of
Eratosthenes, Strabo, and Ptolemy, compared with each
other, and with the knowledge which the moderns have
acquired.” In the opinion of M. Gosselin, the Mag¬
num Promontorium of Ptolemy is not Cape Romania at
the southern extremity of the peninsula of Malacca, as
M. D’Anville supposes, but the point Bragu, at the
mouth of the river Ava. The great bay of Ptolemy he
supposes not to be the gulf of Siam, but of Martaban.
3
He endeavours to prove that the position of Cattipnara, India.
as laid down by Ptolemy, corresponds with that of Mer- *—-y***1
gui, a sea-port on the west of Siam j and that T/iitue,
or Since Metropolis, is not Sin-hoa, but Tana-serim, a
city on the same river with Mergui j and he contends,
that the Ibbadii insula of Ptolemy is not Sumatra, as
D’Anville would have it, but one of the small isles
which lie in a cluster off'this coast. M. Gosselin is of
opinion that the ancients never sailed through the straits
of Malacca, nor had any knowledge of the island of Su¬
matra, or of the eastern ocean.
The errors of Ptolemy have given occasion to a
mistake of more modern date, viz. that the ancients
were acquainted with China. This arose from the re¬
semblance betwixt the name of that empire and the
Since of the ancients. The Ayeen Akbery informs us,
that Cheen was an ancient name of Pegu j whence,
says Dr Robertson, “ as that country borders upon
Ava, where M. Gosselin places the great promontory,
this near resemblance of names may appear perhaps to
confirm his opinion that Sinje Metropolis was situated
on this coast, and not so far east as M. D’Anville has
placed it.” 3I
Thus we see that the peninsula of Malacca was in all Boundary
probability the boundary of the ancient discoveries by0^tJu:Ba'
sea j but by land they "had correspondence with coun- of
tries still farther distant. While the Seleucidse conti- oients.*
nued to enjoy the empire of Syria, the trade with India
continued to be carried on by laud in the way already
mentioned. The Romans having extended their domi¬
nions as far as the river Euphrates, found this method
of conveyance still established, and the trade was by
them encouraged and protected. The progress of the
caravans being frequently interrupted by the Parthians,
particularly when they travelled towards those countries
where silk and other of the most valuable manufactures
were procured, it thence became an object to the Ro¬
mans to conciliate the friendship of the sovereigns of
those distant countries. That such an attempt was ac¬
tually made, we know from the Chinese historians, who
tell us, that Antoun, by whom they mean the emperor
Marcus Antoninus, the king of the people of the west¬
ern ocean, sent an embassy to Ounti, who reigned in
China in the 166th year of the Christian era ; but
though the fact is mentioned, we are left entirely in the
dark as to the issue of the negociations. It is certain,
however, that during the times of the Romans such a
trade was carried on 5 and as we cannot suppose all
those who visited that distant region to be entirely des¬
titute of science, we may reasonably enough conclude,
that by means of some of these adventurers, Ptolemy
was enabled to determine the situation of many places
which he has laid down in his geography, and which
correspond very nearly with the observations of modern
times. 2I
With regard to the Indian islands, considering the Bew India
little way they extended their navigation, they could islands dU
not be acquainted with many of them. The principal covered ^
one was that of Ceylon, called by the ancients cients.*
baTie. The name was entirely unknown in Europe be¬
fore the time of Alexander the Great; but that con¬
queror, though he did not visit, had some how or other
heard of it; with regard to any particulars, however,
he seems to have been very slenderly informed ; and
the accounts of ancient geographers concerning it are
confused
I N
India, confused and contradictory. Strabo says, it is as
—-v  * large as Britain, and situated at the distance of seven
days according to some reports, or 20 days sailing ac¬
cording to others, from the southern extremity of the
peninsula. Pomponius Mela is uncertain whether to
consider Taprobane as an island, or the beginning of an-
' other world $ but inclines to the latter opinion, as no¬
body had ever sailed round it. The account of Pliny
is still more obscure ; and by this description he would
make us believe, that it was seated in the southern
hemisphere beyond the tropic of Capricorn. Ptolemy
places it opposite to Cape Comorin, at no great distance
from the continent 5 but errs greatly with regard to its
magnitude, making it no less than 15 degrees in length
from north to south. And Agathemarus, who wrote
after Ptolemy, makes Taprobane the largest island in
the world, assigning the second place to Britain. From
these discordant accounts, some learned men have sup¬
posed that the Taprobane of the ancients is not Ceylon,
as is generally believed, but the island of Sumatra j
though the description of it by Ptolemy, with the fi¬
gure delineated in his maps, seems to put it beyond a
doubt, that Ceylon, and not Sumatra, is the island to
which Ptolemy applies the designation of Taprobane.
The other islands described by that geographer to the
eastward of Tabrobane, are, according to Dr Robert¬
son, those called Andaman and Nicobar in the gulf of
Bengal.
From the time of Ptolemy to that of the emperor
Justinian, we have no account of any intercourse of the
Europeans with India, or of any progress made in the
0 a^es of8eograP^‘cal knowledge of the country. Under that
osmas to° emPeror one Cosmas, an Egyptian merchant, made
dia. some voyages to India, whence lie acquired the surname
of Indicopleustes. Having afterwards turned monk, he
published several works ; one of which, named Christian
Topography, has reached us. In this, though mixed
with many strange reveries, he relates with great sim¬
plicity and appearance of truth what he had seen in
his travels or had learned from others. He describes
several places on the western coast of the hither penin¬
sula, which he calls the chief seat of the pepper-trade j
and from one of the ports on that coast, named Male,
Dr Robertson thinks that the name Malabar may pro¬
bably be derived, as well as that of Maldives given to
a cluster of islands lying at no great distance. Cosmas
informs us also, that in his time the island of Tapro-
bane had become a great staple of trade. He supposed
it to lie about half way betwixt the Persian gulf and
the country of the Sinse; in consequence of which
commodious situation it received the silk of the Sinse,
and the precious spices of the remote regions of the
east, which were from thence conveyed to all parts of
India, Persia, and the Arabian gulf. Pie calls it not
Taprobane, but Sicldibia, derived from Selendib, or >SV-
rendib, the same by which it is still known all over the
east. From him also we learn, that the Persians having
overthrown the empire of the Parthians, applied them¬
selves with great diligence and success to maritime af-
lairs j in consequence of which they became formidable
rivals to the Romans in the Indian trade. The latter
finding themselves thus in danger of losing entirely
that lucrative branch, partly by reason of the rivalship
just mentioned, and partly by reason of the frequent
hostilities which took place between the two empires,
D I A.
formed a scheme of preserving some share of the trade
by means of his ally the emperor of Abyssinia. In
this he was disappointed, though afterwards he obtain¬
ed his end in a way entirely unexpected. This was SlIk*^'orn’s
by means of two monks who had been employed as mis- int^Eu-0
sionaries in different parts of the east, and had pene-rope.
trated as far as the country of the Seres or China.
I rom thence, induced by the liberal promises of Justi¬
nian, they brought a quantity of the eggs of the silk¬
worms in a hollow cane. P’hey were then hatched by
the heat of a dunghill ; and being fed with the leaves
of the mulberry, worked and multiplied as well as in
those countries of which they are natives. Vast num¬
bers were soon reared in Greece j from whence they
were exported to Sicily, and from thence to Italy $ in
all which countries silk manufactures have since been
established. 2S
On the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens in the Intercourse
year 640, the India trade was of course transferred to of the s.ara-
them j and they soon began to pursue it with much wi'h
more vigour than the Romans had done. The citylndia‘
of Bassora was built by the caliph Omar upon the
western banks of the great river formed by the union
of the Euphrates with the Tigris. Thus the command
of both rivers was secured, and the new city soon be¬
came a place of such consequence as scarce to yield to
Alexandria itself. Here Dr Robertson takes notice,
that from the evidence of an Arabian merchant who
wrote in the year 851, it appears, that not only the Sa- 2<s
racens, but the Chinese also, were destitute of the ma-Chinuse ig-
riners compass ; contrary to the general opinion, thatnorallt of
this instrument was known in the east long before it ^
made its appearance in Europe. From this relation, as ners^coio-
well as much concurring evidence, says our author, pass.
“ it is manifest, that not only the Arabians but the Chi¬
nese were destitute of this faithful guide, and that their
mode of navigation was not more adventurous than that
of the Greeks and Romans. They steered servilely
along the coast, seldom stretched out to sea so far as to
lose sight of land j and as they shaped their course in
this timid manner, their mode of reckoning was defec¬
tive, and liable to the same errors with that of the
Greeks and Romans.” Notwithstanding this disad¬
vantage, however, they penetrated far beyond Siam,
which had set bounds to the navigation of the Euro¬
peans. They became acquainted with Sumatra and
other Indian islands j extending their navigation as far
as the city of Canton in China. A regular commerce
was now carried on from the Persian gulf to all the
countries lying betwixt it and China, and even with
China itself. Many Saracens settled in India properly
so called, and in the countries beyond it. In the city
of Canton particularly, they were so numerous, that
the emperor permitted them to have a cadi or judge of
their own religion j the Arabian language was under¬
stood and spoken in every place of consequence ; and
ships from China are even said to have visited the Per¬
sian gulf.
o ^ 2 *7
According to the Arabian accounts of those days, State of la¬
the peninsula of India was at that time divided into dia when
four kingdoms. The first was composed of the pro- vlsitetl
vinces situated on the Indus and its branches, the capi-ra'
tal of which was Moultan. The second had the city
of Canoge, which, from the ruins of it remaining at
this day, appears to have been a very large place. The -
Indian1; '
INDIA.
Indian historians relate, that it contained 30,000 shops
in which betel nut was sold, and 60,000 sets of musi¬
cians and singers who paid a tax to government. Ihe
third kingdom was that of Cachimere, first mentioned
bv Massoudi, who eives a short description of it. The
fourth kingdom, Guzerat, is represented by the same
author as the most powerful of the whole. Another
Arab writer, who flourished about the middle of the
14th century, divides India into three parts ; the north¬
ern, comprehending all the provinces on the Indus ;
the middle, extending from Guzerat to the Ganges $
and the southern, which he denominates Comar, from
"Cape Comorin.
From the relation of the Arabian merchant above
mentioned, explained by the commentary of another
Arabian who had likewise visited the eastern parts of
Asia, we learn many particulars concerning the inha¬
bitants of these distant regions at that time, w'hich
correspond with what is observed among them at this
day. They take notice of the general use of silk
among the Chinese ; and the manufacture of porcelain,
which they compare to glass. They also describe the
tea plant, with the manner of using its leaves ; whence
it appears, that in the ninth century the use of this
plant in China was as common as it is at present. They
mention likewise the great progress which the Indians
had made in astronomy ; a circumstance which seems
to have been unknown to the Greeks and Romans:
they assert, that in this branch of science the Indians
were far superior to the most enlightened nations of
the west, on which account their sovereign was called
the “ King of wisdom.” The superstitions, extrava¬
gant penances, &c. known to exist at this day among
the Indians, are also mentioned by those writers; all
which particulars manifest that the Arabians had a
knowledge of India far superior to that of the Greeks
or Homans. The zeal and industry of the Mohamme¬
dans in exploring the most distant regions of the
east was rivalled by the Christians of Persia, who
sent missionaries all over India and the countries ad¬
mitting, as far as China itself. But while the western
Asiatics thus kept up a constant intercourse with these
parts, the Europeans had in a manner lost all know¬
ledge of them. The port of Alexandria, from which
they had formerly been supplied with the Indian goods,
was now shut against them ; and the Arabs, satisfied
with supplying the demands of their own subjects,
neglected to send any by the usual channels to the
towns on the Mediterranean. The inhabitants of
passage of Constantinople, and some other great towns, were
u'oodx to supplied with Chinese commodities by the most te-
Kin ope, dious and difficult passage imaginable. The silk of
that country was purchased in the most westerly pro¬
vince named Chensi *, from whence it was conveyed by
a caravan, which marched 80 or 100 days, to the
banks of the Oxus. Here it was embarked, and car¬
ried down the river to the Caspian sea 5 whence, after a
dangerous voyage across that sea, it was carried up
the river Cyrus as far as that river is navigable ; after
which it was conducted by a land carriage of five days
to the river Phasis, then down that stream into
the Euxine, and thence to Constantinople. The pas¬
sage of goods from Hindostan was less tedious ; they
beine1 carried either directly to the Caspian or to the
river Oxus, but by a passage much shorter than that
Tedious
from China ; after which they were conveyed down the India.
Phasis to the Euxine, and thus to Constantinople.
It is evident that a commerce thus carried on must
have been liable to a thousand disadvantages. The
goods conveyed over such vast tracts of land could not
be sold but at a very high price, even supposing the
journey had been attended with no danger j but as
the caravans were continually exposed to the assaults
of barbarians, it is evident that the price must on that
account have been greatly enhanced. In spite of every
difficulty, however, even this commerce flourished, and
Constantinople became a considerable mart for East In¬
dian commodities $ and from it all the rest of Europe
was chiefly supplied with them for more than two cen¬
turies. The perpetual course of hostilities in which
the Christians and Mohammedans wrere during this
period engaged, contributed still to increase the diffi¬
culty j and it is remarkable, that the more this difficul¬
ty increased, the more desirous the Europeans seemed
to be of possessing the luxuries of Asia.
About this time the cities of Amalphi and Venice,
with some others in Italy, having acquired a greater
degree of independence than they formerly possessed,
began first to exert themselves in promoting domestic
manufactures, and then to import the productions of
India in much larger quantities than formerly. Some
traces of this revival of a commercial spirit, according
to Dr Robertson, may be observed from the end of the
seventh century. The circumstances which led to this
revival, however, are entirely unnoticed by historians $
but during the seventh and eighth centuries, it is very
probable that no commercial intercourse whatever took
place betwixt Italy and Alexandria ; for, prior to the
period we speak of, all the public deeds of the Italian
and other cities of Europe had been written upon pa¬
per made of the Egyptian papyrus, but after that upon
parchment.
The mutual antipathy which the Christians and Mo¬
hammedans bore against each other, would no doubt
for a long time retard the progress of commerce be¬
tween them ; but at last the caliphs, perceiving the
advantage which such a traffic would be of to their
subjects, were induced to allow it, while the eagerness
with which the Christians coveted the Indian products ^
and manufactures, prompted them to carry it on. ButFffectof
scarce was the traffic begun, when it seemed in danger the cru-
of being totally interrupted by the crusades. tb^Indkn
withstanding the enthusiastical zeal of these adventur-cjmmcice,
ers, however, there were many to whom commerce
was a greater object than religion. This had always
been the case with numbers of the pilgrims who
visited the holy places at Jerusalem, even before the
commencement of the crusades : but these, after they
took place, instead of retarding the progress of this
kind of commerce, proved the means of promoting it to
a great degree. “ Various circumstances (says Dr
Robertson) concurred towards this. Great armies, con¬
ducted by the most illustrious nobles of Europe, and
composed of men of the most enterprising spirit in all
the kingdoms of it, marched towards Palestine, through
countries far advanced beyond those which they left in
every species of improvement. They beheld the dawn
of prosperity in the republics of Italy, which had be¬
gun to vie with each other in the arts of industry, and
in their efforts to engross the lucrative commerce with
the
I N
India, tne east. They next admired the more advanced state
■"-v—*■-' of opulence and splendour in Constantinople, raised to
a pre-eminence above all cities then known by its ex¬
tensive trade, particularly that which it carried on with
India and the countries beyond it. They afterwards
served in those provinces of Asia through which the
commodities of the east were usually conveyed, and
became masters of several cities which had been staples
of that trade. I hey established the kingdom of Je¬
rusalem, Which subsisted near 200 years. They took
possession of the throne of the Greek empire, and go¬
verned it about half a century. Amidst such a va¬
riety of events and operations, the ideas of the fierce
warriors of f.urope gradually opened and improved }
they became acquainted with the policy and arts of the
people whom they subdued : they observed the sources
of their wealth, and availed themselves of all this know¬
ledge. Antioch and Tyre, when conquered by the
crusaders, were flourishing cities, inhabited by opulent
merchants, who supplied all the nations trading in the
Mediterranean with the productions of the east; and,
as far as can be gathered from incidental occurrences
mentioned by the historians of the holy war, who be¬
ing mostly priests and monks, had their attention di¬
rected to objects very different from those relating to
commerce, there is reason to believe, that both in Con¬
stantinople while subject to the Franks, and in the ports
of Syria acquired by the Christians, the long establish¬
ed trade with the east continued to be protected and
encouraged.”
Our author next goes on to show in what manner
the commerce of the Italian states was promoted bv
the crnsades, until at last, having entirely engrossed
the Last India trade, they strove with such eagerness
to find new markets for their commodities, that they
extended a taste for them to many parts of Europe
where they had formerly been little known. The ri-
valship of the Italian states terminated at last in a
treaty with the sultan of Egypt in 1425, by which the
port of Alexandria and others in Egypt were opened
to the Florentines as well as the Venetians j and soon
after, that people began to obtain a share in the trade
to India.
I he following account of the manner in which the
India trade was carried on in the beginning of the 14th
century, is given by Marino Sanudo a Venetian noble¬
man. The merchants of that republic were supplied
with the commodities they wanted in two different
ways. I hose of small bulk and great value, such as
cloves, nutmegs, gems, pearls, &c. were carried up
the Persian gulf to Bassora, from thence to Bagdad,
and afterwards to some port on the Mediterranean.
The more bulky goods, such as pepper, cinnamon, and
other spiceries, were brought in the usual manner to the
Red sea, and from thence to Alexandria. The goods
brought by land, however, were always liable to be
seized by barbarians j and therefore the supply that way
was scanty, and the price extravagantly dear, while,
on the other hand, the sultan of Egypt, by imposing
duties upon the East India cargoes to the amount of
a full third of the value, seemed to render it impossible
that the owners should find purchasers for their goods.
This, however, was far from being the case $ the de¬
mand for India goods continually increased ; and thus
a communication, formerly unknown, betwixt all the
Vol. XL Part I. |
*93
•D I A.
nations of Europe, was begun and kept up. All this
time, however, there had been no direct communica¬
tion betwixt Europe and India, as the Mohammedans
would never allow any Christian to pass through their
dominions into that country. The dreadful incursions
and conquests of the Tartars under Jenghis-khan, how¬
ever, had so broken the power of the Mohammedans
in the northern parts of Asia, that a way was now
opened to India through the dominions of these barba- 31
rians. About the middle of the 13th century, there- ■Tourney of
fore, Marco Polo, a Venetian, by getting access to theMarco
khan of the Tartars, explored many parts of the east!‘Jt°
which had long; been unknown even by name to the 6 ^
Europeans. He travelled through China from Peking
on its northern frontier to some of its1 most southerly-
provinces. He visited also different parts of Hindos-
tan, and first mentions Bengal and Guzerat by their
modern names as great and flourishing kingdoms. He
obtained also some account of an island which he called
Ztpangri. and was probably no other than Japan ; he
visited Java with several of the islands in its neighbour¬
hood, the island of Ceylon, and the coast of Malabar
as far as the gulf of Cambay j to all which he gave the
names they have at this day. The discovery of such
immense regions unknown before in Europe, furnish¬
ed vast room for speculation and conjecture; and while st
the public attention was yet engaged by these disco-Genoese
venes, the destruction of Constantinople by the Turkstrade to
gave a very considerable turn to the East India com.I"d.ia
merce, by throwing it almost entirely into the hands
of the Venetians. Hitherto the Genoese had rivalled Constanti-
that state in the commerce we speak of, and they had110?1?-
possessed themselves of many important places on the
coast of Greece, as well as of the port of Caffa on the
Black sea. .Nay, they had even established themselves
at Constantinople, in the suburb of Pera, in such a
manner as almost entirely to exclude the Greeks them¬
selves from any share in this commerce ; but by the
destruction of Constantinople they were at once driven
out of all these possessions, and so thoroughly humbled,
that they could no longer contend with the Venetians
as before ; so that, during the latter part of the 15th
century, that republic supplied the greater part of
Europe with the productions of the east, and carried
on trade to an extent far beyond what had been known
in former times. The mode in which they now car¬
ried on this trade was somewhat different from what
had been practised by ancient nations. The Tyrians,
Greeks, and Romans, had sailed directly to India in
quest of the commodities they wanted ; and their
example has been imitated by the navigators of mo¬
dern Europe. In both periods the Indian commodi¬
ties have been paid for in gold and silver; and great
complaints have been made on account of the drain of
those precious metals, which were thus buried as it
were in India, never to return again. The Vene-i*^^
tians, however, were exempted from this loss ; for ha-wealth «>f
ving no direct intercourse with India, they suppliedthe Vci,e-
themselves from the warehouses they found, in Egypt tial,!\aii-
and Syria, ready filled with the precious commo-J£ J™
dities they wanted; and these they purchased more dian cow*
frequently by barter than with ready money. Thus, merce.
not only the republic of Venice, but all the cities which
had the good fortune to become emporia for the India
goods imported by it, were raised to such a pitch of
B b power
INDIA.
34
High inte¬
rest of mo¬
ney in the
ijth cen-
tary.
The Vene¬
tian trade
ruined by
the disco¬
very of the
Cape of
Good Hope
power r.nd splendour as scarce ever belonged to any Eu¬
ropean state. The citizens of Bruges, from which
place the other European nations were for a long time
supplied with these goods, displayed such magnificence
in their dress, buildings, and manner of living, as ex¬
cited even the envy of their queen Joan of Navarre
who came to pay them a visit. On the removal of
the staple from Bruges to Antwerp, the hitter soon
displayed the same opulence 5 and in some cities of
Germany, particularly Augsburg, the great mart for
Indian commodities in the internal parts of that coun¬
try, there are examples of merchants acquiring such
large fortunes as entitled them to high rank and con¬
sideration in the empire. The most accurate method,
however, of attaining some knowledge of the profits
the Venetians had on their trade, is by considering the
rate of interest on money borrowed at that time. This,
from the close of the lit!] century to the commence¬
ment of the 16th, we are told, was no less than 20 per
cent, and sometimes more. Even as late as 1500,
it was 10 or 12 in every part of Europe. Hence we
are to conclude that the profits of such money as was
then applied in trade must have been extremely high ;
and the condition of the inhabitants of Venice at that
time warrants us to make the conclusion. “ In the
magnificence of their houses (says Dr Robertson), in
richness of furniture, in profusion of plate, and in
every thing which contributed either towards ele¬
gance or parade in their mode of living, the nobles of
Venice surpassed the state of the greatest monarch be¬
yond the Alps. Nor was all this display the effect of
an ostentatious and inconsiderate dissipation 5 it was the
natural consequence of successful industry, which, ha¬
ving accumulated wealth with ease, is entitled to enjoy
it in splendour.”
This excessive superiority of wealth displayed by the
Venetians could not fail to excite the envy of the other
states of Europe. They were at no loss to discover
that the East India trade was the principal source from
whence their wealth was derived. Some of them en¬
deavoured to obtain a share by applying to the sultans
of Egypt and Syria to gain admission into their
ports upon the same terms with the Venetians j but
either by the superior interest of the latter with those
princes, or from the advantages they had of being
long established in the trade, the Venetians always
prevailed. So intent indeed were the other Euro¬
pean powers on obtaining some share of this lucra¬
tive commerce, that application was made to the so¬
vereign of Russia to open an intercourse by land with
China, though the capitals of the two empires are up¬
wards of 6000 miles distant from each other. This,
however, was beyond the power of the Russian prince
at that time j and the Venetians imagined that their
power and wealth were fully established on the most
permanent basis, when two events, altogether unfore¬
seen and unexpected, gave it a mortal blow, from which
it never has recovered, nor can recover itself. These were
the discovery of America, and that of the passage to the
East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. The former
put Spain in possession of immense treasures $ which
being gradually diffused all over Europe, soon call¬
ed forth the industry of other nations, and made them
exert themselves in such a manner as of itself must
have soon lessened the demand for Indian productions.
India.
The discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of
Good Hope, however, was the most effectual and *" ~
speedy in humbling the Venetians. After a tedious
course of voyages along the western coast ct Africa,
continued for near halt a century, Vasco tie Gama, an
active and enterprising Portuguese officer, doubled the
Cape of Good Hope, and, coasting along the eastern
shore of the continent, sailed next across the Indian
ocean, and landed at Calicut on the coast ot Malabar,
on the 22d of May 1498, ten months and two days
after leaving the port ot Eisbon. On his arrival in In¬
dia he was at first received with great kindness by the
sovereign of that country, styled the Samonn $ hut af¬
terwards, from what causes we cannot now well de¬
termine, the Indian prince suddenly changed his kind¬
ness into mortal enmity, and attempted to cut off Ga¬
ma with his whole party. The Portuguese admiral,
however, found means to escape every plot that was
laid against him ; and loaded his ships not only with
the products of that part of the country, hut with many
of the valuable products of the more remote regions. -'6
On his return to Portugal, De Gama was received Exploits of
with all imaginable demonstrations ot kindnesss. J he^he I’mtu-
Portuguese nation, nay all the nations in Europe, tlie|”jE 5-1
Venetians alone excepted, rejoiced at the discovery
which had been made. The latter beheld in it the
certain and unavoidable downfal of their own power,
while the Portuguese, presuming upon their right of
prior discovery, which they took care to have confirm¬
ed by a papal grant, plumed themselves on the thoughts
of having the whole Indian commerce centre in their
nation. The expectations of the one, and the appre¬
hensions of the other, seemed at first to he well-
founded. A succession of gallant officers sent into
the east from Portugal accomplished the greatest and
most arduous undertakings. In 24 years after the voy¬
age of De Gama, they had made themselves masters
of many important places in India j and among the rest
of the city of Malacca, where the great staple of trade
throughout the whole East Indies was established. As
this city stands nearly at an equal distance from the
eastern and western extremities of all the countries
comprehended under the name of Indies, it was fre¬
quented by the merchants of China, Japan, of all the
kingdoms on the continent, the Moluccas and other
islands in that quarter, as well as by those of Malabar,
Ceylon, Coromandel, and Bengal. Thus the Portuguese
acquired a most extensive influence over the internal
commerce of India j while, by the settlements they had
formed at Goa and Diu, they were enabled to engross
the trade on the Malabar coast, and greatly to obstruct
the long established intercourse of Egypt with India by
the way of the Red sea. Their ships now frequented
every port in the east where any valuable commodities
were to he had, from the Cape of Good Hope to the
river of Canton in China ; and all along this immense
extent of more than 4000 leagues, they had a chain of
forts and factories established for the convenience dr
protecting their trade! They had likewise made them¬
selves masters of several stations favourable to com¬
merce along the southern coast of Africa, and in
many islands lying between Madagascar and the Moluc¬
cas. In all places where they came, their arms had
struck such terror, that they not only carried on their
trade without any rival orcontroul, hut even prescribed.
to
INDIA.
India.
to the natives the terms of their mutual intercourse ;
nay, sometimes they set what price they pleased upon
the commodities they purchased, and thus were ena¬
bled to import into Europe the Indian commodities in
greater abundance and at a lower rate than had ever
been done before. Not satisfied with this, they formed
a scheme of excluding all other nations from any share
of the trade they enjoyed ; and for that purpose de¬
termined to make themselves masters of such stations
on the Red sea and Persian gulf as might put them in
possession of the navigation of both these seas, and
enable them not only to obstruct the ancient commerce
between Egypt and India, but to command the
mouths of the great rivers which we have formerly
mentioned as the means of conveying the Indian goods
through the internal parts of Asia. The conduct of
these enterprises was committed to Alphonso Albu¬
querque, the most distinguished officer at that time in
the Portuguese service. By reason of the vast number
ot the enemies he had to contend with, however, and
the scanty supplies which could be derived from Por¬
tugal, he could not fully accomplish what was expected
from him. However, he took from the petty princes
who were tributaries to the kings of Persia the small
island of Ormus, which commanded the mouth of the
Persian gulf; and thus secured to Portugal the posses¬
sion of that extensive trade with the east which the Per¬
sians had carried on for several centuries. On this bar¬
ren island, almost entirely covered with salt, and so hot
that the climate can scarcely be borne, destitute of a
drop of fresh water, except what was brought from
the continent, a city was erected by the Portuguese,
which soon became one of the chief seats of opulence,
splendour, and luxury, in the eastern world. In the
Red sea the Arabian princes made a much more for¬
midable resistance ; and this, together with the da¬
mage his fleet sustained in that sea, the navigation of
which is always difficult and dangerous, obliged Albu¬
querque to retire without effecting any thing of impor¬
tance. Thus the ancient channel of conveyance still
remained open to the Egyptians ; but their commerce
was greatly circumscribed and obstructed by the
powerful interest of the Portuguese in every port to
which they had been accustomed to resort.
■fncciua. T*16 Venetians now began to feel those effects of
LgglcsofHe Gama’s discovery which they had dreaded from
gpVene- the beginning. To preserve the remains of their com-
' merce, they applied to the sultan of the Mameluks in
Egypt, who was no less alarmed than themselves at
J, 37
IhiTcctual
’Dis to re¬
lieve their
istiirs.
the loss of such a capital branch of his revenue as he
had been accustomed to derive from the India trade.
By them this fierce and barbarous prince was easily
persuaded to send a furious manifesto to Pope Julius II.
and Emmanuel king of Portugal. In this, after stat¬
ing his exclusive right to the Indian trade, he inform¬
ed them, that if the Portuguese did not relinquish that
new course of navigation by which they had penetrat¬
ed into the Indian ocean, and cease from encroaching
on that commerce which from time immemorial had
been carried on between the east of Asia and his domi¬
nions, he would put to death all the Christians in
Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, and demolish the holy
sepulchre itself. To this threat, which some centu¬
ries before would have alarmed all Christendom, no re¬
gard was paid; so that the Venetians, as their last re¬
source, were obliged to have recourse to a different
expedient. This vvas to excite the sultan to fit out a
fleet in the Red sea to attack the Portuguese, and drive
them from all their settlements in the east; nay, in or¬
der to assist him in the enterprise, he was allowed to
cut down their forests in Dalmatia, to supply the defi¬
ciency of Egypt in timber for ship-building. The tim¬
ber was conveyed from Dalmatia to Alexandria ; and
from thence, partly by water and partly by land, to
ouez ; where twelve men of war were built, on board
which a body of Mameluks were ordered to serve under
the command of an experienced officer. Thus the Por¬
tuguese were assaulted by a new enemy, far more formi¬
dable than any they had yet encounteredyet such was
the valour and conduct of the admiral, that after several
severe engagements, the fleet of the infidels was entire-
ly ruined, and the Portuguese became absolute masters
or the Indian ocean.
I his disaster was followed in no long time by the
total overthrow of the dominion of the Mameluks in
Egypt by Selim the Turkish sultan ; who thus also
became master of Syria and Palestine. As his interest
was now the same with that of the Venetians, a league
was quickly formed betwixt them for the ruin of the
power of the Portuguese^ India. With this view Selim
confirmed to the Venetians the extensive commercial
privileges they enjoyed under the government of the
Mameluks ; publishing at the same time an edict, by
which he permitted the free entry of all the produc¬
tions of the east imported directly from Alexandria in¬
to any part of his dominions, but imposed heavy taxes
upon such as were imported from Lisbon. All’this,
however, was insufficient to counteract the great ad¬
vantages which the Portuguese had obtained by the
new passage to India, and the settlements they had
established in that country ; at the same time that the
power of the Venetians being entirely broken by the
league of Cambray, they were no longer able to con¬
tribute any assistance. They were therefore reduced to
the necessity of making an offer to the king of Portu¬
gal to purchase all the spices imported into Lisbon,
over and above what might be requisite for the con¬
sumption of his own subjects. This offer being reject¬
ed, the Portuguese for some time remained uncon-
trouled masters of the Indian trade, and all Europe
was supplied by them, excepting some very inconsider¬
able quantity which was imported by the Venetians
through the usual channels.
The Portuguese continued to enjoy this valuable Why the
branch of commerce undisturbed almost for a whole PortuSuese
century; for which, however, they were indebted more!.^'Vas
to the political situation of the different European na-rupted by
tions than to their own prowess. After the accession other Eu.
of Charles V. to the throne of Spain, that kingdom wasroPean
either so much engaged in a multiplicity of operations,powers
owing to the ambition of that monarch and his son
Philip II. or so intent on prosecuting their discoveries
and conquests in the new world, that no effort was
made to interfere with the East Indian trade of the
Portuguese, even though an opportunity offered bv the
discovery of a second passage by sea to the East Indies
through the straits of Magellan. By the acquisition
of the crown of Portugal in 1580, Spain, instead of
becoming the rival, became the protector and guardian
of the Portuguese trade. The resources of.Erance alt
B b 2 * this
33
59 .
Jlivaithip
the
French and
I N D
this time were so much exhausted by a continuance of
long and desolating wars, that it could bestow neither
much attention on objects at such a distance, nor en¬
gage in any expensive scheme. England was desolated
by the ruinous wars between the houses of \ ork and
Lancaster, and afterwards its enterprising spirit was re¬
strained by the cautious and covetous Henry VII. His
son Henry VIII. in the former part of bis reign, by
engaging in the continental quarrels of the European
princes, and in the latter part by his quarrel with the
pope and contests about religion, left no time for com¬
mercial schemes. It was not, therefore, till the reign
of Queen Elizabeth that any attention was paid to the
adairs of the east by that kingdom. The first who
shook the power of the Portuguese in India were the
Dutch j and in this they were gladly seconded by the
natives, whom the Portuguese had most grievously
oppressed. The English soon followed their example $
and in a few years the Portuguese were expelled from
their most valuable settlements, while the most lucra¬
tive branches of their trade have continued ever since
in the hands of those two nations.
It is not to be supposed that the other European
nations would sit still and quietly see these two en-
Eu-iish .^‘gross the whole of this lucrative commerce without at-
tbe’East tempting to put in for a share. East India compa-
itai&eK. nies were therefore set up in different countries : but
it was only between France and Eritain that the
great rivalship commenced ; nor did this fully display
itself till after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Both
43 nations had by this time made themselves masters of
Eagiish considerable settlements in India. The principal of
*eu!e«eutsjj10Se belonging to Britain were, I. Surat, situated
a on the western side of the peninsula within the Ganges,
between the 21st and 22d degrees of N. Lat. This
peninsula comprehended the kingdoms of Malabar,
Decan, Golconda, and Bisnagar, with the principali¬
ties of Gingi, Tanjour, and Madura ; the western
coast being distinguished by the name of Malabar, and
the eastern by that of Coromandel. 2. Bombay, a
small island in the kingdom of Decan, about 45
leagues to the south of Surat. 3. Dabul, about 40
leagues farther to the south, in the province of Cun-
can. 4. Carwar, in N. Lat. 15°, where there was a
small fort and factory. 5. Tillicherry, to which place
the English trade was removed from Calicut, a large
town 15 leagues to the southward. 6. Anjengo, be¬
tween eight and nine degrees of latitude, the most
southerly settlement on the western coast of the penin¬
sula. 7. On the Coromandel coast they possessed Fort
St David’s, formerly called Tegnpatan, situated in the
kingdom of Gingi, in il° 40' N. Lat, 8. Madras, the
principal settlement on this coast, between 13° and
140 N. Lat. not far from the diamond mines of Gol¬
conda. 9. Visigapatam, farther to the north. 10. Ba-
lasore, in latitude 22°, a factory of small consequence.
II. Calcutta, the capital of all the British settlements
in the East Indies. These were the principal places
belonging to Britain which we shall have occasion to
mention in the account of the contests which now
took place ; those of the French were chiefly Pondi-
betwixt the cherry and Chandernagore.
-French The war is said to have been first occasioned by the
■Eng" intt‘gues ot French commandant M. Dupleix j who
immediately after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, began
- ,4
Oiigia ot.
Ifet East
Indian war
I A.
to sow dissension among the nabobs, who had by this Iiulia.
time usurped the sovereignty of the country. Nizam ^
Almuluck, viceroy of Decan, and nabob of Arcot, bad,
as officer for the Mogul, nominated Anaverdy Khan to
be governor of the Carnatic, in the year 1745. On the
death of Nizam, his second son Nazir-zing was appoint¬
ed to succeed him in his viceroyalty, and his nomina¬
tion was confirmed by the Mogul. He was opposed by
his cousin Muzapher-zing, who applied to Dupleix for
assistance. By him he was supplied with a body of
Europeans and some artillery } after which, being also
joined by Chunda Saib, an active Indian prince, he
took the field against Nazir-zing. The latter was sup¬
ported by a body of British troops under Colonel Lau¬
rence ; and the French, dreading the event of an en¬
gagement, retired in the night; so that their ally was
obliged to throw himself on the clemency of Nazir-
zing. His life was spared, though he himself was de¬
tained as a state prisoner j but the traitor, forgetting
the kindness showed hirn on this occasion, entered into
a conspiracy against the life of Nazir-zing, and mur¬
dered him in his camp ; in which infamous transaction
he was encouraged by Dupleix and Chunda Saib, who
had retired to Pondicherry. Immense riches were
found in the tents of Nazir-zing, great part of which
fell to the share of Dupleix, whom Muzapher zing now
associated with himself in the government. By viitue
of this association, the Frenchman assumed the state
and formalities of an eastern prince ; and he and his
colleague Muzapher-zing appointed Chunda Saib na¬
bob of Arcot. In 1749, Anaverdy Khan had been
defeated and killed hy Muzapher-zing and Chunda
Saib, assisted by the French •, after which his son Mo¬
hammed Ali Khan had put himself under the protec¬
tion of the English at Madras, and was confiimed by
Nazir-zing as his father’s successor in the nabobship or
government of Arcot. This government, therefore,
was disputed betwixt Mohammed Ali Khan, appoint¬
ed by the legal viceroy Nazir zing, and supported by.
the English company, and Chunda Saib nominated by
the usurper Muzapher-zing, and protected by Dupleix,
who commanded at Pondicherry. Muzapher-zing, how¬
ever, did not long enjoy his ill-got authority ; for in
the year 1751, the nabobs who had been the me&nv
of raising him to the power he enjoyed, thinking them¬
selves ill rewarded for their services, fell upon him sud¬
denly, defeated his forces, and put him to death 5 pro¬
claiming Salabat-zing next day viceroy of the Deccau.,
On the other hand, the Mogul appointed Gauzedy
Khan, the elder brother of Salabat-zing, who was
confirmed by Mohammed Ali Khan in the government
of Arcot j but the affairs of the Mogul were at that
time in such disorder, dial he could not with an army
support the nomination he had made. Chunda Saib
in the mean time determined to recover by force thfi
nabobship of Arcot, from which he had been deposed
by the Mogul, who had placed Anaverdy Khan in his
room. With this view he had recourse to Dupleix at
Pondicherry, who reinforced him with 2000 Sepoys,
60 Caffrees, and 420 French ; upon condition that if
he succeeded, he should cede to the French the town
of Velar in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry, with
its dependencies, consisting of 45 villages. Thus rein¬
forced, he defeated Anaverdy Khan, who lost his life
in the engagement, reassunied the government of Ar¬
cot,
INDIA.
India.
cot, and punctually performed the engagements he had
come under to his French allies.
All this time Mohammed All Khan had been sup¬
ported by the English, to whom he fled after his fa-
197
to a man threw down the;r arms, and surrendered India,
themselves prisoners of war; all the baggage and can- —v——'
non falling at the same time into the hands of the
victors.
ther’s death. Ey tjiem he was supplied with a rein- On the return of Mr Clive to Fort St David’s, he His
44
41
fee in a
■ litary
Ipacitj.
! 43
[is bra¬
iny and
iccess.
forcement of men, money, and ammunition, under the
conduct of Major Laurence, a brave and experienced
ofticer. By means of this supply he gained some ad¬
vantages over the enemy $ and repairing afterwards to
Fort St David’s, he obtained a further reinforcement.
With all this assistance, however, he accomplished no¬
thing of any moment j and the English auxiliaries
having retired, he was defeated by his enemies. Thus
he was obliged to enter into a more close alliance with
the English, and cede to them some commercial points
which had been long in dispute j after which, Captain
Cope was dispatched to put Trinchinopoli in a state
of defence, while Captain de Gingis, a Swiss officer,
marched at the head of 400 Europeans to the assist-
r Clive’s ance of the nabob. On this occasion Mr Clive first
iftappear-offered his service in a military capacity. He had
been employed before as a writer, but appeared very
little qualified for that or any other department in ci¬
vil life. He now marched towards Arcot at the
head of 210 Europeans and 500 Sepoys. In the first
expedition he displayed at once the qualities of a great
commander. His movements were conducted with
such secrecy and despatch, that he made himself master
of the enemy’s capital before they knew of his march }
and gained the affections of the people by his generosi¬
ty, in affording protection without ransom. In a short
time, however, he found himself invested in Fort St
David’s by Rajah Saib, son to Chunda Saib, an Indian
chief, pretender to the nabohship of Arcot, at the head
of a numerous army ; the qperations of the siege be¬
ing conducted by European engineers. Thus, in spite
of his utmost efforts, two practicable breaches were
made, and a general assault given j but Mr Clive ha¬
ving got intelligence of the intended attack, defended
himself with such vigour, that the assailants were every¬
where repulsed with loss, and obliged to raise the
siege with the greatest precipitation. Not contented
with this advantage, Mr Clive, being reinforced by a
detachment from Trincliinopoli, marched in quest of
the enemy *, and having overtaken them in the plains
of A rani, attacked and entirely defeated them on the
3d of December 1751.
This victory was followed by the surrender of the
forts of Timery, Conjaveram, and Arani: after which
Mr Clive returned in triumph to Fort St David’s. In
the beginning of the year 1752 he marched towards
Mad ras, where he was reinforced by a small body of
troops from Bengal. Though the whole did not ex¬
ceed 300 Europeans, with as many natives as were suf¬
ficient to give the appearance of an army, he boldly
proceeded to a place called Koveripauk, about 15 miles
from Arcot, where the enemy lay to the number of
1500 Sepays, 1700 horse, with 150 Europeans, and
eight pieces of cannon. Victory was long doubtful,
until Mr Clive having sent round a detachment to fall
upon the rear of the enemy, while the English attack¬
ed the entrenchments in front with their bayonets, a
general confusion ensued, the enemy were routed with
considerable slaughter, and only saved from total de¬
struction by the darkness of the night. The French
was superseded in the command by Major Laurence.ploitsonder
By him he was detached with 400 Europeans, a few A*aj°r
Mahratta soldiers, and a body of Sepoys, to cut offrence*
the enemy’s retreat to Pondicherry. In this enter¬
prise he was attended with his usual good success, took
several forts, vanquished the French commander M.
d’Anteuil, and obliged him with all his party to sur¬
render prisoners of war. ^ ?
Chunda Saih, in the mean time, lay encamped with Death of
an army of 30,000 men at Syringham, an island in the Chunda
neighbourhood of Trinchinopoli ; but Major LaurenceSaib‘
having found means to intercept his provisions, he was
obliged to fly. Being obliged to pass through the camp
of the Tanjore general, he obtained a pass for the pur¬
pose $ hut was nevertheless detained by the nabob ;
who was an ally of the English, and his head was struck
off, in order to prevent any disputes that might arise
concerning him.
After the flight of Chunda Saib, his army was at¬
tacked and routed by Major Laurence j and the island
of Syringham surrendered, with about 1000 French sol¬
diers under the command of Mr Law, brother to him ^
who schemed the Mississippi company. M. Dupleix, M. Dopleix
exceedingly mortified at this bad success, proclaimed Pretenda
Rajah Saih, son to Chunda Saib, nabob of Arcot; c.onm11*"
and afterwards produced forged commissions from the*j1°en^0l^|
Great Mogul, appointing him governor of all the Car-and afreet*
natic from the river Kristnah to the sea. The better the state of
to carry on this deception, a messenger pretended toaH.In<iiaa
come from Delhi, and was received with all the pompt*”110*’
of an ambassador from the Great Mogul. Dupleix,
mounted on an elephant, and preceded by music and
dancing women, after the oriental fashion, received
his commission from the hands of this impostor $ after
which he affected the state of an eastern prince, kept
his durbar or court, appeared sitting cross-legged on a
sopha, and received presents as sovereign of the coun¬
try, from his own council as well as from the na¬
tives.
Thus the forces of the English and French East
India companies were engaged in a course of hostili¬
ties at a lime when no war existed between the two
nations ; and while they thus continued to make war
on each other under the title of auxiliaries to the con¬
tending parties, Gauzedy Khan took possession of the
dignity appointed him by the Mogul j but had not
been in possession of it above 14 days when he was
poisoned by his own sister. His son Scab Abadin Khan
was appointed to succeed him by the Mogul j but the
latter being unable to give him proper assistance, Sala-
bat-zing remained without any rival,, and made a pre¬
sent to the French commander of all the English pos¬
sessions to the northward. ^
Thus concluded the campaign of 1752. Next year Reinforcc-
both parties received considerable reinforcements; the menls ar-
English, by the arrival of Admiral Watson with anvc frorn
squadron of ships of war, having on board a regiment
commanded by Colonel Aldercroon ; and the French ^ ians's'
by M. Gadeheu, commissary and governor-general of
all their settlements, on whose arrival M. Dupleix de¬
parted
198
INDIA.
India.
48
Provisional
treaty be¬
twixt the
two na¬
tions con¬
cluded.
49
Expedition
of the Eng¬
lish into
the country
of the Po-
lygars.
5°
Madura
reduced.
parted for Europe. The new governor made the most
iriendly proposals ; and desired a cessation of arms un¬
til the disputes could be adjusted in Europe. These
proposals being readily listened to on the part of the
English, deputies were sent to Pondicherry, and a pro¬
visional treaty and truce were concluded, on condi¬
tion that neither of the two companies should for the
future interfere in any of the differences that might take
place in the country. The other articles related to the
places or settlements that should be retained or possess¬
ed bv the respective companies, until fresh orders
should arrive from the courts of London and Ver¬
sailles $ and till then it was stipulated, that neither of
the two nations should be allowed to procure any new
grant or cession, or to build forts in defence ot any
new establishment", nor should they proceed to any ces¬
sion, retrocession, or evacuation, ot what they then pos¬
sessed ; but every thing should remain on the same foot¬
ing as formerly.
The treaty was published on the nth of January
1755 5 at the end of which month Admiral Watson re¬
turned with his squadron from Bombay, and M. Ga-
cleheu returned to France in the beginning of Febru¬
ary, leaving M. Leyrit his successor at Pondicherry.
M. Bussy, with the Soubabdar Salabat-zing, command¬
ed in the north ; and M. de Saussay was left to com¬
mand the troops at Syringham. Matters, however,
did not long continue in a state of tranquillity. Early
iu the year it appeared that the French were endea¬
vouring to get possession of all the provinces of the
Deccan. M. Bussy demanded the fortress of Golconda
from Salabat-zing j and M. Leyrit encouraged the
phousder or governor who rented Velur to take up
arms against the nabob. He even sent 300 French
and as many Sepoys from Pondicherry to support this
rebel, and oppose the English employed by the nabob
to collect his revenues from the tributary princes. In
this office they had been employed ever since the ces¬
sation of hostilities j one half of the revenue being paid
to the nabob, and the other to the company, which
now involved them in a kind of military expedition
into the country of the Polygars, who had been pre¬
viously summoned to send agents to settle accounts
with the nabob. Four of them obeyed the summons ;
but one refused, and it was therefore resolv¬
ed to attack him. The country was very strong, being
almost entirely fortified by nature or art; for it was
surrounded by craggy hills detached from one another,
and covered with bushes so as to be impassable for
any but the natives, who had thrown up works from
hill to hill. These works were indeed very rude, be¬
ing formed of large stones laid upon one another with¬
out any cement, and flanked at proper distances by
round earthen towers ; before the wall was a deep and
broad ditch, with a large hedge of bamboos in front,
so thick that it could not be penetrated but by the hat¬
chet or by the fire. This was forced, though not with¬
out some loss ; after which another work of the same
kind, but stronger, made its appearance ; but this be¬
ing likewise forced, Lachenaig was obliged to submit
and pay his tribute.
The English army now marched to Madura, a strong
Indian town about 60 miles south of Trinchinopoli. On
their approach it submitted without any opposition,
and the inhabitants seemed pleased with their change
3
Irdrn.
of government. Here a deputation was received from
a neighbouring Polygar, desiring an alliance, and as a
proof of his sincerity making an offer of two settle-51
ments on the sea-coast of his country opposite totheJM?,Uw
island of Ceylon, which would greatly facilitate their obtained*1
future commerce with Tinevelly. Before this time by the
they could not have reached that city but by a circui-English. |
tous march of 400 or 500 miles ; but from the new
settlements the distance to Tinevelly was no more than
50 miles, and reinforcements or supplies of any kind
might be sent them from Madras or Fort St David
in four or five days. The offer being accepted, Co-Exploits of
lonel Heron, the English commander, marched to at-^0'011^
tack the governor of Madura, who had fled to a place^eron'
called Coitgoody : on the approach of the English he
fled from this place also, leaving the greatest part of
his troops to defend the place. The road was so rugged,
that the carriages of the cannon broke down ; and as
the troops were not furnished with scaling ladders, there
seemed to be little hope of gaining the place, which
was very strong. The colonel, however, determined
to make an assault after the Indian manner, by burn¬
ing down the gates with bundles of straw ; and to en¬
courage his men in this new method of attack, he him¬
self carried the first torch, being followed by Moham-
med Issouf, who bore the second. The place was ta- His impru
ken and plundered, not sparing even the temples ;^ence'ri
which inspired the inhabitants with the utmost abhor-
rence of the victors, on account of their contempt oftenipies].a
their religion.
After this exploit the army removed to Madura ;
and a garrison being left in the place, they proceeded
to Tinevelly, which submitted without opposition, and
owned the jurisdiction of the nabob; though some of
the Polygars still evaded payment, and therefore hosti¬
lities were commenced against them. ^
The new expedition was marked by an act of the Cruel mas.
most disgraceful cruelty at a fort named Ne!lecota/i,SRCTe'di
40 miles south of Tinevelly. It was fortified by a mud Jse^ecota*1
wall with round towers. The assault was made with
great resolution, and the troops gained possession of
the parapet without being repulsed. On this the gar¬
rison called out for quarter, but it was barbarously re¬
fused ; a general massacre of men, women, and chil¬
dren ensued, only six persons out of 400 being suffered
to escape with life.
It now appeared that the revenues collected in this
expedition had not been sufficient to defray the ex-
pences of the army ; and a report being spread that
Salabat-zing was advancing into the Carnatic at the
head of his army, along with M. Bussy the French
commander, to demand the Mogul’s tribute, it was
thought proper to recal Colonel Heron to Trinchino¬
poli. Before this, he had been prevailed on by the In¬
dian chief who accompanied him, to convey to him
(Mazuphe Cawn) an investiture of the countries of
Madura and Tinevelly for an annual rent of 187,500!.
sterling. In his way he was likewise induced by the
same chief to make an attempt on a strong fort named
JSTel/ytcwgaville, situated about 30 miles west of Tine¬
velly ; and belonging to a refractory Polygar. This
attempt, however, proving unsuccessful for want of
battering cannon, the colonel returned with Mazuphe
Cawn to Trinchinopoli, where he arrived on the 22d of
May 1755.
till!
"N
The
I N-
India. The last expedition of this commander was against
a mud fort named Volsynatam, situated near the en-
trance of the woods belonging to the Colleries. These
n Peop'‘e were highly incensed at the plundering of Coil-
Jiai^aiid' K0,K!y> a!1(j particularly at the loss of their sacred
ndM.,race of images, which the rapacious conquerors had carried off.
e Bond In consequence of this they had already slaughtered a
party of Sepoys whom the commanding officer at Ma¬
dura had sent out to collect cattle. In their march the
Tnglish army had to go through the pass of Natam,
one of the most dangerous in the peninsula. It begins
about 20 miles north of Trinchinopoli, and continues
for six miles through a wood impassable to Europeans.
The road which lay through it was barely sufficient to
admit a single carriage at a time, at the same time that
a bank running along each side rendered it impossible
to widen it. In most places the wood was quite con¬
tiguous to the road 5 and even where part of it had
been felled, the eye could not penetrate above 20
yards.—A detachment of Europeans, pioneers, and
sepoys, were sent to scour the woods before the main
body ventured to pass through such a dangerous defile.
The former met with no opposition, nor did any ene¬
my appear against the latter for a long time. At last
the march was stopped by one of the heaviest tumbrils-
sticking in a slough, out of which the oxen were not
able to draw it. The officers of artillery suffered the
troops marching before to proceed 5-and the officer
who commanded in the rear of the battalion, not sus¬
pecting what had happened, continued his march,
while most of the Sepoys who marched behind the rear
division of the artillery were likewise suffered to pass
the carriage in the slough, which choaked up the road,
and prevented the other tumbrils from moving forward,
as well as three field pieces that formed the rear divi¬
sion of artillery, and the whole line of baggage that
followed. In this divided and defenceless state the
rear division of the baggage was attacked by the In¬
dians ; and the whole would certainly have been de¬
stroyed, had it not been for the courage and activity of
Capt. Smith, who here commanded 40 Caffres and 200
Sepoys, with one six-pounder. Considerable damage,
however, was done, and the Indians recovered their
gods ; which certainly were not wortli the carrying off,
being only made of brass, and of a diminutive size.
Colonel Heron was tried by a court-martial for mis¬
conduct in this expedition 5 and being found guilty,
was declared incapable of serving the company any
longer j soon after which he returned to Europe, and
died in Holland.
In the mean time Nanderanze, an Indian prince,
formed a scheme to get possession of Trinchinopoli ;
and in order to compass his end with greater facility,
communicated his design to M. de Saussay-the com¬
mander of the French troops. But this gentleman hav¬
ing communicated intelligence to the English com¬
mander, the enterprise miscarried, and no difference
betwixt these two rival nations as yet took place. It
does not, however, appear that the English were in the
least more solicitous to avoid hostilities than the French $
th* fynefj'for as soon as the company were informed of the ac¬
quisitions made by M. Bussy in the Deccan, it was de¬
termined to encourage the Mahrattas to attack Sala-
bat-zing, in order to oblige him to dismiss the French
auxiliaries from his service. In order to succeed in this
fofed by
dl*Eng-
idho-ainst'
57
D I Ar
enterprise, it was necessary to have a commander well
experienced in the political systems of the country, as
well as in military affairs ; and for this purpose Mr
Cl ive, now governor of Fort St David’s, and invested
with a lieutenant colonel’s commission in the king’s
troops, offered his service. 'Three companies of the
king’s artillery, consisting of ico men each, and 300
recruits, were sent from England on this expedition,
who arrived at Bombay on the 27th of November j
when on a sudden the presidency of Madras took it
into consideration that this expedition could not beTheexpe-
prosecuted without infringing tiie convention made ^icn laid
with the French commander. “ This (says Mr Grose) as^e’
was acting with too much caution j for every thing
relating to Salabat-zing and tbe French troops in his
service seemed to have been studiously avoided. The
court of directors had explained their whole plan to
the presidency of Madras ; but the ship which had the
letters on board was unfortunately wrecked on a rock
about 800 miles east of the Cape of Good Hope.”
The whole expedition was therefore laid aside, and the
presidency of Madras directed all their force for the
present against Tulagee Angria, who had long been
a formidable enemy to the English commerce in those
parts.
The dominions of this pirate consisted of several Account of
islands near Bombay, and an extent of land on the the pirate
continent about 180 miles in length, and from 30 toTu!aSee
60 in breadth. He possessed also several forts that had ‘^nSria’
been taken from the Europeans by his ancestors 5 the
trade of piracy having, it seems, been hereditary in the
family, and indeed followed by most of the inhabitants
of this coast. This was the more dangerous for trading
vessels, as the land breezes do not here extend more
than 40 miles out at sea, so that the ships are obliged
to keep within sight of land j and there was not a
creek, harbour, bay, or mouth of a river, along the
whole coast of his dominions, where Angria had not
erected fortifications, botli as stations of discovery and
places of refuge to his vessels. His fleet consisted of
two kinds of vessels peculiar to this country, named
grabs and gaUivats. The former have generally two Desctiption
masts, though some have three ; the latter being about°Nns fleet.
300 tons burthen, and tbe former 150. They are
built to draw little water, being very broad in propor¬
tion to their height *, but narrowing from tbe middle
to tiie end, where, instead of bows, they have a prow
projecting like a Mediterranean galley, and covered
with a strong deck level with the main deck of the
vessel, from which it is separated by a bulk-head that
terminates the forecastle. As this construction sub¬
jects the grab to pitch violently when sailing against
a head sea, the deck of the prow is not inclosed with
sides as the rest of the vessel, but remains bare, that
the water which comes upon it may pass off without
interruption. Two pieces of cannon are mounted on
the main deck under the forecastle, carrying balls of
nine or twelve pounds, which point forwards through
port-holes cut in the hulk-head, and fire over the prow ;
those of the broad side are from six to nine pounders.
The gallivats are large row-boats built like the grab,
but smaller, the largest scarce exceeding 70 tons bur¬
den. They have two masts, the mizen slightly made*
and the main-mast bearing one large and triangular sail.
In general they are covered with a spar deck made of
split
200
INDIA.
India.
split bamboos, and carry only paterreroes fixed on swi¬
vels in the gunnel of the vessel j but those of a larger
size have a fixed deck, on which they mount six ©r
eight pieces of cannon from two to four pounders.
They have 40 or 50 stout oars, by which they may be
moved at the rate of four miles an hour.
Angria had commonly a fleet of eight or ten grabs,
with 40 or 50 gallivats j which slipped their cables
and put out to sea as soon as any vessel had the misfor¬
tune to come within sight of the port or bay where
they lay. If the wind blew with any strength, their
construction enabled them to swim very swiftly : but if
60 was calm, the gallivats rowed, and towed the grabs.
Their man-As soon as they came within gunshot of the enemy,
ner of at- t,Jiey assembled astern, and the grabs began the attack,
.s.r.i.n* fir;rig at first only at the masts, and choosing the most
advantageous positions for this purpose. If the vessel
happened to he dismasted, they then drew nearer, and
battered her on all sides till she struck ; but if the de¬
fence was obstinate, they sent a number of gallivats
with 200 or 300 soldiers in each, who boarded from all
quarters sword in hand.
This piratical state had for more than 50 years been
formidable to all the nations in Europe ; the English
East India company had kept up a naval force for the
bub'*,
tacking
ships.
6t
UasHcceii-
ful at¬
tempts to
reduce this protection of their trade at the rate of more than
pirate
6i
50,000k annually, and after all found it scarcely ade¬
quate to the purpose. An unsuccessful attempt had
been made in 1717, by the presidency of Bombay,
against the forts Geriah and Kennary, the principal
strong holds of Angria.—Another was made in 1722,
under Admiral Matthews, against a fort named Coila-
bley, about 15 leagues south of Bombay : but this
also miscarried through the cowardice and treachery
of the Portuguese, who pretended to assist the English.
In 1735 Fort Geriah was unsuccessfully attacked by a
Dutch armament of seven ships, two bomb-ketches,
and a numerous body of land forces $ while all this
time the piracies of Angria went on successfully, and
not only trading vessels, but even men of war belong¬
ing to different nations, were captured by him, parti¬
cularly in the month of February 1754. when three
Dutch ships of 50, 36, and 18 guns, were burnt or
taken by the piratical fleet.
This last success encouraged Angria so much, that
he began to build vessels of a large size, boasting that
he should he master of the Indian seas. The Mahrat-
tas having implored the assistance of the English against
« * LAO 1JC* T ***£2 *'*•1?*''*'*** ~ -   Q  © 
Success of j|,j8 common enemy, Commodore’William James was
d * relink • .t 1 r* "fc t   . _ _ * a 1
Comiuo- sent from Bombay on the 22d of March 1755, with
agdim hiT Protector of 44, the Swallow of 16 guns, and two
forts. bomb-ketches ; but with instructions not to hazard the
fleet by attacking any of the pirate’s forts, only to
blockade the harbours, while the Maliratta army carried
on their operations by land. He had scarce begun his
voyage when he fell in with a considerable fleet of the
pirates, which he would certainly have taken, had
it not been for the timidity and dilatory behaviour of
bis allies, who could not by any means be induced to
follow him. They bad, however, invested three of
the forts, but after a very strange manner j for they
durst not approach nearer than two miles, and even
there entrenched themselves up to the chin, to be se¬
cure against the fire of the fort, which they returned
only with one four pounder. The commodore, pro¬
voked at this pusillanimous behaviour, determined, ior —v
the honour of the British arms, to exceed the orders
he had got. Running within 100 yards of a fovt
named Severndroog, he in a few hours ruined the
walls, and set it on fire j a powder magazine also blow¬
ing up, the people, to the number of about icoo,
abandoning tbe place, and embarking on board of eight
large boats, attempted to make their escape to another
fort named Goa, but were all intercepted and made
prisoners by tbe English. Tire whole force of the at¬
tack being then turned upon Goa, a white flag was
soon hung out as a signal to surrender, Tbe governor,
however, did not think proper to wait the event of a
capitulation, hut without delay passed over to Severn¬
droog, where he hoped to be able to maintain his
ground notwithstanding the ruinous state of the forti¬
fications. T he fire was now renewed against this for¬
tress ; and the seamen having cut a passage through on©
of the gates with their axes, the garrison soon surren¬
dered, at the same time that two other forts besieged
by the Mahrattas hung out flags of truce and capitu¬
lated : and thus were four of Angria’s forts, for so
many years deemed impregnable, subdued in one day.
These successes were followed by the surrender of The pi*
Bancoote, a strong fortified island, now called final!) -m
Victoria, and which the English retained in possession j
but the other forts were delivered up to the Mahrattas.
On the arrival of Admiral Watson in the beginning of
November 1755* it was determined to root out the pi¬
rate at once, by attacking Geriah the capital of his do¬
minions j but it was so long since any Englishman had
seen this place, and the reports of its strength had been
so much exaggerated, that it was thought proper to
reconnoitre it before any attack was made. This was
done by Commodore James j who having reported that
the fort, though strong, was far from being inaccessible
or impregnable, it was resolved to prosecute the en¬
terprise with the utmost expedition and vigour. It
was therefore attacked by such a formidable fleet, that
Angria, losing courage at their approach, fled to the
Mahrattas, leaving Geriah to be defended by his bro¬
ther. The fort, however, was soon obliged to surren¬
der, with no more loss on the part of the English than
19 men killed and wounded : but it was afterwards ac¬
knowledged, that this success was owing principally
to the terror of the garrison, occasioned by such a vio¬
lent cannonade $ for their fortifications appeared to
have been proof against the utmost efforts of an ene¬
my. All the ramparts of this fort were either cut out
of the solid rock, or built of stones at least ten feet
long laid edgeways.
In this fortress were found 200 pieces of brass can¬
non with six brass mortars, and a great quantity of
ammunition and military stores, besides money and
effects to the value of 125,000k Angria’s fleet was
entirely destroyed, one of the ships having been set on
fire by a shell from the English fleet, and the flames
having spread from thence to all the rest. About 2000
people were made prisoners j among whom were the
wife, children, mother, brother, and admiral of the
pirate : hut they were treated with the greatest cle¬
mency ; and his family, at their own request, continued
under the protection of the English at Geriah. All
the
201
iflk
INDIA.
India.
M. Bussy
dismissed
tlie other forts belonging to Angria soon submitted ; so
that his power on the coast of Malabar was entirely an¬
nihilated.
While the affairs of the English went on thus suc¬
cessfully, M. Bussy had been constantly employed near
by Salabat-tjjg person of Salabat-zing, whom he had served in
zin*' much the same manner that the English had Moham¬
med Ali Cawn. As he made use of his influence with
that prince, however, to enlarge the possessions of the
French, and was continually making exorbitant de¬
mands upon him, the prime minister of Salabat-zing at
length represented to him the danger and shame of al¬
lowing a small body of foreigners thus to give law to
a great prince j and having formed a powerful com¬
bination against the French, at last obtained an order
for their dismission. M. Bussy took his leave without
any marks of disgust, having under his command
about 600 Europeans, with 5000 Sepoys, and a fine
train of artillery. His enemies, however, had no mind
to allow him to depart in safety 5 and therefore sent
orders to all the polygars to oppose their passage, send¬
ing 6000 Mahrattas after them to harass them on their
march.
Notwithstanding this opposition, M. Bussy reached
Hyderabad with very little loss. Here he took pos¬
session of a garden formerly belonging to the kings of
Golconda, where he resolved to keep his post until
succours should arrive from Pondicherry and Masuli-
patam. Here Salabat-zing proposed to attack him ;
and the better to attain his purpose, applied to the
English presidency at Madras for a body of troops to
assist him in this service. Nothing could be more
agreeable to those who had the power at that place
than such an invitation ; and a detachment of 400 Eu-
[igainstM. ropeans and 1500 Sepoys was on the- point of being
3ussy, but ordered to the assistance of Salabat-zing, when expresses
lountef- from Bengal informed them of the greatest danger
3ed* that had ever threatened the British settlements in In-
dostan.
iurajah T*1*5 danger arose from the displeasure of Surajah
Jowla, na- D owla the new nabob of Bengal. His grandfather
|obof Ben-Aliverdy Khan having died in April or May 1756,
al, an Surajah succeeded to the nabobship of Bengal, Ba-
liemy ° bar, and Orixa. He was congratulated on his acces-
ludla.
65
\ detach-
|nent of
English
roops or¬
dered
neiny 1
ie Eng-
sh. _ sion by Mr Drake the English president at Calcutta,
who requested his favour and protection in behalf of
his countrymen. This was readily promised, even to
a greater degree than what had been shown by his
grandfather ; but in a short time his resentment was
incurred by the imprisonment, as it is said, of Omi-
chund, an eminent Gentoo merchant, who had lived
several years under the protection of the English go¬
vernment at Calcutta. Of this, however, Surajah
Dowla did not directly complain; but founded his pre¬
tence of war upon the conduct of the English in re¬
pairing the fortifications of Calcutta; which indeed
was absolutely necessary on account of the great like¬
lihood of a war with the French. On this account,
however, the nabob signified his displeasure, and threat¬
ened an attack if the works were not instantly demolish¬
ed. With this requisition the president and council
pretended to comply ; but nevertheless w-ent on with
their works, applying first to the French and then to
the Dutch for assistance ; but as neither of these nations
Vol. XI. Part I. f
thought proper to interfere, the English were obliged
to stand alone in the quarrel.
Surajah Dowla took the field on the 30th of Mav 67
1756, with an army of 40,000 foot, 30,000 horse,fIis exP?£ji-
and 400 elephants; and on the 2d of June detached f!0'/il~ailDst
20,000 men to invest the English fort at Cassumbazar, CU“a‘
a large town situated on an island formed by the west¬
ern branch of the Ganges. The fort was regularlv
built, with 60 cannon, and defended by 300 men, but
principally Sepoys. The nabob pretending a desire to
treat, Mr Watts the chief of the factory, was persuaded
to put himself in his power; which he had no sooner
done, than he was made a close prisoner, along with
Mr Batson a surgeon who accompanied him. The
two prisoners were treated with great indignity, and
threatened with death ; but two of the council who
had been sent for by the tyrant’s command were
sent back again, with orders to persuade the people
of the factory to surrender it at discretion. This pro¬
posal met with great opposition in the council ; but
was at last complied with, though very little to the
advantage of the prisoners ; for they were not only de¬
prived of every thing they possessed, but stripped al¬
most naked, and sent to Hooghly, where they were
closely confined.
The nabob, encouraged by this success, marched
directly to Calcutta, which he invested on the 15th.
Though he now threatened to drive the English en¬
tirely out of his dominions, yet he proposed an accom¬
modation with Mr Drake, provided he would pay him
his duty upon the trade for 15 years, defray the ex-
pences of his army, and deliver up the Indian mer¬
chants who were in the fort. This being refused, a Calcutta
siege commenced, and the place was taken in three takers and
days, through the treachery of the Dutch guard * a number
who had the charge of a gate. The nabob promisediof Pris0I!-
on the word of a soldier, that no harm should be done the^eSjffo'
English ; nevertheless they were shut up in a prison so* See*Col-
strait, that out of 146 all perished in a single night (or cuttv
want of air but 22. It was not, however, supposed that
any massacre at this time was intended ; and it is pro¬
bable that he only gave orders to confine the prisoners
closely for the night, without taking into consideration
whether the place they were confined in was large or
small.
The news of this disaster put an end to the expedi¬
tion projected against M. Bussy; and Colonel Clive
was instantly dispatched to Bengal with 400 Euro-Expedition
peans and 1000 Sepoys, on board of the fleet com-of Admiral
manded by Admiral Watson. They did not arrive tillWatson
the 15th of December, at a village called Fulta, situa-a,1(1 Colo“
ted on a branch of the Ganges, where the inhabitantsagainswlie
of Calcutta had taken refuge after their misfortune, nabob,Z
Their first operations were against the forts Busbudgia,
Tanna, Fort-William, and Calcutta, now in the hands
of the enemy. All these were reduced almost as soon
as they could approach them. An expedition was then
proposed against Hooghly, a large town about 60
miles above Calcutta, and the place of rendezvous for
all nations who traded to Bengal ; its warehouses and
shops being always filled with the richest merchandise
of the country. This was likewise easily reduced; and
the city was destroyed, with the granaries and store¬
houses of salt seated on each side the river; which
C c proved
?o
hi
I N D
proved very detrimental to the nabob, as depriving him
of the means of subsistence for his army.
Suraiah Dowla, enraged at this success ot the Eng¬
lish, now seemed determined to crush them at once by
a general engagement, trom this, however, he was
intimidated by a successful attack on his camp, which
soon induced him to conclude a treaty. This took place
on the oth of February 1757, on the following condi-
Treatycon-tions. I. That the privileges and immunities granted
luded with tjie English by the king (Mogul) should not be dis-
ini. puted. 2. That all goods with English orders should
pass, by land or water, free of any tax, fee, or imposi¬
tion. 3. All the Company’s factories which had been
seized by the nabob should be restored and the goods,
money, and effects, which had been plundered, should
be accounted for. 4. That the English should have
permission to fortify Calcutta as they thought proper.
5. They should also have the liberty to coin their own
_T imports of bullion and gold. .
Warwith As certain intelligence was now received of a war
the French, between France and England, the first object that na¬
turally occurred, after the conclusion of this treaty,
was the reduction of the French power in the east j
in consequence of which it was represented to Admiral
Watson, by a committee of the council of Bengal, that
this was the only opportunity he perhaps might ever
have of acting offensively against them. An attack
would therefore immediately have been made on Chan-
dernagore, had not a deputation arrived from that
place, requesting a neutrality in this part of the world
until matters should be finally decided in Europe.
The negociation, however, was broken off on a sug¬
gestion that the government of Chandernagore, being
subordinate to that of Pondicherry, could not render
anv transaction of this kind valid. It remained, there¬
fore, only to obtain the consent of the nabob to make
an attack upon this place : but this seemed not likely
The nabob to be got •, for in ten days after the conclusion of the
complains treaty, he sent a letter to the admiral, complaining ot
o! the Eng-hrs intention. “ It appears (says he) that you have a
design to besiege the French factory near Hooghly,
and to commence hostilities against that nation. This
is contrary to all rule and custom, that you should
bring your animosities and differences into my country ;
for it has never been known, since the days of T-imur,
that the Europeans made war upon one another in the
king’s dominions. If you are determined to besiege
the French factories, I shall be necessitated, in honour
and duty to my king, to assist them with my troops.
You are certainly bound to abide by your part of the
treaty strictly, and never to attempt or be the occasion
of any troubles or disturbances in future within the
provinces under my jurisdiction, &c.” To this Ad¬
miral Watson replied, that “ he was ready to desist
from his intended enterprize if the French would
acree to a solid treaty of neutrality *, or if the nabob,
as soubahdar (viceroy) of Bengal, would, under his
hand, guarantee this treaty, and promise to protect the
English from any attempts made by the French against
their settlements in his absence.” This letter did not
prove satisfactory ; the nabob having been informed
bv the French agent, that the English designed to
turn their arms against him as soon as they had made
themselves masters of Chandernagore. This was stre-
fiuously denied by the admiral j and a number of let-
I A.
India,
73
lisli.
ters passed between him and the nabob, 111 one of which
the latter made use of the following expressions, which 1
were supposed to imply a tacit consent that Chanderna¬
gore should be attacked. “ My forbidding war on my
borders was because the French were my tenants, and
upon this affair desired my protection : on this I wrote
to you to make peace, and no intention had I of
favouring or assisting them. You have understanding
and generosity : if your enemy with an upright heart
claims your protection, you will give him his life } but
then you must be well satisfied of the innocence of his
intentions j if not, then whatsoever you think right,
that do.” # u
Having thus, as was supposed, obtained the con- Chanikr-
sent of the nabob, an attack was made on Chanderwa-^goreta
gore, which was soon reduced to the necessity of capi-
tulating though the French made a gallant defence, 0
and, as Mr Ives informs us, “ stood to their guns as
long as they bad any to fire.” A messenger was dis¬
patched with the news to Surajah Dowla three days
after the place had surrendered, intimating also that
the French had been pursued some way up the country.
This intelligence, however, seemed to be by no means
agreeable, as he could scarce be induced to return an
answer. At last he pretended displeasure on account
of the design of the English to infringe the treaties,
and complained that they had ravaged some parts of
his dominions. 'Hus was denied on the part of the
admiral $ who in his turn accused the nabob of breach
of promise, and neglect in fulfilling his engagements.
The last letter sent by Admiral Watson to the nabob,
of date 19th April 1757, concludes in this manner.
“ Let me again repeat to you, that I have no other
views than that of peace. The gathering together of
riches is what I despise j and I call on God, who sees
and knows the spring of all our actions, and to whom
you and I must one day answer, to witness to the
truth of what I now write: therefore, if you would
have me believe that you wish for peace as much as I
do, no longer let it be the subject of our correspondence
for me to ask the fulfilment of our treaty, and you to
promise and not perform it; but immediately fulfil all
your engagements: thus let peace flourish and spread
throughout all your country, and make your people
happy in the re-establishment of their trade, which
has suffered by a ruinous and destructive war.” From
this time both parties made preparations for war. The
nabob returned no answer till the 13th of June, when
he sent the following declaration of war. “ According
to my promises, and the agreement made between us,
I have duly rendered every thing to Mr Watts, ex¬
cept a very small remainder : Notwithstanding this, Mr
Watts, and the rest of the council of the factory at
Cassembuzar, under the pretence of going to take, the
air in their gardens, fled away in the night. This is
an evident mark of deceit, and of an intention to break
the treaty. I am convinced it could not have hap¬
pened without your knowledge, nor without your ad¬
vice. I all along expected something of this kind, and
for that reason I would not recal my forces from
Plassey, expecting some treachery. I praise God,
■ The il
that the breach of the treaty has not been on my
part,” &c. the na.
Nothing less was now resolved on in the English resoiT,
council at Calcutta than the deposition of the nabob ; on. I
which
Tniia.
75.
^varict-
tus and
reacherous
jehaTiour
if ()jiu-
iitund and
he E05-
isk.
7«
Treaty eon-
duded with
deer Jaf-
77
‘a raj all
7owla de¬
rated and
I ut to
eatli.
I N D
which at this time appeared practicable, by supporting
the pretensions of Meer Jaffier Ali Cawn, who had
with other noblemen entered into a conspiracy against
him. Meer Jaffier had married the sister of Aliverdy
Cawn, the predecessor of Surajah Dovvla; and was
now supported in his pretensions by the general of the
horse, and by Jugget Sect the nabob’s banker, who
was reckoned the richest merchant in all India. By
these three leading men the design was communicated
to Mr Watts the English resident at the nabob’s court,
and by him to Colonel Clive and the secret committee
at Calcutta. The management of the affair being left
to Mr Watts and Mr Clive, it was thought proper to
communicate the secret to Omicliund, through whom
the necessary correspondence might he carried on with
Meer Jaffier. This agent proved so avaricious, that
it was resolved to serve him in his own way j and by
a piece of treachery to him also, to gain their point
with both parties. Two treaties were therefore writ¬
ten out j in one of which it was promised to comply
with Omichund’s demand, but in the other his name
was not even mentioned j and both these treaties were
signed by all the principal persons concerned, Admiral
Watson alone excepted, whom no political motives
could influence to sign an agreement which he did not
mean to keep. These treaties, the same in every re¬
spect excepting as to Omichund’s affair, were to the
following purpose : I. All the effects and factories
belonging to the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and O-
rixa, shall remain in possession of the English, nor
should any more French ever be allowed to settle in
these provinces. 2. In consideration of the losses sus¬
tained by the English company by the capture and
plunder of Calcutta, he agreed to pay one crore of
rupees, or 1,250,000!. sterling. 3. For the effects
plundered from the English at Calcutta, he engaged
to pay 50 lacks of rupees, or 625,000!. 4. For the
effects plundered from the Gentoos, Moors, and others
inhabitants of Calcutta, 20 lacks, or 250,000!. 5. For
the effects plundered from the Armenian merchants,
inhabitants of Calcutta, seven lacks, or 87,500!.
6. The distribution of all these sums to be left to
Admiral Watson, Colonel Clive, Roger Drake, Wil¬
liam Watts, James Kilpatrick, and Richard Becher,
Esquires, to he disposed of by them to whom they
think proper.
All things being now in readiness, Colonel Clive be¬
gan his march against Surajah Dowla on the 13th of
June, the very day on which Surajah Dowla sent off
his last letter for Admiral Watson. Before any act of
hostility was committed, however, Colonel Clive wrote
the nabob a letter, upbraiding him with his conduct,
and telling him at last, that “ the rains being so near,
and it requiring many days to receive an answer, he
I A.
to have been abandoned and even robbed ; for on the
3d of July he was found wandering forsaken and almost
naked on the road to Patna. Next day he was brought
back to Muxadabad j and a few hours after privately
beheaded by Meer Jaffier’s eldest son, to whose care he
had been committed. The usurper took possession of
the capital in triumph ; and on the 29th of June Colo-
nel Clive went to the palace, and in presence of the ra-Meer Jaf.
jahs and grandees of the court solemnly handed him tofierPr°*
the musnud or carpet and throne of state, where he was01^'1116^
unanimously saluted soubahdar or nabob, and received Ben ^)0*
the submission of all present. ^
While these transactions were going forward with Colonel
the nabob, the utmost efforts were used to expel the^0ote *.
French entirely from Bengal. By the articles of capi-^®^0^
tulation at Chandernagore, the whole of that garrison
were to continue prisoners of war ; but about the time
of signing the treaty, Mr Law with a small body of
troops made his escape out of Cassembuzar, and bent his
march towards Patna. There he had been protected
by the late nabob ; and on the commencement of fresh
hostilities, had collected about 200 French, the only
remains of that nation in Bengal, to make an attempt
to succour him. With these he was within two hours
march of Surajah Dowla’s camp when the battle of
Plassey was fought $ on hearing the news of which he
stopped : but afterwards being informed of the nabob’s
escape, he marched again to his assistance, and was
within a few hours of joining him when he was taken.
Three days after he was pursued by Major Eyre Coote
at the head of 233 Europeans, three companies of Se-
poys, 50 Lascars or Indian sailors, and 10 Marmutty
men or pioneers to clear the roads, together with two
pieces of cannon, six pounders. On this expedition the
major exerted his utmost diligence to overtake his anta¬
gonist, and spent a very considerable space of time in
the pursuit; for though he set out on the 6th of July,
he did not return to Muxadabad till the 1st of Septem¬
ber. Mr Law, however, had the good fortune to es¬
cape 5 but though the major did not succeed in what
was proposed as the principal end of his expedition, he
was, nevertheless, says Mr Ives, of considerable service
to the company and to his country in general. He had
obliged Ramnarain, the most powerful rajah in the coun¬
try, to swear allegiance to Meer Jaffier ; he laid open
the interior state of the northern provinces ; and, in
conjunction with Mr Johnstone, gave the company some
insight into the saltpetre business, from which such ad¬
vantages have since been derived to the public. go
Before the return of Major Coote, Admiral Pocock Death uf
had succeeded to the command of the fleet, in conse-
quence of the decease of Admiral Watson, who died on
the 16th of August. The joy of the British was con¬
siderably damped by the loss of this gentleman, who
Watson.
had lound it necessary to wait upon him immediately.” had gained a great and deserved reputation both in the
This was followed by the decisive action at Plassey j in military line and every other. News were also re-
which the treachery of Meer Jaffier, who commanded
part of the nabob’s troops, and stood neuter during the
engagement, undoubtedly rendered the victory more
easily acquired than it would otherwise have been.
The unfortunate nabob fled to his capital with a few
that continued faithful to him. He reached the
city in a few hours •, but not thinking himself safe
there, left it the following evening, disguised like a
faquir, with only two attendants. By these he appears
ceived, that the French had been very successful on
the coast ol Coromandel. Salabat-zing, as has already
been observed, had applied to the English for assist¬
ance against the French j but as they were prevented
from performing their agreement by the disaster at
Calcutta, he found himself under a necessity of accom¬
modating the differences with his former friends, and
to admit them again into his service. M. Bussy was
now reinforced by the troops under Mr Law} who
C c 2 had
romandei
coast,.
T N D
liad collected a« many Europeans in his journey as
made up 500 with those he had at first. YV ith these
he undertook, to reduce the English factories of Inge-
th ■ French ram> Bandermalanka, and Vizagapatnam. As none oi
011 the Co- the two former places were in any state of defence,
the greatest part of the company’s effects were put on
shipboard on the first alarm ; but as Vizagapatnam
was garrisoned by 140 Europeans and 420 Sepoys, it
was supposed that it would make some defence. If
any xvas made, however, it appears to have been very
trifling*, and by the conquest of this the French be¬
came masters of all the coasts from Ganjam to Massuli-
patnam. In the southern provinces the like bad suc¬
cess attended the British cause. The rebel Polygars
having united their forces against Mazuphe Cawn,
obtained a complete victory over him ; after which
the English Sepoys, being prevailed upon to quit Ma¬
dura, the conqueror seized upon that city for him¬
self.
In the beginning of 1758, the French made an at¬
tempt on Trinchinopoly. The command was given
to M. d’Autreuil, who invested the place with 900
men in battalion, with 4000 Sepoys, 100 hussars, and
a great body of Indian horse. Trinchinopoly was then
in no condition to withstand such a formidable power,
as most of the garrison had gone to besiege Madura
under Captain Caillaud j but this commander having
received intelligence of the danger, marched back with
all his forces, and entered the town by a difficult road
which the enemy had neglected to guard j and the
French general, disconcerted by this successful ma¬
noeuvre, drew off his forces, and returned to Pondi-
cherry.
This fortunate transaction was succeeded by the
siege of Madura,*in which the English were so vigo¬
rously repulsed, that Captain Caillaud was obliged to
turn the siege into a blockade in order to reduce the
place by famine. But before any progress could be
made in this way, Mazuphe Cawn was prevailed upon
to give it up for the sum of 170,000 rupees. A large
garrison of Sepoys was again put into the place, and
Captain Caillaud returned to Trinchinopoly.
An unsuccessful attempt was now made by Colonel
Ford on Nellore, a large town surrounded by a thick
mud wall, with a dry ditch on all sides but one, where
there is the bed of a river always dry but in the rainy
season. The enterprise is said to have proved unsuc¬
cessful through the unheard-of cowardice of a body of
Sepoys, who having sheltered themselves in a ditch,
absolutely refused to stir a step farther, and rather chose
to allow the rest of the army to march over them to the
assault, than to expose themselves to danger. Several
other enterprises of no great moment were undertaken j
but the event was on the whole unfavourable to the
English, whose force by the end of the campaign was
reduced to 1718 men, while that of the French amount¬
ed to 3400 Europeans, of whom 1000 were sent to
S2 Pondicherry.
French de- Both parties nowreceived considerable reinforcements
featcd at from Europe *, Admiral Pocock being joined on the
sea by Ad- 0f March by Commodore Stephens with a squadron
miral Po- oj- ^ye men 0f war> anJ the French by nine men of war
COck’ and two frigates, having on board General Lally with
a large body of troops. The English admiral no soon¬
er found himself in a condition to cope with the enemy
I A.
than he went in quest of them ; and an engagement
took place, in which the French were defeated with the -y**
loss of 600 killed, and a great many wounded, while
the English had only 29 killed and 89 wounded. The
former returned to Pondicherry, where they landed
their men, money, and troops. After the battle three
of the British captains were tried for misbehaviour, and
two of them dismissed from the command of their ships.
As soon as his vessels were refitted, the admiral sailed
again in quest of the enemy, but could not bring them They an
to an action before the 3d of August, when the French defeated]
were defeated a second time, with the loss of 251 kill-*?com'
ed, and 602 wounded.
Notwithstanding this success at sea, the English were
greatly deficient in land forces $ the re-establishment of
their affairs in Bengal having almost entirely drained
the settlements on the coast of Coromandel of the troops
necessary for their defence. The consequence of this
was the loss of Fort St David, which General EallyTalie j.
reduced, destroying the fortifications, demolishing alsostDavi
the adjacent villages, and ravaging the country in such
a manner as filled the natives with indignation, and in
the end proved very prejudicial to his affairs. He pro¬
ved successful, however, in the reduction of Devicot-
tah, but was obliged to retreat with loss from before
Tanjore, his army being greatly distressed for want of
provisions j and money in particular being so deficient,
that on the 7th of August the French seized and car¬
ried into Pondicherry a large Dutch ship from Bata¬
via, bound to Negapatnam, and took out of her about
5000I. in specie.
From this time the affairs of the French daily declin¬
ed. On their retreat from Tanjore, they abandoned
the. island of Seringham ; however, they took Tripas-
sore, but were defeated in their designs on the import¬
ant post of Chinglapet, situated about 45 miles south¬
west of Madras. Their next enterprises on Fort St
George and Madras were equally unsuccessful. The
latter was besieged from the 12th of December 1758 to
the 17th of February 1759, when they were obliged to
abandon it with great loss ; which disaster greatly con¬
tributed to depress their spirits, and abate those san¬
guine hopes they had entertained of becoming masters
in this part of the world.
The remainder of the year 1759 proved entirely fa¬
vourable to the British arms. M. d’Ache the French
admiral, who had been very roughly handled by Ad¬
miral Pocock on the 3d of August 1758, having refit¬
ted his fleet, and being reinforced by three men of war
at the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, now ventured
once more to face his antagonist, who on his part did ^
not at all decline the combat. A third battle ensued Frenc h
on the 10th of September 1759, when the French, not-fc*tec
withstanding their superiority, both in number of ships ai
and weight of metal, were obliged to retreat with con- poco,
siderable loss j having 1500 men killed and wounded,
while those on board the English fleet did not exceed
569. By the 17th of October the English fleet was
completely refitted 5 and Admiral Pocock having been
joined by a reinforcement of four men of war, soon af¬
ter returned to England.
All this time the unfortunate General Lally had been
employed in unsuccessful endeavours to retrieve the af¬
fairs of his countrymen : still, however, he attempted
to aot on the offensive J but his fate was at last decided
‘ by
INDIA.
IndU.
,
111 the
tench
rts in In-
a, and
indichef-
their
‘pital, ta-
Fre>4 ss
is!,8ree-
‘'1 ('•esitua.
ll?1 "n of Hie
H kb of
by laying siege to Wandewasli, which had lately been
* taken by Colonel Coote. The advantage in numbers
was entirely in favour of the French general ; the Eng¬
lish army consisting only of 1700 Europeans, including
artillery and cavalry, while the French amounted to
2200 Europeans. The auxiliaries on the English side
were 3000 black troops, while those of the French
amounted to 10,000 black troops and 300 Caffres ; nor
was the odds less in proportion in the artillery, the Eng¬
lish bringing into the field only 14 pieces of cannon and
one howit/.er, while the French had 25 pieces in the
field, and five on their batteries against the fort. The
battle began about li o’clock en the 22d of January
1760, and in three hours the whole French army gave
way and fled towards their camp; but quitted it on
finding themselves pursued by the English, who took
all their cannon except three small pieces. They col¬
lected themselves under the walls of Cheltaput, about
18 miles from the field of battle, and soon after retired
to Pondicherry. Colonel Coote caused the country to
be wasted to the very gates of this fortress, by way of re¬
taliation for what the French had done in the neigh¬
bourhood of Madras. He then set about the siege of
Cheltaput, which surrendered in one day; a consi¬
derable detachment of the enemy was intercepted by
Captain Smith ; the fort of Timmery was reduced
by Major Monson, and the city of Arcot by Captain
Wood. This last conquest enabled the English to re¬
store the nabob to his dominions, of which he had
been deprived by the French ; and it greatly weak¬
ened both the French force and interest in India.
M. Lally, in the mean time, had recalled his forces
from Seringham, by which means he augmented his
army with 500 Europeans. All these were now shut
up in Pondicherry, which was become the last hope of
the French in India. To complete their misfortunes.
Admiral Cornish arrived at Madras with six men of
war; and as the French had now no fleet in these parts,
the admiral readily engaged to co-operate with the land
forces. The consequence was the reduction of Carical,
Chellambrum, and Verdachellum, by a strong detach¬
ment under Major Monson ; while Colonel Coote re¬
duced Permucoil, Alamperva, and Waldour. Thus
he was at last enabled to lay siege to Pondicherry itself.
Previous to this, however, it had been blockaded by
sea and land, which reduced the place to great straits
for want of provisions, and induced a mutinous disposi¬
tion among the garrison. The batteries were not open¬
ed till the beginning of December 1760; and the
place capitulated on the 15th of January 1761, by
which an end was put to the power of the French in
this part of the world.
While the English were thus employed in elfectual-
ly reducing the power of their rivals in every part of
India, Meer Jaffier, the nabob of Bengal, who had
been raised to that dignity by the ruin of Surajah
Dowla, found himself in a very disagreeable situation.
The treasure of the late nabob had been valued at no
less than 64 crore of rupees, about 80 millions sterling ;
and in expectation of such a vast sum, Meer Jaffier had
no doubt thoughtlessly submitted to the enormous ex¬
actions of the English already mentioned. On his ac¬
cession to the government, however, the treasure of
which he became master fell so much short of expecta¬
tion, that he could by no means fulfil his engagements
to them and supply the expences of government at the
same time. This soon reduced him to the necessity of ^
mortgaging his revenues to supply present demands ;
and by this ruinous expedient he put it out of his own
power ever to extricate himself. In this dilemma his
grandees became factious and discontented, his army
mutinous for want of pay, and he rendered himself
odious to his subjects by the exactions he was necessi¬
tated to lay upon them. The English, who for their
own interest had raised him to the supreme power, no
sooner found that he was incapable of answering their
purpose any longer, than they began to scheme against g9
him ; and in order to have some colour of reason forShamefa!
pulling down the man whom they had just set up, they i:,^lav‘our
either invented or gave ear to the most malicious ca"Hsluowardg
lumnies against him. The charges brought against
him were shortly these : 1. That soon after his advance¬
ment he had resolved to reduce that power which
raised him to the dignity. 2. That, to effect this, he
assassinated or banished every person of importance
whom he suspected of being in the English interest.
3. That he negociated with the Dutch to introduce
an armament for the expulsion of the English. 4. That
he had in dift’erent instances been guilty of the deepest
deceit and treachery towards the English, his best be-
nefactors and allies. 5. That at three different periods
the English commander in chief had been basely de¬
serted both by the nabob and his son, when he and the
troops were hazarding their lives for them. 6. That he
meditated a secret and separate treaty with Shah-Zad-
dah, the Mogul’s son, and had intended to betray the
English to him. 7. That the whole term of his go¬
vernment had been one uninterrupted chain of cruelty,
tyranny, and oppression. 8. That he meditated, and
was near carrying into execution, an infamous secret
treaty with the Mahrattas, which would have proved
the total destruction of the country if it had taken place.
9. That he threw every possible obstruction in the way
of the collection of the English tunkas ov assignments
upon lands. 10. That he encouraged the obstructions
given to the free currency of the English siccas; by
which the company suffered heavy losses. 11. That by
his cruelties he had rendered it scandalous for the Eng¬
lish to support his government any longer; and, 12.
That by his misconduct, he had brought the affairs of
the company as well as his own into the utmost danger
of ruin.
In what manner these charges were supported it is
difficult to know, nor perhaps were the accusers very
solicitous about the strength of their evidence. This
seems the more probable, as the accusations of cruelty
were, in some instances at least, void of foundation.
On the 13th of June 1760, Mr Howel wrote from
Calcutta to Mr Warren Hastings, that by express he
had received intelligence of the murder of the princesses
of Aliverdy Khan and Shah Amet, in a most inhuman
manner, by Meer Jaffier’s orders. He was said to have
sent a jemmatdaar with 100 horse to Jesseraut Khan
to carry this bloody scheme into execution ; with se¬
parate orders to the jemmatdaar to put an end to
their lives. He refused acting any partin the tragedy,
and left it to the other; who carried them out by night
in a boat, tied weights to their legs, and threw them
overboard. They struggled for some time, and held by
the gunwale of the boat; but by strokes on their heads,
and i
206 INDIA.
India, and cutting off their hands, they were at last forced off
'*\r—^ and drowned. In like manner we were told that many
others of Surajah Dowla’s relations had perished ; yet
when it was thought proper to replace Meer Jaffier in
1761, all these dead persons were found alive excepting
two. It must also be remembered, in behalf of the un¬
fortunate nabob, that besides the sums exacted of him
» by the English at his accession, he had ceded to them a
large extent of territory, and granted them so many im¬
munities in trade, that he had in a manner deprived
himself of all his resources j and it was impossible for
him to defray the necessary expences without either ex¬
torting money from his subjects, or infringing the privi¬
leges he had so inconsiderately granted.
Different There were two accounts of this remarkable revolu-
acconnts tion published, materially differing from one another,
at his de- first was given in a memorial drawn up at a con-
positiou. su|tation at Fort William, November 10. 1760, where
were present Henry Vansittart, Esq. president j William
ElHs, B. Sumner, William M‘Guire, Henry Verelst,
and Henry Smyth, Esqs. “ We resolved (says the go¬
vernor) to give the nabob the next day (October 19.
1760) to reflect upon the letters I had delivered him,
proposing some measures for regulating these abuses. I
heard nothing from him all that day ; but found by my
intelligence that he had been in council at his old ad¬
visers, whose advice, I wras sure, would be contrary to
the welfare of the country and of the company. I
therefore determined to act immediately on the nabob’s
fear. There could not be a better opportunity than the
night of the 16th offered, it being the conclusion of the
Gentoo feast, when all the principal people of that cast
would be pretty well fatigued with their ceremonies.
Accordingly I agreed with Colonel Caillaud, that he
should cross the river with the detachment between three
and four in the morning; and having joined Cossim Ali
Khan and his people, march to the nabob’s palace, and
surround it just at daybreak. Being extremely desirous
to prevent disturbance or bloodshed, I wrote a letter to
the nabob, telling him, I had been waiting all the day
in expectation that he would have settled the urgent af¬
fairs upon which I conferred with him yesterday ; but
his having favoured me with no answer, plainly showed
that all I could represent to him for the good of his
country would have no effect, as long as his evil coun¬
sellors were about his person, who would in the end
deprive him of his government and ruin the company’s
affairs. For this reason I had sent Colonel Caillaud
with forces to wait upon him, and to expel those bad
counsellors, and place his aflairs in a proper state, and
I would shortly follow. This letter I gave to the co¬
lonel, to send to the nabob at such a time as he should
think most expedient. Measures were taken at the
same time for seizing his three unworthy ministers, and
to place Cossim Ali Khan in the full management of
all the affairs, in quality of deputy and successor to the
nabob.
“ The necessary preparations being made with all
care and secrecy possible, the colonel embarked with
the troops, joined Cossim Ali Khan without the least
alarm, and marched into the court-yard of the palace
just at the proper instant. The gates of the inner court
being shut, the colonel formed his men without, and
sent the letter to the nabob, who was at first in a great
rage, and long threatened that he would make what
resistance he could, and take his fate. The colonel j„fl
forbore hostilities, and several messages passed be--y
tween him and the nabob. The affair remained in
this doubtful state for two hours, when the nabob,
finding his persisting was to no purpose, sent a message
to Cossim Ali Khan, informing him that he was ready
to send the seals and all the ensigns of dignity, pro¬
vided he would agree to take the whole charge of the
government upon him, to discharge all arrears due to
the troops, to pay the usual revenue to the king, to
save his life and honour, and to give him an allowance
sufficient for his maintenance. All these conditions
being agreed to, Cossim Ali was proclaimed; and the
old nabob came out to the colonel, declaring that he
depended on him for his life. The troops then took
possession of all the gates; and the old nabob was told,
that not only his person was safe, but his government
too if he pleased, of which it was never intended to de¬
prive him. He answered, that he had now no more
business in the city, where he should be in continual
danger from Cossim Ali Khan ; and if he was permit¬
ted to go and live at Calcutta, he should be contented.
Cossim Ali Khan was now placed on the musnud, and
the people in general seemed much pleased with the re¬
volution. The old nabob did not think himself safe
even for one night in the city. Cossim Ali Khan sup¬
plied him with boats, and permitted him to take away
about 60 of his family, with a reasonable quantity of
jewels. He begged that he might sleep in his boat
that night; which he accordingly did, and on the
morning of the 22d of October he set out for Calcutta,
and arrived there on the 29th. He was met by a depu¬
tation from the council, and treated with every mark of
respect due to his former dignity,”
The second account of this affair was not published
till the Iith of March 1762, and was signed Eyre
Coote, P. Amyatt, John Cavnac, W. Ellis, S. Batson,
H. Verelst. “ In September 1760 (say they), when
there was not the least appearance of a rupture or
disgust between us and the nabob, but friendship and
harmony subsisting, Meer Cossim Khan his son-in-law
came down to Calcutta, and having staid a short time
returned to Moorshedabad. A few days after, Mr Van¬
sittart went up to that city on the pretence of a visit to
the nabob Meer Jaffier. Colonel Caillaud, with 2CQ
Europeans and some Sepoys, attended him; who, it
was pretended, were going to join the army at Patna.
When Mr Vansittart arrived atMoradbaug, the nabob
paid him two visits; at the last of which Mr Vansittart
gave him three letters, proposing the reformation of the
abuses in his government, insisted on his naming some
person among his relations to take charge of the subah-
ship, and particularly recommended Cossim Ali Khan,
who was sent for, and the nabob desired to stay till he
came : But the nabob being greatly fatigued, was suf¬
fered to depart to his palace. The night and follow¬
ing day passed in concerting measures with Cossim Ali
how to put in execution the plan before agreed on in
Calcutta, where a treaty was signed for this purpose.
In consequence of these deliberations, our troops crossed
the river next night, and being joined by Cossim and
his party, surrounded the nabob’s palace. A letter
from Mr Vansittart was sent in to the nabob, demand¬
ing his compliance with what had been proposed to
him. To this the nabob returned for answer, ‘ that he
5 never
INDIA.
I jia, never expected such usage from the English $ that while
a force was at his gates, he would enter into no terms.’
A message was sent in, that if he did not directly com¬
ply, they should be obliged to storm the palace. Asto¬
nished and terrified at this menace, he opened the gates,
exclaiming, that “ he was betrayed j that the English
were guilty of perjury and breach of faith j that he per¬
ceived their designs against his government; that he
had friends enough to hazard at least one battle in his
defence : but although no oaths were sacred enough to
bind the English, yet as he had sworn to be their faith¬
ful friend, he would never swerve from his engagement,
and rather suffer death than draw his sword against
them.” So suspicious was he of being sold, that he de¬
sired to know what sum of money Cossim Ali Khan was
to give for the subahship, and he would give half as
much more to be continued. He hoped, however, if
they intended to dethrone him, that they would not
leave him to the mercy of his son-in-law, from whom
he feared the worst; but wished they would carry him
from the city, and give him a place of safety in Cal¬
cutta. “ This last request of the nabob was construed
in the light of a voluntary resignation. Our troops
took possession of the palace ; Meer Cossim was raised
to the musnud; and the old nabob hurried into a boat
with a few of his domestics and necessaries, and sent
away to Calcutta in a manner wholly unworthy of the
high rank he so lately held, as was also the scanty sub¬
sistence allowed him for his maintenance at Calcutta
by his son-in-law. Thus was Jaffier Ali Khan de¬
posed, in breach of a treaty founded on the most so¬
lemn oaths, and in violation of the national faith.”
According to this account, the servants of the com¬
pany, who were the projectors of the revolution, made
no secret that there was a present promised them of 20
lacks of rupees from Cossim, who was desirous of mak¬
ing the first act of his power the assassination of Jaf¬
fier, and was very much displeased when he found that
the English intended giving him protection at Cal¬
cutta.
It could scarce be supposed that Meer Cossim, raised
to the nabobship in the manner we have related, could
be more faithful to the English than Meer Jaffier had
been. Nothing advantageous to the interests of the
company could indeed be reasonably expected from such
a revolution. No successor of Meer Jaffier could be
more entirely in subjection than the late nabob, from
his natural imbecility, had been. This last conside¬
ration had induced many of the council at first to op¬
pose the revolution ; and indeed the only plausible pre¬
tence for it was, that the administration of Meer Jaffier
was so very weak, that, unless he was aided and even
controuled by some persons of ability, he himself must
soon be ruined, and very probably the interests of the
company along with him. Meer Cossim, however, was
* hemes a man of a very different disposition from his father-in-
Wist the law. As he knew that he had not been served by the
j18*1, English out of friendship, so he did not think of mak¬
ing any return of gratitude j but instead of this, consi¬
dered only how he could most easily get rid of such
troublesome allies. For a while, however, it was ne¬
cessary for him to dissemble, and to take all the advan¬
tage he could of the power of his allies whilst it could
be serviceable to him. By their assistance he cleared
his dominions of invaders, and strengthened his fron-
207
tiers against them j he reduced, by means of the same India,
assistance, the rajahs or independent Indian chiefs who i——y—-
had rebelled in the time of his predecessor, obliging
them to pay the usual tribute j by which means he re¬
paired his finances, and thereby secured the discipline
and fidelity of his troops. Having thus, by the assist¬
ance of the English forces, brought his government into
subjection, he took the most effectual means of securing
himself against their power. As the vicinity of his ca¬
pital, Muxadabad, to Calcutta, gave the English fac¬
tory there an opportunity of inspecting his actions, and
interrupting his designs when they thought proper, he
took up his residence at Mongheer, a place 200 miles
farther up the Ganges, which he fortified in the best and
most expeditious manner he could. Being very sensible
of the advantages of the European discipline, he resol¬
ved to form his army on a new model. For this pur¬
pose he collected all the Armenian, Persian, Tartar,
and other soldiers of fortune, whose military characters
he supposed might serve to raise the spirits of his Indian
forces, and abate their natural timidity. He also care¬
fully collected every wandering European who had
borne arms, all the Sepoys who had been dismissed from
the English service, distributing them among his troops
in order to teach them the English exercise. He chan¬
ged the fashion of the Indian muskets from matchlocks
to firelocks j and as their cannon were almost as defi¬
cient as their small arms, he procured a pattern of one
from the English, by which he soon formed a train of
artillery $ and having thus done every thing in his
power to enable himself to withstand the English by
force of arms, he resolved also to free his court from
their emissaries, by imprisoning or putting to death
every person of any consequence in his dominions who
had shown any attachment to their interest.
His next step was to free himself from some of those
restraints which his predecessor Meer Jaffier, and even
he himself, had been obliged to lay upon the trade of
the country, in order to gratify the avarice of his Eu¬
ropean allies. At his accession indeed he had ceded
to the company a tract of land worth no less than
700,000!. annually, besides 70,000. a-year on other
accounts. All this, however, was not sufficient ; the
immunities granted them in trade were of still worse
consequences than even those vast concessions. He
knew by experience the distress which these immuni¬
ties had brought upon his predecessor, and therefore
determined to put an end to them. In pursuance of He lays
this resolution, he began, in the year 1762, every-duties or
where to subject the English traders to the payment ^ E,,£-
of certain duties throughout bis dominions, and re. Ibb tiaders.
quired that their disputes, if beyond the limits of their
own jurisdiction, should be decided by his magistrates.
This gave such an alarm at Calcutta, that, in Novem¬
ber 1762, the governor Mr Vansittart waited on him
in person at Mongheer, in order to expostulate with
him upon the subject. The nabob answered his re¬
monstrances in the following manner. “ If (said he)
the servants of the English company were permitted
to trade in all parts, and in all commodities, custom
free, as many of them now pretend, they must of
course draw all the trade into their own hands, and my
customs would be of so little value, that it would be
much more for my interest to lay trade entirely open,
and ppllect no customs from any person whatever upon
any
208
INDIA;
India.
93
A new a-
any kind of merchandise. This would draw a number
of merchants into the country, and increase my reve¬
nues by encouraging the cultivation and manufacture
of a large quantity of goods for sale, at the same time
that it would effectually cut off the principal subject of
disputes which had disturbed the good understanding
between us, an object which I have more than any
other at heart.”
By these intimations Mr Vansittart was very much
•disconcerted ; nor indeed was it in any person’s power
to devise a plausible answer. What the nabob had
threatened was evidently in his power j and though he
had laid the trade entirely open, no reasonable fault
could have been found with him. The proceeding
however, tended evidently to destroy the private trade
carried on by the gentlemen of the factory ; and even
to prejudice, as they said, that of the company itself.
| Mr Vansittart therefore thought proper to submit to
concluded certain regulations, by which the trade of the English
with Mr was put under certain restrictions.
Vansittart, This new agreement being instantly put in execu¬
tion on the part of the nabob, excited the utmost in¬
dignation at Calcutta. On the 17th of January 1763?
the council passed a resolution, disavowing the treaty
made by the governor, and affirmed that he assumed
a right to which he was by no means authorized; that
the regulations proposed were dishonourable to them as
Englishmen, and tended to the ruin of all public and
private trade j and that the president’s issuing out re¬
gulations independent of the council was an absolute
breach of their privileges. They sent orders therefore
to all the factories, that no part of the agreement be¬
tween the governor and nabob should be submitted to.
Application was again made to Meer Cossim to per¬
suade him to a third agreement ; but before the suc-
'cess of this negociation could be known* hostilities
commenced on the part of the English.
The city of There was at that time in the city of Patna (situa-
Patna ta- ted on the Ganges, about 300 miles above Calcutta),
usual passports, yet, as they were passing the city jml
of Muxadabad, they found themselves attacked by a vvj
number of troops assembled for that purpose on both
sides of the river, whose fire killed several gentlemen
in the boats. Mr Amyatt, the chief of the embassy,
landed with a few Sepoys, whom he forbade to fire, and
endeavoured to make the enemy’s troops understand
that he was furnished with the nabob’s passports, and
had no design of committing any hostilities; but the
enemy’s horse advancing, some of the Sepoys fired not¬
withstanding Mr Amyatt’s orders to the contrary. On
this a general confusion ensued, and Mr Amyatt, with
most of the small party who attended him, were cut in
and dis¬
owned by
the coun¬
cil.
94
ken by the a fortified factory belonging to the East India com-
Enghshbut - ' „ 0 . T 1 t
immediate- Pany» where were a few European and Indian soldiers
ly after re- By this factory the city was suddenly attacked on the
taken.
g, pieces
95
Massacre
of the
rail.
25th of June 1763, and instantly taken, though it
was defended by a strong garrison, and the fortifica¬
tions had been newly repaired. The governor and
garrison fled out into the country on the first appear¬
ance of danger; but perceiving that the victors took
no care to prevent a surprise, he suddenly returned
with a reinforcement from the country, retook the
city, and either cut in pieces or drove into their fort
all the English who were in it, after having been only
four hours in possession of the place. The English,
disheartened by this disaster, did not now think them¬
selves able to defend their fort against the Indians; for
which reason they left it, with a design to retreat into
the territories of a neighbouring nabob; but being
pursued by a superior force, they were all either killed
or taken.
This piece of perfidy, for such it certainly was, the
nabob repaid by another, viz. slaughtering the depu-
5e"t>es who had been sent him by the council of Calcutta
^ to treat about a new agreement with regard to com¬
mercial affairs. They set out from Mongheer on the
24th of June, havingbeen unable to bring Meer Cossim
to any terms ; and though he furnished them with the
3
much more the appearance of an European army than
ever was observed before, not only in their arms
and
These acts of treacherous hostility were soon follow- Mee?
ed by a formal declaration of war. Meer Jaffier, not-Tier ap
withstanding the crimes formerly alleged against him, Proc!»«t
was proclaimed nabob of Bengal, and the army im-na!jU:!
mediately took the field under the command of Major
Adams. The whole force, however, at first consisted Adair
only of one regiment of the king’s troops, a few of themarcl
company’s, two troops of European cavalry, ten com-
panics of Sepoys, and 12 pieces of cannon. These very
soon came to action with the enemy; and having got'
the better in two skirmishes, cleared the country of
them as far as Cassimbuzar river, a branch of the
Ganges, which lay between Calcutta and Muxadabad,
or Moorshedabad, the capital of the province.
This war was now carried on with uninterrupted
success on the part of the English ; nor does it appear
that all the pains taken by Meer Cossim to discipline his
troops had made them in the least more able to cope
with the Europeans. The English were suffered to
pass the river without opposition ; but an army of
10,000 Indians was advantageously posted between
the river and the city. These were entirely defeated,
and Major Adams pushed on directly for the capital.
In his way he found the Indians again strongly posted
with intrenchments 15 feet high, and defended by a
numerous artillery. This strong post was taken by
stratagem; a feint being made with a small body of
troops against that part where the enemy had collected The
their greatest strength. Thus the attention of thedianf
enemy was drawn entirely to that place, without re-feat(
gardi’ng others where no attack was apprehended. The
greatest part of the English army, however, had in the
night-time marched round the Indian fortification, and
by day-break made a furious assault on a place where
there was only a slight guard. These instantly fled ;
the intrenchments were abandoned ; and the city, which
was protected only by them, fell of course into the
hands of the conquerors.
This success of the English served only to make them
redouble their diligence. They now penetrated into
the heart of the province, crossed the numerous branches
of the Ganges, and traversed morasses and forests in
quest of their enemy. Meer Cossim, on the other hand,
was not wanting in his defence ; but the utmost tfloits
he could use were totally insufficient to stop the career
of an enemy so powerful and now flushed with victory.
The two armies met on the banks of a river called Nu-
nas Nu/las, on the 2d of August 1763. The Indians sim
had chosen their post with great judgment, and had fr ^
lire-
INDIA.
India.
and accoutrements, but in their division into brigades,
and even in their clothing. The battle was much
more obstinate than usual, being continued for four
hours j but though the Indian army consisted of no
fewer than 20,000 horse, and 8000 foot, the Eng¬
lish proved in the end victorious, and the enemy were
obliged to quit the field with the loss of all their can-
nabjli.
Majn
mareli
agair.i
Meet!
sim,
From this time the Indians did not attempt any re¬
gular engagement with the English. They made a
stand indeed at a place called Auda Nulla, which they
had fortified in such a manner that it seemed proof a-
gainst any sudden attack. But here also they suffered
themselves to be deceived in a manner similar to that
above mentioned, and the place was taken with great
slaughter. They now abandoned a vast tract of coun¬
try $ and though there were several very defensible
posts one behind another, so much were they disheart¬
ened by this misfortune, that they never attempted to
stop the progress of the English, but laid open the
whole country to the very gates of Mongheer.
The next operation was the siege of Mongheer it¬
self; which notwithstanding all the pains MeerCossim
had been at to fortify it, held out no more than nine
days after the trenches were opened; so that nothing
now remained to complete the conquest of Bengal but
the reduction of the city of Patna. The unfortunate
Meer Cossim, in the mean time, enraged at the irre-
[eEnglUh8‘st‘ble progress of the English, vented his rage on the
lisoners at unhappy prisoners taken at Patna ; all of whom, to the
ongheer
i»n.
T3I
human
arder of
1
:nsi.
lllieii
’•Jlta1 |l!
s sin ^
N»llr
number of about 200, he caused to be inhumanly mur¬
dered. This villany was perpetrated by one Somers, a
German, who had originally been in the French ser¬
vice, but deserted from them to the English East In¬
dia company, and from the company to Meer Cossim.
This assassin, by the Indians called Soomeroo, having
invited the English gentlemen to sup with him, took
the opportunity of borrowing their knives and forks, on
pretence of entertaining them after the English man¬
ner. At night, when he arrived, he stood at some di¬
stance in the cook-room to give his orders ; and as soon
as the two first gentlemen, Mr Ellis and Lushington,
entered, the former was seized by the hail’, his head
pulled backward, and his throat cut by another. On
this Mr Lushington knocked down the murderer with
his fist, seized his sword, wounded one and killed two
before he himself was cut down. The other gentlemen
being now alarmed, defended themselves, and even re¬
pulsed the Sepoys with plates and bottles. Somers then
ordered them on the top of the house to fire down on
the prisoners; which they obeyed with reluctance, al¬
leging that they could not think of murdering them in
that manner, but if he would give the prisoners arms,
they would fight them ; on which he knocked several
of them down with bamboos. The consequence was,
that all the gentlemen were either shot or had their
throats cut. Dr Fullarton was the only person who es¬
caped, having received a pardon from the tyrant a few
days before the massacre.
This inhumanity was far from being of any service
to the cause of Meer Cossim. Major Adams marched
without delay from Mongheer to Patna ; and as the
place was but indifferently fortified, it could make but
a feeble resistance. The cannon of the English soon
made a practicable breach, and in no longer time than
VOL. XI. Part I. c t
eight days this great city was taken by storm. Thus
the nabob was deprived of all his fortified places, his
army reduced to a small body, and himself obliged to 102
fly to Sujab Dowla nabob of Oude, who acted aSjPatnalf*
grand vizier to the Mogul. Here he was kindly re-flt'iiga'l en-
ceived, and an asylum promised for his person, but ad-tirely redu-
mittance was refused to his army, nor would this prince ce(l b)’ 'be
consent at any rate to make his country a seat of war.
The English were now entire masters of Bengal ; for
though Meer .Taffier was proclaimed nabob, it is not to
be supposed that he had now any authority farther than
what they pleased to give him. Major Adams did not
long survive the conquest of Patna, which was taken
on the 6th of November 1763; he died in the month
of March 1764.
Meer Cossim being thus driven out, an agent was sent
from Calcutta to Sujah Dovvla, proposing an alliance
with him and the Mogul, who was along with him, I0J
and oflering to assist them against Meer Cossim or any Alliance
other enemy who should attempt an invasion of theirPr.0Poscd
dominions ; in return for which, it was expected that]Xith1Sl^a!*
they should declare themselves open enemies to Meer °W *
Cossim, and use their utmost endeavours to seize and
deliver him up with all his effects. This design was
communicated to Major Adams on the 8th of Decem¬
ber 1763 ; but as he was next day to resign the com¬
mand ol the army, Major Carnac was desired to take
the command upon him, and to watch the motions of
Meer Cossim, as well as to guard the dominions of Meer
Jaffier against any hostilities which might be attempt¬
ed. It was also resolved, that in case Meer Cossim
should prevail upon the Mogul and Sujah Dowla to
assist him, Major Carnac was desired to advance to the
banks of the river Carumnassa, and there oppose the
entrance of any hostile army.
It soon appeared that the friendship of the English
was not what Sujah Dowla desired. He considered
them as rapacious usurpers, who having got a foot¬
ing in the country under pretence of commerce, could
be satisfied with nothing less than the entire possession xo4
of it, to the ruin of the natural inhabitants. In the Proposed
beginning of February 1764, therefore, it was known ?llia,!ec rc'
that Sujah Dowla had determined to assist Meer Cossim lf
in attempting to recover Bengal. The president and ia. °W'
council on this wrote him, that though they heard such
a report, they could not believe it, considering the
former connections subsisting between him and the
chiefs of the company, and were persuaded he would
not act in such an unjust manner : but if it really was
his intention to espouse the cause of Meer Cossim, they
informed him that they were resolved to keep Bengal
free from troubles, and carry the war into the domi¬
nions of Sujah Dowla himself. To this the nabob re¬
plied by enumerating the many favours conferred on
the English by the Mogul. “ Notwithstanding these
(says he) you have interfered in the king’s country,
possessed yourselves of districts belonging to the govern¬
ment, and turned out and established nabobs at pleasure,
without the consent of the imperial court. Since you
have imprisoned dependants on the court, and exposed
the government of the king of kings to contempt and
dishonour; since you have ruined the trade of the mer¬
chants of the country, granted protection to the king’s
servants, injured the revenues of the imperial court, and
crushed the inhabitants by your acts of violence ; and
I) d since
210
INDIA.
I mlia.
I°5
Sir Hector
Munro suc¬
ceeds Ma¬
jor Adams.
io5
Defeats the
Indians at
Btixard.
107
Is repulsed
at Chanda
Gee*.
since you are continually sending fresh people from
Calcutta, and invading different parts of the royal do¬
minions ; to what can all those wrong proceedings be
attributed, but to an absolute disregard to the court,
and a wicked design of seizing the country to your¬
selves? If these disturbances have arisen from your
own improper desires, desist from such behaviour in fu¬
ture ; interfere not in the affairs of government; with¬
draw your people from every part, and send them to
their own country j carry on the company’s trade as
formerly, and confine yourselves to commercial affairs,
&c. Another letter, much to the same purpose, was
sent to Major Carnac j but the president and council of
Calcutta, instead of paying any regard to the remon¬
strances of the nabob, determined to commence an im¬
mediate and offensive war against him.
Notwithstanding this resolution, several difficulties
occurred in carrying on a war at this time. The prin¬
cipal were the death of Major Adams, whose name had
become formidable to the Indians, and the mutinous
disposition of the army. The former was obviated by
the appointment of Colonel Hector Munro, who, in
military skill, appeared nothing inferior to his prede¬
cessor j and the mutinous disposition of the soldiery
was got the better of by a most severe example of the
mutineers, 24 of whom were blown away from the
mouths of cannon. Hostilities were commenced on
the part of Meer Cossim, who cut off a small party of
English troops, and sent their heads to the Mogul and
Sujah Dowla. An army of 50,000 men was col¬
lected, with a most formidable train of artillery, such
as might be supposed to follow an European army of
equal numbers. This prodigious armament seems to
have effaced all the caution of Meer Cossim j for though
he had formerly experienced the bad eflects of enga¬
ging the English in a pitched battle, yet he now thought
proper to try his fortune a second time in the same
way. The two armies met on the 22d of October
1764, at a place called Buxai'd, on the river Carum-
nassa, about 100 miles above the city of Patna. The
event was similar to that of other engagements with
the English, to whom it never was possible for any
advantages either in situation or number to make the
Indians equal. The allied army was defeated with
the loss of 6000 killed on the spot, 130 pieces of can¬
non, a proportionable quantity of military stores, and
all their tents ready pitched j while, on the side of the
conquerors, only 32 Europeans and 239 Indians were
killed, and 57 Europeans and 473 Indians wounded.
The only place of strength now belonging to the
allies on this side the river was a fort named Chanda
Geer. The reduction of this place, however, might
well have been deemed impracticable, as it stood on the
top of a high hill, or rather rock, situated on the very
brink of the Ganges, by which it could be constantly
supplied with provisions ; and as to military stores, it
could not stand in need of any as long as stones could
be found to pour down on the assailants. Nothwith-
standing all those difficulties, however, Colonel Munro
caused his soldiers advance to the attack j but they
were received with such volleys of stones, which the
Indians threw both with hands and feet, that they were
repulsed in a very short time } and though the attack
was renewed the next day, it was attended with no bet-
Indis
ter success } on which the English commander encamp'
ed with his army under the walls of Benares. ^
Soon after this, Colonel Munro being recalled, the
command of the army devolved on Sir Robert I letcher,
a major in the company’s troops. The nabob, in the
mean time, instead of attacking the English army at
once, contented himself with sending out parties of
light horse to skirmish with their advanced posts, while
the main body lay at the distance of about 15 miles
from Benares, which rendered it very dangerous for
them to move from their place. On the 14th of
January 1765, however, Sir Robert ventured at mid¬
night to break up his camp under the walls of Benares,
and to march off towards the enemy, leaving a party
to protect that place against any attempt during his
absence. In three days he came up with the main rc$
body of Indians, who retreated before him 5 on which Chanda
he resolved to make another attempt on Chanda Geer,!
before which the late commander had been foiled.^
His success would in all probability have been no bet-c^€1>
ter than that of his predecessor, had not the garrison
mutinied for want of pay, and obliged the commander
to surrender the place.
The reduction of Chanda Geer was followed by
that of Eliabad, the capital of the enemy’s country, a
large city on the Ganges, between 60 and 7® miles
above Chanda Geer, defended by thick and high walls
and a strong fort 5 soon after which Sir Robert was
superseded in the command of the army by Major Ic^
Carnac. Sujah Dowla in the mean time had been Sujaiil|.
abandoned by the Mogul, who concluded a treaty la assisl
with the English soon after the battle of Buxard.
did not, however, give himself up to despair, but ga¬
thered together, with great assiduity, the remains of
his routed armies ; and seeing that his own territories
could not supply him with the requisite number of
troops, he now applied to the Mahrattas for assistance.
But these people, though very formidable to the other
nations of Indostan, were far from being able to cope „
with the English. On the 20th of May 1765, Gene-who a
ral Carnac having assembled his troops, marched im-deteat(
mediately to attack them ; and having gained a com -
plete victory at a place called Calpi, obliged them t° guj,mjt
retreat with precipitation across the \umna into their
own country.
Sujah Dowla, now destitute of every resource, de¬
termined to throw himself on the clemency of the
English. Previous to this, however, he allowed Meer
Cossim and the assassin Somers to escape •, nor could
any consideration ever prevail upon him. to deliver them
up. Three days after the battle of Calpi, the nabob
surrendered himself to General Carnac, without stipu¬
lating any thing in his own favour, farther than that
he should* await the determination of Lord Clive con¬
cerning him. ^ *l
In the beginning of February this year died MeerYoun
Jaffier All Cawn, nominal nabob of Bengal. Thej^jjJ
succession was disputed betwixt his eldest surviving 1
Najem il Doula, a youth of about 18 years of age, andEngii
a grandson by his eldest son Miran, at that time only
seven years old. As the English were in reality abso¬
lute sovereigns of the country, it was debated in the
council of Calcutta whether Meer Jaffier’s son should
be allowed to succeed, according to the custom of the
country,
21 I
H
“vi
lyail
i asiin
y til
bobil1
En^
India,
Hi
i'il Clive
i»es in
ngal
h un«
ited
vers.
I N D
country, or the grandson, according to the English
—' custom. The point being carried in favour of Najem,
it was next debated on what terms he should be ad¬
mitted to the succession. The late nabob, among
other impositions, had obliged himself to support an
army of 12,000 horse and as many foot. It was
alleged on this occasion, that he bad not fulfilled
his engagement ; that be had disbanded most of the
troops } that at best they were but an useless bur¬
den, having never answered any purpose in real ser¬
vice, for which reason the company bad been obliged
to augment their military establishment : it was there¬
fore now judged expedient that the nabob should settle
a sum, upwards of 8oo,oool. annually, on the com¬
pany, to be paid out of the treasury : that he should
also discard his prime minister and great favourite
Nuncomar, and receive in his place a person appointed
by the council, who was to act in the double capacity
of minister and governor to assist and instruct him.
The council were also to have a negative upon the no¬
mination of all the superintendants and principal of¬
ficers employed in collecting or receiving of the reve¬
nues; that he should take their advice, and have their
consent to such nominations whenever they thought pro¬
per to interfere in them. He was also to receive their
complaints, and pay a due attention to them upon the
misbehaviour of any of the officers who either were ap¬
pointed already or should he in time to come.
With these extravagant requisitions the young na¬
bob was obliged to comply, though he had discern¬
ment enough to perceive that he was now an absolute
slave to the council at Calcutta. Though obliged by
treaty to dismiss Nuncomar from the office of prime
minister, he slid continued to show him the same favour,
until at last he was charged with carrying on a treason¬
able correspondence with Sujah Dowla, for which the
nabob was enjoined to send him to Calcutta to take
his trial. The unfortunate prince used every method
to deliver his favourite from the impending danger,
hut to no purpose : he was obliged to submit to the
mortification of having all his offers with regard to his
release rejected, though the committee at Calcutta af¬
terwards thought proper to set him at liberty without
any trial.
These extraordinary powers, exerted in such a des¬
potic manner by the council of Calcutta for such a
length of time, could not but at last induce their supe¬
riors to circumscribe them in some degree, by appoint¬
ing others who should act independently even of this
council, and who might be supposed to be actuated by
more upright and honourable principles than had hi¬
therto appeared in their conduct. The great character
which Lord Clive had already gained in the east, justly
marked him out as a proper person for adjusting the
affairs of Bengal. On the 3d of May 1765 he arrived
in the east, with full powers as commander in chief,
president, and governor of Bengal. An unlimited power
was also committed to a select committee, consisting
of his lordship and four gentlemen, to act and deter¬
mine every tiling themselves, without dependence on
the council. It was, however, recommended in their in¬
structions, to consult the council in general as often as
it could be done conveniently ; but the sole power of
determining in all cases was left with them, until the
troubles of Bengal should he entirely ended. By these
I A.
gentlemen a plan of reformation was instantly set about; India,
by which, however, violent disputes were occasioned : —>
but the committee, disregarding these impotent efforts,
exerted their authority to the full extent, seldom even
acquainting the council with their transactions, and
never allowing them to give their opinion on any 00-
casion.
On taking the affairs of Bengal into thorough con-SujahDow-
sideration, Lord Clive found that the success of the la restored.
Bntisli arms could be productive of nothing hut wars ;
that to nun Sujah Howla was to break down the
strongest barrier which the Bengal provinces could
have against the incursions of the Mahrattas and other
barbarous people to the westward, who had long desola¬
ted the northern provinces ; and the Mogul, with whom
the company had concluded a treaty, was utterly unable
to support himself, and would require the whole'English
power in the east to secure him in his dignity. His
lordship therefore found it necessary to conclude a 114
treaty with Sujali Howla. The Mogul was satisfied Affair* of
by obtaining a more ample revenue "than he had for Ben»al *et-
some time enjoyed ; by which means he might be ena-Lord^live
bled to march an ai*my to Helhi to take possession of
his empire. For the company his lordship obtained
the office of duan or collector of revenues for the
province of Bengal and its dependencies. Thus Sujah
Howla was again put in possession of his dominions,
excepting a small territory which was reserved to the
Mogul, and estimated at 20 lacks of rupees, or
250,000!. annually. The company were to pay 26
lacks of rupees, amounting to 325,000k sterling.'
They engaged also to pay to the nabob of Bengal an
annual sum of 53 lacks, or 662,500k for the expences
of government, and the support of his dignity. The
remainder of the revenues of Bengal were allotted to
the company, who on their part guaranteed the terri¬
tories at that time in possession of Sujah Howla and
the Mogul.'
Ihus the East India company acquired the sove¬
reignty of a territory equal in extent to the most flou¬
rishing kingdom in Europe. By all this, however, they
were so far from being enriched, that the disorder of
their affairs attracted the attention of government, and
gave the British ministry an opportunity at least of de¬
priving them of their territorial possessions, and sub¬
jecting the province of Bengal to the authority of the
crown *. New misfortunes also speedily occurred, and * See East
the company found a most formidable enemy in Hyder^nclinCorn-
Aly, or Hyder Naig. This man, from the rank of
common Sepoy, had raised himself to be one of the Wa*
most considerable princes in the empire of Indostan. Hyder"!^.
Being sensible that the power of the English was an in¬
superable bar to his ambitious designs, he practised on
the uizam of the Heccan, and partly by promises, part¬
ly by threats, engaged him to renounce his alliance
with the company, and even to enter into a war against
them. As he had been at great pains to introduce the
European discipline among his troops, and had many
renegadoes in his service, he imagined, that with the
advantage of numbers he should certainly be able to llS
cope with his antagonists in the open field. In this, He is de-
however, he was deceived; for on the 26th of Sep-Seated by
tember 1767* h>s army was entirely defeated by Colo-Colone*
nel Smith at a place called Errour near Trinomallee
after which the nizam thought it advisable to desert his
H d 2 new
INDIA.
212
India, new ally, and conclude another treaty with the English.
—-v From the latter, however, he did not obtain peace but
at the expence of ceding to them the duanny of the
Balegat Carnatic, which includes the dominions of
Hyder Aly and some petty princes.
Hyder, thus deserted by his ally, transferred the seat
of war to a mountainous country, where, during the
year 1767, nothing decisive could be effected j while
the Indian cavalry was sometimes enabled to cut off
the supplies, and interrupt the communications of their
antagonists. During these operations some ships were
fitted out at Bombay, which conveyed 400 European
soldiers, and about 800 Sepoys, to attack Mangalore,
one of Hyder Aly’s principal sea-ports, where all his
ships lay. This enterprise proved successful, and nine
ships were brought away •, but too small a garrison ha¬
ving been left in the place, it was almost immediately
after retaken, and all who were in it made prisoners
i by Hyder Aly.
Decline of In tlie mean t*™6* an injudicious measure, adopted
the Eng- by the English in their method of managing the army,
Jlsh affairs, proVed not only of the utmost detriment to their cause,
with the occas;oned disgraces hitherto unheard of in the
Aeiibad history of the nation, viz. the desertion of officers from
jt.ecetj. the service of Britain to that of a barbarous prince, and
the giving up of forts in such a shameful manner as
could not but suggest a suspicion that they had been
betrayed.—The original cause of all this mischief was
the appointment oifield deputies to attend the army, and
to controul and superintend the conduct of the com¬
mander in chief;, and these, in the present instance,
being deeply concerned in the contracts for the army,
took care to regulate its motions in such a manner as
best suited their private interest or convenience. Hy¬
der Aly did not fail to improve the errors consequent
upon this kind of management to his own advantage.
General Smith had penetrated far into his country,
taken several of his fortresses, and was in a fair way of
becoming master of his capital, when all his operations
were checked at once by the field deputies. His anta¬
gonist being thus allowed some respite, suddenly enter¬
ed the Carnatic with a numerous army of horse, rava¬
ging and destroying every thing at pleasure. Thus
the English were obliged to relinquish all their con¬
quests in order to defend their own territories; while this
reverse of fortune not only discouraged the allies of the
English, but even produced in them an inclination to
desert their cause, and go over to Hyder Aly, while
those who remained faithful paid dearly for their at¬
tachment. The nabob of Arcot, the most faithful ally
the English ever had, suffered extremely on this occasion.
Hyder Aly had long entertained a violent enmity a-
gainst this prince, most probably on account of his in¬
violable attachment to the English. His dominions
were therefore ravaged without mercy ; and, thus while
Hyder gratified his personal resentment against him,
he cut off from the English one of the principal re¬
sources they had for carrying on the war.
On the return of the company’s forces to the de¬
fence of the Carnatic, they found themselves very little
able to cope with their adversary ; for, besides the
continuance of the same causes which had formerly
contributed to their want of success, they had been
very much weakened in their expedition. Hyder Aly
had also the prudence to avoid a general engagement,
%
but frequently intercepted the convoys of the English,
cut off their detached parties, and wearied them out ——y—
with long and continual marches. The news of his
success against an enemy hitherto invincible by all
the powers of India, so raised bis reputation, that ad¬
venturers flocked to him from all parts ; by which
means his cavalry were soon increased to upwards oi
90,000 ; to which, however, his infantry bore no pro¬
portion.
Notwithstanding all this success, it appears that the
forces of Hyder Aly were altogether unable to cope
with those of Britain, even when there was the great¬
est imaginable disparity of numbers. A detachment of
the company’s forces had made an assault upon a fort
called Mulwagg/e, in which they were repulsed with
some loss. This, with the small number of the de¬
tachment, encouraged Hyder Aly to march at the
head of a great part of his army to the protection of
the fort. The commanding officer, however,^Colonel
Wood, did not hesitate, with only 460 Europeans and
2300 Sepoys, to attack his army, consisting of 14,000
horse, 12,000 men armed with matchlock guns, and
six battalions of Sepoys. The engagement lasted six ns
hours; when at last Hyder Aly, notwithstanding hisIJjder ih
numbers, was obliged to retreat, leaving the field 50*Coloae^
vered with dead bodies; the loss of the British being
upwards of 300 killed and wounded. 1 his engage¬
ment, however, was attended with no consequences
affecting the war in general, which went on for some
time in the same manner, and greatly to the disadvan¬
tage of the company. The divisions and discontents
among the officers and council daily increased, the sol¬
diers deserted, and every thing went to ruin. I he re¬
venues of the establishment of Madras being at last un¬
equal to the expences of the war, large remittances were
made from Bengal to answer that purpose; and as these
were made in a kind of base gold coin, the company is
said by that means alone to have lost 40,000!. in the
difference of exchange only. At last Hyder Aly hav¬
ing given the English army the slip, suddenly appeared
wUhin a few miles of Madras ; which occasioned such
an alarm, that the presidency there were induced to en¬
ter into a negociation with him. 1 he Indian prince,
on his part, was very ready to hearken to proposals of 11
peace upon any reasonable terms. An offensive andA tr«
defensive treaty was therefore concluded on the 3d of^0.^^
April 1769, on the simple condition that the forts and
places taken on both sides should be restored, and each
party sit down contented with their own expences. . ,,
By this treaty it was particularly stipulated, that iaBrohti)]f
case of either party being attacked by their enemies, the E-
the other should give them assistance ; and in this case,lsh-
even the number of troops to be supplied by each was
specified. It soon after appeared, however, that the
presidency of Madras were resolved to pay very little
regard to their engagements. Hyder Aly having in
a little time been involved in a war with the Mahrattas,
applied for assistance, according to agreement; but
was refused by the presidency, who pretended to fear a
quarrel with the Mahrattas themselves. As the latter
are a very powerful and warlike nation, Hyder Aly
found himself overmatched, and therefore applied seve¬
ral times to the English for the assistance he had a right
to expect; but was constantly refused on various pre¬
tences t which convinced him at last that he could place
no.
Ill
[jdeii
efeste
lol«l
M.
H;
A trdf
concU
wilkli
Eroks1
theft
list.
India, no dependence on the friendship of the English, and
1—1 v"—~ filled him with an implacable hatred against them. As
soon, therefore, as he could make up his differences
with the Mahrattas, he resolved to recover his losses,
and revenge himself on those faithless allies. With this
view he applied himself to their rivals the French j
whom no Indian nation ever found backward in supply¬
ing them with the means of defence against the English.
By their means he obtained military stores in the great¬
est abundance, a number of experienced officers and
soldiers j and the European discipline was brought to
much greater perfection than even he himself had ever
been able to bring it before this period. Thus,- in a
short time, imagining himself a match for the Mah¬
rattas, he renewed the war; and gained such decisive
advantages, as quickly obliged them to conclude an
i2I advantageous treaty with him.
'ar be- It now appeared that the English, notwithstanding
their pretended ill-will to quarrel with the Mahrattas,
latoattas. a<* not ^ie ^east hes‘tat'on at doing so when their in¬
terest w'as concerned. In order to understand the sub¬
sequent transactions, however, we must observe, that
the Mahrattas, like other nations of Indostan, were
originally governed by princes called rajahs, who reign¬
ed at Setterah ; and though in process of time they
came to be divided into a number of petty states, yet
they paid a nominal respect to the ram-rajah, who had
a right to assemble their chiefs, and order out their
troops on any necessary occasion. By degrees this dig¬
nity of ram-rajah or sou-rajah (as he was also called),
became merely titular, the administration being entire¬
ly possessed by the paishwa or chancellor. This office
being usurped by one particular family, Nana-row, the
reigning paishwa, seized the ram-rajah and confined
him in a fortress near Setterah. At his death he left
two sons Mada-row and Narain-row ; of whom the
former, as being the elder, succeeded him in the paish-
waship. Monogee Boosla, or Bouncella, the immediate
predecessor of Moodagee Boosla, rajah of Berar, was
one of the pretenders to the dignity of ram-rajah, as
being the nearest of kin ; at the same time that Ko-
ganaut-row, called also Kagobah, uncle to Mada-row
himself, pretended to the paishwaship. On this ac¬
count the latter was confined by Mada-row, but who
imprudently released him a little before his death, and
even recommended to him in the most affectionate man¬
ner the care of his brother Narain-row, who was to
succeed to the paishwaship. The care he took in con¬
sequence of this recommendation was such as might
easily have been imagined $ the unhappy Narain-row
was murdered, and Roganaut-row the assassin fled to
Bombay ; where, on promising a cession of territory,
he was protected and encouraged in his pretensions.
The Mahrattas remonstrated against this behaviour ;
but the English had determined at all events to profit
by the civil dissensions of the Indians, and therefore
paid no regard to the justice or injustice of their cause.
The Mahrattas therefore not only made up their dif¬
ferences with Hyder Aly, as has been already men¬
tioned, but became determined enemies to the English,
at the same time that a dangerous confederacy was
formed among the most powerful princes of India to
expel from that part of the world those intruders, whose
avarice could be satisfied with no concessions, and
I A.
whom no treaties could bind when it served their turn
to break them.
The resentment of Hyder Aly was particularly di¬
rected against the presidency of Madras for the rea¬
sons already given ; he had afso received fresh provoca¬
tion by their causing a body of troops march through
his dominions without his leave, and that to the assist¬
ance of a prince for whom he had no great friendship j
also by the capture of the French settlement of Mahie,
on the coast of Malabar, which he said was within his
dominions, and consequently that the French were un¬
der Ins protection. His troops were therefore assem¬
bled from every quarter, and the greatest preparations
made for a powerful invasion. The presidency of Ma¬
dras in the mean time spent their time in mutual al¬
tercations, neglecting even to secure the passes of the
mountains, through which only an invasion could be
made, until their active antagonist, having seized and
guarded those passes, suddenly poured out through them Dreadful
at the head of ioq,ooo men, among whom was a largeiBvas*on
body of European troops under French officers, andIIyde1-Aly'
commanded by Colonel Lally, a man of great bravery
and experience in war.
The alarm was given on the 24th of July 1780 that
Ilyder Aly’s horse were only nine miles distant from
Madras. The inhabitants instantly deserted their
houses and fled into the fort 5 while the unresisted bar¬
barian buint the villages, reduced the inferior forts,
and prepared to lay siege to the capital. It being now’
absolutely necessary to make some resistance, measures
were taken for assembling the troops j in doing which
an express was sent to Colonel Baiilie, at that time at
Gumeroponda, about 2S miles from Madras, to proceed
from thence directly to Conjeveram with the corps un- -
der his command, where the main body was to meet
him. But when the latter was under marching or-LT /.J3
ders, the first regiment of cavalry positively refused tonate expe-
move without money ; and as they persisted in their dition of
resolution, were at last made prisoners and sent to Ma-CoIon,!*
dras. The main body, then, consisting of 1500 Eu-Bail!ie'
ropeans and 4200 Sepoys, under Sir Hector Munro,
with their train of artillery, proceeded towards Conje¬
veram : and such were the fatigues of their march,
that 200 men belonging to the 73d regiment were
left lying on the road. On their arrival at Conje¬
veram, they found the town in flames, great bodies of
the enemy’s cavalry advancing on both flanks, and no
appearance of Colonel Baillie’s detachment. The march
of this body had been impeded by a small river swelled
by a sudden fall of rain. On this occasion, the officer
who gives the account of this disaster makes the fol¬
lowing observation. “ In this incident we have a most
remarkable proof and example of the danger of pro¬
crastination, and on what minute circumstances and
sudden springs of the mind the fortune and the general
issue of war may depend. Had Colonel Baiilie passed
over the Tripassore without halting, as some advised,
and encamped on its southern instead of its northern
hank, the disaster that soon followed would have been
prevented, and an order of affairs wholly difterent
from that which took place would have succeeded.”
Hyder Aly having now raised the siege of Arcot,
in which he had been employed, marched towards
Conjeveram j in the neighbourhood of which he en-
I 24
He is at¬
tacked by
Tipiwo
Saib, but
repulses
him.
I2.S
Is again
attacked.
I N D
camped, and In the course of several days, at different
times, offered battle. On the 6th of September,^ he de¬
tached his son Tippoo Saib with the flower of his army
to cut off the detachment under Colonel Baillie, who
was now at Perrambaukam, a small village distant from
the main body about 15 miles, he himself remaining in
the neighbourhood of Conjeveram, in order to watch the
motions of Sir Hector Munro.
The detachment under Tippoo Saib consisted of
30,000 horse, 8000 foot, with 12 pieces of cannon.
Notwithstanding this superiority in number, however,
they were bravely repulsed by Colonel Baillie’s hand¬
ful of troops; and a junction was effected with a de¬
tachment under Sir Robert Fletcher, sent by Sir Hec¬
tor Munro on first hearing the noise of the engage-
n,ent*
This junction was effected on the 9th of September,
and next morning orders were given for the whole ar¬
my to march ; Colonel Fletcher's detachment being
dispersed in different parts of the line. From the
moment they began to march, the enemy played off
their rockets, which, however, did but little execu¬
tion ; but about ten at night several guns began to
open on the rear of the English. Colonel Baillie,
therefore, after some proper manoeuvres, caused his
troops form a line, while the enemy cannonaded them
incessantly with great execution. On this Colonel
Baillie detached Captain Rumley with five companies
of Sepoy grenadiers to storm their guns ; which service
they would have undoubtedly accomplished, had not
their march been interrupted by a torrent of water
which at that time happened to be unfordable. Cap¬
tain Runiley therefore returned about half an hour af¬
ter eleven, when the guns of the enemy were heard
drawing oft towards the English front, and a general
alarm was perceived throughout their camp ; owing,
as was supposed, to their having received intelligence
of the party that had been sent to stmm their guns.
“ From their noise, confusion, and irregular firing
(says our author), one would have imagined that a de¬
tachment of our men had fallen upon them with fixed
bayonets. At that critical moment, had a party of gre¬
nadiers been sent against them, they would have routed
without difficulty the whole of Tippoo’s army. Having
about ten o’clock in the evening advanced a few hun¬
dred yards into an avenue, the detachment remained
there in perfect silence till the morning.
“ Colonel Fletcher being asked by some officers, why
Colonel Baillie halted ? modestly answered, that Colo¬
nel Baillie was an officer of established reputation, and
that he no doubt had reasons for his conduct. It can¬
not, however, be concealed, that this halt afforded an
opportunity for Tippoo Saib to draw off his cannon to
a very strong post by which the English were obliged
to pass ; and at the same time of informing Hyder of
their situation, and suggesting to him the expediency
of advancing for the improvement of so favourable a
conjuncture.
“ On the 10th of September, at five o’clock in the
morning, our little army marched off by the. right in
subdivisions, having their baggage on their right flank
and the enemy on their left. A few minutes after
six; two guns opened on their rear, on which the line
halted a few minutes. Large bodies of the enemy’s
J
I A.
cavalry now appeared on their right flank ; and just at
the moment when the pagoda of Conjeveram appeared v—
in view, and our men had begun to indulge the hopes
of a respite from toils and dangers, a rocket-boy was
taken prisoner, who informed them, that Hyder’s
whole army was marching to the assistance of Tippoo.
Four guns now opened on their left with great effect.
So hot was the fire they sustained, and so heavy the
loss, that Colonel Baillie ordered the whole line to
quit the avenue, and present a front to the enemy;
and at the same time dispatched Captain Rumley with
ten companies of Sepoy grenadiers to storm the enemy’s
guns.
“ Within a few minutes after Captain Rumley had
left the line, Tippoo’s guns were silenced. Rumley’s
little detachment immediately took possession of four
of the enemy’s guns, and completely routed the party
attached to them. Captain Rumley, overcome with
fatigue, ordered Captain Gowdie, the officer next in
command, to lead on the party, and take possession oflsattacl
some more guns placed a few hundred yards in theirby Hyd-
front. But in a few minutes after, as they were advan-vvhole a
cing for this purpose, a sudden cry was heard amonga)*’
the Sepoys, of horse ! horse ! The camp followers,
whose numbers were nearly five to one ot the troops
under arms, were driven on a part of our line by the
numerous and surrounding forces of Hyder Aly ; who
being informed of the embarrassing situation of Colo¬
nel Baillie, had left his camp without striking his
tents, with a view to conceal his march from the Eng¬
lish, A great confusion among our troops was the un¬
avoidable consequence of this sudden onset. The Eu¬
ropeans were suddenly left on the field of action alone :
and at that critical moment a detachment from the ad¬
vanced guard of Hyder’s army pressed on with great
celerity between our line and Captain Rumley’s party.
The commanding officer, therefore, apprehensive of be¬
ing cut off from our little army, judged it most prudent
to retreat.
“ Colonel Baillie, when he was informed that an
immense body of horse and infantry was marching to¬
wards him, and that this was supposed to be Hyder’s
main army, said, “ Very well, we shall be prepared to
receive them.” Hyder’s whole forces now appeared
incontestably in view ; and this barbarian chief, who,
as was observed of the Roman general by Pyrrhus, had
nothing barbarous in his discipline, after dividing his
guns agreeably to a preconcerted plan, opened from
60 to 70 pieces of cannon, with an innumerable quan¬
tity of rockets.
“ Hyd er’s numerous cavalry, supported by his re¬
gular infantry and European troops, driven on by
threats, encouraged by promises, and led on by his
most distinguished officers, bore on our little army in
different quarters without making the least impression.
Our men, both Europeans and Sepoys, repeatedly pre¬
sented and recovered their fire-arms as if they had i
been manoeuvring on a parade. The enemy were re-Galla ,f
pulsed in every attack ; numbers of their best cavalry havioiM
were killed, and many more were wounded; even the fA
their infantry were forced to give. w«y : and Hyder 15 '
would have ordered a retreat, had it not been for the
advice of General Lally, who informed him that it
was now too late, as General Munro was most pro¬
bably
I N D
India, bably advancing on their rear from Conjeveram; for
—v—' which reason nothing remained but to break the de¬
tachment by their artillery and cavalry.
“ Tippoo Saib had by this time collected his party
together, and renewed the cannonade; and at the same
time that the English were under the necessity of sus¬
taining an attack both from the father and son, two
of their tumbrils were blown up by Hyder’s guns, and
a large opening made in both lines. They had now
no other ammunition than grape ; their guns discon¬
tinued firing ; and in this dreadful situation, under a
terrible fire not only of guns but rockets, losing great
numbers of officers and men, they remained from half
past seven till nine o’clock.
“ On this Hyder Aly, perceiving that the guns
were quite silenced, came with his whole army round
their right flank. The cavalry charged them in dis¬
tinct columns, and in the intervals between these the
infantry poured in volleys of musquetry with dreadful
n8 effect. Mhiar Saib, with the Mogul and Sanoor ca-
eyare valry, made the first impression. These were followed
a8t by the elephants and the Mysorean cavalry, which com¬
pleted the overthrow of the detachment. Colonel Bail-
lie, though'grievously wounded, rallied the Euro¬
peans, and once more formed them into a square ; and
with this handful of men he gained an eminence,
where, without ammunition, and most of the people
wounded, he resisted and repulsed 13 separate attacks;
but fresh bodies of cavalry continually pouring in, they
were broken without giving way. Many of our men,
desperately wounded, raising themselves from the ground
received the enemy on their bayonets.
“ Captain Lucas’s battalion of Sepoys, at the time
when our men moved up to a rising ground, was sta¬
tioned to the right of the European grenadiers ; but
that corps, seeing the Europeans in metion, and mis- India,
understanding perhaps this evolution for a retreat, broke 1—
in the utmost confusion. The Europeans, bravely sus¬
taining their reputation for intrepid valour, remained
in this extremity of distress steady and undaunted,
though surrounded by the French troops, and by Hy¬
der s cavalry to the number of ^.OjOOO. They even
expressed a desire, though their number did not exceed
400, of being led on to the attack. A party of To-
passes, who lay at the distance of about 30 yards in our
front, kept up an incessant fire of small arms with
great effect. Many attempts were made by the ene¬
my’s cavalry to break this small body of men; but by
the steady conduct of both our officers and men they
were repulsed.
“ Colonel Baillie, finding that there was now no.
prospect of being relieved by General Munro, held
up a flag of truce to one of the chiefs of Hyder’s
army. But this was treated with contempt, and the
surdar endeavoured at the same time to cut off'the co¬
lonel. The reason the enemy assigned for this was,
that the Sepoys had fired after the signal was hoisted. 129
A few minutes after this, our men received orders to Throw
lay down their arms, with intimation that quarterdown lh<:,*c
would be given. This order was scarcely complied jj™*’^
with, when the enemy rushed in upon them in the used!™6 *
most, savage and brutal manner, sparing neither age
nor infancy nor any condition of life ; and, but for
the humane interposition of the French commanders
Lally and Pimoran, who implored and insisted with
the conqueror to show mercy, the gallant remains of
our little army must have fallen a sacrifice to that sa¬
vage thirst of blood with which the tyrant disgraced
his victory (a).”
In this unfortunate action near 700 Europeans were
killed
(a) In a narrative of the sufferings of the English who survived this fatal day, said to be published by an of¬
ficer in Colonel Baillie’s detachment, we find it related, that “ Hyder Aly, seated in a chair in his tent,‘enjoyed
the sight of the heads of the slain, as well as of his prisoners. Colonel Baillie, who was himself ve'ry much
wounded, was brought to his camp on a cannon, and with several other gentlemen in the same situation laid at
the tyrant’s feet on the ground and in the open air. In this situation they saw many of the heads of their coun-
trymen presented to the conqueror, some of them even by English officers, who were forced to perform that hor¬
rid task ; in a little time, however, Hyder ordered no more heads to be brought to him while the English gentle¬
men were present. A tent was fitted up for Colonel Baillie and his officers, but without straw or any thing else
to lie upon, though many of them were dangerously wounded; and as the tent could only contain 10 persons
the rest were obliged to lie in the open air. When the prisoners were removed from place to place, they were
wantonly insulted, and even beaten by those who had the charge of them. If the latter halted to refresh them¬
selves under a tree, they would be at the trouble of carrying their prisoners to the side next to the sun, lest they
should enjoy the benefit of the shade. Sometimes they were tormented with thirst, at others the people allowed
them to drink water out of the palms of their hands, it being reckoned a profanation to allow an European to
drink out of a vessel belonging to an Indian,”
In this narrative are likewise mentioned some examples of a recovery from wounds, which, if we can depend
on their authenticity, must undoubtedly show a restorative power in the human body altogether unknown in this
climate.
“ Lieutenant Ihomas Bowser received a musket ball in his leg, and after that eight desperate wounds with
a scymitar. He lay for seven hours on the spot, deprived of all sensation ; but, towards evening, awakened
from his trance, stripped of all his clothes, except a pair of under drawers and part of his shirt, with an intense
thirst, calling out, and imploring a little water from the enemy. Some were moved with compassion, while others
answered his intreaties only with insults and threats of immediate death. Some water, however, was brought
from a pool in the field of battle, about 50 or 60 yards from the place where he lay. It was deeply tinged with
blood ; nevertheless, Mr Bowser being furnished by one of Hyder’s soldiers with an earthen chatty, or pot con¬
taining about a pint, and directed to the place, crawled thither as well as he could. Though struck with hor¬
ror at the sight of the dead and wounded with which it was filled, he quenched his thirst with the liquid ; and
having ^
2l6
India.
13°
Sir Eyre
Coote ap¬
pointed to
the cotn-
mand of
tke army,
I N D I A.
killed on the spot; the loss on Hyder Ally’s part was
so great that he industriously concealed it, being en¬
raged that the conquest of such an inconsiderable body
should cost him so many of his bravest troops. He
seemed ever after to consider the English with an ex¬
treme degree of terror; insomuch that, notwithstanding
his pretended exultation on account of the present vic¬
tory, he no sooner heard a report of Sir Hector Munro’s
march to attack him, than he left his camp in the ut¬
most confusion, abandoning great part of his tents and
baggage, as well as the vast numbers that had been
wounded in the late action.
On the news of Colonel Baillie’s disaster, the supreme
council of Bengal requested Sir Eyre Coote to take
upon him the management of the war ; for the carrying
on of which a large supply of men and money was in¬
stantly decreed. This was readily undertaken by the
illustrious officer just mentioned, notwithstanding hie
very precarious state of health at that time ; and from
the moment he took upon him the management of af¬
fairs, the fortune of the war was changed.
The spirit of dissension, which for a long time had
infected the presidency of Madras, was indeed the true
cause of all the misfortunes that had happened. This
was found by Sir Eyre Coote to be even greater than
be had heard by report: the respect and confidence of
the natives was wholly lost; the complaints of the of¬
ficers and soldiers were loud and acrimonious; an in¬
activity prevailed in all the councils and operations,
while the enemy carried every thing before them. Sir
Hector Munro had been greatly harassed on his march
to Madras, whither he had retreated after Colonel
Baillie’s disaster ; the forces of Hyder Aly had in¬
vested all the places in that neighbourhood in such a
manner as in a great measure to cut off all supplies ;
and Arcot, the capital city of the most faithful ally
the British ever had, was taken by storm, together with
an adjoining fort, by which means an immense quan¬
tity of ammunition and military stores fell into the
hands of the enemy.
No sooner had Sir Eyre Coote taken upon him the
command of the British forces, than his antagonist
thought proper to change his plan of operations en¬
tirely. He now detached large parties of his nume¬
rous" forces to lay siege to the principal fortresses be¬
longing to the company ; while, with the bravest and
best disciplined part, he kept the field against the Bri¬
tish commander in person. On the very first appear¬
ance of the British army, however, his resolution fail¬
*.3>
ed, and he abandoned the siege of every place he had Ind!
invested, retiring to a considerable distance, on the
other side of the river Palaar, without even disputing
the passage of it, as it was expected he would have
done.
A respite being thus obtained from the incursions Pondit .
of this formidable enemy, the next operation was to ry re™
secure Pondicherry, whose inhabitants had revolted.I,ul ls
They were, however, easily disarmed, their magazines
seized, and all the boats in their possession destroy¬
ed ; in consequence of which precaution, a French
squadron that soon after appeared off Pondicherry was
obliged to depart without being furnished with any
necessaries. But in the mean time Hyder Aly having
drawn large reinforcements from all parts of his domi¬
nions, resolved to try his fortune in a pitched battle.
His army amounted to 200,000 men, 40,000 of whom
were cavalry, and 15,000 well disciplined Sepoys. Still,
however, he durst not openly attack the British army
in the field, but took a strong post from whence he
might harass them in their march. Sir Eyre Coote,
however, was not on his part backward to make the
attack ; and on the other hand Hyder Aly prepared
to engage him with all possible advantage. The battle
was fought on the 1st of July 1781; and notwith¬
standing the vast superiority of Hyder Aly’s army, he ^
was routed with great slaughter. The Indians, how- jyerea
ever, made a much more obstinate resistance than usual; Hydeii /,
the engagement lasted from nine in the morning till
four in the afternoon, and the deficiency of the English
in cavalry prevented them from pursuing the advantage
they had gained.
Notwithstanding the loss of this battle, Hyder Aly Gain*
was soon encouraged to venture another. This wascond' .
fought on the 27th of August the same year, on thetor3r'
very spot where Colonel Baillie had been defeated. It
was more obstinately contested than even the former,
being continued with great fury from eight in the
morning to near dusk. A number of brave officers
and soldiers fell on the part of the British, owing chief¬
ly to the terrible fire of the enemy’s artillery and the
advantageous position of their troops. At last, how¬
ever, the Indian army was totally defeated, and dri¬
ven from every post it bad occupied ; though from the
obstinate resistance made at this time, Hyder began
to entertain hopes that his forces might, by a suc¬
cession of such battles, be at last enabled to cope with
the English. He therefore ventured a third battle inHjd*ili
lome weeks after, but was now defeated with greater feat«'
loss
1
having filled his chatty, endeavoured to proceed towards Conjeveram. He had not, however, moved from his
place above 300 or 400 yards, when, being quite overcome, he was obliged to lie all night in the open air, du¬
ring which time there fell two heavy showers of rain. Next morning he proceeded to Conjeveram ; but after
walking about a mile, was met by some of the enemy’s horsemen, by whom he was brought back prisoner, and
obliged to walk without any assistance. When delivered up to the enemy’s Sepoys, he was so stiff with his
wounds, that he could not stoop or even bend his body in the smallest degree.
“ The quarter-master sergeant of artillery received so deep a cut across the back part of his neck, that he
was obliged to support his head with his hands in order to keep it from falling to a side all the journey. The
least shake or unevenness of the ground made him cry out with pain. He once and again ceased from all at¬
tempts to proceed ; but being encouraged and conjured by his companions to renew his efforts, he did so,
reached the camp, and at last, as wfell as Mr Bowser, recovered.”—It is also remarkable, that, according to
our author, out of 32 wounded persons only six died ; though one would be apt to think that the excessively
severe usage they met with wsuld have killed every one.
if]
Hjt j
fcal«:
I N
India. Joss ^‘an before. Undiscouraged by tins bad success,
-v > however, he laid siege to Vellore ; and expecting that
the relief of it would be attempted, seized a strong
pass through which he knew the British army must
direct their march. The British commander accord¬
ingly advanced, and found the enemy in possession of
some very strong grounds on both sides of a marsh
through which he was obliged to pass. Here he was
attacked on all sides, but principally in the rear, the
enemy directing their force principally against the bag¬
gage and convoy of provisions designed for the gar¬
rison. Their utmost efforts, however, were unsuc¬
cessful, and Sir Eyre Coote forced his way to Vellore
in spite of all opposition. Hyder Aly did not fail
to wait his return through the same pass $ and having
ijj exerted his utmost skill in posting his troops, attacked
ourtfi him with the utmost vigour : but though the English
T/b Were assaultei1 in front and on botl> flanks at once, and
En^IiA.a heavy cannonade kept up during the whole time of
' ° ‘the engagement, the Indians were at last defeated with
great slaughter.
By these successes the presidency of Madras were
now allowed so much respite, that an enterprise was
planned against the Dutch settlement of Negapatam,
situated to the south of Madras, and in the neighbour¬
hood of Tanjour. A very inconsiderable force, how-
i]6 ever> c0'fld yet be spared for this purpose, as Hyder
] teb set-Aly, though so often defeated, was still extremely
► tent of formidable. Sir Hector Munro had the management
Jfapatamof the expedition : and so furious was the attack of
U8ed- the British sailors, that the troops left to guard the
avenues to the place were defeated at the very first
onset. A regular siege ensued : which, however, was
of very short duration, a breach being soon made and
the garrison surrendering prisoners of war.
The loss of Negapatam was quickly followed by that
Tim- of Trincomale in Ceylon. Admiral Hughes, who bad
aIe* conveyed Sir Hector Munro with the land forces to that
place, and assisted him with bis sailors, immediately
after its surrender set sail for Trincomale, where he
arrived about tiie middle of January 1782. The fort
of that name was quickly reduced j but the main
strength of the settlement consisted of a fort named
Ostcnburgh, the principal place on the island, and by
the capture of which the whole settlement would be
reduced. This fort stands on a hill which commands
the harbour, but is itself overlooked by another hill at
the distance of no more than 200 yards. Though the
gaining of this post was undoubtedly to be attended
with the loss of the fort, it does not appear that the
governor even attempted to defend it. A British de¬
tachment of sailors and marines therefore took posses¬
sion of it, when the admiral sent a summons of surren¬
der, representing the inutility of making any farther
defence after the loss of such a post ; and being ex¬
tremely desirous of avoiding an effusion of blood, re¬
peated his arguments at several different times. The
governor, however, proving obstinate, the place was
taken by storm, with the loss of about 60 on the part of
the British, and very little on that of the Dutch, the
victors giving quarter the moment it was asked. Four
hundred Europeans were taken prisoners \ a large quan¬
tity of ammunition and military stores, with a numerous
artillery, were found in the place : and two Indiamen
Vol. XI. Part I. f
P37
l like-
D I A.
richly laden, with a number of small trading vessels,
were taken in the harbour.
A more formidable enemy, however, now made his I38
appearance on the coast of Coromandel. This was
Suffrein the French admiral j who setting out from ^68^1
his native country with n ships of the line and several* powerful
stout Ingates, had fallen in with the Hannibal of jo®ee^rom
guns, and taken her when separated from her consortsAHro^L*
This ship, along with three others, a 74, a 64, and a
50, had been sent out to the assistance of Sir Edward ;
and the three last had the good fortune to join him
before the arrival of M. de Suffrein. The latter, sup-
posing that he had not yet received this reinforcement,
bore down upon the English squadron at Madras, to
which place they had sailed immediately after the cap¬
ture of Trincomale. Perceiving his mistake, however,
he instantly oore away. I he English admiral pur¬
sued, took six vessels, five of them English prizes, and
the sixth a valuable transport laden with gunpowder
and other military stores, besides having on board a
number of land-officers and about 300 regular troops.
Tins brought on an engagement, in which M. Suf¬
frein, perceiving the rear division of the British fleet
unable to keep up with the rest, directed his force 139
principally against it. The ships of Admiral Hughes En?aKe*
himself and Commodore King sustained the most vio-nH''U b^:
lent efforts of the French, having mostly two, and
somet imes three, vessels to contend with. Thus the Edward
commodore’s ship was reduced almost to a wreck j but ^uybe*.
about six in the evening, the wind becoming more fa¬
vourable to the English, the squadron of the enemy
were obliged to draw off. The loss of men on the
part of the British amounted to little more than 130
killed and wounded, but that of the French exceeded
250.
After the battle Sir Edward returned to Madras ;
but meeting with no intelligence of Suffrein at that
place, he made the best of his way for Trincomale,
being apprehensive of an attack upon that place, or of
the intercepting of a convoy of stores and reinforce¬
ments at that time expected from England. Suffrein
had indeed got intelligence of this convoy, and was at
that time on his way to intercept it. This brought
the hostile fleets again in sight of each other: and°as
the British admiral had been reinforced by two ships of
the line, he was now better able to encounter his ad- 140
versary. A desperate battle ensued, which continued ^ fecund
till towards night, when the ships on both sides were sobatde*
much shattered, that neither could renew the engao-e-
ment next day. b &
Though these engagements produced nothing de¬
cisive, they were nevertheless of the utmost prejudice
to the affairs of Hyder Aly, who was thus prevented
from receiving the succours he had been promised
from France ; and he was still farther mortified bv the I4»
defeat of his forces before Tellicherry, which place he
had blocked up since the commencement of hostilities.
Ibis last misfortune was the more sensibly felt, as anTelfichery.
open passage was now left for the English into those 14*
countries best affected to Hyder. His bad success €ol“"cl
here, however, was in some measure compensated by JSt ^
the entire defeat of a detachment of about 2000 Eng- tachment
lisli infantry and 300 cavalry under Colonel Braith-°ff by
waite, a brave and experienced officer. This detach-Tipr00
e ment,
INDIA.
143
Cuddalore
tsj'sen.
144
Hyder Aly
defeated a
fifth time
by Sir Eyre
Coote.
metit, consisting of cliosen troops from Sir Eyre Coote s
armv, lay encamped on the banks of the Coleroon,
which forms the northern boundary of Tanjour. Tip-
poo Saib having procured exact intelligence of the si¬
tuation of this party, formed a design of attacking it
while no danger was suspected on account of the di¬
stance of Hyder Aly’s army. He set out on his
design with an army of 15,000 horse and 5000 foot,
accompanied by a body of French regulars j and ha¬
ving crossed the Coleroon, suddenly surrounded the
British forces on all sides. The colonel, perceiving his
danger, formed his men into a square, distributing the
artillery to the several fronts, and keeping his cavalry
in the "centre. In this situation he resisted for three
days the utmost efforts of his numerous enemies, al¬
ways compelling them to retreat with great loss. At
last General Lally, rightly conjecturing that the
strength of the English must be exhausted and their
numbers thinned by such desperate service, proposed
that the French infantry, which was fresh and entire,
should attack one of the fronts of the square, while
the forces of Tippoo should do the same with the other
three. This last attack proved successful j the British
forces were broken with great slaughter, which how¬
ever was stopped by the humanity of the French com¬
mander j who even obtained from lippoo Saib the care
of the prisoners, and treated them with a tenderness
and humanity they certainly would not otherwise have
experienced. A number of British officers, however,
perished in the engagement, and only one remained un¬
wounded.
In (he meantime, the succours from I ranee, so
long expected by Hyder, made their appearance. As
soon as a junction was formed, they proceeded, under
the command of M. Duchemin, to invest Cuddalore j
which not being in any situation to stand a siege, was
surrendered on capitulation. In like manner some
other places of smaller consequence were reduced, un¬
til at last being joined by Hyder’s numerous forces,
they determined to lay siege to Vandervash, a place of
great importance, and the loss of which would have
been extremely detrimental to the English. This
quickly brought Sir Eyre Coote with his army to its
relief j but Hyder Aly, notwithstanding his being re¬
inforced by the French, durst not yet venture a battle
in the open field. On this the British commander pro¬
ceeded to attack Arnee, the principal depository of Hy¬
der’s warlike stores and necessaries. Thus the latter
was obliged to quit his advantageous ground ; but he
did so with such secrecy and speed, that he came upon
the British army unawares while preparing for its last
march to Arnee, now only five miles distant. Perceiv¬
ing that the march of the British troops was through
low grounds, encompassed on most parts with high
hills,3 he planted his cannon upon the latter; from
which he kept a continual and heavy fire on the troops
below, while his numerous cavalry attacked them on
every side. Notwithstanding all disadvantages, the
British commander at last closed in with the enemy ;
and after an obstinate dispute completely routed them.
Neither this, however, nor any other engagement with
Hyder Aly, ever proved decisive ; for as the want of
cavalry prevented the British general from pursuing
his advantage, so that of his antagonist was so nume¬
rous, that by it he always covered his retreats in such
an effectual manner as to lose hut few men, and in a in(n
short time to be in a condition to act again on the of-—y-
fensive. This was remarkably the case at present ; for
notwithstanding this defeat, which happened on the 2d
of June 1782, he cut off an advanced body of the Bri¬
tish army five days after ; and harassed the whole in
such a manner, that Sir Eyre Coote, notwithstanding
his success, was obliged to move nearer Madras ; soon
after which, he was obliged, on account of his bad state
of health, to relinquish the command of the army to
General Stuart.
Hyder Alv now perceiving that he was likely to be
attended with no success by land, began to rest his
hopes on the success of the French by sea. He there¬
fore earnestly requested M. Suffrein, who possessed at
that time a decisive superiority in the number of ships,
to lose no time in attacking the British squadron be¬
fore it could be joined by a reinforcement which was
then on its way, and was reported to he very form!- ,4
dable. As the French commander was by no means A thin
deficient in courage, a third engagement took place j^ht, pt
on the 5th of July 1783. At this time the British
had the advantage of the wind, the battle was muchtage Jj,
more close, and "the victory more plainly on their side.frenc[
It is said indeed, that had not the wind fortunately
shifted in such a manner as to enable the French to
disengage their ships, a total and ruinous defeat would
have ensued. After the engagement, the French ad¬
miral proceeded to Cuddalore, having received intelli¬
gence that a large body of French troops in transports
had arrived off the island of Ceylon, in company with
three ships of the line. As this seemed to afford hopes
of retaliation, he used such diligence in refitting his
ships, that the fleet was able to put to sea in the be¬
ginning of August. His intention was to make an
attempt on Trincomale; and so well were his designs
conducted, that Sir Edward received no intelligence
of the danger, till a British frigate chasing a French
one, which took shelter with the squadron at Trinco¬
male, discovered it by this accident, and hastened hack
liiiii
wr
It was now, however, too Who I"
with the news to Madras. , ,
late ; the place was not in a condition to resist a siege 5^1*
and the French batteries having silenced those of the^J
fort in two days, a capitulation took place on the last
day of August.
Sir Edward Hughes having been detained by con¬
trary winds, did not arrive at Trincomale before the
2d of September, when he had the mortification to see
the forts in the hands of the French, and that Suffrein
was in the harbour with 15 sail of the line, while he
had only 12. He did not hesitate at venturing anAfm i
engagement with this inferiority, nor did M. Suffrein battl e
decline the combat. The event of the battle wastvveei
no other than shattering the fleets and killing and^
wounding a number of men on both sides. In this, pieet!
however, as well as in the other engagements, the supe¬
riority of the English was very manifest; and in en¬
tering the harbour of Trincomale the French lost a 74
gun ship.
The loss of Trincomale was severely felt by the Eng¬
lish ; for while the French lay safely in the harbour
refitting their squadron, the English were obliged I'orEogn
that purpose to sail to Madras. Here the fleet was1!eetx!
assailed by one of the most dr , ar€H_.
known on that coast. Trading vessels to the numberten)1u
of
A tkii
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diiaiii
$a;et
Fretti
ludia.
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Wlo
vertk
tat(
coi»l*
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t#
hfref
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'iUrti*
INDIA.
Mp
ledition
Colonel
mber-
ae.
ttip, i
I
rte«ll<l
of near lOO were wrecked, as well as those for Madras
1 laden with rice, of which there was an extreme scarcity
at that place. Thus the scarcity was augmented to a
famine, which carried off vast numbers of the inhabi¬
tants before supplies could arrive from Bengal. The
continuance of the bad weather obliged Sir Edward
with his whole squadron to sail to Bombay j and there
he did not arrive till towards the end of the year, when
his squadron was so much shattered, that, in order to
repair it with proper expedition, he was obliged to di¬
stribute it between the dock-yards of Bombay and the
Portuguese settlement at Goa.
In the meantime Sir Richard Bickerton arrived at
Bombay from England with five men of war, having
on board 5000 troops, after a very favourable passage ;
having neither seen nor heard of the bad weather which
had desolated the coasts of India. It was likewise the
intention of France to signalize the campaign of this
year by an immense force both by sea and land in In¬
dia. Exclusive of the forces already on the coast of Co¬
romandel, they were to be joined by 5000 more, all
regulars, from their islands on the African coast. Suf-
frein was to be reinforced by several ships of the line,
when it was hoped that a decided superiority at sea
would be obtained over the English ; while their supe¬
rior numbers and artillery on shore would render them
invincible by any force that could be brought against
them. To oppose these designs, it was deemed neces¬
sary by the presidency of Bombay to make a power¬
ful diversion on the coast of Malabar. Here was situa¬
ted the kingdom of Mysore, the sovereignty of which
had been usurped by Hyder Aly under the title of
Dayva, as that of the Mahrattas was by a person styled
Paishwa. This kingdom is nearly in the same parallel
with Arcot. To the northward is the kingdom of
Canara, which is said to have been the favourite pos¬
session of Hyder Aly ; the name of its capital is Bid-
nore, which also gives name to an extensive territory,
and was by Hyder changed to that of Hydernagur.
The expedition had been set on foot as early as the end
of the year 1781 ; a strong body of forces under the
command of Colonel Humberstone had taken the two
cities of Calicut and Panyan, besides others of lesser
note, and penetrated into the inland country, which
is there difficult and dangerous. Having here made
himself master of a place called Mongarry Cotta, of
which the situation commanded the entrance into the
inner parts of the country, he proceeded to attack Pa-
latacherry, a considerable town at some miles distance $
but being suddenly environed with a numerous and ho¬
stile army, instead of making himself master of the
place, it was not without the utmost difficulty that he
made his escape after losing all his provisions and bag¬
gage. A great army, consisting of 28,000 foot and
10,000 horse, under Tippoo Saib, also advanced against
him with such celerity, that the colonel had only time
to retreat to Panyan, where he was superseded in the
command by Colonel Macleod j and soon after the
place was invested by the forces of the enemy, among
whom was General Lally with a considerable body of
French. Two British frigates, however, having come
to the assistance of the place, rendered all the attempts
of the enemy to reduce it abortive. At last Tippoo
Saib, impatient of delay, made a vigorous effort against
the British lines j but though both the Indian and
219
Irdis
French commanders behaved with great bravery, the
attack not only proved unsuccessful, but they were re-1
pulsed with such loss as determined Tippoo to abandon
the siege of the place, and retire beyond the river of
Panyan. . iSo
As soon as the presidency of Bombay were acquaint-Unfortu-
ed with the success of Colonel Humberstone, General ntite expe-
Matthews was dispatched to his assistance with a power-^*1*011
ful reinforcement. This expedition, which began the YUiihews
campaign of 17^3 *n ^]e kingdom of Canara, has been
related with circumstances so disgraceful, and so ex¬
ceedingly contrary to the behaviour for which the Bri¬
tish troops are remarkable, that we are totally at a loss
to account for them. On the one hand, it seems sur¬
prising how the national character could be forfeited
by a particular body, and not by any other part of the
army $ and on the other, it seems equally surprising
why such calumnies (if we suppose them to be so)
should have arisen against this particular body and no ,5I
other part of the army. Such accounts of it, however, The army
were published as raised the indignation of the military charged
gentlemen, who thought proper to publish a vindica- with great
tion of themselves. In the Annual Registers, from thj^expedi-
whence, next to the gazettes and newspapers, the ge-tion,
nerality receive what they look upon to be authentic
intelligence, the character of this army is treated with
the highest asperity. “ In the story of the conquest
and recovery of Canara (says the New Annual Regi¬
ster), the Spaniards may be said to be brought a se¬
cond time upon the scene, but not to sit down in sul¬
len and insolent prosperity after all their crimes. The
Spaniards of Britain were overtaken in the midst of
their career j and he who is more of a man than an
Englishman, will rejoice in the irregular and unmea¬
sured, but at the same time the just and merited, ven¬
geance that was inflicted upon them by the prince
whose dominions they were ravaging!” In support
of this dreadful exclamation the following account is
given of the expedition. It began with the putting in
execution a design formed by General Matthews of
carrying the war into the heart of Hyder Aly’s domi¬
nions. For this purpose the English invested the city
of Onore, situated about 300 miles to the south of
Bombay, and one of the principal places in the country
of Canara. “ It was taken by assault (says Hr An-
drews) with great slaughter, and plundered with cir¬
cumstances of avarice and rapine that disgraced the vic¬
tors ; among whom, at the same time, great discontents
arose concerning the division of the spoil.1” “ No quar¬
ter (says the Annual Register) was given by the vic¬
torious English j every man they met was put to the
sword. Upon this occasion we beg leave to trap-
scribe three lines from the private letter of one of the
officers concerned in the expedition. ‘ The carnage
(says he) was great : we trampled thick on the bo¬
dies that were strewed in the yvay. It was rather
shocking to humanity j but such are only secondary
considerations, and to a soldier, whose bosom glows
with heroic glory, they are thought only accidents of
course j his zeal makes him aspire after farther vic¬
tory.’ This part of the peninsula had hitherto been
untouched by the barbarous and unsparing hands of
Europeans, and of consequence was full of riches and
splendour. In the fortress of Onore were found sums
of money to an unknown amount, besides jewels and
E e 2 diamonds.
2,20
Ifidist.
I N D
diamonds. A considerable part of this appears to have
been secured as private plunder by (Tenoral Matthews.
The complaints of the military were loud ; they thought,
and naturally, that the acquisition of riches was the fair
and reasonable consequence of the perpetration of blood¬
shed. Bat their commander turned a deaf ear to their
representations ; and hastened, by adding new laurels
to his fame, to hide the slander that might otherwise
rest upon him.”
From Onore the army proceeded to the nearest for¬
tresses on the sea-coast, Inore and Cundapour. Here
they were joined by a reinforcement from Bombay,
under the command of Colonels Macleod and Ilumher-
stone, with positive orders to proceed for Bidnore or
Hyd ernagur the capital of Canara. On this General
Matthews marched for the mountains called the Ghauts,
where there is a pass three miles in length, though only
eight feet wide, and which was then strongly fortified,
and defended by a vast number of the natives. “ ihe
English (say our authors), however, had already ob¬
tained a considerable reputation by their executions 5
ang the use of the bayonet, the most latal instrument
of war, and which was employed by them on all oc¬
casions, created such an extreme terror in the enemy,
as to enable them to surmount this otherwise impreg¬
nable defile.”
The gaining of this pass laid open the way to Bid¬
nore the capital, to which a summons was now sent.
An answer was returned, that the place was ready to
submit, provided the inhabitants were not molested,
and the governor was permitted to secure his property.
The wealth of this city was undoubtedly great, hut
the estimates of its amount are very difierent. By the
accounts of Bombay it was stated only at 175,000b ;
while the officers concerned in the expedition say that
it was not less than 1,200,000!. or even 1,920,030b j
and even this was only public property j that seized
upon by the soldiers, and which belonged to private
persons, was undoubtedly very considerable also.
This treasure was at first shown by the general to
his officers, and declared to belong to the army j but
he afterwards told them that it was all the property of
the Mohammedan governor, and had been secured to
him by the terms of the surrender. It was therefore
sent to Cundapour, under the convoy of Lieutenant
Matthews, brother to the general, to be thence trans¬
mitted to Bombay •, but whether any part of it ever
reached that settlement or not was never known. The
discontents of the army were now carried to the ut¬
most height •, and the contest became so serious, that
Colonels Macleod, Humberstone, and Shaw, quitted
the service all together, and returned to Bombay. The
officers charged their general with the most insatiable
and shameful avarice; while he, in return, accused his
whole army of doing every thing disrespectful and in¬
jurious to him; of paying no regard to order and dis¬
cipline, and of becoming loose and unfeeling as the
most licentious freebooters.
From Bidnore detachments were sent to reduce se¬
veral fortresses, the principarof which was Ananpour
or Anailtpore. Here orders were issued for a storm
and no quarter. Every man in the place was put to
death except one horseman, who made his escape after
being* wounded in three places. “ The women, un¬
willing to be separated from their relations, or expo-
•5
I A.
sed to the brutal licentiousness of the soldiery, threw
themselves in multitudes into the moats with which the
fort was surrounded. lour hundred beautiful women
pierced with the bayonet, and expiring in one an¬
other’s arms, were in this situation treated by the Bri¬
tish with every kind of outrage.”
This exploit was succeeded by the reduction of
Carwa and Mangalore, which completed the reduction
of Canara, 4when General Matthews put his army in
cantonments for the rainy season.
This rapid success was owing to the death of Hyder
Aly, which happened in the end of the year 1782.
FI is son Tip poo Saib, however, having taken posses¬
sion of the government, and settled his affairs as well
as time would allow, instantly resumed lus military
operations. On the 7th of April 1783 he made his
appearance before Bidnore, so that General Matthews
had scarce time to collect a force of 2000 men, and
to write to Bombay for a reinforcement. But, how¬
ever necessary the latter must have been in his circum¬
stances, the presidency were so much influenced against
him by the unfavourable reports of his officers, that
they suspended him from his commission, appointing
Colonel Macleod to succeed to the command of the
army.
Tippoo Sail) now advanced with a vast army, sup¬
posed not to be fewer than 150,000 men, covering the
hills on each side of the metropolis as far as the eye
could reach. The army of General Matthews, alto¬
gether unable to cope with such a force, was quickly
driven from the town, and forced to take refuge in
the citadel. Tippoo having cut off their retreat by
gaining possession of the Ghauts, laid close siege to
the fortress; which in less than a fortnight was obliged
to capitulate. The terms proposed were, that all pub¬
lic property should remain in the fort; that the Eng¬
lish should engage not to act against Tippoo for a sti¬
pulated time.; that they should march out with the
honours of war ; that they should pile their arms, and
have full liberty to proceed unmolested with their pri¬
vate property to the sea-coast, from thence to embark
for Bombay ; and in this capitulation the garrisons of
Ananpour, and other inland fortresses, were also in¬
cluded.
All these terms were broken by Tippoo, who said
that they had forfeited their title to liberty by a breach
of the articles of capitulation, in embezzling and se¬
creting the public money, which was all in good faith
to be delivered up. That this was really the case seems
to be universally acknowledged. In the Annual lle-
gister we are told, that “ to prevent too much money
being found in the possession of one man, the general
ordered his officers to draw on the paymaster-general
for whatever sums they wanted. When the fort was
surrendered to the sultan, there was not a single rupee
found in it.” By this circumstance the fate of the
garrison was decided. General Matthews was sent for
next morning to a conference. He was not, however,
admitted to his presence, but immediately thrown into
chains. Most of the other principal officers were, on
various pretences, separated from the army. The ge¬
neral and his companions were conducted to Seringa-
patam the capital of Mysore; and after having expe¬
rienced a variety of severities, were at last put to death
by poison. In this manner the general and 20 officers
perished.
INDIA.
India, perished. The poison administered was the milk of the
cocoa-tree, which is said to be very deadly.
The above account was repeatedly complained of as
partial, and at last openly contradicted in a pamphlet
entitled “ A Vindication of the Conduct of the Eng¬
lish Forces” employed in that expedition, and published
by order of the East India Company. In this pamph¬
let the circumstance most found fault with was that
regarding the women at Anantpore, which was posi¬
tively contradicted. On this account, therefore, the
publishers of the above-mentioned work retract that
part of their narrative, as being founded in misrepre¬
sentation. Notwithstanding this vindication, however,
they still draw the following conclusions. “ It is al¬
ready sufficiently evident, how little has been effected
by this vindication of the Bombay officers. The great
outlines of the expedition remain unaltered. It is still
true that a remarkable degree of severity was employed
in the field 5 that, in the capture of the fortresses of
Canara, the principle of a storm and no quarter was
very frequently applied 5 and that the acquisition of
money was too much the governing object in every
stage of the undertaking. The vindication of the of¬
ficers has therefore done them little service $ and it
happens here, as it generally does in the case of an im¬
perfect reply, that the majority of the facts are rather
strengthened and demonstrated by the attempt to refute
them. With respect to the conclusion of the story,
the treasures of Hydernagur, and the charge brought
against them by Tippoo, that they had broken the
terms of the capitulation, and that when the fort was
surrendered not a rupee was to be found in it j these
circumstances are passed over by the officers in the pro-
foundest silence. It was this that roused the sultan to
vengeance 5 and it is to this that he appeals for his jus¬
tification in disregarding r capitulation which had been
first dissolved by the vanquished English.”
The vindication above alluded to ivas signed by one
major and 52 subaltern officers. It seems not, how¬
ever, to have given entire satisfaction to the military
gentlemen themselves, as other vindications have ap¬
peared, said to be written by officers ; but these being
anonymous, can be supposed to add very little weight
to that already mentioned, where such a respectable
body have signed their names. We shall therefore
drop a subject so disagreeable, and the investigation of
which at the same time is entirely foreign to the plan
of this work.
It now remains to give some account of the war with
the Mahrattas, begun, as was formerly hinted, on ac¬
count of the protection afforded to the assassin Bago-
:co^tot. naut-row. This man had formerly obliged the Mogul
e M:\h- to take shelter in the English factory at Bengal ; but
jU war. being unable to keep up his credit among his country¬
men, was expelled as already related. On his arrival
at Bombay, an alliance was formed betwixt him and
the English government ; by which the latter engaged
to replace him in the Mahratta regency in considera¬
tion of some valuable cessions of territory. The su¬
preme council of Bengal, however, disowned this trea¬
ty, and concluded one with the Mahrattas in the month
ol March 17765 l>y which it was agreed that they
should provide for Ragobah’s subsistence according to
fits rank, on condition of bis residing in their country.
This being not at all agreeable to Ragobah, he fled jtnii*.
once more to Bombay, where a new confederacy was v——y——
entered into for his restoration. The council of Bengal
approved of this on account of the approaching rupture
with France ; and in consequence of this, a detachment
was, in lebruary 1778, ordered to march across the
continent of India. By some mismanagement in this
expedition, the whole army was obliged to capitulate
with the Mahratta general on the 9th of January 1779.
One of the terms of the capitulation was, that a body
of troops which were advancing on the other side
should be obliged to return to Bengal. But General
Goddard, the commander of these forces, denying the
right ol the council of Bengal to remand him, proceed¬
ed on his march, and arrived on the 18th of February.
Here he received orders to conclude a new treaty, if it
could be obtained on easier terms than that of the capi¬
tulation, by which it had been engaged to cede all our
acquisitions in the country of the Mahrattas.
Such extreme disregard to any stipulations that
could be made, undoubtedly provoked the Mahrattas,
and induced them to join in the confederacy with Hy-
der Aly already mentioned. The war, however, was
successfully begun by General Goddard in January 1780.
In three months he reduced the whole province of Gu-
zerat. Madajee Scindia the Mahratta general advan¬
ced to oppose him ; but as he did not choose to venture
a battle, the English general stormed his camp, and
totally routed him. Other exploits were performed in
the course of this campaign ; during which the gover¬
nor-general (Mr Hastings) seeing no hopes of an accom¬
modation, entered into a treaty with the rajah of Go-
hud, and with his consent Major Popham reduced a
fortress in his dominions named Gual/ior, garrisoned
by the Mahrattas, and hitherto reckoned impreg¬
nable.
These successes were followed by the dreadful incur¬
sions of Hyder Aly already related, which put a stop
to the conquests of General Goddard ; all the forces lie
could spare being required to assist the army under Sir
Eyre Coote. The last exploit of General Goddard was
the reduction of the island of Salsette, and of a strong
fortress named JBassein in its neighbourhood. The army
of Scindia, consisting of 30,000 men, was also defeated
this year by Colonel Carnacj and the Mahrattas, dis¬
heartened by their losses, consented to a separate peace
with the English, leaving Hyder Aly to manage the
war as he thought proper.
In the mean time, however, the expences incurred
by these wars were so high, that Mr Hastings, who
was obliged to furnish them some how or other, was re¬
duced to the greatest difficulties. For this purpose not
only all the treasure of Bengal was exhausted, but it
was found necessary to draw extraordinary contributions
from the British allies, which was productive of many x „
disagreeable circumstances. One of the most remark- Revolt tc
able was the revolt of Benares. The rajah of this Benaies.
country had formerly put himself under the protection
of the English, who on their part agreed to secure his
dominions to him on condition of his paying ait annual
subsidy to the nabob of Oude. In 1770 the rajah died,
and was succeeded by his son Cheit Sing, who held the
sovereignty at the time we speak of. On the death of
the nabob in 1775* a new treaty was made with his
successor,.
INDIA.
*54
Cheit Sing
arrested
successor, by which the sovereignty of Benares was
transferred to the East India Company, an acquisition
equivalent to 240,000b per annum j at the same time
that the subsidy paid by Sujah Dowla, and which, by
Lord Clive, had been fixed at 36,000b and afterwards
raised to 252,000, was now augmented to 312,000b
per annum. # ,
On receiving intelligence in July I77^> t'iat 'var iat*
actually commenced between France and England,
Cheit Sing was required to pay 50,000b as his share of
the public burdens. Such a demand was paid with ex¬
treme reluctance on the part of a prince who already
contributed 240,000b and probably thought that an
abundant equivalent for the protection enjoyed. The
same requisition, however, was made the two succeed¬
ing years, but with a promise that the demand should
cease when peace was restored. Instead of any present
alleviation, however, a body of troops was also quarter¬
ed upon him, and he was likewise obliged to pay for
their maintenance, lest he should not voluntarily pay
the additional 50,000b In November 1780, in addi¬
tion to all these demands, he was also required to send
into the field such a body of horse as he could spare j
but this requisition, owing to some misunderstanding,
was never complied with.
In July 1781 Mr Hastings having, it is said, recei-
...vo.vv. ved some intelligence that the oppressed rajah medita-
aud depo- te(j rebellion, set out on a visit to the nabob of Oude,
scd. an(j [jjg Yvay proposed to clear up the misunderstand¬
ing with him. The method by which he intended to
clear up this misunderstanding was to lay a fine upon
the poor prince of 400,000b or 500,000b; and as a
reason for doing so, it was alleged that the late rajah
had left a million sterling in his treasury ; a sum which
was continually increasing. Cheit Sing advanced to
the borders of his territories to meet the governor-ge¬
neral, behaved with all imaginable submission-, and
having got private intelligence of what was meditated
against him, offered to pay down 200,000b This was
refused ; and the governor-general having reached the
capital, forbade the rajah his presence, and by a letter
acquainted him with his causes of complaint. Cheit Sing
sent a very submissive answer j but as he endeavoured
to exculpate himself, Mr Hastings was so far from be¬
ing satisfied, that he put the prince under an arrest.
Such an unheard-of proceeding excited the utmost
surprise and resentment in subjects accustomed to re¬
gard their sovereign with a degree of reverence little
short of adoration. On the very day of the arrest they
assembled tumultuously, cut in pieces the guard which
had been set on the palace, and carried off their prince
in triumph. It does not appear, however, that this
was any other than a transitory tumult: for though they
could easily have cut off the governor-general, they
made no attempt against him. Cheit Sing protested
his innocence, and made the most unlimited offers of
submission, but all in vain. His government was de¬
clared vacant, and the zemindary bestowed on the next
heir ; the annual subsidy to the government of Bengal
was augmented from 240,000b to 400,000b annually.
The miserable rajah was forced to fly his country ; and
his mother, though promised leave to retire upon condi¬
tions, was attacked in her retreat and plundered by the
soldiers. After all his endeavours to procure money,
however, Mr Hastings found this adventure turn out
3
India
much less profitable than he had expected j for the trea¬
sury of the fugitive prince was seized and retained by
the soldiery. jj
As to the nabob of Oude, a new treaty was conclu- ^cw m
ded with him ; the design of which was evidently to^
ease him of some of the burdens to which he was at tbat0fyluje
time subjected. Part of the British troops were there¬
fore withdrawn from his dominions. As I izulla Khan,
the most prosperous of his dependents, had been called
upon to furnish a body of 5000 horse to join the na¬
bob’s army, and had not complied with the requisition,
the guarantee of his treaty with the nabob, formerly'
executed, was withdrawn *, but it being afterwards dis¬
covered that his territory was not equivalent to the
claims of the governor, the treaty was renewed on pay¬
ment of a slight fine. As the widow of Sujah Dowla
was suspected of favouring the late rajah Cheit Sing,
the reigning prince was allowed to reclaim the treasures
of his father in her possession, on condition of paying
her a certain stipulated allowance annually. The trea¬
sures were seized as payment of the debts ol the prince
to the company.
Hostilities continued in India between the French
and English till the year 1783 was far advanced, and
long after tranquillity had been restored to other parts
of the world. In the beginning of the season for action
the governor and council of Bengal determined to send
an ample supply to the presidency of Madras, that they
might be enabled to put an end to the war, which Tip-
poo seemed willing to prosecute with even more vigour
than his father had done. For this purpose Sir Eyre
Coote, who, for his health, had gone to Bengal by
sea, set sail once more for Madras, being intrusted with
a large sum of money for the necessary expences of
the war. In his passage he was chased for forty-
eight hours by two French men of war. The solicitude
and fatigue he underwent during this time, being al¬
most constantly upon deck, occasioned a relapse, so that
he died in two days after his arrival at Madras. His
death was greatly lamented, as the greatest expecta¬
tions had been formed of a happy conclusion being put
to the war by his extraordinary military talents, for
which he had already acquired so great a reputation in
India.
The invasion of Tippoo’s dominions having called
him off from the Carnatic, General Stuart took the op¬
portunity of attacking him in another quarter. Colo¬
nel Fullarton was despatched with a large body ot
troops to invade the province of Coimbatour. This
he executed with great success j overrunning the coun¬
try, taking several fortresses, and making a very alarm¬
ing diversion on this side of Tippoo’s dominions. Ge¬
neral Stuart, however, having still greater designs in
view, was obliged to recal this gentleman in the midst
of his success. The siege of the strong fortress of Cud- ^
dalore was the operation which now engaged his atten- uns0C(
tion. It was now become the principal place of arms fully 1>
belonging to the French j was strongly fortified, ami sj<^
’ Cudda
garrisoned by a numerous body of the best troops int'ltE
France, as well as a considerable number of Tippoo’s
ehoicest forces. The siege therefore proved so difficult,
that though the English displayed the utmost valour
and military skill, they were not able to reduce the
place until hostilities were interrupted by the news of a
general pacification having taken place in Europe. In
this
I is!).
life
INDIA.
jRdi:1, this siege a remarkable circumstance took place, viz.
—v——' that of a corps of Sepoy grenadiers encountering ami
overcoming the French troops opposed to them with
iixed bayonets. For this remarkable instance of va¬
lour, they not only received the highest applause at the
time, but provision was made for themselves and fami¬
lies by the presidencies to which they belonged.
After the reduction of Hydernagur, and the destruc¬
tion of the army under General Matthews, the Eng¬
lish possessed only three places of consequence in the
kingdom of Canara. These were Mangalore, Onore,
and Carwa. The siege of all these places was under¬
taken at once. Mangalore, the principal port in the
country, was defended by a very numerous garrison un¬
der Major Campbell. Tippoo sat down before it on
the 19th of May *, and the attack and defence were
both conducted with the greatest spirit and activity.
Notwithstanding the utmost efforts of the besiegers,
however, and that the garrison were reduced to the last
extremity for want of provisions, they held out in spite
of every difficulty, until the general pacification being
concluded, tbe place was afterwards delivered up. In
other parts nothing more happened than an indecisive
engagement between M. Suffrein and Admiral Hughes ;
so that the British empire in Bengal was for that time
fully established, and continued unmolested by foreign
enemies, till the ambition of Tippoo Saib again promp¬
ted him to invade the territories of the nabob, an ally
of Britain. This again brought on a war with that
restless, but able prince ; in this war the British were
joined by the Mahrattas, and the conduct of it was en-
| 157 trusted to Lord Cornwallis.
nacter Among the various usurpers who suddenly rose to the
!My<*er rank of sovereign princes on the fall of the Mogul em¬
pire, Hyder Aly was the most successful. A master in
dissimulation and treachery, he labonred, while in a
humble station, to acquire the confidence of his supe¬
riors, that he might the more completely betray them.
These qualities,so necessary to a successful usurper, were
in time accompanied with considerable military skill,
and great talents for government. Hence the power
which he at first so treacherously obtained, was soon
augmented by fresh acquisitions j and the territories
which he conquered were governed with a systematic
arrangement and rigorous justice, which speedily aug¬
mented their population, and increased his own re-
158 sources.
■ of Tip. His son, Tippoo Sultan, though far inferior to his
I Sultan, father in the art of government, in moderation, and in
the general steadiness of his character, was, however,
distinguished in India as an excellent officer and intre¬
pid warrior; qualities which effectually secured him the
confidence of his troops. The operation of the system
established by his father, and the warlike complexion
of his own character, continued to support the general
prosperity of his dominions, which were enlarged on
all sides by conquests from his neighbours, and were
strengthened by a great number of tbe most impreg¬
nable fortresses in the peninsula.
Hence the power of the Mysorean kings, which in
its rise had been often combated, and sometimes de¬
feated by the Mahrattas, at last acquired a decided as¬
cendency in the south of lndia. The discipline and fi¬
delity of their troops, till their late aggressions on the
British, had constantly been increasing in reputation ;
223
and fully evinced the excellent regulations which had jn^ja
been established for the army. The government of 1 1 * t
both princes was strict; that of the last, violent and
arbitrary. It was still, however, the despotism of an
able and warlike sovereign, who may rigorously check,
but does not destroy those subjects which must form the
means of his future aggrandisement.
From these causes the extensive territory of the My¬
sore and its dependencies had not, in the course of ma¬
ny years, suffered materially, either from insurrection
or external invasion ;—a felicity but rarely experienced
in any quarter of India. When they were invaded by
the British and their allies, under the conduct of Lord
Cornwallis, the whole country was found in a high
state of cultivation, and filled with inhabitants. The
regular army consisted of 70,000 men ; and the troops
employed in the garrisons, in the police, and in the
collection of revenue, amounted, by the most authen¬
tic accounts, to twice that number. This vast esta¬
blishment was so completely furnished with artillery in
the numerous forts, and in tbe field, that upwards of
400 cannon were found in the outworks of the capital
alone. The most frequent bar to the efficiency of na¬
tive armies, is the want of regular pay : an obstacle
the provident sultan had removed by gradually amas¬
sing vast treasures, which he secured in the forts, or in
the capital; and by improving his revenue, which a-
mounted annually to upwards of three millions sterling.
The power and resources of the Mysorean dominions,
thus formidable in themselves, cannot be fairly estimat¬
ed, unless we take into account their advantageous po¬
sition and the character of the sovereign. Lying in the
heart of the Deccan, and strengthened by innumerable
forts, they command the adjoining frontiers of all
their neighbours ; while the restless and enterprising
spirit of the prince has long obliged all around him to
keep in a state of constant military preparation, to them
nearly as expensive as that of actual war. Few years
were suffered to elapse, in which their territories were
not either menaced or actually invaded. The open and
defenceless frontier of the Carnatic was frequently the
object of these incursions; and the territory of our ally,
the nabob of Arcot, had often suffered devastations
that are still remembered with horror. The British,
who were bound by treaty to be the protectors of this
prince, had their own territories plundered extensive¬
ly ; and, on one occasion, had been forced to submit to
an ignominious peace, which was dictated to them at
the gates of Madras. r
The French officers in India, many of whom had Influence of
long been entertained in the service of Tippoo, hadt,ie French
communicated to his policy that marked hostility against“Y/ ^
the British nation, by which it was so peculiarly distin- & ^
guished. A splendid embassy, which had been dis¬
patched to France, returned previous 101789, before
the breaking out of the late war; which must be re¬
garded as the commencement of a regular system of
hostility for the entire overthrow of the British power
in the east.
Although the events of the French revolution ope¬
rated to divert their attention from prosecuting the ob¬
jects of this new alliance, the power of Tippoo had
become so formidable to the British government, that
the revenues of Madras and Bombay were inadequate
to support the forces necessary for their defence. Large
supplies
I N D
supplies both of troops and money were required from
Europe ; and experience had fully proved, that unless
the power of the kings of Mysore was reduced, the
British possessions in the east could not be retained
without incurring an annual loss to the state.
Happily the power, talents, and ambition of the pre¬
sent sultan were fully known to the whole ot India.
His views of universal conquest had alarmed all the
native powers of the peninsula j and both the Nizam
and the Mahrattas were roused to combine for their
own defence. Tippoo was the first Mohammedan
prince, since the establishment of the Mogul empire,
who openly disclaimed the authority oi the king of
Delhi, or Great Mogul. He was the first also to im¬
press coin with his own titles j a mark ot disrespect
which none of the native governments had ever shewn.
The great seal which he adopted soon after his father’s
death, and which he affixed to all his public deeds, de¬
clared him to be “ the messenger of the true faith,” and
announced his ambition to appear as a prophet as well
as conqueror. In the spirit of eastern vanity, he not
only declared himself the greatest king on earth, but
announced himself to be the restorer of the Mohamme¬
dan faith ; and to avail himself of the enthusiasm of his
sect, he invites all true Mussulmans to join his stand¬
ard, and not only drive the European infidels out of
India, but to establish the empire of Mohammed over
160
His esces-
sive ambi¬
tion unite*
different
states a-
the world. '
An ambition so openly avowed, and to an extent so
inordinate, created immediate alarm among the native
powers of India. It rendered an union peculiarly neces-
sarv between the Nizam and the Mahrattas •, states
giin>t him. who differed in religion, in government, and in every
point of interest, except that fear, which combined
them against this powerful adversary, who was ever
ready to attack them, and who, in fact, already com¬
manded their southern frontier.
The policy of the British, who had earlier foreseen
the danger, led them to adopt a still more vigorous
preparation than the native powers. Four additional
regiments had been raised in Europe, and sent to India
under General Ahercromby and Colonel Musgrave;
and as early as 1788, there were in that country thir¬
teen European battalions, consisting of 8000 men, be¬
sides the troops in the company’s establishment. Earl
Cornwallis, and several of the first officers in the Bri¬
tish service, were appointed to command them, under
a new system, by which the powers of the governor-
general and commander in chief were united in the
same person. I bus the counteraction oi diuerent au¬
thorities was avoided, and every advantage secured
which might give efficiency to the operations of war¬
fare.
Happily for the execution of those views of defence,
the climate of the Mysore, like all the central parts of
the peninsula of India, is temperate and healthy, in a
degree superior to that of any other region of the globe
lying within the tropics. The monsoons which deluge
the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, have their force
broken as they approach the high mountains of the in¬
terior, where they fall out in showers, which, though
heavy, are not commonly of long continuance. The
verdure of the country is thus preserved ; and the tem¬
perature of the climate is moderated throughout almost
the whole year. The British army was therefore able
I A.
to remain constantly in the field, during the whole war ; jll(pa
and although they did not enter into cantonments, or
leave their tents, yet the health of the troops did not
materially suffer. k!i
The military operations against Tippoo may there-Operation
fore be divided into campaigns, not so much from thej^j^e Bn
change of season, as from the success or failure of the
several plans of attack that were carried on against that
prince. The first campaign commenced in the month
of June 1790, and was directed to the southern part ot
the peninsula, with a view to relieve the rajah ot Tra-
vancore, whose country had already been attacked by
the sultan. During it, the main army was commanded
by General Meadows j and before the end of the year,
it effected the reduction of his rich provinces below the
mountains 5 while the Bombay troops, under General
Abercromby, conquered the valuable districts below
the Ghauts on the west and north, as far as the river
Baliapatam.
The second campaign was carried on by Earl Corn¬
wallis in the heart of Tippoo’s dominions. Though
unsuccessful in effecting its ultimate object, it was dis¬
tinguished by the capture of the important fortress of
Bangalore in the interior of the country j an event
which fixed the seat of war in the enemies territory,
and was decisive ol its final success. A successful battle
wras also fought in the vicinity of Seringapatam j and a
demonstration made against that capital, which, from
the advanced season and the swelling of the Cavery,
proved abortive.
The last failure, which must in part be ascribed to
the delay of the Mahratta armies, and the want of pro¬
visions, was speedily followed by the arrival of these
allies, and by preparations for a fresh campaign. As
these new efforts completely humbled the sultan, and
produced a successful termination of hostilities, it is ne¬
cessary to detail them more particularly.
The season of the year, which, after the battle in
1791, prevented an immediate attack ol Seringapatam,
was also unfavourable tc the numerous draught cattle
belonging to the army. They were infected with an
epidemic disorder, which was aggravated by famine,
and killed them in vast numbers j while the remainder, •
from disease and hunger, became unfitforservice. Mean¬
while the scarcity of grain, of arrack, and every article
of subsistence, daily increased ; this scarcity became at
last so urgent that the camp followers, which in India
are four times as numerous as the fighting men, were
reduced to the necessity of devouring t he putrid flesh of
the dead bullocks j and to add to all these calamities,
the smallpox unfortunately raged in the camp.
Similar distresses were suffered by the Bombay army,
who, with infinite labour, had dragged their artillery
for 50 miles through the most steep and difficult passes,
in order to co-operate with Lord Cornwallis. Unable
to form a junction, from the swelling of the Cavery,
and the badness of the roads, they were compelled to
retrace their steps over those vast woody mountains,
which form the immense and impregnable barrier be¬
tween the kingdom of Mysore and the Malabar coast.
In this perilous retreat, the battering train of both ar¬
mies was unavoidably lost, being too unwieldy to be
moved by the small portion of draught cattle which
now survived 5 upwards of 40,000 had already perished
since the commencement of the campaign.
Disappointed
Ind-ia.
| 161
)istrc*s of
he anny.
I N
Disappointed of tiie relief and assistance which the
junction of the Bombay troops might have afforded, the
position of the main army became a scene of the great¬
est distress. The tents and clothing of the troops, as
well as their provisions, were nearly worn out. Great
part of the horses of the cavalry were so far reduced by
want and fatigue, that they were unable to carry their
riders. The ground at Caniambaddy, where it had en¬
camped for a few days to favour the junction, or to pro¬
tect the retreat, of General Abercromby, was covered
tn an extent of several miles, with the carcases of the
cattle and horses ; and the last sight of the gun car¬
riages, carts, and stores of the battering train, left in
flames, -was the melancholy spectacle which the troops
beheld, as they passed along, on quitting this deadly
cam p.
Fortunately for them in this dreadful situation, they
we re met, before they had finished the first day’s inarch,
by the allied force of the Mahrattas, under Purserain
Bow and Hurry Punt. Every despatch sent to these
chiefs had been intercepted by the vigilance of the ene¬
my. They were astonished when they learned the dis¬
asters which had been occasioned by their delay : their
arrival, which evinced their sincerity iu the cause, pro¬
duced general satisfaction in the British camp, and a
conviction, that the ruin of the sultan, though delayed,
must now become certain and inevitable. Tippoo him¬
self, on seeing his enemies firm and active in their
union, was not insensible to the dangers that awaited
him. Before the allied armies left the vicinity of his
capital to forward their preparations for a new cam¬
paign, he made overtures to Lord Cornwallis for the
conclusion of a peace 5 but that nobleman would listen
to no terms of accommodation in which his allies were
not included, and which were not preceded by the re¬
lease of all the prisoners that had been detained during
the present and former wars.
. The arrival of the Mahratta troops, amounting to
thrattas 32’000 cavalry> however fortunate it might be deemed
’ at the critical moment in which it happened, brought
little additional effective strength to the allied army.
Their battalions were unwieldy, irregular, and ill-dis¬
ciplined : their force had declined as much as Tippoo’s
had advanced in improvement 5 and they were at pre¬
sent far inferior to those troops who, under Madha Row,
had defeated Hyder Aly in 1772. Their chiefs were,
however, overjoyed that they had effected a junction
nearly on the spot where that signal victory had been
obtained. They were pleased at having met the Bri¬
tish army without having occasion to try their strength
singly with Tippoo, of whose discipline and abilities in
the field they entertained a deep apprehension.
To avoid confusion and interference, they were en¬
camped at a distance from the British troops. Their
ground, from the number of followers, and their fami¬
lies, had the appearance of a large town, or of a whole
nation emigrating from its territory. The tents of the
chiefs are placed around their general’s, without any
regularity or order. They are of all dimensions, and of
every variety of colour, resembling houses rather than
D I A.
22 z
163
iction
ide
1 canvas- ^)e streets, winding and crossing in every di-
rf cfim» rec.t‘on» present the appearance of a great fair j in
, ’ which smiths, jewellers, merchants, and mechanics, are
displaying their wares, and as busily employed in their
Vol. XL Part I. f
trades, as if they lived in their own capital, and en¬
joyed a proround peace *.
The state of their artillery, upon which modern war- * v
fare so much depends, will at once demonstrate the im-^7/^*/a
perfection of the military system among the Mahratta^/^-i*"1'
states. In the construction of their gun carriages, they India in
make little use of iron, hut for their strength they trust Av
to the bulk ard solidity of the timber: Hence they are (-mera^
unwieldy from their weight, and clumsy beyond all be-
lief; the wheels, in particular, are heavy and low, be¬
ing formed of large solid pieces of wood united toge¬
ther. 1 he guns themselves are ponderous in the ex¬
treme, and of the most irregular dimensions j each is
painted in a fantastic manner, and bears the name of
some one of their gods. Not a few are dragged after
the army long after they have ceased to be serviceable,
from the great estimation they are held in, on account
of past achievements which they are supposed to have 165
performed for the state. Some of these useless impedi-and state
ments of a march are dragged along at the immense ot.tjieir
expence of 100, and sometimes 150 draught cattlellHlltaiy
yoked in pairs. The most insurmountable obstacle to ^UM1'
the efficiency of the Mahratta artillery, was the scar¬
city of ammunition with which they were provided at
this period ; subsequent improvements have enlarged
this supply, and rendered them far more formidable to
th eir enemies.
I he infantry of this nation holds a rank, if pos¬
sible, still more contemptible than their artillery. Its
officers are half-cast Portuguese or French ; and the
privates consist of outcasts of every description, who
are uniform in nothing but in the wretched condition of
their muskets, ammunition, and accoutrements. The
Mahratfas themselves hold them in contempt, ride
through them on the march, without ceremony, or even
the appearance of respect. If there happen to be a
few Europeans among the officers and men, which in
these times was but seldom the case, they execrate the
service, and till they find an opportunity of escape,
continue to deplore their fate.
The cavalry is the favourite portion of a Mahratta
army ; and it is to his horses, and the bazars, that the
attention of every chief is almost solely directed. On
marching days, the baggage and infantry move off at
daybreak, while the chiefs and their principal followers
remain upon the ground smoking their hookahs till
they have advanced some miles j they then follow, each
pursuing his own route, attended by his principal peo¬
ple ; while the inferior ranks disperse over the country
to plunder and forage in every direction. “ l66
The troops of the Nizam at this period joined Lord Troops «f
Cornwallis and the Mahrattas j their state of equip-Nwam
ment and discipline was almost in every respect as-’0l".t,ie
wretched as that of the Mahrattas. Their forces, when
united, amounted to about 80,000 men; and if to these
be. added four times the number of camp-followers,
brinjarries, and the carriage department, the number
of strangers to be subsisted in the Mysore alone, cannot
be much less than half a million. That no distrust,
jealousy, or counteraction, should have disturbed the
combined operations ef such an immense multitude,
must be ascribed to the unexampled moderation and vi¬
gilant conduct of the commander in chief. SuclTa vast
army had never taken the field in India in the British
F f cause;
226
India.
INDIA.
cause ; yet no murmurs, or even the slightest appear¬
ance of distrust, were ever manifested by the allies to¬
wards the British commander. They submitted with
implicit confidence not only to his arrangements lit car-
vying on the war 5 but, which was little to be expect¬
ed among allies so much alive to their particular inter¬
ests they acquiesced in his distribution of the conquer¬
ed territories with a deference which evinced the most
perfect confidence in his liberality and justice.
The steady co-operation, however, ot any native
power with the British army in the field, is a circum¬
stance hardly to be looked for, and must therefore prove
a resource on which no commander would choose to re¬
ly. His patience will often be severely tried by their
irregularities and delays-, and in the most critical emer¬
gencies his views may be frustrated by their want of
punctuality, or by a total failure in their engagements.
Even in the article of provisions, the presence of the
native armies, bating the temporary relief at their first
junction, proved a much greater annoyance than a b -
iuiv, • W it. increased the number of mouths to be sup-
To the siege of this tremendous fortress, Lieutenant-
colonel Stewart commanding the right wing of the
main army was appointed. The attempt commenced on
the lOth of December, when this officer pitched his
camp within three miles of the, north side of the rock.
The formidable appearance of the place itself, had
Indk
nefit; for it increased the number of mouths to be sup
pUed! in a coanlry desolated by its fnends as well as by
l67 the hostile armies. .
The com- mh these COadjutors, Lord Cornwallis set out in
biued army f t towards Bangalore. He determi-
X-^d^tous ,.oo,efe, northward by Nag
gemungulum, that he might accomplish some of the
important objects necessary to enaffie the confederate
to commence another campaign. He bad o enable the
Mahrattas to withdraw the posts which they had left
on their march, when they advanced from Poonah to¬
wards Seringapatam. He had to confine the smtan to
as small a portion of his territory as practicable, and
thus to oblige him to consume the provisions which he
had laid up for the defence of Ins capital : and, lastly,
be had to gain time for collecting and bringing forward
thevast stores of camp equipage, provisions, and supplies,
which he had ordered for the succeeding campaign.
In order to facilitate the communication between
the Mysore and the Carnatic, from which the supplies
were chiefly to be drawn 5 the various lull forts, which
command the different passes, were to be reduced
Many of these fortresses, from their situation upon high
and precipitous rocks, are of such strength that they
have always been deemed impregnable by the native
armies of India. In ancient times they formed the in¬
accessible retreats of the rajahs who still retained their
independence and it was not till the vigorous admini¬
stration of Tippoo and his father, that they were
brought into subjection and garrisoned by the Mysore-
aUAmong these forts, Savendroog, Chittledroog, and
Kistnaghury, are the most remarkable in point ot na¬
tural strength. The first of these consists ot a vast
mountainous rock, which rises above half a mile in
perpendicular height above its own base which covers
a space of eight or ten miles in circumference. Hus
rock is surrounded by walls on every side, and defemf-
ed by cross barriers wherever it was deemed accessible.
Towards the upper part, the immense pile is almost pre-
cinitous, and has the farther advantage ot being divi¬
ded on the top into two hills, which have each their
defences, and are capable of being maintained indepen¬
dent of the garrison in the lower works,
3
i63
Savendrooj
withdrawn the attention of the troops from a circum- Uesieged,
stance which proved on trial the chief obstacle to the
execution of their arduous attempt. It consisted in the
formation of a gun road from the camp to the foot of
the mountain. This was found a work of incredible la¬
bour, since it led through a long tract of rocky hills,
thickly planted with bamboos and after every effort,
the battering guns were still to be dragged over rocks
of considerable height, and of an ascent almost perpen¬
dicular.
This celebrated rock, so difficult of approach, and of
such immense strength, is no less famed for a noxious
atmosphere, occasioned by the hills and immense tracts
of wood by which it is surrounded the appellation of
Savendroog, ov Rock of death, is said to have been given
it from the noxious and fatal nature of its climate.
Tippoo Sultan, sensible of all its advantages, congratu¬
lated his army on the infatuation of the British, which
had at last led them to an enterprise which would
speedily operate their disgrace, and terminate in their
ruin. One half of the Europeans, he asserted, would
be destroyed by disease, and the other half he was con¬
fident would be killed in the assault. The garrison
which Tippoo had selected for the station of Saven¬
droog were of the same sentiments with their master :
regarding the attempt to reduce it as madness, they
fortunately trusted more to its strength, than to their
own exertions for its defence ; and hence, little or no
opposition was made to the erection of our batteries,
farther than the ill-directed fire of their artillery pro¬
duced.
In three days, during which it was found necessary
to advance the batteries nearer to the wall, a practi¬
cable breach was effected, and a lodgement made for
the troops within twenty yards of the breach. The
storming party, which consisted chiefly of Europeans,
was led by Lieutenant-colonel Nisbet, and was di¬
vided into four different parties of attack, in order
to secure both hills into which the mountain was di¬
vided, and to distract the attention of the enemy. 1(5(,
Each party succeeded in gaining its object j for a and tat
large body of the enemy who were seen in the morn¬
ing coming down for the defence of the breach, on
observing the Europeans advancing to the storm, was
seized with a panic, and fled. The eastern hill im¬
mediately above the breach, was carried by Captain
Gage, without meeting, or even overtaking, the ene¬
my^ the main body of which endeavoured to gain the
western hill, and, had they effected their object, the
siege must have recommenced. Happily, however, the
pathway leading from the breach to this hill is so
steep and narrow that the fugitives impeded each other,
and the assailants pressed them so hard, that they enter¬
ed the different batteries along with the enemy. In
these numbers were killed, among whom was the se¬
cond killadar j and the citadel on the summit of the
hill was at last gained, where the first killadar was
made prisoner. So close and critical was the pursuit
r on
INDIA.
India, on tills fortunate occasion, that a seijeant of the 71st
-—v—' regiment, when at some distance, shot the man who
was in the act of shutting the first gate ; and upon this
occurrence, almost accidental, the fate of the citadel
hinged. It was instantly taken, without the loss of a
single man ; although a hundred of the enemy had
been killed during the advance, and many had perished
by falling from the precipices in endeavouring to escape.
Only one private soldier was wounded in this remark¬
able assault of the impregnable fortress of Savendroog:
it formed a display of successful prowess, fortunate al¬
most beyond example; and it exhibited before the
enemy, in open day, an instance of intrepidity, of
high value to the reputation of the army and the inte¬
rests of the India government.
The beneficial consequences of this important cap¬
ture, were sensibly felt at the different forts, almost im¬
pregnable, by which this part of the country is so re¬
markably strengthened. Colonel Stewart’s detachment,
which had been so much distinguished by this achieve¬
ment, marched in two days against Outredroog, ano¬
ther fortress strengthened by five different walls, and so
ip steep as to prove tenable by a handful of men against
ih«r the largest army. After the refusal of a summons to
iongholdssurren(]er} |ower forj; was escaladed with such rapi¬
dity, that the killadar requested a parley. While this
was in agitation, an appearance of treachery was dis¬
covered in the upper fort, where the garrison were seen
moving and pointing their guns against the assailants.
Fired at this sight, Lieutenant M‘Innes led on the
storming party with impetuosity; some of the gates were
instantly broken, others were escaladed, till five or six
differents walls on the face of the steep rock were pas¬
sed, when the troops gained the summit, and put the
garrison to-the sword. So panic-struck were the ene¬
my, when they saw a single European above the walls,
that they could make no resistance. The killadar was
made prisoner, a number of the garrison was killed,
and not a few, terrified at the approach of Europeans
with their bayonets, are said to have precipitated them-
171 selves from the rocks.
Tectsof The assault of these fortresses, which had hitherto
5ses8UC* keen deemed impregnable, made so serious an impres¬
sion on the enemy, that in none of the hill forts, how¬
ever inaccessible, did they afterwards make an attempt
to resist the British troops. Henpe, the strong moun¬
tainous country between Bangalore and Seringapatam,
which, studded with forts, had so much checked all
communication, now afforded security to the convoys.
These now reached the army without opposition ; and
the supplies of warlike stores of every description were
as completely re-established as they had been at the
beginning of the last campaign.
To prevent any future scarcity of the great article
of grain, the commander in chief encouraged the' na¬
tive brinjarries, a class of men whose employment is
purchasing grain where it is cheap, and selling it to
the army. By constantly affording regular payment and
a good price to these native merchants, they supplied
the camp to an extent far exceeding what could ever
be furnished by the most extensive carriage establish¬
ment. The grain-dealers had at this time passes for no
less than 50,000 bullocks, whose rice was instantly paid
for, as soon as it reached the camp, and orders given
227
for purchasing more from whatever quarter it could be jndi;..
procured. This brought forth the resources of the ene- w—
mies country as well as our own; for several of Tippoo’s
brinjarries, tempted by the certainty of payment and
a high price, sold their rice in the British camp. 17 z
Supplies being thus provided to an extent far ex- Prepara-
ceeding every former example, the allied armies, ancl tionsfor
the different detachments, were ordered to assemble for anotl,e.ti
another campaign. The Bombay troops, destined again c‘imliaisU‘
to act from the same quarter as last season, marched
from Cananore, and arrived at the foot of the Poodi-
cherrim Ghaut in the month of December. Several
weeks of hard labour were necessary to drag the artillery
through woods extending nearly 60 miles, and over
mountains of immense height. These mountains, which
on the west command a view of the Malabar coast, and
on the east of the country of the Mysore, form an ele¬
vated ridge towering into the clouds, on which the ri¬
vers are seen taking their rise, and flowing in different
directions, till they reach the eastern and western shores-
of the peninsula. The friendly territory of the Coorga
rajah surrounds the interior of this formidable pass,
where a small opposition might bid defiance to a whole
army. This circumstance enabled the Bombay troops,
consisting of 8qoo men, with all their baggage and ar¬
tillery, and a supply of rice for 40 days, to penetrate
with safety into the Mysore frontier, which they reach¬
ed on the 22d of January 1792. To facilitate the re¬
turn of our army, batteries were constructed, and the
defence of this pass committed to Lieutenant-colonel
Peche with 300 men, a precaution which had not the
sultan overlooked, he would have suffered no invasion
on this quarter of his dominions.
The Mahratta forces, which had separated from the
main army at Bangalore, had spent the season of the
monsoon in a train of exploits which seemed to imply
more than their usual share of activity. With the assist¬
ance of the Bombay detachment of three native battalions,
they took the important post of Simoga. after defeating
Reza Saib and near 10,000 of the sultan’s cavalry.
This brilliant success encouraged Purseram Bow to en¬
gage in an enterprise against Bednore, which had near¬
ly frustrated the whole plan of the campaign, by pro¬
tracting his junction with General Abercromby beyond
the stipulated time. From this attempt, however, he was
diverted by the arrival of Cummer ud Deen Khan, one
of Tippoo’s best generals, who had been dispatched
against him. This chieftain retook the fort of Si-
moga; but being too weak to encounter the Bow in
the field, the Mahrattas effected their junction with
the Bombay army, though somewhat later than the ap¬
pointed season. The main army under Lord Cornwal¬
lis, which had been so actively employed during the
rains in subduing the hill forts, and in collecting the
necessary stores and reinforcements, was ordered ulti¬
mately to assemble at Outredroog, one of the strongest
of Tippoo’s forts, which was situated within 50 miles
of his capital. This place being equally spacious and
strong, was fitted up as a general hospital, and formed
into a magazine for the grain and public stores that
were not immediately needed for the army. The bat¬
tering train under Colonel Duff, and the last convoys
under Colonel Floyd, having safely joined, the main
army was at last fully prepared to resume its enterprises
F f 2 against
22$
I N D
India, against the sultan, who, in imitation of his father, when
 V formerly attacked in 1767, had encamped with the
whole of his force in a strong position under the walls
of his capital.
One function more was still expected 5 that of
the Nizam or Soubah from Gurramcondah, the lovyer
fort of which he had captured. This prince having
left a strong force to garrison the place, marched again
to meet Lord Cornwallis, who was detained in expecta¬
tion of this event for several days beyond the time he
had appointed for leaving Outredroog. On the 25th
of January, the young prince at last arrived with his
army ; his youth and inexperience were put under the
guidance of a minister 60 years of age, a man of great
talents and established reputation. The confederacy,
which thus united the chief powers in the peninsula lor
the overthrow of a formidable and ambitious enemy,
was attended also by an ambassador, who arrived at this
time, from Madajee Boonsla the rajah of Berar. The
Peshwa and the Nizam were themselves in the fieid on
their respective frontiers, and all India looked with
anxious expectation to the event of this important cam-
j,, paign. .
Tile allied On the 1st of February the allied armies marched
army ap- from Hooleadroog, the last hill fort of which they* had
preaches totaken possession, lying at the distance of only 40 miles
Sermtia- geringapatam. Tippoo’s cavalry, which had been
^ soot out to harass them on tne maicii, made little im¬
pression, and were therefore chiefly occupied in burn¬
ing the intermediate villages, and in laying waste the
country. The last march, of the 5th of February,
stretched across a range of barren hills lying six miles
north east of Seringapatam. From these heights, a
view of the whole city was presented to the army, and
the encampment of the sultan under its walls. Every
circumstance was eagerly viewed by our troops 5 and,
from the sultan’s position, it was evident^ he meant to
defend the place in person, and to make it the grand
concluding scene of the war.
The camp of the allies was pitched on the north
side of the island. The British formed the front line,
and extended its whole length on both sides of the
Lockany, a small river which at this place flows into
the Cavery. The reserve was placed a mile in the
rear, to afford space for the baggage and stores; and
the Nizam and Mahrattas were stationed still farther
in the rear, to prevent interference with the British
camp.
Opposite to Seringapatam, on both sides of the river,
a large space is inclosed by a bound hedge, which
marks the limits of the capital, and affords a refuge to
the peasants during the incursions of cavalry. Tippoo’s
front line, or fortified camp, lay immediately behind
this hedge, where it was defended by heavy cannon in
the redoubts, and by a large field train advantageously
placed. In this line there were too pieces of artillery,
and in the fort and island which formed his second
line there were above thrice that number. The re¬
doubts on his left were entrusted to two of his best offi¬
cers, and a corps of Europeans commanded by Mon¬
sieur Vigie Sheik Ansar, a general of established re¬
putation, was stationed on the right, and the Carighaut
hill •, while Tippoo himself commanded the centre,
having his tent pitched in the sultan’s redoubt. The
fort and island, where there was the greatest number of
I A.
guns, rvere entrusted to Syed Saib and other comman- imKa,
tiers. The whole army of the sultan, thus stationed, y~.
consisted of about 50,000 men.
Ever since the junction of the allied armies, Tippoo
finding he could not keep the field, employed his chief
attention, and the labours of his main army, in fortify¬
ing this camp, and in strengthening his defences in the
fort and island. The country had already been laid
waste in the former campaign } and the sultan seemed
to rest his hopes, that the strength of his works and
the valour of his army would protract the siege, till
the want of supplies, or the approach of the monsoon,
would again force his enemies to abandon their enter¬
prise, as they bad been compelled to do on former oc¬
casions.
Impressed with these ideas, Tippoo made no attempt
to interrupt our reconnoitring parties, who had been
busily employed on the first day alter their arrival in
examining his camp. The distance of our position, and
the absence of the armies under General Abercromby
and Purseram Bow, increased bis security : for he did
not imagine that Lord Cornwallis would venture to
attack him without their assistance $ far less could he
believe that a fortified camp, defended by the guns oi
his capital and a powerful army, would be attempted
by infantry alone, without guns, and in the uncertain¬
ty of night.
The promptitude and spirit of Lord Cornwallis had
suggested far different ideas, and a plan of attack which
was bold beyond even the expectations of his own ar¬
my. On the evening of the sixth of February, just
after the troops had left the parade, orders were issued
for an attack at 7 o’clock of the enemies camp and
lines in three divisions. The British camp was left to
be defended by the artillery and cavalry ; while the as¬
sailants who were instantly furnished with guides and
scaling ladders, marched in perfect confidence that mus¬
kets alone would prove the fittest instruments for open¬
ing their way into the enemy’s camp.
"No part 'in the execution of this bold enterprise was
assigned to the troops of the allies ; nor was the intend¬
ed assault even communicated to them, till after the
columns had marched. It was perhaps good policy to Tipano'j
conceal from them a measure so repugnant to all theireampat.
maxims of rvar, and in which they could not possibly tactt‘3?
concur. This opinion seems justified by the surprise
and consternation which they displayed, on learning
that Lord Cornwallis, like a common soldier, was per¬
sonally to lead the attack on the enemies fortified
camp. They not only deemed his success impossible,
but they dreaded that the ruin of the allied armies
would he involved in the attempt,
The three columns into which the assailants had
been divided, marched with equal intrepidity to exe¬
cute the different objects that bad been allotted them s
many obstacles intervened ; various conflicts ensued in
different quarters of the enemies camp •, each party was
uncertain of the fate of the rest, and each individual
of his associates. The return of day at last removed
their fears and uncertainty, by disclosing the complete
success which had crowned their exertions throughout
the whole line of attack.
The right column commanded by General Meadows
had met with more impediments than the rest ) it at¬
tacked and carried the eadga/t, a redoubt on the ene¬
mies
INDIA. 2:
jniiifi. mies which was defended by eight guns, and a pose to the array, had not the rumour of an intended India,
, i/—-' numerous garrison, nearly 500 of which fell in this at- attack by Tippoo during the night, kept them on the ——y——
tack. Considerable loss was also sustained by the Bri- alert. That such an attack h^d been meditated, there
tish in this redoubt. After its capture, the column was full evidence ; but both the chiefs and the soldiery
was again formed in its original order, and marched were so much dispirited by the fatal train of events that
with a view to support the centre under Lord Corn- had so rapidly taken place during the last twenty-four
wallis; but mistaking the proper track, and making hours, that they could not be induced to second the
too wide a circuit, it reached the Carighaut hill on the zeal of their sovereign. During the various conflicts of
enemy’s right, which had already been carried by Co- the 6th and 7th, the fatigues and dangers of the Bri-
lonel Maxwell. tish army were severe ; and its loss in killed, wounded.
The centre column about II o’clock forced through
the bound hedges, amidst a heavy fire from the sultan’s
redoubt and Tippoo’s lines. These, however, were also
forced. The troops were now enabled to cross the river,
and penetrate into the island. So closely did they press
upon the fugitives, that they would have entered the
citadel along with them, but for the precaution of rais¬
ing the drawbridge, which they had drawn up at the
moment of entering the place. So precipitately bad
Tippoo been forced to abandon his tent in the sultan’s
redoubt, that his silver sticks, pikes, and mathemati¬
cal instruments, were found scattered in the place.
The fort being inaccessible from the removal of the
bridge, the advanced party forced into the town or pet-
tah, which had been almost abandoned for the defence
of the batteries. Here they found 27 half-starved Eu¬
ropeans, loaded with irons, and confined in a dungeon.
Some of these unhappy men, who were now relieved,
had been cruelly given up to Tippoo by Admiral Suf-
frein ; others were deserters, whom Tippco, however,
had treated with equal severity.
The left division of the attack, which was command¬
ed by Lieut. Col. Maxwell, was destined to take posses¬
sion of the Carighaut hill, and from thence to descend
and penetrate into the island on the right flank of the
enemy. These objects were effected with rapidity, and
but little loss, except in crossing the Cavery, which was
deep and rapid, and at the same time strongly defend¬
ed by the enemy’s batteries. In crossing the stream,
which at this place was neck deep, the ammunition was
unavoidably damaged ; but the troops pressed forward
with the bayonet, and at last joined the other divisions
who were now assembled at the pettah.
The enemy having lost all their positions on the north
side of the river, where the siege was to commence, and
almost the whole of the island, every^material object of
the assault was secured. On the side of the British, the
loss, though considerable, was small in proportion to the
importance of the victory, and the disasters of the ene-
' my ; of whom, it afterwards appeared, that no less than
20,000 had either deserted, or been slain in the vari¬
ous conflicts during this night of enterprise, danger, and
death.
On the 7th, the enemy, as if ashamed of the rapidity
with which their difl’erent posts had been abandoned,
made several attempts to recover them. Their efforts
were directed chiefly to the sultan’s redoubt, command¬
ed by Major Sibbald. Exposed to the guns of the
fort, and the batteries on the island, the major’s little
party defended the place for the whole day ; and hav¬
ing successfully repulsed the different assaults of the ene¬
my, they at last, weary of the attempt, desisted from
the enterprise. The endeavour which the sultan’s troops
made to regain the pettah, met with a similar check ;
and the night of the 7th would have afforded some re-
and missing, was far from being inconsiderable (536
men). The extent and importance of the acquisitions
gained by this brilliant contest seemed, however, to
compensate every sacrifice that had been made. It now
occupied the lines and posts from which the enemy had
been driven ; and the works which had been so com¬
pletely fortified for the defence of the capital, now be¬
came lines of circumvallation for its attack. The troops
on the one side were broken and dispirited ; on the 0-
ther they were in perfect order, and animated with their
recent success. The Europeans in the service of Tip¬
poo, after the disastrous events of the last two days, now
despairing of his fortunes, deserted to our army ; and
many of them enlisted with the Mahrattas ; others re¬
tired to the French settlements. After their departure,
the sultan’s army never encamped in order, or assumed
a formidable appearance.
The British army, now in possession of the island and and Seri».
town of Seringapatam, was immediately employed in&ai>ata,>l*
making the necessary preparations for the siege of the
fortress or citadel. This enchanting island being plen¬
tifully watered by the Cavery, and a vast number of
intersecting canals, maintains a perpetual verdure : on
the east, it is decorated by the buildings of the fort",
which occupies a mile square; on the west, by the Laul
Bang, containing the mausoleum of Hyder Aly, adorn¬
ed by tall cypresses, shaded walks, with a variety of
trees, whose foliage and perennial verdure announce an
everlasting spring. The mosques and religious build¬
ings were converted into hospitals for the wounded and
sick ; and the trees, now for the first time assailed by
the axe, furnished materials for fascines and gabions for
the approaching siege.
The proud mind of the sultan could not remain tran¬
quil, on seeing his beautiful gardens and all his im¬
provements threatened with destruction, by an enemy
who was also preparing to deprive him of his citadel
and all that remained of his power. His indignation
was expressed by a continual discharge of cannon from
the fort, directed against the island, the redoubts, and
every party of curs that seemed within his reach. Some
of his shot ranged as far as the camp, aimed apparently
at head quarters : but the distance of the several posts
was too great; and his ineffectual cannonade served ra¬
ther to proclaim the wrath of the sovereign, than ma¬
terially to annoy his enemies.
Tired by these repeated efforts, which he saw were
vain, and worn out by the ebullitions of his own anger,
lippoo at last began to meditate seriously on the neces¬
sity of a peace, the only means by which he could ex¬
tricate himself from his perilous state. In order to
smooth the way for his overtures, he previously liberated
two British officers, who had been detained contrary to
capitulation in Coimbatore ; these officers, till now the
victims of his cruelty, he loaded with presents, and made
them..
INDIA.
s
r re-
oji by
Cora
gence. The younger, Mooza ud Deen, was remarka¬
bly fair ; a regular set of features, with an open appear¬
ance, rendered him the general favourite, and more ad¬
mired than his brother. Clothed in red turbans and
long white muslin gowns, every where sparkling with
emeralds, rubies, and pearls, their external decorations
displayed a brilliancy far surpassing every European
idea of dress, and seemed to realize those laboured de¬
scriptions of splendour, which are in the western world
only seen in the pages of romance. Thus attired, the
young princes, immediately after their reception, were
seated on each side of Lord Cornwallis, when Gulam
Aly, the head vakeel of Tippoo, thus addressed the Bri¬
tish general : “ These children were this morning the
sons of the sultan my master: Their situation is now
changed : They must look, up to your lordship as their
father.”
The conduct of the commander in chief had perhaps
suggested this address : he had in fact received the
boys, as if they had been his own sons ; and he again
anxiously assured the vakeels, and the young princes
themselves, that every possible attention would be shown
them, and the greatest care taken of their persons.
The scene became more interesting ; the faces of the
children brightened upj and not only their attendants,
'but all the spectators, were delighted to observe, that
any fears they might have harboured were removed,
and that they would soon be reconciled to their change
of situation. With regard to the youngest, this desira¬
ble object was likely to be first attained. He was the
favourite son, and was said to be the sultan’s destined
heir: his mother, a beautiful and delicate woman, had
lost her brother in a late action ; and she herself had
died of fright a few days before the attack of the lines.
These circumstances, together with his own captivating
appearance, drew to the youngest boy tli£ greatest share
of attention, and rendered his situation doubly inte¬
resting.
After being regaled, in the eastern manner, with
otter of roses and betel nut; the princes were present¬
ed each with a gold watch from Lord Cornwallis, a
gift from which they seemed to receive great delight.
On this occasion the ministers of the Nizam and the
Mahrattas attended with their suits *, and when the ce¬
remony of their reception was ended, the princes were
led back to the tents furnished by the sultan, which
were of a green colour, an emblem of majesty which
Tippoo always bad carried with him into the field.
The detaining of Tippoo’s sons as hostages, may he
deemed a rigorous condition imposed on that prince j
the event, hoVvever, soon proved, that without this pre¬
caution, he could never have been induced, unless by a
renewal of hostilities, to fulfil the terms of the treaty.
The value of the money to be received, as well as the
rents of the different districts to be ceded, were keenly
disputed. When the territory of 'the Coorga rajah, in
particular, was required, the demand seemed unexpect¬
ed both by the sultan and his ministers, and was at first
received with astonishment and disdain. This rajah
was considered as a chief cause of the war, and Tippoo,
therefore, wished to crush him. Lord Cornwallis seem¬
ed equally resolute in his defence 5 for he again manned
the works, and threatened to recommence the attack.
Happily, his stock of provisions whs ample j and al¬
though upwards of 400,000 strangers and half a mil¬
lion of cattle were daily to be fed, the supply was suf-
fic ent for the whole ; while one million sterling of the
fine imposed on Tippoo, had already been paid. The
firm determination of the commander in chief, aided by
these circumstances, which were not unknown to the
sultan, damped his resolution. His resentment cooled,
and he finally implemented the terms agreed upon,
copies of which were delivered to the confederated
power.
I he war against Tippoo, which was now happily ter¬
minated, placed the dominions of the India Company
and of their allies in a state of safety and tranquillity
which they had never enjoyed since the aggrandisement
of his ambitious family. In the former Campaigns
against the Mysore, the civil and military powers were
placed in separate hands ; measures were planned with¬
out either energy or uniformity of system •, and their
execution being trusted to other hands, seldom display¬
ed the promptitude or vigour necessary to their success.
They had often ended in the accumulation of debt,
without adequate advantage j sometimes they produced
the devastation of the company’s possessions ; and hi¬
therto they had uniformly increased the powei* and pre¬
tensions of the formidable adversary whom they were
meant to subdue.
This war, just concluded, was followed by effects
suited to the energy and perseverance with which it
had been conducted. The one half of his dominions
was at once wrested from the hands of the common
enemy ; and while his power was thus diminished, an
additional strength and security was conferred on his
neighbours, by that impregnable barrier which was
added to their territories. In the three different cam¬
paigns the sultan’s loss had been great j in the last, it
seemed almost irredeemable, not less than 67 forts were
taken, 800 cannon fell into the hands of the allies ;
and the killed, wounded, and missing of Tippoo’s troops
amounted to 49,000 men. At the conclusion of the
treaty very few places of strength were left in his pos¬
session ; his treasury was drained, and the strength and
spirit of his army completely broken. To the modera¬
tion of the British commander alone it was owing that
he still remained a sovereign *, for he was at last com¬
pletely in the power of the victors. This moderation,
but little merited by a cruel and vindictive enemy, he
easily forgot when his power was afterwards revived,
and he permitted his French counsellors to persuade
him that he was again able to contend against the Bri¬
tish government.
In the mean time, however, the India Company’s Advan-
territories sensibly felt the advantages of the treaty ta§'es 0*
of Seringapatam. The presidency of Madras, which
was most exposed to inroads from the Mysore, has by t.Q,npim<.
that event secured a chain of forts along its frontiers,
which has ever since effectually freed it from the evils
of invasion. The Carnatic, recovered from its former
calamities, must improve its revenue, while it is defend¬
ed at a less expence. The Malabar coast and presi-
dency of Bombay have experienced, ever since the victory
at Seringapatam, a state of still greater security than
the Carnatic. It contains a country the most varied,
and perhaps the most fertile in India, which under a
regular government may be improved to an extent at
present <
179
2J2
India.
1S0
a»ii to the
allies.
I N D
present almost inconceiveable. Hitherto, from being a
scene of constant war and bloodshed, it has not been
suffered to develope its resources.
While the relative situation of the British and the
sultan were thus improved by the pacification, the inte¬
rests of our allies were perhaps still more essentially be¬
nefited. The Mahrattas have gained an addition of
strength as well as territory, by enlarging their frontier
from Darvvar to the Tumbndra; and the Nizam has
gained a similar advantage, being strengthened on the
one side by the same river, and on the other by the
Sanar and Gungecotta. Both powers are by their
position placed nearer the aid of the British, to whom
they must in future look up for their defence against
all their enemies, as well as the aggressions of the My¬
sorean armies. During the seven years tranquillity that
succeeded this memorable campaign, the armies of both
these powers, having no external enemy to cal! fi rth their
exertions, gradually relaxed in discipline, and assumed
a still more tumultuary and unmilitary appearance.
On the other band, the troops of Tippoo, from his
unconquerable hostility to the British power, and from
the secret instigations of the French, were kept in a
state of constant preparation, by which their discipline
was improved. The influence of time, and the re¬
sources of a vigorous government, gradually repaired
the vast losses which had been sustained during the
three last campaigns. The power of the Mysorean
court had indeed been much impaired, but it had lost
none of that antipathy and hatred against the neigh¬
bouring states by which it had always been distinguish¬
ed.
Of all the confederated powers engaged in this war,
the British derived, perhaps, the smallest share of the
direct and immediate advantages which resulted from it.
The prize-money shared by the army, although in¬
creased by the renunciation of the shares of Earl Corn¬
wallis and General Meadows, was not great j and the
territories that were ceded to the India Company being
disunited and at a distance, seem to have been demand¬
ed rather with a view to weaken the common enemy
than to add to their resources. Prior to the year 1799,
the period of the final conquest of Seringapatam and
the Mysore, more than two-thirds of the ancient terri¬
tory of the Mogul empire still remained in the hands of
populous and independent states, professing either the
Hindoo or Mohammedan faith. Among the latter, the
Nizam and the king of Mysore still held the chief
rank *, while five powerful Mahratta chiefs, the adher¬
ents of Brahmanism, occupied the first station in the
former class.
Some of these princes, during the former wars in
Hindostan, had individually arranged themselves on
the side of the monarchy of France, against that of Bri¬
tain. These rival and leading powers in Europe, had
for near a century occupied a similar position in the
east, which decided in some measure the fate of Asia.
The republican councils, however, by which the French
trovernment had been lately subverted, embraced a
much wider range in their foreign policy.
They attempted to form at once all these difi’erent
princes collectively into a combination, which they
hoped might become the instrument of their own ambi¬
tion. Hence proceeded their warm professions of
philanthropy to the natives, and their new-born zeal
I A. .
for improving their condition, and for rescuing them imVh,
from the rapacity and tyranny of the British. 'Ihe' v-
same unperishable thirst after external conquest and
universal dominion which instigated that nation to
attempt those momentous changes, which were lately
beheld in Europe, began to display their violence in
the east, and to characterize the whole of the French ^
policy in Asia. Confidential agents had already beenRe6t|e5i
dispersed over the territories of these princes ; officersambitioi
from France had been secretly sent out and appointed tic*
to their armies. For several years these agents had
been sedulously employed not only in disciplining their
troops, but in promoting among the native princes a
combination for the purpose of subverting the British
government, and for annihilating throughout the pen¬
insula every power that might be deemed hostile to
their own.
These schemes of ambition, wild and romantic as
they may seem, have been executed with complete
success over almost one hall of Europe j and it must
be confessed, that the power of the mighty confederacy
which was projected in the east, was more than suffi¬
cient to subjugate the whole of India, had it been pos¬
sible to effect the steady co-operation of its members in
any common system of policy. A closer view of it will
evince its power and efficiency for the execution ol the
most extensive plans even of French ambition.
The Mahratta empire, by being properly consoli¬
dated, must of itself command an immense force.
Stretching throughout the whole length of the peninsu¬
la, from the bay of Bengal to the banks of the Indus,
its population has been estimated at no less than forty
millions of souls $ while its known revenue has been
found to amount to seventeen millions sterling. These
resources, however ample, it must be noticed, are far
more efficient in India than in Europe $ they have
there been found by actual experiment, adequate to the
establishment and constant maintenance of an army of
upwards of 300,000 men. Nor has the progress of the
French emissaries in communicating European tactics
to this immense force, been at all inadequate to the
vast schemes of their policy, or to the magnitude of the
undertaking; many battalions in the service of the
Peshwa and of Holkar, but more especially in the esta¬
blishment of Scindiah, have been found in a state of
discipline that might have been deemed creditable in
most European armies. Among the troops of this lat¬
ter prince, the brigade of General Perron has long been
distinguished by a system of tactics hardly inferior to
that of the British Sepoys ; it consists of about 40,000
men, who are regularly regimented and brigaded, and
as completely clothed and accoutred as the British
troops. The pay of this force is regularly issued, a
rare occurrence in India; and while in the field, itt
operations are sustained by a well appointed artillery,
consisting of upwards of 40 pieces of ordnance.
To the charge of this favourite portion of his army
Scindiah has for some time past committed the capital
of the empire, and the custody of the venerable but
unfortunate Shah Allum; a monarch who, it is said,
has reached the uncommon period of 90 years; and
who, it would appear, is more wasted and broken down
by an unexampled load of calamity, than by either the
weight or feebleness of his singular age. The forcible
restraints to which this unhappy prince has for many
years
INDIA.
years been subjected, easily enabled the French party
among Scindiah’s troops to wrest from him the sanction
of the imperial name, and the semblance at least of le¬
gitimate authority $ a matter of some moment, as it
served to screen the progress of usurpation. It was ac¬
cordingly in the vicinity of the capital, and almost in
the presence of the dethroned emperor, that the projects
of French ambition seemed to tend to maturity with the
most steady and rapid course. Considerable advances
had already been made towards the forma! cession of
the important provinces of Agra and Delhi to the
French government, and towards their final union with
that distant kingdom.
Fortunately for the independence of the neighbour¬
ing states, and the safety of the British empire, that
nobleman who at this critical period had been appoint¬
ed to the government of India possessed a complete
knowledge of the character and views of the French
nation. Soon after the arrival of the marquis of Wel-
lesly in the east, his innate penetration, and unwearied
industry in acquiring the knowledge of Indian politics,
enabled him to discover the whole range and extent of
those plans of hostility which the French had medi¬
tated in Asia. He was fully apprised of the dangerous
situation of the British empire in that quarter of the
globe ; and with equal promptitude and energy he em¬
ployed the whole resources of its power in order to avert
or repel the danger.
It was, however, at Hyderabad in the Deccan that
the impatience and activity of French intrigue first
compelled him to meet actual hostility in the field : an
insurrection of the French officers there had wrested
from the Nizam the whole authority over his army,
and in fact, had already converted that faithful and
peaceable ally of the British into an open enemy. By
a sudden and unexpected movement of a small part of
our army, that had been prepared for this purpose, these
officers were all suddenly apprehended, and the allegi¬
ance of the Nizam, and the subordination of his army,
were almost instantaneously restored. This first act of
the marquis Wellesly, though scarcely heard of in Eu¬
rope, certainly augured favourably of his government;
for it not only paved the way to his subsequent success
against the Mysore, but from its promptitude and de¬
cision it deserved to be ranked among the most meri¬
torious measures of his whole administration.
The vengeance of the king of Mysore, for his former
losses and defeats, had not suffered him to enjoy a mo¬
ment of tranquillity after the late pacification (d). He
had in fact been raising up a Mohammedan confe¬
deracy, which was to consist of the grand seignior, the
Persian chiefs, the nabob of Oude, and the Nizam ; and
was intended for a purpose, no less splendid in the eyes
of the faithful, than the extirpation, not only of the
British, but of all the enemies of Islamism throughout
Hindostan. The army of this prince was fully pre¬
pared to take the field, but the fortunate event that has
Vol. XI. Part I. f
just been related, had deprived him of the co-operation inti
of the Nizam, his nearest, and therefore his most effi- '—“-y
cient ally.
The native princes of India are in general far more-
prompt in imbibing resentment, and in learning maxims
of hostility against their neighbours, than cautious or
prudent in their application. Their French instructors
were also, at this period, so much intoxicated with the
new form which their own government in Europe had
assumed, that they had instituted a society, in the ca¬
pital of Mysore, for the romantic purpose of spreading
the doctrine of liberty and equality among the despots
and slaves of Asia. Ihe sovereign of Mysore himself
was easily persuaded to become an honorary member
of this institution, where be appeared among its associ¬
ates under the name of Citvzcn Tippoo, an appellation
perhaps the most awkward and incongruous that had
ever been assumed by an eastern despot. The wild
and frantic orisons that were daily poured forth in this
club, in favour of an imaginary liberty, were constant¬
ly accompanied with sentiments of detestation, and vows
pf eternal hostility, against the British government;
its forces were therefore instantly prepared and march¬
ed into the field to meet an aggression, which there
had been so little care taken to conceal. Past experi¬
ence had taught the British officers to avoid the pursuit
of a native army in its rapid and discursive evolutions
in the field ; the British, therefore, marched directly to¬
wards the capital of the enemy, which fell, but not till
two decided victories had been obtained without Its
walls, and also an obstinate defence had been made in i8j
the interior of the city. In this last conflict (e), which Fall of
was maintained by both the assailants and the nativesTjPP°°
with equal valour and obstinacy, much blood was spilt, wit^j‘s
and the lives of many brave men were lost, among the03™ ^
rest that of Tippoo Sultaun, whose body was found,
after long search, among heaps of the slain, where he
had fallen nobly defending the last bulwark of his king¬
dom, and where, however unfortunate he may be deem¬
ed in other respects, he at last met with a fate not un¬
worthy of his bravery.
_ By the pacification at Hyderabad, the fall of Se-
ringapatam, and the death of Tippoo Sultaun, the Mo¬
hammedan branch of the grand confederacy, which
the French had raised against the British power in In¬
dia, was completely broken and finally destroyed. For
although the few remaining adherents of the" deceased
monarch made some desperate efforts for the restoration
of his family, these were rendered abortive by the acti¬
vity and vigilance of those British officers" who had
been left in charge of the conquered country (f). The
campaign against the Mysore was, therefore, completed
by a signal act of justice, as creditable to the govern¬
ment of India, as the late brilliant successes had been
honourable to the British arms. The greater part of the
vanquished territory W'as restored to the rajah of My¬
sore, and his ancient family again mounted that throne,
G g from
(d) Effected by Marquis Cornwallis.
(e) This memorable attack was led by General Baird, who had been for three years confined in a dungeon
by the tyrant. ' ‘ 6
(f) Particularly by Sir Arthur Wellesly, who signalized himself by the defeat of Doondea Waugh, the most
steady adherent of Tippoo. °
l
:34
India
I N
from which they had been driven by the. treachery and
. usurpation of I'i}>poo and his father; nor did the ven¬
geance of the Biitish, though hurled with such de¬
structive rapidity against the most formidable and in¬
veterate of all their enemies, prevent them from aflord-
ing sympathy and relief to the surviving family of the
Mysorean kings', ample endowments were set apart for
their support, which they still continue to enjoy, with
perhaps equal comfort, and certainly with greater se¬
curity, than in the most prospex-ous days of the fortunes
of their house.
This train of important and successful events took
place during the short space of only a few months after
the arrival of the marquis of Wellesly, and they cer¬
tainly entitled his administration to rank with the most
active and brilliant that had ever been displayed by any
governor of India ; according, however, to his views
of the state of that country, he must have regarded his
labours as scarcely halt finished. He saw the immense
power of the Mahratta empire still remaining not only
unbroken, but daily increasing, and consolidating under
the active and unceasing operation of French influence.
A French state, as already noticed, of large extent
and formidable power, had been framed by the succes¬
sive labours of Generals de Boyne and Perron, around
the capital of India. This nascent povver the all-de¬
vouring ambition of the new emperor had already
grasped as a rich prize, and its destruction became
therefore absolutely necessary to the safety of our empire
in India, since amidst all the multiplied aggressions of
his neighbours, the usurper had uniformly distinguished
the British nation as the marked though perhaps not
the ultimate object of his hostility.
The reduction of a hostile power so immediately in
the vicinity of our possessions, might certainly have
justified a war but as no actual aggression had yet been
committed in that quarter, it was on the other side of
the peninsula that the marquis of Wellesly was again
first called upon for the active support of the interests
of his government: the danger became at once pressing
and immediate by the usurpation of the whole Mahrat¬
ta power by a single chief; and the cause of the fugitive
was identified with our own.
No balance The politics of India were never so refined, or con-
of power siderate, as to admit of a balancing system, by which
known in {jje overgroWn power of any individual state might
be prevented from endangering the independence of
the rest. Hardly any circumstance of common danger
has ever been deemed sufficiently urgent, to unite the
native princes in the defence of the country even against
foreign invasion. During the contest between the Bri¬
tish and the king of Mysore, the Mahrattas observed a
suspicious neutrality: they gazed on the combatants with
an indifference that bordered on fatuity ; and which
strongly foreboded the dissolution of their state. After
the fall of that kingdom, their empire actually fell into
a state of anarchy that demanded the most prompt
measures of precaution for the safety of the British ter¬
ritories, and those of its allies, which lay around its
frontiers. The constitution of their empire, originally
ill constructed and undefined, had lately been radically
changed. The ancient rajahs of Satarah, who had
originally laid the foundation of its power, and ex¬
tended its influence over the peninsula with such un¬
exampled rapidity, had gradually sunk from the rank
Indian po
lilies.
D I A.
of sovereigns to imbecility, and, owing to the per- j,,^
sonal ambition of their servants, fell into a station, if
not of abolute privacy, at least of complete insignifi¬
cance.
Their ministers, already become hereditary in their
offices, and too powerful for controul, had sufficient
influence to remove the seat of government from Sa¬
tarah, and to constitute the town of Poonah the capital
of the empire. There, removed from the eyes of the
princes, they no longer deigned to preserve further al¬
legiance, than the semblance of delegated power ; they
accordingly retained the appellation of Peshwa, but
compelled the subordinate members of the confederacy
to acknowledge them as the legitimate organ of the
whole executive power of the state, whether civil or
military. It is, however, scarcely possible, accurately
to define either the rights or the power attached to
the Peshwa, after his being acknowledged represen¬
tative of the supreme head of the empire. The ex¬
tent of his prerogatives seems to have varied at dif¬
ferent times, according to the personal talents and am¬
bition of each incumbent in the exercise of this recent
power.
Bajee llao, the present Peslnva, from that imbecility
and indolence which in Asia is so often attached to
high stations, had devolved upon inferior agents almost
the whole of the active duties of his office. His
power had frequently been disputed or controlled;
he had at different times nearly become a prey to the
ambition of the subordinate chiefs ; and, at the period
now under review, though defended by Scindiah, he
had been completely defeated by Holkar’s troops,
and obliged to flee for security beyond the limits of bis
own dominions.
The danger to the British possessions, and those of
their allies, became pressing and immediate, from this
usurpation of almost the whole Mahratta power by the
hands of a single chieftain; and the cause of the Peshwa
thus became identified with that of our India govern¬
ment.
A treaty of defensive alliance between the India
Company and the Peshwa, was therefore drawn up at
the earnet solicitation of that prince, and was finally
ratified at Bassein, where he had fled from the aggres¬
sions of Holkar for protection. By this instrument, it
was stipulated, that he should be restored to his domini¬
ons, and to the exercise of his legitimate authority, on
condition of his maintaining for the defence of his ter¬
ritories, and at his own expence, a brigade of British
troops ; which it was at first agreed should consist of
6000, but afterwards the number was increased to
10,000 men.
The terms of this convention were no sooner arranged,
than the British army, under Sir Arthur Wellesly,
marched towards Poonah with that promptitude and deci¬
sion which have always distinguished the services of this jg
valuable officer. The rapidity of his movements, and Poonal
his unexpected advance, saved the capital from destruc-keu
tion ; for the troops of Holkar, who had continued to
pillage the city, since it fell into their possession, had at
last resolved to finish the catastrophe, by setting it on
fire. Alarmed, however, by the sudden approach of
the British army, they fled from the place with the ut¬
most precipitation, and soon after abandoned the ter¬
ritory of Poonah. Room was thus made for the peace¬
able
(Y
S5
uma-
°t the
Pratt a
cli
I N D
able restoration of the deposed sovereign; and the Pesh-
wa, when he afterwards arrived, was received by his
subjects, not merely with submission and quietness, but
with every mark of the sincerest joy and satisfaction.
During his absence the inhabitants had been subjected
to the severest forms of military execution; and forced to
submit to the various exactions of a chief the most needy,
desperate, and rapacious, of all the leaders of the preda¬
tory bands of his countrymen. When, therefore, they
again beheld their lawful sovereign, they greeted his re¬
turn by salutes from all the forts in hiskingdom, and testi¬
fied their joy, by illuminations on the tops and acclivities
of the hills throughout the whole vicinity of Poonah.
Thus far the measures of the governor of India
wore an aspect of consistency and vigour, which au¬
gured well in favour of their ultimate success. The
justice of his interference at this time, to check the
overgrown power of an aspiring adversary, and to
succour the distress of a fallen prince, will hardly be
questioned by such as are versant in the politics of In¬
dia : Nor will it be denied, since all the Mahratta princes
exercised the right of making treaties themselves, that
the same privilege belonged to the head of the empire.
According to these views, the defensive treaty of
Bassein was not only avowed by the parties, but freely
communicated to the rest of the chiefs, who explicitly
declared, that it contained no stipulations injurious
either to the principles of their constitution, or to the
just rights of any member of the Mahratta confederacy.
On the other hand, its advantages were sufficiently ob¬
vious. It had the immediate effect of restoring a depo¬
sed prince to his throne, and to the exercise of his ac¬
knowledged rights, as well as of checking a dangerous
usurpation. It detached from the influence of French
councils a very important branch of the Mahratta con¬
federacy, and therefore coincided with the general
tendency and spirit of the British policy in the east.
But the power of the Peshwa, and the predominant
rights which, by the constitution of the empire, were at¬
tached to his office, had, as was already noticed, be¬
come a grand object of ambition among the more con¬
siderable chiefs. Scindiah had for many years labour¬
ed to gain an ascendency at the court of Poonah, and
on some occasions actually possessed a powerful influ¬
ence on its councils. Ragojee Boonsla had, from fa¬
mily connection, some grounds for the advancement of
his own claims to this office ; while Holkar had lately,
by the fortune of war, had the whole authority placed
within his grasp, and in the name of Amrut Rao, bro¬
ther to the Peshwa, had actually begun to exercise its
different prerogatives.
The final deprivation of these chiefs, of so fair an
object of ambition as the general controul of the whole
Mahratta empire, seemed to reproach their indolence
and want of ambition ; and the nearer they considered
its attainment, the stronger the jealousy and disap¬
pointment which its loss occasioned. The deep resent¬
ment thus excited among these chiefs, though unac¬
knowledged by themselves, was the true cause of that
open hostility which they were now about to commence
against the British power. Thus impelled by the
strong emotions of disappointed ambition, Scindiah and
the rajah of Nagpore entered into a dose engagement
to frustrate the arrangements lately stipulated by the
treaty of Bassein. In order to execute this purpose,
235
India.
—V
I A.
each chief set on foot a large army, which was marched
from different quarters to a point of union, bordering
on the territories of the Nizam, an ally of the Indian
company.
Ibis menacing position they maintained for a con¬
siderable time, in order to complete their own prepara¬
tions, and the more effectually to urge Holkar to join
their confederacy ; nor could they be persuaded to aban¬
don it by the strongest remonstrances of our govern¬
ment against military preparations so unnecessary for
theii own defence, and in a situation so incompatible
With the peace and safety of the British allies. How¬
ever unwilling the marquis of Wellesly might be to
hazard the tranquillity and safety of the British empire
in the east by entering into a contest with these power¬
ful chiefs, whose dominions actually stretched over
more than one-half of the peninsula of India, he had
however no alternative left him. The full and posi¬
tive information which he had from various sources ob¬
tained, of the nature and extent of the hostilities that
had for some time past been meditated, was now con¬
firmed by the menaces of the enemy, and the actual
pieparations that he had made to carry them into exe¬
cution. He foresaw the dangerous crisis which was
now so near at hand ; and the hollow professions of
friendship which were constantly sent in reply to his
remonstrances, did not tor a moment prevent him from
bringing forward the whole resources of his government
to defeat their enterprises.
A combination of the Mahratta empire, so extensive Anniefsent
and powerful as that now formed by the confederates, against
had never hitherto been brought into action against thetliem*
British power ; and it must be acknowledged also, that
a system of defence, equally prompt, vigorous, and com¬
prehensive, was never planned by any former governor
of British India. live different armies, each of con¬
siderable force, were speedily prepared, brought into
the field, and ready to invade the vast territory of the
enemy, nearly at the same period of time. The value
of the previous arrangements that had been formed
with the Nizam and the Peshwa, particularly the sub¬
sidiary treaties, was now distinctly felt. By them the.
Biitish army was enabled to proceed through the
fi lenoly teriitones of allied chiefs, to the very bounda¬
ry of the Mahratta dominions, where it was joined by
large subsidiary force both from Hyderabad and
Poonah, which materially promoted the success of the
campaign. The marquis thus was enabled to attack
the extensive dominions of the enemy, from almost
every assailable point, by an effort almost simultaneous.
On the south they were invaded by a powerful divi¬
sion of the Madras army under Sir Arthur Wellesly ;
in Guzei at, on the west, by Colonel Alurray, and a
strong detachment of the Bombay troops ; a similar ef¬
fort was also made by General Lake on the northern
extremity of Scindiah’s dominions, where the main
strength of his army was stationed in conjunction with
the celebrated brigade of General Perron. On the
east, in Bundelcund, the same system of attack was
pursued, where the adherents of the confederacy, Ali
Mohammed and Himnut Bahaudur, were overpowered
and dispersed. During the execution of all these ope¬
rations, the provinces of Balasore and Cuttack were
wrested from the rajah of Nagpore, by the immediate
direction and under the auspices of the govevnor-gene-
O g 2 ral
I N D
ral himself who had planned and combined all these as¬
saults with a degree of judgment and accuracy which
secured their uniform success, and which has proved as
creditable to his own talents as the prompt execution
of his plans has been honourable to our Indian armies.
But the circumstance which appears most signally to
have promoted the success of this eventful campaign,
was the ample and unrestricted authority which was
conferred on the different commanders carrying on their
operations so far removed from the seat of government.
It was thus these officers were enabled to meet every
new exigency by the unrestrained application of all
their resources, and to surmount or evade unforeseen
difficulties, as they happened to arise, by the immediate
exercise of discretionary power. 'I he unexampled ra¬
pidity of our victories, and vast extent of the conquests
that were made in the short space ol a few montns,
must be in some measure also ascribed to that just tri¬
bute of commendation which was so impartially and
liberally bestowed on the officers and troops after their
hard-fought battles. This approbation, equally merited
and useful, inspired the army with a just confidence in
its own strength, and preserved among the troops un¬
common alacrity amidst their fatigues and. dangei.
The strong partiality which the marquis of Welles-
Jy must have naturally felt for the brilliant services of
his brother, on no occasion prevented him from dis¬
cerning the merits of other officers, and from confer-
riB<r on them their just share of applause. Immediately
after the battle of Delhi, he expresses his sense of the
services of General Lake and his army in the following
spirited and patriotic terms in his general orders to the
troops. He observes, that “ on reviewing the rapid
successes obtained by our arms within the short space.of
a few months, every loyal subject of the British empire
must be animated with the most zealous emotions of just
pride and national triumph. I have already expressed
the sentiments of gratitude and admiration with which
I contemplated the conduct of his excellency the com¬
mander in chief, and his army, in the action of the 29th
of August, and in the gallant assault of the fortress of
Allv Ghur on the 4th of September. The decisive
victory gained on the nth, in the battle of Delhi, jus¬
tifies the firm confidence I reposed 111 the bravery, per¬
severance, and discipline of the army, and in the skill,
judgment, and invincible intrepidity of their illustrious
commander. The glory of that day is not surpassed
hv any recorded triumph of the British arms in India j
and is attended by every circumstance calculated to
•elevate the fame of British valour, to illustrate the cha¬
racter of British humanity, and to secure the stability
of the British empire in the east.”
The bravery of Sir A. Wellesly and his army, their
achievements in the memorable battles of.Assye and
At gaum in the Deccan, were not less conspicuous j nor
were the general merits of this officer less worthy of
those liberal and manly encomiums which he received
from the marquis. Both commanders enjoyed the ap¬
probation of their sovereign, and received from him
those honours which are the reward of valour. Fortu¬
nately too for the interests of the British empire, assail¬
ed at this period by the most inveterate of all its ene¬
mies, the solid advantages resulting from those well
contested battles were not inferior to the splendour of
their achievement.
I A.
Their immediate consequences were the defeat of India,
the combined armies of tlie confederate chiefs ; and, ~
from the loss of their artillery, an irreparable blow to J)ril
their strength and resources throughout the whole oi lianl ftic.
the Deccan. These prosperous results were, no doubt, cesscs.
aided and accelerated by the auspicious progress of the
army at all the different points from which it invaded
the Mahratta empire. Soon after these successes, the
French officers attached to Scindiah’s army, after ha¬
ving quarrelled with the native sirdars and with each
other, abandoned the service of that chief : after the
example of Perron their principal partizan, they sub¬
mitted to the protection of the British commander, who
suffered them to retire with whatever property they had
acquired, and had been able to bring away.
Thus the grand fabric of French power which that
nation had been anxiously raising up, with the assu¬
med sanction of the imperial authority, and the more
efficient support of the JMahratta power, was at last
broken down, and completely destroyed throughout the
Avhole of India. The conquest of Balasore and Cuttack
by Colonel Harcourt seemed well calculated to prevent
its future renovation j for it connected the two presi¬
dencies of Bengal and Madras, and united the British
territories along the whole extent of the Coromandel
coast, where they now present an unbroken and hostile
frontier against every inroad from the shore, and form
a barrier against the introduction of French supplies,
and officers to discipline the armies of every inimical
power.
The strong detachment of the Bombay army under
Colonel Murray, though engaged in enterprises appa¬
rently less splendid, were equally serviceable in promo¬
ting the important results of the campaign. This offi-
Cer not only defended the coast and British territory in
that quarter, and those of our ally the Guickar rajah •,
but he also reduced the fortresses of Broach, Povvan-
ghur, and other posts of importance. Thus, in every
quarter of this extended warfare, was the British cause
triumphant j—on the shores of Guzerat and Balasore,
on the mountains of the Deccan, and in the plains of
Delhi, her banners were supported with equal energy
and spirit and victory everywhere continued steadily
to follow them. _ .
In the space of a few months, a rapid succession of
events had taken place, of sufficient importance to
change completely the relative condition of the British
empire, and the different powers of India. Its power
was enlarged ; and its ascendency among the neigh¬
bouring states was without controul. Seven hundred
pieces of cannon had been taken from the enemy j
their armies routed and dispersed. Eight fortresses had
been reduced, either by siege or by escalade. The
mighty strength of the French and Mahratta confede¬
racy had been suddenly crushed throughout a territory
extending over 1000 miles square. What seemed, how¬
ever, of no less importance, in these warlike times, and
in the critical situation of the British empire, then at¬
tacked and threatened with invasion, by its most power¬
ful and inveterate enemy in Europe ; her military re¬
putation was heightened ; the laurels she had lately ga¬
thered in Syria and Egypt were refreshed ; and she en¬
joyed a satisfactory proof, that amidst increasing luxury
and imminent danger, no portion of the enterprise and
valour of her armies bad been lost. Nor is it to be lor-
gotteu
I N D
jj;a, gotten that all her late victories in the east, had been
'*• Ujy'—***' obtained over troops not in the ordinary circumstances
of Indian armies. They had been disciplined by Eu¬
ropean officers, and led with intrepidity and skill. The
proficiency they had made in European tactics was so
great, that during the action at Assye, the Mahrattas
made no less than five different changes of position, and
sustained on the same day an equal number of assaults,
before they yielded the contest. It was by the point of
the bayonet alone, that they were at last compelled to
relinquish their guns j 100 of which were taken on the
field of battle, by an army scarce amounting to a tenth
part of the number of that which they had, with such
Ijsp singular bravery, driven from the field,
pete con- The Mali rat ta confederacy being finally subdued,
a peace was concluded between the India Company,
Dowlut Rao Scindiah, and the Berar rajah, in January
1804. The short period of tranquillity that succeeded
this event was speedily interrupted by Holkar, another
powerful chief, whose expulsion of the Peshwa had
originally occasioned the war. This prince, though
he kept aloof from the confederacy of his countrymen,
with an indifference which seemed to argue at once a
deficiency of patriotism and a want of sound policy,
was, nevertheless, found to maintain the contest for
his independence with far greater skill and bravery
I than any prince whom the British arms had opposed
In India.
The power and resources of Holkar had gradually
been increased, like that of the other chiefs, by the in¬
troduction of European officers into his army, and by
an improved system of discipline which was thus esta¬
blished. Thus formidable itself, bis power was render¬
ed almost inassailable, from the nature of his country,
which is uncommonly mountainous, and, during the
rains, impassable from jungles and morasses. His skill
in maintaining the predatory warfare, so congenial to
a Mahratta army, was far superior to that of the other
chiefs j whose experience had so fully taught him the
danger of risking any regular engagement with Euro¬
pean troops. Thus, although his territories were invad¬
ed on all sides by detachments of the company’s forces,
he constantly eluded their attacks} and by the singular
rapidity of his movements, he was enabled suddenly to
assemble almost bis whole force, and overpower whatever
detachments he might find at a distance from support.
In this situation, the troops under Colonel Monson were
surprised. This officer had marched against his capi¬
tal Indoor, in concert with Colonel Murray, who had
reached the place from Bombay, and captured it with¬
out much opposition. His less fortunate coadjutor,
however, after being betrayed by his guides and de¬
serted by a part of his troops, was attacked by a supe¬
rior force under Holkar himself, before which he was
forced.to retreat towards Agra, through a country im¬
passable from the rains, and destitute of provisions. Af¬
ter several disastrous conflicts, during a retreat of seven
weeks, which degenerated into a flight, the greater
part of his guns, and the whole of the baggage and mi-
[ j litary stores, were lost. A few only of the troops readi¬
ed Agra at midnight, in a state of extreme distress j
[ the greater part had been overtaken in their flight,
I and were either massacred, or cruelly mutilated, by
their ferocious pursuers.
Colonel Willot of the Bengal artillery was almost
1 A.
equally unsuccessful in an attack which lie had planned
against a strong post in the interior : he failed in the
attempt, and soon after died of the wounds he had re¬
ceived. It was in Bundelcund, and the country of the
Rohillas, that Holkar received the most considerable
checks, which produced a reverse of fortune. From
both these territories he was completely driven by
Lieutenant-colonel Fawcet and General Smith.
Parties ol his cavalry had been repeatedly defeated
by Lord Lake: but the rapidity ot their movements as
often saved them from destruction } and it was not till
the decisive battle of Deeg, on the 13th of November,
that the main strength of this enterprising chief was
completely broken. At this place his army, trusting
to the great strength of its position, behind successive
ranges of batteries, was induced to hazard a general
action. From these different batteries, which extended
to the depth of two miles, they were successively driven
by the gallant General Frazer, who had the credit of
forcing a post which had been deemed impregnable }
and which at this period was defended by 24 battalions
of infantry, and 150 pieces of cannon.
In this brilliant achievement the general was wound¬
ed in the leg, and soon after was obliged to be carried
oft the field. The completion of the victory thus fell
to Colonel Monson, who now saw complete vengeance
inflicted for his past disasters, and for the unexampled
cruelty of his enemy ; 2000 of whom were killed, ei¬
ther in the battle or during the retreat. An immense
number was wounded, and among those many consider¬
able chiefs } while 87 pieces of cannon fell into his
hands, which partly consisted of the same guns which
he had himself lost during his disastrous retreat to
Agra.
Had Holkar confided merely to his effective force in
the field, his cause might have now been regarded as
desperate. His boldness, however, and his unexampled
success, had gained him the support of several of the
native princes. Among these he had seduced the rajah
of Bhurtpore, an ally of the British, and the chief of
the celebrated cast of the Jauts, the most warlike tribe
in upper India. General Lake was therefore obliged
to concentrate his army, and to employ it in the reduc¬
tion of Bhurtpore, a fortress which experience has pro¬
ved to have been the strongest and most impregnable
in the whole peninsula. While thus employed, the dis¬
persed troops of Holkar had time to rendezvous in dis¬
tant quarters j and were successful in cutting off his
supplies of provisions, and in plundering the surround¬
ing districts, by that predatory mode of warfare, for
which the Mahrattas have always been celebrated.
The reduction of Bhurtpore, thus defended by the
indefatigable efforts of Holkar, by its intrepid garrison,
and its own natural strength, proved the most arduous
enterprise which the British troops had ever under¬
taken in Asia. The success of the besieged in repelling
four different assaults, animated them with fresh courage
and intrepidity. The rajah and his whole tribe were
united by the ties of blood, as well as of civil authority.
They had claim to a high cast among the natives,
which they knew must be forfeited forever by uncondi¬
tional submission: Unfortunately these were the only
terms which General Lake, in the peremptory instruc¬
tions which were given for its reduction, was permit¬
ted to accept. The rajah, therefore, having collected in
the
23l
India.
INDIA.
India, tlie fort, his women, his children, and his treasures, re-
—*■—-* solved to bury them all with himself under its ruins, ra¬
ther than submit to terms which were deemed as dis¬
graceful to his religion and his rank, as they were mor¬
tifying to his feelings as a soldier.
Compelled by the orders of his superior, and un¬
daunted by all the past disasters which the troops had
already sull’ered, General Lake resolved to hazard ano¬
ther attempt. In the account given of it in his dispatch
to the governor-general, dated 22il February, he ob¬
serves, that “ it appeared our failure on the 20th was
to be accounted for, in a great measure, by the occur¬
rence of unexpected accidents and delays, as part of the
corps who formed the storming party had surmounted
the principal difficulty, and had nearly gained the sum¬
mit of the bastion 5 where, I was informed a few hours
more battering would make the ascent perfectly easy.
I determined to make another attempt yesterday.
“ The party for this service consisted of the whole
European force, and the two battalions of the native
infantry of the Bengal army; and the greater part of
his majesty’s 55th and 86th regiments, the grenadier
battalion, and the flank companies of the 1st battalion
3d regiment, from the Bombay division. The whole
moved on to the attack about three o’clock in the af¬
ternoon, under the command of the honourable Briga¬
dier Monson. The troops, most confident of success,
commenced the attack, and persevered in it for a con¬
siderable time, with the most determined bravery ; but
their utmost exertions were not suflicient to enable them
to gain the top of the breach. The bastion, which
was the point of attack, was extremely steep ; the re¬
sistance opposed to them was vigorous, and as our men
could only mount by small parties at a time, the ad¬
vantages were very great on the side ot the enemy.
Discharges of grape, logs of wood, and pots filled with
combustible materials, immediately knocked down those
who were ascending; and the whole party, after hav¬
ing engaged in an obstinate contest for two hours, and India,'
suffering very severe loss, was obliged to relinquish the ^
attempt, and to retire to our trenches.” The loss of
the British army in this last assault, and that of the
20th, amounted to 300 killed, and 1564 wounded :
its whole loss during the different attacks, amounted to
upwards of 3000 of the bravest of our troops ; while
the unconditional surrender of the place, though the ul¬
timate object of all these perilous attempts, was never
attained.
The rajah, however, again proposed the terms he
had formerly ofl’ered ; and consented to pay three lacks
of rupees to the army, and the expences of the war.
Hostages were given for the regular discharge of these
sums, at different instalments. Thus the last prince in
India who resisted the British arms, was found to have
made the most glorious defence of his independence,
and to have secured for himself the most honourable
terms. Holkar himself, after having been often beat¬
en, was at last deserted by almost the whole of his
troops, and was obliged to escape with a retinue so
scanty, as was hardly sufficient for the protection of his
person. Nor did this daring and magnanimous prince
deign to render submission, or to sue for peace, till the
marquis of Wellesly had returned to Europe ; till he
had beheld the downfall of all the leading men of his
nation; and till, like another Galgacus, he had secu¬
red to himself the honour of being the last prince who
had dared to uphold the standard of independence in
his native country. Thus ended the contest between
the British government and the Mahratta states ;—a
combination of military chiefs who had suddenly emer¬
ged from obscurity, and risen to the highest rank among
the native powers. For the more recent history of the
British empire in Hindostan, see the article India,
in the Supplement.
India Company. See Company.
India Rubber. See Caoutchouc.
I N D
I N D
Indian
1 Botany
' Index.
INDIAN, in a general sense, denotes any thing be¬
longing to tbe Indies, East or West.
Indictment Indian Berry. See MENISPERMUM,'
Indian Bread. See Jatropha,
Indian Corn, or Maiz-e. See Zea,
Indian Cresses. See Tropteolum,
Indian Fig. See Cactus,
Indian Pagod-tree. See Ficus,
Indian Ink. See Ink.
Indian Reed. See Canna, Botany Index.
INDICATION, in Physic, whatever serves to di¬
rect the physician how to act.
INDICATIVE, in Grammar, tbe first mood or
manner of conjugating a verb, by which we simply
affirm, deny, or ask something: as, “ they love;”
mn umant, “ they do not love ;” amant ne ?■ “ do they
love ?” See GRAMMAR.
INDICTION, in Chronology, a cycle of 15 years.
See Cycle.
INDICTMENT, in Law, one of tbe modes of pro¬
secuting an offender. See Prosecution.
In English law, it is a written accusation of one or
5
more persons of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred to, Indictmj
and presented upon oath by, a grand jury. To this
end, the sheriff of every county is bound to return to
every session of the peace, and every commission aioyer
and terminer, and of general gaol delivery, twenty-four
good and lawful men of the county, some out of every
hundred, to inquire, present, do, and execute all those
things, which on the part of our lord the king shall
then and there he commanded them. They ought to
be freeholders ; but to what amount is uncertain :
which seems to be casus omissus, and as proper to be
supplied by tlie legislature as the qualifications of the j
petit jury ; which were formerly equally vague and un¬
certain, but are now settled by several acts of parlia¬
ment. However, they are usually gentlemen of the
best figure in the county. As many as appear upon
this pannel, are sworn upon tbe grand jury, to tbe
amount of twelve at tbe least, and not more than twenty-
three ; that twelve may be a majority. Which num¬
ber, as well as the constitution itself, we find ex-Wilk,!
actly described so early as the laws of King Etbelred : *!
Exeant seniores duodecim ihani, et preefectus cum eis, vt1
jurcnt
I N D
n\..jurenl super sanctuarium quodeis in manus dalur, quod
nolint ullum innocentum accusare, nec aliquem noxium
celare. In the time of King Richard I. (according to
Hoveden), the process of electing the grand jury, or¬
dained by that prince, was as follows : Four knights
were to be taken from the county at large, who chose
two more out of every hundred ; which two associated
to themselves ten other principal freemen, and those
twelve were to answer concerning all particulars re¬
lating to their own district. This number was probably
found too large and inconvenient; but the traces of
this institution still remain, in that some of the jury
must be summoned out of every hundred. This grand
jury are previously instructed in the articles of their in¬
quiry, by a charge from the judge who presides upon
the bench. They then withdraw to sit and receive in¬
dictments, which are preferred to them in the name of
the king, but at the suit of any private prosecutor; and
they are only to hear evidence on behalf of the prose¬
cution ; for the finding of an indictment is only in the
nature of an inquiry or accusation, which is afterwards
to be tried and determined ; and the grand jury are only
to inquire upon their oaths, whether there be sufficient
cause to call upon the party to answer it. A grand
jury, however, ought to be thoroughly persuaded of
the truth of an indictment, so far as their evidence goes ;
and not to rest satisfied merely with remote probabili¬
ties ; a doctrine that might be applied to very oppres¬
sive purposes.
The grand jury are sworn to inquire only for the bo¬
dy of the county, pro corpore comitatus; and therefore
they cannot regularly inquire of a fact done out of that
county for which they are sworn, unless particularly
enabled by act ol parliament. And to so high a nicety
was this matter anciently carried, that where a man was
wounded in one county, and died in another, the offen¬
der was at common law indictable in neither, because
no complete act of felony was done in any one of them :
but by statute 2d and ^d Edw. I, c. 2^. he is now in¬
dictable in the county where the party died. And by
statute 2 Geo. II. c. 21. it the stroke or poisoning be
m England, and the death upon the sea or out of Eng-
lane, or vice versa, the offenders, and their accessories,
may be indicted in the county where either the death,
poisoning, or stroke, shall happen. And so in some
other cases; as particularly, where treason is commit¬
ted out of the realm, it may be inquired of in any
county within the realm, as the king shall direct, in
pursuance of statutes 26 Hen. VIII. c. 13.; 33 Hen.
VIII. c. 23.; 35 Hen. VIII. c. 2. 5. 6.; Edw. VI*.
c. n. And counterfeiters, washers, or minishers, of
the current coin, together with all manner of felons and
their accessories, may, by statute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 6.
(confirmed and explained by 34 and 35 Hen. VIII.
c. 26. § 75, 76.) be indicted and tried for those offen¬
ces, if committed in any part of Wales, before the jus¬
tices of gaol-delivery and of the peace, in the next ad¬
joining county of England where the king’s writ run¬
neth : that is, at present in the county of Hereford or
Salop; and not, as it should seem, in the county of
t hester or Monmouth : the one being a county pala¬
tine where the king’s writ did not run j and the other
a part of Wales, in 26 Hen. VIII. Murders also,
whether committed in England, or in foreign parts, may,
ly virtue of the statute 33 Hen. VIU. c. 23. be inquil
C 239 ]
I N D
red of and tried by the king’s special commission in any Inth'elraent-
shire or place in the kingdom. By statute 10 and II
W. IH- c. 25. all robberies, and other capital crimes,
committed in Newfoundland, may be inquired of and
tried in any county in England. Oftences against the
black act, 9 Geo. I. c. 22, may be inquired of and
tiied in any county of England, at the option of the
prosecutor, bo felonies, in destroying turnpikes, or
works upon navigable rivers, erected by authority of
parliament, may, by statutes 8 Geo. II. c. 20. and 13
Geo. III. c. 84. be inquired of and tried in any adja¬
cent county. By statute 26 Geo. II. c. 19. plundering
or stealing from any vessel in distress or wrecked, or
bieaking any ship contrary to 11 Ann. statute 2. c. 18.
may be prosecuted either in the county where the fact
is committed, or in any county next adjoining; and if
committed in Wales, then in the next adjoining Eng¬
lish county : by which is understood to be meant, such
English county as, by the statute 26 Hen. VIII. above
mentioned, had before a concurrent jurisdiction of felo¬
nies committed in Wales. Felonies committed out of
the realm, in burning or destroying the king’s ships,
magazines, or stores, may, by statute 12 Geo. HI. c. 24.
be inquired of and tried in any county of England, or
in the place where the offence is committed. By statute
13 Geo. III. c. 63. misdemeanors committed in India
may be tried upon information or indictment in the
court of king s bench in England; and a mode is mark¬
ed out for examining witnesses by commission, and tran-
mitting their deposition to the court. But, in general,
all offences must be inquired into, as well as tried, in
the county where the fact is committed. Yet if larceny
be committed in one county, and the goods carried into
another, the offender may be indicted in either: for
the oflence is complete in both. Or he may be indict¬
ed in England for larceny in Scotland, and carrying
the goods with him into England, or vice versa; or
for receiving in one part of the united kingdom goods
that have been stolen in another. But for robbery,
burglary, and the like, he can only be indicted where
the fact was actually committed : for though the carry¬
ing away and keeping of the goods is a continuation of
the original taking, and is therefore larceny in the second
county, yet it is not a robbery or burglary in that juris¬
diction. And if a person be indicted in one county for
larceny of goods originally taken in another, and be
thereof convicted, or stands mute, he shall not be ad¬
mitted to his clergy ; provided the original taking be
attended with such circumstances as would have ousted
him of his clergy by virtue of any statute made previous
to the year 1691.
When the grand jury have heard the evidence, if
they think it a groundless accusation, they used former¬
ly to endorse on the back of the bill, Ignoramus ; or,
We know nothing of it: intimating, that though the’
facts might possibly be true, that truth did not appear
to them. But now they assert in English more ab¬
solutely, Not a true bill; or (which is the better way)
Not found; and then the party is discharged without
farther answer. But a fresh bill may afterwards be
preferred to a subsequent grand jury. If they are sa¬
tisfied of the truth of the accusation, they then indorse
upon it, “ A true bill anciently, Billa vera. The
indictment is then said to be found, and the party
stands indicted. But to find a bill, there must at least
twelve-
I N D [
InJictment- twelve of the jury agree : for so tender Is the law
0f England of the lives of the subjects, that no man
can he convicted at the suit of the king of any capi*
tal offence, unless by the unanimous voice of twenty-
four of his equals and neighbours $ that is, by twelve
at least of the. grand jury, in the first place, assent¬
ing to the accusation ; and afterwards by the whole pe¬
tit" jury of twelve more, finding him guilty upon his
trial. "But if twelve of the grand jury assent, it is a
good presentment, though some of the rest disagree.
And the indictment, when so found, is publicly deli¬
vered into court.
Indictments must have a precise and sufficient cer¬
tainty. By statute I Hen. V. c. 5. all indictments
must set forth the Christian same, surname, and addi¬
tion of the state and degree, mystery, town, or place,
and the county of the offender ; and all this to identify
his person. The time and place are also to be ascer¬
tained, by naming the day and township in which the
fact was committed : though a mistake in these points
is in general not held to be material, provided the
time be laid previous to the finding of the indictment,
and the place to be within the jurisdiction of the court;
unless where the place is laid, not merely as a venue,
but as part of the description of the fact. But some¬
times the time may be very material, where there is
any limitation in point of time assigned for the pro¬
secution of offenders j as by the statute 7 Will. III.
c. 3. which enacts, that no prosecution shall be had
for any of the treasons or misprisions therein mention¬
ed (except an assassination designed or attempted on
the person of the king), unless the bill of indictment
be found within three years after the offence commit¬
ted : and, in case of murder, the time of the death
must be laid within a year and a day after the mortal
stroke was given. The offence itself must also be set
forth with clearness and certainty j and in some crimes
particular words of art must he used, which are so ap¬
propriated by the law to express the precise idea which
it entertains of the offence, that no other words, how¬
ever synonymous they may seem, are capable of doing
it. Thus, in treason, the facts must be laid to be done
“ treasonably, and against his allegiance j” anciently,
proclitorie et contra ligeantice suae debitum; else the in¬
dictment is void. In indictments for murder, it is
necessary to say that the party indicted “ murdered,”
not ‘6 killed” or “ slew” the other ; which, till the
late statute, was expressed in Latin by the word mur-
dravit. In all indictments for felonies, the adverb
“ feloniously,” felonies, must be used ; and for burgla¬
ries also, burglariter, or, in English, “ burglariously:”
and all these to ascertain the intent. In rapes, the
word rupuit, or “ ravished,” is necessary, and must
not be expressed by any periphrasis, in order to render
the crime certain. So in larcenies also, the words fe¬
lonies cepit et asportavit, “ feloniously took or carried
away,” are necessary to every indictment; for these
only can express the very offence. Also, in indictments
for murder, the length and depth of the wound should
in general be expressed, in order that it may appear to
the court to have been of a mortal nature: but if it
goes through the body, then its dimensions are imma¬
terial, for that is apparently sufficient to have been
the cause of the death. Also, where a limb, or the
like, is absolutely cut off, there such description is need-
3
.'>1
Tndigoffij
V—,
40 ] I N D
less. Lastly, in indictments, the value of the thing
which is the subject or instrument of the ofi’ence must
sometimes be expressed. In indictments for larcenies
this is necessary, tliat it may appear whether it be grand
or petit larceny ; and whether entitled or not to the be¬
nefit of clergy. In homicides of all sorts it is necessary j
as the weapon with which it was committed is forfeited
to the king as a deodand. For the manner of process
upon an indictment, see PROCESS.
Indictment, in Scots Law, the name of the sum¬
mons, or libel, upon which criminals are cited before
the court of justiciary to stand Hal. See Law
Index.
Plea to Indictment. See Plea.
INDIES, East and West. See India and Ame¬
rica.
.INDIGENOUS, of indigena, denotes a native of a
country, or that which was originally born or pro¬
duced in the country where it is found. In this sense,
particular species of animals and plants are said to be
indigenous in the country where they are native, in op¬
position to Exotic.
INDIGESTION, a crudity or want of due coctifln
of the food in the stomach. See Digestion.
INDIGETES, a name which the ancients gave to
some of their gods.
There are various opinions about the origin and sig¬
nification of this word. Some pretend it was given
to all the gods in general; and others, only to the de¬
migods, or great men deified. Others say, it was gi¬
ven to such gods as were originally of the country, or
rather such as were the gods of the country that bore
this name \ and others again hold it was ascribed to
such gods as were patrons and protectors of particular
cities. Lastly, others hold indigetes to be derived from
inde genitus or in loco degens, or from inde and ago, for
dego, “ I live, I inhabit j” which last opinion seems the
most probable.
In effect it appears, 1. That these indigetes were also
called local gods {dii locales'), or topical gods, which is
the same thing. 2. The indigeies were ordinarily men
deified, who indeed were in effect local gods, being
esteemed the protectors of those places where they were
deified 5 so that the second and third opinions are very
consistent. 3. Virgil joins pqtrii with indigetes, as be¬
ing the same thing, Georg, i. ver. 498. “ Dii patrn,
indigetesP 4. The gods to whom the Romans gave the
name indigetes were, Faunus, Vesta, JEneas, Romulus,
all the gods of Italy ; and at Athens, Minerva, says
Servius j and at Carthage, Dido. It is true, we meet
with Jupiter indiges: but that Jupiter indiges is ./Eneas,
not the great Jupiter j as we may see in Livy, lib. i,
cap. 3. in which last sense Servius assures us, indiges
comes from the Latin in diis ego, “ I am among the
gods.”
Among these indigetes gods, there is none more ce¬
lebrated, or more extensively worshipped, than Her¬
cules.
INDIGO, a dye prepared from the leaves and small
branches of the Indigofera Tinctoria. See the next
article,
INDIGOFERA, the Indigo Plant, a. genus of
plants belonging to the diadelphia claes ; and in the na¬
tural method ranking under the 3 2d order, Papilionacese.
See Botany Index.
Tina
Published hy .A. Constable £■ C! Edmbwqh .iSld.
I N D [ 241
This plant requires a smooth rich soil, well tilled,
and not too dry. The seed of it, which, as to figure
and colour, resembles gunpowder, is sown in little
furrows that are about the breadth of the hoe, two
or three inches deep, at a foot’s distance from each
other, and in as straight a line as possible. Continual
attention is required to pluck up the weeds, which
would soon choke the plant. Though it may be
sown in all seasons, the spring is commonly preferred.
Moisture causes this plant to shoot above the surface
in three or four days. It is ripe at the end of two
months. When it begins to flower, it is cut with
pruning-knives; and cut again at the end of every six
weeks, if the weather is a little rainy. It lasts about
two years, after which term it degenerates j it is then
plucked up, and planted afresh. As this plant soon
exhausts the soil, because it does not absorb a sufficient
quantity of air and dew to moisten the earth, it is of
advantage to the planter to have a vast space which
may remain covered with trees, till it becomes ne¬
cessary to fell them in order to make room for the in¬
digo. _
Indigo is distinguished into two kinds, the true and
the bastard. Though the first is sold at a higher
price on account of its superiority, it is usually advan¬
tageous to cultivate the other, because it is heavier.
The first will grow in many different soils ; the second
succeeds best in those which are most exposed to the
rain. Both are liable to great accidents. Sometimes
the plant becomes dry, and is destroyed by an insect
frequently found on it ; at other times, the leaves,
which are the valuable part of the plant, are devoured
in the space of 24 hours by caterpillars. This last
misfortune, which is hut too common, has given
occasion to the saying, “ that the planters of in¬
digo go to bed rich, and rise in the morning totally
ruined.”
This production ought to be gathered in with great
precaution, for fear of making the farina that lies on
the leaves, and is very valuable, fail o(f by shaking it.
WTen gathered, it is thrown into the steeping-vat,
which is a large tub filled with water. Here it under¬
goes a fermentation, which in 24 hours at furthest is
completed. A cock is then turned to let the water run
into the second tub, called the mortar ox pounding-tub.
The steeping-vat is then cleaned out, that fresh plants
may he thrown in ; and thus the work is continued
without interruption.
The water which has run into the pounding-tub is
found impregnated with a very subtile earth, which
alone constitutes the dregs or blue substance that is
the object of this process, and which must be separated
from the useless salt of the plant, because this makes
the dregs swim on the surface. To effect this, the
water is forcibly agitated with wooden buckets, that
are full ef holes and fixed to a long handle. This
part of the process requires the greatest precautions.
If the agitation be discontinued too soon, the part
that is used in dyeing, not being sufficiently separated
from the salt, would be lost. If, on the other hand,
the dye were to be agitated too long after the com¬
plete separation, the parts would be brought together
again, and form a new combination j and the salt re¬
acting on the dregs would excite a second fermenta¬
tion, that would alter the dye, spoil its colour, and
Vol. XI. Part I. f
]
I N D
make what is called burnt indigo.
p These accidents IndiWera,
are prevented by a close attention to the least alte- ladiyiduai.
rations that the dye undergoes, and by the precaution v'" v~""
which the workmen take to draw out a little of it
from time to time in a clean vessel. When they per¬
ceive that the coloured particles collect by separating
from the rest of the liquor, they leave off shaking the
buckets, in order to allow time to the blue dregs to
precipitate to the bottom of the tub, where they
are left to settle till the water is quite clear.~
Holes made in the tub, at different heights, are
then opened one after another, and this useless water
is let out.
The blue dregs remaining at the bottom having
acquired the consistence of a thick muddy liquid,
cocks are then opened, which draw it off into the
settler. After it is still more cleared of much super¬
fluous water in this third and last tub, it is drained
into sacks ; from whence, when water no longer filters
through the cloth, this matter, now become of a thicker
consistence, is put into chests, where it entirely loses
its moisture. At the end of three months the indigo is
fit for sale.
It is used, in washing, to give a bluish colour to
linen . painters also employ it in their water-colours \
and dyers cannot make fine blue without indigo. The
ancients procured it from the East Indies; in modem
times, it has been transplanted into America. The
cultivation of it, successively attempted at different
places, appears to be fixed at Carolina, St Domingo,
and Mexico. That which is known under the name
of Guatimala indigo, from whence it comes, is the most
perfect of all.
I here are two kinds of indigo prepared in the
East Indies, particularly on the coast of Coroman¬
del, at^ Pondicherry, &c. Of these the worst kind
is used for giving the body of colour to the dyed
substance, the other being employed only to give it a
gloss afterwards. The finest is prepared on the coast
of Agra, Masulipatam, and Ayanoo, but especially in
the island of Java; but this last, being extremely dear,
is very little used by the dyers. The best ought to
float on the surface of water ; its colour ought to be a
very dark blue inclining to violet, bright and spark¬
ling, especially when broken. It may be tried by
dissolving a little in a glass of water: if pure, it will
mix equably with the liquor ; but if otherwise, will
separate and fall to the bottom. Another method of
trying the goodness of this substance is by fire ; for the
pure indigo will be entirely consumed, while the ex¬
traneous particles rvili remain. The pounded indigo
is much more subject to adulteration than such as is
sold in cakes or tablets ; as the ashes or dirt with
which it is mixed are very apt to separate from the
pale colouring substance when standing in a liquid
state, as it must always do before the moisture is eva¬
porated : whence, on breaking a bit of indigo so adul¬
terated, the extraneous matter will be perceived in
strata of a different colour.
INDIVIDUAL, a particular being of any species,
or that which cannot be divided into two or more be¬
ings equal or alike.
The usual division in logic is made into genera, or
into genuses; those genera into species ; and those spc*
cies into individuals.
H h INDIVISIBLE,
laJi visible
I N D [242
INDIVISIBLE, among metaphysicians.—A thing
is said to be absolutely indivisible that is a simple being,
and consists of no parts into which it may be divided.
]
I N D
Indulgen
ces
Thus, God is indivisible in all respects ; as is also the
human mind •, not having extension, or other properties
of body. . .
Indivisibles, in Geometry, the elements or princi¬
ples into which any body or figure may be ultimately
resolved ; which elements are supposed to be infinitely
small: thus, a line may be said to consist of points, a
surface of parallel lines, and a solid of parallel and si¬
milar surfaces.
INDORSEMENT, in Law, any thing written
deed j as a receipt for money re-
on the back of a
ceived.
There is likewise an indorsement, by way of assign¬
ment, on bills of exchange and notes of hand 5 which
is done by writing a person’s name on the back thereof.
INDOSTAN, or Hindostan, Proper India, or
the Empire of the Great Mogul. See HlNDOSTAN. .
INDUCTION, in Logic and Rhetoric, a conse¬
quence drawn from several propositions or principles
first laid down. See Logic ; and Oratory, N 32,
Induction, in Law, is putting a clerk or clergy-
in possession of a benefice or living to which he
is collated or presented. See the article Parson.
Induction is performed by a mandate from the bishop
to the archdeacon, who usually issues out a precept
to other clergymen to perform it for him. It is
done by giving the clerk corporal possession of the
church, as by holding the ring of the door, tolling a
bell, or the like; and is a form required by law, with
intent to give all the parishioners due notice and suf¬
ficient certainty of their new minister, to whom their
tithes are to be paid. This therefore is the investi¬
ture of the temporal part of the benefice, as institu¬
tion is of the spiritual. And when a clerk is thus
presented, instituted, and inducted into a rectory, he
is then, and not before, in full and complete possession ;
and is called in \&\\ persona impersonata, or parson im-
parsonnee.
INDULGENCES, in the Romish church, are a
remission of the punishment due to sins, granted by
the church, and supposed to save the sinner from pur¬
gatory.
According to the doctrine of the Romish church,
all the good works of the saints over and above those
which were necessary towards their own justification,
are deposited, together with the infinite merits of Jesus
Christ, in one inexhaustible treasury. The keys of this
were committed to St Peter, and to his successors the
popes, who may open it at pleasure, and by trans¬
ferring a portion of this superabundant merit to any
particular person, for a sum of money, may convey
to him either the pardon of his own sins, or a release
for any one in whom he is interested, from the pains
of purgatory. Such indulgences were first invented
in the nth century, by Urban II. as a recompense
for those who went in person^ upon the glorious enter¬
prise of conquering the Holy Land, They were af¬
terwards granted to those who hired a soldier for that
purpose ; and in process of time were bestowed on
such as gave money for accomplishing any pious work
enjoined by the pope.
The power of granting indulgences has been great¬
ly abused in the church of Rome. Pope Leo X. in
order to carry on the magnificent structure of St Pe-
ter’s at Rome, published indulgences, and a plenary
remission, to all such as should contribute money to¬
wards it. Finding the project take, he granted to
Albert elector of Mentz, and archbishop of Magde¬
burg, the benefit of tho indulgences of Saxony and
the neighbouring parts, and farmed out those of other
countries to the highest bidders; who, to make the best
of their bargain, procured the ablest preachers to cry
up the value of the ware. The form of these indul¬
gences was as follows : “ May our Lord Jesus Christ/jo&crteL.
have mercy upon thee, and absolve thee by the merits Charles \
of his most holy passion. And I by his authority,vo1, s!
that of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of the
most holy Pope, granted and committed to me in these
parts, do absolve thee, first from all ecclesiastical cen¬
sures, in whatever manner they have been incurred ;
then from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how
enormous soever they may be, even from such as are
reserved for the cognizance of the holy see, and as
far as the keys of the holy church extend : I remit to
you all punishment which you deserve in purgatory on
their account; and I restore you to the holy sacra¬
ments of the church, to the unity of the faithful, and
to that innocence and purity which you possessed at
baptism ; so that when you die, the gates of punish¬
ment shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of
delight shall be opened : and if you shall not die at
present, this grace shall remain in full force when you
are at the point of death. In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
The terms in which the retailers of indulgences
described their benefits and the necessity of purchasing
them, are so extravagant, that they appear almost in¬
credible. If any man (said they) purchases letters of
indulgence, his soul may rest secure with respect to
its salvation. The souls confined in purgatory, for
whose redemption indulgences are purchased, as soon
as the money tinkles in the chest, instantly escape from
that place of torment, and ascend into heaven. That
the efficacy of indulgences was so great, that the most
heinous sins, even if one should violate (which was
impossible) the mother of God, would be remitted
and expiated by them, and the person be freed both
from punishment and guilt. That this was the un¬
speakable gift of God, in order to reconcile man to
himself. That the cross erected by the preachers of
indulgences was equally efficacious with the cross of
Christ itself. “ Lo ! the heavens are open ; if yon
enter not now, when will you enter? For twelve pence
you may redeem the soul of your father out of purga¬
tory ; and are you so ungrateful, that you will not
rescue your parent from torment ? If you had but one
coat, you ought to strip yourself instantly, and sell it,
in order to purchase such benefits,” &c.
It was this great abuse of indulgences that contri¬
buted not a little to the first reformation of religion
in Germany, where Martin Luther began first to de¬
claim against the preachers of indulgences, and after¬
wards against indulgences themselves: but since that
time the popes have been more sparing in the exercise
of this power : however, they still carry on a great
trade
l*11
ces
I ,
jbnant
1 N E [ 243 ] INF
BJuIgen- trade with them to the, Indies, where they are pur-
ces chased at two rials a-piece, and sometimes more.
The pope likewise grants indulgences to persons at
l^hriants ^ p0jnt 0f (leatli j that is, he grants them, by a brief,
1 power to choose what confessor they please, who is
authorised thereby to absolve them from all their sins
in general.
INDULT, in the church of Rome, the power of
presenting to benefices granted to certain persons by
the pope. Of this kind is the indult of kings and so¬
vereign princes in the Romish communion, and that
of the parliament of Paris granted by several popes.
By the concordat for the abolition of the pragmatic
sanction, made between Francis I. and Leo X. in 1516,
the French king has the power of nominating to bishop¬
rics, and other consistorial benefices, within his realm.
At the same time, by a particular bull, the pope grant¬
ed him the privilege of nominating to the churches of
Brittany and Provence. In 1648 Pope Alexander VIII.
and in 1668 Clement IX. granted the king an indult
for the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which
had been yielded to him by the treaty of Munster j and
in 1668 the same Pope Clement IX. granted him an
indult for the benefices in the counties of Rousillon,
Artois, and the Netherlands. The cardinals likewise
have an indult granted them by agreement between
Pope Paul IV. and the sacred college in 1555, which
is always confirmed by the popes at the time of their
election. By this treaty the cardinals have the free
disposal of all the benefices depending on them, and
are empowered likewise to bestow a benefice in com-
mendam.
INDULTO, a duty, tax, or custom, paid to the
king of Spain for all such commodities as are imported
from the West Indies in the galleons.
INDUS, a large river of Asia, which rises in the
mountains which separate Tartary from India, and dis¬
charges itself into the Indian ocean. See Hindostan
and India.
INF BRIANTS, are defined to be such things as
affect the nerves in a particular and agreeable manner,
and through them alter and disturb the functions of
the mind. They are properly divided into native and
artificial j the former chiefly in use among the orien¬
tal and other nations, the latter principally throughout
Europe.
Natural Inebriants, are, 1. Opium j in use all over
the east, and of which the Turks, through custom,
swallow a drachm. 2. Peganum harmala, Syrian rue.
The seeds are sold in Turkey for this purpose ; and
with these, as Bellonius relates, the Turkish emperor
Solyman kept himself intoxicated. 3. Maslac of the
Turks, or bangue of the Persians ; prepared from the
dust of the male-flower of hemp, or from the leaves.
4. Bangue of the Indians, from the leaves of the hibis¬
cus sabdariffa. 5. Seeds of various species of the da¬
tura, or thorny apple. 6. Pinang, or betel of the In¬
dians. 7. Roots of black henbane. 8. The hyoscya-
mus physaloides. 9. Berries of the deadly nightshade.
10. Leaves of millfoil, are used by the Dalekarlians to
render their beer intoxicating. 11. Tobacco, and se¬
veral others less material are mentioned ; such as clary,
saffron, and darnel.
Artificial Tntbriants, are fermented liquors from fari¬
naceous seeds ; wines, and spirits drawn by distillation. Incbrhat,
With these is ranked the nectar of the gods, and the 1!
anodyne medicine of Homer, commonly called nepen- lufancy-
thes; and the spells by which Medea and Circe pro- "" vr*—'
duced their inchantments.
INERTIA of Matter, in Philosophy, is defined
by Sir Isaac Newton to be a passive principle by which
bodies persist in their motion or rest, receive motion
in proportion to the force impressing it, and resist as
much as they are resisted. It is also defined by the
same author to be a power implanted in all matter,
whereby it resists any change endeavoured to be made
in its state. See Mechanics.
INESSE is applied to things which are actually
existing.
Authors make a difference between a thing in esse,
and a thing in posse: a thing that is not, but may be,
they say is in posse, or potential but a thing apparent
and visible, they say is in esse, that is, has a real be¬
ing eo instanti; whereas the other is casual, and at best
but a possibility.
INFALISTACIO, an ancient punishment of fe¬
lons, by throwing them among the rocks and sands,
customarily used in port-towns. It is the opinion of
some writers, that infalistatus did imply some capital
punishment, by exposing the malefactor upon the sand
till the next tide carried him away j of which custom,
it is said, there is an old tradition. However, the pe¬
nalty seems to take its name from the Norman falese,
orfulesia, which signified not the sands, but the rocks
and cliffs adjoining, or impending on the sea-shore.
Commisit feloniam ob quam fuit suspensus, utlegatus,
ve^ alio modo morti damnatus, &c. vel apud Dover in¬
falistatus, apud Southampton submersus, &c.
INFALLIBLE, something that cannot err, or be
deceived.
One of the great controversies between the Prote¬
stants and Papists, is the infallibility which the latter
attribute to the pope ; though, in fact, they them¬
selves are not agreed on that head, some placing this
pretended infallibility in the pope and a general coun¬
cil.
INFAMY, in Law, Is a term which extends to
forgery, perjury, gross cheats, &c. by which a person
is rendered incapable of being a witness or juror, even
though he is pardoned for his crimes.
INFANCY, the first part oflife Fred. Hoffman
says, that the human species are infants until they be¬
gin to talk, and children to the age of puberty.—Ana¬
tomy discovers to us, that during infancy there is much
imperfection in the human frame j e. g. its parts are
disproportioned, and its organs incapable of those func¬
tions which in future life they are designed to per¬
form. The head is larger in proportion to the bulk
of the body than that of an adult. The liver and
pancreas are much larger in proportion than in ad¬
vanced life ; their secretions are more in quantity also.
The bile is very inert; the heart is stronger and laro-er
than in future life ; the quantity of blood sent through
the heart of an infant, in a given time, is also more
in proportion than in adults. Though these circum¬
stances have their important usefulness, yet the imper¬
fection attending them subjects this age to many in¬
juries and dangers from which a more perfect state is
H h 2 exempted.
Infancy,
I nfant.
ft lacks t-
Comment.
INF [
exempted. Dr Percival observes, in his Essays Med.
and Exp. that of all the children who are born alive,
two-thirds do not live to he two years old.
Infants have a larger proportion of brain than adults,
hence are most subject to nervous disorders ; and hence
the diagnostics of diseases are in many respects obscure
or uncertain, as particularly those taken from the pulse,
which, from the irritability of the tender bodies of in¬
fants, is suddenly affected by a variety of accidents too
numerous, and seemingly too trivial, to gain our atten¬
tion. However, no very great embarrassment arises to
the practitioner from hence : for the disorders in this
state are generally acute, less complicated than those in
adults, and are more easily discovered than is general¬
ly apprehended.
INFANT, denotes a young child. See INFANCY.
Infants, among the Jews, Greeks, and Homans,
were swaddled as soon as they were born, in a manner
similar to that practised by the moderns. rlhe Jews
circumcised and named their infant children on the 8th
day from the birth. Upon the birth of a son, the
Grecians crowned their doors with olives—of a daugh¬
ter, with wool. The infant was washed in warm water,
and anointed with oil—by the Spartans with wine ; it
was then dressed, and laid in a basket, or on a shield if
the father was a warrior, particularly amongst the Spar¬
tans. At five days old they ran with it round the fire,
and the mother’s relations sent presents. The Greeks
named their children on the tenth day, the Homans on
the ninth : Their naming was attended with sacrifices
and other demonstrations of joy. The maternal office
of suckling their own children was never declined, when
circumstances would permit. How much different is
this from the unnatural delicacy observed by modern
mothers, a delicacy which to the child is cruelty ! rI he
40th day was a day of solemnity for the mother. The
names of children were registered both by the Greeks
and Romans. See Register.
For an account of the custom of exposing infants, see
Exposing.
Infants were kept from crying in the streets by
means of a sponge soaked in honey. Nurses had also
their bugbears and terrible names to frighten the chil¬
dren into peace :—The figure with which they were
principally intimidated was a sort of raw-
head and bloody hones.
Infant, in is a person under 21 years of age;
whose capacities, incapacities, and privileges, are vari¬
ous.
1. In criminal matters. The law of England does
in some cases privilege an infant under the age of 21,
as to common misdemeanors } so as to escape fine, im¬
prisonment, and the like : and particularly in the cases
of omission, as not repairing a bridge, or a high way,
and other similar offences j for, not having the com¬
mand of his fortune till the age of 21, he wants the ca¬
pacity to do those things which the law requires. But
where there is any notorious breach of the peace, a
riot, battery, or the like, (which infants when full-
grown are at least as liable as others to commit) j for
those, an infant above the age of 14 is equally liable
to suffer as a person of the full age of 21.
With regard to capital crimes, the law is still more
minute and circumspectdistinguishing with greater
nicety the several degrees of age and discretion. By
244 ] INF
the ancient Saxon law, the age of twelve years was ]nrarit
established for the age of possible discretion, when first~y—t
the understanding might open ; and from thence till
the offender was 14, it was cetas pubertatiproximo, in
which he might, or might not, be guilty of a crime,
according to his natural capacity or incapacity. This
was the dubious stage of discretion •, but, under twelve,
it was held, that he could not be guilty in will, neither
after fourteen could be supposed innocent, of any ca¬
pital crime which he in fact committed. But by the
law, as it now stands, and has stood at least ever since
the time of Edward III. the capacity of doing ill, or
contracting guilt, is not so much measured by years
and days, as by the strength of the delinquent’s under¬
standing and judgment. For one lad of 11 years old
may have as much cunning as another of 14; and in
these cases our maxim is, that malitia svpplet cetatem.
Under seven years of age, indeed, an infant cannot
be guilty of felony j for then a felonious discretion is
almost an impossibility in nature : but at eight years
old, he may be guilty of felony. Also, under 14,
though an infant shall be prima facie adjudged to be
doli incapa.v, yet if it appear to the court and jury that
he was doli capax, and could discern between good and
evil, lie may be convicted and suffer death. Thus a
girl of 13 has been burnt for killing her mistress : and
one boy of ten, and another of nine years old, who had
killed their companions, have been sentenced to death,
and he of ten years actually hanged ; because it ap¬
peared upon their trials, that the one hid himself, and
the other hid the body he had killed j which hiding
manifested a consciousness of guilt, and a discretion
to discern between good and evil. And there was an
instance in the last century, where a boy of eight years
old was tried at Abington for firing two barns ; and it
appearing that he had malice, revenge, and cunning,
he was found guilty, condemned, and hanged accord¬
ingly. Thus also, in very modern times, a boy of ten
years was convicted on his own confession of mur¬
dering his bedfellow j there appearing in iiis whole be¬
haviour plain tokens of a mischievous disposition j and,
as the sparing this hoy merely on account of his tender
years might be of dangerous consequence to the pub¬
lic, by propagating a notion that children might com¬
mit such atrocious crimes with impunity, it was unani¬
mously agreed by all the judges, that he was a proper
subject of capital punishment. But, in all such cases,
the evidence of that malice, which is to supply age,
ought to be strong and clear beyond all doubt and con¬
tradiction.
2. In civil matters. The ages of male and female are
different for different purposes. A male at 1 2 years old
may take the oath of allegiance j at 14 is at the years
of discretion, and therefore may consent or disagree to
marriage, may choose his guardian, and, if his discre¬
tion be actually proved, may make his testament of his
personal estate j at 17 may be an executor j and at 21
is at his own disposal, and may aliene his land, goods,
and chattels. A female also at seven years of age may
be betrothed or given in marriage ; at nine is entitled
to dower j at 1 2 is at years of maturity, and therefore
may consent or disagree to marriage, and, if proved
to have sufficient discretion, may bequeath her personal
estate 5 at 14 is at years of legal discretion, and may
choose a guardian j at 17 may be executrix : and at 2r
may
INF [ 245 1 INF
Cant, way dispose of herself and her lands. So that full age
'in male or female Is 21 years, which age is completed
on the day preceding the anniversary of a person’s
birth ; who till that time is an infant, and so styled in
law. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, women
were never of age, but subject to perpetual guardian¬
ship, unless when married, nisi convcnissent in manum
viri; and when that perpetual tutelage wore away
in process of time, we find that, in females as well as
males, full age was not till 25 years. Thus by the
constitution of difl’erent kingdoms, this period, which
is merely arbitrary, and juris positivi, is fixed at dif¬
ferent times. Scotland agrees with England in this
point *, (both probably copying from the old Saxon
constitutions on the continent, which extended the age
of minority ad annum vigesimum primmn, et eo usque
juvenes sub tuiclam reponuni) : but in Naples persons
are of full age at 18 $ and in France, with regard to
marriage, not till 30 ; and in Holland at 25.
The very disabilities of infants are privileges; in
order to secure them from hurting themselves by their
own improvident acts. An infant cannot be sued but
under the protection, and joining the name, of his
guardian ; for he is to defend him against all attacks as
■well by law as otherwise : but he may sue either by his
guardian, or prochein atny, his next friend who is not
his guardian. This prochein amy may be any person
who will undertake the infant’s cause; and it frequent¬
ly happens, that an infant, by his prochein amy, insti¬
tutes a suit in equity against a fraudulent guardian.
With regard to estates and civil property, an infant
hath many privileges. In general, an infant shall lose
nothing by nonclaim, or neglect of demanding his
right ; nor shall any other laches or negligence be
imputed to an infant, except in some very particular
cases.
It is generally true, that an infant can neither aliene
Iiis lands, nor do any legal act, nor make a deed, nor
indeed any manner of contract, that will bind him.
Rut still to all these rules there are some exceptions :
part ot which were just now mentioned in reckoning
up the diflerent capacities which they assume at differ¬
ent ages: and there are others, a few of which it may
not be improper to recite, as a general specimen of the
whole. And, first, it is true, that infants cannot aliene
their estates ; but infant trustees, or mortgagees, are
enabled to convey, under the direction of the Court of
chancery or exchequer or other courts of equity, the
estates they hold in trust or mortgage, to such person
as the court shall appoint. Also it is generally true,
that an infant can do no legal act: yet an infant, who
has an advowson, may present to the benefice when it
becomes void. For the law in this case dispenses with
one rule, in order to maintain others of far greater
consequence : it permits an infant to present a clerk
(who, if unfit, may be rejected by the bishop), rather
than either suffer the church to be unserved till he
come of age, or permit the infant to be debarred .of
his right bv lapse to the bishop. An infant may also
purchase lands, but his purchase is incomplete ; for,
when he comes to age, he may either agree or disagree
to it, as he thinks prudent or proper, without alleging
any reason ; and so may his heirs after him, if he dies
without having completed his agreement. It is, far¬
ther, generally true, that an infant, under 21, can make jnfant
no deed but what is afterwards voidable : yet in some y
cases he may bind himself apprentice by deed indented Jn<atnate.
or indentures, for seven years; and he may by deed or * '
will appoint a guardian to his children, if he has any.
Lastly, it is generally true, that an infant can make
no other contract that will bind him : yet he may bind
himself to pay for his necessary meat, drink, apparel,
physic, and such other necessaries; and likewise for his
good teaching and instruction, whereby he may profit
himself afterwards.
INFAN IE, and Infanta, all the sons and daugh¬
ters of the kings of Spain and Portugal, except the
eldest: the princes being called infantes, and the prin¬
cesses infantas.
INFANTRY, in military afiairs, the whole body of
foot soldiers, whether independent companies er regi¬
ments.— I he word takes its origin from one of the in¬
fantas of Spain, who, finding that the army command¬
ed by the king her father had been defeated by the
Moors, assembled a body of foot-soldiers, and with them
engaged and totally routed the enemy. In memory of
this event, and to distinguish the foot-soldiers, who
were not before held in much consideration, they re¬
ceived the name of infantry.
Heavy-armed Isfaktry, among the ancisnts, were
such as wore a complete suit of armour, and engaged
with broad shields and long spears. They were the
flower and strength of the Grecian armies, and had the
highest rank of military honour.
Light-armed Infantry, among the ancients, were
designed for skirmishes, and for fighting at a distance.
Their weapons were arrows, darts, or slings.
Light Infantry, among the moderns, have only
been in use since the year 1656. They have no camp
equipage to carry, and their arms and accoutrements
are much lighter than those of the infantry. Light
infantry are the eyes of a general, and the givers of
sleep and safety to an army. Wherever there is found
light cavalry, there should be light infantry. They
should be accustomed to the pace of four miles an hour,
as their usual marching pace, and to be able to march
at five miles an hour upon all particular occasions.
Most of the powers on the continent have light in¬
fantry. It is only of late years that light infantry
came to be used in the British army : But now every
regiment has a company of light infantry, whose station
is on the left of the regiment, the right being occupied
by the grenadiers.
INFATUATE, to prepossess any one in favour of
some person or thing that does not deserve it, so far as
that he cannot easily be disabused.—The word infa¬
tuate comes from the Latin fatuus, “ fool ;” of fan',
“ t0 speak out,” which is borrowed from the Greek *
whence <px.Tr,-,, which signifies the same with rates in
Latin, or prophet in English ; and the reason is, be¬
cause their prophets or priests used to be seized with u
kind of madness or folly, when they began to make
their predictions, or deliver oracles.
The Romans called those persons infatuati, who fan¬
cied they had seen visions, or imagined the god Fannus,
whom they called Fatuus, had appeared to them. This
word is more generally applied by the moderns to per¬
sons who are what the vulgar call bein'tched, or under
soma-
I N F
[ 246 ]
I N F
Infatuate same peculiar destiny which it appears impossible for
R
Infibula-
tiou.
See Conta-
them to shun.
INFECTION, among physicians.
GION.
INFEFTMENT, in Scots Law, the solemnity of
the delivery of an heritable subject to the purchaser.
INFERIvE, sacrifices offered by the Romans to
the DU Manes, or the souls of deceased heroes or other
illustrious persons, or even any relation or person whose
memory was held in veneration. These sacrifices con¬
sisted of honey, water, wine, milk, the blood of vic¬
tims, variety of balsamic unguents, chaplets, and loose
flowers. The victims upon these occasions were gene¬
rally of the smaller cattle, though in ancient times they
sacrificed slaves or captives : But what a shocking view
does this give us of their sentiments of human nature,
as if nothing but murder, cruelty, and human blood,
could satisfy or prove acceptable to a human soul !
The sacrifices were usually black and barren. The al¬
tars on which they were offered were holes dug in the
ground.
The honey, water, wine, &c. were used as libations,
and were poured on the tombs of children by children,
on those of virgins by virgins, and on those of married
men by women. The inferice were offered on the 9th
and 30th days after interment amongst the Greeks, and
repeated in the month Anthesterion. The whole of this
article applies equally to the Greeks and the Romans.
INFIBULATION, in antiquity. It was a cu¬
stom among the Romans to infibulate their singing
boys, in order to preserve their voices : for this ope¬
ration, which prevented their retracting the prepuce
over the glans, and is the very reverse to circumcision,
kept them from injuring their voices by premature and
preposterous venery ; serving as a kind of padlock, if
not to their inclinations, at least to their abilities. It
appears by some passages in Martial, that a less decent
use was made of infibulation among the luxurious Ro¬
mans : for some ladies of distinction, it seems, took
this method of confining their paramours to their own
embraces. Juvenal also hints at some such practice.
Celsus, a chaste author, says infibulation was sometimes
practised for the sake of health, and that nothing de¬
stroys it more than the silly practice this operation seems
intended to prevent. This practice is not perhaps like¬
ly to be revived $ if, however, any one who has suffered
in his constitution by preposterous venery, should be
able to get children, and should be inclined to prevent
the same misfortune in them by infibulation, the me¬
thod of doing it is thus: The skin which is above the
glans is to be extended, and marked on both sides with
ink, where it is perforated, and then sufiered to retract
itself. If the marks recur upon the glans, too much
of the skin has been taken up, and we must make the
marks farther 5 if the glans remain free from them,
they show the proper place for affixing a fibula : then
pass a needle and thread through the skin where the
marks are, and tie the threads together j taking care
to move it every day, until the parts about the perfo¬
ration are cicatrised : this being effected, take out. the
thread, and put in the fibula ; which the lighter it is
the better.
Authors have not determined what the fibula of the
ancient surgeons was, though no doubt it was for differ-
3
ent purposes. In the present case, the fibula seems to jnfi[jlllst
mean a ring of metal, not unlike what the country peo-
pie put through the noses of swine. ^ 11
INFIDEL, a term applied to such persons as are hifidelii
not baptized, and that do not believe the truths of the ^ H
Christian religion. Bee Deist.
INFIDELITY, in a general sense, denotes want of
faith or belief in regard to any subject or transaction.
Religious Infidelity signifies a disbelief of Christi¬
anity.
Of all the methods (says an elegant modern es¬
sayist5^) which the vanity of man has devised with a*
view to acquire distinction, there is none easier than^sos^.
that of professing a disbelief of the established religion.
That which shocks the feelings of those with whom
we converse, cannot fail of attracting notice ; and as
the vain are usually confident, they utter their doubts
with an air so oracular and decisive, as induces the
simple to think them profoundly wise. Audacity, with
little ingenuity, will attract the eyes of spectators, and
this will sufficiently answer the purpose of many among
the professed unbelievers. One might be diverted, if
one were not hurt, at seeing a circle of silly admirers,
gaping and fixing their eyes on some half-learned and
impudent prater, who throws out oblique insinuations
against the Bible, the clergy, or the sacrament. These
are fertile topics of wit and ingenuity $ but it might
mortify the vanity of some very vain writers and talk¬
ers, if they were to recollect, what is undoubtedly true,
that it is a species of wit and ingenuity which not only
the vilest, but the most stupid and illiterate of man¬
kind, have frequently displayed in all its possible per¬
fection.
There is indeed no doubt, but that vanity is one of
the principal causes of infidelity. It must be the sole
cause of communicating it to others, by writing or
conversation. For let us suppose the case of a very hu¬
mane, judicious, and learned man, entertaining doubts
of the truth of Christianity : if he cannot clear his
doubts by examination, he will yet recollect that doubts
are no certainties j and, belore he endeavours to pro¬
pagate his scepticism, he will ask himself these que¬
stions : “ Am I quite convinced that what I doubt of
cannot possibly be true ? If I am convinced of it, am I
sure that the publication of my opinions will not do
more harm than good ? Is not the disturbing of any
long-established civil constitution attended with confu¬
sion, rebellion, bloodshed, and ruin : And are not the
majority of men more strongly attached to the religion
than the government of their forefathers ? Will it serve
my country to introduce discontent of any species ?
May not those innovations in religion, which discon¬
tent may introduce, lead to all the evils which are
caused by frenzy and fanaticism ? Granting that I
were able to make a party formidable enough to crush
opposition and to exterminate Christianity, still am I
certain that I act, in this instance, like a good member
of society? For is not this system, whether well or ill
founded, friendly to society? I must confess it; its
greatest enemies have acknowledged it. What motive
then can induce me to divulge my doubts of its authen¬
ticity ? Not the good of mankind; for it is already
allowed by unbelievers, that the good of mankind is
interested in the belief of its divine original. Is it for
my
INF [ 247 ] INF
elity. m7 own aiu^ a view to be convinced P I
y—will not deceive myself: my motive, I suspect, is of
another kind 5 for do I read those books which have
been already written to satisfy similar doubts P No¬
thing but the vanity of appearing to be wiser than my
credulous neighbours can induce me to interrupt the
happiness of their belief. But vanity of this sort,
which tends to disturb society, to injure the national
morals, and to rob many thousand individuals of a co¬
pious source of sweet and solid comfort, must be pro¬
nounced extreme wickedness, even according to the
obvious dictates of natural religion. I shall act the
part of a good citizen and a good man, by conforming
to a system whose beneficial influence I feel and con¬
fess, and by endeavouring to acquire a belief in that
which has for so many centuries been established,
and which promises to soothe me in distress with the
sweetest consolations, and to brighten the dismal hour
of death, by the hope of a more glorious and happy
state of existence. At all events, I shall have the
satisfaction of having commanded myself so far, as not
to have run the hazard of endangering the welfare of
my fellow-creatures, either here or hereafter, by in¬
dulging a degree of vanity, which, in a creature so
weak and so short-lived as myself, is a folly very in¬
consistent with the superior wisdom which I seem to
arrogate.
“ I will venture to repeat (continues our author),
that all writers against Christianity, however they may
affect even the extremes of benevolence, honour, philo¬
sophy, and enlargement of mind, are actuated by vani¬
ty and wickedness of heart. Their motives are as
mean, selfish, narrow, and in every respect unjusti¬
fiable, as the tendency of their writings is mischievous.
Their malice is often impotent, through the foolish so¬
phistry of their arguments $ but, if ever it be success¬
ful, it is highly injurious : and indeed, considering
their motives and the probable consequences of their
endeavours, the infidel writer is a greater enemy to so¬
ciety, and consequently guiltier, according to all the
principles of social union, than the thief or the traitor.
Persecution would, however, only promote his cause,
and his proper punishment is contempt.
“ It is certainly no derogation from the character of
a man of sense, to conform, even while he is so unfortu¬
nate as to doubt their truth, to the opinions of his
country. His conformity will probably lead him to a
train of actions and of thought, which, in due time,
will induce him to believe. But, if that should not
happen, yet he will act, as very wise and very great
men have acted, in paying a respectful deference to the
avowed conviction of others. The most intelligent and
powerful men of ancient Rome, not only appeared to
believe a very absurd and hurtful system, but assisted
in all its ceremonies as priests. Even Socrates, who evi¬
dently entertained some notions adequate to the dig¬
nity of the one great and supreme Being, yet thought
it was a duty which he owed to his country, so far to
conform to the wretched establishment, as to order in
his dying words a sacrifice to ^Esculapius. This ex¬
ternal conformity to the national religion ought not to
be confounded with hypocrisy. If indeed it is carried
to extremes, or zealously affected, it certainly is very
blameable and contemptible deceit j but while it keeps
within the bounds of reason and moderation, it ought
to be called a decent deference to the opinions of the infidelity,
majority, arising from humility, and from a desire to
maintain the tranquillity of the state, and to continue
an innocent and useful system, which lias, and will al¬
ways greatly contribute to lessen the quantity and de¬
gree both of moral and of natural evil.
“ The easiest, after all, or at least the most effectual
method of appearing in any character, is really to be
what we wish to appear. But belief, you will say, is
not in our power, and how can we believe what appears
to us incredible ? Certainly you cannot while it ap¬
pears incredible. But let me ask you, whether you
have taken any pains to believe, or have at once and
at a glance persuaded yourself, that the Christian re¬
ligion is totally false ? It is probable that a great num¬
ber of sceptical writers never gave themselves the
trouble to read those Scriptures which they warmly
oppose. They hear objections, they read objections,
and they find, that from men of reputed wit and inge¬
nuity the objections often originate. They also wish
to be reputed men of wit and ingenuity, and there¬
fore eagerly adopt the language and sentiments of the
order. Perhaps the vanity and pride of this class
of men will render all attempts to convince them
abortive ; but to modest doubters, and to those whose
good sense and good dispositions lead them to wish to
adopt the religion of their country, it may not be use¬
less to suggest advice, with a view to facilitate their
conviction.
“ The chief thing required is to free themselves from
the pride of human reason. Humility (and surely our
blindness and imperfections are sufficient to render us
humble, if we would be reasonable), humility will
open our hearts, and belief will find admission. Sin¬
cere endeavours, seconded by prayers, will never fail
to help our unbelief. But, alas ! a fine, gay, spirited,
liberal, and enlarged modern philosopher, would be
ashamed to be found on his knees, or with a Testament
in his possession. There is scarcely any vicious act, or
any vicious book, which would put him so much to the
blush.
“ A modest well-meaning man might, however, one
should think, divest himself of those prejudices which
prevent the possibility of belief, by the following soli¬
loquy : ‘ I find myself placed in a world abounding
with evil and misery. Under the immediate pressure
of it, I feel my heart inclining, like the needle to the
north, by its natural tendency, to the Deity for sup¬
port. Man, of all animals, is the only one who has the
sense of religion. Feeling this distinctive propensity
of my nature, I look around to discover to what ob¬
ject, and in what manner, that part of my fellow crea¬
tures, who live in the same society with myself, pay
their adoration. I find a system of religion already
established, and which has been established in the most
enlightened countries of the earth near 2000 years. I
resolve to examine it. It claims that respect from its
antiquity and universality. Many difficulties appear
on the first inspection. My reason is often startled, and
my belief wavers. But I will not yet give up a point
of so serious importance, without further and closer
attention to it. I reflect, that 2000 years is a vast
space in the age of the world. How many myriads
of men like myself have lived and died in the faith du¬
ring that time ! And were all of them fools or hypo¬
crites ?
I N F
crltes ? It could not have been.
In&dciity
I! ing of a poor individual, just come into the world, and
Inilnitesi- iiard|y knowing where he is, comprehend on intuition
. . an object of such magnitude, and make the mighty
discovery which has escaped millions of the wisest and
most learned of mortals ? Or, supposing that they all
perceived the deception, am I then at last the only ho¬
nest man who will confess it ? I am ashamed to avow
such an idea to myself. But yet, if I reject what
they received, surely I avow it in the more expressive
language of my conduct. Pride, I fear, is the foun¬
dation of my scepticism ; and humility must form the
basis of my belief. I will check my own presumption,
and reject the cavils of vain and foolish philosophy.
Shall a poor weak creature, who cometh up like a
flower, and is cut down, who fleeth as a shadow, and
never continueth in one stay, presume to pronounce de¬
cisively in that little period, in which he has scarcely
time to look about him before he dies, against a sy¬
stem which has strong internal and external evidence
of divine original, which is most useful and comfortable,
and which has been admitted among a great portion
of mankind during almost 20 centuries ? No, it is the
first wisdom to be humble. Humility will be followed
by grace, and grace by faith, and faith by salvation.
It plainly appears, that I can lose nothing by belief,
but some of those excessive and irregular enjoyments,
which would destroy my health and life ; but I may
possibly gain a glory and a happiness which shall con¬
tinue to all eternity.”
INFINITE, that which has neither beginning nor
end : in which sense God alone is infinite.
Infinite is also used to signify that which has had a
beginning, but will have no end, as angels and human
souls. This makes what the schoolmen call infinitum
a parte post; as, on the contrary, by infinitum a parte
ante, they mean that which has an end, but had no be¬
ginning.
Infinite Quantities. The very idea of magnitudes
infinitely great, or such as exceed any assignable quan¬
tities, does include a negation of limits •, yet it we
nearly examine this notion, we shall find that such mag¬
nitudes are not equal among themselves, but that there
are really, besides infinite length and infinite area,
malt
luftuenci
three several sorts of infinite solidity $ all of which are
quantitates sm generis,
in given proportions.
Infinite length, or a line infinitely long, is to be
considered either as beginning at a point, and so infi¬
nitely extended one way, or else both ways from the
same point j in which case the one, which is a begin¬
ning infinity, is the one half of the whole, which is
the sum of the beginning and ceasing infinity j or, as
may be said, of infinity a parte ante and a parte post,
which is analogous to eternity in time and duration, in
which there is always as much to follow as is past, from
any point or moment of time ; nor doth the addition
or subduction of finite length, or space of time, alter
the case either in infinity or eternity, since both the one
or the other cannot be any part of the whole.
INFINITESIMALS, among mathematicians, are
defined to be infinitely small quantities.
In the method of infinitesimals, the element, by which
any quantity increases or decreases, is supposed to be
infinitely small j and is generally expressed by two or
[ 248 ] INF
Can the understand- more terms, some of which are infinitely less than the Infinite!
rest $ which being neglected as of no importance, the
remaining terms form what is called the difference off
the proposed quantity. The terms that are neglected in
this manner, as infinitely less than the other terms of
the element, are the very same which arise in conse¬
quence of the acceleration or retardation of the gene¬
rating motion, during the infinitely small time in
which the element is generated : so that the remaining
terms express the elements that would have been pro¬
duced in that time, if the generating motion had con¬
tinued uniform : therefore those differences are accu¬
rately in the same ratio to each other as the generating
motions or fluxions. And hence, though in this me¬
thod infinitesimal parts of the elements are neglected,
the conclusions are accurately true without even an in¬
finitely small error, and agree precisely with those that
are deduced by the method by fluxions. See Flux¬
ions.
INFINITIVE, in Grammar, the name of one of
the moods, which serve for the conjugating of verbs.
See Grammar.
INFINITY, the quality which denominates a thing
infinite. See Metaphysics.
INFIRMARY, a kind of hospital, where the weak
and sick are properly taken care of.
INFLAMMABILITY, that property of bodies
which disposes them to kindle or catch fire. See Che¬
mistry, N° 336. p. 490.
INFLAMMATION, in Medicine and Surgery, a
redness and swelling of any part of the body, attended
witli heat, pain, &.c. See Medicine Index.
Inflammation of Oils by concentrated Acids. See
Chemistry, N° 876 and 893.
INFLATION, formed from in and fflatus ; ol fio,
“ I blow blowing up, the act of stretching or fill¬
ing any flaccid or distensible body with a flatulent or
windy substance.
INFLECTED rays. See Inflected Bays.
INFLECTION, called also diffraction, and deflec¬
tion, in Optics, is a property of light, by reason of
which, when it comes within a certain distance of any
body, it will either be bent from it, or towards it j
which is a kind of imperfect reflection or refraction.
See Optics.
Inflection, or Point off Inflection, in the higher
geometry, is a point where a curve begins to bend a
contrary way.
Inflection, in Grammar, the variation of nouns
and verbs, by declension and conjugation.
INFLUENCE, a quality supposed to flow from the
heavenly bodies, either with their light or heat 5 to
which astrologers idly ascribe all sublunary events.
Alchemists also, who to this ascribe the philosophers
stone, tells us, that every thing in nature is produced
by the influence of the stars, which, in their passage
through the atmosphere, imbibe many of its moist
parts, the grossest whereof they deposit in the sands and
earths where they fall •, that these, filtrating through
the pores of the earth, descend even to the centre,
whence they are driven, by the central fire, back again
to the surface $ and in their ascent, by a natural kind
of sublimation, as they find earths duly disposed, they
form natural bodies, as metals, minerals, and vege¬
tables, &c. Thus, it is pretended, that chemistry,
5 consisting
and that those of each species are
lOUCt
kni't'
INF [ :
uciicc cons>sting of an artificial imitation of these natural ope-
|j rations, and in applying active principles to passive prin*
:ovnKr ciples, can form natural bodies, make gold, &c.
^ INFORMATION, in Law, is nearly the same in
the Crown-office, as what in other courts is called a
declaration. See Prosecution.
Informations are of two sorts ; first, those which are
partly at the suit of the king, and partly at that of a
subject \ and secondly, such as are only in the name of
the king. The former are usually brought upon penal
statutes, which inflict a penalty upon conviction of the
odender, one part to the use of the king, and another
to the use of the informer. By the statute 31 Eliz.
c. 5. no prosecution upon any penal statute, the suit
and benefit whereof are limited in part to the king
and in part to the prosecutor, can be brought by any
common informer after one year is expired since the
commission of the offence ; nor on behalf of the crown,
alter the lapse of two years longer 5 nor, where the for¬
feiture is originally given only to the king, can such
prosecution be had after the expiration of two years
from the commission of the oft'ence.
The informations that are exhibited in the name of
the king alone, are also of two kinds: first, those
which are truly and properly his own suits, and filed
cx officio by his own immediate officer, the attorney-
genera! : secondly, those in which, though the king
is the nominal prosecutor, yet it is at the relation of
some private person, or common informer; and they are
filed by the king’s coroner and attorney in the court
of king’s bench, usually called the master of the crown-
office, who is for this purpose the standing officer of the
public. The objects of the king’s own prosecutions,
filed ex officio by his own attorney-general, are pro¬
perly such enormous misdemeanors, as peculiarly tend
to disturb or endanger his government, or to molest or
affront him in the regular discharge of his royal func¬
tions. For offences so high and dangerous, in the pu¬
nishing or preventing of which a moment’s delay would
be fatal, the law has given to the crown the power of
an immediate prosecution, without waiting for any pre¬
vious application to any other tribunal : which power,
thus necessary, not only to the ease and safety, but even
to the very existence, of the executive magistrate, was
originally reserved in the great plan of the English con¬
stitution, wherein provision is wisely made for the due
preservation of all its parts. The objects of the other
species of informations, filed by the master of the crown-
office upon the complaint or relation of a private sub¬
ject, are any gross and notorious misdemeanors, riots,
batteries, libels, and other immoralities of an atro¬
cious kind, not peculiarly tending to disturb the go¬
vernment (for those are left to the care of the attorney-
general), but which, on account of their magnitude
or pernicious example, deserve the most public animad¬
version. And when an information is filed, either
thus, or by the attorney-general ex officio, it must be
tried by a petit jury of the county where the of¬
fence arises : after which, if the defendant be found
guilty, he must resort to the court for his punish¬
ment. See a history and vindication of this mode of
prosecution in the work cited on the margin, vol. iv.
p. 309—312.^
INFORMER {informator) in Law, a person that
informs against, or prosecutes in any of the kind’s
Vol. XI. Part I. +
49 ] I N G
courts, those that offend against any law or penal sta- > ,
..or... ■' * Infoin»ei
tute. oee Information.
Informers were very common both in Greece and Ingenuous.
Rome. Every corner of the streets was pestered with v—
swarms of turbulent rascals, who made it their constant
business to pick up stories,and catch at every occasion to
accuse persons of credit and reputation : These by the
Greeks were called 'Zvx.ap&flcu; for a more particular
account of whom, see the article Sycophant.
Amongst the Romans, informers were of two sorts,
mandatores and delatores. These played into each
other’s hands ; the former marking down such persons
as they pretended to have found guilty of any misde¬
meanor, and the other prosecuting them. What tended
to increjise the number of these pestilent fellows was,
that the informers were entitled to a fourth part of the
effects of the person convicted. Wicked princes re¬
warded and countenanced this mischievous tribe ; but
litus set on foot a most diligent search after them,
and punished such as he found with death or banish¬
ment. Trajan also is praised by Pliny for a similar
conduct.
INFRACTION (formed from in, and the supine
of frango, “ I break,”) a rapture or violation of a
treaty, law, ordinance, or the like.
INI RALAPSARII, the name of a sect of prede-
stinarians, who maintain, that God has created a cer¬
tain number of men only to be damned, without allow¬
ing them the means necessary to save themselves, if
they would ; and they are thus called, because they
hold that God’s decrees were formed infra lapsum, after
his knowledge ol the fall, and in consequence thereof ;
in contradistinction to the Supralapsarians.
INFRA-scapularis, in Anatomy. See Anatomy
Table of the Muscles.
Infra-Spinatus, in Anatomy. See Anatomy ibid.
INFULA, in antiquity, was a mitre worn by the
Roman and Grecian priests upon the head., from
which on each side hung a ribband. The covering
the head with a mitre was rather a Roman than a
Grecian custom, introduced into Italy by tineas, who
covered his head and face at the pertormance of sacri¬
fice, lest any ill-boding omen should disturb the rites.
The infulEe were commonly made of wool, and were
not only worn by the priests, but were put upon the
horns of the victims, upon the altar and the temple.
The infulre were also called vittw.
INIUNDIBULIFORM, in Botany, an appella¬
tion given to such monopetalous or one-leaved flowers
as resemble a funnel in shape.
INFUSION, in Pharmacy, an operation, whereby
the virtues of plants are drawn out, by steeping them in
some convenient fluid without boiling.
INGELSKEIM, a town of Germany, in the pala¬
tinate of the Rhine, remarkable for having been the
residence of the emperor; seated on the river Salva,
on an eminence, from whence there is a charming pro¬
spect. E. Long. 8. 5. N. Lat. 49. 58.
INGENHOUSZ, John, a late eminent natural
philosopher. See Supplement.
INGENUOUS, in a general sense, signifies open,
fair, and candid.
Ingenuous (ingenuus), in Roman antiquity, an
appellation given to persons born of free parents, who
had never been slaves ; for the children of the liberti,
11 or
I N G
[ 250 ]
I N G
Ingenuous or persons wlio bad obtained their liberty, were call¬
ed libertini, not tngenui; this appellation of tngenuus
being reserved for their children, or the third genera¬
tion.
INGESTA, is used by some authors to express all
sorts of aliment taken into the body.
INGLUVIES, the crop or craw of granivorous
birds, serving for the immediate reception of the food,
where it is macerated for some time before it is trans¬
mitted to the true stomach.
INGOLSTADT, a handsome town of Germany,
and the strongest in Bavaria, with a handsome church.
The university formerly seated here was transferred
to Landshut in 1800. It is situated on the Danube,
in E. Long. 11. 10. N. Lat. 48. 42.
INGOT, a mass of gold or silver melted down, and
cast in a mould, but not coined or wrought.
INGRAFTING, in Gardening. See Grafting,
Gardening Index.
INGRATITUDE, the opposite of gratitude. See
Gratitude.
Ingratitude is a crime so shameful, that there never
was a man found who would own himself guilty of
it 5 and, though too frequently practised, it is so ab¬
horred by the general voice, that to an ungrateful
person is imputed the guilt or the capability of all other
crimes.
The ungrateful are neither fit to serve their Maker,
their country, nor their friends.
Ingratitude perverts all the measures of religion and
society, by making it dangerous to be charitable and
good natured. (See Gratitude). However, it is
better to expose ourselves to ingratitude than to be
wanting in charity and benevolence.
Great minds, like Heav’n, are pleas’d with doing good j
Though the ungrateful subjects of their favours
Are barren in return.
1. In a little work intitled Friendly Cautions to
Officers, the following atrocious instance of ingratitude
is related. An opulent city in the west of England,
little used to have troops with them, had a regiment
sent to he quartered there : the principal inhabitants
and wealthiest merchants, glad to show their hospita¬
lity and attachment to their sovereign, took the first
opportunity to get acquainted with the officers, in¬
viting them to their houses, and showing them every
civility in their power. This was truly a desirable
situation. A merchant, extremely easy in his circum¬
stances, took so prodigious a liking to one officer in
particular, that he gave him an apartment in his own
house, and made him in a manner absolute master of
it, the officer’s friends being always welcome to his
table. The merchant was a widower, and had only
two favourite daughters ; the officer in so comfortable
a station cast his wanton eyes upon them j and too fa¬
tally succeeding, ruined them both. Dreadful return
to the merchant’s misplaced friendship ! The conse¬
quence of this ungenerous action was, that all of¬
ficers ever after were shunned as a public nuisance, as
a pest to society : nor have the inhabitants perhaps
vet conquered their aversion to a red-coat.
2. We read in Rapin’s History, that during Mon¬
mouth’s rebellion, in the reign of James II. a certain
person knowing the humane disposition of one Mrs
Gaunt, whose life was one continued exercise of bene-
licence, fled to her house, where he was concealed and tude.
maintained for some time. Hearing, however, of the s'"—v™"
proclamation, which promised an indemnity and re¬
ward to those who discovered such as harboured the
rebels, he betrayed his benefactress j and such was
the spirit of justice and equity which prevailed among
the ministers, that he was pardoned and recompensed
for his treachery, while she was burnt alive for her
charity !
3. The following instance is also to be found in the
same history.—Humphry Bannister and his father
were both servants to and raised by the duke of Buck¬
ingham j who being driven to abscond, by an unfortu¬
nate accident befalling the army he had raised against
the usurper Richard III. he without lootman or
page retired to Bannister’s house near Shrewsbury, as
to a place where he had all the reason in the world to
expect security. Bannister, however, upon the king’s
proclamation promising loool. reward to him that
should apprehend the duke, betrayed his master to John
Merton high sheriff of Shropshire, who sent him un¬
der a strong guard to Salisbury, where the king then
was, and there in the market-place the duke was be¬
headed. But Divine vengeance pursued the traitor
Bannister 5 for demanding the 1000I. that was the
price of his master’s blood, King Richard refused
to pay it him, saying, “ He that would be false to
so good a master, ought not to be encouraged.” Fie
was afterwards hanged for manslaughter, his eldest
son run mad and died in a hog-sty, his second became
deformed and lame, and his third son was drowned in a
small puddle of water. His eldest daughter was got with
child by one of his carters, and his second was seized
with a leprosy whereof she died.-—-H/sf. oj Eng. 8vo.
vol. i. p. 304.
The following barbarous instances are from ancient
History.
4. When Xerxes king of Persia was at Celene, a He
city of Phrygia, Pythius, a Lydian, who had his re-1, vii. c.
sidence in that city, and next to Xerxes was the most Seneca,
opulent prince of those times, entertained him and his^*’ ‘
whole army with an incredible magnificence, and made
him an ofl'er of all his wealth towards defraying the
expences of his expedition. Xerxes, surprised and
charmed at so generous an offer, had the curiosity to
inquire to what a sum his riches amounted. Pythius
made answer, that having the design of ofiering them
to his service, he had taken an exact account of them,
and that the silver he had by him amounted to 2000
talents (about 255,000!. sterling), and the gold to
4,000,000 of darics (about l^ODjOCol. sterling),
wanting 7000. All this money he offered him,
telling him, that his revenue was sufficient for the
support of this household. Xerxes made him very
hearty acknowledgments, and entered into a particular
friendship with him, but declined accepting his present.
The same prince who had made such obliging offers
to Xerxes, having desired a favour of him some time
after, that out of his five sons who served in his army,
he would be pleased to leave him the eldest, in order
to be a comfort to him in his old age : the king was
so enraged at the proposal, though so reasonable in it¬
self, that he caused the eldest son to be killed before
the eyes of his father, giving the latter to understand,
that
)‘uar. An-
l, tom. iii
•Si-
I N G [25
1 latitude that It was a favour lie spared him and the rest of his
|i children. Yet this is the same Xerxes who is so much
julplius. admired for his humane reflection at the head of bis
numerous army, “ That of so many thousand men, in
100 years time there would not be one remaining j on
which account he could not forbear weeping at the un¬
certainty and instability of human things.” He might
have found another subject of reflection, which would
have more justly merited his tears and affliction, had
he turned his thoughts upon himself, and considered
the reproaches he deserved for being the instrument of
hastening the fatal term to millions of people, whom his
cruel ambition was going to sacrifice in an unjust and
unnecessary war.
5. Basilius Macedo the emperor, exercising himself
in hunting, a sport he took great delight in, ‘a great
stag running furiously against him, fastened one of the
branches of his horns in the emperor’s girdle, and
pulling him from his horse, dragged him "a good dis¬
tance, to the imminent danger of his life; which a
gentleman of bis retinue perceiving, drew his sword
and cut the emperor’s girdle asunder, which disen¬
gaged him from the beast, with little or no hurt to his
person. But observe what reward he had for his pains :
“ He was sentenced to lose his head for putting his
sword so near the body of the emperor 5” and suffered
death accordingly.
INGRESS, in Astro?iomy, signifies the sun’s enter¬
ing the first scruple of one of the four cardinal signs,
especially Aries.
INGHIA, a province of the Russian empire, lying
on the gulf of Finland, being about 130 miles in
length, and 50 in breadth. It abounds in game and
fish ; and here are a great number of elks, which come
in troops from Finland in the spring and autumn. It
was conquered by the Czar Peter the Great, and Pe-
tersburgh is the capital town. It is bounded by the
river Neva, and the gulf of Finland, on the north ; by
Great Novogorod, on the east and south ; and by Li¬
vonia, on the west.
INGROSSER, or Engrosser, in common law, is
one who buys up corn growing, or any provisions by
wholesale, before the market, to sell again. See FORE¬
STALLING.
It also signifies a clerk who writes records or instru¬
ments of law on skins of parchment. See Engros-'
SING.
INGUEN, in Anatomy, the same with what is other¬
wise called gt'oin.
INGULPHUS, abbot of Croyland, and author of
the history of that abbey, was born in London about
A. D. 1030. He received the first part of his edu¬
cation at Westminster ; and when be visited bis father,
who belonged to the court of Edward the Confessor,
be was so fortunate as to engage the attention of Queen
Edgitha. That amiable and learned princess took a
pleasure in examining our young scholar on his pro¬
gress in grammar, and in disputing with him in logic 5
nor did she ever di. miss him without some present as a
mark of her approbation. From Westminster he went
to Oxford, where be applied to the study of rhetoric,
and of the Aristotelian philosophy, in which he made
greater proficiency than many of his contemporaries.
When he was about 21 years of age, be was intro¬
duced to William duke of Normandy (who visited the
1 ] I N H
court of England, A. D. 1051), and made himself so ingulplue
agreeable to that prince, that he appointed him his Inhaler,
secretary, and carried him with him into his own do- ■—“-v—-
minions. In a little time he became -the prime fa¬
vourite of his prince, and the dispenser of all pre¬
ferments, humbling some, and exalting others, at his
pleasure; in which difficult station, he confesseth, he
did not behave with a proper degree of modesty and
prudence. I his excited the envy and hatred of many
of the courtiers ; to avoid the effects of which, he ob¬
tained leave from the duke to go in pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. With a company of 30 horsemen, he
joined Sigfrid duke of Mentz, who, with many Ger¬
man nobles, bishops, clergy, and others, was prepa¬
ring for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they were
all united, they formed a company of no fewer than
7000 pilgrims. In their way they spent some time at
Constantinople, performing their devotions in the seve¬
ral churches. In their passage through Lycia, they
were attacked by a tribe of Arabs, who killed and
wounded many of them, and plundered them of a pro
digious mass of money. Those who escaped from this
disaster, at length reached Jerusalem, visited all the
holy places, and bedewed the ruins of many churches
with their tears, giving money for their reparation.
They intended to have bathed in Jordan ; but being
prevented by the roving Arabs, they embarked on
board a Genoese fleet at Joppa, and landed at Brundu-
sium, from whence they travelled through Apulia to
Rome. Having gone through a long course of devo¬
tions in this city, at the several places distinguished for
sanctity, they separated, and every one made the best
of his way into his own country. When Ingulph and
his company reached Normandy, they were reduced
to 20 half-starved wretches, without money, clothes, or
horses : A faithful picture of the disastrous journeys in¬
to the Holy Land, so common in those times. Ingulph
was now so much disgusted with the world, that he re¬
solved to forsake it, and became a monk in the abbey
of Fontenelle in Normandy ; in which, after some
years, he was advanced to the office of prior. When
his old master was preparing for his expedition into
England, A. D. 1066, he was sent by his abbot, with
100 merks in money, and 12 young men, nobly mount¬
ed and completely armed, as a present from their abbey.
Ingulph having found a favourable opportunity, pre¬
sented his men and money to his prince, who received
him very graciously ; some part of the former affection
for him reviving in his bosom. In consequence of this
he raised him to the government of the rich abbey of
Croyland in Lincolnshire, A. I). 1076, in which he
spent the last 34 years of his life, governing that socie¬
ty with great prudence, and protecting their possessions
from the rapacity of the neighbouring barons by the fa¬
vour of his royal master. The lovers of English histo¬
ry and antiquities are much indebted to this learned
abbot, for bis excellent history of the abbey of Croy¬
land, from its foundation, A. D. 664, to A.'D. IC91,
into which he hath introduced much of the general
history of the kingdom, with a variety of curious anec¬
dotes that are nowhere else to be found. Ingulph died
of the gout, at his abbey, A. I), ucp, in the 79th year
of his age.
INHALER, in Medicine, a machine for breathing
in warm steams into the lungs, recommended by Mr
I i 2 Mudge
I N J
[ 252
Inhaler
s
Injection,
Madge in the cure of the catarrhous cough. The
body of the instrument holds about a pint j and the
handle, which is fixed to the side of it, is hollow. In
the lower part of the vessel, where it is soldered to the
handle, is a hole, by means of which, and three others
oit the upper part of the handle, the water, when it is
poured into the inhaler, will rise to the same level in
both. To the middle of the cover a flexible tube
about five or six inches long is fixed, with a mouth-piece
of wood or ivory. Underneath the cover there is a
valve fixed, which opens and shuts the communication
between the upper and internal part of the inhaler
and the external air. When the mouth is applied to
the end of the tube in the act of inspiration, the air
rushes into the handle, and up through the body of
warm water, and the lungs become, consequently,
filled with hot vapours. In expiration, the mouth
being still fixed to the tube, the breath, together
with the steam on the surface of the water in the
inhaler, is forced up through the valve in the co¬
ver. In this manner, therefore, the whole act of
respiration is performed through the inhaler, with¬
out the necessity, in the act of expiration, of either
breathing through the nose, or removing the pipe from
the mouth.
INHERITANCE, a perpetual right or interest
in lands, invested in a person and his heirs. See
Descent.
INHIBITION, a writ to inhibit or forbid a judge
from further proceeding in a cause depending before
him.
Sometimes prohibition and inhibition are put toge¬
ther, as of the same import •, but inhibition is most
commonly a writ issuing out of a higher court-christian
to a lower ; and prohibition out of the king’s court to
an inferior court.
INHIBITION, in Scots Law, a diligence obtained at
the suit of a creditor against his debtor, prohibiting
him from selling or contracting debts upon his estate
to the creditor’s prejudice.
INJECTION, the forcibly throwing certain liquid
medicines into the body by means of a syringe, tube,
clyster-pipe, or the like.
Injection, in Surgery, the throwing in some liquor
or medicine into a vein opened by incision. This
practice, and that ef transfusion, or the conveying the
arterial blood of one man, or other animal, into ano¬
ther, were once greatly practised, but are now laid
aside.
Anatomical Injection, the filling the vessels of a
human, or other animal body, with some coloured sub¬
stance, in order to make their figures and ramifications
visible.
I. The best account of the method of injecting the
sanguiferous vessels of animals, is that by the late
Dr Monro, published in the Medical Essays, vol. i.
P' 79* . . . . .
“ The instrument with which the liquor is commonly
thrown into the vessels is a tight easy going syringe of
brass, to which several short pipes are fitted, and can
fie fixed by screws 3 the other extremities of these pipes
being of different diameters without any screw, that
they may slide into other pipes, which are so exactly
adapted to them at one end, that when they are pressed
^little together, nothing can pass between them : and
] I N J
because their cohesion is not so great as to resist the ]jqeciw
pushing force of the injection, which would drive off y—-.
this second pipe, and spoil the whole operation $ there¬
fore the extremity of this second sort of pipes, which
receives the first kind, is formed on the outside into a
square, bounded behind and before by a rising circle,
which hinders the key that closely grasps the square
part from sliding backwards or forwards 3 or a bar of
brass must stand out from each side of it to be held with
the fingers. The other extremity of each of these se¬
cond sort of pipes is of different diameter 3 and near it
a circular notch, capable of allowing a thread to be sunk
into it, is formed 3 by this, the thread tying the vessel
at which the injection is to be made, will not be allow¬
ed to slide off.
“ Besides this form described, common to all this-
second sort of pipes, we ought to have some of the
larger ones, with an additional mechanism, for particu¬
lar purposes 3 as, for instance, when the larger vessels
are injected, the pipe fastened into the vessel ought ei¬
ther to have a valve or a stop-cock, that may be turn¬
ed at pleasure, to hinder any thing to get out from
the vessel by the pipe 3 otherwise, as the injection, in
such a case, takes time to coagulate, the people em¬
ployed in making the injection must either continue
all that while in the same posture 3 or, if the syringe
is too soon taken off, the injected liquor runs out and
the larger vessels are emptied. When the syringe is
not large enough to hold at once all the liquor neces¬
sary to fill the vessels, there is a necessity of filling it
again. If, in order to do this, the syringe was to be
taken off from the pipe fixed in the vessel, some of the
injection would be lost, and what was exposed to the
air would cool and harden 3 therefore some of the pipes
ought to have a reflected curve tube coming out of
their side, with a valve so disposed, that no liquor
can come from the straight pipe into the crooked one,
but, on the contrary, may be allowed to pass from the
crooked to the straight one 3 the injector then, taking
care to keep the extremity of the reflected pipe im¬
mersed in the liquor to be injected, may, as soon as be
has pushed out the first syringeful, fill it again by
only drawing back the sucker 3 and, repeating this
quickly, will be able to throw several syringefuls into
the vessels.
“ All these different sorts of pipes are commonly
made of brass.
“ The liquors thrown into the vessels, with a design
to fill the small capillary tubes, are either such as wiU
incorporate with water, or such as are oily : both kinds
have their advantages and inconveniences 3 which I
shall mention in treating of each, and shall conclude
with that which I have found by experience to succeed
best.
“ All the different kinds of gluey or ichtbyocolla,
syths, common glue, &c. dissolved and pretty much
diluted, mix easily with the animal fluids, which is of
great advantage, and will pass into very small vessels
of a well-chosen and prepared subject, and often an¬
swer the intention sufficiently, where the design is on¬
ly to prepare some very fine membrane, on which no
vessels can be expected to be seen so large as the eye
can discover whether the transverse sections of the ves¬
sels would be circular, or if their sides are collapsed.
But when the larger vessels are also to be prepared,
there
I N J
Action, there is a manifest disadvantage to the usefulness and
v> wy-— beauty of the preparation ; for if nothing but the glu¬
tinous liquor is injected, one cannot keep a subject so
long as the glue takes of becoming firm ; and there¬
fore, in dissecting the injected part, several vessels will
probably be cut and emptied. To prevent this, one
may indeed either soak the part well in alcohol, which
coagulates the glue ; but then it becomes so brittle,
that the least handling makes it crack $ and if the pre¬
paration is to be kept, the larger vessels appear quite
I shrivelled, when the watery part of the injection is
evaporated : or the efflux of the injection may be pre¬
vented, by carefully tying every vessel before we are
obliged to cut it; still, however, that does not hinder
the vessels to contract when the glue is drying. If, to
obviate these difficulties, the glutinous liquor should
first be injected in such quantity as the capillary vessels
will contain, and the common oily or waxy injection is
pushed in afterwards to keep the larger vessels distend¬
ed, the wax is very apt to harden before it has run far
enough ; the two sorts of liquors never miss to mix ir¬
regularly, and the whole appears interrupted and bro¬
ken by their soon separating from each other 5 which
is still more remarkable afterwards, when the watery
particles are evaporated.
“ Spirit of wine coloured mixes with water and
oils, and so far is proper to fill the very small ves¬
sels with : but, on the other band, it coagulates any of
our liquor it meets, which sometimes blocks up the
vessels so much, that no more injection will pass ; then
it scarce will suspend some of the powders that prove
the most durable colours; and as it entirely evaporates,
the vessels must become very small; and the small quan¬
tity of powder left, having nothing to serve for connec¬
ting its particles together, generally is seen so inter¬
rupted, that the small ramifications of vessels rather
have the appearances of random scratches of a pencil,
than of regular continued canals.
“ Melted tallow, with a little mixture of oil of tur¬
pentine, may sometimes be made to fill very small ves¬
sels, and keeps the larger ones at a full stretch ; but
where any quantity of the animal liquors are still in
the vessels, it is liable to stop too soon, and never can
be introduced into numbers of vessels, while other li¬
quors enter ; and it is so brittle, that very little hand¬
ling makes it crack, and thereby renders the prepara¬
tion very ugly (a).
“ The method I have always succeeded best with,
in making what may be called subtile ov fine injections,
is, first throw in coloured oil of turpentine, in such a
quantity as might fill the very small vessels; and, imme¬
diately after, to push the common coarse injection into
the larger ones. The oil is subtile enough to enter
rather smaller capillary tubes than any colouring can ;
I N J
its resinous parts, which remain after the spirituous are Injection,
evaporated, give a sufficient adhesion to the particles of y—
the substance with which it is coloured, to keep them
from separating, and it intimately incorporates with the
coarser injection ; by which, if the injection is rightly
managed, it is impossible for the sharpest eye to disco¬
ver that two sorts have been made use of (b).
“ All the liquors with which the vessels of animals
are artificially filled, having very faint, and near the
same colours, would not all appear in the very small
vessels, because of their becoming entirely diaphanous,
without a mixture of some substance to impart its co¬
lour to them ; and where several sorts of even the lar¬
gest vessels of any part were filled, one sort could not
be distinguished from another, unless the colour of each
was different ; which has likewise a good effect in
making preparations more beautiful. Wherefore ana¬
tomists have made use of a variety of such substances,
according to their different fancies or intentions ; such
as gamboge, saffron, ink, burnt ivory, &c. which can
be easily procured from painters. My design being
only to consider those that are fit to be mixed with the
injecting liquors proposed to fill capillary vessels, which
is scarce ever to be done in any other, except the branches
of the arteries and of some veins, I shall confine my¬
self to the common colours employed to these last-nam¬
ed two sorts of vessels, which colours are red, green,
and sometimes blue, without mentioning the others,
which require very little choice.
“ Anatomists have, I imagine, proposed to imitate
the natural colours of the arteries and veins in a living
creature, by filling the arteries with a red substance,
and the veins with a blue or green : from which, how¬
ever, there are other advantages, such as the strong
reflection which such bodies make of the rays of light,
and the unaptness most such bodies have to transmit
these same rays, without at least a considerable reflec¬
tion of the rays peculiar to themselves ; or, in other
words, their unfitness to become completely pellucid ;
without which, the very fine vessels, after being in¬
jected, would still be imperceptible. The animal or
vegetable substances made use of for colouring injec¬
tions, such as cochineal, laque, rad. anchusee, brazil¬
wood, indigo, &c. have all one general fault of being
liable to run into little knots which stop some of the
vessels : their colour fades sooner when kept dry ; they
more easily yield their tincture when the parts are pre¬
served in a liquor ; and rats, mice, and insects, will
take them for food: for which reasons, though I have
frequently succeeded in injecting them, I rather prefer
the mineral kind, such as minium or vermilion for red ;
of which this last is, in my opinion, the best, because
it gives the brightest colour, and is commonly to be
bought finely levigated. The green-coloured powder
generally
[ 253 ]
(a) Rigierus (jlntroduct. in notitiam rerum natur. &c. 4to, Hagae, 1743, titul. Balsamumi) gives Rnyscb’s
method of injecting and preserving animals, which, he says, Mr Blumentrost, president of the Petersburg acade¬
my, assured him was copied from the receipt given in Ruysch’s own hand-writing to the Czar. According to
this receipt, melted tallow, coloured with vermilion, to which, in the summer, a little white wax was added, was
Ruysch’s injecting ceracia materies.
(b) Mr Ranby’s injecting matter, as published by Dr Hales, {filcemast. Ex. 21.) is white rosin and tallow*
»f each two ounces, melted and strained through linen ; to which was added three ounces of vermilion, or finely
ground indigo, which was first well rubbed with eight ounces of turpentine varnish.
i
/
I N J
[ 254 ]
I N J
Injection, generally used is verdigrise ; but I rather choose that
1 r——* preparation of it called distilled verdigrise ; because its
colour is brighter, and it does not so often run into
small knots as the common verdigrise, but dissolves in
the oily liquors.
“ The method of preparing the injection composed
of these materials, is to take for the hne one, a pound
of clear oil of turpentine, which is gradually poured on
three ounces of vermilion, or distilled verdigrise finely
powdered, or rather well levigated by grinding on
marble $ stir them well with a small wooden spatula till
they are exactly mixed, then strain all through a fine
linen rag. The separation of the grosser particles is,
however, rather better made, by pouring some ounces
of the oil upon the powder, and after stirring them to¬
gether strongly, stop rubbing with the spatula for a
second or so, and pour off into a clean vessel the oil
with the. vermilion or verdigrise suspended in it $ and
continue this sort of operation till you observe no
more of the powder come oft’*, and all that remains is
granulated. The coarser injection is thus prepared :
Take tallow, I pound j wax, bleached white, 5 oun¬
ces j salad oil, 3 ounces: melt them in a skillet put
over a lamp: then add Venice turpentine, 2 ounces ;
and as soon as this is dissolved, gradually sprinkle in
of vermilion or verdigrise prepared, 3 ounces 5 then
pass all through a clean, dry, warmed linen-cloth,
to separate all the grosser particles j and, when you
design to make it run far into the vessels, some oil
of turpentine may be added immediately before it is
used.
“ The next thing to be considered, and indeed what
chiefly contributes to the success of injections, is the
choice and preparation of the subject whose vessels are
to be filled.
“ In choosing a fit subject, take these few general
rules : The younger the creature to be injected is, the
injection will, cceteris paribus, go farthest, and vice
versa. 2. The more the creature’s fluids have been dis¬
solved and exhausted in life, the success of the opera¬
tion will be greater. 3. The less solid the part design¬
ed to be injected is, the more vessels will be filled.
4. The more membranous and transparent parts are,
the injection shows better : whereas, in the solid very
hard parts of a rigid old creature, that has died with
its vessels full of thick strong blood, it is scarcely pos¬
sible to inject great numbers of small vessels.
“ Therefore, in preparing a subject for injecting,
the principal things to be aimed at are, To dissolve
the fluids, empty the vessels of them, relax the solids,
and prevent the. injection’s coagulating too soon. To
answer all these intentions, authors have proposed to
inject tepid or warm water by the arteries, till it re¬
turns clear and untinged by the veins, and the vessels
are thereby so emptied of blood, that all the parts ap¬
pear white j after which, they push out the water by
forcing in air*, and lastly by pressing with their hands,
they squeeze the air also out. After this preparation,
one can indeed inject very subtilely *, but generally there
are inconveniencies attend it. For in all the parts where
there is a remarkable tunica cellulose, it never misses
to be full of the water, which is apt to spoil any parts
designed to be. preserved either wet or dry j and some
particles of the water seldom miss to be mixed in the
larger as well as smaller vessels with the oily injection,
and make it appear discontinued and broken : where¬
fore it is much better to let this injection of water
alone, if it can be possibly avoided, and rather to mace¬
rate the body or part to be injected a considerable time
in water, made so warm (c) as one can hold his hand
easily in it 5 taking care to keep it of an equal warmth
all the time, by taking out some of the water as it cools,
and pouring in hot water in its place ; by which the
vessels will be sufficiently softened and relaxed, the
blood will be melted down, and the injection can be in
no danger of hardening too soon $ whereas, if the water
is too hot, the vessels shrink, and the blood coagu¬
lates. From time to time we squeeze out the liquids
as much as possible at the cut vessel by which the in¬
jection is to be thrown in (d). The lime this mace¬
ration is to be continued, is always in proportion to
the age of the subject, the bulk and thickness of what
we. design to inject, and the quantity of blood we ob¬
serve in the vessels, which can only be learned by ex¬
perience j at least, however, care ought to be taken,
that the whole subject, or part macerated, is per¬
fectly well warmed all through j and that w*e conti¬
nue the pressure with our hands till no more blood can
be brought away, whatever position we put the subject
Ifljfsvioiqjr
—’—y—»>
When the syringe, injections, and subjects, are all
in readiness, one of the second sort of pipes is chosen
as near to the diameter of the vessel by which the injec¬
tion is to be thrown as possible ; for if the pipe is too
large, it is almost needless to tell it cannot be introdu¬
ced. If the pipe is much smaller than the vessel, it is
scarce possible to tie them so firmly together, but, by
the wrinkling of the coats of the vessel, some small
passage will be left, by which part of the injection will
spring back on the injector in the time of the opera¬
tion, and the nearest vessels remain afterwards undi¬
stended, by the loss of the quantity that oozes out.
Having chosen a fit pipe, it is introduced at the cut
orifice of the vessel, or at an incision made in the side
of it ; and then a waxed thread being brought round
the vessel, as near to its coats as possible, by the help
of a needle, or a flexible eyed probe, the surgeon’s knot
is made with the thread, and it is drawn as firmly as
the thread can allow $ taking care that it shall be sunk
into the circular notch of the pipe all around, other¬
wise it will very easily slide oft’, and the pipe will be
brought out probably in the time of the operation,
which ruins it.
“ If there have been large vessels cut, which com¬
municate with the vessels you design to inject, or if
there are any others proceeding from the same trunk
which
(c) Ruysch orders a previous maceration for a day or two in cold water j which must have a better effect in
melting the blood than warm water has.
(d) When Ruysch intended to inject the whole body, he put one pipe upwards, and another downwards, in
the descending aorta. 5
I N J
jujkm. wliich you do not resolve to fill, let them he all care
V-*—' fully now tied up, to save the injected liquor, and
make the operation succeed better in the view you then
have.
“ When all this is done, both sorts of injections are
to be warmed over a lamp, taking care to stir them
constantly, lest the colouring powder fall to the bot¬
tom and burn (e). I he oil ot turpentine needs be
made no warmer than will allow the finger to remain
in it, if the subject has been previously well warmed
in water j when the maceration has not been made,
the oil ought to be scalding hot, that it mav warm
all the parts which are designed to be injected. The
coarse injection ought to be brought near to a boiling.
In the mean time, having wrapt several folds of linen
round the parts of the syringe which the operator is
to grip, and secured the linen with thread, the syringe
is to be made very hot by sucking boiling water several
times up (f), and the pipe within the vessel is to be
warmed by applying a sponge dipped in boiling water
,to it (g).
“ After all is ready, the syringe being cleared of the
water, the injector fills it with the finer injection j and
then introducing the pipe of the syringe into that in the
vessel, he presses them together, and either with one
hand holds this last pipe firm, with the other gripes the
syringe, and with his breast pushes the sucker ; or,
giving the pipe in the vessel to be held by an assistant,
in any of the ways mentioned in the description of these
sorts of pipes, he gripes the syringe with one hand, and
pushes the sucker with the other, and consequently
throws in the injection, which ought to be done slow¬
ly, and with no great force, but proportioned to the
length and bulk ot the part to be injected and strength
of the vessels, Ihe quantity of tins fine injection to
be thrown in is much to be learned by use. The only
rule I could ever fix to myself in this matter was to
continue pushing till I was sensible of a stop which
would require a considerable force to overcome, Eut
this will not hold where all the branches of any vessel
are not injected j as lor instance, when the vessels of
the thorax are only to be injected : for the aorta bears
too great a proportion to the branches sent from it,
and therefore less fine injection is requisite here. As
soon as that stop is felt, the sucker of the syringe is to
be drawn back, that the nearest large vessels may be
emptied. Then the syringe is taken off, emptied of
the fine injection, and filled with the coarser, which is
to be pushed into the vessels quickly and forcibly, hav¬
ing always regard to the strength and firmness of the
vessels, bulk, &c. of the part. Continue to thrust the
sucker, till a full stop or a sort of push backwards,
is felt, when you must beware of thrusting any more,
otherwise some of the vessels will be burst, and the
whole, or a considerable share of the preparation you
designed, will be spoiled by the extravasation ; but ra¬
ther immediately stop the pipe by the turn-cock, and
[ 255 ]
I N J
take out the syringe^ to clean it, and allow sufficient injection
time for the coarse injection to coagulate fully before   ' '■
any part is dissected. Ruysch, immediately after throw¬
ing m the injection, put the body into cold water, and
stirred it continually for some time to prevent the ver¬
milion to separate from the tallow.”
II. The injection ot the lymphatic system is much
more difficult than that of the sanguiferous, on account
of the extreme smallness of the vessels 5 so that till very
lately it was almost quite impracticable. Methods in¬
deed had been attempted for this purpose j but by rea¬
son of the improper form of the instruments, and the
inferior skill of anatomists in former times, we may
justly look upon this as one of the most modern im¬
provements in anatomy.
. T,,e ilr3t thing to be considered, when the lympha¬
tics are to be injected, is a proper method of discover¬
ing them j for this is by no means an easy matter, on
account of their smallness and transparency.—To finil
out these vessels, the subject must be viewed in a proper
place, where the light is neither very strong nor very
weak. Mr Sheldon, who has written a treatise upon
tins subject, recommends a winter forenoon from ten to
two ; it being chiefly in the winter season that anatomi¬
cal preparations are made, and because at that time of
the day the light is more clear and steady. He says
also, from his own experience, that the light passing
through the glass of a window is better for this purpose
than the open air, as the vessels are more distinctly seen.
The injecting of the vessels is likewise rendered more
difficult in the open air by the ease with which the hu¬
midity is evaporated from them. It will likewise be .
necessary to incline the part in various ways to the light,
as some of the vessels are most easily discoverable in one
position and some in another. The lacteal trunks under
the pei itoneal coats of the intestines, and the lympha¬
tics on the external surface of the liver, &.c, particular¬
ly require this method. He discommends the use of
magnifying glasses. “ I am persuaded (says he), that
those who attempt to find them through this medium
will not acquire that visaseruditus which is obtained to
a surprising degree by those who have been mucli expe¬
rienced in injecting lymphatic vessels. A lateral light
is likewise preferable to a horizontal, or even to an ob¬
lique sky-light.
“ The subjects must be laid upon a table of sufficient
height, which might be contrived with a ledge fixed
to the table in such a manner as to be water-proof j
which would be useful for preventing the quicksilver,
which is almost always necessary for injecting these
vessels, from being lost. The surface of the table should
likewise be hollowed, so that the mercury which falls
may be collected in the middle, where "a hole with
a stopper may be made to take out occasionally the
quicksilver which collects. Such a table would also be
convenient for holding water forthe purpose of steeping
membranous parts which are frequently to be injected ;
and;
jecthmRUySCh meltS hlS tall°W t!ie Ileat of warm water» int0 which he puts the vessel containing the in-
(F) He warms his syringe by laying it on hot coals.
is fn? ^ WarmS 'T pipf’ by Putting the bot,y> after the pipe is fixed in the vessel, into hot water. When this
jected. a C0rk 00ght t0 be pUt ,nt0 the pipe> t0 Prev^t the water getting into the vessel that is to be in-..
I N .1
[ 25
injection, and which, from being exposed to the air, become
 ■v-"'■ ■' {li’y j which also it is inconvenient and hazardous to
move into water during the time of operation. Even a
common table with a hole cut in the middle may an¬
swer the purpose: the hole may be round or square ac¬
cording to the fancy of the anatomist; but the table
must be constructed of such materials as are not liable
to warp in warm water. Should the anatomist not be
provided with either of these tables, the parts must be
laid in a tray or earthen dish, that the quicksilver may
be saved.”
The materials for injecting these vessels are ^ only
quicksilver, and the ceraceous or coarse injection of ana¬
tomists j the former being always used in injecting the
lymphatics and lacteals, it being almost impossible to
fill them with another fluid in the dead body. I he
ceraceous injection is chiefly used for the thoracic
duct; and in some particular instances, where the
lymphatic trunks have been found larger than the
ordinary size, a coarse injection has been made use
of.
Injections of the lymphatics may be made even
while the animal is alive, and that without any great
cruelty, by feeding it with milk previous to its being
strangled. Of all the barbarous methods of opening
the animal while alive, the most useful seems to be that
of Mr Hunter, who directs to perforate the small in¬
testines, and throw in starch-water with solutions of
musk, or indigo and starch-water. “ In a word (says
Mr Sheldon), any gelatinous fluids rendered opaque
with such colours as will be absorbed, are extremely
useful for experiments of this kind ; for much more
may be seen by examining the vessels distended with a
coloured fluid from natural absorption, than by anato¬
mical injection practised in the dead body.” Lieber-
kuhn first discovered the ampullulse by feeding chil¬
dren in whom the lacteal glands were obstructed pre¬
vious to their death with milk; by which means
not only the lacteal trunks became distended with
chyle, but likewise the ampullulee. Thus absorbing
mouths of the lacteal vessels were discovered by Lieber-
kuhn ; and in a similar manner Asellius discovered the
lacteals themselves. Thus also Eustachius discovered
the thoracic duct in a horse; and Mr Hewson traced
the lacteal vessels, lymphatics, and thoracic duct, in
birds, by making ligatures on the root of the mesen¬
tery, and other parts, which had been previously fed
with barley. Mr Hunter likewise was enabled to ob¬
serve the lacteals of a crocodile when distended with
chvle. .
The coarse injection for the lymphatics is made of
mutton suet and yellow resin, in the proportion of two-
thirds of resin to one of suet. If required of a thick¬
er consistence, we may add a small quantity of pure
wax : if of a softer quality, we may augment the quan¬
tity of suet: Orpiment or king’s yellow is generally
made use of; though others are equally proper, provi¬
ded they be fine enough.
The instruments necessary for injecting thelymphatic
vessels are the injecting tube and pipe, lancets, blow¬
pipes, knives, scissars, forceps, needles, and thread.
The old injecting tube has been found in a manner en¬
tirely useless, the pipe being fixed in a glass tube two
or three feet long ; which is one of the reasons why,
before the time of Hewson, so little of the lymphatic
6 ] I N J
system could be injected. Tubes of such a length are
entirely unmanageable by one person, and it is impossi¬
ble to perform the operation properly with two. To
perform it in the best mariner, the instrument should be
held in the hand like a pencil or pen. The instruments
used by our author are tubes made either of glass or ot
brass ; which, when filled with mercury, may be held
in the hand like a pen : a glass tube, however, is pre¬
ferable to the metallic one. It is somewhat in the shape
of a trumpet ; six inches and a half in length, an inch
and a half broad where broadest, and three-eighths of
an inch where narrowest. A collar of steel half an
Inch broad and three quarters of an inch long is ce¬
mented to this pipe, and a smaller tube of the same me¬
tal is screwed upon the end of the collar ; the whole
terminating in a capillary tube about an inch in length.
This last is the most difficult part of the whole work to
execute ; it should be drilled out of a solid piece of me¬
tal, and not made of a thin bit of plate soldered, as
these are apt to turn ragged in the edges, and the solder
is also liable to be destroyed by the mercury. Those
used by Mr Sheldon were made by drilling a small hole
lengthwise through a bit of well-tempered wire. It is
cleaned by means of a very small piece of steel-wire ca¬
pable of passing through the bore of the tube. This
ought to be annealed lest it should break; in which case
the broken bit could not easily be got out. Very small
tubes may be made of glass drawn out as fine as we choose;
and thought very apt to break, they are easily repaired.
They ought to be very thin, that they may be easily
melted. Sometimes it has been found convenient to fit
the collar with a stop-cock.
The brass tube represented by our author is about
nine inches and a half in length, and half an inch wide
where widest. The collar is a full quarter of an inch
broad, and three quarters of an inch long; a steel
piece and capillary tube being screwed to it as in the
other.
The lancets are to be exquisitely sharp, in order to
cut into the lymphatic vessels. The latter are easily in¬
flated by the small silver blow-pipes usually put up in
the dissecting cases by the London mathematical instru¬
ment makers: dissecting knives, fine-pointed scissars,
accurately made dissecting forceps, with straight or
crooked needles, are likewise substituted with advan¬
tage, as not being affected by the quicksilver.
We must next consider the proper subjects for injec¬
tion. Mr Sheldon recommends, that they should be as
free from fat as possible : he has always found in the
human subject those who died universally dropsical, or
of an ascites or anasarca, to be the best, for the follow¬
ing reasons, viz. in such there is little or no animal oil,
and but a very small quantity of red blood ; both of
which, when they occur in great abundance, very much
impede the discovery of the lymphatic vessels ; hut
when the cellular vessels are loaded with water, the ab¬
sorbents are more readily traced, and with less risk of
wounding them in dissection : the preparations also, par¬
ticularly the dried ones, are more lasting. This cir¬
cumstance is found to be of most consequence in prepa¬
ring the absorbent vessels of the trunk and extremities
of the human subject. Of all the viscera in young sub¬
jects, only the liver and lungs can be injected with
success ; and these may be successfully injected even in
the foetus. It will be most proper to begin the opera¬
tion
ilioil.
I N J
i*jU
m. tion upon the subject immediately after death, as lymph
■— or chyle will then be more readily found in the vessels,
than when we wait a longer time. In preparing the
lacteals, previously distended with milk, in the living
subject, it is proper to have the intestines and mesentery
plunged (with the ligature upon the root of the latter)
into rectified spirit of wine. This process will coagu¬
late the chyle ; and the fluid being opaque, the vessels
will be beautifully seen when we mean to prepare the
parts, hy preserving them in proof-spirit, as wet speci¬
mens : “In this way (says Mr Sheldon) I have made
in the dog one of the most natural preparations that can
be seen of the lacteals injected from their orifices by the
natural absorption.” We may also prepare the lacteals
by the method used by Mr Hunter, already mention¬
ed, by which they will be very conspicuous, by the in¬
digo absorbed from the cavity of the intestines. By
tying the thoracic duct near its insertion into the angle
formed between the subclavian and jugular veins on
the left side, or by tying these veins on both sides, we
may distend almost all the absorbents of the animal.
Thus we are enabled to pursue these vessels in many
parts where they have not yet been discovered, where
they can scarcely be traced by injection, and even in
some parts where it is utterly impossible for the injec¬
tions to reach them.
Another method, sometimes successfully used by our
author, was first practised by Malpighi. In this the
part is to be steeped in water, and the liquid changed
as long as it appears tinged with blood j suffering the
parts afterwards to remain in the same water till the
putrefaction begins. As soon as this begins to take
place, the air which is extricated will distend the lym¬
phatics, so that they may be easily seen, and then in¬
jected with quicksilver. It is, however, remarkable,
that this method will not in general answer so well in
the human species as in quadrupeds j the air having
never passed by putrefaction into the human lacteals in
any of the subjects which Mr Sheldon tried, though it
will take place in those of the horse or ass, and ma¬
ny other animals : drawings of the lacteals may like¬
wise be made in this method to very great advantage.
In some parts of the human body also this method
may be employed to advantage, as the liver, heart,
&c. It may likewise be useful to make ligatures on
the large trunks of the vessels previous to the macera¬
tion, that thus the air may be confined as soon as it is
extricated from the coats by putrefaction. Our au¬
thor adds, that if ligatures were made upon the wrists
and legs in articulo mortis, or immediately after death,
the lymph would be stopped in the vessels, the latter
would become distended, and might be injected with
the greatest facility by the common method after ta¬
king off the ligature. Mr Sheldon in such a case re¬
commends the tourniquet. “ I have reason (savs he)
to believe, that absorption goes on as long as muscular
irritability remains j which last continues a considerable
time after the general life of the animal is lost.” On
this, however, we cannot forbear to remark, that mak¬
ing ligatures for such purposes upon a human crea¬
ture in articulo mortis, or even immediately after death,
savours so much of barbarity, that we cannot think it
will be often practised. In some cases, even in the
dead subject, ligatures are useful $ as when we are
searching for the lymphatics in the fingers and toes.
Vol. XI. Part I.
r 257 ]
1 n ,r
lu these it is useful to stroke up the parts with the
finger, by which means the small quantity of lymph
remaining in the vessels will be forced upwards, and
stopped by the ligature j after which the vessels may
be easily injected with quicksilver, as already men¬
tioned. J
lo inject die vessels, we must open one or more of
them, directing the point of the lancet almost alwavs
towards the trunk or trunks of the vessels, and taking
care not to carry the incision through the opposite
side. If the vessels happen to lie under the perito¬
neum as the lacteals, or under the pleura as the lym¬
phatics of the lungs, we may cut into their cavitv
through these membranes. In injecting those of the
extremities, however, and in many other parts of the
body, it is absolutely necessary to dissect the vessels we
design to fill away from the fat and reticular substance
before we attempt to open them with the lancet. The
tube with the pipe affixed to it is previously to be filled
with mercury: the anatomist then inflates the vessel by
means of the blowpipe, takes the tube from the assist¬
ant, and introduces the small tube into the puncture.
In this operation it will be found necessary not to carry
the tube farther into the vessel than is sufficient to give
the mercury a free passage; for, if we introduce it far-
ther, the passage of the mercury will be impeded by the
pipe being pushed against the side of the vessel. Should
not the fluid he able to effect a passage, it will then he
necessary to press upon the surface of it in the tube with
our fingers. If it descend freely, and without any of k
passing between the side of the vessel and small pipe, we
have only to fill up the tube with mercury as the latter
descends 5 but if it gets out, we must then tie the ves¬
sel. This, however, should always be avoided if pos¬
sible j because, if not very dexterously performed, the.
operator will be apt to separate the tube from the ves¬
sel ; and on this account the puncture ought always to
be very small, no larger indeed than is necessary to al¬
low the pipe to get in with difficulty. As the injection
proceeds, the pressure upon the surface of the quicksil¬
ver must be carried on higher and higher in the course
of the lymphatic, till we come near the gland or glands
into which the vessels terminate j otherwise we shall
seldom get the cells of the glands, or the vessels emer¬
ging from the opposite side of the glands, well injected.
In injecting the lymphatic vessels of the extremities, it
will be useful to raise the part where the pipe is in¬
serted higher than the other end of the limb, and to
make the assistant press with his hands along the skin
in the course of the vessels, which will favour the pro¬
gress of the injection. When the vessels are sufficiently
filled, which may be known by the swelling of them,
and by the resistance the mercury meets with, the as¬
sistant passes a ligature about the vessel, and tjes it
above the puncture before the anatomist withdraws the
injection-pipe.
The method of injecting the larger trunks or thora¬
cic duct with the coarse injection is exactly similar to
that already described for the sanguiferous vessels.
Mr Sheldon, however, recommends the use of some
pipes of a particular construction invented by himself.
The improvement consists in shaping the ends of the
pipes like a pen; taking care to make the edges and
point blunt, to avoid cutting the vessels when we intro¬
duce them. Thus much larger tubes than those com-
K k monlv
I N J [
monly in use may be admitted j and there is no occasion
to make any bulb or rising near the extremity of these
small pipes to prevent the thread from slipping off . lor
this will certainly hinder us from inserting pipes of such
diameter as might otherwise be done.. . .
Having thus shown the method ot injecting the lym¬
phatics, our author next proceeds to describe the me¬
thod of dissecting ami preparing them either for imme¬
diate demonstration, or for preservation for any length
of time. In the dissection, great care is requisite, on
account of the exquisite thinness of their coats: but it
this should happen by accident, it will then be necessary
to introduce the pipe at the ruptured part*, and having
secured it above and below with ligatures, to till it a-
gain as before directed. Our author recommends, tor
the purpose of dissection, such knives as are made use ot
by the Germans and French in tracing the nerves.
They must be made thin in the blade like lancets, and
not much larger. A variety of different shaped blades,
some single and others double edged, will be necessary
for various parts of the body, the fault of the common
dissecting knives being that they are too thick in the
blade, which makes them soon blunt, and occasions the
trouble of perpetual grinding, which is not the case
with those just recommended. A sharp-pointed forceps
Is necessary, in order to lay fast hold of the smallest por¬
tion of cellular substance ; but they ought not to be so
258 ] I N J
thing new or remarkable in their preparations of the injection,
lymphatic vessels with quicksilver-, as most of those ■—
specimens, particularly such as are dried, become at
last totally useless, by reason of the drying ot the ves¬
sels and the escape or blackening of the mercury ; or
from the varnish growing more and more opaque with
age. The quicksilver injection, however, in some
cases is very useful. Thus, for instance, if we wish
to demonstrate the valves in the thoracic duct, or any
other large absorbent vessel, we need only inject the
vessels with quicksilver, dissect and dry them, then cut
them open, and let the mercury run out: after which
the valves will appear by making sections in the coats
of the vessels. This may be done still better by varnish-
ino1 the vessels three or four times before the sections
are made because the varnish will strengthen the sides
of the vessel. In wet preparations, the valves in the
cavities of these parts may likewise be demonstrated
by opening them, or by inverting the vessels and sus¬
pending them in proof malt-spirits. Ihus the valves
that cover the terminations of the thoracic duct on the
inside of the angle formed between the jugular and
subclavian veins on the left side, and those which tei-
minate the lymphatics on the right side of the neck,
arm, and lungs, may be beautifully demonstrated. Spe¬
cimens of the lacteal vessels, of the absorbents of the
heart, lungs, liver, spleen, diaphragm, kidneys, &c.
sharp as to endanger the puncturing of the vessels: nor
should they by any means be bowed or stiff in the
soring, to prevent the fingers of the operator from being
wearied in the operation. They should also be made
in such a manner as to hold large as well as small por¬
tions of reticular substance. For dissections ot this kind,
fine-pointed scissars and lancets fixed in handles are some¬
times necessary; and it is frequently of use to plunge
the parts into water, in order to loosen the reticular
membrane connected with the outside of the coats ot
the vessels ; by which means they may be dissected more
easily, and with less danger of wounding them. Ihe
blood may be extracted by frequently changing the wa¬
ter. After being injected with quicksilver, the parts
should not be allowed to remain long in the water, be¬
cause the volatile alkali formed by putrefaction is apt to
change the colour of the mercury. # .
The dissection being performed, the preparation is
then to be preserved either in a wet or dry state, ac¬
cording to its nature. Preparations of the larger parts,
as the trunk or extremities, should be preserved dry ;
and to dry them effectually, they should be exposed to
a free current of air, but not to the rays of. the sun;
and the vessels should be displayed in their natural
situation. When fully dried, they ought then to be
varnished over with transparent spirit or copal varnish :
which will not only preserve them from insects, but
render them move beautiful, and the vessels more
conspicuous. They should then be inclosed in glass
cases, where they are to be placed in a horizontal
position, and handled as little as possible.
To make preparations of the thoracic duct, we must
in the first place fill the aorta, vena cava superior, and
may be kept wet or dry, according to the particular
nature of the preparation or view of the anatomist.
Some preparations are the better for being dried and
afterwards immersed in phials lull of oil of turpentine;
by which means the flesh will be rendered transparent,
the vessels distinctly seen, and the vessels appear ex¬
tremely beautiful. The only disadvantage of this me¬
thod is, that the parts on which the vessels pass, do
not at all preserve their natural bulk by reason of their
shrinking up; and as the wet preparations are free
from this inconvenience, Mr Sheldon does not hesitate
at assigning them a decided superiority over the diy
ones.—Sometimes it is necessary to fix the preparations
upon stiff paper or pasteboard, on account ot their
weight after being injected with mercury. The paper
or pasteboard on which they are fastened ought to be of
various colours, according to the nature of the prepa¬
ration, in order to form a proper ground for showing
the lymphatic vessels. Such small preparations as are
preserved in spirits, or oil of turpentine, may be kept
in bottles well closed with stoppers; and the larger in
common preparation glasses. Our author describes a
simple method of stopping the mouths of these prepa¬
ration glasses, by which means the stopper is rendered
nearly as durable as the glass itself. “ In order to
execute it, let the anatomist take care to have the up¬
per surface of his bottles made plain, by desiring the
workmen at the glass-house to flatten them in the ma¬
king. This they will easily do in forming the round
ones, but the flat bottles are attended with considerable
difficulty. The right way to make them, I believe,
would be to blow them in moulds of various sizes; the
workman should likewise form the bottoms of the bot-
iu the first place till the aorta, vena cava super or auu u ” fl j they may stand upright and stea-
re t ““t z s,-,, ^,14^ «
i;ttie muscle of the diaphragm. The duct is preparations, we grind the upper sui ace o
“ times^ prepared with onicksdver; hnt Mr Sheldon a plain plate of lead, about a quarter of an inch thick,
,0 make drawing, of any and two feet in diameter; fot with fine emery and «-
I N J [ 259 ] INK
Injjption. ter, then with powdered rotten stone, or putty first wet
- ■ with water and at last dry; so that the surface may he
reduced to an exact horizontal plane, and of as fine a
polish as plate-glass. This will soon be done, as the
manoeuvre requires hut little dexterity ; and the ana^
tomist should be provided with a considerable number
of these glasses prepared as above directed. To the
top of each bottle a piece of plate-glass, cut by a dia¬
mond, is to be adapted so as completely to cover, but
not project over, the edge of the bottle. When these
two smooth surfaces are put upon each other, with a
drop of water between, the attraction of cohesion is
so considerable, that it requires great force to separate
them.”
Many preparations of the lymphatics, and other
parts preserved in bottles, do not require any strings
to suspend them; particularly when fixed on pasteboard
or paper : such as require suspension should be tied to
strings fixed to the preparation below, and to small
holes drilled in the substance of the glass at the bottom
of the neck ; or to small bits of glass, that may be
fixed on the inside of the same part. The preparation
is thus suspended in limpid proof malt-spirit, the
bottle being almost completely filled ; the upper and
polished surface of the bottle, and the plate of glass,
are to be wiped clean and dry; a drop of solution of
gum arable is to be put on the polished surface of the
bottle, the top strongly and steadily pressed upon it,
so as to bring the two surfaces into as close contact as
possible ; after which the bottle is to be placed in «.
cool airy place to dry. A piece of wet ox-bladder,
freed from fat, and soaked in water till it becomes mu¬
cilaginous, is then to be placed over the top, the air
pressed out from between it and the glass ; after which
it must be tied with a packthread dipped in the solu¬
tion of gum arabic. The bladder being cut off neatly
under the last turn of the thread, is then to be dried,
the string taken cautiously off, and the top and neck
painted with a composition of lamp-black mixed with
japanners gold size : this soon dries, and leaves a fine
smooth glossy surface, from which the dirt can at
any time be as readily wiped off as from a mirror. By
this method large bottles are as easily and effectually
secured as small ones; and it is found to answer as well
as the hermetical sealing of glasses, which in large ves¬
sels is altogether impracticable. If the bottoms have
any inequalities which prevent them from standing
steady, they may be easily made perfectly flat by grind¬
ing them with emery on the plate above mentioned.
The tops, if well gummed, will even remain perfectly
fixed on the glasses without the bladder : though in
the common upright ones it may be advisable to put it
on as a defence. Our author informs us, that since
his making this discovery, he has used glass saucers;
with flat tops gummed on. In these vessels the prepa¬
rations, by reason of their horizontal posture, appear
to great advantage. Thus he has exhibited very early
abortions in their membranes, and some other prepa¬
rations that cannot be suspended or viewed conveni¬
ently in the perpendicular direction. Some very deli¬
cate preparations, particularly those intended to be
viewed with the microscope, those of the ampullulte
lacteae of Lieberkuhn, and of the valves of the absor¬
bents, may be preserved either in spirits or dry in
tubes closed in the manner just mentioned, and will
appear to great advantage. Some of the dry ones injection
may also he advantageously placed in square oblong H
boxes, made of pieces of plate or white glass neatly ^ *“k-
gummed together, with narrow slips of white or co- s“"'v——
loured paper, and the objects may be convenientlv
viewed in this manner. With respect to the stopper
bottles, which are very convenient for holding small
preparations, our author advises the stoppers to be per¬
fectly well ground ; that they pass rather lower down
than the neck of the bottle, for the convenience of
drilling two holes obliquely through the inferior edge
of the substance of the stopper, opposite to each other,
for the convenience of fixing threads to hold the sub-
ject: for if the threads pass between the neck and
stopper, a space will be left; or if the stopper be well
ground, the neck of the bottle will be broken in en¬
deavouring to press it down. On the other hand, if
any space be left, the thread, by its capillary attraction,
will act from capillary attraction, raise the spirits from
the bottle, and cause evaporation, which will likewise
take place from the chink between the stopper and
neck.
# INISTIOGE, a post town of Kilkenny, in the pro¬
vince of Leinster ; 63 miles from Dublin. It is also a
borough, and returns two members to parliament; pa¬
tronage in the representative of Sir William Fownes. 
It has two fairs.
INITIATED, a term properly used in speaking
of the religion of the ancient heathens ; where it sDni^
fies being admitted to the participation of the sacred
mysteries. The word comes from the Latin initiatus,
of imtiare, imticivi y which properly signifies to begin
sacrificing, or to receive or admit a person to the begin¬
ning of the mysteries, or of ceremonies of less import¬
ance.
The ancients never discovered the deeper mysteries
of their religion, nor even permitted some of their tem¬
ples to be open, to any but those who had been initi¬
ated. See Mystery.
INJUNCTION, in Law, a writ generally grounded
upon an interlocutory order or decree out of the court
of chancery or exchequer, sometimes to give possession
to the plaintiff, for want of the defendant’s appearance ;
sometimes to the king’s ordinary court, and sometimes
to the court-christian, to stop proceedings in a cause,
upon suggestion made, that the rigour of the law, if
it take place, is against equity and conscience in that
case, that the complainant is not able to make his de¬
fence in these courts, for want of witnesses, &c. or
that they act erroneously, denying him some just ad¬
vantage. The writ of injunction is directed not onlv
to the party himself, but to all and singular his coun¬
sellors, attorneys, and solicitors ; and if any attornev,
after having been served with an injunction, proceeds
afterward contrary to it, the court of chancery will
commit the attorney to the Fleet for contempt.' But
if an injunction be granted by the court of chancery
in a criminal matter, the court of king’s bench may
break it, and protect any that proceed in contempt
of it.
INJURY, any wrong done to a man’s person, re¬
putation, or goods. See Assault.
INK, a black liquor used, in writing, generally made
of an infusion of galls, copperas, and gum-arabic.
The properties which this liquor ought to have, are,
K k 2 1. To
INK [ 260 ] INK
1, To flow freelv from the pen, and sink a little into
the paper, that the writing be not easily discharged.
2. A very deep black colour, which should be as deep
at first as at any time afterwards. 3. Durability, so
that the writing may not be subject to decay by age.
4. Ink should be destitute of any corrosive quality,
that it may not destroy the paper, or go through it
in such a manner as to render the writing illegible.
No kind of ink, however, hath yet appeared which is
possessed of all these qualities. The ink used by the
ancients was possessed of the second, third, and fourth
qualities above mentioned, but wanted the first. Dr
Lewis hath discovered its composition from some pas¬
sages in ancient authors. “ Pliny and ^ itruvius (says
he) expressly mention the preparation of soot, or what
we now call lamp black, and the composition of writing-
ink from lamp-black and gum. Dioscorides is more
particular, setting down the proportions of the two in¬
gredients, viz. three ounces of the soot to one of the
gum. It seems the mixture was formed into cakes or
rolls ; which being dried in the sun, were occasionally
tempered with water, as the cakes of Indian ink are
among us for painting.”
In Mr Delaval’s Treatise on Colours, p. 37. he ac¬
quaints us, that with an infusion of galls and iron filings,
he had not only made an exceedingly black and dura¬
ble ink, but by its means, without the addition of any
acid, dyed silk and woollen cloth of a good and lasting
black. This kind of ink, however, though the colour
is far superior to that of any other, has the inconveni¬
ence of being very easily discharged, either by the
smallest quantity of any acid, or even by simple water;
because it does not penetrate the paper in such a man¬
ner as is necessary to preserve it from the instantaneous
action of the acid or of the water. During the action
of the infusion of galls upon the iron in making this
kind of ink, a very considerable effervescence takes
place, and a quantity of air is discharged, the nature of
which has not yet been examined.
The materials usually employed for the making of
ink are, common green vitriol, or copperas and galls ;
but almost all of them are deficient in durability, which
is a property of such importance, that Dr Lewis hath
thought the subject of ink-making not unworthy of his
attention. From experiments made by that author,
he infers, that the decay of inks is chiefly owing to a
deficiency of galls; that the galls are the most perish¬
able ingredient, the quantity of these, which gives
the greatest blackness at first (which is about equal
parts with the vitriol), being insufficient to maintain the
colour : that, for a durable ink, the quantity of galls
cannot be much less than three times that of the vitriol;
that it cannot be much greater without lessening the
blackness of the ink: that by diminishing the quantity
of water, the ink is rendered blacker and more durable;
that distilled water, rain-water, and hard spring-water,
have the same effects : that white wine produces a deep¬
er black colour than water; that the colour produced
by vinegar is deeper than that by wine ; that proof-
spirit extracts only a reddish brown tinge ; that the
last-mentioned tincture sinks into, and spreads upon,
the paper; and hence the impropriety of adding spi¬
rit of wine to ink, as is frequently directed, to prevent
&}j>uldiness or freezing : that other astringents, as oak-.
2..
bark, bistort, sloe-bark, &cc. are not so effectual as
galls, nor give so good a black, the colour produced -r.
by most of these, excepting oak-bark, being greenish :
that the juice of sloes does not produce a black colour
with martial vitriol ; hut that, nevertheless, the wri¬
ting made with it becomes black, and is found to he
more durable than common ink : that inks made with
saturated solutions of iron, in nitrous, marine, or acetous
acids, in tartar, or in lemon juice, were much inferior
to the ink made with martial vitriol : that the co¬
lour of ink is depraved by adding quicklime, which
is done with an intention of destroying any supera¬
bundant acid which may be supposed to he the cause
of the loss of the colour of ink : that the best method
of preventing the effects of this superabundant acid is
probably by adding pieces of iron to engage it; amt
that this conjecture is confirmed by an instance the
author had heard, of the great durability of the colour
of an ink in which pieces of iron had been long im¬
mersed : and lastly, that a decoction of logwood used
instead of water, sensibly improves both the beauty and
deepness of the black, without disposing it to fade. The
same author observes, that the addition of gum-arabic
is not only useful, by keeping the colouring matter sus¬
pended in the fluid, but also by preventing the ink
from spreading, by which means a greater quantity of
it is collected on each stroke of the pen. Sugar, which
is sometimes added to ink, is found to be much less ef¬
fectual than gums, and to have the inconvenience of
preventing the drying of the ink. The colour of ink
is found to be greatly injured by keeping the ink in
vessels made of copper or of lead, and probably of any
other metal, excepting iron, which the vitriolic acid
can dissolve.
The foregoing experiments point out for the best
proportions of the ingredients for ink, one part of
green vitriol, one part of powdered logwood, and
three parts of powdered galls. The best menstruum
appears to be vinegar or white wine, though for com¬
mon use water is sufficient. If the ink be required to
he of a full colour, a quart, or at most three pints, of
liquor, may he allowed to three ounces of galls, and to
one ounce of each of the other two ingredients. Half
a ounce of gum may he added to each pint of the
liquor. The ingredients may be all put together at
once in a convenient vessel, and well- shaken four or
five times each day. In 10 or 12 days the ink will he
fit for use, though it will improve by remaining long¬
er on the ingredients. Or it may he made more ex¬
peditiously, by adding the gum and vitriol to a decoc¬
tion of galls and logwood in the menstruum. To the
ink, after it lias been separated from the feculencies,
some coarse powder of galls, from which the fine dust
has been sifted, together with one or two pieces of
iron, may be added, by which its durability will be se¬
cured.
In some attempts made by the Doctor to endow wri¬
ting ink with the great durability of that of the' an¬
cients, as well as the properties which it has at pre¬
sent ; he first thought of using animal glues, and then
of oily matters. “ I mixed both lamp-black (says he)
and ivory-black with solutions of gum-arabic, made of
such consistence as just to flow sufficiently from the
pen. The liquors wrote of a fine black colour ; hut
when-
INK [ 261 ] INK
Lnk. when dry, part of the colour could be rubbed off,
especially in moist weather, and a pencil dipped in wa¬
ter washed it away entirely.
“ I tried solutions of the animal-glues with the
same event. Isinglass or fish glue being the most dif¬
ficultly dissoluble of these kinds of bodies, I made a
decoction of it in water, of such strength that the li¬
quor concreted into a jelly before it was quite cold :
with this jelly, kept fluid by sufficient heat, I mixed
some ivory-black: characters drawn with this mix¬
ture on paper bore rubbing much better than the
others, but were discharged without much difficulty
by a wet pencil.
“ It was now suspected, that the colour could not
be sufficiently fixed on paper without an oily cement.
As oils themselves are made miscible with watery fluids
by the intervention of gum, I fixed some of the softer
painters varnish, aftermentioned, with about half its
weight of a thick mucilage of gum arable, working
them well together in a mortar till they united into a
smooth uniform mass : this was beaten with lamp-black,
and some water added by little and little, the rubbing
being continued till the mixture was diluted to a due
consistence for writing. It wrote freely, and of a full
brownish black colour : the characters could not be dis¬
charged by rubbing, but water washed them out, though
not near so readily as any of the foregoing. Instead
of the painters varnish or boiled oil, I mixed raw lin¬
seed oil in the same manner with mucilage and lamp¬
black ; and on diluting the mixture with w’ater, obtain¬
ed an ink not greatly different from the other.
“ Though these oily mixtures answered better than
those with simple gums or glues, it was apprehended
that their being dischargeable by water would render
them unfit for the purposes intended. The only way
of obviating this imperfection appeared to be, by
using a paper which should admit the black liquid to
sink a little into its substance. Accordingly I took
some of the more sinking kinds of paper, and common
paper made damp as for printing j and had the satis¬
faction to find, that neither the oily nor the simple
gummy mixtures spread upon them so much as might
have been expected, and that the characters were as
fixed as could be desired, for they could not be washed
out without rubbing off part of the substance of the
paper itself.
“ All these inks must be now and then stirred or
shaken during the time of use, to mix up the. black
powder, which settles by degrees to the bottom : those
with oil must be well shaken also, though not used,
once a-day, or at least once in three or four days, to
keep the oil united with the water and gum; for, if
once the oil separates, which it is apt to do by stand¬
ing at rest for some days, it can no longer be mixed
with the thin fluid by any agitation. But though this
imperfect union of the ingredients renders these inks
less fit for general use than those commonly employed,
I apprehend there are many occasions in which these
kinds of inconveniences will not be thought to coun¬
terbalance the advantage of having writings which we
may be assured will be as lasting as the paper they are
written upon. And indeed the inconvenience may be
in a great measure obviated by using cotton in the ink-
stand, which, imbibing the fluid, prevents the separa¬
tion of the black powder diffused through it.
“ All the inks, however, made on the principle 3,^,
we are now speaking of, can be discharged by wash- ^——v— '
ing, unless the paper admits them to sink into its sub¬
stance. The ancients were not insensible of this im¬
perfection; and sometimes endeavoured to obviate it,
according to Pliny, by using vinegar, instead of water,
for tempering the mixture of lamp-black and gum. I
tried vinegar, and found it to be of some advantage,
not as giving any improvement to the cement, but by
promoting the sinking of the matter into the paper.
As this washing out of the ink may be prevented by
using a kind of paper easy enough to be procured, it is
scarce to be considered as an imperfection ; and in¬
deed, on other kinds of paper, it is an imperfection only
so far as it may give occasion to fraud, for none of these
inks are in danger of being otherwise discharged than
by design. The vitriolic inks themselves, and those of
printed books and copperplates, are all dischargeable;
nor can it be expected of the ink-maker to render
writings secure from frauds.
“ But a further improvement may yet be made,
namely, that of uniting the ancient and modern inks
together ; or using the common vitriolic ink instead of
water, for tempering the ancient mixture of gum and
lamp-black. By this method it should seem that the
writings would have all the durability of those of for¬
mer times, with all the advantage that results from
the vitriolic ink fixing itself in the paper. Even where
the common vitriolic mixture is depended on for the
ink, it may in many cases be improved by a small ad¬
dition of the ancient composition, or of the common
Indian ink which answers the same purpose : when the
vitriolic ink is dilute, and flows so pale from the pen,
that the fine strokes, on first writing, are scarcely vi¬
sible, the addition of a little Indian ink is the readiest
means of giving it the due blackness. By this admix¬
ture it may be presumed also that the vitriolic" ink will
be made more durable, the Indian ink in some measure
covering it, and defending it from the action of the air.
In all cases, where Indian ink or other similar composi¬
tions are employed, cotton should be used in the ink-
stand, as already mentioned, to prevent the settling of
the black powder.”
Since the invention of printing much less attention
than formerly has been paid to the making of ink, so
that now the art seems to be in a great measure lost.
This will appear from a comparison of some ancient
manuscripts with the writings of modern times. It
being of the utmost importance, however, that public
records, wills, and other valuable papers, which cannot
admit of being printed, should be written with ink of
a durable quality, this inattention seems to have been
very culpable, and a restoration of the method of ma¬
king writing ink a very valuable acquisition. “ The ne¬
cessity (says Mr Astle *) of paying greater attention to * Origin of
this matter may readily be seen, by comparing the rolls 'Uplwtetic
and records that have been written from the 15th WritinS-
century to the end of the 17th, with the writings we
have remaining of various dates from the 5th to
the 12th centuries. Notwithstanding the superior an¬
tiquity of the latter, they are in excellent preservation ;
but we frequently find tbe former, though of more
modern date, so much defaced, that they are scarcely
legible.”
Our author agrees with Dr Lewis in the opinion
that.i
INK [ 262 ] I
that the ancient inks were composed of soot or ivory
black instead of the galls, copperas, and gums, which
form the composition of ours. Besides their black
inks, however, the ancients used various other colours,
as red, gold and silver, purple, &c. Green ink was
frequently used in Latin manuscripts, especially in the
latter ages ; and it was frequently employed in signa¬
tures by the guardians of the Greek emperors till their
wards were of age. Blue or yellow ink was seldom
used except in manuscripts 5 but (says Mr Astle) “the
yellow has not been much in use, as tar as we can learn,
these 600 years.” Some kinds of characters, particu¬
larly the metallic, were burnished. Wax was used by
the Latins and Greeks as a varnish, but especially by
the former, and particularly in the 9th century. It
continued a long time in vogue.
A treatise upon inks was published by Peter Cani-
parius professor of medicine at \ enice 5 of which an
edition was printed at London in 1660. It is divided
into six parts. The first treats of inks made from py¬
rites, stones, and metals j the second of such as are
made from metals and calces } the third from soots and
vitriols $ the fourth of the different kinds of inks used
by the librarii or book-writers, by printers, and en¬
gravers } likewise of staining or writing upon mar¬
ble, stucco, or scaliolia, and of encaustic modes of
writing ; also of liquids for painting or colouring lea¬
ther and linen or woollen cloth $ restoring inks that
had been decayed by time together with many me¬
thods of effacing writing, restoring decayed paper,
and different modes of secret writing. The fifth treats
of writing inks made in different countries from gums,
woods, the juices of plants, &c. as well as of different
kinds of varnishes. The sixth treats of the different
methods of extracting vitriol, and the chemical uses
of it.
Weckerus de Secret!s, a treatise printed at Basil in
1612, contains a number of curious particulars con¬
cerning ink. He gives also receipts for making gold
and silver inks, composed both with these metals and
without them j directions for making inks for secret
writing, and for defacing them 5 though in this last
part there are many particulars bordering too much on
the marvellous.
In the Philosophical Transactions for 1787, Dr Blag-
den gives some account of a method of restoring de¬
cayed inks so as to render them legible. His expe¬
riments originated from a conversation with Mr Astle
already quoted, on the question whether the inks made
eight or ten centuries ago, and which are found to
have preserved their colour very well, were made of the
same materials now employed or not ? In order to
decide the question, Mr Astle furnished the doctor
with several manuscripts on parchment and vellum from
the 9th to the 15th centuries inclusively. Some of
these were still very black •, others of different shades,
from a deep yellowish brown to a very pale yellow, in
some parts so faint that it could scarcely be seen. This
was tried with simple and phlogisticated alkalies, the
mineral acids, and infusion of galls. From these ex¬
periments it appeared that the ink anciently employed
was of the same nature as at present : the letters turn¬
ed of a reddish or yellowish brown with alkalies be¬
came pale, and were at length obliterated by the di¬
lute mineral acids. The drop of acid liquor, fyhich
3
had been put upon a letter, changed to a deep blue
or green on the addition of phlogisticated alkalies j with
an infusion of galls, in some cases the letters acquired
a deep tinge, in others a slight one. “ Hence (says the
doctor) it is evident, that one of the ingredients was
iron, which there is no reason to doubt was joined with
the vitriolic acid $ and the colour of the more perfect
MSS. which in some was a deep black, and in others
a purplish black, together with the restitution of that
colour in those which had lost it by the infusion of
galls, sufficiently proved that another of the ingredients
was astringent matter, which from history appears to
have been that of galls. No trace of a black pigment
of any sort was discovered j the drop of acid, which
had completely extracted a letter, appearing of an uni¬
form pale and ferruginous colour, without an atom of
black powder, or other extraneous matter floating in
it.”
As this account differs very materially from the for¬
mer extracted from Mr Astle’s writings, so the reason
given for the continuance of the colour difl’ers no less.
This, according to Dr Blagden, “ seems to depend very
much on a better preparation of the material upon
which the writing was made, namely the parchment
or vellum ; the blackest letters being generally those
which had sunk into it the deepest. Some degree of
effervescence was commonly to be perceived when acids
were in contact with the surface of these old vellums.
I was led, however, to suspect, that the ancient inks
contained rather a less proportion of iron than the more
modern ; for, in general, the tinge of colour produ¬
ced by the phlogisticated alkali in the acid laid upon
them, seemed less deep j which, however, might de¬
pend in part upon the length of time they have been
kept: and perhaps more gum was used in them, or they
were washed over with some kind of varnish, though not
such as gave any gloss.”
Among the specimens with which our author was
favoured by Mr Astle, there was one which differed
very materially from the rest. It was said to be a ma¬
nuscript of the 15th century: the letters were of a
full engrossing hand, angular without any fine strokes,
broad, and very black. None of the chemical solvents
above mentioned seemed to produce any effect. Most
of them seemed rather to make the letters blacker,
probably by cleaning the surface ; and the acids, after
having been rubbed strongly upon the letters, did not
strike any deeper tinge with the phlogisticated alkali.
Nothing could obliterate these but what took off part
of the vellum ; W'hen small rolls of a dirty matter were
to be perceived. “ It is therefore unquestionable (says
the doctor) that no iron was used in this ink j and,
from its resistance to the chemical solvents, as well as
a certain clotted appearance in the letters when exa¬
mined closely, and in some places a slight degree of
gloss, I have little doubt that they were formed of a
sooty or carbonaceous powder and oil, probably some¬
thing like our present printers ink ; and am not with¬
out suspicion that they were actually printed.”
On examining this MS. more fully, our author was
convinced that it was really a part of a very ancient
printed book. In considering the methods of rsstoring
the legibility of decayed writings, our author observes,
that perhaps one of the best may be to join phlogisti¬
cated alkali with the calx of iron which remains; be¬
cause
INK [ 263 ] INK
cause the precipitate formed by these two substances
greatly exceeds that of the iron alone. On this subject
Dr Blagden disagrees with Mr Bergmann ; but to bring
the matter to a test, the following experiments were
made.
1. The phlogisticated alkali was rubbed in different
quantities upon the bare writing. This, in general,
produced little effect; though, in a few instances, it
gave a bluish tinge to the letters, and increased their
intensity ; “ probably (says the doctor) where some¬
thing of an acid nature had contributed to the diminu¬
tion of their colour.” 2. By adding, besides the al¬
kali, a dilute mineral acid to the writing, our author
found his expectations fully answered ; the letters then
changing quickly to a very deep and beautiful blue.
It is but of little consequence whether the acid or phlo¬
gisticated alkali be first added j though upon farther
consideration the doctor inclined to begin with the
alkali. The reason is, that when the alkali is first
put on, the colour seems to spread less, and thus not
to hurt the legibility of the writing so much as would
otherwise be done. His method is to spread the alkali
thin over the writing with a feather, then to touch
it as gently as possible upon or nearly over the letters
with the diluted acid by means of a feather or bit of
stick cut to a blunt point. The moment that the acid
liquor is applied, the letters turn to a fine blue, be¬
yond comparison stronger than the original trace of
the letter ; and by applying a bit of blotting-paper to
suck up the superfluous liquid, we may in a great mea¬
sure avoid the staining of the parchment: for it is this
superfluous liquor which, absorbing part of the colour¬
ing matter from the letters, becomes a dye to what¬
ever it touches. Care ought, however, to be taken
not to allow the blotting paper to come in contact
with the letters, because the colouring matter may ea¬
sily be rubbed off while soft and wet. Any one of the
three mineral acids will answer the purpose effectually.
Dr Blagden conimonly uses the marine. But which¬
ever of the three is used, it ought to be diluted so far
as not to be in danger of corroding the parchment ;
after which the degree of strength seems not to be a
matter of great nicety.
Another method of restoring the legibility of old
writings is by wetting them with an infusion of galls in
white wine: but this is subject to the same inconveni¬
ence with the former, and is besides less efficacious.
The doctor is of opinion that the acid of the galls by
itself would be better for the purpose than the infusion
of the whole substance of them ; and he thinks also
that a preferable kind of phlogisticated alkali might be
prepared either by purifying the common kind from
iron as much as possible, or by making use of the vola¬
tile alkali instead of the fixed. Mr Asjtle mentions a
method of restoring the legibility of decayed writings ;
but says that it ought not to be hazarded lest a suspi¬
cion of deceit should arise.
A method has been proposed of preventing ink from
decaying by washing over the paper to be written upon
with the colouring matter of Prussian blue, which will
not deprave it in colour, or any other respect. By
writing upon it w'itli common ink afterwards, a
ground of Prussian blue is formed under every stroke ;
and this remains strong after the black lias been de¬
cayed by the weather or destroyed by the acids. Thus
the ink will bear a larger proportion of vitriol at first,
and will have the advantage of looking blacker when
first written.
Indian Ixk, a valuable black for water-colours,
brought from China and other parts of the East In¬
dies, sometimes in large rolls, but more commonly in
small quadrangular cakes, and generally marked with
Chinese characters. Dr Lewis, from experiments
made on this substance, hath shown that it is composed
of fine lamp-black and animal glue : and accordingly,
for the preparation of it, he desires us to mix the lamp¬
black with as much melted glue as is sufficient to give
it a tenacity proper for being made into cakes; and
these when dry, he tells us, answered as well as those
imported from the East Indies, both with regard to
the colour and the freedom of working. Ivory black,
and other charcoal blacks, levigated to a great degree
of fineness, answered as well as the lamp-black j but
in the state in which ivory-black is commonly sold, it
proved much too gritty, and separated too hastily from
the water.
Printing Ixk, is totally different from Indian ink,
or that made use of in writing. It is an oily composi-
sition, of the consistence of an ointment : the me¬
thod of preparing it was long kept a secret by those
whose employment it was to make it, and who were in¬
terested in concealing it; and even yet is but imper¬
fectly known. The properties of good printing ink
are, to work clean and easily, without daubing the
types, or tearing the paper 5 to have a fine black co¬
lour j to wash easily off the types $ to dry soon j and
to preserve its colour, without turning brown. This
last, which is a most necessary property, is effectually
obtained by setting fire to the oil with which the print¬
ing ink is made for a few moments, and then extin¬
guishing it by covering the vessel (a). It is made to
wash easily off the types, by using soap as an ingre¬
dient j and its working clean depends on its having a
proper degree of strength, which is given by a certain
addition of rosin. A good deal, however, depends on
the proportion of the ingredients to each other j for if
too much soap is added, the ink will work very foul,
and daub the types to a greater degree. The same thing
will happen from using too much black, at the same
time that both the soap and black hinder the ink from
drying j while too much oil and rosin tear the paper,
and hinder it from washing off.—The following receipt
has been found to make printing ink of a tolerable
good quality. “ Take a Scots pint of linseed oil,
and set it over a pretty brisk fire in an iron or copper
vessel capable of holding three or four times as much.
When it boils strongly, and emits a thick smoke, kindle
it with a piece of paper, and immediately take the ves¬
sel off the fire. Let the oil burn for about a minute j
then extinguish it by covering the vessel j after it has
grown
(A) This is mentioned by Dr Lewis in his Philosophical Commerce of Arts j but he seems not to have been
acquainted with tire method of giving it the other necessary properties.
INK [ 264 ] INK
•ink. grown pretty cool, add two pounds of black, rosin, and
""V"r,mil"< one pound of hard soap cut into thin slices. It the
oil is very hot when the soap is added, almost the whole
mixture will run over the vessel. T-he mixture is then
to he set again over the fire ; and when the ingredients
are thoroughly melted, a pound of lamp-black, previous¬
ly put through a lawn sieve, is to be stirred into it.
The whole ought then to be ground on a marble stone,
or in a levigating mill.
Though the above receipt is greatly superior to
any that hath been hitherto published, all of which
are capitally deficient in not mentioning the neces¬
sary ingredients of rosin and soap ; yet it must he ac¬
knowledged that ink made in this manner is inferior
in point of colour, and is likewise more apt to daub
the types and make an indistinct impression, than such
as is prepared bv some ol those who make the ma¬
nufacture of this commodity their employment j so
that either a variation in the proportion of the ingre¬
dients, a nicety in the mixture, or some additional in¬
gredient, seems necessary to bring it to the requisite
perfection.
Ikk Jot' the rolling Press, is made of linseed oil
burnt in the same manner as that for common printing
ink, and then mixed with Francfort-black, and finely
ground. There are no certain proportions which can
be determined in this kind of ink ; every workman
adding oil or black to his ink as he thinks proper,
in order to make it suit his own taste.—Some, how¬
ever, mix a portion of common boiled oil, which has
never been burnt: but this must necessarily be a bad
practice, as such oil is apt to go through the paper j
a fault very common in prints, especially il the paper
is not very thick. No soap is added } because the
ink is not cleared otF from the copperplates with alka¬
line lev as in common printing, but with a brush dip¬
ped in oil.
Ink is also an appellation given to any coloured li¬
quor used in writing. Diflrerent kinds of these inks
may be prepared by the directions given under the
article Coloux-Making.
Sympathetic Ink, a liquor with which a person may
write, and yet nothing appear on the paper after it is
dry, till some means are used, as holding the paper to
the fire, rubbing it over with some other liquor, &c.
These kinds of ink may be divided into seven classes,
with respect to the means used to make them visible j
viz. 1. Such as become visible by passing another li¬
quor over them, or by exposing them to the vapour of
that liquor. 2. Those that do not appear so long as
they are kept close, but soon become visible on being
exposed to the air. 3. Such as appear by strewing or
sifting some very fine powder of any colour over them.
4. Those which become visible by being exposed to
the fire. 5. Such as become visible by heat, but dis¬
appear again by cold or the moisture of the air. 6.
Those which become visible by being wetted with wa¬
ter. 7. Such as appear of various colours.
I. The first class contains four kinds of ink, viz.
solutions of lead, bismuth, gold, and green vitriol, or
sulphate of iron. The two first become visible by the
contact of sulphureous liquids or fumes. For the first,
a solution of common sugar of lead in water answers
very well. With this solution write with a clean pen,
and the writing when dry will be totally invisible 5 but
if it he wetted with a solution of hepar sulphuris, or
of orpiment, dissolved by means of quicklime ; or ex-
posed to the strong vapours of these solutions, the writ¬
ing will appear of a brown colour, more or less deep
according to the strength of the sulphureous fume. By
the same means the solution of nitrate of bismuth will
appear of a deep black.
The sympathetic ink prepared from gold depends on
the property by which that metal precipitates from its
solvent on the addition of a solution ot tin. Write
with a solution of gold in nitro-muriatic acid, and let
the paper dry gently in the siiade j nothing will appear
for the first seven or eight hours. JDip a pencil in the
solution of tin, and draw it lightly over the invisible
characters, they will immediately appear, of a purple
colour.
Characters written with a solution of green vitriol,
will likewise be invisible when the paper is dry j hut if
wetted with an infusion of galls, they will immediately
appear as if written with common ink. II, instead of
this infusion, a solution of an alkaline prussiate be used,
the writing will appear of a deep blue.
II. Te the second class belong the solutions of all
those metals which are apt to attract oxygen from the
air, such as lead, bismuth, silver, &c. The sympathe¬
tic ink of gold already mentioned belongs also to tins
class •, for if the characters written with it ate long
exposed to the air, they become by degrees of a deep
violet colour, nearly approaching to black. In like
manner, characters written with a solution of nitrate
of silver are invisible when newly dried, but being ex¬
posed to the sun, appear of a gray colour like slate. To
this class also belong solutions of sugar of lead, nitrates
of copper and of mercury, acetate of iron, and muriate
of tin. Each of these has a particular colour when ex¬
posed to the air j but they corrode the paper.
III. The third class of sympathetic inks contains
such liquids as have some kind of glutinous viscosity,
and at the same time are long in drying 5 by which
means, though the eye cannot discern the characters
written with them upon paper, the powders strewed up¬
on them immediately adhere, and thus make the wri¬
ting become visible. Of this kind are urine, milk, the
juices of some vegetables, weak solutions of the deli¬
quescent salts, &c.
IV. This class, comprehending all those that be¬
come visible by being exposed to the fire, is very ex¬
tensive, as it contains all those colourless liquids in
which the matter dissolved is capable of being reduced,
or of reducing the paper, into a sort of charcoal by a
small heat. Sulphuric acid diluted with as much water
as will prevent it from corroding the paper makes a
good ink of this kind. Letters written with this fluid
are invisible when dry, but instantly on being held near
the fire appear as black as if written with the finest ink.
Juice of lemons or onions, a solution of sal-ammoniac,
green vitriol, &c. answer the same purpose.
V. The fifth class comprehends only a solution of
muriate of cobalt; for the properties of which, see
Chemistry, N° 1608, p. 627.
VI. This class comprehends such inks as become
visible when characters written with them are wetted
with water. They are made of all such substances as
deposite a'topious sediment when mixed with water,
dissolving only imperfectly in that fluid. Of this kind
are
I N N
are tlrietl alum, sugar oflead, vltiiol, &c. We have
therefore only to write with a strong solution of these
salts upon paper, and the characters will be invisible
when dry ; but when we apply water, the small por¬
tion of dried salt cannot again be dissolved in the wa¬
ter. Hence the insoluble part becomes visible on
the paper, and shows the characters written in white,
gray, brown, or any other colour which the precipitate
assumes.
VII. Characters may be made to appear of a fine
crimson, purple, or yellow, by writing on paper with
solution of muriate of tin, and then passing over it a
pencil dipt in a decoction of cochineal, Brazil-wood,
log-wood, yellow wood, &c.
Ink Stones, a kind of small round stones, of a white,
red, gray, yellow, or black colour, containing a quan¬
tity of native martial vitriol, whence they derive the
property of making ink, and from thence their name.
They are almost entirely soluble in water, and besides
their other ingredients, contain also a portion of copper
and zinc.
INLAND, a name for any part of a country at a
distance from the sea.
Inland Navigation. See Canal and (Inland) Na¬
vigation.
Inland Trade, that kind of trade carried on be¬
tween the different parts of the same kingdom, whether
over land, or by means of inland navigation.
INLAYING. See Veneering, Mosaic, and
Marquetry.
INLEASED, in our old writers, signifies entangled
or ensnared. It is used in the champion’s oath.
INLISTING, in a military sense. See Listing.
INMATES, such persons as are admitted for their
money, to live in the same house or cottage with ano¬
ther man, in different rooms, but going in at the same
door ; being usually supposed to be poor, and not able
to maintain a whole house themselves. These are in-
quirable in a court-leet.—No owner or occupier of a
cottage shall suft'er any inmates therein, or more fami¬
lies than one to inhabit there, on pain of forfeiting ics.
per month to the lord of the leet.
INN, a place appointed for the entertainment and
relief of travellers.
Inns are licensed and regulated by justices of the
peace, who oblige the landlord to enter Into recogni¬
zances for keeping good order. If a person who keeps
a common inn, refuses to receive a traveller into his
house as a guest, or to find him victuals and lodging
an his tendering a reasonable price for them, he is li¬
able to an action of damages, and may be indicted and
fined at the king’s suit. The rates of all commodities
sold by innkeepers, according to our ancient laws,
may be assessed : and innkeepers not selling their hay,
oats, beans, &c. and all manner of victuals, at reason¬
able prices, without taking any thing for litter, may
be fined and imprisoned, &c. by 21 Jac. I. c. 21.
W here an innkeeper harbours thieves, persons of in¬
famous characters, or suffers any disorders, in his house,
or sets up a new inn where there is no need of one, to
the hinderance of ancient and well-governed inns, he
is indictable and fineable ; and by statute, such inn
may be suppressed. Action upon the case lies against
any innkeeper, if a theft be committed on his guest
by a servant of the inn, or anv other person not be-
Vol. XL Part I. ' ' t
I N N
longing to the guest j though it is otherwise where the
guest is not a traveller, but one of the same town or
village, for there the innkeeper is not chargeable; nor
is the master of a private tavern answerable for a rob¬
bery committed on his guest: it is said, that even though
the travelling guest does not deliver his goods, &c.
into the innkeeper’s possession, yet if they are stolen,
he is chargeable. An innkeeper is not answerable for
any thing out of his inn, but only for such as are
within it; yet, where he of his own accord puts the
guest’s horse to grass, and the horse is stolen, he is
answerable, he not having the guest’s orders for putting
such horse to grass. The innkeeper may justify the
stopping of the horse, or other thing of his guest, for
his reckoning, and may retain the same till it be paid.
Where a person brings his horse to an inn, and leaves
him in the stable, the innkeeper may detain him till
such time as the owner pays for his keeping : and if
the horse eats out as much as he is worth, after a
reasonable appraisement made, he may sell the horse
and pay himself: but when a guest brings several
horses to an inn, and afterwards takes them all away
except one, this horse so left may not be sold for pay¬
ment of the debt for the others ; for every horse is to
be sold, only to make satisfaction for what is due for his
own meat.
Inns. Our colleges of municipal or common law
professors and students, are called inns : the old Eng¬
lish word for houses of noblemen, bishops, and others
of extraordinary note, being of the same signification
with the French word hotels.
Inns of Court are so called, as some think, because
the students there are to serve and attend the courts of
judicature ; or else, because anciently these colleges
received none but the sons of noblemen, and better sort
of gentlemen, who were here to be qualified to serve the
king in his court; as Fortescue affirms. And, in his
time, he says, there were about 2000 students in the
inns of court and chancery, all of whom were fihi nobi-
lium, or gentlemen born. But this custom has gra¬
dually fallen into disuse ; so that in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, Sir Edward Coke does not reckon above
IGOO students, and the number at present is very con¬
siderably less; for which Judge Blackstone assigns the
following reasons. 1. Because the inns of chan¬
cery, being now almost totally filled by the inferior
branches of the profession, are neither commodious nor
proper for the resort of gentlemen of any rank or fi¬
gure; so that there are very rarely any young students
entered at the inns of chancery. 2. Because in the inns
of court all sorts of regimen and academical superin¬
tendance, either with regard to morals or studies, are
found impracticable, and therefore entirely neglected.
Lastly, because persons of birth and fortune, after ha¬
ving finished their usual courses at the universities, have
seldom leisure or resolution sufficient to enter upon a
new scheme of study at a new place of instruction ;
wherefore few gentlemen now resort to the inns of
court, but such for whom the knowledge cf practice is
absolutely necessary in such as are intended for the
profession.
Our inns of court, justly famed for the production
of men of learning in the law, are governed by ma¬
sters, principals, benchers, stewards, and other offi¬
cers: and have public halls for exercises, readings, &c.
. B 1 which
[ 265 ]
Inru
I N N
[ 266 ]
I N N
which the students are obliged to attend and perform
t) for a certain number of years, before they can be ad-
Jnni&fiU'en. fitted to plead at the bar. These societies have not,
|10Wever, any judicial authority over their members •,
but instead of this they have certain orders among
themselves, which have by consent the force of laws.
For lighter ofl'ences persons are only excommoned, or
put out of commons 5 for greater, they lose their cham¬
bers, and are expelled the college j and when once ex¬
pelled out of one society, they are never received by
any of the others. The gentlemen in these societies
may be divided into benchers, outer-barristers, inner-
barristers, and students.
The four principal inns of court, are the Inner
Temple and Middle Temple, heretofore the dwelling
of the Knights Templars, purchased by some professors
of the common law about 300 years ago •, Lincoln’s
Inn and Gray’s Inn, anciently belonging to the earls
of Lincoln and Gray. The other inns are the two Ser¬
jeants Inns.
Inns of Chancery wgvq probably so called, because
anciently inhabited by such clerks as chiefly studied
the forming of writs, which regularly belonged to the
cursitors, who are oflicers of chancery.
The first of these is Thavies Inn, begun in the reign
of Edward III. and since purchased by the society of
Lincoln’s Inn. Beside this, we have New Inn, Sy-
mond’s Inn, Clement’s Inn, Clifford’s Inn, anciently
the house of the lord Clifford ; Staple Inn, belonging
to the merchants of the staple j Lion’s Inn, anciently a
common inn with the sign of the lion j Fuinival’s Inn,
and Bernard’s Inn.
These were heretofore preparatory colleges for
younger students j and many were entered here, be¬
fore they were admitted into the inns of court. Now
they are mostly taken up by attorneys, solicitors, &c.
They all belong to some of the inns of court, who
formerly used to send yearly some of their barristers to
read to them.
INNATE IDEAS, those supposed to be stamped on
the mind, from the first moment of its existence, and
which it constantly brings into the world with it : a
doctrine which Mr Locke has taken gieat pains to re¬
fute.
INNERKEITHING. See Inverkeithino.
INNERLOCHY. See Inverlochy and Eort-
William.
INNIS. See Inch.
INNISCLOCHRAN, or the Stoney Island, an
island in Lough Ree, iu the river Shannon, between
the counties of Westmeath and Roscommon, at which
place a monastery was founded by St Dermond, about
the beginning of the 6th century.
INNISFAIL, (derived from Inn is Bheal, that is,
“ the island of Bheal”), one of the ancient names of
Ireland, so denominated from Beal, the principal ob¬
ject of adoration among the ancient inhabitants of the
British isles. Innisfail has been erroneously transla¬
ted the Island of Destiny, as Bheal was sometimes ta¬
ken for Fate or Providence.
INNISFALLEN, an island in the lake of Killar-
ney, in the county of Kerry and province of Munster ;
in it are the ruins of a very ancient religious house,
founded by St Finian, the patron saint of these parts,
and to him the cathedral of Aghadoe is also dedicated.
The remains of this abbey are very extensive, its situa- InnU
tion romantic and retired. Upon the dissolution of re- 1
ligious houses, the possessions of this abbey were grant-
ed to Captain Robert Collam. The island contains '
about 12 acres, is agreeably wooded, and has a number
of fruit-trees. St Finian flourished about the middle of
the 6th century 5 he was surnamed in Irish Lobhar, his
father’s name was Conail the son of Eschod; descended
from Kian the son of Alild, king of Munster. There
was formerly a chronicle kept in this abbey, which is
frequently cited by Sir J. Ware and other antiquaries
under the title of the Annals of Innisfallen. They
contain a sketch of universal history, from the creation
of the world to the year 430 or thereabouts, but from
thence the annalist has amply enough prosecuted the
affairs of Ireland down to his own times. He lived to
the year 1215. Sir J. Ware had a copy of them,
whereof there is an imperfect transcript among the
MSS. of the library of Trinity-college, Dublin. They
were continued by another hand to the year 1320.
Bishop Nicholson, in his Irish historical library, in¬
forms us, that the duke of Chandos had a complete co¬
py of them down in 1320 in his possession. These an¬
nals tell us, that in the year 1180, the abbey, which
had at that time all the gold and silver and richest
goods of the whole country deposited in it, as the place
of greatest security, was plundered by Mildwin son of
Daniel O’Donoghoe, as was also the church of Ard-
fert, and many persons were slain in the very ceme¬
tery by the M’Cartys j but God, as it is said in this
chronicle, punished this impiety by the untimely end
of some of the authors of it.,
INNISHANNON, a town in the county of Cork
and province of Munster, 134 miles from Dublin $ si¬
tuated on the river Bandon, and six miles from Kin-
sale. The river is navigable to Collier’s quay, about
half a mile below the place. On the west side of the
town is a strong bridge. This place was formerly wall¬
ed, and of some note, as appears by the foundations of
several castles and large buildings discovered in it.
The town of Innishannoh, together with its ferry, were
granted to Philip de Barry by Henry V. by letters
patent, anno 1412.
INNISHIRKAN, an island situated between Cape
Clear island and Baltimore bay, in the county of Cork
and province of Munster. In this island stood the castle
of Dunelong, possessed by the O’Driscolls, which was
surrendered after the defeat of the Spaniards to Cap¬
tain Harvey on 23d Feb. 1602. There was afterwards
a regular fortification erected on part of the island,
which was garrisoned in Queen Anne’s time, but it has
been for several years dismantled ; about a mile to the
south are the remains of an ancient abbey, founded
1460, for Franciscans, by Florence O’Driscoll. This
island has very good land, and is vastly preferable to
that of Cape Clear island. To the north-west of Inni-
shirkan island lies Hare island, a large fruitful spot j
and near it are four small islands called the Schemes :
also along the coast, in the following order from east to
west, are Horse island, containing 100 acres j Castle
island, containing 119 acres j Long island, containing
316 acres; and west of all these is a small spot called
Goat island. All these islands, together with the
adjacent coast, produce large crops of fine English
barley.
INNISKILLING,
I N O
INNISKILLING, a borough town of Ireland, in
the county of Fermanagh and province of Ulster, lying
between three lakes. It is about 24 miles east of Bal-
lyshannon, and 79 north-west of Dublin, this place giv¬
ing title of viscount to the family of Cole. Its inhabi¬
tants distinguished themselves in several considerable
engagements in the wars of Ireland at the revolution,
out of which a regiment of dragoons, bearing the title
of the Inniskilleners, was mostly formed. They form
the 6th regiment of dragoons in the British army.
INNOGENIS DAY, a festival of the Christian
church, observed on December 28. in memory of the
massacre of the innocent children by the command of
Herod king of Judea. See Jesus Christ; and Jews,
N° 24 par. ult. The Greek church in their kalendar,
and the Abyssinians of Ethiopia in their offices, com¬
memorate 14,000 infants on this occasion.
INNUENDO (of iruiuo, “ I nod or beckon”), is a
word frequently used in writs, declarations, and plead¬
ings, to ascertain a person or thing which was named,
but left doubtful, before : as, he {innuendo the plain¬
tiff) did so and so : mention being before made of an¬
other person.—-In common conversation or writing, an
innuendo denotes an oblique hint or distant reference,
in contradistinction to a direct and positive charge.
INO, in fabulous history, a daughter of Cadmus and
Harmonia, who nursed Bacchus. She married Atha-
mas king of Thebes, after he had divorced Nephele,
by whom he had two children Phryxus and Helle. Ino
became mother of Melicerta and Learchus ; and soon
conceived an implacable hatred against the children of
Nephele, because they were to ascend the throne in
preference to her own. Phryxus and Helle were iu-
formed of Ino’s machinations, and they escaped to
Colchis on a golden ram. Juno, jealous of Ino’s pros¬
perity, resolved to disturb her peace ; and more parti¬
cularly because she was of the descendants of her great¬
est enemy, Venus. Tisiphone was sent by order of
Juno to the house of Athamas ; and she filled the whole
palace with such fury, that Athamas taking Ino to be
a lioness and her children whelps, pursued her and
dashed her son Learchus against a wall. Ino escaped
from the fury of her husband •, and from a high rock
she threw herself into the sea with Melicerta in her
arms. The gods pitied her fate ; and Neptune made
her a sea deity, which was afterwards called Leuco-
thoe. Melicerta became also a sea god, known by the
name of Palemon.
1NOA, festivals in memory of Ino, celebrated yearly
with sports and sacrifices at Corinth. An anniversary
sacrifice was also offered to Ino at Megara, where she
was first worshipped under the name of Leucothoe. 
Another in Laconia, in honour of the same. It was
usual at the celebration to throw cakes of flour into a
pond, which if they sunk were presages of prosperity,
but if they swam on the surface of the waters they were
inauspicious and very unlucky.
INOCARPUS, a genus of plants belonging to the
decandria class. See Botany Index.
INOCULATION, or Budding, in Gardening, is
commonly practised upon all sorts of stone fruit; as nec¬
tarines, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, as also up¬
on oranges and jasmines: and indeed this is preferable
to any sort of grafting for most sorts of fruit. For the
method of performing it, see Gardening Index.
+
[ 267 ]
INO
Inoculation, in a physical sense, is used for the inoeuU-
transplantation of distempers from one subject to an- tion.
other, particularly for the engraftment of the smallpox ; ■v—«
which, though of ancient use in the eastern countries,
is but a modern practice among us, at least under the
direction of art.
It is well observed by the haron Dimsdale, that acci¬
dent hath furnished the art of medicine with many va¬
luable hints, and some of its greatest improvements have
been received from the hands of ignorance and barba¬
rism. This truth is remarkably exemplified in the prac¬
tice of inoculation of the smallpox : but to the honour
of the British physicians, they measured not the value
of this practice by the meanness of its origin, but by its
real importance and utility ; they patronized a barba¬
rous discovery with no less zeal and affection than if
it had been their own. Indeed the whole nation
might be said to have adopted the practice ; for the
greatest encouraged it by becoming examples, and the
wisest were determined by the general event of the me¬
thod.
The time and place jn which the art of inoculating
for the smallpox was first formed, are equally unknown.
Accident probably gave rise to it. Pylarini says, that
among the Turks it was not attended to except amongst
the meaner sort. Dr Russel informs us in the Philoso¬
phical Transactions, vol. Iviii. p. 142. that no mention
is made of it by any of the ancient Arabian medical
writers that are known in Europe ; and the physicians
who are natives in and about Arabia assert, that nothing
is to be found regarding it in any of those of a more
modern date. He farther says, that he engaged some
of his learned lurkish friends to make inquiry; but
they did not discover any thing on this subject of inocu¬
lation either in the writings of physicians, historians, or
poets. Until the beginning of the 18th century, all the
accounts we have of inoculating the smallpox are mere¬
ly traditional. The silence on this subject, observed
amongst writers in the countries where the practice ob¬
tained, Dr Russel supposes, with great probability, to
be owing to the physicians there never countenancing
or engaging in it. It is also remarkable, that before
Pylarini’s letter to the Royal Society in 1701, nor yet
for several years after, this practice" is not noticed by
any of the most inquisitive travellers. On this Dr Rus¬
sel very justly observes, that customs, the most common
in distant countries, are often the least apt to attract the
observation of travellers, who, engaged in other pur¬
suits, must be indebted to accident for the knowledge of
such things as the natives seldom talk of, upon the be¬
lief that they are known to all the world.
T. he first accounts we have in the learned world con¬
cerning inoculation, are from two Italian physicians,
viz. Pylarini and Timoni, whose letters on the subject
may be seen in the 1 hil, i cans, abridged, vol. v. p. 370,
&c. The first is dated A. D. 1701 ; the next is dated’
A. D. 1713. 'Whether our inquiries are extended a-
broad or confined to our own country, inoculation hath
been practised under one mode or other time immemo¬
rial ; in Great Britain and its adjacent isles we have
well authenticated accounts, extending farther backward
than any from the continent. Dr Williams of Haver¬
fordwest, who wrote upon inoculation in 1725, proves,
that it had been practised in Wales, though in a form
somewhat different, time out of mind. Mr Wright, a
L 1 2 surgeon
I N O [ 268 ] I N O
surgeon in the same place, says, that baying the small¬
pox is both a common practice, and of long standing in
that neighbourhood. He says, that in Pembrokeshire
there are two large villages near the harbour of Milford,
more famous for this custom than any other, viz.. St
Jshmael’s and Marines. The old inhabitants of these
villages say, that it hath been a common practice ; and
that one William Allen of St Ishmael’s, who in 1722
was 90 years of age, de.clared to some persons of good
sense and integrity, that this practice was used all his
time that he well remembered his mother telling him,
that it was a common practice all her time, and that
she got the smallpox that way *7 so that at least we go
back 160 years or more.
In tbe Highlands of Scotland and some of the adja¬
cent isles, Dr Alexander Monro senior informs us, that
the custom through ages past hath been, to put their
children to bed with those who laboured under a fa¬
vourable smallpox, and to tie worsted threads about
their children’s wrists, after having drawn them through
variolous pustules. y
According to the result of Dr Russel’s inquiries, the
Arabians assert, that the inoculation of the smallpox
has been the common custom of their ancestors, and
that they have no doubt of its being as ancient as the
disease itself. It is remarkable, that buying the small¬
pox is the name universally applied in all countries to
the method of procuring the disease : it is true that
there are other terms 5 but in Wales and Arabia, as
well as many other countries, this is the usual appella¬
tion. From the sameness of the name, and the little
diversity observable in the manner of performing the
operation, it is probable that the practice of inoculation
in these countries was originally derived from the same
source. From its extensive spread, it is probably of
great antiquity too.
In the year 1717, Lady Mary Wortley Montague,
wife of the English ambassador at Constantinople, had
her son inoculated there at the age of six years; he had
but few pustules, and soon recovered. In April 1721,
inoculation was successfully tried on seven condemned
criminals in London, by permission of his majesty. In
1722, Lady Mary Wortley Montague had a daughter
of six years old inoculated in this island ; soon after
which, the children of the royal family that had not
had the smallpox were inoculated with success; then
followed some of the nobility, and the practice soon
prevailed. And here we date the commencement of
inoculation under the direction of art.
From the example of the royal family in England,
the practice was adopted in Germany, particularly in
Han over, and its adjacent countries.
zkfter Mr Maitland had succeeded with those he had
inoculated in and about London, he introduced the
practice into Scotland in the year 1726.
Sweden soon followed the. example of the British.
Russia lately engaged one of our principal promoters
and improvers of this art. And now there are not
many countries that do not more or less practise it.
Different Modes of Inoculation. The practice of
inoculation having obtained in every part of the world,
it may be grateful, at least to curiosity, to have a ge¬
neral account of the different modes that are and have
been adopted in that practice.
Inoculation with the blood of variolous patients hath
been tried without effect; the variolous matter only IfioeuA
produces the variolous disease. tion.
The application of the variolous matter takes place
in a sensible part only ; the activity of the virus is such,
that the smallest atom, though imperceptible to any of
our senses, conveys the disease as well as the largest
quantity. Hence the most obvious method is the prick
of a needle or the point of a lancet dipped in the mat¬
ter of a variolous pustule.
Cotton or thread is used, that is previously rubbed
with powdered variolous scabs ; this thread is drawn
with a needle through the cutis, but not left in. This
is the method in some parts of the East Indies. The
Indians pass the thread on the outside of the hand*
between any of the fingers, or between the fore finger
and thumb. The Thessalian women inoculate in the
forehead and chin.
Some abrade the scarf-skin, and rub in the powder¬
ed dry scabs which fall from the pustules of patients
with the smallpox.
Many of the Greek women make an oblique punc¬
ture with a needle, on the middle of the top of the
forehead, on each cheek, the chin, each metacarpus,
and each metatarsus ; then drop in each a little of the
pus just taken warm from a patient, and brought in a
servant’s bosom. Others in Greece make several little
wounds with a needle in one, two, or more places, in
the skin, till some drops of blood ensue ; then the
operator pours a drop of warm pus fresh from a pu¬
stule, and mixes it with the blood as it issues out ;
then the wound is covered by some with a bandage, by
others with half a walnut shell placed with its concave
side over each orifice.
The Chinese convey a pellet of variolated cotton*
with the addition of a little musk, into the nostrils of
the patient; they collect dry pustules, and keep them
in a porcelain bottle well corked ; and when they ino¬
culate, they mix a grain of musk with three or four
grains of the dry scales, and roll them in cotton. This
method may be called inodoraiion.
About Bengal, in the East Indies, the person who
intends to be inoculated, having found a house where
there is a good sort of the smallpox, goes to the bed of
the sick person, if he is old enough ; or if a child, to
one of his relations, and speaks to him as follows : “ I
am come to buy the small pox.” The answer is, “ Buy
if you please.” A sum of money is accordingly given,
and one, three, or five pustules, for the number must
always be odd, and not exceeding five, extracted whole,
and full of matter. These are immediately rubbed on
the skin of the outside of the hand between the fore¬
finger and the thumb ; and this suffices to produce the
disease. The same custom obtains in Algiers, Tunis,
Tripoli, and other countries.
Very similar to the custom among the people about
Bengal, &c. is that in Arabia, where on some fleshy
part they make several punctures with a needle im¬
brued in variolous matter, taken from a pustule of a
favourable kind. Here they buy the smallpox too, as
follows : the child to be inoculated carries a few raisins,
dates, sugar-plums, or such like ; and showing them
to the child from whom the matter is to be taken,
asks how many pocks he will give in exchange ? The
bargain being made, they proceed to the operation ;
but this buying, though still continued, is not thought
necessary
r
!
1
1
1
i
I
i
I N O
la ufa- necessary to the success of the operation. The Arabs
Jjh. say that any fleshy part is proper; hut generally they
■T“—' insert the matter between the fore-finger and thumb
on the outside of the arm.
The Georgians insert the matter on the fore-arm.
The Armenians introduce the matter on the two
thighs. In Wales the practice may be termed infric¬
tion of the smallpox. There some of the dry pustules
are procured by purchase, and are rubbed hard upon
the naked arm or leg.
The practice in some places is to prick the skin be¬
tween some of the fingers by means of* two small needles
joined to one another; and after having rubbed a
little of the matter on the spot, a circle is made by
means of several punctures of the bigness of a common
pustule, and matter is again rubbed over it. The ope¬
ration is finished by dressing the wound with lint.—An¬
other custom is to mix a little of the variolous matter
with sugar, and give it to be drank in any agreeable
liquor.
Incisions have been made in the arms and legs, and
thread, cotton, or lint, previously dipped in the vari¬
olous matter, was lodged in them. The practice of
some is to bathe the feet in warm water, and then se¬
cure lint dipped in the variolous matter on the instep,
or other part of the foot, where the skin is thin. O-
thers apply a small blistering plaster ; and when the
scarf skin is elevated and slipped off, the variolous mat¬
ter is applied to the surface of the true skin, and con¬
fined there by a little lint or plaster. Scratching the
skin with a pin or needle, and then rubbing the part
with lint, previously dipped in variolous matter, is the
custom in some places.
In the Highlands of Scotland they rub some part
of the skin with fresh matter, or dip worsted in vario¬
lous matter, and tie it about the children’s wrists.
They observe, that if fresh matter is applied a few days
successively, the infection is more certain than by one
application.
We have thus given the history of inoculation for
the smallpox, which not many years ago was justly re¬
garded as one of the greatest discoveries which had
been made for the benefit of mankind, and would still
be regarded as such bad it not given place to one still
more valuable and important, the vaccine inoculation or
cow pox, which now promises to banish the smallpox
from the world. For an account of this, see Vaccina¬
tion. It would be quite unnecessary to enter into the
detail of the advantages to be derived from inoculation
for die smallpox, and the methods of performing or pre¬
paring for it formerly practised. But, as a curious part
of the history of this practice, we shall just barely men¬
tion some of the objections which have been urged a-
gainst it.
It has been said that inoculation for the smallpox is
unlawful ; that it is bringing a distemper on ourselves,
and thus usurping the sacred prerogative of God ; that
the decrees of God have fixed the commission of every
disease, and our precautions cannot prevent what lie
hath determined ; that we should not do evil that good
may come ; that the patient may die, and then his last
moments are distressed, and the future reflections of
his friends are grievous; that fear is a dangerous passion
m the smallpox, but inoculation increases the causes of
fear, by lessening our faith and trust in God; that ino-
I N Q
culation does not exempt from future infection ; that inoeaU-
other diseases are communicated with the matter of the tioa
smallpox by inoculating it; that perhaps the diseaser ,
may never attack in the natural way; that it requires ^lflulslt’on;
much thought to know what we should do with regard
to inoculation ; that it endangers others, and that the
practice of inoculation comes from the devil.
INORDINATE proportion. See Proportion,
Inordinate.
INOSCULATION, in Anatomy, the same with
Anastomosis.
INPROMPTU, or Impromptu. See Impromptu.
INQUEST, in Scots Law, the same with Jury.
. INQUISITION, in the church of Rome, a tribunal
in several Roman Catholic countries, erected by the
popes for the examination and punishment of heretics.
This court was founded in the 12th century by Fa¬
ther Dominic and his followers, who were sent by Pope
Innocent III. with orders to excite the Catholic princes
and people to extirpate heretics, to searcli into their
number and quality, and to transmit a faithful account
thereof to Rome. Plence they were called inquisitors ;
and this gave birth to the formidable tribunal of the
inquisition, which was received in all Italy and the do¬
minions of Spain, except the kingdom of Naples and
the Low Countries.
Ibis diabolical tribunal takes cognizance of heresy,
Judaism, Mahometanism, sodomy, and polygamy ; and
the people stand in so much fear of it, that parents
deliver up their children, husbands their wives, and
masters their servants, to its officers, without daring
m the least to murmur. The prisoners are kept for a
long time, till they themselves turn their own accu¬
sers, and declare the cause of their imprisonment; for
they are neither told their crime nor confronted with
witnesses. As soon as they are imprisoned, their
friends go into mourning, and speak of them as dead,
not daring to solicit their pardon, lest they should be
brought in as accomplices. When there is no shadow
of proof against the pretended criminal, he is dischar¬
ged, after suffering the most cruel tortures, a tedious
and dreadful imprisonment, and the loss of the great¬
est part of his effects. The sentence against the pri¬
soners is pronounced publicly, and with extraordinary
solemnity. In Portugal, they erect a theatre capable of
holding 3000 persons; in which they place a rich al¬
tar, and raise seats on each side in the form of an
amphitheatre. There the prisoners are placed ; and
over against them is a high chair, whither they are
called, one by one, to hear their doom, from one of the
inquisitors.
The unhappy people know what they are to suf¬
fer by the clothes they wear that day. Those who
appear in their own clothes are discharged upon pay¬
ment of a fine ; those who have a santo benito, or
strait yellow coat without sleeves, charged with St
Andrew’s cross, have their lives, but forfeit all their
effects : those who have the resemblance of flames
made of red serge, sewed upon their santo benito, with¬
out any cross, are pardoned, but threatened to be
burnt if ever they relapse : but those who, besides
these flames, have on their santo benito their own pic¬
ture, surrounded with figures of devils, are condemned
to expire in the flames. The inquisitors, who are ec¬
clesiastics, do not pronounce the sentence of death ;
but
[ 269 ]
INS [ 270 ] INS
Inquisition foat form and read an act, in which they say, that
II the criminal being convicted of such a crime, by his
Insects. own confession, is with much reluctance delivered to
S ' ¥ the secular power to be punished according to his de¬
merits : and this writing they give to the seven judges
who attend at the right side of the altar, who immedi¬
ately pass sentence. For the conclusion of this horrid
scene, see Act of Faith.
INSCRIBED, in Geometry. A figure is said to
be inscribed in another, when all its angles touch the
side or planes of the other figure.
INSCRIPTION, a title or writing affixed to any
thing, to give some farther knowledge of it, or to trans¬
mit some important truth to posterity.
Antiquaries are very curious in examining ancient
inscriptions found on stones and other monuments of
antiquity. Sanchoniathon, contemporary, as it is said,
with Gideon, drew most of the memoirs whereof his
history is composed from inscriptions which he found
in temples and on columns, both among the Heathens
and the Hebrews.
It appears, indeed, that the ancients engraved upon
pillars tlie principles of sciences, as well as the history
of the world. Those mentioned by Herodotus show,
that this was the first way of instructing people, and of
transmitting histories and sciences to posterity. This
is confirmed by Plato in his Hippias •, wherein he says,
that Pisistratus engraved on stone pillars precepts use¬
ful for husbandmen. Pliny assures us, that the first
public monuments were made of plates of lead ; and
that the treaties of confederacy concluded between
the Romans and the Jews were written upon plates
of brass ; that (says he) the Jews might have some¬
thing to put them in mind of the peace and confede¬
racy concluded with the Romans. The Greeks and
Romans were great dealers in inscriptions, and were
extremely fond of being mentioned in them ", and
hence it is that we find so many in those countries of
ancient learning, that large volumes have been com¬
posed, as the collection of Gruter, &c. Since Gruter’s
collection, Th. Reinesius has compiled another huge
volume of inscriptions. M. Fabretty published ano¬
ther volume at Rome in 1699, wherein he has correct¬
ed abundance of errors which had escaped Gruter, Rei¬
nesius, and other antiquaries, &c. and added a great
number of inscriptions omitted by them.—Since all
these, Graevius has published a complete collection of
inscriptions, in three vols. folio.
INSCRUTABLE, Unsearchable, in Theology,
is usually understood of the secrets of Providence, and
the judgments of God, into which human reason cannot
penetrate.
Academy of Inscriptions. See Academy.
INSECTS, Insecta, in Natural History, a smaller
sort of animals, commonly supposed to be exsanguiousj
and distinguished by certain incisures, cuttings, or in¬
dentings in their bodies. The word is originally La¬
tin, formed of in, and seco, “ I cut j” the reason of
which is, that in some of this tribe, as ants, the body
seems to be cut or divided into two j or because the
bodies of many, as worms, caterpillars, &c. are com¬
posed of different circles, or rings, which are a sort of
incisuree. See Entomology.—See also the article
Insecta, in the Supplement.
Noxious Insects ; Means of destroying them, or pre-
S
venting their Increase. The following remedies we find
collected in the Gentleman’s Magazine for October ' " * ^
1790.—Of those substances which have been generally
observed to be efficacious in driving away or in destroy¬
ing insects,mercury,and its various preparations, may be
reckoned one of the most generally useful. Sulphur is
also useful. Oils of all kinds have been often and de¬
servedly recommended. Tobacco is not less remarkable
for its utility. Of the application of these in order.
1. Mercury is known to kill or drive away lice from
the human body j and it may probably be of equal ef¬
ficacy in ridding other animals of their insects. For
instance, sheep having a small quantity of mercurial
ointment rubbed on their skins, on the sides, between
the fore legs and the body, it may kill or drive away
the insect peculiar to them. Sulphur is recommended to
be added to the mercurial ointment. Thus not only the
insect peculiar to them, but also the scab, may be cured :
See the Transactions of the Society for the Encourage¬
ment of Arts, London, vol. vii. viii. p. 90. In the
Transactions of the same society, vol. v. vi. p. 59. Mr
Ailway directed that, in the winter, the walls, frames,
&c. of his green and hot-houses should be well washed
with the following mixture : Take of corrosive subli¬
mate mercury four ounces, and dissolve it in two gal¬
lons of water. These houses had been greatly infested
with red spiders and ants. After having been washed
with the above mixture, neither were to be seen next
summer. This wash may be used on old garden-walls,
and to the roots of fruit-trees infested with insects, if
made weaker. It may destroy the tender leaves of
plants, though not the roots. This wash will effectual¬
ly destroy that disagreeable insect the bug, and all other
insects of a tender cuticle $ and it will not in the least
hurt the colour of bed-furniture or hangings. Care
must be taken that the wash be applied into every cre¬
vice or folding of the furniture with a painter’s brush.
It will sometimes be necessary to repeat the wash, as
some of the ova of bugs may remain concealed, not¬
withstanding the utmost care.
Some of the West India islands were much infested
with large ants, which greatly hurt the sugar-canes.
The remedy was, to dissolve corrosive sublimate mer¬
cury in rum, in the proportion of two drams to a pint
of spirits. This solution was poured on dry powdered
sugar; and when the sugar was dried, it was laid in
the paths of the ants. They ate it, and were destroy¬
ed. Might not this practice be imitated, by laying
sugar thus prepared on paper or pieces of thin boards
near the roots of fruit-trees infested by insects, espe¬
cially when the fruit is ripening ? The papers or boards
might be taken in during the night, or when it rained.
The sugar should be coloured with indigo, or other
substance, thereby to mark it as a substance to be
avoided by curious idlers.
2. We are informed that a person in Piiiladelphia em¬
ployed brimstone in the following manner. Having
cleared all round the roots of trees infested with cater¬
pillars or other insects, he strewed some flour of brim¬
stone round the roots, and covered it with a thin
sprinkling of fine mould, that it might not be blown
away by the wind, yet so that the sun might operate
through, and cause the brimstone to fumigate. Thus
he destroyed the caterpillars. One pound he found
sufficient for 200 trees. In that hot climate the sun
may
INS [27
ImeU. may perhaps have that effect $ but it scarcely will in
- this. He also employed sulphur in the following man¬
ner to drive insects from small trees. Pie split the end
of a pole, and put in the slit some matches, set them
on fire, and held them under the parts of the trees
chiefly affected. A pole thus armed, he found, would
answer for three or four trees. Brimstone thus mixed
wi th d amp straw, and set on fire, for instance, in hop-
ground infested with the fly, might he of use to drive
away the fly.
The itch is supposed to proceed from a very small
insect which nestles under the skin, and proceeds no
farther into the habit j and is therefore attended with
no dangerous consequences. Brimstone made into an
ointment with hogs-lard is a sure remedy.
Sheep are liable to an eruption on the skin, known
by the name of the scab. The brimstone, when added
to the mercurial ointment recommended for that disor¬
der in the Transactions of the Society for the Encou¬
ragement of Arts, vol. vii. p. 90. might perhaps render
the application more efficacious and less dangerous.
3. The natives of hot countries are taught by expe¬
rience, that an unctuous covering on their bodies pre¬
vents the bites of musquitoes and all gnats. The white
inhabitants in such countries are not sufficiently care¬
ful in preventing the least stagnant water near their
dwellings, in which the musquitoes are bred ; even in
the waste water thrown out they are produced. Dr
Franklin, by a careful attention to this circumstance,
guarded his family in Philadelphia from such insects:
one day seeing a number of musquitoes in his li¬
brary, he found on inquiry, that one of his servants
had taken the cover oft’ a tub placed near his window
for receiving rain-water. On such an occasion this re¬
medy is easy, viz. shutting the room up for the day,
«o that the musquitoes cannot come at any water, in
which time they die. Though this caution may seem
trifling to us who live in a mild climate, it is fur other¬
wise in hot countries.
Oil being known to be most efficacious in destroy¬
ing insects, may not the use of it be extended to the
destruction of worms in the bowels of horses, where
they may occasion the violent pain they seem some¬
times to suffer P If the horse was for some time kept
fasting, and a large quantity of oil, suppose a pint,
was given, if worms are the cause, the oil may in that
case kill them.
Flowers, leaves, and fruits, on plants, are known to
be devoured by caterpillars. These are destroyed by
oils, which close the lateral pores by which thev
breathe. For this purpose it is advised that, on the
approach of spring, a cloth dipped in train oil he laid
on such parts of the tree in which there is the least
appearance of them.
We are informed in the Memoirs of the Society
of Agriculture at Paris, that oil of turpentine, when
applied to animals which were covered with insects,
destroyed the insects without hurting the animal. The
author tried it on several trees, mixed with fine earth
80 as to incorporate them well, then adding water,
still stirring them carefully till the whole was brought
to some degree of fluidity. In this mixture he dipped
branches of fruit trees on which there were insects, and
hereby destroyed not only the eggs but also the insects,
without hurting the leaves. This composition may be
i ] INS
got oft by washing, or the first heavy shower. From
these experiments the author thinks, that oil of turpen¬
tine may with equal efficacy be employed for killing
various kinds of lice on domestic animals.
We are informed, in the Transactions of the Society
for the Encouragement of Arts, vol. v. p. 45. that
Mr Winter, among other experiments on turnip-seed,
steeped the seed 24 hours in a sufficient quantity of
train oil. He then drained the oil from the seed,
which he mixed with a quantity of fine sifted earth,
and immediately sowed it in drills. When the plants
began to appear on the surface, the ground was sown
with soot. He found that seed steeped in linseed oil
answered equally well. The turnips the least injured
by the fly were those that grew from seed steeped as
above, which grew so luxuriantly as to produce rouch
leaves several days prior to the most flourishing of anv
of his other experiments, and were the better enabled
to withstand the fly’s attack. The leaves of these tur¬
nips were of a darker green, and appeared twice as
thick in hulk and luxuriancy as the other turnips,
and were a considerable deal larger. The seed was drill¬
ed an inch and a half deep, and at a foot distance in the
rows. Train oil is apt to kill the leaves of plants which
have been injured by insects, but linseed oil has not
that effect, though equally destructive to the insects.
The train oil seems to act both as an oil, and by its
disagreeable smell it prevents insects approaching it.
In this respect it may be successfully used to pre¬
vent field mice or other vermin preying on acorns,
chesnuts, or other seeds steeped in it before they are
sown. J
When thus giving directions for preventing the fly
on turnips, a late experiment should be mentioned, by
the disclosing of which a person gained a considerable
reward. His secret was, running a roller over the
ground early in the morning, while the dew remained
on the ground, on the first appearance of the fly. The
dew entangled the flies so much, that they could not
make their escape, and were therefore crushed to death.
As the roller may leave the surface of the earth too
hard, some very properly advise to fix some boughs of
elder in a gate or hurdle, to be drawn over thelfield ;
and if the boughs had been before fumigated with the
smoke of tobacco, or tincture of asafoetida, the suc¬
cess would be the surer. The most certain method
of preventing the hurt done by the fly is to raise the
plants in a nursery, and at a proper age to transplant
them, being carried to the ground in a wheel-barrow
filled with manure softened with water so as to admit
the plants. Ibis method will secure their more speedy
growth. In the nursery the attack of the fly may be
prevented by sprinkling soot or quicklime on the ground.
The utility of transplanting turnips is evident by the
practice of transplanting the turnip-rooted cabbage.
They who are discouraged from this practice by the ex¬
pence attending it, do not reflect that the hoeing is pre¬
vented, and the plants grow the better, being set&in fresh
earth.
4. Before proceeding to direct the use of the last
means mentioned, viz, tobacco, for destroying insects
in turnips, it may be proper to mention an experiment
made by Mr Green, of her majesty’s flower-garden at
Kew. He contrived a pair of bellows similar to that
employed in recovering people seemingly drowned. It
has.
Insectt.
INS [ 2 y
Insect'. l'‘as a cavity in the nozzle, in which some tobacco is
v—' put, with a live coal over it. The bellows being then
worked, the tobacco is set on fire, and the smoke is
directed to any particular spot. A lady was fond of
having the moskrose in her dressing-room, but was
prevented having it on account of the green insects
which constantly adhere to that plant. To remedy
this inconvenience, Mr Green had a box made large
enough to contain a pot in which a plant of the mosk-
rose grew. In one end of the box was a hole, to ad¬
mit the nozzle of the bellows 5 the bellows was work¬
ed, and the smoke was received into the box. When
the tobacco was consumed, the nozzle was withdrawn,
and a cork being put into the hole, the box thus re¬
mained till morning, when the insects were all laid
dead on the earth. Being swept off, the plant was in
a state fit for a dressing-room. Many plants thus in¬
fested with insects may be too large, or otherwise so
placed as not to be put into a box. In this case it
occurred to the writer of these observations, that be¬
ing sprinkled with an infusion of tobacco in water
mi^ht in some degree answer the same purpose. On
trial he found it answer, and he thus freed other plants
of their insects. He also used it on trees of easy ac¬
cess with advantage. Train oil is so inimical to tender
plants or leaves, that it destroys them if insects have
in the least hurt them j whereas the infusion, instead
of killing the leaves, promoted a fresh vegetation.
Fruit trees often become the prey of insects. Those
against a wall, or in espaliers, being easily come at,
much of the mischief may be prevented by cutting off
the leaves so soon as they are observed to be curled 5
for then fresh eggs are laid on them, probably by but¬
terflies. If sprinkled with the infusion of tobacco, it
will prevent their coming to life. After the fruit is
formed, the infusion must not be used, lest the taste
and smell may remain. The scissars are then the pro¬
per remedies, which ladies may employ as amusement,
and may thereby present fruit to their friends of their
own preserving. A lye of the ash of plants sprinkled
on the leaves may have a good effect, as also on other
pot-herbs, which are often the prey ef caterpillars.
As many insects, besides those bred on the leaves or
in the walls, may destroy the fruit, the sugar with
the corrosive sublimate, as already described, may be
laid in the way of other insects, to all which it will prove
a speedy death. Diligent inspection into their retreats
is the most certain means of preventing the loss sus¬
tained by snails. Ants are prevented rising up the trees,
by laying round the roots powdered chalk, or any other
substance which by entangling their feet prevents their
crossing it. Care should be taken to destroy their nests
everywhere near the garden.
Hops are now become an article of so great conse¬
quence, that it deserves our particular attention. Early
in its growth, when the vines begin to ascend the poles,
a black fly preys on its leaves, frequently in such num¬
bers as, by destroying the leaves, to interrupt the
vegetation, much of the food of plants being absorbed
by the leaves. The infusion of tobacco destroys them,
cr at least drives them away so effectually, that a plant
almost totally stripped of its leaves has put out fresh
leaves after the use of it. If care be not taken, they
will again fall on the fresh leaves. As the flies lodge
on the lower side of the leaves, they are protected from
3
2 ] INS
storms of rain, and therefore the infusion must he insrctSi
driven upwards by a forcing pump. As it is said that' /--j
the expence of tobacco is too great, perhaps lime-wa¬
ter, or even water by itself, driven strongly against
the leaves, might drive them away. The labour at¬
tending such experiments in a large plantation discou¬
rages others, without reflecting, that, if such means
are used early, the flies may more easily be got rid of.
Free ventilation is undoubtedly beneficial to all plants;
and hence perhaps the particular advantages of drilling
corns in rows a little distant. If alleys somewhat larger
than common were made in the plantations of hops,
there might be sufficient spaces left where the alleys
cross one another to admit of setting damp straw, or
other materials mixed with brimstone, soot, &c. on
fire. Smoke itself is said to prevent the fly ; and if so,
it will still act more powerfully when mixed with such
materials. It has been observed in Sweden, that the
hops grow naturally among heaps of stones or frag¬
ments of rocks. They therefore advise to cover the
ground round their roots with stones, which will pre¬
vent the insects laying their eggs near the roots in the
ground, where they lay them to be protected during
the winter. The stones will also preserve moisture at
the roots during the summer. A rope cannot be
drawn across a plantation of hops, as it can across a
field of corn, in case of mildew. Here water to wash
off the clammy juice that entices and feeds insects
seems to be the only remedy. The plantation being
well ventilated, may at least prevent the frequency of
it. The forcing pump will most effectually wash off*
this exudation.
Cruelty to Insects. It does not appear upon what
principle of reason and justice it is, that mankind have
founded their right over the lives of every creature that
is placed in a subordinate rank of being to themselves.
"Whatever claim they may have in right of food and
self-defence (to which ought we to add the purposes
of the naturalist, explained above ?) did they extend
their privileges no farther than those articles w'ould rea¬
sonably carry them, numberless beings might enjoy
their lives in peace, who are now hurried out of them
by the most wanton and unnecessary cruelties. It is
surely difficult to discover why it should be thought
less inhuman to crush to death a harmless insect, whose
single offence is that he eats that food which nature has
prepared for his sustenance, than it would be were we
to kill any bulky creature for the same reason. There
are few tempers so hardened to the impressions of hu¬
manity, as not to shudder at the thought of the latter;
and yet the former is universally practised without the
least check of compassion. This seems to arise from
the gross error of supposing, that every creature is
really in itself contemptible, which happens to be
clothed with a body infinitely disproportionate to our
own, not considering that great and little are merely
relative terms. But the inimitable Shakespeare would
teach us, that
——the poor beetle that we tread upon,
In corp’ral suff’rance, feels a pang as great
As wdien a giant dies   
And indeed there is every reason to believe that the
sensations of many insects are as exquisite as those of
creatures of far more enlarged dimensions, perhaps even
more
INS [ 273 ] INS
iN'ct more so. I he millepede, for instance, rolls itself
:1 round upon the slightest touch, and the snail draws
,5 »crm ;n jts jlorns U})0n t|le jeagt approacj, 0f our ^re
not these the strongest indications of their sensibility ?
and is it any evidence of owrs, that we are not there¬
fore induced to treat them with a more sympathising
tenderness ?
Montaigne remarks, that there is a certain claim of
kindness and benevolence which every species of crea¬
tures has a right to from us. It is to be regretted that
this general maxim is not more attended to in the affair
of education, and pressed home upon tender minds in
its full extent and latitude. We are far, indeed, from
thinking, that the early delight which children discover
in tormenting flies, &c. is a mark of any innate cruel¬
ty of temper, because this turn may be accounted for
on other principles ; and it is entertaining unworthy
notions of the Deity, to suppose he forms mankind
with a propensity to the most detestable of all disposi¬
tions : but most certainly, by being unrestrained in sports
of this kind, they may acquire by habit what they
never would have learned from nature, and grow up
into a confirmed inattention to every kind of suffering
but their own. Accordingly the supreme court of ju¬
dicature at Athens thought an instance of this sort not
below its cognizance, and punished a boy for putting
out the eyes of a poor bird that had unhappily fallen
into his hands.
It might he of service, therefore, it should seem, in
order to awaken as early as possible in children an ex¬
tensive sense of humanity, to give them a view of se¬
veral sorts of insects as they may be magnified by the
assistance of glasses, and to show them that the same
evident marks of wisdom and goodness prevail in the
formation of the minutest insect, as in that of the most
enormous leviathan : that they are equally furnished
with whatever is necessary, not only to the preserva¬
tion, hut the happiness of their beings in that class of
existence which Providence has assigned them : in a
word, that the whole construction of their respective
organs distinctly proclaims them the objects of the di¬
vine benevolence, and therefore that they justly ought
to be so of ours.
INSERTION, in Anatomy, the close conjunction
of the vessels, tendons, fibres, and membranes of the
body With some other parts.
INSINUATION denotes a cunning and covert
way of creeping into any person’s favour.
Insinuation of a Tf ill, among civilians, is the first
production of it, or the leaving it with the register,
in order to its probate. See Will.
INSIPID, Tasteless, that which has nothing in
it pungent enough to aflect the palate, tongue, &c.
and to occasion that sensation we call tasting.
1NSIIION, Insitio, in Botany, denotes the same
with engrafting; viz. the act of inserting and uniting
acyon, bud, or the like, in the substance of the stock.
INSOL AITON, in Pharmacy, a method of pre¬
paring certain fruits, drugs, $rc. by exposing them
to the heat of the sun’s rays ; either to dry, to matu¬
rate, or to sharpen them ; as is done in vinegar, figs,
—The word comes from the Latin verb insolare,
which is used by Pliny and Columella, and signifies to
csxpose to the sun.
INSOLVENT, a term applied to such persons as
V ol. XI. Part I. f-'
have not wherewithal to pay their just debts. A per- iu,o!veut
son dying, and not leaving estate sufficient to discharge |i
these, is said to die insolvent. Inspiration,
Trial by INSPECTION, or Examination, is ir"—
when, for the greater expedition of a cause, in some
point or issue, being either the principal question, or
arising collaterally out of it, but being evidently the
object of sense, the judges of the court, upon the tes¬
timony of their own senses, shall decide the point in
dispute. For, when the affirmative or negative of a
question is matter of such obvious determination, it is
not thought necessary to summon a jury to decide it;
who are properly called in to inform the conscience of
the court of dubious facts ; and therefore, when the
fact, from its nature, must be evident to the court ei¬
ther from ocular demonstration or other irrefragable
proof, there the law departs from its usual resort, the
verdict of 12 men, and relies on the judgment of the
court alone. As in case of a suit to reserve a fine for
non-age of the cognizor, or to set aside a statute or re¬
cognizance entered into by an infant; here, and in
other cases of the like sort, a writ shall issue to the
sheriff, commanding him that he constrain the said par¬
ty to appear, that it may be ascertained by the view
of his body by the king’s justices, whether he be of
full age or not: Ut per aspectum corporis sui constare
poterit justiciariis nostris, si prcedictus an sit plence
cetatis necne. If however, the court has, upon inspec¬
tion, any doubt of the age of the party (as may frequent¬
ly he the case), it may proceed to take proofs of the part;
and, particularly, may examine the infant himself upon
an oath of voir dire, veritatem dicere ; that is, to make
true answers to such questions as the court shall demand
of him ; or the court may examine his mother, his
god-father, or the like.
INSPECTOR, a person to whom the care and con¬
duct of any work is committed.
Inspectors, in the Roman law, were such persons
as examined the quality and value of lands and effects,
in order to the adjusting or proportioning taxes and
impositions to every man’s estate.
The Jews also have an officer, in their synagogue,
whom they call inspector, Vtn, hha%en. His business con¬
sists principally in inspecting or overlooking the pray¬
ers and lessons, in preparing and showing them to the
reader, and in standing by him to see he reads right :
and, if he makes mistakes, he is to correct him.
INSPIRATION, among divines, &c. implies the
conveying of certain extraordinary and supernatural
notices or motions into the soul j or it denotes anv su¬
pernatural influence of God upon the mind of a ratio¬
nal creature, whereby he is formed to any degree of
intellectual improvements, to which he could not, or
would not, in fact have attained in his present circum¬
stances, in a natural way. Thus the prophets are said
to have spoken by divine inspiration.
Some authors reduce the inspiration of the sacred
writers to a particular care of Providence, which pre¬
vented any thing they had said from failing or coming
to nought; maintaining, that they never were really
inspired either with knowledge or expression.
According to M. Simon, inspiration is no more than
a direction of the Holy Spirit, which never permitted
the sacred writers to be mistaken.
It is a common opinion, that the inspiration of the
M m Holy
I N S
[ 274 ]
I N S
Holy Spirit regards only the matter, not the style or branch of respiration, and stands opposed to Lisn
words } and this seems to fall in with M. Simon 1 doc¬
trine of direction.
Theological writers have enumerated several kinds
of inspiration 5 such as an inspiration of superinten-
dency, in which Cod does so influence and direct the
mind of any person, as to keep him more secure from
error in some various and complex discourse, than he
would have been merely by the use ot his natural fa¬
culties $ plenary superintendent inspiration, which ex¬
cludes any mixture of error at all from the performance
so superintended } inspiration of elevation, wheie the
faculties act in a regular, and, as it seems, in a com¬
mon manner, yet are raised to an extraordinary degree,
so that the composure shall, upon the whole, have more
of the true sublime or pathetic, than natural genius
could have given *, and inspiration of suggestion, when
the use of the faculties is superseded, aud God does,
as it were, speak directly to the mind, making such
discoveries to it as it could not otherwise have obtain¬
ed, and dictating the very words in which such disco¬
veries are to be communicated, if they are designed as
a message to others. It is generally allowed that the
New Testament was written by a superintendent inspi¬
ration ; for without this the discourses and doctrines
of Christ could not have been faithfully recorded by
the evangelists and apostles j nor could they have as¬
sumed the authority of speaking the words of Christ,
and evinced this authority by the actual exercise ot
miraculous powers: and besides, the sacred writings
bear many obvious internal marks of their divine ori¬
ginal in the excellence of their doctrines, the spiritu¬
ality and elevation of their design, the majesty and sim¬
plicity of their style, the agreement of their various
parts, and their efficacy on mankind ; to whiCii may
be added, that there has been in the Christian church,
from its earliest ages, a constant tradition, that the sa¬
cred books were written by the extraordinary assist¬
ance of the Spirit, which must at least amount to su¬
perintendent inspiration. But it has been controvert¬
ed whether this inspiration extended to every minute
circumstance in their writings, so as to be in the most
absolute sense plenary. Jerome, Grotius,. Erasmus,
Episcopius, and many others, maintain that it was not •,
whilst others contend, that the emphatical manner m
which our Lord speaks of the agency of the Spirit up¬
on them, and in which they themselves speak of their
own writings, will justify our believing that their in¬
spiration was plenary, unless there be very convincing
evidence brought on the other side to prove that it
was not: and if we allow, it is said, that there were
some errors in the New Testament, as it came from
the hands of the apostles, there may be great danger ot
subverting the main purpose and design of it 5 since
there will be endless room to debate the importance
both of facts and doctrines.
Among the Heathens, the priests and priestesses
were said to be divinely inspired, when they gave
oracles. The poets also laid claim to it; and to this
end they always invoked Apollo and the Muses at the
beginning of any great work. . f ^
Inspiration', in Physic, is understood ot that ac¬
tion of the breast, by which the air is admitted
within the lungs j in which sense, inspiration is a
•in the
a con-
an ac-
Respi-
Iarpir»i^|
RATION. . . N
This admission of the air depends immediately on
its spring or elasticity, at the time when the cavity of t 
the breast is enlarged by the elevation of the tho¬
rax and abdomen, and particularly by the motion of
the diaphragm downwards : so that the air does not
enter the lungs, because they are dilated ; but those
dilate, because the air enters within them. Nor is
it the dilatation of the breast which draws
air, as is commonly thought, though this is
dition absolutely necessary to inspiration ; but
tual intrusion oi the air into the lungs. See
RATION.
INSPISSATING, in Pharmacy, an operation
whereby a liquor is brought to a thicker consistence,
by evaporating the thinner parts.
INSPRUCK, a city of Germany, in the circle ot
Austria, and capital of the county of Tyrol, received
its name from the river Inn, which runs by it. It has
a noble castle or palace, formerly the residence o( the
archdukes of the house of Austria, with a cathedral
where they are buried. 'I he houses, though built in
the German taste, are rather handsomer; and th«
streets, though narrow, are remarkably well paved.
For the defence of this city the inhabitants can place
but little confidence in their fortifications, which are
very trifling. They seem rather to depend on the na¬
tural fastnesses of their country ; which appear indeed
to form a barrier, so perfectly inaccessible to any ene¬
my, that even the great Gustavos Adolphus, after hav¬
ing overrun with his victorious arms the other parts
of Germany, could never make any impression upon
this. It has about TO,COO inhabitants, and it is seat¬
ed in a pleasant valley. L. Long. 11. 30. N. Lat.
47. 16.
INSTALLATION, the act of giving visible pos¬
session of an order, rank, or office, by placing in the
proper seat. See INSTALMENT.
INSTALMENT, a settling or instating any person
in a dignity. The word is derived from the Latin in,
and stallum, a term used for a seat in church, in the
choir, or a seat or bench in a court of justice, &c. ;
though Vossius is of opinion the ward is of German origin.
Instalment is chiefly used for the induction ot a
dean, prebendary, or other ecclesiastical dignitary, in¬
to the possession of his stall, or proper seat, in the ca¬
thedral church to which he belongs. I his is some¬
times also called installation.
Instalment is likewise used for the ceremony,
whereby the knights of the Garter are placed in their
rank, in the chapel of St George at Windsor.
INSTANT, a part of duration in which we perceive
no succession ; or it is that which takes up the tim*
only of one idea in our minds.
IN ST AUR ATION, the re-establishment, or re-
stauration of a religion, a church, or the like, to its
former state. The word is by some derived from the
old Latin instaurmn, which signified the “ stock” of
things necessary for the tilling and managing of
grounds ; as cattle, tools, harness, &c. But the word
instaurum is only of the middle age : instauratio is
of much greater antiquity, and by some derived from
instar, “ like,” as importing a thing’s being brought
tv
D wilion
e
niieBt
oyiiutis re
»p<>iing
Luin in-
'ftijuMse
*f Mid
INS
to Us former likeness or appearance. See Eestaura-
xioy.
> INSTEP, in the manege, is that part of a horse’s
hind leg, which reaches from the ham to the pastern-
joint.
• INSTINCT, a certain pou7er or disposition of mind,
by which, independent of all instruction or experience,
without deliberation, and without having any end in
view, animals are unerringly directed to do spontane¬
ously (a) whatever is necessary for the preservation of
the individual or the continuation of the kind. Such
in the human species is the instinct of sucking exerted
immediately after birth j and such in the inferior crea¬
tion is the instinct by which insects invariably deposit
their eggs in situations most favourable for batching
and affording nourishment to their future progeny.
These operations are necessary for the preservation of
the individual and the continuation of the kind j but
neither the infant nor the insect knows that they are
necessary : they both act without having any end in
view, and act uniformly without instruction and with¬
out experience.
The actions of the inferior animals are generally
directed by instinct j those of man by reason. This at
least is the case with respect to men in a state of civi¬
lization ; in the savage state tiiey are probably little
less the slaves of instinct than the brutes themselves.
.Concerning human instincts, indeed, philosophers differ
widely in opinion 5 some maintaining that man is en¬
dowed with a greater number of instincts than any spe¬
cies of brutes} whilst others deny that in human na¬
ture theiv is any power or propensity at all which can
properly he called instinctive.
This diversity of opinion may easily be traced to its
source. There are not many original thinkers in the
World. The greater part even of those who are call¬
ed philosophers, implicitly adopt the opinions of certain
masters whose authority they deem sufficient to supply
the place of argument j and having chosen their re¬
spective guides, each maintains with zeal what his
master taught, or is supposed to have taught. When
Locke so successfully attacked the doctrine of innate
ideas and innate principles of speculative truth, he was
thought by many to have overturned at the same time
all innate principles whatever ; to have divested the
human mind of every passion, affection, and instinct ;
and to have left in it nothing but the powers of sensa¬
tion, memory, and intellect. Such, we are persuaded,
was not his intention ; nor is there any thing in his im¬
mortal work which, when interpreted with candour, ap¬
pears to have such a tendency.
[ 275 ]
INS
U our opiulou, great part of Esmt, m Human
Understanding has been very generally misunderstood. ' v 
Much of its merit, however, was soon discovered ; and
mankind, finding philosophy disencumbered of the bar¬
barous jargon of the schools, and built upon a few self-
evident principles, implicitly embraced every opinion
advanced, or which they supposed to be advanced, by
the illustrious author; especially if that opinion was
contrary to any part of the scholastic system which
had so long been employed to perplex the understand¬
ing and to veil absurdity. Hence arose many philo¬
sophers of eminence both at home and abroad ; who
maintained, as they imagined, upon the principles of
jLocke, that in the human mind there are no instincts
hut that every thing which had been usually called by
that name is resolvable into association and habit. This
doctrine was attacked by Lord Shaftesbury, who intro¬
duced into the theory of mind, as faculties derived from
nature, a sense of beauty, a sense of honour, and a sense
of ridicule ; and these he considered as the tests of
speculative truth and moral rectitude. His lordship’s
principles were in part adopted by Mr Hutchison of
Glasgow, who published a system of moral philosophy,
founded upon a sense or instinct, to which he gave the
name of the moral sense; and the undoubted merit of
bis work procured him many followers.
Men generally run from one extreme to another.
It being now discovered, or at least supposed, that the
human mind is endowed with instinctive principles of
action, a sect of philosophers soon afterwards arose
who maintained with much vehemence that it is like¬
wise endowed with instinctive principles of belief; and
who built a system of metaphysics, if such it may be
called, upon a number of innate, distinct, and inde¬
pendent senses. The rise of this sect is well known.
Berkeley and Hume had adopted Locke’s doctrine
respecting the origin of oor ideas ; and had thence de¬
duced consequences supposed to be dangerous in them-
selves, but which, it was thought, could not be denied
without refusing the principles from which they were
inferred. The foundation of the instinctive system be¬
ing thus laid, the system itself was rapidly carried to a
height far beyond what seems to have been the inten¬
tion of its excellent author; and reason was well nigh
banished from the regions of philosophy. For such a
proceeding it is not difficult to assign the cause. The
instinctive scheme requires much less labour of inves¬
tigation than the systems of Locke and the ancients •
for upon the principles of it, when carried to its ut¬
most extent, every phenomenon in human nature is
thought to be sufficiently accounted for, by supposing
M m 2 ^
(a) As nothing is of greater importance in the philosophy of mind than accurate definitions, it may not be
improper to observe, that through the whole of this article the word spontaneous is to be taken in the sense in
which it is used in the following extracts from Hales's Origin of Mankind: “ Many analogical motions in ani¬
mals, though I cannot call them voluntary, yet I see them spontaneous: I have reason to conclude, that these
are not simply mechanical.'" “ The sagacities and instincts of brutes, the spontaneousness of many of their mo¬
tions, are not explicable, without supposing some active determinate power connected to and inherent in their
spirits, of a higher extraction than the bare natural modification of matter.” If this be attended to, our defini¬
tion of instinct will be found perfectly consonant to that which has been given by the author of Ancient Meta¬
physics. “ Instinct (he says) is a determination given by Almighty Wisdom to the mind of the brute, to act in
such or such a way, upon such or such an occasion, without intelligence, without knowledge of good or ill,
and without knowing for what end or purpose he acts.”
INS [ 276 ] INS
Instinct. »t the effect of a particular instinct implanted in the
mind for that very purpose. Hence in some popular
works of philosophy we have a detail of so many distinct
internal senses, that it requires no small strength of
memory to retain their very names : besides the moral
sertse, we have the sense of beauty, the sense of deformi¬
ty, the sense of honour, the hoarding sense, and a thou¬
sand others which it is needless here to mention.
This new system, which converts the philosophy of
mind into mere history, or rather into a collection of
facts and anecdotes, though it has made a rapid pro¬
gress, is not yet universally received. It has been op¬
posed by many speculative men, and by none with
greater skill than Dr Priestley j who maintains, with
the earliest admirers of Locke, that we have from na¬
ture no innate sense of truth, nor any instinctive prin¬
ciple of action 5 that even the action of sucking in
new-born infants is to be accounted for upon principles
of mechanism •, and that the desire of the sexes is mere-
4 ly association.
Instinct Whilst men, eminent for candour as well as for sci-
*onfounded ence> have thus been disputing the limits between in-
- , -^stinct and reason in the human mind, and endeavour-
mechanism. *ng t0 ascertain the actions which result from each, two
writers of name, treating of that subject, have lately
advanced opinions, which, if admitted as just, must
render the dispute henceforth ridiculous, and put an
''end for ever to all moral enquiries. Mr Smellie, in a
work which he calls The Philosophy of Natural His¬
tory, affirms, that between instinctive and rational mo¬
tives no distinction exists, but that the reasoning facul¬
ty itself is the necessary result of instinct j and Dr
Reid, in his Essays on the Active Powers of Man, by
attributing to instinct the action of breathing, seems to
5 confound that principle with mere mechanism.
These three That reason, instinct, and mechanism, are all es-
prindples 3entja]]v different from one another, has hitherto been
distinguish- universally allowed 5 and it appears not to be a task of
ed from much difficulty to point out in what respect each of
each other, them differs from the other two. Actions performed
with a view to accomplish a certain end are called ra¬
tional actions, and the end in view is the motive to their
performance. Instinctive actions have a cause, viz. the
internal impulse by which they are spontaneously per¬
formed ; but they cannot be said, to have a motive, be¬
cause they are not done with any view to conseyueiices. j(lsl;n
Actions automatic have likewise a cause $ but that cause —y-
is not internal impulse, but mere mechanism, by which
they are performed without any spontaneity of the
agent. Thus, a man gives charity in order to relieve
a person from want ; he performs a grateful action as
a duty incumbent on him j and he fights for bis coun¬
try in order to repel its enemies. Each of these ac¬
tions is performed from a motive, and therefore they
are all rational actions. An infant is impelled to suck
the breast, but he knows not that it is necessary for his
preservation; a couple of young savages go together,
for the first time, without any view to offspring or any
determinate idea of enjoyment. These actions have no
motive, and therefore are not rational: but as they are
performed by a spontaneous exertion of the agents, they
are not to be attributed to mere mechanism ; they are
therefore instinctive actions. A man breathes without
any motive, without any spontaneous exertion of his
own, and that as well when he is asleep as when he is
awake. The action of breathing therefore is neither
rational nor instinctive, but merely automatic ox mecha¬
nical. All this seems to he very plain. To talk of the
motives of actions performed by instinct, in an argu¬
ment intended to prove that between reason and in¬
stinct there is no difference, is either to beg the ques¬
tion or to pervert language. If the author of the
Philosophy of Natural History chooses to call the im¬
pulse which prompts the infant to suck by the name of
motive, he only uses an English word improperly; if
it be his intention to affirm that such a motive is not
totally and essentially different from that which prompts
a man to give charity or to fight for his country, he
affirms what all mankind know to be false (b).
Having thus ascertained what we mean by instinct,
we shall now proceed to inquire, Whether or not there
be any instinctive principles in man ? But in order to
proceed upon sure grounds, it will be proper to consi¬
der, in the first place, such actions of the inferior ani¬
mals as are generally allowed to be instinctive : for an
attempt has lately been made to prove, that even these
actions are the offspring of reason influenced by mo¬
tives j and that instinct, as we have defined it, is a mere
imaginary principle, which has no existence either in
man or brute.
It
(b) The author of Ancient Metaphysics, whose learned work contains more good sense on this subject than
any other book which we have seen, thus distinguishes between reason and instinct: “With respect to the
mere animal, it is evident, that he pursues nothing but what is conducive either to the preservation of the ani¬
mal life or to the continuation of the kind. On the other hand, the object which the intellectual mind pursues,
is the fair and the handsome ; and its happiness consists in the contemplation of these. And though it pursue
also what is useful and profitable for the being and well-being of the animal life, yet it is for the sake, not
of the animal life itself, but of the r« er beautiful; which therefore is the ultimate object of its pursuit jn
all things.
“ Another material difference in practice betwixt the animal and intellectual mind is, that every action of
intellect proceeds from an opinion formed concerning what is good or ill, beautiful or the contrary, in the action.
When we do so, we are said to act from will, which is always determined by some opinion formed of the kind 1
have mentioned: whereas, when we act from mere appetite er inclination, without deliberation or opinion form¬
ed,. we act as the brute does always j for he has no will, but is prompted to action by natural impulse, or •pecn, as
the Greeks call it.
“ A third very material difference is, that intellect, in all its operations, proposes ends, and devises means
to accomplish these ends j whereas the instinct of the brute proceeds without consideration either of ends or
means.”
INS [ 277 ] INS
Iis ljncU It has been said that caterpillars, when shaken off a
. *i tree in every direction, instantly turn round towards
6 the trunk and climb up, though they had never for-
Instances nier]v Keen on the surface of the ground. This is a
of instinct str;k'- r j^tance of instinct. On the tree, and not up-
in amina s. ^ t}ie ground, the caterpillar finds its food. If there¬
fore it did not turn and climb up the trunk it would in¬
evitably perish ; but surely the caterpillar knows, not
that such an exertion is necessary to its preservation *,
and therefore it acts not from motives, but from blind
' impulse. The bee and the beaver are endowed with an
instinct which has the appearance of foresight. They
build magazines, and fill them with provisions ; but the
foresight is not theirs. Neither bees nor beavers know
any thing of futurity. The.solitary wasp digs holes in
the sand, in each of which she deposits an egg.
Though she certainly knows not that an animal is to
proceed from that egg, and still, less, if possible, that
this animal must be nourished with other animals, she
collects a few small green worms, which she rolls up in
a circular form, and fixes in the hole iu such a manner
that they cannot move. When the wasp-worm is
hatched/it is amply stored with the food which nature
has destined for its support. The green worms are de¬
voured in succession *, and the number deposited is ex¬
actly proportioned to the time necessary for the growth
and transformation of the wasp-worm into a fly *, when
it issues from the hole, and is capable of procuring its
own nourishment. This instinct of the parent-wasp is
the more remarkable, that she feeds not upon flesh her¬
self. Birds of the same species, unless when restrain¬
ed by peculiar circumstances, uniformly build their
nests of the same materials, and in the same form and
situation, though they inhabit very different climates •,
and the form and situation are always exactly suited to
their nature, and calculated to afford them shelter and
protection. When danger, or any other circumstance
peculiar to certain countries, renders a deviation from
the common form or situation ot nests necessary, that
deviation is made in an equal degree, and in the very
same manner, by all the birds of one species ; and it is
never found to extend beyond the limits of the country
where alone it can serve any good purpose. When re¬
moved by necessity from their eggs, birds return to
them with haste and anxiety, and shift them so as to
heat them equally ; and it is worthy of observation,
that their haste to return is always in proportion to the
cold of the climate. But do birds reason, and all of
the same species reason equally well, upon the nature
and extent of danger, and upon the means by which it
can best be avoided ? Have birds any notion of equa¬
lity, or do they know that heat is necessary for incu¬
bation ? No : in all these operations men recognise the
intentions of nature *, but they are hid from the animals
themselves, and therefore cannot operate upon them as
motives.
Of the instinct of animals we shall give one instance
more in the elegant and perspicuous language of Dr
Reid. “ Every manufacturing art among men (says
that able writer) was invented by. some man, improved
by others, and brought to perfection by time and ex¬
perience. Men learn to work in it by long practice,
which produces a habit. The arts of men vary in every
age and in every nation, and are found only in those
men who have been taught them. The manufactures
3
of animals differ from those of men in many striking instinct,
particulars. No animal of the species can claim the y—.
invention ; no animal ever introduced any new im¬
provement, or any variation from the former practice ;
every one of the species has equal skill from the be¬
ginning, without teaching, without experience, and
without habit ; every one has its art by a kind of in¬
spiration. I do not mean that it is inspired with the
principles or rules of the art, but with the ability of
working in it to perfection, without any knowledge of
its principles, rules, or end. The work of every ani¬
mal is indeed like the works of nature, perfect in its
kind, and can bear the most critical examination of the
mechanic or the mathematician ; of which a honey¬
comb is a striking instance. j
“ Bees, it is well known, construct their combs with Remark-
small cells on both sides, fit both for holding their store in-
of honey and for rearing their young. There are
only three possible figures of the cells, which can make
them all equal and similar, without any useless inter¬
stices. These are the equilateral triangle, the square,
and the regular hexagon. Of the three, the hexagon
is the most proper, both for convenience and strength.
Bees, as if they knew this, make their cells regular
hexagons. As the combs have cells on both sides, the
cells may either be exactly opposite, having partition
against partition, or the bottom of a cell may rest
upon the partitions between the cells on the other side,
which will serve as a buttress to strengthen it. The
last way is the best for strength j accordingly the bot¬
tom of each cell rests against the point where three
partitions meet on the other side, which gives it all
the strength possible. The bottom of a cell may ei¬
ther be one plane, perpendicular to the side partitions j
or it may be composed of several planes, meeting in a
solid angle in the middle point. It is only in one of
these two ways that all the cells can be similar without
losing room. And, for the same intention, the planes,
of which the bottom is composed, if there be more
than one, must be three in number, and neither more
nor fewer. It has been demonstrated, that by making
the bottoms of the cells to consist of three planes
meeting in a point, there is a saving of material and
labour no way inconsiderable. The bees, as if ac¬
quainted with these principles of solid geometry, follow
them most accurately: the bottom of each cell being
composed of three planes, which make obtuse angles
with the side partitions, and with one another, and
meet in a point in the middle of the bottom ; the three
angles of this bottom being supported by three parti¬
tions on the other side of the comb, and the point of it
by the common intersection of these three partitions.
One instance more of the mathematical skill displayed
in the structure of a honey-comb deserves to be men¬
tioned. It is a carious mathematical problem, at what
precise angle the three planes which compose the bottom
of a cell ought to meet, in order to make the greatest
possible saving of material and labour. This is one ot
those problems belonging to the higher parts of ma¬
thematics, which are called problems of maxima and
minima. The celebrated M'Laurin resolved it by a
fluxionary calculation, which is to be found in the
Transactions of the Royal Society of London, and de¬
termined precisely the angle required. Upon the
most exact mensuration which the subject could admit,
he •
INS [ 278 ] IN S
Id.tiitct, he afterwards found, that it is the very angle in which
‘ ■ the three planes in the bottom of the cell of a honey¬
comb do actually meet.
“ Shall we ask here, Who taught the bees the pro¬
perties of solids, and to resolve problems of maxima and
minimal If a honey-comb were a work of human art,
every man of common sense would conclude, without
hesitation, that he who invented the construction must
have understood the principles on which it was con¬
structed. We need not say that, bees know none of
these things. They work most geometrically without
any knowledge of geometry; somewhat like a child,
who by turning the handle of an organ makes good
music without any knowledge of music. The art is not
in the child, but in him who made the organ. In like
manner, when a bee makes its combs so geometrically,
the geometry is not in the bee, but in that great Geo¬
metrician who made the bee, and made all things in
3 number, weight, and measure.”
Which can- Wg |)aVe given a full detail of the structure of a
toundcJC°n*koney-comb, because it is an efiect of instinct which
with the cannot be confounded with the operations of reason,
aperations The author of The 'Natural History of Animals, justly
9t reason, offended with that theory which treats of instinctive mo~
lives, which represents the human mind as a bundle of
instincts, and of which the object seems to be to de- hutiMt.
grade mankind to the level of brutes, has very laudably J
exerted bis endeavours to detect its weakness, and to
expose it to contempt. But in avoiding one extreme,
he seems to have run into the other; and whilst he
maintains the rights of his own species, he almost raises
the brutes to the rank of men. “ It is better (he says)
to share our rights with others than to be entirely de¬
prived of them.” This is certainly true ; and no good
man will hesitate to prefer his theory to that of his an¬
tagonist $ but we see no necessity for adopting either 5
the phenomena may be accounted for without degrad¬
ing reason to the level of instinct, or elevating instinct
to the dignity of reason. 9
We shall readily allow to Locke (c), that some ofOn some
the inferior animals seem to have perceptions of parti-°®C®S7I1.S
cular truths, and within very narrow limits the faculty
of reason : but we see no ground to suppose that their reason ; "
natural operations are performed with a view to conse-but they
quences ; and therefore cannot persuade ourselves witbPer(orm
this historian of theirs, that these operations are the re-^j^
suit of a train of reasoning in the mind of the animal, tion^by*"
He acknowledges indeed, that their reasoning and instinct,
thinking powers are remarkably deficient when com¬
pared with those of men 5 that they cannot take so full
a
(c) “ For if they have any ideas at all, and are not mere machines, as some would have them, we cannot
deny them to have some reason. It seems as evident to me, that some of them do, in certain instances, reason,
as that they have sense ; but it is only in particular ideas, just as they received them from the senses. They
are the best of them tied up within those narrow bounds, and have not, as I think, the faculty to enlarge them
by any kind of abstraction.” Essay on Human Understanding, book ii. chap. xi.
This is in part a just observation, and serves to account for many phenomena which later writers have de¬
rived from instinct. The author of The Philosophy of Natural History had “ a cat that frequented a closet,
the door of which was fastened by a common iron latch. A window was situated near the door. When the
door was shut, the cat gave herself no uneasiness. As soon as she tired of her confinement, she mounted on
the sole of the window, and with her paw dexterously lifted the latch and came out.” This practice, which
we are told continued for years, must have been the consequence of what Locke calls reasoning in particular
ideas. It could not be the effect of instinct j for instinct is adapted only to a state of nature, in which cats
have neither latches to lift nor doors to open ; and as it is not said that the animal attempted to lift the
latches of other doors, we are not authorised to infer that this particular action was the consequence of rea¬
soning in ideas enlarged by abstraction : the cat had repeatedly seen one door opened by an exertion which
she was capable of imitating. Yet that animals have no power of enlarging their ideas, is a position, of
the truth of which, though it is advanced by Locke, we are by no means confident. It is well known that
crows feed upon several kinds of shell fish when within their reach ; and that they contrive to break the shell
by raising the fish to a great height, and letting it drop upon a stone or a rock. Tin's may perhaps be tonsidered
as pure instinct directing the animal to the proper means of acquiring its food. But what is to he thought of
the following fact, which was communicated to us by a gentleman whose veracity is unquestioned, and who,
being totally unacquainted with the theories of philosophers, has of course no favourite hypothesis to support?
In the spring of the year 1791, a pair of crows made their nest in a tree, of which there are several planted
round his garden; and in his morning-walks he had often been amused by witnessing furious combats between
them and a cat. One morning the battle raged more fiercely than usual, till at last the cat gave way and took
shelter under a hedge, as if to wrait a more favourable opportunity of retreating to the house. The crows
continued for a short time to make a threatening noise; but perceiving that on the ground they could do
nothing more than threaten, one of them lifted a stone from the middle of the garden, and perched with it on
% tree planted in the hedge, where she sat watching the motions of the enemy of her young. As the cat crept
along under the hedge, the crow accompanied her by flying from branch to branch and from tree to tree ;
and when at last puss ventured to quit her hiding-place, the crow, leaving the tree, and hovering over her iu
the air, let the stone drop from on high on her hack. That the crow on this occasion reasoned, is self-evident;
and it seems to be little less evident, that the ideas employed in her reasoning were enlarged beyond those
which she bad received from her senses. By her senses, she may have perceived, that the shell of a fish is
broken by a fall ; but could her senses inform her, that a cat would be wounded or driven off the field bv the
fall of a stone ? No : from the efiect of the one fall preserved in her memory, she must have inferred the other
by her power of reasoning. 5
I N S
Instinct* a review of the past, nor look forward with so penetra-
u—-v—ting an eye to t^16 future ’■> t'181 they do not accumu¬
late observation upon observation, or add the expe¬
rience of one generation to that of another: that their
manners do not vary nor their customs fluctuate like
ours j and that their arts always remain the same,
without degeneracy and without improvement. “ The
crow (he observes) always builds its nest in the same
way *, every hen treats her young with the same mea¬
sure of aflection ; even the dog, the horse, and the sa¬
gacious elephant, seem to act rather mechanically
than with design. From such hasty observations as
these, it has been inferred (he says), that the brutes
are directed in their actions by some mysterious in¬
fluence, which impels them to employ their powers un¬
intentionally in performing actions beneficial to them¬
selves, and suitable to their nature and circumstances.”
And are these observations indeed hasty? and is this
inference ill founded ? To us the matter appears quite
otherwise. If the arts of brutes and other animals
have always remained the same without degeneracy,
and without improvement ; and if they be at the same
time the result of reasoning, they must either be so
perfect that they cannot be improved, or so imperfect
that they cannot degenerate. That the structure of
a honey-comb is imperfect no man has ever imagined.
We have seen, that as far as we are capable of dis¬
cerning the end which it is intended to serve, it is the
most perfect structure possible : and therefore, if it be
the result of the reasoning of the bee, the author must
retract his assertion respecting the extent ot the rea¬
soning and thinking powers of inferior animals ; and
instead of saying that they are remarkably deficient
when compared with those of men, affirm that they are
infinitely more perfect. No human art has yet ar¬
rived at such perfection as that it might not be im¬
proved ; no architect has ever built a town, or con¬
structed a magazine, which he could mathematically
demonstrate to be of the very best possible form for the
end intended, and so absolutely perfect as to be inca¬
pable of improvement.
The la t ^ut t!ie same aut^or proceeds to affirm, that “ the
mentioned laws of analogical reasoning do not justify the idea
position that the brutes act, on any occasion, absolutely vvith-
coutrovert- out design.” Nay, he says, it seems more probable,
“ that the inferior animals, even in those instances in
which we cannot distinguish the motives which actuate
them, or the views with which they proceed, yet act
with design, and extend their views, if not a great
way, yet at least a certain length forward } than that
they can be upon any occasion, such as in rearing of
their young, building nests, &c. actuated merely by
feeling, or" overruled by some mysterious influence,
under which they are nothing but insensible instru¬
ments.” This last phrase is ambiguous. If by in¬
sensible instruments it be meant that the brutes are
eonsidered by the advocates for instinct as mere ma-
diines without the faculties of sensation and sponta¬
neity, the author is combating a phantom of his own
I N S
creation ; for we believe an opinion so absurd is not IiuiIkci.
now maintained by any man, (see Brute). But it
by insensible instruments be meant such instruments as
act spontaneously without being conscious of the end
to which their actions lead, he appears not only to be
egregiously mistaken in his conjecture respecting the
design of brutes, but also to have advanced an hypo¬
thesis contradictory and inconsistent. n
If it be true, that the inferior animals act with Maintein-
design, even in those instances in which we cannot di-c^h^l,:',1
stinguish their motives, their views may indeed extend
hut a little way when compared with infinity : but cer¬
tainly they extend farther than ours ; for there is no
useful work of man constructed with such skill, hut
that, after it is finished, another man of equal educa¬
tion will be able to distinguish the general design of
the artist. But if the inferior animals, on all occa¬
sions, act with design, we should be glad to know the
design of the bees in forming the cells of their combs
in the manner which we have so largely described. Do
these little animals indeed know that a comb, consisting
on both sides of hexagonal cells, with the bottom of
each composed of several planes meeting in a certain so¬
lid angle, and so formed as that the bottom of a cell
on the one side shall rest upon the partitions between
the cells on the other side, is in all respects the most
proper both for holding their stores of honey and for
rearing their young ? And do they likewise know, that
its excellence arises from the precise figure and position
of the cells, by which there is a very considerable saving
of labour and materials, whilst the comb at the same
time has the greatest possible strength, and the greatest
possible capaciousness ? If they know all this, and act
with a view to these ends, it must indeed be confessed
that bees are rational creatures, and that their thinking
and reasoning powers far surpass those of men \ for
they have from the earliest ages made discoveries in the
higher mathematics, which there is reason to believe
were altogether unknown to the human race till the be¬
ginning of the present century, and which at this mo¬
ment are beyond the comprehension of nine-tenths of
mankind in the most enlightened nation on earth. If
this be a conclusion too absurd to be admitted, there
is no other alternative but either to suppose that by this
artificial structure of their cells the bees have some other
end in view, which we cannot distinguish ; or to ac¬
knowledge that they are overruled by some myste¬
rious influence, under which they are nothing but
spontaneous agents, unconscious of the end to which
their operations tend. Which of these conclusions is
the most rational, we will not offer such an insult to
the understanding of our readers, as to suppose the
meanest of them capable of entertaining a doubt. That
a honey-comb is constructed with design, we must rea¬
dily admit j but the design is not in the bees, but in
the Creator of the bees, who directs their operations to
their own good, by what the author with great pro¬
priety terms a mysterious influence (d). i2
But he thinks it an unanswerable argumeut in sup-an objec-
porttio* t<J it*
[ 279 1
(d) Though this way of acting is undoubtedly mysterious, “ yet it should not appear extraordinary even
to a man who is not a philosopher, as we see examples of it daily in our own species : For a man under the di¬
rection of another of superior understanding, will use means to accomplish an end, without having any idea of
either y
INS [ 280 ] INS
Instfuct. port of his theory, that in the performance of those
t.-—v- actions, in which animals are said to be guided by un¬
erring instinct, different individuals display different
modes of conduct j and in his opinion, to talk of in¬
stinctive principles which admit of improvement, and
accommodate themselves to circumstances, is merely to
introduce new terms into the language of philosophy ;
for he affirms, that no such improvement or accommo¬
dation to circumstances can ever take place without
a comparison of ideas and a deduction of inferences.
It is probable that the author here alludes to those
animals which, in their most important operations, are
known to act differently in different countries. Thus
the ostrich in Senegal, where the heat is excessive, ne¬
glects her eggs during the day, but sits upon them in
the night. At the Cape of Good Hope, however,
where the degree of heat is less, the ostrich, like other
birds, sits upon her eggs both day and night. In
countries infested with monkeys, many birds, which in
other climates build in bushes and clefts of trees, sus¬
pend their nests upon slender twigs, and thus elude the
rapacity of their enemies.
obviated. It may be thought, that a determination of the mind
of the brute to act so variously upon different occasions,
can hardly be conceived without judgment or intelli¬
gence. But before our author had so confidently af¬
firmed that such accommodation to circumstances can
never take place without a comparison of ideas and a
deduction of inferences, he would have done well to
consider how nature acts in other organized bodies, such
as the vegetable. We see that a vegetable, reared in
the corner of a dark cellar, will bend itself towards the
light which comes in at the window 5 and if it be
made to grow in a flower-pot, with its head down¬
wards, it will turn itself into the natural position of a
plant. Can it be supposed, that the plant, in either
case, does what it does from any judgment or opinion
that it is best, and not from a necessary determination
of its nature ? But, further, to take the case of bodies
unorganized, how shall we account for the phenomena
which chemistry exhibits to us ? When one body
unites with another, and then, upon a third being pre¬
sented to it, quits the first, and unites itself with it,
shall we suppose that this preference proceeds from any
predilection or opinion that it is better to cleave to the
one than to the other, from any comparison of ideas
or deduction of inferences ? Or shall we not rather say,
that it proceeds from an original law of nature impres¬
sed upon it by that Being who mediately or immedi¬
ately directs every motion of every the minutest atom
in the universe ? And if so, why may not instinct be an
original determination of the mind of the animal, of
which it is part of the nature or essence to accommo¬
date itself to certain circumstances, on which depends
the preservation of the individual, or the continuation
of the kind ? Indeed it cannot be otherwise, if we have
defined instinct properly j for no man ever supposed,
that when animals work instinctively, they act for no
purpose. It is only affirmed that the purpose is not
known to them. It is known, however, to the Author
of instinct; who knows likewise that the same purpose i„sljivct
must in different climates be promoted by different
means, and who accordingly determines the operations
of animals of the same species to be different under dif¬
ferent circumstances.
But though we cannot agree with this author when Instinct in.
he affirms that no accommodation to circumstances cancaPa,)|e °t
ever take place without a comparison of ideas, we rea-,niProve-
dily admit that no faculty which is capable of improve-ment'
ment by observation and experience can in propriety
of speech be termed instinct. Instinct being a positive
determination given to the minds of animals by the
Author of nature for certain purposes, must necessarily
be perfect when viewed in connection with those pur¬
poses : and therefore to talk, as Mr Smellie does, of
the improvement of instinct, is to perplex the under¬
standing by a perversion of language. There is not.
however, a doubt, but that reason may copy the works
of instinct, and so far alter or improve them as to ren¬
der them subservient to other purposes than those for
which they were originally and instinctively performed.
It was thus in all probability that man at first learned
many of the most useful arts of life.
“ Thy arts of building from the bee receive ;
“ Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave ;
“ Learn of the little nautilus to sail,
“ Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.”
But the arts thus adopted by men are no longer the
works of instinct, but the operations of reason influ¬
enced by motives. This is so obviously and undeniablv
true, that it has compelled the author last mentioned to
confess, in that very section which treats of instincts
improveable by experience, that “ what men or brutes
learn by experience, though this experience be founded
on instinct, cannot with propriety be called instinctive
knowledge, but knowledge derived from experience and
observation. Instinct (he says) should be limited to
such actions as every individual of a species exerts with¬
out the aid either of experience or imitation.” This
is a very just distinction between instinct and experi¬
ence ; but how to reconcile it with the fundamental
principle of the author’s theory we know not. It would
certainly be a very arduous task ; but it is a task from
which we are happily relieved, as his theory and ours
have little resemblance. y „
Having thus proved, we hope to the satisfaction of The ques-
our readers, that there is such a principle as instinct in t'0". Whe-
the inferior animals, and that it is essentially different l^tr tiiere
from human reason ; let us return to our own species, Eastons°u*
and inquire whether there be any occasions upon which o^vdiich^
man acts instinctively, and what these occasions are. man acts
This is a question of some difficulty, to which a com-
plete and satisfactory answer will perhaps never be gi-ly , <
ven, and to which we have not the vanity to think' C ’
that such an answer will be given by us. The prin¬
ciple of association (to be explained afterwards under
the article METAPHYSICS) operates so powerfully in
rnan, and at so early a period of life, that in many
cases it seems to be impossible to distinguish the effects
of
either ; and indeed, in my opinion, by far the greater part of mankind are destined by God and nature to be
governed in that way.” Ancient Metaphysics, rol. iii. p. 352,
INS [ 281 ] INS
IiufcJnet. of habit from the operations of nature. Yet there
u—J are a few cases immediately connected with the preser¬
vation of the individual and the propagation of the
kind, in which by a little attention these things may
be distinguished. We have already given an instance
in the sucking of a child, which we believe to be an
operation performed by instinct. Dr Priestley, how¬
ever, thinks differently. “ The action of sucking
(says he), I am confident, from my own observations,
is not natural, but acquired.” What observations they
were which led him to this conclusion he has not told
ns, and we cannot imagine ; but every observation
. which we ourselves have made, compels us to believe
that an attempt to suck is natural to children. It has
been observed by the author of the Philosophy of Na¬
tural History, that the instinct of sucking is not excited
by any smell peculiar to the mother, to milk, or to
any other substance j for that infants suck indiscrimi¬
nately every thing brought into contact with their
mouths. He therefore infers, that the desire of suck¬
ing is innate, and coeval with the appetite for air. The
observation is certainly just: but a disciple of Dr
Priestley’s may object to the inference j for “ in sucking
and swallowing our food, and in many such instances,
it is exceedingly probable (says the doctor), that the
actions of the muscles are originally automatic, having
been so placed by our Maker, that at first they are sti¬
mulated and contract mechanically whenever their ac¬
tion is requisite.” This is certainly the case with re¬
spect to the motion of the muscles in the action of
breathing; and if that action be of the same kind and
proceed from the very same cause with the action of
sucking, and if a child never show a desire to suck but
when something is brought into contact with its mouth,
Dr Priestley’s account of this operation appears to u&
much more satisfactory than that of the authors who
attribute it to instinct.
But the actions of breathing and sucking seem to
differ essentially in several particulars. They are in¬
deed both performed by means of air 5 but in the form-
actioas un- er^ a for many months exerts no spontaneous
effort, whilst a spontaneous effort seems to be absolute¬
ly necessary for the performance of the latter. Of this
indeed we could not be certain, were it true that infants
never exhibit symptoms of a wish to suck but when
something is exactly in contact with their mouths ;
for the mere act of sucking then might well be sup¬
posed to be automatic and the effect of irritation : But
this is not the case. A healthy and vigorous infant,
within ten minutes of its birth, gives the plainest and
most unequivocal evidence of a desire to suck, before
any thing be brought into actual contact with its
mouth. It stretches out its neck, and turns its head
from side to side apparently in quest of something : and
that the object of its pursuit is something which it may
suck, every man may satisfy himself by a very convincing
experiment. When an infant is thus stretching out
its neck and moving its head, if any thing be made to
touch any part of its face, the little creature will in¬
stantly turn to the object, and endeavour by quick
alternate motions from side to side to seize it with its
mouth, in the very same manner in which it always
seiz.es the breast of its nurse, till taught by experience
to distinguish objects by the sense of sight, when these
alternate motions, being no longer useful, are no longer
Vol. XI. Part I. +
£*>Uiices
of banian
iuubtedly
instinctive
employed. If this be not an instance of pure instinct,
we know not what it is. It cannot he the result of
association or mechanism j for when the stretching of
the neck takes place, nothing is in contact with the
child’s mouth, and no association which includes the
act of sucking can have been formed. Associations of
ideas are the consequences of simultaneous impressions
frequently repeated4, but when the child first declares,
as plainly as it could do were it possessed of language,
its wish to suck, it has not received a single impression
with which that wish can possibly be associated.
W ere Dr Priestley to weigh these facts, of the truth
of which we are certain, we doubt not that his well-
known candour would make him retract the assertion,
that ail the actions which Dr Reid and others refer to
instinct, are either automatic or acquired. The greater
part of those actions, as well "as of the apparently in¬
stinctive principles of belief, we have no doubt are
acquired : but we are persuaded that a child sucks its
nurse as a bee builds its cell, by instinct *, for upon no
other hypothesis can we account for the spontaneous
efforts exerted in both these operations : and we think
it no disgrace to our species, that in some few cases we
should act from the same principle with the inferior
creation, as nothing seems more true than that,
Instinct.
 - Reason raise o’er instinct as we can $
In this ’tis God that works, in that ’tis man.
We have said, that, in the savage state, the sexes go
together for the first time by instinct, without any
view to offspring, and perhaps with no determinate idea
of enjoyment. This opinion, we believe, has been
generally maintained $ but it is controverted by Dr
Hartley. “ Here (says he) we are to observe, first,
that when a general pleasurable state is introduced,
either by direct impressions or by associated influences,
the organs of generation must sympathize with this
general state, for the same reasons as the other parts
do. They must therefore be affected with vibrations
in their nerves, which rise above indifference, into the
limits of pleasure, from jouth, health, grateful ali¬
ment, the pleasures of imagination, ambition, and sym¬
pathy, or any other cause which diffuses grateful vi¬
brations over the whole system.—Secondly, as these
organs are endued with a greater degree of sensibility
than the other parts, from their make, and the peculiar
structure and disposition of the nerves, whatever these
be, we may expect that they should be more affected by
those general pleasurable states of the nervous system
than the other parts.—Thirdly, the distension of the
cells of the vesiculce seminales and of the sinuses of the
uterus, which take place about the time of puberty,
must make these organs more particularly irritable
then.” His fourth observation respects a state widely
different from that of nature, and therefore is nothing
to the purpose : but his fifth is, that “ the particular
shame which regards the organs of generation, may,
when considered as an associated circumstance, like
other pains, be so far diminished as to fall within the
limits of pleasure, and add considerably to the sum
total.”
To this excellent and able writer we may allow the
truth of these observations (though some of them
might certainly be controverted) 5 and yet deny his
conclusion, that “ they are sufficient to account for the
N n general
Instsfiet.
INS [2
general desires which are observable in young persons,
and that those desires are of a factitious nature.” For
supposing every thing which he mentions to take place
by mere mechanism and association $ that the organs
of generation are irritated, and certain cells and sinuses
distended ; the only inference which can be fairly drawn
from such premises is, that at the age of puberty young
men and women must from these causes experience cer¬
tain feelings and wants which they knew not before 5
but surely mechanism and association cannot teach them
the use of the organs of generation, or point out the
only means by which their new feelings can be grati-
Sed : and therefore, as we see these means invariably
pursued by all animals rational and irrational, without
experience and without instruction, we must refer the
mutual desire of the sexes to a higher principle than
mere mechanism and association ; and that principle
can be nothing but instinct.
Besides these, we think the action of eating may
be attributed to instinct. It is certainly performed by
a spontaneous exertion of the proper organs ; and that
exertion is first made at a time of life when we have no
conception of the end which it serves to accomplish,
and therefore cannot be influenced by motives. It
must indeed be confessed, that the first act of chewing
is performed by a child, not for the purpose of mastica¬
ting food, but to quicken the operation of nature in the
cutting of teeth : and perhaps it may be said, that the
pleasing sensation of taste, which is then first experi¬
enced, and afterwards remembered, prompts the child
to continue at intervals the exertion of chewing after
all his teeth are cut; so that though the act of eating
is not performed with a view to the mastication of food
or the nourishment of the body, it may yet be perform¬
ed, not from any instinctive impulse, but merely from
an early and deep-rooted association. But in answer to
this it is sufficient to ask, Who taught the infant that
the act of chewing will quicken the operation of nature
in the cutting of teeth ? Not reason, surely, nor expe¬
rience ; for an infant knows nothing of teeth or the
manner in which they grow: and if it he granted,
that for this purpose it was originally impelled by some
internal and mysterious influence to perform the action
of chewing, we are not inclined to deny that the opera¬
tion may be continued for other purposes by means of
association.
In human works, though laboured on with pain,
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain 5
In God’s, one single can its end produce,
Yet serves to second too some other use.
This is sound philosophy confirmed by observation and
daily experience : but though in the works of God, one
principle produces many consequences, and though
perhaps there is not a1 principle which falls under our
cognizance more fruitful than that of association, yet
if it be not sufficient to account for the first act of
cherving, we cannot refer to it alone as to the source
of that operation. Should it be said, that the gums of
an infant are at the period of cutting teeth so irritable,
that the moment any thing is applied to them the jaws
perform a motion merely automatic, which we mistake
for the spontaneous efi’ect of instinct j still we would
ask, What prompts the child to apply every thing to its
mouth ? Does the irritation of the gums contract the
2
82 ] INS
muscles of the arm ? By a bigot for mechanism this i1)stinct.
might be said, were it true that the arm of an infant, —-y—w
like a piece of clock-work, is always so regularly moved
as to bring its hand directly into contact with its gums ;
but this is far from being the case; an infant makes
many unsuccessful efforts to reach its mouth, and does
not accomplish its purpose till after repeated trials.
Perhaps it may be alleged (for when men adopt a fa¬
vourite hypothesis they will allege any thing in its sup¬
port), that infants are taught to carry things to their
mouths by the pleasing sensation received from the ap¬
plication of their nurses breasts, and continue the prac¬
tice from habit and association. But it is certain that
they do not begin this practice till teeth are forming
in their gums; and then they use such things as they
themselves carry to their mouths very differently from
the breasts of their nurse : they constantly chew and bite
their rattles, though they very seldom bite their nurses.
As this practice cannot be begun from a principle of
association, so it appears to us that it cannot be con¬
tinued upon such a principle. Were the sensation ex¬
perienced by an infant when chewing a hard substance
a pleasing sensation, the remembrance of the pleasure
might as a motive prompt it to repeat the operation :
but it is obvious, that by pressing a gum, through
which a tooth is making its way, against any thing
hard, the infant must experience a painful sensation ;
and therefore the influence which impels it to continue
this operation, must be something more powerful than
pleasure or pain. 17
These three actions, then, by which infants suck, by There may
which they chew their food, and by which mankind
are propagated, have undeniably their origin in in-stincljTe
stinct. There may be many other human actions which it ii
which derive their origin from the same source •, but impossible
in a state of civil society it is very difficult, if notto^*sl‘n“
impossible, to distinguish them from the effects of ear^ythe eft'ecu
t _ of habit.
Such, however, is the present impatience of that la¬
bour without which effects cannot be traced to their
causes, that every phenomenon in human nature, which
to former philosophers would have occasioned difficul¬
ty, is now thought to be sufficiently accounted for by
referring it to some instinct as its particular cause 5 and
he who can provide himself with a sufficient number
of these instincts, lor the reality of which he offers no
proof, seats himself in the philosopher’s chair, and
dreams that he is dictating a system of science, whilst ^
he is only retailing a collection of anecdotes. A phi-Action* er-
losopher of this school has lately tarried the doctrineroneovis.lv
of instinctive principles so far, as to attribute the su-attrj*,utt’1*
periority of man over the other animals, chiefly to thein!linct’
great number of instincts with which his mind is en¬
dowed ; and among these he reckons (not, we believe, as
characteristic of our species in contradistinction to other
animals, but as part of the instinctive bundle in the large¬
ness of which our superiority consists) “ the voiding of
urine excrement, sneezing, retraction of the muscles
upon the application of any painful stimulus, the moving
of the eyelids and other parts of the body.” These (he
says) are effects of original instincts, and essential to the
existence of young animals. With this writer instinct
is sometimes represented as looking into futurity, and
acting upon motives which have hitherto been consider¬
ed as the province of reason and the characteristic of
INS [ 283 ] I N S
In-iimt man : here the same instinct is confounded with ir-
—-v——' ritation and mechanism ; and ii this mode of philoso¬
phising continue in fashion, we shall not be surprised
to find men, beasts, birds, and vegetables, considered by
some other writer as nothing more than different species
of the same genus of beings, that are all actuated by the
great and universal principle of instinct. If suet zing and
the retraction of the muscles upon the application of any
painful stimulus be actions of instinct, there cannot be a
doubt, upon the received principles of philosophy, but
that the contraction of the leaves of the sensitive plant
upon the application of any stimulus proceeds likewise
from instinct: nay, a piece of leather must be endowed
with instinct; for it too retracts upon the application of
the painful stimulus of fire. All these are evidently
similar effects produced by the same or similar causes j
for in the operations of sneezing and retracting the
muscles upon any painful application, there is not the
least spontaneous exertion on our part, no co-operation
of mind more than in the contraction of the leather
and the plant. With respect to the voiding of urine
and excrement, it is obvious, that at first these opera¬
tions are performed without any effort of spontaneity j
and that a voluntary power over the muscles which
are subservient to them is very gradually acquired.
Urine and excrement irritate the bladder and guts,
which are supplied with branches of the same nerves
that supply the abdominal muscles. But it is well
known that the irritation of one branch of a nerve
brings on a contraction of the muscles which are sup¬
plied by the other branches. Urine and excrement
therefore are evidently expelled by the mechanical
contractions of the organs of excretion j and to attri¬
bute these evacuations to instinct, is equally absurd as to
say, that water or any other soft substance pent up in a
vessel, and pressed equally on all sides, maxes its escape
by instinct through the easiest passage. It is difficult
to guess what the author means by the instinctive
motion of the eyelids and other parts of the body.
There is a motion of the eyelids which is voluntary,
and another which is involuntary. I he former pro¬
ceeds from some motive, to exclude too great a glare
of fight, or to guard the eye against a foreseen mis¬
chief, and is therefore the result of reason as distin¬
guished from instinct: the latter is obviously the effect
of association, which took place in early infancy and
produced a habit. Infants for several days after birth
do not wink with their eyes upon the approach of one’s
hand or any other substance j but after having experi¬
enced pain from too much light or any other tiling
which hurts the eye, and that pain having at first pro¬
duced an automatic motion of the eyelids, the motion
conies in time to be so closely associated with its cause,
that the very appearance of the latter produces the
former. In all this there is no instinct, nor any thing
which resembles instinct; in the one case, the motion
of the eyelids is in the strictest sense voluntary and ra¬
tional ; and in the other, it is either automatic or the
effect of habit.
“ The love of light (says the same writer) is exhi¬
bited by infants at a very early period. I have re¬
marked evident symptoms of this attachment on the
third day after birth. When children are farther
advanced, marks of the various passions generally
appear. The passion of fear is discoverable at the
age of two months. It is called forth by approach- instinct,
ing the hand to the child’s eye, and by any sudden -y—«
motion or unusual noise.” It has likewise been said,
that “ an infant may he put into a fright by an angry
countenance, and soothed again by smiles and blan¬
dishments;” and “ that all these are cases of pure in¬
stinct.” In reply to which, we scruple not to as¬
sert with Ur Priesley, that an infant (unless by an
infant be meant a child who has a good deal of experi¬
ence, and of course has made many observations on
the connections of things) “ is absolutely incapable of
terror. I am positive (says he), that no child ever
showed the least symptom of fear or apprehension
till he had actually received hurts and had felt pain;
and that children have no fear of any particular per¬
son or thing, but in consequence of some connection
between that person or thing and the pain they have
felt. If any instinct of this kind were more neces¬
sary than another, it would be the dread of fire. But
every body must have observed, that infants show no
sign of any such thing; for they will as readily put
their finger to the flame of a candle as to any thing
else, till they have been burned. But after some pain¬
ful experience of this kind, their dread of fire, though
undeniably the effect of association, becomes as quick
and as effectual in its operations as if it were an original
instinctive principle.” We moreover do not hesitate to
say, with the same great philosopher, that if it were
possible always to beat and terrify a child with a
placid countenance, so as never to assume that ap¬
pearance but in those circumstances, and always to
soothe him with what we call an angry countenance,
this connection of ideas would be reversed, and we
should see the child frightened with a smile and de¬
lighted with a frown. In fact, there is no more
reason to believe that a child is naturally afraid of
a frown, than that he is afraid of being in the dark;
and of this children certainly discover no sign, till
they have either found something disagreeable to them
in the dark, or have been told that there is something
dreadful in it.
The truth of these observations is so obvious, that we
doubt not but they will carry conviction to the mind of
every reader. For though it should be granted, that
so early as on the third day after birth children exhibit
symptoms of uneasiness upon the sudden exclusion of
light, it would by no means follow that the love of light
is in them instinctive. Light operates upon the eye by
contact, and communicates to the infant a sensation of
touch. If that sensation be pleasant, the child must ne¬
cessarily feel some degree of uneasiness upon its removal,
just as a full grown man must feel uneasy upon being
deprived of any positive pleasure. But is sensation, or
'pleasure, or the removal of pleasure, pure instinct ? No,
surely.
Thus difficult is it to say in many cases what actions
have their origin in instinct, and what are merely the
effects of early association. But we think it may be
safely affirmed, that no action, whether of man or brute,
which is deliberately performed with a view to conse¬
quences, can with any propriety be said to proceed from
instinct; for such actions are the effect of reason influ¬
enced by motives. Ueliberation and instinct are obvi¬
ously incompatible. To say with the author of the Phi¬
losophy of Natural History, “ that, when we are stimu-
N n 3 lated
INS [ 284 T INS
Instiar*. lated hy a particular instinct, instead of instantly obey-
<-■.i—y-.i „r Jnjj t|ie impulse, another instinct arises in opposition,
creates hesitation, and often totally extinguishes the ori¬
ginal motive to action,” is either to affirm what is ap¬
parently not true, or it is a gross perversion of language.
Motives opposed to each other may create hesitation,
and a powerful motive may counterbalance a feeble in¬
stinct ; but of two or more instincts operating at the
same time, and opposing each other, we have no con¬
ception. Instinct, if we choose to speak a language
that is intelligible, means a certain impulse under the
direction of Supreme Wisdom j and it is very little pro¬
bable that such wisdom should give opposite impulses at
the same instant. In the natural works of animals, which
are confessedly under the influence of instinct, we per¬
ceive no symptoms of deliberation ; but every one, when
not interrupted by external violence, proceeds without
hesitation in the direct road, to an end of which the
animal itself knows nothing. The same would be the
case with man were he under the guidance of instinct:
and it is vain to say that the instinct of fear is daily
counteracted by ambition and resentment, till it be pro¬
ved that /ear, ambition, and resentment, are really in¬
stincts. Of this, however, the author seems to have no
doubt. Indeed his work is so liberally stored with those
principles, so useful to every man who wishes to acquire
the name of a philosopher without the labour of investi¬
gation, that not only fear, aiiibition, and resentment,
but even superstition, devotion, respect for eminent cha¬
racters, avarice, hope, envy, benevolence, and sympathy,
are all, in his opinion, instincts simple or modified.
The origin of fear we have already seen when examin¬
ing the instincts said to exhibit themselves in early in¬
fancy : let us try if we cannot trace some other indivi¬
duals of this numerous family to the same source of
early associations.
Source of ^ie case t^en seems 1° as follows. We first per-
tiii* error, eeive or suppose some real good, i. e. some fitness to
promote our happiness, in those things which we love
or desire. Hence we annex to those things the idea
of pleasure ; with which they come, in time, to be so
closely associated in our minds, that they cannot ever af¬
ter present themselves without bringing that idea along
with them. This association likewise often remains even
after that which first gave rise to it is quite forgotten,
or perhaps does not exist. An instance or two will make
this very clear. No man can be borne a lover of mo¬
ney ; for in a state of nature money exists not: no man
therefore can be born with our author’s instinct of ava¬
rice, directed in the manner which the most common
acceptation of that word denotes. Yet how many men
are there in the world, who have as strong a desire for
money as if that desire were innate and instinctive \ who
account so much money so much happiness j and who
make the mere possession of gold and silver, without
any thought or design of using them, the ultimate end of
all their actions? This is not because the love of money
is born with them, for that is impossible j but because
they first perceive a great many advantages from the
possession of money, whence they conceive a pleasure in
having it. Hence they desire it, endeavour to obtain it,
and feel an actual pleasure in obtaining and possessing
it. Then, by dropping the intermediate steps between
money and happiness, they join money and happiness
Immediately together, and content themselves with the
5
fantastic pleasure of having it j making that which was Jnti'nth
at first pursued only as means, be to them an ultimate
end, in which consists their happiness or misery. The
same might be observed concerning the thirst after
knowledge, fame, ambition, and most of the various
pursuits of life. These are at first entered upon with
a view to some farther end, but at length become habi¬
tual exercises *, with which the idea of pleasure is so
closely associated, that we continue the pursuit after
the reason from which it was at first begun has entire¬
ly vanished from our jninds. Hence also we may ac¬
count for another of our author’s modified instincts, the
almost diabolical feeling of envy. Mr Locke observes,
that there are some men entirely unacquainted with this
passion. His observation we believe to be a just one j
for most men that are used to reflection, remember the
time when they were first under its influence ; and
though they did not, it is a thing very little likely that
the beneficent Author of nature should have implanted
in the human mind even the seeds of an instinct, which,
in the emphatic language of The Rambler, “ is mers
unmixed and genuine evil.” Envy is that pain which
arises in the mind upon observing the success or pros¬
perity of others j not however of all others indefinitely,
but only of those with whom, upon some account or
other, the envious person has once had a rivalship.
But of such a feeling the origin is obvious j for when
two or more persons are competitors for the same
thing, the success of the one necessarily tends to the
detriment of the other : lienee the success of the one
rival is in the mind of the other closely associated with
pain or misery ; and this association remaining after
the rivalship which occasioned it has ceased, the person
in whose mind envy is thus generated, always feels pain
at the success of his rival even in affairs which have no
relation to the original competition. Thus it is, that
we are apt to envy those persons who refuse to be
guided by our judgments, or persuaded by our argu¬
ments : For this is nothing else than a rivalship about
the superiority of judgment j and we take a secret pride,
both to let the world see, and in imagining ourselves,
that in perspicuity and strength of judgment we have
no superior.
Though the principle of association will be mors
fully explained in another place, there is one obsei-
vation which must not be omitted here ; it is, that we
do not always, nor perhaps for the most part, make
these associations ourselves, but learn them from others
in very early life. We annex happiness or misery to
certain things or actions, because we see it done by our
parents or companions ; and acquire principles of ac¬
tion by imitating those whom we esteem, or by being
told, by those in whom we have been taught to place
confidence, that such conduct will promote our happi¬
ness, and that the reverse will involve us in misery.
Hence the son too often inherits both the vices and the
virtues of his father as well as his estate j hence national
virtues and vices, dispositions and opinions j and hence
too it is, that habits formed before the period of distinct
remembrance are so generally mistaken for natural in- ^
stincts. Mcn t,tr“
From the whole then of this investigation, we think
ourselves warranted to conclude, that there is an essen-jtinctir#,
tial difference between mechanism and instinct, and be-and auto-
tween both and reason j that mankind perform act ions n*Rl,« ilC~
by
Tn>t}net,
piuitutcs.
INS [ 285 ]
by each of these principles, ami that those actions
ought to be carefully distinguished, and though the hu¬
man mind is unquestionably endowed with a few in¬
stincts necessary to the preservation of the individual
and the propagation of the race, that by far the great¬
er part of those actions which are commonly said to pro-
„ t ceed from instinct are merely the eftects of early habits,
i'hc danger We are likewise of opinion, that the present fashionable
»i refer- mode of referring almost every phenomenon in human
dng every na^ure a particular instinct as its ultimate cause, is
ihenonie- juirtfaj to science as tending to check all further in-
nan naturequiry j and dangerous in morals, as making people un¬
to a parti- plicitly follow, as the dictates of nature and nature's
tularin- God, absurd^ superstitious, or impious customs of
jitmct as Jts£jiejr respective countries.
Laase? 0 INSTITUTES, in literary history, a book contain¬
ing the elements of the Roman law.
The Institutes are divided into four books ; and con¬
tain an abridgement of the whole body of the civil law,
being designed for the use of students. See Law
Index.
Institute, in Scots Law. When by disposition
or deed of entail a number of persons are called to
the succession of an estate one after another, the per¬
son first named is called the institute, the others sub¬
stitutes.
National Institute of France, was founded by a de¬
cree of the new constitution, and opened on the 7th of
December 1795* The abolition of royalty naturally
suggested to the new rulers of France, that it would
likewise be proper to abolish every thing which had the
remotest conpexion with it. Condorcet therefore pro¬
posed that the seven old academies, such as those of sci¬
ences, of inscriptions, &c^ which had the term royal
prefixed to the whole of them, should give way to the
establishment of one new academy of arts and sciences,
under the title of the National Institute.
The academy, or institute, is to consist of 288 mem¬
bers, the half of whom are to have their residence in
Paris, and the rest in the difi’erent departments, with
24 foreign members.
This academy is divided into three classes 5 these are
divided each into three sections, and each of these
again is to consist of 1 2 members.
Tliejfirsf class consists of 10 sections, which are to
preside over mathematics, mechanical arts, astronomy,
experimental philosophy, chemistry, natural history,
botany, anatomy and animal history, medicine and sur¬
gery, animal economy, and the veterinary science.
The second class has morality and politics for its de¬
partment, and consists of six sections, viz. analysis of
sensations and ideas, morals, legislature, political eco¬
nomy, history, and geography.
The third class presides over literature and the fine
arts, consisting of eight sections, viz. universal grammar,
ancient languages, poetry, antiquities, painting, sculp¬
ture, architecture, and music.—Several volumes of me¬
moirs have been published by each of the classes.
The hall in which the whole classes hold their meet¬
ings four times a-year, forms part of the west wing of
the old Louvre, which was erected about the year
1528. It measures 144 feet by 40, and is capable of
accommodating upwards of 1000 persons.
The schools of national instruction may be consider¬
ed as forming a part of the same institution. These are,
I N S'
1, The primary schools, one of which is established in insiitwte
every district, where children are taught the arts of
reading and writing, the elements of French grammar,
of arithmetic and geometry, &c. 2. The central
schools, situated in the capital of every department, and
one is allowed for every 300,000 inhabitants. 3. I he
schools of health, which are three in number, where
medicine and surgery are studied. 4. Two schools for
oriental languages. 5. The polytechnic school in Paris
for the direction of public works, an establishment
which is generally admired. 6. The national institute,
of which we have already given some account.
The Institute was new modelled by Bonaparte in
1806, and again on the return of the Bourbons. By
a decree of 2ist March 1816, it was ordered that the
Institute should be composed of four academies, viz.
the French academy, the Royal Academy of Inscrip¬
tions and Belles Lettres, the Royal Academy of Sciences,
and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Some alterations
were at the same time made in the number of members*
and in other particulars.
By means of a permanent committee of instruction,
under the authority of government, many improvements
of a literary and scientific nature have been made, such
as the National Bibliography, or complete catalogue of
books of all descriptions ; the annihilation of all dia¬
lects, which were incredibly numerous in France *, the
establishment of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers;
of the hoard of longitude, the general school ot the
oriental languages, the national museum ol antiquities,
the new-modelling of the grand national library, the
augmentation of the museum of natural history, the
ecole des mines, and the society of natural history.
INSTITUTION, in general, signifies the establish^
ing or founding something.—In the canon and common-
law, it signifies the investing a clerk with the spiritua¬
lities of a rectory, &c. which is done by the bishop,
who uses the following formula : “ I institute you rec¬
tor of such a church with the cure of souls, and receive
your care and mine.”
Institutions, in literary matters, denote a system
of the elements or rules of any art or science.
Thus physical or medical institutions are such as
teach the necessary proecognita to the practice ot me¬
dicine, or the cure of diseases.
INSTRUMENT, in general, whatever is subservi¬
ent to a cause in producing any effect.
Mathematical,Philosophical, &c. Instruments. See
Astronomy, Electricity, Geometry, Levelling,
Mechanics, Optics, Pneumatics, &c. &c.
Instrument, is also used in law, to signify some
public act, or authentic deed, by means wbereot any
truth is made apparent, or any right or title establish¬
ed, in a court of justice.
Notorial Instrument, in Scots Law, any fact cer¬
tified in writing, under the hand of a notary-public.
INSUBRIUM ACER, in Ancient Geography, a dis¬
trict of the Transpadana j situated between the Ticinus
to the west, the Addua to the east, the Padus to the
south, and the Orobii to the north. The people called
Insubres by Livy, Insubri by Ptolemy, and Isombres
by Strabo. Now the duchy of Milan.
INSULAR, any thing belonging to an island.—
Insular situations are productive of many happy conse¬
quences to the inhabitants, both with respect to the cli-
mate,
INS [ 286 1 INS
insular mate, security, and convenience for commerce ; for a
particular account of which, see Island and Coast.
Insurance. INSULATED, in Architecture, an appellation gi-
' v ven to such columns as stand alone, or free from any
contiguous wall, like an island in the sea; whence the
name.
Insulated, in electrical experiments. When any
body is prevented from communicating with the earth
by the interposition of an electric body, it is said to be
insulated. See Electricity Index.
INSURANCE, in Law and Commerce, a contract,
whereby one party engages to pay the losses which the
other may sustain, for a stipulated premium or conside¬
ration. The most common sorts are, insurance against
the dangers of the sea», insurance against fire, insurance
of debts, and insurance of lives.
According to Beckmann, the oldest laws and regu¬
lations respecting insurance, are the following.
On the 28th of January 1523, five persons who had
received an appointment for that purpose, drew up
some articles at Florence, which continue to be em¬
ployed on the exchange at Leghorn. These interesting
regulations, and the prescribed form of policies, which
are deemed the oldest, were inserted by Magens, in his
treatise on insurance, published at Hamburgh in Italian
and German, in the year 1753.
A short regulation of the 25th May 1537, by the
emperor Charles V. respecting bills of exchange and in¬
surance, is still preserved, in which even the fulfilling
of an agreement is strictly commanded.
In the year 1556, Philip II. of Spain gave the Spa¬
nish merchants certain regulations respecting insurance,
which Magens has inserted in the fore-mentioned work.
They contain some forms of policies on ships going to
the Indies.
The chamber of insurance was established at Am¬
sterdam in 1598, an account of the first regulations of
which office was published by Pontanus, in his history
of that city.
Regulations respecting insurance were formed by the
city of Middleburg in Zealand, in the year 1600; and
it appears that the first regulations respecting insurances
in England, were made in the following year. We
find from them, that insurers, prior to this period, had
secured the confidence of the public so completely, by
the honesty and rectitude of their conduct, that few oc-
* Hist, of casions for disputes had arisen *.
Invent. I. INSURANCE against Loss at Sea, is a most benefi-
vo!* *' *Si cial institution, for promoting the security of trade, and
preventing the ruin of individuals 5 and is now con¬
ducted by a regular system of rules, established by the
interposition of the legislature, the decision of the courts
of justice, and the practice of merchants.
It is carried on to the best advantage by public com¬
panies, or by a considerable number of private persons,
each of whom only engages for a small sum, on the same
vessel. There are two public companies established by
authority of parliament, viz. the London and Royal
Exchange Insurance Companies. For procuring sub¬
scription by private persons, brokers are generally em¬
ployed, who extend the policy or contract of insurance,
and assist at settling losses. They are entitled to an al¬
lowance for their trouble, generally 5 per cent, on pre¬
miums, and 2, per cent, on losses.
The parties who engage to pay the damage aie call- Insurmi**,
ed the insurers or underwriters: the parlies for whose y—J
security they engage are called the insured; and the
premium is understood to be paid when the insurance is
made.
On this subject, we shall consider, What is necessary
to render an insurance valid :—When the risk commen¬
ces, and when it terminates:—What constitutes a total
or a partial loss:—-V> hat proof of loss is necessary :—
and, How the loss is adjusted.
First, In order to render an insurance valid, the in¬
sured must have property really at stake ; the voyage
must take place under the circumstances agreed on ;
the dangers insured against must not be contrary to law,
and a candid account must be given of circumstances
which enhance the danger.
1. The condition of possessing property was required
by 19 Geo. II. c. 37. to prevent ships from being frau¬
dulently destroyed when insured above their value ; ami
to discourage a practice which had become common,
of converting policies to the purpose of mere wagers.
In transactions of this kind, as the insured had no pro¬
perty, and could claim no indemnification for partial
damage ; so the insurers, having lost their wager bv
the ship’s being lost, could claim no abatement, though
part was saved : accordingly, the policies contained
clauses of interest or no interest, free from average, ami
without benefit of salvage. All such policies aie de¬
clared invalid.
This restriction does not extend to privateers, nor
to ships trading to the Spanish or Portuguese planta¬
tions.
Insurances are commonly made as interest shall ap¬
pear 5 and it is incumbent on the insured to prove the
value of his property. The value of the goods may
he proved by the invoices ; and the coquet must be
produced, if required, to instruct that the goods were
actually shipped. It is admitted to value the ship at
prime cost and charges, deducting the freights that
have been drawn since purchased, if the proprietors
choose to stand to that rulej but they are not restricted
to it. Sometimes the value of the ship or goods is ex¬
pressed in the policy ; and this value must be admitted,
although it be higher than the true one : but it is in¬
cumbent on the insured to prove that he had property
at stake; and, if the property be trifling in comparison!
of the sum insured, the insurance will be set aside, as an
evasion of the statute.
Expected profits, and bounty on the whale fishery,
if specified in the policy, may be insured.
When the value is less than the sum insured, the
owners may claim a return of premium for the excess.
If there he several policies on the same subject, of
different dates, the earliest one is valid, and the others
must be vacated. If they be of the same date, they
must be vacated in equal proportions.
When a policy is vacated, in whole or in part, the
underwriters have a right to retain 4 per cent, for their
trouble.
In the case of a cargo intended for A, but after¬
wards sent to B, both expected it, and insured, and B
claimed for the value on its being lost. The under¬
writers answered, that it was a double insurance, and
they ought only to pay their proportion. Judgment
was
I N S
[ntuvanee. was given, finding them liable for the whole, and re¬
serving to them any demand competent against the
underwriters who insured for A.
Fraudulently to cast away or destroy a ship insured
above its value, is felony.
2. If the ship does not proceed on the voyage, or if,
being warranted to depart with convoy, it departs
without convoy, the insurance must be vacated.
If the extent of a trading voyage be uncertain, the
longest one in contemplation is described in the policy,
and it is agreed that part of the premium shall be re¬
turned, if the voyage be shortened. In like manner, in
time of war, when insurance is made without condition
of convoy, it is agreed that part of the premium be re¬
turned in case it sail with convoy.
When a ship is warranted to depart with convoy, it is
understood from the usual place of convoy (e. g. the
Downs), and it is insured till it arrive there.
The common proof of sailing with convoy is the pro¬
duction of sailing orders $ but, if a ship be prevented
by the weather from receiving the sailing orders, other
proof may be admitted.
A ship was insured from the Thames to Halifax,
warranted to sail from Portsmouth with convoy. The
eonvoy had sailed before the ship arrived there, and the
underwriters declined to insure it, without convoy, for
the rest of the voyage. They were found liable to re¬
turn part of the premium, retaining only in proportion
to the accustomed rate from London to Portsmouth.
This decision seems to establish the following principle,
that, when the voyage performed is only part of that
described in the policy, and when the risk can be pro¬
portioned, the underwriters are bound to return part
of the premium, though there be no agreement for that
purpose.
But, if a ship, insured only against the hazards of
the sea, be taken by the enemy, the insured have no
right to claim a return of premium, though the capture
happen soon, under pretence that little sea-hazard was
incurred.
If a ship deviates from the voyage described in the
policy, without necessity, it sets aside the insurance.
An intention to deviate is not sufficient to set it aside j
there must be an actual deviation $ and, even in that
case, the insurers are liable for damages sustained be¬
fore deviation.
It is no deviation to go out of the way to the accus¬
tomed place of convoy, nor to the nearest place where
necessary repairs may be had. Deviation, for the pur¬
pose of smuggling, if without the knowledge of the
owners, does not set aside the insurance, nor when the
master is forced by the crew to return.
In insurance to the East Indies, and home, the in¬
surers are understood to take the risk of detention in
the country, and of country voyages.
3. Insurance of prohibited goods, against the risk of
seizure hy the government, is unlawful and invalid.
The insurers, insured, brokers, and all accessories, are
liable to the fine of 500!.
4. If the insured have any information of more than
common danger, they must reveal every such circum¬
stance to the insurers, otherwise the policy is set aside.
This rule is established for the preservation of good
faith } and there are several strong decisions in support
INS
of it. If a ship be spoke to leaky at sea, or if there be Insurance,
a report of its being lost, these circumstances must be —v"*—
communicated to the insurers. Even the concealment
of a false report of loss vitiates the insurance 5 and, if
the ship be afterwards lost, though in a different man¬
ner, the insurer will recover nothing. In a voyage
from Carolina to London, another ship had sailed ten
days after that which was insured, and arrived seven
days before the insurance was made 5 and the conceal¬
ment of this circumstance, though the fact was not pro¬
ved to the satisfaction of the jury, was considered as suf¬
ficient to set it aside. Also, during the continuance of
the American war, a ship being insured from Portugal,
by the month, without condescending on the voyage,
sailed for North America, and was taken by a provin¬
cial privateer. The insurers refused to pay, because the
hazardous destination was concealed ; and it was only
upon proof of the insured being equally ignorant of it
that they were found liable.
But the insured are not obliged to take notice of
general perils, which the insurers are understood to
have in contemplation *, dangerous navigation, West
Indian hurricanes, enterprises of the enemy, and the
like.
Insurance is not set aside by a mistake in the name
of the ship or master, or the like.
Insurance may be made on an uncertain ship j on any
ship that the goods may be loaded on ; on any ship that
A shall sail in from Virginia. In this last case, the po¬
licy is not transferred to a ship which A goes on board
during the voyage.
Secondly, If a ship be insured at and from a port,
the insurance commences immediately if the ship be
there, or at its arrival there. If it be damaged when
preparing for a voyage, the insurers are liable j but
not if the voyage be laid aside for several years, with
consent of the owners. Insurance from a port com¬
mences when the ship breaks ground j and, if it set
sail, and be driven back and lost in the port, the in¬
surers are liable.
Insurance on goods generally continues till they he
landed ; but if they be sold after the ship’s arrival, and
freight contracted to another port, the insurance is
concluded. Goods sent on board another ship or light¬
er are not at the risk of the insurer j but goods sent
ashore in the long boat are.
Insurance on freight commences when the goods are
put on board.
Goods from the. East Indies, insured to GiBraltaiy
and to be reshipped from thence to Britain, were put
on board a store-ship at Gibraltar, to wait an opportu¬
nity of reshipping, and were lost: The custom of put¬
ting goods aboard a store-ship being proved, the insu¬
rers were found liable.
Loss of sails ashore, when the ship U repairing, is
comprehended within the insurance. What is necessa¬
rily understood, is insured, as well as what is expressed j
the essential means, and intermediate steps, as well as
the end. Ships performing quarantine are at the risk
of the insurer.
Thirdly, The insurers are liable for a total loss when
the subject perishes through any of the perils insured
against. Barratry, though it properly signifies running
away with the ship, extends to any kind of fraud in
the
[ 287 ]
INS [ 288 ] INS
I» trance, tlie master or mariners. Insurance against detention of
princes does not extend to ships that are seized for trans¬
gressing the laws of foreign countries.
The insurers are also liable for a total loss, when
damage is sustained, and the remaining property aban¬
doned or vested in the insurers.
If a ship be stranded, or taken, and kept by the ene¬
my, or detained by any foreign power, or seized for
the service of the government, the proprietors have a
right to abandon.
But, if a ship be taken by the enemy, and be re¬
taken, or makes its escape, before action against the
insurers j have the insured a right to abandon, or must
they only claim for the damages sustained as an ave¬
rage loss ? There are opposite decisions, according as
the circumstances of the case were strong. When the
ship was long detained, the goods perishable, the voy¬
age entirely lost, or so disturbed, that the pursuit of it
was not worth the freight, or when the damage ex¬
ceeds half the value of the thing, they have been found
entitled to abandon ; Goss against Withers, 2 Bur¬
row, 683.). But, if the voyage be completed with lit¬
tle trouble or delay, they are not entitled $ (Hamilton
against Mendez, 2 Burrow, 1198.).
The insured cannot claim, as for a total loss, on
an offer to abandon, when the loss is, in its nature,
only partial; for, if this were permitted, they might
devolve the loss occasioned by bad markets on the in¬
surers.
And, in all cases, the insured have their option to
abandon, or not. They may retain their property if
they please, and claim for an average loss j and they
must make their option before they claim.
If the goods be so much damaged, that their value
is less than the freight, the insurers are accountable as
for a total loss.
The insurers are liable for general average, when
the property is charged with contribution •, and for par¬
ticular average, when the property is damaged, or part
of it destroyed.
If the damage be sustained through the fault of the
ship, the owner’s of the goods may have recourse, either
against the masters or insurers; and, if the insurers be
charged, they stand in the place of the owners, and
have recourse against the master.
In order to prevent the insurers from being troubled
with frivolous demands for average, it is generally sti¬
pulated, that none shall be charged under 5 per cent,
or soma other determined rate ; and corn, flax, fruit,
fish, and like perishable goods, are warranted free from
average, unless general, or the ship be stranded.
I:i order to encourage every eflort to save the ship,
the insurers are liable for charges laid out with that de¬
sign, although the subject perish. Thus, they may be
charged vyith more than the sum insured.
In case of goods being damaged, the proportion of
the sum insured, for which the underwriters are liable,
is regulated by the proportion of the prices which the
sound and damaged goods fetch at the port of destina¬
tion. The prime cost of the goods is not considered,
nor the necessity of immediate sale, iu consequence of
damage. Although the damaged goods sell above
prime cost, the insurers are liable.
Fourthly^ If a ship be lost, and the crew saved, the
loss is proved by tire evidence of the crew.
If damage be sustained, the extent is proved by an lasuraBes.
examination of the subject damaged, at the, ship’s ar- • ^
rival ; and the cause by the evidence of the crew.
If the ship be stranded, evidence must be taken at
the place where stranded.
Documents of loss must be laid before the under¬
writers, with all convenient speed ; and, if these bs
sufficiently clear, the loss should be immediately settled.
The underwriters generally grant their notes at a month
or six weeks date for their proportions.
If a ship be not heard of for a certain time, it is pre¬
sumed lost; and the underwriters are liable to pay the
sums insured, the property being abandoned to them in
the event of the ship’s return. Six months are allowed
for a voyage to any part of Europe, a year to America,
and two years to the East Indies.
By the ordinance of Hamburgh, if a ship be three
months beyond the usual time of performing a voy¬
age, the underwriters may be desired to pay 92 per
cent, on an abandon. If they decline it, they are al¬
lowed 14 months more, and then they must pay the full
value.
A ship insured against the hazards of the sea, but not
against the enemy, if never heard of, is presumed lost
at sea.
Fifthly, In order that the manner of settling losses
may be understood, we must explain what is meant by
covering property. We mentioned already, that insu¬
rances for greater sums than the insured had really at
stake, were contrary to law : but some latitude is al¬
lowed in that respect ; for if the owner were to insure
no more than the exact value ofbis property, be would
lose the premium of insurance, and the abatement, if
any was agreed on.
For example, if he has goods on board to the value
of look and insures the same at 5 per cent, to abate
2 per cent, in case of loss ; then, if a total loss hap¬
pen, be recovers 98I. from the insurers, of which 5k
being applied to re-place the premium, the nett sum
saved is only 93I. ; but, if the value on board be only
93I. and the sum insured look he would be fully in¬
demnified for the loss ; and his property, in that case,
is said to be covered.
To find how much should be insured to cover any
sum, subtract the amount of the premium and abate¬
ment (if any) from look As the remainder is to look
so is the value to the sum which covers it.
In case of a total loss, if the sum insured be not
greater than that which covers the property, the in¬
surers must pay it all. If greater, they pay what
covers the property, and return the premium on the
overplus.
Partial losses are regulated by this principle, that
whereas the owner is not fully indemnified, in case of a
total loss, unless he covers his property, therefore he
should only be indemnified for a partial loss in the same
proportion ; and, if it be not fully insured, he is consi¬
dered as insurer himself, for the part not covered, and
must bear a suitable proportion of the loss. Therefore
the value of the property is proved, and the sum requi¬
red to cover it computed. If that sum be all insured,
the underwriters pay the whole damage ; if only part
be insured, they pay their share, which is computed by
the following rule : As the sum which covers the pro¬
perty is to the sum insured, so is the whole damage to
the
INS [ 289 ] INS
the part for which the insurers are liable,—For example,
if the value of the property be 360I. the sum insured
300I. the premium 8 per cent, and abatement 2 per
cent, then the sum which should be insured to cover
the property is 400I. ; and, if damage be sustained to
the extent of 200I. the owners will recover 150I.
If a voyage is insured out and home, the premium
outward must be considered as part of the value on the
homeward property, and the sum necessary to cover it
computed accordingly. lor example, to insure tool,
out and home, at 5 per cent, each voyage, abatement
£ per cent, we compute thus :
93 : 100 :: L. 100 : L. 107 : 10 : 6, to be insured
outward, premium on L. 107 : 10 : 6 outwards, at 5
per cent. L. 5 : 7 : 6 : 93 • 100 :: io5 : 7 • ^ •
I,. 113 : 6s. to be insured home; the premium on
which is L. 5 : 13 : 6 j and, if the ship be lost on the
homeward voyage,
From the sum insured home L. 113 6 O
Subtract the discount, 2 per cent. 2 5 3
Sum for which the insurers are liable L. in — 9
Insurance out L. 5 7 ^
Insurance home 5 I3 3
 n — 9
Covered property L. 100 — —
II. Insurance against Fire. There are several of¬
fices in Britain for this purpose, of which the Sun fire-
office is the most considerable. Insurances are divided
into common, hazardous, and doubly hazardous, ac¬
cording to the nature of the subject insured. When
the sum insured is high, there is a higher premium
per cent, demanded j and money, papers, jewels, pic¬
tures, and gun-powder, are not comprehended. If a
subject be wrong described, in order that it may be in¬
sured at a lower pemium, the policy is void. The be¬
nefit of a policy is transferred, by indorsement, to the
representatives of the person in whose favour it was
made j and it may be transferred to other houses when
the insured changes his habitation. If insurance be
made on the same subject in difierent offices, it must be
specified, by indorsement, on the policy j and, in case
of loss, the offices pay proportionally. The insurers
pay all expences in attempting to extinguish fire, or to
save goods, though not successful. If the value of a
subject be insured in part, and damage be sustained,
the insurers pay the whole, if it does not exceed the
sum insured.
III. Insurance of Debts. See Bottomry.
IV. In virtue of Insurance for Lives, when the
person dies, a sum of money becomes payable to the
person on whose behalf the policy of insurance was
granted. One of the principal insurance-offices of this
kind is that of the Amicable Society for a perpetual
insurance, kept in Serjeant’s-inn, Fleet street, London.
This society at Serjeant’s-inn requires an annual
payment of 5I. from every member during life, pay¬
able quarterly. The whole annual income hence ari¬
sing is equally divided among the nominees, or heirs,
of such members as die every year; and this renders
the dividends among the nominees in different yearsr
more or less, according to the number of members
who have happened to die in those years. But this
Vol. XI. Part I. f
society engages that the dividends shall not be less than Imsm
150I. to each claimant, though they may he more.—
None are admitted whose ages are greater than 45,
or less than 12 ; nor is there any difference ot contri¬
bution allowed on account of difference ot age.—This
society has subsisted ever since 1706, and its credit
and usefulness are well established. Its plan, however,
is liable to several objections. First, it is evident,
that regulating the dividends among the nominees, by
the number of members who die every year, is not equi¬
table ; because it makes the benefit which a member is
to receive to depend, not on the value of his contribu¬
tion, but on a contingency j that is, the number of
members that shall happen to die the same year with
him. Secondly, its requiring the same payments from
all persons under 45, is also not equitable •, for the pay¬
ment of a person admitted at 12 ought not to be more
than half the payment of a person admitted at 45.
Thirdly, its plan is so narrow, as to confine its useful¬
ness too much. It can be of no service to any person
whose age exceeds 45. It is likewise by no means pro¬
perly adapted to the circumstances of persons who want
to make assurances on their lives for only one year, or a
short term of years. For example : the true value of
the assurance of 150I. for five years, on the life of a
person whose age is 39, may be found, by the first rule,
to be nearly three guineas per annum, supposing inte¬
rest at 3 per cent, and the probabilities of the duration
of human life, as they are given in Dr Halley’s Table
of Observations. But such an assurance could not be
made in this society without an annual payment of 5I.
Neither is the plan of this society at all adapted to the
circumstances of persons who want to make assurances
on particular survivorships. For example : a person
possessed of an estate or salary, which must be lost with
his life, has a person dependent upon him, for whom he
desires to secure a sum of money payable at his death.
But he desires this only as a security against the danger
of his dying first, and leaving a wife, or a parent, with¬
out support. In these circumstances he enters himselt
into this society 5 and, by an annual payment of 5I. en¬
titles his nominee at his death to 150I. In a few years,
perhaps, his nominee happens to die j and having then
lost the advantages he had in view, he determines to
forfeit his former payments, and to withdraw irom the
society. The right method, in this case, would have
been to have taken from such a person the true value of
the sum assured, “ on the supposition of non-payment,
provided he should survive.” In this way he would
have chosen to contract with the society : and had he
done this, he would have paid for the assurance (sup¬
posing interest at 3 per cent, his age 30, the age of his
nominee 30, and the values of lives as given by M. de
Moivre) 3I. 8s. in annual payments, to begin imme¬
diately, and to be continued during the joint duration
of his own life, and the life of his nominee.
The Equitable Society for Assurances on Lives and
Survivorships, which meets at Blackfriars Bridge, is
one of the most important of the kind. It was esta¬
blished in the year 1762, in consequence of proposals
made, and lectures recommending the design, which
had been read by Mr Dodson, author of the Mathema¬
tical Repository. It assures any sums, or reversionary
annuities, on any life or lives, for any number of years,
as well as for the whole continuance of the lives $ and
O 0 in
INS [290
Insurance. 111 any manner that may be best adapted to the views of
>—'—v—'—^ the persons assured. For instance, any persons who de¬
pend on incomes which must be lost when they die, or
who are only tenants for life in estates, may, if they
want to borrow money, be enabled to give sufficient
security, by assuring such sums as they want to bor¬
row, and assigning the policy. In the same way cler¬
gymen, and others who hold places of profit, having
families whose subsistence depends on the continuance
of their lives; such as enjoy annuities for the lives of
others $ any person entitled to an estate, legacy, &c.
after another person, provided he survives j husbands
may provide annuities for their wives, if they leave
them widows j parents may, by assuring the lives of
their children, when infants, till they attain a given
age, secure for them, should they live till that age, sums
necessary for apprenticeships, &c.j persons apprehensive
of being left without support in old age, may here purchase
annuities, if willing to wait for the commencement of
the payment of these till they are 55 or 60 years of age.
In fine, there are no kinds of assurances on lives and
survivorships, which this society does not make, follow¬
ing the rules given by the best mathematical writers
on life annuities, particularly Mr Simson’s. In or¬
der to gain such a profit as may render it a perma¬
nent benefit to the public, and enable it to bear the ex-
pences of management, it takes the advantage of mak¬
ing its calculations at so low an interest as 3 per cent,
and from tables of the probabilities and values of lives
in London, where, as in all great towns, the rate of
human mortality is much greater than it is in common
among mankind.
This society, finding in the month of June 1777,
that their affairs were in a flourishing condition, came
to a resolution to reduce their annual premiums one-
tenth ; and they adopted new tables in the year 1782,
founded on the probabilities of life at Northampton, in¬
stead of those which were framed from the London bills
of mortality. It was afterwards thought proper to
make an addition, for greater security, of 15 per cent,
to the true value of the assurances, as calculated from
the table of mortality at Northampton. To make a
suitable recompense to the assured for the payments they
had formerly made, which had been greater than the
new rates required, an addition of il. 10s. was made to
their claims for every premium they had paid. The re¬
sult of this measure was, that in 1785 the business of
the society was nearly doubled, the sums assured a-
mounting to 720,000!. In consequence of a minute in¬
vestigation, the society took off the 15 per cent, charged
on premiums in 1782, and added il. per cent, more to
the assurer’s claims, for every payment made before the
1st of January 1786. Business still increasing, they
made another addition of ll. per cent, in 1791 j and in
the subsequent year a farther addition of 2I. percent, by
which the claims of such as assured in 1770 came to be
more than doubled, and those of a prior date were still
higher. By such integrity and consequent increase of
business, the sums assured amounted, on the 31st of Ue-
cember to the astonishing sum of three millions
sterling ; and exactly three years after, they amounted
to about one million more.
The rates of assurance, as reduced to their real va¬
lues in 1786, according to which all business is now
transacted, are the following.
I N T
Sum assured 100I.
Age
*5
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
6S
One year.
L.
o
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
4
s.
*7
7
10
*3
16
o
6
*5
5
18
J5
d.
11
3
7
3
4
8
.8
1
o
1
2
Seven years.
L.
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
5
2
9
12
*4
18
4
10
o
12
7
10
d.
11
5
1
11
10
1
10
8
o
1
10
Whole life.
L. s.
18
3
8
13
1
2
2
2
2 19
3 7
17
d.
7
7
1
4
10
11
11
10 10
6 4
7
16
Insurance
0
Intendafit.
The other offices in London for the assurances of lives
are,
The Royal Exchange Assurance, which ivas em¬
powered to assure lives by virtue of its second charter,
bearing date the 29th of April 1721 $ the Westminster
Society was established in 1792, for assuring lives and
annuities j and the Pelican Life Office was instituted in
1797, which makes a new species of assurance, by wav
of endowment for daughters, when they have attained
the age of 21 years.
Rc-Insubancf. is a second contract, made by any in¬
surer, to transfer the risk he has engaged for to another.
It is in general forbidden by 19 Geo. II. c. 37. but is
permitted to the representatives of an insurer in case of
his death, or his assignees in case of his bankruptcy j
and it must be mentioned in the policy that it is a re¬
insurance.
INTAGLIOS, precious stones, on which are en¬
graved the heads of great men, inscriptions, and the
like ; such as we frequently see set in rings, seals, &c.
INTEGER, in Arithmetic, a whole number, in con¬
tradistinction to a fraction.
INTEGRAL, or Integrant, in Philosophy, ap¬
pellations given to parts of bodies which are of a similar
nature with the whole : thus filings of iron have the
same nature and properties as bars of iron.
Bodies may be reduced into their integrant parts by
triture or grinding, limation or filing, solution, amal¬
gamation, &.c. See Grinding.
Integral Calculus, in the new analysis, is the re¬
verse of the differential calculus, and is the finding of
the integral from a given differential $ being similar to
the inverse method of fluxions. See Fluxions.
INTEGUMENTS, in Anatomy, denote the com¬
mon coverings which invest the body ; as the cuticula,
cutis, &x. See Anatomy.
Integument is also extended to the particular
membranes which invest certain parts of the body j as
the coats or tunics of the eye.
INTELLECT, a term used among philosophers, to
signify that faculty of the soul usually called the un¬
derstanding. See Logic and Metaphysics.
INTENDANT, one who has the conduct, inspec¬
tion, and management of any thing. See Superin-
tendant.
This is a title frequent among the French : they
have intendants of the marine, who are officers iu the sea¬
ports.
I N T [ 201 ] NT
Inteudant ports, whose business it is to take care the ordinances
II and regulations relating to sea atlairs be observed : in-
Inierces- tenjants 0f the finances, who have the direction of the
, . revenues : intendants of provinces, who are appointed
by the king to take care of the administration of jus¬
tice, policy, and finances in the province : also intend¬
ants of buildings, of houses, &c.
INTENDMENT, in Law, is the intention, design,
or true meaning, of a person or thing, which frequent¬
ly supplies what is not fully expressed j but though the
intent of parties in deeds and contracts is much regard¬
ed by the law, yet it cannot take place against the rules
of law.
Intendment of Crimes; this, in case of treason
where the intention is proved by circumstances, is pu¬
nishable in the same manner as if it was put in execu¬
tion. So, if a person enter a house in the night-time,
with an intent to commit burglary, it is felony j also,
an assault, with an intent to commit a robbery on the
highway is made felony, and punished with transporta¬
tion, 7 Geo. II. c. 2i.
INTENT, in the civil law, signifies to begin, or
commence, an action or process.
INTENTION, in Medicine, that judgment or me¬
thod of cure which a physician forms to himself from a
due examination of symptoms.
Intention, in Physics, the increase of the power or
energy of any quality j as heat, cold, &c. by which it
stands opposed to remission, which signifies its decrease
or diminution.
Intention, in Metaphysics, denotes an exertion of
the intellectual faculties with more than ordinary vi¬
gour; when the mind with earnestness fixes its view on
any idea, considers it on all sides, and will not be called
off by any solicitation. /
INTEliAMNA, in Ancient Geography, so called
from its situation between rivers, or in an island in the
river Nar ; a town of the Cisapennine Umbria. In-
teramnatss the people; surnamed Nartes by Pliny, to
distinguish them from the people of other Interamnse.
Now Term’: a town in the pope’s territory in Umbria.
E. Long. 13. 38. N. Lat. 42. 40.
Interamna, a town and colony of the Volsci in
Latium, on the confines of Samnium, at the confluence
of the rivers Liris and Mel pis ; and for distinction
sake called Lirinas. The town is now in ruins.
Interamna, or Interamnia Prcetutianorum (Ptole¬
my) ; a town in the territory of the Prtetutiani, a part
of the Picenum. Now Teramo, in the Abruzzo of
Naples. E. Long. 15. N. Lat. 42. 40..
INTERCALARY, an appellation given to the odd
day inserted in leap-year ; which was so called from
calo, calarc, “ to proclaim,” it being proclaimed by the
priests with a loud voice.
1NTERCATIA, in Ancient Geography, a town of
the Vaccmi in the Hither Spain. Here Scipio ^Emi-
1 Janus slew a champion of the barbarians in single com¬
bat ; and was the first who mounted the wall in taking
the town. It was situated to the south-east of Asturia ;
now said to be in ruins.
INTERCESSION {intercession, was used in ancient
Rome, for the act of a tribune of the people, or other
magistrate, by which he inhibited the acts of other
magistrates ; or even, in case of the tribunes, the de¬
crees of the senate. Veto was the solemn word used
by the tribunes when they inhibited any decree of the laterces-
senate or law proposed to the people. The general law si°n
of these intercessions was, that any magistrate might JnU|e ,
inhibit the acts of his equal or inferior ; but the tri- .
bunes had the sole prerogative of controlling the acts
of every other magistrate, yet could not be controlled
themselves by any.
INTERCESSOR (from inter and cedo, “ I go be¬
tween”), a person who prays, expostulates, or inter¬
cedes, in behalf of another. In the Roman law, inter¬
cessor war the name of an officer, whom the governors
of provinces appointed principally to raise taxes and
other duties.
Intercessor, is also a term heretofore applied to
such bishops as, during the vacancy of a see, admini¬
stered the bishoprick, till a successor to the deceased
bishop had been elected. The third council of Car¬
thage calls these interventors.-
INTERCOLUMNIATION, in Architecture, de¬
notes the space between two columns, which is always
to be proportioned to the height and bulk of the co¬
lumns.
INTERCOSTAL, in Anatomy, an appellation gi¬
ven to such muscles, nerves, arteries, and veins, as lie
between the ribs.
INTERDICT, an ecclesiastical censure, by which
the church of Rome forbids the performance of divine
service in a kingdom, province, town, &c. This cen¬
sure has been frequently executed in France, Italy, and
Germany ; and in the year 1170, Pope Alexander III.
put all England under an interdict, forbidding the cler¬
gy to perform any part of divine service, except bapti¬
sing of infants, taking confessions, and giving absolution
to dying penitents. But this censure being liable to the
ill consequences of promoting libertinism and a neglect
of religion, the succeeding popes have very seldom made
use of it.
There was also an interdict of persons, who were
deprived of the benefit of attending on divine service.
Particular persons were also anciently interdicted of
fire and water, which signified a banishment for some
particular offence ; by their censure no person W'as al¬
lowed to receive them, or allow them fire or water; and
being thus wholly deprived of the two necessary ele¬
ments of life, they were doubtless under a kind of civil
death.
INTEREST, is the premium or money paid for the
loan or use of other money.
Many good and learned men have in former times
very much perplexed themselves and other people by
raising doubts about the legality of interest in foro con-
scientice. It nay not be amiss here to inquire upon
what grounds this matter does really stand.
The enemies to interest in general make no distinc¬
tion between that and usury, holding any increase of
money to be indefensibly usurious. And this they
ground as well on the prohibition of it by the law of
Moses among the Jews, as also upon what is laid down
by Aristotle, That money is naturally barren ; and to
make it breed money is preposterous, and a perversion
of the end of its institution, which was only to serve
the purposes of exchange, and not of increase. Hence
the school-divines have branded the practice of taking-
interest, as being contrary to the divine law both na¬
tural and revealed ; and the canon law has proscribed
O 0 2 the
4
I N T [ 292 ] I N T
Interest, the taking any the least increase for the loan of money
1 w—as a mortal sin.
But, in answer to this, it may be observed, that the
Mosaical precept was clearly a political, and not a mo¬
ral, precept. It only prohibited the Jews from ta-
. king usury from their brethren the Jews ; but in ex¬
press words permitted them to take it of a stranger :
which proves that the taking of moderate usury, or a
reward for the use, for so the word signifies, is not ma¬
lum in se, since it was allowed where any but an Is¬
raelite was concerned. And as to Aristotle’s reason,
deduced from the natural barrenness of money, the
same may with equal force be alleged of houses, which
never breed houses ; and twenty other things, which
nobody doubts it is lawful to make profit of, by letting
them to hire. And though money was originally used
only for the purposes of exchange, yet the laws of any
state may be well justified in permitting it to be turn¬
ed to the purposes of profit, if the convenience of so¬
ciety (the great end for which money was invented)
shall require it. And that the allowance of moderate
interest tends greatly to the benefit of the public, espe¬
cially in a trading country, will appear from that ge¬
nerally acknowledged principle, that commerce cannot
subsist without mutual and extensive credit. Unless
money therefore can be borrowed, trade cannot be
carried on: and if no premium were allowed for the
hire of money, few persons would care to lend it; or
at least the ease of borrowing at a short warning (which
is the life of commerce) would be entirely at an end.
Thus, in the dark ages of monkish superstition and ci¬
vil tyranny, when interest was laid under a total in¬
terdict, commerce was also at its lowest ebb, and fell
entirely into the hands of the Jewrs and Lombards :
but when men’s minds began to be more enlarged, when
true religion and real liberty revived, commerce grew
again into credit; and again introduced with itself its
inseparable companion, the doctrine of loans upon in¬
terest.
And, really, considered abstractedly from this its
use, since all other conveniences of life may he either
bought or hired, but money can only be hired, there
seems no greater impropriety in taking a recompense
or price for the hire of this, than of any other conve¬
nience. If one borrow 100I. to employ in a bene¬
ficial trade, it is but equitable that the lender should
have a proportion of the gains. To demand an exor¬
bitant price is equally contrary to conscience, for the
loan of a horse, or the loan of a sum of money : but a
reasonable equivalent for the temporary inconvenience
which the owner may feel by the want of it, and for
the hazard of his losing it entirely, is nc more immoral
in one case than it is in the other. And indeed the
absolute prohibition of lending upon any, even moderate
interest, introduces the very inconvenience which it
seems meant to remedy. The necessity of individuals
will make borrowing unavoidable. Without some pro¬
fit by law, there will be but few lenders : and those
principally had men, who will break through the law,
and take a profit j and then will endeavour to indem¬
nify themselves from the danger of the penalty, by
making that profit exorbitant. Thus, while all de¬
grees of profit were discountenanced, we find more
complaints of usury, and more flagrant instances of
oppression, than in modern times when money may be
easily had at a low interest. A capital distinction must Inwmt.
therefore be made between a moderate and exorbitant v-—*
profit 5 to the former of which we usually give the
name of interest, to the latter the truly odious appella¬
tion of usury: the former is necessary in every civil
state $ if it were but to exclude the latter, which ought
never to he tolerated in any well regulated society.—-
For, as the whole of this matter is well summed up by
Grotius, “ if the compensation allowed by law does
not exceed the proportion of the hazard run, or the
want felt, by the loan, its allowance is neither repug¬
nant to the revealed nor to the natural law : but if it
exceeds those bounds, it is then oppressive usury j and
though the municipal laws may give it impunity, they
never can make it just.”
We see, that the exorbitance or moderation of in¬
terest, for the money lent, depends upon two circum¬
stances ; the inconvenience of parting with it for the
present, and the hazard of losing it entirely. The im-
convenience to individual lenders can never be estima¬
ted by laws j the rate therefore of general interest must
depend upon the usual or general inconvenience. This
results entirely from the quantity of specie or current
money in the kingdom : for, the more specie there is
circulating in any nation, the greater superfluity there
will he, beyond what is necessary to carry on the bu¬
siness of exchange and the common concerns of life.
In every nation, or public community, there is a certain
quantity of money thus necessary *, which a person well
skilled in political arithmetic might perhaps calculate
as exactly as a private banker can the demand for run¬
ning cash in his own shop: all above this necessary
quantity may be spared, or lent, without much incon¬
venience to the respective lenders $ and the greater this
national superfluity is, the more numerous will be the
lenders, and the lower ought the rate of the national
interest to be; but where there is not enough, or bare¬
ly enough, circulating cash to answer the ordinary
uses of the public, interest will be proportionahly high \
for lenders will be but few, as few can submit to the
inconvenience of lending.
So also the hazard of an entire loss has its weight in
the regulation of interest: hence, the better the secu¬
rity, the lower will the interest be ; the rate of interest
being generally in a compound ratio, formed out of
the inconvenience and the hazard. And as, if there
were no inconvenience, there should he no interest but
what is equivalent to the hazard j so, if there were no
hazard, there ought to he no interest, save only what
arises from the mere inconvenience of lending. Thus,
if the quantity of specie in a nation be such, that the
general inconvenience of lending for a year is compu¬
ted to amount to three per cent, a man that has money
by him will perhaps lend it upon good personal secu¬
rity at five per cent, allowing two for the hazard run ;
he will lend it upon landed security, or mortgage, at
four per cent, the hazard being proportionahly less ;
but he will lend it to the state, on the maintenance of
which all his property depends, at three per cent, the
hazard being none at all.
But sometimes the hazard may he greater than the
rate of interest allowed by law will compensate. And
this gives rise to the practice, 1. Of bottomry, or re¬
spondentia. 1. Of policies of insurance. See Bot¬
tomry, and Insurance.
Upon
Interest
I N T [ 293 ]
Upon the two principles of inconvenience and ha- under both kinds,
zard, compared together, dHTerent nations have at dif-
I* _ i- J- *    t L. 1 £ n It si si 1 MrIt f r» f C* r\r info T*r> C f 8 i l O
Interim. feren’t times established different rates of interest. The
Romans at one time allowed centissimce, one per cent,
monthly, or twelve per cent, per annum, to be taken
for common loans : but Justinian reduced it to trientes,
or one-third of the as or centissimce, that is four per
cent, j but allowed higher interest to be taken of mer¬
chants, because there the hazard was greater. So too
Grotius informs us, that in Holland the rate of interest
was then eight per cent, in common loans, but twelve
to merchants. Our law establishes one standard for all
alike, where the pledge or security itself is not put in
jeopardy ; lest, under the general pretence of vague
and indeterminate hazards, a door should be opened to
fraud and usury •, leaving specific hazards to be provid¬
ed against by specific insurances, or by loans upon
respondentia or bottomry. But as to the rate of legal
interest, it has varied and decreased for 200 years past,
according as the quantity of specie in the kingdom has
increased by accessions of trade, and other circumstances.
The statute 37 Hen. VIII. c. 9. confined interest to ten
per cent, and so did the statute 13 Eliz. c. 8. But, as
through the encouragements given in her reign to com¬
merce, the nation grew more wealthy ; so, under her
successor, the statute 21 Jac. I. c. 17. reduced it to
eight per cent.; as did the statute 12 Car. II. c. 13. to
six •, and lastly, by the statute 12 Ann. stat. 2. c. 16. it
was brought down to five per cent, yearly, which is now
the extremity of legal interest that can be taken. But
yet, if a contract which carries interest be made in a
foreign country, our courts will direct the payment of
interest according to the law of that country in which
the contract was made. Thus Irish, American, Turk¬
ish, and Indian interest, have been allowed in our courts
to the amount of even 12 per cent. For the modera¬
tion or exorbitance of interest depends upon local cir¬
cumstances $ and the refusal to enforce such contracts
would put a stop to all foreign trade. And, by stat.
14 Geo. III. c. 79. all mortgages and other securi¬
ties upon estates or other property in Ireland or the
plantations, bearing interest not exceeding six percent,
shall be legal 5 though executed in the kingdom of
Great Britain : unless the money lent shall be known
at the time to exceed the value of the thing in pledge j
in which case also, to prevent usurious contracts at
home under colour of such foreign securities, the bor¬
rower shall forfeit treble the sum so borrowed. See
the article Interest in the Supplement ; and for the
method of computing interest, see Arithmetic, sect,
iv. p. 640, and Algebra, sect. xx. p. 658.
INTERJECTION, in Grammar, an indeclinable
part of speech, signifying some passion or emotion of
the mind. See Grammar.
INTERIM, a name given to a formulary, or kind
of confession of the articles of faith, obtruded upon
the Protestants after Luther’s death by the emperor
Charles V. when he had defeated their forces j so called
because it was only to take place in the interim (mean
time) till a general council should have decided all
points in dispute between the Protestants and Roma¬
nists. It retained most of the doctrines and ceremonies
of the Romanists, excepting that of marriage, which
was allowed to the clergy, and communion to the laity
I N T
Most of the Protestants rejected it.
There were two other interims j one of Leipsic, the
other of Franconia.
INTERLOCUTOR, in Scots Law, is the decision
or judgment of a court before the final decree is passed
And extracted#
INTERLOCUTORY decree, in English Law.
In a suit in equity, if any matter of fact be strongly
controverted, the fact is usually directed to be tried at
the bar of the court of king’s bench, or at the assizes,
upon a feigned issue. If a question of mere law arises
in the course of a cause, it is the practice of the court
of chancery to refer it to the opinion of the judges of
the court of king’s bench, upon a case stated for that
purpose. In such cases, interlocutory decrees or or¬
ders are made.
Interlocutory Judgments are such as are given in
the middle of a cause, upon some plea, proceeding on
default, which is not intermediate, and does not final¬
ly determine or complete the suit. But the inter¬
locutory judgments most usually spoken of, are those
incomplete judgments, whereby the right of the plain¬
tiff is established, but the quantum of damages sustain¬
ed by him is not ascertained, which is the province of
a jury. In such a case a writ of inquiry issues to the
sheriff, who summons a jury, inquires of the damages,
and returns to the court the inquisition so taken, where¬
upon the plaintiff’s attorney taxes costs, and signs final
judgment.
Interlocutory Order, that which decides not the
cause, but only settles some intervening matter relating
to the cause. As where an order is made in chancery,
for the plaintiff to have an injunction, to quit posses¬
sion till the hearing of the cause ; this order, not be¬
ing final, is called interlocutory.
INTERLOPERS, are properly those who, with¬
out due authority, hinder the trade of a company or
corporation lawfully established, by dealing in the same
way.
INTERLUDE, an entertainment exhibited on the
theatre between the acts of a play, to amuse the spec¬
tators while the actors take breath and shift their dress,
or to give time for changing the scenes and decora¬
tions.
In the ancient tragedy, the chorus sung the inter¬
ludes, to show the intervals between the acts.
Interludes, among us, usually consist of songs, dances,
feats of activity, concerts of music, &c.
Aristotle and Horace give it for a rule, that the in¬
terludes should consist of songs built on the principal
parts of the drama : but since the chorus has been laid
down, dancers, buffoons, &c. ordinarily furnish the in¬
terludes.
INTERMENT, the act of interring, i. e. burying
or laying a deceased person in the ground.
Aristotle asserted, that it was more just to assist the
dead than the living. Plato, in his Republic, does
not forget amongst other parts of justice, that which
concerns the dead. Cicero establishes three kinds of
justice j the first respects the gods, the second the
manes or dead, and the third men. These princi¬
ples seem to be drawn from nature •, and they appear
at least to be necessary for the support of society, since
at all times civilized nations have taken care to bury
thsir
Interim
11
Interment.
I N T [ 294 ] I N T
Interment, their dead, and to pay their last respects to them. See
Burial.
We find in history several traces of the respect which
the Indians, the Egyptians, and the Syrians entertain¬
ed for the dead. The Syrians embalmed their bodies
with myrrh, aloes, honey, salt, wax, bitumen, and re-
sinoos gums j they dried them also with the smoke of
the fir and the pine tree. The Egyptians preserved
theirs with the resin of the cedar, with aromatic spices,
and with salt. These people often kept such mum¬
mies, or at least their effigies, in their houses ; and at
grand entertainments they were introduced, that by re¬
citing the great actions of their ancestors they might
be better excited to virtue. See Funeral Rites.
The Greeks, at first, had probably not the same ve¬
neration for the dead as the Egyptians. Empedocles,
therefore, in the eighty-fourth Olympiad, restored to
life Ponthia, a woman of Agrigentum, who was about
* Diogenes to be interred^. But this people, in proportion as they
Laertius degrew civilized, becoming more enlightened, perceived
Vttaet Mo-the necessity of establishing laws for the protection of
“‘-the dead.
liT viiiUN ’ A*-!1603 ^ie la'v required that no person should
be interred before the third day 5 and in the greater
part of the cities of Greece a funeral did not take
place till the sixth or seventh. When a man appeared
to have breathed his last, his body was generally washed
by his nearest relations, with warm water mixed with
wine. They afterwards anointed it with oil ; and co¬
vered it with a dress commonly made of fine linen,
according to the custom of the Egyptians. This dress
was white at Messina, Athens, and in the greater part
of the cities of Greece, where the dead body was
crowned with flowers. At Sparta it was of a purple
colour, and the body was surrounded with olive leaves.
The body was afterwards laid upon a couch in the en¬
try of the house, where it remained till the time of
the funeral. At the magnificent obsequies with which
Alexander honoured Hephestion, the body was not
burned until the tenth day.
The Romans, in the infancy of their empire, paid
as little attention to their dead as the Greeks had done.
Acilius Aviola having fallen into a lethargic fit, was
supposed to be dead 5 he was therefore carried to the
funeral pile-, the fire was lighted up; and though he
cried out he was still alive, he perished for want of
speedy assistance. The prgetor Lamia met with the
same fate. Tubero, who had been praetor, was sa¬
ved from the funeral pile. Asclepiades a physician,
who lived in the time of Eompey the Great, about
one hundred and twenty years before the Christian
era, returning from his country-house, observed near
the walls of Rome a grand convoy and a crowd of
people, who were in mourning assisting at a funeral,
and showing every exterior sign of the deepest grief.
Having asked what was the occasion of this concourse,
no one made any reply. He therefore approached the
pretended dead body ; and imagining that he perceived
signs of life in it, he ordered the bystanders to take
away the flambeaux, to extinguish the fire, and to pull
down the funeral pile. A kind of murmur on this a-
rose throughout the whole company. Some said that
they ought to believe the physician, while others turn¬
ed both him and his profession into ridicule. The rela¬
tions., however, yielded at length to the remonstrances
3
of Asclepiades; they consented to defer the obsequies Interment,
for a little ; and the consequence was, the restoration of s—
the pretended dead person to life. It appears that
these examples, and several others of the like nature,
induced the Romans to delay funerals longer, and to
enact laws to prevent precipitate interments.
At Rome, after allowing a sufficient time for mourn¬
ing, the nearest relation generally closed the eyes of
the deceased ; and the body was bathed with warm
water, either to render it fitter for being anointed with
oil, or to reanimate the principle of life, which might
remain suspended without manifesting itself. Proofs
were afterwards made, to discover whether the person
was really dead, which were often repeated during the
time that the body remained exposed ; for there were
persons appointed to visit the dead, and to prove their
situation. On the second day, after the body had been
washed a second time, it was anointed with oil and
balm. Luxury increased to such a pitch in the choice
of foreign perfumes for this purpose, that under the
consulship of Licinius Crassus and Julius Caesar, the
senate forbade any perfumes to be used except such
as were the production of Italy. On the third day
the body was clothed according to its dignity and con¬
dition. The robe called the praetexta was put upon
magistrates, and a purple robe upon consuls ; for con¬
querors, who had merited triumphal honours, this
robe was of gold tissue. For other Romans it was
white, and black for the lower classes of the people.
These dresses were often prepared at a distance, by
the mothers and wives of persons still in life. On
the fourth day the body was placed on a couch, and
exposed in the vestibule of the house, with the visage
turned towards the entrance, and the feet near the
door; in this situation it remained till the end of the
week. Near the couch were lighted wax-tapers, a
small box in which perfumes were burnt, and a vessel
full of water for purification, with which those who
approached the body besprinkled themselves. An old
man, belonging to those who furnished every thing
necessary for funerals, sat near the deceased, with some
domestics clothed in black. On the eighth day the
funeral rites were performed ; but to prevent the body
from corrupting before that time, salt, wax, the resi¬
nous gum of the cedar, myrrh, honey, balm, gyp¬
sum, lime, asphaltes or bitumen of Judea, and seve¬
ral other substances, were employed. The body was
carried to the pile with the face uncovered, unless
wounds or the nature of the disease had rendered it
loathsome and disgusting. In such a case a mask was
used, made of a kind of plaster ; which has given rise
to the expression of junera larvata, used in some of
the ancient authors. This was the last method of
concealment which Nero made use of, after having
caused Germanicus to be poisoned : for the effect of
the poison had become very sensible by livid spots
and the blackness of the body ; but a shower of rain
happening to fall, it washed the plaster entirely away,
and thus the horrid crime of fratricide w’as discover¬
ed.
The Turks have, at all times, been accustomed to
wash the bodies of their dead before interment ; and
as their ablutions are complete, and no part of the
body escapes the attention of those who assist at such
melancholy ceremonies, they can easily perceive whether
one
I N T
[ 295 3
I N T
one be really dead or alive, by examining, among
other methods of proof, whether the sphincter ani has
lost its power of contraction. If this muscle remains
still contracted, they warm the body, and endeavour to
recal it to life ; otherwise, after having washed it with
water and soap, they wipe it with linen cloths, wash
it again with rose-water and aromatic substances, co¬
ver it with a rich dress, put upon its head a cap orna¬
mented wbh flowers, and extend it upon a carpet
placed in the vestibule or hall at the entrance of the
house. ,
In the primitive church the dead were washed and
then anointed ; the body was wrapped up in linen,
or clothed in a dress of more or less value according
to circumstances, and it was not interred until alter
being exposed and kept some days in the house. Ihe
custom of clothing the dead is preserved in France on¬
ly for princes and ecclesiastics.
In other countries, more or less care is taken to pre¬
vent sudden interments. At Geneva, there are people
appointed to inspect all dead bodies. Their duty con¬
sists in examining whether the person be really dead,
and whether one died naturally or by violence. In the
north, as well as at Genoa, it is usual not to bury the
dead till three days have expired. In Holland, people
carry their precautions much farther, and delay the fu¬
nerals longer. And in England bodies geneially re¬
main unburied three or four days.
Premature Interment. Notwithstanding the cus¬
toms above recited } still, in many places, and on ma¬
ny occasions in all places, too much precipitation at¬
tends this last office ; or if not precipitation, a neglect
of due precautions in regard to the body. In general,
indeed, the most improper treatment that can be ima¬
gined is adopted, and many a person made to descend
into the grave before he has sighed his last breath. The
histories related by Hildanus, by Gamerarius, by H01-
stius, by Macrobius in his Somnium Scipionis, by Flato
in his Republic, by Valerius Maximus, and by a great
many modern authors, leave us no doubt respecting the
dangers of such misconduct or precipitation. It must
appear astonishing that the attention of mankind has
been after all so little roused by an idea the most ter¬
rible that can be conceived on this side of eternity. If
nature recoils from the idea of death, with what hor¬
ror must she start at the thought of death anticipated,
precipitated by inattention——a return oflile in daikness,
distraction, and despair—then death repeated under
agonies unspeakable ! To revive nailed up in a coffin !
The brain can scarce sustain the reflection in our cool¬
est safest moments.
According to present usage, as soon as the sem¬
blance of death appears, the chamber of the sick is
deserted by friends, relatives, and physicians 5 and the
apparently dead, though frequently living, body, is
committed to the management of an ignorant and un¬
feeling nurse, whose care extends no farther than lay¬
ing the limbs straight, and securing her accustomed
perquisites. The bed-clothes are immediately removed,
and the body is exposed to the air. Ibis, when cold,
must extinguish any spark of life that may remain,
and which, by a different treatment, might have been
kindled into a flame ; or it may only continue to repress
k, and the unhappy person afterwards revive amidst
the horrors of the tomb.
The difference between the end of a weak life and ^
the commencement of death, is so small, and the un¬
certainty of the signs of the latter is so well established
both by ancient and modern authors who have turned
their attention to that important object, that we can
scarcely suppose undertakers capable of distinguishing
an apparent from a real death. Animals which sleep
during winter show no signs of life ; 111 this case, circu¬
lation is only suspended : hut were it annihilated, the
vital spirit does not so easily lose its action as the other
fluids of the body j and the principle of life, which
long survives the appearance of death, may re-animate
a body in which the action of all the organs seems to
be at an end. But how difficult is it to determine
whether this principle may not be revived ? It has
been found impossible to recal to life some animals suf¬
focated by mephitic vapours, though they appeared
less affected than others who have revived. Coldness,
heaviness of the body, a leaden livid colour, with a
yellowness in the visage, are all very uncertain signs :
Mr Zimmerman observed them all upon the body of a
criminal, who fainted through the dread of that pu¬
nishment which he had merited. He was shaken, drag¬
ged about, and turned in the same manner as dead bo¬
dies are, without the least signs of resistance ; and yet
at the end of 24 hours he was recalled to life by means
of volatile alkali.
A director of the coach-office at Dijon, named Co-
linet, was supposed to be dead, and the news of this
event was spread through the whole city. One of his
friends, who was desirous of seeing him at the moment
when he was about to be buried, having looked at him
for a considerable time, thought he perceived some re¬
mains of sensibility in the muscles of the face. He
therefore made an attempt to bring him to life by spi¬
rituous liquors, in which he succeeded 5 and this direc¬
tor enjoyed afterwards for a long time that life which
he owed to his friend. This remarkable circumstance
was much like those of Empedocles and Asclepiades.
These instances would perhaps be more frequent, were
men of skill and abilities called in cases of sudden death,
in which people of ordinary knowledge are often de¬
ceived by false appearances.
A man may fall into a syncope, and may remain in
that condition three or even eight days. People in this
situation have been known to come to life when depo¬
sited among the dead. A boy belonging to the hos¬
pital at Cassel appeared to have hreathed his last: he
was carried into the hall where the dead were exposed,
and was wrapped up in a piece of canvas. Some time
after, recovering from his lethargy, he recollected the
place in which he had been deposited, and crawling
towards the door knocked against it with his foot.
This noise was luckily heard by the centinel, who soon
perceiving the motion of the canvas called for assist¬
ance. The youth was immediately conveyed to a
warm bed, and soon perfectly recovered. Had his
body been confined by close bandages or ligatures, he
would not have been able, in all probability, to make
himself be heard: his unavailing efforts would have
made him again fall into a syncope, and he would have
been thus buried alive.
We must not be astonished that the servants of an
hospital should take a syncope for a real death, since
even the most enlightened people have fallen into errors
of
I N T [ 296 ] I N T
fatemient. of tlie same kind. Dr John Schmid relates, that a
■' young girl, seven years of age, after being afflicted for
some weeks with a violent cough, was all of a sudden
freed from this troublesome malady, and appeared to
be in perfect health. But some days after, while play¬
ing with her companions, this child fell down in an in¬
stant as if struck by lightning. A death-like pale¬
ness was diffused over her face and arms j she had no
apparent pulse, her temples were sunk, and she showed
no signs of sensation when shaken or pinched. A phy*
sician, who was called, and who believed her to be
dead, in compliance with the repeated and pressing re¬
quest of her parents, attempted, though without any
hopes, to recal her to life j and at length, after several
vain efforts, he made the soles of her feet be smartly
rubbed with a brush dipped in strong pickle. At the
end of three quarters of an hour she was observed to
sigh : she was then made to swallow some spirituous
liquor j and she was soon after restored to life, much
to the joy of her disconsolate parents.—A certain man
having undertaken a journey, in order to see his bro¬
ther, on his arrival at his house found him dead. This
news affected him so much, that it brought on a most
dreadful syncope, and he himself was supposed to be in
the like situation. After the usual means had been
employed to recal him to life, it was agreed that his
body should be dissected, to discover the cause of so
sudden a death ; but the supposed dead person over¬
hearing this proposal, opened his eyes, started up, and
immediately betook himself to his heels.—Cardinal
Espinola, prime minister to Philip II. was not so for¬
tunate ; for we read in the Memoirs of Amelot de la
Houssai, that he put his hand to the knife with which
he was opened in order to be embalmed. In short,
almost every one knows that Vesalius, the father of
•anatomy, having been sent for to open a woman sub¬
ject to hysterics, who was supposed to be dead, he per¬
ceived on making the first incision, by her motion and
cries, that she Was still alive j that this circumstance
rendered him so odious, that he was obliged to fly; and
that he was so much affected by it, that he died soon
after.—On this occasion, we cannot forbear to add an
event more recent, but no less melancholy. The abbe
Prevost, so well known by his writings and the singu¬
larities of his life, was seized with a fit of the apoplexy,
in the forest of Chantilly, on the 23d of October 1763.
His body was carried to the nearest village, and the
officers of justice were proceeding to open it, when 3
cry which he sent forth affrightened all the assistants,
and convinced the surgeon that the abbe was not dead j
but it was too late to save him, as he had already re¬
ceived the mortal wound.
LnmL Even in old age, when life seems to have been gra-
Chron. dually drawing to a close, the appearances of death are
™i. w. often fallacious. A lady in Cornwall, more than 80
p’43 ' years of age, who had been a considerable time decli¬
ning, took to her bed, and in a few days seemingly ex¬
pired in the morning. As she had often desired not to
be buried till she had been two days dead, her request
was to have been regularly complied with by her rela¬
tions. All that saw her looked upon her as dead, and
the report was current through the whole place ; nay,
a gentleman of the town actually wrote to his friend in
the island of Scilly that she was deceased. But one
of those who were paying the last kind office of huma¬
nity to her remains, perceived some warmth about tbeTnteimput,
middle of the back ; and acquainting her friends with y——*
it, they applied a mirror to her mouth : but, after re¬
peated trials, could not observe it in tbe least stain¬
ed y her under jaw was likewise fallen, as the common
phrase is 5 and, in short, she bad every appearance of
a dead person. All this time she had not been stripped
or dressed ; but the windows were opened, as is usual in
the chambers of the deceased. In the evening the heat
seemed to increase, and at length she was perceived to
breathe.
In short, not only the ordinary signs are very uncer¬
tain, but we may say the same of the stiffness of the
limbs, which may be convulsive; of the dilation of the
pupil of the eye, which may proceed from the same
cause; of putrefaction, which may equally attack some
parts of a living body ; and of several others. Haller,
convinced of the uncertainty of all these signs, pro¬
poses a new one, which he considers as infallible. “ If
the person (says he) be still in life, the mouth will im¬
mediately shut of itself, because the contraction of tin*
muscles of the jaw will awaken their irritability.”
The jaw, however, may be deprived of its irritability
though a man may not be dead. Eife is preserved a
long time in the passage of the intestines. Tbe sign
pointed out by Dr Fothergill appears to deserve more
attention : “If the air blown into the mouth (says this
physician) passes freely through all the alimentary
channel, it affords a strong presumption that the irrita¬
bility of the internal sphincters is destroyed, and con¬
sequently that life is at an end.” These signs, which
deserve to be confirmed by new experiments, are doubt¬
less not known to undertakers.
The difficulty of distinguishing a person apparently
dead from one who is really so, has, in all countries
where bodies have been interred too precipitately, ren¬
dered It necessary for the law to assist humanity. Of
several regulations made on this subject, we shall quote
only a few of the most recent; such as those of Arras
in 1772; of Mantua in 1774; of the grand duke of
Tuscany in 1775 ; of the senechaussee of Sivrai, in
Poitou, in 1777; and of the parliament of Metz in
the same year. To give an idea of the rest, it will be
sufficient to relate only that of Tuscany. By this edict,
the grand duke forbids the precipitate interment of
persons who die suddenly. He orders the magistrates
of health to be informed, that physicians and surgeons
may examine the body ; that they may use every en¬
deavour to recal it to life, if possible, or to discover the
cause of its death ; and that they shall make a report
of their procedure to a certain tribunal. On this oc¬
casion, the magistrate of health orders the dead not to
be covered until the moment they are about to be bu¬
ried, except so far as decency requires; observing al¬
ways that the body be not closely confined, and that
nothing may compress the jugular veins and the caro¬
tid arteries. He forbids people to be interred accord¬
ing to the ancient method ; and requires that the arms
and the hands should be left extended, and that they
should not be folded or placed cross-wise upon the
breast. He forbids, above all, to press the jaws one
against the other; or to fill the mouth and nostrils with
cotton, or other stuffing. Lastly, he recommends not
to cover the visage with any kind of cloth until the
body is deposited in its coffin.
We
I N T [ 297 ] I N T
Interment We shall conclude this article hy subjoining, from
jj Dr Hawes’s Address to the Public on this subject, a few
Interpola- 0ft|ie
cases in which this fallacious appearance of death
. tll^!l’ is most likely to happen, together with the respective
modes of treatment which he recommends.
in apoplectic and fainting fits, and in those arising
from any violent agitation of mind, and also when
opium or spirituous liquors have been taken in too
great a quantity, there is reason to believe that the
appearance of death has been frequently mistaken for
the reality. In these cases, the means recommended
bv the Humane Society for the Recovery of Drowned
Persons should be persevered in for several hours ; and
bleeding, which in similar circumstances has sometimes
proved pernicious, should be used with great caution,
(See the article Drowning). In the two latter in-
•tances it will be highly expedient, with a view of coun¬
teracting the soporific effects of opium and spirits, to
convey into the stomach, by a proper tube, a solution
of tartar emetic, and by various other means to excite
vomiting.
From the number of children carried off by con¬
vulsions, and the certainty arising from undoubted
facts, that some who have in appearance died from that
cause have been recovered j there is the greatest rea-
non for concluding, that many, in consequence of this
disease, have been prematurely numbered among the
dead j and that the fond parent, by neglecting the
means of recalling life, has often been the guiltless exe¬
cutioner of her own offspring. To prevent the com¬
mission of such dreadful mistakes, no child, whose life
lias been apparently extinguished by convulsions, should
he consigned to the grave till the means of recovery
above recommended in apoplexies, &c. have been tried j
and, if possible, under the direction of some skilful prac¬
titioner of medicine, who may vary them as circum¬
stances shall require.
When fevers arise in weak habits, or when the cure
of them has been principally attempted by means of
depletion, the consequent debility is often very great,
and the patient sometimes sinks into a state which
bears so close an affinity to that of death, that there is
reason to suspect it has too often deceived the bystand¬
ers, and induced them to send for the undertaker when
they should have had recourse to the succours of medi¬
cine. In such cases, volatiles, can de luce for example,
siliould be applied to the nose, rubbed on the temples,
and sprinkled often about the bed j hot flannels, moist¬
ened with a strong solution of camphorated spirit, may
likewise be applied over the breast, and renewed every
quarter of an hour ; and as soon as the patient is able
to swallow, a teaspoonful of the strongest cordial should
be given every five minutes.
The same methods may also be used with propriety
in the smallpox when the pustules sink, and death ap¬
parently ensues ; and likewise in any other acute dis¬
eases, when the vital functions are suspended from a si¬
milar case.
INTERMITTENT, or Intermitting, Fever;
such fevers as go off and soon return again, in opposi¬
tion to those which are continual. See Medicine
Index.
INTERPOLATION, among critics, denotes a
spurious passage inserted into the writings of some an¬
cient author.
Vox.. XI. Part 1.
Interpolation, in the modern algebra, is used for interpola.
finding an intermediate term of a series, its place in the tioa
series being given. This method was first invented by U
Mr Briggs, and applied by him to the calculation of ^nle.iroRa"
logarithms, &,c. See Algebra. . Uon* .
INTERPOSITION, the situation of a body be¬
tween two others, so as to hide them, or prevent their
action.
The eclipse of the sun is occasioned by an interposi¬
tion of the moon between the sun and us •, and that of
the moon by the interposition of the earth between the
sun and moon. See Eclipse.
INTERPRETER, a person who explains the
thoughts, words, or writings, of some other, which
before were unintelligible.—-The word interpres, ac¬
cording to Isidore, is composed of the preposition in¬
ter, and partes, as signifying a person in the middle
betwixt two parties, to make them mutually under¬
stand each others thoughts: others derive it from in¬
ter, and press, i. e. fidejussor ; q. d. a person who serves
as security between two others who do not understand
one another.
There have been great debates about interpreting
Scripture. The Romanists contend, that it belongs ab¬
solutely to the church : adding, that where she is si¬
lent, reason may be consulted ; but where she speaks,
reason is to be disregarded. The Protestants generally
allow reason the sovereign judge, or interpreter j though
some among them have a strong regard to synods, and
others to the authority of the primitive fathers. Last¬
ly, others have recourse to the Spirit within every per¬
son to interpret for them $ which is what Bochart calls
TX TTViVfAxlof.
INTERREGNUM, the time during which the
throne is vacant in elective kingdoms $ for in such ae
are hereditary, like ours, there is no such thing as aa
interregnum.
INTERREX, the magistrate who governs during
an interregnum.
This magistrate was established in old Rome, and
was almost as ancient as the city itself: after the death
of Romulus there was an interregnum of a year, du¬
ring which the senators were each interrex in their
turn, five days a-piece.
After the establishment of consuls and a common¬
wealth, though there were no kings, yet the name and
function of interrex was still preserved : for, when the
magistrates were absent, or there was any irregularity
in their election, or they had abdicated, so that the
comitia could not be held ; provided they were un¬
willing to create a dictator, they made an interrex',
whose office and authority was to last five days; after
which they made another. To the interrex was de¬
legated all the regal and consular authority, and he
performed all their functions. He assembled the se¬
nate, held comitia or courts, and took care that the
election of magistrates was according to rules. Indeed
at first it was not the custom of the interrex to hold
comitia, at least we have no instance of it in the Ro¬
man history. The patricians alone had the right of
electing an interrex ; but this office fell with the repu¬
blic, when the emperors made themselves masters cd
every thing.
INTERROGATION, Erotesis, a figure of rhe¬
toric, in which the passion of the speaker introduces a
P p thing
f
INT [298] INT
•itcifoga- thing by way of question, to make its truth more con-
tioii spicuous. _
11 The interrogation is a kind of apostrophe which the
ImeiYak gpeaker makes to himself; and it must be owned, that
"" this figure is suited to express most passions and emo¬
tions of the mind ; it serves also to press and bear
down an adversary, and generally adds an uncommon
briskness, action, force, and variety, to discourse.
Interrogation, in Grammar, is a point which
serves to distinguish such parts of a discourse, where the
author speaks as il he were asking questions. Its foim
is this (?).
INTERROGATORIES, in Laiv, are particular
questions demanded of witnesses brought in to be exa¬
mined in a cause, especially in the court of chancery.
And these interrogatories must be exhibited by the par¬
ties in suit on each side ; which are either direct tor the
party that produces them, or counter, on behalf of the
adverse party ; and generally both plaintiff and defend¬
ant may exhibit direct, and counter or cross interro¬
gatories. They are to be pertinent, and only to the
points necessary ; and either drawn or perused by coun¬
sel, and to be signed by them.
INTERSCENDENT, in Algebra, is applied to
quantities, when the exponents of their powers are ra¬
dical quantities. Thus, aVS &c- are interscend-
ent quantities. <
INTERSECTION, in Mathematics, the cutting of
one line, or plane, by another; or the point or line
wherein two lines, or two planes, cut each other.
The mutual intersection of two planes is a right line.
The centre of a circle is in the intersection of two dia¬
meters. The central point of a regulator irregular
figure of four sides, is the point of intersection of the two
diagonals.
The equinoxes happen when the sun is in the inter¬
sections of the equator and ecliptic.
INTERSPIN ALES. See Anatomy, Table of the
Muscles.
INTERVAL, the distance or space between tw'O
extremes, either in time or place. The word comes
from the Latin intervallum, which according to Isidore,
signifies the space inter fossain Sf murum, “ between
the ditch and the wall :” others note, that the stakes
or piles, driven into the ground iu the ancient Roman
bulwarks, were called valla ; and the interstices or va¬
cancy between them, intervalla,
Interval, in Music* The distance between any
given sound and another, strictly speaking, is neither
measured by any common standard of extension nor
duration ; but either by immediate sensation, or by
computing the difference between the numbers of vi¬
brations produced by two or more sonorous bodies,
in the act of sounding, during the same given time.
As the vibrations are slower and fewer during the same
instant, for example, the sound is proportionally lower
or graver; on the contrary, as during the same period
the vibrations increase in number and velocity, the
sounds are proportionably higher or more acute. An
interval in music, therefore, is properly the difference
between the number of vibrations produced by one so¬
norous body of a certain magnitude and texture, and of
those produced by another of a different magnitude and
texture, in the same time.
Intervals are divided into consonant and dissonant.
A consonant interval is that whose extremes, or whose hueiva!
highest and lowest sounds, when simultaneously heard, Jl
coalesce in the ear, and produce an agreeable sensation , n-r>*Be-
called by Lord Karnes a terlium quid. A dissonant in¬
terval, on the contrary, is that whose extremes, simul¬
taneously heard, far from coalescing in the ear, and
producing one agreeable sensation, are each of them
plainly distinguished from the other, produce a grating
effect upon the sense, and repel each other with an ir-
reconcileable hostility. In proportion as the vibra¬
tions of different sonorous bodies, or of the same sonor¬
ous body in different modes, more or less frequently
coincide during the same given time, the chords are
more or less consonant. When these vibrations never
coincide at all in the same given time, the discord is
consummate, and consequently the interval absolutely
dissonant. But for a full account of these, see Mu¬
sic.
INTESTATE, in Law, a person that dies without
making a will.
INTESTINA, in the Linn wan System, one of the
orders of worms. See Helminthology Index.
INTESTINES, Intestina, in Anatomy, the guts.
or bowels; those hollow, membranous, cylindrical parts,,
extended from the right orifice of the stomach to the
anus ; by which the chyle is conveyed to the lacteals,
and the excrements are voided. See Anatomy,
N° 93.
INTONATION, in Music, the action of sounding
the notes in the scale with the voice, or any other gi¬
ven order of musical tones. Intonation may be either
true or false, either too high or too low, either too
sharp or too flat; and then this word intonation, attend¬
ed with an epithet, must be understood concerning the
manner of performing the notes.
In executing an air, to form the sounds, and pre¬
serve the intervals as they are marked with justness
and accuracy, is no inconsiderable difficulty, and
scarcely practicable, but by the assistance of one com¬
mon idea, to which, as to their ultimate test, these
sounds and intervals must be referred : these common
ideas are those of the key, and the mode in which the
performer is engaged ; and from the word tone, which
is sometimes used in a sense almost identical with that
of the key, the word intonation may perhaps be deri¬
ved. It may also he deduced from the word diatonic,
as in that scale it is most frequently conversant; a scale
which appears most convenient and most natural to tlm
voice. We feel more difficulty in our intonation of
such intervals as are greater or lesser than those of the
diatonic order ; because, in the first case, the glottis
and vocal organs are modified by gradations too large1;
or too complex, in the second.
ENTRENCHMENT, in the military art, any
work that fortifies a post against an enemy who at¬
tacks. It is generally taken for a ditch or trench with
a parapet. Intrenchments are sometimes made of ias-
cines with earth thrown over them, of gabions, hogs¬
heads, or bags filled with earth, to cover the men from
the enemy’s fire.
INTRIGUE, an assemblage of events or circum¬
stances, occurring in an affair, and perplexing the per¬
sons concerned in it. In this sense, it is used to signify
the nodus or plot of a play or romance ; or that point
wherein the principal characters are most embarrassed.
through
I N T
[ 299 ]
I N V
Intrigue
through the artifice and opposition of certain persons, or
the unfortunate falling out of certain accidents and cir¬
cumstances.
In tragedy, comedy, or an epic poem, there are
always two designs. Ihe first and principal is that of
the hero of the piece : the second contains the designs
of all those who oppose him. These opposite causes
produce opposite effects, to wit, the efforts of the hero
for the execution of his design, and the efforts of those
y/ho thwart it. As these causes and designs are the be¬
ginning of the action, so these efforts are the middle,
and there form a knot or difficulty which we call the
inlrigue, that makes the greatest part of the poem. It
lasts as long as the mind of the reader or hearer is sus¬
pended about the event of those opposite efforts : the
solution or catastrophe commences when the knot be¬
gins to unravel, and the difficulties and doubts begin to
clear up.
The intrigue of the Iliad is twofold. The first com¬
prehends three days fighting in Achilles's absence, and
consists on the one side in the resistance of Agamemnon
and the Greeks, and on the other in the inexorable
temper of Achilles. The death of Patroclus unravels
this intrigue, and makes the beginning of a second.
Achilles resolves to be revenged, but Hector opposes
his design j and this forms the second intrigue, which
is the last day’s battle.
In the iEneid there are also two intrigues. The first
is taken up in the voyage and landing of iEneas in
Italy *, the second is his establishment there : the op¬
position he met with from Juno in both these under¬
takings forms the intrigue.
As to the choice of the intrigue, and the manner
of unravelling it, it is certain they ought both to spring
naturally from the ground and subject of the poem.
Bossu gives us three manners of forming the intrigue
of a poem : the first is that already mentioned j the se¬
cond is taken from the fable and design of the poet; in
the third the intrigue is so laid, as that the solution fol¬
lows from it of course.
INTRINSIC, a term applied to the real and ge¬
nuine values and properties, &c. of any thing, in op¬
position to their extrinsic or apparent values.
INTRODUCTION, in general, signifies any thing
which tends to make another in some measure known
before we have leisure to examine it thoroughly ; and
hence it is used on a great variety of occasions. Thus
we speak of the introduction of one person to another ;
the introduction to a book, &c.——It is also used to
signify the actual motion of any body out of one place
into another, when that motion has been occasioned by
some other body.
IntroductioK, in Oratory. See Oratory, N° 26.
INTUITION, among logicians, the act whereby the
mind perceives the agreement or disagreement ol two
ideas, immediately by themselves, without the interven¬
tion of anv other } in which case the mind perceives
the truth as the eye does the light, only by being di¬
rected towards it. See Logic, N° 25, 27*
INTUITIVE EVIDENCE, is that which results from
Intuition. Dr Campbell distinguishes different sorts
of intuitive evidence j one resulting purely from intel¬
lection, or that faculty which others have called intui¬
tion j another kind arising from consciousness j and a
third sort from that new-named faculty Common Sense,
which this ingenious writer, as well as several others, Intuitive
contends to be a distinct original source of knowledge ; evidence
whilst others refer its supposed office to the intuitive r U
„ , , ,.ir Inventorv.
power of the understanding. ^ , .
INVALID, a person wounded, maimed, or disabled
for action by age.
At Chelsea and Greenwich are magnificent Hospi¬
tals, or rather colleges, built for the reception and
accommodation of invalids, or soldiers and seamen worn
out in the service.
We have also twenty independent companies of in¬
valids, dispersed in the several forts and garrisons.
At Paris is a college of the same kind, called les
Invalides, which is accounted one of the finest buildings
in that city.
INVECTED, in Heraldry, denotes a thing fluted
or furrowed. See Heraldry.
INVECTIVE, in Rhetoric, differs from reproof, as
the latter proceeds from a friend, and is intended for
the good of the person reproved 5 whereas the invective
is the work of an enemy, and entirely designed to vex
and give uneasiness to the person against whom it is
directed.
INVENTION, denotes the act of finding any thing
new, or even the thing thus found. Thus we say, the
invention of gunpowder, ofprinting, &c. The alcove
is a modern invention owing to the Moors.
The Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, are of
Greek invention j the Tuscan and Composite of Latin
invention. Janson ab Almeloveen has written an Ono-
masticon of inventions $ wherein are shown, in an al¬
phabetical order, the names of the inventors, and the
time, place, &c. where they are made. Pancirollus
has a treatise of old inventions that are lost, and new
ones that have been made ; Polydore Virgil has also
published eight books of the inventors of things, De
Inventoribus Rerum.
Invention is also used for the finding of a thing
bidden. The Romish church celebrates a feast on the
4th of May, under the title of Invention of the Holy
Cross.
Invention is also used for subtility of mind, or some¬
what peculiar to a man’s genius, which leads him to a
discovery of things new J in which sense we say, a man
of invention.
Invention, in Painting, is the choice which the
painter makes of the objects that are to enter the com¬
position of his piece. See PAINTING.
Invention, in Poetry, is applied to whatever the
poet adds to the history of the subject he lias chosen ;
as well as to the new turn he gives it. See Poetry.
Invention, in Rhetoric, signifies the finding out
and choosing of certain arguments which the orator is
to use for the proving or illustrating his point, moving
the passions or conciliating the minds of his hearers.
Invention, according to Cicero, is the principal part of
oratory: he wrote four hooks Do Inventione, whereof
we have hut two remaining. See Oratory.
INVENTORY, in Law, a catalogue or schedule
orderly made, of all the deceased person’s goods and
chattels at the time of his death, with their value ap¬
praised by different persons, which every executor pr
administrator is obliged to exhibit to the ordinary at
such time as he shall appoint.
By 21 Hen. VIII. c. v. executors and administrators
P p 2 are
Inver-
keithiiii;.
I N V [ 3,
Invcniory are to deliver in upon oath to the ordinary, indented
inventories, one part of which is to remain with the
ordinary, and the other part with the executor or ad-
i ministrator ; this is required for the benefit of the cre¬
ditors and legatees, that the executor or administrator
may not conceal any part of the personal estate from
them. The statute ordains, that the inventory shall be
exhibited within three months after the person’s de¬
cease j yet it may be done afterwards ; for the ordinary
may dispense with the time, and even with its being
ever exhibited, as in cases where the creditors are paid,
and the will is executed.
INVERARY, the county town of Argyleshire, in
Scotland, pleasantly situated on a small bay formed by
the junction of the river Ary with Loch Fine, where
the latter is a mile in width and 60 fathoms in depth.
Here is a castle, the principal seat of the dukes of Ar-
gyle, chief of the Campbells. It is a modern building
of a quadrangular form, with a round tower at each
corner } and in the middle rises a square one glazed on
every side to give light to the staircase and galleries,
■which has from without rather a heavy appearance.
This castle is built of a coarse kipis ollaris brought from
the other side of Loch Fine j and is of the same kind
with that found in Norway, of which the king of
Denmark’s palace is built. The founder of the castle,
the late Duke Archibald, also formed the design of an
entire new town, upon a commodious elegant plan, be¬
coming the dignity of the capital of Argyleshire, a
country most admirably situated for fisheries and navi¬
gation. The town has been rebuilt agreeable to the
original design ; and the inhabitants are well lodged in
houses of stone, lime, and slate. They are fully em¬
ployed in arts and manufactures.—The planting around
Inverary is extensive beyond conception, and admira-
rably variegated j every crevice, glen, and mountain,
displaying taste and good sense.—The population of
the town and. parish in 1811 was 1134.
The value of the immense wood at this place, for
the various purposes of bark, charcoal, forges, paling,
furniture, house and ship building, is thus estimated
by Mr Knox: “ Some of the beech are from 9 to 12
feet in circumference, and the pines from 6 to 9 ; but
these being comparatively few, we shall state the me¬
dium girth of 2,OOO,Coo trees planted within these last
hundred years, at 3 feet, and the medium value at 4s,
which produces 400,0001.5 and this, for the most
part, upon grounds unfit for the plough, being chiefly
composed of hills and rock.” One of these hills rises
immediately from the house a great height, in the form
of a pyramid, and is clothed to the summit with a
thick wood of vigorous ornamental trees. On this
.summit or point Archibald duke of Argyle built a
Gothic tower, or observatory, where he sometimes
amused hiniself. The ascent by the road seems to
be half a mile, and the perpendicular height about 800
feet.
. INVERBERVIE, or Bervie, a town of Scotland,
jn Kincardineshire or the Mearns, and a royal borough,
13 miles north-east from Montrose. It lies between
two small hills, which terminate in high cliffs towards
the sea ; it is but a small place, the inhabitants of which
are chiefly employed in making thread.
INVERKEITHING, a town of Scotland, in the
county of Fife, situated on the northern shore of the
:o ] I N V
frith of Forth, In W. Long. 3. ,3. N. Lot. 3(5. 3. It
was much lavoured by William, who grantcil its first Iwith .,
charter. He extended its liberties considerably, and S
in the time of David I. it became a royal residence,
'I he Iranciscans had a convent in this town 5 and ac-
cording to Sir Robert S.bbald, the Dominicans’ had
another. Ihe population of the town and parish in 1811
amounted to 2400 5 and they are employed in the her¬
ring fishery, the coal, and coasting trade. It has a
considerable trade in coal and other articles
INVERLOCHY, an ancient castle in the neigh¬
bourhood of Fori-William in Inverness-shire. It is
adorned with large round towers 5 and, by the mode of
building, seems to have been the work of the English
m the time of Edward I. who laid large fines on& the
Scotch barons for the purpose of erecting new castles
Ihe largest of these towers is called Cnmin's. But
long prior to these ruins, Inverlochy, according to
Boece, had been a place of great note, a most opulent
city, remarkable for the vast resort of French and Spa¬
niards, probably on account of trade. It was also a
seat of the kings of Scotland, for here Aehaius in the
year 790 signed (as is reported) the league offensive
and defensive between himself and Charlemagne. In
after-times it was utterly destroyed by the Danes and
never again restored. ’
In tbe neighbourhood of this place were fought two
fierce battles, one between Donald Balloch brother to
Alexander lord of the Isles, who with a great power
invaded Lochaber in the year 1427: he was met by
the earls of Mar and Caithness 5 the last was slain, anil
their forces totally defeated. Balloch returned to the
rsles with vast booty. Here also the Campbells under
the marquis of Argyle, were in February 164 c de¬
feated by Montrose. Fifteen hundred fell in the action
and in the pursuit, with the loss only of three to the
royalists.
INVERNESS, capital of a county of the same
name in Scotland, is a parliament-town, finely seated
on the river Ness, over which there is a stone bridge of
seven arches, in W. Long. 4. N. Lat. 57. 36. It is
large, well built, and very populous, being the most
northerly town of any note in Britain. As there are
always regular troops in its neighbourhood, there is a
great air of politeness, a plentiful market, and more
money and business stirring than could have been expect¬
ed in such a remote part of the island. The country in
the neighbourhood is remarkably well cultivated ; and
its produce clearly shows that the soil and climate are
not despicable. The salmon-fishery in the Ness is very
considerable, and is let to London fishmongers. Some
brandies both of the woollen, linen, and hemp manu¬
facture, are also earned on here 5 and, in consequence
of the excellent military roads, there is a great propor¬
tion of inland trade. But besides all this, Inverness is
a port with 20 creeks dependent upon it, part on the
Murray fiith to the east, and part on the north of the
town, reaching even the south border of the county of-
Caithness. Inverness has several good schools 5 and an
academy was erected some years ago on an extensive
and liberal plan. Ihe inhabitants speak tbe Erse and
English language promiscuously. On an eminence near
the town are the remains of a castle, where, according
to some historians, the famous Macbeth murdered
Duncan hi^ royal guest. Population 11,353 in 1811.
In veb ness- shire*.
I N V [ 301 ] I N V
IxpBByESS-Shire, a county of Scotland, bounded on
tbe north by Ross-shire j on the east by the shires of
Nairne, Murrry, and Aberdeen j on the south, by
those of Perth and Argyle j and on the west by the
Atlantic ocean. Its extent from north to south is
above 50 miles; from east to west about 80.—-The
northern part of this county is very mountainous and
barren. In the district of Glenelg are seen the ruins
of several ancient circular buildings, similar to those
in the Western Isles, Sutherland, and Ross-shire; con¬
cerning the uses of which antiquaries are not agreed.
In their outward appearance they are round and ta¬
pering like glass-houses. In the heart of the wall,
which is perpendicular within, there are horizontal
galleries going quite round and connected by stairs.
These ascend toward the top, which is open. They
nre all built of stone, without lime or mortar of any
kind. They have no opening outward, except the
doors and the top ; but there are several in the inside,
as windows to the galleries. From Bernera barracks,
in this district, proceeds the military road to Inver¬
ness.
This county is nearly divided by water, so that by
means of the Caledonian canal uniting Loch Ness,
Loch Oich, Loch Lochy, and Lochiel or Loch Eil,
a communication will he opened between the eastern
and western seas. This great undertaking, it is ex¬
pected, will be completed in 1822. In this tract, Fort
George, Fort Augustus, and Fort William, form what
is called the Chain of Forts across the island. By
means of Fort George on the east, all entrance up the
frith towards Inverness is prevented ; Fort Augustus
curbs the inhabitants midway, and Fort William is a
check to any attempts in the west. Detachments are
made from all these garrisons to Inverness, Bernera
barracks opposite to the isle of Skye, and Castle Duart
in the isle of Mull.
The river Ness, upon which the capital of the shire
is situated, is the outlet of the great lake called Loch
Ness. This beautiful lake is 22 miles in length, and
for the most part one in breadth. It is skreened on the
north-west by the lofty mountains of Urquhart and
Mealfourvony, and bordered with coppices of birch
and oak. The adjacent bills are adorned with many
extensive forests of pine *, which afford shelter to the
cattle, and are the retreat of stags and deer. There is
much cultivation and improvements on the banks of
Loch Ness j and the pasture-grounds in the neighbour¬
ing valleys are excellent.—From the south, the river
Fyers descends towards this lake. Over this river
there is built a stupendous bridge, on two opposite
rocks j the top of the arch is above 100 feet from the
level of the water. A little below the bridge is the
celebrated Fall of Fyers, where a great body of water
darts through a narrow gap between two rocks, then
falls over a vast precipice into the bottom of the chasm,
where the foam rises and fills the air like a great cloud
of smoke.
Loch Oich is a narrow lake, stretching about four
miles from east to west. It is adorned with some small
wooded islands, and is surrounded with ancient trees.
Near this is the family seat of Glengary, surrounded
by natural woods of full grown fir, which extend nine
ten miles along the banks of the river Gary. The
w-aters of Loch Oich flow through Loch Ness into the
eastern sea.—Loch Lochy transmits its waters in an op- sbfere.
posite direction, this being the highest part of the vast ^'
flat tract that here stretches from sea to sea. This ex¬
tensive lake is above ten miles in length, and from one
to two in breadth. From the west, the waters of Loch
Arkek descend into this lake. Out of it runs the river
Lochy, which about a mile below its issue from the
lake receives the Spean, a considerable river, over which
there is a magnificent bridge, built by General Wade,
about two miles above the place where it falls into the
Lochy. These united streams traversing the plains of
Lochaber, after a course of five or six miles, fall into
Loch Eil.
A few miles to the south-east of Loch Lochy is
Glenroy er King’s Vale. The north-east end of this
valley opens on Loch Spey. A small river passes along
the bottom of the vale, accompanied by a modern road.
On the declivity of the mountains, about a mile from
the river, on either hand, are seen several parallel roads
of great antiquity. On the north-west side, five of these
roads run parallel and close by each other. On the
opposite side there are three other roads exactly similar.
These roads are 30 feet broad, all perfectly horizontal,
and extend eight or nine miles in length. Their des¬
tination or use has baffled the conjectures of antiqua¬
ries.—Not far from Fort Augustus soars the pointed
summit of Bennevis, which is esteemed the highest
mountain in Britain, rising more than 4300 feet above
the level of the sea.—In the districts of Moydart, Ara-
saick, Morer, and Knoydart, there are numerous bays
and creeks, along the coast, many of which might be
excellent fishing stations.
The southern part of this county is very mountain¬
ous, and is supposed to be the most elevated ground so
Scotland. From its numerous lakes many streams de¬
scend toward both seas. In the extensive district call¬
ed Badenoch lies Loch Spey, the source of the great
river Spey, which proceeding eastward with an increa¬
sing stream, enters the shire of Murray at Rothie-
murchus, after having expanded into a fine lake. Not
far from this is seen the lofty top of Cairngorm ; a
mountain celebrated for its beautiful rock-crystals of
various tints. These are much esteemed by lapidaries j
and some of them, having the lustre of fine gems, bring
a very high price. Limestone, iron-ore, and some tra¬
ces of different minerals, are found in the county ; bn£
no mines have yet been worked with much success.
Its rivers and lakes afford abundance of salmon and
trout. The extensive plains which surround the lakes
are in general fertile $ and the high grounds feed many
sheep and black cattle, the rearing and selling of which
form the chief trade of the inhabitants.—By the pre¬
sent spirited exertions of the gentlemen in this populous
county, the commerce and the industry of the inhabi¬
tants have of late been greatly increased ; and to faci¬
litate the communication with other parts, application
has been made to parliament for leave to levy a tax on
the proprietors of land for improving the roads and
erecting bridges in this extensive shire. The common¬
alty in the high parts of the county and on the western
shore speak Gaelic *, but the people of fashion in Inver¬
ness and its vicinity use the English language, and pro¬
nounce it with remarkable propriety.
I N V '[ 302 ] I N V
Inverness-
shire
Inversion,
* Statist.
Hist, vol,
xx.
The following is a view of the population of the dif¬
ferent parishes in the county at two different periods*.
Parishes.
1 Abernethy
Alvie
Ardersier
Boleskine
5 Conveth or Kiltarlity
Cromdale
Croy
Daviot
Durris
10 Glenelg
Inverness
Kilmanivaig
Kilmalie
Kilmorack
15 Kingussie
Kirkhill
Laggan
Moy
Petty
20 Urquhart
Continental part
Population Population in
in 1755. 179c—179S.
1670 1769
1021 1011
428 1298
1961 I74I
1964 2495
3063 30OO
I9O1 I552
2176 1697
IC20 126 c
1816 2746
9730 10,527
2995 24OO
3°93 4°31
2830 2318
1900 J983
1360 1570
1460 1512
1692 1812
1643 Ji18
1943 2355
46,167 48>7oi
Islands.
2J
Sky<
' Bracadale
Diurinish
Kilmuir
Portree
Sleat
Snizort
Strath
1907 2250
2568 3000
1572 2065
1385 1980
1250 1788
1627 1808
743 1579
Barry
South Uist
3c North Uist
31 Harris
11,252 14.47°
1150 1604
2209 3450
1909 3218
1969 2536
Total islands 18,489 25,278
Total 65,656 73.979
Population in 1811, 78,336
See Inverness-shire, Supplement.
INVERSE, is applied to a manner of working the
rule of three. See ARITHMETIC, N° 13.
INVERSION, the act whereby any thing is invert¬
ed or turned backwards. Problems in geometry and
arithmetic are often proved by inversion ; that is, by a
contrary rule or operation.
Inversion, in Grammar, is where the words of a
phrase are ranged in a manner not so natural as they
might be. For an instance : “ Of all vices, the most
abominable, and that which least becomes a man, is
impurity.” Here is an inversion 5 the natural order
being this : Impurity is the most abominable of all
vices, and that which least becomes a man.—An inver¬
sion is not always disagreeable, but sometimes has a
good effect.
INVERTED, in Ilusic, is derived from the Latin lareited
preposition in, and vertere, “ to turn any thing a con- 11
trary way.” ’ Invocation.
It signifies a change in the order of the notes which
form a chord, or in the parts which compose harmony j
which happens by substituting in the bass, those sounds
which ought to have been in the upper part; an opera¬
tion not only rendered practicable, but greatly facilita¬
ted by the resemblance which one note has to another
in different octaves; whence we derive the power of
exchanging one octave for another with so much pro¬
priety and success, or by substituting in the extremes
those which ought to have occupied the middle station ;
and vice versa. See Music.
INVESTIGATION, properly denotes the search¬
ing or finding out any thing by the tracks or prints of
the feet; whence mathematicians, schoolmen, and gram¬
marians, come to use the term in their respective re¬
searches.
INVESTING a Place, is when a general, having
an intention to besiege it, detaches a body of horse to
possess all the avenues; blocking up the garrison, and
preventing relief from getting into the place, till the
army and artillery are got up to form the siege.
INVESTITURE, in Law, a giving livery of seisin
or possession. There was anciently a great variety of
ceremonies used upon investitures; as at first they were
made by a certain form of words, and afterwards by
such things as had the greatest resemblance to the thing
to be transferred : thus, where lands were intended to
pass, a turf, &c. was delivered by the granter to the
grantee. In the church, it was customary for princes
to make investiture of ecclesiastical benefices, by delir
vering to the person they had chosen a pastoral staff
and a ring.
INVISIBLE lady, an amusing experiment in A-
coustics, which was exhibited in this country, first by a
Frenchman, and afterwards by others ; in which, from
the construction of the apparatus, a lady who conversed,
sung and played on musical instruments, seemed to be
enclosed in a hollow metallic globe, of about a foot in
diameter. See Science, Amusements of.
INULA, Elecampane ; a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the syngenesia class ; and in the natural method
ranking under the 49th order, Composite. See Botany
Index.
INUNDATE, the name of the 15th order in
Linnaeus’s fragments of a natural method ; consisting
of plants which grow in the water. See Botany,
p. 309.
INUNDATION, a sudden overflowing of the dry
land by the waters of the ocean, rivers, lakes, springs,
or rains.
INVOCATION, in Theology, the act of adoring
God, and especially of addressing him in prayer for his
assistance and protection. See the articles Adoration
and Prayer.
The difference between the invocation of God and of.
the saints, as practised by the Papists, is thus explained
in the catechism of the council of Trent. “ We beg
of God (says the catechism), to give us good things,
and to deliver us from evil; but we pray to the saints,
to intercede with God and obtain those things which
we stand in need of. Hence we use diflerent forms in
praying to God and to the saints: to the former we say,
hear
3
J O A
[ 3°3
J O A
Jvocal'oU
II
,1 oab.
hear us, have mercy .on us ; to the latter we only say,
pray for us” The council of Trent expressly teaches,
^that the saints who reign with Jesus Christ offer up their
prayers to God for men •, and condemns those who main¬
tain the contrary doctrine, ihe Protestants reject and
censure this practice as contrary to Scripture, deny the
truth of the fact, and think it highly unreasonable to
suppose that a limited finite being should he in a manner
omnipresent, and at one and the same time hear and at¬
tend to the prayers that are offered to him in England,
China, and Peru ; and from thence infer, that if the
saints cannot hear their requests, it is inconsistent
with common sense to address any kind of prayer to
them. , , • *
Invocation, in Poetry, an address at the beginning
of a poem, wherein the poet calls for the assistance of
some divinity, particularly of his muse, or the deity of
^INVOICE, an account in writing of the particulars
of merchandise, with their value, customs, charges, &c.
transmitted by one merchant to another in a distant
country. . .
INVOLUCRUM, among botanists, expresses that
sort of cup which surrounds a number of flowers toge¬
ther, every one of which has beside this general cup its
own particular perianthium. The involucrum consists
of a multitude of little leaves disposed in a radiated
manner. See Calyx. # .
INVOLUTION, in Algebra, the raising any quan¬
tity from its root to any height or power assigned. See
Algebra.
IO, in fabulous history, daughter of Inachus, or ac¬
cording toothers of Jasus or Pirene, was priestess of Ju¬
no at Argos. Jupiter became enamoured of her j but
Juno, jealous of his intrigues, discovered the object of
his affection, and surprised him in the company of io.
Jupiter changed his mistress into a beautiful heifer; and
the goddess, who well knew the fraud, obtained from
her husband the animal whose beauty she had conde¬
scended to commend. Juno commanded the hundied-
eyed Argus to watch the heifer; but Jupiter, anxious
for the situation of lo, sent Mercury to destroy Argus,
and to restore her to liberty, lo, (reed from the vigi¬
lance of Argus, was now persecuted by Juno, who sent
one of the Furies to torment her. She wandered over
the greatest part of the earth, and crossed over the sea,
till at last she stopped on the banks of the Nile, still ex¬
posed to the unceasing torments of the I ury. Here she
entreated Jupiter to restore her to her natural form;
and when the god had changed her from a heifer into a
woman, she brought forth Epaphus. Afterwards she
married Telegonus king of Egypt, or Osins accord¬
ing to others ; and she treated her subjects with such
mildness and humanity, that after death she received
divine honours, and was worshipped under the name of
Isis. According to Herodotus, lo was carried away
by Phoenician merchants, who wished to make repri¬
sals for Europa who had been stolen from them by the
JOAB, general of the army of King David, defeat¬
ed the Syrians and the other enemies of David, and
took the fort of Zion from the Jebusites, who, thinking
it impregnable, committed it to the care of the lame
and blind, whom they placed on the walls. He sig¬
nalized himself in all David’s wars, but was guilty of
basely murdering Abner and Amasa. He procured Joab
a reconciliation between Absalom and David; and af* ^
terwards slew Absalom, contrary to the express orders t;oan“_Arc;
of the king. He at length joined Adanijah’s party ;
and was put to death by the order of Solomon, 1014
13 C
JOACHIMITES, in Church-History, the disciples
of Joachim a Cistertian monk, who was an abbot of
Flora in Calabria, and a great pretender to inspira-
tion. #
The Joachimites were particularly fond of certain
ternaries': The Father, they said, operated from the
beginning till the coming of the Son ; the Son, from
that time to theirs, which was the year 1260; and
from that time the Holy Spirit was to operate in hia
turn. They also divided every thing relating to men,
to doctrine, and the manner of living, into tlnee clas¬
ses, according to the three persons in the Trinity :
The first ternary was that of men ; of whom the first
class was that of married men, which had lasted du¬
ring the whole period of the I ather ; the second was
clerks, which had lasted during the time of the Son ;
and the last was that of the monks, in which there was
to be an uncommon effusion of grace by the Holy Spi¬
rit : The second ternary was that of doctrine, viz. the
Old Testament, the New, and the everlasting Gospel ;
the first they ascribed to the Father, the second to the
Son, and the third to the Holy Spirit: A third ternary
consisted in the manner of living, viz. under the Father,
men lived according to the flesh; under the Son, they
lived according to the flesh and the spirit ; and under
the Holy Ghost, they were to live according to the
spirit only. .
JOAN, Pope, called by Platina John VIII. is said
to have held the holy see between Leo IV. who died in
855, and Benedict III. who died in 858. Marianus
Scotus says, she sat two years five months and four days.
Numberless have been the controversies, fables, and
conjectures, relating to this pope. It is said that a
German girl, pretending to be a man, went to Athens,
where she made great progress in the sciences; and af¬
terward came to Rome in the same habit. As she had
a quick genius, and spoke with a good grace in the pub¬
lic disputations and lectures, her great learning was ad¬
mired, and every ope loved her extremely; so that af¬
ter the death of Leo, she was chosen pope, and per-,
formed all offices as such. Whilst she was in possession
of this high dignity, she was got with child; and as she'
was going in a solemn procession to the Lateran church,
she was delivered of that child, between the Coliseum
and St Clement’s church, in a most public street, be¬
fore a crowd of people, and died on the spot, in 857.
By way of embellishing this story, may be added the
precaution reported to have been afterward taken to
avoid such another accident. After the election of a
pope, he was placed on a chair with an open seat, call¬
ed the groping chair, when a deacon came most devout¬
ly behind and satisfied himself of the pontiff’s sex by-
feeling. This precaution, however, has been long
deemed unnecessary, because the cardinals, it is alleged,
take care to become fathers before they arrive at the
pontificate.
Jo.lv d' Arc, or the Maid of Orleans, whose heroic
behaviour in reanimating the expiring valour of th&-
French nation, though by the most superstitious means,
(pretending
JOE [ 304 1 - JOG
Joan d'Arc (pretending to be inspired), deserved a better fate. She
8 was burnt by the English as a sorceress in 1421, aged
JSei- 24. See France, N° ioi.
^  JOANNA, St, or Hinzuan, one of the Comora
islands in the Indian ocean. E. Long. 44. 15. S. Lat.
12. 30. See Hinzuan.
JOB, or Book of Joz, a canonical hook of the Old
Testament, containing a narrative of a series of mis¬
fortunes which happened to a man whose name was
Job, as a trial of his virtue and patience ; together
with the conferences he had with his cruel friends on
the subject of his misfortunes, and the manner in which
he was restored to ease and happiness. This book is
filled with those noble, bold, and figurative expressions,
which constitute the very soul, of poetry.
Many of the Jewish rabbins pretend that this rela¬
tion is altogether a fiction ; others think it a simple
narrative of a matter of fact just as it happened : while
a third sort of critics acknowledge, that the ground¬
work of the story is true, but that it is written in a poe¬
tical strain, and decorated with peculiar circumstances,
to render the narration more profitable and entertain-
>»g-
The time is not set down in which Job lived. Some
have thought that he was much ancienter than Moses,
because the law is never cited by Job or his friends, and
because it is related that Job himself offered sacrifices.
Some imagine that this book was written by himself j
others say, that Job wrote it originally in Syriac or A-
rabic, and that Moses translated it into Hebrew : but
the rabbins generally pronounce Moses to be the au¬
thor of it j and many Christian writers are of the same
opinion.
JOBBER, a person who undertakes jobs, or small
pieces of work.
In some statutes, jobber is used for a person who
buys and sells for others. See Broker.
JOBBING, the business of a jobber.
Slock-Jobbing, denotes the practice of trafficking in
the public funds, or of buying and selling stock with a
view to its rise or fall. The term is commonly applied
to the illegal practice of buying and selling stock for
time, or of accounting for the differences in the rise or
fall of any particular stock for a stipulated time, whe¬
ther the buyer or seller be possessed of any such real
stock or not. See Stock-BnoKEii.
JOCASTA, in fabulous history, a daughter of Me-
noeceus, who married Laius king of Thebes, by whom
she had Oedipus. She afterwards married her son Oedi¬
pus, without knowing who he was, and had by him
Eteocles, Polynices, &c. When she discovered that
she had married her own son and been guilty of incest,
she hanged herself in despair. She is called Epicasta
by some mythologists.
JOCKEY, in the management of horses; the person
who trims up, and rides about horses for sale.
JOEL, or the Prophecy of Joel, a canonical book
of the Old Testament. Joel was the son of Pethuel,
and the second of the twelve lesser prophets. The style
of this prophet is figurative, strong, and expressive. He
upbraids the Israelites for their idolatry, and foretels the
calamities they should sufler as the punishment of that
sin : but he endeavours to support them with the com¬
fort that their miseries should have an end upon their
reformation and repentance. Some writers, inferring Jo
the order of time in which the minor prophets lived y
from the order in which they are placed in the Hebrew Joguer.
copies, conclude that Joel prophesied before Amos, who 1 v*""*
was contemporary with Uzziab, king of Judah, Arch¬
bishop Usher makes this inference from Joel’s foretelling
that drought, chap. iv. 7, 8, 9. If we consider the main
design of Joel’s prophecy, we shall be apt to conclude,
that it was uttered after the captivity of the ten tribes ;
for he directs his discourse only to Judah, and speaks
distinctly of the sacrifices and oblations that were daily
made in the temple.
JOGHIS, a sect of heathen religious in the East In¬
dies, who never marry, nor hold any thing in private
property ; but live on alms, and practise strange seve¬
rities on themselves.
They are subject to a general, who sends them from
one country to another to preach. They are, properly,
a kind of penitent pilgrims; and are supposed to be a
branch of the ancient Gymnosophists,
They frequent, principally, such places as are con¬
secrated by the devotion of the people, and pretend to
live several days together without eating or drinking.
After haying gone through a course of discipline for a
certain time, they look on themselves as impeccable,
and privileged to do any thing; upon which they give
a loose to their passions, and run into all manner of de¬
bauchery.
JOGUES, or Ioogs, certain ages, eras, or periods,
of extraordinary length, in the chronology of the Hin¬
doos. They are four in number ; of which the follow¬
ing is an account, extracted from Halhed’s Preface to
the Code of Gentoo Laws, p. xxxvi.
1. Ihe Suttee Jogue (or age of purity) is said to have
lasted three million two hundred thousand years ; and
they hold that the life of man was extended in that age
to one hundred thousand years, and that his stature was
2i cubits.
2. The Tirtah Jogue (in which one-third of mankind
was corrupted) they suppose to have consisted of two
million four hundred thousand years, and men lived to
the age often thousand years.
3. The Dwupaar Jogue (in which half of the human
race became depraved) endured one million six hundred
thousand years, and the life of man was then reduced
to a thousand years.
4. The CoUee Jogue (in which all mankind are cor-
rupted, or rather lessened, for that is the true meaning
of Collee) is the present era, which they suppose ordained
to subsist four hundred thousand years, of which near
five thousand are already past ; and the life of man in
that period is limited to one hundred years.
Concerning the Indian chronology, we have already
had occasion to be pretty copious ; see Hindoos, N° 19,
22. We shall here, however, subjoin Dr Robertson’*
observations on the above periods, from the Notes to
his Historical Disquisition concerning India.
“ if (says he *) we suppose the computation of time
in the Indian chronology to lie made by solar or even* ^
by lunar years, nothing can be more extravagant in it¬
self, or more repugnant to our mode of calculating the
duration of the world, founded on sacred and infallible
authority. From one circumstance, however, which
merits attention, we may conclude, that the informa¬
tion
J O H [ 305 1 J O H
tion which we have hitherto received concerning the
chronology of the Hindoos is very incorrect. Vi/e have,
as far as I know, only five original accounts of the dif¬
ferent Jogttes or eras of the Hindoos. The first is given
by M. Rogers, who received it from the Brahmins on
the Coromandel coast. According to it, the Suttee
Jogne is a period of one million seven hundred and
twenty-eight thousand years ; the Tirtah Jogue is one
million two hundred and ninety-six thousand years ; the
Dwapaar Jogue is eight hundred and sixty-four thou¬
sand. The duration of the Collee Jogue he does not spe¬
cify (Porte Ouverte, p. 179.). The next is that of M.
Bernier, who received it from the Brahmins of Be¬
nares. According to him, the duration of the Suttee
Jogue was two million five hundred thousand years j that
of the Tirtah Jogue, one million two hundred thousand
vears; that of the Dwapaar Jogue is eight hundred and
sixty-four thousand years. Concerning the period of
the Collee Jogue he is likewise silent (Voyages, tom.
ii. p. 160.). The third is that of Colonel Dow *, ac¬
cording to which the Suttee Jogue is a period of four¬
teen million of years, the Jirtah Jogue one million and
eighty thousand, the Dwapaar Jogue seventy-two thou¬
sand,’ and the Collee Jogue thirty-six thousand years ;
(Hist, of Hilidost. vol. i. p. 2.). The fourth account is
that of M. le Gentil, who received it from the Btah-
mins of the Coromandel coast ; and as his information
was acquired in the same part of India, and derived
from the seme source with that of M. Rogers, it agrees
with his in every particular; (Mem. dc PAeadem. dcs
Sciences pour 1772, tom. ii. part i. p. 176.)• The fifth
is the account of Mr Halhed, which has been already
given. From this discrepancy, not only ot the total
numbers, but of many of the articles in the different ac¬
counts, it is manifest that our information concerning
Indian chronology is hitherto as uncertain, as the whole
system of it is wild and fabulous. Ao me it appears
highly probable, that when we understand more tho¬
roughly the principles upon which the factitious eras or
jogues of the Hindoos have been formed, that we may
lie more able to reconcile their chronology to the true
mode of computing time, founded on the authority of
the Old Testament ; and may likewise find reason to
conclude, that the account given by their astronomers
of the situation of the heavenly bodies at the beginning
of the Collee Jogue, is not established by actual obser¬
vation, but the result of a retrospective calculation.”
JOHN, St, the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus
Christ, was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth. Fie
retired into a desert, where he lived on locusts and
wild honey ; and about the year 29 began to preach
repentance, and to declare the coming oi the Messiah.
He baptized his disciples, and the following year
Christ himself was baptized by him in the river Jor¬
dan. Some time after, having reproved Herod An-
tipas, who bad a criminal correspondence with Hero-
dias his brother Philip’s wife, he was cast into prison,
where lie was beheaded. His head was brought to
Herodias ; who, according to St Jerome, pierced his
tongue with the bodkin sbe used to fasten up hei bair,
to revenge herself alter Ins death for the freedom of
bis reproofs.
John, St, the apostle, or the evangelist, was the
brother of St Janies the Great, and the son of Zebedee.
He quitted the business of fishing to follow Jesus, and
Vol. XI. Part I. t
was his beloved disciple. He was witness to the ac- John,
tions and miracles of his Master; was present at his—v—
transfiguration on Mount Tabor ; and was with him in
the garden of olives. He was the only apostle who fol¬
lowed him to the cross; and to him Jesus left the care
of his mother. Fie was also the first apostle who knew
him again after his resurrection. He preached the
faith in Asia ; and principally resided at Ephesus, where
he maintained the mother of our Lord. He is said to
have founded the churches of Smyrna, Pergamus, Thy-
atira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. He is also
said to have preached the gospel among the Parthians,
and to have addressed his first epistle to that people.
It is related, that, when at Rome, the emperor Domi-
tian caused him to be thrown into a caldron of boiling
oil, when he came out unhurt; on which he was banish¬
ed to the isle of Patmos, where he wrote his Apoca¬
lypse. After the death of Domitian he returned to
Ephesus, where he composed his Gospel, about the
year 96; and died there, in the reign of Trajan, about
the year 100, aged 94.
Gospel of St John, a canonical book of the New Tes¬
tament, containing a recital of the life, actions, doc¬
trine, and death, of our Saviour Jesus Christ, written
by St John the apostle and evangelist.
St John wrote his Gospel at Ephesus, after his re¬
turn from the isle of Patmos, at the desire of the Chris¬
tians of Asia. St Jerome says he would not undertake
it, but on condition that they should appoint a public
fast, to implore the assistance of God ; and, that the
fast being ended, St John, filled with the Holy Ghost,
broke out into these words : “ In the beginning was the
Word,” &c. The ancients assign two reasons for this
undertaking : the first is, because, in the other three
Gospels, there was wanting the history of the begin¬
ning of Jesus Christ’s preaching till the imprisonment
of John the Baptist, which therefore he applied himself
particularly to relate. The second reason was, in or¬
der to remove the errors of the Cerinthians, Ebionites,
and other sects. But Mr Lampe and Dr Lardner
have urged several reasons to show that St John did
not write against Cerinthus or any other heretics in
his Gospel.
Bet elation of St John. See Apocalypse.
John of Salisbury, bishop of Chartres in France,
was born at Salisbury in Wiltshire, in the beginning of
the 12th century. Where he imbibed the rudiments of
bis education is unknown : but we learn that in the
year 1136, being then a youth, he was sent to Paris,
where he studied under several eminent professors, and
acquired considerable fame for his application and pro¬
ficiency in rhetoric, poetry, divinity, and particularly
in the learned languages. Thence he travelled to
Italy : and, during his residence at Rome was in high
favour with Pope Eugenius III. and his successor
Adrian IV. After his return to England, he became
the intimate friend and companion of the famous Tho¬
mas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, whom be at¬
tended in his exile, and is said to have been present
when that haughty prelate was murdered in his cathe¬
dral. What preferment he had in the church during
this time does not appear; but in 1176 he was pro¬
moted by King Henry II. to the bishopric of Chartres
in France, where he died in 1182. This John of Salis¬
bury was really a phenomenon. He was one of the first
Q q restorers
J O H [ 306 ] J O H
V,ui. restorers of the Greek and Latin languages in Europe ;
—' a classical scholar, a philosopher, a learned divine, and
an elegant Latin poet. He wrote several books ; the
principal of which are, his Life of St Thomas of Can¬
terbury, a collection of letters, and Polycraticon.
Pope John XII. a native of Cahors, before called
James cPEuse, was well skilled in the civil and canon
law ; and was elected pope after the death of Clement V.
on the 7th of August 1316. He published the consti¬
tutions called Clementines, which were made by his
predecessor j and drew up the other constitutions called
Extravagantes. Lewis of Bavaria being elected empe¬
ror, John XXII. opposed him in favour of his compe¬
titor j which made much noise, and was attended with
fatal consequences. That prince, in 1320, caused the
antipope Peter de Corbiero, a cordelier, to be elected,
who took the name of Nicholas V. and was supported
by Michael de Cesenne, general of his order j but that
antipope was the following year taken, and carried to
Avignon, where he begged pardon of the pope with a
rope about his neck, and died in prison two or three
years after. Under this pope arose the famous question
among the cordeliers, called the bt'ead of the cordeliers ;
which was, Whether those monks had the property of
the things given them, at the time they were making
use of them ? for example, Whether the bread belong¬
ed to them when they were eating it, or to the pope,
or to the Roman church ? This frivolous question gave
great employment to the pope ; as well as those which
turned upon the colour, form, and stuff, of their habits,
whether they ought to be white, gray, or black ; whe¬
ther the cowl ought to be pointed or round, large or
small j whether their robes ought to be full, short, or
long j of cloth, or of serge, &c. The disputes on all
these minute trifles were carried so far between the mi¬
nor brothers, that some of them were burned upon the
occasion. He died at Avignon in 1334, aged 90.
John, king of England. See England, N° 135,
147.
John of Fordoun. See Fordoun.
John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, a renowned ge¬
neral, father of Henry IV. king of England, died in
1438.
John of Leyden, otherwise called Buccold. See A-
nabaptists.
John Sobieski of Poland, one of the greatest warriors
in the 17th century, was, in 1665, made grand-marshal
of the crown $ and, in 1667, grand-general of the
kingdom. His victories obtained over the Tartars and
the Turks procured him the crown, to which he was
elected in 1674. Pie was an encourager of arts and
sciences, and the protector of learned men. He died
in 1696, aged 72.
St John's Day, the name of two Christian festivals j
one observed on June 24th, kept in commemoration of
the wonderful circumstances attending the birth of John
the Baptist; and the other on December 27. in honour
of St John the Evangelist.
St John's JFort. See Hypericum, Botany Index.
John’s, St, an island of the East Indies, and one of
the Philippines, east of Mindanao, from which it is
separated by a narrow strait. E. Long. 125. 25. N.
Lat. 7. o.
John’s, Sf, an island of North America, in the bay
of St Lawrence, having New Scotland on the south John'?
and west, and Cape Breton on the east. The British Johnson,
got possession of it when Louisbourg was surrendered T—
to them, on July 26. 1758.
JOHNSON, Ben, one of the most considerable
dramatic poets of the last age, whether we consider
the number or the merit of his productions. He was
born at Westminster in 1374, and was educated at the
public school there under the great Camden. He
was descended from a Scottish family $ and his father,
who lost his estate under Queen Mary, dying before
our poet was bom, and his mother marrying a brick¬
layer for her second husband, Ben was taken from
school to work at his father-in-law’s trade. Not be¬
ing captivated with this employment, he went into
the Low Countries, and distinguished himself in a mi¬
litary capacity. On his return to England, he entered
himself at St John’s college, Cambridge 5 and having
killed a person in a duel, was condemned, and narrow¬
ly escaped execution. After this he turned actor; and
Shakespeare is said to have first introduced him to tbs
world, by recommending a play of his to the stage^
after it had been rejected. His Alchymist gained him
such reputation, that in 1619 he was, at the death of
Mr Daniel, made poet-laureat to King James I. and
master of arts at Oxford. As we do not find John¬
son’s economical virtues anywhere recorded, it is the
less to be wondered at, that after this we find him pe¬
titioning King Charles, on his accession, to enlarge his
father’s allowance of 100 merks into pounds ; and
quickly after we learn that he was very poor and sick,
lodging in an obscure alley ; on which occasion it was,
that Charles, being prevailed on in his favour, sent him
ten guineas; which Ben receiving said, “ His majesty
has sent me ten guineas, because I am poor, and live
in an alley; go and tell him, that his soul lives in aa
alley.” He died in August 1637, agefl 63 years, and
was buried in Westminster-Abbey.—The most corn-
plete edition of his works was printed in 1756, in
7 vols 8vo.
Johnson, Dr Samuel, who has been styled the
brightest ornament of the 18th century, was born in
the city of Litchfield in Staffordshire, on the 18th of
September N. S. 1709. His father‘Michael was a
bookseller; and must have had some reputation in the
city, as he more than once bore the office of chief
magistrate. By what casuistical reasoning be reconciled
his conscience to the oaths required to be taken by all
who occupy such stations, cannot now be known ; but
it is certain that he was zealously attached to the exiled
family, and instilled the same principles into the youth¬
ful mind of his son. So much was he in earnest in this
work, and at so early a period did he commence it, that
when Dr Sacheverel, in his memorable tour through
England, came to Litchfield, Mr Johnson carried his
son, net then quite three years old, to the cathedral,
and placed him on his shoulders, that he might see as
well as hear the far-famed preacher.
But political prejudices were not the only bad things
which young Sam inherited from his father : he de¬
rived from the same source a morbid melancholy, which,
though it neither depressed his imagination, nor cloud.-
ed his perspicuity, filled him with dreadful apprehen¬
sions of. insanity, and rendered him wretched through
J O H [ 307 ] J O H
John'oil. From Ills nurse he contracted the scrofula or
\ - king’s evil, which made its appearance at a very early
period, disfigured a face naturally well-formed, and
deprived him of the sight of one of his eyes.
When arrived at a proper age for grammatical in¬
struction, he was placed in the free school of Litchfield,
of which one Mr Hunter was then master ; a man
whom his illustrious pupil thought “ very severe, and
wrong-headedly severe,” because he would beat a boy
for not answering questions which he could not expect
to be asked. He was, however, a skilful teacher J and
Johnson, when he stood in the very front of learning,
was sensible how much he owed to him $ for upon be¬
ing asked how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge
of the Latin tongue, he replied, “ My master beat
me very well j without that, Sir, I should have done
nothing.” r • 1
At the age of 15 Johnson was removed from Jmtcli-
field to the school of Stourbridge in Worcestershire,
at which he remained little more than a year, and then
returned home, where he staid two years without any
settled plan of life or any regular course of study. He
read, however, a great deal in a desultory manner, as
hance threw books in his way, and as inclination di-
Cected him through them j so that when in his 19th
year he was entered a commoner of Pembroke college,
Oxford, his mind was stored with a variety of such
knowledge as is not often acquired in universities, where
bovs seldom read any books but what are put into their
hands by their tutors. He had given very early proofs
of his poetical genius both in his school exercises and
in other occasional compositions : but what is perhaps
more remarkable, as it shows that he must have
thought much on a subject on which other boys of
that age seldom think at all, he had before he was 14
entertained doubts of the truth of revelation. From
the melancholy of bis temper these would naturally
prey upon his spirits, and give him great uneasiness :
but they were happily removed by a proper course of
reading J for “ his studies being honest, ended in con¬
viction. He found that religion is true j and what
he had learned, he ever afterwards endeavoured to
tc&cli/*
Concerning his residence in the university and the
means by which he was there supported, his two prin¬
cipal biographers contradict each other ; so that these
are point’s of which we cannot write with certainty.
According to Sir John Hawkins, the time of his con¬
tinuance at Oxford is divisible into two periods : Mr
Boswell represents it as only one period, with the usual
interval of a long vacation. Sir John says, that he
was supported at college by Mr Andrew Corbet in
quality of assistant in the studies of his son : Mr Bos¬
well assures us, that though he was promised pecuniary
aid by Mr Corbet, that promise was not in any de¬
gree fulfilled. We should be inclined to adopt the
knight’s account of this transaction, were it not pal¬
pably inconsistent with itself. He says, that the two
youno- men were entered in Pembroke on the same
day ,-°that Corbet continued in the college two years j
and vet that Johnson was driven home in little more
than owe year, because by the removal of Corbet he
was deprived of his pension. A story, of which one
part contradicts the other, cannot wholly be true. Sir
John adds, that “ meeting with another source, the Johnson
bounty, as it is supposed, of some one or more of the ~
members of the cathedral of Litchfield, he returned to
college, and made up the whole of his residence in the
university about three years.” Mr Boswell has told us
nothing but that Johnson, though his father was unable
to support him, continued three years in college, and
was then driven from it by extreme poverty.
These gentlemen differ likewise in their accounts of
Johnson’s tutors. Sir John Hawkins says that he had
two, Mr Jordan and Dr Adams. Mr Boswell affirms
that Dr Adams could not be his tutor, because Jordan
did not quit the college till 1731 J the year in the au¬
tumn of which Johnson himself was compelled to leave
Oxford. Yet the same author represents Dr Adams as
saying, “ I was Johnson’s nominal tutor, but he was
above my mark a speech of which it is not easy to
discover the meaning, if it was not Johnson’s duty to
attend Adams’s lectures. In most colleges we believe
there are two tutors in different departments of educa¬
tion j and therefore it is not improbable that Jordan
and Adams may have been tutors to Johnson at the
same time, the one in languages, the other in science.
Jordan was a man of such mean abilities, that though
his pupil loved him for the goodness of his heart, he
would often risk the payment of a small fine, rather than
attend his lectures *, nor was he studious to conceal the
reason of his absence. Upon occasion of one such im¬
position, he said, “ Sir, you have sconced me twopence
for non-attendance at a lecture not worth a penny.’
For some transgression or absence his tutor imposed
upon him as a Christmas exercise the task of translating
into Latin verse Pope’s Messiah ; which being shown to
the author of the original, was read and returned with
this encomium, “ The writer of this poem will leave it
a question for posterity, whether his or mine be the ori¬
ginal.” The particular course of his reading while in
college, and during the vacation which he passed at
home, cannot be traced. That at this period he read
much, we have his own evidence in what he afterwards
told the king ; but his mode of study was never regu¬
lar, and at all times he thought more than he read.
He informed Mr Boswell, that what he read solidly at
Oxford was Greek, and that the study of which he was
most fond was metaphysics.
It was in the year 1731 that Johnson left the univer¬
sity without a degree j and as his father, who died in
the month of December of that year, had suffered great
misfortunes in trade, he was driven out a commoner of
nature, and excluded from the regular modes of profit
and prosperity. Having therefore not only a profession
but the means of subsistence to seek, he accepted, in
the month of March 1732, an invitation to the office
of under-master of a free school at Market Bosworth in
Leicestershire : but not knowings as he said, whether it
was more disagreeable for him to teach or for the boys
to learn the grammar-rules, and being likewise disgust¬
ed at the treatment which he received from the patron
of the school, he relinquished in a few months a situa¬
tion which he ever afterwards recollected with horror.
Being thus again without any fixed employment, and
with very little money in his pocket, he translated Lo-
bo’s voyage to Abyssinia, for the trifling sum, it is said,
of five guineas, which he received from a bookseller in
Q q 2 Birmingham.
Johnson;
J O H L 308 ] J O H
Birmingham. This was the first attempt which it is
certain he made to procure pecuniary assisstance by
means of his pen ; and it must have held forth very
little encouragement to his commencing author by pro¬
fession.
In 1735, being then in his 26th year, he married
Mrs Porter, the widow of a mercer in Birmingham j
whose age was almost double his ; whose external form,
according to Garrick and others, had never been cap¬
tivating j and whose fortune amounted to hardly 800I.
That she had a superiority of understanding and talents,
is extremely probable, both because she certainly in¬
spired him with a more than ordinary passion, and be¬
cause she was herself so delighted with the charms of
his conversation as to overlook his external disadvanta¬
ges, which were many and great. He now set up a
private-academy j for which purpose he hired a large
house well situated near his native city : but his name
having then nothing of that celebrity which afterwards
commanded the attention and respect of mankind, this
undertaking did not succeed. The only pupils who are
known to have been placed under his care, were the
celebrated David Garrick, his brother George Gar¬
rick, and a young gentleman of fortune whose name
was OfFtly. He kept his academy only a year and a
half 5 and it was during that time that he constructed
the plan and wrote a great part of his tragedy of
Irene.
The respectable character of his parents and his
own merit had secured him a kind reception in the best
families at Litchfield ; and he was particularly distin¬
guished by Mr Walmsley register of the ecclesiastical
court, a man of great worth and of very extensive and
various erudition. That gentleman, upon hearing part
of Irene read, thought so highly of Johnson’s abilities
as a dramatic writer, that he advised him by all means
to finish the tragedy and produce it on the stage. To
men of genius the stage holds forth temptations almost
resistless. The profits arising from a tragedy, including
the representation and printing of it, and the connec¬
tions which it sometimes enables the author to form,
were in Johnson’s imagination inestimable. Flattered,
it may be supposed, with these hopes, he set out some
time in the year 1737 with his pupil David Garriek
for London, leaving Mrs Johnson to take care of the
house and the wreck of her fortune. The two adven¬
turers carried with them from Mr Walmsley an earnest
recommendation to the reverend Mr Colson, then mas¬
ter of an academy and afterwards Lucasian professor of
mathematics in (he university of Cambridge •, but from
that gentleman it does not appear that Johnson found
either protection or encouragement.
How he spent his time upon his first going to Lon¬
don is not particularly known. His tragedy was refu¬
sed by the managers of that day ; and for some years
the Gentleman’s Magazine seems to have been his prin¬
cipal resoui’ce for employment and support. To enu¬
merate his various communications to that far-famed
miscellany, would extend this article beyond the limits
which we can afford. Suffice it to say, that his con¬
nection with Cave the proprietor became very close ;
that he wrote prefaces, essays, reviews of books, and
poems j and that he wras occasionally employed in cor¬
recting the papers written by other correspondents.
When the complaints of the nation against the admini- j0]u.IS9()
stration of Sir Robert W7alpole became loud, and a mo- —y-*
tion was made, February 13. 1740-1, to remove him
from his majesty’s counsels for ever, Johnson was pitch¬
ed upon by Cave to write what was in the Magazine
\n[.\i\e&Debates in the Senate of Lilli put, but was under¬
stood to he the speeches of the most eminent members
in both houses of parliament. These orations, which
induced Voltaire to compare British with ancient elo¬
quence, were hastily sketched by Johnson while he was
not yet 32 years old, while he was little acquainted
with life, while he was struggling, not for distinction
but for existence. Perhaps in none of his writings has
he given a more conspicuous proof of a mind prompt
and vigorous almost beyond conception : for they were
composed from scanty notes taken by illiterate persons
employed to attend in both houses j and sometimes he
had nothing communicated to him but the names of
the several speakers, and the part which they took in
the debate.
His separate publications which at this time attracted
the greatest notice were, “ London, a Poem in imita¬
tion of Juvenal’s third Satire j” “Marmor Norfolcieiise>
or an Essay on an ancient prophetical Inscription in
Monkish Rhyme, latelv discovered near Lynne in Nor¬
folk and “ A complete Vindication of the Licensers
of the Stage from the malicious and scandalous asper¬
sions of Mr Brook author of Gustavus Vasa.” The
poem, which was published in 1738 by Dodsley, is uni¬
versally knowm apd admired as the mostspirited instance
in the English language of ancient sentiments adapted
to modern topics. Pope, who then filled the poetical
throne without a rival, being informed that the author’s
name was Johnson, and that he was an obscure person,
replied, “ he will soon he deterre.” The other two
pamphlets, which were published in 1739, are filled
with keen satire on the government : and though Sir
John Haw'kin.s has thought fit to declare that they dis¬
play neither learning nor wit, Pope was of a different
opinion ; for in a note of his preserved by Mr Boswell,
he says, that “ the whole of the Norfolk prophecy is
very humorous.”
Airs Johnson, who went to Louden soon after her
husband, now lived sometimes in one place and some¬
times in another, sometimes in the city and sometimes
at Greenwich : but Johnson himself was oftener to be
found at St John’s Gate, where the Gentleman’s Ma¬
gazine was published, than in his own lodgings. It was
there that he became acquainted with Savage, with
whom he was induced, probably by the similarity of
their circumstances, to contract a very close friend¬
ship; and such were their extreme necessities, that they
have often wandered whole nights in the street for
want of money to procure them a lodging. In one
of these nocturnal rambles, when their distress was al¬
most incredible, so far were they from being depressed
by their situation, that in high spirits and brimful of
patriotism, they traversed St James’s Square for se¬
veral hours ; inveighed against the minister ; and, as
Johnson said in ridicule of himself, his companion, anil
all such patriots, “ resolved that they would stand by
their country !” In 1744, he published the life of his
unfortunate companion ; a work which, had he never
written any thing else, would have placed him very
high
J O H
Jubison. Ir'gli in the rank of authors (a)
'“■—y*—*—' markably smooth and well disposed, his observations are
just, and his reflections disclose the inmost recesses of
the human heart.
In 1749, when Drnry-lane theatre was opened un¬
der the management oi Garrick, Johnson wrote a pro¬
logue for the occasion 5 which for just dramatic criti¬
cism on the whole range of the English stage, as well
as for poetical excellence, is confessedly unrivalled. But
this year is, in his life, distinguished as the epoch when
his arduous and important work, the Dictionary of toe
English Language, was announced to the world by the
publication of its plan or prospectus, addressed to the
earl of Chesterfield. From that nobleman Johnson was
certainly led to expect patronage and encouragement j
and it seems to be equally certain that his lordship ex¬
pected, when the book should be published, to be ho¬
noured with the dedication. I he expectations cf both
were disappointed. Lord Chesterfield, after seeing the
lexicographer once or twice, suflered him to be lepul-
sed from his door: hut afterwards thinking to con¬
ciliate him when the work was upon the eve of publi¬
cation, he wrote two papers in “ The World,” warmly
recommending it to the public. This artifice was seen
through 5 and Johnson, in very polite language, reject¬
ed his lordship’s advances, letting him know, that he
was unwilling the public should consider him as owing
to a patron that which Providence bad enabled him to
do for himself. This great and laborious work its au¬
thor expected to complete in three years : hut ue was
certainly employed upon it seven j for we know that
it was begun in 1747, and the last sheet was sent to
the press in the end of the year _ When W'e
consider the nature of the undertaking, it is indeed
astonishing that it was finished so soon, since it was
Written, as he says, “ with little assistance of the learn¬
ed, and without any patronage of the great •, not in the
soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of
academic bowers, but amidst inconvenience and dis¬
traction, in sickness and in sorrow.” The sorrow, to
which he here alludes, is probably that winch he felt
for the loss of his wife, who died on the 17th of March
O. S. 1752, the loss of whom he continued to lament
as long as he lived.
The Dictionary did not occupy his whole time :
for while he was pushing it forward, he fitted his tia-
gedy for the stage 5 wrote the lives of several eminent
men for the Gentleman’s Magazine j published an Imi¬
tation of the 10th Satire of Juvenal, entitled “ The
Vanity of human Wishes j” and began and finished
“ The Rambler.” This last work is so well known,
that it is hardly necessary to say that it was a periodi¬
cal paper, published twice a-week, from the 20th of
March 1750 to the 14th of March 1752 inclusive; but
to give our readers some notion of the vigour and promp¬
titude of the author’s mind, it may not be improper to
observe, that notwithstanding the severity of his other
labours, all the assistance which he received does not
[ 309 3 J O H
His narrative is re- amount to five papers ", and that many cf the most ma- JoIibfoh.
sterly of those unequalled essays were written on the 1»-—v——>
spur of the occasion, and never seen entire by the au¬
thor till they returned to him from the press.
Soon after the Rambler was concluded, Dr Hawkes-
worth projected “ The Adventurer” upon a similar
plan ; and by the assistance of friends he was enabled
to carry it on with almost equal merit. lor a short
time, indeed, it was the most popular work of the two ;
and the papers with the signature T, which are con¬
fessedly the most splendid in the whole collection, are
now known to have been communicated by Johnson,
who received for each the sum of two guineas. This
was double the price for which he sold sermons to such
clergymen as either would not or could not compose
their own discourses ; and of sermon-writing he seems
to have made a kind of trade.
Though he had exhausted, during the time that he
was employed on the Dictionary, more than the sum
for which the booksellers had bargained for the copy ;
yet by means of the Rambler, Adventurer, sermons,
and other productions of his pen, he now found himseif
in greater affluence than he had ever been before j and
as the powers of his mind, distended by long and severe
exercise, required relaxation to restore them to their
proper tone, he appears to have done little or nothing
from the closing of the Adventurer till the year IJ56,
when he submitted to the office of reviewer in the Lite¬
rary Magazine. Of his reviews by far the most valuable
is that of Soame Jennyns’s “ Free Inquiry into the Na¬
ture and Origin of Evil.” Never were wit and meta¬
physical acuteness more clqsely united than in that criti¬
cism, which exposes the weakness and holds up to con¬
tempt the reasonings of those vain mortals, who presump¬
tuously attempt to grasp the scale of existence, and to
form plans of conduct for the Creator of the universe.
But the furnishing of magazines, reviews, and even
newspapers with literary intelligence, and authors of
books with dedications and prefaces, was considered aS
an employment unworthy of Johnson. It was therefore
proposed by the booksellers that he should give a new
edition of the dramas of Shakespeare ; a work which
he had projected many years before, and of which he
had published a specimen which was commended by
Warburton. When one of ins friends expressed a hope
that this employment would furnish him with amuse¬
ment and add to Ins fame, he replied, “ I look upon it
as I did upon the Dictionary j it is all work j and my
inducement to it Is not love or desire of fame, but the
want of money, which is the only motive to writing
that I know of.” He issued proposals, however, of
considerable length *, in which he showed that he knew
perfectly what a variety of research such an undertaking
required : but his indolence prevented him from pur¬
suing it with diligence, and it was not published till
many years afterwards.
On the 15th of April 1785 he began a new periodi¬
cal paper entitled “ The Idler,” which came out every
Satnrrla v
(a) From the merit of this work Mr Boswell has endeavoured to detract, by insinuating, that the person cal¬
led Richard Savage was an impostor, and not the son of the earl of Rivers and the countess of Macclesfield.
The moral character of Savage was undoubtedly unworthy of such a biographer 3 and it may be fairly questioned
whether his intellectual or poetical character at all entitled him to such respectable notice.
J O H
Jolinson. Saturday in a weekly newspaper, called “ tlie Univer-
 yr—^ sal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette,” published by New-
berry. Of these essays, which were continued till the
5th of April 1760, many were written as hastily as an
ordinary letter ; and one in particular composed at
Oxford was begun only half an hour before the de¬
parture of the post which carried it to London.
About this time he had the offer of a living, of which
he might have rendered himself capable by entering
into orders. It was a rectory in a pleasant country, of
such yearly value as would have been an object to one
in much better circumstances ; but sensible, as it is
supposed, of the asperity of his temper, he declined it,
saying, “ I have not the requisites for the office, and I
cannot in my conscience shear the flock which I am un¬
able to feed.”
In the month of January 1759 his mother died at
the great age of 90 ; an event which deeply affected
him, and gave birth to the 41st Idler, in which he la¬
ments, that “ the life which made his own life pleasant
. was at an end, and that the gate of death was shut up¬
on his prospects.” Soon afterwads he wrote his “ Ras-
selas Prince of Abyssinia; that with the profits he might
defray the expence of his mother’s funeral, and pay
some debts which she had left. He told a friend, that
he received for the copy look and 25I. more when it
came to a second edition ; that he wrote it in the
evenings of one week, sent it to the press in por¬
tions as it was written, and had never since read it
over.
Hitherto, notwithstanding his various publications,
he was poor, and obliged to provide by his labour for
the wants of the day that was passing over him ; but
having been early in 1762 represented to the king as
a very learned and good man without any certain pro¬
vision, his majesty was pleased to grant him a pension,
which Lord Bute, then first minister, assured him “ was
not given for any thing which he was to do, but for
what he had already done.” A fixed annuity of three
hundred pounds, if it diminished his distress, increased
his indolence ; for as he constantly avowed that he had
no other motive for writing than to gain money, as he
had now what was abundantly sufficient for all his pur¬
poses, as he delighted in conversation, and was visited
and admired by the witty, the elegant, and the learn¬
ed, very little of his time was past in solitary study.
Solitude was indeed his aversion ; and that he might
avoid it as much as possible, Sir Joshua Reynolds and
he, in 1764, instituted a club, which existed long with¬
out a name, but was afterwards known by the title of
the Literary Club. It consisted of some of the most en¬
lightened men of the age, who met at the Turk’s Head
in Gerard-street, Soho, one evening in every week at
seven, and till a late hour enjoyed “ the feast of reason
and the flow of soul.”
In 1765, when Johnson was more than usually op¬
pressed with constitutional melancholy, he was fortu¬
nately introduced into the family of Mr Thrale, one
of the most eminent brewers in England, and member
of parliament for the borough of Southwark : and it
is but justice to acknowledge, that to the assistance
which Mr and Mrs Thrale gave him, to the shelter
which their house afforded him for 16 or 17 years,
and to the pains which they took to soothe or repress
his uneasy fancies, the public is probably indebted for
J O H
some of the most masterly as well as the most popular Johnson.
Avorks which he ever produced. At length, in the v—-
October of this year, he gave to the world his edition
of Shakespeare, which is chiefly valuable for the pre¬
face, where the excellencies and defects of that immor¬
tal bard are displayed with such judgment, as must
please every man whose taste is not regulated by the
standard of fashion or national prejudice. In 1767 he
was honoured by a private conversation with the king
in the library at the queen’s house : and two years af¬
terwards, upon the establishment of the royal academy
of painting, sculpture, &cc. he was nominated professor
of ancient literature; an office merely honorary, and
conferred on him, as is supposed, at the recommenda¬
tion of his friend the president.
In the variety of subjects on which he had hitherto
exercised his pen, 'he had forborne, since the admini¬
stration of Sir Robert Walpole, to meddle with the dis¬
putes of contending factions j but having seen with in¬
dignation the methods which, in the business of Mr
Wilkes, were taken to work upon the populace, he
published in 1770 a pamphlet, entitled “ The False
Alarm in which he asserts, and labours to prove by
a variety of arguments founded on precedents, that the
expulsion of a member of the house of commons is equi¬
valent to exclusion, and that no such calamity as the
subversion of the constitution was to be feared from an
act warranted by usage, which is the law of parliament.
Whatever may be thought of the principles maintain¬
ed in this publication, it unquestionably contains much
wit and much argument, expressed in the author’s best
style of composition; and yet it is known to have been
written between eight o’clock on Wednesday night and
twelve o’clock on the Thursday night, when it was
read to Mr Thrale upon his coming from the house of
commons. In 1771 he published another political
pamphlet, entitled, “ Thoughts on the late transactions
respecting Falkland’s islands in which he attacked
Junius: and he ever afterwards delighted himself with
the thought of having destroyed that able writer, whom
he certainly surpassed in nervous language and pointed
ridicule.
In 1773 he visited with Mr Boswell some of the
most considerable of the Hebrides or Western Islands
of Scotland, and published an account of his journey
in a volume which abounds in extensive philosophical
views of society, ingenious sentiments, and lively de¬
scription, but which offended many persons by the
violent attack which it made on the authenticity of
the poems attributed to Ossian. For the degree of
offence that was taken, the book can hardly be thought
to contain a sufficient reason : if the antiquity of these
poems be yet doubted, it is owing more to the con¬
duct of their editor than to the violence of Johnson.
In 1774, the parliament being dissolved, he addressed
to the electors of Great Britain a pamphlet, entitled
“ The Patriot of which the design was to guard
them from imposition, and teach them to distinguish
true from false patriotism. In 1775 h® published
“ Taxation no tyranny ; in answer to the resolutions
and address of the American Congress.” In this
performance his admirer Mr Boswell cannot, he says,
perceive that ability of argument or that felicity of ex¬
pression for which on other occasions Johnson was so
eminent. This is a singular criticism. To the assumed
principle
[ 310 ]
J- o H [3:
principle upon which the reasoning of the pamphlet
rests many have objected, and perhaps their objec¬
tions are well founded j but . if it be admitted that
“ the supreme power of every community has the
right of requiring from all its subjects such contribu¬
tions as are necessary to the public safety or public
prosperity,it will be found a very difficult task to
break the chain of arguments by which it is proved
that the British parliament had a right to tax the Ame¬
ricans. As to the expression of the pamphlet, the
reader, who adopts the maxim recorded in the “ Jour¬
nal of a tour to the Hebrides,” that a controvertist
“ ought not to strike soft in battle,” must acknow¬
ledge that it is uncommonly happy, and that the whole
performance is one of the most brilliant as well as most
correct pieces of composition that ever fell from the
pen of its author. These essays drew upon him nu¬
merous attacks, all of which he heartily despised ; for
though it has been supposed that “ A letter addressed
to Dr Samuel Johnson occasioned by his political pub¬
lications,” gave him great uneasiness, the contrary is
manifest, from his having, after the appearance of that
letter, collected them into a volume with the title of
“ Political Tracts by the author of the Rambler.” In
1765 Trinity College Dublin had created him LL. D.
by diploma, and he now received the same honour
from the university of Oxford j an honour with
which, though he did not boast of it, he was highly
gratified. In 1777 he was induced, by a case of a
very extraordinary nature, to exercise that humanity
which in him was obedient to every call. Dr William
Dodd, a clergymen, under sentence of death for the
crime of forgery, found means to interest Johnson in
his behalf, and procured from him two of the most
energetic compositions of the kind ever seen j the one
a petition from himself to the king, the other a like
address from his wife to the queen. /These petitions
failed of success.
The principal booksellers in London having deter¬
mined to publish a body of English poetry, Johnson
was prevailed upon to write the lives of the poets, and
give a character of the works of each. This task he
undertook with alacrity, and executed it in such a
manner as must convince every competent reader, that
as a biographer and a critic, no nation can produce
his equal. The work was published in ten small vo¬
lumes, of which the first four came abroad 1778, and
the others in 1781. While the world in general was
filled with admiration of the stupendous powers of that
man who at the age of seventy-two, and labouring
under a complication of diseases, could produce a work
which displays so much genius and so much learning,
there were narrow circles in which prejudice and resent¬
ment were fostered, and whence attacks of difi'erent
sorts issued against him. These gave him not the small¬
est disturbance. When told of the feeble, though shrill,
outcry that had been raised, he said,—“ Sir, I considered
myself as intrusted with a certain portion of truth. I
have given my opinion sincerely : let them show where
they think me wrong.”
He had hardly begun to reap the laurels gained by
this performance, when death deprived him of Mr
Thrale, in whose house he had enjoyed the most com¬
fortable hours of his life j but it abated not in John¬
son that care for the interests of those whom his friend
I ] J O H
had left behind him, which he thought himself bound Johnson,
to cherish, both in duty as one of the executors of his s—v—
will, and from the nobler principle of gratitude. On
this account, his visits to Streatham, Mr Thrale’s vil- '
la, wTere for some time after his death regularly made
on Monday and protracted till Saturday, as they had
been during his lifej but they soon became less and
less frequent, and be studiously avoided the mention of
the place or the family. Mrs Thrale, now Piozzi, says
indeed, that “ it grew extremely perplexing and diffi¬
cult to live in the house with him when the master of
it was no more; because bis dislikes grew capricious,
and he could scarce bear to have any body come to the
house whom it was absolutely necessary for her to see.”
The person whom she thought it most necessary for her
to see may pex-haps be guessed at without any superior
share of sagacity $ and if these were the visits which
Johnson could not bear, we are so far from thinking his
dislikes capricious, though they may have been per¬
plexing, that if he had acted otherwise, we should
have blamed him for want of gratitude to the friend
whose “ face for fifteen years had never been turned
upon him but with respect or benignity.”
About the middle of June 1783 his constitution
sustained a severer shock than it had ever before felt,
by a stroke of the palsy ; so sudden and so violent, that
it awakened him out of a sound sleep, and rendered
him for a short time speechless. As usual, his recourse
under this affliction was to piety, which in him was
constant, sincere, and fervent. He tried to repeat the
Lord’s prayer first in English, then in Latin, and af¬
terwards in Greek ; but succeeded only in the last at¬
tempt 5 immediately after which he was again deprived
of the power of articulation. From this alarming at¬
tack he recovered with wonderful quickness, but it
left behind it some presages of an hydropic affection ;
and he was soon afterwards seized with a spasmodic >.
asthma of such violence that he was confined to the
house in great pain, while his dropsy increased, not¬
withstanding all the efforts of the most eminent physi¬
cians in London and Edinburgh. He had, however,
such an interval of ease as enabled him in the summer
1784 to visit his friends at Oxford, Litchfield, and
Ashbourne in Derbyshire. The Romish religion be¬
ing introduced one day as the topic of conversation
when he was in the house of Dr Adams, Johnson
said, “ If you join the Papists externally, they will not
interrogate you strictly as to your belief in their tenets.
No reasoning Papist believes every article of their faith.
There is one side on which a good man might be per¬
suaded to embrace it. A good man of a timorous
disposition, in great doubt of his acceptance with
God, and pretty credulous, might be glad of a church
where there are so many helps to go to heaven. I
would be a Papist if I could. I have fear enough j
but an obstinate rationality prevents me. I should ne¬
ver be a Papist unless on the near approach of death,
of which I have very great terror.”
His constant dread of death was indeed so great, that
it astonished all who had access to know the piety of his
mind and the virtues of his life. Attempts have been
made to account for it in various ways j but doubtless
that "is the true account which is given in the Olla Po-
drida, by an elegant and pious writer, who now adorns
a high station in the church of England. “ That he
should
1
3 O H r 31
Johnson, should not he conscious of the abilities with which Pro-
vldence had blessed him was Impossible. He felt his
own powers : he felt what he was capable of having
performed •, and he saw how little, comparatively speak¬
ing, he had performed. Hence his apprehension on the
near prospect of the account to be made, viewed through
the medium of constitutional and morbid melancholy,
which often excluded from his sight the bright beams
of divine mercy.1’ This, however, was the case only
while death was approaching from some distance. From
the time that he was certain it was near, all his fears
were calmed *, and he died on the 13th of December
1784, full of resignation, strengthened by faith, and
joyful in hope.
For a just character of this great man our limits af¬
ford not room : we must therefore content ourselves
with laying before our readers a very short sketch. His
stfiture was tall, his limbs were large, his strength was
more than common, and his activity in early life had
been greater than sucli a form gave reason to expect :
but he was subject to an infirmity of the convulsive
kind, resembling the distemper called St Vitus’s dance j
and he had the seeds of so many diseases sown in his
constitution, that a short time before his death he de¬
clared that he hardly remembered to have passed one
day wholly free from pain. He possessed very extra¬
ordinary powers of understanding j which were much
cultivated by reading, and still more by meditation and
reflection. His memory vvrs remarkably retentive,
Isis imagination uncommonly vigorous, and his judge¬
ment keen and penetrating. He -read with great ra¬
pidity, retained with wonderful exactness what he so
easily collected, and possessed the power of reducing
to order and system the scattered hints on any subject
which he had gathered from different books. It would
not perhaps be safe to claim for him the highest place,
among his contemporaries, in any single department
of literature j but, to use one of his own expressions,
he brought more mind to every subject, and had a
greater variety of knowledge ready for all occasions,
than any other man that could be easily named—
Though prone to superstition, he was in all other re¬
spects so remarkably incredulous, that Hogarth said
while Johnson firmly believed the Bible, he seemed de¬
termined to believe nothing but the Bible. Of the
importance of religion he had a strong sense, and his
zeal for its interests was always awake, so that pro¬
faneness of every kind was abashed in his presence—
The same energy which was displayed in his literary
productions, was exhibited also in his conversation,
which was various, striking, and instructive. : like the
sage in Rasselas, be spoke, and attention watched his
lips ; he reasoned, and conviction closed his periods :
when he pleased, he could be the greatest sophist that
ever contended in the lists of declamation j and per¬
haps no man ever equalled him in nervous and pointed
repartees. His veracity, from the most trivial to the
most solemn occasions, was strict even to severity : he
scorned to embellish a story with fictitious circum¬
stances $ for what is not a representation of reality, he
used to say, is not worthy of our attention. As his
purse and his house were ever open to the indigent, so
was his heart tender to those who wanted relief, and
his soul was susceptible of gratitude and every kind
impression. He had a roughness in his manner which
5
2 ] J O H
subdued the saucy and terrified the meek : but it was Jahase i,
only in his manner; for no man was more loved than JQlinat0lu
Johnson was by those who knew him j and his works ~ -r
will be read with veneration for their author as long as
the language in which they are written shall be under¬
stood.
JOHNSTON, Dr Arthur, was born at Caskie-
ben, near Aberdeen, the seat of his ancestors, and pro¬
bably was educated at Aberdeen, as he was afterwards
advanced to the highest dignity in that university.
The study he chiefly applied himself to was that of
physic •, and to improve himself in that science, he tra¬
velled into foreign parts. He was twice at Rome j
but the chief place of his residence was Padua, in
wbi eh university the degree of M. D. was conferred
on him in 1610, as appears by a MS. copy of verses
in the advocate’s library in Edinburgh. After lea¬
ving Padua, he travelled through the rest of Italy,
and over Germany, Denmark, England, Holland, and
other countries ; and at length settled in France ; where
he met with great applause as a Latin poet. He lived
there 20 years, and by two wives had 13 children.
After 24 years absence, he returned into Scotland in
1632. it appears by the council books at Edinburgh,
that the doctor had a suit at law before that court
about that time. In the year following, it is very well
known that Charles I. went into Scotland, and made
Bishop Laud, then with him, a member of that coun¬
cil : and by this accident, it is probable, that acquain¬
tance began between the doctor and that prelate, which
produced his “ Psalmorum Davidis Paraphrasum Poe-
tica 5” for we find that, in the same year, the doctor
printed a specimen of his Psalms at London, and dedi¬
cated them to this lordship.
He proceeded to perfect the whole, which took him
up four years ; and the first edition complete was pub¬
lished at Aberdeen in 1637, and at London the same
year. In 1641, Dr Johnston being at Oxford, on a
visit to one of his daughters who was married to a di¬
vine of the church of England in that place, was seized
with a violent diarrhoea, of which be died in a few
days, in the 54th year of his age, not without having
seen the beginning of those troubles that proved too
fatal to Ills patron. He was buried in the place where
lie died ; which gave occasion to the following lines of
his learned friend Weddefburn in his Suspiria on the
doctor’s death :
Scotia mcesfa, dole, tanti viduata sepulchro
Vatis : is Angligenis contigit allies honos.
In what year Dr Johnston was made physician to
the king does not appear : it is most likely that the
archbishop procured him that honour at his coming in¬
to England in 1633, at which time he translated So¬
lomon’s Song into Latin elegiac verse, and dedicated
it to his majesty. His Psalms were reprinted at
Middleburgh, 1642*, London, 1657; Cambridge, *,
Amsterdam, 17065 Edinburgh, by William Lauder,
1739 ; and last on the plan -of the Delphin classics,
at London, 1741, Svo, at the expence of Auditor Ben¬
son, who dedicated them to his late majesty, and pre¬
fixed to this edition memoirs of Dr Johnston, with
the testimonies of various learned persons. A labour¬
ed comparison between the two translations of Bucha¬
nan and Johnston was printed the same year in English,
in
I O L [ :
in 8vo, entitled, A Prefatory Discourse to Dr John¬
ston’s Psalms, &c. and A Conclusion to it. His trans¬
lations of the Te Deum, Creed, Decalogue, &c. were
subjoined to the Psalms. His other poetical works are
his Epigrams j his Parerga: and his Musa: Anglic#,
or commendatory ^ erses upon persons of lank xn church
and state at that time.
JOIGNY, a town of France, in Champagne, and
in the diocese of Sens, with a very handsome castle.
It consists of three parishes, and is pleasantly situa¬
ted on the river Yonne, in E. Long. 3. 25. N. Lat.
47. 56. Population 5400. _
JOINERY, the art of working in wood, or of fitting
various pieces of timber together. It is called by the
French menuiserie, “ small work,” to distinguish it from
carpentry, which is employed about large and less curi¬
ous works. See Joinery, Supplement.
JOINT, in general, denotes the juncture of two or
more things. The joints of the human body are call¬
ed by anatomists articulations. See Anatomy, Is 2.
The suppleness to which the joints may be brought
by long practice from the time of infancy, is very sur¬
prising. Every common posture-master shows us. a
gx-eat deal of this j but one of the most wonderful in¬
stances we ever had of it, was in a person of the name
of Clark, and famous for it in London, where he was
commonly known by the name of Clark the posture-
master. This man had found the way by long prac¬
tice, to distort many of the bones, of which nobody
before had ever thought it possible to alter the posi¬
tion. He had such an absolute command of his
muscles and joints, that he could almost disjoint his
whole body : so that he once imposed on the famous
Mullens by his distortions, in such a manner, that he
refused to undertake his cure: but, to the amaze¬
ment of the physician, no sooner had he given over
his patient, than he saw him restore himself to the fi¬
gure and condition of a proper man, with no distortion
about him.
JOINTURE, in Law, generally signifies a settle¬
ment of lands and tenements, made on a woman in
consideration of marriage.
JOINVILLE, an ancient and considerable town of
France, in Champagne, with the title of a principality,
and a large magnificent castle. It is situated on the
river Marne, in E. Long. 5- I0, Lat. 48. 20..
JOISTS, or Joysts, in Architecture, those pieces
of timber framed into the girders and summers, on
which the boards of the floor are laid.
JOKES. See Jesting.
IOLAIA, a festival at Thebes, the same as that call¬
ed Heracleia. It was instituted in honour of Hercules
and his friend lolas, who assisted him in conquering the
hydra. It continued during several days, on the first
of which were offered solemn sacrifices. The next day
horse-races and athletic exercises were exhibited.. The
following day was set apart for wrestling ; the victors
were crowned with garlands of myrtle generally used
at funeral solemnities. They were sometimes rewarded
with tripods of brass. The place where the exercises
were exhibited was called lolaion } where there were to
be seen the monument of Amphitryon and the cenotaph
of lolas, who was buried in Sardinia. These monu¬
ments were strewed with garlands and flowers on the
day of the festival.
Vol. XI. Part I. f
13 ] ION
Iolas or Iolaus, in Fabulous History, a son oflphi-
clus king of Thessaly, who assisted Hercules in conquer¬
ing the hydra, and burnt with a hot iron the place
where the heads had been cut off, to prevent the growth
of others. He was restored to his youth and vigour by
Hebe, at the request of his friend Hercules. Some
time afterwards lolas assisted the Heraclidae against
Eurystheus, and killed the tyrant with his own hand.
According to Plutarch, lolas had a monument in
Boeotia and Phocis, where lovers used to go and bind
themselves by the most solemn oaths of fidelity, consi¬
dering the place as sacred to love and friendship. Ac¬
cording to Diodorus and Pausanias, lolas died and was
buried in Sardinia, where he had gone to make a set¬
tlement at the head of the sons of Hercules by the 5c
daughters of Thespius.
JOLLOXOCHITL, an Indian word, signifying
Jlower of the heart, is the name of a plant which bears
a large beautiful flower, growing in Mexico, where
it is much esteemed for its beauty and odour; which
latter is so powerful, that a single flower is sufficient to
fill a whole house with the most pleasing fragrance.
\QiH,\aFabulousHistory, a son of Xuthus andCreusa
daughter of Erechtheus, who married Helice, the daugh¬
ter of Selinus king of jTLgiale. He succeeded to the
throne of his father-in-law; and built a city, which he
called Helice on account of his wife. His subjects from
him received the name of lonians, and the country
that of Ionia. See Ionia.
Ion, a tragic poet of Chios, who flourished about
the 821! Olympiad. His tragedies were represented at
Athens, where they met with universal applause. He
is mentioned and greatly recommended by Aristophanes
and Athenaeus, &c.
IONA, Jona, or Icolmkill, one of the Hebrides ;
a small, but celebrated island, “ once the luminary of the
Caledonian regions (as Dr Johnson expresses it), whence
savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits
of knowledge and the blessings of religion.” The
name Iona is derived from a Hebrew word signifying
a dove, in allusion to his patron Columba, who landed
here in 565. See Columba.—It is said to have been
a seat of the druids before his arrival, when its name in
Irish was InisDrunish, or the “Druid Island.” The
druids being expelled or converted, he founded here a
cell of canons regular, who till ’jiS differed from the
church of Rome, in the observance of Easter and in
the tonsure. After his death, the island retained his
name, and was called Ycolunib all or “ Columb’s cell,”
now Icolmkill. The Danes dislodged the monks in the
7th century, and Cluniacs were the next order that
settled here.
This island, which belongs to the parish of Ross in
Mull, is three miles long, and one broad: the east side
is mostly flat: the middle rises into small hills ; and
the west side is very rude and rocky: the whole form¬
ing a singular mixture of rock and fertility.—There is
in the island only one town, or rather village, con¬
sisting of about 60 mean houses. The population in
1798 amounted to about 330. Near the town is the
bay of Martyrs slain by the Danes. An oblong in¬
closure, bounded by a stone dyke, and called Clachnan
Druinach, in which bones have been found, is supposed
to have been a burial-place of the Druids or rather
the common cemetery of the towns-people. Beyond
R r the
ION [ 314 ] ION
the town are the ruins of the nunnery of Austin cano-
nesses, dedicated to St Oran, and said to be founded
by Columba: the church was 58 feet by 20, and the
east roof is entire. On the floor, covered deep with
cow-dung, is the tomb of the last prioress, with her
figure praying to the Virgin Mary, and this inscrip¬
tion on the ledge : Hie jacet domino, Anna Donaldi
Fcrletifitia, quondam prioressa de Jona, quee obiit an'o
m0 d° sim° ejus animam Altiftsimo commendamus ; and
another inscribed,Hicjacet Mariota jilia Johan: Lauch-
lain domini de  A broad paved way leads hence to
the cathedral j and on this way is a large handsome cross
called Macleane'1 s, the only one that remains of 360,
which were demolished here at the Reformation. Rei-
lig Ouran, or the burying-place of Oran, is the large
inclosure where the kings of Scotland, Ireland, and
of the isles, and their descendants, were buried in
three several chapels. The dean of the isles, who tra¬
velled over them 1549, and whose account has been
copied by Buchanan, and published at Edinburgh
1784, says, that in his time on one of these chapels
(or “ tombes of stain formit like little chapels with ane
braid gray marble or quhin stain on the gavil of ilk
ane of the tombes,” containing, as the chronicle says,
the remains of 48 Scotch monarchs, from Fergus II.
to Macbeth, 16 of whom were pretended to be of the
race of Alpin) was inscribed, Tumulus regum Scotice.
The next was inscribed, Tumulus regum Hibernia, and
contained four Irish monarchs : and the third, inscribed
Tumulus regum Horwegice, containing eight Norwe¬
gian princes, or viceroys of the Hebrides while they
were subject to the crown of Norway. Boetius says,
that Fergus founded this abbey for the burial-place of
bis successors, and caused an oflice to be composed for
the funeral ceremony. All that Mr Pennant could
discover here were only certain slight remains, built
in a ridged form and arched within, but the inscrip¬
tions lost. These were called Jornaire nan righ^ or
“ the ridge of the kings.” Among these stones are
to be seen only these two inscriptions in the Gaelic or
Erse language and ancient Irish characters: Cros
Domhail fadasich, i. e. “ the cross of Donald Long¬
shanks,” and that of Urchvine o Gain; and another
inscribed Hie jacet priores de Hy, Johannes, Huge-
nius, Patricias, in decretis olitn hacularius, qui obiit
an. Donu tnillesm° quingentesimo. About 300 inscrip¬
tions were collected here by Mr Sacheverel in 1688
and given to the earl of Argyle, but afterwards lost
in the troubles of the family. The place is in a man¬
ner filled with grave-stones, but so overgrown with
weeds, that few or none are at present to be seen, far
less any inscriptions read. Here also stands the chapel
of St Oran, the first building begun by Columba, which
the evil spirits would not suffer to stand till some hu¬
man victim was buried alive j for which service Oran
offered himself, and his red grave-stone is near the
door. In this chapel are tombs of several chiefs, &c.
A little north-west of the door is the pedestal of a
cross : on it are certain stones that seem to have been
the supports of a tomb. Numbers who visit this island
think it incumbent on them to turn each of these
thrice round, according to the course of the sun.
They are called Clacha brath; for it is thought that
the brath, or end of the world, will not arrive till the
pedestal on which they stand is worn through. Origi-
*
nally (says Mr Sacheverel) here were three noble
globes of white marble, placed on three stone basons,
and these u’ere turned round ; but the synod ordered
them and 60 crosses to be thrown into the sea. The
present stones are probably substituted in place of these
globes. The precinct of these tombs was held sacred,
and enjoyed the privileges of a girth or sanctuary.
These places of retreat were by the ancient Scotch law,
not to shelter indiscriminately every offender, as was
the case in more bigotted times in Catholic countries j
for here all atrocious criminals were excluded ; and
only the unfortunate delinquent, or the penitent sinner,
was shielded from the instant stroke of rigorous jus¬
tice. A little to the north of this inclosure stands
the cathedral, built in form of a cross, 115 feet long
by 23, the transept 70 feet: the pillars of the choir
have their capitals charged with scripture and other
histories; and near the altar are the tombs of two ab¬
bots and a knight. A fragment remains of the altar-
stone of white marble veined with gray. This church
is ascribed to Maldwin in the seventh century ; but the
present structure is far too magnificent for that age.
Most of the walls are built of red granite from the
Nun’s island in the sound. Two parallel walls of a co¬
vered way about 12 feet high and 10 wide, reach from
the south-east corner to the sea. In the churchyard is
a fine cross of a single piece of red granite, 14 feet high,
22 inches broad, and 10 inches thick. Near the south¬
east end is Mary’s chapel. The monastery is behind
the chapel ; of which only a piece of the cloisters re¬
mains, and some sacred black stones in a corner, on
which contracts and alliances were made and oaths
sworn. East of it was the abbot’s gardens and offices.
North of this was the palace of the bishop of the islea
after the separation of Man from them. This see wa*
endowed with 13 islands ; several of which were fre¬
quently taken away by the chieftains. The title of
Soder, which some explained Soter, Zu]v^, “ the name
of Christ, or Soder, an imaginary town,” is really de¬
rived from the distinction of the diocese into the north¬
ern islands or Nordereys (i. e. all to the north of Ard-
namurchan point), and the Southern or Sudereys;
which last being the most important, the isle of Man
retained both titles.
Other ruins of monastic buildings and offices may be
traced, as well as some druidical sepulchral remains.
Several abbeys w'ere derived from this, which with the
island was governed by an abbot-presbyter, who had
rule even over bishops. The place where Columba
landed is a pebbly beach, where a heap of earth repre¬
sents the form of his ship. Near it is a hill with a cir¬
cle of stones called Cnoc-nan aimgeal, or “ the hill of
angels,” with whom the saint held conference ; and on
Michaelmas day the inhabitants coursed their horses
round it, a remain of the custom of bringing them there
to be blessed. In former times, this island was the
place where the archives of Scotland and many valua¬
ble old manuscripts were kept. Of these most are sup¬
posed to have been destroyed at the Reformation ; but
many, it is said, were carried to the Scotch college at
Douay in France, and it is hoped some of them may
still be recovered. In the island of Iona a schoolmaster
is established ; but there is no temple for worship, no
instructor in religion, excepting the schoolmaster, unless
it is visited by the parish minister from another island.
JONAH,
JON [JIS] JON
Jonah JONAH, or Vrophenj of Joy All, a canonical book
I) of the Old Testament j in which it is related, that Jo-
Jone*. nah (about 771 B. C.) was ordered to go and prophecy
Vj" ^ the destruction of the Ninevites, on account of their
wickedness. But the prophet, instead of obeying the
divine command, embarked for Tarshish j when, a tem¬
pest arising, the mariners threw him into the sea : he
was swallowed by a great fish } and after being three
days and nights in his belly, was cast upon the land.
Hereupon being sensible of his past danger and surpri¬
sing deliverance, he betook himself to the journey and
embassy to which he was appointed ; and arriving at
Nineveh the metropolis of Assyria, he, according to
his commission, boldly laid open their sins and miscar-
I Triages, and proclaimed their sudden overthrow: upon
which the whole city, by prayer and fasting, and a
•peedy repentance, happily averted the divine ven¬
geance, and escaped the threatened ruin. Jonah upon
this, fearing to pass for a false prophet, retired to a hill
at some distance from the city j where God, by a mira¬
cle, condescended to show him the unreasonableness of
his discontent.
JONATHAN, the son of Saul, celebrated in sacred
history for his valour, and his friendship for David a-
gainst the interest of his own house. Slain in battle
1055 B. C.
Jonathan Maccabceus, brother of Judas, a renowned
general of the Jews. He forced Bacchides the Syrian
general, who made war with the Jew-, to accept a
peace ; conquered Demetrius Soter, and afterwards A-
pollonius, that prince’s general j but, being ensnared
by Tryphon, was put to death 144 B. C.
(JONES, Inigo, a celebrated English architect, was
the son of a cloth-worker of London, and was born in
1572. He was at first put apprentice to a joiner ; but
early distinguished himself by his inclination to drawing
or designing, and was particularly taken notice of for
his skill in landscape-painting. This afterwards recom¬
mended him to the favour of William earl of Pertibroke,
who sent him abroad with a handsome allowance in or¬
der to perfect himself in that branch. He was no soon¬
er at Borne, than he found himself in his proper sphere :
he felt that nature had not formed him to decorate ca¬
binets, but to design palaces. He dropt the pencil and
conceived Whitehall. In the state of Venice he saw
the works of Palladio, and learned how beautiful taste
may be exerted on a less theatre than the capital ofan em¬
pire. How his abilities distinguished themselves in a spot
where they certainly had no opportunity to act, we are
not told, though it would not be the least curious part
of his history ; certain it is, that, on the strength of his
reputation at Venice, Christian IV. invited him to
Denmark, and appointed him his architect $ but on
what buildings he was employed in that country, we
are yet to learn. James I. found him at Copenhagen,
and Queen Anne took him in the quality of her ar¬
chitect to Scotland. He served Prince Henry in the
same capacity, and the place of surveyor-general of the
works was granted to him in reversion. On the death
of that prince, with whom at least all his lamented
qualities did not die, Jones travelled once more into
Italy, and, assisted by ripeness of judgment, perfected
his taste. To the interval between these voyages Mr
Walpole is inclined to assign those buildings of Inigo,
which are less pure, and border too much upon the ha- June*,
stard style, which one may call King James‘>s Gothic.'^"—
Inigo’s designs of that period are not Gothic, but have
a littleness of parts, and a weight of ornaments, with
which the revival of the Grecian taste was encumbered,
and which he shook off in his grander designs. The
surveyor’s place fell, and he returned to England $ and,
as if architecture was not all he had learned at Rome,
with an air of Roman disinterestedness he gave up the
profits of his office, which he found extremely in
debt ; and prevailed upon the comptroller and pay-
mastef to imitate his example, till the whole arrears
were cleared.
In 1620, he was employed in a manner very unwor¬
thy of his genius : King James set him upon discover¬
ing, that is, guessing, who were the founders of Stone¬
henge. His ideas were all Romanised j consequently.
Ills partiality to his favourite people, which ought rather
to have prevented him from charging them with that
mass of barbarous clumsiness, made him conclude it a
Roman temple.
In the same year Jones was appointed one of the
commissioners for the repair of St Paul’s $ but which
was not commenced till the year 1633, when Laud,
then bishop of London, laid the first stone, and Inigo
the fourth. In the restoration of that cathedral, he
made two capital faults. He first renewed the sides
with very bad Gothic; and then added a Roman por¬
tico, magnificent and beautiful indeed, but which had
no affinity with the ancient parts that remained, and
made his own Gothic appear ten times heavier. He
committed the same error at Winchester, thrusting a
screen in the Roman or Grecian taste into the middle
of that cathedral. Jones indeed was by no means suc¬
cessful when he attempted Gothic. The chapel of Lin-
coln’s-Inn has none of the characteristics of that archi¬
tecture. The cloister beneath seems oppressed by the
weight of the building above.
The authors of the life of Jones place the erecting of
the Banqueting-house in the reign of King Charles ; but
it appears, from the accounts of Nicholas Stone, that
it was begun in 1619, and finished in two years—a
small part of the pile designed for the palace of our
kings ; but so complete in itself, that it stands a model
of the most pure and beautiful taste. Several plates of
the intended palace at Whitehall have been given ; but
Mr Walpole thinks, from no finished design. The
four great sheets are evidently made up from gene¬
ral hints; nor could such a source of invention and
taste as the mind of Inigo ever produce so much same¬
ness. The whole fabric, however, was so glorious an
idea, that one forgets for a moment (says Mr Wal¬
pole), in the regret for its not being executed, the con¬
firmation of our liberties, obtained by a melancholy
scene that passed before the windows of that very Ban¬
queting-house.
In 1623 he was employed at Somerset-house, where
a chapel was to be fitted up for the Infanta, the in¬
tended bride of the prince. The chapel is still in be¬
ing. The front to the river, part only of what was
designed, and the water gate, were erected afterwards
on the designs of Inigo, as wras the gate at York-
stairs.
On the accession of Charles, Jones was continued in
R r 2 his
JON [31
tils posts under both king and queen. His fee as sur¬
veyor was 8s. 4d. a day, with an allowance of 46I. a
year for house-rent, besides a clerk, and incidental ex-
pences. What greater rewards he had, are not upon
record.
During the prosperous state of the king’s affairs, the
pleasures of the court were carried on with much taste
and magnificence. Poetry, painting, music, and archi¬
tecture, were all called in to make them rational amuse¬
ments. Mr Walpole is of opinion, that the celebrated
festivals of Louis XIV. were copied from the shows
exhibited at Whitehall, in his time the most polite court
in Europe. Ben Johnson was the laureat $ Inigo Jones
the inventor of the decorations j Laniere and Fera-
bosco composed the symphonies ; the king, the queen,
and the young nobility, danced in the interludes. We
have accounts of many of those entertainments, called
masques ; they had been introduced by Anne of Den¬
mark. Lord Burlington had a folio oi the designs for
these solemnities, by Inigo’s own hand, consisting of
habits, masks, scenes, &c. The harmony of these
masks was a little interrupted by a war that broke out
between the composers, Inigo and Ben, in which who¬
ever was the aggressor, the turbulent temper of Johnson
took care to be most in the wrong.
The works of Inigo Jones are not scarce ; Sur¬
geon’s hall is one of his best works. One of the most
admired is the arcade of Covent-garden, and the
church : “ Two structures (says Mr Walpole), of
which I want taste to see the beauties. In the arcade
there is nothing remarkable : the pilasters are as ar¬
rant and homely stripes as any plasterer would make.
The barn-roof over the portico of the church strikes
my eyes with as little idea of dignity and beauty, as
it could do if it covered nothing but a barn. . It must
be owned, that the defect is not in the architect, but
in the order.—Who ever saw a beautiful Tuscan build¬
ing? Would the Romans have chosen that order for
a temple ?” The expence of building that church was
4500I.
Ambresbury in Wiltshire was designed by Jones, but
executed by his scholar Webb. Jones was one of
the first that observed the same diminution of pilasters
as in pillars. Lindsay-house in Lincolns-Inn Fields,
which he built, owes its chief grace to this singula¬
rity. In 16x8, a special commission was issued to the
lord-chancellor, the earls of Worcester, Pembroke,
Arundel, and others, to plant and reduce to uniformi¬
ty, Lincoln’s-Inn Fields, as it shall be drawn by way
of map or ground-plot, by Inigo Jones, surveyor-
general of the works. That square is laid out with a
regard t@ so trifling a singularity, as to be of the exact
dimensions of one of the pyramids: this would have
been admired in those ages when the keep at Ken-
melworth Castle was erected in the form of an horse-
fetter, and the Escurial in the shape of St Laurence’s
gridiron.
Coleshill in Berkshire, the seat of Sir Matthew
Pleydell, built in 1650, and Cobham-hall in Kent,
were Jones’s. He was employed to rebuild Castle Ash¬
by, and finished one front: but the civil war interrup¬
ted his progress there and at Stoke-park in Northamp¬
tonshire. Shaftsbury-house, now the London Lying-
in hospital, on the east side of Aldersgate-street, is a
6 ] JON
beautiful front. The Grange, the seat of the lord Jones,
chancellor Henley in Hampshire, is entirely of this
master. It is not a large house, but by far one of the
best proofs of his taste. The hall, which opens to a
small vestibule with a cupola, and the staircase ad¬
joining, are beautiful models of the purest and most
classic antiquity. The gate of Beaufort-garden at
Chelsea, designed by Jones, was purchased by Lord
Burlington, and transported to Chiswick. He drew a
plan for a palace at Newmarket j but not that wretched
hovel that stands there at present. One of the most
beautiful of his works is the queen’s house at Green?.
wich. The first idea of the hospital is said to have been
taken from his papers by his scholar Webb. Heriot’s
hospital in Edinburgh, and the improvements made in
his time on Glammis Castle in Forfarshire in Scotland,
are specimens of the designs of Inigo Jones.
Inigo tasted early the misfortunes of his master. He
was not only a favourite, but a Roman Catholic : in
1646 he paid 545I. for his delinquency and sequestra¬
tion. Whether it was before or after this fine, it is urn-
certain, that he and Stone the mason buried their joint
stock in Scotland yard ; but an order being published to
encourage the informers of such concealments, and four
persons being privy to the spot where the money was
hid, it was taken up, and reburied in Lambeth-marsb.
Grief, misfortunes, and age, put an end to his life at
Somerset-house, July 21. 1651. Several of his designs
have been published by Mr Kent, Mr Colin Campbell,
and Mr Isaac Ware. He left in MS. some curious notes
on Palladio’s architecture, which are inserted in an edi¬
tion of Palladio published in I7I4’
Jones, Sir William, the son of William Jones, Esq.
an eminent mathematician, cotemporary with the great
Newton, was born in London on the 28th of Septem¬
ber 1746, and received the rudiments of his education
at Harrow school, under the tuition of Dr Robert Sum¬
ner, whom he has celebrated in an eulogium which will
probably be coeval with time. From Harrow school
he went to University college, Oxford, where the rapi¬
dity of his literary acquisitions excited the admiration
of all.
He travelled through France at the age of 23,
taking up his residence lor some time at Nice, where
man, and the various forms of government, became the
favourite objects of his investigation. A wish to relieve
his mother from the burden of his education, made him
long for a fellowship in his college, but having no im¬
mediate prospect of obtaining it, he in 1765 became
tutor to young Lord Afthorpe, afterwards Earl Spen¬
cer, in which situation he was introduced to the best of
company, and had also leisure to prosecute the acquisL
tion of knowledge, and the farther cultivation ol his in¬
tellectual powers, which were objects ever dear to
him.
He obtained next year, the fellowship he expected,
and was thus raised to a state which he could not help
viewing as independent. Being at Spa with his pupil
in the year 1767, he employed much of his time in
making himself acquainted with the German language ;
and in the following year he was requested by the duke
of Grafton’s under-secretary, to undertake a translation
of a Persian MS. of the life of Nadir Shah, into the
French language, of which the king of Denmark was
anxious
JON - [ 3>
anxious to have a version. This, his first publication,
appeared in 1770, with the addition of a treatise on
oriental poetry, which was very much admired, on ac-
eount of the elegance of the French style and the ac¬
curacy of the translation. For this excellent publica¬
tion it appears that he received nothing more than a
diploma from his Danish majesty, constituting him a
member of the Royal Society of Copenhagen, with
a warm recommendation to the notice of his owa sove-
That he might be enabled to gratify his commenda¬
ble ambition, he now began to think seriously of some
profession through life •, and, as he had conceived an
early predilection for the law, he made that the object
of his choice 5 and in the month of September 1770,
he entered at the Temple. Yet the studies of his pro¬
fession did not prevent him from making those literary
advances, in which he so much delighted, and oriental
literature still continued a favourite object. When the
life of Zoroaster by Anquetil du Perron made its ap¬
pearance, in the preliminary discourse to which the uni¬
versity of Oxford had been attacked, our author de¬
fended it in a pamphlet written with severity and with
elegance. In 1772, he published a small volume of
poems, being translations from the Asiatic poets, re¬
markable for the grace and brilliancy of their style *,
and in 1774 appeared his work u De Poesi Asiatica,
the beauty and purity of the Latin in which it is com¬
posed, exciting the admiration of men of literature both
at home and abroad. He was called to the bar in the
beginning of 1774, hut declined to act in that capaci¬
ty without a previous knowledge of the actual business
of the profession. He was appointed^ a commissioner
of bankrupts in 1776, about which period he addressed
a letter to Lord Althorpe, in which he beautifully ex¬
presses his ardent wish to have constitutional liberty
established by constitutional means.
His translation of the speech of Isamus, on account
of his elegant style, his profound critical and historical
knowledge, commanded the admiration ot eveiy com¬
petent judge. Soon after this his practice at the bar
increased with rapidity J hut he had little reason to
flatter himself with the prospect of advancement in
professional rank and dignity, because he was known
to be convinced of the injustice of the British cause
respecting the American war, which he was at no
pains to conceal; and therefore an opposer of the mea¬
sures of those who had the direction of public affairs,
bad little preferment to look for. In 1780 he became
a candidate to succeed to Sir Roger Newdigate as re¬
presentative in parliament for the university of Oxford,
in which he was respectably supported ; but his politi¬
cal sentiments were ill suited to secure him a majority,
which made him decline the contest prior to the elec¬
tion. He soon after published a pamphlet, entitled
“ An Inquiry into the legal mode of suppressing riots,
with a constitutional plan of luture defence, ’ recom¬
mending the propriety of making every citizen a soldier
in cases of imminent danger. He next published a
translation of seven ancient poems of the highest repu¬
tation in Arabia, which, with an ode on the mairiage
of Lord Althorpe, procured for him the highest repu¬
tation. His essay on the laws of bailments was also
much admired, as was his speech at the London tavern
7 ] JON
in defence of a parliamentary reform in 1782. At
Paris, he drew up a dialogue between a farmer and a
country gentleman on the principles of government,
published in Wales by the dean of St Asaph, for
which a hill of indictment was preferred against that
clergyman. In a letter to Lord Kenyon, Mr Jones
avowed himself to be the author, and asserted the prin¬
ciples it contained to be perfectly agreeable to the
British constitution ; but it appears that he afterwards
relaxed considerably in his political ardour.
After the resignation of Lord North, and appoint¬
ment of Lord Shelburne, Mr Jones was nominated one
of the judges in the British territories of India, an ap¬
pointment which he had long wished for, as it would
afford him an opportunity of prosecuting his favourite
researches into oriental literature. He was chosen a
judge in March 1783, and on the 20th of that month
the honour of knighthood was conferred upon him.
He arrived at Calcutta in September, and entered upon
his office in December, opening the sessions with a
very elegant charge to the grand jury. Here lie plan¬
ned the institution of a society similar to the Royal So¬
ciety of London, many valuable labours and researches
of which are already in the hands of the public. He
collected materials for a complete digest of the Hindoo
and Mahometan laws, which interesting work he did
not live to bring to a conclusion. The publication of
the “ Asiatic Researches” occupied much of his atten¬
tion. In 1789 he translated an ancient Indian drama
called “ Sacontala,” which lias been considered as an
interesting curiosity. In 1794 he gave the world his
“ Ordinances of.Menu,” a famous Indian legislator,
containing a system of duties both civil and religious.
The climate of India proving unfavourable to the
health of Lady Jones, obliged her to return to Eng¬
land, whither Sir William soon designed to follow
her. On the 20th of April 1794, he was seized at
Calcutta with an inflammation of the liver, which set
the powers of medicine at defiance, and on the 27th of
the same month put a period to his existence without
pain or struggle.
It may be fairly asserted that few men have died
more respected or regretted, as few have passed a more
useful and irreproachable life. The uncommon extent
of his erudition has been displayed in all his writings,
and scarcely any subject of human research escaped his
notice. He has scarcely ever been equalled as a lin¬
guist, for he is said to have been more or less acquaint¬
ed with about 28 different languages. Taste and ele¬
gance marked all his exertions, and he might have ri¬
sen as a poet to the very first rank. Great as his
knowledge was, his virtue and religion were not infe¬
rior. In whatever light we think proper to view him
as standing in relation to society, he was undoubtedly
a pattern worthy of imitation.
As a permanent monument to his memory, his affec¬
tionate lady published his whole finished works in six
quarto volumes, in the year 1799 j and a marble monu¬
ment to his memory by the same endearing friend,
is placed in the antichamber of University college,
Oxford. The East India Company also voted a mo¬
nument to his memory in St Paul’s cathedral, and a
statue of him to be sent out to Bengal. Memoirs or
his life were published by Lord Teignmoutb, and a
society
Jo IKS
u
Joppa.
J O P [ 318 ] JOS
society of gentlemen in Bengal who hat! been educated
at Oxford, subscribed a sum for a prize dissertation on
his character and merits, by students in that univer¬
sity.
IONIA, a country of Asia Minor, hounded on the
north by /Eolia, on the west by the iEgean and Ica-
rian seas, on the south by Caria, and on the east by
Lydia and part of Caria. It was founded by colonies
from Greece, and particularly Attica, by the lonians
or subjects of Ion. Ionia was divided into 12 small
states, which formed a celebrated confederacy often
mentioned by the ancients. These 12 states were
Priene, Miletus, Colophon, Clazomense, Ephesus, Le-
bedos, Teos, Phocsea, Erythrte, Smyrna, and the capi¬
tals of Samos and Chios. The inhabitants of Ionia
built a temple which they called Pan Ionium from the
concourse of people that flocked there from every part
of Ionia, After they had enjoyed for some time their
freedom and independence, they were made tributary
to the power of Lydia by Croesus. The Athenians as¬
sisted them to shake off the slavery of the Asiatic mo-
narchs ; but they soon forgot their duty and relation
to their mother-country, and joined Xerxes when he
invaded Greece. They were delivered from the Per¬
sian yoke by Alexander, and restored to their original
independence. They were reduced by the Romans un¬
der the dictator Sylla.
IONIAN islands, seven islands on the western
coast of Greece, which were erected into a republic in
1800, and are now under the protection of Great Bri¬
tain. See Ionian Islands, Supplement.
IONIC order. See Architecture, N° 45.
Ionic Dialect, in Grammar, a manner of speaking
peculiar to the people, of Ionia.
Ionic Sect was the first of the ancient sects of phi¬
losophers •, the others were the Italic and Eleatic. The
founder of this sect w’as Thales, who being a native of
Miletus in Ionia, occasioned his followers to assume the
appellation of Ionic : Thales was succeeded by Anaxi¬
mander, and he by Anaximenes, both of Miletus : A-
naxagoras Clazomenius succeeded them, and removed
his school from Asia to Athens, where Socrates was his
scholar. It was the distinguishing tenet of this sect,
that water was the principle of all natural things.
IONIUM MARE, a part of the Mediterranean sea,
at therbottom of the Adriatic. It lies between Sicily
and Greece. That part of the TEgean sea which lies
on the coasts of Ionia in Asia, is called the Sea of Io¬
nia, and not the Ionian sea. According to some au¬
thors, the Ionian sea receives its name from lo, who
swam across there after she had been metamorphosed
into a heifer.
JONK, or JoNQUE, in naval affairs, is a kind of
small ship, very common in the East Indies. These
vessels are about the bigness of our fly-boats j and dif¬
fer in the form of their building, according to the dif¬
ferent methods of naval architecture used by the nations
to which they belong. Their sails are frequently made
of mats, and their anchors are made of wood.
JOPPA, a sea-port town in Palestine, lying south
of Ctesarea 5 and anciently the only port to Jerusalem,
whence all the materials sent from Tyre towards the
building of Solomon’s temple were brought hither and
landed, (2 Chron. ii. 16.). It is said to have been
built by Japhet, and from him to have taken its name
Japho, afterwards moulded into Joppa; and the very j0|,p8
heathen geographers speak of it as built before the flood. |]
It is now called Jaffa, somewhat nearer to its first ap- JotLua,
pellation, and is but in a poor and mean condition. —y—.
JOR, the Hebrew for a river, which, joined with
Dan, concurs to form the term Jordan. See Dan.
JORDANO, Lucca, an eminent Italian painter,
was born at Naples in 1632. He became very early
a disciple of Joseph Ribera ; but going afterwards to
Rome, he attached himself to the manner of Pietro da
Cortona, whom he assisted in his great works. Some
of his pictures being seen by Charles II. king of Spain,
he engaged him in painting the Escurial j in which
task he acquitted himself as a great painter. The king
showed him a picture of Bassani, expressing his con¬
cern that he had not a companion : Lucca painted one
so exactly in Bassani’s manner, that it was taken for
a performance of that master ; and for this service he
was knighted, and gratified with several honourable
and valuable employments. The great works he exe¬
cuted in Spain gave him still greater reputation when
he returned to Naples ; so that though he was a very
quick workman, he could not supply the eager demands
of the citizens. No one, not even Tintoret, ever
painted so much as Jordano j and his generosity car¬
ried him so far as to present altar-pieces to churches
that were not able to purchase them. His labours were
rewarded with great riches j which he left to his fami¬
ly, when he died, in 1705.
JOSEPH, the son of Jacob j memorable for hia
chastity, and the honours conferred on him at the
court of Egypt, &c. He died in 1635 ^ C. aged
Iio.
JOSEPHUS, the celebrated historian of the Jews,
was of noble birth, by his father Mattathias descended
from the high-priests, and by his mother of the blood-
royal of the Maccabees ; be was born A. D. 37, under
Caligula, and lived under Domitian. At 16 years of
age be betook himself to the sect of the Essenes, and
then to the Pharisees ; and having been successful in a
journey to Rome, upon his return to Judaea be was
made captain-general of the Galilseans. Being taken
prisoner by Vespasian, be foretold bis coming to the
empire, and bis own deliverance by his means. He
accompanied Titus at the siege of Jerusalem, and wrote
his “ Wars of the Jews,” which Titus ordered to be
put in the public library. He afterwards lived at
Rome, where he enjoyed the privileges of a Roman
citizen, and where the emperors loaded him with fa¬
vours, and granted him large pensions. Besides the
above work, he wrote, 1. Twenty books of Jewish an¬
tiquities, which be finished under Domitian. 2. Two
books against Apion. 3. An elegant discourse on the
martyrdom of the Maccabees. 4. His own life. These
works are excellently written in Greek.
JOSHUA, the renowned general ef the Jews, who
conducted them through the wilderness, &c. died in
1424 B. C. aged 110.
JoSHUA, a canonical book of the Old Testament,
containing a history of the wars and transactions of
the person whose name it bears. This book may be
divided into three parts : the first of which is a history
of the conquest of the land of Canaan j the second,
which begins at the 12th chapter, is a description of
that country, and the division of it among the tribes ;
J O U [ 31
Joshua and th6 third, comprised in the two last chapters, con-
[] tains the renewal of the covenant he caused the Xsrael-
Journal, ites to make, and the death of their victorious leader
'■"■V ' ■'' anti governor. The whole comprehends a term of 17,
or, according to others, of 27 years.
JOSIAH, king of Judah, the destroyer of idola¬
try, and the restorer of the true worship, an excellent
magistrate, and a valiant general, was slain in battle,
609 B. C.
JO TAPATA, in Ancient Geography, a town of the
Lower Galilee, distant 40 stadia from Gabara j a very
strong place, situated on a rock, walled round, and en¬
compassed on all hands with mountains, so as not to be
seen but by those who came very near. It was with
great difficulty taken by Vespasian, being defended
by Josephus, who commanded in it j when taken, it
was ordered to be rased.
JOVIAN, the Roman emperor, elected by the
army, after the death of Julian the apostate, in 363*
He at first refused, saying he would not command
idolatrous soldiers •, but, upon an assurance that they
would embrace Christianity, he accepted the throne,
and immediately shut all the Pagan temples, and for¬
bade their sacrifices. But he did not long enjoy the
dignity to which his merit had raised him •, being suf¬
focated in his bed by the fumes of a fire that had
been made to dry the chamber, in 364, the 33d of
his age, and the eighth month of his reign. See Con¬
stantinople, N° 67.
JOVIUS, Paul, in Italian Giovio, a celebrated
historian, was born at Como in Italy, in the year 1483.
As his father died in his infancy, he was educated by
his eldest brother Benedict Jovius, under whom he be¬
came well skilled in classical learning j and then went
to Rome, for the sake of enjoying the benefit of the
Vatican library. He there wrote his first piece, De
piscihus Romanis, which he dedicated to Cardinal Lewis
of Bourbon. He received a pension of 500 crowns
for many years from Francis I. king of Fiance, whose
favour he secured by his flatteries. But, in the fol¬
lowing reign, having disgusted the constable Montmo¬
rency, his name was struck out of the list of pensioners.
Jovius did not suffer his spirits to sink under his mis¬
fortune : he had obtained a high reputation in the
learned world by his writings $ and having always
showed great respect to the house of Medicis, on whose
praises he had expatiated in his works, he applied to
Clement VII. and obtained the bishoprick of Nocera.
His principal piece is bis history, which is that of his
own time throughout the world, beginning with 1494,
and extending to the year 1544. This was the chief
business of his life. For he formed the plan of it in
the year 1515 and continued upon it till his death,
which happened at Florence in 1552. It is printed in
three volumes folio. Fie is allowed to have, been a man
of wit as well as learning: he was master of a bright
and polished style, and has many curious observations:
but being a venal writer, his histories are not much
credited.
JOURNAL, a day-hook, register, or account of
what passes daily. See Diary.
Journal, in merchants accounts, is a book into
which every particular article is posted out of the waste-
book, and made debtor. This is to be very clearly
worded, and fairly engrossed. See B0OK-Keeping\
9 ] IP H
Journal, in Navigation, a sort of diary, or daily re- Journal
gister of the ship’s course, winds, and weather; together H
with a general account of whatever is material to be re-
marked in the period of a sea-voyage. ''
In all sea-journals, the day, or what is called the
24 hours, terminate at noon, because the errors of
the dead-reckoning are at that period generally cor¬
rected by a solar observation. The daily compact
usually contains the state of the weather j the varia¬
tion, increase, or diminution of the wind \ and the
suitable shifting, reducing, or enlarging the quantity
of sail extended 5 as also the most material incidents of
the voyage, and the condition of the ship and her crew j
together with the discovery of other ships or fleets,
land, shoals, breakers, soundings, &c.
Journal, is also a name common for weekly essays,
newspapers, &c. as the Gray’s Inn Journal, the West¬
minster Journal, &c.
Journal, is also used for the titles of several books
which come out at stated times, and give abstracts,
accounts, &c. of the new books that are published, and
the new improvements daily made in arts and sciences j
as the Journal de Spa vans, Journal de Physique, &c.
JOURNEY, a tract of ground passed over in tra¬
velling by land 5 properly as much as may be passed
over in one day.
Management of a Horse on a Journey. See Horse.
JOURNEYMAN, properly one who works by the
day only $ but the word is now used for any one who
works under a master, either by the day, the year, or
the piece.
JOY, in Ethics, is that passion which is produced
by love, regarding its object as present, either imme¬
diately or in prospect, in reality or imagination. The
operation of joy sometimes affects the functions of the
body, by increasing the secretion of perspiration and
some others.
JOYNERY. See Joinery.
IPECACUANHA, the root of a plant which is
well known by its use as an emetic. See Materia
Medica Index.
IPHICRATES, general of the Athenians, had that
command conferred upon him at 20 years of age, and
became famous for the exactnessof his military discipline.
He made war on the Thracians ; restored Seuthes, who
was an ally of the Athenians j attacked the Lacedee-
monians, and, on many other occasions, gave signal
proofs of his conduct and courage. Many ingenious
repartees have been mentioned of this general : a man
of good family, with no other merit than his nobility,
reproaching him one day for the meanness of his birth,
he replied, “ I shall be the first of my race, and thou
the last of thine.” He died 380 B. C.
IPHIGENIA, a daughter of Agamemnon and Cly-
temnestra. When the Greeks going to the Trojan war
were detained by contrary winds at Aulis, they were
informed by one of the soothsayers, that to appease
the gods they must sacrifice Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s
daughter to Diana. The father, who had provoked
the goddess by killing her favourite stag, heard this
with the greatest horror and indignation j and rather
than to shed the blood of his daughter, he commanded
one of his heralds, as chief of the Grecian forces, to or¬
der all the assembly to depart each to his respective
home. Ulysses and the other generals interfered, and
Agamemnon ,
IPS [ 320 1 I E A
Ipli'tgeuia Agamemnon consented to immolate his daughter for
SI the common cause of Greece. As Iphigenia was ten-
, <i)5ulc'k- derly loved by her mother, the Greeks sent for her on
pretence of giving her in marriage to Achilles. Cly-
temnestra gladly permitted her departure, and Iphige-
nia came to Aulis. Here she saw the bloody prepara¬
tions for the sacrifice. She implored the forgiveness
and protection of her father; but tears and entreaties
were unavailing. Calchas took the knife in his hand ;
and as he was going to strike the fatal blow, Iphigenia
suddenly disappeared, and a goat of uncommon size and
beauty was found in her place for the sacrifice. This
supernatural change animated the Greeks, the wind
suddenly became favourable, and the combined fleet set
sail from Aulis.
IPOMEA, Quamoclit, or Scarlet Convolvu¬
lus ; a genus of plants, belonging to the pentandria
class, and in the natural method ranking under the 29th
order, Campanacece. See Botany Index.
IPSWICH, the capital of the county of Suffolk, in
England, seated in E. Long. I. 6. N. Lat. 52. 12.
The name comes from the Saxon Cypeswick, that is, a
town situated upon the Gyppen, now called Orwell.
It had once 21 churches, but now has only 12. It was
plundered by the Danes in 991, and afterwards be¬
sieged by King Stephen. It had charters and a mint
in the reign of King John, but its last charter was from
Charles II. The remains of a w'all and six or seven re¬
ligious houses are still to be seen. Though it is not
in so flourishing a state as formerly when the harbour
was more commodious, yet it is still a large well built
town. Besides the churches already mentioned, it
has several meeting-houses, two chapels, a town-hall,
council chamber, a large market place with a cross in
the middle of it, a shire-hall for the county sessions, a
library, several hospitals, a free-school, a handsome
stone-bridge over the river, stately shambles in the
market place built by Cardinal Wolsey, who was a na¬
tive of the town and a butcher’s son, and who also be¬
gan to build a college here on the ruins of a small
college of black canons, which still bears his name,
though it was never finished. Here are also several
alms-houses, three charity-schools, and a convenient
key and customhouse. By virtue of Charles II.’s char¬
ter, the town is governed by two bailiffs, a recorder,
12 portmen, of whom the bailiffs are two, a town-
clerk, two coroners, and 24 common-council. The Irascible!
bailiffs and 4 of the portmen are justices of the peace. -v-—
The town enjoys many privileges, as passing fines and
recoveries, trying criminals, and even crown and capi¬
tal causes among themselves, settling the assize of
bread, wine, and beer. No freeman is obliged to serve
on juries out of the town, or bear any office for the
king, except that of the sheriff, or to pay tolls or duties
in any other part of the kingdom. They have an ad¬
miralty jurisdiction beyond Harwich on the Essex coast,
and on both sides the Suffolk coast, by which they are
entitled to all goods cast on shore. The bailiffs even
hold an admiralty-court beyond Landguard-fort. By
a trial in King Edward III.’s time, it appears that the
town had a right to the custom-duties for all goods co¬
ming into Harwich-haven. The population in 1811
was 13,670, of whom nearly 2000 are employed in
manufactures, which are chiefly woollen and linen cloth.
It has still a considerable foreign-trade. The tide
rises 12 feet, and ships come within a small distance of
the town. They exporta great deal of corn to London,
and in former times to Holland. Formerly, they had
a great trade in ship-building; but that having declined,
they now send great quantities of timber to the king’s
yard at Chatham. It has several great fairs for cattle,
cheese, and butter; and is admirably situated for the
trade to Greenland, because the same wind that carries
them out of the river will carry them to Greenland.
It is worth remarking, that it is one of the best places
in England for persons in narrow circumstances, house-
rent being easy, provisions cheap and plentiful, the
passage by land or water to London, &c. convenient,
and the company of the place good. It gives title of
viscount, as well as Thetford, to the duke of Grafton ;
and sends two members to parliament.
IRASCIBLE, in the old philosophy, a term appli¬
ed to an appetite or a part of the soul, where anger and
the other passions, which animate us against things dif¬
ficult or odious, were supposed to reside.
Of the eleven kinds of passions attributed to the
soul, philosophers ascribe five to the irascible appetite;
viz. wrath, boldness, fear, hope, and despair; the other
six are charged on the concupiscible appetite, viz. plea¬
sure, pain, desire, aversion, love, and hatred.
IRELAND.
Ireland. TRELAND, one of the Britannic islands, situated
A between the 5th and loth degrees of west longitude,
and between the 51st and 56th of north latitude, ex¬
tending in length about 280 miles, and about 170 in
breadth.
The ancient history of this island is involved in so
much obscurity, that it has been the object of conten¬
tion among the antiquarians for upwards of a century
and a half. The Irish historians pretend to very great
1 antiquity. According to them, the island was first in-
Oviapu of habited jabout 322 years after the flood. At that time
the Irish partholanus the son of Scara landed in Munster on the
to^heir1* 14th of May with IOOO soldiers, and some women, from
awn iiisto- Greece. This voyage he had undertaken on account
mn*. 0f Ifis having killed his father and mother in his native
country. The same historians inform us, that a great Ireland,
number of lakes broke out in Ireland during the reign «»—v—*
of Partholanus, which had no existence when he came
into the island, with many other particulars not worth
mentioning; but the most surprising circumstance is,
that about 300 years after the arrival of this Grecian
colony, all of them perished by a plague, not a single
person remaining to tell the fate of the rest; in which
case, it is wonderful how the catastrophe should have
been known.
After the extinction of this first colony, Ireland re¬
mained a perfect wilderness for 30 years ; when ano¬
ther colony arrived from the east, under the direction
of one Nemedius. He set sail from the Euxine sea
with 30 transports, each manned with 40 heroes; and
at
IRELAND.
Ireland, at last arrived on the coasts of Ireland, after a very te-
■■■ -v i dious and strange navigation. During his reign also
many lakes were formed in the country, which had no
existence before j the most material circumstance, how¬
ever, was an unsuccessful war in which he was engaged
with some African pirates, who in the end enslaved his
people. The victors proved such insupportable ty¬
rants, that the Irish found themselves under a necessity
of quitting the island altogether. They embarked on
board a fleet of 1130 ships, under the command of
three grandsons of Nemedius, viz. Simon Breac, To
Chath, and Briatan Maol. The first returned to Greece,
the second sailed to the northern parts of Europe, and
the third landed in the north of Scotland, and from
him the island of Britain is said to have taken its name,
and the Welsh their origin.
About 216 years after the death of Nemedius, the
descendents of Simon Breac returned from Greece into
Ireland. They were conducted by five princes of great
reputation, who divided the island into five kingdoms,
nearly equal in size. These kingdoms were called
Munster, Leinster, Connaught, Meath, and Ulster ; and
the subjects of these kings are called by the Irish his¬
torians Firbolgs.
The Firbolgs were in process of time expelled or
totally subdued, after the loss of 100,000 men in one
battle, by the Tuath de Dannans, a nation of necro¬
mancers, who came from Attica, Boeotia, and Achaia,
into Denmark, from Denmark to Scotland, and from
Scotland to Ireland. These necromancers were so
completely skilled in their art, that they could even
restore the dead to life, and bring again into the field
those warriors who had been slain the day before.
They had also some curiosities which possessed a won¬
derful virtue. These were a sword, a spear, a caul¬
dron, and a marble chair j on which last were crown¬
ed first the kings of Ireland, and afterwards those of
Scotland. But neither the powerful virtues of these
Danish curiosities, nor the more powerful spells of the
magic art, were able to preserve the Tuath de Dannans
from being subdued by the Gadelians when they in¬
vaded Ireland.’
The Gadelians were descended from one Gathelus,
from whom they derived their name. He was a man
of great consequence in Egypt, and intimately ac¬
quainted with Moses the Jewish legislator. His mo¬
ther was Scota the daughter of Pharaoh, by Niul the
son of a Scythian monarch cotemporary with Nimrod.
The Gadelians, called also Scots, from Scota above-
mentioned, conquered Ireland about 1300 B. C. un¬
der Heber and Heremon, two sons of Milesius king of
Spain, from whom were descended all the kings of
Ireland down to the English conquest, and who are
therefore styled by the Irish historians princes of the
Milesian race.
From this period the Irish historians trace a gradual
refinement of their countrymen from a state of the
grossest barbarity, until a monarch, named Ollam Fod-
la, established a regular form of government, erected
a grand seminary of learning, and instituted the Fes,
or triennial convention of provincial kings, priests, and
poets, at Feamor or Tarah in Meath, for the establish¬
ment of laws, and the regulation of government. But
whatever were the institutions of this monarch, it is
acknowledged that they proved insufficient to with-
Vol. XI. Part I. f
32 1
stand the wildness and disorder of the times. To Kim- Ireland.
bath, one of bis successors, the annalists give the ho-—v '
nour of reviving them, besides that of regulating Ul¬
ster, his family province, and adorning it with a state¬
ly palace at Eamannia near Armagh. His immediate
successor, called Hugony, is still more celebrated for
advancing the work of reformation. It seems, that,
from the earliest origin of the Irish nation, the island
had been divided into the five provincial kingdoms
above mentioned, and four of these had been subject to
the fifth, who was nominal monarch of the whole island.
These four, however, proved such obstinate disturbers
of the peace, that Hugony, to break their power, par¬
celled out the country into 25 dynasties, binding them
by oath to accept no other monarch but one of his own
family. This precaution proved ineffectual. Hugony
himself died a violent death, and all his successors for
a series of ages were assassinated, scarcely with one
exception.
About 100 B. C. the pentarchal government was
restored, and is said to have been succeeded by a con¬
siderable revolution in politics. The Irish bards had
for many ages dispensed the laws, and the whole na¬
tion submitted to their decisions; but as their laws
were exceedingly obscure, and could be interpreted
only by themselves, they took occasion from thence to
oppress the people, until at last they were in danger
of being totally exterminated by a general insurrection.
In this emergency they fled to Convocar-Mac-Nessa,
the reigning monarch, who promised them his protec¬
tion in case they reformed ; but, at the same time, in
order to quiet the just complaints of his people, he em¬
ployed the most eminent among them to compile an
intelligible, equitable, and distinct body of laws,
which were received with the greatest joy, and digni¬
fied with the name of celestial decisions. These deci¬
sions seem to have produced but very little reformation
among the people in general. We are now presented
with a new series of barbarities, murders, factions,
and anarchy; and in this disordered situation of af¬
fairs it was, according to the Irish historians, that the
chieftain mentioned by Tacitus addressed himself to
Agricola, and encouraged him to make a descent on
Ireland. This scheme happened not to suit the views
of the Roman general at that time, and therefore was
not adopted j and so confident are these historians of
the strength of their country, even in its then distract¬
ed state, that they treat the notion of its being sub¬
dued by a Roman legion and some auxiliaries (the
force proposed to Agricola) as utterly extravagant j ac¬
quainting us at the same time, that the Irish were so
far from dreading a Roman invasion, that they sailed
to the assistance of the Piets, and having matle a suc¬
cessful incursion into South Britain, returned home with
a considerable booty.
In the same state of barbarity and confusion the
kingdom of Ireland continued till the introduction of
Christianity by St Patrick, about the middle of the
fifth century. This missionary, according to the adver¬
saries of the Irish antiquity, first introduced letters into
Ireland, and thus laid the foundations of a future civi¬
lization. On the other hand, the advocates for that
antiquity maintain, that the Irish had the knowledge
of letters, and had made considerable progress in the
arts, before the time of St Patrick 5 though they allow
S s that
Eai iy hi-
*sory of
Ireland by
Mr Wha¬
cker.
I R E L
that he introduced the Roman character, in which
his copies of the Scripture and liturgies were written.
To enter into the dispute would be contrary to our
plan. It is sufficient to observe, that, excepting by
some of the Irish themselves, the history already given
is generally reckoned entirely fabulous, and thought
to have been invented after the introduction of Christi¬
anity. An origin of the Irish nation has been found
out much nearer than Asia, Greece, or Egypt; name¬
ly, the island of Britain, from whence it is now
thought that Ireland was first peopled. A dispute hath
arisen concerning the place from whence the first emi¬
grants from Britain set sail for Ireland. The honour
of being the mother-country of the Irish hath been
disputed between the North and South Britons. Mr
Macpherson has argued strenuously for the former,
and Mr Whitaker for the latter, tor an account ol
their dispute, however, we must refer to the works of
these gentlemen. Mr Whitaker claims the victory,
and challenges to himself the honour of being the first
who clearly and truly demonstrated the origin of the
Irish.
The name of Ireland, according to Mr "Whitaker, is
obviously derived from the word Jar or Eir, which in
the Celtic language signifies “ west.” This word was
sometimes pronounced Iver and Hirer; whence the
names of Iris, lerna, Juverna, Iverna, Hibernia, and
Ireland; by all of which it hath at some time or other
been known.
About 350 B. C. according to the same author,
the Belgse crossed the channel, invaded Britain, and
seized the whole extended line of the southern coast,
from Kent to Devonshire. Numbers of the former in¬
habitants, who had gradually retired before the enemy,
were obliged at last to take shipping on the western
coast of England, and passed over into the uninhabited
isle of Ireland. These were afterwards joined by an¬
other body of Britons driven out by the Belgae under
Divitiaeus, about 100 B. C. For two centuries and a
half afterwards, these colonies were continually rein¬
forced with fresh swarms from Britain ; as the populous¬
ness of this island, and the vicinity of that, invited them
to settle in the one, or the bloody and successive wars
in Britain during this period naturally induced them to
relinquish the other : and the whole circuit of Ireland
appears to have been completely peopled about 150
years after Christ: and as the inhabitants had all fled
equally from the dominion of the Belgse, or for some
other cause left their native country, they were distin¬
guished among the Britons by one general and very ap¬
posite name, viz. that of Scuites or Scots, “ the wan¬
derers, or refugees.”
Karnes and Whitaker also informs us, “ that in the times
situation ot'ef the Romans Ireland was inhabited by 18 tribes ; by
one upon the northern and three on the southern shore,
seven upon the western, six on the eastern, and one in
the centre.
“ Along the eastern coast, and the Vergivian or inter¬
nal ocean, were ranged the Damnii, the Voluntii, and
the Eblani, the Caucii, the Menapii, and the Coriondii.
The first inhabited a part of the two counties of An¬
trim and Down, extending from Fair head, the most
north-easterly extremity of the island, to Isamnum
Promontorium, or the point of ArdglasS haven, in the
county df Down j and, having the Logia or Lagan,
the tribes
by which
it was i n-
' habited.
AND.
which falls into Carrickfergus bay, within their pos¬
sessions, and D unum or Down-patrick for their capital.
The Voluntii possessed the coast from the point of that
haven to the river Buvinda or Boyne, the remaindei'
of Down, the breadth of Armagh, and all Louth j
having the Vinderus or Carlingford river in their do¬
minions, and the town of Laberus near the river Deva
(Atherdee in the county of Louth) for their metro¬
polis. And the Eblani reached from the Boyne to the
Laebius, Laev-ui, or Liffy ; residing in East Meath,
and in the large portion of Dublin county which is to
the north of this river; and acknowledging Mediola¬
num, Eblana, or Dublin, for their principal town. The
Caucii spread from the Liffy to the Letrim, the Oboca
of the ancients ”, had the rest of Dublin county, and
such parts of Wicklow as lie in the north of the lat¬
ter j and owned Dunum or Rath-Downe for their chief
city. The Menapii occupied the coast betwixt the
Letrim and Cancarne-point, all the rest of Wicklow,
and all Wexford to the point; their chief town, Me-
napia, being placed upon and to the east of Modona,
Slanus, or Slane. And the Coriondii inhabited at the
back of the Caucii and Menapii, to the west of” the
Slane and Liffy, and in all Kildare and all Catherlogh j
being limited by tbe Boyne and Barrow on the west,
the Eblani on tbe north, and the Brigantes on the
south.
“ Upon the southern shore, and along the verge of the
Cantabrian ocean, lay the Brigantes, the Vodiae, and
the Ibernii. The first owned the rest of Wexford and
all Waterford : extending to the Blackwater, Aven-
More, or Dabrona, on tbe south-west $ having the great
mouth of the Barrow within their territories, and Bri-
gantia, Waterford, or some town near it, for their first
city ; and giving name of Bn'gas to the Suir or Swire,
their limitary stream on the north, and the appellation
of Bergie to their own part of the county of Wexford.
The Vodite possessed the shire of Corke from the Black-
water to the Ban, the river of Kinsale, and the Do-
bona or Dubana of the ancients ; and affixed the name
of Vodinm Promontorium to the point of Balycotton
island. And the Ibernii inhabited the remainder of
Corke, and all that part of Kerry which lies to the
south-east of Dingle sound ; having Rusina or Ibaune
for their capital, the Promontorium Austrinum or Mis-
sen-Head about the middle of their dominions, and the
river Ibernus or Dingle sound for their northern bar¬
rier ”, and leaving their names to the three divisions of
Ibaune, Beare, and Iveragh.
“ Upon the western shore of the island, and along the
Great Britannic or Atlantic ocean, were the Lucanii
or Lucenii, the Velaborii, and the Cangani, the Au-
terii, the Nagnatse, the Hardinii, and Venicnii. The
Lucenii inhabited the peninsula of land that lies along
the river Ibernus or Dingle sound, and perhaps some
adjoining parts of Kerry. The Velaborii ranged along
the small remainder of the latter, and over the whole
of Limerick to the Senus or Shannon j having the Du-
rius or Casheen flowing through their dominions, and
Regia, Limerick or some town near it, for their me¬
tropolis. And the latter was probably that city near
Limerick, the site of which is still famous, and retains
the appellation of Catkair, or the fortress ; and where
the remains of streets, and other marks of a town, may
yet be traced. The Cangani lived in the county of
Clare ;
1 R E L
Clare : Malcolicum near the Shannon, perhaps Feakle
or Melic, being their principal town ; a headland in
the bay of Galway, near Glaniny, being denominated
'Benisamnum Vromontorium ; and the adjoining isles of
Arran called Insula: Cangance. The Auterii were set¬
tled in the county of Galway 5 winding along the deep
recess of the Sinus Ausoba or bay ol Galway ; stretch¬
ing towards the north as far as the Libnius, or the river
that bounds the shire in that part j and possessing the
small portion of Mayo which lies to the south ol it.
And these were subject to Auterium, anciently Aterith,
and now Athenree; and have left their name to the di¬
vision of Athenree. The Nagnatae occupied the rest
of the large county of Mayo, all Sligo and all Ros¬
common, all Letrim as far as Logh Allin on the south¬
east, and all Fermanagh, to Balyshannon and Logh
Frne } being bounded by the Rhebius or river of Ba¬
lyshannon, and the lake Rhebius or Logh Line; ha¬
ving a deep bay, called Magnus Si'/iusf that curves
along Mayo, Sligo, and Letrim counties; and acknow¬
ledging Nagnat, Necmaht, or Alnecmaht, the town
of the Nagnatse, for their capital. And the Hardinii
and Venicnii were confederated together under the title
of the Venicnian Nations, extended from Balyshannon
to the North Cape, and possessed all Donnegalle, except
the two whole divisions ol Raphoe and Ems-Owen, and
the eastern part of Killmacrenen. The Venicnii lay
along the immediate margin of the shore, giving name
to the Promontorium Venicnium or Cape Horn, and
to the Insula Venicnia or North Arran Island. And
their metropolis Rheba was seated upon the lake
Rhebius, and in the country of the Hardinii on the
south-east.
“ Upon the northern shore and along the margin of
the Deucaledonian ocean, were only the Robogdii; in¬
habiting the rest of Donnegalle, all Derry, and all
Antrim to the Fair-Head, and the Damnii; and gi¬
ving their own name to the former and the division of
Raphoe. And they had the rivers Vidua or Ship-
harbour, Arigta or Logh Swilly, Darabouna or Logh
Foile, and Banna, or Ban, in their territories; and ac¬
knowledged Robogdium, Robogh, or Raphoe, for their
chief city.
“ The central regions of the island, all Tyrone, the
remainder of Fermanagh and Letrim, all Monaghan,
and the rest of Ardmagh ; all Cavan, all Longford,
and all West-Meath ; all the King’s and Queen’s coun¬
ty, all Kilkenny, and all Tipperary ; were planted by
the Scoti. The Shannon, Logh All in, and Logh
P.rne, were their great boundaries on the west; the
Barrow, Boyne, and Logh Neagh, on the east; the
Swire and Blackwater on the south ; and a chain of
mountains on the north. And the two greatest of
their towns were Rheba, a city seated, like the Rheba
of the Venicnians, upon the lake and river Rhebius,
but on a different part of them, and somewhere in the
north of Cavan ; and Ibernia, a town placed a little to
the east of the Shannon, and somewhere in the county
of Tipperary.”
But whether we are to receive as a truth the accounts
given by Mr Whitaker, those of the Irish annalists,
or any other, it is certain, that, till little more than a
century ago, Ireland was a scene of contusion and
slaughter. The Irish historians acknowledge this, as
we have already seen. Very few of their monarchs
A N D.
escaped a violent death. The histories of their kings
indeed amount to no more than this, viz. that they
began to reign in such a year, reigned a certain num¬
ber of years, and were slain in battle by the valiant
prince who succeeded to the throne. Lhe introduc¬
tion of Christianity seems to have mended the matter
very little, or rather not at all. The same wars be¬
tween the chiefs continued ; and the same murders and
treacheries took place among the inhabitants, till they 4
were’invaded by the Danes or Normans, about the Invasion of
end of the eighth century. At this time, we are told,the
that the monarchical power was weak, by reason of the
factious and assuming disposition of the inferior dyna¬
sties ; but that the evils of the political constitution
had considerably subsided by the respect paid to reli¬
gion and learning. The first invasions of the Danes
were made in small parties for the sake of plunder,
and were repelled by the chieftain whose dominions
were invaded. Other parties appeared in different parts
of the island, and terrified the inhabitants by the havock
they committed. These were in like manner put to
flight, but never failed to return in a short time ; and
in this manner was Ireland harassed for the space of
20 years, before the inhabitants thought of putting art
end to their intestine contests, and uniting against the
common enemy. The northern pirates, either by
force or treaty, gradually obtained some small settle¬
ments on the island ; till at length Turges, or Turge-
sius, a warlike Norwegian, landed with a powerful ar¬
mament in the year 815. He divided his fleet and ar¬
my, in order to strike terror in different quarters. His
followers plundered, burned, and massacred, without
mercy, and persecuted the clergy in a dreadful manner
on account of their religion. The Danes already set¬
tled in Ireland, flocked to the standard of Turgesius,
who thus was enabled to seat himself in Armagh, from
which he expelled the clergy, and seized their lands.
The Irish, in the mean time, were infatuated by their
private quarrels ; till at last, after some ill-conducted
and unsuccessful efforts, they sunk into a state of ab¬
ject submission, and Turgesius was proclaimed monarch
of the whole island in 845.
The new king proved such a tyrant, that he soon
became intolerable. A conspiracy was formed against
him ; and he was seized by Melachline prince of Meath,
in a time of apparent peace. An universal insurrec¬
tion ensued ; the Danes were massacred or dispersed ;
their leader condemned to death for his cruelties, and
drowned in a lake. The foreigners, however, were
not exterminated, but the remains of them were al¬
lowed to continue on the island as subjects or tributa¬
ries to some particular chieftains. A new colony soon
arrived, but under the pretence of peaceable intentions,
and a design of enriching the country by commerce.
The Irish, through an infatuated policy, suffered them
to become masters of Dublin, Limerick, Waterford,
and other maritime places, which they enlarged and
fortified with such works as had till then been Un¬
known in Ireland. The Danes did not fail to make
use of every opportunity of enlarging their territories,
and new wars quickly ensued. The Irish were some¬
times victorious, and sometimes not; but were never
able to drive out their enemies, so that they continued
to be a very distinguished and powerful sept, or tribe,
in Ireland. The wars with the Danes were no sooner
S k ^ at
;24
IRELAND.
li’cland. at an end, than the natives, as usual, turned their arms
—v” against each other. The country was harassed by the
competitions of the chiefs ; laws and religion lost their
influence, and the most horrid licentiousness and im¬
morality prevailed. Thus the whole island seemed
ready to become a prey to the first invader, when an
attempt was made upon it by Magnus king of Nor¬
way. This attempt miscarried through his own rash¬
ness j for, having landed without opposition, he ad¬
vanced into the country without the least apprehen¬
sion. The consequence of this was, that he was sur¬
rounded and cut to pieces with all his followers. His
death, however, proved of little benefit to Ireland;
the same disorders which had gradually reduced the
kingdom to a state of extreme weakness, still conti¬
nued to operate, and to facilitate the success of the
English invasion, which happened in the reign of
5 Henry II.
Hcmy II. The first motives which induced this monarch to
of England t]jjnk_ of an expedition against Ireland are not well
an invasionkno.wn‘ It was supposed that he had been provoked
of Ireland, by some assistance which the Irish princes had given
to the French ; but, whatever might be in this, it is
certain that the design was conceived soon after he
ascended the throne ; and his flatterers soon furnished
him with sufficient reasons for considering the Irish as
his subjects. It was affirmed that they had original¬
ly possessed themselves of their country hy permission
of Gurguntius a British king $ and that, as descen¬
dants of the Britons, they were the natural and right¬
ful subjects of the English monarch. It was also sug¬
gested, that the renowned King Arthur, Egfred the
Northumbrian prince, and Edgar one of the Saxon
kings of England, had all led their armies into Ireland,
and there made valuable acquisitions, which their suc¬
cessor was in honour bound to recover and maintain.
All these suggestions, however, or whatever else had
occurred to himself, seemed yet insufficient to Henry j
and therefore he took the most effectual method to in¬
sure his reputation, namely, by an application to the
pope. To him he represented, that the inhabitants
of Ireland were sunk into the most wretched state of
corruption, both with regard to morals and religion j
that Henry, zealous for the honour and enlargement
of God’s kingdom, had conceived the pious design of
erecting it in this unhappy country ; was ready to de¬
vote himself and all his powers to this meritorious ser¬
vice j implored the benediction of the pontiffj and re¬
quested his permission and authority to enter Ireland
to reduce the disobedient and corrupt, to eradicate
all sin and wickedness, to instruct the ignorant, and
spread the blessed influence of the gospel in all its pu¬
rity and perfection ; promising at the same time to pay
a yearly tribute to St Peter from the land thus to be
reduced to his obedience, and to the holy see. Adrian,
the reigning pope, rejoiced at this application which
6 tended so much to the advancement of his own power.
A bull was therefore immediately formed, conformable
sovereignty ^ie mo3t sanguine wishes of Henry, which was sent
by the ° England without delay, together with a ring, the
token of his investiture as rightful sovereign of Ireland.
But whatever inclination the king of England or the
pope might at this time (A. D. 1156) have for the
subjection of Ireland, the situation of the English affairs
obliged him to defer it for some time.
pope.
The state of Ireland, as we have already observed, Ireland
was at tins time extremely favourable for an invasion. — /
The monarch enjoyed little more than a titular dignity, 7
being harassed by a faction, and opposed by powerful of
rivals.. A number of chieftains who assumed the title that time!
and rights of royalty, paid a precarious tribute to
their superior, and united, if they were disposed to
unite, with him, rather as his allies than his subjects.
In Ulster, the family of the northern Hi-Nia/, as it
was called, exercised a hereditary jurisdiction over
the counties now called Tyrone, Derry, and Donnegah
They also claimed a right of supremacy over the lords
of Fermanagh, Antrim, and Argial, which included
the counties of Armagh, Monaghan, Lowth, and some
adjacent districts; while Dunleve, prince of Uladli
(now Down), disputed the superiority of this family,
and affected an independent state. In Munster reign¬
ed the descendants of Brien, a famous sovereign of
former times, impatient to recover the honours of
their family; but at last, being confined by powerful
rivals to the territory of North Munster, they were
obliged to leave the family of Mac Arthy sovereigns
of Desmond, the southern division. In Connaught, the
princes known by the name of O'Connor were ac¬
knowledged sovereigns of the eastern territory. Tier-
nan O’Kuarc, an active and restless military chief, had
the supremacy in Brefl'ney, containing the modern
county of Leitrim, and some adjacent districts. Meath,
or the southern Hi-Nial, was subject to the family of
Clan-Golman-, Murchard O’Malachlyn, and his suc¬
cessors. Leinster, divided into several principalities,
was subject to Dermod, a fierce, haughty, and op¬
pressive tyrant. His father had governed with great
cruelty. Seventeen of his vassal lords had been either
put to death, or had their eyes put out, by his order,
in one year; and Dermod seemed to inherit too great
a portion of the same temper. His stature and bodily
strength made him admired by the inferior orders of
his subjects; and these he was careful to protect and
favour. His donations and endowments of religious
houses recommended him to the clergy; but his tribu¬
tary chieftans felt the weight of his pride and tyranny,
and to them his government was extremely odious.
The chief competitors for the rank of monarch of
Ireland, in the mean time, were, the heirs of the two
houses of O’Connor, and the northern Hi-Nial. Tor-
logh O’Connor was in possession ; but he was not ge¬
nerally recognised, and was opposed by his rival O’-
Lochlan : notwithstanding which, he maintained his
dignity with magnificence and vigour, till a decisive
victory gained by him over O’Brien raised O’Lochlan’s
jealousy so much, that he obliged him in a convention
of the states to allow him the sovereignty of the north¬
ern division. In consequence of this partition, it was
resolved to transfer the territory of O’Ruarc to a person
more inclined to the interests of the two sovereigns.
An expedition was accordingly undertaken ; O’Ruarc
was surprised, defeated, and driven from his dominions.
Dermod, who had conceived an unlawful passion for
Dervorghal, the wife of O’Ruarc, took the opportu¬
nity of her husband’s distresses to carry her off in tri¬
umph. O’Ruarc conceived the most implacable resent¬
ment against Dermod ; and therefore applying himself
to Torlogb, promised an inviolable attachment to his
interest; and prevailed.on him not only to reinstate
him
i Ireland.
8
bermod
m exiled
■dnce, so-
icits assist
unee froiu
Henry If.
IRELAND.
him in his possessions, but to revenge the insult offereil
by Dermod, and to restore his wife. By means of
such a powerful ally, O’Ruarc found frequent oppor¬
tunities of harassing his antagonist till the death of
Torlogh, which happened in 1156, upon which O’Loch-
lan succeeded to the sovereignty. Dermod was the
first to acknowledge the authority of this new sove¬
reign, by whose means he hoped to be able to revenge
himself on O’Ruarc. He soon found, however, that
he had acted too precipitately. His patron, having
treacherously seized and put out the eyes of Dunleve
prince of Down, the neighbouring chieftains took
arms, in order to secure themselves from his barbarity.
O’Lochlan was defeated and killed ; upon which the
monarchy devolved on Roderic the son of the late Tor¬
logh O’Connor.
The new prince had acquired the reputation of va¬
lour, and was determined to establish this reputation
by some remarkable exploit in the beginning of his
reign. Having therefore engaged in his service the
Ostmen, or descendants of the Danes, he marched a-
gainst Dermod as the chief partizan of his fallen rival.
The king of Leinster was seized with the utmost con¬
sternation ; and in despair set fire to his own town of
Ferns, lest the enemy should have the satisfaction of
spoiling it. Roderick still advanced, attended by O’Ru¬
arc, Dermod’s implacable enemy, and soon overran
the whole province. All the inferior lords at once
acknowledged Roderic’s authority. Dermod was depo¬
sed, as a man utterly unworthy of his station $ another
- of his family was raised to the throne j and the unfor¬
tunate prince, finding it impossible to stay with safety
in Ireland, embarked with 60 of his followers for
England, and soon arrived at the port of Bristol, with
a design to solicit assistance from King Henry.
In England, Dermod’s character was unknown, and
he was regarded as an injured prince driven from his
throne by an iniquitous confederacy. The clergy re¬
ceived him as the benefactor of their order, and enter¬
tained him in the monastery of Augustines with great
hospitality. Having learned that Henry was then in
Aquitain, he immediately went thither, and in a very
abject manner implored his assistance, promising to ac¬
knowledge him as his liege lord, and to hold his do¬
minions, which he was thus confident of regaining, in
vassalage to Henry and his heirs.
Though nothing could be more flattering to the
ambition of the king of England than this servile ad¬
dress, vet the situation of his own affairs rendered it
impossible for him at that time to reap from it any of
the advantages with which it flattered him. He there¬
fore dismissed the Irish prince with large presents, and
a letter of credence addressed to all his subjects : noti¬
fying his grace and protection granted to the king of
Leinster j and declaring, that whosoever within his
dominions should be disposed to aid the unfortunate
prince in the recovery of his kingdom, might be assured
of his free licence and royal favour.
Dermod returned to England highly pleased with
the reception he had met with ; but notwithstanding
the king’s letter, none of the English seemed to be
disposed to try their fortunes in Ireland. A month
elapsed without any prospect of succours, so that Der¬
mod began to despair. At last, however, he persuad¬
ed with great promises, Richard earl of Chepstow, or,
325
as it was formerly called, Stngt/l, a nobleman of consi- Ireland*
derable influence in Wales, but of broken fortune, to " “
assist him with a considerable force to be ^ransPor^e^ pei.su^e..
next spring into Ireland. Overjoyed at this first in-some a(^
stance of success, he advanced into South Wales, where, rentui.ers
by the influence of the bishop of St David’s, he pro-to follow
cured many other friends. Robert Fitz-Stephen, abhiMo Ire-
brave and experienced officer, covenanted with him to 1 ‘ *
engage in his service with all his followers, and Maurice
Fitz-Gerald his maternal brother j while Dermod on
his part, promised to cede to the two principal leaders,
Eitz-Stephen and Fitz-Gerald, the entire dominion of
the town of Wexford, with a large adjoining territory,
ss soon as by their assistance he should be reinstated in
bis rights.
The Irish prince having now accomplished his pur¬
pose, set sail for Ireland in the winter of 1169, and
recovered a small part of his dominions even before
the arrival of bis new allies j but being attacked with
a superior force by his old enemies Roderic and
O’Ruarc, he found himself obliged to feign submis¬
sion till the English allies came to bis assistance. I he
expected succours arrived in the month of May 117°*
in a creek called the Bann, near the city of Wexford.
Robert Eitz-Stephen commanded 30 knights, 60 men
in armour, and 300 archers. With these came Har¬
vey of Mountmorris, nephew to Earl Richard. He
had no military force along with him $ but came solely
with a view of discovering the nature of the country,
and reporting it to his uncle. Maurice of Pendergast
commanded 10 knights and 200 archers: and thus the
English force, which was to contend with the whole
strength of Ireland, amounted to no more than 6co
men.
Trifling as this assistance may seem, it nevertheless Their sug-
changed the face of affairs almost instantaneously.cess'
Numbers of Dermod’s subjects who had abandoned
him in his distress, now flocked to his standard. Wex¬
ford was immediately attacked, and surrendered in a
few days; Fitz-Stephen and Fitz-Gerald were jointly
invested with the lordship of this city and its domain j
and Harvey of Mountmorris was declared lord of two
considerable districts on the coast. After three or four
weeks spent in feasting and rejoicing, a new expedition
was undertaken against the prince of Ossory (a district
of Leinster), who had not only revolted from Dermod,
but put out the eyes of one of his sons, and that with
such cruelty, that the unhappy youth expired under the
operation. The allied army was now increased to 3000
men, who were opposed by the prince of Ossory at the
head of 5000, strongly entrenched among woods and
morasses. By the superior conduct of the English
troops, however, the Irish were decoyed from their
advantageous situation, and thus were entirely defeat¬
ed. The English were for keeping the field till they
had totally reduced their enemies : but Dermod, accu¬
stomed only to ravage and plunder, contented himself
with destroying the country : and a sudden reverse of
fortune seemed ready to take, place. The prince of
Ossory, though defeated, still appeared in arms, and
only waited for an opportunity of again opposing the
enemy in the field. Maurice Pendergast also joined
him with his whole troop, being provoked by Der-*
mod, who had refused him leave to return to Wales.
This defection, however, was in part supplied by the
arrival
\
326 I R E L
Ireland, arrival of Fitz-Gerald with 10 knights, 30 horse-
(     men, and lOO archers. Pendergast in a short time re¬
pented of his new alliance, and retired into Wales $
so that the prince was obliged to make his submission
to Dermod, which the latter with some reluctance ac¬
cepted.
In the mean time, Roderic, having settled all his
other affairs, advanced against the allies with a power¬
ful army. Dermod was thrown into despair; but en¬
couraged by Fitz-Steplien, he encamped in a very
strong situation, where he was soon besieged by Roderic.
The latter, however, dreading the valour of the Eng¬
lish, condescended to treat first with them, and then
with Dermod, in order to detach them from the inte¬
rests of each other: but as this proceeded evidently
from fear, his offers were rejected by both parties ;
upon which he began to prepare for battle : but at the
very time when the engagement should have commen¬
ced, either through the suggestions of his clergy, or of
ir his own fears, Roderic entered into a new negociation ;
Peace eon-which at last terminated in a peace. The terms were,
eluded. that Dermod should acknowledge the supremacy of
Roderic, and pay him such service as the monarebs of
Ireland had usually received from inferior princes ;
and as a security for his faithful performance of this
article, he delivered up his favourite son as an hostage
to Roderic : but in order to establish this accommoda¬
tion on the firmest basis, the latter obliged himself to
give his daughter in marriage to the young prince as
soon as Leinster should be reduced, and the peace of the
island effectually restored. By a secret article, Dermod
engaged to dismiss the British forces immediately after
the settlement of his own province, and in the mean
time not to bring over any further reinforcements from
England.
Thus ended the first British expedition into Ireland ;
the consequences of which were so little dreaded at that
time by the natives, that their historians, though they
dwell upon the principal wars and contests in other
parts of the island, speak of the settlement of the
Welshmen in Leinster with a careless indifference. But
though the settlement of this colony seemed very little
alarming to the generality, it could not escape the ob¬
servation of discerning persons, that a man of Dermod’s
character would not long keep his treaties; and that
on the first emergency he would have recourse to his
former allies, who would thus establish themselves more
It and more, till at last they would reduce the country
New m&- entirely under their subjection. These reflections, if
ehinations any such were then made, were in a short time verified
9f J)cr<B0<1'Dermod was scarce settled in his own dominions, when
he began to aspire at the sovereignty, and form
schemes for dethroning Roderic. He applied to Fitz-
Stephen and Fitz-Gerald ; by whom he was again di¬
rected to apply to Richard earl of Chepstow, more
commonly known by the name of Strongboiv, on ac¬
count of his feats of archery. Richard was very much
inclined to accept of his invitation ; but thought it in¬
cumbent upon him first to obtain the consent of King
Henry. The king, however, did not incline that his
subjects should make conquests for themselves in any
other country, and therefore dismissed Richard wit h an
equivocal answer; but the latter being willing to un¬
derstand his sovereign’s words in the most favourable
seme, immediately set about the necessary preparations
A N D.
for his expedition. In May 1171, Raymond le Gros, htlami.
Richard’s domestic friend, and the near relation of —■v-—'
Fitz-Stephen and Fitz-Gerald, landed at a place called li
Dondonatf, near Waterford, with 10 knights and 7° ^ "oT£n°'
archers ; and along with them came Harvey of Mount-1^ arrile
morris, attended by a small train. The English imme-m Ireland,
diately intrenched themselves, and erected a temporary
fort for themselves : which proved a very necessary pre¬
caution ; for the natives, justly attributing this new
debarkation to the practices of Dermod, instantly
formed a tumultuous army, and marched to expel the
invaders. The English prepared to meet them ; but
when they perceived the great superiority of the ene¬
my, they thought proper to retire to the fort. Here,
however, they must have been totally cut off, had they
not luckily collected a numerous herd of cattle from 14
the neighbouring country for their subsistence. These Their *»e.
they drove with fury among the Irish, who were thus«es*
put into the utmost confusion. The invaders seizedcruc*ty*
the favourable moment; and, falling upon their dis¬
ordered enemies, put them to flight, and drove great
numbers of them into the sea, where they perished.
Seventy prisoners were taken, all of them principal ci¬
tizens of Waterford ; who, though they offered large
sums for their ransom, and even that the city should be
delivered up to the English, were all barbarously put
to death. This success and cruelty so intimidated the
Irish, that they suflered these merciless invaders to
maintain their station unmolested, and wait for the ar¬
rival of their associates.
Richard in the mean time having assembled his vas¬
sals, led them through Wales, where he was joined by
great numbers of other adventurers; but, when just
on the point of embarking, was surprised by a positive
command by the king, to desist from his intended
enterprise, on pain of forfeiture of his lands and ho¬
nours. He was now, however, too much interested
in his scheme to retract; and therefore pretended to s s
disbelieve the authenticity of the royal mandate. On Earl Riek-
the eve of the feast of St Bartholomew, he landed at aid arrives
Waterford with 200 knights and 1200 infantry, all w‘tb8
chosen and well appointed soldiers. They were
mediately joined by Raymond and his troop; and them,nt>
very next day it was resolved to make an attempt upon
Waterford. The city was taken by storm, and a
dreadful massacre ensued ; to which the cruel Derraod
had the merit of putting an end. The marriage of
Richard with Eva, the daughter of Dermod, was so¬
lemnized without delay, and a scene of joy and festivi¬
ty succeeded the calamities of war.
A new expedition was now undertaken against
Dublin; the inhabitants of which had either manifest¬
ed some recent disaffection to Dermod, or had never
been thoroughly forgiven for their old defection. Ro¬
deric advanced against the allied army with a formi¬
dable body, consisting, as is said, of 30,000 men ;
but, fearing to come to a general engagemant, he
contented himselt with some slight skirmishes; after
which, great part of his vassals forced him to dismiss
them, and Dublin was left to its fate. The inhabitants
were treated very severely; however, a considerable
body of them, with Hesculph their governor, had the
good fortune to gain some vessels lying in the har¬
bour, and made their escape to the northern islands.
Earl Richard was now invested with the lordship of
Dublin ;
I R E L
? Dublin ; and appointed Milo de Cogan, a brave Eng-
m y -1' -. lisij knight, his governor ; while he himself, in con-
junctlon with the forces of Dermod, overran the coun¬
try of Meath, committing everywhere the most horrid
cruelties. Roderic, in the mean time, unable to op¬
pose them in the field, sent deputies to Dermod, com¬
manding him to retire, and putting him in mind that
his son was in his hands, and must answer with his life
for the breach of those treaties which his father made
so little scruple to violate. Natural affection, however,
had very little place in the breast of Dermod. He ex¬
pressed the utmost indifference about his son ; and, with
the greatest arrogance, claimed the sovereignty of all
Ireland; Roderic, provoked at this answer, cut oft the
young prince’s head.
This piece of impotent cruelty served only to make
the king odious to his own subjects, while Dermod and
his English allies committed everywhere the greatest
devastations, and threatened to subdue the whole island.
This indeed they would probably have accomplished,
had not the extraordinary success of Strongbow alarm¬
ed King Henry j who, fearing that he might render
himself totally independent on the crown of Britain,
issued his royal edict, strictly forbidding any English
vessel from passing into Ireland with men, arms, or
11 the ad provisions j and commanding all his subjects at that
enturers time resident in Ireland, of whatever rank or degree,
ecalled by t0 return to their country before the ensuing feast of
ke king:. iraster, on pain of forfeiting their lands, and being de¬
clared traitors. ,
Our adventurers were plunged into the greatest di¬
stress by this peremptory edict. They now found
themselves cut off from all supplies in the midst of
their enraged enemies, and in danger of being forsaken
by those who had attached themselves to them during
their success. Raymond was dispatched with a most
submissive message to the offended monarch *, but be¬
fore he received any favourable answer, every thing
(gee Enr-was thrown into confusion by the death of Becket *, so
and, N° that the king had neither leisure nor inclination to at-
19,120. tend to the affairs of Ireland. About the same time
the death of Dermod their great ally seemed almost to
v I? give a finishing stroke to the English affairs.. An uni-
heEnglish, versal defection took place among their associates ; and
S before they had time to concert any proper measures,
Hesculpb, who had formerly escaped from Dublin,
appeared before that city with a formidable body of
troops armed after the Danish manner. A furious at¬
tack ensued j which at last ended in the defeat and
captivity of Hesculph, who was immediately put to
death. This danger, however, was soon followed by
one still greater. Roderie had formed a powerful
confederacy with many of the Irish chieftains, and the
kings of the northern isles, in order to extirpate the
English totally from the island. The harbour of
Dublin was blocked up by a fleet of 30 ships from the
northern isles j while the confederated Irish took their
stations in such a manner as to surround the city, and
totally cut off all supplies of provisioas. In two
months time the English were reduced to great straits.
On the first alarm, Richard had sent for assistance jo
Fitz-Stephen •, who having weakened his own torce, in
order to serve the earl, the people of Wexford had
risen and besieged Fitz-Stephen in his fort called Car-
rig, near that city. A messenger now arrived, informing
A N D. 327
Strongbow that his friend was in the utmost danger, Ireland,
and must fall into the hands of his enemies if not assist- v—J
ed within three days ; upon which a council of war was
called, in order to deliberate on the measures necessary
to be pursued in this desperate emergency. It was soon
resolved to enter into a treaty with Roderic upon any
terms that were not totally servile or oppressive. Lau¬
rence prelate of Dublin was appointed to carry the
terms $ which were, that Richard proposed to acknow¬
ledge Roderic as his sovereign, and to hold the pro¬
vince of Leinster as his vassal, provided he would raise
the siege. Laurence soon returned with an answer, pro¬
bably of his own framing j namely, that Dublin, Water¬
ford, Wexford, and all the forts possessed by the British,
should be immediately given up ; and that the earl and
his associates should depart with all their forces by a cer¬
tain day, leaving every part of the island free from their
usurpations, and absolutely renouncing all their pretend¬
ed claims. On these conditions they were to be spared ;
but the least reluctance or delay would determine the
besiegers to storm the city.
These terms, though they contained nothing inso¬
lent or unreasonable, considering the present situation
of the English, were yet intolerable to our indigent
adventurers. After some time spent in silence, Milo
de Cogan, suddenly starting up, declared his resolu¬
tion to die bravely rather than submit to the mercy of
barbarians. The spirit of desperate valour was in¬
stantly caught by the whole assembly j and it was re¬
solved to risk their whole fortune on one desperate ef¬
fort, by sallying out against the enemy, and to make
their attack upon that quarter where Roderic himself lS
commanded. Accordingly, having persuaded a body They toul-
of the townsmen to take part in this desperate enter-ly defeat
prise, they marched out against their enemies, who en«-
expected nothing less than such a sudden attack. ^Ihe
besiegers were secure and careless, without discipline
or order j in consequence ot which, they were unable
to sustain the furious assault of the English. A terrible
slaughter ensued, and the Irish instantly fled in the
greatest confusion ; their monarch himself escaping on¬
ly by mixing hall naked with the crowd. The other
chieftains who were not attacked caught the panic, and
broke up their camps with precipitation*, while the vic¬
tors returned from the pursuit to plunder, and among
other advantages, gained as much provision as was suf¬
ficient to support them for a whole year.
Strongbow being thus relieved from his distress,
committed the government of Dublin to Milo de Co¬
gan, while he proceeded immediately to Wexford, in
order to relieve Fitz-Stephen j but in this he was dis¬
appointed 5 for that brave officer, having often repulsed
his enemies, was at last treacherously deceived into sub¬
mission and laid in irons. Strongbow, however, conti¬
nued to advance j and was again attacked by the Irish,
whom he once more defeated. On his arrival at Wex¬
ford, he found it burnt to the ground ; the enemy having
retired with Fitz Stephen and the rest of the prisoners
to Holy Island, a small island in the middle of the har¬
bour, from whence they sent a deputation, threatening
to put all the prisoners to death if the least attempt was
made to molest them in their present situation. The
earl then proceeded to Waterford, and from thence to
Ferns *, where he for some time exercised a regal autho¬
rity, rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies.
328
Ireland.
'   v”"
19
Earl llich-
ard sum¬
moned to
England,
ID
King Hen¬
ry lands in
Ireland.
IRELAND.
A more important object, however, soon engaged his
attention. The king of England, having settled his
affairs as well as he could, now determined to conquer
Ireland for himself. A summons was instantly dis¬
patched to Earl Richard, expressing the greatest resent¬
ment at his presumption and disobedience, and requir¬
ing his immediate presence in England. The earl
found himself under the necessity of obeying j and hav¬
ing made the best dispositions the time would permit
for the security of his Irish possessions, embarked for
England, and met the king at Newnham, near Glou¬
cester. Henry at first affected great displeasure, but
soon allowed himself to be pacified by a surrender of
the city of Dublin, and a large territory adjacent, to¬
gether with all the maritime towns and forts acquired
by Strongbow : while on his part he consented that the
earl should have all his other possessions granted in per¬
petuity, to be held of the king and his heirs. The
other adventurers made their peace in a similar man¬
ner j while the Irish chieftains, instead of uniting in
the defence of their country, only thought how to
make the most of the approaching invasion, or at least
how to avert the threatened evils from their own par¬
ticular districts. They saw the power of their own
sovereign on the point of total dissolution j and they
saw' it with indifference, if not with an envious and
malignant satisfaction. Some were even ready to pre¬
vent their invader, and to submit before he appeared,
on the coast. The men of Wexford, who had posses¬
sed themselves of Fitz-Stephen, resolved to avert the
consequences of their late perfidy and cruelty, by the
forwardness of their zeal for the service of the king of
England, and the readiness of their submissions. Their
deputies cast themselves at Henry’s feet j and, with
the most passionate expressions of obedience, humbly
intreated that he would accept them as his faithful vas¬
sals, ready to resign themselves, their lands, and pos¬
sessions, to his absolute disposal. “ They had already
(they said) endeavoured to approve their zeal by seizing
Robert Fitz-Stephen, a traitor to his sovereign, who
had lately entered their territory by force of arms,
without any due warrant or fair pretence, had slaugh-
tei’ed their people, seized their lands, and attempted
to establish himself independent of his liege lord.-—
They kept him in chains, and were ready to deliver
him to the disposal of his sovereign.”—The king re¬
ceived them with expressions of the utmost grace and
favour} commended their zeal in repressing the unwar¬
rantable attempts of Fitz-Stephen •, declared that he
should soon inquire into his crimes, and the wrongs
they had sustained, and inflict condign punishment for
every ofl'ence committed by his undutiful subjects.—
Thus were the Irismen dismissed in the utmost joy and
exultation ; and the artifice of Henry, while it inspired
these men with dispositions favourable to his interests,
proved also the most effectual means of saving Fitz-
Stephen from their cruelty.
Henry, having completed the preparations necessary
for his expedition, embarked at Milford with several
of his barons, 400 knights, and about 40CO soldiers,
on board a fleet of 240 sail. He landed at Water¬
ford on the feast of St Luke in October 1172, with a
professed design not to conquer, but to take possession
of a kingdom already his own, as being granted him
by the pope. Most of the Irish indeed seemed to be
of the same opinion, and therefore submitted without Ireland,
the least resistance. Strongbow set them an example,—v—<
by making a formal surrender of Waterford, and do¬
ing homage to the king for the territory of Leinster,
Fitz-Stepben was delivered up, with many accusations
of tyranny and injustice. He was at first sent to pri¬
son ; but soon purchased his liberty, by surrendering
Wfexford, and doing homage for the rest of his posses¬
sions to the king. The prince of Desmond was the Mair/kish
first Irish chieftain who submitted. On the very day chieftains
after the king’s arrival, he attended his court, resigned snbnnt to
the city of Corke, did him homage, and stipulated to*1’™'
pay a tribute for the rest of his territory. An Eng¬
lish governor and garrison were immediately appointed
to take possession of his capital j and the king displayed
his power and magnificence by marching to Lismore,
where he chose a situation and gave the necessary or¬
ders for building a fort. The prince of Thomond
next submitted and did homage. He was followed by
the princes of Ossory, Decies, and all the inferior chiefs
of Munster.
The king, after having provided for the security of
all his newly acquired territories, and put garrisons in
the cities of Limerick, Corke, WTaterford, and Wex¬
ford, proceeded to take possession of Dublin, which
had been surrendered by Strongbow. The neighbour¬
ing lords took the opportunity of submitting as he ad¬
vanced. O’Carrol of Argial, a chieftain of great con¬
sequence, repaired to his camp, and engaged to become
his tributary j and even O’Ruarc, whom Roderic had
made lord of a considerable part of Meath, voluntarily
submitted to the new sovereign.
Roderic, though surprised at the defection of soRoderie
many of his allies, still determined to maintain his own still holds
dignity, and at least preserve his province of Con-out*
naught, seeing he could no longercali! himself monarch
of the whole island. With this design he entrenched
himself on the banks of the Shannon j and now, when
disencumbered from a crowd of faithless and discon¬
tented followers, he appears to have acted with a spi¬
rit and dignity becoming his station. Hugh de Lacey
and William Fitz-Andelm were commissioned by the
king to reduce him : but Roderic was too strong to
be attacked with any probability of success by a de¬
tachment from the English army j and he at least af¬
fected to believe, that his situation was not yet so to¬
tally desperate as to reduce him to the necessity of re¬
signing his dignity and authority, while his own terri¬
tory remained inviolate, and the brave and powerful
ch iefs of Ulster still kept retired in their own districts
without any thoughts of submission. Henry in the
mean time attempted to attach the Irish lords to his in¬
terest by elegant and magnificent entertainments, such
as to them appeared quite astonishing. Some historians
pretend that he established the English laws in all those
parts which had submitted to his jurisdiction j but this
must appear extremely improbable, when we consider
how tenacious a rude and barbarous people are of their
ancient laws and customs. The Irish lords had been
accustomed to do homage to a superior 5 aud they had
made no submission to Henry which they had not for¬
merly done to Roderic, and probably thought their
submission to the king of England more honourable
than that to their Irish monarchs; and it cannot be
supposed, that a wise and politic monarch, such as
Henry
I E E
. frehad, Henry uncloubtetlly was, should form at once such an
^ extravagant scheme as altering the laws of a great num¬
ber of communities, none of which he had subdued by
force of arms. By his transactions both with the na~
tives and adventurers, however, Henry had attained
the absolute dominion of several maritime cities and
their dependencies ; so that he had both a considerable
number of real subjects, and a large extent of territo¬
ry, in the island. To these subjects indeed Henry
granted the English laws j and gave the city of Dublin
by charter to the inhabitants of Bristol, to be held of
him and his heirs, with the same liberties and free cus¬
toms which they enjoyed at Bristol, and throughout
all his land. And, hy another charter, executed soon
I after', he confirmed to his burgesses of Dublin all man¬
ner of rights and immunities throughout his whole
land of England, Normandy, Wales, and Ireland,
wherever they and their effects shall be, to be fully and
honourably enjoyed by them as his free and faithful
subjects. And as it was not easy to induce his Eng¬
lish subjects immediately to settle in these maritime
towns, he permitted the Ostmen to take possession of
Waterford ; and to them he granted a particular right
of denization, whereby they were invested with the
rights and privileges of free subjects, and for the fu¬
ture to be governed by the laws of his realm. For the
better execution of these new laws, the king also made
a division of the districts now subject to him into shires
or counties ; which was afterwards improved and en¬
larged, as the extension of the English settlements and
the circumstances of the country required. Sheriffs
were appointed both for the counties and cities, with
itinerant judges, and other ministers of justice, and
officers of state, and every appendage of English go¬
vernment and law. To complete the whole system, a
chief governor, or representative of the king, was ap¬
pointed. His business was to exercise the royal au¬
thority, or such parts of it as might be committed to
him in the king’s absence; and, as the present state
of Ireland, and the apprehensions of war or insurrec¬
tions, made it necessary to guard against sudden
accidents, it was provided, That in case of the death
of any chief governor, the chancellor, treasurer, chief-
justice, and chief baron, keeper of the rolls, and
king’s serjeant at law, should be empowered, with
consent of the nobles of the land, to elect, a successor,
who was to exercise the full power and authority of
this office, until the royal pleasure should be further
known.
lemy ob- But while Henry was thus regulating the govern-
igeJ to ment of his new dominions, he received the unwel-
eave Ire- come news, that two cardinals, Albert and Theodine,
delegated by the pope, had arrived in Normandy the
year before, to make inquisition into the death of Bec-
ket ; that having waited the king’s arrival until their
patience was exhausted, they now summoned him to
appear without delay, as he would avert the dreadful
sentence of excommunication, and preserve his domi¬
nions from a general interdict. Such denunciations
were of too great consequence to admit of his longer
stay in Ireland ; he therefore ordered his forces and
the officers of his household to embark without delay,
reserving three ships for the conveyance of himsell and
his immediate attendants. Having therefore but a
short time to secure his Irish interests, he addressed
Vol. XI. Part I. t
LAND. 329
himself to the original English adventurers, and by Ireland,
grants and promises laboured to detach them from
Strongbow, and to bind them firmly to himself. To
make amends for what he had taken from Fitz-Stephen,
he granted him a considerable district in the neigh¬
bourhood of Dublin, to be held by knight’s service ;
at the same time entrusting the maritime towns to his
own immediate dependants. Waterford was commit¬
ted to Humphrey de Bohon, Kobert Fitz-Bernard,
and Hugh de Gundville, with a train of 20 knights.
In WTxford were stationed William Fitz-Andelm,
Philip of Hastings, and Philip de Braosa, with a like
number of attendants. Hugh de Eacey had a grant
of all the territory of Meath, where there was no
fortified place, and where of consequence no parti¬
cular reservation was necessary, to be held of the king
and his heirs, by the service of 50 knights, in as full
a manner as it had been enjoyed by any of the Irish
princes. He also constituted him lord governor of
Dublin, with a guard of 20 knights. Robert Fitz-
Stephen and Maurice Fitz Gerald were appointed his
coadjutors, with an equal train ; and these, with other's
of the first adventurers, were thus obliged, under the
pretence of an honourable employment, to reside at
Dublin, subject to the immediate inspection of De
Lacey, in whom Henry seems to have placed his chief
confidence. Lands were assigned in the neighbour¬
hood of each city for the maintenance of the knights
and soldiers. Orders were given to build a castle in
Dublin, and fortresses in other convenient places ; and
to John de Courcey, a baron distinguished by his en¬
terprising genius and abilities for war, was granted the
whole province of Ulster, provided he could reduce it
by force of arms.
Henry was no sooner gone, than his barons began Ditonicw
to contrive how they might best strengthen their own cmne on
interests, and the Irish how they might best shake off1/1® *
the yoke to which they had so readily submitted. De ^
Lacey parcelled out the lands of Meath to bis friends
and adherents, and began to erect forts to keep the
old inhabitants in awe. This gave offence to O’Ruarc,
who still enjoyed the eastern part of this territory as a
tributary prince. He repaired to Dublin, in order to
obtain redress from Lacey for some injuries real or pre¬
tended ; but, as the parties could not come to an agree¬
ment, another conference was appointed on a hill call¬
ed Taragh. Both parties came with a considerable
train of armed followers; and the event was a scuffle,
in which O’Ruave and several of his followers were kill¬
ed, and which served to render the English not a little
odious to the natives.
The spirit of disaffection had soon after an oppor¬
tunity of showing itself on the rebellion of King
Henry’s sons, of which an account is given under the
article England, N° 121, at seq. The king had been
obliged to weaken his forces in Ireland, hy withdraw¬
ing several of his garrisons. The soldiers who re¬
mained were also discontented with their general Her-
vey of Mountmorris, on account of his severity in dis¬
cipline, and restraining them from plunder, to which
they imagined themselves entitled on account of the
deficiencies of their pay. Raymond le Gros, the se¬
cond in command, was much more beloved by the
soldiery ; and to sucli a height had the jealousies be¬
tween the commanders arisen, that all effectual op-
T t position
IRELAND.
position to the Irish chieftains was prevented j and
the event might have been fatal to the English inte¬
rest, had not Henry found out a remedy. He sum-
strongbow mone^ £ari Richard to attend him at Rouen in Nor-
I'f'rnorof0* niamly, and communicated his intention of commit-
Iieland. ting the affairs of Ireland to his sole direction. The
earl expressed the utmost readiness to serve his master j
but observed, that he had already experienced the envy
and malignity of his secret enemies $ that if he should
appear in such a distinguished character as that of the
kins’s deputy in Ireland, their insidious practices
would be renewed, and his conduct misrepresented.—
He therefore requested that a colleague might be ap¬
pointed in the commission; and recommended Ray¬
mond as a person of approved loyalty and abilities, as
well as highly acceptable to the soldiery. The king
replied, with an affected air of regard and confidence,
that he had his free consent to employ Raymond in
any service he should deem necessary, not as a col¬
league, but as an assistant j but that he relied entirely
on the earl himself, and implicitly trusted every thing
to his direction. To reward his services, he granted
him the town of Wexford, together with a fort erected
at Wicklow } and then dismissed him with the most
gracious expressions of favour.
The earl landed at Dublin, where he was received
with all the respect due to the royal commission. He
signified the king’s pleasure, that Hubert Fitz-Bernard,
with the garrison of Waterford, should instantly em¬
bark and repair to Normandy ; that Robert Fitz-Ste-
ohen and Maurice Pendergast should attend the service
of their sovereign in England ; and, agreeably to the
king’s instructions, took on him the custody of the ci¬
ties of Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford. Hugh de
Lacey and Milo de Cogan were, with the other lords,
commanded to repair to England for the service of the
king •, by which the earl’s forces were considerably
weakened, and he soon found himself under the neces¬
sity of appointing Raymond to the chief command.
The new general proved successful in some enterprises
against the rebellious Irish ; but having presumed upon
his merits to demand in marriage Basilia the earl’s
sister, Richard refused his consent, and Raymond retired
into Wales.
Thus the supreme command again devolved upon
Hervey of Mountmorris ; who, being sensible that his
character had suffered much from a comparison with
that of Raymond, determined to emulate his successes
by some bold attempt against the rebels. A detach-
men of 400 of his men, however, had the misfortune
to be surprised and cut off by the enemy j and this
success served as a signal for a general revolt. Several
\ 1 era’ t^ie ^e‘nster chieftEU03* who had lately made their
reroVt'of1 submissions, and bound themselves to the service of
the Ui^- King Henry, now openly disclaimed all engagements.
Even Donald Kevanagh, son to the late king Dermod,
who had hitherto adhered to the English in their
irreatest difficulties, now declared against them, and
claimed a right to the kingdom of Leinster 5 while
Roderic, on his part, was active in uniting the princes
of Ulster, the native lords of Meath, and other chiefs,
against their common enemy. This produced the
immediate recal of Raymond ; and Richard no longer
refused his consent to the marriage with his sister,
which was •olemnized immediately on Raymond’s
arrival. The very next morning, the bridegroom was rrehind.
obliged to take the field against Roderic, who had —v—^
committed great devastations in Meath. By the vi¬
gorous conduct of the- English commander, however,
he was not only prevented from doing farther mischief, 47
hut at last convinced of the folly of resistance; andRotlerie
therefore determined to make a final submission. Yet, suljonts
conscious of his dignity, he disdained to submit to a |
subject; and therefore, instead of treating with Earl
Richard, he sent deputies directly to the king. The
deputies were, Catholicus archbishop of Tuam, the
abbot of St Brandan, and Master Lawrence as he is
staled, chancellor to the king of Connaught. 2s
The terms of this submission, by which Henry be-Terms of
came sole monarch of Ireland, were as follow: Ro-hj8 sl,*Jl"*s-
deric consented to do homage, and pay tribute, assl0I!'
liegeman to the king of England ; on which condi¬
tion he was allowed to hold the kingdom of Con¬
naught, as well as his other lands and sovereignties, in
as ample a manner as he had enjoyed them before the
arrival of Henry in Ireland. His vassals were to hold
under him in peace, as long as th£y paid their tribute
and continued faithful to the king of England; in
which Roderic was to enforce their due obedience,
and for this purpose to call to his assistance the Eng¬
lish government, if necessary. The annual tribute to
be paid was every tenth merchantable hide, as well
from Connaught as from the rest of the island ; ex¬
cepting those parts under the immediate dominion of
the king of England and his barons, viz. Dublin and
Meath with their appurtenances, Wexford and all
Leinster, and Waterford with its lands as far as Dun-
garvan inclusive ; in all which districts Roderic was not
to interfere, nor claim any power or authority.—
The Irish who had fled from these districts were to re¬
turn, and either pay their tribute, or perform the ser¬
vices required by their tenures, at the option of their
immediate lords ; and, if refractory, Roderic, at the
requisition of their lords, was to compel them to re¬
turn. He was to take hostages from his vassals, such
as he and his liege-lord should think proper; and on
his part to deliver either these or others to the king,
according to the royal pleasure. His vassals were to
furnish hawks and hounds annually to the English mo¬
narch ; and were not to detain any tenant of his im¬
mediate demesnes in Ireland, contrary to his royal
pleasure and command. This treaty was solemnly ra¬
tified in a grand council of prelates and temporal
barons, among whom we find the archbishop of Dub¬
lin one of the subscribing witnesses. As metropolitan
of Leinster, he was now become an English subject,
and was probably summoned on this occasion as one
obliged to attend, and who had a right to assist in
the king’s great council. It is also observable, that
Henry now treated with Roderic not merely as a pro¬
vincial prince, but as a monarch of Ireland. Ibis is
evidently implied and supposed in the articles; al¬
though his monarchical powers and privileges were
little more than nominal, frequently disregarded and
opposed by the Irish toparchs. Even by their sub¬
missions to Henry, many of them in effect disavowed
and renounced the sovereignty of Roderic ; but now
his supremacy seems to be industriously acknowledged,
that the present submission might appear virtually the
submission of all the subordinate princes, and thus the
king
I K E I
Ireland, king of England be invested with the sovereignty of
[ /•*—-* the whole island. The marks of sovereignty, however,
were no more than homage and tribute, in eveiy other
particular the regal rights ef Roderic were left invio¬
late. The English laws were only to be enforced on
the English pale : and, even there, the Irish tenant
might live in peace, as the subject of the Irish mo¬
narch •, bound only to pay his quota of tribute, and not
to take arms against the king of England.
But though the whole island of Ireland thus be¬
came subject to the king of England, it was far from
being settled in tranquillity, or indeed from having
29 the situation of its inhabitants mended almost in any
au&es of decree. One great occasion o( disturbance was, that
foie subse- ^ jrn0.j;sb laws were confined only to those parts
Lent dis- j®ad been subdued by force of arms : while the
Sad chieftains that had only submitted to pay tribute, were
allowed to retain the ancient Irish laws within the
limits of their own jurisdictions. By these old Irish
laws, many crimes accounted capital with us, such as
robbery, murder, &c. might be compensated by a sum
of money. Hence it happened, that very unequal
punishments were inflicted for the same ofl'ence. If
one Englishman killed another, he was punished with
death j but if he killed an Irishman, he was punished
only by a fine. If an Irishman, on the other hand,
killed an Englishman, he was certainly punished with
death : and as in times of violence and outrage, the
crime of murder was very frequent, the circumstance
just mentioned tended to produce an implacable hatred
between the original inhabitants and the English. As
the Irish laws were thus more favourable to the barba¬
rity natural to the tempers of some individuals, many
of the English were also tempted to lay aside the man¬
ners and customs of their countrymen altogether, and
to associate themselves with the Irish, that, by becom¬
ing subject to their laws, they might thus have an op¬
portunity of gratifying their brutal inclinations with
less controul than formerly *, and in process of time,
these degenerate English, as they were called, proved
more bitter enemies to their countrymen than even the
Irish themselves. r T 1 j 1
Another cause of the distresses of Ireland was, the
great power of the English barons, among whom
Henry had divided the greatest part of his Irish domi¬
nions. The extent of their authority only inflamed
them with a desire for more ; and, instead of contri¬
buting their endeavours to increase the power of their
sovereign, or to civilize the barbarous people over
whom they were placed, they did every thing in their
power to counteract and destroy each other. Henry
himself, indeed, seems to have been infected with a
very fatal jealousy in this respect j for, though the
abilities and fidelity of Raymond had abundantly mani¬
fested themselves, the king never could allow himself
to continue him in the government of the island. and
the consequence of degrading him never failed to be a
scene of uproar and confusion. To these two reasons
we must likewise add another : namely, that in those
parts of the kingdom where the Irish chieftains en¬
joyed the sovereignty, they were at full liberty to
make war upon each other as formerly, without the
least restraint. This likewise induced many of the
English to degenerate, that they might have an op¬
portunity of sharing the plunder got by these petty
A N D.
wars j so that, on the whole, the island was a perpe- Ireland.
tual scene ot horror, almost unequalled in the histoiy v" -1
of any country. . «3®
After the death of Earl Richard, Raymond was im-Fitz-An-
mediately elected to succeed him ; but was supersededdelm’s bad
by the king, who appointed W illiam Fitz-Andelm, a^l°ent
nobleman allied to Raymond, to succeed in his place.
The new governor had neither inclination nor abilities
to perform the task assigned to him. He was of a
rapacious temper, sensual and corrupt in bis manners ;
and therefore only studied to enrich himself. The
native Irish, provoked by some depredations of the
English, commenced hostilities : but Fitz-Andelm, in¬
stead of repressing these with vigour in the beginning,
treated the chieftains with affected courtesy and flat¬
tery. This they had sufficient discernment to see, and
to despise; while the original adventurers had the bur¬
den of the whole defence of the English pale, as the
English territories were called, thrown upon them, at
the same time that the bad conduct of the governor was
the cause of perpetual disorders. The consequence of
this was, that the lords avowed their hatred of Fitz-
Andelm : the soldiers were mutinous, ill-appointed, and
unpaid : and the Irish came in crowds to the governor
with perpetual complaints against the old adventurers,
which were always decided against the latter j and this
decision increased their confidence, without lessening
their disaffection.
In this unfavourable state of aflairs, John de Cour-
cey, a bold adventurer, who had as yet reaped none
of the benefits he expected, resolved to undertake an
expedition against the natives, in order to enrich him¬
self with their spoils. The Irish at that time were gi¬
ving no offence j and therefore pleaded the treaty
lately concluded with King Henry : but treaties were
of little avail, when put in competition with the neces¬
sities of an indigent and rapacious adventurer. Jhe
consequence was, that the flame of war was kindled
through the whole island. The chieftains took advan¬
tage of the war with the English, to commence hostili¬
ties against each other. Desmond and Ihomond, 111
the southern province, were distracted by the jealousies
of contending chiefs, and the whole land was wasted
by unnatural and bloody quarrels. 1 reachery and
murder were revenged by practices of the same kind,
in such a manner as to perpetuate a succession of out¬
rages the most horrid and the most disgraceful to hu¬
manity. The northern province was a scene of the like
enormities j though the new English settlers, who were
considered as a common enemy, ought to have united
the natives among themselves. All were equally stran¬
gers to the virtues of humanity ; nor was religion, in
the form it then assumed, capable of restraining these
violences in the least. 31
Ireland was thus in a short time reduced to such a lie is sh-
state, that Henry perceived the necessity of recalling
Fitz-Andelm, and appointing another governor. He^
was recalled accordingly *, and Hugh de Lacey ap¬
pointed to succeed him. He left his government with¬
out being regretted, and is said by the historians ol
those times to have done only one good action during
the whole course of his administration. This action
was nothing more important, than the removing of a
relick, called the staff of Jesus, from the cathedral of
Armagh to that of Dublin 5 probably that it nug t
T t 2 be
IRELAND.
be in greater safely, as the war raged violently in
Ulster. De Lacy, however, was a man of a quite
different disposition, and every way qualified for the
^ k , difficult government with which he was invested : but
ford ofla* at ^ie 8ame t‘me» l*’e king, by investing his son John
Jaiid. with the lordship of Ireland, gave occasion to greater
disturbances than even those which had already hap¬
pened. The nature ol this lordship hath been much
disputed j but the most probable opinion is, that the
king’s son was now to he invested with all the rights
and powers which had formerly belonged to Hoderic,
who was allowed the title of king of Ireland. It doth
not appear, indeed, that Henry had any right to de¬
prive Roderic of these powers, and still less had he to
dispose of any of the territories of those chieftains who
had agreed to become his tributaries ; which neverthe¬
less he certainly did, and which failed not to be pro¬
ductive of an immediate war with these chiefs.
The new governor entered on his office with all that
spirit and vigour which was necessary 5 but being mis¬
represented to the king by some factious barons, he
was in a short time recalled, and two others, totally
unfit for the government, appointed in his room. This
error was soon corrected, and Lacey was replaced in
three months. The same jealousy which produced his
first degradation, soon produced a second ; and Philip
de Braosa, or Philip of Worcester as he is called, a
man of a most avaricious disposition, was appointed to
succeed him. This governor behaved in such a man¬
ner, that his superstitious subjects expected every mo¬
ment that the vengeance of heaven would fall upon
him, and deliver them from his tyranny. His power,
however, was of short duration ; for now Prince John
prepared to exercise the authority with which his father
had invested him in Ireland. He was attended by a
considerable military force : his train was formed of a
company of gallant Normans in the pride of youth ; hut
luxurious, insolent, and followed by a number of En¬
glishmen, strangers to the country they were to visit,
desperate in their fortunes, accustomed to a life of pro¬
fligacy, and filled with great expectations of advantage
from their present service. The whole assembly em¬
barked in a fleet of 60 ships ; and arrived at Water¬
ford after a prosperous voyage, filling the whole coun¬
try with the greatest surprise and expectation.
The young prince had not arrived at the years
of discretion ; nor indeed, from his subsequent con¬
duct, doth it appear that his disposition was such as
qualified him in the least for the high dignity to which
he was raised. The hardy Welshmen who first mi¬
grated into Ireland, immediately waited upon him to
do him homage 5 but they were disagreeable to the
gay courtiers, and to the prince himself, who minded
nothing but his pleasures. The Irish lords were at
first terrified by the magnificent representation of the
force of the English army ; and being reconciled to
submission by the dignity of the prince’s station, ha¬
stened in crowds to Waterford to do him homage.
They exhibited a spectacle to the Norman courtiers,
which the latter did not fail to treat with contempt
and ridicule. The Irish lords, with uncouth attire,
thick bushy beards, and hair standing on end, advan¬
ced with very little ceremony ; and, according to their
own notions of respect, offered to kiss the young
prince. His attendants stepped in, and prevented
33.
His indis¬
cretion.
this horrid violation of decorum by thrusting away the Ireland.
Irishmen. The whole assembly burst into peals of ——y—
laughter, pulled the beards, and committed several
other indignities on the persons of their guests j which
were immediately and severely resented. The chief¬
tains left the court, boiling with indignation ; and
meeting others of their countrymen hastening to do
homage to the prince, they informed them of the re- 34
ception they themselves had met with. A league was^£enend
instantly formed to extirpate the English, and the
whole nation flew to arms j while John and his cour¬
tiers, instead of opposing the enemy, employed them¬
selves in harassing and oppressing those who were under
their immediate jurisdiction. The country was there¬
fore overrun by the barbarians, agriculture entirely
neglected, and a dreadful famine threatened to follow
the calamities of war.
This terrible devastation had continued for eight
months before the king was fully acquainted with it.
He then determined to recal his son ; but was at a lost
whom he should name for his successor. Lacey had
been murdered by an Irish peasant, and the king was
at last obliged to have recourse to John de Courcey,
whose boisterous valour seemed now to be absolutely
necessary to prevent the English from being totally ex- 35
terminated. The new governor was obliged at first to ^
act on the defensive j but as the enemies soon forgot *1
the league, and began their usual hostilities against
each other, he was at last enabled to maintain the
authority of the English government, and to support
their acquisitions in Ireland, though not to extend
them. 36
In tliis situation were the affaivs of Ireland when k***1^®^*
Henry II. died, and was succeeded by bis son Rich-fUt,f !rei
1 r rf-ii « • 1 • *'•. 1 • 1 anu uxji.cr
ard 1. Ihe new king was determined on an expedi-j,
tion to the holy land, which left him no leisure to at¬
tend to the affairs of Ireland. John, by virtue of the
powers granted him by his father, took upon him the
management of Irish afi’aiis j and immediately degraded
De Courcey from his government, appointing in his
place Hugh de Lacey the younger. De Courcey,
provoked at this indignity, retired into Ulster, where
be was immediately engaged in a furious war with the
natives, and at last almost entirely detached himself
from the English government. The greatest confusion
ensued : Hugh de Lacey was recalled from his govern¬
ment, and William Petit earl marshal of England ap¬
pointed in his place. Petit’s administration proved more
unfortunate than that of any of his predecessors. Con¬
federacies everywhere took place against the English j
the latter were everywhere defeated, their towns taken j
and their power would certainly have been annihilated,
had not the Irish, as usual, turned their arms against
each other.
In this desperate situation matters continued during
the whole reign of King Richard, and part of the reign
of John, while the distresses of the country were in¬
creased by the dissensions and disaffection of the Eng¬
lish lords, who aspired at independency, and made war -7
upon each other like Irish chieftains. The prudent Somewhat
conduct of a governor named Mciler Pitz-Henry, how- better »n-
ever, at last put an end to these terrible commotions jd€r Jw,m'
and about the year 1208, the kingdom was more
quiet than it had been for a long time before. In
1210, John came over to Ireland in person with an
army,
I R E L
Ireland, army, with a design, as he said, to reduce his refrac-
——y—£ory nobles to a sense of their duty. More than 20
Irish chiefs waited upon him immediately to do him
homage ; while three of the English barons, Hugh and
Walter de Lacey and William de Braosa, fled to France.
The king, at the desire of his Irish subjects, granted
them, for their information, a regular code and char-
« ter of laws, to be deposited in the exchequer of Dub¬
lin, under the king’s seal. 1'or the regular and eftec-
tual execution of these laws, besides the establishment
of the king’s courts of judicature in Dublin, there was
now made a new and more ample division ot the king s
lands of Ireland into counties, where sheriffs, and
many other officers, were appointed. These counties
were, Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Argial, now called
Lowth, Katberlagb, Kilkenny, Wexlord, Waterford,
Cork, Kerry, Limeric, Tipperary } which marks the
extent of the English dominions at this time as confin¬
ed to a part of Leinster and Munster, and to those parts
of Meath and Argial which lie in the province of Ul¬
ster as now defined. Before his departure, the King
gave liberty to John de Grey, bishop of Norwich,
whom he appointed governor, to coin money of the
same weight with that of England ; and which, by
royal proclamation, was made current in England as
well as Ireland.
This ecclesiastical governor is said to have managed
affairs so happily, that during the violent contests be¬
tween John and his barons, Ireland enjoyed an unusual
degree of tranquillity. We are not to imagine, however,
that this unhappy country was at this or indeed any
other period, till the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign,
perfectly free from disorders, only they were confined
to those districts most remote from the English govern-
Rekpses ment. In 1219, the commotions were renewed, through
into its for- the immeasurable ambition and contentions of the
imer State English barons, who despised all controul, and op-
Hen'pressed the inhabitants in a terrible manner. « The
disorders in England during the reign of Henry III.
encouraged them to despise the royal authority } they
were ever the secret enemies, and sometimes the avowed
adversaries, of each other j and in many places where
they had obtained settlements, the natives were first
driven into insurrections by their cruelty, and then pu¬
nished with double cruelty for their resistance. The
English laws, which tended to punish the authors of
these outrages, were scorned by an imperious aristo¬
cratic faction, who, in the frenzy of rapine and
ambition, trampled on the most salutary institutions.
In 1228, a remonstrance was presented to the king
against this dangerous neglect and suspension of the
laws ; which he answered by a mandate to the chief
governor, directing that the whole body of nobility,
knights, free tenants, and bailiffs of the several^ coun¬
ties, should be convened ; that the charter of English
laws and customs received from King John, and to
which they were bound by oath, should be read over
in their presence •, that they should be directed for the
future strictly to observe and adhere to these 5 and that
proclamation should be made in every county of Ire¬
land, strictly enjoining obedience, on pain of forfeiture
of lands and tenements. How little effect was produ¬
ced by this order, we may learn from another, dated in
1246 j where the barons are commanded, for the peace
AND. 333
anil tranquillity of the lanil, to permit it to he governeil h.iunt.
by the laws of England. * ' f
Nothing indeed can be conceived more terrible than 39.
the state of Ireland during the reign of Henry III. d;xp‘r^e
People of all ranks appear to have been sunk in the tjon 0f
lowest degree of depravity. The powerful English manners,
lords not only subverted the peace and security of the
people, by refusing to admit the salutary laws of their
own country, but behaved with the utmost injustice
and violence to the natives who did not enjoy the be¬
nefits of the English constitution. The clergy appear
to have been equally abandoned with the rest: nor in¬
deed could it be otherwise ; for through the partiali¬
ties of Henry himself, the neglected, the worthless, and
the depressed among the English clergy, found refuge
in the church of Ireland. What were the manners of
these clergy, will appear from the following petition of
a widow to King Edward I.
“ Margaret le Blunde, of Cashel, petitions our lord
the king’s grace, that she may have her inheritance
which she recovered at Clonmell before the king’s
judges, &c. against David Macmackervvayt bishop of
Cashel.
“ Item, the said Margaret petitions redress on ac¬
count that her father was killed by the said bishop.
“ Item, for the imprisonment of her grandfather
and mother, whom he shut up and detained in pri¬
son until they perished by famine, because they at¬
tempted to seek redress for the death of their son, fa¬
ther of your petitioner, who had been killed by the said
bishop.
“ Item, for the death of her six brothers and sisters,
who were starved to death by the said bishop, because
he had their inheritance in his hands at the time he
killed their father.
“ And it is to be noted, that the said bishop had
built an abbey in the city of Cashel, on the king’s
lands granted for this purpose, which he hath filled
with robbers, who murder the English, and depopulate
the country and that when the council of our lord
the king attempts to take cognizance of the offence, he
fulminates the sentence of excommunication against
them.
“ It is to be noted also, that the said Margaret has
five times crossed the Irish sea. W iierefore, she peti¬
tions for God’s sake, that the king’s grace will have
compassion, and that she may be admitted to take pos¬
session of her inheritance.
“ It is further to be noted, that the aforesaid bishop,
hath been guilty of the death of many other English¬
men besides that of her father j and that the aforesaid
Margaret hath many times obtained writs of our lord
the king, but to no effect, by reason of the influence
and bribery of the said bishop.
“ She further petitions, for God’s sake, that she may
have costs and damages,” &c.
Matters continued in the same deplorable state du-Jmtle ai¬
ring the reign of Edward I. with this additional grie- ter^lI°” ?
vance, that the kingdom was infested by invasions of^j®^‘c‘*
the Scots. The'English monarch indeed possessed all
that prudence and valour which were necessary to have
reduced the island to a state of tranquillity •, but hi*
project of conquering Scotland left him but little leisure
to attend to the distracted state of Ireland. Certain it
is,
334 I R E L
Ireland, is, however, that the grievous distress of that country
L gave him great uneasines j so that he transmitted his
mandate to the prelates of Ireland, requiring them to
interpose their spiritual authority for composing the
public disorders. About the same time, the Irish who
jay contiguous to the English, and who dwelt among
them, presented a petition to the king, offering to
pay him 8000 merks, upon condition that they were
admitted to the privileges of English subjects. To
this petition he returned a favourable answer ; but his
good intentions were defeated by the licentious nobi¬
lity, who knew that these laws would have circum¬
scribed their rapacious view's, and controuled their
violence and oppression. Petitions of the same kind
were several times repeated during this reign, but as
often defeated $ though some means were used for
the peace of the kingdom, such as the frequent call¬
ing of parliaments, appointing sheriffs in some new
counties, &c.
These means were not altogether without effect.
They served to give some check to the disorders of
the realm, though by no means to terminate or subdue
them. The incursions of the natives were repressed,
and the English lords began to live on better terms
with each other j and, in 13x1, under Edward II.
the most powerful of them were reconciled by the mar¬
riage of Maurice and Thomas Fitz-John, afterwards
the heads of the illustrious houses of Desmond and Kil¬
dare, to two daughters of the earl of Ulster. But just
at this happy period, when the nation seemed to
have some prospect of tranquillity, more dreadful ca-
4t lamities than any hitherto related were about to take
Invasion of place. The Scots had just recovered their liberty un-
i^th C°tS ^er ^0^ert Bruce, and were now in no danger of being
KM-n of again enslaved by a foreign power. Edward, the
Edward II. king’s brother, as a recompense for his services, de¬
manded a share of the royal authority. This was refu¬
sed by Robert, and Edward was for the present satisfied
by being declared heir apparent to the crown. But
the king, wisely considering the necessity of finding
out some employment for a youth of such an aspiring
and ambitious disposition, pointed out to his brother
the island of Ireland, the conquest of which would be
easy on account of the distracted state in which it al¬
most always was, and which would make him an inde¬
pendent sovereign. This proposal was eagerly em¬
braced by Edward, and every thing necessary for the
expedition immediately got ready. On the 25th of
Mav 1315, he landed on the north-eastern coast of
Ireland with 6000 men, to assert his claim to the so¬
vereignty of this kingdom. The Irish lords of Ulster,
who had invited and encouraged him to this enter-
prize, were now prepared to receive their new monarch,
flocked with eagerness to his standard, and prepared
to wreak their vengeance on the common enemy.
Their progress was marked by desolation and carnage.
The English settlers were slaughtered, or driven from
their possessions, their castles levelled with the ground,
and their towns set on fire. The English lords were
neither prepared to resist the invasion, nor sufficiently
united among themselves. The consequence was, that
the enemy for some time met with no interruption. An
intolerable scarcity of provisions, however, prevented
Bruce from pursuing his advantages 5 and though his
brother landed in Ireland with a powerful army, the
AND.
famine prevented him from being of any essential ser- .
vice. The forces which he left behind him, however, .
proved of considerable advantage j and by means of this
reinforcement, he was enabled to take the city of Car-
rickfergus.
The terrible devastations committed by Bruce and
his associates, now induced some English lords to enter
into an association to defend their possessions, and repel
these invaders. For this purpose they raised a consi¬
derable body of forces j which coming to an engage¬
ment with Fedlim, prince of Connaught, one of Bruce’s
principal allies, entirely defeated and killed him with
8000 of his men. This defeat, however, had very
little effect on the operations of Bruce himself. He
ravaged the country to the walls of Dublin, traversed
the district of Ossory, and penetrated into Munster,
destroying every thing with fire and sword. The
English continued to augment their army, till at last
it amounted to 30,000 men j and then Bruce, no longer
able to oppose such a force, found it necessary to retire
into the province of Ulster. His retreat was effected
with great difficulty j and during the time of his in¬
activity, the distresses of his army increased to such a
degree, that they are said to have fed upon the bodies
of their dead companions. At last an end was put
to the sufferings and the life of this adventurer in
the battle of Dundalk, in 1318, where he was defeated They are
and killed by the English under Sir Robert Birming-lotally do-
ham. A brave English knight, named Maupas, had
rushed forward to encounter Bruce himself, and both
antagonists had killed each other j the body of Mau-
pas being found, after the battle, stretched upon that
of Bruce. The king of Scotland had been advancing
with powerful succours to his brother: but Edward,
confident of victory, refused to wait his arrival j and
Robert, on hearing of his brother’s death, instantly
retired.
The defeat of the Scottish invaders did not put an
end to the disturbances of this unhappy country. The
contentions of the English with one another, of the
Irish with the English, and among themselves, still
kept the island in a state of the utmost barbarity and
confusion. An attempt was made indeed, in the reign
of Edward II. to establish an university in Dublin ;
but for want of proper encouragement the institution
for some time languished, and then expired amidst
the confusion and anarchy of the country. The reign
of Edward III. proved not much more favourable than
preceding times had been. He was too much taken j^iiseWe* of
up with the idea of conquering France, to pay much ti,e jrisf,
regard to the interests of Ireland. The unhappy under Ed-
people, indeed, sensible of their own miseries, peti-WHrd Hk
tioned the king to admit all his subjects in Ireland to
a participation of the English laws j but the petition
being delivered as usual to the chief governor, and
laid before the parliament, it was either clandestinely
defeated, or openly rejected. A new scene of tumult
and bloodshed immediately ensued ; which at last pro¬
duced an order from the king, prohibiting ail Irish¬
men, or Englishmen married and having estates in
Ireland, from bearing any public office whatever.—
This, instead of having a tendency to promote peace,
made the disorder much greater than before j and at
last produced a remonstrance from the states met at
Kilkenny, in which they grievously complain not only
of
ItclRficl.
[fitalute of
Kilkenny.
IRELAND.
of the disorders of the kingdom, but also of the con¬
duct of the king himself in the edict above mentioned :
and to this remonstrance the king thought proper to
give a gracious and condescending answer, in order to
procure from Ireland the succours he wanted in his
expedition against France.
It is not to be supposed, that mere promises, unas¬
sisted by any vigorous exertion, could make the least
alteration in the state of a kingdom involved in so
much misery. The disorders, however, at last became
insupportable to the inhabitants themselves 5 and a
parliament was summoned in 1368, the result of which
was the famous statute of Kilkenny. The preamble
to this act recites, that the English had become mere
Irish in their language, names, apparel, and manner
of living5 had rejected the English laws, and submitted
to those of the Irish, with whom -they had united by
marriage-alliance, to the ruin of the commonwealth.
 It was therefore enacted, that marriage, nurture of
infants, &c. with the Irish, should be considered and
punished as high treason.—Again, if any man of
English race shall use an Irish name, the Irish lan¬
guage, or the Irish apparel, or any mode or custom of
the Irish, the act provides, that he shall forfeit lands
and tenements, until he hath given security in the
court of chancery to conform in every particular to the
English manners •, or if he have no lands, that he shall
be imprisoned till the like security be given. The
Brehon law was pronounced to be a pernicious custom
and innovation lately introduced among the English
subjects ; and it was therefore ordained, that in all
their controversies they should be governed by the
common law of England ; and that whoever should
submit to the Irish jurisdiction should be adjudged
guilty of high treason. As the English had been ac¬
customed to make war or peace with the bordering
Irish at pleasure, they were now expressly prohibited
from levying war without special warrant from the
state.—It was also made highly penal for the Eng¬
lish to permit their Irish neighbours to graae their
lands, to present them to ecclesiastical benefices, or to
receive them into monasteries or religious houses ; to
entertain their bards, who perverted their imagina¬
tions by romantic tales, or their news-tellers, who
seduced them by false reports—It was made felony to
impose or cess any forces upon the English subject
against his will. And as the royal liberties and fran¬
chises were become sanctuaries for malefactors, ex¬
press power was given to the king’s sheriffs to enter
into all franchises, and there to apprehend felons and
traitors—Lastly, because the great lords, when they
levied forces for the public service, acted with partia¬
lity, and laid unequal burdens upon the subjects, it was
ordained that four wardens of the peace in every coun¬
ty should adjudge what men and armour every lord or
tenant should provide—The statute was promulged
with particular solemnity j and the spiritual lords, the
better to enforce obedience, denounced an excommu¬
nication on those who should presume to violate it in
any instance.
This statute, it is evident, could not tend to pro¬
mote the peace of the kingdom. This could only have
been done by removing the animosity between the native
Irish and English •, but so far was the statute of Kil¬
kenny from having any tendency of this kind, that it
335
manifestly tended to increase the hatred between them. Ireland.
During the whole of this reign, therefore, the state —.v——*
of the Irish government continued to be greatly disor¬
dered and embroiled. The English interest gradually
declined j and the connections ot the king’s subjects
with the original inhabitants, occasioned by their vici¬
nity and necessary intercourse, in despite ot all legal
injunctions, obliged the king to relax the severity of
the statutes of Kilkenny, in cases where they proved
impracticable, or oppressive in the execution. The
perpetual hostility, however, in which the different
parties lived, proved an effectual bar to the introduc¬
tion of those arts which contribute to the comfort and
refinement of mankind. Even foreign merchants could
not venture into such a dangerous country without par¬
ticular letters of protection from the throne. The
perpetual succession of new adventurers from England,
led by interest or necessity, served only to inflame dis¬
sension, instead of introducing any essential improve¬
ment. Lawyers sent from England were notoriously
insufficient, if not corrupt j and, as such, had frequent¬
ly been the objects of complaint. The clergy were a
mean grovelling race, totally influenced by the crown.
Even prelates were commonly made the inferior agents
of government in collecting forces, and raising war
against the Irish enemy j hut were not to be enticed
into this service, except by remittances from the ex¬
chequer. Attendance in parliament they dreaded as
the greatest hardship j and either recurred to mean
excuses to avert the penalty of absence, or sued to the
king to be exempted by patent from contributing or
assenting to those laws by which they were to be go¬
verned.
In this deplorable situation the kingdom continued Power of
till the time of Henry VII. who laid the foundation tlie Eng-
of the future civilization of the Irish, as he also did of^^^j*
the English nation. This he effected by enacting some,.y yn,
salutary laws, and appointing faithful and active go¬
vernors to see them put in execution. Of these go¬
vernors Sir Edward Poyning contributed more than
any other to the tranquillity of the state. During his
administration was enacted the law known by the name ^
of Poyning’s Law, and which hath since been the sub- Poyning’s
ject of much political debate. The purport of it was, law.
That no parliament should he held in that island with¬
out first giving notice to the king of England, and ac¬
quainting him with the acts to be passed in that par¬
liament : neither should any act passed, or any parlia¬
ment held, without the approbation of the king and
council, be deemed valid. Thus was the power of the
turbulent barons greatly broken ; and the governor,
not having it in his power to assemble parliaments
when he pleased, became a person of much less con¬
sequence. The whole Irish legislation also became de¬
pendent on that of England, and hath ever since con¬
tinued to be so.
From this time we may date the revival of the Eng¬
lish power in Ireland j which from the Scottish war in
the time of Edward II. had gradually declined into
a miserable and precarious state of weakness. The au¬
thority of the crown, which had at last been defied,
insulted, and rejected, even in the English territory,
was restored and confirmed, and the rebellious vigo¬
rously opposed and suppressed. The seignory of the
British crown over the whole body of the Irish, which
47
All the
disorders
ended in
tlse reign
of Queen
KUrftt i#et!i.
336 I K E L
Ireland, in former reigns seemed to have been totally forgotten,
u*- v—-J was now formally claimed and asserted, and some of the
most ferocious chieftains by their marriage-connections
became the avowed friends of the English power. An
ignominious tribute, called the Black Rent, was indeed
still paid to some chieftains j hut their hostilities were
opposed and chastised, and even in their own districts
they were made to feel the superiority of English go¬
vernment.
During the reign of Henry VIII. the Irish affairs
were neglected j and the disorders, which had only
been checked, and never thoroughly eradicated, re¬
turned as usual. They were further promoted by the
innovations in religion which the king introduced, and
which were exceedingly disagreeable both to English
and Irish. The Reformation, however, continued to
make some progress, though slowly, during the reign
of Edward VI. and even in the reign of Queen Mary ;
for as the persecution did not reach thither, many Pro¬
testants fled to Ireland in order to avoid the queen’s
cruelty. The machinations of the Spaniards against
Queen Elizabeth excited the Irish to fresh insurrec¬
tions. The king of Spain, indeed, not only encou¬
raged the natives in those insurrections, but actually
sent over troops to assist them in driving out the
English altogether. This they had well nigh effected ;
hut the Spaniards, upon seeing an army of Irish de¬
feated by an handful of their enemies, were so much
provoked that they surrendered all the places they had
made themselves masters of, and even offered to assist
the English in reducing the rebels j though it was not
thought proper to accept of their assistance. The
consequence of this was, that the Irish, abandoned
by these allies, were unable to carry on the war j and
the grand rebel O’Neal of Tirowen, or Tirone, after
much treachery, evasion, and many pretended submis¬
sions, was at last obliged to submit in good earnest. He
fell upon bis knees before the deputy, and petitioned
for mercy with an air and aspect of distress. He sub¬
scribed his submission in the most ample manner and
form. He implored the queen’s gracious commisera¬
tion ; and humbly sued to be restored to his dignity,
and the state of a subject, which he had justly forfeit¬
ed. He utterly renounced the name of O'Neal, which
he had assumed on account of the great veneration in
which it was held among the Irish. He abjured all
foreign power, and all dependency except on the
crown of England 5 resigned all claim to any lands ex¬
cepting such as should he conferred upon him by let¬
ters patent j promising at the same time to assist the
state in abolishing all barbarous customs and establish¬
ing law and civility among his people. The lord de¬
puty, on the part of the queen, promised a full pardon
to him and all his followers j to himself the restoration
of his blood and honours, with a new patent for his
lands, except some portions reserved for certain chief¬
tains received into favour, and some for the use of Eng¬
lish garrisons.
No insurgent now remained in this kingdom who
had not obtained or sued for mercy. Many, indeed,
were driven by necessity to the continent, and earned
a subsistence by serving in the armies of Spain ; and
thus a race of Irish exiles was trained to arms, filled
with a malignant resentment against the English. Thus
the honour of reducing all the enemies of the crown of
S
A N D.
England in this island, after a continued contest for Ireland.
440 years, was reserved for the arms of Elizabeth.  *—->
The ghastliness of famine and desolation was now some-
what enlivened by the restoration of tranquillity. In-Exorbitant
deed, from the most authentic accounts, the prices of prices of
provisions were so high, that considering the value ofProvislous
money at that time, it is surprising how the inbabi-^^1
tants could subsist. From an account of the rates of
provisions taken by the mayor of Dublin in 1602, it
appears, That wheat had risen from 36s. to 9I. the
quarter *, barley-malt from 10s. to 43s. the barrel j
oat-meal from 5s. to 22s. the barrel ; pease from 5s.
to 40s. the peck *, oats from 3s. 4d. to 20s. the bar¬
rel j beef from 26s. 8d. to 81. the carcase j mutton
from 3s. to 26s. the carcase j veal from 10s. to 29s.
the carcase j a lamb from I2d. to 6s. j a pork from 8s.
to 20s.
Under James I. Ireland began to assume a quite dif-The Irish
ferent appearance. That monarch valued himself Up.civilized by
on promoting the arts of peace, and made it his studyJameS *
to civilize his barbarous Irish subjects. By repeated
conspiracies and rebellions, a vast tract of land had
escheated to the crown in six northern counties, Tyr-
conn el, now called Donnegal, Tyrone, Derry, Ferma-
nab, Cavan, and Armagh, amounting to about 500,000
acres j a tract of country covered with woods, where
rebels and banditti found a secure refuge, and which
was destined to lie waste without the timely interposi¬
tion of government. James resolved to dispose of these
lands in such a manner as might introduce all the hap¬
py consequences of peace and cultivation. He caused
surveys to be taken of the several counties where the
new settlements were to be established ; described par¬
ticularly the state of each j pointed out the situations
proper for the erection of towns and castles; delineated
the characters of the Irish chieftains, the manner in
which they should be treated, the temper and circum¬
stances of the old inhabitants, the rights of the new
purchasers, and the claims of both ; together with the
impediments to former plantations, and the methods of
removing them.
At his instance it was resolved, that the persons t©
whom lands were assigned should be either new under¬
takers from Great Britain, especially from Scotland, or
servitors, as they were called ; that is, men who had
for some time served in Ireland, either in civil or mili¬
tary offices; or old Irish chieftains or captains. A-
mong the last were included even those Irish who had
engaged in the rebellion of Tirone, and still harboured
their secret discontents. To gain them, if possible, by
favour and lenity, they were treated with particular in¬
dulgence. Their under-tenants and servants were al¬
lowed to be of their own religion ; and, while all the
other planters were obliged to take the oath of allegi¬
ance, they were tacitly excepted. The servitors were
allowed to take their tenants either from Ireland or
Britain, provided no Popish recu'-ants were admitted.
The British undertakers were confined to their own
countrymen.
In the plantations which had been formerly attempt¬
ed, the Irish and English had been mixed together,
from a fond imagination that the one would have learn¬
ed civility and industry from the other. But expe¬
rience had now discovered, that this intercourse served
only to make the Irish envy the superior comforts of
their
IRELAND.
Ireland- their Englisl neighbours, and to take the advantage
_ of a free access to their houses to steal their goods and
plot against their lives. It was therefore deemed ne¬
cessary to plant them in separate quarters ; and in the
choice of these situations, the errors of former times
were carefully corrected. The original English adven¬
turers, on their first settlement in Ireland, were capti¬
vated by the fair appearance of the plain and open
districts. Here they erected their castles and habita¬
tions j and forced the old natives into the woods and
mountains, their natural fortresses. There they kept
themselves unknown, living by the milk of their kine,
without husbandry or tillage 5 there they increased to
incredible numbers by promiscuous generation ; and
there they held their assemblies, and formed their
conspiracies without discovery. But now the northern
Irish vv^re placed in the most open and accessible parts
of the country, where they might lie under the close
inspection of their neighbours, and be gradually habi¬
tuated to agriculture and the mechanic arts. To the
British adventurers were assigned places of the greatest
strengtl and command ; to the servitors stations of the
greatest danger and greatest advantage to the crown :
but as this appeared a peculiar hardship, they were al¬
lowed guards and eniertammeot, until the country
should oe quietly and completely planted.
The experience of ages had shown the inconve lienee
of e )ormous gran's to particular lords, attended with
such privileges as obstructed the administration of civil
government^ and even in the late reign, lavou-ite un¬
dertakers had been giat’fied wi.h such portions of land
as they were by no means aide to plant. But, by the
present scheme, the lands to be planted were divided
in three diuerent proportions 5 the greatest to consist
of 2000 English acre1’, the least of loco, and the
middle of 1500. One half of the escheated lands in
each county was assigned to the smallest, the other moi¬
ety divided between the other proportions 5 and the
general distributions being thus ascertained, to pre¬
vent all disputes between the undertakers, their settle¬
ments in the respective districts were to he determined
by lot. Estates were assigned to all, to he held of
them and the’r heirs. The undertakers of 2000 acres
we'e to hold of the k‘ng ir capice, those of 1500, by
knights service j those of iooo in common soccage.
The first were to build a castle, and enclo'e a strong
court yard, or baivn, as it was called, wl bin four
years $ the second, to finish a house and bawn within
two vears; and the third, to enclose a bawn ; for even
this rude species of fortification was accounted no in¬
considerable defence against an Irish enemy. The first
were to plant upon their hands, within three years, 48
able men of English or Scottish birth, to be reduced
to 20 families ; to keep a demesne of 600 acres in their
own bauds j to have four fee farmers ou 120 acres
each j six lease-holders, each on 100 acres; and on
the rest, eight famine'' of husbandmen, arii jeers, and
cottagers. The oibeis were under the like obligations
proportionahly. All were, for five years after the
date of the'r patents, to reside upon their lands, either
in person, or by such agents as should be approved by
the state, and to keep a sufficient quantity of arms for
their defence. The British and servitors were not to
alienate their lands to mere Irish, or to demise any
portions of them to such persons as should refuse to
Vol. XI. Part I. t
337
take the oaths to government; they were to let them Ireland,
at determined rents, and for no shorter term than 21 » 1^
years, or three lives. The houses of their tenants were
to be built after the English fashion, and united to¬
gether in towns or villages. They had power to erect
manors, to hold courts-baron, and to create tenures.
The old natives, whose tenures were granted in fee
simple, to be held in soccage, were allowed the like
privileges. They were enjoined to let their lands at
certain rents, and for the like terms as the other un¬
dertakers ; to take no Irish exactions from their infe¬
rior tenants, and to oblige them to forsake their old
Scythian custom of wandering with their cattle from
place to place for pasture, or creaghting as they called
it; to dwell in towns, and conform to the English man¬
ner of tillage and husbandry. An annual rent from
all the lands was reserved to (he crown for every 60
Engi'sh acres, six shillings and eightpence from the
undertakers, ten shillings from servitors, and 13 shil¬
lings and fourpence from Irish natives. But for two
years they were exempt from such payments, except
the natives who were not subject to the charge of
transportation. What gave particular credit to this
undertaking, was the caniu.l part which the city of
London was persuaded to take in it. The corporation
accepteu of large grants in the county of Derry ; they
engaged (0 expend 20,occl. on the plantaten, to build
the cities of Derry am1 Colerain, and stipulated for
such privikges as might make their settlements con¬
venient and respectable. As a competent force was
necessary to protect th s infant plantation, the king,
to support (he charge, instituted the order of baro¬
nets, an hereditary dignity, to be conferred on a num¬
ber not exceeding 200 ; each of vt'bom, on passing his
patent, was to pay into the exchequer such a sum as
wou'd maintain 30 men in Bister, for three years, at
8d. da ly pay.
But scarce'y had the lands been a'lotted to the dif¬
ferent patentees, when considerable portions were re¬
claimed by the clergy as their rightful property. And
so far had the estates of ihe northern bishoprics been
embarrassed, both by the usurpations of the Irish lords,
and the claims of patentees, that they scaieely afford¬
ed a competent, much less an honourable, provision for
men of worth and learning, while the state of the pa¬
rochial clergy was still more deplorable. Most of the
northern churches had been either destroyed in the late
wars or had fa1 leu to ruin : the benefices were small, and
either shamefully kept by the bishops in (he way of
commendam or sequestration ; or filled with ministers
as scandalous as their income. The wretched flock
was totally abandoned ; and for many years divine
service had not been used in any parish-church of Ul¬
ster, except in cities and great towns. To remedy
these abuses, and to make some proper provision for
the instruction of a people immersed in lamentable ig¬
norance, the king ordained, that all ecclesiastical lands
should be restored to their respective sees and churches,
and that all lands should he deemed ecclesiastical from
which bishops had in former times received rents or
pensions ; that compositions should be made with the
patentees for the site of cathedral churches, the resi¬
dences of bishops and dignitaries, and other church-
lands which were not intended to be conveyed to them ;
who were to receive equivalents if they compounded
U u freely
IRELAND.
S’
Slate of
Ireland
• Mice that
tiirie.
* See Bn'-
iazn,
N° 103.
— ic6.
freely, or else to be deprived of their patents as the
king was deceived in his grant, and the possessions re¬
stored to the church. To provide for the inferior
clergy, the bishops were obliged to resign all their im¬
propriations, and relinquish the tythes paid them out
of parishes, to the respective incumbents ; for which
ample recompense was made out of the king’s lands.
F.very proportion allotted to undertakers was made a
parish, with a parochial church to each. The incum¬
bents, besides their tythes and duties, had glebe-lands
assigned to them of 60, 90, or 120 acres, according to
the extent of their parishes. To provide for a succes¬
sion of worthy pastors, free-schools were endowed in
the principal towns, and considerable grants of lands
conferred on the university of Dublin, which had
been re-established by Queen Elizabeth, together with
the advowson of six parochial churches, three of the
largest, and three of the middle proportion in each
county.
Such was the general scheme of this famous northern
plantation, so honourable to the king, and of such
consequence to the realm of Ireland. Its happy ef¬
fects were immediately perceived, although the execu¬
tion by no means corresponded with the original idea.
Buildings were slowly erected j British tenants were
difficult to be procured in sufficient numbers j the old
natives were at hand, offered higher rents, and were
received into those districts from which it was intend¬
ed to exclude them. In this particular, the London¬
ers were accused of being notoriously delinquent. They
acted entirely by agents j their agents were interested
and indolent, and therefore readily countenanced this
dangerous intrusion of the natives : an error of which
sufficient cause was afterwards found to repent. For
the present, however, a number of loyal and industrious
inbabitants was poured into the northern counties, consi¬
derable improvements made by the planters, and many
towns erected. To encourage their industry, and ad¬
vance his own project, the king was pleased to incorpo¬
rate several of these towns, so that they had a right of
representation in the Irish parliament.
The only disturbance that now ensued was from the
Popish party, who never could bear to see the Prote¬
stant religion established in preference to their own,
while they had power to resist. After numberless in¬
effectual machinations and complaints, their fury broke
out in a terrible massacre of the new English settler’s in
the year 1641 *. The affairs of Britain were at that
time in such confusion, that the rebellion could not be
quelled in less than ten years ; during which time the
country was reduced to a most deplorable situation. It
recovered again under Cromwell, Charles II. and the
short reign of James II. On the accession of Wil¬
liam III. matters were once more thrown into confu¬
sion by an attempt made in favour of the exiled mo¬
narch, who came over thither in person, and whose
had success is related under the article Britain,
N° 309—325. Since that time, Ireland hath recover¬
ed from the miserable situation to which it was so long
reduced. As yet, however, it is far from being in
such a flourishing state as either South or North Bri¬
tain. One great obstacle to the improvement of the
kingdom is the extreme poverty and oppression of
the common people. The produce of the kingdom,
either in corn or cattle, is not above two-thirds at
most of what by good cultivation it might yield. The Ireland,
high roads throughout the southern and western parts ——v—J
are lined with beggars, who live in huts or cabins
without chimneys, or any covering capable of defend¬
ing the wretched inhabitants from the cold, wind, and
rain. “ It is a scandal (says a judicious traveller,
who lately visited Ireland) to the proprietors of this
fertile country, that there is not the greatest plenty of
good corn and hay in it ; but some of the best land in
the king’s dominions is suffered to be torn in pieces,
and cultivated in the vilest manner, by a set of abject
miserable occupiers: who are absolutely no better than
slaves to the despicable, lazy, and oppressive subordi¬
nate landlords.” ^
Another cause consisted in the various restrictions Origin of
which it had been thought proper to lay upon the IrishIrish
trade ; and the constant and great preference given by^‘scon"
government to the English manufacturers, at last pro-tentS'2
duced the most grievous discontents and distresses.State of
On the part of England it was supposed, that as Ire-the argu.
land had been subdued by force of arms, the inhabitantsn,ent for.
ought in every respect to be subject to the victorious^^'nsl
state ; and that the interest of the English ought on all
ocasions to be consulted, without regarding the incon¬
veniences which might ensue to the Irish. A very
different idea, however, was entertained by the Irish
themselves, or at least by the patriotic party among
them. They rejected all notions of dependence upon
the British ministry and parliament; and though they
did not scruple to acknowledge the king’s right of
conquest, they most positively denied that the British
parliament had any authority whatever over them ;
and therefore looked upon the restrictions laid upon
their trade as the most grievous and intolerable oppres-
sion.
In the year 1719, according to Mr Crawford, the Cause of
oppression and grievances of Ireland became altogethersl!erlock
insupportable. A cause relative to an estate, betwixta.iul Anne*
Hester Sherlock and Maurice Annesley, was tried
fore the court of exchequer in Ireland. Here the lat¬
ter obtained a decree in his favour; but, on an appeal,
the sentence was reversed by the lords. Annesley ap¬
pealed from them to the English peers ; who having
reversed the judgment of those of Ireland, he was put
in possession of the subject in dispute. Sherlock ap¬
pealed again to the Irish lords, and the matter became
very serious. It was proposed to the consideration of
the judges, ’Whether by the laws of the land an appeal
lies from a decree of the court of exchequer in Ireland
to the king in parliament in Britain ? This question
being determined in the negative, Sherlock was again
put in possession of the estate. A petition was some
time after presented to the house by Alexander Bur-
rowes sheriff’of Kildare, setting forth, “ That his pre¬
decessor in office had put Sherlock in possession of the
premisses : that, upon his entering into office, an injunc¬
tion, agreeable to the order of the English peers, issued
from the exchequer, requiring him to restore Maurice
Annesley to the possession of the above-mentioned lands;
and that, not daring to act in contradiction to the order
of the house, he was fined. In consequence of this, be- ois^te be¬
ing afraid lest he should be taken into custody, he durst twixt the
not come in to pass his accounts; and for this he waspeers ot
fined 1200I.” His conduct was applauded by the Irish ^ie,a^ T
lords, who commanded the fines imposed upon him to^^ 11 °*
be
IRELAND.
; Ireland taken off; and in a short time after drew up a me-
■ U'  ' i morial to be presented to his majesty. In this they
set forth, that having submitted to Henry II. as their
liege lord, they had from him obtained the benefit of
English law, with many other privileges, particularly
that of having a distinct parliament. In consequence
of this concession, the English had been encouraged to
come over and settle in Ireland, where they were to
enjoy the same privileges as in their own country.
They farther insisted, that though the imperial crown
of Ireland was annexed to that of Britain, yet be¬
ing a distinct dominion, and no part of the kingdom
of England, none could determine with regard to its
affairs, but such as were authorised by its known laws
and customs, or the express consent of the king. It
was an invasion of his majesty’s prerogative for any
court of judicature to take upon them to declare, that
he could not by his authority in parliament determine
all controversies betwixt his subjects of this kingdom ;
or that, when they appealed to his majesty in parlia¬
ment, they did not bring their cause before a compe¬
tent judicature : and they represented that the prac¬
tice of appeals from the Irish parliament to the British
peers was an usurped jurisdiction assumed by the latter ;
the bad consequences of which they pointed out very
fully.
This representation being laid before his majesty in
parliament, it was resolved, that the barons of exche¬
quer in Ireland had acted with courage and fidelity,
according to law, &c. and an address was presented to
his majesty, praying him to confer on them some mark
of his royal favour as a recompense for the injuries
55 they had 'sustained from the Irish legislature. This was
IjBill passed foiiowed a 1^1 for the better securing the depen-
ter secur- dency of Ireland upon the crown of Great Britain,
iag thede-By this it was determined, “ That the house of lords
pendence 0f Ireland have not, nor of right ought to have, any
of Ireland. juriS(}iction to judge of, affirm, or reverse, any judge¬
ment, sentence, or decree, given or made in any court
within the kingdom ; and that all proceedings before
the said house of lords, upon any such judgment or
decree, are utterly null and void to all intents and pur¬
poses whatever.” It was also determined in this bill,
that “ the king’s majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and com¬
mons of Great Britain in parliament assembled, had,
hath, and of right ought to have, full power and au¬
thority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force
and validity to bind the people of Ireland.”
56 Tills bill was looked upon by the Irish to be equiva-
The bill jent to a totai annihilation of their liberties; and they
abhorred! were sti11 farther exasperated in the year 1724, by the
patent granted to one Wood an Englishman to coin
F i7 halfpence and farthings for the use of Ireland. In
discontents this affair Wood is said to have acted very dishonour-
on accountably; insomuch that a shilling of the halfpence^ he
of Wood’s made were scarcely worth a penny. Great quantities
patent. 0f ^ base co;n were. sent over; and it was used not
only in change, but accounts were likely to be paid in
it, so that dangerous consequences seemed ready to en¬
sue. The Irish parliament, in an address to the king,
represented that they were called upon by their coun¬
try to lay before his majesty the ill consequences of
Wood’s patent, and that it was likely to be attended
with a diminution of the revenue and the ruin of trade.
339
The same was set forth in an application made to his Irelaml.
majesty by the privy council. In short, the whole na-
tion seemed to unite their efforts in order to remedy an
evil of such dangerous tendency, the effects of which
already began to be felt. 5S
Among the controversial pieces which appeared on DrSwiti
this occasion, those of Dr Swift were particularly di-111 tianSer
stinguished. His Drapier’s letters are to this day held ”” ^^3
in grateful remembrance by his countrymen ; but he position to
was in danger of suffering deeply in the cause. He Wood,
had been at particular pains to explain an argument
used by the Irish on this occasion, viz., that brass
money, being illegal, could not be forced upon the na¬
tion by the king, without exceeding the limits of his
prerogative. Hence the opposite party took occasion
to charge the Irish with a design of casting off their
dependence on Britain altogether: but Swift having
examined the accusation with freedom, pointed out
the encroachments made by the British parliament on
the liberties of Ireland ; and asserted, that any depen¬
dence on England, except that of being subjects to the
same king, was contrary to the law of reason, nature,
and nations, as well as to the law of the land. This
publication was so disagreeable to government, that
they offered a reward of 300I. for the discovery of
the author ; but as nobody could be found who would
give him up, the printer was prosecuted in his stead :
however, he was unanimously acquitted by a jury of
his countrymen.
The Irish continued to be jealous of their liberties,
while the British ministry seemed to watch every op¬
portunity of encroaching upon them as far as possible.
Apprehensions being entertained of a design upon Ire¬
land by the partisans of the pretender in 1715, a vote
of credit to government was passed by the house of
commons to a considerable amount. This laid the 55
foundation of the national debt of that kingdom, which Dispute
was quickly augmented to several hundred thousand
pounds; for discharge of which a fund had been pro-alx)‘utt
vided by administration. An attempt was made du-fun(ifor
ring the administration of Lord Carteret (who govern-payment of
ed Ireland till 1730), to vest this fund in the hands‘be nall0R'
of his majesty and of his heirs for ever, redeemable byaldc '
parliament. This was opposed by the patriotic party,
who insisted that it was inconsistent vyith the public
safety, and unconstitutional, to grant it longer than
from session to session. In 1731 another attempt was
made to vest the same in the crown for 21 years ; hut
when the affair came to be debated, the strength of
both parties was found to be equally balanced. Im¬
mediately before the vote, however, Colonel Totting-
ham having rode post on the occasion, arrived in the
house, and determined the question against govern¬
ment. do
The behaviour of Lord Chesterfield, who was made Excellent
governor of Ireland in 1745, is highly extolled, on ac-conduct of
count of his moderation, and the favour he s.l30we^
to the liberties of the people. As the apprehensions oflei
government were then very considerable, on account
of the rebellion which raged in Scotland, his lordship
was advised to augment the military force of Ireland
by 4000 men. Instead of this, however, he sent four
battalions to the duke ef Cumberland, and encouraged
the volunteer associations which formed in different
parts for the defence of thejr country. These battalions
U u 2 no
;-p
IRELAND.
[relarul. lie replaced by additional companies to the regiments
already on the establishment j by which means he saved
a considerable expence to the nation, without augment¬
ing the influence of the c«-ovvn. The supplies asked
by him were small, and raised in the most easy and
agreeable manner to the people, expending the money
at the same time with the utmost economy. There
was even a saving which he applied to the use of the
public. It had been a custom with many of the lieu¬
tenant-governors of Ireland to bestow reversionary
grants, in order to purchase the assistance of friends in
support of their measures. Lord Chesterfield, however,
being convinced that this practice was prejudicial to
the interest of the nation, put a stop to itj but the
most remarkable part of his administration was, the
6l humanity with which he treated the Roman Catho-
Ilii hu- lies. Before his arrival, the Romish chapels in Dub-
manity to ljn had been shut up $ their priests were command-
jk®^°u,an ed by proclamation to leave the kingdom j and such
0 tCS’ as disobeyed had been subjected to imprisonment and
other penalties. Lord Chesterfield, however, convin¬
ced that the affection is to be engaged by gentle
usage, permitted them to exercise their religion with¬
out disturbance. The accusations brought against
them of forming plots against government were disre¬
garded $ and so much was his moderation and upright¬
ness in this respect applauded by all pavties, that, du¬
ring the whole time of his administration, the nation¬
al tranquillity was not once interrupted by the small¬
est internal commotion. On his leaving the island, his
bust was placed at the public expence in the castle of
Dublin.
Lord Chesterfield having left Ireland in the spring
of 1746, the island continued to be governed by lords
justices until the 13th of September, when William
earl of Harrington came over with the powers of lord-
lieutenant. A contest in the election of representa¬
tives for the city of Dublin this year called forth the
abilities of Mr Charles Lucas, so much celebrated for
Accaunt ofhis patriotic virtues. Having some years before been
Mr J,ucas admitted a member of the common council, he re¬
solved to exert himself in behalf of the privileges of
his fellow-citizens. The powers of this city-corpora¬
tion, as well as of others, had been changed by autho¬
rity derived from an act in the lime of Charles II. j
and among other innovations, for the purpo°e of aug¬
menting the influence of the crown, they deprived the
commons of the power of choosing the city magistrates.
This was now vested in the board of aldermen j which
being subject in the exercise of its jurisdiction to the
approbation of the privy-council, was consequen ly de¬
pendent on government. Mr Lucas complained loudly
of the injury j but as this law could not be altered, he
set himself to inquire, whether encroachments, which
could not be justified by law, had not been made on
the rights of the citizens ? Having satisfied himself, by
searching diligently into ancient records, that his ap¬
prehensions were well founded, he published his disco¬
veries, explained the nature of the evidence resulting
from them, and encouraged the people to take the
proper steps for obtaining redress.
The consequence of this was a contest between tire
commons and aldermen, which lasted two years. The
former struggled in vain io recover their lost privileges ;
but the exertions of Lucas in every stage of the dis*
5
the cele¬
brated pa¬
triot.
pute had rendered him so respectable among his coun- I'el and.
trymen, that on the death of Sir James Somerville he '“""“v—^
was encouraged to declare himself a candidate for a
seat in parliament. This being highly agreeable to
his wishes, he was elected accordingly 5 and distinguish¬
ed himself not only by the boldness and energy of his
speeches, hut more especially by a number of addresses
to his countrymen. In some of these he particularly
considered the several branches of the constitution, and
pointed out the encroachments of the British legisla¬
ture. Government, alarmed at his boldness, determi¬
ned to crush him by the hand of power; for which
reason the most obnoxious paragraphs were extracted
from his works, and made the foundation of a charge
before parliament. The commons voted him an ene¬
my to his country ; and addressed the lord-lieutenant
for an order to prosecute him by the attorney-general.
The universal esteem in which be was held could not
screen him from ministerial vengeance: he was driven
from Ireland ; but having spent some years in banish¬
ment, he was once more enabled, through the exer
tions of his friends, to present himself as a candidate
for the city of Dublin. Being again elected, he con¬
tinued to distinguish himself by the same virtuous prin¬
ciples for which he had been from the beginning so
remarkable, and died with the character which he had
preserved through life, of the incorruptible Lucas.
In the year 1753, a remarkable contest took place Dispute
betwixt government and the Irish parliament relative willi go¬
to previous consent. As the taxes for defraying state ve,IlmeI!t
e’ pences are imposed by the representatives or the previous
people, it thence naturally fo’lows, that they have accnsent.
right to superintend the expenditure of them ; and by
an inspection of the journals of the house of commons,
it appeared, that from the year 1692 they had exer¬
cised a right of calling for and examining the public
ai counts. When any surplus remained in the treasury,
it was also customary to dispose of it by bill for the
good of the public. In the year 1749, however, a
considerable sum having remained in the treasury, the
disposal of this money in future became an object of
ministry. In 1751, it was intimated to parliament
by the lord-lieutenant, the duke of Dorset, that his
majesty would graciously consent and recommend it to
them, that such part of the money as then remained
in the treasury should be applied to the reduction of
the national debt. As this implied a right inherent
in his majesty to dispose of the money as he thought
proper, the proposal was accounted an invasion of the
privileges of the house of commons. No notice was
therefore taken of the directions given by Dorset, but
the bill was sent over to England as usual without any
notice taken of his majesty’s consent. In England,
however, this very material alteration was made, and
their word consent introduced into it. The commons at
this time did not take any notice of such an essential
alteration; but next year, on its being repeated, the
bill was rejected. Government were now at the utmost
pains to defend the measure they had adopted, and
pamphlets were published in which it was justified on
various grounds. The event at last, however, was,
that his majesty by letter took the money which had
been the subject of dispute out of the treasury. 64
In the year 1760 Ireland sustained an inconsiderable bivasion by
hostile invasion,, the first that had been experienced inTil“rot,B
the
1760.
I R E L
It'Cand. the kingdom for 70 years. The armament consisted
l—v—Li originally of five ships ; one of 48 guns, two of 30,
and two of 24 having on board 1270 land forces.
They were commanded by the celebrated Thurot,
whose reputation, as captain of a privateer, had advan¬
ced him to this dignity. The squadron, however, was
driven by adverse winds to Gottenburgh ; where hav¬
ing continued a few days, they set sail for the place of
their destination. On their arrival at the coast of Ire¬
land, they were obliged to shelter themselves in Lough
Foyle from a violent storm which again overtook them.
The wind, however, having shifted, and continuing to
blow tempestuously, they were obliged to keep out to
sea. Two of the ships were thus separated Irora the
rest by the violence of the storm, and returned to
France ; but the remaining three directed their course
to the island of Islay, where they anchored ; and hay¬
ing repaired their damages, took in a supply of provi¬
sions, and thence sailed to Garrickfergus.
In the mean time, an officer belonging to the small
number 0: troops at that time in Carrickfergus took
post on arising ground, with an advanced party, to
observe the motions of ibe enemy. A skirmish ensued
betwixt this party and T .urot’s men, until the former,
having expended all their ammunition, were obliged
to retire into the town. Haying in vain attempted to
prevent the enemy from taking possession of it, the
British troops shut themselves up in the castle, where
they were soon obliged to capitulate, after having kill¬
ed about ioo of their enemies, with the loss ot only
three on their own part. The French having plunder¬
ed the town, set sail on the 26th of February ; and
three days after were all taken by Captain Elliot, Tbu-
rot himself being killed in the engagement.
Rise of Soon after the accession of George III. Ireland first
the White began to be disturbed by a banditti who styled them-
selves rr/nte Boys ; and as these were generally of the
Itomish persuasion, the prejudices against that sect
broke forth in the usual manner. A plot was alleged
to have been formed against government j French and
Spanish emissaries to have been sent over to Ireland,
and actually to be employed to assist in carrying it in¬
to execution. The real cause of this commotion, how¬
ever, was as follows: About the year 1739 the mur¬
rain broke out among the horned cattle in the duchy
of Holstein, from whence it soon after spread through
the other parts of Germany. From Germany it reach¬
ed Holland, from whence it was carried over to Eng¬
land, where it rag^d with great violence for a number
of years. The mitigation of the penal lews against
the Papists about this time encouraged the natives of
the south of Ireland to turn their thoughts towards
agriculture, and the poor began to enjoy the necessa¬
ries of life in a comfortable manner. A foreign de¬
mand for beef and butter, however, having become un¬
commonly great, by reason of the cattle distemper just
mentioned, ground appropriated to grazing became
more valuable than that employed in tillage. J he
cottars were everywhere dispossessed of their little pos¬
sessions, which the landlords let to monopolizers who
could afford a higher rent. Whole baronies were
now laid open to pasturage, while the former ^inhabi¬
tants were driven desperate by want of subsistence.
Numbers of them fled to the large cities, or emigrated
to foreign countries, while those who remained took
AND.
small spots of land, about an acre each, at an exorbi¬
tant price, where they endeavoured if possible to pro¬
cure the means of protracting a miserable existence for
themselves and families. For some time these poor
creatures were allowed by the more humane landlords
the liberty of commonage j but afterwards this was
taken away, in despite of justice and a positive agree¬
ment , at the same time, the payment of tythes, and
the low price of labour, not exceeding the wages in
the days of Queen Elizabeth, aggravated the distresses
of the unhappv sufferers beyond measure.
In such a situation, it is no wonder that illegal me¬
thods were pursued in expectation of icdress. Fhe
people, covered with white shirts, assembled in parties
at night, turned up the ground, destroyed bullocks,
levelled the inclosures of the commons, and committed
other acts of violence. These unavailing efforts were
construed into a plot against the government j num"
bers of the rioters were apprehended in the counties of
Limerick, Cork, and Tipperary, and some of them
condemned and executed. In different places these
unhappy wretches, instead of being looked upon as ob¬
jects of compassion, were prosecuted with the utmost
severity. Judge Aston, however, who was sent over
to try them, executed his office with such humanity as
did him the highest honour. A most extraordinary
and affecting instance of this was, that on his return
from Dublin, for above ten miles from Clonmdl, both
sides of the road were lined with men, women, and
children ; who, as he passed along, kneeled down and
implored the blessing of heaven upon him as their guar¬
dian and protector.
In the mean time, the violences of the White Boys
continued, notwithstanding that many examples were
made. The idea of rebellion was still kept up j and,
without tbe smallest foundation, gentlemen of the first
rank were publicly charged with being concerned in
it, insomuch that some of them were obliged to enter
bail, in order to protect themselves from injury. Hie
Catholics of Waterford gave in a petition to Lord
Hertford, the governor in 1761?, in behalf ot them¬
selves and brethren, protesting their loyalty and obe¬
dience to government $ but no effectual step was taken
either to remove or even to investigate the cause of the
disturbances. .
About two years after the appearance ot the Y> tiiteof the Oak
Boys, a similar commotion arose in Ulster ; which, Boys,
however, proceeded in part from a different cause, and
was of much shorter duration. By an act of parlia¬
ment, the making and repairing ot highways in Ire¬
land was formerly a grievous oppression on the lower
ranks of people. An housekeeper who had no hors*
was obliged to work at them six days in the year 5 and
if he had a horse, the labour of both was required for
the same space of time. Besides this oppression, tbe
poor complained that they were frequently obliged to
work at roads made for the convenience ot individuals,
and which were of no service to the public. Nor were
these the only grievances of which the insurgents at
this time complained : the tythes exacted by tbe clergy
were said to be unreasonable, and the rent of lands was
more than they could bear. In 1763, therefore, being
exasperated by a road proposed to be made through
a part of the county of Armagh, the inhabitants most
immediately affected by it rose iu a body, and decla-
66
342 I R E L
Ireland, red that they would make no more highways of the
—V'-*'-’' kind. As a mark of distinction, they wore oak-
branches in their hats, from which circumstance they
called themselves Oak-boys. The number of their par-
tizans soon increased, and the insurrection became ge¬
neral through the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Der¬
ry, and Fermanagh. In a few weeks, however, they
were dispersed by parties of the military j and the
public tranquillity was restored with the loss of only
two or three lives. The road-act, which had been so
justly found fault with, was repealed next session j and
it was determined, that for the future the roads should
be made and repaired by a tax to be equally assessed
67 on the lands of the rich and poor.
Of the Besides these, another set of insurgents called Steel-
Steel-boys. l,0yS soon made their appearance, on the following ac¬
count. The estate of an absentee nobleman happen¬
ing to be out of lease, he proposed, instead of an addi¬
tional rent, to take fines from his tenants. Many
of those, who at that time possessed his lands, were
unable to comply with his terms $ while others who
could afford to do so, insisted upon a greater rent from
the immediate tenants than they were able to pay.
The usual consequence of this kind of oppression in¬
stantly took place. Numbers being dispossessed and
thrown destitute, were forced into acts of outrage simi¬
lar to those already mentioned. One of these charged
with felony was carried to Belfast, in order to be com¬
mitted to the county gaol; but his associates, provoked
by the usage they had received, determined to relieve
him. The design was eagerly entered into by great
numbers all over the country $ and several thousands,
having provided themselves with offensive weapons, pro¬
ceeded to Belfast in order to rescue the prisoner. To
prevent this, he was removed to the barracks and put
under the guard of a party of soldiers quartered there j
but the Steel-boys pressed forward with a determina¬
tion to accomplish their purpose by force, and some
shots were actually exchanged between them and the
soldiers. The consequences would undoubtedly have
been fatal, had it not been for a physician of highly
respectable character, who interposed at the risk of his
life, and prevailed on those concerned to set the pri¬
soner at liberty. The tumult, however, was not thus
quelled. The number of insurgents daily increased,
and the violences committed by them were much greater
than those of the other two parties. Some were ta¬
ken and tried at Carrickfergus, but none condemned.
It was supposed that the fear of popular resentment
had influenced the judges j for which reason an act
was passed, enjoining the trials of such prisoners for
the future to be held in counties different from those
where the crimes were committed. This breach of
a fundamental law of the constitution gave such of¬
fence, that though several of the Steel-boys were af¬
terwards taken up and carried to the castle of Dub-
hn, no jury would find them guilty. This obnoxious
law was therefore repealed j after which some of the
insurgents, being tried in their respective counties,
were condemned and executed. Thus the commotions
were extinguished j but as no methods were taken to
remove the cause, the continued distresses of the people
drove many thousands of them into America in a very
few years.
In the mean time a very material alteration had ta-
3
A N D.
ken place in the constitution of the kingdom, with IrcJ . ,
regard to the duration of parliaments. At an early j
period these had continued only for a year j but after¬
wards they were prolonged until the death of a sove¬
reign, unless he chose to dissolve it sooner bv an ex¬
ertion of his prerogative. Thus, from the'moment
of their election, the commoners of Ireland were in a
manner totally independent of the people and under
the influence ef the crown ; and government soon avail¬
ed itself of this power to bribe a majority to serve its
own purposes. Various methods were thought of to
remedy this evil $ but all proved ineffectual until the
year 1768, when, during the administration of Lord
Townshend, a bill was prepared and sent over to Eng¬
land, by which it was enacted, that the Irish parlia¬
ments thenceforth should be held every seven yeai’s, 6s
It was returned with the addition of one year j and Parliament
ever since the parliaments of this country have beenof IreJand
octennial. During this session an attempt was mademad® ?c'
by the British ministry to infringe the rights of the
house of commons in a very material point. A money-An English
bill, which had not originated in Ireland, was sent1,!0ne>'-bi11
over from Britain, but was rejected in a spirited man-re^ected*
ner. Its rejection gave great offence to the lord-
lieutenant, who repeatedly prorogued them till the
year 1771.
The affairs of Ireland began now to draw towards
that crisis which effected the late remarkable revolu¬
tion in favour of the liberties of the people. The
passing of the octennial bill had diminished, but not
taken away, the influence of the crown ; and the situa¬
tion of affairs between Britain and America had inclined
mimsti y to make the most of this influence they could.
In 1773 Lord Harcourt, at that time governor of
Ireland, exerted himself so powerfully in favour of
administration, that the voice of opposition in parlia¬
ment was almost entirely silenced. The difficulties, DisJessed
however, under which the whole nation laboured began state of Ire-
now to be so severely felt, that an address on the subjectland laid
was presented by the commons to his excellency. In r the
this they told him, that they hoped he would lay before Jant.6*
the king the state of Ireland, restricted in its com¬
merce from the short-sighted policy of former times, to
the great injury of the kingdom, and the advantage of
the rivals, if not of the enemies, of Great Britain.
These hardships, they said, were not only impolitic,
but unjust j and they told his excellency plainly, that
they expected to be restored to some, if not to all
their rights, which alone could justify them to their
constituents for laying upon them so many burdens
during the course of this session.
This representation to the lord-lieutenant produ¬
ced no effect; and Ireland for some years longer con¬
tinued to groan under the burden of intolerable re¬
strictions. These had principally taken place in the
reign of Charles II. At this time it was enacted, that Account of
beef or live cattle should not be exported to England j the restric-
neither were the commodities of Ireland to be ex-t*ons ont*ie
ported to the American colonies, nor American goods
to be imported to any port in Ireland without first un¬
loading them in some part of England or Wales. All
trade with Asia was excluded by charters granted to
particular companies ^ and restrictions were imposed
upon almost every valuable article of commerce sent to
the different ports of Europe. Towards the end of
King
Ireland.
I R E L
King William’s reign an absolute prohibition was laid
  i on the exportation of Irish wool. This restriction proved
disadvantageous not only to Ireland, but to Great Bri¬
tain herself. The French were now plentifully sup¬
plied by smuggling with Irish wool j and not only en¬
abled to furnish woollen stuffs sufficient for their own
consumpt, but even to vie with the British in foreign
markets. Other restrictions conspired to augment the
national calamity ; but that which was most sensibly
felt took place in 1776. “ There had hitherto (says
Mr Crawford) been exported annually to America
large quantities of Irish linens j this very considerable
source of national advantage was now shut up, un¬
der pretence of rendering it more difficult for the
enemy to be supplied with the means of subsistence *,
but in reality, to enable a few rapacious English
contractors to fulfil their engagements, an embargo,
which continued, was in 1776 laid upon the expor¬
tation of provisions from Ireland, by an unconstitu¬
tional stretch of prerogative. Remittances to Eng¬
land, on various accounts, particularly for the pay¬
ment of our forces abroad, were more than usually
considerable. These immediate causes being com¬
bined with those which were invariable and perma¬
nent, produced in this country very calamitous ef¬
fects. Black cattle fell very considerably in their va¬
lue j notwithstanding that, customers could not be had.
The price of wool was reduced in a still greater pro¬
portion. Rents everywhere lell ; nor, in many places,
was it possible to collect them. An universal stagna¬
tion of business ensued. Credit was very materially
injured. Farmers were pressed by extreme necessity,
and many of them failed. Numbers of manufacturers
were reduced to extreme necessity, and would have
perished, had they not been supported by public cha¬
rity. Those of every rank and condition were deeply
a fleeted by the calamity of the times. Had the state
of the exchequer permitted, grants might have been
made to promote industry, and to alleviate tne nationa
distress ; hut it was exhausted to a very uncommon
degree. Almost every branch of the revenue had fail-
ed^ From want of money the militia law could not
be carried into execution. We could not pay our
forces abroad j and, to enable us to pay those at home,
there was a necessity for borrowing 50,000k from
England. The money which parliament was forced
to raise, it was obliged to borrow at an exorbitant in¬
terest. England, in its present state, was affected with
the wretched condition to which our aiiaus weie ic-
duced. Individuals there, who had estates in Ireland,
were sharers of the common calamity j and the atten¬
tion of individuals in the British parliament was turned
to our situation, who had even no personal interest in
h2 this country.” . •mi
ish affairs While things were in this deplorable situation, Earl
ken into Nugent, in the year 1778, undertook the cause of the
Irish, by moving in parliament, that their affairs should
be taken into consideration by a committee of the
whole house. This motion being agreed to almost
unanimously, it was followed by several others, viz.
That the Irish might be permitted to export directly
to the British plantations, or to the settlements on
the coasts of Africa, all goods being the produce and
manufacture of the kingdom, excepting only wool, or
woollen manufactures, &:c. That all goods, being the
imsiderf
on by the
fitisli par
sHiient.
AND. 343
produce of any of the British plantations, or of the Ireland,
settlements on the coast of Africa, tobacco excepted, —v——^
be allowed to be imported directly from Ireland to all
places, Britain excepted. That cotton yarn, the ma¬
nufacture of Ireland, he allowed to be imported into
Great Britain. That glass manufactured in Ireland be
permitted to be exported to all places, Britain except¬
ed.—With respect to the Irish sail cloth and cordage,
it was moved, that they should have the same privilege
as for the cotton yarn. 73
These motions having passed unanimously, hills for Petitions
the relief of Ireland were framed upon them according-aSfl’nst!,ie
ly. The trading and manufacturing towns of Eng-^Fj,^
land, however, now took the alarm, and petitions
against the Irish indulgence were brought forward from
many different quarters, and numbers instructed to op¬
pose it. In consequence of this a warm contest took
place on the second reading of the bills. Mr Burke
supported them with all the strength of his eloquence;
and as the minister seemed to favour them, they were
committed ; though the violent opposition to them still
continued, which induced man^ of their friends at that
time to desert their cause. 74
Though the efforts of those who favoured the cause^Tew
of Ireland thus proved unsuccessful for the present,
they renewed their endeavours before the Christmas^
vacation. They now urged, that, independent of all
claims from justice and humanity, the relief of Ireland
was enforced by necessity. The trade with British
America was now lost for ever ; and it was indispensably
requisite to unite the remaining parts of the empire in
one common interest and affection. Ireland had hi¬
therto been passive ; but there was danger that, by
driving her to extremities, she would cast ofl' the yoke
altogether*, or, even if this should not happen, the ty¬
ranny of Britain would he of little advantage ; as, on
the event of a peace, tiie people would desert a country
in which they had experienced such oppression, and emi¬
grate to America, where they had a greater prospect
of liberty. On the other hand, they insisted, that very
considerable advantages must ensue to Britain by the
emancipation of Ireland ; and every benefit extended
to that country would be returned with accumulated
interest. The business was at last summed up in a mo¬
tion made by Lord Newhaven, in February 1769, that
liberty should be granted to the Irish to import sugars 75
from the West Indies. This was carried j but the New pen-
merchants of Glasgow and Manchester having peti-11^11.5
tioned against it, it was again lost through the interfe-^‘m
rence of the minister, who now exerted his influence
against the relief he had formerly declared in favour
of. Various other efforts, however, were made to ef¬
fect the intended purpose ; hut nothing more could be
obtained than a kind of compromise, by which Lord
Gower pledged himself, as far as he could answer
for the conduct of others, that, during the recess,
some plan should be fallen upon for accommodating
the affairs of Ireland to the satisfaction of all par-
ties.
In the mean time the affairs of this country hastened
to a crisis •, which forced the British ministry to give
that relief so long solicited, and which they so often
promised without any intention of performing their
promises. As long as the affairs of the country were
under consideration of the British parliament, the in¬
habitants
344
Ireland.
An univer-
gal ferment
ensues
tlirou.^li 'Hit
the king¬
dom.
77
Associa¬
tions form¬
ed against
importing
British
commodi¬
ties.
Rise of the
military as¬
sociations
in Ireland.
79
They re¬
solve to de.
liver their
country
from the
tyranny of
Britain.
IRELAND.
habitants preserved some degree of patience ; but
when they found themselves deserted by the minister,
their discontent was inflamed beyond measure. The
laws he had passed in their favour, viz. an allowance
to plant tobacco, and a bill for encouraging the growth
of hemp, were considered as mockery instead of relief,
and it was now resolved to take such measures as should
effectually convince the ministry that it was not their
interest to tyrannize any longer. With this view, asso¬
ciations against the importation of British commodities,
which had been entered into in some places before, now
became universal throughout the kingdom ; and such
as presumed to oppose the voice of the people in this
respect, had the mortification to find themselves ex¬
posed to public obloquy and contempt on that ac¬
count. Thus the Irish manufactures began to re¬
vive ; and the people of Britain found themselves
obliged seriously to take into consideration the relief
of that country, and to look upon it as a matter very
necessaiy to their own interest. To this also they were
still more seriously disposed by the m’litary associatio is,
which had taken place some time before, and now
assumed a most formidable appearance. These at first
were formed by accidental causes. The situation of
Britain, for some time, had not admitted of any effec¬
tual method being taken for the defence of Ireland.
Its coasts had been insulted, and the trading ships
taken by the French and American privateers j nor was
it at all improbable that an invasion might soon follow.
“ The minister (says Mr Crawford) told us, that the
situation of Britain was such as rendered her incapable
of protecting us. The weakness of government, from
the following circumstance, was strikingly obvious.
The mayor of Belfast having transmitted a memorial
to the lord-lieutenant, setting forth the unprotected
state of the coast, and requesting a body of the military
for its defence, received for answer, that he could
not afford him any other assistance than half a troop
of dismounted horse and half a company of invalids.”
In this dilemma, a number of the inhabitants of the
town associated for the purpose of self-defence ; and,
on the same principle, a few volunteer companies were
formed in different parts of (he kingdom. These chose
their own officers, purchased their own uniforms and
arms, and, with the assistance of persons properly qua¬
lified, assembled regularly on the parade to acquire a
knowledge in the military ?rt. Their respectable ap¬
pearance, and the zeal they showed in the service of
their country, soon excited curiosity and attracted
respect. Their number increased e ery davj and peo¬
ple of the first consequence became ambitious of being
enrolled among them. As no foreign enemy appeared,
against whom they might exercise their military prowess,
these patriotic bands soon began to turn their thoughts
towards a deliverance from domestic opmessio.i. No
. sooner was this idea made known, than it gave new
vigour to the spirit of volunteering; insomuch that,
by the end of 1778, the military associations were
thought to amount at least to 30,000 men. But,
while thus formidable from their numbers, and openly
avovving their intention to demand a restitution of their
rights from the British ministry, they professed the
utmost loyalty and affection to the king; and with re¬
gard to sobriety and decent demeanor, they were not
only unexceptionable, but exemplary. Instead of ex¬
citing disorders themselves, they restrained every kind Ir :Hnd
of irregularity, and exerted themselves with unanimity 1 . .f
and vigour for the execution of the laws.
That such a body of armed men, acting without any
command or support from government, should be an
object of apprehension to ministry, is not to be won¬
dered at. In the infancy of their associations, indeed,
they might have been suppressed ; but matters had been
suffered to proceed too far ; and, as they stood at pre¬
sent, all resistance was vain. As the volunteers could
not be controuled, some attempts were made to bring g0
them under the influence of the crown : but this being They arc
found impossible, ministry thought proper to treat them
with an appearance of confidence; and, accordingly,”’^1,^'11?
orders were issued for supplying them with 16,000f mi"
stand of arms.
The Irish parliament, thus encouraged by the spirit The parlia.
of the nation, and pressed by the difficulties arising l,I''n ati‘
from the diminished value of their estates, resolved to^^f!^
exert themselves in a becoming manner, in order torc ief.
procure relief to their country. At their meeting in
October 1779, an address to his majesty was drawn
up; in which it was expressly declared, that “ it was
not by temporary expedients, but by a free trade alone,
that Ireland was now to be saved from impending
ruin.” When this address was earned up to the lord
lieutenant, the streets of Dublin were lined with vo¬
lunteers, commanded by the duke of Leinster, in
their arms and uniform. But, though a general
expectation of relief was now diffused, an anxious
fear of disappointment still continued. If the usual
supply was granted for two years, there was danger of
the distresses continuing for all that time ; and after it
was granted, the prorogation of parliament might put
a stop to the expected relief altogether. The people,
however, were not now to be trifled with. As the
court p u iy showed an aversion to comply with the po-
pular measures, a mob iose in Dublin, who, amougRiot in ■
other acts of violence, pulled down the house of the Dublin,
attorney-general, and did their utmost to compel the
members to promise their countenance to the matter
in hand. When the point therefore came to be de¬
bated, some espoused the popular side from principle,
others from necessity ; so that on the whole a majority
appeared in favour of it. A short money-bill was passed
and transmitted to England ; where, though very mor¬
tifying to the minister, it passed also. g.
On the meeting of the British parliament in Decern-AtlVbs of
her, the affairs of Ireland were first taken into conslde-b^’nid
ration in the house of peers. The necessity of granting8.^ n con*
relief to that kingdom was strongly set forth by the ^
lord who introduced them. He said, the Irish, now parliament,
conscious of possessing a force and consequence to
which they had hitherto been strangers, had resolved
to apply it to obtain the advantages of which the na¬
tion, by this spirited exertion, now showed themselves
worthy. Had they for some time before been grati¬
fied in lesser matters, the} would now have received
with gratitude, what they would, as affairs stood at
present, consider only as a matter of right. He then,
moved for a vote of censure on his majesty’s ministers
for their neglect of Ireland. This motion was re¬
jected ; but Earl Gower, who had now deserted the
cause of ministry, declared, that there did not exist in
his mind a single doubt that the vote of censure was
not
IRELAND.
f re'and. not well founded. He added, in his own vindication,
 that earlv in the summer he had promised that relief
should be granted to Ireland, and had done every thing
in his power to keep his word ; but that all his efforts
had proved fruitless.
S4
Lord
North!*
roponitions
ji favour of
the king-
lom.
85
lis obser¬
vations up-
.m them.
In the house of commons the minister found himself
so hard pressed by the arguments of the minority, and
the shoit money-bill from Ireland, that he was obliged
to declare, that in less than a week he intended to
move for a committee of the whole house to take the
affairs of Ireland into consideration. On the 13th of
December be accordingly brought forward his proposi¬
tions in favour of this kingdom. The design of these
w'as to repeal the laws prohibiting the exportation of
Irish manufactures made of wool or wool flocks j to re¬
peal as much of the act of ipih Geo. II. as prohibited
tlie importation of glass into Ireland, except of British
manufacture, or the exportation of glass from Ireland j
and to permit the Irish to export and import commodi¬
ties to and from the West Indies and the British settle¬
ments on the coast of Africa, subject to such regula¬
tions and restrictions as should be imposed by the Irish
parliament.
On these propositions his lordship made several re¬
marks by way of explanation. One object of them, he
said, was to restore to Ireland the wool export and wool¬
len manufacture. In 1692, from jealousy or some other
motive, an address had been presented by the English
parliament, recommending a kind of compact between
the two kingdoms j the terms of which were, that Eng¬
land should enjoy the woollen manufacture, and Ireland
the linen, exclusively. But notwithstanding this agree¬
ment, it was certain, that England carried on the linen
manufacture to as great extent as Ireland, while at the
same time the former retained the monopoly of wool¬
lens. The first step taken, in consequence of this agree¬
ment, was to lay a heavy duty, equal to a prohibition,
upon all wool and woollens exported ; and when this
act, which was but a temporary one by way of experi¬
ment, expired, the English parliament passed a similar
one, and made it perpetual 5 by means of which and
some others a total end was put to the woollen trade of
Ireland.
With regard to the trade of Ireland, his lordship ob¬
served, that, upon an average of the six years from
1766 to 1772, the export to Ireland was somewhat
more than two millions ; and, in the succeeding six
years, from 1772 to 1778, about as much more : near¬
ly one-half being British manufacture and produce ; the
other half certified articles, of which this country was
the medium of conveyance. The native produce, on an
average, was somewhat more than 900,000!. but of this
only 200,000!. were woollens. The woollen manufac¬
ture of Ireland therefore would long continue in a state
of infancy ", and though cloths had been manufactured
sufficient for home consumption, yet it could hardly be
expected that Ireland would rival Great Britain at the
foreign markets, when, after the expence of land-car¬
riage, freight, insurance, and factorage, the latter was
able to undersell Ireland in her own market on the very
spot, even though aided by the low wages and taxes
paid in the country.
With regard to the linen, his lordship observed^ that
however prosperous it might appear, yet still it was
capable of great improvement. The idea of extend-
Vol. XL Part I. f
ing and improving the linen manufactures of Ireland
originated from a pamphlet written by Sir William
Temple j and this gave rise to the compact which had
been referred to. But though this compact was now
about to be dissolved, it was his opinion that the boun¬
ties on importing Irish linens ought not to be discon¬
tinued ; because it appeared, that the British bounties
had operated as a great encouragement to the Irish
manufactures, at the same time that the sum ap¬
propriated to this purpose amounted to more than
13,000k
With regard to the dissolution of the compact be¬
twixt England and Ireland, he observed, that, as a
more liberal spirit had now appeared on both sides of
the water, he hoped both kingdoms would be perfectly
contented. Ireland would never be able to rival Eng¬
land in the fine woollen fabrics ; but allowing the Irish
to manufacture their own wool, would put an end to
the contraband trade with France •, and it ought to be
remembered, that whatever was an advantage to Ire¬
land, must sooner or later be of singular advantage to
Great Britain, and by the proposed regulations in their
commercial connections, the two kingdoms would be
put more upon an equality.
With regard to the glass manufacture, his lordship
likewise-observed, that Ireland had been very injuri¬
ously treated. Before the act of 19th Geo. II. they
had begun to make some progress in the lower branch¬
es of the glass manufacture 3 but by that act they were
not only prevented from importing any other glass than
what was of British manufacture, but also from export¬
ing their own glass, or putting it on a horse or carriage
with a design to be exported. This act had been com¬
plained of in Ireland as a piece of great injustice, and
it was the intention of his proposition to remove that
grievance.
With regard to the third proposition, his lordship
observed, that allowing Ireland a free trade to the
colonies must be considered as a favour to that king¬
dom. Considering her even as an independent state,
she could set up no claim to an intercourse with the
British colonies. By every principle of justice, of the
laws of nations, and the custom of the other European
powers who had settlements and distant dependencies,
the mother country had an exclusive right to trade
with, and to forbid all others from having any inter¬
course with them. Were not this the case, what na¬
tion under the sun would spend their blood and trea¬
sure in establishing a colony, and protecting and defend¬
ing it in its infant state, if other nations were afterwards
to reap the advantages derived from their labour, ha¬
zard, and expence. But though Great Britain had a
right to restrain Ireland from trading with her colonies,
his lordship declared himself of opinion that it would
be proper to allow her to participate of the trade.
This would be the only prudent means of affording her
relief 3 it would be an unequivocal proof of the candour
and sincerity of Great Britain 3 and he had not the
least doubt but it would be received as such in Ireland.
Britain, however, ought not to be a sufferer by her
bounty to Ireland 3 but this would be the case, should
the colony trade be thrown open to the latter, without
accompanying it with restrictions similar to those
which were laid upon the British trade with them. An
equal trade must include an equal share of duties and
X x taxes 3
345
Ireland.
IRELAND.
«7
Excessive
eulogiuras
on LonI
North to
taxes ; and tins was the only proper ground on which
the benefits expected by the Irish nation could be
Stf either granted or desired.
Tht y are Having made some other observations on the pro-
received priety of these measures, they were regularly formed
with great jn^0 motions, and passed unanimously. In Ireland
Irish J tl e were received with the utmost joy and gratitude
bv both bouses of parliament. On the 20th of De¬
cember the following resolutions were passed ; viz.
That the exportation of woollen and other manufac¬
tures from Ireland to all foreign places will materially
tend to relieve its distresses, increase its wealth, pro¬
mote its prosperity, and thereby advance the welfare of
Britain, and the common strength, wealth, and com¬
merce of the British empire : that a liberty to trade
with the British colonies in America and the West
Indies, and the settlements on the coast of Africa, will
be productive of very great commercial benefits j will
be a most affectionate mark of the regard and attention
of Great Britain to the distresses of the kingdom ; and
will give new vigour to the zeal of his majesty’s brave
and loyal people of Ireland, to stand forth in support
of his majesty’s person and government, and the inte¬
rest, the honour, and dignity of the British empire.”
The same resolutions were, next day, passed in the
house of peers.
The highest encomiums were now passed on Lord
North. His exertions in favour of Ireland were de¬
clared to have been great and noble ; he was styled
“ the great advocate of Ireland and it was foretold,
the disad- |ie woul(| be 0f glorious and immortal memory in
of"he’mi- t^,at kingdom. But while these panegyrics were so
nority in lavishly made on the minister, the members in opposi-
parliament. tion, in the British parliament, were spoken of in very
indifferent terms. It was said, that, while they
thought the minister did not mean to go into the bu¬
siness of Ireland, they called loudly for censure against
him for not doing it ; but when it was found that he
meant seriously to take their affairs into consideration,
thev had then basely seceded, and wholly forsaken the
They arc interest of the kingdom. These censures were so loud,
checked by that a member of the British house of commons wrote
a letter a letter to be communicated to his friends in Ireland,
Irom a jn w’.|ch he represented, that however politic it might
the'BrUish *)e *° c001!’!'016111 the minister on the present occasion,
house of It was neither very wise nor generous in the members
commons, of the Irish parliament to be so ready in bestowing in¬
vectives against their old friends in England. With re¬
gard to the minister, it was alleged, that until he was
driven to it by the measures adopted in Ireland, his
conduct had been extremely equivocal, dilatory, and
indecisive. The minority had been justly incensed
against him for having so grossly sacrificed the honour
of the nation and the dignity of parliament as to re¬
fuse any substantial relief to the Irish, until their own
exertions had made it appear that every thing which
could be done for them by the British parliament was
not a matter of choice but of necessity. The minority,
it was said, had earnestly and repeatedly laboured to
procure relief for the people of Ireland ; and if they
had now contented themselves with silent acquiescence
in the minister’s propositions, it was only until they
should know whether they would be satisfactory to the
people of Ireland; and because what was now done,
appeared to be more an act of state than of mere par- i/t lain),
liamentary deliberation and discussion.
To the propositions already mentioned. Lord North ^ ^
added three others. I. For repealing the prohibition
of exporting gold coin from Great Britain to Ireland. jn fav0U1-
2. For removing the prohibition to import foreign of Ireland,
hops into Ireland, and the drawback on the exporta¬
tion of foreign hops. 3. For enabling his majesty’s
Irish subjects to become members of the Turkey com¬
pany, and to export woollens in British or Irish bot¬
toms to the Levant. In support of this last resolution
his lordship urged, that it was necessary, because the
exportation of woollens having been granted to Ire¬
land, the Irish would naturally expect a share in the
Turkey trade, which, as matters stood, was not pos¬
sible, it having hitherto been a received opinion, that
no Irishman could be elected a member of the Turkey
company. Notwithstanding all the satisfaction, how¬
ever, with which the news of these bills were received
in Ireland, it was not long before thoughts of a dif- f;0
ferent kind began to take place. It was suggested New ais-
that a free trade could be but of little use, if held by a <'°nients
precarious tenure. The repeal of the obnoxious laws
was represented as an act of necessity, not of choice,
on the part of the British parliament. When that ne¬
cessity, therefore, no longer existed, the same parliament
might recal the benefits it had granted, and again fet¬
ter the Irish trade by restrictions perhaps more oppres¬
sive than before. To secure the advantages they now
possessed it was necessary that the kingdom should en¬
joy the benefits of a free constitution. For this the
people looked up to the volunteer companies*, and the
idea of having such a glorious object in their power,
augmented the numbers of those which had also been (
increased from other causes. They had now received Niinibtrs
the thanks of both houses of parliament, and thus had of the vo-
obtained the sanction of the legislature. Thus many'unU't,s i’1*
who had formerly scrupled to connect themselves with clfCl st4'‘
a lawless body, made no scruple to enter their lists.
Government also engaged several of their friends in
the volunteer cause. New companies were therefore
raised ; but whatever might be the political sentiments
of the officers, the private men were universally at¬
tached to the popular cause. The national spirit was
likewise kept up by several patriotic publications, par¬
ticularly the letters signed Owen Roe O’Neil, which
in an especial manner attracted the public attention }
nor was the pulpit backward in contributing its part
in the same cause.
To give the greater weight to their determinations, junH
the volunteers now began to form themselves into bat-themsehe*
talions; and in a very short time they were all united into baua-
in this manner, excepting a small number of compa-^0"®*
nies, which, from accidental causes, continued separate.
The newspapers were filled with resolutions from the ^
several corps, declaring Ireland to be an independent jre]an4i
kingdom, entitled by reason, nature, and compact, to dared an
all the privileges of a free constitution 5 that no powerhidepen-
in the world, excepting the king, with the lords and^ElfciflK‘
commons of Ireland, had or ought to have power to
make laws for binding the Irish ; and that, in support
of these rights and privileges, they were determined to
sacrifice their lives and property,
Notwithstanding all this zeal, however, the repre¬
sentatives
Ireland.
91
lei vilc be-
fcavioar of
he Iii'h
harlianicat.
95
ftiL'K mu¬
tiny bill
jmadc per-
ilpclua].
9^
Had len¬
iency of it
y.ct forlii
nby Mr
IG rattan.
IRELAND.
3+7
sentatives of die people in Ireland seem yet to have
behaved in a very supine and careless manner, and to
have been entirely obedient to the dictates of govern¬
ment. One of the house of commons declared in the
month of April 1780, that “ no power on earth, ex¬
cepting the king, lords, and commons of Ireland, had
a right to make laws to bind the people.” “ Every
member in the house (says Mr Crawford), one except¬
ed, acknowledged the truth of the proposition, either
in express terms, or by not opposing it •, and yet, how¬
ever astonishing it may appear, it was evident, that had
the question been put, it would have been carried in
the negative.” The matter was compromised. _ The
question was not put j and nothing relating to it was
entered on the journals.
This inattention, or rather unwillingness, of the ma¬
jority to serve their country, was more fully manifested
in the case of a mutiny bill, which they allowed to be
made perpetual in Ireland, though that in England
had always been cautiously passed only from year to
year. After it was passed, however, some of the zea¬
lous patriots, particularly Mr Grattan, took great pains
to set forth the bad tendency of that act. He obser¬
ved, that standing armies in the time of_ peace were
contrary to the principles of the constitution and the
safety of public liberty *, they had subverted the liber¬
ty of all nations, excepting in those cases where their
number was small, or the power of the sovereign over
them limited in some respect or other; but it was in
vain to think of setting bounds to the power of the
chief magistrate, if the people chose by a statute to
bind themselves to give them a perpetual and irresistible
force. The mutiny bill, or martial law methodised,
was directly opposite to the common law of the land.
It set aside the trial by jury and all the ordinary steps
of law ; establishing in their stead a summary proceed¬
ing, arbitrary crimes and punishments, a secret sen¬
tence, and sudden execution. The object of this was
to bring those who were subject to it to a state of im¬
plicit subordination, and render the authority of the
sovereign absolute. The people of England, therefore,
from a laudable 'jealousy on all subjects in which their
liberty was concerned, had in the matter of martial
law exceeded their usual caution. In the preamble
to the mutiny act, they recited part of the declaration
of right, “ that standing armies and martial law in
time =of peace, without the consent of parliament, are
illegal.” Having then stated the purity and simplicity
of their ancient constitution, and set forth the great
principle of magna charta, they admitted a partial and
temporary repeal of it: they admitted an army, and a
law for its regulation, but at the same time they limit¬
ed the number of the former, and the duration of
both ; confining the existence of the troops themselves,
the law that regulated them, and the power that com¬
manded them, to one year. Thus were the standing
forces of England rendered a parliamentary army, and
the military rendered effectually subordinate to the ci¬
vil magistrate, because dependent on parliament. Aet
the people of England considered the army, even thus
limited, only as a necessary evil, and would not admit
even of barracks, lest the soldier should be still more
alienated from the state of a subject ; and in this state
of alienation have a post of strength, which would aug¬
ment the danger arising from his situation. When
the parliament of Ireland proceeded to regulate the Ireland,
army, therefore, they ought to have adopted the max- v _
ims of the British constitution, as well as the rules of
British discipline. But they had totally departed from
the maxims and example of the English, and that in
the most important concern, the government of the
sword. They had omitted the preamble which decla¬
red the great charter of liberty ; they had left the num¬
ber of forces in the breast of the king, and under these
circumstances they had made the bill perpetual.
It is probable that the bulk of the Irish nation did
not at first perceive the dangerous tendency of the bill
in question. The representations of Mr Grattan and
others, however, soon opened their eyes, and a genera!
dissatisfaction took place. This was much increased by
two unsuccessful attempts in the house of commons ; one
to obtain an act for modifying Poyniug’s law; and the
other for securing the independency of the judges. An
universal disgust against the spiritless conduct of par¬
liament now took place ; and the hopes of the people
were once more set on the volunteers. 97
As it became now somewhat probable that these lie views of
companies might at last be obliged to assert the rights
of their countrymen by force of arms, reviews were polllted_
judged necessary to teach them how to act in larger
bodies, and to give them a more exact knowledge of
the use of arms. Several of these reviews took place
in the course of summer 1780* The spectators in ge¬
neral were struck with the novelty and grandeur of the
sight ; the volunteers became more than ever the ob¬
jects of esteem and admiration, and their numbers in¬
creased accordingly. The reviews in 1781 exceeded
those of the former year ; and the dexterity of the
corps who had associated more early was now observed
to be greater than that of the rest. More than $000
men were reviewed at Belfast, whose performances were
set off to peculiar advantage by the display of 13 pieces
of cannon. They showed their alacrity to serve their
country in the field, on a report having arisen that the
kingdom was to be invaded by the combined fleets of
France and Spain ; and for their spirited behaviour on
this occasion they received a second time the thanks of
both houses of parliament.
Such prodigious military preparations could not but
alarm the British ministry in the highest degree ; and
it was not to be doubted that the Irish volunteers would
come to the same extremities the Americans had done,
unless their wishes were speedily complied with. Still,
however, it was imagined possible to suppress them,
and it was supposed to be the duty of the lord-lieute-^
nant to do so. It was during the administration 0!
the duke of Buckingham that the volunteers had
grown into such consequence; he was therefore le-
called, and the earl of Carlisle appointed in his place. 9S
Though it was impossible for the new governor to sup-Shamefui
press the spirit of the nation, he found it no difficultjrish
matter to obtain a majority in parliament. Thus every paviiament,
redress was for the present effectually denied. Nei¬
ther the modification of Poyning’s law, nor the repeal
of the obnoxious parts of the mutiny bill, could be ob¬
tained. The volunteers, exasperated at-this beha¬
viour, resolved at once to show that they were resolved
to do themselves justice, and were conscious that they
had power to do so. At a meeting of the officer^ of
the southern battalion of the Armagh regiment, com-
X x 2 - manded
teeis ap.
pointed.
Resolutions follows.
«f this
.348 I R E L
Ireland, mandetl by the earl of Cliarlemont, the following reso-
1 ‘ lotions were entered into, December 28. 1781. 1. That
. . the most vigorous and effectual methods ought to be
A general 1 r 0 • • c , P . . .
meeting of Pursued tor rooting corruption out from the legislative
the volun- body. 2. For this purpose a meeting of delegates from
all the volunteer associations was necessary *, and Dun¬
gannon, as the most central town in the province of Ul¬
ster, seemed to be tbe nmst proper for holding such a
meeting. 3. That as many and lasting advantages
might attend the holding such a meeting before the
present session of parliament was much farther advan¬
ced, the 15th of February next should be appointed for
it.
These resolutions proved highly offensive to the
friends of government, and every method was taken
to discourage it. On the appointed day, however, the
representatives of 143 volunteer corps attended at Dun¬
gannon j and the results of their deliberation were as
I. It having been asserted, that volunteers,
as such, cannot with propriety debate or publish their
opinions on political subjects, or on the conduct of
parliament, or public men, it was resolved unanimously,
that a citizen, by learning the use of arms, does not
abandon any of his civil rights. 2. That a claim from
any body of men, other than the king, lords, and com¬
mons of Ireland, to make laws to bind the people, is
illegal, unconstitutional, and a grievance. 3. Resol¬
ved, with one dissenting voice only, that the powers
exercised by the privy council of both kingdoms, under
colour or pretence of the law of Poyning, are uncon¬
stitutional and a grievance. 4. Resolved unanimously,
that the ports of this country are by right open to all
foreign countries not at war with the king •, and that
any burden thereupon, or ohstruction thereto, except¬
ing only by the parliament of Ireland, are unconstitu¬
tional and a grievance. 5. Resolved, with one dis¬
senting voice only, that a mutiny bill, not limited in
point of duration from session to session, is unconsti¬
tutional and a grievance. 6. Resolved unanimously,
that the independence of judges is equally essential to
the impartial administration of justice in Ireland as in
England, and that the refusal or delay of this right
is in itself unconstitutional and a grievance. 7. Re¬
solved, with 11 dissenting voices only, that it is the
decided and unalterable determination of the volunteer
companies to seek a redress of these grievances ; and
they pledged themselves to their country, and to each
other, as freeholders, fellow-citizens, and men of ho¬
nour, that they would, at every ensuing election, sup¬
port only those who had supported them, and would
support them therein, and that they would use all
constitutional means to make" such pursuit of redress
speedy and effectual. 8. Resolved, with only one dis¬
senting voice, that the minority in parliament, who
had supported those constitutional rights, are entitled
to the most grateful thanks of the volunteer compa¬
nies, and that an address to the purpose be signed by
the chairman, and published with the resolutions of the
present meeting. 9. Resolved unanimously, that four
members from each county of the province of Ul¬
ster, eleven to be a quorum, be appointed a committee
till tbe next general meeting, to act for the volunteer
corps, and to call general meetings of the province as
occasion requires. 10. The committee being appoint-’
td, and the time of general meetings, and some other
AND.
affairs of a similar nature settled, it was resolved una- IreknJ.
nimously, that the court of Portugal having unjustly v    
refused entry to certain Irish commodities, the dele¬
gates would not consume any wine of the growth of
Portugal, and that they would use all their influence
to prevent the use of the said wine, excepting what
ivas then in the kingdom, until such time as the Irish
exports should be received in the kingdom of Portugal.
11. Resolved, with only two dissenting voices, that they
hold the right of private judgment in matters of reli¬
gion equally sacred in others as in themselves ; and
that they rejoiced in the relaxation of tbe penal laws
against the Papists, as a measure fraught with the hap¬
piest consequences to the union and prosperity of the
inhabitants of Ireland. v Ior
While these proceedings took place at Dungannon, Ministerial
the ministry carried all before them in parliament. In lia|‘ly Pre-
a debate concerning the exclusive legislative privileges v.a,‘® f?ces*
of Ireland, a law member, speaking of the arbitrary
acts of England, asserted, that “ power constituted
rightand a motion that the commons should be de¬
clared the representatives of tbe people was carried in
tbe negative. These scandalous proceedings could not
but hasten the ruin of their cause. The resolutions
entered into at the Dungannon meeting were received j&3
throughout the kingdom with the utmost applause. AMrGrat-
few days after, Mr Grattan, whose patriotism has been,!l,, s n,°-
already taken notice of, moved in the house of commons lor an
for a long and spirited address to his majesty, declaring
the rights of the kingdom, and asserting the principle the inde-
wliich now began to prevail, that Ireland could legally pendency
he bound by no power but that of the king, lords, .ind oi.llc'an<^
commons of the country ; though tbe British parliament l'ejecle^-
had assumed such a power. This motion was at present
rejected by a large majority y but their eyes were soon
enlightened by the volunteers.
These having now appointed their committees of
correspondence, were enabled to communicate their
sentiments to one another with the utmost facility and lc3
quickness. An association was formed in the name of£>tc'a,a*
the nobility, representatives, freeholders, and inhabi-J
tants of tbe county of Armagh, wherein they set forth i0 that
the necessity of declaring their sentiments openly re-purpose,
specting the fundamental and undoubted rights of tbe
nation. They declared, that, in every situation in
life^ and with all tbe means in their power, they would
maintain the constitutional right of the kingdom to be
governed only by tbe king and parliament of Ireland,
and that they would, in every instance, uniformly and
strenuously oppose the execution of any statutes, ex¬
cepting such as derived their authority from the parlia¬
ment just mentioned ; and they pledged themselves, in
the usual manner, to support what they now declared
with their lives and fortunes.
This declaration was quickly adopted by all the
other counties, and similar sentiments became univer¬
sally avowed throughout the kingdom. The change in
the British ministry in the spring of 1 782 facilitated 104
the wishes of the people. The duke of Portland, who Favourable
came over as lord-lieutenant in April that year, sent a ,!iessa8e
most welcome message to parliament. He informed
them, that “ his majesty, being concerned to find that the duke of.
discontents and jealousies were prevailing among his Portland,
loyal subjects in Ireland, upon matters of great weight
and importance, he recommended it to parliament to
take
IRELAND.
Ireland ^ie same *nto t'ie‘r most ser‘ous consideration, in
-v—/ order to sudi a final adjustment as might give mutual
satisfaction to his kingdoms of Great Britain and Ire-
I05 land.”
Mr Grat- Mr Grattan, whose patriotic efforts had never been
an’s se- slackened, now ventured to propose a second time in
bond at- parliament the address which had been rejected before.
avoiir'of 0n tlle l6th °f APrl1 1,6 be£an a sPeec!‘ t0 tllis Pllr*
bis address, pose with a panegyric on the volunteers, and the late
conduct of the people. The Irish, he said, were no
longer a divided colony, but an united land, manifest¬
ing itself to the rest of the world in signal instances of
glory. In the rest of Europe the ancient spirit was
expired } liberty was yielded, or empire lost $ nations
were living upon the memory of past glory, or under
the care of mercenary armies. In Ireland, however,
the people, by departing from the: example of other
nations, had become an example to them. Liberty,
in former times and in other nations, was recovered
by the quick feelings and rapid impulse of the popu¬
lace. But in Ireland, at the present period, it was
recovered by an act of the whole nation reasoning for
three years on its situation, and then rescuing itself by
a settled sense of right pervading the land. The meet¬
ing of the delegates at Dungannon was an original mea¬
sure ) and, like all ol that kind, continued to be mattei
of surprise, until at last it became matter of admira¬
tion. Great measures, such as the meeting of the
English at Bunny Mead, and of the Irish at Dungan¬
non, were not the consequences of precedent, but car¬
ried in themselves both precedent and principle ; and
the public cause in both instances would infallibly have
been lost had it been trusted to parliament. The
meeting at Dungannon had resolved, that the claim of
the British parliament was illegal $ and this was a con¬
stitutional declaration. The Irish volunteers were as¬
sociated for the preservation of the laws, but the con¬
duct of the British parliament subverted all law. Eng¬
land, however, had no reason to fear the Irish volun¬
teers; they would sacrifice their lives in her cause.
The two nations formed a general confederacy. The
perpetual annexation of the crown was a great bond,
but magna charta was a greater. It would be easy
for Ireland to find a king”, but it would be impossible
to find a nation who would communicate to them such
a charter as magna charta: and it was this which made
their natural connexion with England. rI be Irish
nation were too high in pride, character, and power,
to sufl'er any other nation to make their laws. England
had indeed brought forward the question, not only by
making laws for Ireland the preceding session, but by
enabling his majesty to repeal all the laws which Eng¬
land had made for America. Had she consented to
repeal the declaratory law against America ? and would
she refuse to repeal that against Ireland ? 1 lie Irish na¬
tion were incapable of submitting to such a distinc-
ic5 tion.
U is agreed Mr Grattan now found his eloquence much more
powerful than formerly. I he motion which, during
this very session, had been rejected by a great majority,
Jr was now agreed to alter a short debate, and the address
Substance to his majesty prepared accordingly. In this, after
°t the ud- thanking his majesty for his gracious message, and de-
cress, daring their attachment to his person and government,
they assured him, that the subjects ol Ireland are a free
349
people j that the crown of Ireland is an imperial Ireland.
crown, inseparably annexed to that of Britain, on which 1 *—-»
connection the interests and happiness of both nations
essentially depend ; but the kingdom of Ireland is di¬
stinct, with a parliament of its own : that there is no
body of men competent to make laws to bind Ireland,
except the king, lords, and commons thereof, nor any
other parliament that hath any power or authority of
any sort whatsoever, in this country, except the par¬
liament of Ireland. They assured his majesty, that they
humbly conceive, that in this right the very essence of
their liberties did exist ; a right which they, cn the
part of all Ireland, do claim as their birthright, and
which they cannot yield but with their lives. They
assured his majesty, that they had seen with concern
certain claims advanced by the parliament of Great
Britain, in an act intitled, “ For the better securing
the dependency of Ireland j” an act containing matter
entirely irreconcileable to the fundamental rights of the
nation. They informed his majesty, that they conceiv¬
ed this act, and the claims it advanced, to be the
great and principal cause of the discontents and jealou¬
sies in the kingdom. They assured him that his
commons did most sincerely wish, that all the bills,
which become law in Ireland, should receive the ap¬
probation of his majesty under the seal of Great Bri¬
tain *, but yet, that they conceived the practice of
suppressing their bills in the council of Ireland, or al¬
tering them anywhere, to be another just cause uf
discontent and jealousy. They further assured his ma¬
jesty, that an act intitled, “ For the better accommo¬
dation of his majesty’s forces,” being unlimited in du¬
ration, and defective in some other circumstances, was
another just cause of jealousy and discontent. These,
the principal causes of jealousies and discontent in the
kingdom, they had submitted to his majesty, in humble
expectation of redress : and they concluded with an as¬
surance, that they were more confident in the hope of
obtaining redress, as the people of Ireland had been, and
were, not more disposed to share the freedom of Eng¬
land, than to support her in her difficulties, and to share
her fate. _ icS
To this remarkable address a most gracious answer It is gra-
was given. In a few days the lord-lieutenant made aciously re-
speech to both houses-, in which he informed thcm/'em<1-
that, by the magnanimity of the king, and wisdom of
the British parliament, he was enabled to assure them,
that immediate attention had been paid to their repre¬
sentations, and tbat the legislature of Britain bad con¬
curred in a resolution to remove the causes of their dis¬
contents, and were united in a desire to gratify every
wish expressed in the late address to the throne ; and
that, in the mean time, his majesty was graciously dis¬
posed to give h.is royal assent to acts to prevent the
suppressing of hills in the Irish privy-council, and to
limit the mutiny-bill to the term of two years. 109
The joy which now diffused itself all over the king-Extreme
dom was extreme. The warmest addresses were pre-j^01 t!‘s
sen ted not only to his majesty but to the lord-lieute- '
nant. The commons instantly voted ioo,oool. to his
majesty, to enable him to raise 20,000 men for the
navy ; and soon after, 5000 men were likewise voted
from the Irish establishment. The volunteers became
in a peculiar manner tbe objects of gratitude and uni¬
versal panegyric j but none was placed in so conspicu¬
ous
Ireland.
IRELAND.
I 12
Kqui vocal
conduct of
Britain.
11.3
A flairs
finally set¬
tled under
the admini
stratum of
Lord Tear
pie.
ous a light as Mr Grattan. Aiklresses of thanks flow¬
ed in upon him from all quarters ; and the commons
addressed his majesty to give him 50,000!. as a re¬
compense of his services j for which they promised to
make provision.
This request was also complied with ; but still the
jealousies of the Irish were not completely eradicated.
As the intended repeal of the declaratory act was found
to he simple, without any clause expressly relinquishing
the claim of right, several members of the house of
commons were of opinion, that the liberties of Ireland
were not yet thoroughly secured. The majority, however,
were of opinion, that the simple repeal of the obnoxious
act was sufficient; but many of the nation at large dif¬
fered in sentiments. Mr Flood, a member of the house,
and a zealous patriot, now took the lead in this mat¬
ter $ while Mr Grattan lost much of his popularity by
espousing the contrary opinion. The matter, however,
was to appearance finally settled by the volunteers, who
declared themselves on Mr Grattan’s side. Still some
murmurings were heard ; and it must be owned, that
even yet the conduct of Britain appeared equivocal.
An English law was ymssed, permitting importation from
one of the West India islands to all his majesty’s domi¬
nions $ and of course including Ireland, though the
trade of the latter had already been declared absolutely
free. This was looked upon in a very unfavourable
light. Great offence was also taken at a member of the
English house of lords for a speech in parliament, in
which he asserted, that Great Britain had a right to
bind Ireland in matters of an external nature j and
proposed to bring in a bill for that purpose. The public
discontent was also greatly inflamed by some circum¬
stances relating to this bill, which were particularly
obnoxious. Lord Beauchamp, in a letter addressed
to one of the volunteer corps, was at pains to show that
the security of the legislative privileges obtained from
the parliament of Britain was insufficient. The lawyers
corps, also, who took the question into considera¬
tion, were of the same opinion \ but the circumstance
which gave the greatest offence was, that the chief
justice in the English court of king’s bench gave
judgment in an Irish cause directly contrary to a
law which had limited all such judgments to the first
of June. All these reasons of discontent, however,
were removed on the death of the marquis of Rocking¬
ham, and the appointment of the new ministry who
succeeded him. Lord Temple came over to Ireland,
and his brother and secretary Mr Grenville went to
England, where he made such representations of the
discontents which prevailed concerning the insufficiency
of the declaratory act, that Mr Townshend, one of the
secretaries of state, moved in the house of commons for
leave to bring in a bill to remove from the minds of the
people of Ireland all doubts respecting their legislative
and judicial privileges. This bill contained, in the fullest
and most express terms, a relinquishment on the part of
the British legislature of all claims of a right to inter¬
fere with the judgment of the Irish courts, or to make
laws to bind Ireland in time to come. Thus the con¬
test was at last ended •, and ever since this kingdom has
continued to flourish, and to enjoy the blessings of tran¬
quillity and peace, free from eveiy kind of restriction
either on its commerce or manufactures, till the com¬
mencement of the rebellion in 1798.
3
Some time after the above transaction, the commcr- ireiami
cial propositions of Mr Pitt were rejected by both houses —v-—j
of the Irish parliament; and in the latter end of the
year 1788, very warm debates took place on the regen¬
cy bill j but the sudden and unexpected recovery of
his majesty put a period to this political contest. The
question respecting the emancipation of the Roman
Catholics was much agitated about this period, and the
ministry rendered themselves still more popular by ap¬
pointing Earl Fitzwilliam to succeed the marquis of
Buckingham as lord-lieutenant of Ireland. It is to be
presumed, however, that the joy of the people on this
occasion chiefly originated from the hope, that the bill
for the Catholic emancipation, brought in by Mr
Grattan on the I2th of February 1795, and another on
the 14th of the same month, for the diminution of the (I,
national expenditure, would be allowed to pass. The Bill in fa-
ministry, however, seemed to reprobate these measures, vour of the
in consequence of which Earl Fitzwilliam was recalled, c”^°*lts
and Lord Camden appointed his successor, which wras ,e-)eclc'i’
so repugnant to the feelings of the people, that the day
of Lotd Fitzwilliam’s departure (25th March) was ob¬
served at Dublin as a day of general mourning. The
bill in favour of Catholic emanicipation was rejected on
the 4th of May, by a majority of 71, which had a
powerful tendency to increase the popular discontent. j
Of th is disaffection the rulers of France determined to French at-
avail themselves, and fitted out a fleet for the invasion t<ml)t t0
of Ireland, consisting of 18 sail of the line, 13 frigates, *antl ‘H Ire'
and 12 sloops, with transports, and 25,000 men, which la"^‘
were under the command of General Koche. This
formidable armament sailed from Brest on the 10th of
December 1796 j but so tempestuous w as the weather
that the fleet was dispersed; the squadron ’ under the
command of Admiral Bouvet returned to Brest on the
31st after reaching Bantry bay ; a ship of the line and
two frigates perished at sea; another French frigate
was taken by the British, and a French ship of the line
escaped, after fighting for some time against two Bri¬
tish ships.
It was no doubt a fortunate circumstance for Bri¬
tain, yet the internal anarchy and confusion of Ireland
were still rapidly gaining ground. The members of
the society of United Irishmen, instituted in the year
1791, professed to have no other objects in view than
a reform in parliament, and that the people of every
religious profession should enjoy an equality of civil
rights ; but it was afterwards undeniably proved, that
they anxiously wished to bring about a revolution, and
establish a republican government, similar to that which
then deluged France with blood. The members swore
“ to obtain a complete reform in the legislature, on
the principles of civil, political, and religious liberty ;
and never to inform, or give evidence, in any court, Il(j
against any member of that or similar societies.” So Origin of
plausible w'ere these objects, that their numbers in-*-be rebel-
creased with astonishing rapidity, and their divisions’011*
and subdivisions were soon extended all over the king¬
dom. Many loyal subjects, afraid of the extension of
Roman Catholic privileges, also formed associations un¬
der the title of Orangemen, in order to deprive Papists
of arms; and they in their turn assumed the name of
defenders : in consequence of which the mo«t terrible
outrages were committed on both sides. The United
Irishmen still continued the most numerous; but the
first
Iretand.
117
jisii ic-
julilic.
118
Actions
with the
rebels.
I R E L
first direct communication between them and the French
directory took place in 1795 through the medium of one
Mr Lewins; and in the following year the invasion,
already mentioned, was concerted on the frontiers ot
France, between Lord Fitzgerald, Arthur O’Connor,
and General Hoche, the failure of which did not seem
to intimidate the rebels. Arms continued to he distri¬
buted with secrecy among the members, and a cor¬
respondence with the French directory was still pre¬
served.
As proceedings of such a nature were justly alarm¬
ing to the British government, the Insurrection Act was
passed in March 1796, by which magistrates were autho¬
rised to place the people under martial law ; a measuie
no doubt justifiable from the alarming nature of the
times 5 but it certainly had the elfect of increasing the
discontents, and was also productive of numerous acts
of oppression. Yet such as were connected with the
United Irishmen were guilty of actions equally atroci¬
ous. So fully convinced were they of ultimate success,
that in December 1797 an executive directory was
nominated for the government of the Irish republic,
consisting of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Mr A. O’Con¬
nor, Mr Oliver Bond, Dr M‘Niven, and Counsellor
Emmet. With such consummate art was their con¬
spiracy planned, and with such profound secrecy was it
conducted, that there is great reason to believe it
might have been carried into efiect, had not Mr Rey¬
nolds made a discovery in March 179^* which led. to
the apprehension ot the principal ringleaders, and I *tz-
gerald received a mortal wound while resisting the of¬
ficers. This reverse of fortune did not prevent the no¬
mination ot another directory} but its fate was similai
to the former, and information was given against them
by a Captain Armstrong, who had entered into their
society for the purpose of betraying them. John and
Henry Sheares, two of the directors, were apprehended
on the 21st of May 1798 j Mr Neilson and a number
more of the same description on the 23d, and the me¬
tropolis was declared 1n a state of insurrection. The
guards were made three times stronger than before ;
and the whole city might be considered as forming but
one garrison. Dublin was thus delivered from the
dreadful havockand devastation premeditated by the la¬
bels *, but in the provinces ot Leinster and Connaught,
as well as in various other places, they appeared in for¬
midable bodies, intercepted the mail coaches, and thus
gave the signal for a general insurrection.
In their attack upon the town of Naas, on the 24th
of Mav, they experienced a signal defeat from Lord
G os ford at the head of the Armagh militia, and left
400 men dead on the field. General Dundas defeated
a considerable body of the rebels near Kilcuilen, and
on the 25th Lord Roden vanquished another body ot
them about 400 strong, the leaders of whom were ta¬
ken and executed. On the 26th they shared the same
fate at Tallagh hill, when 350 of them were slain.
They attacked the town ot Carlow to the number ot
IOOO, where they were defeated with the loss of 400
men j but as the inhabitants fired upon the king’s
troops, one half of the town was burnt in revenge.
The rebels made an attack upon Kildare on the 29th,
but the gallant conduct of Sir J. Dull: and the. troops
under his command, made them soon retire with the
lass of 200 men. In Wicklow and Wexford, however,
AND. 351
the rebellion raged with the most dreadful fury, in the Ireland,
latter of which they were computed to have 15,000 men " v
on the 25th of May, when they surrounded and cut to
pieces the North York militia at Oulard, commanded
by Colonel Foot and Major Lombard. They attacked
and carried the town of Enniscorthy, but with the loss
of 400 men, and a party of the Meath militia fell into
their hands on the 29th. The town of Wexford sur¬
rendered to them next day, when Harvey, I itzgerald,
and Colclough, who had been made prisoners on the
26th for treason, were instantly set at liberty, and Har¬
vey was appointed their commander-in-chief. Having
left a garrison in the town, the rebel commander march¬
ed on the 5th of June to attack New Ross, where Ma¬
jor-general Johnston obstinately defended the town for
several hours, and at last forced the enemy to retreat
with considerable loss. This defeat so exasperated the
rebels, that they butchered 105 royalists whom they
found in the jail of Wexford. Their attempt upon
Gorey was ineffectual, as well as that upon Newton
Barry on the third of June, where Colonel Lestrange de¬
feated them with the loss of 500 men killed in the ac¬
tion. On the following day, however, the tide ot for¬
tune seemed to turn in their favour near Slievebay
mountain, where the royal forces under Colonel Wal¬
pole were defeated with the loss of 54 tnen, and the
commander himself was slain in the action. Encou¬
raged by this success, they resolved to make an attack
upon Arklow ; but the grape-shot of General Need¬
ham made terrible havock among them; yet their
strong position near Vinegar hill was still maintained
by their main body, from which it was found impracti¬
cable to dislodge them before the 2lst, when they were
nearly surrounded by General Lake, with his troops in
five columns, led into action by Generals Dundas,
Johnson, Eustace, Duff, and Loftus. The carnage
was terrible, as the rebels defended themselves with
great obstinacy for an hour and a. half, and lost 13
pieces of cannon. The town of Wexford surrendered
next day, and on the 26th Harvey and Colclough were
apprehended on one of the Saltee islands, who were
tried and executed, together with Keughe, the rebel
governor of Wexford.
The details of carnage and bloodshed are by no
means agreeable to the feelings of humanity, yet a re¬
gard to historical truth obliges us to give them, but in
as concise a manner as we possibly can. The rebels
gained possession of Antrim about the 7th of June, but
were soon obliged to abandon it by the exertions of
General Nugent. Still, however, a spirit of insurrec¬
tion continued formidable in the counties of Antrim
and Down-, but the rebels were defeated on the I2th
at Ballynahinch, where they lost upwards of 400 men,
and the royal forces only 20 in killed and wounded.
Munro, their general, was taken prisoner and executed.
It is to be. lamented that both rebels and royalists seem¬
ed, during this unnatural contest, to be such utter
strangers to every principle of humanity, that some
have deemed it a very difficult matter to determine
which party was the worst, although the bishop of Kil-
lala, who suffered much for his attachment to govern¬
ment, gives it against the latter. This, however, was
destined to be terminated in a very short time, for
Marquis Cornwallis was now appointed lord-lieutenant
of Ireland, and arrived in Dublin on the icth of June.
IRELAND.
.352
Ireland. The first measure, adopted by his excellency, soon
w< v—1 after his arrival, had a more powerful effect in crushing
the rebellion than all the rigorous measures formerly
pursued. On the 'yth of July he made an offer of his
majesty’s pardon to all who should surrender befoie a
certain day. The consequence of this proclamation
was, that numbers returned to their allegiance, and de¬
livered up all the arms in their possession. Some, how¬
ever, of the most notorious offenders were tried by a
special commission, condemned, and executed, such as
J. and H. Sheares, M‘Cann, Byrne, and others. Mr
Oliver Bond, who was condemned on the 23d of July,
had powerful interest made for him in order to save his
life on account of his respectable connexions. The
sentence of death was to be changed into banishment,
on condition he would tell all he knew respecting the
rebellion. He was accordingly pardoned, but his death
happened soon after. Some of the most desperate of
the rebels still continued to lurk about the mountains of
Wicklow and Wexford, notwithstanding the proclama¬
tion of the amnesty, but these were gradually reduced.
It was the general opinion about this time, that the
rebellion was completely ended, when the people were
119 suddenly and unexpectedly alarmed by the landing of
A body of a body of French troops under General Humbert.
lewrli This happened at Killala, on the 22d of August 1708.
Ireland. ^ *Jeir num,>er being at first very much exaggerated,
Lord Cornwallis designed to march against them in
person at the head of the army. In the mean time
Humbert marched on towards Castlebar, where he
engaged the British forces under General Lake, obli¬
ging them to retreat with the loss of six pieces of can¬
non, and a considerable number of men. Lord Corn¬
wallis came up with the French near Castlebar, and
forced them to retreat j and General Humbert having
been joined by a number of the rebels, he made a cir-
cuitous'march in order to favoiir their escape, in con¬
sequence of which the greater part of them got away
in safety. Ninety-three of them and three of their
generals were taken prisoners. The French having
surrendered, the public were astonished to find that
this tremendous army amounted to no more than 844
men !
On the 16th of September a French brig made its
appearance off the isle of Butland, on the north-west
coast of Donegal, where the crew landed, together
with General Rey and the celebrated Napper Tandy,
sustaining the rank, of a French general of brigade.
On inquiring after Humbert, they seemed astonished at
being informed that he and his men were prisoners.
In the end of September a ship of the line and eight
frigates, with troops and ammunition for Ireland, sailed
from Brest harbour j but the coast was too well defend¬
ed by the squadron under the command of Sir J. B.
Warren, for such an armament to be successful. The
ship of the line, called the Hoche, struck after a gallant
defence 5 and the whole squadron was captured, with the
exception of two frigates. This defeat Was a death¬
blow to the hopes of the French as well as to the Irish
rebels. The celebrated Theobald Wolfe Tone was
found among the prisoners in the Hoche, who was con¬
sidered as the ablest man at Paris from Ireland, in re¬
spect of negociating. He was tried by a court martial
at Dublin, where it was allowed that he made a very
manly defence, neither denying nor excusing his crime,
hut resting the merits of his plea on the idfa of his be- Ireland,
ing, as he thought, a citizen of France, and an officer 11
in the service ot that country. His arguments, how¬
ever, were ineffectual, and the court would not even
grant his request to be shot rather than banged, in con¬
sequence of which he committed suicide in prison. The
spirit of rebellion might be said to die with this wonder¬
ful man; for the few rebels who still continued with
General Holt, the last ol the rebel chiefs, gradually
laid down their arms, as did Holt himself, who was
banished for life.
At the termination of this horrible contest, it was
computed that not fewer than 30,000 persons lost their
lives, independent of many thousands who were wound¬
ed or transported.
The only remaining event of any importance con¬
nected with the history of this country, is its union
with Great Britain, This event had been long in con¬
templation, but it was first announced in the British 120
house of commons on the 22d of January 1799, by a Union with
message from bis majesty, conceived in these words : belamb
“ George R. His majesty is persuaded, that the un¬
remitting industry with which our enemies persevere in
their avowed design of effecting the separation of Ireland
from this country, cannot fail to engage the particular
attention of parliament ; and his majesty recommends
it to this house, to consider of the most elt’ectual means
of fi nally defeating this design, by disposing the parlia¬
ments of both kingdoms, to provide in the manner
which they shall judge most expedient, for settling such
a complete and final adjustment, as may best tend to
improve and perpetuate a connection essential for their
common Security, and consolidate the strength, power,
and resources of the British empire.” On the 31st the
measure was taken into consideration, when Mr Pitt
moved seven resolutions as the basis of it, which W’ere
opposed by Mr Sheridan, who gave it as his decided
opinion, that the fair and free approbation of parlia¬
ment could never be ascertained, while any of its mem¬
bers were under government influence, on which ac¬
count he opposed the union ; as did also Messrs Grev,
Tierney, Jones, Sir F. Burdett, General Fitzpatrick,
Dr Lawrence and others. It also met with consider¬
able opposition in the house of peers, and in the Irish
parliament the opposition was formidable. In the ad¬
dress to his majesty, the paragraph recommending an
union was voted to be expunged, by a majority of III
against 106, in consequence of which the city of Dub¬
lin was twice illuminated. I”, the house of peers, how¬
ever, a majority appeared in favour of the union ; and
when it was introduced in form by a message from
the lord-lieutenant, it was carried in favour of the
union, after a long and interesting debate, by a ma¬
jority of 161 against 115. The articles of the intend¬
ed union were transmitted to England by the lord-
lieutenant ; they were again submitted to the British
parliament on the 2d of April ; on the 2d of July the
bill received the royal assent, and the union took place
on the 1st of January 1801.
In consequence of this union, which ive trust will
prove an unspeakable blessing to both countries, the
Irish are to have a share of all the commerce of Great
Britain, tvith the exception of such parts of it as be¬
long to chartered companies, and consequently not free
to the inhabitants of the British empire indiscriminately.
The
rublUhcd by A.Cofutab/i t-C°Kimbuiyh .
*
Uelaad.
; 111
'imate,
tie. of Ire-
lind.
x*i
incn
ifacturc
ifly intro
iced.
I R E
The commons of Ireland are represented by a hundred
members in the imperial parliament j the spiritual and
temporal peerage of that country by four bishops and
twenty-eight lay-lords, who are elected by the bishops
and peers of Ireland, and hold their seats for life; and
the title of his Britannic majesty is “ king of the united
kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the
faiththe title of king of France being now laid
aside. The former laws and courts of justice in Ire¬
land are still retained, as also the court of chancery,
and the king of Great Britain is still represented by a
lord-lieutenant. No part of the debt contracted by
Britain prior to the union is to be paid by Ireland,
which only contributes to the expences of the empire
in the ratio of I to 7§. But as this in time might
prove extravagantly favourable to that country, in con¬
sequence of a rapid increase of its trade and commerce,
it may be revised and altered by parliament in the
course of twenty years. By one clause of tne act of
union it is declared, that such peers of Ireland as are
not elected into the house of lords, are competent to
sit in the house of commons as representatives of Bri¬
tish towns and counties, on condition that they give up
all the privileges of the peerage during their conti¬
nuance in the lower house.
The climate of Ireland would almost perfectly agree
with that of England, were the soil equally improved,
being abundantly fruitful both in corn and grass, espe¬
cially the latter j in consequence of which, an infinite
number of black cattle and sheep are bred, particularly'
in the province of Connaught. Few countries produce
finer grain than that which grows in the improved parts
of this kingdom. The northern and eastern counties are
best cultivated and inclosed, and the most populous.
Ireland is known to have many rich mines j and
there is no inconsiderable prospect of gold and silver in
aome parts of the kingdom. No country in the world
abounds more in beautiful lakes, both fresh and salt
water ones j and it is also plentifully watered with many
beautiful rivers. The commodities which Ireland ex¬
ports, as far as her present trade will permit, are hides,
tallow, beef, butter, cheese, honey, wax, hemp, metals,
and fish : wool and glass were, till December 23. 1779,
prohibited j but her linen trade is of late grown of very
great consequence. England, in the whole, is thought
to gain yearly by Ireland upwards of l,400>oool. > and
in many other respects she must be of very great advan¬
tage to that kingdom. Formerly, indeed, she was ra¬
ther a burden to her elder sister than any benefit; but
the times are changed now, and improve every day.
Mr O’Halloran says, the linen manufacture was car¬
ried on in Ireland in very early days to a great ex¬
tent j and Gratianus Lucius quotes a description of
the kingdom, printed at Leyden in 1627 in which
the anther tells us, “ That this country abounds with
flax, which is sent ready spun in large quantities to fo¬
reign nations. Formerly (says he) they wove great
quantities of linen, which was mostly consumed at
home, the natives requiring above 30 yards of linen in
a shirt or shift.” So truly expensive was the Irish fa¬
shion of making up shirts, on account of the number of
plaits and folds, that, in the reign of Henry VIII. a
statute passed, by which they were forbidden, under a
severe penalty, to put more than seven yards of linen
in a shirt or shift.
Vol. XI. Part I. +
LAND. 3S3
We may form some idea of what the trade of Ire- jreland
land must have been in former times, when, so late as < [—.jj
the reign of Brien Boru, who died in 1014, notwith¬
standing the ravages and distresses which a Danish war,
of above 200 years continuance, must have produced
throughout the kingdom, the annual duties arisinsi
from goods imported into the single port of Limerick,
and paid in red wine, amounted to 365 pipes! Even
so lately as the last century, it is scarcely credible what
riches this city derived from the bare manufacture of
shoes, which were exported in amazing quantities j
whereas now, instead of shoes and boots, we see the
raw hides shipped off for foreign markets.
No country in the world seems better situated for a
maritime power than Ireland, where the ports are con¬
venient to every nation in Europe, and the havens
safe and commodious. The great plenty of timber,
the superior excellence of the oak, and the acknow¬
ledged skill of her ancient artizans in wood-works, are
circumstances clearly in her favour. That the Irish
formerly exported large quantities of timber, is manifest
from the churches of Gloucester, Westminster mona¬
stery and palace, &c. being covered with Irish oak. 12^
The government of the kingdom is in the hands ofCovem-
a viceroy, or lord-lieutenant, who lives in very great ment, po-
splendour. In his absence there are lords justices (styled Potion,
their excellencies), generally three in number, viz. lord
primate, lord high chancellor, and, before the union,
the speaker of the house of commons. The parliament
of Ireland, while it existed, was regulated in the same
way as the British parliament.
Ireland is divided into four large provinces, and those
again into 32 counties, as follows :
I. ULSTER.
Houses. Extent, &c.
:
miles
Counties.
1. Antrim 20738 Length 68‘
2. Armagh I3I25 Breadth 98
3. Cavan 9268 Circumference 460.
4. Down 26090 Irish plantation acres,2836837J
5. Donnegal 12357 English acres, 4491205.
6. Fermanagh 5674 Parishes, 365
7. Londonderryi4527 Boroughs, 29
8. Monaghan 26637 Baronies, 55
9. Tyrone J6545 Archbishopric, I
 —Bishoprics, 6
144961 Market-towns, 58
II. LEINSTER.
1. Caterlogh, or
Carlow 5444
2. Dublin 24145
3. Kildare 8887
4. Kilkenny 3231
5. King’scounty9294
6. Longford 6057
7. Lowth 8150
8. Meath(East)i400O
9. Queen’s coun¬
ty 11226
10. Westmeath 9621
11. Wexford 13015
12. Wicklow 7781
!}
miles
Length 104'
Breadth 55
Circumference 360^
Irish acres, 2642958 j or
4281155 English.
Parishes, 858
Boroughs, 53
Baronies, 99
Market-towns, 63
Archbishopric, I
Bishoprics, 3
The rivers are, the Boyne,
Barrow, Lifly, Noir, and the
May.
120851
Yj
HI.
354
Ireland.
IRELAND.
III. MUNSTER.
Counties. Houses. Extent, &c.
3. Clare Length lOO'l
2. Cork 47334 Breadth 307 > miles
3. Kerry 11653 Circumference 600 J
4. Limerick 19380 Irish acres 3289932 j S3291^
5. Tipperary 18325 Parishes, 740 [English
6. Waterford 9485 Boroughs, 26
  ■ Baronies, 63
137558 Archbishopric, I
Bishops, 6
IV. CONNAUGHT.
1. Galway ISS7^ Length po~i
2. Leitrim 5156 Breadth 8o>mile3
3. Mayo 15089 Circumference 500 j
4. Roscommon 8780 Irish acres2272935; 3681746
5. Sligo 597° Parishes, 330 [English
. ■ ■ Boroughs, 10
50571 Baronies, 43
Archbishopric, I
Bishop, 1
Rivers are the Shannon, May,
Suck, and Gyll.
An account of the actual population of Ireland, drawn
from a survey by government, is a great desideratum
in the statistics of the country. But it is likely to be
soon supplied, as it is understood that the census now
taking in Great Britain (3823) is to be extended to
the sister country. The following table shows with
what rapidity the numbers of the people have increased
within the last 50 years.
SovjIs.
In 3754 Ireland contained 2,372,634
1767 2,544,276
3785 2,845,932
2791 4,206,622
It is believed, on good grounds, that the population
at present is not less than 5,500,000.
It has been frequently observed by the most celebra¬
ted writers on political arithmetic, that plenty of food,
frequency of marriage, a salubrious climate, a mild and
equitable government, and an increased demand for la¬
bour, are the never failing criteria of an increasing po¬
pulation in any country whatever. The three first of
these have contributed in a very powerful manner to
increase the population of Ireland in the 28th century.
The climate of that country has changed for the bet¬
ter in a most astonishing degree since the middle of the
iyth century, and the extensive forests with which it
once abounded, no longer exist, to obstruct the circula¬
tion of a free current of air.
The agriculture of Ireland is, generally speaking, in
a very backward state. With a few exceptions, the
farmers are destitute of capital, and labour small crofts
which they hold of middle-men interposed between them
and the landlord. The leases are generally of long
continuance j three lives, or 32 years, is a common pe¬
riod. In a very great proportion of the country the
lands are cultivated with the spade. The capital laid
out in the iraprovement of the soil is extremely small.
In 3799, Mr Young calculated, that converting Irish
2.
acres into English, it would require an outlay of 5I. an IieSaBd.
acre to place Ireland on a footing with England in this
respect, or an outlay of 88,342,236!. for the whole
country. From the change in the value of money, Mr
Wakefield has since calculated that the sum for this
purpose would be 220,000,000!. independently altoge¬
ther of the capital which the British agriculturist bring#
to his farm in order to carry on the cultivation of the
land. Notwithstanding this disadvantage the rent of
land in Ireland is very high. Mr Wakefield estimates
he average rent of all the lands in the island at 17s.
per English acre, and the total rental of the country
at 27,228,540!. in Irish money. When it is consider¬
ed how little capital is thus sunk in the Irish soil, and
recollected that the , average rent of England is only
20s. an acre, even under the superior mode of cultiva¬
tion which is there pursued, it is obvious how much
the proportion of the produce of the soil which goes to
the landlord has encroached on what should be left ae
a remuneration to the farmer.
The manufactures of Ireland are now very consider¬
able, particularly the linen manufacture. It enhances
the value of this branch of industry to the Irish people,,
that the raw material used is almost entirely raised
within the country. In 2820, the number of acres un¬
der flax was little short of 200,000 ; which, at 30 stone
an acre, and 10s. 6d. the stone, will give an annual
produce worth 2,500,000!. The flax is still spun chief¬
ly by the hand, though machinery has been partially
introduced. The average earnings of a linen weaver
may be estimated at 7s. per week. The annual export
of linen at different periods was as follows.
Average from 2700 to 2750
1757 to 2763
3770 to 2777
in 1800
1805
1809
Yards.
4,000,000
24,522,978
20,252,239
35,676,908
42,988,622
43>9°4>382
The official value of the linen exported from Ireland,
was
2809 L.2,932,109
1813 2,389,722
2820 2,317,422
Of this quantity, it is computed that upwards of
2,ooo,oool. comes to Great Britain.
The cotton manufacture has been established in Ire¬
land, but has made much less progress than in England
and Scotland. The import of cotton wool in 2810 con¬
sisted of 32,257 cwt. and of cotton yarn 1,057,1 25 lbs.
The official value of the cotton goods exported in 2820,
was only 54,777!.
The woollen manufacture was long depressed by the
jealousy of England, and exists only to a very inconsi¬
derable extent. The woollen goods made are chiefly
coarse fabrics for domestic use.
The distilleries of Ireland are very extensive : but
the quantity of spirits made at the unlicensed stills is
in all probability, m uch greater. The quantity of corn
spirits which paid duty in Ireland was,
Gallon*.
In 2803. 4,426,085
1808 S>7°7^S8
3813 4,085,913
The
I 11 E L
Irdawtf
The commerce of Ireland has experienced a pretty
rapid increase during the last 50 years, as will be seen
horn the following table.
Imports.
Official value.
1777 L.2,762,298
1800 4»657>784
1814 8,170,820
Exports.
Official value.
L-3’i83»992
4.350^40
7,088,756
The revenue of Ireland is principally derived from
customs, excise, stamps, and post duties ; and from as¬
sessed taxes on hearths, windows, houses, carriages,
servants, and houses. The net revenue of Ireland in
11791, was 1,184,684!. In 1800, it was 2,805,536^*
and in 1815, it was 5,525,699!.
According to Young’, Ncvvenhcim, and others, the
soil in point of fertility even surpasses that of England ;
it contains not such a large proportion of waste land,
and many extensive tracts of the productive soil^ seem
to be wholly unrivalled in respect of fertility. lor an
ample detail of the uncommon richness and fertility of
the soil of Ireland in general, we refer our readers to
the instructive Tour of Mr A. Young, which contains
many experiments made by himself on the soils of dif¬
ferent counties. ...
What a valuable acquisition to the British empire, of
which it now happily forms a constituent part, since it
can augment the military strength of the whole in a
very powerful manner, and make such respectable ad¬
ditions to the British revenue as cannot fail to result
from its flourishing commerce. Ireland in a state of
enmity against Britain, both weakened the latter, and
rendered herself vulnerable in a high degree j but since
both are happily united, and have only one common
interest, we trust that the most daring enemy shall ever
find them invulnerable.
» Beauty seems to be more diffused in England, among
anc^and the lower ranks of life, than in Ireland ; which may,
akaracte* however, be attributed to the modes of living. In
the in- England, the meanest cottager is better fed, better
kubitemts, and better dressed, than the most opulent far¬
mers here, who, unaccustomed to what our peasants
reckon the comforts of life, know no luxury but in deep
potations of aquavitae.
From this circumstance, we may account for a fact
reported by the officers of the army here. They say,
that the young fellows of Ireland, who offer to enlist,
are more generally below the given height than in
England. There can be no appeal from their testi¬
mony $ for they were Irish, and the standard is an in¬
fallible test. No reason, indeed, can be given why
the causes which promote or prevent the growth of
other animals, should not have similar effects upon the
human species. In England, where there is no stint
of provisions, the growth is not checked •, but, on the
contrary, it is extended to the utmost bound of na¬
ture's original intention 5 whereas, in Ireland, where
food is neither in the same quantity nor of the same
quality, the body cannot expand itself, but is dwarfed
and stunted in its dimensions. The gentlemen of Ire¬
land are full as tall as those of England : the difference,
then, between them and the commonalty, can only pro¬
ceed from the difference of food.
The inhabitants, in general, of this kingdom are
A N D. 355
very far from, what they have too often and unjustly Jp#!aad,
been represented by those of our country who never v——v——<»
saw them, a nation of wild Irish. Miserable and op¬
pressed, as by far too many of them are, an English¬
man will find as much civility in general, as amongst
the same class in his own country : and, for a small pe¬
cuniary consideration, they will exert themselves to
please you as much as any people perhaps in the
king’s dominions. Poverty and oppression will natu¬
rally make mankind sour, rude, and unsociable j and'
eradicate, or at least suppress, all the more amiable
principles and passions of humanity. But it should
seem unfair and ungenerous to judge of, or decide
against, the natural disposition of a man reduced by
indigence and oppression almost to desperation. Let
commerce, agriculture, and arts, but call forth the
dormant activity of their genius, and rouse the native
spirit of enterprise, which now lies torpid within
them ; let liberal laws unfetter their minds, and plen¬
ty cheer their tables *, they will soon shew themselves
deserving to rank with the most respectable societies in
Europe.
“ The lower Irish, (says Carr f), are remarkable for f Strmgcr
their ingenuity and docility, and a quick conception '
in these properties they are equalled only by the Rus¬
sians. It is curious to see with what scanty materials
they will work j they build their own cabins, and make
bridles, stirrups, cruppers, and ropes for every rustic
purpose, of hay ; and British adjutants allow that Irish
recruits are. sooner made soldiers of than English ones.
“ That the Irish are not naturally lazy, is evident
from the quantity of laborious work which they will
perform, when they have much to do, which is not fre¬
quently the case in their own country, and are ade¬
quately paid for it, so as to enable them to get proper
food to support severe toil. Upon this principle, in
England, an Irish labourer is always preferred.
“ The handsomest peasants in Ireland are the na¬
tives of Kilkenny and the neighbourhood j and the most
wretched and squalid near Cork and Waterford, and in
Munster and Connaught. In the county of Roscom¬
mon the male and female peasantry and horses ai’e
handsome, the former are fair and tall, and possess great
flexibility of muscle : the men are the best leapers in
Ireland : the finest hunters and most expert huntsmen
are to be found in the fine sporting county ot Ferma¬
nagh. In the county of Meath the peasants are very
heavily limbed. In the county of Kerry, and along
the western shore, the peasants very much resemble the
Spaniards in expression of countenance, and colour of
hair.
“ The instruction of the common people is in the
lowest state of degradation. In the summer a wretched
uncharactered itinerant derives a scanty and precarious
existence by wandering from parish to parish, and open¬
ing a school in some ditch covered with heath and
furze, to which the inhabitants send their children to
be instructed by the miserable breadless being, who is
nearly as ignorant as themselves $ and in the winter
these pedagogue pedlars go from door to door offering
their services, and pick up just sufficient to prevent
themselves from perishing by famine. What propor¬
tion of morals and learning can flow from such a source
into the mind of the ragged young pupil, can easily be
imagined, but cannot be reflected upon without serious
Y y 2 concenic
JD
^6
IRELAND.
Irelaird.
Account of
the bogs in
Ireland*
concern. A gentleman of undoubted veracity stated,
not long since, before the Dublin association for distri¬
buting bibles and testaments amongst the poor, that
whole parishes were without a bible.
“ Their hospitality, when their circumstances are not
too wretched to display it, is remarkably great. It is
thus beautifully described by Mr Curran. ‘ The hospi¬
tality of other countries is a matter of necessity, or con¬
vention : in savage nations, of the first; in polished, of
the latter: but the hospitality of an Irishman is not the
running account of posted and ledgered courtesies, as in
other countries: it springs, like all his other qualities,
his faults, his virtues, directly from the heart. The
heart of an Irishman is by nature bold, and he con¬
fides 5 it is tender, and he loves ; it is generous, and
he gives ; it is social, and he is hospitable.”
The bogs wherewith Ireland is in some places over¬
grown, are not injurious to health, as is commonly ima¬
gined ; the watery exhalations from these are neither
so abundant nor so noxious as those from marshes, which
become prejudicial from the various animal and vege¬
table substances which are left to putrefy as soon as the
waters are exhaled by the sun. Bogs are not, as one
might suppose from their blackness, masses of putrefac¬
tion ; but, on the contrary, they are of such a texture,
as to resist putrefaction above any other substance we
know of. A shoe, all of one piece of leather, very
neatly stitched, was taken out of a bog some years ago,
yet entirely fresh }—from the very fashion of which,
there is scarce room to doubt that it had lain there Ireland,
some centuries. Butter, called rouskin, has been ——
found in hollowed trunks of trees, where it had been
hid so long, that it was become hard and almost fria¬
ble, yet not devoid of unctuosity : that the length of
time it had been buried was very great, we learn from
the depth of the bog, which was ten feet, that had
grown over it. But the common phenomenon of tim¬
ber-trees dug out of these bogs not only sound, but also
so embalmed as afterwards to defy the injuries of time,
demonstrate the antiseptic quality of them. The horns
of the moose-deer must have lain many centuries in a
bog j for the Irish histories do not recognize the exist¬
ence of the animal whereon they grew. Indeed, hu¬
man bodies have, in many places, been dug up entire,
which must have lain there for ages. The growth of
bogs, however, is variable in different places, from the
variety of conditions in the situation, soil, humidity,
and quantity of vegetable food ; in some places it is
very rapid, in others very slow ; and therefore their
altitudes cannot afford any certain measure of time.
In the manufacturing counties of the north, peat-fuel
has become so scarce, that turbaries let from five to
eight guineas an acre. In some places they are so era¬
dicated, there does not remain a trace of them, the
ground being now converted into rich meadows and
sweet pastures.
For a copious account of the statistics of Ireland,
see the article Ireland, in the Supplement.
IRE
bouetu IREN^US, St, a bishop of Lyons, was born in
Indium, Greece about the year 120. He was the disciple of
——vPappias and St Polycarp, by whom, it is said, he was
sent into Gaul in 157. He lived at Lyons, where he
performed the office of a priest; and in 178 was sent
to Borne, where he disputed with Valentinus, and his
two disciples Florinus and Blastus. At his return to
Lyons, he succeeded Photinus, bishop of that city 5 and
suffered martyrdom in 202, under the reign of Severus.
He wrote many books in Greek, of which there only
remains a barbarous Latin verson of his five books
against heretics, some Greek fragments in different
authors, and Pope Victor’s letter mentioned by Euse¬
bius. The best editions of his works are those of Eras¬
mus, in 1526; of Grabe, in 1702; and of Father
Massuet, in 1710.
He ought not to be confounded with St Irenaeus the
deacon, who in 275 suffered martyrdom in Tuscany,
under the reign of Aurelian ; nor with St Irenaeus,
bishop of Sirmich, who suffered martyrdom on the 25th
of March 304, during the persecution of Dioclesian
and Maximianus.
IRENE, empress of the east, celebrated for her va¬
lour, wit, and beauty $ but detestable for her cruelty,
having sacrificed her own son to the ambition of reign¬
ing alone. She died in 803.
IBESINE, a genus of plants belonging to the dice-
cia class, and in the natural method ranking uuder the
54th order, Miscellanece. See Botany Index.
IRIDIUM, a metal obtained from crude platina.
See Chemistry, N° 2153, p. 699.
I R O
IRIS, in Physiology, the rainbow. The word is Iris
Greek, supposed by some to be derived from u^u, B.
“ I speak, I tell as being a meteor that is sup- . rgn'si<:k
posed to foretel, or rather to declare rain. See Rain¬
bow.
Lunar Inis, or Moon-rainbow. See Rainbow,
Lunar.
Iris, in Anatomy, a striped variegated circle round
the pupil of the eye, formed of a duplicature of the
uvea. See Anatomy Index.
Iris is also applied to those changeable colours which
sometimes appear in the glasses of telescopes, micro¬
scopes, &c. so called from their similitude to a rain¬
bow. The same appellation is also given to that co¬
loured spectrum, which a triangular prismatic glass will
project on a wall, when placed at a due angle in the
sunbeams.
Iris, the Flower de Luce, or Flag-flower, &c. a
genus of plants, belonging to the triandria class, and
in the natural method ranking under the sixth order,
Ensatce. See Botany Index.
IRON, one of the metals, and one of the hardest
and most useful, as w'ell as the most abundant. See
Chemistry and Mineralogy Index.
InoN-making, the art of extracting iron from the
ore. See Supplement.
InoN-Moulds, and spots of ink in linen, may be ta¬
ken out by moistening the stained part in a solution of
oxalic acid in distilled water, and then washing it out
in pure water.
Iron-Sick, in the sea-language, is said of a ship or
boat,
I R It
[ 357 ]
I R R
[roa-siok
n
rritability
boat, when her bolts or nails are so eaten with rust, and
so worn away, that they occasion hollows in the planks,
■whereby the vessel is rendered leaky.
InoN-Wood, in Botany. See Sideroxylum, Bo¬
tany Index.
InoN-JPort, in Botany. See Sideritis, Botany
Iftdcx •
IRONY, in Bhetoric, is when a person speaks con¬
trary to his thoughts, in order to add force to his dis¬
course £ whence Quintilian calls it diversiloquium.
Thus, when a notorious villain is scornfully compli¬
mented with the title of a very honest and excellent
person j the character of the person commended, the air
of contempt that appears in the speaker, and the exor¬
bitancy of the commendations, sufficiently discover the
dissimulation of irony. .
Ironical exhortation is a very agreeable kind ot trope j
which, after having set the inconveniences of a thing
in the clearest light, concludes with a feigned encou¬
ragement to pursue it. Such is that of Horace, wnen,
having beautifully described the noise and tumults of
Home, he adds ironically,
Go now, and study tuneful verse at Rome !
IROQUOIS, the name of five nations in North
America. They occupied an extensive tract of coun¬
try near Lake Ontario, and make a considerable figure
in the early history of British America. They are now
greatly reduced. . .
IRRADIATION, the act of emitting subtile ef¬
fluvia, like the rays of the sun, every way. See Ef¬
fluvia.
IRREGULAR, something that deviates from the
common forms or rules i thus, we say an irregular for¬
tification, an irregular building, an irregular figure,
&C#
Irregular, in Grammar, such inflections 0f words
as vary from the general rules > thus we say, irregular
nouns, irregular verbs, &c., _
The distinction of irregular nouns, according to Mr
Ruddiman, is into three kinds, viz. variable, defective,
and abundant j and that of irregular verbs into anoma¬
lous, defective, and abundant.
IRRITABILITY, in Anatomy and Medicine, a
term first invented by Glisson, and adopted by Dr Hal¬
ler to denote an essential property of all animal bodies ;
and which, he says, exists independently of and in
contradistinction to sensibility. This ingenious author
calls that part of the human body irritable, which be¬
comes shorter upon being touched ; very irritable, if it
contracts upon a slight touch j and the contrary, if by
a violent touch it contracts but little. .He calls that a
sensible part of the human body, which upon being
touched transmits the impression of it to the soul: and
in brutes, he calls those parts sensible, the irritation of
which occasions evident signs of pain and disquiet m
the animal. On the contrary, he calls that insensible,
which being burnt, tore, pricked, or cut till it is quite
destroyed, occasions no sign of pain nor convulsion, nor
any sort of change in the situation of the body. From
the result of many cruel experiments he concludes, that
the epidermis is insensible j that the skin is sensible in a
greater degree than any other part of the body j that
the fat and cellular membrane are insensible $ and the
muscular flesh sensible, the sensibility of which he a- Irritability
scribes rather to the nerves than to the flesh itself. Ihe 1 " " v
tendons, he says, having no nerves distributed to them,
are insensible. The ligaments and capsulae of the articu¬
lations are also concluded to be insensible j whence Dr
Haller infers, that the sharp pains of the gout are not
seated in the capsulte of the joint, but in the skin, and
in the nerves which creep upon its external surface.
The bones are all insensible, says Dr Haller, except the
teeth j and likewise the marrow. Under his experiments
the periosteum and pericranium, the dura and pia ma-
tor, appeared insensible j and he infers, that the sensibi¬
lity of the nerves is owing to the medulla, and not to
the membranes. The arteries and veins are held sus¬
ceptible of little or no sensation, except the carotid, the
lingual, temporal, pharyngal, labial, thyroidal, and the
aorta near the heart; the sensibility of which is ascrib¬
ed to the nerves that accompany them. Sensibility is
allowed to the internal membranes of the stomach, in¬
testines, bladder, ureters, vagina, and womb, on account
of their being of the same nature with the skin : the
heart is also admitted to be sensible : but the lungs,
liver, spleen, and kidneys, are possessed of a very im¬
perfect, if any, sensation. The glands, having few
nerves, are endowed with only an obtuse sensation.
Some sensibility is allowed to the tunica choroidis and
the iris, though in a less degree than the retina $ but
none to the cornea. Dr Haller concludes, in general,
that the nerves alone are sensible of themselves j and
that, in proportion to the number of nerves apparently
distributed to particular parts, such parts possess a
greater or less degree of sensibility.
Irritability, he says, is so different from sensibility, ,
that the most irritable parts are not at all sensible, and
vice versa. He alleges facts to prove this position, and
also to demonstrate, that irritability does not depend
upon the nerves, which are not irritable, but upon the
original formation of the parts which are susceptible ot
it. Irritability, he says, is not proportioned to sensi¬
bility } in proof of which, he observes, that the intes¬
tines, though rather less sensible than the stomach,
are more irritable j and that the heart is very irritable,
though it has but a small degree of sensation.
Irritability, according to Dr Haller, is the distin¬
guishing characteristic between the muscular and cellu¬
lar fibres 5 whence he determines the ligaments, perios¬
teum, meninges of the brain, and all the membranes
composed of the cellular substance, to be void of irrita¬
bility. The tendons are unirritable; and though he
does not absolutely deny irritability to the arteries, yet
his experiments on the aorta produced no contraction.
The veins and excretory ducts are in a small degree
irritable, and the gall-bladder, the ductus choledochus,
the ureters and urethra, are only affected by a very
acrid corrosive $ but the lacteal vessels are considerably
irritable. The glands and mucous sinuses, the uterus
in quadrupeds, the human matrix, and the genitals, are
all irritable} as are also the muscles, particularly the
diaphragm. The oesophagus, stomach, and intestines,
are irritable: but of all the animal organs the heart is
endued with the greatest irritability. In general, there
is nothing irritable in the animal body but the muscular
fibres : and the vital parts are the most irritable. This
power of motion, arising from irritations, is supposed
to
ISA [ 358 ] ISA
kritability to be different from all other properties of bodies, and
tf probably resides in the glutinous mucus of the muscular
, *6aac- fibres, altogether independent of the influence of the
^’v soul. The irritability of the muscles is said to be de¬
stroyed by drying of the fibres, congealing of the fat,
and more especially by the use of opium in living ani¬
mals. The physiological system, of which an abstract
has been now given, has been adopted and confirmed
by Castell and Zimmermann, and also by Dr Brock-
lesby, who suggests, that irritability, as distinguished
from sensibility, may depend upon a series of nerves dif¬
ferent from such as serve either for voluntary motion
or sensation. This doctrine, however, has been con¬
troverted by M. le Cat, and particularly by Dr Whytt
in his Physiological Essays. See also ANATOMY, N°
86, et seq. and N° 136.
IRROGATIO, a law term amongst the Romans, sig¬
nifying the instrument in which were put down the pu¬
nishments which the law provided against such offences
as any person was accused of by a magistrate before
the people. These punishments were first proclaimed
viva voce by the accuser, and this was called Inquisitio :
The same, being immediately after expressed in writ¬
ing, took the name of Rogatio, in respect of the people,
who were to be consulted or asked about it, and was
called Irrogatio in respect of the criminal, as it imported
the mulct or punishment assigned him by the accuser.
IRROMANGO, or Erromango, one of the New
Hebrides islands, is about 24 or 25 leagues in circuit 5
the middle of it lies in E. Long. 169. 19. S. Lat. 18.
54. The inhabitants are of the middle size, and have
a good shape and tolerable features. Their colour is
very dark ; and they paint their faces, some with black,
and others with red pigment: their hair is curly and
crisp, and somewhat woolly. Few women were seen,
and those very ugly: they wore a petticoat made of
the leaves of some plant. The men were quite naked,
excepting a belt tied about the waist, and a piece of
cloth, or a leaf, used for a wrapper. No canoes were
seen in any part of the island. They live in houses
covered with thatch : and their plantations are laid out
by line, and fenced round. An unlucky scuffle be¬
tween the British sailors and these people, in which
four of the latter were desperately wounded, prevent¬
ed Captain Cook from being able to give any parti¬
cular information concerning the produce, &c. of this
island.
IRTIS, a large river of Asia, in Siberia, which
rises among the hills of the country of the Kalmucks,
and, running north-east, falls into the Oby near To¬
bolsk. It abounds with fish, particularly sturgeon, and
delicate salmon.
IRVINE, a sea-port and borough town of Scot¬
land, in the bailiwick of Cunningham, and county of
Ayr j seated at the mouth of a river of the same name
on the frith of Clyde, in W. Long. 2. 55. N. Lat. 55.
36. This port had formerly several busses in the her¬
ring-fishery. A number of vessels is employed in the
coal trade to Ireland, and also in the Baltic and carry¬
ing trade. Ship-building and rope-making are carried
on to a considerable extent at Irvine. The population
in 1811 was estimated at 5750, of which nearly 4000
were employed in trade and manufactures.
ISAAC, the Jewish patriarch, and example of filial
abedience, died 1716 B. C. aged 180.
ISAtUS, a Greek orator, born at Colchis, in Sy- {Sfp
ria, was the disciple of Lysias, and the master of De- n
mosthenes; and taught eloquence at Athens, about Isaeri#.
344 years B. C. Sixty-four orations are attributed '~~v—
to him ; but he composed no more than 30, of which
only 10 are now remaining. He took Lysias for his
model, and so well imitated his style and elegance,
that we might easily confound the one with the other,
were it not for the figures which Isseus first introduced
into frequent use. He was also the first who applied
eloquence to politics, in which he was followed bv his
disciple Demosthenes.
He ought not to he confounded with Isreus, another
celebrated orator, who lived at Rome in the time of
Pliny the younger, about the year 97.
ISAIAH, or the Prophecy of Isaiah, a canonical
book of the Old Testament. Isaiah is the first of th«
four greater prophets $ the other three being Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and Daniel. This prophet was of royal
blood, his father Amos being brother to Azariah king
of Judah. The five first chapters of his prophecy re¬
late to the reign of Uzziah j the vision in the sixth
chapter happened in the time of Jotham : the next
chapters, to the fifteenth, include his prophecies un¬
der the reign of Ahab j and those that were made un¬
der the reigns of Hezekiah and Manasseh, are related
in the next chapters to the end. Isaiah foretold the
deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon
by Cyrus, one hundred years before it came to pass.
But the most remarkable of his predictions are those
concerning the Messiah, which describe not only his
descent, but all the remarkable circumstances of bis
life and death. The style of this prophet is noble,
nervous, sublime, and florid, which he acquired by
converse with men of the greatest abilities and elocu¬
tion : Grotius calls him the Demosthenes of the He¬
brews. However, the profoundness of his thoughts,
the loftiness of his expressions and the extent of his pro¬
phecy, render him one of the most difficult of all the
prophets j and the commentaries that have been hitherto
written on his prophecy fall short of a full explication
of it. Bishop Lowth’s new translation, &c. published
in 1778, throws considerable light on the composition
and meaning of Isaiah.
ISATIS, Woadj a genus of plants belonging to
the tetradynamia class j and in the natural method
ranking under the 39th order, Siliquosce. One species
of this plant, the tinctoria, yields a colouring matter.
See Colour-Making and Dyeing Index.
Isatis, in Zoology, a synonyme of the earns lagopu*.
See Canis, Mammalia Index.
ISAURA, or Isaurus, in Ancient Geography, a
strong city at Mount Taurus, in Isauria, twice demo¬
lished j first byPerdiccas, or rather by the inhabitants,
who, through despair, destroyed themselves by fire
rather than fall into the hands of the enemy 5 again
by Servilius, who thence took the surname Isauricus.
Strabo says there were two Isauras, the old and the
new, but so near that other writers took them but for
one.
ISAURIA, a country touching Pamphylia and Cili¬
cia on the north, rugged and mountainous, situated al¬
most in Mount Taurus, and taking its name from Isaura 5
according to some, extending to the Mediterranean by
a narrow slip. Stephanus, Ptolemy, and Zosimus,
make
I s E [ 359
make no mention of places on the sea ; though Pliny
does, as also Strabo $ but doubtful, whether they are
places in Isauria Proper, or in Pamphylia, or in Ci¬
licia.
ISAURICA, a part of Lycaonia, bordering on
Mount Taurus.
ISCA Dumniorum, in Ancient Geographij, a town
in Britain. Now Exeter, capital of Devonshire. . W.
Long. 3. 40. Lat. 5. 44. Called Caer-Isk in British,
(Camden).
Isca Silurum, in Ancient Geography, the station of
the Legio II. Augusta in Britain. Now Caerleon, a
town of Monmouthshire, on the Uske.
ISCHALIS, or Iscalis, in Ancient Geography, a
town of the Belgse in Britain. Now Ilchester, in So¬
mersetshire on the river 111.
ISCHiEUM, a genus of plants belonging to the po-
lygamia class ; and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 4th order, Gramina. See Botany Index.
ISCHIA, an island of Italy, in the kingdom of
Naples, about 15 miles in circumference, lying on the
coast of the Terra di Lavoro, from which it is three
miles distant. It is full of agreeable valleys, which
produce excellent fruits. It hath also mountains on
■which grow vines of an excellent kind : likewise foun¬
tains, rivulets, and fine gardens.
Ischia, a town of Italy, and capital of an island of
the same name, with a bishop’s see and a strong fort.
Both the city and fortress stand upon a rock, which is
joined to the island by a strong bridge ; the rock is
about seven furlongs in circumference. The city, is
like a pyramid of houses piled upon one another, which
makes a very singular and striking appearance. At the
end of the bridge next the city are iron gates, which
open into a subterraneous passage, through which they
enter the city. They are always guarded by soldiers
who are natives of the island. E. Long. 13. 55. N. Lat.
40. 50.
ISCHIUM, in Anatomy, one of the bones of the
pelvis. See Anatomy, N° 41.
ISCHURIA, (formed from “ I stop,”
and “ urine,”) in Physic, a disease consisting in
an entire suppression of urine. See Medicine Index.
ISELASTICS, a kind of games, or combats, ce¬
lebrated in Greece and Asia, in the time of the Roman
emperors.
The victor at these games had very considerable
privileges conferred on him, after the example of Au¬
gustus and the Athenians, who did the like to con¬
querors at the Olympic, Pythian, and Isthmian games.
They were crowned on the spot immediately after their
victory, had pensions allowed them, were furnished with
provisions at the public cost, and were carried in triumph
to their country.
ISENACH, a town of Germany, in the circle of
Upper Saxony, from whence one of the Saxon princes
takes the title of duke. There are iron mines in the
neighbourhood. E. Long. 9. 17. N. Lat. 31. o.
ISENARTS, or Eisenarts, a considerable town of
Germany, in Austria and in Stiriaj famous for its iron
mines. E. Long. 15. 25* ^ Eat. 46. 56.
ISENBURG, a large town of Germany, capital
of a county of the same name, in E. Long. 7. 14.
N. Lat. 50. 28.
] I s I
ISENGHEIN, a town of the Netherlands, with IsenghtiR
the title of a principality, seated on the river Mandera,
in E. Long. 3. 18. N. Lat. 50. 44.
ISERE, a department in the south-east of France,
containing 3440 square miles, and 472,000 inhabitants.
The southern part lies among the Alps, and is moun¬
tainous } the northern part is more level. TLhe climate
is cold. The produce consists chiefly of hemp, silk,
corn, wine, oil j and the pastures are extensive. Gre¬
noble is the chief town.
ISH, in Scots Law, signifies expiry. Thus we say
“ the ish of a lease.” It signifies also to go out; thus
we say “ free ish and entry” from and to any place.
ISIA, Iruct, feasts and sacrifices anciently solemni¬
zed in honour of the goddess Isis.—The Isia were full
of the most abominable impurities ; and for that rea¬
son, those who were initiated into them were obliged
to take an oath of secrecy. They held for nine days
successively, but grew so scandalous, that the senate
abolished them at Rome, under the consulate of Piso
and Gabinius. They were re-established by Augustus,
and the emperor Commodus himself assisted at them,
appearing among the priests of that goddess with his
head shaven, and carrying the Anubis.
ISIAC TABLE, is one of the most considerable mo¬
numents of antiquity, discovered at Rome in I525»
and supposed by the various figures in has reliel upon
it, to represent the feasts of Isis, and other Egyptian
deities. There have been various opinions as to the
antiquity of this monument: some have supposed that
it was engraved long before the time when the Egyp¬
tians worshipped the figures of men and women. Others,
among whom is Bishop Warburton, apprehend, that it
was made at Rome by persons attached to the worship
of Isis. Dr Warburton considers it as one of the most
modern of the Egyptian monuments, on account of the
great mixture of hieroglyphic characters which it bears.
ISIACI, priests of the goddess Isis.—Dioscorides
tells us, that they bore a branch of sea wormwood in
their hands instead of olive. They sung the praises of
the goddess twice a-day, viz. at the rising of the sun,
when they opened her temple ; after which they begged
alms the rest of the day, and returning at night, re¬
peated their orisons, and shut up the temple.
Such were the life and office of the isiaci; they never
covered their feet with any thing but the thin bark of
the plant papyrus, which occasioned Prudentius and
others to say they went barefooted. They wore no
garments but linen, because Isis was the first who taught
mankind the culture of this commodity.
ISIDORES, called Damiatensis, or Pelusiota,
from his living in a solitude near that city, was one of
the most famous of all St Chrysostom’s disciples, and
flourished in the time of the general council held in
421. We have 2012 of his epistles in five books.
They are short, but well written, in Greek. The best
edition is that of Paris, in Greek and Latin, printed in
1638, in folio.
ISIGNI, a town of France, in Lower Normandy,
with a small harbour, and well known on account of
its salts works, its cyder, and its butter. W. Long. o.
50. N. Lat. 49. 20.
ISINGLASS. See Ichthyocolla.
ISIS, a celebrated deity of the Egyptians, daugh¬
ter.
I S L [ 360 ] - I S L
ter of Saturn and Ilhea, according to Diodorus of Si¬
cily. Some suppose her to be the same as lo, who
Was changed into a cow, and restored to her human
form in Egypt, where she taught agriculture, and go¬
verned the people with mildness and equity, for
which reasons she received divine honours after death.
According to some traditions mentioned by Plutarch,
Isis married her brother Osiris, and was pregnant by
him even before she had left her mother’s womb. These
two ancient deities, as some authors observe, compre¬
hended all nature and all the gods of the heathens.
Isis was the Venus of Cyprus, the Minerva of Athens,
the Cybele of the Phrygians, the Ceres of Eleusis,
the Proserpine of Sicily, the Diana of Crete, the Bel-
lona of the Romans, &c. Osiris and Isis reigned con¬
jointly in Egypt $ but the rebellion of Typhon, the
brother of Osiris, proved fatal to this sovereign. The
ox and the cow were the symbols of Osiris and Isis $
because these deities, while on earth, had diligently
applied themselves to cultivating the earth. As Isis
was supposed to be the moon, as Osiris the sun, she
was represented as holding a globe in her hand, with
a vessel full of ears of corn. The Egyptians believed
that the yearly and regular inundations of the Nile
proceeded from the abundant tears which Isis shed for
the loss of Osiris, whom Typhon had basely murdered.
The word Isis, according to some, signifies “ ancient,”
and on that account the inscriptions on the statues of
the goddess were often in these words: “ I am all that
has been, that shall be ; and none among mortals has
hitherto taken off my veil.” The worship of Isis was
universal in Egypt, the priests were obliged to observe
perpetual chastity, their heads were closely shaved, and
they always walked barefooted, and clothed themselves
in linen garments. They never ate onions, they ab¬
stained from salt with their meat, and were forbidden
to eat the flesh of sheep and of hogs. During the
night they were employed in continual devotion near
the statue of the goddess. Cleopatra, the beautiful
queen of Egypt, was wont to dress herself like this
goddess, and affected to be called a second Isis.
Isis, or Thames, a river that has its rise in Glou¬
cestershire, and flows through only a small part of Wilt¬
shire. It enters this county near its source, and be¬
gins to be navigable for boats at Cricklade j but af¬
ter running in a serpentine manner about four miles,
it leaves Gloucestershire at a village called Castle
Eaton.
Isis, a genus of animals belonging to the order zoo-
phyta, in the class vermes. See Helminthology
Index.
ISLAM, or Islamism } the true faith, according to
the Mahometans. See Mahometanism.
ISLAND, a tract of dry land encompassed with
water; in which sense it stands contradistinguished
from Continent, or Terra Firma.
Several naturalists are of opinion, that the islands
were formed at the deluge 5 others think, that there
have been new islands formed by the casting up of vast
heaps of clay, sand, mud, &c. 5 others think they have
been separated from the continent by violent storms,
inundations, and earthquakes. These last have ob¬
served, that the East Indies, which abound in islands
more than any other part of the world, are likewise
5
more annoyed with earthquakes, tempests, lightnings,
volcanoes, &c. than any other part. Others again
conclude, that islands are as ancient as the world, and
that there were some at the beginning ; and among
other arguments, support their opinion from Gen. x. 5.
and other passages of Scripture.
Varenius thinks that there have been islands pro¬
duced each of these ways. St Helena, Ascension,
and other steep rocky islands, he supposes to have be¬
come so by the sea’s overflowing their neighbouring
champaigns ; but by the heaping up huge quantities
of sand, and other terrestrial matter, he thinks the
islands of Zealand, Japan, &c. were formed. Suma¬
tra and Ceylon, and most of the East India islands,
he thinks, were rent off from the main land $ and con¬
cludes, that the islands of the Archipelago were form¬
ed in the same way, imagining it probable that Deu¬
calion’s flood might contribute towards it. The an¬
cients had a notion that Delos, and a few other islands,
rose from the bottom of the sea ; which, how fabulous
soever it may appear, agrees with later observations.
Seneca takes notice, that the island Therasia rose thus
out of the iEgean sea in bis time, of which the mari¬
ners were eye witnesses.
It is indeed very probable, that many islands have
existed not only from the deluge, but from the crea¬
tion of the world ; and we have undoubted proofs of
the formation of islands in all the different ways above
mentioned. Another way, however, in which, islands
are frequently formed in the South sea, is by the co¬
ralline insects. On this subject there is a curious dis¬
sertation by Alexander Dalrymple, Esq. in the Philo¬
sophical Transactions for the year 1768, to which we
refer the reader. See also Geography Index.
Islands of Ice. See IcE-Island.
Floating Islands. Histories are full of accounts of
floating islands $ but the greatest part of them are
either false or exaggerated. What we generally see
of this kind is no more than the concretion of the
lighter and more viscous matter floating on the surface
of the water in cakes j and, with the roots of the
plants, forming congeries of different sizes, which, not
being fixed to the shore in any part, are blown about
by the winds, and float on the surface. These are
generally found in lakes, where they are confined from
being carried too far j and, in process of time, some
of them acquire a very considerable size. Seneca tells
us of many of these floating islands in Italy: and some
later writers have described not a few of them in other
places. But, however true these accounts might have
been at the time when they were written, very few
proofs of their authenticity are now to be found j the
floating islands having either disappeared again, or
been fixed to the sides in such a manner as to make a
part of the shore. Pliny tells us of a great island which
at one time swam about in the lake Cutilia in the coun¬
try of Reatinum, which was discovered to the old Ro¬
mans by a miracle } and Pomponius tells us, that in
Lydia there were several islands so loose in their foun¬
dations, that every little accident shook and removed
them.
Island (or Iceland') Crystal. See Crystal, Ice¬
land; Mineralogy Index.
ISLE-adam, a town of France, with a handsome
castle,
I S L [ 361 ] ISO
sic adam castle, and the title of a baron ; seated on the river
1) Oise, three miles from Beaumont, and 20 from Paris.
Islington, Long. 2. 13. N. Lat. 49. 7.
Isle dc-Dicu, a small island of France, in the sea of
Gascony, and on the coast of Poitou, from which it is
distant 14 miles. W. Long. 2. 5. N. Lat. 46. 45.
IsLE-de-France, one of the twelve general govern¬
ments of France, under the old division j bounded on the
north by Picardy, on the west by Normandy, on the
south by the government of Orleannois, and on the east
by that of Champagne. It is about 90 miles in length,
and as much in breadth •, and is watered by the rivers
Seine, Marne, Oise, and Aisne. The air is tempe¬
rate, and the soil fertile ; and it abounds in wine, corn,
and fruits. It contains ten small districts, and Paris
is the capital city.
ISLEBIANS, in ecclesiastical history^.a name giv¬
en to those who adopted the sentiments of a Lutheran
divine of Saxony, called John Agricola, a disciple and
companion of Luther, a native of Isleb, whence the
name ; who interpreting literally some of the precepts
of St Paul with regard to the Jewish law, declaimed
against the law and the necessity of good works. See
Antinomians.
ISLINGTON, a village of Middlesex, on the north
side of London, to which it is almost contiguous. It
appears to be of Saxon origin ; and in the Conqueror’s
time was written Isledon, or Isendon. The church
is one of the prebends of St Paul’s •, to the dean and
chapter of which a certain precinct here belongs, for
the probate of wills, and granting administrations.
The church was a Gothic structure, erected in 1503,
and stood till 1751, when the inhabitants applied to
parliament for leave to rebuild it, and soon after erect¬
ed the present structure, which is a very substantial
brick edifice, though it does not want an air of light¬
ness. The number of houses in Islington exceeds
2700 j and the total amount of the population, as it
was estimated in 1811, was more than 15,000. The
White-conduit house in this place, so called from a
white stone conduit that stands before the entrance,
has handsome gardens with good walks, and two large
rooms, one above the other, for the entertainment of
company at tea, &c. In the south-west part of this
village is that noble reservoir, improperly called New
River Head 5 though they are only two basons, which
receive that river from Hertfordshire, and from whence
the water is thrown by an engine into the company’s
pipes for the supply of London. In the red moat on
the north side of these basons, called Six-Acre Field,
from the contents of it, which is the third field beyond
the White Conduit, there appears to have been a fort¬
ress in former days, enclosed with a rampart and ditch,
which is supposed to have been a Roman camp, made
use of by Suetonius Paulinus after his retreat, which
Tacitus mentions, from London, before he sallied
thence, and routed the Britons under their queen
Boadicea; and that which is vulgarly, but erroneous¬
ly, called Jack Straw’s castle, is a square place in the
south-west angle of the field, supposed to have been
the seat of the praetorium or Roman general’s tent.
In this parish are two charity-schools ", one founded in
1613, by Dame Alice Owen, for educating 30 chil¬
dren. This foundation, together with that of a row of
Vol. XI. Part I. f
alms-houses, are under the care of the brewers com- Ulingioa
pany. Here is an hospital with its chapel, and a work- H
house for the poor. There is a spring of chalybeate ?socbionai,
water in a very pleasant garden, which for some years
was honoured by the constant attendance of the prin¬
cess Amelia, and many persons of quality, who drank
the waters. To this place, which is called New Tun¬
bridge Wells, many people resort, especially during
the summer, the price of drinking the waters being
10s. 6d. for the season. Near this place is a house of
entertainment, called Sadd/eFs W'ells, where, during
the summer season, people are amused with balance-
masters, walking on the wire, rope-dancing, tumbling,
and pantomime entertainments.
ISLIP, a town of Oxfordshire, 56 miles from Lon¬
don, is noted for the birth and baptism of Edward
the Confessor. By means of inland navigation, it has
communication with the rivers Mersey, Dee, Ribble,
Ouse, Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber, Thames,
Avon, &c. ; which navigation, including its wind¬
ings, extends above 500 miles, in the counties of Lin¬
coln, Nottingham, York, Lancaster, Westmoreland,
Chester, Stafford, Warwick, Leicester, Oxford, Wor¬
cester, &.c. It has a good market for sheep, and some
remains of an ancient palace, said to have been King
Ethelred’s. Here is a charity school. The chapel
wherein Edward was baptized stood at a small distance
north from the church, is still called the king’s chapel,
was entirely desecrated during Cromwell’s usurpation,
and converted to the meanest uses of a farm-yard j at
present it has a roof of thatch. It is built of stone, 15
yards long, and 7 broad, and retains traces of the arches
of an oblong window at the east end. This manor was
given by Edward the Confessor to Westminster abbey,
to which it still belongs.
ISMAELITES, the descendants of Ismael 5 dwell¬
ing from Havila to the wilderness of Sur, towards-
Egypt, and thus overspreading Arabia Petrsea, and
therefore Josephus calls Ismael the founder of the
Arabs.
ISMARUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of the
Cicones in Thrace, giving name to a lake. In Vir¬
gil it is called Ismara. Servius supposed it to be a
mountain of Thrace ; on which mountain Orpheus
dwelt.
ISNARDIA, a genus of plants, belonging to the
tetrandria class, and in the natural method ranking
under the 17th order, Calycanthemce. See Botany*
Index.
ISNY, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of
Wirtemburg; seated on the river Isny, in E. Long.
9. 10. N. Lat. 47. 45.
ISNIC, a town of Turkey in Asia, and in Natolia,
with a Greek archbishop’s see. It is the ancient Nice,
famous for the first general council held here in 325.
There is now nothing remaining of its ancient splen¬
dour, but an aqueduct. The Jews inhabit the greatest
part of it; and it is seated in a country fertile in corn
and excellent wine. E. Long. 29. 50. N. Lat. 40. 16.
ISOCHRONAL, is applied to such vibrations of
a pendulum as are performed in the same space of
time; as all the vibrations or swings of the same pen¬
dulum are, whether the arches it describes are shorter
or longer.
Z 7. Isochronal
[ 362 ]
I S P
Isochronal TsOCUXOXAL Line, that in which a heavy hotly is
lioe supposed to descend without any acceleration.
11 ISOCRATES, one of the greatest orators of Greece,
, was |,0ni at Athens, 436 B. C. He was the son of
Thtodorus, who had enriched himself hy making mu¬
sical instruments, and gave his son a liberal education.
Isocrates was the disciple of Prodicus, Gorgias, and
other great orators. He endeavoured at first to de¬
claim in public, but without success j he therefore
contented himself with instructing his scholars, and
making private orations. He always showed great
love for his country ; and being informed of the loss of
the battle of Cheronea, he abstained four days from
eating, and died, aged 98. There are still extant 21
of his discourses or orations, which are excellent per¬
formances, and have been translated from the Greek
into Latin by Wolfius. Isocrates particularly excelled
in the justness of his thoughts, and the elegance of his
expressions. There are also nine letters attributed to
him.
ISOETES, a genus of plants belonging to the cryp-
togamia class. See Botaky Index.
ISOLA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of
Naples, and in the Farther Calabria, with a bishop’s
see. It is a sea-port town, and is seated 15 miles
south-east of St Severina. E. Long. 17. 33" Lat.
39- 2.
ISOPEMMETRICAL figures, in Geometry, are
such as have equal perimeters or circumferences.
ISOPYRUM, a genus of plants belonging to the
polyandria, class, and in the natural method ranking
under the 26th order, Multisihquce. See Botany In¬
dex.
ISOSCELES TRIANGLE, in Geometry, one that has
two equal sides.
ISPAHAN, or, as the Persians pronounce it, Span-
haivn, the capital of Persia, is situated in the province
of Irac Agemi, or Persia Proper, upon the ruins, as is
generally supposed, of the ancient Hecatompylos, or,
as others think, of the Aspa of Ptolemy. Most of the
eastern astronomers and geographers place it in N. Lat.
32. 25. E. Long. 86. 40. It stands in a very extensive
plain, surrounded by mountains; and has eight districts
belonging to it, that contain about 400 towns and vil¬
lages. The fertility of the soil, the mildness of the sea¬
sons, and the fine temperature of the air, all conspire to
render Ispahan one of the most charming and delightful
cities in the world. It is unanimously agreed, that the
present city is of no great antiquity ; and the two parts
into which it is divided, preserve the names of two con¬
tiguous towns, from the junction of which it was form¬
ed. The inhabitants of these, notwithstanding their
neighbourhood, bear an inveterate antipathy to each
other; which they discover on all public occasions.
Spauhawn owes the glory it now possesses to the great
Shah Abas ; who, after the conquest of the kingdoms
of Lar and Ormus, charmed with the situation of this
place, made it the capital of his empire, between the
years 1620 and 1628. The mountains, with which
this city is surrounded, defend it alike from the sultry
heats of summer and the piercing winds of the winter
season: and the plain on which it stands is watered by
several rivers, which contribute alike to its ornament
and use. Of these rivers, the Zenderoud, after being
joined by the Mahroood, passes by Spauhawn; where it
has three fine bridges over it, and is as broad as the I-paUn*.
Seine at Paris. The waters of these united streams are —v—-
sweet, pleasant, and wholesome, almost beyond compa¬
rison; as indeed are all the springs found in the gardens
belonging to the houses of Spauhawn. The extent of
Spauhawn is very great; not less perhaps than 20 miles
within the walls, which are of earth, poorly built, and
covered with houses and gardens. The Persians are
wont to say, Spauhawn nispigehon, i. e. Spauhawn is
half the world. Chardin says, that some reckoned the
number of inhabitants at 1,000,000; but he did not
look upon it as more populous than London, or contain¬
ing more than 600,000. Mr Kinneir, a late traveller,
thinks they do not exceed 200,000. At a distance, the
city is not easily distinguished; many of the streets being
adorned with plantains, and every bouse having its garden,
the whole looks like a wood. The streets in general are
neither broad nor convenient ; there being three great
evils which attend them : the first is, that being built
on common sewers, these are frequently broke up, which
is very dangerous, considering that most people are on
horseback ; the second is, that there are many wells or
pits in them, which are not less dangerous ; the third
arises from the people’s emptying all their ordure from
the tops of their houses : this last, indeed, is in some
measure qualified by the dryness of the air, and by its
being quickly removed hy the peasants, who carry it
away to dung their grounds. Some reckon eight, and
others ten gates, besides posterns; hut all agree that
there is no difficulty of entering at any hour of the day
or night. The three principal suburbs annexed to it
Abas-Abad, built hy Shah Abas, and belonging
to the people of Tauris; Julfa, inhabited by a colony
of Armenians, called by some Hew Julja, to distinguish
it from the ancient city of that name, situated in Arme¬
nia, upon the Araxes, whence the original inhabitants
of New Julfa were brought; and Ghebr-Abad, or, as
the Arabs pronounce it, Kebr-Ahad, the street of the
magians, occupied entirely hy the professors of magism,
or the religion of the ancient Persians. The river Zen¬
deroud separates the city of Ispahan and Abas-Abad
from Julfa and Ghebr-Abad. This city has suffered
greatly since the commencement of the dreadful rebel¬
lion in 1721 ; the whole kingdom from that period, till
a few years ago, having been almost a continued scene
of blood, ravages, and confusion. A celebrated mo¬
dern traveller, who was on the spot, tells us, that the
inhabitants of Julfa, not many years before the above
revolution happened, amounted to 30,000 souls ; had
13 churches, and above 100 priests; and paid the Per¬
sian court 200 tomans* yearly for the free exercise
their religion ; that some of the streets were broad and^^ at
handsome, and planted with trees, with canals and3i. 7*. iter-
fountains in the middle ; others narrow and crooked, ling,
and arched a-top ; others again, though extremely nar¬
row, as well as turning and winding many ways, were
of an incredible length, and resembled so many laby¬
rinths : that, at a small distance from the town, there
were public walks adorned with plane-trees on either
hand, and ways paved with stones, fountains, and cis¬
terns: that there were above 100 caravanseras for the
use of merchants and travellers, many of which were
built hy the kings and prime nobility of Persia : that, as
little rain fell there, the streets were frequently full of
dust, which rendered the city disagreeable during a
considerable
I S R
[ 36j 1
I S S
Wltau considerable part of the summer 5 that the citizens,
jj however, to make this inconvenience more tolerable,
Iitaeiites. jjged to water them when the weather was warmer than
usual: that there was a castle in the eastern part of the
town, which the citizens looked upon as impregnable,
in which the public money, and most of the military
stores, were said to be kept: that, notwithstanding the
baths and caravanseras were almost innumerable, there
was not one public hospital : that most ot tne public
buildings were rather neat than magnificent, though the
great meydan or market-place, the royal palace (which
is three quarters of a league in circumference), and the
alley denominated Toiler bag adjoining to it, made a
very grand appearance : *that the former contained the
royal^mosque j the building denominated kayserich,
where all sorts of foreign commodities were exposed to
Bale ; and the mint, styled by the Persians .verraa-A'W//,
where the current money of the kingdom was coined :
that, besides the native Persians, there were then in
Ispahan above 10,000 Indians all supported by trade j
20,000 Georgians, Circassians, and Tartars ot Daghe¬
stan or Lesgees, with a considerable number of English,
Dutch, Portuguese, and a few 1 rench : that the Capu¬
chins, discalceated or barefooted Carmelites, Jesuits,
Dominicans, and Austin friars, had likewise their con¬
vents here, though they were unable to make any con¬
verts *, and that there were above 100 mosques and pub¬
lic colleges. But since the fatal period above mention¬
ed, the suburb of Julfa was almost totally abandoned by
the Armenians. The government of Ispahan, twenty-
three leagues long and as many broad, comprehending
several districts, most of them formerly well peopled,
appeared not many years ago little better than a de¬
sert; for most of the inhabitants of that fertile and de¬
lightful tract had been driven out and dispersed. Mul¬
titudes of them took a precarious refuge in the moun¬
tains of Loristan, lying between Ispahan and Suster,
while their lands were left untilled, and their houses
mouldered into ruins. In short, all the distresses of an
unsuccessful war, or the invasion of a barbarous enemy,
could not have plunged the people of Ispahan into great¬
er misery than the victories of their tyrannical king
Nadir Shah, who seemed more solicitous to humble his
own subjects than to crush his enemies. See Persia.
ISPIDA. See Alcedo, Ornithology Index.
ISRAEL, the name which the angel gave Jacob,
after having wrestled with him all night at Mahanaim
or Penuel (Gen. xxxii. I, 2, and 28, 29, 30, and Ho-
itea xii. 3.)* f *-' signifies a conqueror of God or a prince
of God, or, according to many of the ancients, a man
who secs God.
By the name of Israel is sometimes understood the
person of Jacob; sometimes the whole people ot Israel,
or the whole race of Jacob ; and sometimes the king¬
dom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, distinct from the
kingdom of Judah.
ISRAELITES, the descendants of Israel; who were
at first called Hebrews, by reason of Abraham, who
came from the other side of the Euphrates ; and after¬
wards Israelites, from Israel the father of the twelve
patriarchs; and lastly Jews, particularly after their
return from the captivity of Babylon, because the tribe
of Judah was then much stronger and more numerous
than the other tribes, and foreigners had scarcely any
knowledge of this tribe.
Issus.
ISSACHAR, one of the divisions of Palestine by Isswchat
tribes ; lying to the south of Aahulon, so as by a nar¬
row slip "to reach the Jordan, between Zabulon and ^
Manasseh, (Josh. xix.). But whether it reached to the
sea, is a question : some holding that it did ; an asser¬
tion not easy to be proved, as Joshua makes no mention
of the sea in this tribe, nor does Josephus extend it
farther than to Mount Carmel ; and in Josh. xvii. 10.
Asher is said to touch Manasseh on the north, which
could not be if Issachar extended to the sea.
ISSOUDUN, a town of France, in Berry, which
carries on a trade in wood, cattle, cloth, hats, anil
stockings ; it is seated partly in a plain, and partly on
an eminence. E. Long. 2. 5. N. Lat. 46. 57*
ISSUE, in common law, has various applications ;
being sometimes taken for the children begotten be¬
tween a man and his wife—sometimes for profits grow¬
ing from amercements or fines—sometimes for pro¬
fits of lands and tenements—but more frequently for
the point of matter depending in suit, whereupon the
parties join, and put their cause to the trial of the
jury. ( . .
In all these occasions, issue has but one signification,
which is, an eftect of a cause preceding ; as the chil¬
dren are the effect of the marriage between the pa¬
rents ; the profits growing to the king or lord, from the
punishment of any man’s offence, are the effect of his
transgression ; the point referred to the trial of twelve
men is the effect of pleading, or process. See Plea
and Issue.
ISSUES, in Surgery, are little ulcers made design¬
edly by the surgeon in various parts of the body, and
kept open by the patient, for the preservation and re¬
covery of his health.
ISSUS, now Ajazo, a town of Cilicia in Natoha,
with a harbour on the Levant sea, a little to the noitii
of Scanderoon. E. Long. 36. 25- N. Lat. 36. 56.
Near this place, in a difficult pa‘:R between the moun¬
tains and the sea, Alexander the Great fought his se¬
cond battle with Darius. One great cause of the de¬
feat which the Persians received here was the bad con¬
duct of their monarch, who led his numerous forces in¬
to a narrow place, where they had not room to act.
Alexander was so much surprised when he first leceived
the news that Darius was behind him, that he could
scarcely believe it to be true 1 but when lie was tho¬
roughly satisfied of the fact, and that Darius had again
passed the river Pinarus, he Called a council of war,
wherein, without asking any body’s advice, he only told
them, that he hoped they would remember their former
actions : and that they, who were always conquerors,
were about to fight people who were always beaten. He
further observed, that Darius seemed to be infatuated,
since he had with such expedition quitted an open and
champaign country, where his numbers might have act¬
ed with advantage, to fight in a place inclosed, where
the Macedonian phalanx might be well drawn up, and
where his numbers could only incommode him. He
then made the necessary dispositions for repassing the
mountains, posted guards where he found them neces¬
sary, and then commanded his troops to refresh them¬
selves, and to take their rest till morning.
At break of day he began to repass the mountains,
obliging his forces to move in close order where the
road was narroW| and to extend themselves as they
Z z 2 bad
I S S r 34 ] 1ST
liad more room •, the right wing keeping always close
to the mountain, and the left to the sea-shore. On
the right there was a battalion of heavy-armed troops,
besides the targeteers under the command of Nicanor
the son of Parmenio. Next these, extending to the
phalanx, were the corps of Coenus and Perdiccas; and
on the left the respective bodies commanded by Amyn-
tas, Ptolemy, and Meleager. The foot appointed to
support them were commanded by Craterus j but the
whole left wing was committed to Parmenio, with
strict orders not to decline from the sea shore, lest
the Persians should surround them. Darius ordered
20,000 foot and 30,000 horse to retire, finding that
he already wanted room to draw up the rest. His first
line consisted of 30,000 Greek mercenaries, having
on their right and left 60,000 heavy-armed troops,
being the utmost the ground would allow. On the left,
towards the mountain, he posted 20,000 men, which,
from the hollow situation of the place, were brought
quite behind Alexander’s right wing. The rest of his
troops were formed into close and useless lines behind
the Greek mercenaries, to the number in all of 600,000
men. When this was done, he suddenly recalled the
horse who had retired, sending part of them to take post
on his right against the Macedonians commanded by
Parmenio ; and the rest he ordered to the left towards
the mountain : but, finding them unserviceable there,
he sent the greatest part of them to the right; and then
took upon himself, according to the custom of the Per¬
sian kings, the command of the main body. As soon
as Alexander perceived that the weight of the Persian
horse was disposed against his left wing, he dispatched
with as much secrecy as he could, the Thessalian ca¬
valry thither, and supplied their places on the right by
some brigades of horse from the van, and light-armed
troops. He also made such dispositions, that, notwith¬
standing the mighty advantage of the hollow mountain,
the Persians could not surround him. But, as these
precautions had considerably weakened the centre of his
army, he ordered those advanced posts on the enemy’s
left, of which he was most apprehensive to be attacked
at the very beginning of the fight 5 and, when they
were easily driven from them, he recalled as many
troops as were necessary to strengthen his centre.
When all things were in order, Alexander gave strict
command, that his army should march very slowly.
As for Darius, he kept his ti’oops fixed in their posts,
and in some places threw up ramparts j whence the
Macedonians rightly observed, that he thought himself
already a prisoner. Alexander at the head of the right
wing engaged first, and without any difficulty broke and
defeated the left wing of Darius. But, endeavouring
to pass the river Pinarus after them, his troops in some
measure losing their order, the Greek mercenaries fell
upon them in flank, and made them fight, not only for
victory, but for their lives. Ptolemy the son of Seleu-
cus, and 120 Macedonians of some rank, were killed
upen the spot. But the foot next to Alexander’s right
wing coming in seasonably to its relief, fell upon the
mercenaries in flank, amongst whom a dreadful carnage
was made ; they being in a manner surrounded by the
horse and light-armed troops, which at first pursued the
left wing, and the foot that now passed the river. The
Persian horse on the right still fought gallantly j but,
when they were thoroughly informed of the rout of
their left wing and of the destruction of the Greek mer- jSS(,c
cenaries, and that Darius himself was fled, they began Isthmia.
to break, and betake themselves to flight also. The  
Thessalian cavalry pursued them close at the heels ; and
the narrow craggy roads incommoded them exceeding¬
ly, so that vast numbers of them perished. As for Da¬
rius, he fled, soon after the left wing was broken, in a
chariot with a few of his favourites : as far as the coun¬
try was plain and open, he escaped well enough j but,
when the roads became rocky and narrow, he quitted
it, and mounting a horse, rode all the night; his cha¬
riot, in which were his cloak and his bow, fell into
the hands of Alexander, who carried them hack to bis
camp.
In respect to the battle of Issus, Diodorus informs us,
that Alexander looked everywhere about for Darius;
and, as soon as he discovered him, with his handful of
guards attacked him and the flower of the Persian army
which was about him; being as desirous of obtaining
this victory by his personal valour, as of subduing the
Persian empire by the courage of his soldiers. But
when Oxathres, the brother of Darius, saw Alexander’s
design, and how fiercely he sought to accomplish it, he
threw himself, with the horse who were about him, be¬
tween his brother’s chariot and the enemy, where an
obstinate fight was maintained, till the dead bodies rose
like an entrenchment about the chariot of Darius. Ma¬
ny of the Persian nobility were slain, and Alexander
himself was wounded in the thigh. At last the horses
in the chariot of Darius started, and became so unruly,
that the king himself was forced to take the reins; the
enemy, however, pressed so hard upon him, that he was
constrained to call for another chariot, and mounted it
in great danger. This was the beginning of the rout,
which soon after became general. According to this
author, the Persians lost 200,000 foot, and 10,000
horse; the Macedonians 300 foot, and 150 horse.
Justin informs us, that the Persian army consisted of
400,000 foot, and 100,000 horse. He says, that the
battle was hard fought; that both the kings were
wounded; and that the Persians still fought gallantly
when their king fled, but that they were afterwards
speedily and totally routed: he is very particular as to
their loss, which he says amounted to 61,000 foot,
10,000 horse, and 40,000 taken prisoners ; of the Ma¬
cedonians he says there fell no more than 130 foot, and
150 horse. Curtius says, that of the Persians there fell
100,000 foot, and 10,000 horse: of Alexander’s army
504, he says, were wounded; 32 foot and 150 horse
killed. That we may not suspect any error in trans¬
cribers, his own observation confirms the fact: Tantulo
wipendio ingens victoria stetit, “ So small was the cost of
so great a victory.”
ISTHMIA, or Isthmian Games; one of the four
solemn games which were celebrated every fifth year in
Greece. They derived their name from the isthmus of
Corinth, where they were celebrated. In their first in¬
stitution, according to Pausanias, they consisted only cf
funeral rites and ceremonies in honour of Melicertes :
but Theseus afterwards, as Plutarch informs us, in emu¬
lation of Hercules, who had appointed games at Olym¬
pia in honour of Jupiter, dedicated those to Neptune,
his reputed father, who was regarded as the particular
protector of the isthmus and commerce of Corinth. The
same trials of skill were exhibited here as at the other
three
I T A
[ 365 1
I T A
three sacred games *, and particularly those of music and
poetry. These games, in which the victors were only
rewarded with garlands of pine leaves, were celebrated
with great magnificence and splendour as long as paga¬
nism continued to he the established religion of Greece j
nor were they omitted even when Corinth was sacked
*nd burnt by Mummius the Homan general; at which
tim* the care of them was transferred to the Sicyomans,
but was restored again to the Corinthians when their
city was rebuilt. .. c j u* u
ISTHMUS, a narrow neck, or slip ot ground, which
loins two continents *, or joins a peninsula to the terra
firma, and separates two seas. See 1 ENINSULA.
The most celebrated isthmuses are that ot Manama
or Darien, which joins North and South America ; that
of Suez, which connects Asia and Africa ; that ot Co¬
rinth, or Peloponnesus, in the Morea; that ot Crim-
Tartarv, otherwise called Taunca Chersonesus, that of
the peninsula Romania, and Erisso, or the isthmus of
the Thracian Chersonesus, twelve furlongs broad being
that which Xerxes undertook to cut through. The an¬
cients had several designs of cutting the isthmus ot Co¬
rinth, which is a rocky hillock, about ten miles over ;
hut they were all in vain, the invention of sluices being
not then known. There have been attempts too for.
cuttin" the isthmus of Suez, to make a communication
between the Red sea and the Mediterranean : but these
also failed ; and in one of them a king ot Egypt is said
to have lost 120,000 men.
ISTRIA, a peninsula of Italy, in the territory oi
Venice, lying in the north part of the Adriatic sea. It
is bounded by Carniola on the north ; and on the south,
east, and west, by the sea. The air is unwholesome,
especially near the coast ; but the soil produces plenty
of wine, oil, and pastures ; there are also quarries 01
fine marble. One part of it belongs to the \ enetians,
and the other to the house of Austria. Cabo d istna
is the capital town. . T. 1 g fi ^
ITALIAN, the language spoken m Italy, bee the
article Language. . . r f,N
This tongue is derived principally from the .Latin ,
and of all the languages formed from the Latin, there
is none which carries with it more visible marks of its
original than the Italian.
Iialica.
It is accounted one of the most perfect among the Italian
modern tongues. It is complained, indeed, tnat it has
too many diminutives and superlatives, or rather aug- ^
mentatives ; but without any great reason : for if those
words convey nothing farther to the mind than the just
ideas of things, they are no more faulty than our pleo¬
nasms and hyperboles.
The language corresponds to the genius of the peo¬
ple, who are slow and thoughtful : Accordingly their
language runs heavily, though smoothly ; and many
of their words are lengthened out to a great degree.
They have a great taste for music ; and to gratify their
passion this way, have altered abundance of their pri¬
mitive words ; leaving out consonants, taking in vowels,
softening and lengthening out their terminations, for
the sake of the cadence.
Hence the language is rendered extremely musical,'
and succeeds better than any other in operas and some
parts of poetry : but it fails in strength and nervous¬
ness ; and a great part of its words, borrowed from the
Latin, become so far disguised that they are not easily
known again.
The multitude of sovereign states into which Italy
has been divided has given rise to a great number of
different dialects in that language ; which, however,
are all good in the place where they are used. The
Tuscan is usually preferred to the other dialects, and
the Roman pronunciation to that of the other cities ;
whence the Italian proverb, Lingua Toscana in bocca
Romana.
ITALIC character, in Printing. See Letter.
ITALICA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Bse-
tica in Spain, built by Scipio Africanus, after finishing
the Spanish war, for the reception of the wounded sol¬
diers. At first it was a municipium; afterwards a co¬
lony : which was a matter of wonder to the emperor
Adrian, the privileges of a municipium being beyond
those of a colony (Gellius). Famous for being the
birthplace of the emperors Trajan and Adrian, and of
the poet Silius Italicus. Now Sevilla Vieja, scarcely
four miles from Seville ; a small village ot Andalusia,
on the Guadalquivir.—Corfinium in Italy was thus also
called.
ITALY.
1 ITALY, one of the finest countries of Europe, lying
-v-LJ A between 7 and 10 degrees of E. Long, and between
^ and 46 degrees of N. Lat. On the north north¬
west, and north-east, it is bounded by France, Switzer¬
land the country of the Grisons, and Germany ; on the
east’ bv the Adriatic sea or gulf of ^ enice ; and on the
south and west, by the Mediterranean ; its figure bear-
in<r some resemblance to that of a boot. Its length
from Aosta, at the foot of the Alps in Savoy to the
utmost verge of Calabria, is about 600 miles ; but its
breadth is very unequal, being m some places near 400
miles, in others not above 25 or 30.
* Italy was anciently known by the names oi Saturma,
t1 “Cllt Ocmtna, Hesperia, and Ausoma. It was called Satur-
' nia from Satom; who, being driven out of Crete by
his son Jupiter, is supposed to have taken refuge here.
The names of Oenotria and Ausonia are borrowed from . }ga|y* ,
its ancient inhabitants the Oenotrians and Ausones ; ’T-—'
and that of Hesperia or Western was given it by the
Greeks, from its situation with respect to Greece. The
name of Italia, or Italy, which in process of time pre¬
vailed over all the rest, is by some derived from Italus,
a king of the Siculi: by others, from the Greek word
Italos, signifying an ox ; this country abounding, by
reason of its rich pastures, with oxen of an extraordi¬
nary size and beauty. All these names were originally
peculiar to particular provinces of Italy, but afterwards
applied to the whole country. _ _ . .2. .
This country, like most others, was in ancient times Division in
divided into a great number of petty states and king-*”**111
doms. Afterwards when the Gauls settled in the 1 *
western, and many Greek colonies in the eastern parts,
366 I T A
Italy. It was divided, witli respect to Its Inhabitants, Into
1 v"'”"1'1 three great parts, viz. Gallia Cisalplna, Italy propei'ly
so called, and Magna Grtccia. The most western and
northern parts of Italy were in great part possessed by
the Gauls ; and hence took the name of Gallia, with
the epithets of Cisalpina an$l Citerior, because they lay
on the side of the Alps next to Home •, and Togata,
with relafion to the Roman gown or dress which the
inhabitants used *, but this last epithet is of a much
later date than the former. This appellation was an¬
tiquated in the reign of Augustus, when the division
of Italy into eleven provinces, introduced by that
prince, took place. Hence it is that the name of Cis-
alpine Gaul frequently occurs in the authors who flou¬
rished before, and scarce ever in those who wrote af¬
ter, the reign of Augustus. This country extended
from the Alps and the river Varus, parting it from
Transalpine Gaul, to the river Aesus ; or, as Pliny
will have it, to the city of Ancona, in the ancient Pi-
cenum. On the north, it was divided from Rhaetia
by the Alps, called Atpes Rhceticce; and from lllyricum
by the river Formio : but on this side, the borders of
Italy were, in Pliny’s time, extended to the river
Arsia in Istria. On the south, it reached to the Li-
gustic sea, and the Apennines parting it from Ptruria}
so that under the common name of Cisalpine Gaul
were comprehended the countries lying at the foot ol
the Alps, called by Pliny and Strabo the Subalpine
countries, Liguria, Gallia Cispadana and 1 ranspadana.
Italy, properly so called, extended, on the coast of the
Adriatic, from the city of Ancona to the river Trento,
now the Fortore ; and on the Mediterranean, from the
Macra to the Silarus, now the Sole. Magna Gioecia
comprised Apulia, Lucania, , and the country ot the
Bruttii- It was called Greece, because most of the ci¬
ties on the coast were Greek colonies. The inhabi¬
tants gave it the name ol Great, not as if it was larger
than Greece, but merely out of ostentation, as Pliny
informs us.
All these countries were inhabited by a great num¬
ber of different nations, settled at different times, and
from many different parts. The names of the most
remarkable of them were \\\e, Aborigines, or those whose
origin was utterly unknown, and consequently were
thought to have none; the Sabines, Hetrurians or Tus¬
cans, the U/nbri, Sammies, Campani, Apulii, Calabrn,
Subdue^ i,. liiicanii, the Bruttii, and the Latins. I rom a colony
the iC “3 of the latter proceeded the Romans, who gradually
subdued all these nations one after another, and held
them in subjection for upwards of 700 years. All
these nations were originally brave, hardy, temperate,
and well skilled in the art of war ; and the Romans
much more so than the rest. I heir subjection to
Rome, however, inured them to slavery ; their oppres¬
sion by the emperors broke their'spirit ; and the vast
wealth which was poured into the country from all
parts of the world, during the time of the Roman
prosperity, corrupted their manners, and made them
degenerate from their former valour. Of this degene¬
racy the barbarous nations of the north took the ad¬
vantage to invade the empire in innumerable multi¬
tudes. Though often repelled, they never failed to
return ; and it was found necessary to take great num¬
bers of them into the Roman service, in order to de¬
fend the empire against the rest of their countrymen.
5
L Y.
In the year 476, the Heruli, presuming on the servl- iiaiyt
ces they had done the empire, demanded a third part v—
of the lands of Italy; and being refused, chose one 4
Odoacer, a man of low birth, but of great valour and ^ 8 fle'
experience, for their king; and having totally de¬
stroyed the remains of the Roman empire, proclaimed
Odoacer king of Italy. The new monarch, however,
did not think proper to alter the Roman form of go¬
vernment, but suffered the people to be governed by
the senate, consuls, &c. as before. He enjoyed his dig¬
nity in peace till the year 488, when Zeno, emperor
of Constantinople, being hard pressed by Theodorie
king of the Ostrogoths, advised him to turn his arms
against Odoacer, whom he could easily overcome, and
thus make himself sovereign of one of the finest coun¬
tries in the world. 5
Tbeodoric accepted the proposal with great joy, [7*adi:d bjr
and set out for Italy, attended by an infinite number
of people, carrying with them their wives, children, got|u
and effects, on waggons. Several Romans of great
distinction attended him in this war ; while, on the
other hand, many of his countrymen chose to remain
in Thrace, where they became a separate nation, and
lived for a long time in amity with the Romans. The
Goths, being destitute of shipping, were obliged to
go round the Adriatic. Their march was performed
in the depth of winter ; and during the whole time, a
violent famine and plague raged in their army. They
were also opposed by the Gepidae and Sarmatians; but
at last having defeated those enemies, and overcome
every other obstacle, they arrived in Italy in the year
409. Theodoric advanced to the river Sontius, now
Zonzo, near Aquileia, where he halted for some time
to refresh his troops. Here he was met by Odoacer
at the head of a very numerous army, but composed
of many different nations commanded by their respec¬
tive chiefs, and consequently without sufficient union 6
or zeal for the common cause. Theodoric therefore Odoacer
gained an easy victory, cut many of his enemies in pie-defeated
ces, and took their camp. Odoacer retired to the
plains of Verona, and encamped there at a small di¬
stance from the city ; but Theodoric pursued him close,
and soon forced him to a second engagement. The
Goths obtained another victory ; but it cost them dear.
Odoacer’s men made a much better resistance than
before, and great numbers fell on both sides. The
victory, however, was so far derisive, that Odoacer
was obliged to shut himself up in Ravenna ; so that
Theodoric having now no enemy to oppose him in the
field, besieged and took several important places, and
among the rest Milan and Pavia. At the same time,
Tufa, commander in chief of Odoacer’s forces, de¬
serted to the enemy with the greatest part of the
troops he had with him, and was immediately employ¬
ed in conjunction with a Gothic officer in pursuit ol
his sovereign. Odoacer had lelt that city, and was
advanced as far as Faenza, where lie was closely be¬
sieged by Tufa; but the traitor, declaring again for
his old master, joined him with all his troops, and de¬
livered up several officers that had been appointed by
Theodoric to serve under him. These were sent in
irons to Ravenna; and Odoacer being joined by Fri-
deric, one of Theodoric’s allies, with a considerable
body of troops, once more advanced against his ene¬
mies. He recovered all Liguria, took the city of
Milan,
Italy.
I T A
Milan, and at last besieged Tbeodovic himself in Pa¬
via. The Goths, having brought all their families and
effects along with them, were greatly distressed for
want of room •, and must have undoubtedly submitted,
if their enemies had continued to agree among them¬
selves. The quarrels of his followers proved the nun
of Odoacer. Theodoric finding that the enemy re¬
mitted the vigour of their operations, applied for suc¬
cours to Alaric king of the Visigoths, who had settled
in Gaul. As the Visigoths and Ostrogoths were ori¬
ginally one and the same nation, and the Visigoths
had received among them some years before a great
number of Ostrogoths under the conduct of Videmer
cousin-german to Theodoric, the supplies were readily
granted. The inaction of the enemy gave these suc¬
cours time to arrive •, upon which Theodoric instantly
joined them, and marching against hb enemies gave
them a total overthrow. Odoacer again took refuge
in Ravenna, but was closely besieged by Theodoric in
490. The siege lasted three years ; during which O-
doacer defended himself with great bravery, and great¬
ly annoyed the besiegers with his sallies. Theodoric,
however, impatient ot delay, leaving part of his army
to blockade the city, marched with the rest against the
strong holds which "Odoacer bad garrisoned. All these
he reduced with little difficulty; and in 492 returnee
to the siege of Ravenna. The besieged were now re¬
duced to great straits both by the enemy without and
a famine within, the price of wheat being risen to six
pieces of gold per bushel* On the other hand, the
Goths were quite worn out with the fatigues ot such a
long siege; so that both parties being willing to put an
end to the war, Odoacer sent John bishop of Ravenna
to Theodoric with terms of accommodation. Jornandes
informs us, that Odoacer only begged bis life ; which
Theodoric bound himself, by a solemn oath, to grant
him : but Procopius says, that they agreed to live to¬
gether on equal terms. This last seems very improba¬
ble : but whatever were the terms of the agreement, it
is certain that Theodoric did not keep them ; for ha-
vino1 a few days after invited Odoacer to a banquet, he
dispatched him with his own hand. All his seivants
and relations were massacred at the same time ; except
his brother Arnulphus, and a few more, who had the
good luck to make their escape, and retired beyond the
Danube. , T 1 1
taeouoric Thus Theodoric became master ot all Italy, anti
troclaimed took himself the title of king of that country, as
rLd uses Odoacer had done before; though, with a pretended
lit power deference to the emperor of Constantinople, he sent
*ith mode-messengers asking liberty to assume that title alter he
ration. had actually taken it. Having secured his new king¬
dom as well as he could by foreign alliances, Iheodoric
next applied himself to legislation, and enacted many
salutary laws besides those of the Romans which he re¬
tained. He chose Ravenna for the place of his resi¬
dence, in order to be near at hand to put a stop to
the incursions of the barbarians. The provinces were
governed by the same magistrates that had presided
over them in the times of the emperors, viz., the consu-
lares, correctors, and prcesides. But besides these, he
sent, according to the custom of the Goths, inferior
judges, distinguished by the name of counts, to each
city. These were to administer justice, and to decide
all controversies and disputes. And herein the polity
Submits,
aud is put
>0 death.
Tbeodoric
L Y.
of the Goths far excelled that of the Romans. For in
the Roman times a whole province was governed by
a consularis, a corrector, or a prseses, who resided in
the chief city, and to whom recourse was to be had at
a great charge from the most remote parts 1 but Theo¬
doric, besides these officers, appointed not only in toe
principal cities, but in every small town and village,
inferior magistrates of known integrity, who were to
administer justice, and by that means save those who
had law-suits the trouble and ex pence of recurring to
the governor of the whole province ; no appeals to di¬
stant tribunals being allowed, but in matters of the
greatest importance, or in cases of manifest injustice.
Under the administration of Theodoric Italy enjoy¬
ed as great happiness as had been experienced under
the very best emperors. As he had made no altera¬
tion in the laws except that above mentioned ; so he
contented himself with the same tributes and taxes that
had been levied by the emperors ; but was, on all oc¬
casions of public calamity, much more ready to remit
them than most of the emperors had been. He did
not treat the natives as those of the other Roman pro¬
vinces were treated by the barbarians who conquered
them. These stripped the ancient proprietors of their
lands, estates, and possessions, dividing them among
their chiefs ; and giving to one a province with the
title of duke, to another a frontier country with the
tile of marquis i to some a city with the title of count,
to others a castle or village with the title of baron. But
Theodoric, who piqued himself upon governing after
the Roman manner, and observing the Roman laws and
institutions, left every one in the full enjoyment of his
ancient property. As to religion, though he himself,
like most of his countrymen, professed the tenets of
Arius, he allowed his subjects to profess the orthodox
doctrine without molestation, giving liberty even to
the Goths to renounce the doctrines in which they
had been educated, and embrace the contrary opinions.
In short, his many virtues, and the happiness of his
subjects, are celebrated by all the historians of tnose ^
times. The end of his reign, however, was sullied by Behead*
the death of the celebrated philosopher Boethius, and «oet|l»8
his father-in-law Symmachus. They were both behead-“"chuy“‘
ed in Pavia, on an unjust suspicion of treason; and die* of
scarce was the sentence put in execution when the kinggri*f.
repented, and abandoned himselt to the most pungent
sorrow. The excess ot his grief affected his undei stand¬
ing : for not long after, the head of a large fish being
served up to supper, he fancied the head of the fish to
be that of Symmachus threatening him in a ghastly
manner. Hereupon, seized with horror and amaze¬
ment, he was carried to his bed-chamber, where he died
in a few days, on the 2d of September 526.
After the death of Theodoric, the kingdom devol¬
ved to Athalric his grandson ; who being at that time
only eight years of age, his mother Amalasuntha took le
upon her the regency. Her administration was equally AmalasiaH-
upright with that of Theodoric himself; but the bar- tha the re-
barians of whom her court was composed, finding fault ^
with the encouragement she gave to learning, forced
her to abandon the education of her son. The latter
thereupon plunged into all manner of wickedness, and
behaved to his mother with the greatest arrogance ; and,
the faction finding themselves thus strengthened, at last
commanded the queen to retire from court.
Amalasunib%,
368
Itah
x t
Is treacher¬
ously impri¬
soned, and
put to
death;
for which
reason Ju¬
stinian
makes war
In the
dolIiS,
I T A
Amalasunilia, exerting her authority, seized three of
the ringleaders of the sedition, whom she confined in
the most remote parts of Italy. But these maintaining
u secret correspondence with their friends and rela¬
tions, never ceased to stir up the people against her ;
insomuch, that the queen, apprehending that the fac¬
tion might in the end prevail, wrote to the emperor
Just inian, begging leave to take refuge in his domi¬
nions. The emperor readily complied with her request,
ofiering a noble palace at Durazzo for her habitation j
but the queen having in the mean time caused the three
ringleaders to be put to death, and no new disturb¬
ances arising thereupon, she did not accept of the em¬
peror’s often In 533, Athalric having contracted a
lingering distemper by his riotous living and debauch¬
eries, Amalasuntha, to avoid the calamities with which
Italy was threatened in case of his death, formed a de¬
sign of delivering it up to Justinian : but before her
scheme was ripe for execution, Athalric died. Upon
which the queen took for her colleague one Theodotus
her cousin ; obliging him, however, to swear that he
would suffer her to enjoy and exercise her former power.
This he very readily did, but soon forgot his promise ;
and when she took the liberty to remind him of it,
caused her to be seized and confined to an island of the
lake Bolsena in Tuscany. But as Theodotus had great
reason to believe that this conduct would be resented
by Justinian, he obliged her to write to him that no
injury or injustice had been done her. Along with
this letter he sent one written by himself, and filled
with heavy complaints against Amalasuntha. The em¬
peror, however, was so far from giving credit to what
Theodotus urged against her, that he openly espoused
her cause, wrote her a most affectionate letter, and as¬
sured her of his protection. But before this letter
could reach her, the unhappy princess was strangled in
the bath by the friends of those whom in the reign of
her son she had deservedly put to death for raising di¬
sturbances in the state.
On the news of Amalasuntha’s death, Justinian re¬
solved upon an immediate war with the Goths; and,
to facilitate the enterprise, used his usmost endeavours
to induce the Franks to assist him. To his solicitations
he added a large sum of money ; which last was very
acceptable to his new allies. They promised to assist
the emperor to the utmost of their power j but instead
of performing their promise, while Justinian’s arms
were employed against the Goths, Thierri, the eldest
son of'Clovis, seized on several cities of Liguria, the
Alpes Cottise, and great part of the present territory
of V enice, lor himself. Justinian, however, found suf¬
ficient resources in the valour of Belisarius, notwith¬
standing the detection of his treacherous allies. This
celebrated general was vested with the supreme com¬
mand, and absolute authority. His instructions were
to pretend a voyage to Carthage, but to make an at¬
tempt upon Sicily j and if he thought he could suc¬
ceed in the attempt, to land there ; otherwise to sail
tor Africa, without dicovering his intentions. Ano¬
ther general, named Mundus, commander of the troops
in Ulyricum, was ordered to march into Dalmatia,
which was subject to the Goths, and attempt the re¬
duction of Salonae, the better to open a passage into
Italy. This be accompanied without difficulty, and
Belisarius made himself master of Sicily sooner than he
3
L Y.
himself had expected. The island was reduced on the July,
last of December 535 ; upon which Belisarius, with- —y-—j
out loss of time, passed over to Reggio, which opened
its gates to him. From Reggio he pursued his march
to Rome, the provinces of Abrutium, Lucania, Pus-
lia, Calabria, and Samnium, readily submitting to him.
Ihe city of Naples endured a siege: but Belisarius
entered in through an aqueduct, and gave it up to be
plundered by his soldiers. '
Iheodotus alarmed at these successes, and havinsr
neither capacity nor inclination to carry on the war,
sent ambassadors to Justinian with proposals of peace,
lie agreed to renounce all pretensions to the island of
Sicily ; to send the emperor yearly a crown of gold
weighing 300 pounds ; and to supply him with 3000
men whenever he should think proper to demand them.
Several other articles were contained in the proposal,
which amounted to the owning of Justinian for his
lord, and that he held the crown of Italy only through
his favour, As he apprehended, however, that these
offers might not yet be satisfactory, he recalled his
ambassadors for further orders. They were now de- Theodotas
sired to inform Justinian, that Tiieodotus xvas willingofl’ers to rc-
to resign the kingdom to him, and content himself siSn tl3e
with a pension suitable to his quality. But he obliged kil1st1o:n*
them by an oath not to mention this proposal, till
they found that the emperor would not accept of the
other. The first proposals were accordingly rejected
as they had supposed j upon which the ambassadors
produced the second, signed by Theodotus himself,
who in his letter to the emperor told him, among
other things, that being unacquainted with war, and
addicted to the study of philosophy, he preferred his
quiet to a kingdom. Justinian, transported with iov,
and imagining the war already finished, answered the
king in a most obliging manner, extolling his wisdom,
and giving him besides what he demanded the greatest
honours of the empire. The agreement being con¬
firmed by mutual oaths, lands were assigned toYheo-
dotus out of the king’s domain, and orders were dis¬
patched to Belisarius to take possession of Italy in his
name.
In the mean time, a body of Goths having entered
Dalmatia, with a design to recover the city of Salonae,
were encountered by an inferior army of Romans,
commanded by the son of Mundus above mentioned.
The Goths proved victorious ; and the young general
of the Romans was killed, and most of his armv cut
in pieces. Mundus marched against the enemy to re¬
venge the death of his son ; but met with no better
success, his troops being defeated, and he himself kill¬
ed in the engagement. Upon this the Romans aban¬
doned Salonae and all Dalmatia ; and Theodotus, ela- Ti1(,y^.UiS
ted with his success, refused to fulfil the articles of the reruSVto
treaty. Justinian dispatched Constantianus, an officer lu fii die
of great valour and experience, into Ulyricum, with or-alt*c!es of
ders to raise forces there, and to enter Dalmatia ; atllie Ueaty-
the same time he wrote to Beli*arius to pursue the war
with the utmost vigour.
The Goths were now reduced to the greatest straits.
Constantianus drove them out of Dalmatia $ and Beli¬
sarius having reduced all the provinces which compose
the present kingdom of Naples, advanced towards
Rome. The chief men of the nation, finding their
king incapable of preventing the impending ruin, as¬
sembled
'Italy.
He is de
I T
semWed without his consent, and dispatched ambas-
' sadors to Belisarius with proposals of peace. These
proposals were rejected *, and Belisarius returned for
answer, that he would hearken to no terms, nor sheath
his sword, till Italy was reannexed to the empire to
which it belonged. The Goths finding Theodotus
bused, and inactive, unanimously deposed him ; and chose
I lit n C - ^ Y 4 . 9 - - - - - . .. L. —■. 1 * n l-i ■ 1 f* /X
Vitijes
ci oseii ia
ki> stead.
his stead one Vitiges, a man ot great valour, but ot a
mean descent. Theodotus fled to Ravenna ; hut the
new king despatched after him a messenger, who soon
overtook him and cut off his head. _ ,
Vitiges began his government by writing a circular
letter, in which he exhorted his countrymen to exert
their ancient courage, and fight bravely for their lives
and liberties. He then marched with what forces he
could collect towards Rome ■, but not thinking himself
able to defend that city against the Roman forces, he
abandoned it to Belisarius, and arriving at Ravenna
was joined by the Goths from all parts, so that he
soon found himself at the head of a considerable army.
Belisarius in the mean time entered Rome without op¬
position, on the 9th or loth of December 537. The
Gothic garrison retired by the Porta I iaminia, while
Belisarius entered by the Porta Asinaria. Leudaris,
governor of the city, who staid behind, was sent, to¬
gether with the keys, to the emperor. Belisanus
immediately applied himself to the repairing of the
walls and other fortifications; filled the granaries
with corn, which he caused to he brought from Sicily ;
and stored the place with provisions, as if he had been
preparing for a siege 5 which gave no small uneasiness
to the inhabitants, who chose rather that then city
should lie open to every invader, than that they should
he liable to the calamities of a siege. While Beiisanus
was thus employed at Rome, the city of Benevento,
with great part of the territory of Sammum, was de¬
livered up to him : at the same time the cities of Nar¬
nia, Spoleto, and Perusia, revolting from the Goths,
received Roman garrisons ; as did most of the cities ot
Tuscany. , ,, ,
O* collects In the mean time, Vitiges having collected an army
a great of ico.OOO men, resolved to march directly to Rome,
and engage Belisarius ; or, if he declined an engage¬
ment, to lay siege to the city. But apprehending
that the Franks, who were in confederacy with tiie
emperor, might Ml >'po" him at the some time, he
sent ambassadors to them, with offers of all the Gothic
possessions in Gaul, besides a considerable sum of
money, provided they joined him against the emperor.
The Franks with their usual treachery consented to the
proposal, received the money and the territories agreed
on and then refused to fulfil the terms of the treaty.
Vi’tim;?, however, began his march to Rome, leaving
behind ’him all the fortified towns on the road, the
reduction of which he knew would cost him too much
trouble. Belisarius, whose army, reduced by the
many towns he had garrisoned, did not now amount
to above 5000 men, dispatched messengers to Gonstan-
fiauus in Tuscany, and to Bessas by nation a Gctb,
but, of the emperor’s party, in Umbria, with orders
to loin him with all possible expedition; writing at
the same time to the emperor himsell for supplies in
the most pressing manner. Constantianus joined him
pursuant to his orders ; and soon after, Bessas, fall¬
ing in with part of the enemy’s vanguard, killed a
Vol. XL Part I. t
l iUJ,
A L Y. .S69
considerable number of them, anti put the rest to flight. .
Belisarius had built a fort upon a bridge about a mile ' 1 '
from Rome, and placed a strong garrison in it to
dispute the passage with the enemy ; but the garrison,
seized with a panic at the approach of the Goths,
abandoned their post in the night, and fled into Cam¬
pania. Early in the morning V itiges passed over great
part of his army, and marched on till he was met by
Belisarius, who, knowing nothing of what had hap¬
pened, came with 1000 horse to view the ground 17
about the bridge. He was greatly surprised when he Obstinate
beheld the enemy marching up against him ; however,
lest he should heighten their courage by his flight or lvveen ti,e
retreat, he stood his ground, and received the enemy at Goth* and
the head of his small body, exposing himself, without Romans,
his usual prudence and discretion, to the greatest dan¬
gers. Being known by some fugitives, and discovered
to the enemy, they all aimed at him alone, which
made his own men the more solicitous to defend him ;
so that the whole contest was for some time about his
person. At last the Goths were driven hack to their
camp, which the Romans with great temerity attempt¬
ed to force. In this attempt, however, they met with
such a vigorous resistance, that they soon abandoned
the enterprise, and retired with precipitation to a
neighbouring eminence ; whence they were forced down
by the enemy, put to flight, and pursued to the very
gates of the city. Here they were in greater danger
than ever ; lor those within, fearing that the enemy
might in that confusion enter with them, refused to
admit them. The general himself cried out earnestly
to them, telling who he was, and commanding them
to open the gates ; hut as they had been informed by
those who first fled, that he was slain, and they could
not distinguish him on account ol the blood and dust
with which his face was covered, they gave no ear to
what he said. In this extremity, having encouraged
his men, who were now driven into a narrow compass,
to make a last efiort, lie put himself at their head, and
attacked the enemy with such lury, that the Goths
imagining fresh troops were sallying out upon them,
began to give ground, and at last retired to their
camp. The Roman general did not pursue them; but
entered the city, where he was received with loud accla¬
mations. p lS,
A few days after, the city was closely invested by *£■
Vitiges ; who, to distress the inhabitants, pulled down ^
the aqueducts by which water was conveyed into the
city, and which had been built at an immense charge
byr the Roman emperors. Belisarius on his part omit¬
ted nothing for his defence ; insomuch tiiat the coward¬
ly citizens assembled in a tumultuous manner, and railed
at the general on account of his supposed temerity,
Vitiges, to encourage this mutinous disposition, dis¬
patched ambassadors to the senate with proposals of
peace. These ambassadors, however, were dismissed
without any answer, and the siege was begun with
great vigour. Belisarius made a gallant defence, and
in seven months is said to have destroyed 40,000 of
the Goths. About this time he received a supply of
1600 archers from the emperor; and these, in several
successful sallies, are said to have killed 4000 more of
the enemy.
The Romans, elated with their successes, now be¬
came impatient for an engagement: and at last, not-
2 A withstanding
37o T ' T A
ItHlv. W’itlisfanding all tlie remonstrances of their general, for-
v——1 ced him to lead them out against the enemy. The suc¬
cess was answerable to the rash attempt. The Homans
were defeated, with t’;e loss of some of their bravest
officers, and a great many of their common soldiers $
after which they contented themselves with sallying out
in small parties, which they commonly did with the
greatest success.
Eut though the Homans had the satisfaction of thus
cutting off their enemies, they were most grievously
afflicted with a famine and plague ; insomuch that the
inhabitants, no longer able to bear their calamities,
were on the point of forcing Belisarius to venture a
second battle, when a seasonable supply of troops, viz.
3000 Isaurians, 800 Thracian horse, and 1300 horse
of other nations, together with 500 Italians who joined
them hy the way, arrived at Rome. Belisarius imme¬
diately sallied out by the Flaminian gate, and fell
upon the Goths in order to give his allies time to
enter by the opposite side of the city, which they did
without the loss of a man.—The Goths hearing of
the arrival of these troops, and their numbers being
magnified as is usual in such cases, began to despair
of becoming masters of the city j especially as the fa¬
mine and plague raged with great violence in their
camp, and their army was much reduced. Ambassadors
were therefore dispatched to Belisarius with proposals
of peace j but the only thing they could obtain was a
cessation of arms for three months, during which time
they might send ambassadors to the emperor. The
negociations with the emperor, however, proved un¬
successful ; and the siege rvas pursued with great vi¬
gour till Vitiges received the news of the taking ol Hi-
mini by the Romans. As this city was but a daj’s
journey from Ravenna, the Goths were so much alarm-
jp ed, that they immediately raised the siege of Home, af-
Tke siege ter it had continued a year and nine days. Belisarius
raised. fell upon their rear as they passed the bridge of the Ti¬
ber, and cut great numbers of them in pieces, while
others, struck with a panic, threw themselves into the
river and were drowned.
The first enterprise ef Vitiges, after raising the
siege of Rome, was an attempt upon Rimini ; but
while he was employed in this siege, the Romans made
themselves masters of Milan $ upon which a Gothic ge¬
neral, named Uraia, was immediately despatched with
a powerful army to retake it. In the mean time,
however, a supply of JOCO Romans arrived from the
emperor, under the command of Narses, a celebrated
general. The immediate consequence of this was the
raising of the siege of Rimini j for Vitiges perceiving
the two Roman armies coming against him, and con¬
cluding, from the many fires they made, that they
were much more numerous than they really were, fled
. in such haste, that the greatest part of the baggage was
left behind. The confusion of the Goths was so great,
that, had not the garrison been extremely feeble, they
might have easily cut them off in their retreat, and thus
put an end to the war at once. The success of the
Romans, however, was now retarded by some misun¬
derstandings between the two generals : so that, though
Belisarius made himself master of Urbinum and Urbi-
Milnn ta ventum, while Narses reduced some other places, yet
ken by the ^ie important city of Milan was suffered to fall into
Goths. the hands of the Goths, who massacred all the inhabi-
5
L Y.
tants that were able to hear arms, to the number of it^y,
30,000, and sold the women for slaves. The city —y—"*
was also totally demolished } and this disaster made
such an impression on the mind of Justinian, that he
immediately recalled Narses, and gave the command
of his troops to Belisarius.
Vitiges, who had promised himself great advantages
from the disagreement of the two generals, was much .
disappointed by the recal of Narses : and therefore
dreading the power of Belisarius when at the head of
a formidable army, thought of engaging in alliance
with some foreign prince. In his choice, however, he
was somewhat at a loss. He knew the treachery of
the Franks, and therefore did not apply to them. He
applied to the Lombards j but, though tempted by
the ofl’er of a large sum of money, they continued in¬
violably attached to the Roman interest. At last he
found means to persuade Chosroes king of Persia to
make war upon Justinian, which he thought would
infallibly procure the recal of Belisarius. But the
Roman general, understanding his design, pushed on
the war in the most vigorous manner ; while, in the , j
mean time, the treacherous Franks, thinking both na-Jta’.v invafl.
tions sufficiently weakened by their mutual hostilities, ed by the
resolved to attack both, and seize upon the country ^*aB^**
for which they contended. Accordingly, Theodebert,
unmindful of the oaths he had taken both to the
Goths and Romans, passed the Alps, at the head of
150,000, or, as some will have it, 200,000 men, and
entered Liguria. As no hostilities were committed by
them on their march, the Goths concluded that they
were come to their assistance ; and therefore took care
to supply them with provisions. Thus they cross¬
ed the Po without opposition and having secured the
bridge, marched towards the place where a body of
Goths was encamped j who, looking upon them as
friends, admitted them without hesitation. But they
were soon convinced of their mistake j for the Franks
falling unexpectedly upon them, drove them out of the
camp with great slaughter, and seized on their bag¬
gage and provisions. A body of Romans that lay at a
small distance from the Goths, concluding that they
had been defeated by Belisarius, advanced with great
joy to meet /iim as they imagined ; but the Franks fall¬
ing unawares upon them, treated them as they had
done the Goths, and made themselves masters of their
camp. Thus they acquired a very considerable booty
and store of provisions j but the latter being soon con¬
sumed, and the country round about quite exhausted,
vast numbers of the Franks perished $ so that Theode-
bert at last found himself obliged to return. In his way
he destroyed Genoa and several other places, and arriv¬
ed in his own dominions loaded with booty. I2
In the mean time, Belisarius was making great pro-Success el
gress. He took the cities of Auximum and Foesulae Bcli*am*»
after an obstinate siege y the inhabitants of the former
having for some time fed on grass before they would
surrender. After this he invested Ravenna, the capital
of all the Gothic dominions in Italy. The place was
defended hy a very numerous garrison, commanded hy
the king in person, who exerted all his bravery in the
defence of his metropolis. As the siege, however, was
pushed on with great vigour, it was evident that the
city must at last submit y and the great successes of the
Romans began to give jealousy to the neighbouring
potentates.
Italy.
*3
Uremia
rdueed,
nd Vuig
hk«« pri-
DU;!'.
I T A
potentates, Theodebert king of the Franks offered to
assist Vitiges with an army of 500,000 men ; but Be-
lisarius, being informed of this negotiation, sent am¬
bassadors to Vitiges, putting him in mind of the
treachery of the Franks, and assured him that the em¬
peror was ready to grant him very honourable terms.
The king, by the advice of his counsellors, rejected
the alliance of the Franks, and sent ambassadors to
Constantinople 5 but in the mean time, Belisarius, in
order to bring the citizens to his own terms, bribed
one of them to set fire to a magazine of corn, by
which means the city was soon straitened for want of
provisions. But, notwithstanding this disaster, they
still continued to hold out, till the arrival of the am¬
bassadors from Constantinople, who brought very fa¬
vourable terms. These were, That the country beyond
the Po, with respect to Rome, should remain to the
Goths j but that the rest of Italy should be yielded to
the emperor, and the royal treasure of the Goths should
be equally divided between him and the king. To
these conditions, however, Belisarius positively refused
to assent *, being desirous of leading captive the king of
the Goths, as he had formerly done the king of the
Vandals, to Constantinople. He therefore pursued
the siege with more vigour than ever, without heark¬
ening to the complaints of his soldiers and officers,
who were quite tired out with the length of the siege .*
he only obliged such of the officers as were of opi¬
nion that the the town could not be taken, to express
their opinion in writing, that they might not deny it
afterwards.
The Goths were as weary of the siege as the Ro¬
mans ; but fearing lest Justinian should transplant
them to Thrace, formed a resolution, without the con¬
sent of their king, of surrendering to Belisarius himself,
and declaring him emperor of the west. To this they
were the more encouraged by the refusal of Beli¬
sarius to agree to the terms proposed by the emperor;
whence they concluded that he designed to revolt,
and make himself emperor of Italy. Of this, however,
Belisarius had no design; but thought proper to ac¬
cept of that title, in order to accelerate the surrender of
the city, after acquainting his principal officers with
what had passed. Vitiges at last discovered the plot ;
but finding himself in no condition to oppose it, he
commended the resolution of his people, and even
wrote to Belisarius, encouraging him to take upon him
the title of king, and assuring him of his assistance.
Upon this Belisarius pressed the Goths to surrender;
which, however, they still refused, till he had taken
an oath that he would treat them with humanity, and
maintain them in the possession of all their rights and
privileges. He was then admitted into the city, where
he conducted himself with great moderation towards the
:sGoths; but seized on the royal treasure, and secured
the person of the king. The Roman army, when it
entered Ravenna, appeared so very inconsiderable, that
the Gothic women on beholding it could not forbear
spitting in the faces of their husbands, and reviling
them as cowards.
The captivity of Vitiges, and the capture of Raven¬
na, did not terminate the war. Belisarius was soon
after recalled to take the command of the army in
the east. The Goths were greatly surprised that he
should leave his new kingdom out of regard to the
24
L Y.
orders of the emperor ; but, after his departure, chose
one Udebald, a man of great experience in affairs both
civil and military, for their king. He revived the
drooping spirits of his countrymen, defeated the Ro¬
mans, and reduced all the province of Venetia ; but
wms in a short time murdered, and Eraric, a Rugian,
succeeded to the throne. He was scarcely invested with
the sovereignty, when his subjects began to think of
deposing him, and raising Totila to the throne ; which
the latter accepted, upon condition that they previous¬
ly dispatched Eraric. This was accordingly done ;
after which Totila was proclaimed king of Italy in the
year 542. .
The new king proved a very formidable enemy to Sue* ess oi
the Romans, who now lost ground everywhere. They f."
i l. .v *, c "xt * 1*1
made an attempt on the city ui Verona; in wnicii^0B>an^
they miscarried through their own avarice, having dis¬
puted about the division of the plunder till the oppor¬
tunity of taking the town was past. They were next
defeated in two bloody engagements ; the consequence
of which was, that the Goths made themselves masters
of all the strong places in Tuscany. From thence
marching into Campania and Samnium, they reduced
the strong town of Beneventum, and laid siege to
Naples. During the siege of this last place, several
detachments were sent from the king’s army, which
took Cumse, and recovered all Brutia, Lucania, A-
pulia, and Calabria, where they found considerable
sums which had been gathered for the emperor’s use.
The Romans, in the mean time, disheartened by their
losses, and deprived of those sums which should have
paid their wages, refused to take the field. A consi¬
derable fleet was therefore sent by Justinian to the re¬
lief of Naples : but Totila, having timely notice of
this design, manned, with incredible expedition, a
great number of light vessels ; which, falling unex¬
pectedly on the Roman fleet, took or sunk every ship,
and made prisoners of all on hoard, excepting a few
who escaped in their boats. A similar fate attended
another fleet dispatched from Sicily for the same pur¬
pose. They put to sea in the depth of winter ; and,
meeting with a violent storm, were driven ashore near
the enemy’s camp ; who sunk the ships, and made
what slaughter they pleased of the seamen and soldiers.
Upon this second disaster the Neapolitans, despairing
of further relief, submitted to Totila ; who granted
them honourable terms, and treated them with great
humanity. As they had been long pinched with fa¬
mine, Totila, apprehending they might endanger their
lives by indulging their appetites too much at first,
placed guards at the gates to prevent their going out,
taking care at the same time to supply them sparingly
with provisions, but increasing their allowance every
day. Being thus by degrees restored to their former
strength, he ordered the gates to be set open, and gave
every one full liberty to stay in the city or remove as
he thought fit. The garrison he treated with extraor¬
dinary kindness. They were first supplied with ships
to carry them to Constantinople ; but the king having
discovered that their real design was to sail to Rome,
in order to reinforce the garrison of that city (which
they knew he was soon to besiege), he was so far
from punishing them as they expected, that he furnish¬
ed them with horses, waggons, and provisions, and
ordered a body of Goths to escort them to Rome by
3 A 2 land,
372 I T A
linly. land, as the mntls had proved unfavourable for their
passage by sea.
Totila having thus become master of Naples and
most of the other fortresses in these parts, began to
think of reducing Home also. He first attempted to
persuade the citizens to a surrender : but finding bis
persuasions ineffectual, lie sent a detachment of his
army into Calabria to reduce Otranto, which had not
yet submitted ; after which, he marched with the rest
of his forces against the towns in the neighbourhood
of Rome. The city of Tibur, now Tivoli, about l8
miles from Home, was betrayed to him j and all the in¬
habitants, together with their bishop, were put to the
sword. Several other strong holds in the neighbourhood
of that city he took by storm ; so that Rome was in a
manner blocked up by land, all communication with
the neighbouring country being cut oil’.
Justinian, in the mean time, being greatly perplex¬
ed by the bad news he every day received from Italy,
recalled Belisarius from Persia, notwithstanding the .
success which attended him there. To save Rome,
however, was now impossible even for Belisarius him¬
self. As soon as he arrived in Italy, finding himself
unable eilher to relieve the towns which were besieged,
or to stop the progress of the Goths, he dispatched
letters to Justinian, informing him, that being desti¬
tute of men, arms, and money, it was impossible for
him to prosecute the war; upon which the emperor
ordered new levies to be made, all the veterans being
engaged in the Persian war. In the mean time, how¬
ever Totila pursued his good fortune ; took the cities
of Firmum, Asculum, Auximum, Spoletum, &c. and
25 at length'advanced to Rome, which lie invested on all
Rome be- As he drew near the city, two officers, whom
*'e**e ’ Belisarios had sent into the city, ventured to make a
sally, though contrary to the express orders of their
general, thinking they should surprise the Goths; but
they were themselves taken in an ambuscade, and, most
of their men being cut in pieces, narrowly escaped
falling into the hands of the enemy. Belisarius made
several attempts to relieve the city : but all of them,
however well concerted, by some accident or other
proved unsuccessful ; which gave him so much unea¬
siness, that he fell into a feverish disorder, and was for
some time thought to be in danger of his life. The
city was soon reduced to great straits ; a dreadful fa¬
mine ensued; and the unhappy citizens having consumed
every thing that could be supposed to give them nourish¬
ment, even the grass t hat grew near the walls, were obli¬
ged, it is said, to feed on their own excrements. Many
put an end to their lives, in order to free themselves
from the intolerable calamities they suffered. The rest
addressed their governor Bessas in the most pathetic
manner, intreating him to supply them with food ; or
if that was not in his power, either to give them leave
to go out of the town, or to terminate their mi¬
series by putting them to death. Bessas replied, that
to supply them with food was impossible ; to let them
go, unsafe ; and to kill them impious. In the end, how¬
ever, he suffered those who were willing to retire, to
leave the city, upon paying him a sum of money ; but
most of them either died on the road, or were cut in
pieces by the enemy. At last, the besieged, unable
to bear their miseries any longer, began to mutiny, and
to press their governor to come to an agreement with
L Y.
Totila. This, however, he still refused ; upon which, Italy,
four of the Isaurians who guarded one of the gases,
went privately to the camp of Totila, and offered to 26
admit him into the city. The king received this pro-a,K‘
posal with great joy ; and sending four Goths of great
strength and intrepidity into the town along with
them, he silently approached the gates in the night¬
time with his whole army. The gates were opened by
the Isaurians, as they had promised ; and upon th«
first alarm, Bessas with most of the soldiers and offi¬
cers fled out of the town. The inhabitants took
sanctuary in the churches ; and only 60 of them and
26 soldiers were killed after the town was taken. To¬
tila, however, gave his soldiers full liberty to plunder
the city : which they did for several days together,
stripping the inhabitants of all their wealth, and leaving
nothing in their houses but naked walls; by which
means many persons of distinction were reduced to beg
their bread from door to door. In the house of Bessas
was found an immense treasure, which he had scanda¬
lously amassed during the siege, by selling to the people,
at an exorbitant price, the corn which had been stored
up for the use of the garrison.
Totila, thus become master of Italy, sent ambassa¬
dors to Justinian with very respectful letters, desiring
to live on the same terms with him that Theodoric had
done with his predecessor Anastasius ; promising in that
case to respect him as his father, and to assist him,
when he pleased, with all his force, against any other
nation whatever. On the contrary, if the emperor re¬
jected his offers, he threatened to level Rome with the
ground, to put the whole senate to the sword, and to
carry the war into Illyricum. The emperor returned no
other answer, than that he referred the whole to Btli-
sarius, who had full power to manage all things of that
nature. Upon this Totila resolved to destroy the city ;
and had actually thrown down a third part of the
wall, when he received a letter from Belisarius, dis¬
suading him from his intention. After having seriously
considered this letter, Totila thought proper to alter
his resolution wijji regard to the destruction of the
city ; but sent every one of the inhabitants into Luca-
nsa, without leaving a single person in the metropolis.
Belisarius bearing of this, immediately returned to the
capital, and undertook to repeople and repair it. He
cleared the ditch which had been filled by Totila, but
was for the present obliged to fill up the breaches in
the walls with stones loosely heaped upon one another,
and in this situation the city was again attacked by the
Goths. Belisarius, however, had taken care to supply
the inhabitants with plenty of provisions, so that they
were now in no danger of suffering by famine; and the
assaults of the enemy were vigorously repelled, not¬
withstanding the bad situation of the fortifications, so
that Totila at last abandoned the enterprise.
In the mean time the Persians gained great ndvan- ^
tages over the Romans in the East, so that there was arecalkd.
necessity for recalling Belisarius a second time. He was
no sooner gone, than Totila renewed his efforts with
greater vigour than ever ; and at the same time the
Franks, concluding that both Romans and Goths would
be much weakened by such a destructive war, seized
upon Venetia, which belonged to both nations, and
made it a province of the French empire. Totila did
not oppose them; but baying obtained a reinforcement
of
I T A
L, of 6000 Lombards, returned immediately before Rome,
fuUy intent on making himself master ot that metro¬
polis. Having closely invested it by sea and land, he
hoped in a short time to reduce it by famine : but
against this the governor wisely provided, by causing
corn to he sown within the walls; so that he could pro¬
bably have defied the power of Totila, had not the city
been again betrayed by the Isaurians, who opened one
of the gates and admitted the enemy.
Thus the empire of the Goths was a third time esta¬
blished in Italy j and Totila, immediately on his be¬
coming master of Rome, dispatched ambassadors to
Justinian, offering to assist him as a faithlu ally
against any nation whatever, provided he would al-
low him the quiet possession of Italy. But Justinian
was so far from hearkening to this proposal, that
he would not even admit the ambassadors into his
presence-, upon which Totila resolved to pursue the
war with the utmost vigour, and to make himstlr ma-
j 45 ster not only of those places which the Romans posses-
1ar^»*entse(| jn Ita]yj ijut Jn Sicily also. This he fully accom-
lulr- plUhed $ when Narses, who had formerly been joined
in the command with Belisarius, was appointed general,
with absolute and uncoutrouled authority. But while
this general was making the necessary preparations tor
his expedition, Totila, having equipped a fleet of 300
galleys, sent them to pillage the coasts ot Greece,
where they got an immense booty. '1 hey made a de¬
scent on the island of Corfuand having laid it waste,
they sailed to Epirus, where they surprised and plun¬
dered the cities of Nicopolis and Anehialus, taking ma¬
ny ships on the coast, among which were some laden
with provisions for the army of Narses. Alter these
successes they laid siege to Ancona in Dalmatia. Be¬
ing defeated, however, both by sea and land, lotila
once more sent ambassadors to Constantinople, oflenng
to yield Sicily and all Dalmatia, to pay an annual tri¬
bute for Italy, and to assist the Romans as a taithlul
allv in all their wars : but Justinian, bent upon driv¬
ing the Goths out of Italy, would not even suiter the
ambassadors to appear in his presence. #
Totila finding that no terms could be obtained, be¬
gan to levy new forces, ami to make great preparations
by sea and land. He soon reduced the islands ol
Corsica and Sardinia j but this was the last ot his suc¬
cesses. Narses arrived in Italy with a very formidable
armv, and an immense treasure to pay the troops their
arrears, the want of which had been one great cause ot
the bad success of Belisarius in his last expedition. He
immediately took the road to Rome ; while lotila as-
5, sembled all his forces, in order to decide the late 0
iA;hode- Italy by a wneral engagement. The battle proved
€ft,s,?,u! very obstinate ; but at" last the Gothic cavalry being
*' 1 rot"a' put to the rout, and retiring in great contusion among
the infantry, the latter were thereby thrown into such
disorder, that they could never afterwards rally. Nar¬
ses, observing their confusion, encouraged his men to
make a last effort-, which the Goths not being able to
withstand, betook themselves to flight, with the loss of
6oco men killed on the snoi. Totila finding the day
irrecoverably lost, fled with only five horsemen for his
attendants but was pursued and mortally wounded by
a commander of one of the bodies of barbarians who
followed Narses. He continued his flight, however,
for some time longer j but was at last obliged to halt
L Y. 373
in order to get his wound dressed, soon after which he Jiaiy.
expired. _ . . .
This disaster did not yet entirely break the spirit Ol
the Goths. They chose' for their king one Teia, de-
servedly esteemed one of the most valiant men ot their
nation, and who had on several occasions distinguished
himself in a most eminent manner. All the valour and
experience of Teia, however, were now insufficient to
stop the progress of the Romans. Narses made him¬
self master of a great number of cities, and of Rome
itself, before the Goths could assemble their forces.—
The Roman general next proceeded to invest Cumas j
which Teia determined at all events to relieve, as the
royal treasure was lodged in that city. I his brougot
on an engagement, which, if Procopius is to be cre¬
dited, uroved one of the most bloody that ever was ^ 3*
fought/ The Roman army consisted of vast multi-Ttia‘
tudes brought from different nations : the Goths were
few in comparison j but, animated by despair, and
knowing that all was at stake, they fought with the
utmost fury. Their king placed himself in the first
rank, to encourage his men by his example 5 and is
said to have given such proofs of his valour and con¬
duct as equalled him to the most renowned heroes of
antiquity. The Romans discovering him, and know¬
ing that his death would probably put an end to the
battle, if not to the war itself, directed their whole
force against him, some attacking him with spears, and
others discharging against him showers of darts and
arrows. Teia maintained his ground with great in¬
trepidity, received the missive weapons on his shield,
and killed a great number of the enemy with his own
hand. When his shield was so loaded with darts that
be could not easily wield it, he called for another.
Thus he shifted his shield three times ■, but as lie at¬
tempted to change it another time, his breast being
necessarily exposed for a moment, a dart struck him in
that moment with such force, that he immediately fell
down dead in the place where he had stood from the
beginning of the battle, and upon heaps of the enemy
whom he had killed. The Romans, seeing him fall,
cut off his head and exposed it to the sight of the
Goths, not doubting but they would be immediately
disheartened and retire. In this, however, they weie
disappointed. The Goths maintained the tight with
great vigour, till night put an end to the engagement.
The next day the engagement was renewed early in
the morning, and continued till night : but on the
third day, the Goths despairing of being able to over¬
come an enemy so much superior to them in numbers,
sent deputies’to Narses, offering to lay down their
arms, provided such of them as chose to lemain 111
Italv were allowed to enjoy their estates and possessions
without molestation, as subjects of the empire ; and
those who were willing to retire elsewhere, were suf¬
fered to carry with them all their goods and effects. 3,
To these terms Narses readily assented -, and thus the The end ef
empire of the Goths in Italy'was finally destroyed, the the empire
country now becoming a province of the eastern R°-* iig
man empire. < Italy.
In this conquest Narses had been assisted, as al¬
ready observed, by many barbarous nations, among
whom were the Lombards, at that time settled in 1 an-
nonia. On the conclusion of the war, they were dis¬
missed with rich presents, and the nation for some time-
continued
374
I T A
j*
jSf arses in-
▼iies the
continued faithful allies to the Romans. In the mean
time Justinian dying, Narses, who governed Italy with
nn absolute sway, was accused to the emperor Justin II.
and to the empress Sophia, of aspiring to the sovereign¬
ty of the country. Hereupon he was recalled, and
Longinus sent to succeed him. As Narses was an
eunuch, the empress is reported to have said, that his
employment at Constantinople should be to distribute
in the apartment of her women the portion of wool
which each was to spin. Narses, enraged at this sar¬
casm, replied, that he should begin such a web as
she should never be able to finish j and immediately dis¬
patched messengers to Alboinus king of the Lom¬
bards, inviting them into Italy. Along with the mes¬
sengers he sent some of the best fruits the country af¬
forded, in order to tempt him the more to become ma¬
ster of such a rich kingdom.
Alboinus, highly pleased with the. opportunity of
invading a country with which his subjects wrere already
well acquainted, began without loss of time to make
the necessary preparations for his journey. In the
month of April, Jf68, he set out with his whole nation,
men, women, and children j carrying with them all
their moveables. This promiscuous multitude arrived
by the way of Istria; and advancing through the pro¬
vince of Venetia, found the whole country abandoned,
the inhabitants having fled to the neighbouring islands
in the Adriatic. 1 he gates of Aquileia were opened
by the few inhabitants who had courage to stay : most
of them, however, had fled with all their valuable ef¬
fects •, and among the rest the patriarch Paulinus,
who had carried with him all the sacred utensils of
the churches. From Aquileia, Alboinus proceeded to
iorum Julii, of which ne likewise became master with¬
out opposition. Here he spent the winter5 during
which time he erected Friuli into a dukedom, which
has continued ever since. In 569, he made himself
master of Trivigi, Oderzo, Monte Selce, Vicenza,
Verona, and Trent ; in each of which cities he left a
strong garrison of Lombards under the command of an
officer, whom lie distinguished by the title of c/z/Ae :
hut these dukes were only officers and governors of ci¬
ties, who bore the title no longer than the prince
thought proper to continue them in their command
or government. Padua and some other- cities Alboi¬
nus left behind him without attempting to reduce
them, either because they were too well garrisoned,
or because they lay too much out of bis way. In
570, be entered Liguria. The inhabitants were so
terrified at his approach, that they left their habita¬
tions with such of their effects as they could carry off,
y- and fled into the most mountainous and inaccessible
Whore- parts of the country. The cities of Brescia, Barga-
duce the mo, Lodi, Como, and others quite to the Alps, being
"arl'of1 a^most w‘tI10nt inhabitants, submitted of course j
Uah.0 after which be reduced Milan, and was thereupon pro¬
claimed king of Italy.
But though the Lombards had thus conferred the
title ol king of Italy on their sovereign, he was by no
means possessed of the whole country, nor indeed was
it ever in the povver of the Lombards to get possession
df the whole. . Alboinus having made himself master
of Venetia, Liguria, JEmilia, Hetruria, and Umbria,
applied himself to legislation and the civilization of his
subjects. But before he could make any progress in
L Y.
this work, he was taken off by the treachery of his i|ajY
wife j and Clephis, one of the nobles, chosen king in 1— . ’ i
bis stead. Clephis rebuilt some cities which had been
ruined during the wars between the Goths and Ro¬
mans, and extended his conquests to the very gates of
Rome j but as he behaved both to the Romans and
Lombards with the greatest cruelty, he was murdered,
after a short reign of 18 months. His cruelty gave the
Lombards such an aversion against regal power, that
they changed their form of government, being govern¬
ed only by their dukes for the space of ten years. Du¬
ring this interregnum, they proved successful in their
wars with the Romans, and made themselves masters
of several cities : but perceiving that their kingdom,
thus divided, could not subsist, they resolved once
more to submit to the authority of one man ; and ac¬
cordingly, in 585, Autharis was chosen king of the
Lombards.
The great object of ambition to the new race ofSnbdid bj
Lombard monarchs was the conquest of all Italy; and Charle-
this proved at last the ruin of their empire by Charlesro3®"**
the Great, as related under the article France, N° 27.
As the Lombards, however, had not been possessed of
the whole territory of Italy, so the whole of it never
came into the possession of Charlemagne: neither sine*
the time of the Goths, lias the whole of this country
been under the dominion of any single state. Some of
the southern provinces were still possessed by the em¬
perors of Constantinople ; and the liberal grants of Pe¬
pin and Charlemagne himself to the pope, had invested
him with a considerable share of temporal power. The
territories of tlie pope indeed were supposed to be held ,
in vassalage from France; but this the popes them-Extent of
selves always stiffly denied. The undisputed territory hi» Italian
of Charlemagne in Italy, therefore, was restricted tocloII*‘,,5ons‘
Piedmont, the Milanese, the Mantuan, the territory
of Genoa, Parma, Modena, Tuscany, Bologna, the
dukedoms of Friuli, Spoleto, and Benevento; the last
of which contained the greatest part of the present
kingdom of Naples.
The feudal government which the Lombards had in¬
troduced into Italy, naturally produced revolts and
commotions, as the difl’erent dukes inclined either to
change their masters or to set up for themselves. Se¬
veral revolts indeed happened during the life of Char¬
lemagne himself; which, however, he always found
means to crush : but after his death, the sovereignty
of Italy became an object of contention between the
kings of Fiance and the emperors of Germany. That
great monarch had divided his extensive dominions
among his children ; but they all died during his life¬
time, except Louis, whom he associated with himself
in the empire, and who succeeded to all his dominions
after his death. From this time we may date the trou¬
bles with which Italy was so long overwhelmed ; and
of which, as they proceeded from the ambition of those
called kings of Italy and their nobles, of the kinirs of
France, and of the emperors of Germany, it is difficult
to have any clear idea. The following short sketch,
however, may perhaps give some satisfaction on this 3^
perplexed subject. History of
At the time Louis the son of Charlemagne was de-
dared emperor of the West, Italy was held by Ber-Italy after
nard the son of Pepin, brother to Louis. Though this the time of
Bernard bore the title of fovg, vet he was only ac-011311®*
countednia®118'
Italy, cotmleil a vassal of the emperor.
ever, soon prompted him to rebel against his uncle;
but being abandoned by his troops, he was taken pri¬
soner, had his eyes pulled out, and died three days
after. As the disturbances still continued, and the
nobles of Lombardy were yet very refractory, Lo-
thaire, eldest son to the emperor, was in the year
823 sent into Italy 5 of which country he was first
crowned king at Rome, and afterwards emperor of the
West, during his father’s life-time. But though his
abilities were sufficient to have settled every thing in a
state of tranquillity, his unbounded ambition prompt¬
ed him to engage in a rebellion against his lather;
whom he more than once took prisoner; though in the
end he was obliged to submit, and ask pardon for his
offences, which he obtained only on condition of his
not passing the Alps without leave obtained from his
father.
In the mean time, the Saracens, taking advantage
of these intestine wars, landed on the coasts of Italy,
and committed such ravages, that even the bishops
were obliged to arm themselves for the defence of the
country. Lothaire, however, after returning from his
unnatural war with his father, was so far from attempt¬
ing to put an end to these ravages, or to restore tran¬
quillity, that he seized on some places belonging to the
see of Rome, under pretence that they were part of
his kingdom of Lombardy ; nor would he forbear
these encroachments till expressly commanded to do so
by his father. After having embroiled himself, and
almost lost all his dominions, in a war with his bro¬
thers after the death of Louis, and declared his son,
also called Louis, king of Italy, this ambitious prince
died, leaving to Louis the title of emperor as well
as king of Italy, with which he had before invested
him.
The new emperor applied himself to the restoration
of tranquillity in his dominions, and driving out the
Saracens from those places which they had seized in
Italy. This he fully accomplished, and obliged the
infidels to retire into Africa; but in 875 he died
without naming any successor. After his death, some
of the Italian nobles, headed by the duke of Tuscany,
represented to the pope, that as Louis had leit no
successor, the regal dignity, which had so long been
usurped by foreigners, ought now to return to the
Italians. The pope, however, finding that Charles
the Bald, king of France, had such an ambition for
the imperial crown, that he would stick at nothing to
obtain it, resolved to gratify him, though at as high
a price as possible. He accordingly crowned him em¬
peror and king of Lombardy, on condition of his own¬
ing the independency of Rome, and that he himself
only held the empire by the gift of the pope. This
produced a conspiracy among the discontented nobles ;
and at the same time the Saracens renewing their in¬
cursions, threatened the ecclesiastical territories with
the utmost danger. The pope solicited the emperor’s
assistance with the greatest earnestness ; but the latter
died before any thing effectual could be done; after
which, being distressed by the Saracens on one hand,
and the Lombard nobles on the other, the unhappy
pontiff was forced to fly into France. Italy now fell
into the utmost confusion and anarchy ; during which
time many of the nobles and states o( Lombardy as-
ITALY.
His ambition, how- sifmed an independence, which they have ever since
retained. # "
In 877 the pope was reconducted to Italy with an
army by Boson son-in-law to Louis II. of I ranee : but
though he inclined very much to have raised this prince
to the dignity of king of Italy, he found his interest
insufficient for that purpose, and matters remained in
their former situation. The nobles, who had driven
out the pope, were now indeed reconciled to him : but
notwithstanding this reconciliation, the state of the
country was worse than ever: the great men renoun¬
cing the authority of any superior, and every one
claiming to be sovereign in his own territories. To
add to the calamities which ensued through the am¬
bition of these despots, the Saracens committed every
where the most terrible ravages ; till at last, the Ita¬
lian nobles, despising the kings of the Carlovingian
race, who had weakened themselves by their mutual
dissensions, began to think of throwing off even all
nominal submission to a foreign yoke, and retaining
the imperial dignity among themselves. Thus they
hoped, that, by being more united among themselves,
they might be more able to resist the common enemy.
Accordingly, in 886, they went to Pope Adrian ; and
requesting him to join* them in asserting the indepen¬
dency of Italy, they obtained of him the two follow¬
ing decrees, viz. that the popes, after their election,
might be consecrated without waiting for the presence
of the king or his ambassadors; and that if Charles
the Gross died without sons, the kingdom of Italy, with
the title of emperor, should be conferred on some of
the Italian nobles.
These decrees were productive of the worst conse¬
quences imaginable. The emperor complained of be¬
ing deprived of his right; and the dissensions between
the Italian nobles themselves became more fatal than
ever. The two most powerful of these noblemen, Be-
rengarius duke of Friuli, and Guido or Vido, duke of
Spoleto, entered into an agreement, that on the death
of the emperor, the former should seize on the kingdom
of Italy, and the latter on the kingdom of France.
Berengarius succeeded without opposition ; but ^ ido
was disappointed, the French having already chosen
Eudes or Otho for their king. Upon this he returned
to Italy, and turned his arms against Berengarius.
Vido proved victorious in an engagement, and drove
his rival into Germany ; where he sought the assist¬
ance of Arnolphus, who had succeeded to the crown
after the death of Charles. Having thus obtained the
kingdom of Italy, Vido employed his time in reform¬
ing the abuses of the state, and confirming the grants
formerly given to the pope, out of gratitude for his
having sanctified his usurpation and declared him law¬
ful king of Italy. This tranquillity, however, was of
short duration. Arnolphus sent an army into Italy ;
the Saracens from Spain ravaged the northern parts of
the country, and getting possession of a castle near the
Alps, held it for many years after, to the great distress
of the neighbouring parts, which were exposed to their
continual incursions ; and at the same time Benevento
was besieged and taken by the forces of the eastern em¬
peror, so that Vido found his empire very considerably
circumscribed in its dimensions.
The new king, distressed by so many enemies, asso¬
ciated his son Lambert with him in the government,
and
j/5
Italy.
76 I T A
hi!/, Rml bribed the Germans to return to their own coun-
-—- try. In 893, however, they again invaded Italy 5 but
tvere suddenly obliged to leave the country, after ha¬
ving put Berengarius in possession of Pavia. In the
mean time, Yido died, and his son Lambert drove out
Berengarius: but having joined a faction, headed by
one Sergius, against Pope Formosus, the latter offered
the kingdom of Italy to Arnolphusj who thereupon en¬
tered the. country with an army, besieged and took
Rome, massacring the faction of Sergius with the most
unrelenting cruelty.
Arnolphus thus master of Italy, and crowned emper¬
or by the pope, began to form schemes of strengthen¬
ing himself in his new acquisitions by putting out the
eyes of Berengarius: but the latter having timely no¬
tice of this treachery, fled to Verona; and the Italians
were so provoked at this and the other cruelties of Ar¬
nolphus, that they drove him out of the country. His
departure occasioned the greatest confusion at Rome.
Formosus died soon after; and the successors to the pa¬
pal dignity, having now no army to fear, excited the
greatest disturbances. The body of Formosus was dug
up and thrown into the Tiber by one pope ; after which
that pope was strangled, and Formosus’s body buried
again in the Vatican, by order of another. At last the
coronation of Arnolphus was declared void, the Sergian
faction entirely demolished, and the above-mentioned
decrees of Adrian were annulled ; it being now deter¬
mined that the elected popes should not be consecrated
but in presence of the emperor or his ambassadors.
Dining these confusions Lambert enjoyed the king¬
dom in quiet; but the notdes hating him on account of
bis arbitrary and tyrannical government, began again
to think of Berengarius. In the mean time, however,
■another faction offered the crown to Louis king of
Arles. This new competitor entered Italy with an army
in 899 ; hut was forced by Berengarius to renounce his
claim upon oath, and to swear that he would never
again enter Italv, even though he should be invited to
be crowned emperor.-—This oath, however, was soon
forgot. Louis readily accepted of another invitation,
and was crowned king of Italy at Pavia in 901. The
following year he forced Berengarius to fly into Bava¬
ria ; but having unadvisedly disbanded bis army, as
thinking himself now securely seated on the throne,
Berengarius, who watched every opportunity, surprised
him at Verona, and put out his eyes.
Thus Berengarius at last became king of Italy with¬
out a rival; and held his kingdom for 20 years after-
wards, without any opposition from his subjects, who at
fast became sensible of the mischiefs arising from civil
discords. He was not yet, however, without troubles.
The Hungarians invaded Italy with a formidable army,
and advanced within a small distance of Pavia. Beren¬
garius armed the whole force of his dominions ; and
came against them with such a multitude, that the Hun¬
garians retired without venturing an engagement. A
great many of their men were lost in passing a river;
upon which they sent deputies to Borengarius, oflering
to restore all their booty, and never to come again into
Italy, provided they were allowed a safe retreat. These
conditions were imprudently denied ; upon which the
Hungarians attacked the army of Berengarius in de¬
spair, and defeated them with great slaughter. After
4kis they overran the whole country, and plundered the
L Y.
towns of Treviso, Vicenza, and Padua, without resist- Italy,
ance, the inhabitants flying everywhere into fortified ——v—1
places. This devastation they continued for two years ;
nor could their departure be procured without paying
them a large sum of money : which, however, proved
of little avail ; for the following year they returned
and ravaged the territory of Friuli without controul.
Scarcely were these invaders departed, when the Sa¬
racens, who had settled at the foot of the Alps, in¬
vaded Apulia and Calabria, and made an irruption as
far as Acqui in the neighbourhood of Pavia ; while
the inhabitants, instead of opposing them, fled to some
forts which bad been erected in the time of the first ir¬
ruption of the Hungarians. In 912, however, John,
presbyter of Ravenna, having attained the papal digni¬
ty by means of Theodora wife of Aldebert count of
Tuscany, applied himself to regulate the affairs of the
church, and to repress the insults of the Saracens.
While he was considering on the most proper methods
of effecting this, one of the Saracens, who had received
an injury from his countrymen, fled to Rome, and of¬
fered to deliver the Italians from their invasions, if the
pope would but allow him a small body of men. His
proposals being accepted, 60 young men were chosen
all well armed ; who being conducted by the Saracen
into by-paths, attacked the infidels as they were re¬
turning from their inroads, and several times defeated
great parties of them. These losses affecting the Sara¬
cens, a general alliance was concluded amongst all their
cities ; and having fortified a town on the Garigliano,
they abandoned the rest, and retired hither. Thus they
became much more formidable than before; which
alarming the pope, he consulted with Arnulphus prince
of Benevento and Capua, sending at the same time am¬
bassadors to Constantine the Greek emperor, inviting
him to an alliance against the infidels. The Saracens,
unable to withstand such a powerful combination, were
besieged in their city: where being reduced to great
straits, they at last set fire to it, and sallied out into the
woods ; but being pursued by the Italians, they were
all cut ofi' to a man.
In this expedition it is probable that Berengarius
gave great assistance: for this very year, 915, he was
crowned emperor by the pope. This gave displeasure
to many of the ambitious nobles; conspiracies were
repeatedly formed against him ; in 922, Rodolphus king
of Burgundy was crowned also king of Italy ; and in
924, Berengarius was treacherously assassinated at Ve¬
rona ; of which disturbances the Hungarians taking the
advantage, plundered the cities of Mantua, Brescia,
and Bergamo. Marching afterwards to Pavia, they 37
invested it closely on all sides; and about the middle of Jear^ and"
March 925, taking advantage of the wind, they set t)unit by
fire to the houses next to the walls, and during the con- the Hanga.
fusion broke open the gates, and getting possession of“ans*
the city treated the inhabitants with the greatest bar¬
barity. Having burnt the capital of the kingdom, they
next proceeded to Piacenza, where they plundered the
suburbs; and then returned to Pannonia laden with
booty.
The affairs of Italy now fell into the utmost confu¬
sion. A faction was formed against Rodolphus in fa¬
vour of Hugh count of Arles. The latter prevailed,
and was crowned king at Pavia in 927. The Italians,
however, soon repented of their choice. The Romans,
first
I T A L Y. 377
!u!y. first invited him to be tht-ir governor, and then drove
»—v—««; {)jm out vvith disgrace 5 at the same time choosing a con¬
sul, tribunes, &c. as if they had designed to assert their
ancient liberty. One faction, in the mean time, offered
the crown to Hodolphus, and the other to Arnold duke
of Bavaria, while the Saracens took this opportunity to
plunder the city of Genoa.
Hugh, in the mean time, was not inactive. Having
collected an army, he marched directly against Arnold,
and entirely defeated him. Ilodolphus delivered him
from all apprehensions on his part, by entering into an
alliance with him, and giving his daughter Adelaide
in marriage to Lothavius, Hugh’s son. Being thus free
fiom all danger from foreign enemies, he marched
against the Romans j but with them he also came to an
agreement, and even gave his daughter in marriage to
Alberic, whom they had chosen consul. In the mean
time the country was infested by the Hungarians and
Saracens, and at the same time depopulated by a plague.
Endless conspiracies were formed against Hugh him¬
self and at last, in 947, he was totally deprived of the
regal power by Berengarius, grandson to the first king
of that name j soon after which he retired into Burgun¬
dy, and became a monk.
Though Berengarius was thus possessed of the su¬
preme power, he did not assume the title of king till
after the death of Lotharius, which happened in 950;
but in the mean time Italy was invaded by Henry
duke of Bavaria, and the Hungarians. The former
took and plundered the city of Aquileia, and ravaged
the neighbouring country ; after which he returned
without molestation into Germany : the latter made a
furious irruption 5 and Berengarius being unable to op¬
pose them, was at last obliged to purchase their depar-
. , 55 ture by money. In raising the sum agreed upon, how-
wesscTby ever, Berengarius is said to have been more oppressive
he Hunga-than even the Hungarians themselves. Every indi-
ians and yidual, without distinction of age or sex, was obliged
Berengari- tQ g0 muc[1 for tiieJr lieac), not excepting even the
poor. The churches were likewise robbed ; by which
means the king raised an immense sum of money, ten
bushels of which he gave to the Hungarians, but kept
the much greater part to himself.
Berengarius, not yet satisfied, wanted to be put in
possession of Pavia, which was held by Adelaide, the
widow of Lotharius. In order to obtain his purpose,
he proposed a marriage between her and his son Adel-
bert. This proposal was rejected j upon which Beren-
garius besieged and took the city. The queen was
confined in a neighbouring castle, from whence she
made her escape by a contrivance of her confessor.
With him and one female attendant she concealed
herself for some days in a wood j but being obliged
to remove from thence for want of food, she applied
for protection to Adelard bishop of Reggio. By him
she was recommended to his uncle Atho, who had a
strong castle in the neighbourhood of Canoza. Here
she was quickly besieged by Berengarius j upon which
messengers were dispatched to Otho king of Germany,
acquainting him, that, by expelling Berengarius, and
marrying Adelaide, he might easily obtain the king¬
dom of Italy. This proposal he readily accepted, and
married Adelaide 5 but allowed Berengarius to retain
the greatest part of his dominions, upon condition of
his doing homage for them to the kings of Germany.
Vol. XL Part I. +
He deprived him however, of the dukedom of Friuli Italy,
and marquisate of Verona, which he gave to Henry
duke of Bavaria.
Berengarius, thus freed from all apprehension, not Otho
only oppressed his subjects in a most tyrannical manner, crowned
but revolted against Otho himself. This at last Pro" and
cured his ruin: for, 111961, Otho returned with an empPror af
army into Italy, where he was crowned king by the the west,
archbishop of Milan j and the year following was
crowned emperor by the pope. On this occasion he re¬
ceived the imperial crown from his holiness, and kissed
his feet with great humility: after which they both
went to the altar of St Peter, and bound themselves by
a solemn oath, the pope to be always faithful to the em¬
peror, and to give no assistance to Berengarius or Adel-
liert his enemies $ and Otho, to consult the welfare
of the church, and to restore to it all its patrimony
granted by former emperors. Otho, besides this, be¬
stowed very rich presents on the church of St Peter.
He ordained that the election of popes should be ac¬
cording to the canons ; that the elected pope should
not be consecrated till he had publicly promised, in
presence of the emperor’s commissaries, to observe every
thing formerly specified with regard to the rights of
the emperors ; that these commissaries should constantly
reside at Rome, and make a report every year how
justice was administered by the judges j and in case of
any complaints, the commissaries should lay them be¬
fore the pope $ but if he neglected to intimate them,
the imperial commissaries might then do what they
pleased.
Thus we see that Otho, however much he might
allow the pope’s supremacy in spiritual matters, plainly
assumed the sovereignty in temporals to himself; and
thus Italy was for upwards of 300 years accounted a
part of the German empire. The popes, however, by
no means relished this superiority of the emperor.
The latter was hardly departed, when the pope,
(John XII.) broke the oath which he had just be¬
fore sworn with so much solemnity; and entered first
into an alliance with Adalbert count of Tuscany to
expel the Germans, and then solicited the Hungarians
to invade Italy. This treachery was soon punished
by Otho. He returned with part of his army, and
assembled a council of bishops. As the pope did not
appear, Otho pretended great concern for his absence.
The bishops replied, that the consciousness of his guilt
made him afraid to show himself. The emperor then
inquired particularly into his crimes ; upon which
the bishops accused him of filling the palace with
lewd women, of ordaining a bishop in a stable, cas« 40
trating a cardinal, drinking the devil’s health, &c. Eposes
As the pope still refused to appear in order to justify116 pope*
himself from these charges, he was formally deposed ;
and Leo the chief secretary, though a layman, elected
in his stead.
The new pope, in compliment to the emperor, grant¬
ed a bull, by which it was ordained that Otho and his
successors should have a right of appointing the popes
and investing archbishops and bishops; and that none
should dare to consecrate a bishop without leave ob¬
tained from the emperor. Thus were the affairs of the
Italians still kept in the utmost confusion even during
the reign of Otho I. who appears to have been a wise
and active prince. He was no sooner gone, than the
3 B new
3? 8 I T A
Italy. new pope was cleposed, all his decrees annulled, and
John replaced. The party of Leo was now treated with
great cruelty : but John was soon stopped in his career ;
for about the middle of May, the same year (964) in
which he had been restored, being surprised in bed
with a Roman lady, he received a blow on the head
from the devil (according to the authors of those times),
of which he died eight days after. After his death a
cardinal deacon, named Benedict, was elected by the
Romans, but deposed by Otho, and banished to Ham-
41 burgh.
The Ita- The emperor was scarce returned to Germany, when
liansrevolt, jjjg fick]e Italians revolted, and sent for Adelbert, who
d'acecT ^ ^ to Corsica. But being soon reduced, they con¬
tinued quiet for about a year 5 after which they revolt¬
ed again, and imprisoned the pope. Otho, however,
provoked at their rebellious disposition, soon returned,
and punished the rebels with great severity; after
• which he made several laws for the better regulation
of the city of Rome, granting several privileges to the
Venetians, and caused his son Otho, then only thirteen
years of age, to be crowned emperor.
This ceremony being over, Otho dispatched an am¬
bassador to Nicephorus, emperor of Constantinople, de¬
manding his step-daughter Theophania in marriage for
the young emperor ; but upon this alliance being reject¬
ed, and that not without circumstances of the most atro¬
cious perfidy, Otho instantly invaded the countries of
Apulia and Calabria, and entirely defeated the Greek
army in those parts. In the mean time, however, Ni¬
cephorus being killed, and his throne usurped by John
Zimisces, Otho immediately entered into an alliance
with the latter, and easily obtained Theopbania for his
son. She was crowned with great solemnity on the 8th
of April 969 ; at the same time it is pretended by some
authors, that the Greeks renounced their rights to Ca¬
labria and Apulia ; though this is denied by others.
After the celebration of this marriage, the emperor un¬
dertook an expedition against the Saracens, who still
resided at the foot of the Alps ; but being informed of
the death of several nobles in Germany, he thought
proper to return thither, where he died of an apoplexy
4Z in the year 973.
State of At the time of Otho’s death Italy was divided into
Jta!y at the^jie provinces of Apulia, Calabria, the dukedom of Be-
iutho' °f nevento, Campania, Terra Romana, the dukedom of
Spoleto, Tuscany, Romagna, Lombardy, and the mar-
quisates of Ancona, Verona,Friuli, Treviso, and Genoa.
Apulia and Calabria were still claimed by the Greeks ;
but all the rest were either immediately subject to, or
held of, the kings of Italy. Otho conferred Benevento
(including the ancient Samnium) on the duke of that
name. Campania and Lqcania he gave to the dukes of
Capua, Naples, and Salerno. Rome with its territory,
Ravenna with the exarchate, the dukedom of Spoleto,
with Tuscany, and the marquisate of Ancona, he grant¬
ed to the pope ; and retained the rest of Italy under the
form of a kingdom. Some of the cities were left free,
but all tributary. He appointed several hereditary
marquisates and counties, but reserved to himself the
sovereign jurisdiction in their territories. The liberty
of the cities consisted in a freedom to choose their own
magistrate?, to be judges by their own laws, and to
dispose of their own revenues, on condition that they
took the oath of allegiange to the king, and paid the
L Y.
customary tribute. The cities that were not free were Ualy.
governed by the commissaries or lieutenants of the em- ' v-—^
peror ; but the free cities were governed by two or more
consuls, afterwards called potentates, chosen annually,
who took the oath of allegiance to the emperor before
the bishop of the city or the emperor’s commissary.
The tribute exacted was called foderum, parata, et man-
sionaticum. By the foderum was meant a certain quan¬
tity of corn which the cities were obliged to furnish to
the king when marching with an army or making a
progress through the country; though the value of
this was frequently paid in money. By the parata
was understood the expence laid out in keeping the
public roads and bridges in repair; and the maimona-
ticum included those expences which were required for
lodging the troops or accommodating them in their
camp. Under pretence of this last article, the inhabi¬
tants were sometimes stripped of all they possessed,
except their oxen and seed for the land. Besides re¬
gulating what regarded the cities, Otho distributed
honours and possessions to those who had served him
faithfully. The honours consisted in the titles of duke,
marquis, count, captain, valvasor, and valvasm: the
possessions were, besides land, the duties arising from
harbours, ferries, roads, fish-ponds, mills, salt-pits,
the uses of rivers, and all pertaining to them, and
such like. The dukes, marquises, and counts, were
those who received dukedoms, marquisates, and coun¬
ties, from the king in fiefs; the captains had the
command of a certain number ot men by a grant from
the king, duke, marquis, or count; the valvasors
were subordinate to the captains, and the valvasins to
them. _ 4:5. !
No sooner was the death of Otho I. known in Italy, Great dis-
than, as if they had been now freed from all restraint, ^
the nobles declared war against each other: some ci- thedejuf,
ties revolted, and chose to themselves consuls; while 0f Otho I,
the dominions of others were seized by the nobles, who
confirmed their power by erecting citadels. Rome
especially was harassed by tumults, occasioned chiefly
by the seditious practices of one Cincius, who pressed
his fellow-citizens to restore the ancient republic. As
the pope continued firm in the interests ot the em¬
peror, Cincius caused him to be strangled by one
Franco a cardinal deacon ; who was soon after re¬
warded with the pontificate, and took upon him the
name of Boniface VII. Another pope was chosen by
the faction of the count of Tuscany ; who being ap¬
proved by the emperor, drove Cincius and Boniface
out of the city. Disturbances of a similar kind took
place in other cities, though Milan continued quiet
and loyal in the midst of all this uproar and confu¬
sion.
In the mean time Boniface fled for refuge to Con¬
stantinople, where he excited the emperor to make
war against Otho II. In 979 an army was accordingly
sent into Italy, which conquered Apulia and Calabria;
but the next year Otho entered Italy with a formidable
army ; and having taken a severe revenge on the au¬
thors of the disturbances, drove the Greeks entirely out
of the provinces they had seized. Having then caused
his son Otho III. at that time a boy of ten years of
age, to be proclaimed emperor, he died at Rome in
the year 983. Among the regulations made by this
emperor, one is very remarkable, and must give us a
strange
Italy.
44
lome ta¬
bu by
Itfao III.
1 T
strange idea of the inhabitants of Italy at that time.
He made a law, That no Italian should be believed up¬
on his oath 5 and that in any dispute which could not
be decided otherwise than by witnesses, the parties
should have recourse to a duel.
Otho III. succeeded to the empire at twelve years
of agej and during his minority the disturbances in
Italy revived. Cincius, callled also Crescentius, re¬
newed his scheme of restoring the republic. The
pope (John XV.) opposing his schemes, was driven
out of the city: but was soon after recalled, on hearing
that he had applied to the emperor for assistance. A
few years after Crescentius again revolted, and ex¬
pelled Gregory V. the successor of John XV. j raising
to the papal dignity a creature of his own, under the
name of John XVI. Otho, enraged at this insult, re¬
turned to Home with a powerful army in 998, be¬
sieged and took it by assault; after which he caused
Crescentius to be beheaded, and the pope he had set
up to be thrown headlong from the castle of bt An¬
gelo, after having his eyes pulled out, and his nose cut
off. Four years after, he himself died of the smallpox ;
or," according to some, was poisoned by the widow of
Crescentius,''whom he had debauched under a promise
of marriage, just as he was about to punish the Romans
for another revolt. . . 1 tj
Otho was succeeded in the imperial throne by Henry
duke of Bavaria, and grandson to Otho II. Henry
had no sooner settled the affairs of Germany, than he
found it necessary to march into Italy against Ardoum
marquis of Ivrea, who had assumed the title of king
of Italy. Him he defeated in an engagement, and
was himself crowned king of Italy at Pavia in 10055
but a few years after, a new contest arose about the
papal chair, which again required the presence of the
emperor. Before he arrived, however, one ol the
competitors (Benedict VIII.) had got the better of
his rival, and both Henry and his queen received the
imperial crown from his hands. Before the emperor en¬
tered the church, the pope proposed to him the follow-
in<r question: “ Will you observe your fidelity to me
and my successors in every thing ?” To which, though
a kind of homage, he submitted, and answered in the
affirmative. After his coronation, he confirmed the
privileges bestowed on the Roman see by his prede¬
cessors, and added some others of his own; still, how¬
ever, reserving for himself the sovereignty and the
power of sending commissaries to hear the grievances
of the people. Having repelled the incursions of the
Saracens, repressed some more rebellions of his subjects,
and reduced the greatest part of Apulia and Calabria,
he died in the year 1024.
The death of this emperor was, as usual, iollowed
by a competition for the crown. Conrad being chosen
emperor of Germany, was declared king of Italy by
the archbishop of Milan j while a party of the nobles
made offer of the crown to Robert king of t rance,
or his son Hugh. But this offer being declined, and
likewise another to William duke of Guienne, Conrad
enjoyed the dignity conferred on him by the archbi¬
shop without molestation. He was crowned king of
Italy at Monza in 1026 •, and the next year he recei¬
ved the imperial crown from Pope John XX. m pre¬
sence of Canute the Great, king of England, Den¬
mark, and Norway, and Rodolph III. king of Bur-
4S
A L Y.
gundy. His reign was similar to that of his prede¬
cessors. The Italians revolted, the pope was expelled,
the malecontents were subdued, and the pope restored,
after which the emperor returned to Germany, and
died in 1039.
Under Henry III. who succeeded Conrad, the dis-The dis¬
turbances were prodigiously augmented. Pope SyJ-orders 111-
vester II. was driven out by Benedict j who in h'^e^Henry
turn was expelled by John bishop of Sabinum, whojjj
assumed the title of Sylvester III. Three months af¬
ter Benedict was restored, and excommunicated his ri¬
vals ; but soon after resigned the pontificate lor a sum
of money. In a short time he reclaimed it j and thus
there were at once three popes, each of whom was
supported on a branch of the papal revenue, while all
of them made themselves odious by the scandalous lives
they led. At last a priest called Grattan put at end
to this singular triumvirate. Partly by artifice, and
partly by presents, he persuaded all the three to re¬
nounce their pretensions to the papacy} and the
people of Rome, out of gratitude for so signal a ser¬
vice to the church, chose him pope, under the name
of Gregory VI. Henry III. took umbrage at this
election, in which he had not been consulted, and
marched with an army into Italy. He deposed Gre¬
gory, as having been guilty of simony, and filled the
papal chair with his own chancellor Heidiger, bishop
of Bamberg, who assumed the name of Clement II.
and afterwards consecrated Henry and the empress
Agnes. This ceremony being over, and the Romans
having sworn never to elect a pope without the appro¬
bation of the reigning emperor, Henry proceeded to
Capua, where he was visited by Hrago, Rainulphus,
and other Norman adventurers j who leaving their
country at diflerent times, had made themselves ma¬
sters of great part of Apulia and Calabria, at the ex- 4^
pence of the Greeks and Saracens. Henry entered He invests
into treaty with them ; and not only solemnly »nvested mans with
them with those territories which they had acquired by tome terri-
conquest, but prevailed on the pope to excommuni-tones in A«
cate the Beneventines, who had refused to open their Pulia “d
gates to him, and bestowed that city and its depend-taa n8-
encies, as fiefs of the empire, upon the Normans, pro¬
vided they took possession by force of arms. The em¬
peror was scarce returned into Germany when he re¬
ceived intelligence of the death of Clement II. He
was succeeded in the apostolic see by Damasus II. J
who also dying soon after his elevation, Henry nomi¬
nated Bruno bishop of Toul to the vacant chair. This
Bruno, who was the emperor’s relation, immediately
assumed the pontificals j but being a modest and pious
prelate, he threw them off in his journey, by the per¬
suasion of a monk of Cluny, named Hildebrand^ after¬
wards the famous Gregory VII. and went to Rome
as a private man. “ The emperor alone (said Hilde¬
brand) has no right to create a pope.” He accom¬
panied Bruno to Rome, and secretly retarded his elec¬
tion, that he might arrogate to himself the merit of
obtaining it. The scheme succeeded to his wish ;
Bruno, who took the name of Leo IX. believing him¬
self indebted to Hildebrand for the pontificate, fa¬
voured him with his particular friendship and confi¬
dence $ and hence originated the power of this enter¬
prising monk, of obscure birth, but boundless ambi¬
tion, who governed Rome so long, and whose zeal for
3 B 2! the
47
I T A
the exaltation of the church occasioned so many troubles
to Europe.
Leo soon after his elevation waited on the empe¬
ror at Worms, to crave assistance against the Norman
princes, who were become the terror of Italy, and
treated their subjects with great severity. Henry
furnished the pope with an army j at the head of which
he marched against the Normans, after having excom¬
municated them, accompanied by a great number of
bishops and other ecclesiastics, who were all either
killed or taken prisoners, the Germans and Italians
being totally routed. Leo himself w'as led captive to
Benevento, which the Normans were now masters of,
and which Henry had granted to the pope in exchange
for the fief of Bamberg in Germany ; and the aposto¬
lic see is to this day in possession of Benevento, by
virtue of that donation. The Normans, however, who
had a right to the city by a prior grant, restored if,
in the mean time, to the princes of Lombardy } and
Leo was treated with so much respect by the conquerors,
that he revoked the sentence of excommunication,
and joined his sanction to the imperial investiture for
the lands which they held in Apulia and Calabria.
Leo died soon after bis release: and the emperor
Henry I V. a|,out the same time caused his infant son, afterwards
km ^of the^ie famous Henry IV. to be declared king of the Ro-
ftonians. mans, a title still in use for the acknowledged heir of
the empire. Gebehard, a German bishop, was elect¬
ed pope, under the name of Victor II. and confirmed
by the address of Hildebrand, who waited on the em¬
peror in person for that purpose, though he disdained
to consult him beforehand. Perhaps Hildebrand would
not have found this task so easy, had not Henry been
involved in a war with the Hungarians, who pressed
him hard, but whom he obliged at last to pay a large
tribute, and furnish him annually with a certain num¬
ber of fighting men.
As soon as the emperor bad finished this war and
others to which it gave rise, he marched into Italy
to inspect the conduct of his sister Beatrice, widow
of Boniface marquis of Mantua, and made her pri¬
soner. She had married Gozelo, duke of Lorrain,
without the emperor’s consent; and contracted her
.daughter Matilda, by the marquis of Mantua, to God¬
frey duke of Spoleto and Tuscany, Gozelo’s son by a
former marriage. This formidable alliance justly alarm-
,ed Henry j he therefore attempted to dissolve it, by
carrying his sister into Germany, where he died soon
after his return, in the 39th year of his age, and the
16th of his reign. ’
The emperor, in his last journey to Italy, conclu¬
ded an alliance with Contarini, doge of Venice. That
republic was already rich and powerful, though it had
only been enfranchised in the year 998, from the tri¬
bute of a mantle of cloth of gold, which it formerly
paid, as a mark of subjection to the emperor of Con¬
stantinople. Genoa was the rival of Venice in power
and in commerce, and was already in possession of the
island of Corsica, which the Genoese had taken from
the Saracens. These two cities engrossed at this time
almost all the trade of Europe. There was no city
in any respect equal to them either in France or Ger-
many.
Increase of Henry IV. was only five years old at his father’s
th^ pope’s jleath. The pones made use of the respite given them
L Y.
by his minority, to shake off in a great measure their Italy,
dependence upon the emperors. After a variety of con--y-.^
tests about the pontificate, Nicholas II, a creature of
Hildebrand’s, was elected : who, among others, passed
the following celebrated decree, viz. That for the fu¬
ture, the cardinals only should elect the pope; and that
the election should afterwards be confirmed by the rest
of the clergy and the people, “ Saving the honour
(adds he) due to our dear son Henry, now king ; and
who, if it please God, shall be one day emperor, accord¬
ing to the right which we have already conferred upon
him.” After this he entered into a treaty with the
Norman princes above mentioned ; who, though they
had lately sworn to hold their possessions from the em¬
peror, now swore to hold them from the pope ; and
hence arose the pope’s claim of sovereignty over the
kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.
Ihus was the power of the German emperors in
Italy greatly diminished, and that of the popes pro¬
portionally exalted ; of which Henry soon had suffi¬
cient evidence. For having assumed the government
into his own hands in the year 1072, being then 22 4^
years of age, he was summoned by Alexander H. to His contest
appear before the tribunal of the holy see, on account
of his loose life, and to answer the charge of ha-eral)eror*
ving exposed the investiture of bishops to sale ; at the
same time that the pope excited his German subjects
to rebel against him. I he rebels, however, were de¬
feated, and peace was restored to Germany ; bat
soon after, Hildebrand above mentioned being elected
to the pontificate under the name of Gregory VII.
openly assumed the superiority over every earthly mo¬
narch whatever. He began with excommunicating
every ecclesiastic who should receive a benefice from
the hands of a layman, and every layman who should
take upon him to confer such a benefice. Henry, in¬
stead of resenting this insolence, submitted, and wrote
a penitential letter to the pope : who, upon this, con¬
descended to take him into favour, after having severe¬
ly reprimanded him for his loose life; of which th©
emperor now confessed himself guilty.
The quarrel between the church and the empercy
was, however, soon brought to a crisis by the follow¬
ing accident. Solomon king of Hungary, being de¬
posed by his brother Geysa, had fled to Henry for
protection, and renewed the homage of Hungary to
the empire. Gregory, who favoured Geysa, exclaimed
against this act of submission ; and said in a letter to
Solomon, “ ion ought to know that the kingdom of
Hungary belongs to the Roman church ; and learn
that you will incur the indignation of the holy see, if
you do not acknowledge that you hold your domi¬
nions or the pope, and not of the emperor.” Henry,
though highly provoked at this declaration, thought
proper to treat it with neglect upon which Gregory
resumed the dispute about investitures. The prede¬
cessors of Henry had always enjoyed the right of no¬
minating bishops and abbots, and of giving them in¬
vestiture by the cross and the ring. This right they
had in common with almost ail princes. The prede¬
cessors of Gregory VII. had been accustomed, on their
part, to send legates to the emperors, in order to en¬
treat their assistance, to obtain their confirmation, or
desire them to come and receive the papal sanction,,
but for no other purpose, Gregory, however, sent
two.
Italy.
I T A
two legates to summon Henry to appear before him as
a delinquent, because he still continued to bestow in¬
vestitures, notwithstanding the apostolic decree to the
contrary j adding, that if he should fail to yield obe¬
dience to the church, he must expect to be excommu¬
nicated and dethroned. Incensed at this arrogant
message from one whom he considered as his vassal,
50 Henry dismissed the legates with very little ceremony,
“he empe- and in 1166 convoked an assembly of all the princes
v deposes ant| dignified ecclesiastics at Worms 5 where, alter ma¬
le pope, ture deliberation, they concluded, that Gregory ha¬
ving usurped the chair ot St Peter by indirect means,
infected the church of God with a great many novel¬
ties and abuses, and deviated from his duty to his sove¬
reign in several scandalous attempts, the emperor, by
the° supreme authority derived from his predecessors,
ought to divest him of his dignity, and appoint ano¬
ther in his place. In consequence of this determina¬
tion, Henry sent an ambassador to Rome, with a for¬
mal deprivation of Gregory 5 who, in his turn, convo¬
ked a council, at which were present 110 bishops, who
unanimously agreed that the pope had just cause to
depose Henry, to dissolve the oath of allegiance which
the princes and states had taken in his favour, and to
prohibit them from holding any correspondence with
him on pain of excommunication : which was immedi-
51 ately fulminated against the emperor and his adhe-
ind he rfie rents. “ In the name of Almighty God, and by our
jiuperor; autllor;ty (said Gregory), I prohibit Henry, the son
of our emperor Henry, from governing the Teutonic
kingdom and Italy : I release all Christians from their
oath of allegiance to him j and strictly forbid all per¬
sons from serving or attending him as king !” The cir¬
cular letters written by this pontiff breathe the same
spirit with his sentence of deposition. He there re¬
peats several times, that “ bishops are superior to kings,
and made to judge them !” expressions alike artful and
presumptuous, and calculated for bringing in all the
churchmen of the world to his standard,
Gregory knew well what consequences would fol¬
low the thunder of the church. The German bishops
came immediately over to his party, and drew along
with them many of the nobles : the flame ot civil war
still lay smothering, and a hull properly directed was
sufficient to set it in a blaze. The Saxons, Henry’s
old enemies, made use of the papal displeasure as a
pretence for rebelling against him,. Even Guelfe, to
whom the emperor had given the duchy of Bavaria,
supported the malecontents with that power which he
owed to his sovereign’s bounty : nay, those very princes
and prelates who bad assisted in deposing Gregory,
gave up their monarch to be tried by the pope j and
his holiness was solicited to come to Augsburg for that
purpose.
Willing to prevent this odious trial at Augsburg,
Henry took the unaccountable resolution of suddenly
passing the Alps at Tirol, accompanied only by a few
domestics, to ask absolution of Pope Gregory his op¬
pressor j who was then in Canoza, on the Apennine
mountains, a fortress belonging to the countess or
wbo Is at duchess Matilda above mentioned. At the gates of
>ast obliged this place the emperor presented himself as a humble
to submit, penitent. He alone was admitted within the outer
court ; where, being stripped of his robes, and wrap¬
ped ia sackcloth, he was obliged to remain three days,
L Y.
in the month of January, bare-footed and fasting, be¬
fore he was permitted to kiss the feet of his holiness j
who all that time was shut up with the devout Matilda,
whose spiritual director he had long been, and, as some
say, her gallant. But be that as it may, her attacu-
ment to Gregory, and her hatred to the Germans, was
so great, that she made over all her estates to the apos¬
tolic see j and this donation is the true cause of all the
wars which since that period have raged between tha
emperors and the popes. She possessed in her own
right great part of Tuscany, Mantua, Parma, Reggio,
Placentia, Ferrara, Modena, Verona, and almost the
whole of what is now called the patrimony of St Peter,
from Viterbo to Orvieto j together with part of Um¬
bria, Spoleto, and the Marche of Ancona.
The emperor was at length permitted to throw him¬
self at the pontiff’s feet; who condescended to grant
him absolution, after he had sworn obedience to him
in all things, and promised to submit to his solemn de¬
cision at Augsburg: so that Henry got nothing but
disgrace by his journey ; while Gregory, elated by his
triumph, and now looking upon himself (not altoge¬
ther without reason) as the lord and master of all the
crowned heads in Christendom, said in several of his
letters, that it was his duty “ to pull down the prids
of kings.”
This extraordinary accommodation gave much dis¬
gust to the princes of Italy. They never could forgive
the insolence of the pope, nor the abject humility of
the emperor. Happily, however, for Henry, their in¬
dignation at Gregory’s arrogance overbalanced their
detestation of his meanness. He took advantage of this
temper } and by a change of fortune, hitherto unknown
to the German emperors, he found a strong party in
Italy, when abandoned in Germany. All Lombardy
took up arms against the pope, while he was raising all
Germany against the emperor. Gregary, on the other
hand, made use of every art to get another emperor
elected in Germany : and Henry, on his part, leit no¬
thing undone to persuade the Italians to elect another
pope. The Germans chose Rodolph, duke of Suabia,
who was solemnly crowned at Mentz j and Gregory,
hesitating on this occasion,. behaved truly like the 8U* Germany,-
preme judge of kings. He had deposed Henry, hut
still it was in his power to pardon that prince : ha
therefore affected to be displeased that Rodolph was
consecrated without his order $ and declared, that he
would acknowledge as emperor and king of Germany,
him of the two competitors who should be most submis¬
sive to the holy see.
Henry, however, trusting more to the valour of his
troops than to the generosity of the pope, set out im¬
mediately for Germany, where he defeated his enemiee
in several engagements : and Gregory, seeing nohopea-
of submission, thundered out a second sentence of ex-
communication against him, confirming at the same
time the election of Rodolph, to whom he sent a golden
crown, on which the following well known verse, equal¬
ly haughty and puerile, was engraved*.
Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rodolpho.
This donation was also accompanied with a most
enthusiastic anathema against Henry. After depriving
him of strength and combat, waAcenAemning him never
to be victorious, it concludes with the following re¬
markable
53
382 I T
Italy. markable apostrojJie to St Peter and St Paul: “Make
' all men sensible, that as you can bind and loose every
thing in heaven, you can also upon earth take from or
give to every one, according to his deserts, empires,
kingdoms, principalities—let the kings and the princes
' of the age then instantly feel your power, that they
may not dare to despise the orders of your church ; let
your justice be so speedily executed upon Henry, that
nobody may doubt but he falls by your means, and not
by chance.”
In order to avoid the efiects of this second excom¬
munication, Henry assembled at Brixen, in the county
of Tirol, about 20 German bishops: who, acting also
for the bishops of Lombardy, unanimously resolved,
that the pope, instead of having power over the empe¬
ror, owed him obedience and allegiance $ and that Gre¬
gory VII. having rendered himself unworthy of the
papal chair by his conduct and rebellion, ought to be
deposed from a dignity he so little deserved. They
accordingly degraded Hildebrand j and elected in his
room Guibert, archbishop of Ravenna, a person of un¬
doubted merit, who took the name of Clement III.
Henry promised to put the new pope in possession of
Rome: but he was obliged, in the mean time, to em¬
ploy all his forces against his rival Rodolph, who had
54 reassembled a large body of troops in Saxony. The
nmUdUed two arm‘€S near Mersburg, and both fought with
’ great fury ; but the fortune of the day seemed inclined
to Rodolph, when his hand was cut off by the famous
Godfrey of Bouillon, then in the service of Henry, and
afterwards renowned for his conquest of Jerusalem.
Discouraged by the misfortune of their chief, the re¬
bels immediately gave way ; and Rodolph perceiving
his end approaching, ordered the hand that was cut
off to be brought him, and made a speech to his offi¬
cers on the occasion, which could not fail to have an
influence on the emperor’s affairs. “ Behold (said
he) the hand with which I took the oath of allegiance
to Henry ; and which oath, at the instigation of Rome,
I have violated, in perfidiously aspiring at an honour
that was not my due.”
Thus delivered from this formidable antagonist,
Henry soon dispersed-the rest of his enemies in Ger¬
many, and set out for Italy in order to settle Clement
in the papal chair. But the gates of Rome being shut
against him, he was obliged to attack it in form. The
siege continued upwards of two years j Henry during
55 that time being obliged to quell some insurrections in
Rtfmc ta- Qcrmany. The city was at length carried by assault,
Heniy IV. an^ diflmtdty saved from being pillaged ; but
Gregory was not taken : he retired into the castle of
St Angelo, and thence defied and excommunicated the
conqueror. The new pope was, however, consecrated
with the usual ceremonies 5 and expressed his gratitude
by crowning Henry, with the concurrence of the Ro¬
man senate and people. Mean while the siege of St
Angelo was going on $ but the emperor being called
about some affairs into Lombardy, Robert Guiscard
took advantage of his absence to release Gregory, who
died soon after at Salerno. His last words, borrowed
from the Scripture, were worthy of the greatest saint :
“ I have loved justice, and hated iniquity; therefore
I die in exile !”
Henry, however, did not enjoy all the advantages
3
A L Y.
which might have been expected from the death of Italy.
Gregory. The subsequent popes trode in the paths of -v-—
their predecessor. In 1101, Pascal II. excited young
Henry to rebel against his father. The emperor did
all in his power to dissuade him from proceeding to ex¬
tremities, but in vain. The young prince persisted in
his rebellious intentions; and having by feigned sub¬
missions prevailed on the emperor to disband his army,
he treacherously seized and confined him. Henry,
however, found means to escape from his confinement,
and attempted to engage all the sovereigns of Europe
in his quarrel ; but before any thing effectual could be
done, he died at Liege in the year 1106. ^
The dispute about investitures was not terminated Dispute be.
by the deposition and death of Henry IV. His son tween the
Henry V. pursued the very same conduct for which heP°Pe and
had deposed his father. Pascal opposed him with vio-llenry V’
lence; upon which Henry gave him an invitation into
Germany, to end the dispute in an amicable manner.
Pascal did not think proper to accept of this invita¬
tion ; but put himself under the protection of Philip I.
king of France, who undertook to mediate between
the contending parties. His mediation, however,
proved ineffectual, and Henry was prevented by the
wars in Hungary and Poland from paying any further
attention to the affair of investitures. At last, having
settled his affairs in Germany, he took a resolution of
going to Rome, in order to settle the dispute person¬
ally with the pope. To give his arguments the
greater weight, however, he marched at the head of
an army of 80,000 men. Pascal received him with
great appearance of friendship, but would not renounce
the claim of investitures ; and Henry, finding himself
deceived in his expectations, ordered the pope to be
seized. The consul put the citizens in arms to defend
the pope, and a battle was fought within the walls of
Rome. The slaughter was so great, that the waters
of the Tiber were tinged with blood. The Romans
were defeated, and Pascal was taken prisoner. The
latter renounced his right of investiture ; solemnly
swore never to resume it, and broke his oath as soon
as Henry was gone, by fulminating the sentence of
excommunication against him. In 1114 died the
countess Matilda, who had bequeathed all her domi¬
nions to the pope, as we have already observed ; but
Henry thinking himself the only lawful heir, alleged,
that it was not in Matilda’s power to alienate her
estates, which depended immediately on the empire.
He therefore set out for Lombardy, and sent ambassa¬
dors to the pope, beseeching him to revoke the sen¬
tence of excommunication above mentioned. Pascal,
however, would not even favour the ambassadors with
an audience ; but dreading the approach of Henry
himself, he took refuge among the Norman princes in
Apulia. Henry arrived at Rome in II17; but being
soon after obliged to leave it in order to settle some
affairs in Tuscany, the pope returned to Rome, but
died in a few days. On the third day after his de¬
cease, Cardinal Cajetan was elected his successor, with¬
out the privity of the emperor, under the name of
Gelasius II. The new pope was instantly deposed by
Henry ; who set up the archbishop of Prague, under
the name of Gregory VIII. Gelasius, though sup¬
ported by the Norman princes) was obliged to take
refuge
ITALY. 3§3
Italy, refuge in France, where he died ; and the archbishop
i—v-..iof Vienna was elected by the cardinals then present un-*
der the name of Calixtus II.
The new pope attempted an accommodation with
Henry; which not succeeding, he excommunicated
the emperor, the antipope, and his adherents. He
next set out for Rome, where he was honourably re¬
ceived j and Gregory VIII. was forced to retire to
Sutri, a strong town garrisoned by the emperor’s
troops. Here he was besieged by Calixtus and the
Norman princes. The city was soon taken, and Gie-
gory thrown into prison by his competitor ; but at last,
the states of the empire being quite wearied out with
such a long quarrel, unanimously supplicated Henry
for peace. He referred himself entirely to their deci¬
sion 5 and a diet being assembled at Wurtzburg, it was
decreed that an embassy should be immediately sent to
the pope, desiring that he would convoke a general
57 council at Rome, by which all disputes might be de-
hetermina-termined. This was accordingly done, and the affair
ion Ot the ^ jnvestjtures at length regulated in the following
Eures!'manner, viz. That the emperor should leave the com¬
munities and chapters at liberty to fill up their own
vacancies, without bestowing investitures with the cross
and ring j that he should restore all that he had unjust¬
ly taken from the church •, that all elections should be
made in a canonical manner, in presence ot the empe¬
ror or his commissaries: and whatever disputes might
happen should be referred to the decision ot the empe¬
ror, assisted by the metropolitan and his suffragans*, that
the person elected should receive from the emperor the
investiture of the fiefs and secular rights, not with the
cross, but with the sceptre j and should pay allegiance
to him for these rights only.
After the death of Henry, the usual disorders took
place in Italy ; during which, Roger duke of Apulia
conquered the island of Sicily, and assumed the right of
creating popes, of whom there were two at that time,
viz. Innocent II. and Anacletus. Roger drove out the
former, and Lothario emperor of Germany the latter,
forcing Roger himself at the same time to retire into
Sicily. The emperor then conducted Innocent back
to Rome in triumph j and having subdued all Apulia,
Calabria, and the rest of Roger’s Italian dominions,
erected them into a principality, and bestowed it, with
the title of duke, upon Renaud a German prince, and
one of his own relations.
In the reign of Conrad III. who succeeded Lotha¬
rio, the celebrated factions called the Guelphs and
* See Gibe/ines*, arose, which for many years deluged the
Guelphg cities of Italy with blood. They took their origin
and Gibe- tjurlng; a clvll waF in Germany, in which the enemies
of the emperor were styled Guciphs, and his fiiends
Gibelines; and these names were quickly received m
Italy as well as other parts of the emperor’s dominions.
Of this civil war many of the cities in Italy took the
advantage to set up for themselves *, neither was it in
the power of Conrad, who during his whole reign was
8 employed in unsuccessful crusades, to reduce them;
Italy in- but in 1158 Frederic Barbarossa, successor to Con-
^aded by rad, entered Italy at the head of a very numerous and
Frederic disciplined army. His army was divided into
liarbarowa. severjil columns> for the conveniency of entering the
country by as many different routes. Having passed
the Alps, he reduced the town of Brescia; where he
made several salutary regulations for the preservation Italy,
of good order and military discipline. Continuing to v *
advance, he besieged Milan, which surrendered at dis¬
cretion. He was crowned king ol Lombardy at
Monza; and having made himself master of all the
other cities of that country, he ordered a minute in¬
quiry to be set on foot concerning the rights of the
empire, and exacted homage of all those who held ot
it, without excepting even the bishops. Grievances
were redressed ; magistracies reformed ; the rights of
regality discussed and ascertained ; new laws enacted
for the maintenance of public tranquillity and the en*
couragement of learning, which now began to revive
in the school of Bologna ; and, above all, subvassals
were not only prohibited from alienating then lands,
but also compelled, in their oath to their lords para¬
mount, to except the emperor nominally, when they ■
swore to serve and assist them against all their enemies.
The pope took umbrage at this behaviour towards the
ecclesiastics : but Frederic justified what he had done,
telling his deputies it was but reasonable they should
do homage for the fiefs they possessed; as Jesus Christ
himself, though the lord of all the sovereigns upon earth,
had deigned to pay for himself and St 1 eter the tnbute
which was due to Caesar. 4 .
Frederic having sent commissaries to superintend the
election of new magistrates at Milan, the inhabitants
were so much provoked at this infringement of their
old privileges, that they insulted the imperialists, re¬
volted, and refused to appear before the emperor s tri¬
bunal. This he highly resented, and resolved to chas¬
tise them severely: for which purpose he sent for a re¬
inforcement from Germany, which soon after arrived
with the empress, while he himself ravaged Liguria,
declared the Milanese rebels to the empire, and plun¬
dered and burnt the city of Crema which was in alli¬
ance with that of Milan.
In the mean time, Pope Adrian IV. dying, two
opposite factions elected two persons known by the
names of Victor II. and Alexander III. The empe¬
ror’s allies necessarily acknowledged the pope chosen
by him ; and those princes who were jealous of the
emperor, acknowledged the other. Victor II. Fre¬
deric’s pope, had Germany, Bohemia, and one halt ot
Italy on his side ; while the rest submitted to Alex- 59
ander III. The emperor took a severe revenge on his He takes
enemies; Milan was razed from the foundation, andamUe-^
salt strewed on its ruins ; Brescia and Placentia were jaj^
dismantled ; and the other cities which had taken part
with them were deprived of their privileges. Alexan¬
der III. however, who had excited the revolt, returned
to Borne after the death of his rival; and at his re¬
turn the civil war was renewed. T-he emperor caused
another pope, and after his death a third, to be elec¬
ted. Alexander then fled to France, the common
asylum of every pope who was oppressed by the empe¬
rors ; but the flames of civil discord which he had
raised continued daily to spread. In 1168, the cities
of Italy, supported by the Greek emperor and the
king of Sicily, entered into an association for the de¬
fence of their liberties; and the pope’s party at length
prevailed. In 1176, the imperial army, worn out by
fatigues and diseases, was defeated by the confederates,
and Frederic himself narrowly escaped. About the
same time, he was defeated at sea by the Venetians ;
384 _ I T/.
Italy, and liis eldest son Henry, who commanded his fleet,
'■v—fell into the hands of the enemy. The pope, in ho¬
nour of this victory, sailed out into the open sea, ac¬
companied by the whole senate; and after having pro¬
nounced a thousand benedictions on that element, threw
into it a ring as a mark of his gratitude and attection.
Hence the origin of that ceremony which is annually
performed by the Venetians, under the notion of es¬
pousing the Adriatic. These misfortunes disposed the
emperor towards a reconciliation with the pope: but,
reckoning it below his dignity to made an advance, he
rallied his troops, and exerted himself with so much
vigour in repairing his loss, that the confederates were
defeated in a battle j after which he made proposals of
*o peace, which were now joyfully accepted, and Venice
Submits to was tJie place appointed for a reconciliation. The em-
i .e pope. j)ero,.} t[ie pope, and a great many princes and cardi¬
nals, attended ; and there the emperor, in H*]*], put
an end to the dispute, by acknowledging the pope,
kissing bis feet, and holding his stirrup while he mount¬
ed his mule. This reconciliation was attended with
the submission of all the towns of Italy which had en¬
tered into an association for their mutual defence.
They obtained a general pardon, and were left at li¬
berty to use their own laws and forms of government,
but were obliged to take the oath of allegiance to the
emperor as their superior lord. Calixtus, the anti¬
pope, finding himself abandoned by the emperor in
consequence of this treaty, made also his submission to
Alexander, who received him with great humanity j
and in order to prevent for the future those distur¬
bances which had so often attended the elections of
the popes, he called a general council, in which it was
decreed, that no pope should be deemed duly elec¬
ted without having two-thirds of the votes in his fa¬
vour.
The affairs of Italy being thus settled, Barharossa
returned to Germany ) and having quieted some dis¬
turbances which had arisen during his absence in Ita¬
ly, at last undertook an expedition into the Holy
Land } where having performed great exploits, he was
6! drowned as he was swimming in the river Cydnus, in
Frederic the year 1196. He was succeeded by his son Henry
succeeded YJ. ^v[10 at the same time became heir to the domi-
Henry njonS 0f Sicily by the right of his wife, daughter of
William king of that country. After settling the af¬
fairs of Germany, the new emperor marched with an
army into Italy, in order to be crowned by the pope,
and to recover the succession of Sicily, which was
usurped by Tancred his wife’s natural brother. For
this purpose, he endeavoured to conciliate the affec¬
tions of the Lombards, by enlarging the privileges of
Genoa, Pisa, and other cities, in his way to Borne;
where the ceremony of the coronation was performed
by Celestin III. on the day after Easter in the year
1191. The pope, then in the 86th year of his age,
bad no sooner placed the crown upon Henry’s head
than he kicked it off again, as a testimony of the power
residing in the sovereign pontiff to make and unmake
emperors at his pleasure.
The coronation being over, Henry prepared for the
conquest of Naples and Sicily ; but in this he was op¬
posed by the pope : for though Celestin considered
Tancred as an usurper, and desired to see him deprived
of the crown of Siciiy? which he claimed as a fief of
L Y.
the see, yet he was much more averse to the emperor’s j;a|v
being put in possession of it, as that would render him —y—w
too powerful in Italy for the interest of the church.
Henry, however, without paying any regard to the
threats and remonstrances of his holiness, took almost
all the towns of Campania, Calabria, and Apulia ;
invested the city of Naples 5 and sent for the Genoese
fleet, which he had before engaged, to come and form
the blockade by sea: hut before its arrival, he was
obliged to raise the siege, in consequence of a dread¬
ful mortality among his troops : and all future attempts
upon Sicily were ineffectual during the life of Tan¬
cred.
The whole reign of Henry from this time seems to His perfidy
have been a continued train of the most abominable aI1dtiaelty.
perfidies and cruelties. Having treacherously seized
and imprisoned Richard I. of England, in the manner
related under that article, N° 128—130, he had no ’
sooner received the ransom paid for his royal captive,
than he made new preparations for the conquest of Si¬
cily. As Tancred died about this time, the emperor
with the assistance of the Genoese, accomplished his
purpose. The queen-dowager surrendered Salerno,
and her right to the crown, on condition that her son
William should possess the principality of Tarentum ;
hut Henry no sooner found himself master of the place
than he ordered the infant king to be castrated, te
have his eyes put out, and to be confined in a dun¬
geon. The royal treasure was transported to Ger¬
many, and the queen and her daughter confined in a
convent.
In the mean time, the empress, though near the age
of 50, was delivered of a son, named Frederic; and
Henry soon after assembled a diet of the princes of
Germany, to whom he explained his intentions of ren¬
dering the imperial crown hereditary, in order to pre¬
vent those disturbances which usually attended the elec¬
tion of emperors. A decree passed for this purpose ;
and Frederic, yet in his cradle, was declared king of
the Romans. Soon after, the emperor being solicited
to undertake a crusade, obeyed the injunctions of the
pope, but in such a manner as to make it turn out to
his own advantage. He convoked a general diet at
Worms, where he solemnly declared his resolution of
employing his whole power, and even of hazarding
his life, for the accomplishment of so holy an enter¬
prise 5 and he expatiated upon the subject with so
much eloquence, that almost the whole assembly took
the cross. Nay, such multitudes from all the provin¬
ces of the empire enlisted themselves, that Henry di¬
vided them into three large armies ; one of which, un¬
der the command of the bishop of Mentz, took the
route of Hungary, where it was joined by Margaret,
queen of that country, who entered herself in this pi¬
ous expedition, and actually ended her days in Pale¬
stine : the second was assembled in Lower Saxony, and
embarked in a fleet furnished by the inhabitants of
Lubec, Hamburg, Holstein, and Friezland : and the
emperor in person conducted the third into Italy, in
order to take vengeance on the Normans in Naples and
Sicily who had risen against his government.
The rebels were humbled j and their chiefs were
condemned to perish by the most excruciating tor¬
tures. One Jornandi, of the house of the Norman
princes, was tied naked on a chair of red-hot iron, and
crowned
I T A
|islui!>an-i
Is in the
fcttiuuuig
4 the
sign of
lederic II.
crowned with a circle cf the same burning metal, which
was nailed to his head. The empress, shocked at such
cruelty, renounced her faith to her husband, and en¬
couraged her countrymen to recover their liberties.
Resolution sprung from despair. The inhabitants be¬
took themselves to arms j the empress Constantia head¬
ed them : and Henry, having dismissed his troops, no
longer thought necessary to his bloody purposes, and
sent them to pursue their expedition to the Holy Land,
was obliged to submit to his wife, and to the condi¬
tions which she was pleased to impose on him in fa¬
vour of the Sicilians. He died at Messina in ti97>
soon after this treaty ; and, as was supposed, of poison
administered by the empress.
The emperor’s son Frederic had already been de¬
clared king of the Romans, and consequently became
emperor on tire death of his father ; hut as Frederic II.
was yet a minor, the administration was committed to
his uncle the duke of Suabia, both by the will of
Henry and by an assembly of the German princes.
Other princes, however, incensed to see an elective em¬
pire become hereditary, held a new diet at Cologne,
and chose Otho duke of Brunswick, son of Henry the
Lion. Frederic’s title was confirmed in a third assem¬
bly at Arnsburg ; and his uncle, Philip duke of Sua¬
bia, was elected king of the Romans, in order to give
greater weight to his administration. These two elec¬
tions divided the empire into two powerful factions,
and involved all Germany in ruin and desolation. In¬
nocent HI. who had succeeded Celestin in the papal
chair, threw himself into the scale of Otho, and ex¬
communicated Philip and all his adherents. This able
and ambitious pontiff was a sworn enemy of the house
of Suabia ; not from any personal animosity, but out
of a principle of policy. That house had long been
terrible to the popes, by its continual possession of the
imperial crown ; and the accession of the kingdom of
Naples and Sicily made it still more to be dreaded :
Innocent, therefore, gladly seized the present favour¬
able opportunity for divesting it of the empire, by
supporting the election of Otho, and sowing divisions
among the Suabian party. Otho was also patronized
by bis uncle, the king of England •, which naturally
inclined the king of France to the side of his rival.
Faction clashed with faction *, friendship with interest j
caprice, ambition, or resentment, gave the sway ; and
nothing was beheld on all hands but the horrors and
the miseries of civil wars.
Meanwhile, the empress Constantia remained in Si¬
cily, where all was peace, as regent and guardian for
her infant son Frederic II. who had been crowned
king of that island, with the consent of Pope Cele¬
stin III. But she also had her troubles. A new in¬
vestiture from the holy see being necessary, on the
death of Celestin, Innocent III. his successor, took
advantage of the critical situation of affairs for aggran¬
dizing the papacy, at the ex pence of the kings of Si¬
cily. They possessed, as has been already observed,
the privilege of filling up vacant benefices, and of
judging all ecclesiastical causes in the last appeal: they
were really popes in their own island, though vassals of
his holiness. Innocent pretended that these powers
had been surreptitiously obtained j and demanded, that
Constantia should renounce them in the name of her
son, and do liege, pure, and simple homage for Sicily.
Vol. XI. Part I. f
L Y.
385
But before any thing was settled relative to this affair, Italy,
the empress died, leaving the regency of the kingdom v~—
to the pope •, so that he was enabled to prescribe what
conditions he thought proper to young Frederic. rI be
troubles of Germany still continued ; and the pope re¬
doubled his efforts to detach the princes and prelates
from the cause of Philip, notwithstanding the remon¬
strances of the king of France, to whom he proudly
replied, “ Either Philip must lose the empire, or I
the papacy.” But all these dissensions and troubles in
Europe did not prevent the formation of another cru¬
sade, or expedition into Asia, for the recovery of the
Holy Land. Those who took the cross were princi¬
pally French and Germans : Baldwin, count of Flan¬
ders, was their commander *, and the Venetians, as
greedy of wealth and power as the ancient Carthagi¬
nians, furnished them with ships, for which they took
care to be amply paid both in money and territory.
The Christian city of Zara, in Dalmatia, had with¬
drawn itself from the government ot the republic: the
army of the cross undertook to reduce it to obedience j
and it was besieged and taken, notwithstanding the
threats and excommunication of the pope.
While the crusaders were spreading desolation
through the east, Philip and Otho were in like manner
desolating the west. At length Philip prevailed j and
Otho, obliged to abandon Germany, took refuge in
England. Philip, elated with success, confirmed his
election by a second coronation, and proposed an ac¬
commodation with the pope, as the means of finally
establishing his throne ; but before it could be brought
about, he fell a sacrifice to private revenge, being assas¬
sinated by the count Palatine of Bavaria, whose daugh¬
ter he had promised to marry, and afterwards rejected.
Otho returned to Germany on the death of Philip j
married that prince’s daughter j and was crowned at
Rome by Pope Innocent III. after yielding to the holy
see the long-disputed inheritance of the countess Ma¬
tilda, and confirming the rights and privileges of the
Italian cities. But these concessions, as far at least as
regarded the pope, were only a sacrifice to present po¬
licy : Otho, therefore, no sooner found himself in a
condition to act offensively, than he resumed his grant j
and in 1210 not only recovered the possessions of the
empire, but made hostile incursions into Apulia, ra¬
vaging the dominions of young Frederic king of Na¬
ples and Sicily, who was under the protection of the
holy see. For this reason he was excommunicated by
Innocent; and Frederic, now 17 years of age, was
elected emperor by a diet of the German princes. O-
tho, however, on his return to Germany, finding his
party still considerable, ami not doubting but he should
be able to humble his rival by means of his superior
force, entered into an alliance with his uncle John
king of England, against Philip Augustus king of
France, A. D. 1213. The unfortunate battle of Bou-
vines, where the confederates were defeated, completed
the fate of Otho. He attempted to retreat into Ger¬
many, but was prevented by young Frederic; who
had marched into the empire at the head of a power¬
ful army, and was everywhere received with open
arms. Thus abandoned by all the princes of Germa¬
ny, and altogether without resource, Otho retired to
Brunswick, where he lived four years as a private man,
dedicating his time to the duties of religion.
3C
Frederic
186 - ' I T A L Y.
Italy. Frederic II. being now universally acknowledged
emperor} was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1215,
with great magnificence ; when, in order to preserve
the favour of the pope, he added to the other solem¬
nities of his coronation a vow to go in person to the
Holy Land.
The had success of this expedition hath been already
taken notice of under the article of Croisade. The em¬
peror had, on various pretences, refused to go into the
^, east j and in 1225, the pope, incensed at the loss of
HU quarrel Damietta, wrote a severe letter to him, taxing him
with the with having sacrificed the interests of Christianity by
liope. delaying so long the performance of his vow, and
threatening him with immediate excommunication if he
did not instantly depart with an army to Asia. Frede¬
ric, exasperated at these reproaches, renounced all cor¬
respondence with the court of Rome ; renewed his ec¬
clesiastical jurisdiction in Sicily •, filled up vacant sees
and benefices ; and expelled some bishops, who were
creatures of the pope, on pretence of their being con¬
cerned in practices against the state.
The pope at first threatened the emperor with the
thunder of the church, for presuming to lift up his
hand against the sanctuary j but finding Frederic not
to be intimidated, he became sensible of his own im¬
prudence in wantonly incurring the resentment of so
powerful a prince, and thought proper to soothe him
by submissive apologies and gentle exhortations. They
were accordingly reconciled, and conferred together at
Veroli in 1226,; where the emperor, as a proof of his
sincere attachment to the church, published some very
severe edicts against heresy, which seem to have autho¬
rised the tribunal of the inquisition. A solemn assembly
was afterwards held at Ferentino, where both the pope
and the emperor were present, together with John de
Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem, who was come to
Europe to demand succours against the soldan of
Egvpt. John had an only daughter named Yolanda,
whom he proposed as a wife to the emperor, with the
kingdom of Jerusalem as her dower, on condition that
Frederic should within two years perform the vow he
had made to lead an army into the Holy Land. Fre¬
deric married her on these terms, because he chose to
please the pope j and since that time the kings of Sicily
have taken the title of king of Jerusalem. But the em¬
peror was in no hurry to go and conquer his wife’s por¬
tion, having business of more importance on his hands
at home. The chief cities of Lombardy had entered
into a secret league, with a view to renounce his au¬
thority. He convoked a diet at Cremona, where all
the German and Italian noblemen were summoned to
attend. A variety of subjects were there discussed j
but nothing of consequence was settled. An accom¬
modation, however, was soon after brought about by
the mediation of the pope *, wiie, as umpire of the dis¬
pute, decreed, that the emperor should lay aside his
resentment against the confederate towns, and that the
towns should furnish and maintain 400 knights for the
relief of the Holy Land.
Peace being thus concluded, Honorius reminded
the emperor of his vow ; Frederic promised compli¬
ance : but his holiness died before he could see the exe¬
cution of a project which he seemed to have so much
at heart. He was succeeded in the papal chair by
Gregory IX. brother of Innocent III. 5 who, pur¬
suing the same line of policy, urged the departure of ]idly.
Frederic for the Holy Land j and finding the emperor
still backward, declared him incapable of the imperial
dignity, a? having incurred the sentence of excommu¬
nication. Frederic, incensed at such insolence, ravaged
the patrimony of St Peter 5 and was actually excom¬
municated. The animosity between the Guelphs and
Gihelines, revived j the pope was obliged to quit Rome ;
and Italy became a scene of war and desolation, or
rather of an hundred civil wars ; which, by inflaming
the minds and exciting the resentment of the Italian
princes, accustomed them but too much to the horrid
practices of poisoning and assassination.
During these transactions, Frederic, in order to re¬
move the cause of all these troubles, and gratify the
prejudices of a superstitious age, by the advice of his
friends resolved to perform his vow : and he accord-
ingly embarked for the Holy Land, leaving the affairs His espe-
of Italy to the management of Renaldo duke of Spo-Litton to
leto. The pope prohibited his departure before he should
he absolved from the censures of the church j but Fre¬
deric went in contempt of the church, and succeeded
better than any person who had gone before him. He
did not indeed desolate Asia, and gratify the barbarous
zeal of the times by spilling the blood of infidels j hut
he concluded a treaty with Miliden, soldan of Egypt,
and master of Syria, by which the end of his expedi¬
tion seemed fully answered. The soldan ceded to him
Jerusalem and its territory as far as Joppa 5 Beth¬
lehem, Nazareth, and all the country between Jerusa¬
lem and Ptolemais ; Tyre, Sidon, and the neighbour¬
ing territories : in return for which, the emperor grant¬
ed the Saracens a truce of ten years j and in 1230
prudently returned to Italy, where his presence was
much wanted.
Frederic’s reign, after his return from the east, was
one continued quarrel with the popes. The cities of
Lombardy had revolted during his absence, at the in¬
stigation of Gregory IX. •, and before they could be
reduced, the same pontiff excited the emperor’s son
Henrv, who had been elected king of the Romans, to
rebel against his father. The rebellion was suppressed,
the prince was confined, and the emperor obtained a
complete victory over the associated towns. But his
troubles were not yet ended. The pope excommuni¬
cated him anew, and sent a bull filled with the most
absurd and ridiculous language, into Germany, in or¬
der to sow divisions between Frederic and the princes
of the empire.
Frederic retorted in the same strain, in his apology
to the princes of Germany, calling Gregory t//e Great
Dragon, the Antichrist, &c. The emperor’s apology
was sustained in Germany ; and finding he had no¬
thing to fear from that quarter, he resolved to take
ample vengeance on the pope and his associates. For
that purpose he marched to Rome, where he thought
his party was strong enough to procure him admission $
hut this favourite scheme was defeated by the activity
of Gregory, who ordered a crusade to be preached
against the emperor, as an enemy of the Christian faith j
a step which incensed Frederic so much, that he or¬
dered all his prisoners who wore the cross to be ex¬
posed to the most cruel tortures. The two factions of
the Guelphs and Gihelines continued to rage with
greater violence than ever, involving cities, districts,
I T A
l T.a!y. ami even private families, in troubles, divisions, and ci-
vil butchery ; no quarter being given on either side.
Meanwhile Gregory IX. died, and was succeeded in
the see of Rome by Celestin IV. and afterwards by In¬
nocent IV. formerly Cardinal Fiesque, who had always
expressed the greatest regard for the emperor and his
interest. Frederic was accordingly congratulated upon
this occasion : but having more penetration than those
about him, he sagely replied, “ I see little reason to
rejoice ", the cardinal was my friend, but the pope will
be my enemy.” Innocent soon proved the justice ol
- denoted tllis conjecture. He attempted to negotiate a peace
y the for Italy ; but not being able to obtain from Frederic
lope* his exorbitant demands, and in tear for the safety of
his own person, he fled into France, assembled a ge¬
neral council at Lyons, and in 1245 deposed the em-
peror.
Conrad, the emperor’s second son, had already been
declared king of the Romans, on the death ot his bro-
' ther Henry, which soon followed his confinement; but
the empire being now declared vacant by the pope,
the German bishops (for none of the princes were pre¬
sent), at the instigation of his holiness, proceeded to
the election of a new emperor ; and they chose Heniy
landgrave of Thuringia, who was styled in derision,
The king of priests. Innocent now renewed the crusade
against Frederic. It was proclaimed by the preach-
ine friars, since called Dominicans, and the minor fri¬
ars. known by the name of Cordeliers or Franciscans.
The pope, however, did not confine himself to these
measures only, but engaged in conspiracies against the
life of an emperor who had dared to resist the decree of
a council, and oppose the whole body of the monks and
zealots. Frederic’s life was several times in danger
from plots, poisonings, and assassinations ; which indu¬
ced him, it is said, to make choice of Mahometan
guards, who, he was certain, would not be under the
influence of the prevailing superstition.
About this time the landgrave of Thuringia dying,
the same prelates who had taken the liberty of creating
one emperor made another; namely, William count ol
Holland, a young nobleman of 20 years of age, who
bore the same contemptuous title with his predecessor.
Fortune, which had hitherto favoured Frederic, seemed
now to desert him. He was defeated before Raima,
which he had long besieged ; and to complete his mis¬
fortune, he soon after learned, that his natural son En-
tius, whom he had made king of Sardinia, was worsted
and taken prisoner by the Bolognese.
In this extremity Frederic retired to his kingdom of
Naples, in order to recruit his army; and there died
of a fever in the year 1250. After his death, the
affairs of Germany fell into the utmost confusion, and
Italy continued long in the same distracted state in
which he had left it. The clergy took arms against the
laity; the weak were oppressed by the strong; and all
laws divine and human were disregarded. After the
death of Frederic’s son Conrad, who had assumed the
imperial dignity as successor to his father, and the death
of his competitor William of Holland, a variety of
candidates appeared for the empire, and several were
elected bv different factions ; among whom wa.-> Rich¬
ard earl'of Cornwall, brother to Henry II. king of
England: but no emperor was properly acknowledged
till the y-?ar 1273, when Rodolph, count of Hapsburg,
L Y. 3«7
was unanimously raised to the vacant throne. Dining Italy-
the interregnum which preceded the election of Ro- *
dolpb, Denmark, Holland, and Hungary, entlfe,y Decline of
freed themselves from the homage they were wont to tj.e ,)f,wer
pay to the empire ; and much about the same time se-of the Ger-
veral German cities erected a municipal form of go-man em-
vernment, which still continues. Lubec, Cologne,!
Brunswic, and Dantzic, united for their mutual de¬
fence against the encroachments of the great lords, by
a famous association, called the Hanseatic league $ and
these towns were afterwards joined by 80 others, be ¬
longing to different states, which formed a kind of
commercial republic. Italy also, during this period,
assumed a new plan of government. Ihat freedom for
which the cities ot Lombardy had so long struggled,
was confirmed to them for a sum of money: they were
emancipated by the fruits of their industry. Sicily like¬
wise changed its government and its prince ; of which
revolution a particular account is given under the arti¬
cle Sicily.
From the time of Frederic II. we may date the ruin
of the German power in Italy. The Florentines, the
Pisans, the Genoese, the Luccans, &c. became inde¬
pendent, and could not again be reduced. The power
of the emperor, in short, was in a manner annihilated,
when Henry A' II. undertook to restore it in the be¬
ginning of the 14th century. For this purpose a diet
was held at Francfort, where proper supplies being
granted for the emperor’s journey, well known by the
name of the Roman expedition, he set out for Italy, ac-Expedition
companied by the dukes of Austria and Bavaria, tlie
archbishop of Triers, the bishop of Liege, the counts
of Savoy and Flanders, and other noblemen, together
with the militia of all the imperial towns. Italy was
still divided by the factions of the Guelphs and Gibe¬
lines, who butchered one another without humanity or
remorse. But their contest was no longer the same : it
was not now a struggle between the empire and the
priesthood, but between faction and faction, inflamed
by mutual jealousies and animosities. Pope Clement V.
had been obliged to leave Rome, which was in the
anarchy of popular government. The Colonnas, the
Ursini, and the Roman barons, divided the city ; and
this division was the cause of a long abode of the popes
in France, so that Rome seemed equally lost to the
popes and the emperors. Sicily was in the possession
of the house of Arragon, in consequence of the famous
massacre called the Sicilian vespers, which delivered that
island from the tyranny of the French*. Carobert, * See Si-
king of Hungary, disputed the kingdom of Naples
with his uncle Robert, son of Charles II. of the house
of Aejou. The house of Este had established itself at
Ferrara ; and the Venetians wanted to make them¬
selves masters of that country. The old league of the
Italian cities no longer subsisted. It had been formed
with no other view than to oppose the emperors : and
since they had neglected Italy, the cities were wholly
employed in aggrandizing themselves, at the expence
of each other. The Florentines and the Genoese made
war upon the republic of Pisa. Every city was also
divided into factions within itself. In the midst of
these troubles Henry VII. appeared in Italy in the
year 1311* and caused himself to be crowned king cf
Lombardy at Milan. But the Guelphs had con¬
cealed the old iron crown ol the Lombard kings, as
3 C 2 if
3.88
ITALY.
69
State of
Italy since
ti’.at time
if the right of reigning were attached to a small cir¬
clet ol metal. Henry ordered a new crown to be
made, with which the ceremony of inauguration was
performed.
Cremona was the first place that ventured to oppose
the emperor. He reduced it by force, and laid it un¬
der heavy contributions. Parma, Vicenza, and Pla¬
centia, made peace with him on reasonable conditions.
Padua paid 100,000 crowns, and received an imperial
officer as governor. H lie Venetians presented Henry
with a large sum of money, an imperial crown of
gold enriched with diamonds, and a chain of very cu¬
rious workmanship. Brescia made a desperate rerist-
ance, and sustained a very severe siege ; in the course
of which the emperor’s brother was slain, and his
army diminished to such a degree, that the inhabitants
marched out under the command of their prefect
1 hibault de Drussati, and gave him battle : but they
were repulsed with great loss, after an obstinate en¬
gagement ; and at last obliged to submit, and their
city was dismantled. Prom Brescia Henry marched
to Genoa, where he was received with expressions of
joy, and splendidly entertained. He next proceeded
to Rome ; where, after much bloodshed, be received
the imperial crown from the bands of the cardinals.
Clement V. who had originally invited Henry into
Italy, growing jealous of his success, had leagued with
Kobert king of Naples and the Ursini faction, to op¬
pose his entrance into Rome. He entered it in spite
of them by the assistance of the Colonnas. Now ma¬
ster of that ancient city, Henry appointed it a gover¬
nor ; and ordered, that all the cities and states of Ita¬
ly should pay him an annual tribute. In this order be
comprehended the kingdom of Naples, to which he was
going to make good his claim of superiority by arms,
"hen he died at Benevento in 1313, as Is commonly
supposed, of poison given him by a Dominican friar, in
the consecrated wine of the sacrament.
The efFoits of Henry VII. were unable to restore the
imperial power in Italy. From this time the authority
of the emperor in that country consisted in a great mea¬
sure in the conveniency which the Gilielines found in
opposing their enemies under the sanction of his name.
The power of the pope was much of the same nature.
He was less regarded in Italy than in any other coun¬
try in Christendom. There was indeed a great party
who called themselves Guelphs; but they affected this
distinction only to keep themselves independent of the
imperialists ; and the states and princes who called
themselves Guelphs paid little more acknowledgment to
his holiness than sheltering themselves under his name
■and authority. The most desperate wars were carried
on by the different cities against each other ; and in
these wars Castruccio Castraccani, and Sir John Hawk-
wood an Englishman, are celebrated as heroes. A
detail oi these transactions would furnish materials for
many volumes \ and after all seems to be but of little
importance, since nothing material was effected by the
utmost efforts of valour, and the belligerent states were
commonly obliged to make peace without any advan¬
tage on either side. By degrees, however, this martial
spirit subsided j and in the year 1492, the Italians
were so little capable of resisting an enemy, that
Charles VIII. of France conquered the whole king¬
dom of Naples in six weeks, and might easily have sub-
5
clued the whole country had it not been for his own Italy,
imprudence. Another attempt on Italy was made by —v—
Eouis XII. and a third by Francis I. as related under
the article France. In the reigns of Louis XIII.
and XIV. an obstinate war was carried on between the
French and Spaniards, in which the Italian states bore
a very considerable share. The war concluded in 1660,
with very little advantage to the French, who have been
always unsuccessful in their Italian wars. The like
bad success attended them in that part of the world, in
the war which commenced between Britain and Spain
in the year 1740. But the particulars of these wars,
with regard to the different states of Italy, naturally
fall to be considered under the history of those states
into which the country is now divided ; viz. Sardinia,
Milan or the Milanese, Genoa, Venice, Tuscany or
Florence, Lucca, St Marino, Parma, Mantua, Mode¬
na, Rome, and Naples.
The air in Italy is very different, according to the Air, See. of
different situations of the several countries contained in Italy,
it. In those on the north of the Appenines it is more
temperate, but on the south it is generally very warm.
The air of the Campania of Rome, and of the Ferra-
rese, is said to be unhealthful j which is owing to the
lands not being duly cultivated, nor the marshes drain¬
ed. That of the other parts is generally pure, drv,
and healthy. In summer, the heat is very great in the
kingdom of Naples j and would be almost "intolerable,
if it was not somewhat alleviated by the sea breezes.
The soil of Italy in general is very fertile, being wa¬
tered by a great number of rivers. It produces a great
variety of wines, and the best oil in Europe j excellent
silk in abundance ; corn of all sorts, but not in such
plenty as in some other countries ; oranges, lemons,
citrons, pomegranates, almonds, raisins, sugar, mul¬
berry-trees without number, figs, peaches, nectarines,
apricots, pears, apples, filberts, chesnuts, &c. Most
of these fruits were at first imported by the Romans
from Asia Minor, Greece, Africa, and Syria, and
were not the natural products of the soil. The tender
plants are covered in winter on the north side of the
Apennines, but on the south side they have no need of
it. This country also yields good pasture ; and abounds
with cattle, sheep, goats, buffaloes, wild boars, mules,
and horses. The forests are well stored with game \
and the mountains yield not only mines of iron, lead,
alum, sulphur, marble of all sorts, alabaster, jasper,
porphyry, &c. but also gold and silver j with a great
variety of aromatic herbs, trees, shrubs, and evergreens,
as thyme, lavender, laurel, and bays, wild olive trees,
tamarinds, juniper, oaks, and pines.
A very extensive trade is carried on in many places
in Italy, particularly at Leghorn, Genoa, Bologna,
Venice, and Naples $ the country having a great va¬
riety of commodities and manufactures for exportation,
especially wine, oil, perfumes, fruits, and silks. Tra¬
vellers also bring large sums of money into Italv, be¬
sides what they lay out in pictures, curiosities, relics,
antiquities, &c.
The Italians are generally well proportioned, though Dr Js! dis-
their complexions are none of the best. As to dress,position,
they follow the fashions of the countries on whi<
border, or to which they are subject; namely, t
France, Spain, and Germany. With respect to their
genius and taste in architecture, painting, carving, and
music,
) they &c- ot the
ose of!nhfbi-
* l
PLATE CCLXXXV/f.
Published hi/ A. Constable A C‘! Edinburt/h. 18/9
ITALY.
lulv, music, tliey are thought to excel greatly, and to leave
—v— the other nations of Europe far behind them ; but
their music seems too soft and efteminate to deserve all
the praise bestowed on it; and their houses are far in¬
ferior to those of England in respect of convenience.
No country hath produced better politicians, histo¬
rians, poets, painters, and sculptors ; we mean since
the revival of the arts and sciences, exclusive of those
of ancient times. The Italians are very affable, cour¬
teous, ingenious, sober, and ready-witted ; but extreme¬
ly jealous, vindictive, lascivious, ceremonious, and su¬
perstitious. In respect to jealousy, indeed, it is said,
a very extraordinary change has taken place } and that
the Italians are now no less indulgent and complaisant
to their wives than the most polite husbands in France
itself. In their tempers, the Italians seem to be a good
medium between the French and Spaniards j neither so
gay and volatile as the one, nor so grave and solemn
as the other.
7,\- • Tlie extraordinary successes of the French in 1796,
[cvo ^0%^^ most of the Italian powers to a state of de¬
pendence on France. I he arrival of the Russians re¬
stored them to liberty for a little, but the battle of Ma¬
rengo again gave Italy to France. Naples was allow¬
ed to enjoyed a nominal independence till 1806, when
the king was expelled. From that period Italy was
in reality a province of Bonaparte’s empire, till she
was liberated by the arms of the allies in 1814* - 3
By a census taken under Bonaparte, the population PopuIatioB.
of Italy was found to be as under :
Naples, 4,963,000
The territories of Sardinia, 3,024,000
Eombardy and Venice 4,014,000
Ecclesiastical state 2,346,000
Tuscany 1,180,OOO
33arma, Placentia, and Guastalla 377,000
States of Modena 370,000
Lucca 138,000
Total
16,41 2,000
The agriculture, commerce, population, arts, &x. of
Italy, are fully discribed in the article Italy in the
Supplement.
I T H
. . ITCH, a cutaneous disease, appearing in small wa-
tery pustules on the skin ; commonly of a mild nature,
Ithaca, though sometimes attended with obstinate and dange-
—v—' rous symptoms. See Medicine Index.
Itch-Insect. See Acarus, Entomology Index.
In speaking of the manner of finding these insects
in the itch, Fabricius observes, that the failure of many
who have sought for them has been owing to their
having expected to meet with them in the larger ve¬
sicles that contain a yellowish fluid like pus j in these,
however, he tells us, he has never found them, but in
those pustules only which are recent, and contain only
a watery fluid. We must therefore, he observes, not
expect to find them in the same proportionate number
in patients who for many months have been afflicted
with the disease, as in those in whom its appearance is
recent, and where it is confined to the fingers or wrists.
The cause of this difference with respect to the pustules,
he conjectures, may be owing to the death of the insect
after it has deposited its eggs.
A small transparent vesicle being found, a very mi¬
nute white point, distinct from the surrounding fluid,
may be discovered, and very often even without the
assistance of a glass ; this is the insect, which may be
easily taken out on the point of a needle or penknife,
and when placed on a green cloth may be seen much
more distinctly, and observed to move. All this, we
must remark, probably depends on optical deception. ^
ITEA, a genus of plants belonging to the pentandria
class. See BOTANY Index.
ITHACA, in Ancient Geography, an island in the
Ionian sea, on the coast of Epirus ^ the country of
Ulysses, with a town and port situated at the foot of
Mount Neius. According to Pliny it is about 25 niiles
in compass j according to Artemidorus only 10 j and is
now found to be 17 miles long and four broad. See
Ionian isles, Supplement.
I T Z
ITINERARY, Itinerakium a journal, or an ac- Itinerary
count of the distances of places. The most remarkable If
is that which goes under the names of Antoninus and ^ze^“t.c"
JEthicus; or, as Barthius found in his copy, Antoninus , p0 ^ '** ,
JEthicus; a Christian writer, posterior to the times of
Constantine. Another, called Ilierosolymitanum, from
Bourdeaux to Jerusalem, and from Heraclea through
Aulona and Rome to Milan, under Constantine.—1 ti¬
ne rarium denotes a day’s march.
ITIUS portus, in Ancient Geography, the cruxgeo-
graphorum, such being the difficulty of ascertaining its
position. It would be endless to recite the several opi¬
nions concerning it, with the several reasons advanced
in support of them. Three ports are mentioned by
Cfesar j two without any particular name, viz. the
Higher and the Lower with respect to the Tortus
Itius. Calais, Boulogne, St Omer, and Whitsand,
have each in their turn had their several advocates.
Csesar gives two distinctive characters or marks which
seem to agree equally to Boulogne and Whitsand,
namely, the shortness of the passage, and the situation
between two other ports ; therefore nothing can with
certainty be determined about the situation of the
Tortus Itius.
ITYS, in fabulous history, a son of Tereus king of
Thrace, by Procne daughter of Pandion king of A-
thens. He was killed by his mother when he was
about six years old, and served up before his father.
He was changed into a pheasant, his mother into a
swallow, and his father into an owl.
ITZECUINTEPOTZOTLI, or Hunch-backed
Dog, a Mexican quadruped similar to a dog. It is
as large as a Maltesan dog, the skin of which is varied
with white, tawny, and black. The characteristic
mark is a great hunch which it bears from its neck to
its rump. This animal abounds most in the kingdom
of Michuacan.
ITZEHOA,.
Itzelioa
I!
J U A [ 39° 1 J U A
XTZEHOA, an ancient and handsome town of
Germany, in the circle of Lower Saxony, and duchy
ot Holstein. It belongs to the king of Denmark,
and is seated on the river Stoer, in E. Long. 9. 25.
N. Lat. 54. 8.
EVA, a genus of plants belonging to the monoecia
class ; and in the natural method ranking under the
4th order, Composite. See Botany Index.
IVAHAH is the name of a canoe of the South sea
islanders for short excursions to sea : it is wall-sided,
flat-bottomed, and of different sizes, from 72 feet to
10 : but their breadth is by no means in proportion ;
for those of ten feet are about a foot wide, and those
of more than 70 are scarcely two. The fighting ivahah
is the longest, with its head and stern considerably rai¬
sed. The fishing ivahahs are from 40 feet long to 10 j
those of 25 feet and upwards occasionally carry sail.
The travelling ivahah is always double, and furnished
with a small neat house.
JUAN DE Fuca, a strait on the north-west coast of
America, was surveyed by Captain Vancouver, and the
entrance of which be places in N. Lat. 48. 20. and
Long. 124. The object of this survey was to dis¬
cover a communication between the North Pacific and
North Atlantic oceans; but none of the inlets or chan¬
nels in this broken coast was found to extend more than
100 miles to the eastward of the entrance into the strait.
Thus it appeared, that the land forming the north
side of that strait is part, of an island, or of an archipe¬
lago, extending nearly ICO leagues in length from
south-east to north-west; and on the side of this land,
most distant from the continent, is situated Nootka
sound. The most peculiar circumstance of this navi¬
gation is the extreme depth of water, when contrasted
with the narrowness of the channels.
The people of Juan de Fuca are said to be well ac¬
quainted with the principles of trade, which they carry
on in a very fair and honourable manner. The commo¬
dities most prized by them are copper, fire-arms, and
great-coats. Their dresses, besides skins, are a kind of
woollen garments. According to Vancouver, the dogs
belonging to this tribe of Indians are numerous, resem¬
bling those of Pomerania, though larger in general. The
population even in the greatest towns or villages does
not exceed 600, and the smallpox is reckoned to be a
disease very fatal among them. Their method of dis¬
posing of their dead is singular. “ Baskets (says Van¬
couver) were found suspended on high trees, each con¬
taining the skeleton of a young child, in some of which
were also small square boxes filled with a kind of white
paste, resembling such as I had seen the natives eat,
supposed to be made of the saranne root: some of these
boxes were quite full; others were nearly empty, eaten
probably by the mice, squirrels, or birds.”
Juan, St, de la Frouter a, a town of South America,
in Chili, in the province of Chiquito, near the lake Gu-
anacho. The territory of this town is inhabited by
20,000 native Americans, who are tributary to Spain.
It contains mines of gold, and produces a kind of al¬
monds that are very delicate. It is seated at the foot
of the Andes, in W. Long. 66. 35. S. Lat. 23. 25.
JuAX de Porto Rico, an island of America, and one
of the Caribbees, being 100 miles in length and 50
in breadth. It belongs to the Spainiards; and is full
of very high mountains, and extremely fertile valleys,
3
interspersed with woods, and well watered with springs
and rivulets. It produces sugar, rum, ginger, corn
and fruits ; partly proper to the climate, and partly
introduced from Spain. Besides, there are so many
cattle, that they often kill them for the sake of the
skins alone. Here are a great number of uncommon
trees, and there is a little gold in the north part of the
island. It is commonly said that the air is healthy ;
and yet the earl of Cumberland, when he had taken
this island, lost most of his men by sickness ; and for
that i-eason was forced to abandon it. This happened
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is subject to storms
and hurricanes, like the rest of these islands. It lies to
the east of Hispaniola, at the distance of 50 miles.
Juan de Porto Rico, the capital town of the island
of Porto Bico, with a good harbour defended by se¬
veral forts, and a bishop’s see. It is seated on the
north coast of the island, in W. Long. 65. 35. N. Lat.
18. 30.
Juan Fernandc%, an island in the great South sea.
in S. Lat. 33. 40. and W. Long. 78. 30. from Lon¬
don. It was formerly a place of resort for the bucca¬
neers who annoyed the western coast of the Spanish
continent. They were led to resort hither from the
multitude of goats which it nourished ; to deprive their
enemies of which advantage, the Spaniards transported
a considerable number of dogs, which increasing great¬
ly, have almost extirpated the goats, who now only
find security among the steep mountains in the northern
parts, which are inaccessible to their pursuers. There
are instances of two men living, at different times,
alone on this island for many years ; the one a Mus-
quito Indian ; the other Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch¬
man, who was, after five years, taken on board an
English ship, which touched here in 1710, and
brought back to Europe. From the history of this
recluse, Daniel Defoe is said to have conceived the
idea of writing the Adventures of Bobinson Crusoe.
This island was very propitious to the remains of Com¬
modore Anson’s squadron in 1741, after having been
buffeted with tempests, and debilitated by ait invete¬
rate scurvy, during a three months passage round Cape
Horn : they continued here three months ; during
which time the dying crews, who on their arrival could
scarcely with one united effort heave the anchor, were
restored to perfect health. Captain Carteret, in the
Swallow, in 1767, having met with many difficulties
and impediments in his passage into the South sea,
by the straits of Magelhaens, attempted to make this
island in order to recruit the health of his men ; but
he found it fortified by the Spaniards, and therefore
chose rather to proceed to the island of Masafuero.
But M. de Bougainville that same year is said to have
touched here for refreshments, although in the narra¬
tive of the voyage the fact is cautiously suppressed.
This island is not quite 15 miles long and about six
broad; its only safe harbour is on the north side. It
is said to have plenty of excellent water, and to abound
with a great variety of esculent vegetables highly anti¬
scorbutic ; besides which, Commodore Anson sewed a
variety of garden-seeds, and planted the stones of
plums, apricots, and peaches, which he was many years
afterwards informed had thriven greatly; and* now
doubtless furnish a very valuable addition to the natu¬
ral productions of this spot. Vast shoals of fish of
various
J U B
[ 391 1
J U B
various kinds frequent this coast, particularly cod of
a prodigious sixe. There are but few birds here, and
those few are of species well known and common.
Juan Blanco, or TFhite Jack, a Spanish name for pla-
tina. See Platina, Chemistry Index. _
JUBA, a king of Numidia and Mauritania. He
bad succeeded his father Hiempsal, and he favoured the
cause of Pompey against Julius Caesar. He defeated
Curio whom Caesar had sent to Africa, and after the
battle of Phursalia he joined his forces to those of Sci-
pio. He was conquered in a battle at Thapsus, and
totally abandoned by his subjects. He killed himself
with Petreius, who had shared his good fortune and
his adversity, in the year of Rome 7°7* •^'3 k'nS"
dom became a Romaa province, of which Sallust was
the first governor.
Juba II. son of the former, was led among the cap¬
tives to Rome to adorn the triumph of Caesar. His
captivity was the source of the greatest honours, and
his application to study procured him more glory than
he would have obtained from the inheritance of a king¬
dom. He gained the hearts of the Romans by the
courteousness of his manners, and Augustus rewarded
his fidelity by giving him in marriage Cleopatra the
daughter of Antony, and conferring upon him the title
of king, and making him master of all the territories
which his father once possessed, in the year of Rome 723.
His popularity was so great, that the Mauritanians re¬
warded his benevolence by making him one of their
gods. The Athenians raised him a statue, and the
./Ethiopians worshipped him as a deity. Juba wrote an
history of Rome in Greek, which is often quoted and
commended by the ancients. Of it only few fragments
remain. He also wrote on the history of Arabia, and
the antiquities of Assyria, chiefly collected from Berosus.
Besides these, he composed some treatises upon the dra¬
ma, Roman antiquities, the nature of animals, painting,
grammar, &c. now lost.
JUBILEE, among the Jews, denotes every fiftieth
year; being that following the revolution of seven weeks
of years ; at which time all the slaves were made free,
and all lands reverted to their ancient owners. The ju¬
bilees were net regarded after the Babylonish captivity.
—The word, according to some authors, comes from
the Hebrew, johcl, which signifies fifty • but this must
be a mistake, for the Hebrew 'yz\',jobel, does not sig¬
nify fifty ; neither do its letters, taken as cyphers, or
according to their numerical powers, make that num¬
ber ; being 10, 6, 2, and 30, that is, 48.-—-Others
say, lUntjobel signifies a ram, and that the jubilee was
thus called, because proclaimed with a ram’s horn, in
memory of the ram that appeared to Abraham in the
thicket. Masius chooses to derive the word from Ju-
bal, the first inventor of musical instruments, which
for that reason, were called by his name ; whence the
words jobel mi] jubilee came to signify the year of deli¬
verance and remission, because proclaimed with the
sound of one of those instruments which at first was not
more than the horn of a ram. Others derive from
'\3.'',jahal in hiphil Van, hobil, which signifies to recal
or return ; because this year restored all slaves to their
liberty, &c. The institution of this festival is in Lev.
xxv, 8, 17.
The learned are divided about the year of jubilee j
some maintaining that it was every forty-ninth, and
others that it was every fiftieth, year. The ground of Jubilee;
the former opinion is chiefly this, that the forty-ninth w v
year being of course a sabbatical year, it the jubilee had
been kept on the fiftieth, the land must have had two
sabbaths, or have lain fallow two years, vvliic!
without
„ miracle, would have produced a dearth. On trie
other hand, it is alleged, that the Scripture expressly
declares for the fiftieth year, Lev. xxv. 10, II. And
besides, if the jubilee and sabbatical year bad been the
same, there would have been no need of a prohibition
to sow, reap, &o. because this kind of labour was pro¬
hibited by the law of the sabbatical year, Lev. xxv. 4, 5.
The authors of the Universal History, book i. chap. 7.
note R, endeavour to reconcile these opinions, by ob¬
serving, that as the jubilee began in the first month of
the civil year, which was the seventh of the ecclesias¬
tical, it might he said to he either the forty-ninth or
fiftieth, according as one or other of these computations
was followed. The political design of the law of tiie
jubilee was to prevent the too great oppressions of the
poor, as well as their being liable to perpetual slavery.
By this means a kind of equality was preserved through
all the families of Israel, and the distinction of tribes
was also preserved, that they might be able, when there
was occasion, on the jubilee-year, to prove their right
to the inheritance of their ancestors. It served also,
like the Olympiads of the Greeks, and the Lustra of
the Romans, for the readier computation of time. The
jubilee has also been supposed to be typical of the gos¬
pel state and dispensation, described by Isaiah, Ixi. vev.
X, 2. in reference to this period, as the “ acceptable
year of the Lord.”
Jubilee, in a more modern sense, denotes a grand
church solemnity or ceremony, celebrated at Rome,
wherein the pope grants a plenary indulgence to all sin¬
ners ; at least to as many as visit the churches of St
Peter and St Paul at Rome.
The jubilee was first established by Boniface VJI. in
1300, in favour of those who should go ad hmina <ipo-
tslolorum; and it was only to return every hundred
years. But the first celebration brought in such store
of wealth to Rome, that the Germans called this Lie
golden year; which occasioned Clement VI. in I343»
to reduce, the period of the jubilee to fifty years. Ur¬
ban VI. in 1389, appointed it to be held every thirty-
five years, that being the age of our Saviour; ana
Paul II. and Sixtus IV. in 1475, brought it down to
every twenty-five, that every person might have the
benefit of it once in his life. Boniface IfV. granted
the privilege of holding jubilees to several princes and
monasteries : for instance, to the monks of Canterbury,
who had a jubilee every fifty years; when people
flocked from all parts to visit the tomb of Thomas ?i
Becket. Jubilees are now become more frequent, and
the pope grants them as often as the church or himself
have occasion for them. There is usually one at the
inauguration of a new pope. To be entitled to the pri¬
vileges of the jubilee, the bull enjoins fastings, alms,
and prayers. It gives the priests a full power to absolve
in all cases, even those otherwise reserved to th| pope ;
to make commutations of vows, &c. in which it dif¬
fers from a plenary indulgence. During the time of ju¬
bilee, all other indulgences are suspended.
One of our kings, vix. Edward III. caused his birth
day to be observed in manner of a jubilee, when he
became
Jaiiaism.
■J U D [ 392 ]
Jabliee became fifty years of age* in 1362, but never before or Jews,
after. This he did by releasing prisoners, pardoning
all oflences except treason, making good laws, and
granting many privileges to the people.
There are particular jubilees in certain cities, when
several of their feasts fall on the same day j at Puy en
Velay, for instance, when the feast of the Annuncia¬
tion happens on Good-IYiday j and at Lyons when
the feast of St John Baptist concurs with the feast of
Corpus Christi.
In 1640, the Jesuits celebrated a solemn jubilee at
Borne j that being the centennary or hundredth year
from their institution j and the same ceremony was ob¬
served in all their houses throughout the world.
JUCA1 AN, or Aucatan, a large province of
New Spain in North America, which is a peninsula.
It lies opposite to the island of Cuba, and contains
abundance ot timber, proper for building ships j as
also sugar, cassia, and Indian corn. The original in¬
habitants are few, they having been very ill used by
the Spaniards. Merida is the capital town. It is a
flat level country ; and is very unhealthy, which may
be owing to the frequent inundations.
JUDAH, the fourth son of Jacob, and father of
the chief of the tribes of the Jews, distinguished by
his name, and honoured by giving birth to the Messiah,
died 1636 B. C.
Judah Hakkadosk, or the Saint, a rabbi celebrated
for his learning and riches, lived in the time of the
emperor Antoninus, and was the friend and preceptor
of that prince. Leo of Modena, a rabbi of Venice,
tells us, that Rabbi Judah, who was very rich, collected
about 26 years after the destruction of the temple, in
a book which he called the Misnia, the constitutions
and traditions of the Jewish magistrates who preceded
him. But as this book was short and obscure, two
Babylonish rabbis, Rabbina and Ase, collected all the
interpretations, disputes, and additions, that had been
made until their time upon the Misnia, and formed the
book called the Babylonish Talmud or Getnara ; which
is preferable to the Jerusalem Talmud, composed some
years before by Rabbi Jochanan of Jerusalem. The
Misnia is the text of the Talmud j of which we have a
good edition in Hebrew and Latin by Surenhusius,
with notes, in 3 vols folio. It were to be wished the
same had been done to the Gemara.
The Kingdom of Judah was of small extent compar¬
ed with that of the kingdom of Israel ; consisting on¬
ly of two tribes, Benjamin and Judah : its east boun¬
dary, the Jordan •, the Mediterranean its west, in com¬
mon with the Danites, if we except some places reco¬
vered by the Philistines and others taken by the kings
bf Israel ; on the south, its limits seem to have been
contracted under Hadad of the royal progeny of Edom,
(1 Kings xi. 14.).
Tribe oj Judah, one of the 12 divisions of Palestine
by tribes (Josh, xv.), having Idumea on the south,
from the extremity of the Lacus Asphaltites, also the
Wilderness of Zin, Cadesbarnea, and the brook or river
of Egypt j on the east, the said lake; on the west the
Mediterranean; and on the north, the mouth of the
said lake ; where it receives the Jordan, Bethsemes,
Thimna, quite to Ekron on the sea.
JUDAISM, the religious doctrines and rites of the
J U D
Judaism was but a temporary dispensation, and
w as to give w^ay, at least the ceremonial part of it, at
the coming of the Messias. For a complete system of
Judaism, see the books of Moses. Judaism was an¬
ciently divided into several sects; the principal where-
ol were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenians.
At present there are two sects among the Jews, vii.
the Caraites, who admit of no rule of religion but the
law written by Moses ; and the Rabbinists, who add
to the law the traditions of the Talmud.
JUDAS Maccabeus, a celebrated general of the
Jews, renowned for his many victories over his enemies,
at last slain in battle, 261 B. C. See (History of the'J
Jews, N° 13.
JuDAs-Tree. See Cercis, Botany Index.
JUDE, St, brother of St James the younger, and
son of Joseph (Mat. xiii. 55,). He preached in Meso¬
potamia, Arabia, Syria, Idumea; and died in Berytus
for the confession of Christ. He wrote that epistle
which goes under his name, and after the death of most
of the apostles. He was cruelly put to death for re¬
proving the superstition of the Magi.
Jude, or the General epistle of Jude, a canonical
book of the New Testament, written against the here¬
tics, who, by their disorderly lives and impious doc¬
trines, corrupted the faith and good morals of the Chri¬
stian. St Jude draws them in lively colours, as men
given up to their passions, full of vanity, conducting
themselves by worldly wisdom, and not by the spirit of
God.
JUDEA, in Ancient Geography, taken largely, either
denotes all Palestine, or the greater part of it; and thus
it is generally taken in the Roman history : Ptolemy,
Rutilinus, Jerome, Origen, and Eusebius, take it for
the whole of Palestine. Here we consider it as the third
part of it on this side the Jordan, and that the south¬
ern part is distinct from Samaria and Galilee : under
which notion it is often taken, not only in Josephus,
but also in the New Testament. It contained four
tribes; Judah, Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon, toge¬
ther with Philistia and Idumea ; so as to be compri¬
sed between Samaria on the north, Arabia Petrsea on
the south, and to be bounded by the Mediterranean
on the west, and by the lake Asphaltites, with part
of Jordan, on the east. Josephus divides it into II to-
parchies ; Pliny into 10 ; by which it has a greater
extent than that just mentioned. See Palestine.
JUDENBURG, a considerable town of Germany,
in the circle of Austria, and capital of Upper Stiria,
with a handsome castle ; the public buildings are a
castle, a college, and two convents. It is seated on
the river Meur. E. Long. 14. 25. N. Lat. 47. 10.
JUDEX, Matthew, one of the principal writers
of the Centuries of Magdeburg, was born at Tipples-
wolde in Misnia, in 1528. He taught theology with
great reputation ; but met with many disquiets in the
exercise of his ministry from party-feuds. He wrote
several works and died in 1564.
JUDGE, a chief magistrate of the law, appointed to
hear causes, to explain the laws, and to pass sentence.
Judges, in Jewish antiquity, certain supreme ma¬
gistrates who governed the Israelites from the time of
Joshua till the reign of Saul. These judges resembled
the Athenian archons or Roman dictators. The dig¬
nity
J U D
[ 393 1
J U D
JuJgCS,
Judge¬
ment;
nity of judge was for life, but not always in uninter¬
rupted succession. God himself, by some express de¬
claration of bis will, regularly appointed the judges :
But the Israelites did not always wait for his appoint¬
ment, but sometimes chose themselves a judge in times
of danger. The power of the judges extended to af¬
fairs of peace and war. They were protectors of the
laws, defenders of religion, avengers of all crimes ;
but they could make no laws, nor impose any new bur¬
dens upon the people. They lived without pomp or re¬
tinue, unless their own fortunes enabled them to do it ;
for the revenues of their office consisted in voluntary
presents from the people. They continued from the
death of Joshua till the beginning of the reign of haul,
being a space of about 339 years.
Judges, for ordinary affairs, civil and religious,
were appointed by Moses in every city to terminate
differences j in affairs of greater consequence, the dif¬
ferences were referred to the priests of Aaron s family,
and the judge of the people or prince at that time
established. Moses likewise set up two courts in all
the cities, one consisting of priests and Levites, to de¬
termine points concerning the law and religion j the
other consisting of heads of families, to decide in civil
matters.
Book of Judges, a canonical book of the Old Testa¬
ment, so called from its relating to the state of the_ Is¬
raelites under the administration of many illustrious
persons who were called jur/ges, from being both the ci¬
vil and military governors of the people, and who were
raised up by God upon special occasions, after the death
of Joshua, till the time of their making a king. In the
time of this peculiar polity, there were several remark¬
able occurrences, which are recorded in this book. It
acquaints us with the gross impiety of a new genera¬
tion which sprung up after the deatli of Joshua j and
gives us a short view of the dispensations of heaven to¬
wards this people, sometimes relieving and delivering
them, and at others severely chastising them by the
hands of their enemies.
Select Judges (Judices selecti), in Antiquity, were
persons summoned by the praetor to give their verdict
in criminal matters in the Roman courts, as juries, do
in ours. No person could be regularly admitted into
this number till he was 25 years of age. The Sortitio
Judicum, or impannelling the jury, was the office of
the Judex Questionis, and was performed after both par¬
ties were come into court, for each had a light to le-
ject or challenge whom they pleased, others being sub¬
stituted in their room. The number of the Judices se-
lecti varied, according to the nature of the charge.
When the proper number appeared, they were sworn,
took their places in the subsellia, and heard the trial.
JUDGEMENT, among logicians, a faculty or ra¬
ther act of the human soul, whereby it compares its
ideas, and perceives their agreement or disagreement.
See Metaphysics \ and Logic, Part II.
Judgement, in Law, is the sentence pronounced by
the court upon the matter contained in the record.
Judgements are of four sorts. First, where the facts are
confessed hy the parties, and the law determined by
the court •, as in case of judgement upon demurrer: se¬
condly, where the law is admitted by the parties, and
the, facts disputed •, as in the case ol judgement on.rer-
dict: thirdly, where both the fact and the law arising
Vol. XI. Part I. t
jHdjiC-
ineiit.
thereon are admitted by the defendant j which is the
case of judgements by confession or default: or,, lastly, i ^
where the plaintiff is convinced that either fact, or
law, or both, are insufficient to support his action,
and therefore abandons or withdraws his prosecution j
which is the case in judgements upon a nonsuit or re¬
traxit.
The judgement, though pronounced or awarded by
the judges, is not their determination or sentence, but
the determination and sentence of the law. It is the
conclusion that naturally and regularly follows from
the premisses of law and fact, which stands thus : A-
gainst him who hath rode over my corn, I may recover
damages by law : but A hath rode over my corn ;
therefore I shall recover damages against A. If the
major proposition be denied, this is a demurrer in law :
if the minor, it is then an issue of fact : but if both be
confessed or determined to be right, the conclusion
or judgement of the court cannot but follow. Which
judgement or conclusion depends not therefore on the
arbitrary caprice of the judge, but on the settled and
invariable principles of justice. I he judgement, in
short, is the remedy prescribed by law for the redress
of injuries j and the suit or action is the vehicle or
means of administering it. What that remedy may be,
is indeed the result of deliberation and study to point
out j and therefore the style of the judgement is, not
that it is decreed or resolved by the couit, for then the
judgement might appear to be their own ; but, “ it is
considered,” considevatum est per curiam, that the
plaintiff do recover his damages, his debt, his posses¬
sion, and the like : which implies that the judgement
is none of their own j but the act of law, pronounced
and declared by the court, after due deliberation and
inquiry. See Blackst. Comment, iii. 39^’
Judgement, in criminal cases, is the next stage of
prosecution, after trial and conviction are past, in
such crimes and misdemeanors as are either too higli
or too low to be included within the benefit of clergy.
For when, upon a capital charge, the jury have
brought in their VERDICT guilty in the presence of the
prisoner j he is either immediately, or at a convenient
time soon after, asked by the court, if he has any
thing to offer why judgement should not be awarded
against him? And in case the defendant be found guil¬
ty of a misdemeanor (the trial of which may, and does
usually, happen in his absence, after he has once ap¬
peared), a capias is awarded and issued, to bring him
in to receive his judgement j and if he absconds, he
may be prosecuted even to outlawry. But whenever he
appears in person, upon either a capital or inferior con¬
viction, he may at this period, as well as at his arraign¬
ment, offer any exceptions to the indictment, in arrest
or stay of judgement: as for want of sufficient certainty
in setting forth either the person, the time, the place,
or the offence. And if the objections be valid, the
whole proceedings shall be set aside ; but the party may
be indicted again. And we may take notice, I. That
none of the statutes of jeofails, for amendment of er¬
rors, extend to indictments or proceedings in criminal
cases j and therefore a defective indictment is not aid¬
ed by a verdict, as defective pleadings in civil cases are.
2. That, in favour of life, great strictness has at all
times been observed, in every point of an indictment.
Sir Matthew Hale indeed complains, “ that this strict-
3 D ness
J U D [ 394 ] J U D
Judiifrarnt. ness is grown to be a blemish and inconvenience in the
-Y——' law, and the administration thereof: for that more of¬
fenders escape by the over-easy ear given to excep¬
tions in indictments, than by their own innocence j
and many times gross murders, burglaries, robberies,
and other heinous and crying offences, remain un¬
punished by these unseemly niceties: to the reproach
of the law, to the shame of the government, to the
encouragement of villany, and to the dishonour of
God.” And yet, notwithstanding this laudable zeal,
no man was more tender ot lite than this truly excel¬
lent judge.
A pardon also may he pleaded in arrest of judge¬
ment ; and it has the same advantage when pleaded
here as when pleaded upon ARRAIGNMENT j viz. the
saving the ATTAINDER, and, of course, the CORRUP¬
TION of blood : which nothing can restore but parlia¬
ment, when a pardon is not pleaded till after sentence.
And certainly, upon all accounts, when a man hath
obtained a pardon, he is in the right to plead it as soon
as possible. See Pardon.
Praying the benefit of clergy may also be ranked
among the motions in arrest of judgement. See Benefit
of Clergy.
If all the resources fail, the court must pronounce
that judgment which the law hath annexed to the
crime. Of these some are capital, which extend to the
life of the offender, and consist generally in being hang¬
ed by the neck till dead j though in very atrocious
Crimes other circumstances of terror, pain, or disgrace,
are superadded : as, in treasons of all kinds, being
drawn or dragged to the place of execution j in high
treason affecting the king’s person or government, em-
bowelling alive, beheading, and quartering $ and in
murder, a public dissection. And in case of any
treason committed by a female, the judgment is to be
burned alive. But the humanity of the PLnglish nation
has authorized, by a tacit consent, an almost general
mitigation of such parts of these judgements as savour
of torture or cruelty : a sledge or hurdle being usually
allowed to such traitors as are condemned to be drawn'}
and there being very few instances (and those acciden¬
tal or by negligence) of any person’s being embowel-
led or burned, till previously deprived of sensation by
strangling. Some punishments consist in exile or ba¬
nishment, by abjuration of the realm, or transpor¬
tation beyond the seas: others, in loss of liberty,
by perpetual or temporary imprisonment. Some ex¬
tend to confiscation, by forfeiture of lands, or move¬
ables, or both, or of the profits of lands for life: others
induce a disability of holding offices or employments,
being heirs, executors, and the like. Some, though
rarely, occasion a mutilation or dismembering, by cut¬
ting off the hand or ears : others fix a lasting stigma
on the offender, by slitting the nostrils or branding in
the hand or face. Some are merely pecuniary, by sta¬
ted or discretionary fines : and, lastly, there are others
that consist principally in their ignominy, though most
of them are mixed with some degree of corporeal
pain } and these are inflicted chiefly for such crimes
as either arise from indigence, or render even opu¬
lence disgraceful. Such as whipping, hard labour in
the house of correction, the pillory, the stocks, and the
ducking-stool.
Disgusting as this catalogue may seem, it will afford
5
pleasure to a British reader, and do honour to the Bri- Judgement
tish laws, to compare it with that shocking apparatus of ||
death and torment to be met with in the criminal codes -Indicium,
of almost every other nation in Europe. And it is
moreover one of the glories of our law, that the na¬
ture, though not always the quantity or degree, of
punishment is ascertained for every offence } and that
it is not left in the breast of any judge, nor even of a
jury, to alter that judgement which the law has be¬
forehand ordained for every subject alike, without re¬
spect of persons. For if judgements were to be the
private opinions of the judge, men would then be
slaves to their magistrates ; and would live in society,
without knowing exactly the conditions and obliga¬
tions which it lays them under. And, besides, as
this prevents oppression on the one hand } so, on
the other, it stifles all hopes of impunity or mitiga¬
tion, with which an offender might flatter himself if
his punishment depended on the humour and discretion
of the court. "Whereas, where an established penalty
is annexed to crimes, the criminal may read their
certain consequence in that law, which ought to be
the unvaried rule, as it is the inflexible judge, of his
actions.
Judgement of God. See Judicium Det.
JUDICATURE, the quality or profession of those
who administer justice.
Judicature is also used to signify the extent of the
jurisdiction of the judge, and the court wherein he sits
to render justice.
JUDICIA CENTUMVIRALIA, in Roman antiquity,
were trials before the Centwnviri, to whom t\\eprector
committed the decision of certain matters of inferior
nature, like our justices of peace at the quarter ses¬
sions. During the judicia centumviralia, a spear was
stuck up in the forum, to signify that the court was sit¬
ting.
JUDICIUM CALUMNL®, was an action brought
against the plaintiff for false accusation. The punish¬
ment, upon conviction, was invstiofrontis, or branding
in the forehead. See InUSTIO.
Judicium Dei, Judgment of God, was a term anci¬
ently applied to all extraordinary trials of secret crimes}
as those by arms, and single combat} and the ordeals,
or those by fire, or red-hot ploughshares, by plung¬
ing the arm in boiling water, or the whole body in
cold water } in hopes God would work a miracle, rather
than suffer truth and innocence to perish. Si super de-
jendere non possit,judicio Dei soil, aqua velferro,fierct
de eo justitia.—These customs were a long time kept up
even among Christians} and they are still in use in some
nations. See Battel, Ordeal, &c.—Trials of this
sort were usually held in churches in presence of the
bishops, priests, and secular judges } after three days
fasting, confession, communion, and many adjurations
and ceremonies described at large by Du Cange.
Judicium Barium denotes a trial by a man’s equals, .
i. e. of peers by peers, and of commoners by com¬
mons. In tnagna charta it is more than once insisted
on as the principal bulwark of our liberties, hut especi¬
ally by chap. 29. that no freeman shall he hurt in ei¬
ther his person or property, nisi per legale judicium pa«
rium suorum velper legem terree. And this was even
esteemed in all countries a privilege of the highest and
most beneficial nature.
, Judicium
JUG
[ 395 1
JUG
Judicium Falsi, was an action which lay against the
judges for corruption or unjust proceedings.
Judicium Prcevaricationis, was an action brought
against the prosecutor, after the criminal was acquit¬
ted, for suppressing the evidence of, or extenuating his
guilt, rather than urging it home, and bringing it to
^JUDOIGNE, a town in the kingdom of the Nether¬
lands, in Brabant. Near this town the duke^of Marl¬
borough gained that signal victory over the French in
1706, called the battle of Ramillies. It is seated on
river Gete, 13 miles south-east of Louvain, and 16
north of Namur. , . .
IVEACH, the name of two baronies of Ireland, in
the county of Down, and province of Ulster. They
are distinguished into Upper and Lower Iveach, and
the former is by much the largest barony in that coun¬
tv. The name of Iveach, or Hij Veach, is said to be
taken from Achaius, in Irish called Eachach, grand-la¬
ther to King Coalbpaig, as much as to say “ the terri¬
tory of Eachach •” for %, in the Irish language, is a
common adjective, denoting not only the heads and
founders of families, hut also the territories possessed by
them. Iveach (including both baronies) was otherwise
called Magennts>s countnj, and in Queen Elizabeth s
time was governed by Sir Hugh Magennis, esteemed
to have been one ot the most polite of all the natives in
those parts. Through part ot this barony runs a chain
of mountains considerably high, known by the name of
Iveach mountains.
LUERNUS, in Ancient Geography, a town in the
gouth-west ot Ireland. Now Dunkevam, (Camden) ,
called Uonekyne by the natives, situated on the river
M aire, in the province of Munster.
Iuernus, or lERNUS (Ptolemy), a river in the south¬
west of Ireland. Now called the Maine, or Kenmare,
running from east to west, in the province of Munster.
IVES, St, a sea-port town of Cornwall in England,
seated on a bay of the same name ; which is chiefly
frequented by fishermen, for the taking ol pilchards.
By this trade, and that ot Cornish slates, it has thiiven
greatly. It is a corporation, governed by a mayor,
recorder, &c. and it sends two members to parlia¬
ment. Here is a handsome spacious church, and a
grammar-school, which was founded by Charles I. Po~
pulation 3281 in 1811. # ,
Ives, St, is also the name of a town in Huntingdon¬
shire, 64 miles from London. It has a tine stone bridge
over the Ouse, had in the ninth century a mint, and
was noted for its medicinal waters. Gieat part of it
was burnt down some years ago, but it was rebuilt.
Here is a very good market on Monday for fatted cat¬
tle brought from the north. Here Oliver Cromwell
rented farm before he was chosen a burgess for
Cambridge. Population 2426 in 1811.
JUGERUM, in Roman antiquity, a square of 1 20
Roman feet its proportion to the English acre being
as 10.000 to 16.097.
JUGGLERS, a kind of people whose profession has
not been often deemed either respectable 01 useful.
Vet Professor Beckmann defends them, and pleads
ably the cause of the practisers of legerdemain, in the
third volume of his History ot Inventions, including
rope-dancers, and such as exhibit teats of uncommon
strength. He places all these under the general deno¬
mination of jugglers ■, and taking it for granted that Juggler*
every useful employment is full, he contends that there I!
would not be room on the earth for all its present in- ,
habitants, did not some of them practise the art of
juggling.
“ These arts, he observes, are not unprofitable, for
they afford a comfortable subsistence to those who prac¬
tise them, which they usually spend upon the spot, and
this he considers as a good reason why their stay in a
place ought to be encouraged. He is also of opinion
that if the arts of juggling served no other end than
to amuse the most ignorant of our citizens, it is proper
that they should be encouraged, for the sake of those
who cannot enjoy the more expensive deceptions of an
opera. They convey instruction in the most acceptable
manner, and serve as an antidote to superstition. We
scarcely think, however, that it is innocent to entice
the labouring poor, by useless deceptions, to part with
their hard-earned pittance to idle vagabonds, whose
life cannot be comfortable, which is passed amidst scenes
of the most grovelling dissipation.
Juggling is certainly of very great antiquity. The
deception of breathing out flames was practised by
some of the slaves in Sicily about 150 years before the
commencement of the Christian sera. It is, however,
practised in modern times with much greater dexterity.
The ancients made use of naphtha, a liquid mineral
oil, which kindles when it only approaches a flame.
According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great was as¬
tonished and delighted with the secret effects of naph¬
tha, which were exhibited to him at Ecbatana. "Won¬
der has been excited in modern times by persons who
could walk over burning coals or red-hot iron, which
is easily done bv rendering the skin of the feet callous
and insensible, so that the nerves under it are secured
from injury. W^e are told by Beckmann, that the
Hirpi, who dwelt near Rome, jumped through burning
coals $ that women were accustomed to walk over burn¬
ing coals at Castabala, near the temple dedicated to
Diana; that the exhibition of balls and cups is often
mentioned in the works of the ancients ; and that the
various feats of horsemanship exhibited in our circuses
passed, in the 13th century, from Egypt to the Byzan¬
tine court, and thence over all Europe.
JUGLANS, the WrALNUT, a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the polyandria class; and in the natural method
ranking under the 5^^* order, Anientacece. See Bo¬
tany Index.
JUGORA, a considerable province of Muscovy, de¬
pending on the government ot Archangel. It has the
title of a duchy ; and is inhabited by a kind of Tartars,
who are very savage, and much of the same disposition
with the Samoiedes.
JUGULAR, among anatomists, is applied to certain
veins and glands of the neck. See Anatomy.
JUGULARES, in theLinnsean system, is the name
of an order or division of fish, the general character of
which is, that the ventral fins are placed before the
pectoral. See ICHTHYOLOGY Index.
JUGUM, an humiliating mode of punishment in¬
flicted by the victorious Romans upon their vanquished
enemies. It was thus : I hey set up two spears, and lay¬
ing a third across, in the form of a gallows, they order¬
ed those who had surrendered themselves to pass under
this ignominious erection, without arms or belts. None
2 D 2 suffered
J u I [ 396 ] J U I
suffered this disgrace of passing sub jugo but such as
had been obliged to surrender.
JUGURTHA, the illegitimate son of Manastabal
the brother of Micipsa. Micipsa and Manastabal were
the sons of Masinissa king of Numidia. Micipsa, who
had inherited his father’s kingdom, educated his ne¬
phew with his two sons Adherbal and Hiempsal; but
as he saw that the former was of an aspiring disposition,
he sent him with a body of troops to the assistance of
Scipio, who was besieging Numantia, hoping to lose a
youth whose ambition seemed to threaten the tranquil¬
lity of his children. His hopes were frustrated j Ju-
gurtha showed himself brave and active, and he en¬
deared himself to the Roman general. Micipsa ap¬
pointed him successor to his kingdom with his two
sons j but the kindness of the father proved fatal to the
children. Jugurtha destroyed Hiempsal, and stripped
Adherbal of his possessions, and obliged him to fly to
Rome for safety. The Romans listened to the well-
grounded complaints of Adherbal} but Jugurtha’s gold
prevailed among the senators, and the suppliant mo¬
narch, forsaken in his distress, perished by the snares
of his enemy. Caecilius Metellus was at last sent a-
gainst Jugurtha j and his firmness and success soon re¬
duced the crafty Numidian, obliging him to fly among
his savage neighbours for support. Marius and Sylla
succeeded Metellus, and fought with equal success.
Jugurtha was at last betrayed by his father-in-law Boc-
chus, from whom he claimed assistance j and he was
delivered into the hands of Sylla 106 years before the
Christian era. He was exposed to the view of the
Roman people, and dragged in chains to adorn the
triumph of Marius. He was afterwards put in a pri¬
son, where he died six days after of hunger.
IVICA, or Yvica, the name of an island in the Me¬
diterranean. See Yvica.
JUICE, denotes the sap of vegetables, or the li¬
quors of animals. See Anatomy, Blood, Plants,
Sap, &c.
The juices of several plants are expressed to obtain
their essential salts, and for several medicinal purposes,
with intention either to be used without further prepa¬
ration, or to be made into syrups and extracts. The
general method of extracting these juices is, by pound¬
ing the plant in a marble mortar, and then by putting
it into a press. Thus is obtained a muddy and green
liquor, which generally requires to be clarified, as we
shall soon observe. The juices of all plants are not
extracted with equal ease. Some plants, even when
fresh, contain so little juice, that water must be added
while they are pounded, otherwise scarcely any juice
would be obtained by expression. Other plants, which
contain a considerable quantity of juice, furnish by
expression but a small quantity of it, because they con¬
tain also much mucilage, which renders the juice so
viscid that it cannot flow. Water must also be added
to these plants to obtain their juice. The juices thus
obtained from vegetables by a mechanical method, are
not, properly speaking, one of their principles, but
rather a collection of all the proximate principles of
plants which are soluble in water ; such as the sapona¬
ceous extractive matter, the mucilage, the odoriferous
principle, all the saline and saccharine substances; all
which are dissolved in the water of the vegetation of
3
the plants. Besides all these matters, the juice con¬
tains some part of the resinous substance, and the green '
colouring matter, which in almost all vegetables is of
a resinous nature. These two latter substances, not
being soluble in water, are only interposed between the
parts of the other principles which are dissolved in the
juice, and consequently disturb its transparency. They
nevertheless adhere together in a certain degree, and
so strongly in most juices, that they cannot be separa¬
ted by filtration alone. When therefore these juices
are to be clarified, some previous preparations must be
used by which the filtration may be facilitated. Juices
which are acid, and not very mucilaginous, are spon¬
taneously clarified by rest and gentle heat. The juices
of most antiscorbutic plants abounding in saline vola¬
tile principles, may be disposed to filtration merely
by immersion in boiling water; and as they may be
contained in close bottles, while they are thus heated
in a water bath, their saline volatile part, in which
their medicinal qualities chiefly consist, may thus be
preserved. Fermentation is also an effectual method of
clarifying juices which are susceptible of it; for all li¬
quors which have fermented, clarify spontaneously af¬
ter fermentation. But this method is not used to cla¬
rify juices, because many of them are susceptible of on¬
ly an imperfect fermentation, and because the qualities
of most of them are injured by that process. The me¬
thod of clarification most generally used, and indispen¬
sably necessary for those juices which contain much
mucilage, is boiling with the white of an egg. This
matter, which has the property of coagulating in
boiling water, and of uniting with mucilage, does ac¬
cordingly, when added to the juice of plants, unite
with and coagulate their mucilage, and separates it
from the juice in form of scum, together with the
greatest part of the resinous and earthy matters which
disturb its transparency. And as any of these resi¬
nous matters which may remain in the liquor, after this
boiling with the whites of eggs, are no longer retain¬
ed by the mucilage, they may easily be separated by
filtration.
The juices, especially before they are clarified, con¬
tain almost all the same principles as the plant itself ;
because in the operation by which they are extracted,
no decomposition happens, but every thing remains, as
to its nature, in the same state as in the plant. The
principles contained in the juice are only separated from
the grosser oily, earthy, and resinous parts, which com¬
pose the solid matter that remains under the pres*.
These juices, when well prepared, have therefore the
same medicinal qualities as the plants from which they
are obtained. They must evidently differ from eaclr
other as to the nature and proportions of the principles
with which they are impregnated, as much as the plants
from which they are extracted differ from each other
in those respects.
Most vegetable juices coagulate when they are ex¬
posed to the air, whether they are drawn out of the
plant by wounds, or naturally run out; though what
is called naturally running out, is generally the effect of
a wound in the plant, from a sort of canker, or some
other internal cause. Different parts of the same plant
yield different juices. The same veins in their course
through the different parts of the plant yield juices of
a.
Juice.
J U I
[ 397 1
J U I
Thus the jmce in the root of
brimstone colour j but in the
a different appearance.
' the cow-parsnep is ot a
stalk it is white. ,
Among those juices of vegetables which are clammy
and readily coagulate, there are some which readily
break with a whey. The great wild ‘ettuce, with the
smell of opium, yields the greatest plenty of milky juice
of any kno^n British plant. When the stalk is wound
ed with a knife, the juice flows out readily like a thick
cream, and is white and ropy ; but if these wounds aie
made at the top of the stalks, the juice that flows out
of them is dashed with a purple tinge, as if cream had
been sprinkled over with a few drops of red wine.
Some little time after letting this out, "j be^"ieS ;
more purple, and thickens; and finally, the thicker
part of it separates, and the thin whey swims at top.
The whey or thin part of this separated matter is easi¬
ly pressed out from the curd by squeezing between the
fingers, and the curd will then remain white; and on
washing with water it becomes like rags. Ihe purple
whey (for in this is contained all the colour) soon dries
into a purple cake, and may be crumbled between the
fingersPintoa powder of the same colour. The white
curd being dried and kept for some time becomes hard
and brittle. It breaks with a shining surface like resin,
and is inflammable; taking fire at a candle, and burn¬
ing all away with a strong flame. I he same thick pai t
being held over a gentle heat, will draw out into tough
long threads, melting like wax. The purple cake made
from the whev is quite difierent from this; and when
held to a candle scarce flames at all, but burns to a
black coal. The whole virtue of the plant seems also
to consist in this thin part of its juice: for the coagu-
lum or curd, though looking like wax or resin has no
taste at all; whereas the purple cake made from the
serum is extremely bitter, and of a taste somewhat le-
sembling that of opium. .
Of the same kind with the wild lettuce are the
throatwort, spurge, and many other plant*. iese
are all replete with a milky juice which separates into
curds and whey like that already described. But this,
though a common law of nature, is not universal ; or
there are many plants which yield the like nn ky
iuices without any reparation ensuing upon their ex¬
travasation. The white juice of the sonchus never se¬
parates, but dries into an uniform cake: the common
red wild poppy bleeds freely with a milky juice : and
the heads or capsules of seed bleed not less freely than
the rest of the plant, even after the flower is fallen.
This juice, on being received into a shell or other small
vessel, soon changes its white to a deep yellow colour,
and dries into a cake which seems resinous and oily,
hut no whey separates from it. The tragopogon or
.roatVbeard, when wounded, bleeds freely a milky
jiiice* it is at first white, hut becomes immediately
yellow, and then more and more red, till at length it
is wholly of a dusky red. It never separates, but
dries together into one cake; and is oily and resinous,
but of an insipid taste. The great bindweed also bleeds
freely a white juice; the flowers, as well as the stalks
and leaves, affording this liquor. It is of a sharp taste ;
and as maiy of the purging plants are of this class, it
would be worth trying whether tins milk is not pur¬
gative.
These juices, as well as the generality of others
which bleed from plants, are white like milk but
there are some of other colours. The juice oi the
great celandine is of a fine yellow colour; it flows
from the plant of the thickness of cream, and soon
dries into a hard cake, without any whey separating
from it. Another yellow juice is yielded by the seed-
vessels of the yellow centaury in the month of July,,
when the seeds are full grown. This is very clammy ;
it soon hardens altogether into a cake without any
whey separating from it. It sticks to the fingers i 'e
birdlime, is of the colour of pale amber, and wnl ne¬
ver become harder than soft wax if dried in the shade;
hut if laid in the sun, it immediately becomes hard like
resin. These cakes burn like wax, and emit a very
pleasant smell. The great angelica also yields a yel¬
lowish juice on being wounded ; and this will not har¬
den at all, hut if kept several years will still be soft
and clammy, drawing out into threads or hall melted
resin. .. ,
Another kind of juices very different from all these,
are those of a gummy nature. Some of these remain
liquid a long time, and are not to be dried without
the assistance of heat; and others very quickly harden
of themselves, and are not inflammable. The gum of
the juice of rhubarb leaves soon hardens; and is after¬
wards soluble in common water, and sparkles when put
into the flame of a candle. The clusters of the com¬
mon honeysuckle are full of a liquid gum. This they
frequently throw out, and it falls upon the leaves,
where it retains its own form. The red hairs oi t.ie
ros soils are all terminated by large bladders of a thin
watery fluid. This is also a liquid gum; it sticks to
the fingers, draws out into long threads, and stands the
force of the sun all day. In the centre of each ot these
dew-drops there is a small red bladder, which stands
immediatelv on the summit of the red hair, and con*
tains a purple juice which may he squeezed out oi it.
The pinguicula, or butterwort, has also a gummy
matter on its leaves in much greater quantity than the
ros solis. # , f
Some plants yield juices which are manifestly ot an
oily nature. These, when rubbed, are not at all oi a
clammy nature, but make the fingers glib and slippery,
and do not at'all harden on being exposed to the air,
If the stalk of elecampane be wounded, there A®™3
out an oily juice swimming upon a watery one. /Ibe
stalks of the hemlock also afford a similar oily liquor
swimming upon the other; and in like manner the
white mullein, the berries of ivy, the bay, jumper,
doa-berry tree, and the fruit of the olive, when wound¬
ed’show their oil floating on the watery juice. Some
of these oily juices, however, harden into a kind of
resin. Our ivy yields such a juice very abundantly;
and the juice of the small purple-berried juniper is of
the same kind, being hard aad fat, and not very gum¬
my. If the hark of the common ivy is wounded m.
March, there will ooze out a tough and greasy matter
of a yellowish colour, which, taken up between the
fingers, feels not at all gummy or sticking, but melts
in handling into a sort of oil, which in process of
time hardens and crusts upon the wounds, and looks
like brown sugar. It burns with a lasting flame, and
smells very strong. The tops of the wild lettuce, ane
Juice.
J U L [ 398 ] J U L
Juice the leaves growing near the tops, if examined with a
tj magnifying glass, show a great number of small blad-
Juhiui. jei-g or 0f an 0i|y juice of a brownish colour, har-
v dening into a kind of resin •, they are easily wiped oft'
when of any size, and are truly an oily juice a little
hardened. It is probable, also, that the fine blue flour
or powder, called the bloom, upon the surface of our
common plums, is no other than such an oily juice exu-
dating from their pores in small particles, and harden¬
ing into a sort of resin.
JUJUBES, in the Materia Medico, the name of a
Fruit of the pulpy kind, produced on a tree which Lin¬
naeus makes a species of rhamnus. See RhamNus.
The jujubes have been made a general ingredient in
pectoral decoctions •, but they are now seldom used on
these occasions, and are scarce at all heard of in pre¬
scription, or to be met with in our shops.
JUL, or Jol, a Gothic word signifying a “ sumptu¬
ous treat 5” and particularly applied to a religious festi¬
val first among the heathens and afterwards among
Christians. By the latter it was given to Christmas j
which is still known under the name of lul, or Yool, in
Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden ; nay, even
in the north of Britain, and whence the month of Ja-
nuarins by the Saxons was styled Giuli, i. e. “ the Fes¬
tival.” As this feast had originally been dedicated by
our heathen ancestors to the sun, their supreme deity *,
so the Christians, for the purpose of engaging the minds
of their Ethnic (gentile) brethren, ordered it should be
celebrated in memory of the birth of Christ : and thus
it has been through ages a feast of joy and entertain¬
ment, We are indebted to Procopius for the first ac¬
count of this feast.
JULEP, in Pharmacy, a medicine composed of some
proper liquor and a syrup or sugar, ol extemporaneous
preparation, without decoction, bee MATERIA Me-
DICA Index.
JULIAN, the famous Roman emperor, styled the
Apostate, because he professed the Christian religion
before he ascended the throne, but afterwards openly
embraced Paganism, and endeavoured to abolish Chris¬
tianity. He made no use of violence, however, for
this purpose j for he knew that violent measures had
always rendered it more flourishing: he therefore be¬
haved with a polite mildness to the Christians •, recal¬
led all who had been banished on account of religion
under the reign of Constantins ; and undertook to per¬
vert them bv his caresses, and by temporal advantages
and mortifications covered over by artful pretences:
but he forbade Christians to plead befoie courts of
justice, or to enjoy any public employments. He even
prohibited their teaching polite literature j well know¬
ing the great advantages they drew from profane au¬
thors in their attacks upon Paganism and irreligion.
Though he on all occasions showed a sovereign con¬
tempt for the Christians, whom he always called Gali¬
leans, yet he was sensible of the advantage they ob¬
tained by their virtue and the purity of their manners :
and therefore incessantly proposed their example to the
Pagan priests. At last, however, when he found that
all other methods failed, he gave publio employments
to the most cruel enemies of the Christians, when the
cities in most of the provinces were filled with tumults
and seditions, and many of them were put to death :
Though it has been pleaded by Julian’s apologists, that Jaijaj,
the behaviour of the Christians furnished sufficient pre- v—*
tence for most of his proceedings against them, and
the animosities among themselves furnished him with
the means j that they were continually prone to sedi¬
tion, and made a merit of insulting the public worship j
and, finally, that they made no scruple of declaring,
that want of numbers alone prevented them from en-
gaging in an open rebellion. Historians mention, that
Julian attempted to prove the falsehood of our Lord’s
prediction with respect to the temple of Jerusalem $
and resolved to have that edifice rebuilt by the Jews,
about 300 years after its destruction by Titus : but
all their endeavours served only the more perfectly to
verify what had been foretold by Jesus Christ j for the
Jews, who had assembled from all parts to Jerusalem,
digging the foundations, flames of fire burst forth and
consumed the workmen*. However, the Jews, who*seej5.
were obstinately bent on accomplishing that work, twiokin.
made several attempts j but it is said, that all who en¬
deavoured to lay the foundation perished by these
flames, which at last obliged them entirely to abandon
the work. Julian being mortally wounded in a battle
with the Persians, it is said, that he then catched in
his hand some of the blood which flowed from his
wound j and throwing it towards heaven, cried, “ Thou
Galilean has conquered.” But notwithstanding this
popular report, Theodoret relates, that Julian disco¬
vered a different disposition j and employed bis last mo¬
ments in conversing with Maximus the philosopher
on the dignity of the soul. He died the following
night, aged 32. For a particular account of his reign
and exploits, see {History of) Constantinople, N° 7.
33—66.
No prince was ever more differently represented by
different authors j on which account it is difficult to
form a true judgment of his real character. It must,
however, be acknowledged, that he was learned, libe¬
ral, temperate, brave, vigilant, and a lover of justice :
but, on the other hand, he had apostatised to Paga¬
nism j was an enemy to the Christian religion j and
was, in fact, a persecutor, though not of the most san¬
guinary class. We have several of his discourses or ora¬
tions-, some of his letters; a treatise intitled Misopogon,
which is a satire on the inhabitants of Antioch ; and
some other pieces, all written in an elegant style. rlhey
were published in Greek and Latin by Father Petau tn
1630 in quarto; and of which Spanheimius gave a fine
edition in folio in 1696. His most famous work was
that composed against the Christians, of which there
are some fragments in Cyril’s refutation of it.
Julian Period, in Chronology, a period so called, as
being adapted to the Julian year.
It is made to commence before the creation of the
world. Its principal advantage lies here, that the same
years of the cycles of the sun, moon, and indiction, of
which three cycles it was made to consist by Joseph Sea-
liger in 1580, belonging to any year of this period,
will never fall together again till after the expiration of
7980 years. There is taken for the first year of this
period that which hath the first of the cycle of the sun,
the first of the cycle of the moon, and the first of the
indiction cycle, and so reckoning on.
The first year of the Christian era is always, in our
systems
If* linn
U L
the 4714th
systems of chronology
riod. ‘ ,
To find what year of the Julian period any given
year of Christ answers to : To the given year of Christ
add 4713, because so many years of the Julian period
were expired A. D. 1 j and the sum gives the year of
the Julian period sought. . .
On the contrary, having the year of the Julian period
given, to find what year of Christ answers thereto: trom
the year of the Julian period given subtract 4713* and
the remainder will be the year sought. . .
Julian, St, a harbour on the south of Patagonia, in
South America, where ships usually touch that are
bound to the South seas. S. Lat. 48. 15.
JULIERS, a duchy in the circle of Westphalia, m
Germany, seated between the rivers Maese and Khme,
now forming part of the Prussian province of the Low¬
er Rhine. It is about 60 miles long, and 30 broad*,
has a superficial extent of 1600 square miles, with
200,000 inhabitants, and is a very plentiful country,
abounding in cattle, corn, and fine meadows and is
well supplied with wood *, but it is most remarkable tor
a fine breed of horses, and vvoad for dyeing, which is
gathered here in abundance. The chief ar^Ju"
liers, Aix-la-Chapelle, Duren, Munster-Lifel, Bedbur,
Wefinburgh, and Lasteren. It was transferred from
France to Prussia in 1815.
Juliers, a city, capital of the duchy of Jimers in
Westphalia ; some think this city was founded by Ju¬
lius Caesar or Julia Agrippina *, but this is much ques¬
tioned by others, because it is not mentioned before
Antoninus’s Itinerary and Theodosius’s 1 ables. Ihe
town is small, but well fortified, and neatly built *, the
houses are of brick, and the streets broad and regular.
The citadel is large and very strong, contaming a pa¬
lace of the ancient dukes and a spacious piazza. In
the suburbs there is a monastery ot Carthusians, no 1 y
endowed by several dukes of Juliers. The town con¬
tains 2150 inhabitants, and there is a fine woollen
manufactury in this country, and likewise another ot
linen. It was taken by Prince Maurice of Nassau
in 1610, and by the Spaniards in 1622. It >s seat¬
ed on the river Roer, in E. Long. 6. 18. N. Lat. 50.
^JULIO Romano. See Romano.
JULIUS Calsar. See CalSar.
Julius II. Julian de la Uovere, pope, remarkable for
his warlike disposition, and his political negociations ;
by the latter, he engaged the principal powers of Eu¬
rope to league with him against the republic of Venice,
called the league of Cambray, signed in 1508. The
Venetians having purchased peace by the cession ofpart
of Romania, Julius turned his arms against Louis XII.
king of Prance, and appeared in person armed cap-a-
pee at the siege of Mirandola 5 which place, he took
by assault in 1511. But proceeding to excommunicate
Louis, the king wisely turned his own weapons against
him, by calling a general council at Pisa : at which
the pope refusing to appear, was declared to be suspend¬
ed from the holy see*, and Louis, in his turn, excom¬
municated the pope, who died soon after m 1512. He
built the famous church of St Peter at Rome, and was
a patron of the polite arts.
Julius Vicus, in Ancient Geography, a town ot the
[ 399 3 J U N
of the Julian pe- Nemetes in Gallia Belgica; situated between the Tre» Julio, Vi-
Tabern0e and Noviomagus. Now Gemersheim, a town
of the Lower Palatinate, on the west side ot the Rhine.
E. Long. 15. 8. N. Lat. 49. 12.
Julius Pollux, See Pollux.
IULUS, a son of Ascanius, born in Lavinium. In
the succession to the kingdom of Alba, ./Eneas Sylvius,
the son of ./Eneas and Lavinia, was preferred to him.
He was, however, made chief priest.
Iulus, a genus of insects of the order aptera. See
Entomology Index.
JULY, the seventh month of the year; during
which the sun enters the sign Leo. The word is de¬
rived from the Latin Julius, the surname of C. Caesar
the dictator, who was born in it. Mark Antony first
gave this mouth the name July, which before was call¬
ed Qjuintilis, as being the fifth month of the year in
the old Roman kalendar established by Romulus, which
began in the month of March. For the same reason,
August was called Sextilis; and September, October,
November, and December, still retain the name of
their first rank.
Qucb sequitur, numero turbo notatasuo. OviD.Past.
On the 19th day of this month the dog-days are
commonly supposed to begin j when, according to
Hippocrates and Pliny, the sea boils, wine turns sour,
dogs go mad, the bile is increased and irritated, and all
animals decline and languish.
July-Floivers. See Dianthus, Botany Index.^
JUMIEGE, a town of Normandy in France, and in
the territory of Caux, with a celebrated Benedictine
abbey. It is seated on the river Seine, in E. Long,
o. 55. N. Lat. 49. 25.
JUNCI lafidei, the name given by old authors to
a species of coral, of the tubularia kind, and composed
of a congeries of small tubules. See Iubularia,
Helminthology Index.
JUNCTURE, a joint or closing of two bodies.
See Joint.
Juncture, in Oratory, is a part of composition
particularly recommended by Quintilian, and denotes
such an attention to the nature of the vowels, conso¬
nants, and syllables, in the connection of words, with
regard to their sound, as will render their pronunciation
most easy and pleasant, and best promote the harmony
of the sentence. Thus the coalition of two vowels,
occasioning a hollow and obscure sound, and like¬
wise of some consonants, rendering it harsh and rough,,
should be avoided : nor should the same syllable be
repeated at the beginning and end of words, because
the sound becomes hereby harsh and unpleasant.—
The following verse in Virgil’s /Eneid is an example
of juncture.
Arma virumque cam, Trojce quiprimus ah oris.
JUNCUS, the Rush, a genus of plants belonging to
the hexandria class $ and in the natural method rank¬
ing under the 5th order, Tripetaloideee. See Botany
Index. . .
JUNE, the sixth month of the year, during which
the sun enters the sign of Cancer. The word cornea
irona
J U N [ 400 ] J U N
from tire Latin Junius, which some derive d Junone.
Ovid, in the 6th of his Fasti, makes the goddess say,
Junius a nostro nomine nomen habet.
Others rather derive it a juniorihus, this being for young
people as the month of May was for old ones.
Junius est juvenum ; quifuit ante senum.
In this month is the summer solstice.
JUNGERMANNIA, a genus of plants of the na¬
tural order of algte, and belonging to the cryptogamia
class. See Botany Index.
JUNGIA, a genus of plants belonging to the synge-
nesia class. See Botany Index.
JUNIPERUS, the Juniper Tree ; a genus of
plants belonging to the monoecia class j and in the na¬
tural method ranking under the 51st order, Coniferce.
See Botany Index.
JUNIUS, Adrian, one of the most learned men of
the age in which he lived, was born at Hoorn in Hol¬
land in 1511. He travelled into all parts of Europe,
and practised physic with reputation in England, where,
among other works, he composed a Greek and Latin
Lexicon, to which he added above 6500 words j an
Epithalamium on the marriage of Queen Mary with
King Philip of Spain; Animadversa et de Coma
Commentarius, which is the most applauded of all his
works. He died in I575*
Junius, Francis, professor of divinity at Leyden,
was born at Bourges in 1545, of a noble family, and
studied some time at Lyons. Bartholomew Aneau,
who was principal of the college in that city, gave him
excellent instructions with regard to the right method
of studying. He was remarkable for being proof
against all temptations to lewdness; but a libertine so
far overpowered him by his sophistry, that he made
him an atheist: however, he soon returned to his first
faith ; and, averse as he was to unlawful love, he had
no aversion to matrimony, but was married no less
than four times. He was employed in public affairs
by Henry IV.; and at last was invited to Leyden to
be professor of divinity ; which employment he dis¬
charged with honour, till he was snatched away by the
plague in 1602. Lu Pin says, he was a learned and
judicious critic. He wrote, in conjunction with Em¬
manuel Tremellius, a Latin version of the Hebrew text
of the Bible. He also published Commentaries on a
great part of the Holy Scriptures; and many other
works, all in Latin.
Junius, Francis or Francis du Jon, the son of the
preceding, was born at Heidelberg in 1589. He at
first designed to devote himself to a military life ; but
after the truce concluded in 1609, he applied himself
entirely to study. He came to England in 1620, and
lived 30 years in the earl of Arundel’s family. He was
greatly esteemed not only for his profound erudition,
but also for the purity of his manners ; and was so pas¬
sionately fond of the study of the northern languages,
that being informed there were some villages in Fries¬
land where the ancient language of the Saxons was pre¬
served, he went and lived two years in that country.
He returned to England in 1675 ; and after spending
a year at Oxford, retired to Windsor, in order to visit
Vossius, at whose house he died in 1677. The univer¬
sity of Oxford, to which he bequeathed his manuscripts,
erected a very handsome monument to his memory. He ju •
wrote, I. F)e Pictura Vetcrum, which is admired by all []
the learned ; the best edition of it is that of Rotterdam Junonalia.
in 1694. He published the same work at London in'"■""v——'
English. 2. An explication of the old Gothic manu¬
script, called the Silver one, because the four Gospels
are there written in silver Gothic letters ; this was pub¬
lished with notes by Thomas Mareschal or Marshal.
3. A large commentary on the Harmony of the four
Gospels by Tatian, which is still in manuscript. 4. A
Glossary in five languages, in which he explains the
origin of the Northern languages ; published at Oxford
in 1745, in folio, by Mr Edward Lee.
JUNK, in sea language, a name given to any rem¬
nants or pieces of old cable, which is usually cut into
small portions, for the purpose of making points, matts,
gaskets, sennit, &c.
JUNO, in Pagan worship, was the sister and wife of
Jupiter, and the goddess of kingdoms and riches; and
also styled \\\e queen of heaven : she presided over mar¬
riage and childbirth, and was represented as the daugh¬
ter of Saturn and Rhea. She married Jupiter ; but was
not the most complaisant wife : for according to Homer,
that god was sometimes obliged to make use of all his
authority to keep her in due subjection; and the same
author observes, that on her entering into a conspiracy
against him, he punished her by suspending her in the
air with two anvils fastened to her feet, and golden
manacles on her hands, while all the other deities look¬
ed on without a possibility of helping her. However,
her jealousy made her frequently find opportunities of
interrupting her husband in the course of his amours ;
and prompted her to punish with unrelenting fury Eu-
ropa, Semele, lo, Latona, and the rest of his mistres¬
ses. Jupiter himself having conceived without any
commerce with a female, Juno, in revenge, conceived
Vulcan by the wind, Mars by touching a flower point¬
ed out to her by the goddess Flora, and Hebe by eating
greedily of lettuces.
Juno, as the queen of heaven, preserved great state :
her usual attendants were Terror and Boldness, Castor,
Pollux, and 14 nymphs ; but her most faithful attend¬
ant was the beautiful Iris, or the rainbow. Homer
describes her in a chariot adorned with precious stones,
the wheels of which were of ebony, and which was
drawn by horses with reins of gold. But she is more
commonly painted drawn by peacocks. She was repre¬
sented in her temple at Corinth, seated on a throne,
with a crown on her head, a pomegranate in one hand,
and in the other a sceptre with a cuckoo on its top.
This statue was of gold and ivory.
Some mythologists suppose that Juno signifies the
air : others, that she was the Egyptian Isis ; who
being represented under various figures, was by the
Greeks and Romans represented as so many distinct
deities.
JUNONALIA, a festival observed by the Romans
in honour of Juno. It was instituted on account of
certain prodigies that happened in Italy, and was cele¬
brated by matrons. In the solemnity two white cows
were led from the temple of Apollo into the city
through the gate called Carmentalis, and two images of
Juno, madeof cypress, were borne in procession. Then
marched 27 girls, habited in long robes, singing a
hymn to the goddess; then came the decemviri, crown-
!i unonalia
II
Jupiter.
[ 4°i
This ters
J U P
cd with laurel, in vestments edged with purple,
pompous company, going through the Vicus Jirganus,
had a dance in the great field of Rome •, from thence
they proceeded through the Forum Boarium to the
temple of Juno, where the victims were sacrificed by
the decemviri, and the cypress images were left stand¬
ing. This festival is not mentioned in the fasti ot
Ovid, but is fully described by Livy, lib. vii. dec. 3.
The hymn used upon the occasion was composed by
Livius the poet.
JUNTO, in matters of government, denotes a select
council for taking cognizance of affairs of great conse¬
quence, which require secrecy.
In Spain and Portugal, it signifies much the same
with convention, assembly, or board, among us : thus
we meet with the junto of the three estates, of com¬
merce, of tobacco, &c. See Board, See.
IVORY, in Natural History, &c. a hard, solid, and
firm substance, of a white colour, and capable of a very
good polish. It is the tusk of the elephant-, and is
hollow from the base to a certain height, the cavity
being filled up with a compact medullary substance,
seeming to have a great number of glands in it. _ It is
observed, that the Ceylon ivory, and that of the island
of Achem, do not become yellow in the wearing, as
all other ivory does ; for this reason the teeth of these
places bear a larger price than those of the coast of
Guinea.
Hardening, Softening, and Staining oj IVORY, bee
Bones and Horns. t
JUPITER, the supreme god of the ancient Pagans.
The theologists, according to Cicero, reckoned up thiee
Jupiters ; the first and second of whom were born in
Arcadia : of these two, the one sprang from iPJher,
the other from Coelus. The third Jupiter was the son
of Saturn, and born in Crete, where they pretended
to show his sepulchre. Cicero in other places speaks
of several Jupiters who reigned in different countries.
The Jupiter, by whom the poets and divines under¬
stand the supreme god, was the son of Saturn king of
Crete. He would have been devoured by his father
as soon as born, had not his mother Rhea subsituted a
stone instead of the child, which Saturn immediately
swallowed. Saturn took this method to destroy all his
male children, because it had been foretold by Ccelus
and Terra, that one of his sons should deprive him of
his kingdom. Jupiter, being thus saved from his fa¬
ther’s jaws, was brought up by the Curetes in a den
on Mount Ida. Virgil tells us, that he was fed by
the bees j out of gratitude for which, he changed them
from an iron to a golden colour. Some say, that his
nurses were Amalthaea and Melissa, who gave him
goats milk and honey} and others, that Amalthsea
was the name of the'goat which nourished him, and
which, as a reward for her great services, was chan¬
ged into a constellation. According to others, he was
fed by wild pigeons, who brought him ambrosia from
Oceanus j and by an eagle, who carried nectar in his
beak from a steep rock : for which he rewarded the
former, by making them the foretellers of winter and
summer ; and the last by giving him immortality, and
making him his thunderbearer. When grown up, he
drove his father out of heaven, and divided the em¬
pire of the world with his brothers. For himself, he
had heaven and earth. Neptune had the sea and wa-
Vol. XI. Part II. f
]
j u P
and Pluto hell. The Titans undertook to des¬
troy Jupiter, as he had done his father. Jhese Titans
were giants, the sons of Iitan and the Earth. I hey
declared war against Jupiter, and heaped mountains
upon mountains, in order to scale heaven : but their
efforts were unsuccessful, Jupiter overthrew them with
his thunder, and shut them up under the waters and
mountains, from which they were not able to get
out.
Jupiter had several wives : the first of whom, named
Metis, he is said to have devoured when big with child,
by which he himself became pregnant j and Minerva
issued out of his head, completely armed and fully
grown. His second was Themis ; the name of his
third is not known ; his fourth was the celebrated Ju¬
no, whom he deceived under the form of a cuckoo,
which to shun the violence of a storm fled for shelter to
her lap. He was the father of the Muses and Graces ;
and had a prodigious number of children by his mis¬
tresses. He metamorphosed himself into a satyr to en¬
joy Antiope •, into a bull, to carry off Europa j into
a swan, to abuse Leda j into a shower of gold, to cor¬
rupt Danae and into several other forms to gratify
his passions. He had Bacchus by Semele, Diana and
Apollo by Latona, and was the father of Mercury and
the other gods.
The heathens in general believed that there was but
Jupiter.
one supreme God but when they considered this one
great being as influencing the affairs of the world,
they gave him as many different names : and hence
proceeded their variety of nominal gods. When he
thundered or lightened, they called him Jupiter i when
he calmed the sea, Neptune; when he guided their
councils, Minerva; and when he gave them strength
in battle, Mars. In process of time they used differ¬
ent representations of this Jupiter, &c. and considered
them, vulgarly at least, as so many different persons.
They afterward regarded each of them in different
views : e. g. The Jupiter that showered down blessings
was called the Kind Jupiter; and when punishing, the
Terrible Jupiter. There was also one Jupiter for Eu¬
rope, and another for Africa and in Europe, there
was one great Jupiter who was the particular friend of
the Athenians, and another who was the special pro¬
tector of the Romans j nay, there was scarce a. town
or hamlet perhaps, in Italy, that had not a Jupiter of
its own: and the Jupiter of Terracina or Jupiter
Anxur, represented in medals as young and beardless,
with rays round his head, more resembled Apollo than
the great Jupiter at the Capitol. In this way Jupiter
at length had temples and different characters almost
everywhere : at Carthage, he was called Ammon ; m
Egypt, Serapis; at Athens, the great Jupiter was
the Olympian Jupiter -, and at Rome the greatest Ju¬
piter was the Capitoline Jupiter, who was the guar¬
dian and benefactor of the Romans, and whom they
called the “ best and greatest Jupiter Jupiter optimus
maximus. The figure of this Jupiter was represented
in his chief temple on the Capitoline hill, as sitting on
a curule chair ; with the fulmen or thunder, or rather
lightning in one hand, and a sceptre in the other.
This fulmen in the figures of the old artists was al¬
ways adapted to the character under which they were
to represent Jupiter. If his appearance was to be
mild and calm, they gave him the comic fulmen or
3 £ bundle
L
j u p r 402 ] j u r
Jupit»r. burnlle of flames wreathed close together, held down
     in his hand : When punishing, he holds up the same
figure, with two transverse darts of lightning, some¬
times with wings added to each side of it, to denote
its swiftness 5 this was called by the poets the three¬
forked bolt of Jove : and when he was going to do
some exemplary execution, they put in his hand a
handful of flames, all let loose in their utmost fury
and sometimes filled both his hands with flames. The
superiority of Jupiter was principally manifested in that
air of majesty which the ancient artists endeavoured to
express in his countenance: particular attention was
paid to the head of hair, the eyebrows, and the beard.
There are several heads of the mild Jupiter on ancient
seals j where his face has a mixture of dignity and ease
in it, admirably described by Virgil, JEn. i. ver. 256.
The statues of the Terrible Jupiter were generally of
black marble, as those of the former were of white:
> the one sitting with an air of tranquillity j the other
standing, more or less disturbed. The face of the one
is pacific and serene j of the other angry or clouded.
On the head of the one the hair is regular and com¬
posed ; in the other it is so discomposed, that it falls
half way down the forehead. The face of the Jnpiter
Tonans resembles that of the Terrible Jupiter; he is
represented on gems and medals as holding up the
triple bolt in bis right band, and standing in a chariot
which seems to be whirled on impetuously by four
horses. Thus he is also described by the poets. Ovid,
Deian. Here. v. 28.; Horace, lib. i. od. 4. v. 8. Jupi¬
ter, as the intelligence presiding over a single planet, is
represented only in a chariot and pair: on all other oc¬
casions, if represented in a chariot, he is always drawn
by four horses. Jupiter is well known as the chief ruler
of the air, whose particular province was to direct the
rains, the thunders, and the lightnings. As the dis¬
penser of rain, he was called Jupiter Pluvius; under
which character he is exhibited seated in the clouds,
holding up his right hand, or extending his arms almost
in a straight line each way, and pouring a stream of
hail and rain from his right hand upon the earth ;
whilst the fulmen is held down in his left. The wings
that are given him relate to his character of presiding
over the air : his hair and beard in the Antonine pillar
are all spread down by the rain, which descends in a
sheet from him, and falls for the refreshment of the Ro¬
mans ; whilst their enemies are represented as struck
with the lightnings, and lying dead at their feet.
Some consider a great part of the fable of Jupiter to
include the history of Noah and his three sons ; and
that Saturn is Noah, who saw all mankind perish in
the waters of the deluge; and who, in some sort, swal¬
lowed them up, by not receiving them into the ark.
Jupiter is Ham ; Neptune, Japheth ; and Shera, Pluto.
The Titans, it is thought, represent the old giants,
who built the tower of Rabel, and whose pride and
presumption God had confounded, by changing their
language, and pouring out the spirit of discord and
division among them. The name of Jupiter, or Jovis
Pater, is thought to be derived from Jehovah, pro¬
nounced with live Latin termination Jovis instead of Jo-
va ; and in medals we meet with Jovis in the nomina¬
tive, as well as oblique cases : for example, Jovis cits-
tos, Jovispropugneior, Jovis stator. To the name Jo-
3
vis was added pater ; and afterwards, instead of (i Jo*
vis pater,” Jupiter was used by abbreviation. Jma.
The name Jz/pzte;’was not known to the Hebrews''■"“'y——*
till the reign of Alexander the Great, and the kings
bis successors. Antiocbns Epipbanes commanded the
idol of Jnpiter Olympius to be placed in the temple at
Jerusalem j and that of Jupiter the defender of stran¬
gers in the temple on Mount Gerizim, 2 Macc. vi. 2.
While St Paul and St Barnabas were at Lystra, they
were taken for gods, because they cured one who had
been lame from his birth, and that by an expression
only ; St Paul was taken for Mercury, by reason of his
eloquence; and St Barnabas for Jupiter (Acts xiv. 11.
12.), on account probably of his good mien.
Jupiter, %, in Astronomy, one of the superior pla¬
nets, remarkable for its brightness; and which by its
proper motion seems to revolve round the earth in about
twelve years. See Astronomy Index.
JURA, one of the Hebrides, or Western Islands
of Scotland, lying opposite to Knapdale in Argyleshire,
is supposed to be about 34 miles long and 10 broad.
It is the most rugged of all the Hebrides ; and is com¬
posed chiefly of vast mountains, naked, and without a
possibility of cultivation. Some of the south and west¬
ern sides only are improveable, and in good seasons as
much hear and oats are raised as will maintain the in¬
habitants ; though by the distillation, as Mr Pennant
supposes, of their grain, they sometimes want. Bear
produces four or five fold, and oats threefold. Sloes are
the only fruits of the island ; besides the berries of the
mountain-ash, from which an acid for punch is obtained,
and a kind of spirit is also distilled. Necessity hath
instructed the inhabitants in the use of native dyes.
Thus the juice of the tops of heath boiled supplies
them with a yellow ; the roots of the white water lily
with a dark brown ; those of the yellow water iris
with a black ; and ihegaliuni verum, ru of the islanders,
with a very fine red, not inferior to madder. On the
hills is some pasture for cattle ; and the produce, when
Mr Pennant visited the island, amounted to about 300
or 400 head of black cattle, sold annually at 3I. each ;
in 1805, the number of black cattle annually export¬
ed amounted to 500, which bring at an average 81.
each; and about IOOO sheep, which bring il. each;
but goats are less numerous than formerly : about 100
horses are also sold annually. The other animals of Ju¬
ra are about 100 stags ; though these must formerly
have been much more numerous, as the original name
of the island was Deir-ay, or the isle oj deer, so call¬
ed by the Norwegians on account of the abundance
of deer found in it. Here also Mr Pennant had
some obscure account of a worm that, in a less perni¬
cious degree, resembles the PuiUA infernalis of Lin-
meus. 1l\\z jilkin, a little worm of Jura, small as a
thread, and not an inch in length, insinuates itself un¬
der the skin, causes a redness and great pain, flies swift¬
ly from place to place ; hut is cured by a poultice of
cheese and honey. Of the mountains of Jura, those
from their shape called the paps, are the most remark¬
able. There are only three very large ones : the biggest
called Beinn-an-oir, or the mountain of gold, lies farthest
to the north ; the second is called Beinn-sheunta, or the
hallowed mountain; and the third, Beinn-a-chaolois, or
the mountain of the sound, is the least of the three. Mr
Pennant
Jura,
J U R [ 403 ]
Pennant ascended the first with great labour and dif- some superstitions
ficulty. It is composed ot vast stones, covered with
moss near the base 5 but all above bare, and uncon
heeled with each other. The whole, he says, seems a
ca;ri, the work of the sons of Saturn. The grandeur
of the prospect from the top abundantly made amends
for the fatigue of ascending the mountain. Jura itselt
afforded a stupendous scene or rock, varied with innu¬
merable little lakes. From the west side of the hill ran
a narrow stripe of rock terminating in the sea, and cal¬
led the slide of the old hag. To the south appeared Hay
extended like a map beneath Ins feet; and beyond
that the north of Ireland ; to the east two other islands,
Cantvre, Arran, and the frith of Clyde bounded by
Ayrshire ; an amazing tract of mountains to the north¬
east as far as Benlomond *, Skarba finished the northern
view ; and over the western ocean were scattered Co-
lonsay and Oransay, Mull, Iona, and its neighbouring
isles ; and still further, the long extents ot Tney and
Col, just apparent. The other paps are seen ve^y di¬
stinctly, but all of them inferior in height. Mr Banks
and his friends mounted that to the south, and found
the height to he 2359 feet; but this is far overtop¬
ped by Beinu-ao-oir. The stones of tins roountam are
white, a few red, quartzy, and composed of sma 1
srrains; but some are brecciated, or filled with crystal¬
line kernels of an amethystine colour. The other stones
of the island are, a cinereous slate, veined with red,
and used here as a whetstone •, a micaceous sandstone j
and between the small isles and Arfin, a micaceous
nuartzy rock-stone. On the west side of the island there
i, an anchoring place called fVhitfarlan ; towards the
north end is a bay called Da'lyaul; and on the same
coast is formed another riding place for vessels among
several small islands. Between the north end ot Jura
and the small isle of Skarba, there is a famous whirl¬
pool, called Cory Bhrecan, from Brecan son to a king
of Denmark, who perished in this gulf. His body
bein" cast ashore on the north side of Jura, was buried
in a^cave, and his grave is still distinguished by a
tombstone and altar. In this vortex, which extends
about a mile in breadth, the sea begins to boil and
ferment with the tide of flood, increasing gradually to
a number of whirlpools, which, in the form of pyramids,
spout up the water, with a great noise, as high as the
mast of a small vessel, agitated into such a foam as
makes the sea appear white even at the distance of two
leagues. About half-flood the violence begins to de¬
crease, and continues to do so till about half an hour
after high water : then it boils as before, till within
an hour of low water, when the smallest fishing boat
may cross it without danger. . . c
jura is furnished with many rivulets and springs oi
excellent water, and the air is remarkably healthy $ its
salubrity being increased by the high situation, perpe¬
tually fanned by breezes. It is, however, but ill peo¬
pled- and did not contain above 700 or 800 inhabi¬
tants at the time it was visited by Mr Pennant. The
number in 1805 has increased to 1100. Ihe women are
prolific, and very often bear twins. The inhabitants
live to a great age, and are liable to few distempers.
Men of 00 can work ; and there was living in Pennant’s
time a woman of 80, who could run down a sheep.
The inhabitants are all Protestants, but addicted to
I V R
^ ^     The parish is supposed to be the
largestln Great Britain, and the duty the most dan¬
gerous and troublesome : it consists of Jura, Oransay,
Colotisay, Skarba, and several little isles divided by
narrow and dangerous sounds 5 forming a length of
not less than 60 miles $ supplied by only one minister
and an assistant.
The very old clans of Jura are the Macilvuys and
the Macr(lines; but it seems to have changed masteis
more than once. In I549> Donald of Cantyre, Mac-
guillayne of Doward, Macguillayne of Kinlochbuy,
and Macduffie of Colonsay were the proprietors •, Mac-
lean of Mull had also a share in 1586. Mr Campbell
of Jura, and Mr Macneil of Colonsay, are now (1807)
the only proprietors of this island j but by far the
greatest part belongs to the former..
Jura is also the name of a chain of mountains in
Switzerland, beginning in the canton of Zurich, ex¬
tending from thence along the Ilhine into the canton
and bishopric of Basle, stretching into the canton of So-
leure and the principality of Neuchatel, and branching
out towards the Pays de ’V aud j separating that coun¬
try from Franche Compte and Burgundy, and continued
beyond the Genevan territories as far as the Rhone.
Many elevated valleys are formed by different parts of
this chain in the country of the Pays de Vaud *, among
which one of the most remarkable is the valley of the
lake of Joux, on the top of that part ot the chain na¬
med Mont Joux. It contains several populous villages,
and is beautifully diversified with wood, arable land.
and pasture. It is watered by two lakes the largest
of which is that of Joux already mentioned. This has
one shore of a high rock covered with wood the op¬
posite banks forming a gentle ascent, fertile and well
cultivated j behind which is a ridge covered with pines,
beech, and oak wood. The smaller lake, named Brc-
net, is bordered with fine corn fields and villages 5 and
the stream which issues from it is lost-in a gulf named
Entonmir, or the Funnel, where the people have placed
several mills. Jlie valley contains about inhabi¬
tants, remarkable for their industry. Some are watch¬
makers j but the greatest number employ themselves in
polishing crystals, granites, and marcasites. Jbe coun¬
try is much infested with bears and wolves. In ascend¬
ing to this place there is a very extensive prospect of
"reat part of the Pays de Vaud, the lake of Geneva,
and that of Neuchatel, which from that high point of
view appear to be nearly on a level j though 1M. de Due
found the latter to be 159 feet above the level of the
lake of Geneva.
JvnA, a department in the east of h ranee. It takes
its name from Mount Jura, and contains 20^0 square
miles, and 300,000 inhabitants. It is rather hilly in
general, but yields corn, wine, hemp, maize, and has
mines of iron, copper, lead, and pit-coal. Lons le
Saulnier is the chief town.
JURATS, Jurat 1, magistrates in the nature of
Aldermen, for the government of several corpora¬
tions. Thus we meet with the mayor and jurats of
Maidstone, Rye, Winchelsea, &c.—So also Jersey has
a bailiff and twelve jurats, or sworn assistants, to go¬
vern the island.
IVREA, an ancient and strong town of Italy, in
Piedmont, and capital of Canavez, with a strong fort,
3 E a a
J U R [ 404 ] JUS
Ivrea a bishop’s see, the title of a marquisate, and an ancient
11 castle. It is subject to the king of Sardinia, and seat-
Junscon- e(j on tjie r;ver I)0ria between two hills, in E. Long.
fcUltUS. t X
7. 48. N. Lat. 45. 12.
JURIEU, Peter, an eminent French Protestant
divine, called ironically by the Papists the Goliath of
the Protestants, was born in 1637. He was educated
in England under his maternal uncle Peter du Mou¬
lin, and took orders in the English church j but re¬
turning to succeed his father as pastor of a reformed
congregation at Mer in the diocese of Blois, he was
made professor of divinity and Hebrew at Sedan, where
he acquired great reputation. This university being
taken from the Protestants, a professorship of divinity
•was founded for him at Rotterdam ; and he was also
appointed minister of the Walloon church in the same
town. Being now in a place of liberty, he gave full
scope to an imagination naturally warm, and applied
himself to study the book of Revelation, of which he
fancied he had by a kind of inspiration discovered the
true meaning ; a notion that led him to many enthusi-
astical conjectures. He was moreover so unfortunate
as to quarrel with his best friends for opposing his vi¬
sionary opinions, which produced violent disputes be¬
tween him and Messrs Bayle and de Beauval. He died
in 1713 5 and left a great number of esteemed works
behind him.
JURIN, Dr James, a distinguished person, who cul¬
tivated medicine and mathematics with equal success.
He was secretary of the Royal Society in London, as
well as president of the College of Physicians there.
He had great disputes with Michelotti upon the mo¬
ment of running waters, with Robins upon distinct vi¬
sion, and with the partizans of Leibnitz upon moving
bodies. A treatise of his “ upon Vision” is printed in
Smith’s “ Optics.” He died in 1750.
JURISCONSULTUS (ICtus), among the Romans,
was a person learned in the law j a master of the Ro¬
man jurisprudence j who was consulted on the inter¬
pretation of the laws and customs, and on the diffi¬
cult points in law suits. The fifteen books of the Di¬
gests were compiled wholly from the answers or re¬
ports of the ancient jurisconsult!. Tribonianus, in
destroying the 2000 volumes from whence the Code
and Digest were taken, has deprived the public of a
world of things which would have given them light
into the ancient office of the jurisconsulti. We should
scarcely have known any thing beyond their bare
names, had not Pomponius, who lived in the second
century, taken care to preserve some circumstances of
their office.
The Roman jurisconsulti seem to have been the same
with our chamber counsellors, who arrived at the ho¬
nour of being consulted through age and experience,
but never pleaded at the bar. Their pleading advo¬
cates or lawyers never became jurisconsulti. See Ad¬
vocate.
In the times of the commonwealth, the advocati had
by much the more honourable employment, as being
in the ready way to attain the highest preferments.
They then despised the jurisconsulti, calling them in
derision formularii and legulei, as having invented cer¬
tain forms and monosyllables, in order to give their
answers the greater appearance of gravity and mystery.
But in process of time they became so much esteemed, j„,.;,con
that they were called prudentes and sapientes, and the sultus
emperors appointed the judges to follow their advice. tl
Augustus advanced them to be public officers of the
empire $ so that they were no longer confined to the
petty councils of private persons.—Bern. Rutilius has
written the lives of the most famous jurisconsulti who
have lived within these 2000 years.
JURISDICTION, a power or authority which a
man has to do justice in cases of complaint made befoie
him. There are two kinds of jurisdiction, the one cc-
clesiastical, the other seculai\
Secular Jurisdiction belongs to the king and his
justices or delegates. The courts and judges at West¬
minster have jurisdiction all over England, and are not
restrained to any county or place ; but all other courts
are confined to their particular jurisdiction, which if
they exceed, whatever they do is erroneous. There are
three sorts of inferior jurisdictions $ the first is ttnere
placita, to hold pleas, and the plaintiff may sue either
there or in the king’s courts. Another is the conu¬
sance of pleas, where a right is invested in the lord of
the franchise to hold pleas : and he is the only person
that can take advantage of it, by claiming his fran¬
chise. The third sort is an exempt jurisdiction, as
where the king grants to some city, that the inhabi¬
tants shall be sued within their city, and not elsewhere 5
though there is no jurisdiction that can withstand a cer-
tiorari to the superior courts.
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction belongs to bishops and
their deputies.
Bishops, &c. have two kinds of jurisdiction ; the one
internal, which is exercised over the conscience in
things purely spiritual ; and this they are supposed ;o
hold immediately of God.
The other is contentious, which is a privilege some
princes have given them of terminating disputes be¬
tween ecclesiastics and laymen.
JURISPRUDENCE, the science of what is just or
unjust; or the knowledge of laws, rights, customs, sta¬
tutes, &c. necessary for the administration of justice.
See Law.
JUROR, Jurator, in a legal sense, is one of those
twenty-four or twelve men who are sworn to deliver
truth upon such evidence as shall be given them touch¬
ing any matter in question. The punishment of petty
jurors attainted wf giving a verdict contrary to evi¬
dence, willingly, is very severe.
JURY, a certain number of men sworn to inquire
into and try a matter of fact, and to declare the truth
upon such evidence as shall appear before them.
Juries are, in these kingdoms, the supreme judge*
in all courts and in all causes in which either the life,
property, or reputation, of any man is concerned : this
is the distinguishing privilege of every Briton, and one
of the most glorious advantages of our constitution ; for
as every one is tried by his peers, the meanest subject
is as safe and as free as the greatest. See the article
Trial.
Jury Mast, whatever is set up in room of a mast
that has been lost in a storm or an engagement, and to
which a lesser yard, ropes, and sails, are affixed.
JUS coRONiE. See Hereditary Right, and Suc¬
cession. .
Jus
-TllS
J Ust.
JUS [ 4° 5 ]
Jus Deliberandi, In Scots Law, that right which an rU3 Gregorios,
heir has by law of deliberating for a certain time
whether he will represent his predecessor.
Jus Devolutum, in Scots Law, the right of the church,
of uresenting a minister to a vacant parish, in case tlie
patron shall neglect to use that right within the time
^JusMarlli, in Scots Law, the right the husband ac¬
quires to his wife’s moveable estate, in virtue of the
^YuTRelicta, in Scots Law, the right the wife has m
the goods in communion, in case of the previous decea e
0t fas ^remttmus, in Scots Law, the preferable right
of jurisdiction acquired by a court, - any cause to
which other courts are equally competent, by having
exercised the first act of jurisdiction. .
Jus Civile, amongst the Komans sign.fied no mor
than the interpretation given by the learned, of the
laws of the twelve tables, though the phrase now ex¬
tends to the whole system of the Roman laws.
Jus Civitatis, signifies freedom of the city of Rome
which entitled those persons who had obtained it to
most of the privileges of Roman citizens—yet it differs
from Jus duiritX which extends to «// the advan¬
tages which a free native of Rome was entitled to—
the difference is much the same as betwixt denization
and naturalization with us. _ T?„mon
Jus Honorarium, was a name given to those Roman
laws which were made up of edicts of the supreme ma-
glJullmagil?sf*ll the nght of using pictures and
statues amongst the Romans, and had some resemblance
to the right of bearing a coat of arms amongst us.
This honour was allowed to none but those whose a -
cestors or themselves had borne some oJice, t\^t
is had been Curule JEdile, Censor, Prwtor, ov Consul.
1 The use of statues, &c. which the Jus Imagints
gave, was the exhibiting them in funeral processions,
&c. See Image. _t
Jus Papirianum, was the laws of Romulus, Numa,
and other kings of Rome, collected into ^ body by Sex¬
tus Papirius, who lived in the time of larqum the
Proud ; which accounts for the name.
Tus Trium Liberorum, was a privilege granted to
such persons in the city of Rome as had three children
by which they were exempted from all troublesom
offices. The same exemption was granted to any per¬
il who lived in other parts of Italy, having tour
children ; and those that lived in the provinces pro¬
vided they had five (or as some say seven) children,
were entitled to the same immunities. Ibis was good
policy, and tended to the population of the empire.
For a further account of these privileges, see Chil-
1MJUSSICA, a genus of plants belonging to the de-
candria class; and in the natural method ranking
under the 17th order, Calycanthcmcr. See Loxany
^JUST, a sportive kind of combat on horseback, man
against man, armed with lances. 1 he word is by
some derived from the French jouste, of the Latinj/^fa,
because the combatants fought near one another, b -
masius derives it from the modern Greek sourer, or
rather •*#«■$*> which is used in this sense by Nicep 10-
J u s
rus ore-unu*. Others derive it fromjusta, which in
the corrupt age of the Latin tongue was used for this 
exercise, by reason it was supposed a more just and
equal combat than the tournament.
The difference between justs and tournaments con¬
sists in this, that the latter is the genus, ot which the
former is only a species. Tournaments included a
kinds of military sports and engagements made out
of gallantry and diversions: Justs were those particu¬
lar combats where the parties were near each other,
and enaaged with lance and sword. Add, that the
tournament was frequently performed by a number ot
cavaliers, who fought in a body : The just was a single
combat of one man against another.—Though the justs
were usually made in tournaments after a general ren¬
counter of all the cavaliers, yet they were sometimes
singly, and independent of any tournament. See Iour-
He who appeared for the first time at a just, forieit-
ed his helm or casque unless he had forfeited beiore at
a tournament. . . , f
JUSTICE, in a moral sense, is one ot the tour car¬
dinal virtues, which gives every person his due.
Civilians distinguish justice into two kinds: commit-
nicative and distributive. The former establishes lair
dealing in the mutual commerce between man ami
man ; and includes sincerity in our discourse, and in¬
tegrity in our dealings. The effect of sincerity is mu¬
tual confidence, so necessary among the members ol
the same community j and this mutual confidence is
sustained and preserved by the integrity of our conduct.
Distributive justice is that by which the differences
of mankind are decided, according to the rules of equi¬
ty. The former is the justice of private individuals j
the latter of princes and magistrates. #
Fidelity and truth are the foundation of jusUce. As
to be perfectly just is an attribute of the Divine Na¬
ture, to be so to the utmost of our ability is the glory
ofman* „ ,. . l * A
The following examples of this virtue are extracted
from various authors. ' . .. . . ,
1. Among the several virtues of Aristides, that lor
which he was most renowned was justice j because this
virtue is of most general use, its benefits extending to
a greater number of persons, as it is the foundation,
and in a manner the soul, of every public office and
employment. Hence it was that Aristides, though m
low circumstances, and of mean extraction, obtained
the glorious surname of the Just; a title, says fi-
tarch, truly royal, or rather truly divine : but of which
princes are seldom ambitious, because generally igno¬
rant of its beauty and excellency. Ihey choose ra¬
ther to be called the conquerors of cities and the thun¬
derbolts of war, preferring the vain honour of pomp¬
ous titles, which convey no other idea than violence
and slaughter, to the solid glory of those expressive ot
goodness and virtue. How much Aristides deserved
the title given him, will appear m the following in¬
stances j though it ought to be observed, that he ac¬
quired it not by one or two particular actions, but by
the whole tenor of his conduct. .
Themistocles having, conceived the design ot sup¬
planting the Lacedaemonians, and of taking the go¬
vernment of Greece out of their hands, in order to put
it into those of the Athenians, kept his
Just,
Justice.
JUS [ 406 ] JUS
Justice, thoughts continually fixed upon that great project-,
and as he was not very nice or scrupulous in the choice
of his measures, whatever tended towards the accom¬
plishing of the end he had in view he looked upon as
just and lawful.
On a certain day then he declared in a full assembly
of the people, that he had a very important design to
propose; but that he could not communicate it to the
people, because its success required it should be carried
on with the greatest secrecy: he therefore desired they
would appoint a person to whom he might explain
himself upon the matter in question. Aristides was
unanimously fixed upon by the* whole assembly, who
referred themselves entirely to his opinion of the affair ;
so great a confidence had they both in his probity and
prudence. Themistocles, therefore, having taken him
aside, told him that the design he had conceived was
to burn the fleet belonging to the rest of the Grecian
states, which then lay in a neighbouring port; and by
this means Athens would certainly become mistress of
all Greece. Aristides hereupon returned to the assem¬
bly, and only declared to them that indeed nothing
could be more advantageous to the commonwealth than
Themistocles’s project, but that at the same time no¬
thing in the world could be more unjust. All the
people unanimously ordained that Themistocles should
entirely desist from his prospect.
There is not perhaps in all history a fact more wor¬
thy of admiration than this. It is not a company of
philosophers (to whom it costs nothing to establish fine
maxims and sublime notions of morality in the school)
who determine on this occasion that the consideratios
of profit and advantage ought never to prevail in pre¬
ference to what is honest and just; but the whole peo¬
ple who are highly interested in the proposal made to
them, that are convinced it is of the greatest import-
v ance to the welfare of the state, and who, however, re¬
ject it with unanimous consent, and without a mo¬
ment’s hesitation; and for this only reason, that it is
contrary to justice. How black and perfidious, on the
other hand, was the design which Themistocles pro¬
posed to them, of burning the fleet of their Grecian
confederates at a time of entire peace, solely to aggran¬
dize the power of the Athenians ! Had he a hundred
times the merit ascribed to him, this single action
would be sufficient to sully all his glory; for it is the
heart, that is to say, integrity and probity, which con¬
stitutes and distinguishes true merit.
2. The government of Greece having passed from
Sparta to the Athenians, it was thought proper under
this new government to lodge in the isle of Delos
the common treasure of Greece; to fix new regula¬
tions with regard to the public money; and to lay
such a tax as might be regulated according to the re¬
venue of each city and, state, in order that the ex-
pences being equally borne by the several individuals
who composed the body of the allies, no one might
have reason to murmur. The difficulty was to find a
person of so honest and incorrupt a mind, as to dis¬
charge faithfully an employment of so delicate and
dangerous a kind, the due administration of which so
nearly concerned the public welfare. All the allies
cast their eyes on Aristides; accordingly they invested
him with full powers, and appointed him to levy a tax
on each of them, reiving entirely on bis wisdom and
justice. The citizens had no cause to repent their
choice. He presided over the treasury with the fideli- > ' [ g<j
ty and disinterestedness of a man who looks upon it as
a capital crime to embezzle the smallest portion of an¬
other’s possessions, with the care and activity of a fa¬
ther of a family in the management of his own estate,
and with the caution and integrity of a person who
considers the public money as sacred. In fine, he suc¬
ceeded in what is equally difficult and extraordinary,
viz. to acquire the love of all in an office in which he
who escapes the public odium gains a great point.
Such is the glorious character which Seneca gives of a
person charged with an employment of almost the same
kind, and the noblest eulogium that can be given to
such as administer public revenues. It is the exact
picture of Aristides. He discovered so much probity
and wisdom in tiie exercise of this office, that no man
complained ; and those times were considered ever af¬
ter as the golden age; that is, the period in which
Greece had attained the highest pitch of virtue and
happiness.
While he was treasurer-general of the republic, he
made it appear that his predecessors in that office had
cheated the state of vast sums of money, and among
the rest Themistocles in particular; for this great man
with all his merit, was not irreproachable on that head ;
for which reason, when Aristides came to pass his ac¬
count, Themistocles raised a mighty faction against
him, accused him of having embezzled the public
treasure, and prevailed so far as to have him condemned
and fined. But the principal inhabitants, and the
most virtuous part of the citizens, rising up against so
unjust a sentence, not only the judgement was reversed
and the fine remitted, but he was elected treasurer
again for the year ensuing. He then seemed to repent
of his former administration: and by showing himself
more tractable and indulgent towards others, he found
out the secret of pleasing all that plundered the com¬
monwealth ; for as he neither reproved them nor nar¬
rowly inspected their accounts, all these plunderers,
grown fat with spoil and rapine, now extolled Aristi¬
des to the skies. It would have been easy for him, as
we perceive, to have enriched himself in a post of that
nature, which seems, as it were, to invite a man to it
by the many favourable opportunities it lays in his
way ; especially as he had to do with officers, who for
their part were intent upon nothing but robbing the
public, and would have been ready to conceal the
frauds of the treasurer their master, upon condi¬
tion he did them the same favour. These very offi¬
cers now made interest with the people to have him
continued a third year in the same employment : but
when the time of election was come, just as thev were
on the point of electing Aristides unanimously, he
rose up, and warmly reproved the Athenian people :
“ What (says he), when I managed your treasure with
all the fidelity and diligence an honest man is ca¬
pable of, I met with the most cruel treatment, and the
most mortifying returns; and now that I have aban¬
doned it to tbe mercy of these robbers of the repub¬
lic, 1 am an admirable man and the best of citizens ! I
cannot help declaring to you, that I am more ashamed
of the honour you do me this day, than I was of the
condemnation you passed against me this time twelve¬
months ; and with grief I find that it is more glorious
with
ustice.
JUS [ 4°7 ].
wilh us to be complaisant to knaves than to save the and misery,
treasures of the republic.,, By this declaration he si¬
lenced the public plunderers and gained the esteem ot
all good men.
3. In the Universal History we meet with the lol-
lovving remarkable instance of a scrupulous regard to
justice in a Persian king named Nonschirvan. Haying
been out a hunting, and desirous ol eating some ot the
venison in the field, several of his attendants went to a
neighbouring village and took away a quantity of salt
to season it. The king suspecting how they had acted,
ordered that they should immediately go and pay for
it. Then turning to his attendants, he said, “ Ihis is
a small matter in itself,but a great one as it regards me :
for a king ought ever to be just, because he is an exam¬
ple to his subjects j and it he swerves in trifles, t.iey
will become dissolute. If I cannot make all my people
just in the smallest things, I can at least show them it is
possible to be so.” .
These examples to which many more might be
added, are highly pleasing to a sagacious and virtuous
mind ; but the sensual and brutal part ol mankind,
who regard only the present moment, who see no ob¬
jects but those which fall under the cognizance ot the
corporeal eye, and estimate the merit ot every action
by the gain which it produces, have always considered
justice and utility as independent of each other. Ihey
put utility in the balance against honesty every day ;
and never fail to incline the beam in favour of the for¬
mer, if the supposed advantage is thought to be con¬
siderable. They have no regard to justice hut as they
reckon to gain by it, or at least not to lose 5 and are
always ready to desert it when it exposes them to any
danger or threatens them with any loss. From this
disposition of mind proceeds that avidity of wealth
and that habitual fraud which perpetually embroil ci¬
vil society : from this fatal source arises that deluge of
iniquity which lias overflowed the world $ from this
preference of interest to honesty proceed every unjust
litigation and every act of violence. And yet nothing
is more certain than that “ Whatever is unjust must,
upon the whole, be disadvantageous which migni
be proved thus :
Nothing is advantageous or useful but that which
has a tendency to render us happy : the highest advan¬
tage, or absolute utility, is complete happiness •, and
to this happiness, whatever is advantageous or useful
is relative as to an ultimate end 5 and nothing that is
not thus relative to happiness can properly be said to
be advantageous or useful. But whatever is unjust, is so
far from tending to promote, that it destroys our hap¬
piness ; for whatever is unjust is contrary to the Divine
will : but it is not possible that we should become hap¬
py by resisting that will} because of this will our hap¬
piness is the immediate object. God is not a tyrant,
proud of uncontroulable power, who imposes capricious
laws only as tests of our obedience, and to make us
feel the weight of his yoke j all his precepts are lessons
which teach us how to be happy But it is the will
of God that we should be just j from whence it fol¬
lows, that no true happiness can be acquired by those
who are unjust. An action, therefore, which is con¬
trary to the will of God, must he inconsistent with
our true interest •, and consequently, so far from being
useful or expedient, it must inevitably produce ruin
JUS
Injustice sometimes meets with the pu- justice,
nishment it deserves in this world j but if it should '« T1~
escape here, it does not follow that it will for ever
escape. It proves, on the contrary, that there is ano¬
ther world in which the fates of mankind will be im¬
partially decided.
But to prevent the dreadful confusion which the
mistaken notion of interest had introduced among man¬
kind, it became necessary to have recourse to the in¬
nate principles of justice ; to suspend the balance and
display the sword, for the determination of differences
and the punishment of guilt. Ibis is the reason and
origin of distributive justice, which became the neces¬
sary appendage of sovereignty. Accordingly, in an¬
cient times, princes administered justice in person and
without delay ; but at length being embarrassed and
oppressed by the multiplicity of business which in¬
creased with their dominions, or diverted from their
attention to civil government by the command of ar¬
mies, certain laws were established with great solemnity
to adjust and determine the differences which might arise
among the members of the same community, and to re¬
press the insolence of those who dared to violate the pu¬
blic peace, by possessing them with the dread either of
corporeal punishment or infamy. Fhe execution 01
these laws was put into the hands of subordinate judges.
These delegates of the sovereign power were called ma¬
gistrates j and these are the persons by whom justice is
at this time administered, except in particular cases, in
which the sovereign himself interferes. But by whom¬
soever this kind of justice is administered, it ought to
be done speedily, impartially, and without expence to
the parties.
4. Aristides being judge between two private per¬
sons, one of them declared, that his adversary had
greatly injured Aristides. “ Relate rather, good friend
(said he, interrupting him), what wrong he hath done
thee } for it is thy cause, not mine, that I now sit
judge of.”—Again : Being desired by Simonides, a
poet of Chios, who had a cause to try before him, to
stretch a point in his favour, he replied, “ As you
would not be a good poet if your lines ran contrary to
the just measures and rules of your ait j so I should
neither he a good judge nor an honest man if I decided
aught in opposition to law and justice.”
5. Artabarzanes, an officer of Axtaxerxes king oi
Persia, begged his majesty to confer a favour upon him j
which if complied with would be an act of injustice.
The king being informed that the promise of a con¬
siderable sum of money was the only motive that in¬
duced the officer to make so umeasonahle a request,
ordered his treasurer to give him thirty thousand da-
riuses, being a present of equal value with that which
he was to have received. Giving him the order for
the money, “ Here, take (says the king) this token
of my friendship for you : a gift of this nature cannot
make me poor j but complying with your request
would make me poor indeed, for it would make me un-
just.”
6. Cambyses king of Persia was remarkable for
the severity of his government and his inexorable re¬
gard to justice. The prince had a particular favourite
whom he made a judge ; and this judge reckoned him¬
self so secure in the credit he had with his master, that
without any more ado causes were bought and sold in
JUS [ 408 ] JUS
Justice, the courts of judicature as openly as provisions in the
——-v " — market. But when Cambyses was informed of these
proceedings, enraged to find his friendship so ungrate¬
fully abused, the honour of his government prostituted,
and the liberty and property of his subjects sacrificed to
the avarice of his wretched minion, he ordered him to
he seized and publickly degraded ; after which he com¬
manded his skin to be stripped over his ears, and the
seat of judgment to be covered with it as a warning to
others. At the same time, to convince the world that
this severity proceeded only from the love of justice, he
permitted the son to succeed his father in the honours
and office of prime minister.
7. When Charles duke of Burgundy, surnamed the
Bold, reigned over spacious dominions, now swallow¬
ed up by the power of France, he heaped many fa¬
vours and honours upon Claudius llynsault, a Ger¬
man, who had served him in his wars against the in¬
sults of his neighbours. The prince himself was a
person of singular humanity and justice ; and being
prepossessed in favour of llynsault, upon the decease of
the governor of the chief town of Zealand gave him that
command. He was not long seated in that govern¬
ment before he cast bis eyes upon Sapphira, a woman
of exquisite beauty, the wife of Paul Danvelt, a
wealthy merchant of the city under his protection
and government. llynsault was a man of a warm
constitution, and violent inclination to women. He
knew what it was to enjoy the satisfactions which are
reaped from the possession of beauty j but was an ut¬
ter stranger to the decencies, honours, and delicacies,
that attend the passion toward them in elegant minds.
He could with his tongue utter a passion with which
his heart was wholly untouched. In short, he was
one of those brutal minds which can be gratified with
the violation of innocence and beauty, without the
least pity, passion, or love for that with which they are
so much delighted.
llynsault being resolved to accomplish his will on
the wife of Danvelt, left no arts untried to get into
a familiarity at her house 5 hut she knew his character
and disposition too well not to shun all occasions that
might ensnare her into his conversation. The gover¬
nor, despairing of success by ordinary means, appre¬
hended and imprisoned her husband, under pretence of
an information that he was guilty of a correspondence
with the enemies of the duke to betray the town into
their possession. This design had its desired effect ;
and the wife of the unfortunate Danvelt, the day be¬
fore that which was appointed for his execution, pre¬
sented herself in the hall of the governor’s house, and
as he passed through the apartment threw herself at
his feet, and holding his knees, beseeched his mercy,
llynsault beheld her with a dissembled satisfaction ;
and assuming an air of thought and authority, he bid
her rise, and told her she must follow him to his clo¬
set j and asking her whether she knew the hand of the
letter he pulled out of his pocket, went from her,
leaving this admonition aloud : “ if you would save
your husband, you must give me an account of all you
know, without prevarication; for every body is sa¬
tisfied that he is too fond of you to be able to hide
from you the names of the rest of the conspirators,
or any other particulars whatsoever.” He went to
his closet, and soon after the lady was sent for to an
3
audience. The servent knew his distance when mat- j,,,,-
ters of state were to be debated ; and the governor,
laying aside the air with Which he had appeared in
public, began to be the supplicant, and to rally an
affliction which it was in her power easily to remove.
She easily perceived his intention; and, bathed in
tears, began to deprecate so wicked a design. Lust,
like ambition, takes all the faculties of the mind and
body into its service and subjection. Tier becoming
tears, her honest anguish, the wringing of her hands,
and the many changes of her posture and figure in the
vehemence of speaking, were but so many attitudes in
which he beheld her beauty, and farther incentives of
his desire. All humanity was lost in that one appetite ;
and he signified to her in so many plain terms, that he
was unhappy till he possessed her, and nothing less
should be the price of her husband’s life ; and she
must, before the following noon, pronounce the death
or enlargement of Danvelt. After this notification,
when he saw Sapphira enough distracted to make the
subject of their discourse to common eyes appear dif¬
ferent from what it was, he called his servants to con¬
duct her to the gate. Loaded with insupportable
affliction, she immediately repairs to her husband, and
having signified to the gaolers that she had a proposal
to make to her husband from the governor, she was
left alone with him, revealed to him all that had
passed, and represented the endless conflict she was in
between love to his person and fidelity to his bed. It
is easy to imagine the sharp affliction this honest pair
were in upon such an incident, in lives not used to
any but ordinary occurrences. The man was bridled
by shame from speaking what his fear prompted upon
so near an approach of death ; but let fall w’ords that
signified to her, he should not think her polluted,
though she had not confessed to him that the governor
had violated her person, since he knew her will had no
part in the action. She parted from him with this
oblique permission, to save a life he had not resolution
enough to resign for the safety of his honour.
The next morning the unhappy Sapphira attended
the governor, and being led into a remote apartment,
submitted to his desires. llynsault commended her
charms ; claimed a familiarity after Avhat had passed
between them ; and with an air of gaiety, in the
language of a gallant, bid her return and take her
husband out of prison: but, continued he, my fair
one must not be offended that I have taken care he
should not be an interruption to our future assignations.
These last words foreboded what she found when she
came to the gaol, her husband executed by the order of
llynsault.
It was remarkable, that the woman, who was full
of tears and lamentations during the whole course ot
her affliction, uttered neither sigh nor complaint, but
stood fixed with grief at this consummation of her
misfortunes. She betook herself to her abode ; and,
after having in solitude paid her devotion to Him who
is the avenger of innocence, she repaired privately to
court. Her person, and a certain grandeur of sor¬
row negligent of forms, gained her admittance to
the duke her sovereign. As soon as she came into the
presence, she broke forth into the following words :
“ Behold, O mighty Charles, a wretch weary of life,
though it has always been spent with innocence and
virtue.
JUS
[ 4°9 1
JUS
usuce.
virtue. It is not in your power to redress my injuries,
but it is to avenge them *, and if the protection of the
distressed, and the punishment of oppressors, is a task
worthy of a prince, I bring the duke of Burgundy
ample matter for doing honour to his own great name,
and of wiping infamy off mine.” When she had spo¬
ken this, she delivered to the duke a paper reciting her
story. Pie read it with all the emotion that indigna¬
tion and pity could raise in a prince jealous of his ho¬
nour in the behaviour of his officers and the prosperity
of his subjects.
Upon an appointed day Rynsault was sent for to
court, and in the presence of a few of the council
confronted by Sapphira. I he prince asking, 14 P)o
you know that lady ?” Rynsault, as soon as he could
recover his surprise, told the duke he would marry
her, if his highness would please to think that a repa¬
ration. The duke seemed contented with this answer,
and stood by during the immediate solemnization of
the ceremony. At the conclusion of it he told Ryn¬
sault, “ Thus far you have done as constrained by my
’authority: I shall not he satisfied of your kind usage
of her, till you sign a gift of your whole estate to
her after your decease.” To the performance of this
also the duke was a witness. When these two acts
were executed, the duke turning to the lady, told
her, “ It now remains with me to put you in quiet
possession of what your husband has so bountifully be¬
stowed on you j” and ordered the immediate execution
of Rynsault.
8. One of the greatest of the Turkish princes was
Mamood or Mahmud the Gaznevide. His name is
still venerable in the east j and of the noble parts of
his character a regard to justice was not the least. Of
this the following example is related by Mr Gibbon in
his Decline and Fall of the Homan Empire.—As ho sat
in the divan, an unhappy subject bowed before the
throne to accuse the insolence of a Turkish soldier who
had driven him from his house and bed. “ Suspend
your clamours (said Mahmud) ; inform me of his next
visit, and ourself in person will judge and punish the
offender.” The sultan fdlowed his guide; invested
the house with his guards; and extinguishing the
torches, pronounced the death of the criminal who
had been seized in the act of rapine and adultery.
After the execution of his sentence, the lights were re¬
kindled, and Mahmud fell prostrate in prayer ; then
rising from the ground, he demanded some homely
fare, which he devoured with the voraciousness of hun-
crer. The poor man, whose injury he had avenged,
was unable to suppress his astonishment and curiosity j
and the courteous monarch condescended to explain
the motives of this singular behaviour. “ Iliad reason
to suspect that none except one of my sons could dare
to perpetrate such an outrage j and I extinguished the
lights that my justice might be blind and inexorable.
My prayer was a thanksgiving on the discovery of the
offender; and so painful was my anxiety, that I had
passed three days without food since the first moment
of vour complaint.”
*9. In Bourgoanne’s Travels in Spain, vol. ii. p. 364.
the following anecdote is given of Peter III. of Castile.
A canon of the cathedral of Seville, affected in his
dress, and particularly in his shoes, could not find a
workman to his liking. An unfortunate shoemaker,
Vol. XI. Part II. f
to whom he applied after quitting many others, hav¬
ing brought him a pair ot shoes not made to please '■
his taste, the canon became furious, and seizing one
of the tools of the shoemaker, gave him with it so many
blows upon the head as laid him dead upon the floor.
The unhappy man left a widow, four daughters, and a
son 13 years of age, the eldest of the indigent family.
They made their complaint to the chapter : the ca¬
non was prosecuted, and condemned not to appear in
the choir for a year. The young shoemaker having
attained to man’s estate, was scarcely able to get a
livelihood 5 and overwhelmed with wretchedness, sat
down on the day of a procession at the door of the
cathedral of Seville in the moment the procession pass¬
ed by. Amongst the other canons he perceived the
murderer of his father. At the sight of this man filial
aflection, rage, and despair, so far got the better ot
his reason, that he fell furiously upon the priest, and
stabbed him to the heart. The young man was seized,
convicted of the crime, and immediately condemned
to be quartered alive. Peter, whom we call the Cruel,
and whom the Spaniards, with more reas<$), call the
lover oj justice, was then at Seville. Hie aflair came
to his knowledge 5 and after learning the particulars,
he determined to be himself the judge of the young
shoemaker. When he proceeded to give judgment,
he first annulled the sentence just pronounced by the
clergy : and after asking the young man what profes¬
sion he was, “ I forbid you (said he) to make shoes for
one year to come.”
10. In Gladwin’s History of Hindostan, a singular
fact is related of the emperor Jehangir, under whose
father Akber the Mogul empire in Hindostan first ob¬
tained any regular form. Jehangir succeeded him at
Agra on the 22d of October, 1605 ; and the first or¬
der which he issued on his accession to the throne was
for the construction of the golden chain of justice. It
was made of pure gold, and measured 30 yards, con¬
sisting of 60 links, weighing four maunds of Hindo¬
stan (about 400 pounds avoirdupois). One end of this
chain was suspended from the royal bastion of the for¬
tress of Agra, and the other fastened in the ground
near the side of the river. The intention of this ex¬
traordinary invention was, that if the officers of the
courts of law were partial ^ their decisions, or dilatory
in the administration of justice, the injured parties
might come themselves to this chain ; and making a
noise by shaking the links of it, give notice that they
were waiting to represent their grievances to his ma¬
jesty.
Justice is also an appellation given to a person de¬
puted by the king to administer justice to his subjects,
whose authority arises from his deputation, and not by
right of magistracy.
Of these justices there are various kinds in England,
viz.
Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, is the capital
justice of Great Britain, and is a lord by his office. ltjs
business is chiefly to hear and determine all pleas of
the crown j that is, such as concern offences against
the crown, dignity, and peace of the king } as trea¬
sons, felonies, &c. This officer was formerly not only
chief justice, but also chief baron for the exchequer,
and master of the court of wards. He usually sat in
the king’s palace, and there executed that office, for-
3 F merly
Jastiae-
JUS [ 410 ] JUS
nierly performed per comitem palalu; he determined
in that place all the differences happening between the
barons and other great men. lie bad the prerogative
of being vicegerent of the kingdom whenever the king
went beyond sea, and was usually chosen to that office
out of the prime nobility j but his power was redu¬
ced by King Richard I. and King Edward I. His
office is now divided, and his title changed from capi-
talis Anglicc jmtitiari'us, to capitalis justitiariiis adpla-
cita coram regc tenenda, or capitahs justitianus buna
1 egit.
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, he who with
his assistants hears and determines all causes at the
common law ; that is to say, all civil causes between
common persons, as well personal as real 5 and he is
also a lord by his office.
Justice of the Forest, is a lord by his office, who
has power and authority to determine offences commit¬
ted in the king’s forests, &c. which are not to be de¬
termined by any other court of justice. Of these there
are two'; whereof one has jurisdiction over all the fo¬
rests on this side Trent, and the other beyond it.
By many ancient records it appears to be a place of
great honour and authority, and is never besto\ved but
on some person of great distinction. The court where
this justice sits, is called \\\e justice seat of the forest,
held once every three years, for hearing and determin¬
ing all trespasses within the forest, and all claim of
franchises, liberties, and privileges, and all pleas and
causes whatsoever therein arising. This court may fine
and imprison for oflfenecs within the forest, it being a
court of record ; and therefore a writ of error lies from
hence to the court of King’s Bench. The last court
of justice seat of any note was that held in the reign
of Charles I. before the earl of Holland. After the
Restoration another was held for form’s sake before the
earl of Oxford ; but since the revolution in 1688, the
forest laws have fallen into total disuse, to the great
advantage of the subject.
This is the only justice who may appoint a deputy:
he is also called jW/a? in eyre of the forest.
Justices of Assize, were such as were wont by spe¬
cial commission to be sent into this or that county
to take assizes for the ease of the subjects. For,
whereas these actions pass always by jury, so many
men might not without great damage and charge be
brought up to London ; and therefore justices, for this
purpose, by commissions particularly authorized, were
sent down to them. These continue to pass the cir¬
cuit by two and two twice every year through all
England, except the four northern counties, where
they go only once, dispatching their several businesses
by several commissions ; for they have one commission
to take assizes, another to deliver gaols, and another
of oyer and terminer. Tn London and Middlesex a
court of general gaol-delivery is held eight times in the
year.
All the justices of peace of any county wherein the
assizes are held, are bound by law to attend them, or
else are liable to a fine; in order to return recogni¬
zances, &c. and to assist the judges in such matters as
lie within their knowledge and jurisdiction, and in
which some of them have been probably concerned,
by way of previous examination. See Assizes and
Jury.
Justices in Eyre, (justitiani itinerantes, or erran- jusl;fe
tes'), were those who were anciently sent with commis--y—
sion into divers counties to bear such causes especially
as were termed pleas of the crown; and that for the
case of the subject, who must else have been hurried to
the courts of Westminster, if the causes were too high
for the county courts.
According to some, these justices were sent once in
seven years ; but others suppose tbat they were sent
ofteuer. Camden says, they were instituted in the
reign of King Henry II. A. D. 1184 ; but they appear
to be of an older date.
They were somewhat like our justices of assize at
this day, though for authority and manner of proceed¬
ing very different.
Justices of Gaol-Delivery, those commissioned to
hear and determine causes appertaining to such as for
any ofl’ence are cast into prison. Justices of gaol-de¬
livery are empowered by the common law to proceed
upon indictments of felony, trespass, &c. and to order
execution or reprieve ; and they have power to dis¬
charge such prisoners as upon their trials shall be ac¬
quitted ; also all such against whom, on proclamation
made, no evidence appears to indict; which justices of
oyer and terminer, &c. may not do. 2 Hawk. 24, 25.
But these justices having nothing to do with any person
not in the custody of the prison, except in some special
cases ; as if some of the accomplices to a felony may be
in such prison and some of them out of it, the justices
mav receive an appeal against those who are out of tbs
prison as well as those who ai’e in it; which appeal, al¬
ter the trial of such prisoners, shall he removed into
B. 11. and process issue from them against the rest.
But if those out of prison he omitted m the appeal, they
can never be put into any other; because there can be
but one appeal for the felony. In this way the gaols
are cleared, and all offenders tried, punished, or deli¬
vered, in every year.—Their commission is turned over
to the justices of assize.
Justices of Nisi Frius, are now the same with j'mj-
tices of assize. It is a common adjournment of a cause
in the common pleas to put it oft to such a day, Nisi
prius justiciarii venennt ad eas partes ad capiendas as-
sizas : from which clause of adjournment they are cal¬
led justices of nisi prius, as well as justices of assize,
on account of writ and actions they have to deal in.
Justices of Oyer and Terminer, were justices depu¬
ted on some special occasions to hear and determine par¬
ticular causes.—The commission of oyer and terminer
is directed to certain persons, upon any insurrection,
heinous demeanour, or trespass committed, who must
first inquire, by means of the grand jury or inquest,
before they are empowered to hear and determine by
the help of the petit jury. It was formerly held that
no judge or other lawyer could act in the commission
of oyer and terminer, or that of gaol-delivery, within
the county where he was horn or inhabited ; but it was
thought proper by 12 Geo. II. cap. 27. to allow any
man to be a justice of oyer and terminer and general
gaol-delivery within any county of England.
Justices of the Peace are persons of interest and
credit, appointed by the king’s commission to keep the
peace of the county where they live.
Of these some for special respect are made of the
quorum, so as no business of importance may be de¬
spatched
JUS [ 41
snatched without the presence or assent of them or
one of them. Every justice of peace has a sepa¬
rate power, and his office is to call before him,
examine, issue warrants for apprehending, and commit
to prison all thieves, murderers, wandering rogues j
those that hold conspiracies, riots, and almost all delin¬
quents which may occasion the breach of the peace
and quiet of the subject j to commit to prison such as
cannot find bail, and to see them brought forth in due
time to trial; and bind over the prosecutors to the as¬
sizes. And if they neglect to certify examinations and
informations to the next gaol-delivery, or do not bind
over prosecutors, they should be fined. A justice may
commit a person that doth a felony in Ins own view
without a warrant; but if on the informal,on of ano-
tfier he must make a warrant under hand and seal tor
that purpose. If complaint and oath be made before
a justice of goods stolen, and the informer, suspecting
that they are in a particular house, shows the cause ot
his suspicion, the justice may grant a warrant to the
constable, &c. to search in the place suspected, to
seize the goods and person in whose custody they are
found, and bring them before hinder some other jus-
tice The search on these warrants ought to be in
the "day time, and doors maybe broke open by con¬
stables to take the goods. Justices of peace may make
and persuade an agreement m petty quarrels and
breaches of the peace, where the king is not entitled to
a fine, though they may not compound otlences or take
money for making agreements. A justice hath a dis¬
cretionary power of binding to the good nehavioui ,
and may require a recognizance, with a great penalty ot
one for bis keeping of the peace, where the party bound
is a dangerous person, and likely to break the peace,
gntl do much mischief; and for default of sureties he
may be committed te gaol. But a man giving securi¬
ty for keeping the peace in the king’s bench or chan¬
cery may have a supersedeas to the justices in the coun¬
ty not to take security and also by giving surety o
the peace to any other justice. H one make an assault
upon a justice of peace, he may apprehend the offend¬
er, and commit him to gaol till he finds sureties for
the peace; and a justice may record a forcible entiy
on his own possession ; in other cases he cannot judge
in his own cause. Contempts against justices are pu¬
nishable by indictment and fine at the sessions. Jus¬
tices shall not be regularly punished for any thing done
by them in session as judges ; and if a justice be tried
for any thing done in his office, he may plead the ge¬
neral issue, and give the special matter in evidence ;
and if a verdict is given for him, or if the plaintiff be
nonsuit, he shall have double costs ; and such action
shall only be laid in the county where the offence is
committed, 7 Jac. 5. 21 Jac. cap. 12. But if they
are «uilty of any misdemeanour 111 olhee, mtorma-
tion Ties against them in the king’s bench, where they
shall be punished by fine and imprisonment; and all
persons who recover a verdict against a justice for any
wilful or malicious injury, are entitled to double
costs. By 24 Geo. II. cap. 44- 110 wnt M}.hQ sued
out against any justice of peace tor any thing done
by him in the execution of his office, until notice m
writing shall be delivered to him one month before the
suing out of the same, containing the cause of^ action,
gtc. within which month he may tender amenus; and
t ] JUS
if the tender he found sufficient, he shall have a verdict,
&.c. Nor shall any action be brought against a jus- —-y—^
tice for any thing done in the execution of his office,
unless commenced within six months after the act com-
mitted. _ . t .
A justice is to exercise his authority only within the
county where lie is appointed by his commission, not
in any city which is a county of itself, or town corporate,
having their proper justices, &c. but in other towns
and liberties he may. The power and office of justices
terminates in six months after the demise of the crown,
by an express writ of discharge under the great seal, by
writ of supersedeas, by a new commission, and by ac¬
cession of the office of sheriff or coroner.
The original of justices of the peace is referred to
the fourth year of Edward III. They were first called
conservators or wardens of the peace, elected by the
county upon a writ directed to the sheriff: but the
power of appointing them was transferred by statutes
from the people to the king ; and under this appella¬
tion appointed by I Edward III. cap. 16. Afterwards
the statute 34 Edw. III. cap. 1. gave them the power
of trying felonies, and then they acquired the appella¬
tion of justice. They are appointed by the king’s
special commission under the great seal, the form of
which was settled by all the judges, A. D. 1590 ; and
the king may appoint as many as he shall think fit in
every county in England and Wales, though they are
generally made at the discretion of the lord chancellor,
by the king’s leave. At first the number of justices
was not above two or three in a county, 18 Edvv. III.
cap. 2. Then it was provided by 34 Edw. III. cap. 1.
that one lord, and three or four of the most worthy
men in the county, with some learned in the law, should
be made justices in every county. The number was
afterwards restrained first to six and then to eight, in
every county, by 12 llic. II. cap. 10. and 14 Bic. I».
cap. II. But their number has greatly increased since
their first institution. As to their qualifications, the
statutes just cited direct them to be of the best repu¬
tation and most worthy men in the county ; and the
statute 13 Ric. II. cap. 7. orders them to be of the
most sufficient knights, esquires, and gentlemen of the
law; and by the 2 Hen. V. stat. 1. cap. 4. and stat. 2.
cap. I. they must be resident in their several coun¬
ties. And by 18 Hen. VI. cap. 11. no justice was to
be put in commission, if he had not lands to the value
of 2cl. per annum. It is now enacted by 5 Geo. II.
cap. II. that every justice shall have loot, per annum,
clear of all deductions; of which he must make oath
by 18 Geo. II. cap. 20. And if be acts without such
qualification, he shall forfeit look It is also provided
by 5 Geo. II. that no practising attorney, solicitor,
or proctor, shall be capable of acting as a justice of the
peace.
Justices of the Peace within Liberties, are justices
of the peace who have the same authority in cities or o-
ther corporate towns as the others have in counties ; and
their power is the same ; only that these have the as¬
size of ale and beer, wood, and victuals, &c. Justices
of cities and corporations are not within the qualifica¬
tion act, 5 Geo. II. cap. 17.
Fountain of Justice, one,of the characters or attri¬
butes of the king. See PREROGATIVE.
By the fountain of justice the law does not mean the
3 F 2 author
JUS [41
author or original, but only the distributor. Justice is
not derived from the king as from his free gift} but
he is the steward of the public, to dispense it to whom
it is due. He is not the spring, but the reservoir, from
whence right and equity are conducted, by a thousand
channels, to ev^ry individual. The original power
of judicature, by the fundamental principles of society,
is lodged in the society at large : but as it would he
impracticable to render complete justice to each indivi¬
dual, by the people in their collective capacity, there¬
fore every nation has committed that power to certain
select magistrates who with more ease and expedition
can hear and determine complaints : and in England
this authority has immemorially been exercised by the
king or his substitutes. He therefore has alone the
right of erecting courts of judicature : for though the
constitution of the kingdom hath intrusted him with the
whole executive power of the laws, it is impossible, as
well as improper, that he should personally carry into
execution this great and extensive trust : it is conse¬
quently necessary that courts should be erected, to assist
him in executing this power j and equally necessary,
that, if erected, they should be erected by his authority.
And hence it is that all jurisdictions of courts are either
mediately or immediately derived from the crown j
their proceedings run generally in the king’s name,
they pass under his seal, and are executed by his of¬
ficers.
It is probable, and almost certain, that in very early
times, before cur constitution arrived at its full perfec¬
tion, our kings in person often heard and determined
causes between party and party. But at present, by
the long and uniform usage of many ages, our kings
have delegated their whole judicial power to the judges
of their several courts 5 which are the grand depository
of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and have gain¬
ed a known and stated jurisdiction, regulated by cer¬
tain and established rules, which the crown itself can¬
not now alter but by act of parliament. And in order
to maintain both the dignity and independence of the
judges in the superior courts, it is enacted by the stat.
13 W. III. c. 2. that their commissions shall be made,
not, as formerly, durante beneplacito, but quamdiu
bene se gesserint, and their salaries ascertained and esta¬
blished j but that it may be lawful to remove them on
the address of both houses of parliament. And now,
by the noble improvements of that law in the statute of
I Geo. III. c. 23. enacted at the earnest recommenda¬
tion of the king himself from the throne, the judges are
continued in their offices during their good behaviour,
notwithstanding any demise of the crown (which was
formerly held immediately to vacate their seats), and
their full salaries are absolutely secured to them during
the continuance of their commissions ; his majesty hav¬
ing been pleased to declare, that he looked upon the
independence and uprightness of the judges, as essential
to the impartial administration of justice ; as one of the
best securities of the rights and liberties of his subjects ;
and as most conducive to the honour of the crown.”
In criminal proceedings or prosecutions for offen¬
ces, it would still be a higher absurdity, if the king
personally sat in judgment •, because, in regard to these,
be appears in another capacity, that of prosecutor. All
affences are either against the king’s peace, or his
crown and dignity j and are so laid in every indict-
2
! ] .J u s
ment. For though in their consequences they gene¬
rally seem (except in the case of treason and a very few
others) to be rather offences against the kingdom than
the king 5 yet, as the public, which is an invisible body,
has delegated all its power and rights, with regard
to the execution of the laws, to one visible magistrate,
all affronts to that power, and breaches of those rights,
are immediately offences against him, to whom they
are so delegated by the public. He is therefore the
proper person to prosecute for all public offences and
breaches of the peace, being the person injured in the
eye of the law. And this notion was carried so far in
the old Gothic constitution (wherein the king wa£
bound by his coronation oath to conserve the peace),
that in case of any forcible injury offered to the person
of a fellow subject, the offender was accused of a kind
of perjury, in having violated the king’s coronation
oath; dicebatur fregisse juramentum regis juratum*
And hence also arises another branch of the preroga¬
tive, that of pardoning offences ; for it is reasonable
that he only who is injured should have the power of
forgiving. See Pardon.
In this distinct aj>fil separate existence of the judicial
power in a peculiar body of men, nominated indeed,
but not removable at pleasure, by the crown, consists
one main preservative of the public liberty; which can¬
not subsist long in any state, unless the administration
of common justice be in some degree separated both
from the legislative and also from the executive power.
Were it joined with the legislative, the life, liberty, and
property of the subject would be in the hands of arbi¬
trary judges, whose decisions would be then regulated
only by their own opinions, and not by any fundamen¬
tal principles of law; which, though legislators may de¬
part from, yet judges are bound to observe. Were it
joined with the executive, this union might soon be an
overbalance for the legislative. For which reason, by
the statute of 16 Car. I. c. 10. which abolished the
court of star-chamber, effectual care is taken to remove
all judicial power out of the hands of the king’s privy-
council ; who, as then was evident, from recent instances,
might soon be inclined to pronounce that for law which
was most agreeable to the prince or his officers. No¬
thing therefore is more to be avoided in a free consti¬
tution, than uniting the provinces of a judge and a mi¬
nister of state. And indeed, that the absolute power,
claimed and exercised in a neighbouring nation, is more
tolerable than that of the eastern empires, is in a great
measure owing to their having vested the judicial power
in their parliaments; a body separate and distinct from
both the legislative and executive : and if ever that
nation recovers its former liberty, it will *owe it to the
efforts of those assemblies. In Tuikey, where every
thing is centered in the sultan or his ministers, despotic
power is in its meridian, and wears a more dreadful
aspect.
A consequence of this prerogative is the legal ubi¬
quity of the king. His majesty, in the eye of the law,
is always present in all his courts, though he cannot
personally distribute justice. His judges are the mirror
by which the king’s image is reflected. It is the regal
office, and not the royal person, that is always present
in court, always ready to undertake prosecutions, or
pronounce judgment, for the benefit and protection of
the subject. And from this ubiquity it follows,, that
JUS
[ 413 ]
JUS
toUce tlie king can never l,e nonamt; for a nonsn.t 18 the
a desertion of the suit or act.on by the non-appearance
Justin. of the plaintiff in court. For the same reason also in
r**—J the forms of legal proceedings, the king is not said to
appear by his attorney, as other men do j tor he al¬
ways appears, in contemplation of law, in Ins own pro-
* From the same original, of the king’s being the
fountain of justice, we may also deduce the .prerogative
of issuing proclamations, which is vested in the kin0
alone. See Proclamation.
Justice Seat. See Jorest Courts.
JUSTICIA, Malabar Nut 5 a genus ot plants
belonging to the diandria class*, and in the na ma
method ranking under the 40th order, Personatce. See
Botany Index.
JUSTICIAR, in the old English laws, an oiticer
instituted by William the Conqueror, as the chief of¬
ficer of state, who principally determined m all cases
civil and criminal. He was called in Latin
justiciarius totius Anglic*. For Justiciar in Scotland,
see Law Index. .
JUSTICIARY, or Court qf Justiciary, in
Scotland. See Law Index. . .
JUSTIFICATION, in Law, signifies a maintain¬
ing or showing a sufficient reason in court why the de¬
fendant did what he is called to answer. Pleas in
justification must set forth some special matter: thus
on being sued for a trespass, a person may justity it y
proving that the land is his own freehold j that he
entered a house, in order to apprehend a felon *, or by
virtue of a warrant to levy a forfeiture, or m order to
take a distress j and in an assault, that he did it out
of necessity. , , c
Justification, in Theologij, that act o grac
which renders a man just in the sight of God, and
worthy of eternal happiness. See Theology.
Different sects of Christians hold very different opi¬
nions concerning the doctrine of justification *, some
contending for justification by faith alone, and others
by good works. . .
JUSTIN, a celebrated historian, lived, according
to the most probable opinion, in the second century,
under the reign of Antoninus Pius. He wrote in ele¬
gant Latin, an abridgement of the history of Irogus
Pompeius ; comprehending the actions ot almost all
nations, from Ninus the founder of the Assyrian empire
to the emperor Augustus. The original work, to the
regret of the learned, is lost: this abridgement being
written in a polite and elegant style, was probably the
reason why that age neglected the original. Ihe best
editions of Justin are, ad usum Delphim in 4L) 5 and
cum notis variorum et Gronovn, in 8vo.
Justin, St, commonly called Justm Martyr, one ot
the earliest and most learned writers of the eastern
church, was born at Neapolis, the ancient Sechem ot
Palestine. His father Priscus, a Gentile Greek, brought
him up in his own religion, and had him educated in all
the Grecian learning. To complete h.s studies he Ra¬
velled to Egypt, and followed the sect of 1 lato. But
one day walking by the sea side wrapt in contemplation,
he was met by a grave person, of a venerable aspect j
who, falling into discourse with him, turned the conver¬
sation by degrees from the excellence of 1 latomsm to
the superior perfection of Christianity \ and reasoned so
Justin
well, as to raise in him an ardent curiosity to inquire
into the merits of that religion J in consequence «f which
inquiry he was converted about the year 132. On In * ,
embracing that religion, he quitted neither the profes¬
sion nor the habit of a philosopher j but a persecution
breaking out under Antoninus, he composed An Apology
for the Christians; and afterwards presented another to
the emperor Marcus Aurelius, in which he vindicated
the innocence and holiness of the Christian religion a-
gainst Crescens a Cynic philosopher, and other calum¬
niators. He did honour to Christianity by his learning
and the purity of his manners ; and suffered martyrdom
in 167. Besides his two Apologies, there are still ex¬
tant his Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew j two treatises ad¬
dressed to the Gentiles, and another on the unity o God.
Other works are also ascribed to him. Ihe best editions
of St Justin are those of Robert Stephens, in 1551 and
1 C71, in Greek and Latin *, that of Morel, in Greek,
and Latin, in 1656 *, and that of Don Prudentius Ma-
randus, a learned Benedictine, in 1742, in folio.
JUSTINIAN I. son of Justin the elder, was made
Csesar and Augustus in 527, and soon after emperor.
He conquered the Persians by Belisarius his general,
and exterminated the Vandals ; regained Africa 5 sub¬
dued the Goths in Italy j defeated the Moors j and re¬
stored the Roman empire' to its primitive glory, bee
(History of) Constantinople, No. 93—97 ? and
Italy, No. 12, &c. . . f r ,
The empire being now in the full enjoyment ol a
profound peace and tranquillity, Justinian made the
best use of it, by collecting the immense variety and
number of the Roman laws into one body., lo tins
end he selected ten of the most able lawyers m the em¬
pire *, who, revising the Gregorian,' Theodosian, and
Hermogeniau codes, compiled one body, called Lodex
Justinianus. This may be called the statute as
consisting of the rescripts of the emperors. But the
reduction of the other part was a much moie difficult
task : it was made up of the decisions of the judges
and other magistrates, together with the authoritative
opinions of the most eminent lawyers, all which lay scat¬
tered, without any order, in no less than 2000 volumes
and upwards. These were reduced to the number oi
5°
but ten years were spent in the reduction.
The design was completed in the year 553, and the
name of Digests or Pandects given to it. Besides
these, for the use chiefly of young students in the law,
and to facilitate that study, Justinian ordered four
books of institutes to be drawn up, containing an ab¬
stract or abridgement of the text of all the laws j and
lastly, the laws of modern date, posterior to that of the
former, were thrown into one volume in the year 541,
called the Novellce, or New Code. _ • .1
This emperor died in the year 565, aged 83, in the
qothof his reign, after having built a great number
of churches 5 particularly the famous Sancta Sophia at
Constantinople, which is esteemed a masterpiece of ar-
thJUSTINIANI, St Laurence, the first patriarch
of Venice, was born there of a noble family in I3^1*
He died in 1485* he left several religious works, which
were printed together at Lyons in 1568, in one volume
folio, with his life prefixed by his nephew. He was
beatified by Clement VII. in 1524, and he was canon-
ixed hy Alexander VIII. in 1690. JusImA))Ij
J U V [ 4H ] J U X
Jtisuniani JuSTINlANl, Bernard, was born at Venice in 1408.
|j He obtained the senators robe at the age of ip, served
Jureim!. ^pubHc in several embassies, and was elected pro-
curator of St Mark in 1474. He was a learned man,
and wrote the History of Venice, with some other works
of considerable merit $ and died in 1498.
Justiniani, Augustin, bishop of Nebbio, one of the
most learned men of his time, was descended from a
branch of the same noble family with the two foregoing 5
and was born at Genoa in 1480. He assisted at the
fifth council of Lateran, where he opposed some articles
of the concordat between France and the court of
Rome. Francis I. of France made him his almoner:
and he was for five years regius professor of Hebrew
at Paris. He returned to Genoa in 1522, where he dis¬
charged all the duties of a good prelate 5 and learning
and piety flourished in his diocese. He perished at sea
in his passage from Genoa to Nebbio, in 1536. He
composed several pieces ; the most considerable of which
is Psallerium Hcbrceum, Grcecum, Arabicum, et Chal-
deum, cum tribus Latinis interpretationibus et glossis.
This was the first psalter of the kind printed $ and
there is also ascribed to the same prelate a translation
of Maimonides’s More Nevochim.
JUSTNESS, the exactness or regularity of any
thing.
Justness is chiefly used in speaking of thought, lan¬
guage, and sentiments. The justness of a thought
consists in a certain precision or accuracy, by which
every part of it is perfectly true, and pertinent to the
subject. Justness of language consists in using proper
and well chosen terms ; in not saying either too much
or too little. M. de Mere, who has written on just¬
ness of mind, distinguishes two kinds of justness j the
one arising from taste and genius, the other from good
sense or right reason. There are no certain rules to be
laid down for the former, viz. to shew the beauty and
exactness in the turn or choice of a thought •, the latter
consists in the just relations which things have to one
another.
JUTES, the ancient inhabitants of Jutland in Den¬
mark.
JUTLAND, a large peninsula, which makes the
principal part of the kingdom of Denmark. It is
bounded on the south-east by the duchy of Holstein, and
is surrounded on the other sides by the German ocean
and the Baltic sea. It is about 180 miles in length
from north to south, and 70 in breadth from east to
west. Its extent is about 9200 square miles, and its
population 440,000. The air is very cold but whole¬
some j and the soil is fertile in corn and pastures. This
was anciently called the Cimbrian CZicrsonesus, and is
supposed to he the country from whence the Saxons
came into England. It is divided into two parts, call¬
ed North and South Jutland: the latter is the duchy of
Sleswick, and lies between North Jutland and the duchy
of Holstein ; and the duke of that name is in posses¬
sion of part of it, whose capital town is Gottorp ; for
which reason the sovereign is called the duke of Hol¬
stein Gottorp.
JUVENAL, Decius Junius, the celebrated Ro¬
man satirist, was born about the beginning of the em¬
peror Claudius’s reign, at Aquinum in Campania. His
father was probably a freed man, w ho being rich, gave
him a liberal education, and, agreeably to the taste of
the times bred him up to eloquence ; in which he made juvtriSj
a great progress, first under Fronto the grammarian, ||
and afterwards, as is generally conjectured, under Quin- Jnxon.
tilian j after which he attended the bar, and made a w—v*—
distinguished figure there for many years by his elo¬
quence. In the practice of this profession he had im¬
proved his fortune and interest at Rome before he turn¬
ed his thoughts to poetry, the very style of which, in
his satires, speaks a long habit of declamation j subac-
tum redolent declamatorem, say the critics. It is said
he was above 40 years of age when he recited his first
essay to a small audience of his friends j but being en¬
couraged by their applause, he ventured a greater pub¬
lication j which reaching the ears of Paris, Domitian’s
favourite at that time, though but a pantomime player,
whom our satirist had severely insulted, that minion
made his complaint to the emperor j who sent him
thereupon into banishment, under pretence of giving
him the command of a cohort in the army, which was
quartered at Pentapolis, a city upon the frontiers of
Egypt and Libya.
After Domitian’s death, our satirist returned to
Rome, sufficiently cautioned not only against attack¬
ing the characters of those in power, under arbitrary
princes, but against all personal reflections upon the
great men then living j and therefore he thus wisely
concludes the debate he is supposed to have maintain¬
ed for a while with a friend on this head, in the first
satire, which seems to be the first he w-rote after his
banishment:
Experiar quid concedatur in illos
Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.
“ I will try what liberties I may be allowed with those
whose ashes lie under the Flaminian and Latin ways,”
along each side of which the Romans of the first quality
used to be buried.—It is believed that he lived till the
reign of Adrian in 128. There are still extant 16 of
his satires, in which he discovers great wit, strength,
and keenness, in his language : but his style is not per¬
fectly natural ; and the obscenities with which these
satires are filled render the reading of them dangerous
to youth.
JUVENCUS, Caius Vecticus Aquilinus, one of
the first of the Christian poets, was born of an illus¬
trious family in Spain. About the year 320 he put
the life of Jesus Christ into Latin verse, of which he
composed four books. In this work he followed close¬
ly the text of the evangelists : but his verses are writ¬
ten in a bad taste and in bad Latin.
JUVENTAS, in Mythologi/, the goddess who pre¬
sided over youth among the Romans. This goddess
was long honoured in the Capitol, where Servius Tul¬
lius erected her statue. Near the chapel of Minerva
there was the altar of Juventas, and upon this altar a
picture of Proserpine. The Greeks called the goddess
of youth Hebe; but it has been generally supposed
that this was not the same with the Roman Juven¬
tas.
JUXON, Dr William, archbishop of Canterbury,
was born at Chichester in 1582. He was educated at
Merchant Taylors school, and from thence elected into
St John’s college, Oxford, of which he became presi¬
dent. King Charles I. made him bishop of London ;
and in 1635 promoted him to the post of lord high
treasurer
Ijuxo’l.
V )
U X t 4i5 1 . ■? 7, N , •
Tlie whole nation, and especi, of Canterhnry; and a, t e ^e e^oyed^
ireasuver of England.  
■vllv the nobility, were greatly offended at this high
office being given to a clergyman ; but he behaved so
well in the administration, as soon put a stop to all the
clamour raised against him. This place he held no
longer than the 17th of May 1641, when he prudently
resigned the staff to avoid the storm which then threat¬
ened the court and the clergy. In the following Fe¬
bruary an act passed, depriving the bishops of their
votes'in parliament, and incapacitating them from any
temporal jurisdiction. In these leading steps as well
as the total abolition of the episcopal order which, fol¬
lowed, he was involved with his brethren j but neither
as a bishop nor as treasurer was a single accusation
brought against him in the long parliament. Faring
the civil wars he resided at his palace at I ulham,
where his meek, inoffensive, and affable manners,
notwithstanding his remaining steady in his loyalty
to the king, procured him the visits of the principal
persons of the opposite party, and respect from all.
In 1648 he attended bis majesty at the treaty in.the
isle of Wight; and by his particular desire, waited
upon him at Cotton-house Westminster, the day af¬
ter the commencement of his trial; during which he
frequently visited him in the office of a spiritual fa¬
ther ; and his majesty declared he was the greatest
comfort to him in that afflictive situation. He like¬
wise attended his majesty on the scaffold, where the
king, taking off his cloak and george, gave him the
latter: after the execution, our pious bishop took care
of the body, which he accompanied to the royal cha¬
pel at Windsor, and stood ready with the common-
prayer book in his hands to perform the last ceremony
for the king; but was prevented by Colonel \\hicli-
cot governor of the castle. He continued in the quiet
possession of Fulham palace till the ensuing year 1649,
when he was deprived, having been spared longer
than any of his brethren. He then retired to his own
estate in Gloucestershire, where he lived in privacy
till the Restoration, when he was presented to the see
expended in buildings and reparations at Lambeth
palace and Croydon house near 15,000b He died in ^
1663 9 having bequeathed ^oool. to St John s col-
lege, and to other charitable uses near 5000I. He
published a sermon on Luke xviii. 31, and Some Con¬
siderations upon the Act of Uniformity.
JUXTAPOSITION, is used by philosophers to
denote that species of growth which is performed by
the apposition of new matter to the surface or outside
of old. In which sense it stands opposed to intus¬
susception; where the growth of a body is performed
by the reception of a juice within it diffused through
its canals.
IVY. See Hedera, Botany Index.
IXIA, a genus of plants belonging to the triandria
class, and in the natural method ranking under the 6th
order, Ensatce. See BoTANY Index.
IXION, in fabulous history, king of the Lapithe,
married Dia, the daughter of Deionius, to whom he re¬
fused to give the customary nuptial presents. Heioniu*
in revenge took from him his horses : when Ixion, dis¬
sembling his resentment, invited his father-in-law to a
feast, and made him fall through a trap-door into a
burning furnace, in which he was immediately con¬
sumed.0 Ixion being afterwards stung with remorse for
his cruelty, ran mad ; on which Jupiter, in compassion,
not only forgave him, but took him up into heaven,
where he had the impiety to endeavour to corrupt Juno.
Jupiter, to be the better assured of his guilt, formed a
cloud in the resemblance of the goddess, upon which
Ixion begat the centaurs: but boasting of his happi¬
ness, Jove hurled him down to Tartarus, where he lies
fixed on a wheel encompassed with serpents, which
turns without ceasing.
IXORA, a genus of plants belonging to the tetran-
dria class; and in the natural method ranking under
the 47th order, Stellatce. See BoTANY Index.
JYNX, a genus of birds belonging to the order of
piete. See Ornithology Index.
Juxcn
Jynx.
KThe tenth letter, and seventh consonant of our
9 alphabet; being formed by the voice, by a gut¬
tural expression of the breath through the mouth, to¬
gether with a depression of the lower jaw and opening
of the teeth. , A ,
Its sound is much the same with that of the hard c,
or qu: and it is used for the most part only before e,
», and n, in the beginning of words ; as ken, kill> know,
&c. It used formerly to be always joined with c at
the end of words, but is akpresent very properly omit¬
ted, at least in words derived from the Latin : thus,
for publick, musick, &c. we say, public, music, &c.
However in monosyllables, it is still retained, as jack,
llock, mock, St. c.
Kit borrowed from the Greek kappa; andwas but
5
little used among the Latins: Priscian looked on it as
a superfluous letter ; and says it was never to be used
except in words borrowed from the Greek. Haus-
quius, after Sallust, observes that it was unknown to
the ancient Romans. Indeed we seldom find it in any
Latin authors, excepting in the word kalendce, where
it sometimes stands in lieu of a c.—Carthage, however,
is frequently spelt on medals with a K; salvis AUG.
ET CAES. EEL. KART, and sometimes the letter A alone
stood for Carthage.—M. Berger has observed, that a
capital K, on the reverse of the medals of the emperors
of Constantinople, signified Konstantinus ; and on the
Greek medals he will have it to signify KOIAH STPIA,
“ Coelesyria.”
Quintilian tells us, that in his time some people had
K A B [ 410 ] K A J
IC a mistaken notion, that wherever the letter c and a ce¬
ll curred at the beginning of a word, k ought to be used
Kabobi- 0f the See C.
q',las' . Lipsius observes, that K was a stigma anciently
marked on the foreheads of criminals with a red-hot
iron.
The letter K has various significations in old char¬
ters and diplomas j for instance KR. stood for cho¬
rus ; KR. C. for cara civitas ; KRM. for carmen ; KR.
AM. N. for cams amicus nosier; KS. chaos; KT.
cajnte tonsilst &c.
The French never use the letter k excepting in a
few terms of art and proper names borrowed from other
countries. Ablancourt, in his dialogue of the letters,
brings in k complaining, that he has been often in a
fair way to be banished out of the French alphabet,
and confined to the countries of the north.
K is also a numeral letter, signifying 250, according
to the verse,
K quoque ducentos et quinquaginta tenelit.
When it had a stroke at top, K, it stood for 250,000.
K on the French coinage denotes money coined at
Bourdeaux.
KAARTA, a kingdom in Africa, through which
Mr Park passed from the Gambia to the Niger. Ac¬
cording to him the country consists of sandy plains and
rocky hills, the level part of it being the most exten¬
sive. It is inhabited by Negroes, many of whom retain
all their ancient superstitions, although converted to the
religion of Mahomet. White men, he informs us, are
strangers in the kingdom of Kaarta; and Mr Park’s
appearance had nearly the same effect upon them which
ignorant people in our owm country attribute to ghosts.
Mr Park was well received by the king at Kemmoo,
who at the same time informed him with ingenuous
frankness, that he could not protect him, being then
at war with the king of Bambarra, but he gave him a
guard to Jarra, the frontier town of the neighbouring
kingdom of Ludamar. From our author’s account of
this war, it seems to be highly impolitic to liberate the
negroes from slavery till civilization and Christianity be
introduced into Africa. Kemmoo, the metropolis of
this kingdom, lies in N. Lat. 14. 15. W. Long. 7. 20.
KAAT’s BA AN, a town of New York, on the
west bank of Hudson’s river, seven miles south of
Kaat’s Kill.
KAAT’s-KILL, a township of New York, on the
west bank of Hudson’s river; five miles south of Hud¬
son city, and 125 north of New York. It is the capi¬
tal of Greene county, and is pleasantly situated near
the mouth of Kaats-kill river.
Kaat’s-kill Mountains, a majestic ridge of
mountains in the vicinity of the above township, which
are the first part of the Alleghany mountains.
KABA. See Mecca.
KABOBIQUAS, a nation in the south of Africa,
who are reported never to have seen a white man till
the year 1785, when they were visited by M. Vaillant.
On his approach they felt his hair, hands, feet, and
almost every part of his body. His beard astonished
them, and they supposed that his whole body was co¬
vered with hair. The children were greatly alarmed,
but presents of sugarcandy soon reconciled them. The
chief showed him every mark of respect, whom be re¬
presents as a majestic figure, with a long mantle made Katoln.
of four jackal skins. The hair of the people is very qua*
short, curled, and ornamented with small copper but- 11
tons. Although they go almost naked, the females
are remarkably chaste, and very reserved. Their only
ornaments are glass beads. M. Vaillant assui’es us that
he never saw a nation so disinterested, as they vied
with each other in generosity. Many of them gave
away gratuitously, and without receiving any thing in
return, part of their herds and flocks. They are also
of a courageous and martial character, making use of
poisoned arrows and lances with long points. They
are extremely obedient to their chief, whose will is a
law. They believe in a supreme being who govern*
all things, and who exists far beyond the stars. They
have no idea of a future existence, or of rewards and
punishments, and have neither worship, sacrifices, ce¬
remonies, nor priests. Their country lies between Long.
16. 25. and 19. 25. east of Paris, and between 230
and 250 S. Lat.
KADESH, Kadesh-barnea, or En-mishpat, in
Ancient Geography, a city celebrated for several events.
At Kadesb, Miriam the sister of Moses died, (Numb,
xx. 1.). Here it was that Moses and Aaron, showing
a distrust in God’s power when they smote the rock at
the waters of strife, were condemned to die, without
the consolation of entering the promised land (Numb,
xxvii. 14.). The king of Kadesh was one of the prin¬
ces killed by Joshua (xii. 22.). This city was given
to the tribe of Judah, and was situated about eight
leagues from Hebron to the south.
Mr Wells is of opinion, that this Kadesh, which
was situated in the wilderness of Zin, was a differ¬
ent place from Kadesh-barnea in the wilderness of
Paran.
KADMONASI, or Cadmon^ei, in Ancient Geo¬
graphy, a people of Palestine, said to dwell at the
foot of Mount Hermon ; ‘which lies east, and is the
reason of the appellation, with respect to Libanus,
Phoenicia, and the northern parts of Palestine. Called
also Hevcei (Moses).
KiEMPFERIA, Zedoary, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the monandria class; and in the natural
method ranking under the 8th order, Sciiaminece.
See Botany Index.
KAJUAGA, a kingdom of Africa, bounded on the
south-east and south by Bambouk j on the west by
Bondon and Foota Torra; and on the north by the
"river Senegal. The air and climate are more pure
and healthy than at any of the settlements towards the
coast; the face of the country is pleasingly diversified
with hills and valleys, and the windings of the river Se¬
negal make the scenery on its banks extremely beau¬
tiful. The inhabitants are called Serawoollies, who
have a jet black complexion, in which respect they are
not to be distinguished from the Jaloffs. The govern¬
ment is monarchical, and the regal authority, accord¬
ing to Mr Park, is sufficiently formidable. The people
are deemed tolerably fair and just in their dealings, and
indefatigable in their exertions to acquire wealth.
Their language abounds with gutturals, and there¬
fore is not so harmonious as that which is spoken by the
Foulahs ; but it is worth a traveller’s while to obtain a
knowledge of it, as it is generally understood in many
kingdoms of Africa. Joag is the frontier town, en¬
tering
K A L
[ 4i7 ]
K A L
fi
Calendar.
terins from Pisania, surrounded by a high wall, and is
supposed to contain 2000 inhabitants. It is situated in
N. Lat. 14. 25- W* Ij0nS* 9* 46*
KAINSI, the Hottentot name of a species of ante¬
lope, denominated by the Hutch, on account of its agi¬
lity ’klip-springer. It is of a yellowish gray-colour, and
of the size of a kid of a year old. See Capra, Mam¬
malia Index. . .
KALENDAR, a distribution of time, accommo¬
dated to the uses of life ; or a table or almanack, con¬
taining the order of days, weeks, months, feasts, &c.
happening throughout the year. See Time, Month,
Year, &c. . , . ,
It is called kalendar, from the word kalendee, an¬
ciently wrote in large characters at the head ot each
month. See Kalends. . .
The days in kalendars were originally divided into
octoades, or eights ; but afterwards, in imitation of the
Jews, into hebdomades, or sevens ; which custom, Sca-
liger observes, was not introduced among the Romans
till after the time of Theodosius.
There are divers kalendars, according to the dilter-
ent forms of the year and distributions of time esta¬
blished in different countries. Hence the Roman, the
Jewish, the Persian, the Julian, the Gregorian, &c.
kalendars. . . , ,
The ancient Roman kalendar is given by llicciolus,
Struvius, Danet, and others j by which we see the or¬
der and number of the Roman holidays and work days.
The three Christian kalendars are given by Moltius
in his Elements ot Chronology.
The Jewish kalendar was fixed by Rabbi Hillel about
the year 360, from which time the days of their “^ear
may be reduced to those of the Julian kalendar.
The Roman KalesDAll owed its origin to Romulus :
but it has undergone various reformations since his
time. That legislator distributed time into several pe¬
riods, for the use of the people under his command :
but as he was much better versed in matters of war
than of astronomy, he only divided the year into ten
months, making it begin in the spring, on the first of
March •, imagining the sun made his course through all
the seasons in 304 days.
Romulus’s kalendar was reformed by Numa, who
added two months more, January and February •, pla¬
cing them before March ; so that his year consisted of
3'5 days, and began on the first of January. He chose,
however, in imitation of the Greeks, to make, an in¬
tercalation of 45 days; which he divided into two parts;
intercalating a month of 22 days at the end of each
two years ;' and at the end of each two years more
another of 23 days; which month, thus interposed, he
sailed Marcedonius, or the intercalary February.
But these intercalations being ill observed by the
pontiffs, to whom Numa committed the care of them,
occasioned great disorders in the constitution of the
year; which Csesar, as sovereign pontiff, endeavour¬
ed to remedy. To this end, he made choice of Sosi¬
genes, a celebrated astronomer of those times; who
found, that the dispensation of time in the kalendar
could never be settled on any sure footing without hav¬
ing regard to the annual course of the sun. Accord¬
ingly, as the sun’s yearly course is performed in 365
davs six hours, he reduced the year to the same num¬
ber of days : the year of this correction of the kalen-
Vol. XI. Part II. t
dar was a year of confusion ; they being obliged, in Kalends#,
order to swallow up the 65 days that had been im- 1,1 ^
prudently added, and which occasioned the confusion,
to add two months besides the Marcedonius, which
chanced to fall out that year ; so that this year con¬
sisted of 15 months, or 445 days. I his reformation
was made in the year of Rome 7°8» 42 or 43 years ^e”
fore Christ.
The Roman kalendar, called also Julian kalendar,
from its reformer Julius, is disposed into quadriennial
periods ; whereof the first three years, which he called
consist of 365 days; and the fourth, bissextile,
of 366 ; by reason of the six hours, which in four years
make a day or somewhat less, for in 134 years an inter¬
calary day is to be retrenched. On this account it was,
that Pope Gregory XIII. with the advice of Clavius
and Ciaconius, appointed, that the hundredth year of
eacli century should have no bissextile, excepting in
each fourth century : that is, a subtraction is made of
three bissextile days in the space of four centuries ; by
reason of the 11 minutes wanting in the six hours where¬
of the bissextile consists.
The reformation of the kalendar, or the new style
as we call it, commenced on the 4th of October 15^*
when ten days were thrown out at once, so many ha¬
ving been introduced into the computation since the
time of the council of Nice in 32J» ^y the defect of 11
minutes.
Julian Christian Kalendar, is that wherein the
days of the week are determined by the letters A, B, C,
D, E, F, G, by means of the solar cycle ; and the new
and full moons, especially the paschal full moon, with
the feast of Easter, and the other moveable feasts de¬
pending thereon, by means of golden numbers, rightly
disposed through the Julian year. See Cycle, and
Golden Number.
In this kalendar, the vernal equinox is supposed to
be fixed to the 31st day of March : and the cycle of'19
years, or the golden numbers, constantly to indicate
the places of the new and full moons ; yet both are er¬
roneous. And hence arose a very great irregularity in
the time of Easter. To show this error the more ap¬
parently, let us apply it to the year lytf* ^1*s
year, then, the vernal equinox falls on the 10th of
March; and therefore comes too early by 11 days. I he
paschal full moon falls on the 7th of April ; and there¬
fore too late, with regard to the cycle, by three days.
Easter, therefore, which should have been on the loth
of April, was that year on the 17th. The error here
lies only in the metemptosis, or postposition of the
moon, through the defect of the lunar cycle. If the
full moon had fallen on the nth of March, Easter would
have fallen on the 13th of March ; and therefore the er¬
ror arising from the anticipation of the equinox would
have exceedingly augmented that arising from the
postposition. These errors, in course of time, were se
multiplied, that the kalendar no longer exhibited any
regular Easter. Pope Gregory XIII. therefore, by the
advice of Aloysius Lilius, in 1582, threw 10 days out
of the month of October, to restore the equinox to its
place, viz. the 2ist of March ; and thus introduced the
form of the Gregorian year, with such a provision as
that the equinox should be constantly kept to the 2lst
of March. The new moons and full moons, by advice
of the same Lilius, wTere not to be indicated by golden
3 G numbers,
K A L [ 418 1 K A L
Calendar, numbers, but by epacts. The kalendar, however, was
^—v——' still retained in Britain without this correction : whence
there was a difference of 11 days between our time and
that of our neighbours. But by 24 Geo. II. c. 23. the
Gregorian computation is established here, and accord¬
ingly took place in 1752.
Gregorian Kalesdar, is that which, by means of
epacts, rightly disposed through the several months,
determines the new and full moons, and the time of
Easter, with the moveable feasts depending thereon, in
the Gregorian year.
The Gregorian kalendar, therefore, differs from the
Julian, both in the form of the year, and in that epacts
are substituted in lieu of golden numbers : for the use
and disposition whereof, see Epact.
Though the Gregorian kalendar be preferable to
the Julian, yet it is not without its defects (perhaps
as Tycho Brahe and Cassini imagine, it is impossible
ever to bring the thing to a perfect justness). 1 or, first,
The Gregorian intercalation does not hinder, but that
the equinox sometimes succeeds the 2ist ot March as
far as the 23d ; and sometimes anticipates it, falling on
the 19th-, ami the full moon, which falls on the 20th of
March, is sometimes the paschal ; yet not so account¬
ed by the Gregorians. On the other hand, the Gre-
gorians account the lull moon of the 22d of March the
paschal which yet falling before the equinox, is not
paschal. In the "first case, therefore, Easter is celebra¬
ted in an irregular month } in the latter, there are two
Easters in the same ecclesiastical year. In like manner,
the cyclical computation being founded on mean lull
moons, which yet may precede or follow the true one
by some hours, the paschal full moon may fall on Sa¬
turday, which is yet referred by the cycle to Sunday :
whence, in the first case, Easter is celebrated eight
days later than it should be ; in the other, it is cele¬
brated on the very day of the full moon, with the Jews
and Quartodeciman heretics •, contrary to the decree
of the council of Nice. Scaliger and Calvisius show
other faults in the Gregorian kalendar, arising from
the negligence and inadvertency of the authors ; yet
is this kalendar adhered to by the Romans throughout
Europe, &.c. and used wherever the Roman breviary is
used.
Reformed or Corrected Kalendar, is that which,
setting aside all apparatus of golden numbers, epacts,
and dominical letters, determines the equinox, with the
paschal full moon, and the moveable feasts depending
thereon, by astronomical computation, according to the
Rudolphine Tables.
This kalendar W'as introduced among the Protestant
states of Germany in the year 1700, when 11 days were
at once thrown out of the month of February $ so that
in 1700 February had but 18 days: by this means,
the corrected style agrees with the Gregorian. This
alteration in the form of the year they admitted for a
time j in expectation that, the real quantity of the
tropical year being at length more accurately deter¬
mined by observation, the Romanists would agree with
them on some more convenient intercalation.
Construction of a Kalendar or Almanack. 1. Com¬
pute the sun’s and moon’s place for each day of the
year 5 or take them from ephemerides. 2. Find the do¬
minical letter, and by means thereof distribute the ka-
lendar into weeks. 3. Compute the time of Easter, and Kakoidar.
thence fix the other moveable feasts. 4. Add the im- v——y—
moveable feasts, with the names of the martyrs. 5. To
every day add the sun’s and moon’s place, with the ri¬
sing and setting of each luminary j the length of day
and night j the crepuscula, and the aspects of the planets.
6. Add in the proper places the chief phases of the
moon, and the sun’s entrance into the cardinal points j
i. e. the solstices and equinoxes *, together with the
rising and the setting, especially heliacal, of the pla¬
nets and chief fixed stars. See Astronomy.
The duration of the crepuscula, or the end of the
evening and beginning of the morning twilight, toge¬
ther with the sun’s rising and setting, and the length
of days, may be transferred from the kalendars of one
year into those of another ; the differences in the seve¬
ral years being too small to be of any consideration in
civil life.
Hence it appears, that the construction of a kalendar
has nothing in it of mystery or difficulty, if tables of
the heavenly motions be at. hand.
Some divide kalendars or almanacks into public and
private, perfect and imperfect $ others into Heathen
and Christian.
Public almanacks are those of a larger size, usually
hung up for common or family use j private are those
of a smaller kind, to be carried about either in the hand,
inscribed on a staff, or in the pocket; perfect, those
which have the dominical letters as well as primes and
feasts inscribed on them ; imperfect, those which have
only the primes and immoveable feasts. Till about the
fourth century, they all carry the marks of heathenism >
from that age to the seventh, they are generally divided
between heathenism and Christianity.
Almanacks are of somewhat difl’erent composition,
some containing more points, others fewer. The essen¬
tial part is the kalendar of months and days, with the
rising and setting of the sun, age of the moon, &c.
To these are added various parerga, astronomical, astro¬
logical, meteorological, chronological, and even politi¬
cal, rural, medical, &c. as calculations and accounts
of eclipses, solar ingresses, aspects, and configurations
of the heavenly bodies, lunations, heliocentrical and
geocentrical motions of the planets, prognostics of the
weather, and predictions of other events, tables of the
planetary motions, the tides, terms, interest, twilight^
equation, kings, &c.
Gelalean, or Jellalcean Kalendar, is a correction of
the Persian kalendar, made by order of Sultan Gelaled-
dan, in the 467th year of the Hegira; of Christ 1089.
Kalendar, is used for the catalogue or fasti an¬
ciently kept in each church, of the saints both universal
and those particularly honoured in each church ; with
their bishops, martyrs, &c. Kalendars are not to be
confounded with martyrologies; for each church had
its peculiar kalendar, whereas the martyrologies re¬
garded the whole church in general, containing the mar¬
tyrs and confessors of all the churches. From all the
several kalendars were formed one martyrology : so
that martyrologies are posterior to kalendars.
Kalendar, is also applied to divers other compo¬
sitions respecting the 12 months of the year.
In this sense, Spenser has given the shepherd’s kalen¬
dar; Evelyn and Miller the gardener’s kalendar, &c.
Kalendar;
K A L
t 419 3
K A L
filemlar
Kalexdar, is also extended to an orderly table or
„ enumeration of persons or things,
alends. Jjord Bacon wishes for a kalendar of doubts. A late
» writer has given a kalendar of the persons who may in¬
herit estates in fee-simple.
Karendar, Kalendarium,orxgmaWy denoted, among
the Romans, a book containing an account of moneys
at interest, which became due on the kalends of Janu¬
ary, the usual time when the Roman usurers let out
their money.
Kalendar Months, the solar months, as they stand
in the kalendar, viz. January 31 days, &c.
Astronomical Kalendar, an instrument engraved
upon copper plates, printed on paper, and pasted on
board, with a brass slider which carries a hair, and shows
by inspection the sun’s meridian altitude, right ascen¬
sion, declination, rising, setting, amplitude, &c. to a
greater exactness than our common globes will show.
Kalendar of Prisoners. . See Calendar.
Kalendar Brother's, a sort of devout fraternities,
composed of ecclesiastics as well as laymen j whose chief
business was to procure masses to be said, and alms dis¬
tributed, for the souls of such members as were de¬
ceased. They were also denominated kalend-brothers,
because they usually met on the kalends of each month,
though in some places only once a quarter.
KALENDARIUM festum. The Christians re¬
tained much of the ceremony and wantonness of the
kalends of January, which for many ages was held a
feast, and celebrated by the clergy with great indecen¬
cies, under the names /estam kalendarum, or hypodiaco-
norum, or stultorum, that is, “ the feast of fools some¬
times also libertas decembrica. The people met masked
in the church j and in a ludicrous way proceeded to
the election of a mock pope, or bishop, who exercised
a jurisdiction over them suitable to the festivity of the
occasion. Fathers, councils, and popes, long laboured
in vain to restrain this license, which prevailed at the
close of the 15th century.
KALENDERS. See Calenders.
KALENDS, or Calends, in the Roman chrono¬
logy, the first day of every month.—The word is form¬
ed from kciRim, T call or proclaim ; because, before the
publication of the Roman fasti, it was one of the ofiices
of the pontifices to watch the appearance of the new
moon, and give notice thereof to the rex sacrificulus ;
upon which a sacrifice being offered, the pontiff sum¬
moned the people together in the Capitol, and there
with a loud voice proclaimed the number of kalends,
or the day whereon the nones would be j which he did
by repeating this formula as often as there were days
of kalends, Calo Juno Novella. Whence the name
calendce was given thereto, from calo, culare. Tilns is
the account given by Varro. Others derive the appel¬
lation hence, That” the people being convened on this
day, the pontifex called or proclaimed the several
feasts or holidays in the month ; a custom which con¬
tinued no longer than the year of Rome 450, when
C. Flavins, the curule aedile, ordered the fasti or ka¬
lendar to be set up in public places, that everybody
might know the differences of times, and the return of
the festivals.
The kalends were reckoned backwards, or in a re¬
trograde order. Thus, v. g. the first of May being
the kalends of May j the last or the 30th of April was
the pridie kalendarum, or second of the kalends of May ; Kalends
the 29th of April, the third of the kalends, or before
the kalends j and so back to the 13th, where the ides ^ 
commence-, which are likewise numbered invertedly
to the fifth, where the nones begin $ which are num¬
bered after the same manner to the first day of the
month, which is the kalends of April. See Ides, anu
Nones. , ,
The rules of computation by kalends are included
in the following verses :
Prima dies mensis cujasque est dicta kalendae .
Sex Maius nonas, October, Julius, et Mars ;
Quatuor at reliqui: habet idus quihbet octo.
Jnde dies reliquos omnes die esse kalendas j
Quas retro numcrans dices a mense sequente.
To find the day of the kalends answering to any day
of the month we are in ; see how many days there are
yet remaining of the month, and to that number add
two : for example, suppose it the 22d day of April j
it is then the 10th of the kalends of May. For April
contains 30 days: and 22 taken from 30, there remain
8 ; to which two being added, the sum is 10. The reason
of adding two is, because the last day of the month is call¬
ed secundo kalendas, the last but one tertio kalendas, &x.
The Roman writers themselves are at a loss for the
reason of this absurd and whimsical manner of comput¬
ing the days of the month: yet it is still kept up in
the Roman chancery j and by some authors, out of a
vain affectation of learning, preferred to the common,
more natural, and easy manner.
Kalends are also used in church history to denote
conferences anciently held by the clergy of each dean-
ry, on the first day of every month, concerning their -
duty and conduct, especially in what related to the im¬
position of penance.
Kalends of January, in Roman antiquity, was a
solemn festival consecrated to Juno and Janus j where¬
in the Romans offered vows and sacrifices to those dei¬
ties, and exchanged presents among themselves as a
token of friendship.
It was only a melancholy day to debtors, who weie
then obliged to pay their interests, &c. Hence Ho¬
race calls it tristes calendce ; Lib. I. Serm. Sat. 3.
KALI, the specific name of a plant which yields the
substance also called kali or alkali. See Salsola.
KALISH, a province of Lower Poland, with the
title of a palatinate. It is bounded on the west by the
palatinate of Bosnia, on the east by that of Syrad, on
the north by Regal Prussia, and on the south by Silesia.
Kalish is the capital town.
KalisH, a town of Lower Poland, and capital ot a
palatinate of the same name, where the Jesuits had a
magnificent college. It is seated on the river Pios-
na,°in a morass, which renders it difficult of access.
E. Long. 18. o. N. Lat. 51. 20.
KALMIA, a genus of plants, belonging to the de-
candria class ; and in the natural method ranking under
the 18th order, Bicornes. See Botany Index.
KALMUCS, a tribe of Tartars, called also Eluths,
inhabiting the larger half of what the Europeans call
Western Tartary. Their territory extends from the
Caspian sea, and the river Taik or Ural, in. 7 2 degrees
of longitude from Ferro, to Mount Altay, in 110 de¬
grees, and from the 40th to the J2d degree of nort
6 3 G 2 latitude j
Kalmues.
KAL [420] KAL
latitude*, whence it may be computed about 1930 miles
in length from west to east, and in breadth from north
to south about 650 miles where broadest. It is bound¬
ed on the north by Russia and Siberia, from which it
is separated by a chain of mountains 5 on the east by
Mount Altay *, on the south by the countries ofKarazm
and the two Bukharias, from which it is also separated,
partly by a chain of mountains and partly by some ri¬
vers. See Tartarr.
Of the Kalmuck Tartars the following curious ac¬
count is given by Professor Pallas.—They are in gene¬
ral, says he, of a middle size, and it is even rare to see
among them a person that is tall; the women especial-
ly are of low stature, and have very agreeable features.
Their limbs are neatly turned, and very few have any
defects contracted in infancy. Their education being
left solely to nature, procures for them a well formed
body and sound constitution. The only defect which
is common among them is their having the thighs and
legs somewhat bent. A fat person is hardly ever to be
met with *, the richest and most distinguished, though
they lead a life sufficiently indolent, and enjoy abun¬
dance of every thing they desire, are never excessively
corpulent. Their skin is pretty fair, especially when
young: but it is the custom of the lower sort to allow
their male children to go quite naked both in the heat
of the sun and in the smoky atmosphere of their felt
buts: the men too sleep naked, covered only with their
drawers ; and from those circumstances they acquire
that yellowish brown colour which characterizes them.
The women, on the contrary, have a very delicate com¬
plexion j among those of a certain rank are found some
with the most beautiful faces, the whiteness of which is
set off by the fine black of their hair; and in this, as
well as in their features, they perfectly resemble the
figures in Chinese paintings.
The physiognomy which distinguishes the Kalmucs,
is pretty generally known. Strangers are made to be¬
lieve that it is frightfully deformed ; and though in¬
deed there are very ugly men to be found, yet in ge¬
neral their countenance has an openness in it that be¬
speaks a mild, a frank, and social disposition. In
many it is of a roundish shape, and exceedingly agree¬
able ; among the women some would be thought beau¬
ties even in those European cities where the taste is
most scrupulous. The characteristic features of a Kal-
nmc or Mongul countenance are the following: The
interior angle of the eye is placed obliquely downwards
towards the nose, and is acute and fleshy ; the eyebrows
are black, narrow, and much arched ; the nose is of a
structure quite singnlar, being generally flat and broken
towards the forehead; the cheek bone is high, the head
and face very round ; the eye is dark, the lips thick and
fleshy, the chin short, and the teeth exceedingly white,
continuing so to old age ; the ears are of an enormous
size, standing out from the head. These characters are
more or less visible in each individual ; but the person
that possesses them all in the highest degree is consider¬
ed as the most beautifully formed.
Among all the Mongul nations, the men have much
less beard than in our European countries, and among
the Tartars it appears much later. The Kalmucs have
most of it; and yet even with them the beard is very
scanty and thin, and few have much hair on any other
part of the body.
People that lead a pastoral life enjoy the bodily sen- Kalmuri.
ses in the greatest perfection. The Kalmucs find the -y—-j
subtility of their sense of smell very useful in their mili¬
tary expeditions, for by it they perceive at a distance the
smoke of a fire or the smell of a camp ; there are many
of them who can tell by applying the nose to the hole
of a fox, or any other quadruped, if the animal be within
or not. They hear at a great distance the trampling of
horses, the noise of any enemy, of a flock of sheep, or
even of strayed cattle; they have only to stretch them¬
selves on the ground, and to apply their ear close to
the turf. But nothing is more astonishing than the
acuteness of sight in most of the Kalmucs, and the ex¬
traordinary distance at which they often perceive very
minute objects, such as the dust raised by cattle or horses,
and this from places very little elevated; in immense
level deserts, though the particular inequalities of the
surface, and the vapours which in fine weather are seen
to undulate over the soil in gre^t heats, considerably in¬
crease the difficulty. They are also accustomed to trac«
the print of a foot in these deserts by the sight alone.
These people possess many good qualities, which
give them a great superiority over the wandering Tar-
tais. A certain natural sagacity, a social disposition,
hospitality, eagerness to oblige, fidelity to their chiefs,
much curiosity, and a certain vivacity accompanied
with good humour, which hardly ever forsakes even
the most wretched among them, form the fair side of
their character. On the other hand, they are careless,
superficial, and want true courage; besides, they are
remarkable for credulity, distrust, and a natural incli¬
nation authorized by custom for drunkenness and de¬
bauchery, but especially for a great degree of cun¬
ning, which they too often practise. The disposition
to indolence is common and natural, especially among
the men, to all Asiatic nations, who lead a kind of
life exempt from subjection and devoid of activity;
but this is less to be perceived among the Kalmucs,
on account of their natural vivacity, and does not pre¬
vent their endeavours to oblige. Those among them
who exercise any little trade, or who are reduced by
poverty to hire themselves to the Russians either for
labour or for fishing, are very assiduous and indefati¬
gable. They sleep but little, going to rest late and
rising with the sun. To sleep through the day, unles*
a person is drunk, is considered by them as dishonour¬
able. But their extreme dirtiness can neither be dis¬
guised nor justified, and proceeds much more from
their education, from the slovenliness attached to the
profession of a herdsman, and from levity, than from
laziness: for the Kalmuc women are indefatigable in
whatever concerns domestic matters: and it is for this
reason, as well as on the score of sensuality, that the
Kirguisians are eager to seize and carry them ofl when¬
ever an opportunity presents itself.
With regard to the intellectual faculties of the Kal¬
mucs, notwithstanding their want of instruction and
information, they possess good natural parts, an excel¬
lent memory, and a strong desire to learn. They ac¬
quire the Russian language with great facility, and
pronounce it well; in which last article they very much
surpass the Chinese. It would be very easy to civilize
them, if their petulance and manner of life did not ren¬
der it impracticable. _ ,
Although the Kalmucs are generally of a sanguine
5. anrt
K A L [ 42
Lur, and choleric temperament, they live more J t«“
' gether than one could expect m a people that lead so
independent a life. They seldom come to blows even
ove/their cups, and their quarrels are hardly ever
bloody. A murder very rarely happens, though the
an^er has something in it exceedingly fierce. It would
seem that the morality of their religion, though ex¬
ceedingly idolatrous, has been able to moderate their
natural disposition in this respect; for in consequence
of their dogmas, with regard to the transmigration of
souls, every wanton murder either of men or beasts is
th°The Kalmucs are exceedingly afthble ; and of so so¬
cial a disposition, that it is rare for a traveller to per¬
ceive another, even at the distance of several miles
without going to salute him, and to inquire into the
Tect of iJ journey. When a troop of Kalmucs
perceive anv person at a distance, it is customary for
them to detach one of their number to the next emi¬
nence, from whence he makes a signal with his cap for
the person to draw near. If this s.gnal ,s no obeyed
the person is considered as an enemy of a robber, and
is often pursued as such. They enter willingly »nto
friendships : but these connexions are not quite disin¬
terested ; for to give and to receive presents are with
them essential articles. A mere trifle, however, is suf¬
ficient to induce them to do you all manner of service ,
and they are never ungrateful as far as they are a J.
Adversity cannot deprive them of courage nor alter
their good humour. A Kalmuc will never beg if he
were in the extremest misery, but rather endeavour to
acquire a subsistence by cheating: and when no other
wav remains, he will hire himself to some rich indi¬
vidual of his nation, or to some Russian, either as a
herdsman, a fisherman, or for any other sort of la¬
bour Very few of the rich value themselves much
upon their wealth : but those who do, show no con¬
tempt for the poor of their own nation ; though the
meaner sort pay their court very obseqmously to the
rich, who are always surrounded with a swarm of idle
Nothing can be more prudent than that exercise of
hospitality practised by wandering nations: it is of the
greatest advantage to those among them who travel
across their deserts ; and each ind.vidua) who practises
it may rely on reaping the benefit of it wherever he
gies. 7 A Kalniuc provided with a horse, with arms
and equipage, may ramble from one place to another
for three months together, without taking with him
either money or provisions. Wherever he comes he
finds either distant relations or friends, to whom he s
attached by the ties of hospitality, from whom he meets
with the kindest reception, and is entertained in the best
manner their circumstances afford. Perhaps he lodges
in the first unknown cottage he finds upon h.s road
and scarce has he entered it, but his wants are supplied
with the most affectionate cordiality. Every stranger
of whatsoever nation, never fails to be well received
by a Kalmuc ; and he may depend upon havmg his ef¬
fects in the greatest security the moment he has put
himself under the protection of Ins host . for to
guest is considered by the Kalmucs as the most abo¬
minable of all crimes. . . •
When the master of the house sits down to meat m
company with others of inferior rank, he begms rn-
]
K A L
deed by serving himself and his family, but whatever Kalmuc..
remains is distributed among the assistants. W hen they ‘ ~ »
smoke tobacco, the pipe circulates incessantly from one
to another. When any one receives a present either
of meat or drink, he divides it faithfully with his com¬
panions, even though of inferior rank. But they are
much more niggardly of their other effects, and especi¬
ally of their cattle, and do not willingly give these
away except when they hope to receive a suitable re¬
turn : or if any relation has accidentally suffered the
loss of his flocks, he is sure to be most willingly assist¬
ed. Perhaps too it may be related as an article of their
hospitality, that they abandon their wives to their
friends with the greatest facility, and in general they
are very little inclined to jealousy.
Their robberies are never committed upon their
equals, and even the greater part of the rapine exer¬
cised on other tribes is founded on hatred or national
quarrels ; neither do they willingly attempt this, by-
open force, but prefer the machinations ol cunning,
which are so natural to them. It must also be con¬
fessed, that it is only those that live with princes, and
in camps where these hold their courts, or their priests,
that are most addicted to these practices; while the
common people, satisfied with the pleasures of the pas¬
toral life, spend their days in innocent simplicity, and
never attack the property of another till forced by ne¬
cessity, or led by their superiors who show them the
example. , . , r i
The Kalmucks are very faithful to their lawful prince;
they endure every sort of oppression, and yet are with
difficulty induced to revolt ; hut if they belong to a
prince who has not become so by right of succession,
they very easily rebel. They honour old age. When
young men travel with such as are older than them¬
selves, they take upon them the whole care of the cat¬
tle as well as of the feast. They are exceedingly pru-
dent in matters that relate to their sovereign or their
nation, or which are recommended to their direction
by the priests, to whom they yield an unreserved obe-
dieThe moveable habitations of the Kalmucs are those
felt huts with a conical roof in use among all the
roaming Asiatics. The truly ingenious invention of
these tents was undoubtedly conceived in the eastern
parts of Asia, and most probably by the Mongul na¬
tions. As they can be entirely taken to pieces and
folded in a small compass, they are very useful, ami
perfectly agree with the migratory life of these people,
who are still ignorant of the use of carriages. I he
frame of these huts, and the felt they are covered with,
though made as light as possible, yet are a suffi¬
cient load for a camel or two oxen. But the capacity
of these huts, their warmth in winter, their strength in
resisting tempests and excluding rain, abundantly com¬
pensate for this inconvenience. The wood endures
many years ; and though the felt begins to break into
holes in the second year, the common people, who do
not consider it as disgraceful to have them mended and
patched, make them serve a good deal longer. Ibe
huts are in general use from the prince down to the
meanest Kalmuc, differing only in size and in the em¬
bellishments within. In winter, they are warm even
when heated with the dried excrements of their cattle,
to which they are often obliged to have recourse, for
J want:
k A L [ 422 ] K A L
want of other combustibles, in many places of the de¬
serts which are destitute of wood. In summer they
remove the felt to enjoy the fresh air.
The master of the tent has his bed placed opposite
to the door behind the fire place. The bedsteads are
low and made of wood. The rich adorn their beds
with curtains, and spread carpets or felt upon the
ground. When a Kalmuc possesses an idol, he places
it near the head of his bed, and sets before it several
small consecrated cups full of water, milk, or other
food. Before this sort of altar he fixes in the ground
the trunk of a tree, on which he places a large iron
basin destined to receive the libations of all the drink
he makes use of in a day. On festivals the idol is de¬
corated, the lamps are lighted, and perfumes burnt be¬
fore it.
The riches of the Kalmucs, and their whole means
of subsistence, depend on their flocks, which many of
them reckon by hundreds, and even by thousands. A
man is thought capable of living on his possessions when
he is master of ten cows with a bull, eight mares with
a stallion. The animals they have in greatest abundance
are horses, horned cattle, and sheep. Camels, which
require time and pains to rear, cannot multiply much
with them ; they are besides too delicate; and it is
only the rich or the priests who possess any of them.
Their horses are but small, too weak for the draught,
and too wild : but they do not yield to any in swift¬
ness, and support with ease the weight of a man.
They may be made to gallop for several hours succes¬
sively without injury ; and when necessity requires it,
they can pass twice 24 hours without drinking. They
have a little hoof, but very hard ; and they may be
used at all times without being shod. In this country
the horses live and perpetuate themselves without any
assistance from man. The K.almucs castrate the greater
part of their male foals, and at the same time slit their
nostrils, that they may breathe more freely when they
run. The stallions are never separated from the mares,
that there may be always plenty of milk. The stallions
are leaders of the herd, and often wander at a distance
into the deserts at the head of their females, defending
them from the wolvea with the greatest intrepidity.
The Kalmucs have the art of breaking a young horse
without using a bridle. They seize him before he is
two years old by means of a noose fixed to the end of
a long pole; an instrument they use in taking their
riding horses which feed in the midst of the herd.
They put no saddle at first on the colt they mean to
break, but tie a strait girth round his body j by the
help of which the|Iiorseman can keep himself firm.
When he is mounted, the horse is abandoned to his
fury : they allow him to run and agitate himself as
much as he pleases on the open plain till he is fatigued.
The horseman is solicitous only to keep himself fast;
and when the horse begins to abate of his impetuosity,
he urges him again with the whip till his strength is al¬
most gone : he is then saddled and bridled, and made
to go lor some time at a moderate pace ; after which
he is entirely tamed.
The horned cattle of the Kalmucs are of a beautiful
shape. They keep more bulls than are necessary for
the cows, and employ a great number of them as beasts
of burden for carrying their houses and their other
3
furniture from place to place. They think a bull
equal to 50 cows. These and the mares give milk only
while they suckle their calves or their foals, which are
accordingly kept close to the tents during the day, and
only suffered to suck freely during the night 5 a prac¬
tice which the Kalmucs pretend makes their cattle
stronger and more durable. They generally milk their
mares three or four times a-day, and sometimes every
two hours when the herbage is abundant. The cows
are milked but twice a-day.
The Kalmuc sheep are of the same species with those
found in all Great Tartary, having large tails like a
bag, exceedingly fat, and which furnish a suet as soft
as butter. They have also large pendant ears, and
their head is much arched. Their wool is coarse, and
the ewes seldom have horns. One ram is sufficient for
a hundred ewes. Little use is made of the milk. The
wool is fit for nothing but to make felt for the tents.
A great many sheep die during winter, and a greater
number still of the early lambs: the skins of which are
wrought into those fine furs so much esteemed in Rus¬
sia and foreign parts.
Camels belong only to the rich ; for they are very
dear, multiply very slowly, and are subject to many
diseases. The deserts of the Wolga, and almost all
those of the southern parts of Great Taitary, furnish
excellent pasture for these animals ; but they require
not only much attention in winter, but they must be
continually under the eye of the herdsmen 5 for not¬
withstanding the advantage of their stature, they are
of all animals least able to defend themselves against
the wolf. They are guarded with much care against
the violence of the cold and the winds of winter;
nevertheless many of them die of a consumption ac¬
companied with a diarrhoea, occasioned most probably
by the moisture of their pasture and of the season. This
disease, for which no remedy has been found, makes
them languish for six months or more. They are in
general so delicate, that a slight wound or blow often
proves fatal to them. Besides, no animal is so much
tormented with insects j and they often die in summer
of those they swallow in eating the leaves of the oak
and of the birch. The meloeproscarabceus, which covers
all the plants in many of those places where they feed,
is generally fatal to them. In spring, when they cast
their hair, and which falls at once from every part of
their body, they are exposed to the bite of the spider-
scorpion, an animal very common in southern coun¬
tries. The wound inflicted by this insect on the skin
thus naked is so venomous, that the camel dies of it in
less than eight days, sometimes in three. In winter,
and especially after rutting time, which happens at the
end of March, the camel becomes lean and weak; the
bunch upon their back grows flabby, and hangs down
upon the side, nor does it recover its plumpness till
summer.
Camels milk is thick, unctuous, and of a saltish
taste, especially when the animals frequent pastures
abounding with saline plants 5 and this last property
makes the Kalmucs fond of it to tea. They make use
of the hair for stuffing cushions, and for making ropes,
packthread, and felt. It may be wrought into the
most beautiful camlets, or into the finest and softest
cloths. The camels with two bunches are a very un¬
easy
K A L [ 423 ] K A M
easy seat to the person who mounts them j their trot is
so heavy, and even their walk so rude, that he receives
the most violent shocks at every step.
When a Kalmuc horde intends to remove in search
of fresh pasture, which in summer necessarily happens
every four, six, or eight days, people are in the first
place despatched to reconnoitre the best place for the
khan or prince, For the lama, and for the huts con¬
taining the idols. These begin the march, and are fol¬
lowed by the whole troop, each choosing for himself
the place he thinks most convenient. The camel that
is loaded with the most precious furniture is decorated
with little bells, the rest march in a string one behind
another, and the bulls with burdens are driven on be¬
fore. On these days the women and girls dress them¬
selves in their best clothes, and lay on abundance of
paint. They have the charge, together with the boys,
of leading the flocks and the beasts of burden 5 and on
the road they beguile the tedsousness of the journey
with their songs.
The Kalmucs are supplied by their flocks with milk,
cheese, butter, and flesh, which are the principal ar¬
ticles of their food. With regard to the last, they are
so little squeamish, that they not only eat the flesh of
their own diseased cattle, but that of almost every sort
of wild beast, and the poor will even feed upon carrion.
They eat, however, the roots and stalks of many plants j
such as the bulbous-rooted chervil and dandelion, &c.
which they use both boiled and raw.
Their ordinary drink is the milk of mares or cows j
but the former is for several reasons preferred. This,
when fresh, has indeed a very disagreeable taste of gar¬
lic : but besides that it is much thinner than cow milk,
it takes as it grows sour a very agreeable vinous flavour-,
it yields neither cream nor curd, but furnishes a very
wholesome refreshing beverage, which sensibly ine¬
briates when taken to excess. They never make use
of new milk, and still less of milk or of water that
have not been boiled. Their milk is boiled as soon as
it is taken from the animal ; when it is cold it is pour¬
ed into a large leathern bag, in which there remains
as much of the old milk as is sufficient to turn the new
quantity sour, for they never think of cleansing those
bags -, and as the inside is lined with a crust deposited
by the caseous part of the milk and other impurities,
it is easy to imagine that a nauseous smell must exhale
from them. But this is precisely the circumstance in
which the secret consists of communicating to the milk
a vinous fermentation.
In summer, and as often as the Kalmucs procure
much milk from their flocks, they never fail to intoxi¬
cate themselves continually with the spirituous liquor
which they know how to distil from it. Mares milk is
the most spirituous j and the quantity meant to be di¬
stilled remains twenty-four hours in summer, and three
or four days in winter, in those corrupted bags we
mentioned, to prepare it for the operation. The cream
is left, but the butter which forms at top is taken
off and reserved for other purposes. Cows milk yields
one-thirtieth part, and mares milk one-fifteenth part,
of spirit. This liquor is limpid and very watery, and
consequently does not take fire, but is capable of being
long kept in glass bottles. The rich Kalmucs increase
its strength by a second distillation.
These people are exceedingly fond of tea and tobac- Kainates
co. The former is so dear, as it comes to them from H
China by the way of Russia, that the poor people iKamsin- .
supply its place with various wild plants ; such as a v
species of liquorice, the seed of the sharp-leaved dock,
the roots of wild angelica, and the seed of the larta-
rian maple.
The Kalmucs are excellent horsemen. Their arms
are lances, bows and arrows, poniards, and crooked
sabres, though the rich have fire arms. They wear,
when at war, coats of mail, which cost fifty horses, and
their helmets are gilded at top. They are fond of fal¬
conry, and hunting of all sorts is their principal amuse¬
ment. Their passion for play, especially with those
who play cards, is carried to as great excess among
them as in any other nation.
The greater part of their time is spent in diversions
and however miserable their manner of life may seem to
us, they are perfectly happy with it. They cannot en¬
dure for any time the air of a close room ; and think
our custom of living in houses insupportable. The
greatest part of them, notwithstanding of the apparent
unhealthiness of their way of life, arrive at a vigorous
old age-, their diseases are neither frequent nor danger¬
ous. Men of 80 or 100 years old are not uncommon ;
and at that age they can still very well endure the ex¬
ercise of riding. Simple food, the free air which they
constantly breathe, a hardy vigorous constitution, con¬
tinual exercise without severe labour, and a mind free
from care, are the natural causes of their health ami
longevity.
It is very remarkable, that a migratory people, whose
manner of life seems so congruous to the natural liberty
of mankind, should have been subjected from time im¬
memorial to the unlimited authority of an absolute sove¬
reign. The Monguls of Asia aftord the only instance
of it; for neither written records nor ancient tradition
have preserved the smallest trace of their ever having
enjoyed a state of independence. On the contrary,
they" acknowledge that they have at all times been sub¬
ject to khans and princes, whose authority has been
transmitted to them by succession, and is considered as
a right perfectly established, sacred, and divine.
KAMAKURA, a famous island of Japan, about
three miles in circumference, lying on the south coast
of Niphon. It is here they confine their great men
when they have committed any fault. The coast of
this island is so steep, that they are forced to be lifted
up by cranes.
KAMEEL, Kamel, or Camel, a machine for lift¬
ing ships. See Camel.
KAMINIECK, a very strong town of Poland, and
capital of Podolia, with two castles and a bishop’s
see. It was taken by the Turks in 1672, who gave
it back in 1690, after the treaty of Carlowilz. It is
seated on a craggy rock, in E. Long. 26. 45. N. Lat.
48. 58.
KAMSIN, the name of a hot southerly wind com¬
mon in Egypt, of which we find the following descrip¬
tion in M. Volney’s Travels.—These winds, says he,
are known in Egypt by the general name of winds of
50. days; not that they last 50 days without intermis¬
sion, but because they prevail more frequently in the
50 davs preceding and following the equinox. Tra¬
vellers --
K A M [ 424 ] K A M
KHin^in vellfi's have mentioned them under the denomination
Kami*- of poisonous winds, or, more correctly, hot winds of the
chalk*, desert. Such in fact is their quality j and their heat
 » is sometimes so excessive, that it is difficult to form
any idea of its violence without having experienced it j
but it may he compared to the heat of a large oven at
the moment of drawing out the bread. When these
winds begin to blow, the atmosphere assumes an alarm¬
ing aspect. The sky, at other times so clear in this
climate, becomes dark and heavy j the sun loses his
splendour and appears of a violet colour ; the air is
not cloudy, but gray and thick, and is in fact filled
with an extremely subtile dust, which penetrates every¬
where. This wind, always light and rapid, is not at
first remarkably hot, but it increases in heat in propor¬
tion as it continues. All animated bodies soon dis¬
cover it by the change it produces in them. The
lungs, which a too rarefied air no longer expands, are
contracted, and become painful. Respiration is short
and difficult j the skin parched and dry, and the body
consumed by an internal heat. In vain is recourse had
to large draughts of water ; nothing can restore perspi¬
ration. In vain is coolness sought for; all bodies in
which it,is usual to find it deceive the hand that touches
them. Marble, iron, water, notwithstanding the sun
no longer appears, are hot. The streets are deserted,
and the dead silence of night reigns everywhere. The
inhabitants of towns and villages shut themselves up
in their houses, and those of the desert in their tents
or in wells dug in the earth, where they wait the
termination of this destructive heat It usually lasts
three days, but if it exceeds that time it becomes
insupportable. Woe to the traveller whom this wind
surprises remote from shelter: he must suffer all its
horrible effects, which sometimes are mortal. The
danger is most imminent when it blows in squalls ; for
then the rapidity of the wind increases the heat to such
a degree as to cause sudden death. This death is a
real suffocation ; the lungs being empty are convulsed,
the circulation is disordered, and the whole mass of
blood driven by the heart towards the heart and breast *,
whence the hsemorrhagy at the nose and mouth which
happens after death. This wind is especially destruc¬
tive to persons of a plethoric habit, and those in whom
fatigue has destroyed the tone of the muscles and the
vessels. The corpse remains a long time warm, swells,
turns blue, and soon becomes putrid. These accidents
are to be avoided by stopping the nose and mouth
with handkerchiefs ; an efficacious method likewise is
that practised by the camels. On this occasion these
animals bury their noses in the sand, and keep them
there till the squall is over. Another quality of this
wind is its extreme aridity, which is such, that water
sprinkled on the floor evaporates in a few minutes.
By this extreme dryness it withers and strips all the
plants ; and by exhaling too suddenly the emanations
from animal bodies, crisps the skin, closes the pores,
and causes that feverish heat which is the constant ef¬
fect of suppressed perspiration.
KAMTSCHATKA, Kamschatka, or Kamchat¬
ka; a large peninsula in the north-eastern part of A-
sia, lying between 510 and 62° of north latitude, and
between 1730 antl 182° of east longitude from the isle
of Ferro. It is bounded on the east and south by the
sea of Kamtschatka, on the west by the seas of Ochotsk
and Penshinsk, and on the north by the country of the K»mu,
Koriacs. cbatka,
This peninsula was not discovered by the Russians 'r""J
before the end of the last century. It is probable,
however, that some of that nation had visited Kamts- visited b*
chatka before the time above mentioned. For when the Hbu
Volodomir Atlassoff entered upon the conquest ofs,aos-
this peninsula in 1697, he found that the inhabitants
had already some knowledge of the Russians. A com¬
mon tradition as yet prevails among them, that long
before the expedition of AtlassofF, one Feodotoff and
his companions had resided among them, and had in¬
termarried with the natives ; and they still show the
place where the Russian habitations stood. None of
the Russians remained when Atlassoff first visited
Kamtschatka. They are said to have been held in
great veneration, and almost deified by the natives :
who at first imagined that no human power could hurt
them, until they quarrelled among themselves, and
the blood was seen to flow from the wounds which
they gave each other: and soon after, upon a separa¬
tion taking place, they were all killed by the natives.
—These Russians were thought to be the remains of
a ship’s crew who had sailed quite round the north¬
eastern promontory of Asia called Tschukutskoi Nass,
The account we have of this voyage is as follows.—
In 1648, seven ketches or vessels sailed from the mouth
of the river Kovyma or Kolyma, lying in the Frozen
ocean in about 720 north latitude, and 1730 or 1740
east longitude from Ferro, in order to penetrate into
the eastern ocean. Four of these were never more heard
of; the remaining three were commanded by Simon
Deshneff, Gerasim Ankudiuoff, two chiefs of the Cos-
sacs, and Feodotoff Alexeef, head of the Promyshle-
nics, or wandering Russians, who occasionally visited
Siberia. Each vessel, was probably manned with
about 30 persons. They met with no obstructions
from the ice ; but Ankudinofl’s vessel was wrecked
on the promontory above mentioned, and the crew
were distributed on board the two remaining vessels.
These twro soon after lost sight of each other, and
never afterwards rejoined, Eeshneft was driven about
by tempestuous winds till October, when he was ship¬
wrecked on the northern part of Karntschatka. Here
he was informed by a woman of Yakutsk, that Feo¬
dotoff and Gerasim had died of the scurvy ; that part
of the crew had been slain ; and that a few had
escaped in small vessels, who had never afterward*
been heard of ; and these were probably the people
who, as we have already mentioned, settled among the
Kamtsclmtkans.
As the inhabitants of this countiy were neither nu'sny^t4 by
merous nor warlike, it required no great force to sub-tjltin-
due them ; and in 1711 the whole peninsula rvas final¬
ly reduced under the dominion of the Russians.—For
some years this acquisition was of very little conse¬
quence to the crown, excepting the small tribute of
furs exacted from the inhabitants. The Russians in¬
deed occasionally bunted in this peninsula, toxes,
wolves, ermines, sables, and other animals, whose
skins form an extensive article of commerce among the
eastern nations. But the fur trade carried on from
thence was very inconsiderable, until the series of
islands mentioned in the next article were discovered ;
since which time the quantities of furs brought from
these
K A M
[ 425 ]
K A M
Itunts-
<jatka.
^'
a 3
rlury
d«ibed.
4
■Icanoc:
Lppulation
Ic.
these Islands have greatly increased the trade of ivamts-
chatka, and rendered it an important part of the Rus¬
sian commerce.
The face of the country throughout the peninsula
is chiefly mountainous. It produces in some parts
birch, poplars, elders, willows, underwood, and ber¬
ries of different sorts. Greens and other vegetables
are raised with great facility 5 such as white cabbage,
turnips, radishes, beet root, carrots, and some cucum¬
bers. Agriculture is in a very low state, owing
chiefly to the nature of the soil and the severe hoar¬
frosts : for though some trials have been made with
respect to the cultivation of grain, and oats, barley,
and rye, have been sown, yet no crop has ever been
procured sufficient in quantity or quality to answer the
trouble of raising it. Hemp, however, has of late
years been cultivated with great success. I'.veiy year
a vessel belonging to the crown sails from Ochotsk to
Kamtschatka laden with salt, provisions- corn, and
Russian manufactures ; and returns in June or July of
the following year with skins and lurs.
Many traces of volcanoes have been observed in this
‘ peninsula ; and there are some mountains which are
in a burning state at present. rLhe most considerable
of these is situated near the middle of the peninsula.
In 1762, a great noise was heard issuing from the
inside of that mountain, and flames of fire were seen to
burst from different parts. These flames were imme¬
diately succeeded by a large stream of melted snow
water, which flowed into the neighbouring valley, and
drowned two natives who were there on a hunting
party. The ashes and burning matters thrown from
the mountain were spread over a surfa'Ce of 3^^ versts.
In 1767 was another discharge, hut less considerable.
Every night flames of fire were observed streaming
from the mountain •, and considerable damage wTas done
by the eruption which attended them. Since that year
no flames have been seen $ but the mountain emits a
constant smoke.
Kamtschatka is divided by the Russians into four di-
6
banners,
zc. of vlie
atives.
stricts j and the government of the whole is dependent
upon, and subject to, the inspection of the chancery of
Ochotsk. The whole Russian force stationed in this
peninsula amounts to no more than 300 men. The
present population of Kamtschatka is very small, a-
mounting to scarce 4000 souls. Formerly the inhabit¬
ants were more numerous; but in 1768, the small¬
pox carried off 5368 persons. There are now only
about 700 males in the whole peninsula who are tribu¬
tary, and a few more than too in the neighbouring
islands, called the Kurile Isles, who are subject to Russia.
The fixed annual tribute consists in 279 sables, 464 red
foxes, 50 sea otters with a dam, and 38 cub otters.
All furs exported from Kamtschatka pay a duty of 10
per cent, to the crown ; the tenth part of the cargoes
brought from the neighbouring islands is also delivered
into the customs.
Many of the natives of Kamtschatka have no fixed
habitations, but wander from place to place with their
herds of rein deer ; others have settled habitations, and
reside upon the banks of the rivers and the shore of the
Penschinsk sea, living upon fish and sea animals, and
such herbs as grow upon the shore’: the former dwell
in huts covered with deer skins ; the latter in places
dug out of the earth. The natives are divided into
Vol, XI. Part II. f
three different peoples, namely, the Kamtschatkans, Kamt«-
Koreki, and Kuriles. The Kamtschatkans live upon cimika.
the south side of the promontory of Kamtschatka : the
Koreki inhabit the northern parts on the coast of the
Penschinska sea, and round the eastern ocean almost to
the river Anadir, whose mouth lies in that ocean almost
in 68° N. Lat.: the Kuriles inhabit the islands in that
Sea, reaching as far as those o( Japan. The Kamtschat¬
kans have this particular custom, that they endeavour
to give every thing a name in their language which
may express the property of it; but if they do not un¬
derstand the thing quite well themselves, then they take
a name from some foreign language, which perhaps has
110 relation to the tiling itself; as, for example, they
call a priest bogbog, because probably they hear him use
the word bogbog, “ God;” bread they call brightatin
augsh, that" is Russian root ; and thus of several other
words to which their language is a stranger.
It appears probable, that the Kamtschatkans lived
formerly in Mungalia beyond the river Amur, and
made one people with the Mungals ; which is farther
confirmed by the following observations, such as the
Kamtschatkan having several words common to the
Mungal Chinese language, as their terminations in
ong, ing, oang, chin, cha, ching, ksii, ksung ; it would
be still a greater proof, if we could show several words
and sentences the same in both languages. The Kamts¬
chatkans and Mungals also are both of a middling sta¬
ture, are swarthy, have black hair, a broad face, a
sharp nose, with the eyes falling in, eyebrows small
and thin, a hanging belly, slender legs and arms ; they
are both remarkable for cowardice, boasting, and sla¬
vishness to people who use them hard, and for their ob¬
stinacy and contempt of those who treat them with
gentleness.
Although in outward appearance they resemble the
other inhabitants of Siberia, yet the Kamtschatkans dif¬
fer in this, that their faces are not so long as the other
Siberians; their cheeks stand more out, their teeth are
thick, their mouth large, their stature middling, and
their shoulders broad, particularly those people who in¬
habit the sea coast.
Both men and women plait their hair in two locks,
binding the ends with small ropes. When any hair
starts out, they sew it with threads to make it lie dose ;
hy this means they have such a quantity of lice, that
they can scrape them oft hy handfuls, and they are na¬
sty enough even to eat them. 1 hose that have not na¬
tural hair sufficient, wear false locks, sometimes as much
as weigh 10 pounds, 'which makes their head look like
a haycock. But many of the women already wear
their hair, and are nearly dressed in the same manner
as the Russians, whose language is the most prevalent.
It may be said in praise of the Russians, that though
they have established a despotic government in this
rude climate, it is tempered hy a mildness and equity
which prevent its inconveniences from being felt. The
taxes levied on the Kamtschadales ase so trifling, that
they may he regarded only as a mark of gratitude to
the sovereign. La Perouse considered the people of this
peninsula as the same with those of the bay of Castries,
their mildness and probity being similar, and their per¬
sons very little different. 7
Their trade is almost entirely confined to procure Trade,
the immediate necessaries and conveniencies of life.
3 H They
Kumts-
i hatka.
8
tiaimot
b umber
abore
twenty.
Their law*
K A M [
They sell the Koreki sables, fox and white dog skins,
dried mushrooms, and the like, in exchange for clothes
made of deer skins and other hides. Their domestic
trade consists in dogs, boats, dishes, troughs, nets,
hemp yarn, and provisions : and this kind of barter is
carried on under a great show of friendship ; for when
one wants any thing that another has, he goes freely to
visit him, and without any ceremony, makes known his
wants, although perhaps he never had any acquaintance
with him before : the host is obliged to behave accord¬
ing to the custom of the country, and give his guest
what he has occasion for; but he may afterwards return
the visit, and must be received in the same manner.
They fill almost every place in heaven and earth with
different spirits, and offer them sacrifices upon every
occasion. Some carry little idols about them, or have
them placed in their dwellings.
It is very diverting to see them attempt to reckon
above ten: for having reckoned the fingers of both
hands, they clasp them together, which signifies ten ;
then they begin with their toes, and count to twenty;
after which they are quite confounded, and cry, Met-
cha ? that is, Where shall I take more ? They reckon
ten months in the year, some of which are longer and
some shorter; for they do not divide them by the
changes of the moon, but by the order of particular
occurrences that happen in those regions. They com¬
monly divide our year into two, so that winter is one
vear and summer another : the summer year begins
in May, and the winter in November. They do not
distinguish the days by any particular appellation, nor
form them into weeks or months, nor yet know how
many days are in the month or year. T(iey mark
their epochs by some remarkable thing or other; such
as the arrival of the Russians, or the first expedition to
Kamtschatka.
If any one kills another, he is to be killed by the
relations of the person slain. They burn the hands of
people who have been frequently caught in theft; but
for the first offence the thief must restore what he
hath stolen, and live alone in solitude, without expect¬
ing the assistance of others. They have no disputes
about their land or their lints, every one having land
and water more than sufficient for his wants. They
think themselves the happiest people in the world, and
look upon the Russians who are settled among them
with contempt. However, this notion begins to change ;
for the old people who are confirmed in their customs
drop off, and the young ones being converted to the
Christian religion, adopt the customs of the Russians,
and despise the barbarity and superstition of their an¬
cestors. The Greek religion has been established among
them without persecution or violence. The vicar of
Paratounka is the son of a native by a Russian woman.
The people have inured themselves to the extremes of
heat ami cold, by going into vapour baths, coming out
covered with perspiration, and then rolling themselves
in the snow.
In every ostrag or large village, by order of her im¬
perial majesty, is appointed a chief, who is sole judge
in all cases except those of life and death ; and not only
those chiefs, but even the common people, have their
chapels for worship. Schools are also erected in al¬
most every village, to which the Kamtschatkans send
their children with great pleasure ; by this means it is
426 ] K A M
to be hoped that barbarity will be in a short time rooted K ieis-
out from amongst them. chaika.
Under the name of ostrog is understood every ha-
bitation consisting of one or more huts, all surrounded ^
by an earthen wall or pallisado.—The huts are built
in the following manner : they dig a hole in the earth theii kau.
about five feet deep, the breadth and length propor¬
tioned to the number of people designed to live in it.
In the middle of this hole they plant four thick wood¬
en pillars ; over these they lay balks, upon which
they form the roof or ceiling, leaving in the middle a
square opening which serves them for a window and
chimney; this they cover with grass and earth, so
that the outward appearance is like a round hillock ;
but within they are an oblong square, with the fire
in one of the long sides of the square: between
the pillars round the walls of their huts they make
benches, upon which each family lies separately; but
on that side opposite to the fire there are no benches,
it being designed for their kitchen furniture, in which
they dress their victuals for themselves and dogs. In
those huts where there are no benches, there are balks
laid upon the floor, and covered with mats. They
adorn the walls of their huts with mats made of grass.
They enter their huts by ladders, commonly placed
near the fire hearth; so that, when they are heating
their huts, the steps of the ladder become so hot, and
the smoke so thick, that it is almost impossible for
a stranger to go up or down without being burnt,
and even stifled to death ; but the natives find no dif¬
ficulty in it: and though they can only fix their toes
on the steps of the ladder, they mount like squirrels;
nor do the woman hesitate to go through this smoke
with their children upon their shoulders, though there
is another opening through which the women are al¬
lowed to pass; but i*f any man pretend to do the
same, he would be laughed at. The Kamtschatkans
live in these huts all the winter, after which they go
into others called balagans; they serve them not only
to live in during the summer, but also for magazines.
They are made in the following manner: Nine pillars,
about two fathoms long, or more, are fixed in the
ground, and bound together with balks laid over them,
which they cover with rods, and over all lay grass,
fastening spars, and a round sharp roof at top, which
they cover with bramble, and thatch with grass. They
fasten the lower ends of the spars to the balks with
ropes and thongs, and have a door on each side, one
directly opposite to the other. They make use of the
same kind of huts to keep their fish, &c. till winter
comes on, when they can more easily remove it; and
this without any guard, only taking away the ladders.
If these buildings were not so high, the wild beasts
would undoubtedly plunder them ; for notwithstand¬
ing all their precaution, the bears sometimes climb up
and force their way into their magazines, especially in
the harvest, when the fish and berries begin to grow
scarce.
The southern Kamtschatkans commonly build their
villages in thick woods and other places which are na¬
turally strong, not less than 20 versts from the sea ;
.and their summer habitations are near the mouths of
the rivers ; but those who live upon the Penschinska
sea and the eastern ocean build their villages very
near the shore. They look upon that river near which
their
K A M
[ 427 3
K A M
larals-
eiatka.
—->/ ■■ — 1
I
H£:hod of
kiling
Sf
f r.itruc-
l.n of
tisir boats.
M
[)f tkeir
Uothes.
their village is situated as the inheritance of their
tri]n" order to kindle fire, they use a board of dry
wood with round holes in the sides °f a sn^11
round stick ; this they rub in a hole till it takes fire ,
and instead of tinder they use dry grass beat sott.
These instruments are held in such esteem by the Kamts-
chatkans, that they are never without them, and ley
value them more than our steels and flints , but they
are excessively fond of iron instruments, such as hatch¬
ets, knives, or needles j nay, at the first arrival of the
Russians, a piece of broken iron was looked »P°» «*s a
great present ; and even now they receive it wi
thankfulness, finding use for the least fra8mef ’ *‘th^
to point their arrows, or make darts, which they do
bv hammering it out cold between two stones. As
some of them delight in war the Russian merchants are
forbid to sell them any warlike instruments . but y
are ingenious enough to make spears and arrows out of
the iron pots and kettles which they buy j and they are
so dexterous, when the eye of a needle breaks, as to
make a new eye, which they will repeat until nothing
■ remains but the point. , . , c
The Kamtschatkans make their boats of popla
wood ; but the Kuriles not having any wood ot their
own, make use of what is thrown on shore by the sea,
and is supposed to come from the coasts of Japan,
China, or America. The northern inhabitants of
Kamtschatka, the settled Koreki and rschukotskoi,
for want of proper timber and plank, make their boats
of the skins of sea animals. They sew the pieces to¬
gether with whales beards, and caulk them with moss
or nettles beat small. These boats hold two persons 5
one of which sits in the prow, and the other in the
stern. They push them against the stream with poles,
which is attended with great trouble : when the cur-
rent is strong, they can scarcely advance two feet in
ten minutes ; notwithstanding which, they will cany
these boats, fully loaded, sometimes twenty versts and
when the stream is not very strong, even thirty or forty
versts. The larger boats carry thirty or forty pood *,
when the goods are not very heavy, they lay them up¬
on a float or bridge resting upon two boats joined to¬
gether. They use this method in transporting their
provisions down the stream, and also to and from the
ISl Their clothes for the most part are made of the
skins of deer, dogs, several sea and land animals, and
even of the skins of birds; those of different animals
being frequently joined in the same garment. I hey
make the upper garment after two fashions ; some¬
times cutting the skirts all of an equal length, and
sometimes leaving them long behind in form of a train,
with wide sleeves of a length to come down below the
knee and a hood or caul behind, which in bad wea¬
ther’they put ever their heads below their caps ; the
opening above is only large enough to let their heads
pass • they sew the s:kins of dogs feet round this open¬
ing with which they cover their faces in cold stormy
weather ; and round tl.e r skirts and sleeves they put a
border of white dog skin; upon their backs they sew
the small shreds of skins of different colours. I hey
commonly wear two coats; the under coat with the
hair side inwards, the other side being dyed with alder ;
and the upper with the hair outwards. For the upper
garment they choose black, white, or speckled skins,
the hair of which is most esteemed for the beauty ot its
colour. .
Men and women without distinction use the above-
mentioned garments, their dress only differing in then
under clothing and in the covering of their feet and
legs. The women have an under garment, which they
commonly wear at home in the house, consisting of
breeches and a waistcoat sewed together. The breeches
are wide like those of the Dutch skippers, and tie be¬
low the knee ; the waistcoat is wide above, and drawn
round with a string. The summer habits are made of
dressed skins without hair: their winter garment^ is
made of deer or stone>ram skins with the hair on. The
undress or household habit of the men is a girdle of
leather with a bag before, and likewise a leathern apron
to cover them behind ; these girdles are sewed with hair
of different colours. The Kamtschatkans used formerly
to go a hunting and fishing during the summer in this
dress; but now this fashion is changed, and they wear
linen shirts, which they buy from the Russians.
The covering of their feet and legs is made of skins
of different sorts : in the summer time, during the rains,
they wear the skins of seals with the hair outwards: but
their most common covering is the skin of the legs of
the rein deer, and sometimes of the legs of other beasts,
the shaggiest they can find, to preserve them against
the cold. But the buskins which both the Cossacks and
Kamtschatkans use in their finest dress are made in the
following manner: the sole is of white seal skin, the
upper part of fine white leather, the hind quarters of
white dog skin ; what comes round the legs is of dressed
leather or dyed seal skin ; the upper parts are embroi¬
dered. These buskins are so extraordinary, that if a
bachelor is observed to wear them, he is immediately
concluded to be upon a scheme of courtship.
They wear the same sort of caps as the people of
Yakutski. In summer they have a sort of hats of birch
bark tied about their head. The Kuriles use in the
summer time caps made ot plaited grass. The women s
head dress is the perukes that we formerly mentioned ;
and these were so dear to them, that when they came
to be Christians they were with difficulty prevailed
upon to quit this dress for one more decent: however,
at present, round the Russian settlements, all is entire¬
ly changed, the women wearing shirts, ruffles, waist¬
coats, caps, and ribbands ; which change nobody now
complains of except the very old people. The women
do all their work in mittens ; they formerly never wash¬
ed their faces, but now they use both white and red
paint: for white paint they make use of a rotten wood ;
and for red a sea plant, which they boil in seals fat,
and rubbing their cheeks with it, make them very red.
They dress most in the winter time, especially when
they either receive or pay visits.^
The common clothes for a Kamtschatkan and his
family will not cost him less than IOO rubles ; for the
coarsest worsted stockings, which cost in Russia 20
kopeeks, cannot be bought here lor less than a ruble ;
and all other things are sold in the same proportion.
The Kuriles are more able to buy good clothes than
the Kamtschatkans : for they can purchase for one sea
heaver as much as the Kamtschatkans can for tvienU
foxes ; and one beaver costs the Kuriles no more trou¬
ble than five foxes do the Kamtschatkans ; for he must
3 H 2 b«
Kamts-
chatka.
K A M [ 428 ] K A M
K.1-*rnts* a hunter who catches more than ten foxes In
ilMtka. the. winter *, and a Kurile thinks himself unlucky if he
^ doth not catch three beavers in the season 5 besides
which, great numbers are thrown upon the shore by
14 storms. ,
Their diet. The Kamtschatkans divide their fish into six parts ;
the sides and tails are hung up to dry ; the back and
thinner part of the belly are prepared apart, and ge¬
nerally dried over the fire ; the head is laid to sour in
pits, and then they eat it like salt fish, and esteem it
much, though the stink is such that a stranger cannot
bear it j the ribs and the flesh which remain upon them
they hang up and dry, and afterwards pound for use j
the larger bones they likewise dry for food for their
dogs : in this manner all these different people prepare
the yokola, which is their principal food, or, one may
say, household bread ; and they eat it for the most part
dry.
Their second favourite food is caviare, or the roes of
fish, which they prepare three different ways. They
dry the roe whole in the air; or take it out of the skin
which envelopes it, and spreading it upon a bed of
grass, dry it before the fire ; or, lastly, make rolls of
it with the leaves of grass, which they also dry. They
never take a journey or go to hunting without dry
caviare ; and if a Kamtschatkan lias a pound of this,
he can subsist without any other provision a great
while; for every birch and alder tree furnishes him
with bark, which with his dried caviare makes him
an agreeable meal ; but they cannot eat either sepa¬
rately, for the caviare sticks like glue to the teeth ;
and it is almost impossible to swallow the bark, chewed
ever so long by itself. There is still a fourth method,
which both Kamtschatkans and Koreki use in prepar¬
ing their caviare: the first, having covered the bottom
of a pit with grass, they throw the fresh caviare into it,
and leave it there to grow7 sour : the Koreki tie theirs
in bags, and leave it to sour ; this is esteemed their
most delicate dish.
There is a third sort of diet, called by the Kamts¬
chatkans ckupriki, which is prepared in this manner :
in their huts, over the fire-place, they make a bridge
of stakes, upon which they lay a heap of fish, which
remains there, until the hut becomes as warm as a bag¬
nio. If there is no great thickness of fish, one fire serves
to dress it ; hut sometimes they are obliged to make
two, three, or more fires. Fish dressed in this manner
is half roasted half smoked, but has a very agreeable
taste, and may be reckoned the best of all the Kamts-
chatkan cookery : for the whole juice and fat is prepa¬
red with a gradual heat, and kept in by the skin, from
which they may when done enough be easily separated ;
and as soon as it is thus dressed, they take out the guts,
and spread the body upon a mat to dry : this they af¬
terwards break small, and putting it into bags, carry
it along with them for provision, eating it like the yo¬
kola.
The Kamtschatkans have a dish which they esteem
very much, called huigul: it is fish laid to grow sour in
pits; and though the smell of it is intolerable, yet the
Kamtschatkans esteem it a perfume. This fish some¬
times rots so much in the pits, that they cannot take it
out without ladles ; in which case indeed they use it for
feeding their dogs.
As for the flesh of land and the larger sea animals,
5
they boil it in their troughs with several different ^ -
herbs and roots ; the broth they drink out of ladles ohatka!
and bowls, and the meat they take out upon boards, ‘ ^
and eat in their hands. The whale and sea horse fat
they also boil with roots.
There is a principal dish at all their feasts and en¬
tertainments, called selaga, which they make by pound¬
ing all sorts of different roots and berries, with the ad¬
dition of caviare, and whale and seals fat.
Before the conquest, they seldom used any thing for
drink but plain water, unless when they made merry ;
then they drank water which had stood some time upon
mushrooms. At present they drink spirits as fast as the
Russians. After dinner they drink water : and when
they go to bed at night, set a vessel of water by them,
with the addition of snow or ice to keep it cold, and
always drink it up before morning. In the winter
time, they amuse themselves frequently by throwing
handfuls of snow into their mouths : and the bride¬
grooms, who work with the fathers of their future brides,
find it their hardest task to provide snow for the fa¬
mily in summer time ; for they must bring it from the
highest hills, be the weather what it will, otherwise
they would never he forgiven.
The Kamtschatkans commonly travel in sledges \^ thod of
drawn by dogs. The animals used for this purpose travelling
differ very little from the common house dogs; they with dogs,
are of a middling size, of various colours, though there
seem to be more white, black, and gray, than of any
other. In travelling, they make use of those that are
castrated, and generally yoke four to a sledge. They
drive and direct their dogs with a crooked stick about
four feet long, which they sometimes adorn with dif¬
ferent coloured thongs; this is looked upon as a great
piece of finery. They drive their sledge sitting upon
their right side, with their feet hanging down ; for it
would be looked upon as a disgrace for a man to sit
down at the bottom of the sledge, or to make use of
any person to drive him, nobody doing this hut the
women. It is very difficult to travel in these sledges ;
for unless a man keeps the exact balance, he is liable
every moment from the height and narrowness of them
to be overturned : in a rugged road this would be very
dangerous, as the dogs never stop till they come to
some house, or are entangled by something upon the
road ; especially in going down steep hills, when they
run with all their force, and are scarcely to be kept in ;
for which reason, in descending any great declivity,
they unyoke all the dogs except one, and lead them
softly down. They likewise walk up hills ; for it is as
much as the dogs can do to drag up the sledge empty.
After a deep snow, before it has been hardened by a
frost, there is no travelling with dogs till a road btJ
made, which is effected by a man going before upon
snow shoes, whom they call brbdovskila. The snow
shoes are made of two thin boards, separated in the
middle, bound together at the ends, and with the fore
part bent a little upwards. The brodovskika, having
one of these shoes upon each foot, leaves the dogs and
sledge, and going on clears the road for some way ;
then returning, leads forward the dogs and sledge so far
as the road is made ; a method which he must continue
till he comes to some dwelling house. This is very la¬
borious ; and it happens so often, that no driver ever
sets out without his snow shoes. When a storm of driven
snow
K A M
[ 429 1
K A M
rjKflnits-
Ichatka.
snow surprises them, they are obliged with all haste to
seek the shelter of some wood, and stay there as long
as the tempest lasts, which sometimes is a whole week.
If they are a large company, they dig a place for
themselves under the snow, and cover the entry with
wood or brambles. Sometimes they hide themselves
in caves or holes of the earth, wrapping themselves up
in their furs •, and when thus covered, they move or
turn themselves with the greatest caution lest they
should throw off the snow, for under that they he as
warm as in their common huts : they only require a
breathing place •, but their clothes must not be tight
or hard girt about them, for then the cold is unsuiler-
able. Another danger attending travellers is, that in
the severest frost several rivers are not quite frozen
over and as the roads for the most part lie close upon
the rivers, the banks being very steep, scarce a year
passes without many being drowned. A disagreeable
circumstance also to those who travel in these parts,
is their sometimes being obliged to pass through copses,
where they run the risk of having their eyes scratched
out or their limbs broken •, for the dogs always run
most violently in the worst roads, and, to free them¬
selves, very often overturn their driver. The best tra¬
velling is in the month of March or April, when the
snow is turned hard or frozen a little at top $ howevei,
there is still this inconvenience attending it, that some¬
times travellers are obliged to lodge two or three nights
in desert places ; and it is difficult to prevaiUpop the
Kamtschatkans to make a lire either for warming them-
stives or dressing victuals, as they and their dogs eat
dried fish, and find themselves so warm wrapped in
their furs, that they want no other heat; nay, all the
people in this climate bear cold so well, that they sleep
in the open air as sound as others in a warm bed, and
awake next morning perfectly refreshed and alert. This
seems to be so natural to all here, that some of them
have been seen to lie down with their backs unco¬
vered against a fire, and notwithstanding the fire has
been burnt out long before morning, they continued to
sleep on very comfortably, and without any inconie-
nience.
The bay of Avatscha is described by M. I erouse as
the finest, most convenient, and the safest that is to be
met with in any nart of the world. Ihe entrance^ is
narrow, the bottom is mud, and excellent holding
ground. Two vast harbours, one on tbe eastern, and
the other on the western side, are capable of containing
all the ships of the French and English navy. The
village of St Peter and St Paul is situated on a tongue
of land, which forms a little port behind the village, in
which three or four vessels might be laid up for the
winter. It is found to be in N. Lat. 53. I. E. Long,
j if6. 30. from Paris.
" Islands in the sea of Kamtsciiatka. So many of
these have been discovered by the Russians, that the ex¬
istence of almost a continued chain of islands between
the continents of Asia and America is now icndeied ex¬
tremely probable. Many further discoveries of great
importance to science, however, remain yet to be made.
The principal islands already known are theKunle isles,
which stretch south-west towards the coast of China or
Japan, and are almost uninhabited ; those called Beer-
infs and Copper islands, the Aleutian isles, and Fox
islands, or Lyssie Ostrava, lie almost directly east, stretch-
16
ing nearly to 230° of longitude east from Ferro. The
first project of making discoveries in that tempestuous
sea which lies between Kamtschatka and America vvas
set on foot by Peter the Great of Russia. Captains
Beering and Tschirikoff were employed in the under¬
taking the former of whom was shipwrecked and died
on the island which is still called by bis name. Astlm
lies at no great distance from Kamtschatka, the inhabi¬
tants of the latter soon ventured over to it, as the sea-
otters and other animals of that kind were accustomed
to resort thither in great numbers.
Mednoi Ostroff, or Copper island, which lies in ffiH de¬
sight of Beering’s island, vvas next visited. Ibis islandscrjjjet^
has its name from the great quantity of copper with
which the north-east coast of it abounds, the only side
which is known to the Russians. It is washed up by the
sea, and covers the shores in such abundance that many
ships might be loaded with it. Perhaps an India tra¬
der might make a profitable voyage from thence to
China, where this metal is in high demand. This cop¬
per is mostly in a metallic or malleable state, and many
pieces seem as if they had formerly been in fusion.
The island is not high 5 but has many hillocks, each
of which has the appearance of having formerly been
a volcano. \Vith this kind of hillocks all the islands
in the sea of Kamtschatka abound, insomuch that not
a single island, though ever so small, was found with¬
out one ; and many of them consisted ot nothing else.
In short, all the chain of islands above mentioned may
without any stretch of imagination be considered as
thrown up by some late volcanoes. The apparent no¬
velty of every thing seems to justify this conjecture :
nor can any objection be derived from the vegetable
productions with which these islands abound ; lor the
summer after the lower district of Zutphen in Holland
was gained from the sea, it was covered over with wild
mustard.—All these islands are subject to frequent and
violent earthquakes, and abound in sulphur. AVe
are not informed whether any lava is found upon
them ; but a party-coloured stone as heavy as iron,
probably a lava, is mentioned as being found there.
From this account it is by no means improbable that
the copper above mentioned has been melted in some
eruption. _
Beering’s island is situated east from Kamtschatka,
in the 185th degree of longitude 5 and Copper island island aud
about one degree more to tbe eastward, and in the lati- the Aieu-
tude of 540 north. The former is from 70 to 80 verstslian
long, and stretches from north-west to south-east in the
same direction as Copper island. Ihe latter is about
50 versts in length. About 300 versts east by south of
Copper island lie the Aleutian isles ; of which Attak is
the nearest : it is rather larger than Beering’s island,
and stretches from west to south-east. From thence
about 20 versts eastward is situated Semitshi, extending
from west to east", and near its extremity is another
small island. To the south of the strait which separates
the two latter islands, and at the distance of 40 versts
from both of them, lies Shimiya in a similar position,
and not above 25 versts in length. All these islands
lie between 54 and 55 degrees of north latitude. )S
The Fox islands are situated east-north-east from the Fox
Aleutians : the nearest of these, Atchak, is about 8cok*an 5!f*
versts distantit lies in 56° north latitude, and extends
from west-south-west towards east-north-east. It greatly
resembles
k A M C 430 ] K A M
Ka:«i3- resembles Copper island, and is provided with a com-
, modious harbour on the north. From thence all the
other islands of this chain stretch in a direction towards
north-east by east. The next to Atchak is Amlak, and
about 15 versts distant $ it is nearly of the same size,
and has a harbour on its south side. Next follows Sau-
gagamak, at about the same distance, but somewhat
smaller ; from thence is 50 versts to Amuchta, a small
rocky island; and the latter to Yunaksan, another
small island. About 20 versts from Yunaksan there is
a cluster of five small islands, or rather mountains, Ki-
galgist, Kagamila, Tsigulac, Ulaga, and Tana-Unok ;
and which are therefore called by the Russians Pat
Soph, or the Five Mountains. Of these Tana-Unok
lies most to the north-east, towards which the western
point of Umnak advances within the distance of 20
versts.
Umnak stretches from south-west to north-east; it is
150 versts in length, and has a very considerable bay
on the west end of the northern coast, in which there
is a small island, or rock, called Adugak: and on the
south side Shemalga, another rock. The western point
of Aghunalashka, or Unalashka, is separated from
the east end of Umnak by a strait near 20 versts in
breadth. The position of these two islands is similar ;
but Aghunalashka is much the largest, and is above 200
versts long. It is divided towards the north-east into
three promontories, one of which runs out in a westerly
direction, forming one side of a large bay on the north
coast of the island : the second stretches out north-east,
ends in three points, and is connected with the island
by a small neck of land. The third, or most southerly
one, is separated from the last-mentioned promontory
by a deep bay. Near Unalashka towards the east lies
another small island called Shirkin. About 20 versts
from the north-east promontory of Agunalashka lie four
islands: the first, Akutan, is about half as big as Um-
nak ; a verst further is the small island Akun ; a little
beyond is Akunok ; and lastly, Kigalga, which is the
smallest of these four ; and stretches with Akun and
Akunok almost from north to south. Kigalga is situ¬
ated about the 61st degree of latitude. About 100
versts from thence lies an island called Unimak, upon
which a Russian navigator (Captain Krenitzin) win¬
tered ; and beyond it the inhabitants said there was a
large tract of country called Alashka, of which they did
not know the boundaries.
The Fox islands are in general very rocky, without
containing any remarkably high mountains : they are
destitute of wood ; but abound in rivulets and lakes,
which are mostly without fish. The winter is much
milder than in Siberia ; the snow seldom falls before the
beginning of January, and continues on the ground till
the end of March. There is a volcano in Amuchta,
and sulphur is produced on another island ; in some
others are springs hot enough to boil provisions. Sul¬
phureous flames are also sometimes seen at night upon
1(> the mountains of Unalashka.
Manners, The Fox islands are tolerably populous in proportion
Sic. of the to their size. The inhabitants are entirely free, and
u 'u " l)a.v to .no one > tIiey are a middle stature,
and live, both in summer and winter, in holes dug in
the earth. No signs of religion were found among
them. Several persons indeed pass for sorcerers, pre¬
tending to know things past and to come; and are
3
accordingly held in high esteem, but without receiving Kamts-
any emolument. Filial duty and respect towards the chatku.
aged are not held in estimation by these islanders.—— v
1 hey are not, however, deficient in fidelity towards
each other; they are ot a lively and cheerful temper,
though rather impetuous, and naturally prone to anger.
In general, they do not observe any rules of decency ;
but follow all the calls of nature publicly and without
the least reserve. Their principal food consists in fish,
and other sea animals, small shell fish, and sea plants ;
their greatest delicacies are wild lilies and other roots,
together with different kinds of berries. When they
have laid in a store of provisions, they eat at any time
of the day without distinction ; but in case of necessi¬
ty, they are capable of fasting several days together.
They seldom heat their dwellings : but when they are
desirous of warming themselves, they light a bundle of
hay, and stand over it ; or else they set fire to train
oil, which they pour into a hollow stone. They feed
their children when very young with the coarsest flesh,
and for the most part raw. If an infant cries, the mo¬
ther immediately carries it to the sea side, and, be it
summer or winter, bolds it naked in the water until it
is quiet. Ihis custom, it is said, is so far from doing
the children any harm, that it hardens them against the
cold ; and accordingly they go barefooted through the
winter without the least inconvenience. They are also
trained to bathe frequently in the sea ; and it is an
opinion generally received among the islanders, that by
these means they are rendered bold and fortunate in
fishing.
The men wear shirts made of the skins of cormo¬
rants, sea-divers, and gulls; and in order to keep out
the rain, they have upper garments of the bladders and
other intestines of sea-lions, sea-calves, and whales,
blown up and dried. They cut their hair in a circular
form quite close to their ears ; and shave also a round
place on the top. The women, on the contrary, let
the hair descend over the forehead as low as the eye¬
brows, and tie the remaining part in a knot upon the
top of the head. They pierce the ears, and hang in
them bits of coral, which they get from the Russians,
Both sexes make holes in the gristles of their noses,
and in the under lips, in which they thrust pieces of
bone, and are very fond of such kind of ornaments.—
They mark also and colour their faces with difl’erent
figures. They barter among one another sea-otters,
sea-bears, clothes made of birds skins and of dried in¬
testines, skins of sea-lions and sea-calves for the cover¬
ings of their canoes, wooden masks, darts, thread made
of sinews and hair of rein deer.
Their household utensils are square pitchers and
large troughs, which they make out of the wood dri¬
ven ashore by the sea. Their weapons are bows and
arrows pointed with flint, and javelins of two yards in
length, which they throw from a small board. Instead
of hatchets, they use crooked knives of flint or bone.
Some iron knives, hatchets, and lances, were observed
among them, which they had probably got by plun¬
dering the Russians.
According to the reports of the oldest inhabitants
of Umnak and Unalashka, they have never been enga¬
ged in any war, either amongst themselves or with
their neighbours, except with the people of Alashka,
the occasion of which was as follows : The son of the
toigon
Ivirols-
cliatka.
K A M [43
toigon or chief of Umnak had a maimed hand j and
some inhabitants of Alashka, who came to visit upon
' that island, fastened to his arm a drum, out of mockery,
and invited him to dance. The parents and relations
of the boy were offended at this insult: hence a quar-
rai ensued ; and from that time the people have lived
in continual enmity, attacking and plundering each
other by turns. According to the reports of the island¬
ers, there are mountains upon Alashka, and woods of
great extent at some distance from the coast. The na¬
tives wear clothes made of the skins of rein-deer, wolves,
and foxes, and are not tributary to any of their neigh¬
bours. The inhabitants of the Fox islands seem to have
no knowledge of any country beyond Alashka, which
is one of the most easterly islands yet discovered in
these seas, and is probably not far distant from the
continent of America.
Feasts are very common among these islanders $ and
more particularly when the inhabitants of one island are
visited by those of the others. The men of the village
meet their guests, beating drums, and preceded by the
women who siug and dance. A.t the conclusion of the
dance, the hosts invite them to partake of the feasts ;
after which ceremony, the former return first to their
dwellings, place mats in order, and serve up their best
provision. The guests next enter, take their places,
and, after they are satisfied, the diversions begin. First,
The children dance and caper, at the same time mak¬
ing a noise with their small drums, while the owners of
the huts of both sexes sing. Next, The men dance al-
most naked, tripping after one another, and beating
drums of a larger size : when these are weary, they are
relieved by the women, who dance in their clothes, the
men continuing in the mean time to sing and beat their
drums. At last the fire is put out which had been
kindled for the ceremony. The manner of obtaining
fire is by rubbing two pieces of dry wood against each
other, or most commonly by striking two flints toge¬
ther, and letting the sparks fall upon some sea otters
hair mixed with sulphur. If any sorcerer is present, it is
then his turn to play his tricks in the dark ; if not, the
guests immediately retire to their huts, which are
made on that occasion, of their canoes and mats. The
natives who have several wives do not withhold them
from their guests ; but where the owner of the hut has
himself but one wife, he then makes the offer of a fe¬
male servant.
The hunting season is principally from the end of
October to the beginning of December ; during which
time they kill great numbers of young sea bears for
their clothing. They pass all December in feastings
and diversions similar to those above mentioned : with
this difference, however, that the men dance in wooden
masks, representing various sea animals, and painted
red, green, or black, with coarse coloured earths found
upon their islands.
During these festivals, they visit each other from vil¬
lage to village, and from island to island. The feasts
concluded, masks and drums are broken to pieces, or
deposited in caverns among the rocks, and never after¬
wards made use of. In spring they go out to kill old
sea bears, sea lions, and whales. During summer, and
even in winter when it is calm, they row out to sea, and
catch cod and other fish. Their hooks are of bone ;
and for fines they make use of a string made of a long
]
KAO
tenacious sea weed, which is sometimes found in those
seas near 160 yards in length.
Whenever they are wounded in any encounter, or
bruised by any accident, they apply a sort of yellow
root to the wound, and fast for sometime. When their
head aches, they open a vein in that part with a stone
lancet. When they want to glue the points of their
arrows to the shafts, they strike their nose till it bleeds,
and use the blood as glue.
Murder is not punished among them ; for they have
no judge. The following ceremonies are used in the
burial of the dead. The bodies of poor people are
wrapped up in their own clothes, or in mats j then
laid in a grave, and covered over with earth. The
bodies of the rich are put, together with their clothes
and arms, in a small boat made of the wood driven
ashore by the sea : this boat is hung upon poles pla¬
ced crosswise $ and the body is thus left to rot in the
open air.
The customs and manners of the inhabitants of the
Aleutian isles are nearly similar to those of the inhabi¬
tants of the Fox islands. The former indeed are ren¬
dered tributary, and entirely subject to Russia ; and
most of them have a slight acquaintaince with the Rus¬
sian language, which they have learned from the crews
of the different vessels who have landed there.
KAN, or Khan, the name of an officer in Persia,
answering to that of governor in Europe.—There are
kans of provinces, countries, and cities, who have dif¬
ferent additions to distinguish them.
KANGUROO. See Didelfhis, Mammalia
Index. ,
KANISCA, a very strong town of Lower Hungary,
capital of the. county of Selawar. It was taken by the
Imperialists in 1690. It is seated on the river Drave,
in E. Long. 17. 37. N. Lat. 46. 23.
KAN-TCHEOU-FOU, a flourishing town of Chi¬
na, in the province of Kiang-si. Its rivers, port, riches,
and population, all contribute to attract strangers. A
day’s journey from this city is a very rapid current,
almost 20 leagues in length, which flows with great
impetuosity over a number of scattered rocks that are
level with the water. Travellers here are in great
danger of being lost, unless they take care to be con¬
ducted by one of the pilots of the country j after this
passage the river becomes twice as large as the Seine
at Rouen ; and is continually covered with loaded barks
and other vessels under sail.—Near the walls of this
city is a very long bridge, composed of 130 boats join¬
ed together by strong iron chains. The customhouse is
upon this bridge, where a receiver constantly resides to
visit all vessels, and examine if they have paid the du¬
ties imposed on the commodities with which they are
loaded. Two or three moveable boats are so placed,
that by their means the bridge can be opened or shut,
to give or refuse a passage } and no barks are ever
permitted to pass until they have been examined. In
the territory belonging to this city, a great number
of those valuable trees grow, from which varnish di¬
stills. Its district is extensive, and contains 12 cities
of the third class.
KAOLIN, the name of an earth which is used as
one of the two ingredients in oriental porcelain. Some
of this earth was brought from China, and examined
by Mr Reaumur. He found that it was perfectly in¬
fusible
K nm lo¬
ch a tkn
0
Kaolin.
K A R
Kaolin
K a reck.
fusible by fire, and believed that it was a talky earth j
but Mr Macquer observes, that it is more probably
an argillaceous nature, from its forming a tenacious
paste with the other ingredient called petuntse, which
has no tenacity. Mr Bomare says, that by analyzing
some Chinese kaolin, he found it was a compound
earth consisting of clay, to which it owed its tenacity j
of calcareous earth, which gave it a meally appear¬
ance 5 of sparkling crystals of mica ; and of small gra¬
vel, or particles of quartz crystals. He says, that he
lias found a similar earth upon a stratum of granite, and
conjectures that it may be a decomposed granite. This
conjecture is the more probable, as kaolins are frequent¬
ly found in the neighbourhood of granites. See Por¬
celain.
KAOUTCHOUK. See Caoutchouc, Chemis¬
try Index.
KARAITES. See Caraites.
KARAT. See Caract.
KARECK, an island in the Persian gulf, which was
once subject to the Hutch. It was visited by Mr Ives
in 1758. He found the south part of the island well
cultivated, with agreeable fields of corn, and produ¬
cing plenty of esculent vegetables. In the middle are
very high hills abounding with a variety of shells.
Some fragments torn from their sides afforded an op¬
portunity of observing an immense quantity of oysters,
scallop, cockle, and other shells. The common tree
here is the banian, but without tho=e luxuriant shoots,
which in some other places go downward and take
root in the ground. The lavender cotton is also found
here ; and the island abounds with fowl of various
kinds. Pearl oysters are also found, but at consider¬
able depths.
This settlement was founded by Baron Kniphausen,
who having left the Prussian service on some disgust,
entered into that of France, afterwards went to the
F.ast Indies, and was appointed resident to the Dutch
factory at Bassora. Here he became an object to the
avarice and rapacity of the Turkish governors ; who ha¬
ving got him accused of capital crimes, he was at last
glad to compound with them for 50,000 rupees, the
whole sum he was worth, besides giving directions how
they might squeeze other 50,000 from his successor in
office (who in truth wished him turned out) and the
banian who did the business of the Dutch factory, and
who had likewise been concerned in underhand prac¬
tices against him.
The new resident was overjoyed at his accession,
but lost all patience when he found himself obliged to
pay 30,000 rupees to the governor as a compliment
on his entering into a post of such consequence. Nor
bad the banian much better reason to be satisfied, be¬
ing obliged to pay down 20,000 rupees to make up
the sum which was to satisfy the rapacity of the go¬
vernor.
Baron Kniphausen sailed from Bassora the very day
after he was set at liberty ; but having landed on this
island, he, in conjunction with an Arabian sheick, form¬
ed the plan of the settlement. He then carried a let¬
ter from the sheick to the governor and council of
Batavia, in which the former proposed to give up
the sovereignty of the island. Before setting out
for this place, however, the baron took care to de¬
spatch a messenger across the desert to Constantinople,
[ 432 ]
EAR
acquainting the Dutch ambassador with the treatment
he had received, and requesting liberty of the grand
visier for the Dutch to settle at Kareck. The mes¬
senger returned with a favourable answer before the
baron came back from Batavia. The governor of
Bassora, then, having attempted in vain to persuade
him to return to that place, wrote a letter of complaint
to Batavia, accusing the baron in terms of the utmost
exaggeration, hut without any mention of the 100,OCO
rupees. The baron, however, having got intelligence
of this proceeding, used such diligence that he got" back
to Batavia in the very ship which carried the letter.
Being thus present on the spot to answer the charges
brought against him, he acquitted himself so well that
his scheme was instantly approved of, and he was sent
back with two ships and 50 men to take possession of
Kareck, whose inhabitants at that time amounted to
no more than 100 poor fishermen.
Considerable difficulties now occurred in the esta¬
blishment of the new colony ; for he had but very few
materials with him, and the government of Batavia
was very slow in sending him the succours they had
promised. He was therefore obliged to send for work¬
men from Persia and Arabia, with whose assistance he
built a small compact fort, strong enough to defend it¬
self against any of the country powers, and any ships
usually sailing to India, excepting those of our East
India Company. Nor was he content with putting
himself in a posture of defence, but even commenced
hostilities against the Turks ; and by detaining two
vessels very richly laden, which happened to touch at
the island, he at last obliged the governor of Bassora
to pay back the 100,000 rupees he had extorted,
30,000 of which he restored to his successor in office
at Bassora, and 20,000 to the banian. When Mr Ives
visited him, he informs us, that surprising progress had
been made during the little time the baron had held
the sovereignty of the island, and that he intended to
make it a strong and wealthy place ; at the same time
that he discovered his taste for literature by advancing
a sum of money for books and instruments of various
kinds, which were afterwards punctually sent. After
that time, however, the baron quitted the service of the
Dutch *, and the island is again in possession of the
sheick of Bundaric, to whom it formerly belonged. It
is about five miles long and two in breadth j lying
nearly in the middle of the Persian gulf, about seven
leagues from each side, and about 30 leagues from the
mouth of Bassora river, where all ships bound to that
port must call for pilots.
KARLE, a Saxon word used in our law, sometimes
simply for a man ; and sometimes, with an addition,
for a servant or clown. Thus the Saxons call a seaman
biiscarli, and a domestic servant/zyscar/tf. From hence
comes the modern word churl.
KARMA riANS, a sect of Mohammedans, who
occasioned great disorders in the empire of the Arabs.
See Bagdad, N°49.
KARNAC, the name of a village near Thebes in
Upper Egypt, and built on a small part of the site of a
single temple, the circumference of which, it is said, it
would require half an hour to walk round. The ruins
of this temple, which are yet visible, seem to indicate,
according to Denon, that it was the largest in the
world 5 and he thinks it probable, that the temple of
Karnac,
Kareck
Karnec.
K A T [ 433 1 K E A
[varti ic Karnac, as well as that of Luxor, was built in the time
|1 of Sesostiis, when Egypt was in the highest degree of
KiUegatte proSperj^y> The plan of this temple is said to be no-
'■ IjJe an(] grand •, but Denon supposes that the embellish¬
ments were added long after the building of the temple,
as they exhibit a more correct and chaste style. The
portico alone is composed of 100 columns, the smallest
of which are not less than 7^ feet in diameter, and the
largest 12.
KASSON, a po'pulous kingdom in the north of
Africa, the metropolis of which lies in N. Lat. 14. 33.
W. Long. 8. 43. The king of the country was ex¬
tremely kind to Mr Park, although his son plundered
him in a very shocking manner. He says that the
number of towns and villages, and the extensive culti¬
vation around them, exceeded every thing he had then
seen in Africa. A gross calculation may be formed of
the number of inhabitants in this enchanting plain, from
considering that the king of Kasson can raise 4000 fight¬
ing men by the sound of his war drum. It is remark¬
able, that although the people possess abundance of corn
and cattle, both high and low' make no scruple of eating
rats, moles, squirrels, snails, and locusts. What is per¬
haps no less singular, the women of this country are
not allowed to eat an egg, although they are used by the
men without any scruple in the presence of their wives.
The method of converting the negroes to the reli¬
gion of Mahomet is worthy of notice. Mr Park assures
us that he saw the whole inhabitants of Teesce, a large
unwalled town of Kasson, instantly converted. While
he resided in that town, an embassy of 10 people be¬
longing to Almami Abdulkader, king of Foota Torra,
a country to the west of Bondou, arrived at Teesce ;
and desiring Tiggity Sego the governor to call an
assembly of the inhabitants, publicly made known the
determination of their king—“ that unless all the
people of Kasson would embrace the Mahometan reli¬
gion, and evince their conversion by saying eleven pu¬
blic prayers, he (the king of Foota Torra) could not
possibly stand neuter in the present contest, but would
certainly join his arms to those of Kajaaga.” Such a
message from so potent a prince created great alarm ;
and the inhabitants, after deliberating for some time,
agreed to conform themselves to his will and pleasure,
renouncing Paganism and embracing the doctrines of
the false prophet.
KASTRIL, or Kestril, a species of falcon. See
Falco, Ornithology Index.
KATTEGATTE, a noted sea, lying between part
of Jutland and the coast of Sweden, and towards the
latter covered with a great number of isles. It is al¬
most closed at the extremity by the low Danish islands
of Sealand and Funen, which had in old times been
(with Sweden) the seat of the Suiones. Between the
first and the coast of Sweden is the famous Sound, the
passage tributary to the Danes by thousands of ships.
These islands were of old called Codonania, and gave
to the Kattegatte the name of Sinus Codonanus. Its
greatest depth is 35 fathoms. It decreases as it ap¬
proaches the Sound 5 which begins with 16 fathoms,
and near Copenhagen shallows to even four. The Ro¬
man fleet, under the command of Germanicus, sailed,
according to Pliny, round Germany, and even doubled
the Cimbricum Promontorium, and ax-rived at the islands
which fill the bottom of the Kattegatte : either by ob-
Yol. XI, Fart II. ' f
servation or information, the Romans were acquainted K
with 23. One they called Glessaria, from its amber,
a fossil abundant to this day on part of the south side
of the Baltic. A Roman knight was employed by
Nero’s master of the gladiators to collect in these parts
that precious production, by which he became perfect¬
ly acquainted with this country.
KAUFFBEUREN, a town of Germany, situated
on the river TVardach, formerly imperial, but now sub¬
ject to Bavaria. E. Long. 10. 53. N. Lat. 47. 57.
KAY, Quay, or Key. See Key.
KAZY, in the East Indies, a Mahometan judge or
magistrate ; appointed originally by the court of Delhi
to administer justice according to their written law ; but
particularly in matters relative to marriages, the sales
of houses, and transgressions of the Koran. He attests
or authenticates writings, which under his seal are ad¬
mitted as the originals in proof.
KE ATE, George,Esq,. F.R.S . an eminent English
writer, was born in 1730,and educated at Kingston school,
after which he went to Geneva, where he x-esided for some
years, and became acquainted with M. Voltaire. When
he made the tour of Europe, he became a student in the
Inner Temple, was called to the bar, but did not meet
with such encouragement as to induce him to persevere.
In the year 1760 he published his Ancient and Modern
Rome, a poem which was received with considerable
applause, and the following year he gave the world
A short Account of the Ancient History, px-esent Go¬
vernment and Laws of the Republic of Geneva, 8vo.
dedicated to Voltaire, who once intended to translate
it into French, but afterwards abandoned his design.
In 1762 be produced an Epistle from Lady Jane
Gray to Lord Guildford Dudley 5 and next year the
Alps, a poem, believed to be the best be ever wrote,
for truth of description, vigour of fancy, and beauty of
versification. In 1764 appeared Netley Abbey, and in
1765, The Temple Student, an Epistle to a Friend, in
which he rallies his own want of application to the
study of the law, and his consequent want of success in
that profession. In 1766 he published a poem to the
memory of Mrs Cibber, of whose talents as an actress
he entertained a very high opinion. He married in
1769 Miss Hudson, and about the same period he pu¬
blished Ferney, an Epistle to Voltaire. Having praised
with energy the beauties of that philosopher’s poetical
works, he introduces a grand panegyric on the im¬
mortal Shakespeare, whom Voltaire used every effort to
depreciate, probably from a spirit of envy. This eulo-
gium made the mayor and burgesses of Stratford pre¬
sent our author with a standish mounted with silver,
made out of the famous mulberry tree which Shake¬
speare had planted.
In 1775 appeared his Monument in Arcadia, a dra¬
matic poem j and in 1779 he published his Sketches
from Nature, taken and coloui'ed in a Journey to Mar¬
gate, justly allowed to be an elegant composition. In
the year 1787 came out The Distressed Poet, a serio¬
comic poem, in three cantos, occasioned by a long and
vexatious law-suit. His last woi-k was perhaps the
most honourable of the whole, both to his head and to
his heart. Captain Wilson of the Antelope packet
having suffered shipwreck on the Pelew islands, was re¬
fused any farther command, and reduced to distress,
which induced the humane Keate to publish an account
3 I of
K E E [ 434 ] K E E
Keate of these islands for the benefit of that gentleman, which,
|) it is said, brought him about 900 guineas in the space
K-ee*- of a year. This work is written with much elegance,
although it is probable the amiable part of the manners
of the natives of Pelew is somewhat highly coloured.
The life of this poet was spent without any vicissi¬
tudes of fortune j he was possessed of a very ample
estate, which he never attempted to increase but by
prudence in the management of it. He was a man of
beneficence and hospitality, and enjoyed the favour of
mankind in a very high degree. His health had been
gradually declining towards the close of his life. He
died in June 1797, leaving one daughter.
KEBBA, an appellation given by the Mahometans
to that part of the world where the temple of Mecca
is situated, towards which they are obliged to turn
themselves when they pray.
KEDAR, in Ancient Geography, a district in the
desert of the Saracens (so called from Cedar, the son of
Ishmael), according to Jerome, who in another place
says that Kedar was uninhabitable, on the north of A-
rabia Felix. Kedareni, the people j who dwelt in tents
like the other Scenites (Psalm cxx.) were rich in cat¬
tle (Isaiah lx.), of a swarthy complexion (Canticles i.),
and excellent at the bow (Isaiah xxi.).
KEDES, in Ancient Geography, a city of refuge and
Levitical in the tribe of Napbtali, on the confines of
Tyre and Galilee; (Josephus). Jerome calls it a sa¬
cerdotal city, situated on a mountain 20 miles from
Tyre, near Paneas, and called Cidissus; taken by the
king of Assyria.—Another Kedes in the tribe of Issachar
(1 Chron. vi. 72.) which seems to be called Kishion
(Joshua xix.)
KEDGE, a small anchor, used to keep a ship steady
whilst she rides in a harbour or river, particularly at the
turn of the tide, when she might otherwise drive over
her principal anchor, and entangle the stock or flukes
with her slack cable, so as to loosen it from the
ground. This is accordingly prevented by a kedge
rope that hinders her from approaching it. The ked-
ges are particularly useful in transporting a ship; i. e.
removing her from one part of the harbour to ano¬
ther, by means of ropes which are fastened to these
an'chors. They are generally furnished with an iron
stock, which is easily displaced for the convenience of
stowing them.
KEDliON, or Cedron, in Ancient Geography, a
town which, from the defeat and pursuit of the Syrians
(1 Mac. xvi.), appears to have stood on the road which
led from the Higher India to Azotus : in this war it
was burnt by the Jews.
Kedron, or Cedron, in Ancient Geography. St John
calls it a brook, but Josephus a deep valley between
Jerusalem and Mount Olivet to the east ; called also
Kedron from its blackness. A brook only in winter, or
in rainy weather, according to Maundrel.
KEEL, the principal piece of timber in a ship,
which is usually first laid on the blocks in building. If
we compare the carcass of a ship to the skeleton of the
human body, the keel may be considered as the back-
bbne, and the timbers as the ribs. It therefore sup¬
ports and unites tlie whole fabric, since the stem and
stern post, which are elevated on its ends, are in some
measure a continuation of the keel, and serve to con-
aset and enclose the extremities of the sides by txan-
a
soms ; as the keel forms and unites the bottom by tim¬
bers. J
Ihe keel is generally composed of several thick
pieces placed lengthwise, which, alter being scarfed
together, aie bolted, and edenched upon the upper side.
Vvhen these pieces cannot be procured large enough to
a (To 1 (1 a sufficient deptli to the keel,- there is a strong
thick piece of timber bolted to the bottom thereof, call¬
ed \.\\z false keel, which is also very useful in preserving
the lower side of the main keel, in our largest ships of
war, the false keel is generally composed of two pieces,
which are called the vpper and the lower false keels.
See Midship-Frame.
The lowest plank in a ship’s bottom, called the gar-
board-streak, has its inner edge let into a groove or
channel cut longitudinally on the side of the keel : the
depth of tliis channel is therefore regulated by the
thickness of the garboard streak.
Keel is also a name given to a low flat-bottomed
vessel, used in the river Tyne to bring the coals down
Lorn Newcastle and the adjacent parts, in order to load
the colliers for transportation.
Keel-Hauling, a punishment inflicted for various
offences in the Hutch navy. It is performed by
plunging the delinquent repeatedly under the ship’s
bottom on one side, and hoisting him up on the other,
after having passed under the keel. The blocks or
pullies by which he is suspended are fastened to the
opposite extremities of the main yard, and a weight of
lead or iron is hung upon his legs, to sink him to a
competent depth. By this apparatus he is drawn close
up to the yard-arm, and thence let fall suddenly into
the sea, where, passing under the ship’s bottom, be is
hoisted up on the opposite side of the vessel. As this
extraordinary sentence is executed with a serenity of
temper peculiar to the Hutch, the culprit is allowed
sufficient intervals to recover the sense of pain, of
which indeed he is frequently deprived during the
operation. In truth, a temporary insensibility to his
sufferings ought by no means to be construed into a
disrespect of his judges, when we consider that this
punishment is supposed to have peculiar propriety in
the depth of winter, whilst the flakes of ice are
floating on the stream ; and that it is continued till
the culprit is almost suffocated for want of air, be¬
numbed with the cold of the water, or stunned with
the blows his head receives by striking the ship’s
bottom.
KEELSON, a piece of timber which may be pro¬
perly defined the interior or counter part of the keel ;
as it is laid upon the middle of the floor timbers, im¬
mediately over the keel, and like it composed of se¬
veral pieces scarfed together. In order to sit with
more security upon the floor timbers and crotches, it
is notched about an inch and a half deep, opposite to
each of those pieces, and thereby firmly scored down
upon them to that depth, where it is secured by spike-
nails. The pieces of which it is formed are only half
the breadth and thickness of those of the keel.
The keelson serves to bind and unite the floor-timbers
to the keel. It is confined to the keel by long bolts,
which, being driven from without through several of
the timbers, are forelocked or clenched upon rings on
the upper side of the keelson.
KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL, is a lord by his-
office.
Keel
Keepe
1 
K E H [ 455 ] K E I
Keeper office, and styled lord keeper of the great seal of Great
|! Britain; he is always one of the privy council. All
KelA grants, charters, and commissions of the king under the
great seal, pass through the hands of the lord keeper ;
fur without that seal many of those grants, &c. would
le of no force, the king being, in the interpretation of
the lauT, a corporation, and therefore passes nothing
but by the great seal, which is also said to be the pu¬
blic faith of the kingdom, being in the highest esteem
and reputation.
Whenever there is « lord keeper, he is invested with
the same place, authority, pre-eminence, jurisdiction,
or execution of laws, as the lord chancellor of Great
Britain is vested with.
The lord keeper is constituted by the delivery of
the great seal, &c.
Keeper of the privy seal, is also a lord by his office,
through whose hands all grants, pardons, &c. pass
before they come to the great seal ; and even some
things pass his hands which do not pass the great seal
at all. This officer is also one of the privy council,
vet was anciently called clerk of the privy seal. His
duty is to put the seal to no grant, See. without a pro¬
per warrant j nor with warrant where it is against law,
or inconvenient, but shall first acquaint the king there¬
with.
KEEPING, in Painting, denotes the representa¬
tion of objects in the same manner that they appear
to the eye at different distances from it j for which the
painter should have recourse to the rules of perspective.
There are two instances in which the famous Raphael
Urbin has transgressed these rules: in one of his car¬
toons, representing the miraculous draught of fishes, the
men in each of the two boats appear of full size, the
features of their faces being strongly marked j and the
boats are represented so small, and the men so big,
that any one of them appears sufficient to sink either
of the boats by his own bare weight: and the fowls on
the shore are also drawn so big, as to seem very near
the eye of the observer, who could not possibly, in that
case, distinguish the features of the men in the distant
boats. Or, supposing the observer to be in either of
the boats, he could not see the eyes or beaks of the
fowls on the shore. The other instance occurs in his
historical picture of our Saviour’s transfiguration on
the mount; where he is represented with those who
were then with him, almost as large as the rest of his
disciples at the foot of the mount, with the father and
mother of the boy whom they brought to be cured 5
and the mother, though on her knees, is more than
half as tall as the mount is high. So that the mount
appears only of the size of a little hay-rick, with a few
people on its top, and a greater number at its bottom
on the ground; in which case, a spectator at a little
distance could as well distinguish the features of those
at the top as those on the ground. But upon any large
eminence, deserving the name of a mount, that would
be quite impossible.
KEHL, or Keil, a very important fortress of Ger¬
many, seated on the banks of the Rhine, built by the
French after a design of Marshal Vauban, for the de¬
fence of Strasburg, from which it is a mile and a half
distant. It was ceded to the empire in 1697, by the
treaty of Ryswick. The French retook it in 1703,
and it was restored to the empire by the treaty of Ras-
tadt. During the time of the French revolution, this
fortress changed masters several times; but after 1801,
it was demolished in terms of the treaty of peace. E.
Lomr. 7. 45. N. Lat. 48. 40.
KEILL, Dr John, a celebrated astronomer and
mathematician, was horn at Edinburgh in 1671, and
studied in the university of that city. In 1694 he went
to Oxford ; where, being admitted of Baliol college,
he began to read lectures according to the Newtonian
system in his private chamber in that college. He is
said to have been the first who taught Sir Isaac New¬
ton’s principles by the experiments on which they are
founded : and this, it seems, he did by an apparatus of
instruments of Ins own providing, by which means he
acquired a great reputation in the university. The
first specimen he gave the public of his skill in mathe¬
matical and philosophical knowledge, was his Exami¬
nation of Dr Burnet’s theory of the earth, with Re¬
marks on Mr Whiston’s theory : and these theories be¬
ing defended by their respective inventors, drew from
Mr Keill An Examination of the reflections on the
theory of the earth, together with A Defence of the re¬
marks on Mr Whiston’s new theory. In 1701, he pub¬
lished his celebrated treatise, entitled, Introductio ad ve-
ram physicam, which only contains 14 lectures ; but in
the following editions he added two more. This work
has been translated into English, under the title of
An Introduction to Natural Philosophy. Afterwards,
being made fellow of the Royal Society, he published,
in the Philosophical Transactions, a paper of the laws
of attraction ; and being offended at a passage in the
Acta eruditorum of Leipsic, warmly vindicated against
Mr Leibnitz Sir Isaac Newton’s right to the honour
of the first invention of his method of fluxions. In
1709 he went to New England as treasurer of the
Palatines. About the year 1711, several objections
being urged against Sir Isaac Newton’s philosophy, in
support of Des Cartes’s notion of a plenum, Mr Keiil
published a paper in the Philosophical Transactions
on the rarity of matter, and the tenuity of its compo¬
sition. But while he was engaged in this dispute,
Queen Anne was pleased to appoint him her decy-
pherer; and he continued in that place under King
George I. till the year 1716. He had also the de¬
gree of doctor of physic conferred on him by the uni¬
versity of Oxford in 1713. He died in 1721. He
published, besides the works already mentioned, Intro-
ductio ad veram astronmniam, which was translated in¬
to English by Dr Keill himself; and an edition of Com-
mandinus’s Euclid, with additions of his own.
Keill, James, M. D. an eminent physician, and
brother of the former, was born in Scotland about
the year 1673 ; and having travelled abroad, read lec¬
tures of anatomy with great applause in the universities
of Oxford and Cambridge, by the latter of which he
had the degree of doctor of physic conferred upon him.
In 1700 he settled at Northampton, where he had
considerable practice as a physician; and died there of
a cancer in the mouth in 1719. He published, 1. An
English translation of Lemery’s chemistry. 2. An
account of animal secretion, the quantity of blood in
the human body, and muscular motion. 3. A treatise
on anatomy. 4. Several pieces in the Philosophical
Transactions.
KEISERSBERG, a town of Alsace in France,
3 I 2 and '
K E 1 [ 436 ] K E L
Kaisers- and in (lie bailiwick of Haguenan, ivliicii lias belonged
to the French ever since the year 1548. It is seated
", in a pleasant country, in E. Long. 7. 25. N. Lat. 48.
10.
KEISERSLAUTERN, a town of Germany, in
the Lower Palatinate, seated on the river Louter,
now subject to Bavaria. E. Long. 7. 51. N. Lat. 49.
2.2.
KEISERTOUL, a town of Switzerland, in the
county ot Baden, with a bridge over the Rhine, and a
castle. It belongs to the bishop of Constance, and is
situated in F.. Long. 8. 40. N. Lat. 47. 10.
KEISERWERT, a town of Germany, in the circle
of Westphalia, the diocese of Cologne, and the duchy
ol Berg; subject to the king of Prussia. The fortifi¬
cations are demolished. It is seated on the Rhine, in
E. Long. 6. 49. N. Lat. 51. 16.
KEITH, James-Francis Edward, field-marshal
in the Prussian service, was the younger son of Wil¬
liam Keith, earl marshal of Scotland ; and was born in
1696. Lie was designed by his friends for the law;
but bis inclination led to arms, and the first occasion
of drawing his sword was at the age of 18 years,
when the rebellion broke out in Scotland. Through
the instigation of his mother, he joined James’s party,
was wounded at the battle of Sheriffmuir, and made
his escape to I ranee. Here he applied himself to mi¬
litary studies ; and going to Madrid, he, by the interest
of the duke of Liria, obtained a commission in the
Irish brigades, then commanded by the duke of Or¬
mond. He afterwards attended the duke of Liria,
when he went ambassador to Muscovy; and being by
him recommended to the Czarina, was promoted to the
rank of lieutenant-general, and invested with the order
of the black eagle. He distinguished himself by his
valour and conduct in the Russian service, and had no
inconsiderable share in the revolution that raised Eli¬
zabeth the daughter of Peter the Great to the throne :
he also served in several embassies; but finding the
honours of that country but a splendid kind of slavery,
he left that court and entered the Prussian service.
The king of Prussia made him field-marshal of the
Prussian armies, and governor of Berlin ; and distin¬
guished him so far by his confidence, as to travel in
disguise with him over a great part of Germany, Po¬
land, and Hungary. In business, he made him his
chief counsellor ; in bis diversions, his chief compa¬
nion. The king was much pleased with an amusement
which the marshal invented in imitation of the game
of chess. The marshal ordered several thousand small
statues of men in armour to he cast by a founder; these
he would set opposite to each other, and range them in
battalia, in the same manner as if he had been drawing
up an army ; he would bring out a party from the wings
or centre, and show the advantage or disadvantage re¬
sulting from the different draughts which he made.
In this manner the king and the marshal often amused
themselves, and at the same time improved their mili¬
tary knowledge. This brave and experienced general,
after many important services in the wars of that illus¬
trious monarch, was killed in the unfortunate affair of
Hochkirchen, in the year 1758.
The family of Keith was among the most ancient
in Europe. In 1010 the Scots gained a complete
victory over the Hanes at Camus town in Angus;
King Malcolm II. as a reward for the signal bravery
of a certain young nobleman who pursued and killed
Camus the Hanish general, bestowed on him several
lands, particularly the barony of Keith in East Lo¬
thian, from which his posterity assumed their surname.
The king also appointed him hereditary great ma-
reschal of Scotland, which high office continued in his
family till the year 1715, when the last earl engaged
in the rebellion, and forfeited his estate and honours ;
and thus ended the family of Mareschal, after serving
their country in a distinguished capacity above 700
years.
KELLINGTON, or Kilkhampton, a town of
Cornwall in England, which sends two members to par¬
liament. W. Long. 4. 38. N. Lat. 35. 36.
KELLS, a borough town of Ireland, in the county
of Meath, and province of Leinster, 31 miles from Dub¬
lin. This place gives title of viscount to the family of
Cholmondeley ; and near it is Headfort, the magnificent
seat of Lord Bective. This town is pleasantly situated
on the river Blackwater, and has four fairs. It was
anciently called Kenanus, and afterwards Kenlis. In
former ages it was one of the most famous cities in
the kingdom ; and on the arrival of the English was
walled and fortified with towers. In 1178 a castle
was erected where the market place now is ; and op¬
posite to the castle was a cross of an entire stone, or¬
namented with bas-relief figures and many curious in¬
scriptions in the ancient Irish character. Within a
small distance was the church of St Senan ; and on
the south of the churchyard is a round tower which
measures 99 feet from the ground, the roof ending in
a point; and near the top were four windows opposite
to the cardinal points. There was a celebrated mo¬
nastery founded here in 550 for regular canons, and
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It owed its origin to
St Columba, to whom the site of the abbey was grant¬
ed by Dermod Maccarval, or Dermod the son of Ker-
vail king of Ireland. An episcopal see was afterwards
erected here, which in the 13th century was united to
that of Meath. A priory or hospital was also erected
by Walter de Lacie, lord of Meath, in the reign of
Richard I. for cross-bearers or crouched friars follow¬
ing the order of St Augustin. There was likewise
a perpetual chantry of three priests or chaplains in the
parish church of St Columba in Kells to celebrate mass
daily ; one in the Rood chapel, another in St Mary’s
chapel, and a third in the chapel of St Catherine the
virgin.
Kells is also the name of a village in the county
of Kilkenny, 64 miles from Dublin, situated on Kings
river ; and was noted for a priory of Augustines, built
and richly endowed by Geoffrey Fitzroherts, who
came into this kingdom with Strongbow. The prior
of this place had the title of lord spiritual, and as such
sat in the house of peers before the Reformation ; the
ruins only of this abbey now remain : a synod was
held in it anno 1152, when John Paparo, legate from
Rome, made one of the number of bishops that were
convened there at that time to settle the affairs of the
church.
There is a third place of the above name, situated in
the county of Antrim and province of Ulster, 89 miles
from Dublin.
KELLY, Hugh, an author of considerable re¬
pute,
K.t itli
t li
Kelly.
K E L [ 437 1 K E L
pute, was born on the banks of Kiilarney lake in Ire-
himl in 1739. His father, a gentleman of good fa¬
mily, having reduced his fortune by a series of unfore¬
seen misfortunes, was obliged to repair to Dublin that
he might endeavour to support himself by his personal
industry. A tolerable school education was all he
could afford to his son j who was bound an apprentice
to a staymaker, and served the whole of his time with
diligence and fidelity. At the expiration of his in¬
dentures, he set out for London to procure a liveli¬
hood by his business ; where he encountered all the
difficulties a person poor and without friends could be
subject to on his first arrival in town. Happening,
however, to become acquainted with an attorney, he was
employed by him in copying and transcribing ; an oc¬
cupation which he prosecuted with so much assiduity,
that he is said to have earned about three guineas a-week,
an income which, compared to his former gains, might
be deemed affluent. Tired, however, of this drudgery,
he soon after, about 1762, commenced author, and was
intrusted with the management of the Lady’s Museum,
the Court Magazine, the Public Ledger, the Royal
Chronicle, Owen’s Weekly Post, and some other pe¬
riodical publications, in which he wrote many origi¬
nal essays and pieces of poetry, which extended his
reputation, and procured the means of subsistence for
himself, his wife to whom he was then lately married,
and a growing family. For several years after this pe¬
riod, he continued writing upon a variety of subjects,
as the accidents of the times chanced to call for the as¬
sistance of his pen *, and as during this period politics
were the chief objects of public attention, be employed
himself in composing many pamphlets on the important
questions then agitated, tiie greater part of which are
now buried in oblivion. Among these, however, was
a Vindication of Mr Pitt’s Administration, which Lord
Chesterfield makes honourable mention of in the se¬
cond volume of bis letters. In 1767, the Babler ap¬
peared in two pocket volumes, which had at first been
inserted in Owen’s Weekly Chronicle in single papers;
as did the Memoirs of a Magdalene, under the title of
Louisa Mildmay. About 1767 lie was tempted by
the success of Churchill’s Eosciad to write some stric¬
tures on the performers of both theatres, in two
pamphlets, entitled Thespis, which gave great offence
to some of the principal persons at each house. The
talents for satire, which he displayed in this work,
recommended him to the notice of Mr Garrick, who
in the next year caused his first play of False Delicacy
to be acted at Drury Lane. It was received with great
applause ; and from this time he continued to write for
the stage with profit and success, until the last period
of his life. As his reputation increased, he began to
turn his thoughts to some mode of supporting his
family less precarious than by writing, and for that
purpose entered himself a member of the Middle Tem¬
ple. After the regular steps had been taken, he was
called to the bar in 1774, and his proficiency in
the study of the law afl’oided promising hopes that he
might make a distinguished figure in that profession.
His sedentary course of life had, however, by this
time injured his health, and subjected him to much af¬
fliction. Early in 1777 an abscess formed in his side,
which after a few days illness put a period to his life.
He was the author of six plays besides that above men¬
tioned.
KELP, a term which is used in Britain to signify
the saline substance obtained by burning sea-weed, which
is chiefly employed in the manufacture of green-glass.
Different species of sea-weed, belonging to the genus
fitcus, and order algce, are cultivated for this purpose.
These plants are thrown on the rocks and shores in
great abundance, and in the summer months are raked
together and dried as hay in the sun and wind, and af¬
terward burnt to the ashes called kelp. The process of
making it is thus : The rocks, which are dry at low
water, are the beds of great quantities of sea-weed ;
which is cut, carried to the beach, and dried : a hol¬
low is dug in the ground three or four feet wide ;
round its margin are laid a row of stones, on which
the sea-weed is placed, and set on fire within, and
quantities of this fuel being continually heaped upon
the circle, there is in the centre a perpetual flame,
from which a liquid like melted metal drops into the
hollow beneath ; when it is full, as it commonly is ere
the close of day, all heterogeneous matter being remo¬
ved, the kelp is wrought with iron rakes, and brought
to an uniform consistence in a state of fusion. When
cool, it consolidates into a heavy dark-coloured alka¬
line substance, which undergoes in the glass-houses a
second vitrification, and when pure assumes a perfect
transparency. See Soda, Chemistry Index.
KELSO, a town of Roxburghshire in Scotland,
pleasantly situated on the river Tweed, in W. Long.
1. 20. N. Lat. 55. 38. Of this town Mr Pennant
gives the following description. It is built much after
the manner of a Flemish town, with a square and town-
house. The population in 1811 amounted to 3^3°*
Kelso has a very considerable market, and great quan¬
tities of corn are sold here weekly by sample. The
abbey of Tyronensians was a vast pile, and, to judge
by the remains, of venerable magnificence. The walls
are ornamented with false round arches, intersecting
each other. Such intersections form a true Gothic arch :
and may as probably have given rise to that mode as
the arched shades of avenues. The steeple of the church
is a vast tower. This house was founded by David I.
when earl of Cumberland. He first placed it at Sel¬
kirk, then removed it to Roxburgh, and finally, when
he came to the crown, fixed it here in 1128. Its reve¬
nues were in money about 2000I. Scots a-year. "I he
abbot was allowed to wear a mitre and pontifical
robes ; to be exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, and
permitted to be present at all general councils. The
environs of Kelso are very fine : the lands consist
of gentle risings, enclosed with hedges, and extreme¬
ly fertile. They have much reason to boast of their
prospects. From the Chalkheugh is a fine view of
the forks of the rivers, Roxburgh hill, Sir John
Douglas’s neat seat, and at a distance Fleurus; and
from Pinnacle hill is seen a vast extent of country,
highly cultivated, watered with long reaches of the
Tweed, well wooded on each margin. These borderers
ventured on cultivation much earlier than those on the
west and east, and have made great progress in every
species of rural economy. Turnips and cabbages for
the use of cattle cover many large tracts ; and pota-..
toes appear in vast fields. Much wheat is raised in
KEN
Kelso
Ken.
the neighbourhood, part of which Is sent up the frith
of Forth, and part into England. The fleeces here are
^ very fine. The wool is sent Into Yorkshire, to Lin¬
lithgow, or into Aberdeenshire, for the stocking ma¬
nufacture ; and some is woven here into a cloth called
plains, and sold into England to be dressed. Here is
Si'iO a considerable manufacture of white leather, chief¬
ly to supply the capital of Scotland. A fine stone bridge
of she arches over the Tweed, near its confluence with
the Teviot, was in 1798 carried away by a flood. It
lias since been rebuilt.
KEiUI iS, I homas, a pious and learned regular
canon, was born at the village of Kemp, in the dio¬
cese of Cologne, in 1380 ; and took his name from
that village. He performed' his studies at Deventer,
m the community of poor scholars established by Ge¬
rard Groot ; and there made great progress in the sci¬
ences. In 1399 ^ie entered the monastery of the re¬
gular canons of Mount St Agnes, near Swol, of which
Lis. brother was prior. 1 homas & Kempis there distin¬
guished himself by his eminent piety, his respect for
his superiors, his charity to his brother canons, and
his continual application to labour and prayer. He
died in 1471, aged 90. The best editions of his
works, which consist of sermons, spiritual treatises,
and lives of holy men, are those of Paris in 1649, ail(l
cf Antwerp in 1607. The famous and well-known
book De Imitatione Christi, which has been translated
into almost all the languages of the world, though it
has almost always been numbered among the works of
i homas h Kempis, is also found printed under the name
of Gersoti; and on the credit of some MSS. has been
since ascribed to the abbot Gerson of the order of St
Benedict. This has occasioned a violent dispute be¬
tween the canons of St Augustine, and the Benedic-
tines : but while devout Christians find spiritual com¬
fort in the work, the name of the writer is of small
importance.
EEMPJ EN, a towm of Germany, in Lower Sua-
bia, and in Algow, and also in the territory of the ab¬
bot of Kempten, who was a prince of the empire. It
belongs now to Bavaria. The inhabitants are Prote¬
stants, and amount to 5300. It is seated on the river
Bier. E. Long. 10. 33. N. Lat. 47. 47.
Kempten, a territory in the circle of Suabia, in
Germany, between the bishopric of Augsburg and the
barony, of Malburg. It is about 17 miles long and
broad ; and has no considerable place but the towns of
Kempten and Kauffbeuren, which are imperial.
KEN, Thomas, an eminent English bishop in the
17th century, was bred at Winchester school, whence
lie went to Oxford ; and in 1669 was made a prebend
of Winchester. In 1675, the year of the Jubilee, he
travelled to Rome; and used to say, He had reason to
give God thanks for his travels, having returned more
confirmed of the purity of the reformed I'eligion than
he was before. He was appointed by King Charles II.
to attend the lord Dartmouth at the demolishing of
I angier j and at his return was made chaplain to his
majesty, as he was some time after to the princess of
Orange, then residing in Holland. In 1685 he was
consecrated bishop of Bath and Wells. The month
following be attended King Charles II. at his death ;
and gave close attendance at the royal bed for three
[ 438 ]
ken
whole days ami nights, watching proper intervals to
suggest pious and proper thoughts on that serious occa¬
sion. In the following reign he zealously opposed the
progress ol Popery 5 and in June 168S, he, with five
other bishops, and the archbishop of Canterbury, was
committed prisoner to the Tower of London, for sub¬
scribing a petition to bis majesty against the declara¬
tion of indulgence. Upon the revolution, however, he
refused to take the oaths to King William and Queen
Mary, on which account he was deprived of his bishop¬
ric. Her majesty Queen Anne bestowed on him a
yearly pension of 200I. to his death in 1710. He pub¬
lished several pious books. His charity was so great,
that.when he was bishop of Bath and'Wells, having
received a fine of 4C00I. he gave a great part of it to
the French Protestants.
KENDAL, a town of Westmoreland, seated in a
valley among hills, on the west side of the river Can
or Ken, over which there are two stone bridges, and
one of wood wbiefi leads to the castle now in ruins. It
is a large handsome place *, and has two long streets,
which cross each other. Hie inhabitants have driven
a trade with the cotton and woollen manufactory
Ken.
Ken.la!.
throughout England ever since the reign of Edw. III.
and particular laws were enacted for regulating Ken¬
dal cloths as early as Richard II. and Henry IV. It
is of note also for the' manufactory of cottons, drug¬
gets, serges, hats, worsted and yarn stockings, &c.
Queen Elizabeth incorporated it with aldermen and
burgesses and King James I, wnth a mayor, recorder,
town-clerk, 12 aldermen, 24 burgesses or common-
council-men, and 2 attorneys. There are seven com¬
panies here who have each their hall, viz. mercers,
sheermen, cordwainers, glovers, tanners, taylors, and
pewterers. Here is an elegant town-hall j and there is a
court of conscience, which was granted by George III.
for debts under 40s. It has a large beautiful church,
which stands on the other side of the brook called
Blindbeck, out of the liberty of the town ; a large,
neat, and handsome building, 180 feet long, and 99
broad, with five aisles, each parted by a row of eight
pillars, and a strong square steeple. Near it is Ab¬
bot’s hall, the residence of the abbot when this church
belonged to an abbey dissolved by Henry VIII. In
1755, a new chapel was erected in the middle of the
town, besides which there are twelve chapels of ease
belonging to it. The Dissenters and Quakers have
meeting-houses. I he free grammar-school is well en¬
dowed-5 and also a charity school for 10 boys and 16
girls, who are all clothed as well as taught. East¬
ward of the town, on the opposite side of the river, on
a hill, from whence is a fine prospect, stand the ruins
of a castie, wherein was born Catherine Parr, the sixth
wife of Henry MIL By means of inland navigation,
it has communication with the rivers Mersey, Dee,
Ribble, Ouse, Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber,
Thames, Avon, &c. j which navigation, including its
windings, extends above 500 miles in the counties of
Lincoln, Nottingham, York, Lancaster, Chester, Staf¬
ford, Warwick, Leicester, Oxford, Worcester, &cc.
Here are kept the sessions of the peace for this part of
the county called the barony of Kendal; and there is a
very great market on Saturday, with ail kinds of pro¬
visions and woollen yarn, which the girls bring hither
KEN [ 439 ] KEN
Ketirt*' *n lar,?e bnnilles. It has fairs on May 6, and Nov. 8.
Ktnael. The river here, which runs half through the town in a
— 'stony channel, abounds with trout and salmon j and on
the banks of it live the dyers and tanners. In l8il
the population amounted to 7505. Kendal is 2j6
miles N. N. W. from London, and in W. Long. 2. 40.
N. Lat. 54. 21.
KENNEL, a term used indifferently for a puddle,
a water course in the streets, a house for a pack of
hounds, and the pack or cry of hounds themselves.
Mr Beckford, in his Essay on Hunting, is very par¬
ticular in describing a kennel for hounds j and a ken¬
nel he thinks indispensably necessary for keeping those
animals in proper health and order. “ It is true (says
he) hounds may be kept in barns and stables; but those
who keep them in such places can best inform you
whether their hounds are capable of answering the pur¬
poses for which they are designed. The sense of smell¬
ing is so exquisite in a hound, that I cannot but sup¬
pose that every stench is hurtful to it. Cleanliness is
not only absolutely necessary to the nose of the hound,
but also to the preservation of his health. Dogs are
naturally cleanly ; and seldom, if they can help it,
dung where they lie. Air and fresh straw are necessary
to keep them healthy. They are subject to the mange ;
a disorder to which poverty and nastiness will very
much contribute. The kennel should be situated on
an eminence ; its front ought to be to the east, and
the courts round it ought to be wide and airy to admit
the sunbeams at any time of the day. It is proper that
it should be neat without and clean within ; and it is
proper to be near the master’s house, for obvious reasons.
It ought to be made large enough at first, as any ad¬
dition to it afterwards may spoil it in appearance at
least.” Two kennels, however, in our author’s opi¬
nion, are absolutely necessary to the wellbeing of
hounds : “ When there is but one (says he), it is sel¬
dom sweet; and when cleaned out, the hounds, parti¬
cularly in winter, suffer both while it is cleaning, and
afterwards as long as it remains wet.”
When the feeder first comes to the kennel in a morn¬
ing, he should let out the hounds into the outer court;
and in bad weather, should open the door of the hunting
kennel (that in which the hounds designed to hunt next
day are kept), lest want of rest should incline them to
go into it. The lodging room should then be cleaned
out, the doors and windows of it opened, the litter
shaken up, and the kennel made sweet and clean before
the hounds return to it again.—-The floor of each lodg¬
ing room should be bricked, and sloped on both sides to
run to the centre, with a gutter left to carry off the
water, that when they are washed they may soon be
dry. If water should remain through any fault in the
floor, it must be carefully mopped up; for damps are
always very prejudicial.
The kennel ought to have three doors; two in the
front and one in the back ; the last to have a lattice
window in it with a wooden shutter, which is constant¬
ly to be kept closed when the hounds are in, except in
summer, when it should be left open all the day.
At the back of Mr Beckford’s kennel is a house
thatched and furzed up on the sides, big enough to con¬
tain at least a load of straw. Here should be a pit ready
to receive the dang, and a gallows for the flesh. The
gallows should have a thatched roof, and a circular
board at the posts to prevent vermin from climbing up.
He advises to enclose a piece of ground adjoining to the
kennel for such dog horses as may be brought alive ; it
being sometimes dangerous to turn them out where other
horses go, on account of the disorders with which they
may be infected. In some kennels a stove is made use
of; but where the feeder is a good one, Mr Beckford
thinks that a mop properly used will render the stove
unnecessary. “ I have a little hay rick (says he) in
the grass yard, which I think is of use to keep the
hounds clean and fine in their coats. You will fre¬
quently find them rubbing themselves against it. The
shade of it is also useful to them in summer. If ticks
at any time be troublesome in your kennel, let the
walls of it be well washed ; if that should not destroy
them, the walls must then be white washed.”
Besides the directions already given concerning the
situation of the kennel, our author recommends it to
have a stream of water in its neighbourhood, or even
running through it if possible. There should also be
moveable stages on wheels for the hounds to lie on.
The soil ought at all events to be dry.
To Kennel, a term applied by fox-hunters to a fox
when he lies in his hole.
KENNET, Dr White, a learned English writer
and bishop of Peterborough, in the 18th century, bred
at St Edmund hall, Oxford ; where he soon distinguish¬
ed himself by his vigorous application to his studies,
and by his translations of several books into English,
and other pieces which he published. In 1695 our
author published his Parochial Antiquities. A sermon
preached by him on the 30th of January 1703 at
Aldgate exposed him to great clamour. It was print¬
ed under the title of A compassionate inquiry into the
causes of the civil war. In 1706, he published his Case
of Impropriations, and two other tracts on the same
subject. In 1706, he published the third volume of
The Complete History of England (the two former
volumes compiled by Mr Hughes). In I709> ^ie Pu8“
lished A Vindication of the Church and Clergy of
England from some late reproaches rudely and unjustly
cast upon them : and A true Answer to Dr Saeheve-
rel’s Sermon. When the great point in Dr Sache-
verel’s trial, the change of the ministry, was gained, and
very strange addresses were made upon it, there was to
be an artful address from the bishop and clergy of Lon¬
don, and they who would not subscribe it were to be
represented as enemies to the queen and the ministry.
Dr Kennet fell under this imputation. He was exposed
to great odium as a low churchman, on account of
his conduct and writings. Wrhen he was dean of Pe¬
terborough, a very uncommon method was taken to
expose him by Dr Walton, rector of the church of
Whitechapel : for in the altar-piece of that church,
which was intended for a representation of Christ and
his T 2 apostles eating the passover and last supper, Ju¬
das the traitor was drawn sitting in an elbow-chair,
dressed in a black garment, with a great deal of the
air of Dr Kennet’s face. It was generally said that
the original sketch was for a bishop under Dr Walton’s
displeasure ; but the painter being apprehensive of an
action oiScandalum Magnatum, leave was given to drop
the bishop, and make the dean. This giving general
offence, upon the complaint of others (for Dr Ken¬
net never saw it, or seemed to regard it), the bishop^
Kennel,
Kennet.
of
KEN [ 440 ] KEN
Kennel, of Ijondon ordered the picture to be taken down. In
Kennicott. lyig, he presented the Society for Propagating the
v” Gospel with a great number of books suitable to their
design 5 published his Bibliot/iecce Americana Primor-
dia, and founded an antiquarian and historical library at
Peterborough. In 1715, he published a sermon enti¬
tled, The Witchcraft of the present Rebellion, and af¬
terwards several other pieces. In 1717 he was enga¬
ged in a dispute with Dr William Nicholson, bishop
of Carlisle, relating to some alterations in the bishop
ol Bangor’s famous sermon j and disliked the proceed¬
ings of the convocation against that bishop. Upon
.the death of Dr Cumberland bishop of Peterborough,
he was promoted to that see, to which he wTas conse¬
crated in 1718. He sat in it more than ten years, and
died in 1728. He was an excellent philologist, a good
preacher, whether in English or Latin, and well versed
in the histories and antiquities of our nation.
Kennet, Basil, a learned English writer, and bro¬
ther to the preceding, was educated in Corpus Christi
college, in the university of Oxford, where he became
fellow. In 1706, he went over chaplain to the English
iactory at Leghorn ; where he met with great opposi¬
tion from the Papists, and was in danger from the in¬
quisition. He died in the year 1714. He published
Lives of the Greek poets 5 the Roman Antiquities j
a volume of Sermons preached at Leghorn : A transla¬
tion into English of Puffendorf’s Treatise of the Law
of Nature and Nations. He wTas a man of most exem¬
plary integrity, generosity, piety, and modesty.
KENNICOl T, Dr Benjamin, well known in the
learned world for his elaborate edition of the Hebrew
Bible and other valuable publications, was born at
Totness in Devonshire in the year 1718. His father
was the parish clerk of Totness, and once master of a
charity school in that town. At an early age young
Ivennicott succeeded to the same employ in the school,
being recommended to it by his remarkable sobriety
and premature knowledge. It was iiuthat situation he
wrote the verses on the recovery of the honourable
Mrs Courtney from a dangerous illness, which recom¬
mended him to her notice, and that of many neigh¬
bouring gentlemen. They, with laudable generosity,
opened a subscription to send him to Oxford. In judg¬
ing of this performance, they may be supposed to have
considered not so much its intrinsic merit, as the cix--
cumstances under which it was produced. For though
it might claim just praise as the fruit of youthful in¬
dustry struggling with obscurity and indigence, as a
poem it never rises above mediocrity, and generally
sinks below it. But in whatever light these verses were
considered, the publication of them was soon followed
by such contributions as procured for the author the ad¬
vantages of an academical education. In the year 1744
he entered at Wadham college ; and it was not long-
before he distinguished himself in that particular branch
ol study in which he afterwards became so eminent.
His two dissertations on the Tree of Life, and The
Oblations of Cain and Abel, came to a second edition
so early as the year 1747, and procured him the sin¬
gular honour of bachelor’s degree conferred on him
gratis by the university a year before the statutable
time. The dissertations were gratefully dedicated to
those benefactors whose liberality had opened his way
to the university, or whose kindness,had made it a
3
scene not only of manly labour, but of honourable-
friendship. With such merit, and such support, he
was a successful candidate for a fellowship of Exeter
college, and soon after his admission into that society,
he distinguished himself by the publication of several
occasional sermons. In the year 1753 he laid the foun¬
dation of that stupendous monument of learned indus¬
try, at which the wise and the good will gaze with ad¬
miration, when prejudice, and envy, and ingratitude
shall be dumb. This he did by publishing his first dis¬
sertation, On the State of the printed Hebrew text, in
which he proposed to overthrow the then prevailing no¬
tion of its absolute integrity. The first blow indeed,
had been struck long before, by Capellus, in his Cri-
tica Sacra, published after his death by his son, in
1650-—a blow which Buxtorf, with all his abilities and
dialectical skill, was unable to ward off. But Capel¬
lus having no opportunity of consulting MSS. though
his arguments were supported by the authority of the
Samaritan Pentateuch, t)f parallel passages, and of the
ancient versions, could never absolutely prove his point.
Indeed the general opinion was that the Hebrew MSS.
contained none, or at least very few and trifling varia¬
tions from the printed text : and with respect to the
Samaritan Pentateuch very different opinions were en¬
tertained. 1 hose who held the Hebrew verity, of
course condemned the Samaritan as corrupt in every
place where it deviated from the Hebrew ; and those
who believed the Hebrew to be incorrect, did not think
the Samaritan of sufficient authority to correct it. Be¬
sides the Samaritan itself appeared to very great ad¬
vantage j for no Samaritan MSS. were then known,
and the Pentateuch itself was condemned for those er¬
rors which ought rather to have been ascribed to the
incorrectness of the edition?. In this dissertation,
therefore, Dr Kennicott proved that there were many
Hebrew MSS. extant, which, though they had hither¬
to been generally supposed to agree with each other,
and with the Hebrew text, yet contained many and im¬
portant various readings j and that from those various
readings considerable authority was derived in support
of the ancient versions. He announced the existence
of six Samaritan MSS. in Oxford only, by which many
errors in the printed Samaritan might be removed"j
and he attempted to prove, that even from the Samari¬
tan, as it was already printed, many passages in tiie
Hebrew might undoubtedly be corrected. This woik,
as it was reasonable to expect, was examined with
great severity both at home and abroad. In some fo¬
reign universities the belief of the Hebrew verity, on
its being attacked by Capellus, had been insisted on as
an article of faith.—Ista Capelh sententia acleo non op-
probata fuit fidei sociis, vt points Helvetii theologi, et
speciatim Genevenses, anno 1678, peculiari canone ca-
verint, ne (puis in ditione si/o minister ecclesice recipia-
tur, nisi fateatur publice, te.vtmn llebrceum, ut hodie
est in exemplanbus Masoreticis, quoad consonantes et
vocales, divinum et authenticinn esse, (Wolfii Biblioth.
Heb. tom. ii. p. 27,), And at home this doctrine of
the corrupt state of the Hebrew text was opposed by
Comings and Bate, two Hutchinsonians, with as much
violence as if the whole truth of revelation were at
stake.
The next three or four years of Dr Kennicott’s life
were principally spent iu searching out and examining
Hebre w
KEN
K.cniuestt. Hebrew manuscripts, thougb lie found leisure not only
—-V—' to preach, but to publish several occasional sermons.
About this time Dr Kennicott became one of the king’s
preachers at Whitehall ; and in the year 1759 we find
him vicar of Culham in Oxfordshire. In January 1760
he published his second dissertation on the state of the
Hebrew Text: in which, after vindicating the autho¬
rity and antiquity of the Samaritan Pentateuch, he dis¬
armed the advocates for the Hebrew verity of one of
their most specious arguments. They had observed
that the Chaldee Paraphrase having been made from
Hebrew MSS. near the time of Christ, its general
coincidence with the present Hebrew Text must evince
the agreement of this last with the MSS. from which
the paraphrase was taken. Dr Kennicott demonstrated
the fallacy of this reasoning, by showing that the Chal¬
dee Paraphrase had been frequently corrupted, in order
to reconcile it with the printed text; and thus the wea¬
pons of his antagonists were successfully turned upon
themselves. He appealed also to the writings of the
Jews themselves on the subject of the Hebrew Text,
and gave a compendious history of it from the close of
the Hebrew canon down to the invention of printing,
together with a description of 103 Hebrew manuscripts
which he had discovered in England, and an acconnt
of many others preserved in various parts of Europe.
A collation of the Hebrew manuscripts was now loudly
called for by the most learned and enlightened of the
friends of biblical criticism; and in this same year
(1760) Dr Kennicott emitted his proposals for collat¬
ing all the Hebrew manuscripts prior to the invention
of printing, that could be found in Great Britain and
Ireland, and for procuring at the same time as many
collations of foreign manuscripts of note, as the time
and money he should receive would permit. Elis first
subscribers were the learned and pious Archbishop
Seeker, and the delegates of the Oxford press, who,
with that, liberality which has generally marked their
character, gave him an annual subscription of 40I. In
the first year the money received was about 500 gui¬
neas, in the next it arose to 900, at which sum it con¬
tinued stationary till the tenth year, when it amounted
to 1000. During the progress of this work, the indus¬
try of our author was rewarded by a canonry of Christ
Church. He was also presented, though we know not
exactly when, to the valuable living of Mynhenyote,
in Cornwall, on the nomination of the chapter of Exe-j
ter. In 1776 the first volume was published, and in
1780 the whole was completed. If now we consider
that above 600 MSS. were collated, and that the whole
work occupied 20 years of Dr Kennicott’s life, it must
be owned that sacred criticism is more indebted to him
than to any scholav of any age. Within two years of
his death, he resigned his living in Cornwall, from
conscientious motives, on account of his not having a
prospect of ever again being able to visit his parish.
Although many good and conscientious men may justly
think, in this case, that his professional labours carried
on elsewhere might properly have entitled him to retain
this preferment, and may apply this reasoning in other
cases; yet a conduct so signally disinterested deserves
certainly to be admired and celebrated. Dr Kennicott
died at Oxford, after a lingering illness, September 18.
1783 ; and left a widow, who was sister to the late Ed¬
ward Chamberlayne, Es^. of the treasury. At the
Vol. XL Part II. f
KEN
time of his death he was employed in printing Remarks
on Select Passages in the Old Testament; which were
afterwards published, the volume having been comple¬
ted from his papers.
KENO. See Kino.
KENBICK, William, an author of considerable
abilities, was the son of a citizen of London, and
brought up, it is said, to a mechanical employment.
This, however, he seems early to have abandoned; and
to have devoted his talents to the cultivation of letters,
by which he supported himself during the rest of a life
which might be said to have passed in a state of warfare,
as he was seldom without an enemy to attack or to de¬
fend himself from. He was for some time student at
Leyden, where he acquired the title of J. U. D. Not
long after his return to England, he figured away as a
poet in Epistles Philosophical and Moral, 1759, ad¬
dressed to Lorenzo ; an avowed defence of infidelity,
written whilst under confinement for debt, and with r
declaration that he was “ much less ambitious of the
character of a poet than of a philosopher.” From this
period he became a writer by profession ; and the Pro¬
teus shapes under which he appeared, it would be a
fruitless attempt to trace. He was for a considerable
time a writer in the Monthly Review ; but quarrelling
with his principal, began a new review of his own.
When our great lexicographer’s edition of Shakespeare
first appeared in 1765, it was followed in a fortnight by
a pamphlet, entitled, “ A Review of Dr Johnson’s new
Edition of Shakespeare, in which the ignorance or in¬
attention of that editor is exposed, and the poet defend¬
ed fi’om the persecution of his commentators, 1765.”
This pamphlet was followed by an examination of it,
and that by a Defence in 1766; in which year he pro¬
duced his pleasant comedy of Falstaff’s Wedding, at
first intended to have been given to the public as an
original play of Shakespeare retrieved from obscurity,
and is, it must be acknowledged, a happy imitation of
our great dramatic bard, With the celebrated English
Roscius Dr Kenrick was at one time on terms of the
strictest intimacy : but took occasion to quarrel with
him in print, in a mode too unmanly to be mentioned.
In politics also he made himself not a little conspicu¬
ous ; particularly in the dispute between his friends
Wilkes and Horne. He was the original editor of The
Morning Chronicle; whence being ousted for neglect,
he set up a new one in opposition. He translated in
a very able manner the Emilius and the Eloisa of
Rousseau ; the Elements of the History of England,
by Milot (to injure, if possible, a translation of the
same work by Mrs Brooke) ; and produced several
dramatic performances, together with an infinite variety
of publications both original and translated. To him
also the public are indebted for the collection (imper¬
fect as it is) of the Poetical works of Robert Llovd,
M. A. 1774, 2 vols 8vo. Dr Kenrick, died June’9.
I777*
KENSINGTON, a village of Middlesex, on the
western road from London, near two miles from Hyde-
Park Corner. It is extremely populous; ami besides
the palace, now neglected, contains many genteel
houses and several boarding schools. The palace,
which was the seat of the lord chancellor Finch, af¬
terwards earl of Nottingham, was purchased by King
William; who greatly improved it, and caused a royal
3 K road
[ 441 ]
Keanicott
I!
Ken sin 3-
ton.
KEN [ 442 ] KEN
K'hmh^- road to be made to it, through St James’s and Hyde
Koot ^>ar^s’ bamp posts erected at equal distances on
> °n ' , each side. Queen Mary enlarged the gardens. Her
sister Queen Anne improved tv hat Mary had begun 5
and was so pleased with the place, that she frequently
supped during the summer in the greenhouse, which
is a very beautilul one : but Queen Caroline completed
the design by extending the gardens from the great
road in Kensington to Acton $ by bringing what is
calll-d the Serpentine river into them; and by taking
in some acres nut of Hyde Park, on which she caused
a mount to he erected, with a chair on it that could be
easily turned round for shelter from the wind, since
decayed. 1 his mount is planted about with ever¬
greens, and commands a fine view over the noble gar¬
dens, and the country south and west. They were
originally designed by Kent, and were afterwards
much improved by Brown; and though they contain
no striking beauties, which their flat situation will not
admit, yet they have many pleasing parts, and afford
mnch delight to the inhabitants of London, particu¬
larly to those whose professions will not allow of fre¬
quent excursions to more distant places. These gar¬
dens, which are three miles and a half in compass, arc
kept in great order. The palace indeed has none of
that grandeur which ought to appear in the residence
of a British monarch ; but the royal apartments are
noble, and some of the pictures good. It was at this
place King W illiam, Prince George of Denmark,
Queen Anne, and King George II. died. The old
church was pulled down in 1696, and a much better
one built in its room. Part of this village, from the
palace gate to the Be!!, is in the parish of St Marga¬
ret’s, Westminster. The population of Kensington in
1811 was estimated at 10,886.
K ENT, one of the counties cf England, situated
at the south-east corner of the island, and from thence
enjoying many advantages. The capacious aestuary of
the Thames washes its northern parts, as the sea does
the south east ; whence some with no great impro¬
priety have styled it a peninsula. In point of extent,
this is the fifth shire in South Britain, little less in its
dimensions than the province of Holland ; larger in
size than the duchy of Juliers in Germany ; and almost
exactly equal to that of Modena in Italy. Kent is,
with great appearance of truth, supposed to he so
styled from the ancient British word kant, signifying a
cornet', or, when applied to a country, a head-land.
It is certain, that the Romans bestowed the name of
Cantium on the province, and on its most conspicuous
promontory the North Foreland ; and from the district
they inhabited, the people were called Cantu; which
has prevailed even to onr times, when Kent, and the
the men of Kent, are the common appellatives. It is
however probable, that these Cantii were not the ori¬
ginal inhabitants, but a later colony from the oppo-
tite continent, established here, like the Belgre, not
long before the Roman invasion. At the time of Ca>
sar’s coming, this spacious and fertile region was di¬
vided into four principalities, or, as they are, accord¬
ing to the manners of those days, commonly called,
... kingdoms. It was his observation of these people, that
‘pautcnl * ^ey were distinguished by their civility
S-Hri-tjn 8,1(1 Pol‘teness ; 3 character which their descendants
have preserved. When that wise people became ma-
J
sters of the southern parts of the island, this province junt.
received the most conspicuous marks of their attention,v—
as appears from the stations which they so prudently
established, while their government flourished in iis
full vigour. Hie care they took of the ports on the
sea coast as soon as it came to be in danger, and the
several fortresses which they erected for the defence of
their subjects against the sudden attempts of barba¬
rous invaders, are evidences of the same kind. These
forts, so prudently disposed, and so well secured, were
under the direction of a particular great officer, called
Lit toris Saxon in Comes, i. e. the count of the Saxon
shore ; which office seems to have been preserved by
the British monnrehs who governed here, after the Ro¬
mans quitted the isle. The Saxon kings of Kent dis¬
charged this trust in their legal capacity, from the
middle of the fifth to the beginning of the ninth cen¬
tury. Under the northern princes, this post was again
revived, though with a change of title, in the Lord
Warden of the Cinque Ports. Indeed, under all govern¬
ments, the people of Kent have been especially consi¬
dered ; as appears from their claim to the post of ho¬
nour in cur land armies, and the privileges granted to
their havens, in consideration of their undertaking tha
defence of onr channel.
As to the climate, of this county, it varies accord¬
ing to the situation of places. In the low flat lands,
and especially in the marshes, the air is heavy, mois?[
and unhealthy ; and yet not to such a degree as it has
been sometimes represented ; for, with a little care and
caution, Strangers, as well as natives, quickly reconcile
their constitutions to the temperature even of these
parts, and live ill tnefii without much inconveniently
or apparent danger. But, in reference to the rest of
the county, the air is as thin, pure, and wholesome, as
in any part cf Britain. Ihere is no region more hap¬
pily or more beautifully diversified in regard to soil, to
that every kind thereof is, somewhere or other, to be
met within its bounds; and in no shire are any of
these soils more fertile than they are in this. The
Weald yields variety of fine timber, particularly of
chesnut; the middle part has very rich arable land,
annually bearing every species of grain in immense
plenty, and these excellent in their several sorts. There
are also many beautiful orchards, which produce a va¬
riety of fine fruits, and more especially apples and cher¬
ries, which were introduced here from Flanders by
one Richard Harris, who was the kine’s fruiterer, in
the reign of Henry VIII. The fiat^country is’re¬
nowned for its meadows ; and Rumney marsh has
hardly its equal. We may from this concise descrip¬
tion very easily collect, that the natural products of
Kent are numerous, and of great value. In the
bowels of the earth they find, in several places, a rough
hard serviceable stone for paving, which turns to some
advantage ; but not so much as their exquisite fullers
earth, rich marl, and fine chalk, which are there in
abundance. If we except iron ore, indeed they have
no mines ; but there are prodigious heaps of copperas
Stones thrown on the coast. The isle of Sheppev, and
all the adjacent shore as far as Reculver, is justly fa¬
mous for its wheat. Thanet is in no less credit for its
barley, or rather was so; for now it produces, through
the painful industry and skilful husbandry of its inha¬
bitants, copious crops of good wheat as well as bar-
ley.
KEN [ 443 ] KEN
Kent.
f mi.
Trans.
Na x!ii.
p. lOfC-
£8,5?.
ley. Horses, black cattle, and sheep, they have in great
numbers, and remarkable in point of size ; and hop
grounds in all parts of the county, which turn to very
considerable account. To which we may add weld,
or as some call it dyers rveed, which is a very pro¬
fitable commodity, and of which there grows much in
the neighbourhood of Canterbury ; also madder, which
is, or has been, occasionally cultivated. The rivers
and sea coasts abound with fish of dillerent kinds. The
excellency of its oysters on the eastern shores is cele¬
brated by the Roman poets. Those of Feversham and
Milton are not only in great esteem at the London
market, but are likewise sent in great quantities to
Holland.
The many rich commodities produced in this coun¬
ty, is the reason why most of our writers have repre¬
sented it as in a manner void of manufactures j which,
however, as appears upon a strict and impartial exami-
aation, is very far from being the case. Of iron works
there were anciently many; and there are still some,
where kettles, bombs, bullets, cannon, and such like,
are made. At Deptford, Sir Nicholas Crispe had in
his lifetime a very famous copperas work •, as, indeed,
there that ingenious, gentleman, one of the greatest im¬
provers and one of the most public spirited persons this
nation ever bred, introduced several other inventions.
Copperas was also formerly made, together with brim¬
stone, in the isle of Sheppeyf. But the original and
for many ages the principal manufacture of this county
was broad clot!) of dillerent colours, established chieily
at Cranbrook by King Edward 111. who brought over
Flemings to improve and perfect (the trade being in¬
troduced long before) bis subjects in that important art.
At this and oilier places it fiouri-hed so much, that even
at the close of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and according
to some accounts much later, the best for home con¬
sumption, and the largest quantities for exportation,
were wrought here ; many fulling mills being erected
upon almost every river, and the greatest plenty of ex¬
cellent fullers earth affording them singular assistance ;
insomuch that it is still a tradition, that the yeomanry
of this county, for which it lias been ever famous, were
mostly the descendants of rich clothiers, who laid out
the money acquired by their industry in the purchase
of lands, which they transmitted, with their free and
independent spirit, to their posterity. The duke of
Alva’s persecution of the Protestants in the Low Coun¬
tries drove a multitude of Walloons over hither, who
brought with them that ingenuity and application for
which they had been always distinguished. These di¬
ligent and active people settled a manufactory of flan¬
nel or baize at Sandwich. Bv them the silk looms were
set up at Canterbury, where they still subsist; and they
also introduced the making of thread at Maidstone,
where it yet remains, and merits more notice and en¬
couragement than hitherto it has met with.
Upon the river Dart, at the confluence of which
with the Thames stands the town of Dartford, was
set up, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the first mill
for making white paper by Mr John Spilman, a Ger¬
man, upon whom, long after, King James conferred
the honour of knighthood ; but King Charles more
sensibly bestowed upon this Sir John Spilman a patent
and a pension of 200I. a-year, as a reward of bis in¬
vention, and for the support of the manufacture. A¬
bout the year 1590, Godfrey Box, a German, erected
upon the same river the first slitting mill which was
ever used for making iron wire ; and also the first bat¬
tery mill for making copper plates. Other new in¬
ventions, requiring the assistance of water, have been
set up on other streams; and a great variety of ma¬
chines of this sort still subsist in different parts of this
county. But these things are now so common, that
it would be both tedious and useless to insist upon
them. Amongst these, we may reckon the making
gunpowder in several places. That manufacture, how¬
ever, which is now the glory of this county, and in¬
deed ot Britain, is ship-building ; more especially at
fhe royal yards ; as at Woolwich, which was settled
by Henry VIII. and some considerable ships built
there. At present, there is not only a most complete
establishment for the building and equipping men of
war, a rope walk, foundery, and magazines ; but also
many private docks, in which prodigious business is car¬
ried on, and multitudes of people are employed. The
population of this county in 1811 was more than
3 73>99 5*
Tiie Goodwin or Godwin Sands, of which the ac¬
count and the reference were omitted under the word,
are remarkable sand banks off the coast of Kent, situ¬
ated between the North and South Foreland. As they
run parallel with the coast for nine miles together,
about seven miles and a half from it, they give security
to that extensive coast, the Downs; for while the land
shelters ships with the wind from south-west to north¬
west only, the force of the sea is broken by these sand*
when the wind is at east-south-east. The most dan¬
gerous wind when blowing hard in the Downs, is the
south-south-west. The space they occupy was formerly
a large tract of low ground, belonging to Godwyn earl
of Kent, father of Harold II.; and being afterwards
enjoyed by the monastery of St Augustine at Canter¬
bury, the whole tract was drowned by the abbot’s ne¬
glect to repair the wall which defended it from the sea.
This happened in the year 1100. Many vessels have
been wrecked upon them. See Kent, SUPPLEMENT.
KEN 1IGERN, St, or St Mungo, a famous saint
of the Popish church, who flourished in Scotland in the
sixth century, said to have been of the royal blood of
both Scots and Piets, being the son of Thametis, the
daughter of Loth king of the Piets, by Eugene III.
king of Scotland. The bishoprics of Glasgow and St
Asaph were founded by him in 560. He obtained the
appellation of Mungo from the affection of his tutor St
Serf or Servanus, bishop of Orkney, who called him
Mongah, which in the Norwegian language, signifies
dear friend.
KENTISH town, a village of Middlesex, threa
miles north of London, near Hampstead, much impro¬
ved of late by several handsome houses belonging to the
citizens of London, &c. A new chapel has lately
been erected here.
KENTUCKY, one of the states of North Americat
situated on the west side of the Alleghany mountains^
and formerly attached to Virginia. It is situated be¬
tween 36° 30' and 390 10' north latitude, and 82° and
89° west longitude ; being 330 miles in length, and
180 in breadth. It is hounded north-west by the river
Ohio ; west, by the Mississippi river; south, by Ten¬
nessee ; east, by Virginia.
3 K 2 The
KEN
Kentucky, The river Ohio washes the north-western side of Ken-
'—y ' tncky, in its whole extent. Its principal branches
which water this fertile tract of country, are Sandy,
Licking, Kentucky, Salt, Green, and Cumberland
rivers. These again branch*, in various directions, into
rivulets of different magnitudes, fertilizing the country
in all its parts.—There are five noted salt springs or
licks in this country, viz. the higher and lower Blue
Springs on Licking river, from some of which, it is
said, issue streams of brinish water; the Big Bone lick,
Drennon’s licks, and Bullet’s lick at Saltsburg. The
last of these licks, though in low order, has supplied
this county and Cumberland with salt at twenty shil¬
lings the bushel, Virginia currency ; and some is ex¬
ported to the Illinois country. The method of procur¬
ing water from these licks is by sinking wells from 30
to 40 feet deep. The water drawn from these wells is
more strongly impregnated with salt than the water from
the sea.
This whole country, as far as has yet been discover¬
ed, lies upon a bed of limestone, which in general is
about six feet below the surface, except in the valleys,
where the soil is much thinner. A tract of about 20
miles wide along the banks of the Ohio is hilly broken
land, interspersed with many fertile spots. The rest of
the country is agreeably uneven, gently ascending and
descending at no great distances. This country in ge¬
neral is well timbered ; and such is the variety and
beauty of the flowering shrubs and plants which grow
spontaneously in it, that in the proper season the wilder¬
ness appears in blossom. The accounts of the fertility
of the soil in this country have in some instances ex¬
ceeded belief, and probably have been exaggerated.
That some parts of Kentucky, particularly the high
grounds, are remarkably good, all accounts agree.
The lands of the first rate are too rich for wheat, and
will produce 50 and 60, and in some instances it is af¬
firmed 100 bushels of good corn an acre. In common
tjie land will produce 30 bushels of wheat or rye an
acre. Barley, oats, cotton, flax, hemp, and vegeta¬
bles of all kinds common in this climate, yield abund¬
antly. The old Virginia planters say, that if the cli¬
mate does not prove too moist, few soils known will
yield more and better tobacco. The climate is healthy
and delightful, some few places in the neighbourhood
of ponds and low grounds excepted. The inhabitants
do not experience the extremes of heat and cold. Snow
seldom falls deep or lies long. The winter, which be¬
gins about Christmas, is never longer than three months,
and is. commonly but two, and is so mild as that cattle
can subsist without fodder.
As to religion, the prevailing sects are Baptists,
1 resbytenans, and Methodists. The Baptists are the
most numerous. In 1817 they had 421 churches esta¬
blished, besides several congregations where churches
Were not constituted.
^ The legislature have made provision for a college in
Kentucky, and have endowed it with very considerable
landed funds. Schools are established in the several
towns, and iu general regularly and handsomely sup¬
ported. In 1810 they had 17 newspapers. They
have erected many paper-mills, oil-mills, fulling-mills,
saw-mills, and a great number of valuable grist-mills.
Their salt works are more than sufficient to supply all
‘KEN
the inhabitants at a low price. They make consider¬
able quantities of sugar from the sugar trees.
The population of Kentucky has increased with great
rapidity, as appears from the following statement.
In 1784 30,000
179° 73»677
loOO 220,959
l8lO 406,511
This last enumeration includes 80,561 slaves, and 1713
free blacks.
The state government of Kentucky consists of a se¬
nate and house of representatives. The latter are cho¬
sen annually by the free male inhabitants of 21 years
of age, who have been two years resident in the state.
The number of representatives is not to exceed 100 or
fall below 58. The number of senators may vary from
24 to 38: they are chosen for four years, and renewed
by fourths yearly. The governor is elected for four
years, and is ineligible the next seven.
I he Kentuckians, chiefly emigrants from Virginia,
are as remarkable for acuteness of intellect, as they are
distinguished for their frank, high spirited, honourable
nature. They are brave and patriotic in a high de¬
gree, and in times of public danger have come forward
with a most honourable zeal to serve ami defend their
country. Slavery, however, has taught the rich to
despise labour, and planted the seeds of other vices in
their character. The women are frugal and industrious,
though fond of dancing and innocent amusements. The
men have acquired a dangerous attachment to gaming.
1 he Kentuckians are distinguished for experlness in
the use of the rifle. They live in a very substantial
style, and have a pride in being liberal and open
handed.
Some manufactures have been established in this
state. In 1815 there were six steam mills in opera¬
tion at the small town of Washington, two for grain,
one for cotton, one for wool, and one for other purpo¬
ses. At Lexington there is a woollen and cotton ma¬
nufactory on an extensive scale, employing 150 hands
each ; and several others of smaller size. The whole
amount of manufactures in 1810 was estimated at
6,181,024 dollars.
The first white man who discovered this province
wras one James Macbride, in the year 1754. From
this period it remained unexplored till about the year
1767* when one John Finley and some others, trading
with the Indians, fortunately travelled over the fertile
region now called Kentucky, then but known to the
Indians by the name of the Dark and Bloody Grounds,
and sometimes the Middle Ground. This country
greatly engaged Mr Finley’s attention, and he commu¬
nicated his discovery to Colonel Daniel Boon, and a
few more, who conceiving it to be an interesting object,
agreed in the year 1769 to undertake a journey in or¬
der to explore it. After a long fatiguing march over a
mountainous wilderness, in a westward direction, they
at length arrived upon its borders ; and from the top of
an eminence, with joy and wonder descried the beauti¬
ful landscape of Kentucky. Here they encamped, and
some went to hunt provisions, which were readily pro¬
cured, there being plenty of game, w hile Colonel Boon
and John Finley made a tour through the country,
which
[ 444 ]
K E P ■ [ 445 ] K E P
Kentucky, which they found far exceeding their expectations ;
Krpler. and returning to camp, informed their companions of
tlieir discoveries. But in spite of this promising be¬
ginning, this company meeting with nothing but hard¬
ships and adversity, grew exceedingly disheartened,
and was plundered, dispersed, and killed by the In¬
dians, except Colonel Boon, who continued an inhabi¬
tant of the wilderness until the year 1771, when he re¬
turned home.
Colonel Henderson of North Carolina being in¬
formed of this country by Colonel Boon, he and some
othfer gentlemen held a treaty with the Cherokee In¬
dians at Wataga in March 1775, and then purchased
from them the lands lying on the south side of Ken¬
tucky river for goods at valuable rates, to the amount
of 6000I. specie.
Soon after this purchase, the state of Virginia took
the alarm, agreed to pay the money Colonel Donald¬
son had contracted for, and then disputed Colonel
Henderson’s right of purchase, as a private gentleman
of another state in behalf of himself. However, for
his eminent services to the country, and for having-
been instrumental in making so valuable au acquisition
to Virginia, that state was pleased to reward him with
a. tract of land at the mouth of Green river, to the
amount of 200,000 acres : and the state of North Ca¬
rolina gave him the like quantity in Bowel’s Valley.
This region was formerly claimed by various tribes of
Indians ^ whose title, if they bad any, originated in
such a manner as to render it doubtful which ought to
possess it. Hence this fertile spot became an object of
contention, a theatre of war, from which it was pro-
perly denominated the Bloody Grounds. Their con¬
tentions not being likely to decide the right to any par¬
ticular tribe, as soon as Mr Henderson and his friends
proposed to purchase, the Indians agreed to sell } and
notwithstanding the valuable consideration they receiv¬
ed, long continued troublesome neighbours to the new
settlers.
KEPLER, Johk, one of the most eminent astrono¬
mers who have appeared in any age, was horn at Wiel
on the 27th of September 1571. His father’s name
was Henry Kepler, an officer of distinction among the
troops of Wirtemberg, but reduced to poverty by nu¬
merous misfortunes. This exposed young Kepler to
many difficulties and interruptions while acquiring the
rudiments of his education j but such was his genius,
and such his avidity for knowledge, that he surmounted
every difficulty, and his proficiency was astonishing.
He studied at the university of Tubingen, where he ob¬
tained the degree of bachelor in the year 1588, and
that of master of philosophy in 1591. In the year
1.592 he applied himself to the study of divinity and
the sermons he produced were sufficient indications that
he would have excelled as a preacher, had he continued
in the clerical profession. The mathematics, however,
became bis favourite study, for bis knowledge of which
he acquired such distinguished reputation, that he was
invited to Gratz in Styria in the year 1594, to fill the
mathematical chair in the university of that city. After
this period his chief attention was directed to the study
of astronomy, and he made many interesting discoveries
respecting the laws of planetary motions.
Two years after his marriage with a lady descended
from a noble family, persecution on account of his reli¬
gion compelled him to quit Gratz, to which he was af¬
terwards recalled by the states of Styria. The calami¬
ties of war, however, induced him to look for a resi¬
dence where he might enjoy greater safety and tranquil¬
lity. During this uncomfortable situation of affairs, the
celebrated Tycho Brahe strongly urged him to settle in
Bohemia as his assistant, where lie liimself had every ne¬
cessary requisite furnished to him by the. emperor Ru¬
dolph for the prosecution of his astronomical studies.
The numerous and urgent letters which Kepler receiv¬
ed upon this subject, and solemn assurances that he
should be introduced to the emperor, at length prevail¬
ed with him to leave the university, and settle in Bohe¬
mia with his family in the year 1600. Oil his way to
that country he was seized with a quartan ague, which
afflicted him for seven or eight months, and rendered
him incapable of contributing that aid to Tycho which
he would otherwise have done. He was likewise dis¬
pleased with the conduct of this astronomer towards
him, and thought that he behaved in an unfriendly
manner, by neglecting to do a material service to bis
family when he had it in his power. Kepler also con¬
sidered him as by far too reserved, in not communicating
to him the whole of his discoveries and improvements.
The death of Tycho happened in 160J ; and thus the
intercourse between these two eminent men being of such
short duration, precluded Kepler either from being very
serviceable to, or deriving much advantage from, the
investigations and researches of the Danish astronomer.
Kepler, however, was introduced to the emperor by
Tycho, in conformity to his promise, and appointed ma¬
thematician to his imperial majesty, with instructions
to complete the Rodolphine Tables which that great
man had begun. These were not published till the
year 1627, owing to a variety of obstructions and diffi¬
culties which were thrown in his way. Two years af¬
ter the publication of this work, he went to Ratisbon,
by permission of the emperor, to claim payment of the
arrears of his pension, where he was seized with a vio¬
lent fever, supposed to have been brought upon him
by too hard riding 5 and to this lie fell a victim in
the month of November 1630, in the 59th year of his
age-
The learned world is indebted to this sagacious and
able astronomer and mathematician for the discovery of
the true figure of the planetary orbits, and the propor¬
tions of the motions of the solar system. Like the dis¬
ciples of Pythagoras and Plato, Kepler was seized with
a peculiar passion for finding analogies and harmonies
in nature; and although this led him to the adoption
of very strange and ridiculous conceits, we shall readily
be disposed to overlook these, when we reflect that they
were the means of leading him to the most interesting
discoveries. He was for some time so charmed with the
whimsical notions contained in his Mysterium Cosmo-
graphium, published in 1596, that he declared he would
not give up the honour of having invented what was
contained in that book for tbe electorate of Saxony J—
so easy is it for the greatest ot men to be deceived by
a darling hypothesis.
He was the first who discovered that astronomers had
been invariably mistaken in always ascribing circular
orbits and uniform motions to the planets, since each of
them moves in an ellipsis, having one of its foci in the
sun ; and, after a variety of fruitless efforts, he, on the
15th of May 1618,. made his splendid discovery “ that-
the squares of the periodic times of the planets were al- .
ways ,
K E R
qi!d
U
ways in tlie same proportion as the cubes of their mean
JCerckrtnc °‘s/:*nces ^Om the sun.” As it was long a favourite
*— opinion of f^epler’s, that there are only six primary pla¬
nets, he seems to have been alarmecf at the discovery
made by Galileo, of four new planets, or satellites of
Jupiter, which gave a deathblow to the doctrines con¬
tained in his Coswogrctphicuni. TL'he sagacity
of tnis wonderful man, and his incessant application to
toe study of the planetary motions, pointed out to him
some of the genuine principles from which these motions
originate. He considered gravity as a power that is
mutual between bodies ; that the earth and moon tend
towards each other, and would meet in a point, so many
times nearer to the earth than to the moon, as the
earth is greater than the moon, if their motions did not
prevent it. His opinion of the tides was, that they arise
fiOm the gravitation of the waters towards the moon j
but his notions of the laws of motion not being accu¬
rate, he could not turn his thoughts to the best advan-
tage. I he prediction lie uttered at the end of his epi¬
tome of astronomy, has been long since verified by the
discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, that the discovery of
such things (the true laws of gravity) was reserved for
the succeeding age, when the Author of nature would
be pleased to reveal those mysteries.
To this concise account of the celebrated Kepler, we
shall now add a list of his principal publications. My-
stenum Cosmogruphicum, already mentioned, 4to ; Pa-
ralipomena ad J itellioncm^ cfiiibus AslronovucB Purs Op¬
tica traditur, 1604, 4(0 ; Dc Stella Nova m Pcde Ser-
pentarh, 1606, 4to ; Astronomia Nova, seu Physica (Jce-
lestiSy trad it a Comment am s de Motibus Stellce Mortis^ e.v
Qbscrvationibus Tycorn's Brahei, 1609, folio; Disserta-
tiones cum Nuncio Sidcreo Galilei, 1610; Dc Cometis,
Libm tres, 1611, 4to $ Kphemendes Novee, from 1617
to 1620; Epitome Astronomies Copernicams, in two vo¬
lumes 8vo, the first published in 1618, and the second
in 1622; Harmonices Mundi, lib. v. 1619, 4(0; Chi-
lias Logarithmorum in totidem numeros rotundas,
ji.624.4to-, Supplemcntum Chiliadis, &c. 1625, 4(0 j
'I'abulcE Undo pinner, 1627, i olio5 Dc Jesu Christi Ser-.
vatoris anno natalitio, &c. He was also the author of
several other pieces connected with chronology, the
mensuration of solids, and trigonometry, with a treatise
on dioptrics, an excellent performance for the period
in which he flourished.
K b-R A l O PIIA 1 U M, in Natural History, a species
of Gorgonia—The keratophyta have been called the
frittices coralloides, or sea shrubs ; and are generally
known among naturalists by ibe different appellations
of lithophyta, lithoxyla, and keratophyta See Gorgo-
wja. Helminthology Index.
KERCKIUNG, i heodore, a famous physician of
the 17th century, was born at Amsterdam, and acquired
a,great reputation by his discoveries and bis works. He
found out the secret of softening amber without depriv¬
ing it of its transparency 5 and made use of it in cover-
ing toe. bouies of curious insects in order to preserve
them. He was a member of the Royal Society of Lon¬
don, and died in 1693 at Hamburgh, where he had
spent the greatest part of his life, with the title ot resi¬
dent of the grand duke of Tuscany. His principal works
are, I. Spicilegium anatomicum. 2. Anthropogenic^ ieh-
negraphiu. 1 here is also attributed to him an anato¬
mical work, printed in 1671 in folio.
[ 446 ]
K E R
KEKI Cetib, are various readings in the Hebrew
Ri de \ ken signifies^ that which is read ; and cetib that
which is written. For where any such various readings
occur, the wrong reading is written in the text, and
that is called the cetib; and the true reading is written
in the margin, with p under it, and called the keri. It
is generally said by the Jewish writers, that these cor¬
rections were introduced by Ezra j but it is most pro¬
bable, that they had their original from the mistakes
of the transcribers after the time of Ezra, and the ob¬
servations and corrections of the Mazorites. Those Keri
cetibs, which are in the sacred hooks written by Ezra
himself, or which were taken into the canon after his
time, could not have been noticed by Ezra himself;
and this affords a presumption, that the others are of
late date.. 1 hose words amount to about looo ; and
Dr Kennicott, in his Dissertaiio Generalis, remarks,
that all of them, excepting 14, have been found in the
text of manuscripts.
KERMAN, the capital city of a province of that
name in Persia, seated in E. Long. 56. 30. N. Lat.
30. o. The province lies in the south part of Persia*
on the Persian gulf. The sheep of this country, to¬
wards the latter end of the spring, shed their wool, and
become as naked as sucking pigs. The principal re¬
venue of the province consists in these fleeces.
KERMES, in Tjoology, the name of an insect pro¬
duced in the excrescences of a species of the oak. See
Coccus.
Kehmes Mineral, so called from its colour, which
resembles that of vegetable kermes, is one of the anti-
rronial preparations. See Chemistry and Materia
Medic a Index.
KLRN, or Kerne, a term in the ancient Irish mili¬
tia, signifying a foot soldier. Camden tells us, the ar¬
mies of Ireland consisted of cavalry, called galloglasses;
and infantry, lightly armed, called kernes.—The kerne*
bore swords and darts ; to the last were fitted cords, by
which they could recover them after they had bee
launched out.
Kernes, in cur laws, signify idle persons or vaga¬
bonds.
KERRA, a county of Ireland, in the province of
Munster, anciently called Corrigia, or “ the rocky
country,” from Cerrig or Carrie, “ a rock.” It is
hounded by the Shannon, which divides it from Clare
on the north, by Limerick and Cork on the east, by
another part of Cork on the south, and by the Atlan¬
tic ocean on the west. The best town in it is Dingle,
situated in a bay of the same name. It comprehends a
great part of the territory formerly called Desmond,
and consists of very different kinds of soil. The south
parts are plain and fertile, but tbe north full of high
mountains, which, though remarkably wild, produce
a great number of natural curiosities. It contains
636,905 Irish plantation acres, 84 parishes, 19,400
houses, and about 140,000 inhabitants. It is about
57 miles long, and from 18 to 40 in breadth, and
lies within N. Lat. 51. 30. and 52. 24.; the lon¬
gitude at the mouth of Kenmare river being IQ° 35'
west, or 42' 20" difference of time with London.
It is the fourth county as to extent in Ireland,
and the second in this province; but in respect to
inhabitants and culture doth not equal many smaller
counties. In it there are two episcopal sees, which
have
K E S [ 447 ] K E W
Kerry Iiave been annexed to the bishopric of Limerick since
8 , the year 1660, viz. Ardfert and Aghadoe. The see
of Ardfert was anciently called the diocese of Kerry,
and its bishops were named bishops of Kerry. Few
mountains in Ireland can vie with those in this county
for height; during the greater part of the year their
sides are obscured by fogs, and it must be a very se¬
rene day when their tops appear. Iron ore is to be had
in great plenty in most of the southern baronies. The
principal rivers are the Blackwater, Feale, Gale, and
Brick, Cashin, Mang, Lea, Flesk, Laun, Carrin, Far-
tin, Inry, and Roughly; and the principal lake is
Killarney. There are some good medicinal waters
discovered in this country; particularly Killarney wa¬
ter, Iveragh Spa, Fellosvvell, Dingle, Castlemain, and
Trallee Spas, as also a saline spring at Maher ybejr.
Some rare and useful plants grow in Kerry, of which
Dr Smith gives a particular account in his histox-y of
that county. See Kerry, Supplement.
KERSEY, a kind of coarse woollen cloth, made
chiefly in Kent and Devonshire.
KESITAH. This word is to be met with in Gene¬
sis and in Job, and is translated in the Septuagint and
Vulgate “ sheep or lambsBut the Rabbins and mo¬
dern interpreters are generally of opinion, that kesitah
signifies rather a piece of money. Boohart and Eugu-
binus are of opinion the Septuagint meant miner, and
not Iambs: in Greek hecatomnon, ix&Tepvav, inste ad of
itcxTov ceunM. Now a mina was worth 60 Hebrew she¬
kels, and consequently 61. 16s. lojd. sterling. M. de
Pelletier of Rouen is of opinion, that kesitah was a
Persian coin, stamped on ons side with an archer (Kesi-
tah, or Keset/i, in Hebrew signifying “ a bow”), and on
the other with a lamb ; that this was a gold coin known
in the east by the name of a ddrie. Several learned
men, without mentioning the value of the kesitah, say
it was a silver coin, the impression whereof was a sheep,
for which reason the Septuagint artd Vulgate translate
it by this name. Calmet is of opinion, that kesitah was
a purse of gold or silver. In the east they reckon at
present by purses. The word kista in Chaldee signifies
‘‘ a measure, a vessel/'’ And Eustathius says, that
kista is a Persian measure. Jonathan and the Targum
of Jerusalem translate kesitah “ a pearl.” (Gen, xxxiii.
19. Job. xlii. II.). Or 9!. English, supposing, as Dr
Prideaux does, that a shekel is worth 3s. A daric is
a piece of gold, worth, as Dr Prideaux says, 25s. Eng¬
lish.
KESSEL, a town of Upper Guelderland, in the
Netherlands, with a handsome castle. It is the chief
town in the territory of the same name, and seated on
the river Meuse, between Ruremoncl and Venlo, it be¬
ing about five miles from each. It was ceded to the
king of Prussia by the treaty of Utrecht. E. Long.
6. 13. N. Lat. 41. 22.
KESSELDORF, a village of Germany, in the cii*-
ele of Upper Saxony, three miles below Dresden, re¬
markable for the battle gained by the king of Prussia
over the Saxons, on the 15th of December 1745.
KESTREL, the English name of a hawk, called
also the stannel-&ViA the windhover, and by authors the
tinninculus and chenci'is. It builds with us in hollow
oaks, and feeds on partridges and other birds. See
Fai.co, Ornithology Index*
KESWICK, a town of Cumberland, situated on the
side of a lake in a fruitful plain, almost encompassed Keswick
with mountains, called the Derwent Fells. It was for- fl ,
meriy a town of good note, but is now much decayed. K«w.
However, it is still noted for its mines and miners, who
have a convenient smelting-house on the side of the ri¬
ver Derwent, the stream of which is so managed as
to make it work the bellows, hammers, and forge, as
also to saw boards. There is a workhouse here for
employing the poor of this parish and that of Cross-
thwait. W. Long. 3. o. N. Lat. 54. 30.
KETCH, a vessel equipped with two masts, viz.
the main-mast and mizen-mast, and usually from ICO
to 250 tons burden.—Ketches are principally used as
yachts or as bomb vessels; the former of which are
employed to convey princes of the blood, ambassadors,
or other great personages, from one part to another ;
and the latter are used to bombard citadels, towns,
or other fortresses. The bomb ketches are therefore
furnished with all the apparatus necessary for a vigor¬
ous bombardment; they are built remarkably strong,
as being fitted with a greater number of riders than
any other vessel of war ; and indeed this reinforce¬
ment is absolutely necessary to sustain the violent
shock produced by the discharge of their mortars,
which would otherwise in a very short time shatter
them to pieces.
KETTLE, in the art of war, a term the Dutch
give to a battery of mortars, because it is sunk under
ground.
Kettle Drums, are formed of two large basins'of
copper or brass x'ounded at the bottom, and covered
over with vellum or goat skin, which is kept fast by a
circle of iron, and by several boles Fastened to the
body of the drum, and alike number of screws to screw
up and down, and a key for the purpose. The two
basins are kept fast together by two straps of leather
which go through two rings, and are fastened the
one before and the other behind the pommel of the
kettle drum’s saddle. They have each a banner of silk
or damask, richly embroidered with the sovereign’s
arms or with those of the colonel, and are fringed with
silver or gold ; and, to preserve them in bad weather,
they have each a cover of leather. The drumsticks
are of crab-tree or of any other hard wood, of eight ox-
nine inches long, with two knobs on the ends, which
beat the drum head and cause the sound. The kettle¬
drum with trumpets is the most martial sound of any.
F.ach regiment of horse has a pair.
Kettle Drummer, a man on horseback appointed to
beat the kettle drums, from which he takes his name.
He marches always at the head of the squadron,
and his post is on the right when the squadron is
drawn up.
KEVELS. in Ship-building, a frame composed of
two pieces of timber, whose lower ends rest in a sort
of step or foot, nailed to the ship’s side, from whence
the upper ends branch outward into arms or horns, seiv
ving to belay the great ropes by which the bottoms of
the main-sail and fore-sail are extended.
KEW, a village of Surry, in England, opposite to
Old Brentford, 10 miles west from London. Here is
a chapel of ease erected at the ex pence of several of the
nobility and gentry in the neiglxbourhood, on a piece
of ground that was given for that purpose by the late
Queen Anne. Here the late Mr Molineaux, secretary
K E Y
Ivc w
Key.
to the late king, when prince of Wales, had a fine seat
on the Green, which became the residence of the late
^ prince and princess of Wales, who greatly improved
both the house and gardens; now occupied by his pre¬
sent majesty, who has greatly enlarged the gardens,
and formed a junction with them and Richmond gar¬
dens. The gardens of Kew are not very large, nor is
their situation by any means advantageous, as it is low
and commands no prospects. Originally the ground
was one continued dead flat j the soil was in general
barren, and without either wood or water. With so
many disadvantages it was not easy to produce any
thing even tolerable in gardening; but princely muni¬
ficence, guided by a director equally skilled in culti¬
vating the earth and in the politer arts, overcame all
difficulties. What was once a desert is now an Eden.
Xn iJfS, an act passed for building a bridge across the
I hames to Kew Green, and a bridge was built of
eleven arches ; the two piers and their dependant arches
on each side next the shore, built of brick and stone ;
the intermediate arches entirely wood ; the centre
arch 50 feet wide, and the road over the bridge 30. 
But this bridge was taken down, and in its place a
very elegant one was erected and completed about the
year 1791.
KEXHOLM, that part of Finland which borders
upon Russia. The lake Ladoga crosses it, and divides
it into two parts. By the treaty between Russia and
Sweden in 1721, the Swedes were obliged to abandon
the best part to the Russians, who now' possess the
whole. The country in general is full of lakes and
marshes, thinly inhabited, and badly cultivated. The
lake above mentioned is 120 miles in length.
Kexholm, or Carelgorod, a town of Russia in a
territory of the same name, not very large, but well
fortified, and has a strong castle. The houses are
built with wood. It formerly belonged to the Rus¬
sians, after which the Swedes had possession of it for a
whole century ; but it was retaken by the Russians in
1710. Near it is a considerable salmon fishery. It is
seated on two islands on the north-west side of the lake
Ladoga, in E. Long. 30. 25. N. Lat. 61. 12. Near
it is another town called New Kcxholm.
KEY, an instrument for the opening of locks. See
Lock.
L. Molinus has a treatise of keys, De clavibus vete-
I'twi, printed at Upsal: he derives the Latin name cla-
vts, from the Greek clauclo, “ I shut,” or from
the adverb clam, “ privately and adds, that the use
of keys is yet unknown in some parts of Sweden.
The invention of keys is owing to one Theodore of
Samos, according to Pliny and Polydore Virgil : but
this must be a mistake, the use of keys having been
known before the siege of Troy'; mention even seems
made of them in the 19th chapter of Genesis.
Molinus is of opinion, that keys at first only served
for the untying certain knots, wherewith they anciently
secured their doors : but the Laconic keys, he main¬
tains, were nearly akin in use to our own ; they consist¬
ed of three single teeth, and made the figure of an E;
of which form there are still some to be seen in the ca¬
binets of the curious.
Tl here was another key called 'mxXxvxy^x, made in the
manner of a male screw ; which had its corresponding
female in a bolt affixed to the door. Key is hence
3
[ 448 ]
KEY
become a general name for several things serving to shut
up or close others. See the article Lock.
Key, or Key-stone, of an Arch or Vault, is the last
stone placed a-top thereof ; which being wider and
fuller at the top than bottom, wedges, as it were, and
binds all the rest. The key is difl’erent in the difler-
ent orders: in the Tuscan and Doric it is a plain stone
only projecting ; in the Ionic it is lCut and waved
somewhat after the manner of consoles ; in the Corin¬
thian and Composite it is a console enriched with sculp¬
ture, foliages, &c.
Key is also used for ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; par¬
ticularly for the power of excommunicating and ab¬
solving. The Romanists say, the pope has the power
of the keys, and can open and shut paradise as he
pleases; grounding their opinion on that expression of
Jesus Christ to Peter, “ I will give thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven.” In St Gregory we read that
is was the custom heretofore for the popes to send a
golden key to princes, wherein they inclosed a little
of the filings of St Peter’s chains kept with a world of
devotion at Rome; and that these keys were worn in
the bosom, as being supposed to contain some wonder¬
ful virtues.
Key is also used for an index or explanation of a ci¬
pher. See Cipher.
. -S-EY5 oj an Organ, Harpsichord, &c. those little
pieces in the fore part of those instruments, bv means
whereof the jacks play so as to strike the strings.
These are in number 28 or 29. In large organs there
are several sets of the keys, some to play the secondary
organ, some for the main body, some for the trumpet,
and some for the echoing trumpet, &c. : in some there
are but a part that play, and the rest are only for or¬
nament. There are 20 slits in the large keys which
make half notes. See the article Organ, &c.
Key, in Music, a certain fundamental note or tone,
to which the whole piece, be it in cantata, sonata, con¬
certo, &c. is accommodated, and with which it usually
begins but always ends.
Key, or Q«ay, a long wharf, usually built of stone,
by the side of a harbour or river, and having several
storehouses for the convenience of lading and dis¬
charging merchant ships. It is accordingly furnished
with posts and rings, whereby they are secured ; to¬
gether with cranes, capsterns, and* other engines, to
lift the goods into or out of the vessels which lie along¬
side.
The verb cajare, in old writers, according to Scali-
ger, signifies to keep in or restrain ; and hence came
our term key or quay, the ground where they are made
being bound in with planks and posts.
Keys are also certain sunken rocks lying near the
surface of the water, particularly in the West Indies.
KEYNSHAM, a town of Somersetshire, 116 miles
from London. It is a great thoroughfare in the lower
road between Bath and Bristol. They call it prover¬
bially smoky Keynsham, and with equal reason they
might call it foggy. It has a fine large church, a stone
bridge of 15 arches over the Avon to Gloucestershire,
and another over the river Chew. Its chief trade is
malting. It has a charity school, a weekly market,
and three fairs’. Population 1748 in 1811.
KEYSER’s Pills, a celebrated mercurial medicine,
the method of preparing which was purchased by the
French
Kcv
Key-ei's
Pills.
K I A
[ 449 1
KID
Keyser’s
Fills
r.
Kians-imn
French government, and was afterwards published by
M. Richard. It is the acetate of mercury. See Che¬
mistry and Materia Medica Index.
KEYSLER, Johk George, a learned German
antiquarian, was born at Thournex in 1689. After
studying at the university of Halle, he was appointed
preceptor to Charles Maximilian and Christian Charles,
the young counts of Giech Buchau ; with whom he tra¬
velled through the chief cities of Germany, France,
and the Netherlands, gaining great reputation among
the learned as he went along, by illustrating several
monuments of antiquity, particularly some fragments
of Celtic idols lately discovered in the cathedral of
Paris. Having acquitted himself of this charge with
great honour, he procured in 1716 the education of two
grandsons of Baron Bernstorff, first minister of state
to his Britannic majesty as elector of Brunswick Lu¬
nenburg. However, obtaining leave in 1718, to visit
England, be was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
for a learned essay Dc T)ea Nehelennia, tmmine veic-
rvm Walachorum topico: he gave also an explanation of
the ancient monument on Salisbury plain called Stone-
he7tge, with a dissertation on the Consecrated Misletoe
of the Druids. Which detached essays, vvitli others of
the same kind, lie published on his return to Hanover,
under the title of Antiquitates selectee Septentrionales
et Celticts, &c. He afterwards made the grand tour
with the young barons, and to this tour we owe the pub¬
lication of his travels; which were translated into Eng¬
lish, and published in 1756, in 4 volumes, 410. Mr
Keysler on his return spent the remainder of his life
under the patronage of his noble pupils, who committed
their fine library and museum to his care, with a hand¬
some income. He died in 1743.
KIAM, a great river of China, which takes its rise
near the western frontier, crosses the whole kingdom
eastward, and falls into the bay or gulf of Nanking, a
little below that city.
KIANG-si, a province of China, bounded on the
north by that of Kiang-nan, on the west by Hou-
quang, on the south by Quang-tong, and on the east
by Fo-kien and Tche-kiang. The country is extreme¬
ly fertile; but it is so populous that it can scarcely
supply the wants of its inhabitants : on this account
they are very economical ; which exposes them to the
sarcasms and raillery of the Chinese of the other pro¬
vinces : however, they are people of great solidity and
acuteness, and have the talent of rising rapidly to the
dignities of the state. The mountains are covered
with simples; and contain in their bowels mines of
gold, silver, lead, iron, and tin ; the rice it produces is
very delicate, and several barks are loaded with it
every year for the court. The porcelain made here is
the finest and most valuable of the empire. This pro¬
vince contains 13 cities of the first class, and 78 of the
second and third.
KiANG-nan, a province of China, and one of the
most fertile, commercial, and consequently one of the
Fichest in the empire. It is bounded on the west by
the provinces of Ho-nan and Hou-quang ; on the south
by Tche-kiang and Kiang-si ; and on the east by the
gulf of Nan-king: the rest borders on the province
of Chang-tong. The emperors long kept their court
in this province ; but reasons of state having obliged
them to move nearer to Tartary, they made choice of
Vol. XI. Part II. f
* ter.
■V
Pe-king for the place of their residence. This pro-KJan *
vince is ot vast extent; it contains fourteen cities of {}
the first class, and ninety-three of the second and third.Kdddernain-
Ihese cities are very populous, and there is scarcely it‘,r
one of them which may not he called a place of trade.
Large barks can go to them from all parts ; because
the whole country is intersected by lakes, rivers, and
canals, which have a communication with the great
river Yang-tse-kiang, which runs through the middle
ot the province. Silk stuffs, lacquer ware, ink, paper,
and in general every thing that comes from Nanking,
as well as from the other cities of the province, are
much more esteemed, and fetch a higher price, than
those brought from the neighbouring provinces. In
the village of Cbang-hai alone, and the villages de¬
pendent on it, there are reckoned to be more than
200,000 weavers of common cotton cloths. The ma-
oulacturing ot these cloths gives employment to the
greater part of the women.—In several places on the
sea coast there are found many salt pits, the salt of
which is distributed all over the empire. In short, this
province is so abundant and opulent, that it brings e-
very year into the emperor’s treasury about 32,000,000
taels (or ounces of silver), exclusive of the duties upon
every thing exported or imported. The people of this
country are civil and ingenious, and acquire the sciences
with great facility : hence many of them become emi¬
nent m literature, and rise to offices of importance by
their abilities alone. This province is divided into
two parts, each of which has a distinct governor. The
governor of the eastern part resides at Sou tcheou-fou,
that of the western at Ngan-king-fou. Each of these
governors has under his jurisdiction sevenyo?/, or cities
of the first class.
KIBURG, a town of the canton of Zurich in Swit¬
zerland, with a castle ; seated on the river Theoff, in
E. Long. 8. 50. N. Lat. 47. 20.
KID, in Zoology, the name by which young goats
are called. See Goat and Capra, Mammalia
Index.
KIDDER, Dr Richard, a learned English bishop,
was born in Sussex, and bred at Cambridge. In 1689,
he was installed dean ot Peterborough ; and, in 1691,
was nominated to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, in
the room ot Dr Thomas Ken, who had been deprived
for not taking the oaths to King William and Queen
Mary. He published, 1. The young man’s duty. 2. A
demonstration of the Messiah, 3 vols 8vo. 3. A com¬
mentary on the five books of Moses, 2 vols Svo; and
several other pious and valuable tracts. He was kill¬
ed with his lady in his bed by the fall of a stack of
chimneys, at his house in Wells, during the great storm
in 1703. The bishop, in the dissertation prefixed to
his commentary on the five books of Moses, having
reflected upon Monsieur Le Clerc, some letters passed
between them in Latin, which are published by Le
Clerc in his Bibliotheqtie Choisie.
KIDDERMINSTER, or Keddermtnster, a
town of Worcestershire, seated under a hill on the ri¬
ver Stour, not far from the Severn, 128 miles from Lon¬
don. It is a large town of 1606 houses, with 8038 in-
haoitants, who carry on an extensive trade in weaving in
various branches. In 1735 a carpet manufactory was
established with success, so as to employ in 1772 above
250 looms; and there are upwards of 700 looms em-
3 ^ ployed
KID
[ 450 ] K I L
Kidder- ploved In the silk and worsted. Above 1600 hands
roirmer are employed as spinners, &c. in the carpet looms only
in the town and neighbourhood ; upwards of 1400 are
.,in^ employed in preparing yarn, which is used in difl'erent
v—' parts of England in carpeting; and it is supposed not
less than 2000 are employed in the silk and worsted
looms in the town and neighbourhood. The silk manu¬
facture was established in 1755. The town is remark¬
ably healthy, and has also an extensive manufacture of
quilting in the loom in imitation of Marseilles quilting.
Here is a Presbyterian meeting house ; and they have
a handsome church, two good free schools, a charity
school, and two alms houses, &.c. The town is go¬
verned by a bailiff, 12 capital burgesses, 25 common
councilmen, &c. who have a town hall. The popula¬
tion in 1801 amounted to 6110. By the late inland
navigation, it has communication by the junction of the
Severn canal with the rivers Mersey, Dee, Kibble,
Ouse, Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber, Thames,
Avon, Sic. ; which navigation, including its windings,
extends above 500 miles, in the counties of Eincoln,
Nottingham, York, Lancaster, Westmoreland, Ches¬
ter, Stafford, Warwick, Leicester, Oxford, Worces¬
ter, &c. This parish extends to Bewdley bridge, has
a weekly market, and three fairs. W. Long. 2. 15.
N, Lat. 52. 28.
KIDDERS, those that badge or carry corn, dead
victuals, or other merchandise, up and down to sell:
every person being a common badger, kidder, lader,
or carrier, &c. says the stat. 5 Eliz. cap. 12. And
they are called kiddiers, 13 Eliz. cap. 25.
KIDDLE, or Kidel, (Kidcl/r/s), a dam or wear in
a river with a narrow cut in it, for the laying of pots
or other engines to catch fish.
The word is ancient; for in Magna Charts, cap. 24.
we read, Omnes kidcUi deponantur per Thamesiam et
Medweijam, ct per tofam AngUam, nisi per costeram
man's. And by King John’s charter, power was grant¬
ed to the city of London, de kideUis amovendis per
Thamesiam et Medweyam. A survey was ordered to
be made of the wears, mills, stanks, and kiddels, in the
great rivers of England, 1 Hen. IV. Fishermen of
late corruptly call these dams kettles; and they are
much used in Wales and on the sea coasts of Kent.
KIDDINGTON, a town of Oxfordshire, four
miles from Woodstock, and 12 from Oxford. It is
situated on the Glym river, which divides the parish in
two parts, viz. Over and Nether Kiddington, in *the
latter of which stands the church. This parish was
given by King Offa in 780 to Worcester priory. Here
King- Ethelred had a palace ; in the garden of the
manor house is an antique font brought from Edward
the Confessor’s chapel at Islip, wherein he received
baptism. In Hill wood near this place is a Roman
encampment in extraordinary preservation, but little
noticed.
KIDNAPPING, the forcible abduction or stealing
away of man, woman, or child, from their own coun¬
try, and sending them into another. This crime was
capital by the Jewish law : “ fie that stealeth a man
and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, shall
* Undue, surely be put to death So likewise in the civil law,
s*i. 16. the offence of spiriting away and stealing men and
children, which was called plagitim, and the offenders
plagiarii, was punished with death. This is unques¬
tionably a very heinous crime, as it robs the king of Kidnap.
Jus subjects, banishes a man from his country, and may ping
in its consequence'be productive of the most cruel and
disagreeable hardships; and therefore the common law
of England has punished it with fine, imprisonment,
and pillory. And also the statute 11 and 12 W. III.
c. 7. though principally intended against pirates, has
a clause that extends to prevent the leaving of such
persons abroad as are thus kidnapped or spirited away ;
by enacting, that if any captain of a merchant vessel
shall (during his being abroad) force any person on
shore, or wilfully leave him behind, or refuse to bring
home all such men as he carried out, if able and desi¬
rous to leturn, lie shall sutler three months imprison¬
ment.
KIDNEYS, in Anatomy. See Anatomy, N° 10 r.
Kidney-Bean. See Phaseolus, Botany Index.
KIEL, a city of Germany, in the duchy of Hol¬
stein, in the circle of Jjower Saxony, and the resi¬
dence of the duke of Holstein Gottorp. It has a castle,
and a university founded in 1665; and there is a very
celebrated fair held here. It is seated at the bottom
of a bay ot the Baltic sea called Ki/lerwick, at the
mouth ot the river Schwentin, in E. Lonsr. 10. it
N. Lat. 54. 26. ^
KIGGELARIA, in Botany, a genus of plants be-
longing to the dicecia class; and in the natural method
ranking under the 37th order, Columniferce. See Bo¬
tany Index.
KIGH LEY, a town in the west riding of York¬
shire, six miles to the south-east of Skipton in Craven.
It stands in a valley surrounded with hills, at the meet¬
ing of two brooks, which fall into the river Are one
mile below it. Every family is supplied with water
brought to or near their doors in stone troughs from a
never-failing spring on the west side of it. The parish
is six miles long and two broad, and is 60 miles from
the east and west seas ; yet at the west end of it, near
Camel Cross, is a rising ground, from which the springs
on the east side of it run to the east sea, and those on
the west to the west sea. By means of inland naviga¬
tion, this town has a communication with the rivers
Mersey, Dee, Kibble, Ouse, Trent, Darwent, Severn,
Humber, Thames, Avon, &c. ; which navigation, in¬
cluding its windings, extends above 500 miles, in the
counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, Lancaster, West¬
moreland, Chester, Stafford, Warwick, Leicester, Ox¬
ford, Worcester, &c. Population 6864 in 1811.
K1LARNEY. See Kilearney.
KILBEGGAN, a post, fair, and borough town of
Ireland, in the county of Westmeath and province of
Leinster, 44 miles from Dublin. It formerly returned
two members to parliament; patronage in the Lambert
family. It is seated on the river Brosna, over which
there is a bridge. There was here a monastery found¬
ed in 1200, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and in¬
habited by monks from the Cistertian abbey of Mele-
font. The fairs are two.
KILDA, St, one of the Hebrides or Western islands
of Scotland. It lies in the Atlantic ocean, about 58° 30'
north latitude ; and is about three English miles in
length from east to west, and its breadth from south
to north not less than two. The ground of St Kilda,
like much the greatest part of that over all the High¬
lands, is much better calculated for pasture than til¬
lage.—
K I L [ 45i ] K I L
Kilda. lage.—Restrained by idleness, a fault or vice much
more pardonable here than in any other part of Great
Britain, or discouraged by the form of government
under which they live, the people of the island study
to rear up sheep, and to kill wild-fowl, much more
than to engage deeply in the more toilsome business
of husbandry.—All the ground hitherto cultivated in
this island lies round the village. The soil is thin, full
of gravel, and of consequence very sharp. This, though
naturally poor, is, however, rendered extremely fer¬
tile, by the singular industry of very judicious hus¬
bandmen : these prepare and manure every inch of
their ground, so as to convert it into a kind of gar¬
den. All the instruments of agriculture they use, or
indeed require, according to their system, are a spade,
a mall, and a rake or harrow. Alter turning up the
ground with a spade, they rake or harrow it very care¬
fully, removing every small stone, every noxious root
or growing weed that falls in their way, and pound
down every stiff clod into dust. It is certain that a
small number of acres well prepared in St Kilda, in
this manner, will yield more profit to the husbandman
than a much greater number when roughly handled in
a hurry, as is the case in the other Western isles. The
people of St Kilda sow and reap much earlier than any
of their neighbours on the western coast of Scotland.
The heat of the sun, reflected from the hills and rocks
into a low valley facing the south-east, must in the
summer time he quite intense ; and however rainy the
climate is, the corn must for these reasons grow very
fast and ripen early.
The harvest is commonly over at this place before
the beginning of September : and should it fall out
otherwise, the whole crop would be almost destroyed
by the equinoctial storms. All the islanders on the
western coast have great reason to dread the fury of
autumnal tempests: these, together with the excessive
quantities of rain they have generally throughout seven
or eight months of the year, are undoubtedly the
most disadvantageous and unhappy circumstances of
their lives.
Barley and oats are the only sorts of grain known
at St Kilda •, nor does it seem calculated fur any other.
Fifty bolls of the former, old Highland measure, are
every year brought from thence to Harris; and all the
Western islands hardly produce any thing so good of
the kind. Potatoes have been introduced among that
people only of late, and hitherto they have raised but
small quantities of them. The onlv appearance of a
garden in this whole land, so the natives call their
principal island in their own language, is no more
than a very inconsiderable piece of ground, which is
enclosed and planted with some cabbages. On the
east side of the island, at a short distance from the hay,
lies the village, where the whole body of this little peo¬
ple (the number amounting in 1764 to 88, and in
1799 to about 120) live together like the inhabi¬
tants of a town or city. It is certain that the inha¬
bitants were much more numerous formerly than at
present; and the island, if under proper regulations,
might easily support 300 souls. Martin, who visited
it about the end of the 17th century, found 180 per¬
sons there ; but about the year 1730, one of the peo¬
ple coming to the island of Harris, was seized with
the smallpox and died. Unluckily his clothes were
carried away by one of his relations next year ; and thus Kilda.
was the infection communicated, which made such ha- —y—
vock, that only four grown persons were left alive. The
houses are built in two rows, regular, and facing one
another; with a tolerable causeway in the middle, which
they call the street. These habitations are made and
contrived in a very uncommon manner. Every one of
them is flat on the roof, or nearly so, much like the
houses of some oriental nations. That from any one
of these the St Kildans have borrowed their manner
of building, no man of sense will entertain a suspicion.
Ihey have been taught this lesson by their own reason,
improved by experience. The place in which their
lot has fallen is peculiarly subject to violent squalls
and iurious hurricanes : were their houses raised higher
than at present, they believe the first winter storm
would bring them down about their ears. For this
reason the precaution they take in giving them roofs
much flatter than ordinary seems to he not altogether
unnecessary. I he walls of these habitations are made
of a rough gritty kind of stones, huddled up together
in haste, without either lime or mortar, from eight
to nine feet high. In the heart of the walls are the
beds, which are overlaid with flags, and large enough
to contain three persons. In the side of every bed is
an opening, by way of door, which is much too nar¬
row and low to answer that purpose. All their dwell¬
ing houses are divided into two apartments by parti¬
tion walls. In the division next the door, which is
much the largest, they have their cattle stalled during
the whole winter season ; the other serves for kitchen,
hall, and bedroom.
It will he readily expected, that a race of men and
women bred in St Kilda must be a very slovenly ge¬
neration, and every way inelegant. It is indeed im¬
possible to defend them from this imputation. Their
method of preparing a sort of manure, to them indeed
of vast use, proves that they are very indelicate. Af¬
ter having burnt a considerable quantity of dried turf,
• they spread the ashes with the nicest care over the floor
of that apartment in which they eat and sleep. These
ashes, so exactly laid out, they cover with a rich
friable sort of earth ; over this bed of earth they scat¬
ter a proportionable heap of that dust into which peats
are apt to crumble away: this done, they water, tread,
and beat the whole compost into a hard floor, on which
they immediately make new fires very large, and ne¬
ver,extinguished till they have a sufficient stock of new
ashes on hand. The same operations are repeated with
a never-failing punctuality, till they are just ready to
sow their barley ; by that time the walls of their
houses are sunk down, or, to speak more properly, the
floors risen about four or five feet high.
To have room enough for accumulating heaps of
this compost one above another, the ancient St KiU
dans had ingenuity enough to contrive their beds
within the linings of their walls ; and it was for the
same reason they took care to raise these walls to a
height far from being common in the other Western
islands.
It is certain that cleanliness must contribute greatly
to health, and ol course longevity ; but in spite of that
instance of indelicacy now given, and many more which
might have been added, the people of this island are
not more short lived than other men. Their total want
3 L 3 0f
Kilda.
., K I L [ 452 ] K I L
a_.th0? ^tlC,eS0f.luXUry’ .wh;.ch so natural a ten- they undergo, and at the same time
—^ dency to destroy the constitution of the human body,
and their moderate exercises, will, together with some
other circumstances, keep the balance of life equal
enough between them and those who are absolute
strangers to slovenliness.
Besides the dwelling houses already described, there
are a prodigious number of little cells dispersed over
all the island j which consist entirely of stones, without
any the smallest help of timber. These cells are from
12 to 18 teet in length, and a little more than seven
in height. Their breadth at the foundation is nearlv
equal to the height. Every stone hangs above that
immediately below, not perpendicularly, but inclines
forward, so as to be nearer the opposite side of the
grotto, and thus by imperceptible degrees till the
two hignest courses are near enough to be covered
by a single flag at the top. To hinder the rain from
falling down between the interstices above, the upper-
part of the building is overlaid with turf which looks
like a fine green sward while new. The inhabitants
secure their peats, eggs, and wild fowl, within these
small repositories : every St Kildan has bis share of
them, in proportion to the extent of land he pos¬
sesses, or the rent be pays to the steward. From the
construction of these cells, and the toil they must have
cost before they could have been finished, it seems
plain, that those who put them together, were, if not
more ingenious than their neighbours in the adjacent
islands, at least more industrious than their own suc¬
cessors.
I he St Kilda method of catching wild fowl is very
entertaining. The men are divided into fowling par¬
ties, each of which consists generally of four persons
distinguished by their agility and skill. Each party
must have at least one rope about 30 fathoms long $
this rope is made out of a strong raw- cow hide, salted
for that very purpose, and cut circularly into three
thongs all of equal length ; these thongs being close¬
ly tvyisted together, form a three-fold cord, °able to
sustain a great weight, and durable enough to last for
about two generations : to prevent the injuries it would
otherwise receive from the sharp edges of the rocks
against which they must frequently strike, the cord is
lined with sheep skins, dressed in much the same man¬
ner.
This rope is a piece of furniture indispensably ne¬
cessary, and the most valuable implement a man of
substance can be possessed of in St Kilda. In the
testament of a father, it makes the very first article in
favour of his eldest son : should it happen to fall to a
daughter’s share, in default of male heirs, it is reckon¬
ed equal in value to the best two cows in the island.
By the help of such ropes, the people of the great¬
est prowess and experience here traverse and examine
rocks prodigiously high. Linked together in couples,
each having either end*of the cord fastened about his
waist, they go frequently through the most dreadful
precipices: when one of the two descends, his col¬
league plants himself on a strong shelf, and takes care
to have such sure footing there, that if his fellow ad¬
venturer makes a false step, and tumbles over, he may
he able to save him.
The following anecdote of a steward of St Kilda’s
deputy will give the reader a specimen of the dangers
v - -    - of the uncom-
mon strength of the St Kildans. This man, observing KM*’
his colleague lose his hold, and tumbling down from ' -/—l
above, placed himself so firmly upon the shelf where
he stood that he sustained the weight of his friend,
alter falling the whole length of the rope. Undoubt¬
edly these are stupendous adventures, and equal to any
thing m the leats of chivalry. Mr Macaulay gives an
instance of the dexterity of the inhabitants of St Kil¬
da in catching wild fowl, to which he was an eye wit¬
ness. I wo noted heroes were drawn out from among
all the ablest men of the community : one of them
xed himself on a craggy shelf; his companion went
down 60 fathoms below him j and after having darted
himself away from the face of a most alarming preci¬
pice hanging over the ocean, he began to play bis
gambols j he sung merrily, and laughed very heartily :
alter having performed several antic tricks, and given
all the entertainment his art could afford, he returned
in triumph, and full of his own merit, with a large
string of fowls about his neck, and a number of eegs
in bis bosom. I his method of fowling resembles that
of the Norwegians, as described by Bishop Pontoppidan.
KILDARE, a town of Ireland, and capital of a
county of the same name, is situated 28 miles south¬
west of Dublin. It is governed by a sovereign, record¬
er, and two portrieves. The church of Kildare was
very early erected into a cathedral with episcopal juris¬
diction, which dignity it retains to this day j the cathe¬
dral, however, has been for several years neglected, and
at present is almost in ruins. St Brigid founded a nun¬
nery at Kildare, which afterwards came into the posses¬
sion of the regular canons of St Augustin j this saint
died 1st February 523> a,H^ 'vas interred here} but her
remains were afterwards removed tothe cathedral church
of Down. In the year 638, Aod Dubh or Black Hugh
king of Leinster, abdicated his throne, and took on liim
the Augustinian habit in this abbey } he was afterwards
chosen abbot and bishop of Kildare, and died on the
loth May. In 756, Eiglitigin the abbot, who was also
bishop of Kildare, w-as killed by a priest as be was cele¬
brating mass at tlie altar of St Brigid } since which
time no priest whatsoever was allowed to celebrate mass
in that church in the presence of a bishop. In 1220
Henry de Loundres archbishop of Dublin put out the
file called inextinguishable, which had been preserved
from a very early time by the nuns of St Brigid. This
fire was however lighted, and continued to burn till the
total suppression of monasteries. Here was also a Gray
abbey on the south side of the town, erected for friars of
the Franciscan order, or, as they were moie generally
called, Gray friars, in the year 1260, by Lord William
de Vesey } but the building was completed by Gerald
Fitzmaurice, Ford Offaley. A considerable part of this
building yet remains, which appears not to have been of
very great extent. A house for White friars was like¬
wise founded in this town by William de Vesey in 1290 }.
the round tower here is 130 feet high, built of white
granite to about 12 feet above the ground, and the rest
of common blue stone. The pedestal of an old cross is still
to be seen here } and the upper part of a cross lies near
it on the ground. The number of inhabitants is stated
at 36,000.
Kildare, a county of Ireland, in the province of
Leinster, which is 37 miles in length and 20 in
breadth j
K I L [ 453 ] K I L
Kildare breadth ; and is bounded on the east by Dublin and
(I Wicklow, on the West by King’s and Queen’s counties,
Kilkeawy* on the north by East Meath, and on the south by Car-
low. It is a fine arable country, well watered by
the Barrow, Liffey, and other rivers, and well inhabit¬
ed and cultivated, containing 228,590 Irish plantation
acres, 100 parishes, 10 baronies, and 4 boroughs. The
chief town is of the same name, and gave title of earl
to the noble family of Fitzgerald. It was anciently
called Chilledair, i. e. “ the wood of oaks,” from a
large forest which comprehended the middle part of
this county ; in the centre of this wood was a large
plain, sacred to heathen superstition, and at present
called the Curragh of Kildare; at the extremity of
this plain, about the commencement of the 6th cen¬
tury, St Brigid, one of the heathen vestals, on her
conversion to the Christian faith, founded, with the as¬
sistance of St Conlseth, a church and monastery} near
which, after the manner of the Pagans, St Brigid kept
the sacred fire in a cell, the ruins of which are still
visible. See Kildare, Supplement.
KILDERKIN, a liquid measure, containing two
firkins.
KILKENNY, a county of Ireland, in the province
of Leinster, bounded on the south by the county of
Waterford, on the north by the Queen’s county, on
the west by the county of Tipperary, on the east by
the counties of Wexford and Carlow, and on the north¬
west by Upper Ossory. The greatest length of this
county from north to south is 38 miles, the breadth
from east to west 18 j and it contains 10 baronies. It
is one of the most healthful, pleasant, and populous
counties of Ireland. It contains 287,650 Irish planta¬
tion acres, 96 parishes, and in 1811 had 108,coo in¬
habitants. Gilbert Clare, earl of Gloucester and Here¬
ford, marrying Isabella, one of the daughters and co¬
heiresses of William earl Marshal, received as her dower
the county of Kilkenny. See Kilkenny, Supplement.
Kilkenny, the capital of a county of the same
name in Ireland, situated in the province of Leinster,
57 miles south-west of Dublin. It takes its name
from the cell or church of Canic, who was an eminent
hermit in this country $ and is one of the most elegant
cities in the kingdom. It is the seat of the bishop of
Ossory, which was translated from Agabo in Ossary,
about the end of Henry II.’s reign, by Bishop O’Dul-
lany. The city is pleasantly situated on the Neor, a
navigable river that discharges itself into the harbour
of Waterford. It is said of Kilkenny, that its air is
without fog, its water without mud, its fire without
smoke, and its streets paved with marble. The two
latter are indeed matter of fact j for they have in
the neighbourhood, a kind of coal that burns from
first to last without smoke, and pretty much resembles
the Welsh coal. Most of the streets also are paved
with a stone called black marble; of w hich there are
large quarries near the town. This stone takes a
fine polish, and is beautifully intermixed with white
granite. The air too is good and healthy, though
not remarkably clearer than in many other parts of
the kingdom. The city is governed by a mayor, re¬
corder, aldermen, and sheriffs. It comprises two towns,
viz. Kilkenny so called, and Irish town, each of which
formerly sent two members to parliament, and both
together contain 2870 houses, and 14,975 inhubi- Kilkenny,
tants. This city was once of great consequence, as
may be seen by the venerable ruins yet remaining of
churches, monasteries, and abbeys, which even now
in their dilapidated state exhibit such specimens of ex¬
quisite taste in architecture as may vie with any mo¬
dern improvements j and the remains of its gates,
towers, and walls, show it to have been a place of great
strength. Here too at different times parliaments
were held, in which some remarkable statutes were
passed. It has two churches, and several Catholic
chapels j barracks for a troop of horse and four com¬
panies of foot : a market is held twice in the week,
and there are seven fairs in the year.—Irish town is
more properly called the borough of St Canice, vulgar¬
ly Kenny; the patronage of which is in the bishop of
Ossory. The cathedral, which stands in a sequestered
situation, is a venerable Gothic pile built about 500 years
ago ; and close to it is one of those remarkable round
towers, which have so much engaged the attention of
travellers. The bishop’s palace is a handsome building,
and communicates by a covered passage with the church.
The castle was first built in 1195, on the site of one
destroyed by the Irish in 1173. The situation in a
military view was most eligible : the ground was ori¬
ginally a conoid, the elliptical side abrupt and precipi¬
tous, with the river running rapidly at its base : here
the natural rampart was faced with a wall of solid ma¬
sonry 40 feet high j the other parts were defended by
bastions, curtains, towers, and outworks 5 and on the
summit the castle was erected. This place, as it now
stands, was built bv the ancestors of the dukes of Or¬
mond : here the Ormond family resided ; and it is now
in the possession of Mr Butler, a descendant of that
illustrious race. The college originally founded by the
Ormond family is rebuilt in a style of elegance and
convenience. The tholsel and market house are both
good buildings : and over the latter is a suite of rooms,
in which during the winter, and at races and assizes
times, assemblies are held. There are two very fine
bridges of cut marble over the Neor j John’s bridge
particularly is light and elegant. The Ormond family
built and endowed a free school in this city. Here are
the ruins of three old monasteries, called St John's,
St Francis's, and the Black abbey : belonging to the
latter are the remains of several old monuments, al¬
most buried in the ruins j and the courts of the others
are converted into barracks. The manufactures chiefly
carried on here are, coarse woollen cloths, blankets of
extraordinary fine quality, and considerable quantities
of starch. In the neighbourhood also are made very
beautiful chimney-pieces of that species of stone al¬
ready mentioned, called Kilkenny marble: they are cut
and polished by the power of water, a mill for that pur¬
pose being invented by a Mr Colies. The Kilkenny coal
pits are within nine miles of the town. This city came
by marriage into the ancient family of Le Despencer.
It was incorporated by charter from King James I. in
1609. The market cross of Kilkenny continued an
ornament to the city until 1771, when it was taken
down j the date on it was MCCC. Sir James Ware
mentions Bishop Cantwell’s rebuilding the great bridge
of Kilkenny, thrown down by an inundation about
the year 1447. It appears also that St John’s bridge.
K I L [ 454
Kilkenny fell down by a great flood in 1564 ; and on 2d Octo-
Kilarnev ber I763> b7 another like circumstance, Green’s bridge
1   near the cathedral fell.—The borough of St Canice,
or Irish town, always enjoyed very ancient prescriptive
rights. A close roll of 5 Edward III. A. D. 1376,
forbids the magistrates of Kilkenny to obstruct the sale
of victuals in the market of Irish town, or within the
cross, under the pretence of custom for murage :
and lest the ample grants made to Kilkenny might be
interpreted so as to include Irish town, the corporation
ot the latter secured their ancient rights by letters-
patent, 15 Edward IV. A. D. 1474.' These renew
their former privileges, and appoint a portrieve to be
chosen every 21st September, and sworn into office on
v ^lie IItb October. The portrieve’s prison was at
Troy-gate. Whenever the mayor of Kilkenny came
within \\ ater-gate, he dropt down the point of the city
sword, to show he claimed no pre-eminence within the
borough.
KILL ALOE, a bishop’s see in the county of
Clare and province of Munster, in Ireland, 86 miles
from Dublin, otherwise Lounia. It was anciently
written Kill cla-Lua, i. e. “ the church of Lua,” from
Lua or Molua, who about the beginning of the 6th
century founded an abbey near this place. St Molua
appears to have derived his name from Lovnia, the
place of his residence, as was customary amongst the
ancient Irish. On the death of St Molua, St Flannan
his disciple, and son of the chief of the district, was
consecrated bishop of this place at Rome about the
year 639, and the church endowed with considerable
estates by his father Theodorick. Towards the close
of the 12th century, the ancient see of Roscrea was
united to that of Killaloe j from which period these
united bishoprics have been governed by the same bi¬
shops. At Killaloe is a bridge over the Shannon of
17 arches 5 and here is a considerable salmon and eel
fishery. There are many ancient buildings in and
about this town. The cathedral is a Gothic edifice in
form of a cross, with the steeple in the centre, sup-
3 K I L
islands, and surrounding scenery. The southern shore kmi
is composed of immense mountains, rising abruptly
from the water, and covered with woods of the finest
timber. From the centre of the lake the view of this
ranges astonishingly sublime, presenting to the eye an
ex ent of forest six miles in length, and from half a
mikto a mile and a half in breadth, hanging in a robe
of rich luxuriance on the sides of two mountains,
whose bare tops rising above the whole form a per¬
fect contrast to the verdure of the lower region. On
the side one of^ these mountains is O’Sullivan’s cas¬
cade winch ffills into the lake with a roar that strikes
the timid with awe on approaching it. The view of
this sheet of water is uncommonly fine, appearing as if
it were descending from an arch of wood, which over¬
hangs it about 70 feet in height from the point of
view. Coasting along this shore affords an almost end¬
less entertainment, every change of position presenting
a new scene; and rocks hollowed and worn into a va¬
riety ol forms by the waves, and the trees and shrubs
bursting from the pores of the sapless stone, forced to
assume the most uncouth shapes to adapt themselves to
their fantastic situations. The islands are not so nu¬
merous in this as in the upper lake ; but there is one
of uncommon beauty, viz. Innisfallen, nearly opposite
to U bulhyan s cascade: It contains 18 Irish acres.
I be coast is formed into a variety of bays and promon¬
tories, skirted and crowned with arbutus, holly, and
0t- ii-n UbS an^ trees5 tbe interior parts are diversified
with hills, and dales, and gentle declivities, on which
every tree and shrub appears to advantage : the soil is
rich even to exuberance ; and trees of the largest size
incline across the vales, forming natural arches, with
ivy entwining in the branches, and hanging in festoons
ot foliage. 1 he promontory of Mucruss, which di-
v.des the upper from the lower Jake, is a perfect land
of enchantment; there is a road carried through the
centre of the promontory, which unfolds all the inte-
nor beauties of the place. Amongst the distant monn-
ported by four arches ; it was built by Donald king of Man[rerf'on’s 7r i'flp'r' tl'1 "'T? of .magr,lfjcence 5 and
Limerick i„ .,6. There ie a heihL, near it, ll rtS?a\'°veS ^ tZ Zt'
the oratory of St Molua ; and there is another of the ner lake is rm,n,l if,* •, Avlr g , . . P"
aame kind an island of the Shannon, having marks fines it on one side, and the approachTnglits'™
of still higher antiquity. The see house of the bishop
is at Clansford, near to Killaloe. Adjoining to the
cathedral are yet some remains of the mausoleum of
Brien Born.
KILLARNEY, a post town of Ireland in the
county of Kerry and province of Munster, seated near
a fine lake called Loc/i Lean, or lake of Killarney. It
is distant ^43 unles from Dublin, and has two fairs.
Within a mile and a half of this place are the ruins of
the cathedral of Aghadoe, an ancient bishopric unit¬
ed to Ardfert; and within four miles the ruins of Ap--
lish church. At tins town is the seat and gardens of
Lord Ken more.
^ he beautiful lake of Ivillarney is divided properly
into three parts, called the lower, middle, and upper
lake. Hie northern or lower lake is six miles in length
and from three to four in breadth, and the town is si¬
tuated on its northern shore. Tlhe country on this and
the eastern boundary is rather of a tame character ; but
is here and there diversified with gentle swells, many
of which afford delightful prospects of the lake, the
the other. Here is the celebrated rock called the
eagle's nest, which produces wonderful echoes. A French
horn sounded here, raises a concert superior to 100 in¬
struments ; and the report of a single cannon is answer¬
ed by a succession of peals resembling the loudest thun-
der, which seems to travel the surrounding scenery
and die away among the distant mountains. The up-’
per lake is four niiles in length, and from two to three
in breadth; and is almost surrounded by mountains, from
which descend a number of beautiful cascades. The
islands in this lake are numerous, and afford an ama¬
zing variety of picturesque views.—The centre lake,
which communicates with the upper, is but small in
comparison with the other two, and cannot boast of
equal variety. The shores, however, are in many places
indented with beautiful bays, surrounded with dark
groves of trees, some of which have a most picturesque
appearance when viewed from the water. The eastern
boundary is formed by the base of Mangerton, down
the steep side of which descends a cascade visible for
15® yards. this fall of water is supplied by a circular
lake
K I L [ 455 ] K I L
Killarney lake near tlie summit of the mountain, called the
B Devil''s Punch Bowl; which on account of its immense
KlUician- depthj
and the continual overflow of water, is consider-
■ . ed as one of the greatest curiosities in Killarney.—Mr
Smith seems to think, that one of the best prospects
this admired lake affords, is from a rising ground near
the ruined cathedral of Aghadoe.
The lake of Killarney is otherwise called Dough
Lane, or Loch Lean, from its being surrounded by high
mountains. Nennius says, that these lakes were en¬
compassed by four circles of mines ; the first of tin, the
second of lead, the third of iron, and the fourth of
copper. In the several mountains adjacent to the
lakes are still to be seen the vestiges of the ancient
mines of iron, lead, and copper; but tin has not been
discovered. Silver and gold are said by the Irish an¬
tiquaries to have been found in the early ages : but
this is somewhat doubtful, especially in any consider¬
able quantity, though some silver probably was extract¬
ed from the lead ore, and small quantities of gold
might have been obtained from the yellow copper
ore of Mucruss. However, in the neighbourhood of
these lakes were found in the early ages, as well as at
present, pebbles of several colours, which taking a
beautiful polish, the ancient Irish wore in their ears,
girdles, and different articles of their dress and furni¬
ture.
KILLAS, a genus of stones belonging to the ar¬
gillaceous class, found chiefly in Cornwall in England.
Its texture is either lamellar or coarsely granular j the
specific gravity from 2630 to 2666. It contains 60
parts of siliceous earth, 25 of argillaceous, 9 of mag¬
nesia, and 6 of iron. The greenish kind contains
more iron, and gives a green tincture to the nitrous
acid.
KILLICRANKIE, a noted pass of Perthshire in
Scotland. It is formed by the lofty mountains im¬
pending over the river Garie, which rushes through
in a deep, darksome, and horrid channel, beneath.
In the last century this was a pass of much danger
and difficulty ; a path hanging over a tremendous
precipice threatened destruction to the least false step
of the traveller: at present a fine road formed by the
soldiery lent by government, and encouraged by an
additional 6d. per day, gives an easy access to the
remote Highlands j and the two sides are joined by a
fine arch.
Near the north end of this pass, in its open and un¬
improved state, was fought in the year 1689 the battle
of Kiilicrankie, between the adherents of James II. un¬
der Viscount Dundee, and of William III. under Ge¬
neral Mackay. Dundee’s army was very much infe¬
rior to that of Mackay. When he came in sight of
the latter, he found them formed in eight battalions
ready for action. They consisted of 4500 foot, and
two troops of horse. The Highlanders under Dun¬
dee amounted to little more than half that number.
These he ranged instantly in order of battle. Maclean,
with his tribe, formed the right wing. The Macdo¬
nalds of Sky, under the chieftain’s eldest son, formed
the left. The Camerons, the Macdonalds of Glengary,
the followers of Clanronald, and a few Irish auxiliaries,
were in the centre. A troop of horse was placed be¬
hind under Sir William Wallace. The officers sent
by James from Ireland were distributed through all the
line. This whole army stood in sight of the enemy for Killicran-
several hours on the steep side of a hill, which faced kit?,
the narrow plain where Mackay had formed his line. Killigrew.
Dundee wished for the approach of night j a season *
suited for either victory or flight.
At five of the clock in the afternoon, a kind of slight
skirmish began between the right wing of the High¬
landers and the left of the enemy. But neither army
wishing to change their ground, the firing was discon¬
tinued for three hours. Dundee in the mean time
flew from tribe to tribe, and animated them to action.
At eight of the clock he gave the signal for battle, and
charged the enemy in person at the head of the horse.
The High I anders in deep columns rushed suddenly
down the hill. They kept their shot till they were
within a pike’s length of the enemy ; and having fired
their muskets, fell upon them sword in hand. Mac-
kay’s left wing could not for a moment sustain the
shock. They were driven by the Macleans with great
slaughter from the field. The Macdonalds oh the left
of the Highlanders, were not equally successful. Colo¬
nel Hastings’s regiment of foot stood their ground.
rJ hey even forced the Macdonalds to retreat. Mac-
lean, with a few of his tribe, and Sir Evan Cameron
at the head of his clan, fell suddenly on the flank of
this gallant regiment, and forced them to give way.
The slaughter ended not with the battle. Two thou¬
sand fell in the field and the flight. The tents, bag¬
gage, artillery, and provisions of the enemy, and even.
King William’s Dutch standard, which was carried by
Mackay’s regiment, fell into the hands of the High¬
landers. The victory was now complete. But the
Highlanders lost their gallant leader. Perceiving the
unexpected resistance of Colonel Hastings’s regiment,
and the confusion of the Macdonalds, Dundee rode
rapidly to the left wing. As he was raising his arm,
and pointing to the Camerons to advance, he received
a ball in his side. The wound proved mortal 5 and
with Dundee fell all the hopes of King James at that
time.
KILLIGREW, William, eldest son of Sir Robert
Killigrew, knight, was born in 1605. He was gentle¬
man-usher of the privy-chamber to King Charles I. j
and on the Restoration of Charles II. when the lat¬
ter married the Princess Catharine of Portugal, he was
created vice-chamberlain ) in which station he conti¬
nued 22 years, and died in 1693. Pie was the author
of four plays, which, though now thrown aside, were
much applauded by the poets of that time, particular¬
ly by Waller.
Killigrew, Thomas, brother of the former, was
born in 1611 ; and was much distinguished in his time
for wit. He was page of honour to King Charles I. and
groom of the bedchamber to Charles II. with whom
he suffered many years exile ; during which he applied
his leisure hours to the study of poetry, and to the com¬
position of several plays. After the Restoration he con¬
tinued in high favour with the king, and had frequently
access to him when he was denied to the first peers in the
realm; and being a man of great wit and liveliness of
parts, and having from his long intimacy with that
monarch, and being continually about his person du¬
ring his troubles, acquired a freedom and familiarity
with him, which even the pomp of majesty afterwards
could not check in him; he sometimes, by way of jest,
which
. . . K 1 L [456
,Vi "at’gw- which King Charles was ever font! of, if genuine, even
though himself was the object of (he satire, would ad¬
venture bold truths which scarcely any one besides
would have dared even to hint at. One story in par¬
ticular is related of him, which if true, is a strong
proof of the great lengths he would sometimes proceed
in his freedoms of this kind, which is as follows :—
AVhen the king’s unbounded passion for women had
given his mistress such an ascendant over him, that, like
the effeminate Persian monarch, he was much fitter to
have handled a distaff than to \vield a sceptre, and for
the conversation of his concubines utterly neglected
the most important affairs of state, Mr Killigrew went
to pay his majesty a visit in his private apartments,
habited like a pilgrim who was bent on a long journey.
The king, surprised at the oddity of his appearance,
immediately asked him what was the meaning of it,
and whither he was going ? “ To hell,” bluntly re¬
plied the wag. “ Prithee (said the king), what can
your errand be to that place ?” To fetch back Oliver
Cromwell (rejoined he), that he may take some care
of the affairs of England, for his successor takes none at
all.—One more story is j-elated of him, which is not
barren of humour. King Charles’s fondness for plea¬
sure, to which he almost always made business give way,
used frequently to delay affairs of consequence, from his
majesty’s disappointing the council of his presence when
met for the dispatch of business, which neglect gave
great disgust and offence to many of those who were
treated with this seeming disrespect. On one of these
occasions the duke of Eauderdale, who was naturally
impetuous and turbulent, quitted the council chamber
in a violent passion j and meeting Mr Killigrew pre¬
sently after, expressed himself on the occasion in very
disrespectful terms of his majesty. Killigrew begged
his grace to moderate his passion, and offered to lay
him a wager of look that he himself would prevail on
his majesty to come to council in half an hour. The
duke, surprised at the boldness of the assertion, and
warmed by his resentment against the king, accepted
tne wager j on which Killigrew immediately went to
the king, and without ceremony told him what had
happened ; adding these words, “ I know that your
majesty hates Lauderdale, though the necessity of your
affairs compels you to carry an outward appearance of
civility: now, if you choose to get rid of a man who
is thus disagreeable to you, you need only go this once
to council; for I know his covetous disposition so per¬
fectly, that I am well persuaded, rather than pay this
tool, he would hang himself out of the way, and ne¬
ver plague you more.” The king was so pleased with
the archness of this observation, that he immediately
replied, “Well then, Killigrew, I positively will go j”
and kept his word accordingly.—Killigrew died in
16S2, and was buried in M'estminster abbey.
] K I L
Mr Dry den seems quite lavish in her praise, though
W ood assures us he has said no more of her than
she was equal if not superior to. This amiable young
woman died of the smallpox in 16855 and the year
after her poems were published in a thin quarto' vo¬
lume.
KILLILEAGH, a town of Ireland, in the county
of Down and province of Ulster, 80 miles from Dub¬
lin ; otherwise written Killyleagh. It is the principal
town in the barony of Duffrin 5 and seated on an arm
of the lake of Strangford, from which it is supplied
with a great variety of fish. The family of the Ha-
mi,tons, created first Lords Clanbois, and afterwards
earls of Clanbrassil, had their seat and residence here
in a castle standing at the upper end of the great street
At the lower end of the street is a little safe bay, where
ships lie sheltered from all winds 5 in the town are some
good houses, a decent market-house, a horse barrack
and a Presbyterian meeting-house. On an eminence a
small distance from the town is a handsome church
built in the form of a cross. This place suffered much
in the calamitous year 1641. It is now thriving, and
the linen manufacture carried on in it, and fine thread
made, for which it has a great demand. It formerly
returned two members to parliament. The celebrated
naturalist and eminent physician Sir Hans Sloane was
born here 16th April 1660, and his father Alexander
Sloane was at the head of that colony of Scots which
Ling James I. settled in the place. This town was in-
corporated by that king at the instance of the first earl
of Clanbois.
Ki PLOUGH (otherwise Port St Arne), a port
town of Ireland, situated in the countv of Down and
province of Ulster, 76 miles from Dublin. It lies
north of St John’s Point, and has a good quav, where
ships he very safe. The town is agreeably situated ; the
sea flowing all along the backs of the houses, where
ships ride in full view of the inhabitants. There is
here a good church, and a horse barrack. They have
good fisiiing in the bay; but the principal trade of
the place consists in the exportation of barley, and the
importation of such commodities as are consumed in
the adjacent country. A manufacture of salt is a’so
carried on with great advantage. The fairs held here
are five. At a small distance from the town is a char¬
ter working school for the reception of 20 children
which was set on foot by the late Mr Justice Ward!
There is a remarkable well here called St Scordin's
well, and highly esteemed for the extraordinary light-
ness of its water. It gushes out of a high rocky bank,
close upon the shore, and is observed never to diminish
its quantity in the driest season. There is also a mine¬
ral spring near the school, the waters of which the in¬
habitants affirm to he both purgative and emetic. At
a small distance from the town near the sea is a rock in
K-iHicrei
8
Killou-l
Kin icnvw « n r \ , a s.uau cusiauce irom me town near the sea is s
use for wfr’ as Mr W& ^ hTtyJ ^ & 'yh,ch there is an oblonS !joic’ from whence
use lor wit, as JVlr Wood savs. was ibp „.1 11   : ^• 1
t ^ ^ « vs a. u i la 1 v j <« 12 U A
Muse for wit,” as Mr Wood says, Was the daughter
of Dr Henry Kilhgrew, brother of the two foregoing
and was born a little before the Restoration. She
gave early indications of genius, and became eminent
in the arts both of poetry and painting. She drew
the duke of York and his duchess to wdiom she was
maid of honour, as well as several other portraits and
history pieces ; and crowned ail her other accomplish¬
ments with unblemished virtue and exemplary piety
. o at the
ebbing and flowing of the tide a strange noise is heard
somewhat resembling the sound of a huntsman’s born.
In an open field about a quarter of a mile from the
town towards St John’s Point there is a very curious
cave, which has a winding passage two feet and a half
broad, with three doors in it besides the entrance and
leading to a circular chamber three yards in diameter,
where there is a fine limpid well. The cave is about
27 yards long.
Killouqu
K 1 L [ 457 ] KIM
Killoagh Killough Harbour is tolerably safe and comniodi-
Harboni ous ; a small degree of caution, however, is necessary in
R sailing into it; for a rock stands in the middle of the
iock " entrance, covered at half flood, commonly called the
tuater rock. Either to the east or west of this rock is
a secure passage, the inlet lying south by east and
north by west. On the west side of the rock open to
Coney island is a strong quay, and a bason for ships,
where they are defended from all winds, within which
the harbour on both sides affords good anchorage for
vessels of 150 tons. At the end of the quay the chan¬
nel is 400 yards wide. The bay of Killough is form¬
ed by Kin-fad and the Long point to the east, and St
John’s point to the west, as the inner harbour is by a
peninsula called Coney isle from the number of rabbits
thereon, and not Cane isle as Sir William Petty sup¬
poses. An impetuous sea runs on all this coast in storms
and spring tides.
KILLYBEGS, a borough and fair town in the coun¬
ty of Donegal and province of Ulster, 123 miles from
Dublin. It is situated on the north side of Donegal
bay j but is a place of no great trade, though it has a
harbour spacious enough to contain a large fleet: it
has a bold and ample opening to the sea on the south,
and is secured within by the shelter of high lands sur¬
rounding it; so that vessels may enter at any time of
the tide, there being from five to eight fathoms water.
The herring fishery is the most considerable of any car¬
ried on here ; but the town is likely to increase in trade
and consequence.
KILMAINHAM, a town of Ireland, situated about
half a mile from Dublin. It has a session house and
handsome gaol ; and here the quarter sessions are held
for the county of Dublin, and knights of the shire elec¬
ted for that county. This place was sometimes the seat
of government before Dublin castle was converted to
that purpose ; and though now much decayed, it gives
title of baron to the family of Wenman. An ancient
priory was founded here, and a house for knights hos¬
pitalers of St John of Jerusalem.
KILMALLOCK, a town of Ireland, in the county
of Limerick and province of Munster, 16 miles from
the city of Limerick, and 107 from Dublin.—This
town makes a conspicuous figure in the military history
of Ireland. In the 16th century it was a populous
place ; and the remains of the wall which entirely sur¬
rounded the town, and of several large houses, are still
to be seen. Edward VI. granted a charter to it with
many privileges, as did Queen Elizabeth another, dated
24th April 1584. In 1598, it was invested by the Irish
forces, when the earl of Ormond hastened to its relief,
and arrived in time to raise the siege : here was also
some contest during the grand rebellion in 1641 and
1642. By an inquisition 11 Aug. 29 Eliz. it appears
that there had been an abbey in Kilmallock called
Flascispague; on which a stone house was erected. In
the cathedral church are the remains of a monument
erected over the Verdon family, one of whom repre¬
sented this town in parliament in 1613. This place
once gave title of viscount to one of the Sarsfield fa¬
mily. Sir James Ware informs us, that an abbey of
Dominicans or Black friars was built here in the 13th
century by the sovereign, brethren, and commonalty.
From the many ruins here of castles and ancient build¬
ings, it has acquired the name of the Irish Balbeck.
VOL. XI. Part II. f
The parish church was formerly an abbey for re- KilmaU
gular canons founded by St Mochoallog, who died locl*
between the years 639 and 656 ; and some writers
say, that the Dominican abbey just mentioned was ^
founded in 1291, by Gilbert the second son of John of
Calleen.
KILMARNOCK, a populous and flourishing town
of Ayrshire in Scotland, noted for its manufacture of
carpets, milled hosiery, and Scotch bonnets. It gave
the title of earl to the noble family of Boyd, residing
in this neighbourhood. This title was forfeited by the
last earl, who, by engaging in the rebellion of 1745,
was deprived of his honours, and lost his life on the
scaffold. His son, however, who served in the king’s
army, afterwards succeeded to the earldom of Errol.
The population in 1811 was 10,148.
KILMORE, a bishop’s see in the county of Cavan
and province of Ulster in Ireland. It was called in
former ages Clunes, or Clunis, i. e. the “ sequestered
placeand is situated near Lough Earn. St Fedli-
mid founded this bishopric in the sixth century ; it was
afterwards removed to an obscure village called Tri-
burna ; where it continued until the year 1454, when
Andrew Macbrady bishop of Triburna erected a
church on the site of that founded by Fedlimid, to
whose memory it was dedicated, and denominated
Kilmore, or “ the great church.” At present there
is neither cathedral, chapter, nor canons, belonging
to this see ; the small parish church contiguous to
the episcopal house serving the purpose of a cathe¬
dral.
KILN, a stove used in the manufacture of various
articles. A fabric formed for admitting heat, in order
to dry or burn materials placed in it to undergo such
operations.
KILWORTH, a town of Ireland, situated in the
county of Cork and province of Munster, 108 miles
from Dublin. It is a thriving place, with a good
church, at the foot of a large ridge of mountains called
Kilworth mountains, through which a good turnpike
road is carried from Dublin to Cork : below the town
runs the river Funcheon, which is well stored with sal¬
mon and trout, and discharges itself a mile south of this
into the Blackwater. Near Kilworth is a good glebe
and vicarage house. At this place is Moorpark, the
superb seat of Lord Mountcashel ; and adjoining to his
lordship’s improvements stands the castle of Clough-
leagh, boldly situated on the river Funcheon, which has
stood several sieges.
KIMBOL1 ON, a town of Huntingdonshire, seated
in a bottom ; and noted for the castle of Kimbolton,
the seat of the duke of Manchester. W. Lons. O j c
N. Lat. 52. 18. S >
KIMCHI, David, a Jewish rabbi, famous as a
commentator on the Old Testament, lived at the close
of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries. He
was a Spaniard by birth, son of Rabbi Joseph Kimchi,
and brother of Rabbi Moses Kimchi, both men of emi¬
nent learning among the Jews : but he exceeded them
both, being the best Hebrew grammarian the Jews ever
had. He wrote a Grammar and Dictionary of that
language ; out of the former of which Buxtorf made his
./hesaurus Iingues Hebrece, and his Lexicon Linguae
Hebrece out ol the latter. His writings have been held
in such estimation among the Jews, that no one can
3 M arrive
KIN
[ 458 ]
K I N
Kimclii arrive at any reputation In letters and theology without
studying them.
KINCARDINE, a town In Perthshire, situated up¬
on the banks of the Forth, four miles east from Alloa,
and 22 south from Perth. The houses are well built,
and the streets regular, with a dry and healthy situa¬
tion. The harbour is commodious, with an excellent
roadstead opposite to the town, where 100 vessels of
all dimensions may ride in perfect safety. Shipbuild¬
ing is extensively carried on at this place, and nine or
ten have sometimes been upon the stocks at once, some
of them 200 and 300 tons burden. In 1792 there were
75 vessels belonging to the town, furnishing employ¬
ment for 300 sailors. These import wood, iron, flax, &c.
from the Baltic, barley from England and other places j
and export coals to difl'erent parts of Europe. It con¬
tained 2419 inhabitants in 1811.
KINCARDINESHIRE, or Mearns-shire, a
county of Scotland, bounded on the north by Aber¬
deenshire, on the east by the German ocean, and on
the south-west by Angus'or Forfarshire. In form it
resembles a harp, having the lower point towards the
south. Its length along the coast is about 30 miles j
its greatest breadth about 20. Various opinions have
been held concerning the derivation of the word Mearns;
but the other name is taken from its ancient capital,
Kincardine, now an inconsiderable village. The tract
of country through which the Dee passes, and the plain
along the sea coast, are well cultivated, and produce
much corn and flax. The fields are in many places
skreened by woods j and the heaths afford sheep walks
and much good pasture for cattle. But the most ex¬
tensive tract under cultivation, is what is called the
hoiv or hollow of the Mearns. This tract forms part
of Strathmore, or the great vale which runs from Stone¬
haven in the north-east to Argyleshire in the south-west,
nearly across the kingdom. Near Stonehaven, to the
south, are the ruins of Dunnotar castle, the ancient seat
of the earl marischal of Scotland, situated on a high
perpendicular rock, almost surrounded by the sea. In
this neighbourhood is a precipitous cliff overhanging
the sea, called jFore/s HW/gA; noted as the resort of
kittiwakes, the young of which are much sought af¬
ter in the hatching season, being esteemed a great
delicacy.—At a little distance from Stonehaven, up
the river, stands Urie, the birth-place of Barclay the
famous apologist for the Quakers. The Quakers have
here a burying-ground ; and in the vicinity are seen
the traces of a Roman station. There are other fine
mansion houses in this county, as Burn, the seat of the
late Lord Adam Gordon j Arbuthnot, the seat of Vis¬
count Arbuthnot; Criggie, Benholm Castle, &c.—The
village of Fordun, a little south from the centre of the
county, is supposed to be the birth-place of the cele¬
brated author of the Scotichronicon. In the church¬
yard of Fordun is shewn what is said to be the tomb of
St Palladius, a small plain building, which from its ap¬
pearance is comparatively of a modern date. Near the
village, and along the river Bervie, the country is flat
and well cultivated. The small town of INVERBERVIE
was made a royal borough by David Bruce, who land¬
ed with his queen at Craig David near this after his
long retreat into France. Near the village of Fetter-
cairn are still seen some vestiges of a castle said to have
been the residence of Fineila, daughter of a nobleman
of large possessions in this county, or, as Major calls KiKcar-
her, Countess oj Angus, who was accessory to the mur- dineikire
der of Kenneth II. About two miles from this place, 11
on the road side, is a cairn of a stupendous size and
uncommon form, which probably might give name to
the parish. About six miles west from Bervie, is situ¬
ated Laurencekirk, which, formerly an insignificant
village, by the judicious and liberal exertions of Lord
Gardenstone, has become a handsome little town, with
a right to elect magistrates, and to hold an annual
fair and a weekly market. He established here ma¬
nufactures of lawn, cambric, linen, and various other
articles. He has also freely renounced all the oppres¬
sive services due by his tenants $ services which have
been so long and so justly complained of as a check to
agriculture in many parts of Scotland.—The north¬
west part of the shire, being mountainous, is more em¬
ployed in pasture than in cultivation. The principal
mountains are Montbattock, and Cloch-na-bean : the
former is the highest in the county ; the latter is remark¬
able, as the name imports, for a huge detached rock
near its summit. The population of this county, ac¬
cording to its parishes, is the following.
Parishes.
I Arbuthnot
Banchory Devenich
Banchory Ternan
Benholm
5 Bervie
Conveth
Dunnotar
Durris
Fettercairn
10 Fetteressoe
Fordun
Garvock
Glenbervie
Kinneff
15 Maryculter
Mary kirk
Nigg
St Cyrus
19 Strachan
Population Population in
in I7S5* 179c—179S.
997
1495
j736
1367
655
757
i57°
889
*9SQ
3082
1890
755
958
858
746
128 c
1289
1271
796
1041
1700
1340
3557
1200
j 200
1962
651
2000
337°
2258
460
33°7
1000
719
1481
1090
3763
70c
24,346
Population in 1811, 27,439
See Kincardineshire, Supplement.
26,799
Statist.
Hist.
KINDRED, in Law, persons related to one ano¬
ther, whereof the law reckons three degrees or lines,
viz. the descending, ascending, and collateral line.
See Consanguinity and Descent.
On their being no kindred in the descending line,
the inheritance passes in the collateral one.
KING, a monarch or potentate who rules singly and
sovereignly over a people.—Camden derives the word
from the Saxon cyning, which signifies the same j and
that from can, “ power,” or ken, “ knowledge,” where¬
with every monarch is supposed to be invested. The
Latin rex, the Scythian reix, the Punic resc/i, the Spa¬
nish rey, and French roy, come all, according to Pos-
tel, from the Hebrew vm, rosch, “ chief, head.”
Kings we e not known among the Israelites till
the
KIN [ 4S9 ] KIN
Kins- the reign of Saul. Before him they were governed
-,-v—at first by elders as in Egypt; then by princes of God’s
appointment, as Moses and Joshua ; then by judges
till the time of Samuel; and last of all by kings. See
Judges.
Most of the Grecian states were governed at first by
kings, who were chosen by the people to decide differ¬
ences and execute a power which was limited by laws.
They commanded armies, presided over the worship of
the gods, &c. This royalty was generally hereditary;
hut if the vices of the heir to the crown were odious to
the people, or if the oracle had so commanded, he was
cut off from the right of succession; yet the kings
were supposed to hold their sovereignty by the ap¬
pointment of Jupiter. The ensign of majesty was the
sceptre, which was made of wood adorned with studs
of gold, and ornamented at the top with some fi¬
gure ; commonly that of an eagle, as being the bird of
*' Jove.
Rome also was governed at first by kings, who were
elected by the people, with the approbation of the
senate and concurrence of the augurs. Their power
extended to religion, the revenues, the army, and the
administration of justice. The monarchical form of
government subsisted 244 years in Rome, under seven
kings, the last of whom was Tarquinius Superbus. See
Rome.
Among the Greeks the king of Persia had anciently
the appellation of the great king ; the king of France
now has that of the most Christian king ; and the king
of Spain has that of Catholic king. The king of the
Romans is a prince chosen by the emperor, as a coad¬
jutor in the government of the empire.
The kings of England, by the Lateran council, un¬
der Pope Julius II. had the title of Christianissintus
conferred on them ; and that of defender of the faith
was added by Pope Leo X. though it had been used by
them some time before. The title of grace was first
given to our kings about the time of Henry IV. and
that of majesty first to Henry VIII. before which time
our kings were called grace, highness, &c.—In all pub¬
lic instruments and letters, the king styles himself nos,
“ wethough till the time of King John he spoke in
the singular number.
The definition of king above given, is according to
the general acceptation of the term. It will not there¬
fore strictly apply to the sovereign of Britain ; and still
less of late to that of France, formerly one of the most
absolute, now the most degraded, of princes, without
power and without consequence. In Britain, a happy
mean prevails. The power of the king is indeed sub¬
ject to great limitations : but they are the limitations of
wisdom, and the sources of dignity ; being so far from
diminishing his honour, that they add a glory to his
crown : For while other kings are absolute monarchs
over innumerable multitudes of slaves, the king of Bri¬
tain has the distinguished glory of governing a free
people, the least of whom is protected by the laws : he
has great prerogatives, and a boundless power in doing
good ; and is at the same time only restrained from act¬
ing inconsistently with his own happiness, and that of
his people.
To understand the royal rights and authority in Bri¬
tain, we must consider the king under six distinct views,
1. With regard to his title. 2. His royal family.
3. His councils. 4. His duties. 5. His prerogative. K;11S
6. His revenue. l —
I. His title. For this, see Hereditary Right, and
Succession.
II. His royal family. See Royal Family.
III. His councils. See Council.
IV. His duties. By our constitution, there are cer¬
tain duties incumbent on the king; in consideration of
which, his dignity and prerogative are established by
the laws of the land: it being a maxim in the law, that
protection and subjection are reciprocal. And these re¬
ciprocal duties are what Sir William Blackstone appre¬
hends were meant by the convention in 1688, when
they declared that King James had broken the original
contract between king and people. But, however, as
the terms of that original contract were in some mea¬
sure disputed, being alleged to exist principally in theo¬
ry, and to be only deducible by reason and the rules of
natural law, in which deduction different understand¬
ings might very considerably differ; it was, after the
Revolution, judged proper to declare these duties ex¬
pressly, and to reduce that contract to a plain certain¬
ty. So that, whatever doubts might be formerly raised
by weak and scrupulous minds about the existence of
such an original contract, they must now entirely cease ;
especially with regard to every prince who hath reign¬
ed since the year 1688.
The principal duty of the king is, To govern his
people according to law. "Nee regibus infmita aut libera
potestas, was the constitution of our German ancestors
on the continent. And this is not only consonant to
the principles of nature, of liberty, of reason, and of
society; but has always been esteemed an express part
of the common law of England, even when prerogative
was at the highest. “ The king (saith Bracton, who
wrote under Henry III.) ought not to be subject to
man ; but to God, and to the law: for the law maketh
the king. Let the king therefore render to the law,
what the law has invested in him with regard to others ;
dominion, and power : for he is not truly king, where
will and pleasure rules, and not the law.” And again :
“ The king hath a superior, namely God ; and also the
law, by which he was made a king.” Thus Bracton;
and Fortescue also, having first well distinguished be¬
tween a monarchy absolutely and despotically regal,
which is introduced by conquest and violence, and a
political or civil monarchy, which arises from mutual
consent (of which last species he asserts the government
of England to be), immediately lays it down as a prin¬
ciple, that “ the king of England must rule his people
according to the decrees of the laws thereof; insomuch
that he is bound by an oath at his coronation to the ob¬
servance and keeping of his own laws.” But to ob¬
viate all doubts and difficulties concerning this matter,
it is expressly declared by statute 12 and 13 W. III.
c. 2. “ that the laws of England are the birthright of
the people thereof; and all the kings and queens who
shall ascend the throne of this realm ought to administer
the government of the same according to the said laws,
and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them
respectively according to the same: and therefore all
the other laws and statutes of this realm, for securing
the established religion, and the rights and liberties of
the people thereof, and all other laws and statutes of
the same now in force, are by his majesty, by and with
3 M 2 the
KIN [ 460 ] KIN
Kins;. tlie advice and consent of the lords spiritual and tempo-
ral, and commons, and by authority ot the same, rati¬
fied and confirmed accordingly.”
And as to the terms of the original contract between
king and people, these, it is apprehended, are now
couched in the coronation oath, which by the statute
1 W. and M. stat. I. c. 6. is to be administered to
every king and queen who shall succeed to the imperial
crown of these realms, by one of the archbishops or
bishops of the realm, in the presence of all the people j
who on their parts do reciprocally take the oath of al¬
legiance to the crown. This coronation oath is concei¬
ved in the following terms :
“ The archbishop or bishop shall sap, Will you so¬
lemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this
kingdom of Britain, and the dominions thereto be¬
longing, according to the statutes in parliament a-
greed, and the laws and customs of the same ?—
The king or queen shall say, 1 solemnly promise so to
do.
“ Archbishop or bishop. Will you to your power
cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all
your judgments ?—King or queen. I will.
“ Archbishop or bishop. Will you to the utmost of
your power maintain the laws of God, the true profes¬
sion of the gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion
established by the law ? And will you preserve unto
the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the church¬
es committed to their charge, all such rights and privi¬
leges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or
any of them ? King or queen. All this I promise to
do.
“ After this the king or queen, laying his or her
hand upon the holy gospel, shall say, The things which
1 have here before promised, I will perform and keep :
so help me God. And then shall kiss the book.”
This is the form of the coronation oath, as it is now
prescribed by our law ; the principal articles of which
appear to be at least as ancient as the Mirror of Justi¬
ces, and even as the time of Bractcn : hut the wording
of it was changed at the Revolution, because (as the
statute alleges) the oath itself had been framed in
doubtful words and expressions, with relation to an¬
cient laws and constitutions at this time unknown.
However, in what form soever it be conceived, this is
most indisputably a fundamental and original express
contract j though, doubtless, the duty of protection is
impliedly as much incumbent on the sovereign before
coronation as after : in the same manner as allegiance
to the king becomes the duty of the subject immediate¬
ly on the descent of the crown, before he has taken the
oath of allegiance, or whether he ever takes it at all.
This reciprocal duty of the subject will be considered
in its proper place. At present we are only to observe,
that in the king’s part of this original contract are ex¬
pressed all the duties which a monarch can owe to his
people, viz. to govern according to law j to execute
judgment in mercy ; and to maintain the established
religion. And with respect to the latter of these three
branches, we may farther remark, that by the act of
union, 5 Ann. c. 8. two preceding statutes are recited
and confirmed ; the one of the parliament of Scotland,
the other of the parliament of England : which enact ;
the former, that every king at his accession shall take
and subscribe an oath, to preserve the Protestant reli-
J
gion, and Presbyterian church-government in Scotland;
the latter, that at his coronation he shall take and ——v—■
subscribe a similar oath, to preserve the settlement of
the church of England, within England, Ireland,
Wales, and Berwick, and the territories thereunto be¬
longing. _
V. His prerogative. See PREROGATIVE.
VI. His revenue. See Be VENUE.
Having in the preceding articles chalked out all the
principal outlines of this vast title of the law, the su¬
preme executive magistrate, or the king’s majesty, con¬
sidered in his several capacities and points of view ; it
may not be improper to take a short comparative review
of the power of the executive magistrate, or preroga¬
tive of the crown, as it stood in former days, and as it
stands at present. And we cannot but observe, that
most of the laws for ascertaining, limiting, and re¬
straining this prerogative, have been made within the
compass of little more than a century past; from the
petition of right in 3 Car. I. to the present time. So
that the powers of the crown are now to all appearance
greatly curtailed and diminished since the reign of
King James I. particularly by the abolition of the star-
chamber and high-commission courts in the reign of’
Charles I. and by the disclaiming of martial law, and
the power of levying taxes on the subject, by the same
prince : by the disuse of forest laws for a century past:
and by the many excellent provisions enacted under
Charles II. ; especially the abolition of military tenures,
purveyance, and pre-emption ; the habeas corpus act;
and the act to prevent the discontinuance of parliaments
for above three years ; and since the Bevolution, by
the strong and emphatical words in which our liberties
are asserted in the bill of rights, and act of settlement;
by the act for triennial, since turned into septennial
elections ; by the exclusion of certain officers from the
house of commons; by rendering the seats of the judges
permanent, and their salaries independent; and by re¬
straining the king’s pardon from obstructing parliamen¬
tary impeachments. Besides all this, if we consider
how the crown is impoverished and stripped of all its
ancient revenues, so that it greatly depends on the libe¬
rality of parliament for its necessary support and main¬
tenance, we may perhaps be led to think that the ba¬
lance is inclined pretty strongly to the popular scale,
and that the executive magistrate has neither indepen¬
dence nor power enough left, to form that check upon
the lords and commons which the founders of our con¬
stitution intended.
But, on the other hand, it is to be considered, that
every prince, in the first parliament after his accession,
has by long usage a truly royal addition to his heredi¬
tary revenue settled upon him for his life; and has ne¬
ver any occasion to apply to parliament for supplies,
but upon some public necessity of the whole realm.
This restores to him that constitutional independence,
which at his first accession seems, it must be owned, to
be wanting. And then with regard to power, we
may find perhaps that the hands of government are
at least sufficiently strengthened; and that a British
monarch is now in no danger of being overborne by
either the nobility or the people. The instruments of
power are not perhaps so open and avowed as they for¬
merly were, and therefore are the less liable to jealous
and invidious reflections ; but they are not the weaker
upon
KIN [ 461 ] KIN
upon that account. In short, our national debt and
taxes (besides the inconveniences before mentioned)
have also in their natural consequences thrown such a
weight of power into the executive scale of govern¬
ment, as we cannot think was intended hy our pa¬
triot ancestors ; who gloriously struggled for the aboli¬
tion of the then formidable parts of the prerogative,
and by an unaccountable want of foresight established
this system in their stead. The entire collection and
management of so vast a revenue, being placed in the
hands of the crown, have given rise to such a number
of new officers, created by and removable at the royal
pleasure, that they have extended the influence of go¬
vernment to every corner of the nation. Witness the
commissioners and the multitude of dependents on the
customs, in every port of the kingdom ; the commission¬
ers of excise, and their numerous subalterns, in every
inland district*, the postmasters and their servants
planted in every town and upon every public road j
the commissioners of the stamps, and their distnbutois,
which are fully as scattered and fully as numerous ; the
officers of the salt duty, which, though a species of ex¬
cise, and conducted in the same manner, are yet made
a distinct corps from the ordinary managers of that re¬
venue ; the surveyors of houses and windows j the re¬
ceivers of the land tax; the managers of lotteries ; and
the commissioners of hackney coaches ; all which are
either mediately or immediately appointed by the
crown, and removable at pleasure without any reason
assigned : these, it requires but little penetration to
see, must give that power on which they depend for
subsistence, an influence most amazingly extensive. To
this may be added the frequent opportunities of confer¬
ring particular obligations, by preference in loans, sub¬
scriptions, tickets, remittances, and other money trans¬
actions, which will greatly increase this influence; and
that over those persons whose attachment on account of
their wealth, is frequently the most desirable. All this
is the natural, though perhaps the unforeseen, conse¬
quence of erecting our funds of credit, and, to support
them, establishing our perpetual taxes : the whole of
which is entirely new since the Restoration in 1660 ;
and hy far the greatest part since the Revolution in
1688. And the same may he said with regard to the
officers in our numerous army, and the places which the
army has created. All which put together give the
executive power so persuasive an energy with respect to
the persons themselves, and so prevailing an interest
with their friends and families, as will amply make
amends for the loss of external prerogative.
But though this profusion of offices should have no
effect on individuals, there is still another newly ac¬
quired branch of power ; and that is, not the influ¬
ence only, hut the force of a disciplined army; paid
indeed ultimately hy the people, hut immediately by
the crown ; raised by the crown, officered by the crown,
commanded by the crown. They are kept on foot,
it is true, only from year to year, and that by the
power of parliament: but during that year they must,
by the nature of our constitution, if raised at all, be at
the absolute disposal of the crown. And there need
but few words to demonstrate how great a trust is there¬
by reposed in the prince by his people : A trust that is
more than equivalent to a thousand little troublesome
prerogatives.
Add to all this, that besides the civil list, the im- King,
mense revenue of almost seven millions sterling, which ——v—
is annually paid to the creditors ol the public, or
carried to the sinking fund, is first deposited in the
royal exchequer, and thence issued out to the respec¬
tive offices of payment. This revenue the people can
never refuse to raise, because it is made perpetual by
act of parliament ; which also, when well considered,
will appear to be a trust of great delicacy and high
importance.
Upon the whole, therefore, it seems clear, that what¬
ever may have become of the nominal, the real power
of the crown has not been too far weakened by any
transactions in the last century.* Much is indeed given
up ; but much is also acquired. The stern commands
of prerogative have yielded to the milder voice of in¬
fluence : the slavish and exploded doctrine of non-
resistance has given way to a military establishment by
law ; and to the disuse of parliaments has succeeded a
parliamentary trust of an immense perpetual revenue.
When, indeed, by the free operation of the sinking
fund, our national debts shall be lessened ; when the
posture of foreign affairs, and the universal introduc¬
tion of a well planned and national militia, will sutler
our formidable army to be thinned and regulated ; and
when (in consequence of all) our taxes shall be gra¬
dually reduced; this adventitious power of the crown
will slowly a’ad imperceptibly diminish, as it slowly and
imperceptibly rose. But till that shall happen, it will
he our especial duty, as good subjects and good Eng¬
lishmen, to reverence the crown, and yet guard against
corrupt and servile influences from those who are in¬
trusted with its authority ; to be loyal yet free ; obe¬
dient, and yet independent ; and, above every thing,
to hope that we may long, very long, continue to be
governed by a sovereign, who, in all those public acts
that have personally proceeded from himself, hath ma¬
nifested the highest veneration for the free constitution
of Britain, hath already in more than one instance
remarkably strengthened its outworks ; and will there¬
fore never harbour a thought or adopt a persuasion,
in any the remotest degree detrimental to public li¬
berty.
King at Arms, or of Arms, is an officer of great an¬
tiquity, and anciently of great authority, whose busi¬
ness is to direct the heralds, preside at their chapters,
and have the jurisdiction of armoury.
In England there are three kings of arms, viz. gar¬
ter, clarencieux, and norroy.
Garter, principal King of Arms, was instituted by-
Henry V. His business is to attend the knights of the
Garter at their assemblies, to marshal the solemnities at
the funerals of the highest nobility, and to carry the
garter to kings and princes beyond the sea ; on which
occasion he used to be joined in commission with some
principal peer of the kingdom. See Garter.
Clarencieux King at Arms, is so called from the
duke of Clarence, to whom he first belonged. His
office is to marshal and dispose the funerals of all the
inferior nobility, as baronets, knights, esquires, and
gentlemen, on the south side of the Trent. See Ci.a-
RENCIEUX.
Norroy King at Arms, is to do the same on the
north side of the river Trent.
These two last are also called provincial heralds, ir»
regard
KIN [ 462 ] KIN
King. regard they divide the kingdom between them into
“■’'v 1 provinces. By charter, they have power to visit noble¬
men’s families, to set down their pedigrees, distinguish
their arms, appoint persons their arms, and with Garter
to direct the other heralds.
Anciently the kings at arms were created and so¬
lemnly crowned by the kings of England themselves $
but in later times the earl marshal has a special com¬
mission at every creation to personate the king.
Lyon King at Arms, for Scotland, is the second
king at arms for Great Britain ; he is invested and
crowned with great solemnity. To him belong the
publishing king’s proclamations, marshalling funerals,
reversing arms, &c. See Lyon.
King, Dr John, a learned English bishop in the
17th century, was educated at Westminster school, and
at Oxford, and was appointed chaplain to Queen Eli¬
zabeth. In 1605 he was made dean of Christ church,
was for several years vice-chancellor of Oxford, and in
1611 he was advanced to the bishopric of London. Be¬
sides his Lectures upon Jonah, delivered at York, he
published several sermons. King James I. used to style
him the king of preachers; and Lord Chief Justice Coke
often declared, that he was the best speaker in the Star-
chamber in his time. He was so constant in preaching
after he was a bishop, that, unless he was prevented hy
want of health, he omitted no Sunday in visiting some
pulpit in or near London. Soon after his death, it was
reported, that he died a member of the Romish church.
But the falsity of this story was sufficiently exposed by
his son Dr Henry King, who was bishop of Chichester,
in a sermon at St Paul’s cross soon after •, by Bishop
Godwin in the Appendix to his Commentarius de prcesu-
libus Anglice, printed in 1622; and by Mr John Gee,
in his book, entitled, The Foot out of the Snare.
King, Dr William, a facetious English writer in
the beginning of the 18th century, was allied to the
noble families of Clarendon and Rochester. He was
elected a student of Christ church from Westminster
school in 1681, aged 18. He afterward entered upon
the study of law, and took the degree of doctor of civil
law, soon acquired a considerable reputation as a civi¬
lian, and was in great practice. He attended the earl
of Pembroke, lord lieutenant of Ireland, into that
kingdom, where he was appointed judge advocate, sole
commissioner of the prizes, keeper of the records, vicar
general to the lord primate of Ireland $ was countenan¬
ced by persons of the highest rank, and might have
made a fortune. But so far was he from heaping up
riches, that he returned to England with no other trea¬
sure than a few merry poems and humorous essays, and
returned to his student’s place at Christ church. He
died on Christmas day in 1712, and was interred in
the cloisters of Westminster abbey. His writings are
pretty numerous. The principal are, 1. Animadver¬
sions on a pretended Account of Denmark, wrote by
Mr Molesworth, afterwards Lord Molesworth. The
writing of these procured Dr King the place of secre¬
tary to Princess Anne of Denmark. 2. Dialogues of
the dead. 3. The art of love, in imitation of Ovid
De arte amandi. 4. A volume of poems. 5. Useful
transactions. 6. An historical account of the heathen
gods and heroes. 7. Several translations.
King, Dr William, archbishop of Dublin in the
18th century, was descended from an ancient family in
the north of Scotland, but born in the county of An-
tnm in the north of Ireland. In 1674 he took
priests orders, and in 1679 was promoted by his pa¬
tron, Dr Parker, archbishop of Dublin, to the chan¬
cellorship of St Patrick. In 1687 Peter Manby, dean
of Londonderry, having published at London, in 4to,
a pamphlet entitled Considerations which obliged Peter
Manby dean of Londonderry to embrace the Catholic
Religion, our author immediately wrote an answer. Mr
Manby, encouraged by the court, and assisted by the
most learned champions of the church of Rome, pub¬
lished a reply under this title, A reformed Catechism, in
two Dialogues, concerning the English Reformation
&c. in reply to Mr King’s Answer, &c. Our author
soon rejoined, in a Vindication of the Answer. Mr
Manby dropped the controversy j but dispersed a loose
sheet of paper, artfully written, with this title, A Letter
to a Friend, showing the Vanity of this Opinion, that
every Man’s Sense and Reason are to guide him in Mat¬
ters of Faith. This Dr King refuted in a Vindication
of the Christian Religion and Reformation against the
Attempts of a Letter, &c. In 1689 he was twice con¬
fined in the Tower by order of King James II. and the
same year commenced doctor of divinity. In 1690, up¬
on King James’s retreat to France after the battle at
the Boyne, he was advanced to the see of Derry. In
1692 he published at London, in 4to, The State'of the
Protestants of Ireland under the late King James’s Go¬
vernment, &c. : “ A history (says Bishop Burnet), as
truly as it is finely written.” He had by him at his death
attested vouchers of every particular fact alleged in this
book, which are now in the hands of his relations.
However, it was soon attacked by Mr Charles Lesly.
In 1693 our author finding the great number of Prote¬
stant dissenters, in his diocese of Derry, increased by
a vast addition of colonists from Scotland, in order to
persuade them to conformity to the established church,
published A Discourse concerning the Inventions of
Men in the Worship of God. Mr Joseph Boyse, a
dissenting minister, wrote an answer. The bishop an¬
swered Mr Boyse. The latter replied. The bishop re¬
joined. In 1702 he published at Dublin, in 4to, his ce¬
lebrated treatise De Origine Mali. Mr Edmund Law,
M. A. fellow of Christ’s college in Cambridge after¬
wards published a complete translation of this, with very
valuable notes, in 4to. In the second edition he has
inserted, by way of notes, a large collection of the au¬
thor’s papers on the same subject, which he had re¬
ceived from his relations after the publication of the
former edition. Our author in this excellent treatise
has many curious observations. He asserts and proves
that there is more moral good in the earth than moral
evil. A sermon by our author, preached at Dublin
in 1709, was published under the title of Divine Pre¬
destination and Foreknowledge consistent with the Free¬
dom of Man’s Will. This was attacked by Anthony
Collins, Esq. in a pamphlet entitled, A Vindication
of the Divine Attributes j in some remarks on the arch¬
bishop of Dublin’s sermon, entitled Divine Predestina¬
tion, &c. He published likewise, A Discourse con¬
cerning the Consecration of Churches j showing what
is meant by dedicating them, with the Grounds of that
Office. He died in 1720.
King, Dr William, principal of St Mary’s hall,
Oxford, son of the reverend Peregrine King, was born
at
KIN t 463 ] KIN
Kin", at Stepney in Middlesex, in the year 1685. He was
"“Y"—'made doctor of laws in 1715, was secretary to the
duke of Ormond, and earl of Arran, as chancellors of
the university j and was made principal of St Mary’s
hall on the death of Hr Hudson in 1719. When he
stood candidate for member of parliament for the uni¬
versity, he resigned his office of secretary, but enjoyed
his other preferment, and it was all he did enjoy to
the time of his death. Hr Clark, who opposed him,
carried the election j and after this disappointment, he,
in the year 1727, went over to Ireland, where he is
said to have written an epic poem, called The Toast,
which was a political satire, printed and given away
to his friends, but never sold. On the dedication of
Hr Radcliff’s library in 1749, he spoke a Latin ora¬
tion in the theatre of Oxford, which was received with
the highest acclamations j but it was otherwise when
printed, for he was attacked in several pamphlets on ac¬
count of it. Again, at the memorable contested elec¬
tion in Oxfordshire 1755, his attachment to the old
interest drew on him the resentment of the new, and
he was libelled in newspapers and pamphlets, against
which he defended himself in an Apology, and warmly
retaliated on his adversaries. He wrote several other
tilings, and died in 1762. He was a polite scholar,
an excellent orator, an elegant and easy writer, and
esteemed by the first men of his time for his learning
and wit.
King, Veter, lord high chancellor of Great Britain,
was the son of an eminent grocer and salter, and was
born at Exeter in 1669, and bred up for some years to
his father’s business; but his inclination to learning was
so strong, that he laid out all the money he could spare
in books, and devoted every moment of his leisure
hours to study: so that he became an excellent scholar
before the world suspected any such thing; and gave
the public a proof of his skill in church history, in his
Inquiry into the Constitution, Hiscipline, Unity, and
Worship of the primitive Church, that flourished with¬
in the first 300 Years after Christ. London, 1691, in
8vo. This was written with a view to promote the
scheme of a comprehension of the dissenters. He af¬
terwards published the second part of the Inquiry into
the Constitution, &c. ; and having desired, in his pre¬
face, to be shown, either publicly or privately, any mis¬
takes he might have made, that request was first com¬
plied with by Mr Edmund Elys ; between whom and
our author there passed several letters upon the subject,
in 1692, which were published by Mr Elys in 1694,
8vo, under the title of Letters on several Subjects. But
the most formal and elaborate answer to the Inquiry ap¬
peared afterwards, in a work entitled, Original Hraughi
of the Primitive Church.
His acquaintance with Mr Locke, to whom he was
related, and who left him half his library at his death,
was of great advantage to him; by his advice, after
he had studied some time in Holland, he applied him¬
self to the study of the law ; in which profession his
learning and diligence made him soon taken notice of.
In the two last parliaments during the reign of King
William, and in five parliaments during the reign of
Queen Anne, he served as burgess for Beer-Alston, in
fievonshire. In 1702, he published at London, in
8vo, without his name, his History of the Apostles Creed,
with critical observations on its several articles; which
is highly esteemed. In 1708, he was chosen recorder King
of the city of London, and in 1710, was one of the |1
members of the house of commons at the trial of Hr King-te
Sacheverel. In 1714, he was appointed lord chief
justice of the common pleas ; and the April follow¬
ing, was made one of the privy council. In 1715, he
was created a peer, by the litle of Lord King, baron of
Ockham in Surry, and appointed lord high chancellor
of Great Britain ; in which situation he continued till
I733, when he resigned; and in 1734 died at Ockham
in Surry.
King's Bench. See Bench, King's.
King Bird. See Paradise a, Ornithology In¬
dex.
King's Fisher. See Alcedo, Ornithology Index.
Books of Kings, two canonical books of the Old
Testament, so called because they contain the history
of the kings of Israel and Judah from the beginning
of the reign of Solomon down to the Babylonish cap¬
tivity for the space of near 600 years. The first book
of Kings contains the latter part of the life of Havid,
and his death ; the flourishing state of the Israelites
under Solomon, his building and dedicating the temple
of Jerusalem, his shameful defection from the true re¬
ligion, and the sudden decay of the Jewish nation af¬
ter his death, when it was divided into two kingdoms :
the rest of the hook is taken up in relating the acts of
four kings of Judah and eight of Israel. The se¬
cond hook, which is a continuation of the same history,
is a relation of the memorable acts of 16 kings of Ju¬
dah, and 12 of Israel, and the end of both kingdoms,
by the carrying of the 10 tribes captive into Assyria
by Shalmaneser, and the other two into Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar.
It is probable that these books were composed by
Ezra, who extracted them out of the public records,
which were kept of what passed in that nation.
King's County, a county of the province of Lein¬
ster in Ireland, taking its name from King Philip of
Spain, husband to Queen Mary. It is bounded on the
north by West Meath ; on the south by Tipperary and
Queen’s county, from which it is divided by the Bar-
row; and by part of Tipperary and Galway on the west,
from which it is separated by the Shannon. It is a
fine fruitful country, containing 257,510, Irish planta¬
tion acres, 56 parishes, 11 baronies, and two boroughs.
It is about 38 miles long and 30 broad, and the chief
town is Philipstown.
King's Evil, or Scrophula. See Medicine Index.
KING-TE-TCHING, a famous village belonging
to the district of Jao-tcheou-fou, a city of China, in the
province of Kiang-si. This village, in which are col¬
lected the best workmen in porcelain, is as populous as
the largest cities of China. It is reckoned to contain
a million of inhabitants, who consume every day more
than ten thousand loads of rice. It extends a league
and a half along the banks of a beautiful river, and is
not a collection of straggling houses intermixed with
spots of ground r on the contrary, the people com¬
plain that the buildings are too crowded, and that the
long streets which they form are too narrow ; those
who pass through them imagine themselves transport¬
ed into the midst of a fair, where nothing is heard
around but the noise of potters calling out to make way.
Provisions are dear here, because every thing consumed
is .
KIN [ 404 ] KIN
Kiag-te- is brought from remote places j even wood, so neces-
tching sary for their furnaces, is actually transported from the
Kia^st distance of an hundred leagues. This village, not-
, ^ n‘ withstanding the high price of provisions, is an asylum
for a great number of poor families, who could not sub¬
sist anywhere else. Children and invalids find employ¬
ment here, and even the blind gain a livelihood by-
pounding colours. The river in this place forms a
kind of harbour about a league in circumference: two
or three rows of barks placed in a line sometimes bor¬
der the whole extent of this vast bason.
KINGDOM, the territories or extent of country
subject to a king.
Kingdoms of Nature. Most naturalists following
Linnaeus, have divided all natural bodies into three
great classes, called kingdoms. These are the mineral,
the vegetable, and the animal kingdoms. See Natural
History.
KINGHORN, a borough town in the county of
Fife in Scotland, on the frith of Forth, directly oppo¬
site to Leith. The manufacture of thread stockings
has been long established ; and machinery has been in¬
troduced for spinning cotton and flax. Many of the
men are employed in coasting ships, in the fishery, or
the passage boats from hence to Leith, from which the
town of Kinghorn derives considerable advantage. This
place gives a secoud title to the earl of Strathmore.
The population in l3ll was 2204.
KINGSBRIDGE, a town of Devonshire, 217 miles
west-south-west from London, which has a harbour for
boats, and it is a chapel of ease to Cheston. The po¬
pulation in 1811 amounted to 1242.
KINGSCLERE, a town of Hampshire, is 56 miles
from London, was once the seat of the Saxon kings,
and contained 1863 inhabitants in 1811.
KINGSFERRY, in Kent, the common way from
the main land to the isle of Sheppey $ where a cable
of about 140 fathoms in length, fastened at each end
across the water, serves to get the boat over by hand.
For the maintenance of this ferry and keeping up the
highway leading to it through the marshes for above
one mile in length, and for supporting a wall against
the sea, the land occupiers tax themselves yearly one
penny per acre for fresh marsh land, and one penny for
every 10 acres of salt marsh land. Here is a house for
the ferry-keeper, who is obliged to tow all travellers
over free, except on these four days, yiz. Palm Mon¬
day, Whit-Monday, St James’s day, and Michaelmas
day, when a horseman pays two pence, and a footman
one penny. But on Sunday, or after eight o’clock at
night, the ferry-keeper demands sixpence of every
horseman, and two pence of every footman, whether
strangers or the land occupiers.
KINGSTON upon Thames, a town of Surrey
in England, situated 13 miles from London. It takes
its name from having been the residence of many of
our Saxon kings, some of whom were crowned here
on a stage in the market place. It has a wooden bridge
of 20 arches over the I hames, which is navigable here
by barges. There is another bridge here of brick,
over a stream that comes from a spring in a cellar four
miles above the town, and forms such a brook as to
drive two mills not above a bowshot from it and from
each other. It is generally the place for the summer
assizes of this county. It is a well built town, and in
the reig-ns of King Edward II. and III. sent members Ktogiuj*.
to parliament. It has a free school j an alms house -v—
built in 1670, for six men and six women, and en¬
dowed with lands to the value of Sol. a-year : and a
charity school for 30 boys, who are all clothed. Here
is a spacious church with eight hells j adjoining to
which, on the north side was formerly a chapel dedi¬
cated to St Mary, in which were the pictures of three
of the Saxon kings that were crowned here, and
also that of King John, who gave the inhabitants
of this town their first charter of incorporation. But
these were all destroyed by the fall of this chapel in
1730. Here is a good market for corn. Population
4144 in 1811.
Kingston upon Hull, a town in the east riding of
Yorkshire, 173 miles from London. Its common name
is simply Hull, and it is situated at the conflux of the
rivers Hull and Humber, and near the place where
the latter opens into the German ocean. It lies so
low, that by cutting the banks of the Humber the
country may be laid under water for five miles round.
Towards the land it is defended by a wall and a ditch,
with the farther fortification of a castle, a citadel, and
blockhouse. Hull has convenient docks for the ship¬
ping that frequent this port. The first dock was com¬
pleted some years ago. The town is large and po¬
pulous, containing two churches, several meeting
houses, a free school, a charity school, and some
hospitals. Among the latter is one called Trinity
house, in which are maintained many distressed seamen,
both of Hull and other places, that are members of
its port. It is governed by 12 elder brethren and six
assistants } out of the former are chosen annually two
wardens, and out of the younger brethren two stew¬
ards j they determine questions between masters and
seamen, and other sea matters. A handsome infirmary
lias lately been erected without the town to the north.
Here are also an exchange and a customhouse, and
over the Hull a wooden draw-bridge. A good harbour
was made here by Richard II. This town has not
only the most considerable inland traffic of any port in
the north of England, but a foreign trade superior to
any in the kingdom, excepting the ports of London,
Bristol, Liverpool, and Yarmouth. By means of the
many large rivers that fall into the Plumber, it trades
to almost every part of Yorkshire, as well as to Lin¬
colnshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire,
and Cheshire : the commodities of which counties are
brought hither, and exported to Holland, Hamburgh,
France, Spain, the Baltic, and other parts of Europe.
In return for these, are imported iron, copper, hemp,
flax, canvas, Russia linen and yarn, besides wine, oil,
fruit, and other articles. Such quantities of corn are
also brought hither by the navigable rivers, that Hull
exports more of this commodity than London. The
trade of Pluil with London, particularly for corn, lead,
and butter, and with Holland and France, in times of
peace, for those commodities, as well as for doth, ker¬
seys, and other manufactures of Yorkshire, is very consi¬
derable. In 1803 the number of ships belonging to Hull,
employed in the Greenland and Davis’s straits whale
fishery, amounted to 40. The mayor of Hull has two
swords, one given by King Richard II. the other by
Henry VIII. hut only one is borne before him at a
time ; also a cap of maintenance, and an oar of lignum
vitte
KIN [ 465 ] KIP
Kiniistpn vitae as a badge of his admiralty jurisdiction within the
|| limits of the Humber. This town gave title of earl to
Knisale. Robert Pierpont of Holme Pierpont, Viscount Newark,
v created in the 4th of Charles I. and afterwards that of
duke in the same family. The last duke of Kingston
died in I773» ant^ title became extinct. In 1811
the population was 26,792.
Kingston, a town of Ireland, in the province of
Teinster, and capital of King’s county. W. Long. 7.
20. N. Lat. 53. 15. It is otherwise called Philips-
Town.
Kingston, a town of Jamaica, seated on the north
side of the bay of Port Royal. It was founded in the
year 1693, when the repeated desolations by earth¬
quake and fire had driven the inhabitants from Port
Royal. It extends a mile from north to south, and
about as much from east to west, on the harbour. It
contains about 3000 houses, besides negro houses, and
warehouses. The number of white inhabitants is about
10,000 ; of free people of colour 5000 ; and of slaves,
about 18,000. It is the county town, where the assizes
are held, in January, April, July, and October, and
last about a fortnight. It is a place of great trade.
W. Long. 76. 52. N. Lat. 17. 50.
KINGTON, or Kyneton, a pretty large town in
Herefordshire, 146 miles from London. It is situat¬
ed on the river Arrow, and is inhabited chiefly by
clothiers, who drive a considerable trade in narrow
cloth. It has a considerable market for corn, cattle,
leather, home-made linen and woollen cloth, and all
sorts of provisions.
KINNOR, or Chinnok. See Chinnor.
KINO, agum resin. See MateriaMedica Index.
KINROSS, the county town of Kinross-shire in Scot¬
land, situated in W. Long. 3. 25. N. Lat. 56. 15. on
the west side of Lochleven, afresh water lake about 10
miles in compass, abounding with pike, trout, perch,
and water fowl. The manufactures are linen and some
cutlery ware. The house of Kinross, an elegant an¬
cient structure, stands on the north side of the town.
Kinross sends a member to parliament by turns with
Clackmannan. In the lake are two islands ; on one
of which appear the ruins of a priory, heretofore pos¬
sessed by the Culdees ; the other is famous for the
castle in which Queen Mary was imprisoned by her re¬
bellious subjects.
The following is the population of this county ac-
|i Statist, cording to its parishes *.
Parishes.
Cleish
Kinross
Orwell
Portmoak
Population Population in
in 1755. 1790—1798.
692 653
1310 1839
1891 1705
969 1105
4889 5302
Population in 1811, 7245
See Kinross-shire, Supplement.
KINSALE, a town of the county of Cork in Ire¬
land, situated at the mouth of the river Ban or Ban-
don, 136 miles from Dublin. It is reckoned the third
town in the kingdom, and inferior only to Cork in
Vol. XI. Part II.
t
point of trade. It is neat, well built, and wealthy ; Kitnale
and is governed by a sovereign and recorder. It is de- ||
fended by a strong fort built by King Charles II. call- KiPP^-
ed Charles'1 s fort; and on the opposite shore there are
two well built villages, called Cove and Scilly. In the
town and liberties are 6 parishes, 30 plough lands, and
therein 6846 acres, and the population amounts to
10,000. Hie barracks hold 12 companies of foot, be¬
sides a regiment at Charles’s fort. In the centre of the
town is a good market-house, and near it a strong built
prison j and there are scattered up and down the ruins
of several monasteries and religious houses. In time of
war Kinsale is a place of much business, being then fre¬
quented by rich homeward bound fleets and ships of
war, for which reason most of the houses are then let
at double rents. The harbour is very commodious,
and perfectly secure j so large that the English and
Dutch Smyrna fleets have anchored in it at the same
time. There is a dock and yard for repairing ships of
war, and a crane and gun wharf for landing and ship¬
ping heavy artillery. Ships may sail into or out of this
harbour, keeping in the middle of the channel, with
the utmost safety. Within the haven on the west side
lies a great shelf, which shoots a great way off from
the land $ but leaves an ample passage by the side of it,
in which, as in all the rest of the harbour, it is many
fathoms deep. Lord Kinsale has the ancient privilege
of keeping his hat on in the king’s presence. Kinsale
gives the title of baron to the very ancient family of
Courcy, lineally descended from John de Courcy, earl
of Ulster, who from him have the privilege to be co¬
vered in the presence of the king of England.
KINTORE, a royal borough of Aberdeenshire in
Scotland, situated on the river Don, in W. Long. 2. 6.
N. Lat. 57. 10. It gives the title of earl to a branch
of the noble family of Keith. The population in 1811
was 863.
KINTYRE. SeeCANTiRE.
KIOF, or Kiow, a considerable town of Poland,
and capital of the Ukrain, in the palatinate of the same
name, with an archbishop’s see and castle. It belongs
to Russia, and carries on a considerable trade. It is
divided into the Old and New Town, and seated on the
river Nieper, in E. Long. 31. 51. N. Lat. 50. 12.
KIPPIS, Andrew, a learned and eminent English
non-conformist divine and biographer, was born at
Nottingham, on the 28th of March 1725. On the
death of his father, he was removed to Sleaford in Lin¬
colnshire at five years of age, where he received his
grammar education, and gave such early proofs of ta¬
lents and progress, as attracted the notice of Mr Mer-
rivale, the pastor of a congregation of dissenters at that
place. To this excellent man it was probably owing
that young Kippis directed his views to the psofession
of a dissenting minister, and to those studies in which
he afterwards so much excelled. In 1741 he was
placed in the academy at Northampton, under the tui¬
tion of the celebrated Dr Doddridge, a seminary at
that time in high reputation. Of the advantages which
this institution afforded him, Mr Kippis knew how to
make the best improvement, and his regular conduct
and proficiency secured him the esteem of his worthy
tutor. Having completed his course of studies in five
years, he was invited to a dissenting congregation at
3 N Dorchester,
KIP [ 466 ] KIR
ppis. Dorchester, but he gave the preference to a similar call
v —* from Boston in Lincolnshire in 1746, where he remain¬
ed till 1750, removing from thence to Dorking in Sur¬
rey, and two years after to Long Ditch, Westminster,
in the room of Dr Hughes deceased. This was in Oc¬
tober 1753. and in the preceding month he married
Miss Elizabeth Bott, the daughter of a merchant at
Boston.
The situation, for which Mr Kippis was eminently
qualified by his extensive abilities, being now respec¬
table, introduced him to useful and honourable con¬
nections. He became a manager of the presbyterian
fund for the assistance of poor congregations in the
country in supporting their ministers, and in 1762 he
was chosen a member of Dr Williams’s trust, nearly
for similar purposes, together with the doctor’s valuable
library, which afforded him opportunities of very ex¬
tensive usefulness. In 1762, he signified among his
friends his design of taking private pupils, and was on
the eve of entering into engagements with the parents
of two or three young gentlemen, when a more honour¬
able although a less lucrative employment was offered
him. He was appointed classical and philological tu¬
tor in Coward’s academy, an office which he filled for
upwards of 25 years with uncommon reputation to him¬
self, and unspeakable advantage to his students. He
received the degree of D. D. from the university of
Edinburgh, by the unsolicited recommendation of the
learned Professor Bobertson in 1767 ; in 1778 he was
made a member of the Antiquarian, and in 1779 a fel¬
low of the Royal Society.
His literary engagements growing extremely numer¬
ous, in 1784 he was obliged to resign his appointment
in Coward’s academy, which was discontinued in the
subsequent year. In 1786, attempts were made to es¬
tablish a new academy in the vicinity of London 5 a
design which Dr Kippis exerted all bis influence to
accomplish ; and although his numerous engagements
made it extremely difficult for him to fill any depart¬
ment in it, he reluctantly yielded to the wishes of the
subscribers, and became a tutor. But the inconveni¬
ence arising from the distance of Hackney from his
place of residence, made him resign that office in a
few years. His professional duties and private studies
occupied his time after this period j and as he enjoy¬
ed an uninterrupted state of good health and constitu¬
tional vigour, made his friends hope that his life and
usefulness would be long continued ; but in consequence
of a cold which he caught on a journey, he was seized
Avith a fever which no medical knoAvledge could sub¬
due, and he died on the 5th of October 1795, in the
71st year of his age.
Dr Kippis was distinguished in a high degree for
those virtues and accomplishments which are universal¬
ly allowed to be the chief ornaments of human nature.
His temper Avas mild and gentle, benevolent and can¬
did ; his manners and address were easy, polished and
conciliating. Notwithstanding his great reputation, he
was void of pride, vanity, and self-conceit j he was
humble, modest, affable and engaging. The powers
and vigour of his mind were far above mediocrity ; he
had a sound judgment, a comprehensive understand¬
ing, correct imagination, retentive memory, a refined
taste, and he could exert his faculties on any subject
2
with the utmost facility. He Avas an early riser from Kipp.'*
his youth, to which in a great measure his good health . !l
may be ascribed. He excelled in his acquaintance K!r'athailiI*
Avith the classics, belles-lettres, history, and biography.
He Avas the steady friend and advocate of genuine civil
and religious liberty ; and as a divine, he was well ac¬
quainted Avith the different branches of theology, and
with those subjects which are subservient to the critical
study of the scriptures. He very seldom introduced
controverted topics into the pulpit'but confined himself
to such doctrines and duties as have an immediate in¬
fluence on the temper and practice.
His works are numerous and valuable, of which we
give the following as a specimen : RevieAV of the Trans¬
actions of the present Reign ; The History of Learn¬
ing, Knowledge, and Taste in Great Britain ; A Vin¬
dication of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers, Avitli
regard to their late application to Parliament j Con¬
siderations on the Provisional Treaty with America,
and the Preliminary Articles of Peace with France and
Spain ; the Life of Sir John Pringle ; Six Discourses
delivered at the Royal Society, on assigning the Cop¬
ley Medal ; the Life of Captain James Cook, of Dr
Lardner, and Dr Doddridge ; Sermons preached on
public occasions ; Biographia Britannica,&c.&c. This
last great work, which he did not live to finish, has as¬
signed him a high rank among the learned of his coun¬
try, and will transmit his name to posterity with distin¬
guished reputation.
KIRCH, Christian-Frederic, of Berlin, a cele¬
brated astronomer, was born at Guben in 1694, and
acquired great reputation in the observatories of Dant-
zic and Berlin. Godfrey Kirch his father, and Mary
his mother, acquired considerable reputation by their
astronomical obserA^ations. This family corresponded
with all the learned societies of Europe, and their astro¬
nomical Avorks are in some repute.
KIRCHER, Athanasius, a famous philosopher
and mathematician, Avas born at Fulde in 1601. In
1618, he entered into the society of the Jesuits, and
taught philosophy, mathematics, the Hebrew and Sy¬
riac languages, in the university of Witzhurg, with
great applause, till the year 1631. He went to Fiance
on account of the ravages committed by the Swedes
in Franconia, ami lived some time at Avignon. He
Avas afterwards called to Rome, Where he taught ma¬
thematics in the Roman College, collected a rich cabi¬
net of machines and antiquities, and died in 1680.—
The quantity of his works is immense, amounting to
22 vols in folio, 11 in quarto, and 3 in 8vo ; enough
to employ a man for a great part of his life even to
transcribe them. Most of them are rather curious than
useful j many of them visionary and fanciful ; and if
they are not always accompanied Avith the greatest ex¬
actness and precision, the reader, it is presumed, will
not be astonished. The principal of his works are, 1.
Prcelusiones magneticce. 2. Primitue gnomnnicce ca-
toptricce. 3. Ars magna lucis ct umbrce. 4. Musurgia
universalis. 5. Qbeliscus Paniphilius. 6. Oedipus
JEgyptiacus, four volumes, folio. 7. Ilinerarium ex-
taticum. 8. Obeliscus JEgyptianus, in four volumes,
folio. 9. Mundus subtcrraneus. 10. China illustraia.
KIRIATHAIM, in Ancient Geography, one of
the towns built by the Reubenites j reckoned to the
tribe
KIR [ 467 ] KIR
'KuU'Jiflim ti’i*16 of Reuben (Josli. xiii.), 12 miles to the west of
Midaba. The ancient residence of the giants called
ICiikby- JE/nim.
t'hore. KIRIATII-arba. See Hebrok.
u—y—KiliiATH-Baal, or Cariuth-Baal, called also Kiriath-
jcarirriy “ the city of the woods j” one of the cities of
the Gibeonites, belonging to the tribe of Judah, nine
miles from iElia, in t!ie road to Diospolis. It was
also called Baala (Joshua). The ark of the covenant,
after its recovery from the Philistines, stood for some
time in this city (l Sam. vii.).
KIRK, a Saxon term, signifying the same with
church.
KiRK-Sessions, the name of a petty ecclesiastical ju¬
dicatory in Scotland. Each parish, according to its ex¬
tent, is divided into several particular districts $ every
one of which has its own elder and deacon to oversee it.
A consistory of the ministers, elders, and deacons of a
parish, forms a kirk-session.—These meet once a-week,
the minister being their moderator, but without a ne¬
gative voice. It regulates matters relating to public
worship, catechising, visitations, &c. It judges in les¬
ser matters of scandal j but greater, as adultery, are
left to the presbytery; and in all cases an appeal lies
from it to the presbytery. Kirk-sessions have likewise
the care of the poor and poor’s funds.
KIRKALDY, a town of the county of Fife in Scot-
land, two miles to the north-east of Kinghorn. It is a
royal borough, the seat of a presbytery, and gives the
title of baron to the earl of Melville. The town is po¬
pulous, well built, and extends a mile in length from
east to west, enjoying a considerable trade by export¬
ing its own produce and manufactures of corn, coal, li¬
nen, and salt. The population in 1811 was 3747.
W. Long. 3. 9. N. Lat. 56. 8.
KIRKBY-Lonsdale, a town of Westmoreland,
253 miles from London. It has a woollen manufactory,
and a market on Tuesday. It has a free school well
endowed with three presentations to Christ’s college,
Cambridge. It has a large church, and a good stone
bridge of three arches over the Lon, From its church¬
yard and the banks of the river, there is a very fine
prospect of the mountains at avast distance, as well as
of the course of the river, which abounds with salmon,
trout, 8cc.; and provisions of all sorts are very cheap
here. The number of inhabitants in l8n was
1368.
KiBKBY-Steven, or Stephen's Churchy a town of
Westmoreland, 257 miles from London, stands on the
river Eden near Sedbergh and Asgarth. The church
is a large building with a lofty tower; in it are several
old monuments. Here is a good free school that has
two exhibitions. The town is noted for the manufac¬
tory of yarn stockings ; and it contained 1235 inhabi¬
tants in 1811.
KiRKBY-Thore, a town of Westmoreland, stands al¬
so on the river Eden, north-west of Appleby, 267 miles
from London. A horn of a moose deer was found
here a few years since, at the depth of four feet from
the surface of the earth : and several other antiquities
have been dug up or taken out of a well, discovered
at the end of the town near the bridge. Below it are
the vast ruins of an ancient town, where Roman coins
and urns are frequently dug up. The people call it
. R
Kirkcud¬
bright.
Whely castle, 300 yards in length, and 150 in breadth, KiVkby-
with three entrances on each side, with bulwarks be- 'l bore
fore them. At a little distance from thence Roman
urns are found, containing bones and ashes. The old
military way runs through it, called the Maiden way,
because it began at Maiden-castle in Stainmore in
Yorkshire, north riding.
KIRKCUDBRIGHT, county or stewartryof, makes
a considerable part of Galloway, and of which the earls
of Nithisdale were hereditary stewards. It is 45 miles
long, and 30 broad, and with Wigtonshire formed the
ancient province of Galloway. The face of the coun¬
try exhibits the appearance of one continued heath,
producing nothing but pasture for sheep and small black
cattle, which are generally sold in England ; yet these
dusky moors are intersected with pleasant valleys, and
adorned with a great number of castles belonging to
private gentlemen, every house being surrounded with
an agreeable plantation. It is watered by the river
Dee ; which taking its rise from the mountains near
Carrick, runs through a tract of land about 70 miles
in length, and, entering the Irish sea, forms the har¬
bour of Kirkcudbright, a borough town, well situated
for the fishery and other branches of commerce. There
is no other town of any consequence in this stewartry-
Kirkcudbright gives title of baron to the Maclellans,
formerly a powerful family in the county. The popu¬
lation of this county, according to its parishes, is the
following. Statist.
6 Eist.
Parishes.
1 Anwoth
Balmaclellan
Balmacghie
Borg
5 Buittle
Carsefairn
Colvend
Crossmichael
Dairy
10 Girthon
Irongray
Kells
Kelton
Kirkbean
15 Kirkcudbright
Kirkgunion
Kirkmabreck
Kirkpatrick Durham
Lochrutton
20 Minigaff
Newabbey
Orr
Parton
Rerwick
25 Terregles
Troqueer
Tungland
28 Twynhame
Population in i8n
See Kirkcudbrightshire,
3 N 2
Populatioil Population ia
in 2755. 1790—1798.
531 495
534 495
697 862
697 771
899 855
609 461
898 964
. 613 772
891 1100
367 1730
895 762
784 869
811 1600
529 660
1513 2295
489 520
858 1088
699 1000
564 528
1209 1420
634 649
IJ93 1354
396 4°9
1051 1050
397 510
1391 2600
537 520
519 620
21,205 26,959
33.684
SUPFLEMENT.
KIRKHAM,
Kukhani
K irstensius.
KIR
KIRKHAM, a town of Lancashire, 221 miles
from London, stands near the Kibble, six miles from
^ the Irish sea, in that part of the county called the
Field lands. It has a market and three fairs, and a
free school well endowed. By means of inland naviga¬
tion, it has a communication with the rivers Mersey,
Hee, Kibble, Ouse, Irent, Darwent, Severn, Hum¬
ber, Thames, Avon, &c. j which navigation, including
its windings, extends above 500 miles, in the counties
of Lincoln, Nottingham, York, Westmoreland, Ches¬
ter, Warwick, and Oxford. Population 2214.
KIRKOSWALD, a town ot Cumberland on the
Lden, 291 miles from London. It had formerly a
castle, which was demolished above 100 years ago. It
lias a market and two fairs. Its church is a very irre¬
gular old building ; and the belfry is placed distant
from the church on the top of a hill, that the sound
of the bells might be more easily heard by the circum¬
jacent villages.
KIRKWALL, the capital of the Orkneys, situat¬
ed in the island of Pomona, in W. Long. o. 25. N. Lat.
58. 33. It is built upon an inlet of the sea near the
middle of the island, having a very safe road and har¬
bour for shipping. It is a royal borough, governed
by a provost, bailies, and common council. It
was formerly possessed by the Norwegians, who be¬
stowed upon it the name of Crucoviaca. From King
James III. of Scotland they obtained a new charter,
empowering them to elect their own magistrates year¬
ly, to hold borough courts, arrest, imprison, make
laws and ordinances for the right government of the
town; to have a weekly market, and three fairs an¬
nually at certain fixed terms : he moreover granted
to them some lands adjoining to the town, with
the customs and shore dues, the power of pit and
gallows, and exempted them from the expence of
sending commissioners to parliament. This charter
has been confirmed by succeeding monarchs. At pre¬
sent Kirkwall is the seat of justice, where the steward,
sheriff, and commissary, hold their several courts of ju¬
risdiction : Here is likewise a public grammar school,
endowed with a competent salary for the master. The
town consists of one narrow street about a mile in
length ; the houses are chiefly covered with slate,
though not at all remarkable for neatness and con¬
venience.—The principal edifices are the cathedral
church and the bishop’s palace. The former, called
St Magnus, from Magnus king of Norway, the sup¬
posed founder of the town, is a large Gothic struc¬
ture : the roof is supported by 24 pillars on each
side, and the spire is built upon four large columns.
The gates are decorated with a kind of mosaic work,
of red and white stones elegantly carved and flowered.
By the ruins of the king’s castle or citadel, it ap¬
pears to have been a strong and stately fortress. At
the north end of the town a fortification was built by the
English in the time of Oliver Cromwell, but it is now
in ruins. It was surrounded with a ditch and rampart ;
but it has been allowed to fall into ruins. The popu¬
lation in 1801 was 2621.
KIKSTENSIUS, 1 eter, professor of physic at
Upsal, and physician extraordinary to the queen of
Sweden, was born at Breslaw in 1577. He studied
Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, natural philosophy,
anatomy, botany, and other sciences. Being told that
[ 468 ]
K I S
a man could not distinguish himself in physic unless K-
he understood Avicenna, he applied himself to the h"SUIs
study of Arabic; and not only to read Avicenna, but Kissing,
also Mesue, Rhasis, Abenzoar, Abukasis, and Aver- '
roes. He visited Spain, Italy, England, and did
not return home from his travels till after seven years.
He vyas chosen by the magistrates of Breslaw to have
the direction of their college and of their schools. A
fit of sickness having obliged him to resign that diffi¬
cult employment, with which he was also much dis¬
gusted, he applied himself chiefly to the practice of
physic, and went with his family into Prussia. Here
he obtained the friendship and esteem of the chancellor
Oxenstiern, whom he accompanied into Sweden;
where he was made professor of physic in the univer¬
sity of Upsal, and physician to the queen. He died
in 1640. It is said in his epitaph, that he understood
26 languages. He wrote many works; among which
are, 1. Liber secundus Canonis Avicennce, typis Arabicis,
ex MSS. editus, et ad verbum in Latinum translatus, in
folio. 2. De vero usu et abusu Medicince. 3. Gram-
matica Arabica, folio. 4. Vi tee quatuor Evangelista-
rum, ex antiquissimo codice MSS. Arabico erutce in
folio. 5. Notee in Evangelium S. Mattheei, ex colla-
tione textuum Arabicorum, Syriacorum, Egyptiacorum
Gnecorum, et Latinorum, in folio, &c.
He ought not to be confounded with George Ker-
stenius, another learned physician and naturalist, who
was born at Stettin, and died in 1660 ; and is also the
author of several works.
K1RTLE, a term used for a short jacket; also for
a quantity of flax about a hundred weight.
KIR ION, or Kirkton, a town of Lincolnshire,
151 miles from London. It had its name from its
kirk or church, which is truly magnificent. It has a
market and two fairs. 'I his place is famous for the
pippin, which, when grafted on its stock, is called
the rennet. It gives name to its hundreds, in which
are four villages of the sam£ name.
KISSER, the ancient Colonia Assuras in Africa,
jis appears from many inscriptions still to be met with
in the place. Here is a triumphal arch done in a very
good taste : there is also a small temple of a square fi¬
gure, having several instruments of sacrifice carved
upon it; but the execution is much inferior to the
design, which is very curious. The town is situated
in the kingdom of Tunis, on the declivity of a hill,
above a large fertile plain ; which is still called the
plain of Surso, probably from its ancient name
KISSING, by way of salutation, or as a token of
respect, has been practised in all nations. The Ro¬
man emperors saluted their principal officers by a kiss.
Kissing the mouth or the eyes was the usual compli¬
ment upon any promotion or happy, event. Soldiers
kissed the general’s hand when he quitted his office.
Fathers, amongst the Romans, had so much delicacy,
that they never embraced their wives in the presence
of their daughters. Near relations were allowed to
kiss their female kindred on the mouth : but this was
done in order to know whether they smelt of wine or
not; because the Roman ladies, in spite of a prohibi¬
tion to the contrary, were found sometimes to have made
too free with the juice of the grape. Slaves kissed their
masters hand, who used to hold it out to them for
that purpose. Kissing was a customary mode of salu-
tatioa
K I S [ 469 ] K L E
Kissing, tation among the Jews, as we may collect from the
Kiwi, circumstance of Judas approaching his Master with a
*” kiss. Relations used to kiss their kindred when dying,
and when dead 5 when dying, out of a strange opi¬
nion that they should imbibe the departing soul; and
when dead, by way of valedictory ceremony. They
even kissed the corpse after it was conveyed to the pile,
when it had been seven or eight days dead.
KISTI, an Asiatic nation, which extends from the
highest ridge of Caucasus, along the Sundsha rivulets.
* Memoir According to Major Rennel *, they are bounded to
»/ a map ‘i/’the west by the little Cabarda, to the east by the Tar-
ihecoun- ^ars ar)(j Lesguis, and to the south by the Lesguis
prehended anc‘ Georgians. ±ie imagines they may be the people
between whom Gaerber calls the Taulirrzi, i. e. “ mountaineers,”
(the Black an(l to whom he attributes the following strange cu-
Sea and ^iestom ;—“ When a guest or stranger comes to lodge
^ ‘ with them, one of the host’s daughters is obliged to
receive him, to unsaddle and feed his horse, take care
of his baggage, prepare his dinner, pass the night with
him, and continue at his disposal during his stay. At
his departure, she saddles his horse and packs up his
baggage. It would be very uncourtly to refuse any
of these marks of hospitality.” The difl'erent tribes of
this restless and turbulent nation are generally at va¬
riance with each other, and with all their neighbours.
Their dialects have no analogy with any known lan¬
guage, and their history and origin are at present ut¬
terly unknown.
Their districts, as enumerated in Major Kennel’s Me¬
moir, are, 1, Ingushi, about 60 miles to the southward
of Mosdok, in the high mountains about the Kum-
belei. 2. Endery ; and, 3. Axai, on a low ridge be¬
tween the Sundsha and laxai rivers. In their terri¬
tories are the hot wells. 4. Ackinyurt towards the
upper part of the Sundsha and Kumbelei. 5. Ardakli,
on the Roshni that joins the Sundsha. 6. Wapi, near
the Ossetin village Tshim, towards the source of the
Terek. 7. Angusht, on the upper part of the Kum¬
belei. 8. Shalkha, called by the Russians Maloi An-
gusht. 9. Thetshen, on the lower part of the Argun
river. 18. Atakhi, a small district on the upper part
of the Argun. II. Kulga, or Dshanti, in the high
mountains. 12. Galgai, or Halha, about the source of
the Asai, a Sundsha rivulet. 13. Tshabrilo, and Sha-
bul, on the Sundsha. 14. Tshishni-Kabul, on the
Roshni, a Sundsha rivulet. 15. Karaboulak, a wan¬
dering tribe, who have their little villages about the
six uppermost rivulets of the Sundsha, particularly the
Fortan. 16. Meesti, Meredshi, Galashka, and Duhan,
are small tribes on the Axai.
The Ingushi, or first of the above tribes, sobmitted
to Russia in 177°* They are capable of arming about
5000 men*, they call themselves orffa//za;
they live in villages near each other, containing about
20 or 30 houses; are diligent husbandmen, and rich
in cattle. Many of their villages have a stone tower,
which serves in time of war as a retreat to their women
and children, and as a magazine for their effects.
These people are all armed, and have the custom of
wearing shields.—Their religion is very simple, but
has some traces of Christianity : They believe in one
God, whom they call Dailt, but have no saints or re¬
ligions persons; they celebrate Sunday, not by any re¬
ligious ceremony, but by resting from labour; they have Kisli
a fast in spring, and another in summer ; they observe ji
no ceremonies either at births or death ; they allow 0f tvlemhoMa.
polygamy, and eat pork. One kind of sacrifice is
usual among them : at certain times a sheep is killed by
a person who seems to be considered as a kind of priest,
as he is obliged to live in a state of celibacy. His ha¬
bitation is in the mountains, near an old stone church,
which is said to be adorned with various statues and
inscriptions. Under the church is a vault that contains
certain old books, which, however, no one ever at¬
tempts to approach. Mr Guldenstaed j-was prevent-f
ed by the weather from visiting this church. Vi-Ji
The 6th, 7th, and 8th tribes, which were formerly^' ^
tributary to the Cabardean princes, submitted to Rus¬
sia in 1770. The 9th, Tshetshen, is governed by its
own chiefs, who are related to the Avar-Khan. This
tribe is so numerous and warlike, and has given the
Russians so much trouble, that its name is usually given
by them to the whole Kisti nation. The chief village
of Tshetshen lies on the Argun, about 15 miles from
its mouth. Its other principal villages are Hadshiaul
and langejent, both on the Sundsha.
KIT, in Music, the name of a small violin, of such
form and dimension as to be capable of being carried
in a case or sheath in the pocket. Its length, mea¬
suring from the extremities, is about 16 inches, and
that of the bow about 17. Small as this instrument
is, its powers are co-extensive with those of the violin.
Kir-Cat Club, an association of above 30 noblemen
and gentlemen of distinguished merit, formed in 1703,
purely to unite their zeal in favour of the Protestant
succession in the house of Hanover. Their name was
derived from Christopher Kat, a pastry cook, near the
tavern where they met in King’s street, Westminster,
who often supplied them with tarts. Old Jacob Ton-
son was their bookseller: and that family is in posses¬
sion of a picture of the original members of this fa¬
mous club, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller. The de¬
sign of these gentlemen was to recommend and encou¬
rage true loyalty by the powerful influence of wit and
humour; and Sir Samuel Garth distinguished himself
by the extempore epigrams he made on their toasts,
which were inscribed on their drinking glasses.
KITCHEN, the room in a house where the pro¬
visions are cooked.
Army Kitchen, is a space of about 16 or 18 feet
diameter, with a ditch surrounding it three feet wide ;
the opposite bank of which serves as a seat for the men
who dress the victuals. The kitchens of the flank com¬
panies are contiguous to the outline of the camp; and
the intermediate space is generally distributed equally
for the remaining kitchens ; and as each tent forms a
mess, each kitchen must have as many fire places as
there are tents in the company.
Kitchen Garden, a piece of ground laid out for the
cultivation of fruit, herbs, pulse, and other vegetables,
used in the kitchen. See Gardening.
KITE. See Falco, Ornithology Index.
KITTIWAKE. See Larus, Ornithology i>z-
dcx.
KIU-hoa. See Parthenium, Botany Index.
KIUN-tcheou. See HAi-Nan.
KLEINHOVIA, a genus of plants belonging to
the
K L E [ 4^0
K’einhovia.t^e gynandrla class, and In the natural method rank-
_ Ing under the 37th order, Columniferce. See Botany
v 1 Index.
KLEIST, Edward Christian de, a celebrated
German poet, and a soldier of distinguished bravery,
was born at Zeblin, in Pomerania, in 1715. At nine
years of age he was sent to pursue his studies at
Cron in Poland ; and he afterwards studied at Dant-
zic and Koningsberg. Having finished his studies, he
went to visit his relations in Denmark, who invited
him to settle there 5 and having in vain endeavoured
to obtain preferment in the larv, at 21 years of age
accepted of a post in the Danish army. He then ap¬
plied himself to the study of all the sciences that have
a relation to military affairs, with the same assiduity
as he had before studied civil law. In 1740, at the
beginning of the reign of Frederic king of Prussia,
I\Ir de fvleist went to Berlin, and was presented to
his majesty, who made him lieutenant of his brother
Prince Henry’s regiment; and he was in all the cam¬
paigns which distinguished the first five years of the
king of Prussia’s reign. In 1749 he obtained the post
of captain ; and in that year published his excellent
poem on the Spring. Before the breaking out of the
last war, the king chose him, with some other officers
at Potsdam, companion to the young Prince Frede¬
ric William of Prussia, and to eat at his table. In
the first campaign, in 1756, he was nominated major
of Hausen’s regiment; which being in garrison at
Eeipsic, he had time to finish several new poems.
After the battle of Bosbach, the king gave him, by
an order in his own handwriting, the inspection of the
great hospital established at Leipsic. And on this
occasion his humanity was celebrated by the sick and
wounded of both parties, and his disinterestedness was
equally admired by all the inhabitants of that city.
In 1758, Prince Henry coming to Leipsic, Mr Kleist
desired to serve in his army with the regiment of Hau¬
sen, which was readily granted. Opportunities of dis¬
tinguishing himself could not be wanting under that
great officer, and he always communicated his cou¬
rage to the battalion under his command. He also
served that prince at the beginning of the campaign of
1759, w^)en he was with him in Franconia, and in all
the expeditions of that army, till he was detached with
the troops under General de Fink to join the king’s
army. On the I2th of August was fought the bloody
battle of Kunnersdorf, in which he fell. He attacked
the flank of the Russians, and assisted in gaining three
batteries. In these bloody attacks he received twelve
contusions ; and the two first fingers of his right hand
being wounded, he was forced to hold his sword in
the left. His post of major obliged him to remain
behind the ranks ; but he no sooner perceived the
commander of the battalion wounded and carried awav,
than he instantly put himself at the head of his troop.
He led his battalion in the midst of the Jterrible fire
of the enemy’s artillery, against the fourth battery.
Me called up the colours of the regiment; and, ta¬
king an ensign by the arm, led him on. Here he
received a ball in his left arm ; when, being no longer
able to hold his sword in his left hand, he took" it
again in the right, and held it with the two last fino-ers
and his thumb. He still pushed forward, and ^as
within thirty steps of the battery, when his right leo-
] K L O
was shattered by the wadding of one of the great [.-i
iTvr ’ l™1 fel1 from l)is ,lorse» cry'ng to his men,Klop
. My boys, don’t abandon your king.” By the as-
sistance of those who surrounded him, he endeavoured
twice to remount his horse; but his strength forsook
him, and he fainted. lie was then carried behind the
line; where a surgeon, attempting to dress his wounds,
vas shot dead. The Cossacks arriving soon after
stripped Mr Kleist naked, and threvv him into a
miry place ; where some Russian hussars found him
in the night, and laid him upon some straw near the
fire of the grand guard, covered him with a cloak, put
a hat on his head, and gave him some bread and wa-
tei. In the morning one of them offered him a piece
of silver, which he refused ; on which he tossed it up¬
on the cloak that covered him, and then departed with
his companions. Soon after the Cossacks returned, and
took all that the generous hussars had given him. Thus
he ag'ain lay naked on the earth ; and in that cruel
situation continued tili noon, when he was known bv
a Russian officer, who caused him to he conveyed in
a waggon to Frankfort on the Oder; where he arriv-
ed in the evening, in a very weak state, and was in¬
stantly put into the hands of the surgeons. But the
fractured bones separating, broke an artery, and lie
died by the loss of blood. The city of Frankfort be¬
ing then in the hands of the enemy, they buried this
Prussian hero with all military honours: the governor,
a great number of the Russian officers, the magistrates
of the city, with the professors and the students, form¬
ed the procession, preceded by the funeral music. Mr
Kleist'’s poems, which are greatly admired, are ele¬
gantly printed in the German tongue, in two volumes
8vo.
KLOPSTOCK, Frederic Theophilus, who was
born at Quedlinburg in 1724, was the greatest and
most justly celebrated of the German poets. His father
was a man of an elevated character, and a magistrate
of that place, who afterwards farmed a bailiwick in
the Brandenburg part of Mansfeld. Klopstock was
the oldest of eleven children, and having received the
rudiments of education at home, he was put to the
public school of Quedlinburg, where he soon became
conspicuous both for bodily and mental exercises. He
went to the college of the same place at the age of
sixteen, where, under the tuition of an able teacher,
he obtained a knowledge of, and taste for, the beauties
of the best classical authors. He composed some pas¬
torals in verse ; and even at this early period he con¬
ceived the bold design of writing an epic poem, fixing
at length, after much deliberation on the “ Messiah,”
by which he has rendered his name immortal.
He commenced the study of theology at the univer¬
sity of Jena, in the year 1745, although in his retire¬
ment he was constantly ruminating on his great project¬
ed work already mentioned, sketching out the three
first cantos. They were first written in prose, as the
common measure of German verse did not accord with
his own sentiments. Transported with the melody of
Homer’s and Virgil’s strains, he determined to make
trial of German hexameters, in which he succeeded so
entirely to his own satisfaction, that he fixed upon this
majestic verse for the whole of his poem. By his re¬
moval from Jena to Leipzig in 1746, he became ac¬
quainted with a number of young votaries of the muses,
who
K L O [ 47i ] K N A
Klopitock. who occasionally published their essays in a paper call-
■■■-< ed the “ Bremen Contributions,” in which appeared
the three cantos of Klopstock’s Messiah, and a number
of his odes, for which he was so applauded as to animate
him to persevere.
He quitted Leipzig in 1748, and resided at Lan-
gensalza, where he carried on a fruitless correspondence
with a beautiful young lady, who discovered no incli¬
nation to return his passion, which for some time threw
a gloom over his mind. He now published ten books
of his Messiah, by which he came to be known and
admired all over Germany. It was an extremely po¬
pular work among all those who were at once the lovers
of poetry and devotion. It was quoted from the pulpit
by young divines, while others of a more stern deport¬
ment found fault with the author, as indulging too much
in fiction on sacred topics.
He travelled into Switzerland in 1750 to pay a visit
to Bodmer of Zurich, in consequence of an invitation,
where he was received with every token of respect.
The sublime scenery of that country, the simplicity of
its inhabitants, and the freedom they enjoyed, were
admirably suited to the taste and sentiments of Klop-
stock. Here in all probability he would have breath¬
ed h is last, had not Baron Bernstorff, who was charm¬
ed with his poetry, engaged Count Molke, after re¬
turning from France to Copenhagen, to invite him to
that city, with assurances of such a pension as would
make him independent. Our author accordingly set
out for Copenhagen in the year 1751, by the way of
Brunswick and Hamburgh, at which latter place he
became acquainted with a young lady (Miss Moller)
of literary abilities, and a heart susceptible of tender
impressions. They were soon after married, and seem¬
ed destined by Providence to be one of the happiest
couples upon earth, but he was very soon deprived of
her, for she died in childbed, and her memory was sa¬
cred to Klostock to the last hour of his existence. He
lived for the most part at Copenhagen till the year
1771, after which be resided at Hamburgh in the capa¬
city of royal Danish legate, and counsellor of the mar¬
grave of Baden, who gave him a pension, and engaged
him to pass the year 1775 at his palace of Carlsruhe.
Such was the diffidence of our poet, that it required
the most extraordinary condescension on the part of the
great to make him easy in tl,ieir presence.
The decline of his health made no change on the
habitual tranquillity of his mind ; he contemplated his
approaching dissolution without any dismay, and his
pious fortitude continued unshaken amidst the severest
sufferings. He died at Hamburgh in March 1803,
being 79 years of age, and his funeral was attended
with such honours as justly belonged to the greatest
poet of the country.
The character of Klopstock as a poet is that of exu¬
berance of imagination and sentiment. His sublimity,
which is nearly unparalleled, makes him almost lose
himself in mystical attraction. A great critic claims
for the author of the Messiah, and we think justly,
a rank among the very first class of poets. His odes
and lyric poems are much admix-ed by his country¬
men, and his dramatic works display great force and
dignity, but are thought to be better adapted to the
closet than the theatre. He was also an excellent
prose writer, as is fully evinced by his “ Grammatical Klopstock
Dialogues.” (J
KNARESBOROUGH, a town in the west riding Knave,
of Yorkshire in England, IC9 miles from London, y—
is an ancient borough by prescription, called by fo-
reignei’s the Yorkshire Spaw, It is almost encompassed
by the river Nid, which issues from the bottom of Cra¬
ven hills 5 and had a priory, with a castle, long since
demolished, on a craggy rock, whence it took the name.
The town is about three furlongs in length j and the
parish is famous for four medicinal springs near each
other, and yet of different qualities. 1. The sweet spaw,
or vitriolic well, in Knaresborough forest, three miles
from the town, which was discovered in 1620. 2. The
stinking or sulphureous spaw, which is used only in bath-
ing. 3. St Mungo’s, a cold bath, four miles from the
town. 4. The dropping well, which is in the town, and
the most noted petrifying spring in England, so called
by reason of its dropping from the spongy rock hang¬
ing over it. The ground which receives it, before it
joins the well, is, for 12 yards long, become a solid
rock. From the well it runs into the Nid, where the
spring water has made a rock that stretches some yards
into the river. The adjacent fields are noted for liquo¬
rice, and a soft yellow marl which is rich manure. The
town is governed by a bailiff. Its baths are less fre¬
quented since Scarborough Spaw has been resorted to.
It has a good market and six fairs. Here is a stone
bridge over the river, near one end of which is a cell
dug out of the rock, and called St Robert's Chapel,
The number of inhabitants in 1811 was 4234.
knapdale, one of the divisions of Argyleshire
in Scotland. It is parted from CowaJ on the east by
Lochfyn j bounded by Kintyre on the sou th, by
Lorn on the north, by Braidalbin on Rie north-east,
and on the west by the Hebrides. Its length from
north to south does not exceed 20 miles, and the
breath in some places may amount to 13. It is
joined to Kintyre by a neck of land not above a mile
bi’oad, over which the country people draw their boats,
to avoid sailing round Kintyre. This part of Knap¬
dale abounds with lakes, some of them containing lit¬
tle islands, on which there are castles belonging to dif¬
ferent proprietors. The grounds are more adapted for
pasturage than grain j but that on the side of Lochow
is fruitful in both.
KNAPSACK, in a military sense, a rough lea¬
ther hag which a soldier carries on his hack, and
which contains all his necessaries. Square knapsacks
are most convenient j and should be made with a
division to hold the shoes, black ball and brushes,
separate from the linen. White goat-skins are the
best.
KNAVE, an old Saxon word, which had at first a
sense of simplicity and innocence, for it signified a boy :
Sax. cnapa, whence a knave child, i. e. a boy, distin¬
guished from a girl, in several old writers ; aftervvai’ds
it was taken for a servant hoy, and at length for any
servant man. Also it was applied to a minister or
officer that bore the shield or weapon of his superior }
as Jield knapa, whom the Latins call armiger, and the
French escuyer, 14 Edw. HI. c. 3. And it was some¬
times of old made use of as a titular addition; as Joannes
C. filius Willielmi C, de Derby, knave, &c. 22 Hen.
K N E [ 472 ] K N I
Knave
^ I!
Knee.
VII. c. 37. The word is now perverted to the hardest
meaning, viz. a false deceitful fello w.
KNAVESHIP, in Scots Law, one of the names of
* the small duties payable in thirlage to the miller’s ser¬
vants, called sequels.
KNAUTIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
tetrandia class, and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 48th order, Aggregate. See Botany Index.
KNEE, in Anatomy, the articulation of the thigh
and leg bones. See Anatomy, N° 59.
Knee, in a ship, a crooked piece of timber, having
two branches or arms, and generally used to connect
the beams of a ship with her sides or timbers.
The branches of the knees form an angle of greater
or smaller extent, according to the mutual situation of
the pieces which they are designed to unite. One
branch is securely bolted to one of the deck beams,
whilst the other is in the same manner attached to a
corresponding timber in the ship’s side, as represented
by E in the plate of Midship Frame.
Besides the great utility of knees in connecting the
beams and timbers into one compact frame, they con¬
tribute greatly to the strength and solidity of the ship,
in the different parts of her frame to which they are
bolted j and thereby enable her with greater firmness
to resist the effects of a turbulent sea.
In fixing of these pieces, it is occasionally necessary
to give an oblique direction to the vertical or side
branch, in order to avoid the range of an adjacent gun-
port, or because the knee may be so shaped as to require
this disposition j it being sometimes difficult to procure
so great a variety of knees as may be necessary in the
construction of a number of ships of war.
In France, the scarcity of these pieces has obliged
their shipwrights frequently to form their knees of
iron.
Keees are either said to be lodging or hanging. The
former are fixed horizontally in the ship’s frame, having
one arm bolted to the beam, and the other across two
or three timbers, as represented in the Deck, Plate
CLXIX. The latter are fixed vertically, as we have
described above. See also Smp-Building, Deck, and
Midship Frame.
Knee of the Head, a large flat piece of timber, fixed
edgewise upon the fore part of a ship’s stem, and sup¬
porting the ornamental figure or image placed under
the bowsprit. See SiiiP-Building.
The knee of the head, which may properly be de¬
fined a continuation of the stem, as being prolonged
from the stem forwards, is extremely broad at the up¬
per part, and accordingly composed of several pieces
united into one, YY (Pieces of the Hull, in Ship-
Buildmg VXates). It is let into the head, and secured
to the ship’s bows by strong knees fixed horizontally
upon both, and called the cheeks of the head. The heel
of it is fastened to the upper end of the fore foot j and
it is fastened to the stem above by a knee, called a
standard, expressed by & in the plate.
Besides supporting the figure of the head, this piece
is otherwise useful, as serving to secure the boom
or bumkin, by which the fore tack is extended to wind¬
ward k and by its great breadth, preventing the ship
from falling to leeward when close hauled so much as
she would otherwise do. It also affords a greater se-
«urity to the bowsprit, by increasing the angle of the
bob-stay, so as to make it act more perpendicularly on
the bowsprit. ]
I he knee of the head is a phrase peculiar to ship¬
wrights ; as this piece is always called the cut-water
by seamen, if we except a few, who, affecting to be
wiser than ftheir brethren, have adopted this Expres¬
sion, probably on the presumption that the other is a
cant phrase or vulgarism.
Calling Knees, in a ship, those timbers which ex¬
tend from the ship to the hatchway, and bear up the
deck on both sides. r
. ^NELLER, Sir Godfrey, a painter, whose fame
is well established in these kingdoms. He was born
at Lubeck in 1648; and received his first instructions
in the school of Rembrandt, but became afterwards a
disciple of Ferdinand Bol. When he had gained as
much knowledge as that school afforded him, he tra¬
velled to Rome, where he fixed his particular attention
on litian and the Caracci. He afterwards visited
Venice, and distinguished himself so effectually in that
city by his historical pictures and portraits of the noble
lamihes there, that his reputation became considerable
in Italy.^ By the advice of some friends he came at
last to England, where it was his good fortune to gain
the favour of the duke of Monmouth : by his recom¬
mendation, he drew the picture of King Charles II.
more than once; who was so taken with his skill in
doing it, that he used to come and sit to him at his
house in Covent-Garden piazza. The death of Sir
Peter Lely left him without a competitor in England,
and from that time his fortune and fame were tho¬
roughly established. No painter could have more in¬
cessant employment, and no painter could be more
distinguished by public honour. He was state painter
to Charles II. James II. William III. Queen Anne,
and George I. equally esteemed and respected by them
all: the emperor Leopold made him a knight of the
Roman empire, and King George I. created him a ba¬
ronet. Most of the nobility and gentry had their like¬
nesses taken by him, and no painter excelled him in a
sure outline, or in the graceful disposition of his figures:
his works were celebrated by the best poets in his time!
He built himself an elegant house at Whitton near
Hampton Court, where he spent the latter part of his
life ; and died in 1726.
KNIr E, a well known instrument, made for cut¬
ting, and adapted in form to the uses for which it is de¬
signed.
Knives are said to have been first made in England
in 1563, by one Matthews, on Fleet Bridge, Lon¬
don. The importation of all sorts of knives is prohi¬
bited.
KNIGHT (eques'), among the Romans, a person of
the second degree of nobility, following immediately
that of the senators. See Equestrian Order, anil
Equites.
Knight, (or Cnecht, Germ.) in feodal history, was
originally an appellation or title given by the ancient
Germans to their youth after being admitted to the
privilege of bearing arms.
The passion for arms among the Germanic states,
as described by Dr Stuart*, was carried to extremity.* f
It was amidst scenes of death and peril that the youngSoe,5« 2
were educated.: It was by valour and feats of prowess
that the ambitious signalized their manhood. All the P* 46-
honours
K N I [ 473 ] K N I
Knight, honours they knew were allotted to the brave. The
sword opened the path to glory. It was in the field
that the ingenious and the noble flattered most their
pride, and acquired an ascendency. The strength of
their bodies, and the vigour of their councils, sur¬
rounded them with warriors, and lifted them to com¬
mand.
But, among these nations, when the individual felt
the call of valour, and wished to try his strength
against an enemy, he could not of his own authority
take the lance and the javelin. The admission of their
youth to the privilege of bearing arms, was a matter of
too much importance to be left to chance or their own
choice. A form was invented by which they were ad¬
vanced to that honour.
The council of the district, or of the canton to
which the candidate belonged, was assembled. His
age and his qualifications were inquired into •, and if
he was deemed worthy of being admitted to the privi¬
leges of a soldier, a chieftain, his father or one of his
kindred, adorned him with a shield and the lance. In
consequence of this solemnity, he prepared to distin¬
guish himself; his mind opened to the cares of the pub¬
lic ; and the domestic concerns, or the offices of the
family from which he had sprung, were no longer the
objects of his attention. To this ceremony, so simple
and so interesting, the institution of knighthood is in¬
debted for its rise.
Knighthood, however, as a system known under
the denomination of Chivalry, is to be dated only
from the nth century. All Europe being reduced
to a state of anarchy and confusion on the decline of
the house of Charlemagne, every proprietor of a manor
or lordship became a petty sovereign; the mansion
house was fortified by a moat, defended by a guard,
and called a castle. The governor had a party of 700
or 800 men at his command ; and with these he used
frequently to make excursions, which commonly ended
in a battle with the lord of some petty state of the
same kind, whose castle was then pillaged, and the
women and treasures borne off by the conqueror. Du¬
ring this state of universal hostility, there were no friend¬
ly communications between the provinces, nor any
high roads from one part of the kingdom to another:
the wealthy traders, who then travelled from place to
place with iheir merchandise and their families, were
in perpetual danger; the lord of almost every castle
extorted something from them on the road ; and at
last, some one, more rapacious than the rest, seized up¬
on the whole of the cargo, and bore off the women for
his own use.
Thus castles became the warehouses of all kinds of
rich merchandise, and the prisons of the distressed fe¬
males, whose fathers or lovers had been plundered or
slain, and who being therefore seldom disposed to take
the thief or murderer into favour, were in continual
danger of a rape.
But as some are always distinguished by virtue in
the most general defection, it happened that many
lords insensibly associated to repress these sallies of vio¬
lence and rapine, to secure property, and protect the
ladies. Among these were many lords of great fiefs;
and the association was at length strengthened by a
solemn vow, and received the sanction of a religious
ceremony. As the first knights were men of the
Vol. XL Part II. f
highest rank, and the largest possessions, such having Kni-ht
most to lose, and the least temptation to steal, the fra- w—y-—
ternity was regarded with a kind of reverence, even
by those against whom it was formed. Admission into
the order was deemed the highest honour: many ex¬
traordinary qualifications were required in a candidate,
and many new ceremonies were added at his creation.
After having fasted from sunrise, confessed himself,
and received the sacrament, he was dressed in a white
tunic, and placed by himself at a side-table, where he
was neither to speak, nor smile, nor to eat: while the
knights and ladies, who were to perform the principal
parts of the ceremony, were eating, drinking, and
making merry at the great table. At night his ar¬
mour was conveyed to the church where the ceremony
was performed ; and here having watched it till the
morning, he advanced with his sword hanging about his
neck, and received the benediction of the priest. He
then kneeled down before the lady who was to put on
his armour, who being assisted by persons of the first
rank, buckled on his spurs, put a helmet on his head,
and accoutred him with a coat of mail, a cuirass, brace¬
lets, cuisses, and gauntlets.
Being thus armed cap-a-pee, the knight who dub¬
bed h im struck him three times over the shoulder with
the flat side of his sword, in the name of God, St
Michael, and St George. He was then obliged to
watch all night in all his armour, with his sword gird¬
ed, and his lance in his hand. From this time the
knight devoted himself to the redress of those wrongs
which “ patient merit of the unworthy takesto se¬
cure merchants from the rapacious cruelty of banditti,
and women from ravishers to whose power they were
by the particular confusion of the times continually ex¬
posed.
From this view of the origin of chivalry, it will be
easy to account for the castle, the moat, and the bridge,
which are found in romances; and as to the dwarf, he
was a constant appendage to the rank and fortune of
those times, and no castle therefore could be without him.
The d wart and bufloon were then introduced to kill
time, as the card-table is at present. It will also be
easy to account for the multitude of captive ladies
whom the knights, upon seizing a castle, set at liber¬
ty ; and for the prodigious quantities of useless gold
and silver vessels, rich stuffs, and other merchandise,
with which many apartments in these castles are said
to have been filled.
The principal lords who entered into the confrater¬
nity of knights, used to send their sons to each other
to be educated, far from their parents, in the mystery
of chivalry. These youths, before they arrived at the
age of 21, were called bachelors, or has chevaliers, in¬
ferior knights, and at that age were qualified to receive
the order.
So honourable was the origin of an institution, com¬
monly considered as the result of caprice and the
source of extravagance ; but which, on the contrary,
rose naturally from the state of society in those times,
and had a veiy serious effect in refining the manners
of the European nations. Valour, humanity, courtesy,
justice, honour, were its characteristics : and to these
was added religion ; which, by infusing a large por¬
tion of enthusiastic zeal, carried them all to a roman¬
tic excess, wonderfully suited to the genius of the age,
3 O and
K N I [ 474 ] K N I
Knight. an(l productive of the greatest and most permanent ef-
—V ' feets both upon policy ami manners. War was carried
on with less ferocity, when humanity, no less than
courage, came to be deemed the ornament of knight¬
hood, and knighthood a distinction superior to royalty,
and an honour which princes were proud to receive
from the hands of private gentlemen : more gentle and
polished manners were introduced, when courtesy was
recommended as the most amiable of knightly virtues,
and every knight devoted himself to the service of a
lady : violence and oppression decreased, when it was
accounted meritorious to check and to punish them :
a scrupulous adherence to truth, with the most reli¬
gious attention to fulfil every engagement, but parti¬
cularly those between the sexes as more easily violated,
became the distinguishing character of a gentleman,
because chivalry was regarded as the school of honour,
and inculcated the most delicate sensibility with respect
to that point j and valour, seconded by so many mo¬
tives of love, religion, and virtue, became altogether ir¬
resistible.
That the spirit of chivalry sometimes rose to an ex¬
travagant height, and had often a pernicious tendency,
must however be allowed. In Spain, under the influ¬
ence of a romantic gallantry, it gave birth to a series
of wild adventures which have been deservedly ridicu¬
led : in the train of Norman ambition, it extinguished
the liberties of England, and deluged Italy in blood j
and at the call of superstition, and as the engine of
papal power, it desolated Asia under the banner of the
cross. But these ought not to be considered as argu¬
ments against an institution laudable in itself, and ne¬
cessary at the time of its foundation ; and those who
pretend to despise it, the advocates of ancient barba¬
rism and ancient rusticity, ought to remember, that
chivalry not only first taught mankind to carry the ci¬
vilities of peace into the operations of war, and to
mingle politeness with the use of the sword $ but rous¬
ed the soul from its lethargy, invigorated the human
character even while it softened it, and produced ex¬
ploits which antiquity cannot parallel. Nor ought
they to forget, that it gave variety, elegance, and
pleasure, to the intercourse of life, by making women
a more essential part of society ; and is therefore en¬
titled to our gratitude, though the point of honour,
and the refinements in gallantry, its more doubtful ef¬
fects, should be excluded from the improvement of
modern manners. For,
To illustrate this topic more particularly, we may
observe, that women, among the ancient Greeks and
Ilomans, seem to have been considered merely as ob¬
jects of sensuality, or of domestic conveniency: they
were devoted to a state of seclusion and obscurity, had
few attentions paid them, and were permitted to take
as little share in the conversation as in the general
commerce of life. But the northern nations, who paid
a kind of devotion to the softer sex, even in their native
forests, had no sooner settled themselves in the pro¬
vinces of the Roman empire, than the female charac¬
ter began to assume new consequence. Those fierce
barbarians, who seemed to thirst only for blood, who
involved in one undistinguishing ruin the monuments
of ancient grandeur and ancient ingenuity, and who
devoted to the flames the knowledge of ages, always
forbore to offer any violence to the women. They
5
brought along with them the respectful gallantry of
the north, which had power even to restrain their sa¬
vage ferocity : and they introduced into the west of
Euiope a generosity of sentiment, and a complaisance
toward the ladies, to which the most polished nations
of antiquity were strangers.—These sentiments of ge¬
nerous gallantry were fostered by the institution of
chivalry, which lifted woman yet-higher in the scale
of life.. Instead of being nobody in society, she be¬
came his primum mobile. Every knight devoting him¬
self to danger, declared himself the humble servant of
some lady, and that lady was often the object of his
love. Her honour was supposed to be intimately con¬
nected with his, and her smile was the reward of his
valour: for her he attacked, for her he defended, and
for her he shed his blood. Courage, animated by so
powerful a motive, lost sight of every thing but enter¬
prise: incredible toils were cheerfully endured, incre¬
dible actions were performed, and adventures seeming¬
ly fabulous were more than realized, The effect was
reciprocal. Women, proud of their influence, became
worthy of the heroism which they had inspired : they
were not to be approached but by the high minded
and the brave ; and men then could only be admitted
to the bosom of the chaste fair, after proving their fi¬
delity and affection by years of perseverance and of
peril.
Again, As to the change which took place in the ope¬
rations of war, it may be observed, that the perfect hero
of antiquity was superior to fear, but he made use of
every artifice to annoy his enemy : impelled by animo¬
sity and hostile passion, like the savage in the American
woods, he was only anxious of attaining his end, with¬
out regarding whether fraud or force were the means.
But the true knight or modern hero of the middle ages,
who seems in all his rencounters to have had his eye on
the judicial combat or judgment of God, had an equal
contempt for stratagem and danger. He disdained to
take advantage of his enemy : he desired only to see
him, and to combat him upon equal terms, trusting
that heaven would declare in behalf of the just; and
as he professed only to vindicate the cause of religion,
of injured beauty, or oppressed innocence, he was fur¬
ther confirmed in this enthusiastic opinion by his own
heated imagination. Strongly persuaded that the de¬
cision must be in his favour, he fought as if under the
influence of divine inspiration rather than of military
ardour. Thus the system of chivalry, by a singular
combination of manners, blended the heroic and sanc¬
tified characters, united devotion and valour, zeal and
gallantry, and reconciled the love of God and of the
ladies.
Chivalry flourished most during the time of the
croisades. From these holy wars it followed, that
new fraternities of knighthood were invented : hence
the knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the Plospitallers,
Templars, and an infinite number of religious or¬
ders. Various other orders were at length instituted
by sovereign princes: the Garter, by Edward III.
of England ; the Golden Fleece, by Philip the Good,
duke of Burgundy ; and St Michael, by Louis XI. of
France. From this time ancient chivalry declined to
an empty name ; when sovereign princes established
regular companies in their armies, knights bannerets
were no more, though it was still thought an honour
to
K N I [ 475 ] ^ K N I
IvmsHt. to be tlubbecl by a great prince or victorious hero ;
—v——/ and all who professed arms without knighthood assum¬
ed the title of esquire.
There is scarce a prince in Europe that has not
thought fit to institute an order of knighthood j and
the simple title of knight, which the kings of Britain
confer on private subjects, is a derivation from ancient
chivalry, although very remote from its source. See
Knight-B ACHELOR.
Knight Service {servitium militare, and in la w French
chivalry) ; a species of Tenure, the origin and nature
of which are explained under the articles Chivalry,
and Feodal System, N° 13—21.
The knights produced by this tenure differed most
essentially from the knights described in the pre¬
ceding article ; though the difference seems not to
have been accurately attended to by authors (a).
The one class of knights was of a high antiquity :
the other was not heard of till the invention of a
fee. The adorning with arms and the blow of the
sword made the act of the creation of the ancient
knight $ the new knight was constituted by an invest¬
ment in a piece of land. The former was the mem¬
ber of an order of dignity which had particular privi¬
leges and distinctions *, the latter was the receiver of
a feudal grant. Knighthood was an honour knight
service a tenure. The first communicated splendour
to an army; the last gave it strength and numbers.—
The knight of honour might serve in any station what¬
ever; the knight of tenure was in the rank of a sol¬
dier.—It is true, at the same time, that every noble
and baron were knights of tenure, as they held their Kaigbt
lands by knight service. But the number of fees they ,
possessed, and their creation into rank, separated them
widely from the simple individuals to whom they gave
out grants of their lands, and who were merely the
knights of tenure. It is no less true, that the sove-
reign, without conferring nobility, might give even a
single fee to a tenant; and such vassals in capite of the
crown, as well as the vassals of single fees from a sub¬
ject, w'ere the mere knights of tenure. But the for¬
mer, in respect of their holding from the crown, were
to be called to take upon themselves the knighthood
of honour ; a condition in which they might rise from
the ranks, and be promoted to offices and command.
And as to the vassals tn capite of the crown who had
many fees, their wealth of itself sufficiently distinguish¬
ed them beyond the state of the mere knights of te¬
nure. In fact, they possessed an authority over men
who were of this last description ; for, in proportion
to their lands were the fees they gave out and the
knights they commanded.
By the tenure of knight service the greatest part
of the lands in England wrere holden, and that princi¬
pally of the king in capite, till the middle of the last
century ; and which was created, as Sir Edward Coke
expressly testifies, for a military purpose, viz. for de- Blacksi.
fence of the realm by the king’s own principal sub- Gcmmeiu
jects, which was judged to be much better than totanes‘*
trust to hirelings or foreigners. The description here
given is that of knight service proper, which was to
attend the king in his wars. There were also some
3 O 2 other
(a) T-he terms knight and chwaler (Dr Stuart "f observes), denoted both the knight of honour and knightt Vicvi of
of tenure-, and chivalry was used to express both knighthood and knight-service. Hence it has proceeded, thatin
these persons and these states have been confounded. Yet the marks of their difference are so strong and point- mv0Ve'
ed, that one must wonder that writers should mistake them. It is not, however, mean and common compilers’1,346’
only who have been deceived. Sir Edward Coke, notwithstanding his distinguishing head, is of this num¬
ber. When estimating the value of the knight’s fee at 20I. per annum, he appeals to the statute de militibus
and I Ed. If. and, by the sense of his illustration, he conceives, that the knights alluded to there were tim
same with the possessors of knights fees : and they, no doubt, had knights fees : but a knight’s fee might be
enjoyed not only by the tenants in capite of the crown, but by the tenants of a vassal, or by the tenants of a
sub-vassal. Now, to these the statute makes no allusion. It did not mean to annex knighthood to every land¬
holder in the kingdom who had a knight’s fee ; but to encourage arms, by requiring th'e tenants in capite of
the crown to take to them the dignity. He thus confounds knighthood and the knight's fee. Coke on Little¬
ton, p. 69.
“ 1 am not deceived, Sir William Blackstone has fallen into the same mistake, and has added to it. Speak¬
ing of the knights of honour, or the from the gilt spurs they wore, he thus expresses himself:
‘ I hey are also called, in our law, mihtes, because they formed a part, or indeed the whole, of the royal army,
* jn vii’tue of their feodal tenures ; one condition of which was, that every one who held a knight’s fee (which
‘ ,n Henry II.’s time amounted to 20I. per annum), was obliged to be knighted, and attend the king in his wars,
‘ or fined for his noncompliance. 1 he exertion of this prerogative, as an expedient to raise money, in the reio-u
1 of Charles £. gave great oflence, though warranted by law, and the recent example of Queen. Elizabeth : but
‘ it was, at the Restoration, together with all other military branches of the feodal law, abolished; and thiskind
® of knighthood has since that time fallen into great disrepute.’ Book I. ch. 12.
“ After what has been said, I need hardly observe, that this learned and able writer has confounded the
knight of honour, and the knight of tenure ; and that the requisition to take knighthood was not made to every
possessor of a knight’s fee, but to the tenants of knights fees held in capite of the crown, who had merely a
sufficiency to maintain the dignity, and were thence disposed not to take it. The idea that the whole force
of the royal army consisted of knights of honour, or dubbed knights, is so extraordinary a circumstance, that
it might have shown of itself to this eminent writer the source of his error. Had every Soldier in the feu¬
dal army received the investiture of arms? could he wear a seal, surpass in silk and dress, use ensigns armorial,
and enjoy all the other privileges of knighthood ? But, while I hazard these remarks, my reader will-observe,
that it is with the greatest deference I dissent from Sir William Blackstone, whose abilities are the object of a
most general and deserved admiration.”
K N I [ 476 ] K N I
ht other species of knight service j so called, though im-
properly, because the service or render was of a free
and honourable nature, and equally uncertain as to the
time of rendering as that of knight service proper, and
because they were attended with similar fruits and con¬
sequences. Such was the tenure by grand serjeanty,
per magnum servitium, whereby the tenant was bound,
instead of serving the king generally in his wars, to do
some special honorary service to the king in person ;
as to carry his banner, his sword, or the like j or be
his butler, champion, or other officer, at his corona¬
tion. It was, in most other respects, like knight ser¬
vice, only he was not bound to pay aid or escuage j
and when tenant by knight service paid five pounds
for a relief on every knight’s fee, tenant by grand
serjeanty paid one year’s value of his land, were it
much or little. Tenure by carnage, which was to wind
a horn when the Scots or other enemies entered the
land, in order to warn the king’s subjects, was (like
other services of the same nature) a species of grand
serjeanty.
These services, both of chivalry and grand serjeanty,
were al! personal, and uncertain as to their quantity
or duration. But the personal attendance in knight
service growing troublesome and inconvenient in many
respects, the tenants found means of compounding
for it, by first sending others in their stead, and in
process of time making a pecuniary satisfaction to the
lords in lieu of it. This pecuniary satisfaction at last
came to be levied by assessments, at so much for every
knight’s fee } and therefore this kind of tenure was
called scutagiin7i in Latin, or servitium scuti; scutu77i
being then a well-known denomination of money : and
in like manner it was called, in our Norman French
escuage; being indeed a pecuniary instead of a military
service. The first time this appears to have been ta¬
ken, was in the $ Hen. II. on account of his expe¬
dition to Toulouse j but it soon came to be so uni¬
versal, that personal attendance fell quite into disuse.
Hence we find in our ancient histories, that, from
this period when our kings went to war, they levied
scutages on their tenants, that is on all the landholders
of the kingdom, to defray their expences and to hire
troops: and these assessments in the time of Henry II.
seem to have been made arbitrarily, and at the king’s
pleasure. "Which prerogative being greatly abused by
his successors, it became matter of national clamour j
and King John was obliged to consent, by his magna
charta, that no scutage should be imposed without con¬
sent of parliament. But this clause was omitted in his
son Henry III.’s charter ; where we only find, that
scutages or escuage should be taken as they were used
to be taken in the time of Henry II. j that is, in a
reasonable and moderate manner. Yet afterwards, by
statute 25 Fdw. I. c. 5. and 6. and many subsequent
statutes, it was enacted, that the king should take no
aids or tasks but by the common assent of the realm.
Hence it is held in our old books, that escuage or
scutage could not be levied but by consent of par¬
liament ; such scutages being indeed the ground-work
of all succeeding subsidies, and the land tax of later
times.
Since, therefore, escuage differed from knight service
in nothing but as a compensation differs from actual
service, knight service is frequently confounded with
it. And thus Littleton must be understood, when he
tells us, that tenant by bomage, fealty, and escuage,
was tenant by knigbt service ; that is, that this tenure
(being subservient to tbe military policy of the nation)
was respected as a tenure in chivalry. But as the ac¬
tual service was uncertain, and depended upon emer¬
gencies, so it was necessary that this pecuniary com¬
pensation should be equally uncertain, and depend on
the assessments of the legislature suited to these emer¬
gencies. I or had the escuage been a settled invariable
sum, payable at certain times, it had been neither more
nor less than a mere pecuniary rent j and the tenure,
instead of knight service, would Lave then been of ano¬
ther kind, called soccage.
By the degenerating of knight service, or personal
military duty, into escuage or pecuniary assessments,
all the advantages (either promised or real) of the feo-
dal constitutions were destroyed, and nothing but the
hardships remained. Instead of forming a national
militia composed of barons, knights, and gentlemen,
bound by their interest, their honour, and their oaths,
to defend their king and country, the whole of this
system of tenures now tended to nothing else but a
wretched means of raising money to pay an army of
occasional mercenaries. In the mean time the families
of all our nobility and gentry groaned under the in¬
tolerable burdens (which in consequence of the fiction
adopted after the conquest) were introduced and laid
upon them by the subtlety and finesse of tbe Norman
lawyers. For, besides the scutages to which they
were liable in defect of personal attendance, which,
however, were assessed by themselves in parliament,
they might be called upon by the king or lord para¬
mount for aids, whenever bis eldest son was to be
knighted, or bis eldest daughter married $ not to for¬
get the ransom of bis own person. Tbe heir, on the
death of his ancestor, if of full age, was plundered of
the first emoluments arising from his inheritance, by
way of relief and primer seisin : and if under age, of
the whole of his estate during infancy. And then, as
Sir T homas Smith very feelingly complains, “ when
he came to his own, after he was out of wardship, bis
woods decayed, houses fallen down, stock wasted and
gone, lands let forth and ploughed to be barren,” to
make amends, he was yet to pay half a year’s profits
as a fine for suing out his lively; and also the price or
value of his marriage, if he refused such wife as his
lord and guardian had bartered for, and imposed upon
him j or twice that value, if he married another wo¬
man. Add to this, the untimely and expensive ho¬
nour of knighthood, to make his poverty more'Com¬
pletely splendid. And when, by these deductions, his
fortune was so shattered and ruined, that perhaps he
was obliged to sell his patrimony, he had not even that
poor privilege allowed him, without paying an exorbi¬
tant fine for a license of alienation.
A slavery so complicated and so extensive as this,
called aloud for a remedy in a nation that boasted of
her freedom. Palliatives were from time to time ap¬
plied by successive acts ol parliaments, which assuaged
some temporary grievances. Till at length the huma¬
nity of King James I. consented, for a proper equiva¬
lent, to abolish them all, though the plan then pro¬
ceeded not to effect; in like manner, as he had formed
a scheme, and began to put it in execution, for remov¬
ing
KNIGHTHOOD
Yuz
vt r
/V/V’,
e/re-
Q./Ja /vj//,-/ Oj
orct
a ////
V>CA-iWu£a/tl' Sc/c/p .
K N I [ 477 ] K N I
Kni'lit. ing the feodal grievances ofherltable jurisdictions in
* Scotland, which has since been pursued and effected
by the statute 20 Geo. II. c. 43. King James’s plan
i'ur exchanging our military tenures seems to have been
nearly the same as that which has been since pursued j
only with this difference, that by way of compensation
for the loss which the crown and other lords would
sustain, an annual fee-farm rent should be settled and
inseparably annexed to the crown, and assured to the
inferior lords, payable out of every knight’s fee within
their respective seignories. An expedient seemingly
much better than the hereditary excise which was after¬
wards made the principal equivalent for these conces¬
sions. For at length the military tenures, with all
their heavy appendages, were destroyed at one blow
by the statute 12 Car. II. c. 24. which enacts, “ that
the court of ward or liveries, and all wardships, liveries,
primer seisins, and ousterlemains, values and forfeitures
of marriages, by reason of any tenure of the king or
others, be totally taken away. And that all fines for
alienations, tenures by homage, knights service, and
escuage, and also aids for marrying the daughter or
knighting the son, and all tenures of the king in ctipite,
be likewise taken away. And that all sorts of tenures,
held of the king or others, be turned into free and
common soccage : save only tenures in frankalmoign,
copyholds, and the honorary services (without the
slavish part) of grand serjeanty.” A statute which
was a greater acquisition to the civil property of this
kingdom than even magna charta itself: since that
only pruned the luxuriances that had grown out of
the military tenures, and thereby preserved them in
vigour : but the statute of King Charles extirpated the
whole. See Chivalry, Supplement.
KNiGHTS-JErrant. During the prevalence of chi¬
valry, the ardour of redressing wrongs seized many
knights so powerfully, that, attended by esquires,
they wandered about in search of objects whose misfor¬
tunes and misery required their assistance and suc¬
cours. And as ladies engaged more particularly their
attention, the relief of unfortunate damsels was the
achievement they most courted. This was the rise
of knights-errant, whose adventures produced ro¬
mance. These were originally told as they happened.
But the love of the marvellous came to interfere j
fancy was indulged in her wildest exaggerations j and
poetry gave her charms to the most monstrous fictions,
and to scenes the most unnatural and gigantic. See
Knight.
KNiGiiT-Bnchelor. See Bachelor.
Ksight-Baronet. See Baronet.
Knights of the Shire, or Knights of Parliament, are
two gentlemen of worth, chosen on the king’s writ
in plena comitatn, by such of the freeholders of every
county as can expend 40s. per annum, to represent such
county in parliament. These, when every man who
held a knight’s fee in capitc of the crown was customa¬
rily constrained to he a knight, were of necessity to
be militesgladio cincti, for so the writ runs to this day ;
but now custom admits esquires to be chosen to this
office. They must have at least 500I. per annum} and
their expences are to be defrayed by the county,
though this be seldom now required.
KsiGHT-Marshal, an officer in the king’s house-
hold, who has jurisdiction and cognizance of any trans¬
gression within the king’s household and verge} as also Kiight,
of contracts made there, whereof one of the house is Knight-
party. *1QU^-
Knight■ Fish, See Eques, Ichthyology Index. “ "
Knights, in a ship, two short thick pieces of wood,
commonly carved like a man’s head, having four shivers
in each, three for the haulyards, and one for the top
to run in : one of them stands fast bolted on the beams
abaft the foremast, and is therefore called the fort-
knight; and the other, standing abaft tlie mainmast, is
called the mam-knight.
KNIGHTHOOD, a military order or honour, or
a mark or degree of ancient nobility, or reward of
personal virtue and merit.
There are four kinds of knighthood } military, regu¬
lar, honorary, and social.
Military Knighthood, is that of the ancient knights,
who acquired it by high feats of arm?. They are call¬
ed milites, in ancient charters and titles, by which they
were distinguished from mere bachelors, &c. These
knights were girt with a sword, and wore a pair of gilt
spurs } whence they were called equites aurati.
Knighthood is not hereditary, but acquired. It
does not come into the world with a man like nobility }
nor can it be revoked. The sons of kings, and kings
themselves, with all other sovereigns, heretofore had
knighthood conferred on them as a mark of honour.
They were usually knighted at their baptism or mar¬
riage, at their coronation, before or after a battle,
&.C.
Regular Knighthood, is applied to all military on-
ders which profess to wear some particular habit, to
bear arms against the infidels, to succour and assist pil¬
grims in their passage to the Holy Land, and to serve
in hospitals where they should be received: such were
the knights templars, and such still are the knights of
Malta, &c.
Honorary Knighthood, is that which princes confer
on other princes, and even on their own great ministers
and favourites ; such are knights of the Garter, Bath,
St Patrick, Nova Seotia, Thistle, &c. See these ar¬
ticles ; and for a representation of their different insig¬
nia, see Plate CCLXXXVI1I.
Social Knighthood, is that which is not fixed nor
confirmed by any formal institution, nor regulated by
any lasting statutes ; of which kind there have many or¬
ders been erected on occasion of factions, of tilts and
tournaments, masquerades, and the like.
The abbot Bernardo Justinian!, at the beginning of
his History of Knighthood, gives us a complete cata¬
logue of the several orders : according to this computa¬
tion, they are in number 92. Favin has given us two
volumes of them under the title of Theatre d'Honneur
et deChevalerie. Menenius has'published Delicue Eques-
trium Ordinum, and Andr. Mendo has written De Orr
dinibus Militaribus. Beloi has traced their original }
and Geliot, in his Armorial Index, has given us their
institution. To these may be added, Father Mene-
strier de la Chevalerie Ancienneet Modenie, Michieli’s
Ti 'esor Militaire, Caramuel’s Theologia Regolare, Mi-
raeus’s Origmes Equestrium sive Militurium Ordinum:
hut above all, Justinian’s Historic Chronologiche dell'
Origine de gP Ordine Militari, e di tutte le Religione
Cavaleresche; the edition which is fullest is that of
Venice in 1692, iu two vols folio.
KNIGHTLOW
Knots.
K N O
Kuiglulow KNIGHTLOW Hill or Cross,   
name to a hamlet In Warwickshire, stands in the road
from Coventry to London, at the entrance of Duns-
more Heath. About 40 towns in this hamlet, which
are specified by Dugdale, are obliged, on the forfei¬
ture of 30s. and a white bull, to pay a certain rent to
the lord of the hamlet, called wroth-money, or swarf-
penny; which must be deposited every Martinmas day
in the morning at this cross before sunrise j when the
party paying it must go thrice about the cross, and say
the wroth-money, and then lay it in the hole of the said
cross before good witness.
KNIGHTON, a well built town of Radnorshire in
South Wales, 155 miles from London. It is pleasant¬
ly situated on an elevation rising from a small river,
which divides this part of Wales from Shropshire. It
carries on a considerable trade, and has a market and
a fair, with about 952 inhabitants.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE, a village of Middlesex, and
the first village from London on the great western road.
It lies in the parishes of St Margaret’s Westminster,
and St George by Hanover Square ; and has a chapel,
which is nevertheless independent. Authe entrance
of it from London stands that noble infirmary for sick
and wounded, called St George's Hospital, erected and
maintained by the contributions of our nobility and
gentry, of whom there are no less than 300 governors.
In the centre of this village, there is a fabric lately
erected, where is carried on one of the most consider¬
able manufactures in England for painting floor-cloths,
&c.
KNOCTOPHER, a borough and market town of
Ireland, in the county of Kilkenny and province of
Leinster, 63 miles from Dublin. Before the union,
this town returned two members to the Irish parlia¬
ment.
KNOLL, a term used in many parts of the kingdom
for the top of a small hill, or for the hill itself.
KNOLLES, Richl-vrd, was born in Northampton¬
shire, about the middle of the 16th century, and edu¬
cated at Oxford, after which he was appointed master
of the free-school at Sandwich in Kent. He composed
Grammaticee Latince, Greece?, et Hebraicce,compendium,
cum radicibus, London 1606 ; and sent many excellent
scholars to the universities. He also spent 12 years in
compiling a history of the Turks j which was first print¬
ed in 1610. It is called, The general histon/ of the
Turks,from the first beginning of that nation to the ris-
vig of the Ottoman family, &c. He died in 1610, and
this history has been since continued by several hands :
the best continuation is that by Paul Ricaut consul at
Smyrna, folio, London, 1680. Knolies wrote also,
“ Ik® ljves and conquests of the Ottoman kings and
emperors to the year 1610 which was not printed till
after his death in 1621, to which time it was conti¬
nued by another hand ; and lastly, “ A brief discourse
of the greatness of the Turkish empire, and where¬
in the greatness of the strength thereof consisteth,”
&c.
KNOT, a part of a tree, from which shoot out
branches, roots, or even fruit. The use of the knots
is, to strengthen the stem j they serve also as searces,
to filtrate, purify, and refine the juices raised up for
the nourishment of the plant.
Kxots of a Rope, among seamen, are distinguished
[ 478 ] ' K N O
'vlncli gives into three kinds, viz. w|10|e k„ot> that maje so w.t|)
the Jays of a rope that it cannot slip, serving for
sheets, tacks, and stoppers : bowline knot, that so^firm-
Jy made and fastened to the cringles of the sails, that
they must break or the sail split before it slips: and
sheep-shank knot, that made by shortening a rope with¬
out cutting it, which may be presently loosened, and
the rope not the worse for it.
Knots of the Log-line, at sea, are the divisions of it.
bee the article Log.
Knot. See Thinga, Ornithology Index.
KNOT-Grass,ov Bistort. See Polygonum,Bot\ny
Index.
KNOTTESFORD, a town of Cheshire, near the
Mersey, 184 miles from London, is divided into the
upper and lower towns by a rivulet called Bicken. In
the-former is the church ; and in the latter is the mar¬
ket and town-house. Population 23 c8 in 1811
KNOTTINGLEY, a town in the west riding of
Yorkshire, on the Aire near Ferrybridge, is noted for
its trade in lime. The stones of which it is made
are dug up plentifully at Elmet, and here burnt; from
whence it is conveyed at certain seasons in great quan¬
tities to Wakefield, Sandal, and Standbridge, for sale
and so carried into the western parts of the county for
manure. ]
KNOUT, the name of a punishment inflicted in
Russia, with a kind of whip called knout, and made of
a long strap of leather prepared for this purpose. With
this whip the executioners dexterously carry off a slip
of skin from the neck to the bottom of the back laid
bare to the w-aist, and repeating their blows, in a little
while rend away all the skin of the back in parallel
stripes. In the common knout the criminal receives the
lashes suspended on the back of one of the executioners :
but in the great knout, which is generally used on the
same occasions as racking on the wheel in France, the
criminal is raised into the air by means of a pulley fixed
to the gallows, and a cord fastened to the two wrists
tied together 5 a piece of wood is placed between his
two legs also tied together 5 and another of a crucial
form under his breast. Sometimes his hands are tied'
behind over his back; and when he is pulled up in this
position, his shoulders are dislocated. The execution¬
ers can make this punishment more or less severe ; and it
is said, are so dexterous, that when a criminal is con¬
demned to die, they can make him expire at pleasure
either by one or several lashes.
KNOWLEDGE, is defined by Mr Locke to be
the perception of the connexion and agreement or dis¬
agreement and repugnancy of our ideas. See Meta¬
physics and Logic.
.KNOX, John, greatly distinguished by the part he
took in the reformation in Scotland, was born in 1505,
at Giflord near Haddington, and educated at the univer-
sity of St Andrew’s, where he took a degree in arts, and
commenced teacher very early in life. At this time the
new religion of Martin Luther was but little known in
Scotland ; Mr Knox therefore at first was a zealous
Roman Catholic : but attending the sermons of a cer¬
tain Black friar, named Guialliam, he began to waver
in his opinions; and afterwards conversing with the fa¬
mous Wishart, who in 1544 came to Scotland with the
commissioners sent by Henry VIII. he renounced the
Romish religion, and became a zealous reformer. Be-
K N O C 479 1 K O E
Knox. *n& appointed tutor to the sons of the lairds of Ormi-
) stoun and Longniddery, he began to Instruct them in
the principles of the Protestant religion and on that
account was so violently persecuted by the bishop of
St Andrew’s, that with his two pupils he was obliged
in the year 1547 to take shelter in the castle of that
place. But the castle was besieged and taken by 21
French galleys. He continued a prisoner on board a
galley two years, namely, till the latter end of the year
1549*, when, being set at liberty, he landed in Eng¬
land, and having obtained a license, was appointed
preacher, first at Berwick, and afterwards at Newcastle.
Strype conjectures that in 1552 he was appointed chap¬
lain to Edward VI. He certainly obtained an annual
pension of 40I. and was offered the living of All-hallows
in London j which he refused, not choosing to conform
to the liturgy.
Soon after the accession of Queen Mary, he retired
to Geneva ; whence, at the command of John Calvin,
he removed to Frankfort, where he preached to the
exiles : but a difference arising on account of his refu¬
sing to read the English liturgy, he went back to Ge¬
neva ; and from thence in 1555 returned to Scotland,
where the reformation had made considerable progress
during his absence. He now travelled from place to
place, preaching and exhorting the people with unre¬
mitting zeal and resolution. About this time (1556),
he wrote a letter to the queen regent, earnestly en¬
treating her to hear the Protestant doctrine; which let¬
ter she treated with contempt. In the same year the
English Calvinists at Geneva, invited Mr Knox to re¬
side among them. He accepted their invitation. Im¬
mediately after his departure from Scotland, the bishop
summoned him to appear, and he not appearing, con¬
demned him to death for heresy, and burned his effigy
at the cross of Edinburgh.
Our reformer continued abroad till the year 1559,
during which time he published his “ First Blast against
the monstrous Regiment of Women.” Having now re¬
turned to Scotland, he resumed the great work of re¬
formation with his usual ardour, and was appointed
minister at Edinburgh. In 1561 Queen Mary arrived
from France. She, it is well known, was bigotted
to the religion in which she had been educated ; and
on that account was exposed to continual insults from
her reformed subjects. Mr Knox himself frequently
insulted her from the pulpit ; and when admitted to
her presence, regardless of her sex, her beauty, and
her high rank, behaved to her with a most unjustifiable
freedom. In the year 1571 our reformer was obliged
to leave Edinburgh, on account of the confusion and
danger from the opposition to the earl of Lennox, then
regent ; but he returned the following year, and re¬
sumed his pastoral functions. Pie died at Edinburgh
in November 1572, and was buried in the churchyard
of St Giles’s in that city.—His History of the Refor¬
mation was printed with his other works at Edinburgh
in 1584, 1586, 1644, and 1732. He published many
other pieces ; and several more are preserved in Calder-
wood’s History of the Church of Scotland. He left also
a considerable number of manuscripts, which in 1732
were in the possession of Mr Wodrow, minister of East-
wood.
As to.his character, it is easily understood, notwith-
stapding the extreme dissimilitude of the two portraits
drawn by Popish and Calvinistical pencils. According Knox
to the first, he was a devil ; according to the latter, an {|
angel. rlhe following character is drawn by I)r Ro- K°ei-
bertson. “ Zeal, intrepidity, disinterestedness, were , tc^0Ul
virtues that he possessed in an eminent degree. He was
acquainted too with the learning cultivated in that age ;
and excelled in that species of eloquence which is cal¬
culated to rouse and to inflame. His maxims, however,
were often too severe, and the impetuosity of his temper
excessive. Rigid and uncomplying, he showed no in¬
dulgence to the infirmities of others. Regardless of the
distinctions of rank and character, he uttered his admo¬
nitions with an acrimony and vehemence more apt to
irritate than to reclaim ; and this often betrayed him
into indecent expressions, with respect to Queen Mary’s
person and conduct. Ihose very qualities, however,
which novv render his character less amiable, fitted him
to be the instrument of Providence for advancing the
Reformation among a fierce people, and enabled liim to
face dangers, and to surmount opposition, from which
a person of a more gentle spirit would have been apt to
shrink back. By an unwearied application to study
and to business, as well as by the frequency and fervour
of his public discourses, he had worn out a constitution
naturally strong. During a lingering illness, he disco¬
vered the utmost fortitude ; and met the approach of
death with a magnanimity inseparable from his cha¬
racter. He was constantly employed in acts of devo¬
tion, and comforted himself with those prospects of im¬
mortality, which not only preserve good men from des¬
ponding, but fill them with exultation in their last mo¬
ments. The earl of Morton, who was present at his
funeral, pronounced his eulogium in a few words, the
more honourable for Knox, as they came from one
whom he had often censured with peculiar severity;
“ Here lies he who never feared the face of man.”
KNOXIA, a genus of plants belonging to the te-
trandria class ; and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 47th order, Stellate?. See Botany Index,
KNUTZEN, Matthias, a native of Holstein, the
only person on record who openly professed and taught
atheism. It is said he had about 1000 disciples in dif¬
ferent parts of Germany. They were called Conscien-
ciaries, because they asserted there is no other God, no
other religion, no other lawful magistracy, but consci¬
ence, which teaches every man the three fundamental
principles of the law of nature :—To hurt nobody, to
live honestly, and to give every one his due. Several
copies of a letter of his from Rome were spread abroad,
containing the substance of his system. It is to be
found entire in the last edition of Micrtelius.
KOEDOE. See Capra.
KOEI-TCHEOU, a province of China, and one of the
smallest in the empire. On the south it has Quang-si,
on the east Hou-quang, on the north Se-tchuen, and
Yun-nan on the west. The whole country is almost a
desert, and covered with inaccessible mountains : it may
justly be called the Siberia of China. The people who in¬
habit it are mountaineers, accustomed to independence,
and who seem to form a sepi;iate nation : they are no '
less ferocious than the savage animals among which they
live.—The mandarins and governors who are sent to
this province are sometimes disgraced noblemen, whom
the emperor does not think proper to discard entirely,
either on account of their alliances, or the services
which j
K O E [ 480 ] K O N
Koci- which they have rendered to the state : numerous gar-
tchcoi*, risons are intrusted to their charge, to overawe the in-
Ktgmpter. JjabJtants of the country : but these troops are found in¬
sufficient, and the court despairs of being ever able tho¬
roughly to subdue these untractable mountaineers. Fre¬
quent attempts have been made to reduce them to obe¬
dience, and new forts have from time to time been
erected in their country; but the people, who are not
ignorantof thosedesigns,keep themselves shut up among
their mountains, and seldom issue forth but to destroy
the Chinese works or ravage their lands. Neither silk
stuffs nor cotton cloths are manufactured in this pro¬
vince j but it products a certain herb much resembling
our hemp, the cloth made of which is used for summer
dresses. Mines of gold, silver, quicksilver, and copper,
are found here; of the last metal, those small pieces of
money are made which are in common circulation
throughout the empire.—Koei-tcheou contains 10 cities
of the first class, and 38 of the second and third.
KOEMPFER, Engelbert, was born in 1651 at
Lemgow in Westphalia. After studying in several
towns, he went to Dantzick, where he gave the first
public specimen of his proficiency, in a dissertation
De Majestatis Divisio?ie. He then went to Thorn ; and
from thence to the university of Cracow, where he took
his degree of doctor in philosophy ; after which he went
to Koningsberg in Prussia, and staid there four years.
He next travelled into Sweden, where he soon began
to make a figure, and was appointed secretary of the
embassy to the sophi of Persia. He set out from Stock¬
holm with the presents for that emperor ; and went
through Aaland, Finland, and Ingermanland, to Nar¬
va, where he met Mr Fabricius the ambassador, who
had been ordered to take Moscow in his way. The
ambassador having ended his negociations at the Russian
court, set out for Persia. During their stay, two years,
at Ispahan, Dr Koempfer, whose curious and inquisitive
disposition suffered nothing to escape him unobserved,
made all the advantages possible of remaining so long in
the capital of the Persian empire. The ambassador, to¬
wards the close of 1685, preparing to return into Eu¬
rope, Dr Koempfer chose rather to enter into the ser¬
vice of the Dutch East India Company, in quality of
chief surgeon to the fleet, then cruising in the Persian
gulf. He went aboard the fleet, which, after touching
at many Dutch settlements, came to Batavia in Septem¬
ber 1689. Dr Koempfer here applied himself chiefly
to natural history. Hence he set out for Japan, in qua¬
lity of a physician to the embassy which the Dutch East
Ind ta Company send once a year to the Japanese court.
He quitted Japan to return to Europe in 1692. In
1694 he took his degree of doctor of physic at Eeyden ;
on which occasion he communicated, in what are called
Inaugural Theses, ten very singular and curious obser¬
vations made by him in foreign countries. He intended
to digest his memoirs into proper order j but was pre¬
vented, by being made physician to the count de
Lippe. He died in 1716. His principal works are,
I. Amce, nit cites Exoticce, in qto *, a work which includes
many curious and useful particulars in relation to the
civil and natural history of the countries through which
he passed. 2. Herharium Ultra-Gangeticum. 3. The
history of Japan, in German, which is very curious and
much esteemed ; and for which the public is indebted
to the late Sir Hans SI oane, who purchased for a con-
3
siderable sum of money all our author’s curiosities, Kcempfer
both natural and artificial, as likewise all his drawings fl'
and manuscript memoirs, and prevailed with the learn- Konig.
ed Dr Scheuchzer to translate the Japanese history ' —1
into English.
KOEMPFERIA. See Kempferia.
KOENIGIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
triandria class. See Botany Index.
KONGSBERG, a town of Norway, belonging to
Denmark, and celebrated for its silver mines, whose
produce has been considerably exaggerated by most of
the travellers that have published on this subject. The
town, which stretches on both sides the river Lowe,
contains about jooo houses, and including the miners
6000 inhabitants. The mines, which lie about two
miles from the town, were first discovered and worked
during the reign of Christian IV.; and of their present
state the following account is given by Mr Coxe *. * TW/tW*
There are 36 mines now working; the deepest where-'” Poland,
of, called Segen-Gottes in der North, is 652 feet perpen-&c* y' 2^’
dicular. The matrix of the ore is the saxum of Lin-
naeus. The silver is extracted according to the usual
process, either by smelting the ore with lead or by
pounding. The pure silver is occasionally found in
small grains and in small pieces of different sizes, sel¬
dom weighing more than four or five pounds. Some¬
times, indeed, but extremely rare, masses of a consi¬
derable bulk have been discovered ; and one in parti¬
cular which weighed 409 marks, and was worth 3000
rix-dollars, or 600I. This piece is still preserved in
the cabinet of curiosities at Copenhagen. Formerly
these mines produced annually 350,000 rixdollars, or
70,000! ; and in 1769, even 79,000!.; at present they
seldom yield above from 44,000!. to 50,000!. Former¬
ly above 4000 men were necessary for working the
mines, smelting and preparing the ore; but a few
years ago 2400 miners were removed to the cobalt
w-orks lately established atFossum, and toother mines;
and the number is now reduced to 2500. By these
and other reductions, the expence, which was before
estimated at 57^°^ Per month, now amounts to only
4400!. or about 52,800!. per annum. Yet even with
this diminution the expences generally equal, and some¬
times exceed the profits. Government, therefore, draws
no other advantages from these mines, than by giving
employnient to so many persons, who would otherwise
be incapable of gaining their livelihood, and by re¬
ceiving a certain quantity of specie, which is much
wanted in the present exhausted state of the finances in
Denmark. For such is the deficiency of specie, that
even at Kong^berg itself change for a bank note is
with difficulty obtained. The miners are paid in small
bank notes, and the whole expences are defrayed in
paper currency. The value of 13,000 rixdollars, or
2600k in block silver is annually sent to Copenhagen ;
the remainder of the ere is coined in the mint at
Kongsberg, and transferred to Copenhagen. The
largest piece of money now struck at Kongsberg is only
eight skillings or fourpence.
KONIG, George Matthias, a learned German,
born at Altorf in Franconia in 1616. He became
professor of poetry and of the Greek tongue there, and
librarian to the university ; in which last office he suc¬
ceeded his father. He gave several public specimens
of his learning; but is principally known for a Bio¬
graphical
K O R [ 481 ] K O T
Konig grapliical Dictionary, entitled, Bibliotheca veins et novay
It 4to, Altorf, 1674: which, though it is very defective,
toraquas. js useful to biographers. He died in 16pp.
11 1 KONIGSTEIN, the capital of a county of the same
name in Germany. It is n miles north-west of Franc-
fort on the Maine, and 30 miles north-east of Mentz.
Konigstein, is also the name of a town in Bavaria,
and of one in Saxony.
KONINGSBERG, a town of Poland, and capital
of Regal Prussia, with a magnificent palace, in which
is a hall 274 feet long and 59 broad without pillars
to support it, and a handsome library. It is about
five miles in circumference ; and, including the garri¬
son of 7000 men, contains 60,000 inhabitants. The
townhouse, the exchange, and the 'cathedral church,
are all very fine structures. The tower of the castle is
exceeding high *, and has 284 steps to go to the top,
from whence there is a very distant prospect. There
are 18 churches in all; of which 14 belong to the
Eutherans, three to the Calvinists, and one to the Pa¬
pists. It stands on the Pregel, a navigable river which
flows from the north-western provinces of Poland, and
here falls into the eastern extremity of the Frische-Haf,
an inlet of the Baltic. No ships drawing more than
seven feet water can pass the bar and come up to the
town ; so that the large vessels anchor at Pillau, a small
town on the Baltic, which is the port of Koningsberg $
and the merchandise is sent in smaller vessels to this
place. Its trade is very considerable.—Koningsberg con¬
tains an university founded by Albert of Brandenburg.
According to the original endowment there were 40
professors $ but their number is now reduced to 16.
Each professor receives asalary of about 50!. per annum,
which may be increased by private lectures. In 1775,
the university contained 800 students, of whom 200
were lodged and boarded at the expence of the crown.
There are three public libraries in the town, the royal
or university library, the town library, and the Wallen-
rodt library, so called because it was given by Martien
von Wallenrodt, in 1650. E. Long. 35. N. Lat. 94. 43.
KORAN, or Alcoran. See Alcoran and Ma¬
hometanism.
KORAQUAS, a tribe of Hottentots inhabiting
a district in the south of Africa, on the confines of the
Nimiqua country. The people are much taller than
the other Hottentots of the colonies, though they evi¬
dently appear to be descended of the same race, having
the same language and customs with their neighbours
the Nimiquas, who are undoubtedly of the same ex¬
traction. Like other savage tribes, the Koraquas are
ever ready to pilfer, and appropriate to their own use
whatever they find pleasing, or suited to their purposes.
They attempted to carry o(T some of M. Vaillant’s ef¬
fects, even before his face; and he was obliged, either
to watch over or deposit them in some place of safety,
in order to prevent their rapacity.
The excessive dryness of the country renders springs
extremely rare; but to supply this defect the inhabitants
dig in the earth a kind of cisterns, to which they gra¬
dually descend by means of steps; the greatest marks of
industry which M. Vaillant could discover among any of
the African nations. To secure this scanty supply of
water even from the birds, they are in the practice of
coveiing the mouth of the hole with stones and the
branches of trees; yet in spite of all this economy, the
Vol. XI. Part II. f
wells frequently become dry, in which case the horde Koraqtia#
must remove to some other quarter. This circumstance H
renders the Koraquas a more wandering people than any Kotteru*.
of the other western tribes. They colour their bodies ’*
differently according to whim or caprice, and it is no
uncommon thing to see them vary it every day, which
gives them to each other a strange appearance as if they
were dressed for a masquerade.
KOREKI, the country of the Koriacs. See the
next article.
KORIACS, a people inhabiting the northern part
of Kamtschatka, and all the coast of the Eastern ocean
from thence to the Anadir. They are divided into
the Rein-deer or Wandering Koriacs, and the Fixed
Koriacs. The former lead an erratic life, in the tract
bounded by the Penschinska sea to the south-east, the
river Kowyma to the west, and the river Anadir to
the north. They wander from place to place with
their rein deer, in search of the moss, the food of those
animals, which are their only wealth. They are squa¬
lid, cruel, and warlike ; the terror of the Fixed Ko¬
riacs, as much as the Tschutski are of them. They
never frequent the sea, nor live on fish. Their habita¬
tions are jourts, or places half sunk in the earth ; and
they never use balagans or summer houses elevated on
posts like the Kamtschatkans. They are in their per¬
sons lean, and very shoit; have small heads and black
hair, which they shave frequently: their faces are oval;
their nose is short; their eyes are small ; their mouth
is large; and their beard is black and pointed, but often
eradicated.—The lixed Koriacs are likewise short;
but rather taller than the others, and strongly made :
the Anadir is also their boundary to the north, the
ocean to the east, and the Kamtschatkans to the south.
They have a few rein deer, which they use in their
sledges ; but neither of the tribes of Koriacs are civi¬
lized enough to apply them to the purposes of the
dairy. Each speaks a diflerent dialect of the same
language : but the Fixed in most things resemble the
Kamtschatkans ; and, like them, live almost entirely on
fish. They are timid to a high degree, and behave to
their wandering brethren with the utmost submission ;
who call them by a name which signifies their slaves.
I hese poor people seem to have no alternative: for,
by reason of the scarcity of rein deer, they depend on
these tyrants for the essential article of clothing.  
These two nations, Mr Pennant supposes, from their
features, to be the offspring of Tartars, which have
spread to the east, and degenerated in size and strength
by the rigour of the climate, and often by scarcity of
food.
KOS, in Jewish antiquity, a measure of capacity,
containing about four cubic inches : this was the cup
of blessing out of which they drank when they gave
thanks after solemn meals, like that of the passover.
KOTTERUS, Christopher, was one of the three
fanatics whose visions were published at Amsterdam in
1657, with the title of Lux in tenebris. He lived
at Sprotta. in Silesia, and his visions began in 1616.
He fancied he saw an angel under the form of a man,
who commanded him to go and declare to the magi¬
strates, that, unless the people repented, the wrath of
God would make dreadful havock. The elector pala¬
tine, whom the Protestants had declared king of Bo¬
hemia, was introduced in these visions. Kotterus
3 P waited
K O U [ 482 I K O U
Kottcrns waited on him at Breslaw in December 1620, and in-
^ B formed him of his commission. He went to several
°ac' . other places, and at last to the court of Brandenburg.
As most of these predictions promised felicity to the
elector palatine, and unhappiness to his imperial ma¬
jesty, the emperor’s fiscal in Silesia and Lusatia got
him seized, set on the pillory, and banished the empe¬
ror’s dominions. Upon this he went to Lusatia, and
there lived unmolested till his death, which happened
in 1647.
KOU -chu, a Chinese shrub, which bears a great
resemblance to the fig tree both in the make of its
Crosier's _ branches and the form of its leaves. From its root
£ftfo«,vol.i.severa| fcw|gS or shoots generally spring up, which form
'' 4 a kind of bush } but sometimes it consists of only one
shoot. The wood of the branches of the kou-chu is
soft and spongy, and covered with bark like that of the
fig tree. Its leaves are deeply indented, and their co¬
lour and the texture of their fibres are exactly the same
as those of the fig tree 5 but they are larger and thick¬
er, and much rougher to the touch.
This tree yields a kind of milky juice, which the
Chinese use for laying on gold-leaf in gilding. They
make one or more incisions in the trunk, into which
they insert the edges of a shell, or something else of
the same kind to receive the sap. When they have
extracted a sufficiency, they use it with a small brush,
and delineate whatever figures they intend for the de¬
coration of their work. They then lay on the gold-
leaf, which is so strongly attracted by this liquor, that
it never comes off.
KOUANIN, in the Chinese language, the name of
a tutelary deity of women. The Chinese make great
numbers of the figures of this deity in white porcelain,
and send them to all parts of the world, as well as keep
them in their own houses. The figure represents a
woman with a child in her arms. The women who have
no children pay a sort of adoration to these images, and
suppose the deity they represent to have power to make
them fruitful. The statue always represents a hand¬
some woman very modestly attired.
KOUC, or Koeck, Peter, an excellent painter in
the 16th century, was born at Alost, and was the dis¬
ciple of Bernard Van Orley, who lived with Raphael.
He went to Rome $ and by studying the beautiful
pieces which he found there, formed an excellent taste,
and became a very correct designer. On his return to
his own country, he undertook the office of directing
the execution of some tapestry work after the designs
of Raphael. He was afterwards persuaded by some
merchants of Brussels to undertake a voyage to Con¬
stantinople } but when he came there, finding that the
lurks were not allowed by their x'eligion to draw any
figure, and that there was nothing for him to do but
to draw designs for tapestry, he spent his time in de-
signing the particular prospects in the neighbourhood
of Constantinople, and the manner of the Turks liv-
ing; of which he has left many wooden cuts, that alone
suffice to give an idea of his merit. After his return
from Constantinople he settled at Antwerp, where he
drew several pictures for the emperor Charles V. He
was also a good architect j and, in the latter part of
bis life, wrote A Treatise of Sculpture, Geometry, and
Perspective ; and translated Vitruvius and Serliv into
ihe Flemish tongue. He died in 1550.
a
KOULI-Khan, Thamas, or Schah Nadir, was KouIL
not the son of a shepherd, as the authors of the Eng- kban,
lish Biographical Dictionary assert : his father being Koumiss,
chief of a branch of the tribe ofAffchars, and gover- ' ^
nor of a fortress erected by that people against the
Turks. Upon his father’s death, his uncle usurped
his government, under the pretext of taking care of
it during the minority of Kouli-Khan ; or, more pro-
perly, young Nadir. Disgust at this affront made
him commence adventurer. He entered into the ser¬
vice of the beglerbeg or governor of Muschada, in
Khorasan 5 who, discovering in him strong marks of a
military genius, promoted him to the command of a
regiment of cavalry. In 1720, the Usbec Tartars ha¬
ving made an irruption into Khorasan with 10,000
men, the beglerbeg, whose whole force consisted only
of 4000 horse and 2000 infantry, called a council of
war, in which it was declared imprudent to face the
enemy with such an inferior force : but Kouli-Khaa
proposed to march against the enemy, and engaged to
conduct the expedition, and to be answerable for the
success of it. He was accordingly made general ; de¬
feated the Tartars, and took their commander prison¬
er. Plossein Beglerbeg received him at his return
with marks of distinction : but growing jealous of his
rising fame, instead of obtaining him the rank of lieu¬
tenant-general of Khorasan, as he had promised, ob¬
tained it for another; which so exasperated Kouli-
Khan, that he publicly complained of the governor’s
ingratitude and perfidy } who thereupon broke him*
and ordered him to be punished with the bastinado so
severely, that the nails of his great toes fell off. This
affront occasioned his flight, and his joining a ban¬
ditti of robbers (not his stealing his father’s or his
neighbour’s sheep). The rest of his adventures are
too numerous to be inserted in this work. In 1729
he was made general of Persia by Schah Thamas, and
permitted to take his name Thamas, and that of Khali,
which signifies slave : his title therefore was The slave
of Thamas; but he was ennobled by the addition of
Khan. In 1736, he fomented a revolt against his
master, for having made an ignominious peace with
the Turks *, and having the army at his command, he
procured his deposition, and his own advancement to
the throne. In 1739 he conquered the Mogul em¬
pire , and from this time growing as cruel as he was
ambitious, he at length met with the usual fate of
tyrants, being assassinated by one of his generals, in
league with his nephew and successor, in 1747, aged
sixty.
KOUMISS, a sort of wine made in Tartary, where
it is used by the natives as their common beverage
during the season of it, and often serves them instead
of all other food. It is said to be so nourishing and
salutary, that the Baschkir Tartars, who towards the
end of winter are much emaciated, no sooner return
in summer to, the use of koumiss, than they become
strong and fat. The author of M A historical description
of all the nations which compose the Russian empire,”
says, speaking of koumiss, Elle est fort nourissanle, et
pent tenir lieu de tout autre aliment. Les Baschkirs s'en
trouvent ires bien, elle les rend bienportans et gais; elle
leur donne de Vembonpoint, et de bonne couleurs. From
the Tartars it has been borrowed by the Russians, who
use it medicinally. It is made with fermented mares
milk,.
K O U
Koumiss, milk, according to the following recipe, communicated
—' by Dr Grieve, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Trans-
Vol. i. actions *, as he obtained it from a Russian nobleman,
lSl* who went into that part of Tartary where it is made,
for the sake of using it medicinally,
“ Take of fresh mares milk, of one day, any quan¬
tity; add to it a sixth part of water, and pour the mix¬
ture into a wooden v-essel j use then, as a ferment, an
eighth part of the sourest cows milk that can be got;
but at any future preparation, a small portion of old
koumiss will better answer the purpose of souring ;
cover the vessel with a thick cloth, and set it in a place
of moderate warmth ; leave it at rest 24 hours, at
the end of which time the milk will have become
sour, and a thick substance will be gathered on the
top j then with a stick made at the lower end in the
manner of a churn staff, beat it till the thick substance
above mentioned be blended intimately with the subja¬
cent fluid. In this situation, leave it again at rest for
24 hours more ; after which pour it into a higher and
narrower vessel, resembling a churn, where the agita¬
tion must be repeated as before, till the liquor appear
to be perfectly homogeneous $ and in this state it is call¬
ed koumiss, of which the taste ought to be a pleasant
mixture of sweet and sour. Agitation must be employ¬
ed every time before it be used.”—To this detail of the
process the nobleman subjoined, that in order to obtain
milk in sufficient quantity, the Tartars have a custom
cf separating the foal from the mare during the day, and
allowing it to suck during the night: and when the
milk is to be taken from the mare, which is generally
about five times a-day, they always produce the foal,
on the supposition that she yields her milk more copi¬
ously when it is present.
To the above method of making koumiss, our au¬
thor has added some particulars taken from other com¬
munications with which he was favoured by Tartars
themselves. According to the account of a Tartar
who lived to the south-east of Orenbourg, the pro¬
portion of milk and souring ought to be the same as
above ; only, to prevent changing the vessel, the milk
may be put at once into a pretty high and narrow
vessel: and in order to accelerate the fermentation,
some warm milk may be added to it, and, if necessary,
more souring.—From a Tartar whom the doctor met
with at the fair of Macarieff upon the Volga, and from
whom he purchased one of the leathern bags (a) which
are used by the Kalmucs for the preparation and car¬
riage of their koumiss, he learned that the process may
be much shortened by heating the milk before the sour¬
ing be added to it, and as soon as the parts begin to se¬
parate, and a thick substance to rise to the top, by agi¬
tating it every hour or oftener. In this way he made
some in the doctor’s presence in the space of 12 hours.
Our author learned also, that it was common among some
Tartars to prepare it in one day during summer, and
K O U
that with only two or three agitations $ but that in win- Koumiss,
ter, when, from a deficiency of mares milk, they are —v—"
obliged to add a great proportion of that of cows, more
agitation and more time are necessary: and though
it is commonly used within a few days after the pre¬
paration, yet when rvell secured in close vessels, and
kept in a cold place, that it may be preserved for three
months, or even more, without any injury to its qua¬
lities. He was told farther, that the acid fermenta¬
tion might he produced by sour milk as above, by a
sour paste of rye flour, by the rennet of a lamb’s sto¬
mach, or, what is more common, by a portion of old
koumiss, and that in some places they saved much
time, by adding the new milk to a quantity of that
already fermented j on being mixed with which, it very,
soon undergoes the vinous change.
It was according to the process first mentioned,
however, that all koumiss which the doctor employed
in medicine was prepared.—It has been found service¬
able in hectics and nervous complaints ; and our au¬
thor relates some very striking cases which the use of
it bad completely cured. All those who drank it, our
author informs us, agreed in saying, that during its
use, they had little appetite for food j that they drank
it in very large quantities, not only without disgust,
but with pleasure ; that it rendered their veins turgid,
without producing languor; that, on the contrary, they
soon acquired from it an uncommon degree of spright-
liness and vivacity; that even in eases of some excess
it was not followed by indigestion, headach, or any of
the symptoms which usually attend the abuse of other
fermented liquors.
The utility, however, of this preparation as a medi¬
cine, supposing it completely ascertained, would among
us, as our author observes, be greatly circumscribed by
the scarcity of mares milk in this country. “ Hence
(says he) inquiries will naturally be made, whether other
species of milk admit of a similar vinous fermentation,
and what proportion of spirit they contain. As these
have never been the object, however, of my attention,
I will here give the substance of what I have been able
to learn from others respecting that which is the most
common, the milk of cows.
“ Dr Pallas, in the work above quoted, says, that
cows milk is also susceptible of the vinous fermentation,
and that the Tartars prepare a wine from it in winter,
when mares milk fails them ; that the wine prepared
from cows milk, they call airen ; but that they always
prefer koumiss when it can be got, as it is more agree¬
able, and contains a greater quantity of spirit; that
koumiss on distillation yields of a weak spirit one third,
but that airen yields only two-ninth parts of its whole
quantity, which spirit they call arica.
“ This account is confirmed by Oseretskovvsky, a
Russian, who accompanied Lepechin and other acade¬
micians, in their travels through Siberia and Tartary.
3 P * He
[ 483 ]
(a) This bag was made of a horse’s hide undressed, and by having been smoked had acquired a great degree
of hardness. Its shape was conical, but was at the same time somewhat triangular, from being composed of three
different pieces, set in a circular base of the same hide. The sutures, which were made with tendons, were se¬
cured by a covering on the outside, with a doubling of the same skin, very closely secured. It had a dirty ap¬
pearance, and a very disagreeable smell. On being asked the reason of this, be said, “ The remains of the old
koumiss were left, in order to supply a ferment to the new milk.”
K R I [ 484 ] K U R
Koumiss published lately a dissertation on the ardent spirit
(1 to be obtained from cows milk.
Kiidma. “ From his experiments it appears, that cows milk
* may be fermented with, or even without, souring, pro¬
vided sufficient time and agitation be employed j that
no spirit could be produced from any of its consti¬
tuent parts taken separately, nor from any two of them,
unless inasmuch as they are mixed with some part of
the third j that the milk with ail its parts in their na¬
tural proportion was the most productive of it j that
the closer it was kept, or, which is the same thing, the
more difficultly the fixed air is allowed to escape during
the fermentation (care being taken, however, that we
do not endanger the bursting of the vessel), the more
spirit is obtained. He also informs us, that it had a
sourer smell before than after agitation j that the quan¬
tity of spirit was increased, by allowing the fermented
liquor to repose for some time before distillation ; that
from six pints of milk fermented in a close vessel, and
thus set to repose, he obtained three ounces of ardent
spirit, of which one was consumed in burning} but
that from the same quantity of the same milk fer¬
mented in an open vessel, he could scarcely obtain an
ounce.”
KRAKEN, the name of an animal supposed to have
been seen at sea, of a monstrous size, in the existence of
which the weakness and credulity of the fishermen have
excited the belief even among respectable naturalists,
and among others Bishop Pontoppidan, who describes
it in his Natural History of Norway. It is probable
that the whole depends on certain optical appearances
arising from a peculiar state of the atmosphere, which
thus exhibits to the deluded fancy something of the
form of a huge animal.
KRANTZIUS, Albertus, a native of Hamburgh,
and a famous historian, who travelled over several parts
of Europe, and was made rector of the university of
Rostoch in 1482. He went from thence to Ham¬
burgh in 1508, where he was elected dean of the chap¬
ter in the cathedral. He did many good services to
that church and city } and was so famed for his abili¬
ties and prudence, that John king of Denmark and
Irederic duke of Holstein did not scruple to make him
umpire in a dispute they had with the Ditmarsi. He
wrote several good historical works ; the most consi¬
derable of which is an Ecclesiastical History of Saxo¬
ny, entitled Metropolis, in folio ; the best edition is that
oi Francfort. He died in 1517.
KRAUT, or Grout. See Grout.
KRISHNA, or Crishna, an eastern river of con¬
siderable magnitude, very little known to Europeans.
It annually overflows a vast tract of country, like the
Indus on the western side of the empire. It rises from
the foot of the western Ghauts, about 45 miles from
Seyerndroog. There is another branch to the east, on
which side is Sattara, a strong fortress, and once the
capital of the Mahratta state. The river continues de¬
scending to the east. In the north side of the Krish¬
na falls the great river Bima, after traversing a country
350 miles in extent. The Krishna, above and below
its conflux with the Bima, is fordable } and its channel
is 600 yards wide a few miles below, rendered horrible
by the number and rudeness of the different rocks
which are only covered during the rainy season.
Another extensive branch of the Krishna is* Tung-
buddra, which falls into it in Lat. 160 25', and rises K • t
far to the southward from a dubious fountain. This njjin*
river derives considerable celebrity from its having had Kuril,
on its banks at one period the splendid city of Vijana- v" V—*
gar, in Lat. 150 22', founded in 1344 by Belaldeo,
king of the Carnatic, which at that time comprehend¬
ed the whole peninsula. This vast city is said to have
been 24 miles in circumference. In the remaining
part of the course of the Krishna, there is nothing to
be met with which is any way remarkable.
KUBESHA. See Lesguis.
KUMI, the name of an island situated between Ja¬
pan and China, which w'as visited by the unfortunate
navigator Perouse. The inhabitants of this island are
neither Japanese nor Chinese, but seem to participate
of the nature of both. They wear a shirt and cotton
drawers } and their hair, tucked up on the crown of the
head, is rolled round a needle, probably of gold. Each
wears a dagger with a golden handle; their canoes are
made of trees hollowed out, which they manage with
no great dexterity. At Kumi, vessels in want of pro¬
visions, wood and rvater, might find a seasonable sup¬
ply } but as the whole island does not exceed 12 miles
in circumference, the population can scarcely be esti¬
mated at more than 500} and as M. Perouse well ob¬
serves, a few gold needles are not of themselves a
proof of wealth,” so that the trade with its inhabitant*
would of necessity be very limited. Kumi lies in 24°
33' N. Lat. and 120° 56' E. Long from Paris.
KUNCKEL, John, a celebrated Saxon chemist,
was born in the duchy of Sleswick, in 1630. Pie be¬
came chemist to the elector of Saxony, the elector of
Brandenburgh, and Charles XL king of Sweden, who
gave him the title oi counsellor in metals, and letters of
nobility, with the surname of Louwensteing. He em¬
ployed 50 years in chemistry } in which, by the help
of the furnace of a glasshouse which lie had under
his care, he made several excellent discoveries, parti¬
cularly of the phosphorus of urine. He died in Swe¬
den in 1702} and left several works, some in Ger¬
man, and others in Latin : among which, that en¬
titled Observationes Chemicce, and the Art of Making
Glass, printed at Paris in 1752, are the most es¬
teemed.
KURIL or Kurilski Isles, extending from N.
Lat. 51. to 45. which probably once lengthened the
peninsula of Kamtschatka before they were convulsed
from it, are a series of islands running south from the
low promontory Lopatka, between which and Shoomska
the most northerly is only the distance of one league.
On the lofty Paramouser, the second in the chain, is a
high peaked mountain, probably volcanic ; there is also
a volcano on the fourth, called Auraumakutan ; and
there are others on some of the smaller islands. Japan
also abounds with volcanoes ; so that there is a series of
spiracles {from Kamtschatka to Japan, the last great
link of this extensive chain.—The Russians soon an¬
nexed these islands to their conquests. The sea abound¬
ed with otters, and the land with bears and foxes} and
some of the isles sheltered the sable } but now, it is said,
the furs of the sea otters have become extremely scarce
both here and in Kamtschatka.
Of the 21 islands subject to the Russian empire, no
more than four are inhabited, which are the first, se¬
cond, thirteenth, and fourteenth, as they are distin¬
guished
K U S [ 485 ] K Y P
: Kuril guished from each other by numbers Instead of names.
{] The inhabitants pass the winter on N° 14, and the sum-
Kuster. mer months on N° 13. The rest of these islands are
» wholly uninhabited j but visited occasionally, for the
purpose of hunting otters and foxes. Between the
islands the currents are extremely violent, especially at
the entrance of the channels, some of which are block¬
ed up with rocks on a level with the sea. The popu¬
lation of the four inhabited islands may amount to
1400. The natives are hairy, have long beards, and
subsist entirely on the produce of the chace, on seals,
and other species of fish. At the time when Perouse
visited this island, the people were exempted for ten
years from the tribute paid to the emperor of Russia,
because the number of otters was greatly diminished $
a pleasing proof of the mildness of that government,
which has been so often represented as rigidly despotic.
The people of these islands are represented as poor, but
virtuous, given to hospitality, and docile, and all of
them believers of the Christian religion. They extend
from 510 to 450 N. Lat.
KURTUS, a genus of fishes belonging to the order
Jugulares. See Ichthyology Index.
KUSTER, Ludolf, a very learned writer in the
18th century, was born at Blomberg in Westphalia.
When very young, he was upon the recommendation
of Baron Spanheim appointed tutor to the two sons
of the count de Schwerin, prime minister of the king
of Prussia, who, upon our author’s quitting that sta¬
tion, procured him a pension of 400 livres. He was
promised a professorship in the university of Joachim 5
and till this should be vacant, being then but 25, he
resolved to travel. He read lectures at Utrecht; went
to England ; and from thence to France, where he
collated Suidas with three MSS. in the king’s library,
which furnished him with a great many fragments
that had never been published. He was honoured
with the degree of doctor by the university of Cam¬
bridge, which made him several advantageous offers
to continue there : but he was called to Berlin, where
he was installed in the professorship promised him.
Afterwards he went to Antwerp ; and being brought
over to the Catholic religion, he abjured that of the
Protestants. The king of France rewarded him with
a pension, and ordered him to be admitted supernu¬
merary associate of the Academy of Inscriptions. But
he enjoyed this, however, a very short time ; he died
in 1716, aged 46. He was a great master of the
Latin tongue, and wrote well in it; but his chief KusUr
excellence was his skill in the Greek language, to l|
which he almost entirely devoted himself. He wrote Kyphonum
many works ; the principal of which are, 1. Histoj'ia *
critica Homeri. 2. Jamblicus de vita Pythagorce. 3. An
excellent edition of Suidas, in Greek and Latin, three
volumes, folio. 4. An edition of Aristophanes, in
Greek and Latin, folio. 5. A new Greek edition
of the New Testament, with Dr Mills’s Variations,
in folio.
KYLE, a district of Ayrshire in Scotland, the li¬
mits of which are erroneously stated in the account
which is given in that country. There are three dis¬
tricts in Ayrshire, Carrick to the south, Kyle in the
middle, and Cunningham to the north. Carrick is di¬
vided from Kyle by the river Doon, and not by the
river Ayr as has been noted by mistake; the boundaries
of Kyle are the river Doon on the south, and the river
Irvine on the north. See Ayrshire.
KYPHONISM, Kyphonismus, or Cyphonismug)
an ancient punishment which was frequently undergone
by the martyrs in the primitive times ; wherein the
body of the person to suffer was anointed with honey,
and so exposed to the sun, that the flies and wasps
might be tempted to torment him. This was per¬
formed in three ways: sometimes they only tied
the patient to a stake ; sometimes they hoisted him
up into the air, and suspended him in a basket; and
sometimes they stretched him out on the ground with
his hands tied behind him. The word is originally Greek,
and comes from xvQuv, which signifies either the stake
to which the patient was tied, the collar fitted to his
neck, or an instrument wherewith they tormented him:
the scholiast on Aristophanes says, it was a wooden
lock, or cage; and that it was called so from kvttIuy,
“ to crook or bend,” because it kept the tortured in
a crooked, bowing posture : others take the xvipav for
a log of wood laid over the criminal’s head, to prevent
his standing upright : Hesychius describes the x.uip»>r
as a piece of wood whereon criminals were stretched
and tormented. In effect, it is probable the word
might signify all these several things. It was a generi-
cal name, whereof these were the species.
Suidas gives us the fragment of an old law, which
punished those who treated the laws with contempt
with kyphonism for the space of twenty days; after
which they were to be precipitated from a rock, dress¬
ed in women’s habit.
L.
LA semi vowel, or liquid, making the eleventh
9 letter of the alphabet.
It was derived from the old Hebrew Lamed, or Greek
Lambda X. It is sounded by intercepting the breath
between the tip of the tongue and forepart of the pa¬
late, with the mouth open ; and makes a sweet sound,
with something of an aspiration; and therefore the
Britons and Spaniards usually doubled it, or added an
h to it, in the beginning of words, as in //«», or Ihan^
“ a temple,” sounding nearly like jl, &c. In English
words of one syllable it is doubled at the end, as tellt
bell, knell, &c. but in words of more syllables than one
it is single, at the end, as evil, general, constitutional, &c.
It is placed after most of the consonants in the begin¬
ning
LAB [ 486 ] LAB
Ti ning of words and syllables, as black, glare, ad-le, ea-gle,
0 &c. but before none. Its sound is clear in Abel, but
J.abadie. 0l3Scul.e jn alfe, &c.
' ’ As a numeral letter, L denotes 50$ and with a dash
over it, thus E, 5000. Used as an abbreviature, L
stands for Lucius $ and L. L. S. for a sesterce. See
Sesterce.
LA, the syllable by which Guido denotes the last
sound of each hexachord $ if it begins in C, it answers
to our A j if in G, to E ; and if in F, to D.
LABADIE, John, a famous French enthusiast, son
of John Charles Labadie, governor of Bourges and
gentleman in ordinary of the bedchamber to the French
king, was born in 1610. He entered young into the
Jesuits college at Bourdeaux ; which, by his own ac¬
count, he afterwards quitted, but by other accounts was
expelled for his peculiar notions, and for hypocrisy.
He became a popular preacher j but being repeatedly
detected in working upon female devotees with spiritual
instructions for carnal purposes, his loss of character
among the Catholics drove him among the Protestants.
A reformed Jesuit being thought a great acquisition, he
was precipitately accepted as a pastor at Montauban,
where he officiated for eight years $ but, attempting the
chastity of a young lady whom he could not convert to
his purpose, and quarrelling with the Catholic priest
about the right of interring a dead body, he was at
length banished that place. The story of his affair with
the lady, as related by Mr Bayle, may here be given
as a specimen of his ministry. Having directed this
damsel to the spiritual life, which he made to consist in
internal recollection and mental prayer, he gave her
out a certain point of meditation; and having strongly
recommended it to her to apply herself entirely for some
hours to such an important object, he went up to her
when he believed her to be at the height of her recol¬
lection, and put his hand into her breast. She gave
him a hasty repulse, expressed a great deal of surprise
at the proceeding, and was even preparing to rebuke
him, when he, without being in the least disconcerted,
and with a devout air, prevented her thus : “ I see
plainly, my child, that you are at a great distance
from perfection ; acknowledge your weakness with a
humble spirit j ask forgiveness of God for your having
given so little attention to the mysteries upon which
you ought to have meditated. Had you bestowed all
necessary attention upon these things, you would not
have been sensible of what was doing about your breast.
But you are so much attached to sense, so little con¬
centered with the Godhead, that you were not a mo¬
ment in discovering that I had touched you. I wanted
to try whether your fervency in prayer had raised you
above the material world, and united you with the
Sovereign Being, the living source of immortality and
of a spiritual state ; and I see, to my great grief, that
you have made very small progress, and that you only
creep on the ground. May this, my child, make you
ashamed, and for the future move you to perform the
duties of mental prayer better than you have hitherto
done.” The young lady, who had as much good
sense as virtue, was no less provoked at these words
than at the bold actions of her ghostly instructor, and
could never afterwards bear the name of §uch a holy
father. Labadie being driven out of Montauban, went
to seek an asylum at Orange : but not finding himself
so safe there as he imagined, he withdrew privately to Labadie
Geneva, where he imposed on the people by his de- 1!
vout preaching and carriage j and from thence was ,
invited to Middleburg, where his spirituality made "J
him and his followers be considered as so many saints,
distinguished by the name of Labadists. They in¬
creased so much, that he excited the attention of the
other churches, whose authority he disputed, till he
was formally deposed by the synod of I)ort. Instead
of obeying, he procured a tumultuous support from a
crowd of his devotees $ and at length formed a little
settlement between Utrecht and Amsterdam, where
he erected a printing press, which sent forth many of
his works. Here he was betrayed by some deserters,
who exposed his private life, and informed the public
of his familiarities with his female disciples, under pre¬
tence of uniting them more particularly to God; and
was finally objiged to retire to Altena in Holstein,
where he died in 1674.
LAB ADIS FS, a sect of religionists in the 17th
century, followers of the opinions of John Labadie, of
whom an account is given in the preceding article.
Some of their opinions were,'i. That God could, and
did deceive men. 2. That, in reading the Scriptures,
greater attention should be paid to the internal inspi¬
ration of the Holy Spirit than to the words of the text.
3. I hat baptism ought to be deferred till mature age.
4* That the good and the wicked entered equally into
the old alliance, provided they descended from Abra¬
ham j but that the new admitted only spiritual men.
5. .That the observation of Sunday was a matter of in¬
difference. 6. .That Christ would come and reign
1000 years on earth. 7. That the eucharist was only
a commemoration of the death of Christ; and that,
though the symbols were nothing in themselves, yet
that Christ was spiritually received by those who par¬
took of them in a due manner. 8. That a contempla¬
tive life was a state of grace, and of divine union during
this life, the summit of perfection, &c. 9. That the
man whose heart was perfectly content and calm, half
enjoys God, has familiar entertainments with him, and
sees all things in him. 10. That this state was to be
come at by an entire self-abnegation, by the mortifica¬
tion of the senses and their objects, and by the exercise
of mental prayer.
LABAKUM, the banner or standard borne before
the Roman emperors in the wars. The labarum con¬
sisted of a long lance, with a staff a-top, crossing it at
right angles ; from which hung a rich streamer, of a
purple colour, adorned with precious stones. Till the
time of Constantine it had an eagle painted on it; but
that emperor, in lieu thereof, added a cross with a ci¬
pher expressing the name of Jesus.
This standard the Romans took from the Germans,
Dacae, Sarmatse, Pannonians, &c. whom they had
overcome. The name labarum was not known before
the time of Constantine ; but the standard itself, in the
form we have described it, abating the symbols of
Christianity, was used by all the preceding emperors.
Some derive the word from labor, as if this finished
their labours; some from tvXxZua, “ reverence, piety
others from Xte/uSeetur, “ to takeand others from
“ spoils.”
LAB AT, John Baptist, a celebrated traveller, of
the order of St Dominic, was born at Paris, taught
philosophy
LAB [ 487 ] LAB
Labat philosophy at Nancy, and in 1693 went to America
B in quality of a missionary. At his return to France
^‘^>ora" in I7°5> l,e was sent to the chapter of his order at Bo-
, ° y* . logna to give an account of his mission, and staid seve¬
ral years in Italy. He died at Paris in 1738. His
principal works are, 1. A new voyage to the American
islands, 6 vols l2mo. 2. Travels in Spain and Italy,
8 vols i2mo. 3. A new account of the western parts
of Africa, 5 vols i2mo. Father Labat was not in A-
frica, and therefore was not a witness of what he re¬
lates in that work. He also published the Chevalier
des Marchais1 s voyage to Guinea, in 4 vols 12mo 5 and
An historical account of the western parts of Ethiopia,
translated from the Italian of Father Cavazzi, 5 vols
X2mo.
LABDANUM, or Ladanum, a resinous juice
which exudes from a tree of the cistus kind. See Che¬
mistry and Materia Medica Index.
LABDASSEBA, a tribe of savage Arabs inhabit¬
ing the desert of Sahara in Africa. They are consider¬
ed as the most powerful of all those tribes except the
Ouadelims, and very much resemble them in every
particular. See Sahara and Ouadelims.
LABEL, a long, thin, brass rule, with a small sight
at one end, and a centre hole at the other j commonly
used with a tangent line on the edge of a circumferen¬
tor, to take altitudes, &c.
Label, in Law, is a narrow slip of paper, or parch¬
ment, affixed to a deed or writing, in order to hold the
appending seal.—Any paper annexed by way of addi¬
tion or explication, to any will or testament, is also
called a label or codicil.
Label, in Heraldry, a fillet usually placed in the
middle along the chief of the coat, without touching
its extremities. Its breadth ought to be a ninth part
of the chief. It is adorned with pendants ; and when
there are above three of these, the number must be
specified in blazoning.
It is used on the arms of eldest sons while the father
is alive, to distinguish them from the younger j and
is esteemed the most honourable of all differences. See
Heraldry.
LABIAL LETTERS, those pronounced chiefly by
means of the lips.
LABIATE!) flowers, monopetalous flowers^ con¬
sisting of a narrow tube with a wide mouth, divided in¬
to two or more segments. See Botany.
LABIAU, a small town of Prussia, in'a circle of
the same name, seated at the mouth of the river Deime,
with a strong castle, two sides of which are surrounded
with water, and the other defended by a wall and
ditch. E. Long. 21. 15. N. Lat. 55. 17.
LABORATORY, or Elaboratory, the chemists
workhouse, or the place where furnaces are built, ves¬
sels kept, and operations are performed. In general
the term laboratory is applied to any place where phy¬
sical experiments in pharmacy, chemistry, pyrotechny,
&.c. are performed.
As laboratories must be of very different kinds, ac¬
cording to the nature of the operations to be performed
in them, it is impossible that any directions can be gi¬
ven which will answer for every one. Where the pur¬
poses are merely experimental, a single furnace or two
of the portable kind will be sufficient. It is scarcely
needful to add, that shelves are necessary for holding
vessels with the products of the different operations: Labora-
and that it is absolutely necessary to avoid confusion toiy*
and disorder, as by these means the products of the
operations might be lost or mistaken for one another.
Mortars, filters, levigating stones, &c. must also be
procured : but from a knowledge of the methods of
performing the different chemical operations will ea¬
sily be derived the knowledge of a proper place and
proper apparatus j for which see Chemistry, and
Furnace.
Morveau has contrived a portable laboratory with
which many chemical experiments may be conveniently
performed. The following is a description of it.
Fig. I. represents the whole apparatus ready mounted Plate
for distillation, with the tube of safety and a pneumatic ®el‘XXXI^’
receiver. A is the body or reservoir of Argand’s lamp,
with its shade and glass chimney. The lamp may be
raised or lowered at pleasure by means of the thumb¬
screw B, and the wick rises and falls by the motion of
the small-toothed wheel placed over the waste cup.
This construction is most convenient, because it affords
the facility of altering the position of the flame with
regard to the vessels, which remain fixed j and the
troublesome management of bended wires above the
flame for the support of the vessels is avoided, at the
same time that the flame itself can be brought nearer
to the matter on which it is intended to act. D, a sup¬
port consisting of a round stem of brass, formed of two
pieces which screw together at about two-thirds of its
height. Upon this the circular ring E, the arm F, and
the nut G slide, and are fixable each by its respective
thumb-screw. The arm carries a moveable piece H,
which serves to suspend the vessels in a convenient situ¬
ation, or to secure their position. The whole support is
attached to the square iron stem of the lamp by a piece
of hard wood I, which may be fixed at any required
situation by its screw. K represents a stand for the re¬
ceivers. Its moveable tablet L is fixed at any requir¬
ed elevation by the wooden screw M. The piece which
forms the foot of this stand is fixed on the board Nj but
its relative position with regard to the lamp may be
changed by sliding the foot of the latter between the
pieces 00. P, another stand for the pneumatic trough.
It is raised or lowered, and fixed to its place, by a
strong wooden screw Q. R is a tube of safety, or re¬
versed syphon, which serves, in a great measure, to
prevent the bad effects of having the vessels either per¬
fectly closed, or perfectly open. Suppose the upper
bell-shaped vessel to be nearly of the same magnitude
as the bulb at the lower end of the tube, and that a
quantity of water, or other suitable fluid, somewhat less
than the contents of that vessel, be poured into the ap¬
paratus : In this situation, if the elasticity of the con¬
tents of the vessel be less than that of the external air,
the fluid will descend in the bulb, and atmospheric air
will follow and pass through the fluid into the vessels:
but, on the contrary, if the elasticity of the contents
be greater, the fluid will be either sustained in tlm
tube, or driven into the bell-shaped vessel j and if the
force be strong enough, the gaseous matter will pass
through the fluid, and in part escape.
Fig. 2. Shews the lamp furnace disposed to produce
the saline fusion ; the chimney of glass shortened j the
support I) turned down $ the capsule of platina or sil¬
ver S placed on the ring very near the flame.
Fig..
LAB L 488 ] LAB
Laboratory Fig.'3. The same part of the apparatus, in which,
|! instead of the capsule, a very thin and small crucible of
Labjiintli. platina T is substituted, and rests upon a triangle of
iron wire placed on the ring.
Fig. 4. Exhibits the plan of fig. 3.
Laboratory, in military alfairs, signifies that place
where all sorts of fire-works are prepared, both for ac¬
tual service and for experiments, viz. quick matches,
fuzes, port-fires, grape shot, case shot, carcasses, hand-
grenades, cartridges, shells filled, and fuzes fixed, wads,
&c. &c.
LABOUR, in general, denotes a close application
to work or business.—Among seamen a ship is said to
labour when she rolls and tumbles very much, either
a-hull, under sail, or at anchor.—-It is also spoken of a
woman in travail or childbirth j see Midwifery.
LABOURER, generally signifies one that does the
most slavish and less artful part of a laborious work, as
that of husbandry, masonry, &c.
LABOUREUR, John le, almoner to the king of
France, and prior of Juvigne, was born at Montmo¬
rency near Paris in 1623. At the age of 18, he dis¬
tinguished himself by publishing “ a collection of the
monuments of illustrious persons buried in the church
of the Celestines at Paris, with their elogies, genealo¬
gies, arms, and mottos,” 410. He afterwards publish¬
ed an excellent edition of The Memoirs of Michael de
Castelneau, with several other genealogical histories $
and died in 1675.—He had a brother, Louis le Labou-
revr, bailiff of Montmorency, author of several pieces
of poetry ; and an uncle, Dome Claude le Laboureurt
provost of the abbey of L’Isle Barbe, of which abbey
he wrote a history, and published notes and corrections
upon the breviary of Lyons, with some other things.
LABRADOR, the same with New Britain, or
the country round Hudson's Bay. See these articles.
LABRADORE STONE, a species of mineral which
exhibits a great variety of colours. See MINERALOGY
Index.
LABRUM, in antiquity, a great tub which stood at
the entrance of the temples, containing water for the
priests to Wash themselves in previous to their sacrifices.
It was also the name of a bathing tub used in the baths
of the ancients.
LABRUS, a genus of fishes belonging to the order
of thoracici. See Ichthyology Index.
LABURNUM. See Cytisus, Botany Index.
LABYRINTH, among the ancients, was a large
intricate edifice cut out into various aisles and meanders
running into each other, so as to render it difficult to
get out of it.
There is mention made of several of those edifices
among the ancients ; but the most celebrated are the
Egyptian and the Cretan labyrinths.
'1 bat of Egypt, according to Pliny, was the oldest
of all the known labyrinths, and was subsisting in his
time after^ having stood 3600 years. He says it was
built by King Petesucus, or Tithoes; but Herodotus
makes it the work of several kings : it stood on the
banks of the lake Mceris, and consisted of 12 large
contiguous palaces, containing 3000 chambers, 1500
of which were under ground.—Strabo, Diodorus Sicu¬
lus, Pliny, and Mela, speak of this monument with the
same admiration as Herodotus : but not one of them
tells us that it was constructed to bewilder those who
5
attempted to go over it; though it is manifest that,Labyrinth,
without a guide, they would be in danger of losing'"" * "■<
their way.
It was this danger, no doubt, which introduced a
new term into the Greek language. The Word laby¬
rinth, taken in the literal sense, signifies a circumscri¬
bed space, intersected by a number of passages, some of
which cross each other in every direction like those in
quarries and mines, and others make larger or smaller
circuits round the place from which they depart like
the spiral lines we see on certain shells. In the figura¬
tive sense, it was applied to obscure and captious ques¬
tions, to indirect and ambiguous answers, and to those
discussions which, after long digressions, bring us back
to the point from which we set out.
The Cretan labyrinth is the most famed in history
or fable; having been rendered particularly remarka¬
ble by the story of the Minotaur, and of Theseus who
found his way through all its windings by means of
Ariadne’s clue. On Plate CCLXXXIX. is exhibited
a supposed plan of it, copied after a draught given by
Aleursius *, taken from an ancient stone.—But what*7nCrrt,
was the real nature of this labyrinth, merits a more I'b- >•
particular inquiry. CBP> a.
Diodorus Siculus relates as a conjecture, and Pliny
as a certain fact, that Daedalus constructed this laby¬
rinth on the model of that of Egypt, though on a less
scale. They add, that it was formed by the command
of Minos, who kept the Minotaur shut up in it; and
that in their time it no longer existed, having been ei¬
ther destroyed by time, or purposely demolished. Dio¬
dorus Siculus and Pliny, therefore, considered this la-
byiinth as a large edifice ; while other writers repre¬
sent it simply as a cavern hollowed in the rock, and
full of winding passages. The two former authors, and
the writers last mentioned, have transmitted to us two
different traditions ; it remains for us to choose that
which is most probable.
If the labyrinth of Crete had been constructed by
Daedalus under Minos, whence is it that we find no
mention of it, neither in Homer, who more than once
speaks of that prince and of Crete; nor in Herodotus,
who describes that of Egypt, after having said that
the monuments of the Egyptians are much superior to
those of the Greeks; nor in the more ancient geogra¬
phers ; nor in any of the writers of the ages when
Greece flourished ?
This work was attributed to Daedalus, whose name
is alone sufficient to discredit a tradition. In fact, his
name, like that of Hercules, had become the resource
of ignorance, whenever it turned its eyes on the early
ages. All great labours, all works which required more
strength than ingenuity, were attributed to Hercules ;
and all those which had a relation to the arts, and re¬
quired a certain degree of intelligence in the execution,
were ascribed to Daedalus.
The opinion of Diodorus and Pliny supposes, that in
their time no traces of the labyrinth existed in Crete,
and that even the date of its destruction had been for¬
gotten. Yet it is said to have been visited by the dis¬
ciples of Apollonius of Tyana, who was cotemporary
with those two authors. The Cretans, therefore, then
believed that they possessed the labyrinth.
“I would request the reader (continues the abbet^,,m^*
Barthelmi t, from whom these observations are ex-
LABORATORY.
finite cn.xy.Y/x
L A B Y U I 1 11 •
yJhxnvn 8c-Engraved
bv ll^X-D.LitarsEiiinT
LAC [ 489 ] ^ L' A C
L^ynnth, tracted) lo attend to tlie following passage in Strabo.
Lac. At Napulia, near the ancient Argos, (says that judi-
—-v—' cions writer), are still to be seen vast caverns, in which
are constructed labyrinths that are believed to be the
work of the Cyclops : the meaning of which is, that
the labours of men had opened in the rock passages
which crossed and returned upon themselves, as is done
in quarries. Such, if I am not mistaken, is the idea
we ought to form of the labyrinth of Crete.
“ Were there several labyrinths in that island? An¬
cient authors speak only of one, which the greater part
place at Cnossus j and some, though the number is but
small, at Gortyna.
“ Belon and Tournefort have given us the descrip¬
tion of a cavern situated at the foot of Mount Ida, on
the south side of the mountain, at a small distance
from Gortyna. This was only a quarry according to
the former, and the ancient labyrinth according to
the latter ; whose opinion I have followed, and abridg¬
ed bis account. Those who have added critical notes
to his work, besides this labyrinth, admit a second at
Cnossus, and adduce as the principal support of this
opinion the coins of that city, which represent the
plan of it according as the artists conceived it. For
on some of these it appears of a square form, on others
round : on some it is only sketched out •, on others it
has, in the middle of it, the head of the Minotaur. In
the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres, I have
given an engraving of one which appears to me to be of
about the 15th century before Christ, and on which
we see on one side the figure of the Minotaur, and on
the other a rude plan of the labyrinth. It is therefore
certain, that at that time the Cnossians believed they
were in possession of that celebrated cavern ; and it al¬
so appears that the Gortynians did not pretend to con¬
test their claim, since they have never given the figure
of it on their money.
“ The place where I suppose the labyrinth of Crete
to have been situated, according to Tournefort, is but
one league distant from Gortyna 5 and, according to
Strabo, it was distant from Cnossus six or seven leagues.
All we can conclude from this is, that the territory of
the latter city extended to very near the former.
“ What was the use of the caverns to which the
name of labyrinth was given ? I imagine that they
were first excavated in part by nature *, that in some
places stones were extracted from them for building
cities ; and that in more ancient times they served for
a habitation or asylum to the inhabitants of a district
exposed to frequent incursions. In the journey of Ana-
charsis through Phocis, I have spoken of two great ca¬
verns of Parnassus, in which the neighbouring people
took refuge ; in the one at the time of the deluge of
Deucalion, and in the other at the invasion of Xerxes.
I here add, that, according to Diodorus Siculus, the
most ancient Cretans dwelt in the caves of Mount Ida.
The people, when inquiries were made on the spot,
said that their labyrinth was originally only a prison.
It may have been put to this use ; but it is difficult
to believe, that, to prevent the escape of a few un¬
happy wretches, such immense labours would have
been undertaken.”
Labyrinth of the Ear. See Anatomy Index.
LAC, Milk. See Milk, Chemistky Index.
Yol. XI. Part II.
Lac, GW«. See Lacca. jae
LACCA, Lac, or Gum Lac, is a substance, of Lacca.
which a species of insects form cells upon trees, like -v—>
honeycombs. This is the coccus lacca, Lin. See En¬
tomology Index. In these cells remain some of the
dead insects, which give a red colour to the whole sub¬
stance ol the lac. That called stick lac is the wax ad¬
hering to some of the small branches of the tree, and
which is unprepared. This lac, when separated from
the adhering sticks, and grossly powdered, and deprived
ol its colour by digestion with menstruums for the sake
of the dyes and other purposes, is called seed lac ; when
the stick lac is freed from impurities by melting it 0-
ver a gentle fire, and formed into cakes, it is called
lump lac ; and, lastly, that called shell lac is the cells
liquefied, strained, and formed into thin transparent
laminae. See Dyeing Index.
The following are some of the purposes to which this
substance is applied.
1. For scaling wax. Take a stick, and heat one end
of it upon a charcoal fire •, put upon it a few leaves of
the shell lac softened above the fire ; keep alternately
heating and adding more shell lac until you have got a
mass of three or four pounds of liquefied shell lac upon
the end of your stick (in which manner lump lac is
formed from seed lac.) Knead this upon a wetted
board with three ounces of levigated cinnabar ; form
it into cylindrical pieces ; and to give them a polish,
rub them while hot with a cotton cloth.
2. For japanning. Take a lump of shell lac, pre¬
pared in the manner of sealing wax, with whatever co¬
lour you please, fix it upon the end of a stick, heat the
polished wood over a charcoal fire, and rub it over with
the half melted lac, and polish by rubbing it even with
a piece of folded plantain leaf held in the hand ; heat¬
ing the lacquer, and adding move lac as occasion re¬
quires. Their figures are formed by lac charged with
various colours in' the same manner.
3. For varnish. In ornamenting their images and
religious houses, &c. they make use of very thin beat
lead, which they cover with various varnishes, made
of lac charged with colours. The preparation of them
is kept a secret. The leaf of lead is laid upon a smooth
iron heated by fire below while they spread the varnish
upon it.
4. For grindstones. Take of river sand three parts,
of seed lac washed one part : mix them over the fire
in a pot, and form the mass into the shape of a grind¬
stone, having a square bole in the centre, fix it on an
axis with liquefied lac, heat the stone moderately, and
by turning the axis it may be easily be formed into an
exact orbicular shape. Polishing grindstones are made
only of such sand as will pass easily through fine mus¬
lin, in the proportion of two parts sand to one of lac.
This sand is found at Ragimaul. It is composed of
small angular crystalline particles tinged red with iron,
two parts to one of black magnetic sand. The stone¬
cutters, instead of sand, use the powder of a very hard
granite called corune. These grindstones cut very fast.
When they want to increase their power, they throw
sand upon them, or let them occasionally touch the
edge of a vitrified brick. The same composition is
formed upon sticks, for cutting stones, shells, &c. by
the hand.
3 Q 5. For
t
LAC [ 490 ] LAC
JUacca. 5. For painting. Take one gallon of the red liquid
*’—v——' from the first washing for shell lac, strain it through a
cloth, and let it boil for a short time, then add half an
ounce of soap earth (fossil alkali) } ^boil an hour more,
and add three ounces of powdered load (bark of a tree) j
boil a short time, let it stand all night, and strain next
day. Evaporate three quarts of milk without cream
to two quarts upon a slow fire, curdle it with sour milk,
and let it stand for a day or two ; then mix it with the
red liquid above mentioned j strain them through a
cloth j add to the mixture one ounce and a half of
alum, and the juice of eight or ten lemons : mix the
whole, and throw it into a cloth bag strainer. The
blood of the insect forms a coagulum with the caseous
part of the milk, and remains in the bag, while a lim¬
pid acid water drains from it. The coagulum is dried
in a shade, and is used as a red colour in painting and
colouring.
The method of obtaining the fine red lac used by
painters from this substance, is by the following simple
process : Boil the stick lac in water, filter the decoction,
and evaporate the clear liquor to dryness over a gentle
fire. The occasion of this easy separation is, that the
beautiful red colour here separated, adheres only slight¬
ly to the outsides of the sticks broke off the trees along
with the gum lac, and readily communicates itself to
boiling water. Some of the sticking matter also adher¬
ing to the gum itself, it is proper to boil the whole toge¬
ther ; for the gum does not at all prejudice the colour,
nor dissolve in boiling water: so that after this opera¬
tion the gum is as fit for making sealing wax as before,
and for all other uses which do not require its colour.
6. For dyeing. See Eyeing Index.
Lac is likewise employed for medicinal purposes.—
The stick lac is the sort used. It is of great esteem
in Germany, and other countries, for laxity and spon¬
giness of the gums proceeding from cold or a scor¬
butic habit: for this use the lac is boiled in water,
with the addition of a little alum, which promotes its
solution j or a tincture is made from it with rectified
spirit. This tincture is recommended also internally
in the fluor albus, and in rheumatic and scorbutic dis¬
orders : it has a grateful smell, and not unpleasant,
bitterish, astringent taste.
The gum-lac has been used as an electric, instead of
glass, for electrical machines. See Lacquer, Lake,
and Varnish.
Artificial Lacca, or Lacque, is also a name given to
a coloured substance drawn from several flowers; as
the yellow from the flower of the juniper, the red from
the poppy, and the blue from the iris or violet. The
tinctures of these flowers are extracted by digesting
them several times in aqua vitae, or by boiling them
over a stove fire in a lixivium of pot ashes and alum.
An artificial lacca is also made of Brasil wood, boil¬
ed in a lixivium ot the branches of the vine, adding a
little cochineal, turmeric, calcined alum, and arsenic,
incorporated with the bones of the cuttle fish pulve¬
rised, and made up into little cakes and dried. If it
be to be very red, they add the juice of lemon to it;
to make it brown, they add oil of tartar. Eove-co-
loured or columbine lacca is made with Brasil of
Fernambuc, steeped in distilled vinegar for the space
of a month, and mixed with alum incorporated ia
cuttle fish bene. For other processes, see Colour- JUcca,
Making. .Lace.’
LACE, in Commerce, a work composed of manyl|"
threads of gold, silver, or silk, interwoven the one with
the other, and worked upon a pillow with spindles ac¬
cording to the pattern designed. The open work is
formed with pins, which are placed and displaced as the
spindles are moved. The importation of gold and sil¬
ver lace is prohibited.
Method of Cleaning Gold-Lace and Embroidery when
tarnished.—For this purpose alkaline liquors are by no
means to be used 5 for while they clean the gold, they
corrode the silk, and change or discharge its colour.
Soap also alters the shade, and even the species, of cer¬
tain colours. But spirit of wine may be used without
any danger of its injuring either the colour or quality
of the subject ; and in many cases proves as effectual,
for restoring the lustre of the gold, as the corrosive de¬
tergents. A rich brocade, flowered with a variety of
colours, after being disagreeably tarnished, had the
lustre of the gold perfectly restored by washing it with
a soft brush dipt in warm spirit of wine 5 and some
of the colours ot the silk, which were likewise soiled,
became at the same time remarkably bright and lively.
Spirit of wine seems to be the only material adapted
to this intention, and probably the boasted secret of
certain artists is no other than this spirit disguised. A-
mong liquids, Dr Lewis says, he does not know of any
other that is of sufficient activity to discharge the foul
matter, without being hurtful to the silk: as to pow¬
ders, however fine, and however cautiously used, they
scratch and wear the gold, which here is only superfi¬
cial and of extreme tenuity.
But though spirit of wine is the most innocent mate¬
rial that can be employed for this purpose, it is not in
all cases proper. The golden covering may be in some
parts worn off; or the base metal, with which it had
been iniquitously alloyed, may be corroded by the air,
so as to leave the particles of the gold disunited ; while
the silver underneath, tarnished to a yellow hue, may
continue a tolerable colour to the whole ; in which
cases it is apparent, that the removal of the tarnish
would be prejudicial to the colour, and make the lace
or embroidery less like gold than it was before. A
piece of old tarnished gold lace, cleaned by the spirit
of wine, was deprived, with its tarnish, of the greatest
part of its golden hue, and looked now almost like sil¬
ver lace.
Method of separating the Gold and Silver from Lace
without burning it.—Cut the lace in pieces, and (hav¬
ing separated the thread from it by which it was sewed
to the garment) tie it up in a linen cloth, and boil it
in soap ley, diluted with water, till you perceive it is
diminished in bulk; which will take up but a little
time, unless the quantity of lace be very considerable.
Then take out the cloth, and wash it several times in
cold water ; squeezing it pretty hard with your foot,
or heating it with a mallet, to clear it of the soap ley ;
then untie the cloth, and you will have the metallic
part of the lace pure, and nowhere altered in colour or
diminished in weight.
This method is abundantly more convenient anff
less troublesome than the common way of burning ;
and as a small quantity of the ley will he sufficient, the
expence
4}
LAC [ 491 ] LAC
Lace expence will be trifling, especially as tbe same ley may
|j be used several times, if cleared of the silky calcination.
Laceda;- may done in either an iron or copper vessel.
>n°n‘ . The ley may be had at the soap boilers, or it may
be made of pearl ash and quicklime boiled together in
a sufficient quantity of water.
Th e reason of this sudden change in the lace will be
evident to those who are acquainted with chemistry j
for silk, on which all our laces are wove, is an animal
substance, and all animal substances are soluble in al¬
kalies, especially when rendered more caustic by the
addition of quicklime j but the linen you tie it in, be¬
ing a vegetable, will remain unaltered.
Blond Lace, a lace made of fine linen thread or silk,
much in the same manner as that of gold and silver.
The pattern of the lace is fixed upon a large round pil¬
low, and pins being stuck into the holes or openings
in the patterns, the threads are interwoven by means
of a number of bobbins made of bone or ivory, each
of which contains a small quantity of fine thread, in
such a manner as to make the lace exactly resemble
the pattern. There are several towns in England, and
particularly in Buckinghamshire, that carry on this
manufacture j but vast quantities of the finest lace have
been imported from Flanders.
LACEDjEMON, in fabulous history, a son of Ju¬
piter and Tayget the daughter of Atlas, who married
Sparta the daughter of Europa, by whom he had Amy-
clas and Eurydice the wife of Acrisius. He was the
first who introduced the worship of the Graces in La¬
conia, and who first built them a temple. From Lace¬
daemon and his wife, the capital of Laconia was called
Lacedcemon and Sparta.
Lacedaemon, a noble city of Peloponnesus, cal¬
led also Sparta; these names differing in this, that
the latter is the proper and ancient name of the
city, the former of the country, which afterwards
came to be applied to the city (Strabo, Stephanus).
Homer also makes this distinction ; who calls the coun¬
try holy, because encompassed with mountains. It has
also been severally known by the name of Lelegia,
from the Leleges the first inhabitants of the country, or
from Lelex one of their kings $ and Qebalia, from
Oebalas the sixth king from Eurotas. It was also cal¬
led Hecatompolis, from 100 cities which the whole pro¬
vince once contained. This city was the capital of La¬
conia, situated on the right or west side of the Euro¬
tas : it was less in compass than, however equal, or even
superior to, Athens in power. Polybius makes it 48
stadia, a circuit much inferior to that of Athens. Le¬
lex is supposed to have been the first king of Lace¬
daemon. His descendants, 13 in number, reigned suc¬
cessively after him, till the reign of the sons of Orest¬
es, when the Heraclidae recovered the Peloponnesus
about 80 years after the Trojan war. Procles and Eu-
rysthenes, the descendants of the Heraclidse, usurped
tbe crown together', and after them it was decreed
that the two families should always sit on the throne
together. The monarchical power was abolished, and
the race of the Heraclidte extinguished at Sparta about
219 years before Christ. Lacedaemon in its flourish¬
ing state remained without walls, the bravery of its ci¬
tizens being instead of them (Nepos). At length in
Cassauder’s time, or after, when the city was in the
hands of tyrants, distrusting the defence by arms and
bravery, a wall was built round it, at first slight, and Laccd e
in a tumultuary or hasty manner; which the tyrant »not»
Nabis made very strong (Livy, Justin). Pausanias II
ascribes the first walls to the times of Demetrius and nia"
Pyrrhus, under Nabis. The walls of the city were .
pulled down 188 years before Christ by Philopoemen,
who was then at the head of the Achsean league, and
Laconia some time after became a Roman province
when reduced by Mummius. See Sparta.—The pre¬
sent city is called Misitra, situated in E. Long. 23. o.
N. Lat. 36. 55.
LACERNA, a coarse thick garment worn by the
Romans over their gowns, like a cloak, to keep off the
rain and cold. It was first used in the camp, but after¬
wards admitted into the city. The emperors wore the
lacerna of a purple dye. The lacerna was at first very
short, but was lengthened after it became fashionable,
which was not till the civil wars and the triumvirate ,
before this time it was confined to the soldiers. Sena¬
tors were forbidden wearing it in the city by Valen-
tinian and Theodosius. Martial makes mention of la-
cernm worth 10,000 sesterces. Some confound this
garment with the penula $ but it seems rather to have
resembled the chlamys and birrus.
LACERTA, including the Lizard, Crocodile,
&c. a genus of amphibious animals, belonging to the
order of reptilia. See Erpetology Index.
LACHES, (from the French lascher, i. e. laxare,
or lasche, ignavus'), in the English law signifies slack¬
ness or negligence, as it appears in Littleton, where
laches of entry is a neglect of the heir to enter. And
probably it may be an old English word : for where
we say there is laches of entry, it is all one as if it
were said there is a lack of entry : and in this signifi¬
cation it is used. No laches shall be adjudged in the
heir within age j and regularly, laches shall not bar in¬
fants or femme coverts for not entry or claim, to avoid
descents j but laches shall be accounted in them for
non-performance of a condition annexed to the state of
the land.
LACHESIS, in Mythology, one of the Parcse.
Her name is derived from to measure out by lot.
She presided over futurity, and was represented as
spinning the thread of life, or, according to others,
holding the spindle. She generally appeared covered
with a garment variegated with stars, and holding
spindles in her band.
LACHISH, in Ancient Geography, a city south¬
ward of the tribe of Judah. Eusebius and St Jerome
tell us, that in their time there was a village called
Lachish, seven miles from Eleutheropolis, southward.
Sennacherib besieged Lachish, but did not take iL
From thence it was that he sent Rabshakeh against Je¬
rusalem. Here King Amaziah was slain by his rebel
subjects.
LACHNEA, a genus of plants belonging to the
octandria class, and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 31st order, Vepreeulce. See Botany Index.
LACHRYMAL, in Anatomy, an appellation given
to several parts of the eye. See Anatomy.
LACHRYMATORY, in antiquity, a vessel where¬
in were collected the tears of a deceased person’s
friends, and preserved along with the ashes and urn.
They were small glass or earthen bottles, chiefly in the
form of phials. At tbe Roman funerals, the friend*
3 Q a of
LAC
Xiachryma*
tory
of the deceased, or the preface, women hired for that
purpose, used to fill them with their tears, and deposite
Laeqaen. ver>' carefully with the ashes, in testimony of
tlieir sorrow, imagining the manes of the deceased were
thereby greatly comforted. Many specimens of them
are preserved in the cabinets of the curious, particular¬
ly in the British Museum,
LACINIUM, in Ancient Geography, a noble pro¬
montory of the Bruttii, in Italy, ‘the south boundary of
the Sinus Tarentinus and the Adriatic; all to the south
of it being deemed the Ionian sea : it was famous for a
rich temple of Juno, surnamed Lacinia, with a pillar of
solid gold standing in it; which Hannibal intending
to carry off, was, according to Cicero, dissuaded by a
dream. Now Capo delle Colovne, from the columns of
Juno’s temple still standing, on the north-east coast of
Calabria Ultra,
BACK. OF RUPEES, is 100,000 rupees ; which sup¬
posing them standard, or siccas, at 2s, 6d. amounts to
l 2,500!. sterling,
L ACM US, a dye stuff prepared by the Dutch from
the Lichen roccclla. See Dyeing Index.
LACONIA, or Laconica, a country in the south¬
ern parts of Peloponnesus, having Argos and Arcadia
on the north, IVIessenia on the west, the Aledicerra-
nean on the south, and the bay of Argos on the east.
Its extent from north to south was about 50 miles. It
was watered by the river Eurotas. The capital was
called^ Sparta, or Lacedcemon : (See Laceda:mon
and Sparta). The brevity with which the Laco¬
nians always expressed themselves is now become pro¬
verbial ; and by the epithet of Laconic we understand
whatever is concise, and is not loaded with unnecessary
words. J
LACONIUM, (whence our term lacotiic'), a short
p.thy sententious speech, such as the Lacedaemonians
were remarkable for: Their way of delivering them¬
selves was very concise, and much to the purpose. See
the preceding article.
LACQUERS, are varnishes applied upon tin, brass,
ami other metals, t0 preserve them from tarnishing,
and to improve their colour. The basis of lacquers is
a solution of the resinous substance called seed lac, in
spirit of vyine. 1 he spirit ought to be very strong, in
older to dissolve much of the lac. Eor this purpose,
some authors direct dry potash to he thrown into the
spirit. Ibis alkali attracts the water, with which it
forms a liquid that subsides distinctly from the spirit at
the bottom of the vessel. From this liquid the spirit
maj be sepai a ted by decantation : but by this process
the spirit is impregnated with part of the alkali, which
depraves its colour, and communicates a property to the
lacquer of imbibing moisture from the air. These in¬
conveniences may be prevented by distilling the spirit ;
or, if the artist has not an opportunity of performing that
piocess, ic may cleanse the spirit in a great measure
from the alkali by adding to it some calcined alum ;
he acd of which uniting with the alkali remaining in
he spin , forms with n a vitriolated tartar, which, not
being soluble in spirit of wine, falls to the bottom to- '
gether with the earth of the decomposed alum. To a
pint of the purified spirit, about three ounces of now-
«ered shell lac are to be added ; and the mixture to be
digested during same day with a moderate heat. The
C 492 ]
LAC
liquor ought then to be poured off, strained, and clear- Laetiaert
ed by settling. Ibis clear liquor is now fit to receive [j
the required colour from certain resinous colouring sub- ^actatio.
stances, the principal of which are gamboge and anot-
to ; the former of which gives a yellow, and the latter
an orange colour. In order to give a golden colour,
two parts of gamboge are added to one of anotto ; but
these colouring substances may be separately dissolved
in the tincture of lac, and the colour required may be
adjusted by mixing the two solutions in different pro¬
portions. When silver leaf or tin are to be lacquered,
a larger quantity of the colouring materials is requi¬
site than when the lacquer is intended to be laid on
brass.
LACSHA, the Indian name of the lac insect. See
Lac, Chemistry, and Dyeing Index.
LACTATIO, Lactation, among medical wri-j^,, . .
ters, denotes the giving suck. The mother’s breast, itMedka?*
possAle, should be allowed the child, at least during•Dicfienttry,
the first month ; for thus the child is more peculiarly
benefited by what it sucks, and the mother is preserved
from more real inconveniences than the falsely delicate
imagine they would suffer by compliance herewith : but
if by reason of an infirm constitution, or other causes,
the mother cannot suckle her child, let dry nursing uu-
der the mother’s eye be pursued.
When women lose their appetite by giving suck,
both the children and themselves are thereby injured ;
wet nurses are to be preferred, who, during the time
they give the breast, have rather an increased appetite,
and digest more quickly ; the former are apt to waste
away, and sometimes die consumptive. In short, those
nurses with whom lactation may for a while agree,
should wean the child as soon as tlieir appetite lessens,
their strength seems to fail, or a tendency to hysteric
symptoms is manifest.
When the new born child is to he brought up by
the mother’s breast, apply it thereto in ten or twelve
houis alter delivery : thus the milk is sooner and more
easily supplied, and there is less hazard of a fever than
when the child is not put to it before the milk begins
to flow of itself.
If the mother does not suckle her child, her breasts
should be kept so warm with flannels, or with a hare
skin, that a constant perspiration may be supported ;
thus there rarely will arise much inconvenience from
the milk.
I he child, notwithstanding all our care in dry nur¬
sing, sometimes pines if a breast is not allowed. In this
case a wet nurse should be provided, if possible one that
hath not been long delivered of a child. She should be
young, of a healthy habit, and an active disposition, a
mild temper, and with breasts well filled with milk.
If the milk is good, it is sweetish to the taste, and to¬
tally free from saltness; to the eye it appears thin, ami
of a bluish cast, lhat the woman hath her menses, if
in other respects objections be not made, need not he
any ; and as to the custom with many, of abstaining
from venery while they continue to suckle a child, it is
so far without reason to support it, that the truth is, a
rigorous chastity is as hurtful, and often more pernici¬
ous, than an immoderate use of venery. Amongst the
vulgar errors, is that of red-haired women being im¬
proper for wet nurses.
If
LAC [ 493 ] LAD
If ^,e menses do not appear during the first months,
|| but after six or eight months suckling they begin to
Itcih'erons(]eseend, the child should be weaned.
   Wet nurses should eat at least one hearty meal of
animal food every day j with this a proper quantity of
vegetables should be mixed. Thin broth or milk are
proper for their breakfasts and their suppers; and if
the strength should seem to fail a little, a draught of
good ale should now and then be allowed j but spiritu¬
ous liquors must in general be forborne ; not but a spoon¬
ful of rum may be allowed in a quart of milk and water,
(i. e. a pint of each), which is a proper common drink.
Though it is well observed by Dr Hunter, that
the far greater number of those women who have can¬
cers in the breast or womb are old maids, and those
who refuse to give suck to their children ; yet it is
the unhappiness of some willing mothers not to be
able : for instance, those with tender constitutions, and
who are subject to nervous disorders ; those who do not
eat a sufficient quantity of solid food, nor enjoy the be¬
nefit of exercise and air: if children are kept at their
breasts, they either die while young, or are weak and
sickly after childhood is past, and so on through re¬
maining life.
LACTANTIUS, Lucius Coelius Firmianus, a
celebrated author at the beginning of the 4th century,
was, according to Baronins, an African ; but, accord¬
ing to others, was born at Fermo in the rnarquisate of
Ancona, from whence it is imagined he was called
Firmianus. He studied rhetoric under Arnobius j and
was afterwards a professor of that science in Africa and
Nicomedia, where he was so admired, that the empe¬
ror Constantine chose him preceptor to his son Crispus
Caesar. Lactantius was so far from seeking the plea¬
sure and riches of the court, that he lived there in po¬
verty, and, according to Eusebius, frequently wanted
necessaries. His works are written in elegant Latin.
The principal of which are, 1. Tie ira divina. 2. De
operibus Dei, in which he treats of the creation of man,
and of divine providence. 3. Divine Institutions, in
seven books : this is the most considerable of all his
works: he there undertakes to prove the truth of the
Christian religion, and to refute all the difficulties that
had been raised against it; and he solidly, and with
great strength, attacks the illusions of Paganism. His
style is pure, clear, and natural, and his expressions
noble and elegant, on which account he lias been called
the Cicero of the Christians. There is also attributed
to him a treatise De mortepersecutorum ; but several
of the learned doubt its being written by Lactantius.
The most copious edition of Lactantius’s works is that
of Paris in 1748, 2 vols. 410.
LACTEALS, or Lacteal Vessels, a kind of
long slender tubes for the conveyance of the chyle
from the intestines to the common reservatory. See
Anatomy, N° 105.
LACTIFEROUS, an appellation given to plants
abounding with a milky juice, as the sow thistle and
the like. The name of lactiferous, or lactescent, is given
to all those plants which abound with a thick coloured
juice, without regarding whether it is white or not.
Most lactiferous plants are poisonous, except those with
compound flowers, which are generally of an innocent
quality.
Of the poisonous lactesent plants the most remark-Lactiferems
able are sumach, agaric, maple, burning thorny plant, }|
cassada, celandine, puccoon, prickly poppy, and the Ladder,
plants of the natural order contortce, as swallow-wort,
apocynum, cynanchum, and cerbera.
The bell-shaped flowers are partly noxious, as cardi¬
nal flower ; partly innocent, as campanula.
Among the lactescent plants with compound flowers
that are innocent in their quality, may be mentioned
dandelion, picris, hyoseris, wild lettuce, gum succo¬
ry, hawkweed, bastard hawkweed, hypochceris, goat’s
beard, and most species of lettuce : we say most spe¬
cies, because the prickly species of that genus are said
to be of a very virulent and poisonous nature ; though
Mr Lightfoot denies this, and affirms that they are a
safe and gentle opiate, and that a syrup made from the
leaves and stalks is much preferable to the common dia-
codium.
LACTUCA, Lettuce, a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the syngenesia class ; and in the natural method
ranking under the 49th order, Compositce. See Botany
Index. And for the method of cultivating lettuce, see
Gardening Index.
LACUNJE, in Anatomy, certain excretory canals in
the genital parts of women.
LACUNAR, in Architecture, an arched roof or
ceiling, more especially the planking or flooring above
porticoes or piazzas.
LACYDES, a Greek philosopher, born at Cyrene,
was the disciple of Arcesilaus, and his successor in the
academy. He taught in a garden given him by At¬
tains king of Pergamus ; but that prince sending for
him to court, he replied, “ That the pictures of kings
should be viewed at a distance.” He imitated his
master in the pleasure he took in doing good without
caring to have it known : he had a goose which follow¬
ed him everywhere by night as well as by day ; and
when she died, he made a funeral for her, which was
as magnificent as if it had been for a son or a brother.
He taught the same doctrine as Arcesilaus ; and pre¬
tended that we ought to determine nothing, but always
to suspend our opinion. He died 212 B. C.
LADDER, a frame made with a number of steps,
by means of which people may ascend as on a stair to
places otherwise inaccessible.
Scaling Ladders, in the military art, are used in
scaling when a place is to be taken by surprise. They
are made several ways : here we make them of flat
staves, so that they may move about their pins, and
shut like a parallel ruler, for conveniently carrying
them : the French make them of several pieces, so as
to be joined together, and to be made of any necessary
length : sometimes they are made of single ropes,
knotted at proper distances, with iron hooks at each
end, one to fasten them upon the Avail above, and the
other in the ground ; and sometimes they are made
with two ropes, and staves between them, to keep the
ropes at a proper distance, and to tread upon. When
they are used in the action of scaling walls, they
ought to be rather too long than too short, and to be
given in charge only to the stoutest of the detach¬
ment. The soldiers should carry these ladders with
the left arm passed through the second step, taking-
care to hold them upright close to their sides, and
very.
L ‘ A D [ 494. ] LAD
Ladder very short below, to prevent any accident in leaping
1! into the ditch.
Ladoga. fu.st 0f each division, provided with lad-
V_,,LU ders, should set out with the rest at the signal, march¬
ing resolutely with their firelocks slung, to jump into
the ditch when they are arrived, they should apply
their ladders against the parapet, observing to place
them towards the salient angles rather than the middle
of the curtain, because the enemy have less force there.
Care must be taken to place the ladders within a foot
of each other, and not to give them too much nor
too little, slope, so that they may not be overturned or
broke with the weight of the soldiers mounting upon
them.
The ladders being applied, they who have carried
them, and they who come after, should mount up, and
rush upon the enemy sword-in-hand: if he who goes
first, happens to be overturned, the next should take
care not to be thrown down by his comrade j but, on
the contrary, immediately mount himself, so as not to
give the enemy time to load his piece.
As the soldiers who mount first may be easily tum¬
bled over, and their fall may cause the attack to fail,
it would perhaps be right to protect their breasts with
the fore parts of cuirasses; because, if they can pene¬
trate, the rest may easily follow.
The success of an attack by scaling is infallible, if
they mount the four sides at once, and take care to
shower a number of grenades amongst the enemy,
especially when supported by some grenadiers and
picquets, who share the attention and fire of the enemy.
LADEN, in the sea language, the state of a ship
when she is charged with a weight or quantity of any
sort of merchandises, or other materials, equal to her
tonnage or burden. If the cargo with which she is
laden is extremely heavy, her burden is determined by
the weight of the goods j and if it is light, she car¬
ries as much as she can stow, to be fit for the purposes
of navigation. As a ton in measure is generally esti¬
mated at 2000lb. in weight, a vessel of 200 tons ought
accordingly to carry a weight equal to 400,000lb.
when the matter of which the cargo is composed is spe¬
cifically heavier than the water in which she floats ;
or, in other words, when the cargo is so heavy that she
cannot float high enough with so great a quantity of
it as her hold will contain.
Laden in Sulk, the state of being freighted with a
cargo which is neither in casks, boxes, bales, nor cases,
but lies loose in the hold j being defended from the
moisture or wet of the hold, by a number of mats and
a quantity of dunage. Such are usually the cargoes of
corn, salt, or such materials.
LADENBURG, a town of Germany in the duchy
of Baden, seated on the river Neckar, in E. Long.
8. 42. N. Lat. 49. 27. It belongs to the grand duke
of Baden.
LADISLAUS, the name of several kings of Po¬
land. See Poland.
LADOGA, a lake in Russia, between the gulfs of
Onega and Finland, measuring 120 miles by 75, and
considered as the largest in Europe. Seals are among
the fish with which it abounds. It is full of quicksands
which often prove fatal to the Russian flat-bottomed
vessels j these sands often shifting from place to place
by violent storms, and forming a number of shelves.
3
On this account Peter the Great cut a canal 67 miles
in length, from the south-west extremity of the lake,
thus opening a communication between it and the gulf
of Finland. 0
Ladoga, New, a town in the Russian govern¬
ment of Petersburgh, seated on the Volkhof, between
the canal, and lake of Ladoga. Old Ladoga is higher
up the river, and a place of no great extent. The
former is 70 miles east of Petersburgh, in N. Lat. 6o°
E. Long. 210 44'.
LADOGNA, or Lacedogna, a town of Italy in
the kingdom of Naples, and in the Capitanata, with a
bishop’s see. E. Long. 15. 12. N. Lat. 41. 16.
LADON, in Ancient Geography, a river of Arcadia
falling into the Alpheus. The metamorphosis of Daph¬
ne into a laurel, and of Syrinx into a reed, happened
near its banks.
LADRONE or Marian islands, a cluster of twelve
islands lying in the Pacific ocean, in about 1450 of
east longitude, and between the nth and 21st degree
of north latitude. They were first discovered by Ma¬
gellan, who sailed round the world through the straits
which bear his name. He gave them the name of
Ladrone islands, or the islands of 'Thieves, from the
thievish disposition of the inhabitants. At the time
these islands were discovered by the Europeans, the
natives were totally unacquainted with any other coun¬
try besides their own j and having no traditionary ac¬
counts of their own origin, they imagined that the
author of their race was formed of a piece of the rock
of Funa, one of their smallest islands. Many things
looked upon by us as absolutely necessary to our exist¬
ence, were utterly unknown to these people. They
had no animals of any sort j and would not even have
had any idea of them, had it not been for the birds j
and even of them they had but one species, somewhat
like the turtle dove, which they never killed for
eating, but only tamed them, and taught them to
speak. They were much astonished on seeing a horse
which a Spanish captain left among them in 1673,
and. could not for a long time be satisfied with ad¬
miring him.. But what is more surprising and incre¬
dible in their history is, that they were utterly unac¬
quainted with the element of fire, till Magellan, pro¬
voked by their repeated thefts, burned one of their
villages. When they saw their wooden houses blazing,
they first thought that the fire was a beast which fed
upon the wood j and some of them who came too near,
being burnt, the rest stood at a distance, lest they should
be devoured or poisoned by the breathings of this ter¬
rible animal
The inhabitants of the Ladrones are olive coloured,
but not of such a deep dye as those of the Philippine
islands ; their stature is good, and their limbs well
proportioned. Though their food consists entirely of
fish, fruits, and roots, yet they are so fat, that to
strangers they appear swelled ; but this does not render
them less nimble and active. They often live to ico
years or more, yet retain the vigour and health of men
of 50. The men go stark naked, but the women are
covered. They are not ill looked, and take great
care of their beauty, though their ideas on that sub¬
ject are very different from ours. They love black teeth
and white hair. Hence one of their principal occir-
pations is to keep their teeth black by the help of
certain
Ladoga
Ladronc.
LAD [ 495 ] LA E'
ailione. certain lierhs, and to whiten their hair, sprinkling up-
—^ on it a certain water for this purpose. The women
have their hair very long; but the men generally shave
it close, except a single lock on the crown of the head,
after the manner of the Japanese. Their language
much resembles that of the people called Tagalcs, in
the Philippine islands. It is agreeable to the ear, with
a soft and easy pronunciation. One of its chief graces
consists in the facility of transposing words, and even
all the syllables of one word ; and thus furnishing a va¬
riety of double meanings, with which these people are
greatly delighted. Though plunged in the deepest
ignorance, and destitute of every thing valued by the
rest of mankind, no nation ever showed more presump¬
tion or greater conceit of themselves, than these island¬
ers, looking on their own nation as the only wise, sen¬
sible, and polished one in the world, and beholding
every other people with the greatest contempt. Though
they are ignorant of the arts and sciences, yet, like
every other nation, they have their fables which serve
them for history, and some poems which they greatly
admire. A poet is with them a character of the first
eminence, and greatly respected.
It is not known at what time, or from what place,
the Ladrone islands were first peopled. As Japan lies
within six or seven days sail of them, some have been
induced to believe, that the first inhabitants of the
Ladrones came from Japan. But from their greater
resemblance to the inhabitants of the Philippine islands
than to the Japanese, it is more probable that they
came from the former than the latter. Formerly
most of the islands were inhabited; and about 90 years
ago, the three principal islands, Guam, Tinian, and
Rota, are said to have contained 50,000 people ; but
since that time, Tinian has been entirely depopulat¬
ed, and only 200 or 300 Indians left at Rota to cul¬
tivate rice for the island of Guam, which alone is in¬
habited by Europeans, and where the Spaniards have a
governor and a garrison : here also the annual Manilla
ship touches for refreshments in her passage from A-
capulco to the Philippines. The island of Tinian af¬
forded an asylum to Commodore Anson in 1742; and
the masterly manner in which the author of that voy¬
age paints the natural beauties of the country, has gi¬
ven a degree of estimation not only to this island, but
to all the rest, which they had not before. Commo-
dore Byron, in 1765, continued nine weeks at Ti¬
nian, and anchored in the very spot where the Centu¬
rion lay ; but gives a much less favourable account of
this climate and country than the former navigator.
The water, he says, is brackish, and full of worms ;
many of his men were seized with fevers, occasioned
by the intense heat; the thermometer, which was kept
qn board the ship, genei’ally stood at 86°, which is but
10 or II degrees less than the heat of the blood at the
heart; and had the instrument been ashore, he ima¬
gines it would have stood much higher than it did. It
was wijth the greatest difficulty that they could pene¬
trate through the woods ; and when they had fortu¬
nately killed a bull, and with prodigious labour drag¬
ged it through the forests to the beach, it stunk, and
was full of fly-blows by the time it reached the shore.
The poultry was ill tasted ; and within an hour after
it was killed, the flesh became as green as grass, and
swarmed with maggots. The wild hogs were very
fierce ; and so large, that a carcass frequently weighed Ladione
200 pounds. Cotton and indigo were found on the li
island. Captain Wallis continued here a month in J^vinus.
1767, but makes no such complaints. v~ r"
LADY. This title is derived from two Saxon
words, which signify loaf-day^ which words have in
time been contracted into the present appellation. It
properly belongs only to the daughters of earls, and all
of higher rank ; but custom has made it a word of
complaisance for the wives of knights and of all emi¬
nent women.
As to the original application of this expression, it
may be observed, that heretofore it was the fashion for
those families, whom God had blessed with affluence,
to live constantly at their mansion houses in the coun¬
try, and that once a-week, or oftener, the lady of the
manor distributed to her poor neighbours, xvith her
own hands, a certain quantity of bread ; but the prac¬
tice, which gave rise to this title is now as little known
as the meaning of it ; however, it may be from that
hospitable custom, that to this day the ladies in this
kingdom alone serve the meat at their own table.
Lady's Bedstraw. See Galium, ")
Lady's Mantle. See Alchemilla, j „
Lady's Smoke. See Card amine, !>
Lady's Slipper. See Cypripedium, | n ex‘
Lady's Tresses, See Ophrys, J
Lady Day, in Law, the 25th of March, being the
annunciation of the Holy Virgin. See Annuncia¬
tion.
LyELIUS, Caius, a Roman consul and great ora¬
tor, surnamed the Wise, distinguished himself in Spain
in the war against Viriathus the Spanish general. He
is highly praised by Cicero, who gives an admirable
description of the intimate friendship which subsisted
between Lrelius and Scipio Africanus the Younger.
His eloquence, his modesty, and his abilities, ac¬
quired him a great reputation ; and he is thought to
have assisted Terence in his comedies. He died about
the year 126 B. C.
LiENA, in antiquity, was a gown worn by the
Roman augurs, and peculiar to their office. In this
gown they covered their heads, when they made their
observation on the flight of birds, &c. See Augur.
LAER. See Bamboccia.
LiESTRYGONES, the most ancient inhabitants
of Sicily. Some suppose them to be the same as the
people of Leontium, and to have been neighbours to
the Cyclops. They fed on human flesh; and when
Ulysses came on their coasts, they sunk his ships and
devoured his companions. They were of a gigantic
stature, according to Homer’s description. A colony
of them, as some suppose, passed over into Italy with
Lamus at their head, where they built the town of
Formice, whence the epithet of Lcestrygonia is often
used for that of Formiana.
L/ETIA, a genus of plants belonging to the poly-
andria class, and in the natural method ranking with
those of which the order is doubtful. See Botany
Index.
LiEVINUS, Torrentinus, commonly called Van-
der Bekin, or Torrentin, was a native of Ghent, and
bred in the university of Louvain. He afterwards
made the tour of Italy, where his virtues obtained him
the friendship of the most illustrious personages of his
time, v
lag [ 496 ] LAI
■Lamnus time. On his return to the Low Countries, he was
II made canon of Liege, and vicar-general to Ernest de
J<a n,ar,., Baviere, bishop of that see. At length, having exe-
cut-d a successful embassy to Philip II. of Spain, he
was rewarded with the bishopric of Antwerp 5 from
whence he was translated to the metropolitan church
of Mechlin, and died there in 1595. He founded a
college of Jesuits at Louvain, to which he left his li¬
brary, medals, and curiosities. He wrote several poems
that obtained him the character of being, after Horace,
the prince of lyric poets.
L/E\ IUS, a Latin poet. It is not well known
at what time he lived, hut probably before the age of
Cicero. A poem of his, entitled, Erotopagnia, i. e.
Love-Games, is quoted by Aldus Gellius. Apuleius
also quotes six lines from the same poet j but he does
not tell from what work he borrowed them. Lse-
vius had also composed a poem, entitled, Th$ Cen¬
taurs, which Festus quotes under the title of Petra-
rum.
LAGAN, or Lagon. See Flotsom.
LAGEMAN {lagammannus), homo hahens legem,
or homo hgalis seu legitimus; such as we call now
“ good men of the jury.” The word is frequently
used in Domesday, and the laws of Edward the Con¬
fessor, cap. 38.
LAGEN {Lagena'), in ancient time, was a measure
of wine, containing six sextarii : whence probably is
derived our flagon. The lieutenant of the Tower has
the privilege to take vnam lagenam vim ante malum et
retro, of all wine ships that come upon the Thames ;
and Sir Peter Leicester, in his Antiquities of Cheshire,
interprets lagena vini, “ a bottle of wine.”
LAGERSTROEMIA, a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the polyatidria class. See Botany Index.
LAGNY, a town of the Isle of France, with a fa¬
mous Benedictine abbey. It. is seated on the river
Marne, in E. Long. 2. 45. N. Lat. 48. 50.
LAGQECIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
pentandria class. See Botany Index.
LAGOON, an island in the South sea, lying in
S. Lat. 18. 47. W. Long. 139. 28. It is of an oval
form, with a lake in the middle, which occupies much
the greatest part of it. The whole is covered with
trees of different growth. It is inhabited by a race of
Indians, tall, of a copper colour, with long black hair.
Their weapons are poles or spikes, which are twice as
long as themselves. Their habitations were seen under
some clumps of palm trees, which formed very beauti¬
ful groves. This island was discovered by Captain Cook
in April 1769.
LAGOPUS, the Ptarmigan. See Tetrao, Or¬
nithology Index.
LAGOS, a sea port town of Portugal, in the pro¬
vince of Algarva, with a castle near the sea, where
there is a good harbour, and where the English fleets
bound to the Straits usually take in fresh water. W,
Long. 8. 5. N. Lat. 36. 45.
LAGUNA, or San Christoval de Laguna, a consi¬
derable town in the island of Teneriffe, near a lake of
the same name, on the declivity of a hill. It has very
handsome buildings, and a fine square. W. Lon«-. 16
24. S. Lat. 28. 30. 43
LAGUNES OF Venice, are marshes or lakes in
Italy on which Venice is seated. They communicate
5
with the sea, and are the security of the city. There Lngaaes
are about 6o islands in these Lagnnes, which together II
make a bishop’s see. Eurano is the most considerable ,1<air*sse-
next to those on which Venice stands. 1-y-—*
LAGURUS, a genus of plants belonging to the
triandna class, and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 4th order, Gramina. See Botany Index.
LAHOLM, a sea port town of Sweden, in the pro¬
vince of Gothland, and territory of Halland, seated
near the Baltic sea, with a castle and a harbour in
E. Lon?. 13. 13. N. Lat. 56. 35.
LA HOB, a large town of Asia, in Indostan, and
capital of a province of the same name, and one of the
most considerable in the country. It is of a vast cir¬
cumference, and contains a great number of mosques,
public baths, caravanseras, and pagods. It was once
the residence of the Great Mogul ; but since the re¬
moval of the court, the fine palace is going to decay.
There is a magnificent walk of shady trees, which runs
from this to Agra, that is upwards of 300 miles. Here
they have manufactures of cotton cloths and stuffs of
all kinds, and they make very curious carpets. E.
Long- 75- 5S' N. Lat. 31. 40.
LA1NEZ, James, a Spaniard, companion of Ig¬
natius of Loyola, second general of the Jesuits, and
a man of a more daring and political character. Hav¬
ing procured from Pope Paul IV. the perpetual ge¬
neralship of the new order of Jesuits, after the death
of Ignatius, he got the following privileges ratified by
that pontiff, which show that he was in fact the found¬
er of the worst part of their institution : 1. The right
of making all sorts of contracts (without the privity
of the community) vested in the generals and their
delegates. 2. That of giving authenticity to all com¬
ments and explanations of their constitutions. 3. The
power of making new, and altering the old : this open¬
ed the door to their bloody political tenets, not to be
attributed to Loyola. 4. That of having prisons in¬
dependent of the secular authority, in which they put
to death refractory brethren. Lainez died in 1565,
aged 53.
Lx^lRESSE, Gerard, an eminent Flemish paint¬
er, horn at Liege in 1640. He received the principal
part of his instruction from his father Renieve de
Lairesse, though he is also accounted a disciple of Bar-
tolet. He first settled at Utrecht, where he lived in
disti essed circumstances j but an accidental recommen¬
dation carrying him to Amsterdam, he soon exchan¬
ged want and obscurity for affluence and reputation.
He was a perfect master of history 5 his designs are
distinguished by the grandeur of the composition j and
the back grounds, wherever the subjects required it,
are rich in architecture, which is an uncommon .cir¬
cumstance in that country. He had the unhappiness
to lose his sight several years before his death, which
happened in 1711 ; so that the treatise on Design and
Colouring, which passes under his name, was not wrote
by him, but collected from his observations after he
was blind, and published after his death. He had
three sons, two of whom were painters ; and also three
brothers, Ernest, James, and John : Ernest and John
painted animals, and James was a flower painter. He
engraved a good deal in aquafortis : his works consist
of 256 plates, above half of which were done with his
own hand. He wrote an excellent book on the art,
which
L A K
which has been translated into English, and printed at
London both in 410 and 8vo.
LAIS, a celebrated courtesan, daughter of Timan-
dra, the mistress ot Alcibiades, born at Hyccara in Si¬
cily. She was carried away from her native place when
icias the Athenian general invaded Sicily. She first
began to sell her favours at Corinth for 10,000 drach¬
mas, and the immense number of princes, noblemen,
philosophers, orators, and plebeians, which courted her
embraces, show how much commendation is owed to
her personal charms. The expences which attended
her pleasures, gave rise to the proverb of Non cuivis
homini contingit adire Connthutn. Even Demosthenes
himself visited Corinth for the sake of Lais; but when
lie was intormed by the courtesan, that admittance to
her bed was to be bought at the enormous sum of a-
bout 200I. English money, the orator departed, and
observed that he would not buy repentance at so dear
a price. The charms which had attracted Demo¬
sthenes to Corinth had no influence upon Xenocrates.
Vi hen Lais saw the philosopher unmoved by her beau¬
ty, she visited his house herself; but there she had no
reason to boast of the licentiousness or easy submission
of Xenocrates. Diogenes the Cynic was one of her
warmest admirers, and though filthy in his dress and
manners, yet he gained her heart, and enjoyed her
most unbounded favours. The sculptor M.ycon also so¬
licited the favours of Lais, but he met with coldness :
he, however, attributed the cause of his ill reception to
the whiteness ot his hair, and dyed it of a brown co¬
lour, but to no purpose : “ Fool that thou art (said the
courtesan) to ask what I refused yesterday to thy fa¬
ther.” Lais ridiculed the austerity of philosophers,
and laughed at the weakness of those who pretend to
have gained a superiority over their passions, by ob¬
serving that the sages and philosophers of the age were
not above the rest of mankind, for she found them at
her door as often as the rest of the Athenians. The
success which her debaucheries met at Corinth encou¬
raged Lais to pass into Thessaly, and more particular¬
ly to enjoy the company of a favourite youth called
Flippostratus. She was however disappointed : the wo¬
men of the place, jealous of her charms, and appre¬
hensive of her corrupting the fidelity of their husbands,
assassinated her in the temple of Venus, about 340
years before the Christian era. Some suppose that
there were two persons of this name, a mother and her
daughter.
LAI1Y, the people as distinguished from the cler¬
gy ; (see Clergy). The lay part of his majesty’s
subjects is divided into three distinct states ; the civil,
the military, and the maritime. See Civil, Mili¬
tary, and Maritime.
LAKE, a collection of waters contained in some
cavity in an inland place, of a large extent, surround¬
ed with land, and having no communication with the
ocean. Lakes may be divided into four kinds. 1. Such
as neither receive nor send forth rivers. 2. Such as
emit rivers, without receiving any. 3. Such as receive
rivers, without emitting any. And, 4. Such as both
receive and send forth rivers. Of the first kind, some
are temporary, and others perennial. Most of those
that are temporary owe their origin to the rain, and
the cavity or depression of the place in which they are
lodged : thus in India there are several such lakes made
Vgl. XI. Part II.
[ 497 ]
L A K
by the industry of the natives, of which some are a
mile, and some two miles, in circuit; these are sur- '
rounded with a stone wall, and being filled in the rainy
months, supply the inhabitants in dry seasons, who live
at a great distance from springs or rivers. There are
also several of this kind formed by the inundations of
the Nile and the Niger ; and in Muscovy, Finland, and
Lapland, there are many lakes formed, partly by the
rains, and partly by the melting of the ice and snow:
but most of the perennial lakes, which neither receive
nor emit rivers, probably owe their rise to springs at
the bottom, by which they are constantly supplied.
Fhe second kind of lakes, which emit without receiv¬
ing rivers, is very numerous. Many rivers flow from
these as out of cisterns ; where their springs being si¬
tuated low within a hollow place, first fill the cavity
and make it a lake, which not being capacious enough
to hold all the water, it overflows and forms a river;
of this kind is the Wolga, at the head of the river
Wolga ; the lake Odium at the head of the Tanais ;
the Adac, from whence one branch of the river Ti¬
gris flows; the Ozero, or White lake, in Muscovy,
which is the source of the river Shaksna ; the great
lake Chaamay, which emits four very large riven,
which water the countries of Siam, Pegu, &c. viz. the
Menan, the Ava, the Caipoumou, the Laquia, &c.
1 he third species of lakes, which receive rivers but
emit none, apparently owe their origin to those rivers
which, in their progress from their source, falling in¬
to some extensive cavity, are collected together, and
form a lake of such dimensions as may lose as much
by exhalation as it continually receives from these
sources : of this kind is that great lake, improperly
called the Caspian sea; the lake Asphaltites, also call¬
ed the Dead sea; the lake of Geneva, and several
others.. Of the fourth species, which both receive and
emit rivers, we reckon three kinds, as the quantity
they emit is greater, equal, or less, than they receive.
If it be greater, it is plain that they must be supplied
by springs at the bottom ; if less, the surplus of the
water is probably spent in exhalations; and if it be
equal, their springs just supply what is evaporated by
the sun.
Lakes are also divided into those of fresh water and
those of salt. Dr Halley is of opinion, that all great
perennial lakes are saline, either in a greater or less
degree ; and that this saltness increases with time : and
on this foundation he proposes a method for determin¬
ing the age of the world.
Large lakes answer the most valuable purposes in
the northern regions, the warm vapours that arise from
them moderating the pinching cold of those climates ;
and, what is still a greater advantage, when they are
placed in warmer climates at a great distance from the
sea, the exhalations raised from them by the sun cause
the countries that border upon them to be refreshed
with frequent showers, and consequently prevent theit
being barren deserts.
Lake, or Lacque, a preparation of different sub¬
stances into a kind of magistery for the use of painters.
One of the finest and first invented of which was that
of gum lacca or lacque ; from which all the rest, as made
by the same process, are called by the common name
lacques. See Lacca.
Ihe method of preparing these in general may be
3 H known
Lake.
v
Jj A K [ 498 ] LAM
Lnke. known by the example of that of the curcuma root of
v the shops, called turmeric root; the process for the
making of which is this : Take a pound of turmeric
root in fine powder, three pints of water, and an ounce
of salt of tartar ; put all into a glazed earthen vessel,
and let them boil together over a clear gentle fire, till
the water appears highly impregnated with the root,
and will stain a paper of a beautiful yellow. Fdtre
this liquor, and gradually add to it a strong solution
of rock alum in water, till the yellow matter is all
curdled together and precipitated *, after this pour
the whole into a filtre of paper, and the water will run
olF and leave the yellow matter behind. It is to be
washed many times with fresh water, till the water
comes off insipid, and then is obtained the beautiful
yellow called lacque of turmeric, and used in paint-
rng.
In this manner may a lake be made of any of the
tinging substances that are of a somewhat strong tex¬
ture, as madder, logwood, &c. $ but it will not succeed
in the more tender species, as the flowers of roses, vio¬
lets, &c. as it destroys the nice arrangement of parts
in those subjects on which the colour depends.
A yellow lake for painting is to be made from broom
flowers in the following manner : Make a ley of pot
ashes and lime reasonably strong j in this boil, at a
gentle fire, fresh broom flowers till they are white, the
ley having extracted all their colour •, then take out
the flowers, and put the ley to boil in earthen vessels
over the fire j add as much alum as the liquor will dis¬
solve *, then empty this ley into a vessel of clean water,
and it will give a yellow colour at the bottom. Let
all settle, and decant oft the clear liquor. Wash this
powder, which is found at the bottom, with more wa¬
ter, till all the salts of the ley are washed off j *hen se¬
parate the yellow matter, and dry it in the shade. It
proves a very valuable yellow.
Handmaid Lake is at present seldom prepared from any other
iof/iir substance than scarlet rags, cochineal, and Brasil wood.
vo .1. p. 6T.The best of what is commonly sold is made from the
colour extracted from scarlet rags, and deposited on
the cuttle-bone ; and this may be prepared in the fol¬
lowing manner : Dissolve a pound of the best pearl
ashes in two quarts of water, and filtre the liquor through
paper j add to this solution two more quarts of water
and a pound of clean scarlet shreds, and boil them in a
pewter boiler till the shreds have lost their scarlet co¬
lour j take out the shreds and press them, and put the
coloured water yielded by them to the other : in the
same solution boil another pound of the shreds, pro¬
ceeding in the same manner j and likewise a third and
fourth pound. Whilst this is doing, dissolve a pound
and a half of cuttle-fish bone in a pound of strony
aquafortis in a glass receiver ; adding more of the bone
if it appear to produce any ebullition in the aquafortis ;
and pour this strained solution gradually into the other •,
but if any ebullition be occasioned, more of the cuttle¬
fish bone must be dissolved as before, and added till no
ebullition appears in the mixture. The crimson sedi¬
ment deposited by the liquor thus prepared is the lake:
pour off the water ; and stir the lake in two gallons
of hard spring water, and mix the sediment in two
gallons of fresh water; let this method be repeated
four or five times. If no hard water can be procured,
or the lake appears too purple, half an ounce of alum
3
should be added to each quantity of water before it be x.ike
used. Having thus sufficiently freed the lake from L>ma!
the salts, drain oft the water through a filtre, covered ““V—
with a worn linen cloth. When it has been drained
to a proper dryness, let it be dropped through a pro¬
per funnel on clean boards, and the drops will become
small cones or pyramids, in which form the lake
must be suffered to dry, and the preparation is com¬
pleted.
Lake may be prepared from cochineal, bv gently
boiling two ounces of cochineal in a quart of water ;
filtering the solution through paper, and adding two
ounces of pearl-ashes dissolved in half a pint of warm
water, and filtered through paper. Make a solution of
cuttle-bone as in the former process ; and to a pint of
it add two ounces of alum dissolved in half a pint of
water. Put this mixture gradually to that of the
cochineal and pearl-ashes, as long as any ebullition
appears to arise, and proceed as above. A beautiful
lake may be prepared from Brasil wood, by boiling
three pounds of it for an hour in a solution of three
pounds of common salt in three gallons of water, anil
filtering the hot fluid through paper; add to this a
solution of five pounds of alum in three gallons of
water. Dissolve three pounds of the best pearl-ashes
in a gallon and a half of water, and purify it by filter¬
ing ; put this gradually to the other, till the whole of
the colour appear to be precipitated, and the fluid be
left clear and colourless. But if any appearance of
purple be seen, add a fresh quantity of the solution of
alum by degrees, till a scarlet hue be produced. Then
pursue the directions given in the first process with re¬
gard to the sediment. If half a pound of seed lac be
added to the solution of pearl-ashes, and dissolved in it
before its purification by the filtre, and two pounds of
the wood, and a proportional quantity of the common
salt and water he used in the coloured solution, a lake
will be produced that will stand well in oil or water,
but is not so transparent in oil as without the seed lac.
The lake with Brasil wood may be also made by add¬
ing half an ounce of anotto to each pound of the wood ;
but the anotto must be dissolved in the solution of
pearl-ashes. There is a kind of beautiful lake brought
from China; but as it does not mix well with either
water or oil, though it dissolves entirely in spirit of
wine, it is not of any use in our kinds of painting,
Th is has been erroneously called safflower.
Orange Lake, is the tinging part of anotto precipi¬
tated together with the earth of alum. This pigment,
which is of a bright orange colour, and fit for varnish
painting, where there is no fear of flying, and also for
putting under crystal to imitate the vinegar garnet,
may be prepared by boiling four ounces of the best
anotto and one pound of pearl-ashes half an hour in a
gallon of water ; and straining the solution through
paper. Mix gradually with this a solution of a pound
and a half of alum in another gallon of water ; desist¬
ing when no ebullition attends the commixture. Treat
the sediment in the manner already directed for other
kinds of lake, and dry it in square bits or round lo¬
zenges.
LAMA, a synonyme of the camelus pacos. See
Camelus, Mammalia Index. ^
Lama, the sovereign pontiff, or rather god, of the
Asiatic Tartars, inhabiting the country of Barantoia.
Th*
LAM
Lama, lama is not only adored by the inhabitants of the
—v  country, but also by the kings of Tartary, who send
him rich presents, and go in pilgrimage to pay him
adoration, calling him lama congiit, i. e. “ god, the
everlasting father of heaven.” He is never to be seen
but in a secret place of his palace, amidst a great num¬
ber of lamps, sitting cross-legged upon a cushion, and
adorned all over with gold and precious stones; where
at a distance they prostrate themselves before him, it
not being lawful for any to kiss even his feet. He is
called the great lama, or lama of lamas; that is, “ priest
of priests.” The orthodox opinion is, that when the
grand lama seems to die either of old age or infirmity,
his soul in fact only quits a crazy habitation to look for
another younger or better j and it is discovered again
in the body of some child, by certain tokens known
only to the lamas or priests, in which order he always
appears.
The following account of the ceremonies attend¬
ing the inauguration of the infant lama in Thibet
is extracted from the first volume of the Asiatic re¬
searches.
The emperor of China appears on this occasion to
have assumed a very conspicuous part in giving testi¬
mony of bis respect and zeal for the great religious fa¬
ther of his faith. Early in the year 1784, he dismis¬
sed ambassadors from the court of Pekin to Teeshoo
Eoomboo, to represent their sovereign in supporting
the dignity of the high priest, and do honour to the oc¬
casion of the assumption of his office. Dalai Lama
and the viceroy of Lassa, accompanied by all the court,
one of the Chinese generals stationed at Lassa with a
part of the troops under his command, two of the four
magistrates of the city, the heads of every monastery
throughout Thibet, and the emperor’s ambassadors,
appeared at Teeshoo Loomboo, to celebrate this epocha
in their theological institutions. The 28th day of the
seventh moon, corresponding nearly, as their year com¬
mences with the vernal equinox, to the middle of Oc¬
tober 1784, was chosen as the most auspicious for the
ceremony of inauguration: a few days previous to
which the lama was conducted from Terpaling, the mo¬
nastery in which he had passed his infancy, with every
mark of pomp and homage that could be paid by an
enthusiastic people. So great a concourse as assembled
either from curiosity or devotion was never seen before,
for not a person of any condition in Thibet was absent
who could join the suite. The procession was hence
necessarily constrained to move so slow, that though
Terpaling is situated at the distance of 20 miles only
from leeshoo Loomboo, three days expired in the per¬
formance of this short march. The first halt was made
at Tsonduej the second at Summaar, about six miles
off, whence the most splendid parade was reserved for
the lama’s entry on the third day, the account of
which is given by a person who was present in the
procession. The road, he says, was previously prepa¬
red by being whitened with a wash, and having piles
of stones heaped up with small intervals between on
either side. The retinue passed between a double row
of priests, who formed a street extending all the way
from Summaar to the gates of the palace. Some of
the priests held lighted rods of a perfumed composition
that burn like decayed wood, and emit an aromatic
smoke > the rest were furnished with the different mu-
[ 499 ]
LAM
sical instruments they use at their devotions, such as
the gong, the cymbal, hautboy, trumpets, drums, and
sea shells, which were all sounded in union with the
hymn they chanted. The crowd of spectators was
kept without the street, and none admitted on the
high road but such as properly belonged to or bad a
prescribed place in the procession, which was arranged
in the following order.
Hie van was led by three military commandants or
governors of districts at the head of 6000 or 7000 horse¬
men armed with quivers, bows, and matchlocks. In
their rear followed the ambassador with bis suite, car-
ryin'g bis diploma, as is the custom of China, made up
in the form of a large tube, and fastened on bis back.
Next the Chinese general advanced with the troops un¬
der his command, mounted, and accoutred after their
way with fire arms and sabres j then came a very nu¬
merous group bearing the various standards and insig¬
nia of state; next to them moved a full band of wind
and other sonorous instruments: after which were led
two horses richly caparisoned, each carrying two large
circular stoves disposed like panniers across the horse’s
back and filled with burning aromatic woods. These
were followed by a senior priest, called a lama, who
bore a box containing bocks of their form of prayer
and some favourite idols. Next nine sumpter horses
were led loaded with the lama’s apparel; after which
came the priests immediately attached to the lama’s
person for the performance of daily offices in the
temple, amounting to about 7000; following them
were two men each carrying on his shoulder a large
cylindrical gold insignium embossed with emblematical
figures (a gift from the emperor of China). The Du-
hunniers and Soopoons, who were employed in com¬
municating addresses and distributing alms, immediate¬
ly preceded the lama’s bier, which was covered with
a gaudy canopy, and borne by eight of the 16 Chinese
appointed for this service. On one side of the bier at¬
tended the regent, on the other the lama’s father. It
was followed by the heads of the different monasteries,
and as the procession advanced, the priests who formed
the street fell into the rear and brought up the suite,
which moved at an extremely slow pace, and about
noon was received within the confines of the monastery,
amidst an amazing display of colours, the acclamations
of the crowd, solemn music, and the chanting of their
priests.
The lama being safely lodged in the palace, the re¬
gent and Soopoon Choomhoo went out, as is a custo¬
mary compliment paid to visitors of high rank on their
near approach, to meet and conduct Dalai Lama and
the viceroy of Lassa, who were on the way to Teeshoo
Loomboo. Their retinues encountered the following
morning at the foot of Painom castle, and the next day
together entered the monastery of Teeshoo Loomboo,
in which both I3alai Lama and the viceroy were ac¬
commodated during their stay.
The following morning, which was the third after
Teeshoo Lama’s arrival, he was carried to the great
temple, and about noon seated upon the throne of his
progenitors ; at which time the emperor’s ambassador
delivered his diploma, and placed the presents with
which he had been charged at the lama’s feet.
The three next ensuing days, Dalai Lama met Tee¬
shoo Lama in the temple, where they were assisted by
3 R 3 ail
Lama.
LAM [ 500 ] LAM
Lama, all the priests in the invocation and public worship of
Lamanon. their gods. The rites then performed completed, as
* ” we understand, the business of inauguration. During
this interval all who were at the capital were entertain¬
ed at the public expence, and alms were distributed
without reserve. In conformity likewise to previous
notice circulated everywhere far the same space of
time, universal rejoicings prevailed throughout Thibet.
Banners were unfurled on all their fortresses, the pea¬
santry filled up the day with music and festivity, and
the night was celebrated by general illuminations. A
long period was afterwards employed in making pre¬
sents and public entertainments to the newly inducted
lama, who at the time of his accession to the musnud,
or, if we may use the term, pontificate of Teeshoo
Loomboo, was not three years of age. The ceremony
was begun by Dalai Lama, whose offerings are said to
have amounted to a greater value, and his public en¬
tertainments to have been more splendid than the rest.
The second day was dedicated to the viceroy of Lassa.
The third to the Chinese general. Then followed the
culloong or magistrates of Lassa, and the rest of the
principal persons who had accompanied Dalai Lama.
After which the regent of Teeshoo Lomboo, and all
that were dependent on that government, were several¬
ly admitted, according to pre-eminence of rank, to pay
their tribute of obeisance and respect. As soon as the
acknowledgements of all those were received who were
admissible to the privilege, Teeshoo Lama made in the
same order suitable returns to each, and the consum¬
mation lasted 40 days.
Many importunities were used with Dalai Lama to
prolong his stay at Teeshoo Loomboo j but he excused
himself from encumbering the capital any longer with
so numerous a concourse of people as attended on his
movements, and deeming it expedient to make his ab¬
sence as short as possible from the seat of his authority,
at the expiration of 40 days he withdrew with all his
suite to Lassa, and the emperor’s ambassador received
his dismission to return to China, and thus terminated
this famous festival.
LAMANON, Robert Paul, a celebrated natura¬
list, was born at Salon in Provence, in the year 1752,
of a respectable family. He was destined for the church,
and sent to Paris to study divinity j but the acquaint¬
ance of philosophers soon made him relinquish his theo¬
logical pursuits, and he turned his attention to chemi¬
stry and mineralogy. Yet he afterwards became a ca¬
non in the church \ but the death of his father and el¬
der brother caused him to resign an office to which he
was never attached, and he now possessed the power of
directing his own future exertions. One amiable trait
in the character of Lamanon is highly worthy of notice,
and that is, that he refused to accept of his paternal in¬
heritance, but as an equal sharer with his brothers and
sisters. W hen offered a considerable sum to resign his
office of canon in favour of a certain individual, he re¬
plied, 1 the chapter of Arles did not sell me my bene-
lice j I shall therefore restore it in the same manner that
I received it,” which was a conduct undoubtedly me¬
ritorious. Anxious to remove the veil which conceals
the secrets of nature from mortal eyes, he travelled
through Provence and Dauphin#, and scaled the Alps
and Pyrenees. He reached the summit of rocks and
explored the abyss of caverns, weighed the air, analys-
a
ed specimens, and in short considered himself qualified Lamanon
to form a new system of this world. Lamb. ’
After some time he returned to Paris, and from '—"“•v'——'
thence went over to England j and although he was in
imminent danger of being overwhelmed by the ungo¬
vernable fury of the waves, he ordered himself to be
tied to the mainmast, that he might be enabled to con¬
template more at leisure this grand and terrific spec¬
tacle. Instead of being dismayed, he was transported
with the tremendous roar of thunder, the vivid flashes
of lightning, the glancing spray with which he was al¬
most incessantly covered j and in his own estimation
this was the most exquisite day which he ever enjoyed.
During the time which Lamanon afterwards spent at
Paris, he became one of the founders of the museum.
Again resolving to revisit Switzerland and Italy, lie
went first to Turin, where he joined himself to the
learned of that country. From Piedmont he went to
Italy, returning by the way of Switzerland, where he
explored the Alps, and ascended to the top of Mont
Blanc ; and on his return to Provence with the spoils
ol the countries which he had visited, he properly
arranged the interesting fruits of liis journey. While
Lamanon was preparing for the press his interesting
work on the Theory of the Earth, the French govern¬
ment conceived the design of completing the disco¬
veries of Captain Cook, and the academy of sciences
was charged with the selection of men qualified to rec¬
tify our notions of the southern hemisphere. Condor-
cet therefore made choice of Lamanon for advancing
the progress of natural history connected with this
great enterprise, and he received the invitation of that
philosopher with the most eager transports. He set
out for Paris, refused the salary offered him, took leave
of his friends, and went directly for Brest. The arma¬
ment under the command of the justly celebrated but
unfortunate La Perouse, set sail on the 1st of August
1785 •, and having reached the island of Maouna, La¬
manon went ashore with the crew of two boats, where
be fell a sacrifice to the fury of the savages, bravely
fighting in self-defence.
In the estimation of his eulogist M. Ponee, Lama¬
non seemed destined to effect some great revolution in
science. His ideas were profound, his character ener¬
getic, his mind sagacious, and he possessed that lively
curiosity which can draw instruction out of any thing*
and which might have led him in time to the most in¬
teresting discoveries. His person was tall, his counte¬
nance highly expressive, his strength and activity al¬
most incredible. His style as a writer is nervous, and
lie was eminently endowed with the precision of logical
reasoning, which cannot fail to command attention and
enforce persuasion.
LAMB, in Zoology) the young of the sheep kind.
See Ovis, Mammalia Index.
Scythian Lamb, a kind of moss, which grows about
the roots of fern in some of the northern parts of Eu¬
rope and Asia, and sometimes assumes the form of a qua¬
druped * so called from a supposed resemblance in shape
to that animal. It has something like four feet, and
its body is covered with a kind of down. Travellers
report that it will suffer no vegetable to grow within a
certain distance of its seat. Sir Hans Sloane read a
memoir upon this plant before the Society $ for which
those who think it worth while may consult their Trans¬
actions,
LAM [ 5°i ] LAM
Lamb actions, N® 245, p. 461. Mr Bell, in his “ Account
|| of a journey from St Petersburg!) to Ispahan,” informs
^ambert. us t|iat searched in vain for this plant in the neigh-
v bourhood of Astracan, when at the same time the more
sensible and experienced amongst the Tartars treated
the whole history as fabulous.
LAMBECIUS, Peter, born at Hamburgh in
1628, was one of the most learned men of his time.
He went very young to study in foreign countries, at
the expence of his uncle the learned Holstenius. He
was chosen professor of history at Hamburgh in 1652,
and rector of the college of that city in 1660. He had
taken his degree of doctor of law in France before. He
suffered a thousand vexations in his own country j be¬
cause his enemies charged him with atheism, and cen¬
sured his writings bitterly. He married a rich lady,
but who was so very covetous that he left her in dis¬
gust within a fortnight. He went to Vienna, and from
thence to Borne, where he publicly professed the Catho¬
lic religion. He returned to Vienna in 1662, where
he was kindly received by the emperor, who appointed
him his sublibrarian, and afterwards his principal libra¬
rian, with the title of counsellor and historiographer ;
in which employment he continued till his death, and
gained a great reputation by the works he published,
viz. i. An Essay on Aulus Gellius. 2. The Antiqui¬
ties of Hamburgh. 3. Bemarks on Codinus’s Antiqui¬
ties of Constantinople, &c.
LAMBEBT of Aschaffenburgh, a Benedictine
monk, in tlie I ith century, wrote several works $
among which is a history of Germany, from the year
1050 to 1077.
Lambert, John, general of the parliament’s forces
in the civil wars of the last century, was of a good fa¬
mily, and for some time studied the law in one of the
inns of court; but upon the breaking out of the rebel¬
lion, went into the parliament army, where he soon rose
to the rank of colonel, and by his conduct and valour
performed many eminent services. But when Crom¬
well seemed inclined to assume the title of king, Lam¬
bert opposed it with great vigour, and even refused to
take the oath required by the assembly and council to
be faithful to the government; on which Cromwell de¬
prived him of his commission, but granted him a pen¬
sion of 2000I. a-year. This was an act of prudence ra¬
ther than of generosity ; as he well knew, that such
genius as Lambert’s, rendered desperate by poverty,
was capable of attempting any thing.
Lambert being now divested of all employment, re¬
tired to Wimbleton house ; where turning florist, he
had the finest tulips and gilliflowers that could be got
for love or money. Yet amidst these amusements he
still nourished his ambition y for when Bichard Crom¬
well succeeded his father, he acted so effectually with
Fleetwood, Desborough, Vane, Berry, and others, that
the new protector was obliged to surrender his authori¬
ty j and the members of the long parliament, who had
continued sitting till the 20th of April 1653, when
Oliver dismissed them, were restored to their seats, and
Lambert was immediately appointed one of the council
of state, and colonel of a regiment of horse and another
of foot. For this service the parliament presented him
loool. to buy a jewel; but he distributed it among his
officers. This being soon known to the parliament,
they concluded that he intended to secure a party in the
army. They therefore courteously invited him to come Lamb-’/t
to London $ but resolved, as soon as he should arrive, |)
to secure him from doing any further harm. Lambert, Lamech.
apprehensive of this, delayed his return, and even refu- ‘ ■'
sed to resign his commission when it was demanded of
him and of eight of the other leading officers ; and,
marching up to London with his army, dislodged the
parliament by force in October 1659. •^•e was then
appointed, by a council of the officers, major-general
of the army, and one of the new council for the ma¬
nagement of public affairs, and sent to command the
forces in the north. But General Monk marching
from Scotland into England to support the parliament,
against which Lambert had acted with such violence,
the latter, being deserted by his army, w’as obliged to
submit to the parliament, and by their order was com¬
mitted prisoner to the Tower j whence escaping, he soon
appeared in arms with four troops under his command,
but was defeated and taken prisoner by Colonel In-
goldsby.
At the Bestoration he was particularly excepted out
of the act of indemnity. Being brought to his trial
on the 4th of June 1662, for levying war against the
king, this daring general behaved with more submission
that the meanest of his fellow prisoners, and was by his
majesty’s favour reprieved at the bar, and sentenced to
be confined daring life in the island of Guernsey.
Lambert, Anna Theresa dc Marguenat de Courcelles,
marchioness of, an elegant moral writer, was the only
daughter of Stephen Marguenat lord of Courcelles. In
1666 she married Henry de Lambert, who at his death
was lieutenant-general of the army ; and she afterwards
remained a widow with a son and a daughter, whom
she educated with great care. Her house was a kind
of academy, to which persons of distinguished abilities
regularly resorted. She died at Paris in 1773, aged 86.
Her works, which are written with much taste, judge¬
ment, and delicacy, are printed in 2 vols. The advice
of a mother to her son and daughter are particularly
esteemed.
LAMB IN, Dennis, an eminent classical commen¬
tator, was born at Montreuil-sur-Mer, in Picardy, and
acquired great skill in polite literature. He lived for
a long time at Borne ; and at his return to Paris was
made royal professor of the Greek language. He died
in 1572, aged 56, of pure grief at the death of his
friend Bamus, who was murdered at the massacre on
St Bartholomew’s day. He wrote commentaries on
Plautus, Lucretius, Cicero, and Horace, and other
works. His commentary on Horace is more particu¬
larly esteemed.
LAMECH, of the race of Cain, was the son of
Methusael, and father of Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-cain, and
Naamah, Gen. iv. 18, 19, 20, &c. Lamech is cele¬
brated in Scripture for his polygamy, whereof he is
thought to be the first author in the world. He mar¬
ried Adah and Zillah. Adah was the mother of Jabal
and Jubal; and Zillah of Tubal-cain, and Naamah his
sister. One day Lamach said to his wives, “ Hear me,
ye wives of Lamech ; I have slain a man to my wound¬
ing, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be
avenged seven fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven
fold.” These words are an unintelligible riddle. The
reader may consult the commentators. There is a
tradition, among the Hebrews, that Lamech growing,
blind,
LAM
J..tuneck
blind, ignorantly killed Cain, believing him to be some
II wild beast ; and that afterwards he slew his own son
BdUny1*a ,J^u^al‘ca‘n> 'vh° lia<l been the cause of this murder,
■ ^ ' ■ because he had directed him to shoot at a certain place
in the thickets where he had seen something stir. See
Cain.
Several other suppositions are produced in order to
explain this passage concerning Lamech, and all almost
equally uncertain and absurd.
Lamech, the son of Methuselah, and father of
Noah. He lived a hundred fourscore and two years
before the birth of Noah, (Gen. v. 25, 31.) ; and af¬
ter that, he lived five hundred and ninety-five years
longer: thus the whole time of his life was seven
hundred and seventy-seven years, being born in the year
of the world 874, and dying in the year of the world
1651.
LAMELLAE, in Natural History, denotes very thin
plates, such as the scales of fishes are composed of.
LAMENTATIONS, a canonical book of the Old
Testament, written by the prophet Jeremiah, accord¬
ing to Archbishop Usher and some other learned men,
who follow the opinion of Josephus and St Jerome, on
occasion of Josiah’s death. But this opinion does not
seem to agree with the subject of the book, the la¬
mentation composed by Jeremiah on that occasion be¬
ing probably lost. The fifty-second chapter of the
book of Jeremiah was probably added by Ezra, as a
preface or introduction to the Lamentations : the two
first chapters are employed in describing the calami¬
ties of the siege of Jerusalem : in the third the au¬
thor deplores the persecutions he himself had suffered :
the fourth treats of the desolation of the city and tem¬
ple,. and the misfortunes of Zedekiah: the fifth chap¬
ter is a prayer for the Jews in their dispersion and cap¬
tivity : and at the close of all he speaks of the cruelty
of the Edomites, who had insulted Jerusalem in her
misery. All the chapters of this book, except the last,
are in metre, and digested in the order of the alpha¬
bet; with this difference, that in the first, second,
and fourth chapters, the first letter of every verse fol¬
lows the order of the alphabet : but in the third the
same initial letter is continued for three verses toge¬
ther. This order was probably adopted, that the book
might be more easily learnt and retained. The sub¬
ject of this book is of the most moving kind ; and the
style throughout lively, pathetic, and affecting. In
this kind of writing the prophet Jeremiah was a great
master, according to the character which Grotius gives
ot him, Mirus in ajfectibus concitandis.
LAMIA, in Ancient Geography, a town of the
Phthiotis, a district of lliessaly. Famous forgiving
name to the Helium Lamiacttm, waged by the Greeks,
on the Macedonians after Alexander’s death.
LAMIACUM BELLUM happened after the death
ot Alexander, when the Greeks, and particularly the
Athenians, incited by their orators, resolved to* free
Greece from the garrisons of the Macedonians. Leos-
thenes was appointed commander of a numerous force,
and marched against Antipater, who then presided
over Macedonia. Antipater entered Thessaly at the
bead of 13,000 foot and 600 horse, and was beaten by
the superior force of the Athenians and of their Greek
confederates. Antipater after this blow fled to Lamia
where he resolved, with all the courage and sagacity
[ 502 ]
LAM
of a careful general, to maintain a siege with about Sco^1 r
or 9000 men that had escaped from the field of battle.
Leostbenes, unable to take the city by storm, began to [|
make a regular siege. His operations were delayed by Tamaiy.
the frequent sallies of Antipater : and Leosthenes be- . ,lon-
ing killed by the blow of a stone which he received,
Antipater made bis escape out of Lamia, and soon af¬
ter, with the assistance of the army of Craterus brought
from Asia, he gave the Athenians'battle near Crano°n ;
and though only 500 of their men were slain, vet
they became so dispirited, that they sued for peace
from the conqueror. Antipater at last with difficultv
consented, provided they raised taxes in the usual man¬
ner, received a Macedonian garrison, defrayed the ex-
pences ot the war, and, lastly, delivered into his hands
Demosthenes and Hyperides, the two orators whose
prevailing eloquence had excited their countrymen
against him. These disadvantageous terms were ac¬
cepted by the Athenians, yet Demosthenes bad time
to escape and poison himself. Hyperides was carried
before Antipater, by whose orders, his tongue being
previously cut out, he was put to death.
, LAMI^E, a sort of demons who had their existence
in the imaginations of the heathens, and were suppos¬
ed to devour children. Their form was human, re¬
sembling beautiful women. Horace makes mention of
them in his Art of Poetry. The name, according to
some, is derived from lanio, “ to tear or accord in o
to others, is a corruption of a Hebrew word signify¬
ing to devour. They are also called Larva; or Lemu-
res.
LAMINAE, in Physiology, thin plates, or tables,
whereof any thing consists j particularly the human
skull, which are two, the one laid over the other.
LAMINIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of the
Carpatani in the Hither Spain j at the distance of seven
miles from the head of the Anas or Guadiana : Now
Mantiel, a citadel of New Castile ; and the territory,
called Ager Laminitanus, is now el Campo de Montie!,
(Clusiua). ’
LAMIUM, Dead-Nettle, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the didynamia class j and in the natural
method ranking under the 42d order, Veriieillatcc. See
Botany Index.
LAMMAS DAY, the first of August ; so called, as
some will have it, because lambs then grow out of sea¬
son, as being too big. Others derive it from a Saxon
word, signifying “ loaf-mass,” because on that dav our
forefathers made an offering of bread made with new
wheat.
On this day the tenants who formerly held lands of
the cathedral church in York, were bound by their te¬
nure to bring a lamb alive into the church at hiah
mass. 0
LAMOIGNON, Chretien Francis de, marquis
of Baville, and president of the parliament of Paris, was
born in 1644. His father would not trust the educa¬
tion ot his son to another, but took it upon himself,
and entered into the minutest particulars of his first
studies : the love of letters and a solid taste were the
fruits the scholar reaped from this valuable education.
He learned rhetoric in the Jesuits college, made the
tour.of England and Holland, and returned home the
admiration of those meetings regularly held by per¬
sons of the first merit at his father’s house. The se¬
veral
LAM [ 503 ] LAM
veral branches of literature were however only his
nun, amusement: the law was his real employ j ami the elo-
a«]|i. quence of the bar at Paris owes its reformation from
bombast ami atfected erudition to tlie plain and noble
pleadings of M. Lamoignon. He was appointed the
king’s advocate general in 1673 ; which he discharged
until 1698, when the presidentship of the parliament
was conferred on him. This post he held nine years,
when he was allowed to resign in favour of his eldest
son : he was chosen president of the Royal Academy
of Inscriptions in 1705. The only work he suffered
to see the light was his Pleader, which is a monument
of his eloquence and inclination to polite letters. He
died in I7C9*
LAMP, a vessel containing oil, with a lighted wick.
Lamps were in general use amongst the Jews, Greeks,
and Romans. The candlestick with seven branches,
placed in the sanctuary by Moses, and those which
Solomon afterwards prepared for the temple, where
crystal lamps filled with oil, and fixed upon the
branches. The lamps or candlesticks made use of by
the Jews in their own houses were generally put in
a very high stand on the ground. The lamps supposed
to be used by the foolish virgins, &c. in the gospel,
were of a different kind.—-According to critics and an¬
tiquaries, they were a sort of torches, made of iron or
potters earth, wrapped about with old linen, and
moistened from time to time with oil. Matth. xxv.
I, 2. The lamps of Gideon’s soldiers were of the same
kind. The use of wax was not unknown to the Ro¬
mans, but they generally burnt lamps j hence the pro¬
verb Tempus et oleumperdidi, “I have lost my labour.”
Lamps were sometimes burnt in honour of the dead,
both by Greeks and Romans.
Dr St Clair, in the Philos. Trans. N° 245, gives the
description of an improvement on the common lamp.
He proposes that it should be made two or three inches
deep, with a pipe coming from the bottom almost as
high as the top of the vessel. Let it be filled so high
with water that it may cover the whole of the pipe at
the bottom, that the oil may not get in at the pipe
and so be lost. Then let the oil be poured in so as to
fill the vessel almost brim full j and to the vessel must be
adapted a cover having as many holes as there are to
lie wicks. When the vessel is filled and the wicks light¬
ed, if water falls in by drops at the pipe, it will always
keep the oil at the same height or very near it *, the
weight of the water being to that of the oil as 20
to 19, which in two or three inches makes no great
difference. If the water runs faster than the oil wastes,
it will only run over at the top of the pipe, and what
does not run over will come under the oil, and keep it
at the same height.
From experiments made in order to ascertain the
expence of burning chamber oil in lamps, it appears,
that a taper lamp, with eight threads of cotton in the
wick, consumes in one hour •yVV'V oz. of spermaceti oil
at 2s. 6d. per. gallon $ so that the expence of burning
12 hours is 4.57 farthings* This lamp gives as good
a light as the candles of eight and ten in the pound ;
it seldom wants snuffing, and casts a strong and steady
light. A taper, chamber, or watch lamp, with four
ordinary threads of cotton in the wick, consumes
8.1664 oz. of spermaceti oil in one hour ; the oil at 2$.
6d. per gallon, makes the expence of burning 12 hours Lamp,
only 2.34 farthings. —y—j
Perpetual Lamps. The testimony of Pliny, St
Austin, and others, have led many to believe that the
ancients had the invention of perpetual lamps; and
some moderns have attempted to find out the secret,
but hitherto in vain. Indeed it seems no easy matter
to find out either a perpetual wick or perpetual oil.
The curious may read Dr Plot’s conjectures on the
subject in the Philos. Trans. N° 166 ; or in Lowthorp’s
Abridgement, vol. iii. p. 636. But few, vve believe,
will give themselves the trouble of searching for the
secret, when they consider that the credulity of Pliny
and of St Austin was such, that their testimony does
not seem a sufficient inducement to us to believe a lamp
was ever formed to burn 1500 or 1000 years: much
less is it credible that the ancients had the secret of
making one burn for ever.
Rolling Lamps. A machine AB, with two moveable p]ttte
circles DE, FG, within it ; whose common centre oftctxxxix.
motion and gravity is at K, where their axes of mo¬
tion cross one another. If the lamp IvC, made pretty
heavy and moveable about its axis HI, and whose
centre of gravity is at C, he fitted within the inner cir¬
cle, the common centre of gravity of the whole machine
will fall between K and C ; and by reason of the pi¬
vots A, B, D, E, H, I, will be always at liberty to de¬
scend : hence, though the whole machine be rolled along
the ground, or moved in any manner, the flame will
always be uppermost, and the oil cannot spill.
It is in this manner they hang the compass at sea;
and thus should all the moon lanterns be made, that are
carried before coaches, chaises, and the like.
Argand's Lamp. This is a very ingenious contri¬
vance, and the greatest improvement in lamps that has
yet been made. It is the invention of a citizen of Ge¬
neva ; and the principle on which the superiority of
the lamp depends, is the admission of a larger quantity
of air to the flame than can be done in the common
way. This is accomplished by making the wick of a
circular form ; by which means a current of air rushes
through the cylinder on which it is placed with great
force ; and, along with that which has access to the
outside, excites the flame to such a degree that the
smoke is entirely consumed. Thus both the light and
heat are prodigiously increased, at the same time that
there is very considerable saving in the expence of oil,
the combustion being exceedingly augmented by the
quantity of air admitted to the flame ; and that what
in common lamps is dissipated in smoke is here con¬
verted into a brilliant flame.
This lamp is now very much in use ; and is applied
not only to the ordinary purposes of illumination, but
also to that of a lamp furnace for chemical operations^
in which it is found to exceed every other contrivance
yet invented. It consists of two parts, viz. a reservoir
for the oil, and the lamp itself. The reservoir is usually
in the form of a vase, and has the lamp proceeding
from its side. The latter consists of an upright metal¬
lic tube about one inch and six-teriths in diameter,
three inches in length, and open at both ends. With¬
in this is another tube about an inch in diameter, and
nearly of an equal length ; the space betwixt the two
being left clear for the passage of the air. The inter-
LAM
Lamp, nal tube is closed at the bottom, and contains another
'""■v—similar tube about half an inch in diameter, which is
soldered to the bottom of the second. It is perforated
throughout, so as to admit a current of air to pass
through it ; and the oil is contained in the space be¬
twixt the tube and that which surrounds it. A par¬
ticular kind of cotton cloth is used for the wick, the
longitudinal threads of which are much thicker than
the others, and which nearly fills the space into which
the oil flows ; and the mechanism of the lamp is such,
that the wick may be raised or depressed at pleasure.
When the lamp is lighted, the flame is in the form of
a hollow cylinder} and by reason of the strong influx
of air through the heated metallic tube, becomes ex¬
tremely bright, the smoke being entirely consumed for
the reasons already mentioned. The heat and light
are still farther increased, by putting over the whole a
glass cylinder nearly of the size of the exterior tube.
By diminishing the central aperture, the heat and light
are proportionably diminished, and the lamp begins to
smoke. The access of air both to the external and in¬
ternal surfaces of the flame is indeed so very necessary,
that a sensible difference is perceived when the hand is
held even at the distance of an inch below the lower
aperture of the cylinder } and there is also a certain
length of wick at which the effect of the lamp is
strongest. If the wick be very short, the flame, though
white and brilliant, emits a disagreeable and pale kind
of light} and if very long, the upper part becomes
brown, and smoke is emitted.
The saving of expence in the use of this instrument
for common purposes is very considerable. By some
experiments it appears that the lamp will continue to
burn three hours for the value of one penny : and the
following was the result cf the comparison between the
light emitted by it and that of a candle. The lat¬
ter having been suffered to burn so long without snuf¬
fing, that large lumps of coally matter were formed
upon the wick, gave a light at 24 inches distance equal
to the lamp at 129 inches: whence it appeared that
the light of the lamp was equal to 28 candles in this
state. On snuffing the candle, however, its light was
so much augmented, that it became necessary to re¬
move it to the distance of 67 inches before its light
became equal to that of the lamp at 129 inches } whence
it was concluded that the light of the lamp was some¬
what less than that of four candles fresh snuffed. At
another trial, in which the lamp was placed at the di¬
stance of 1314 inches, and a candle at the distance of
55 inches, the lights were equal. In these experiments
the candles made use of were io| inches long, and 2^
inches in diameter. When the candle was newly snuf-
ed, it appeared to have the advantage } but the lamp
soon got the superiority } and on the whole it was con¬
cluded, that the lamp is at least equivalent to half a
dozen of tallow candles of six in the pound } the ex¬
pence of the one being only twopence halfpenny, and
the other eightpence, in seven hours.
The best method of comparing the two lights to¬
gether seems to be the following: Place the greater
light at a considerable distance from a white paper, the
smaller one being brought nearer or removed farther
off as occasion requires. If an angular body be held
before the paper, it will project two shadows : these
two shadows tan coincide only in part; and their an-
L A M
gular extremities will, in all positions but one, be at
some distance from each other } and being made to
coincide in a certain part of their bulk, they will be
bordered by a lighter shadow, occasioned by the ex¬
clusion of the light from each of the two luminous bo¬
dies respectively. These lighter shadows, in fact, are
spaces of the white paper illuminated by the different
luminous bodies, and may easily be compared together,
because at a certain point they actually touch one ano¬
ther. If the space illuminated by the smaller light
appear brightest, the light must be removed farther off,
but the contrary it it appear more obscure.
On cutting open one of Argand’s wicks longitudi¬
nally, and thus reducing the circular flame to a straight-
liued one, the lights appeared quite equal in power}
but the circular one had by far the greatest effect in
dazzling the eyes; though when the long flame was
made to shine on the paper, not by the broadside, but
in the direction of its length, it appeared more dazzling
than the other. On placing this long flame at right
angles to the ray of Argand’s lamp, it projected no
shadow : but when its length was placed in the direc¬
tion of the ray, it gave a shadow bordered with two
broad, well defined, and bright lines.
I he broad-wicked lamp seems to have the advantage
of the other, as requiring less apparatus; and indeed
by this contrivance we may at the most trifling expence
have a lamp capable of giving any degree of light we
please. The only disadvantage attending either the
one or the other is, that they cannot easily be carried
from one place to another; and in this respect it does
not seem possible by any means to bring lamps to an
equality with candles.
The most economical method of lighting up large
apartments by means of different lamps and candles, as
it is of great importance, has occupied the attention of
many ingenious men, particularly of Count Rumford
and M. Hassenfratz. The following is the simple and
accurate method proposed by the count, for measuring
the relative quantities of light emitted by lamps differ¬
ently constructed.
Let the two lamps or other burning bodies to be
compared, be denominated A and B ; and let them be
placed at equal heights upon two light tables, or move-
able stands, in a darkened room ; let a sheet of clean
white paper be equally spread out, and fastened upon
the wainscot, or side of the room, at the same height
from the floor as the lights; and let the lights be
placed opposite to this sheet of paper, at the distance of
six and eight feet from it, and the same from each other,
in such a manner, that a line drawn from the centre
of the paper perpendicular to its surface, shall bisect
the angle formed by lines drawn from the lights to that
centre ; in which case, considering the paper as a plane
speculum, the one light will be precisely in the line of
reflection of the other.
If the one light be weaker than the other, and the
w-eaker being placed at the distance of four feet from
the centre of the paper, it should he found necessary,
in order that the shadows may be of the same density)
to remove the stronger light to the distance of eight
feet from that centre ; in that case, the real intensity
of the stronger light will be to that of the weaker as
8* to 4*, or as 4 to 1.
When the shadows are of equal density at any given
point,
[ 5°4 1
LAM [ 505 1 LAN
point, the intensity of the rays at that point are also
equal. The greatest care must be taken in every case
■ that the lights compared be properly trimmed, else the
results of the experiments will be inconclusive.
Count Rumford found, from a variety of experiments
conducted with his usual caution, that if oil is burnt in
the lamp called Argand’s lamp, instead of one of the
common construction, the consumer has a clear saving
of 15 per cent, an object of attention surely to those
whose finances are circumscribed. The principal dif¬
ference between these two lamps is, that in the com¬
mon lamp much of the oil is volatilized, without un¬
dergoing the process of combustion, from which origi¬
nates the disagreeable smell produced by it; whereas
in'Argand’s lamp the heat is so intense at the top of
the wick, that the oil is decomposed in its passage
through it, the wick being so disposed as to admit free
access to the air, for the purpose of aiding combustion.
The count having made experiments with different
inflammable substances, in order to ascertain which is
the cheapest or most economical, obtained the following
results.
Bees-wax.—A good wax candle, kept well ^insin
snuffed, and burning with a clear bright weight.
flame, 100
Tallow.—A good tallow candle, kept well
snuffed, and burning with a bright flame, IOI
The same burning dim for want of snuffing, 229
Olive-oil—Burnt in an Argand’s lamp, with a
clear bright flame, without smoke, 129
Rape-oil—Burnt in the same manner, 125
Linseed-oil—Likewise burnt in the same man¬
ner, 120
This table, together with the current prices of the
articles mentioned in it, will enable any person to as¬
certain the relative prices of light produced by these
materials. It is worthy of observation, that 100 of
Argand’s lamps burning with fish oil, are equal to 218
common lamps, 285 spermaceti candles, 333 tallow
ditto, or 546 wax candles, from which it evidently ap¬
pears, that an Argand’s lamp is vastly superior, in point
of economy, to any other burning body commonly
made use of in families or in shops.
LAMP-Blackt among colourmen. See CotouR-Ma-
king, N° 18, 19—Substances painted with lamp-black
and oil, are found to resist the effects of electricity to a
surprising degreej so that in many cases even lightning
itself seems to have been repelled by them.
LAMPADARY, an officer in the ancient church
of Constantinople, so called from his employment,
which was to take care of the lamps, and to carry a
taper before the emperor or patriarch when they went
to church or in procession.
LAMPAS, in Farriery. See Farriery Index.
LAMPREY. See Petromyzon, Ichthyology
Index.
LAMPRIDIUS, ^Elius, a Latin historian, who
lived under the emperors Dioclesian and Constantine
the Great. Of his writing there are extant the lives of
four emperors, Antoninus, Commodus, Diadumenus,
and Heliogabalus. Some attribute the life of Alex¬
ander Severus to him j but the MS. in the Palatine
library ascribes it to Spartian.
Vol. XI. Part II. +
LAMPRIDIUS, Benedict^ of Cremona, a celebrated
Latin poet of tbe 16th century. He taught Greek
and Latin at Rome and at Padua, until he was invited
to Mantua by Frederick Gonzaga to undertake the tui¬
tion of his son. We have epigrams and lyric verses
of this writer, both in Greek and Latin, which were
printed separately, as well as among the Delicice of the
Ital ian poets. »
LAMPSACUS, or Lampsacum, in Ancient Geo¬
graphy, a considerable city of Mysia ; more anciently
called Pityea, (Homer), because abounding in pine
trees, a circumstance confirmed by Pliny ; situated at
the north end or entrance of the Hellespont into the
Propontis, with a commodious harbour, opposite to
Callipolis, in the Thracian Chersonesus. It was assign¬
ed by Artaxerxes to Themistocles, for furnishing his
table with wine, in which the country abounded. It
was saved from the ruin threatened by Alexander be¬
cause in the interest of Persia, by the address of Anaxi¬
menes the historian, sent by his fellow-citizens to avert
the king’s displeasure $ who hearing of it, solemnly de¬
clared he would do the very reverse of Anaximenes’s
request, who therefore begged the king utterly to de¬
stroy it, which he could not do because of his oath.
Lampsacius the epithet, denoting lascivus, the character
of the people : still called Latnpsacus. E. Long. 28°
N. Lat. 40. 12.
LAMPYRIS, the Fire fly, a genus of insects be-
longing to the coleoptera order. See Entomology
Index.
LANCARIM spring, the name of a mineral wa¬
ter of Glamorganshire. It has its name from a town
near which it rises j and has been long famous for the
cure of the king’s evil. The spring is very clear, and
rises out of a pure white marl. The cures that have
been performed there, are proofs of a real power in the
water. The persons who come for relief not only drink
of the spring, but also bathe the parts affected after¬
wards in the water.
LANCASHIRE, a large maritime province of Eng¬
land, washed by the Irish sea on the west; bordering on
the north with part of Cumberland and Westmoreland j
bounded on the east by the west riding of Yorkshire, and
on the south by Cheshire ; extending 73 miles in length,
Rnd 41 in breadth, comprehending 6 hundreds, 63 pa¬
rishes, 27 market towns, 894 villages, with 148,552
houses, and 828,309 inhabitants in the year 1811.
The eastern parts of the province are rocky, and in
the northern districts we see many single mountains re¬
markably high, such as Ingleborough hill, Cloughbo-
rough hill, Pendle hill, and Longridge hill. Nor is
there any want of wood in this county, either for tim¬
ber or fuel j witness Wiersdale forest and Rowland
forest to the northward, and Simon’s wood in the
southern part of Lancashire.
This county is well watered with rivers and lakes.
Among the lakes or meres of Lancashire, we reckon
the Winander mere ; and the Kiningston mere, which,
though neither so large nor so well stored with fish, yet
affords plenty of excellent char. There was on the
south side of the Ribble another lake called Alarton,
several miles in circumference, which is now drained,
and converted into pasture ground. In this operation,
the workmen found a great quantity of fish, together
with eight canoes, resembling those of America, sup-
3 S posed
LAN [ 506 ] LAN
Lanea- posed to liave been used by the ancient British fisber-
khue. men. Besides these meres or lakes, this county abounds
^ '' ' ' with morasses and mosses, from which the inhabitants
dig excellent peat or turf for fuel, as well as marl for
manuring the ground, and trunks of old fir trees,
supposed to have lain there since the general deluge.
Some of these are so impregnated with turpentine, that
when divided into splinters, they burn like candles,
and are used for that purpose by the common people.
There is a great variety of mineral waters in this coun¬
ty, some periodical springs, and one instance of a vio¬
lent eruption of water at Kirky in Fourness. The most
remarkable chalybeate spaws are those of Latham,
Wigan, Stockport, Burnly, Bolton, Plumpton, Mid¬
dleton, Strangeways, Lancaster, Larbrick, and Chor-
ly. At Anclifl, in the neighbourhood of Wigan, is a
fountain called the Burning Well, from whence a bi¬
tuminous vapour exhales, which being set on fire by a
candle burns like brandy, so as to produce a heat that'
will boil eggs to a hard consistence, while the water it-
* s^e. self retains its original coldness*. There is at Barton
* a fountain of salt water, so strongly impregnated with
the mineral, as to yield six times as much as can be ex¬
tracted from the same quantity of sea water. At Rog-
ham, in Fourness, there is a purging saline fountain ;
and in the neighbourhood of Rassal, where the ground
is frequently overflowed by the sea, a stream descends
from Hagbur hills, which, in the space of seven years,
is said to convert the marl into a hard freestone fit for
building. The air of Lancashire is pure, healthy, and
agreeable, an observation equally applicable even to the
fens and the sea shore, according to the experience of
those who have dwelt on that coast for many years. The
soil is various in different parts of the county, poor
and rocky on the hills, fat and fertile in the valleys
and champaign country. The colour of the peat is
white, gray, or black, according to the nature of the
composition and the degree of putrefaction which the
ingredients have undergone. There is a bituminous
earth about Ormskirk, that smells like the oil of am¬
ber, and indeed yields an oil of the same nature, both
in its scent and medicinal effects, which moreover re¬
duces raw flesh to the consistence of mummy ; this earth
burns like a torch, and is used as such by the country
people. The metals and minerals of this county consist
of lead, iron, copper, antimony, black lead, lapis cala-
minaris, spar, green vitriol, alum, sulphur, pyrites, free¬
stone, and pit and cannel coal.
The level country produces plenty of wheat and
barley, and the skirts of the hills yield good harvests
of excellent oats : very good hemp is raised in di¬
vers parts of the province ; and the pasture which
grows in the valley is so peculiarly rich, that the cattle
which feed upon it are much larger and fatter than
in any other part of England. No part of the world
is better supplied than Lancashire with provisions of
all kinds, and at a very reasonable rate ; such as beef,
veal, mutton, lamb, pork, poultry, and game of all
sorts, caught upon the moors, heaths, and commons,
in the hilly part of the shire. Besides the sea fowl
common to the shores of England, such as duck, eas-
terlings, teal, and plover, many uncommon birds are
observed on the coast of Lancashire, the sea crow va¬
riegated with blue and black, the puffin, the cormo¬
rant, the curlew, the razor-bill, the copped wren,
the redshanks, the swan, the tropic bird, the king’s TiB
fish'r> &r:, „ .
Ihe chief manufactures of this county are woollen » —
and cotton cloths of various kinds, tickings, and cot¬
ton velvets, for which Manchester is particularly fa¬
mous. The principal rivers are the Mersey, which
parts Cheshire and this county; and the Kibble, which
rises in Yorkshire, and enters this county at Clithero,
running south-west by Preston into the Irish sea. Be¬
sides these there are many lesser streams. The navi¬
gation made by his grace the duke of Bridgewater in
this county is highly worthy of notice. The canal re¬
ceives vessels of 60 tons burden, and is carried over
two rivers, the Mersey and the Irwell. The sough or
adit, which was necessary to be made, in order to
drain the water from the coal mines, is rendered navi¬
gable for boats of six or seven tons burden, and forms
a kind of subterraneous river, which runs about a mile
and a half under ground, and communicates with the
canal. This river leads to the head of the mines, is
arched over with brick, and is just wide enough for
the passage of the boats : at the mouth of it are two
folding doors, which are closed as soon as you enter,
and you then proceed by candle light, which casts a
livid gloom, serving only to make darkness visible.
But this dismal gloom is rendered still more awful by
the solemn echo of this subterraneous water, which re¬
turns various and discordant sounds. One while you
are struck with the grating noise of engines, which by
a curious contrivance let down the coals into the boats ;
then again you hear the shock of an explosion, occa¬
sioned by the blowing up the hard rock, which will not
yield to any other force than that of gunpowder; the
next minute your ears are saluted by the songs of merri¬
ment from either sex, who thus beguile their labours in
the mine. You have no sooner reached the head of the
works, than a new scene opens to your view. There
you behold men and women almost in their primitive
state of nature, toiling in different capacities, by the
glimmering of a dim taper, some digging coal out of
the bowels of the earth ; some again loading it in
little waggons made for the purpose ; others drawing
those waggons to the boats. To perfect this canal,
without impeding the public roads, bridges are built
over it, and where the earth has been raised to pre¬
serve the level, arches are formed under it; but what
principally strikes every beholder, is a work raised
near Barton bridge, to convey the canal over the river
Mersey. This is done by means of three stone arches,
so spacious and lofty, as to admit vessels sailing through
them ; and indeed nothing can be more singular and
pleasing, than to observe large vessels in full sail un¬
der the aqueduct, and at the same time the duke of
Bridgewater’s vessels sailing over all, near 50 feet
above the navigable river. By this inland navigation
communication has been made, with the rivers Mer¬
sey, Dee, Ribble, Ouse, Trent, Derwent, Severn,
Humber, Thames, Avon, &c.; which navigation, in¬
cluding its windings, extends above 500 miles in the
counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, York, Lancaster,
Westmoreland, Chester, Stafford, Warwick, Leicester,
Oxford, Worcester, &c.
Lancashire wms erected into a county palatine by
Edward III. who conferred it as an appendage on his
son John of Gaunt, thence called duke of Lancaster: but
the
LAN
tacRshire the duchy contained lands that are not in Lancashire,
I! and among other demesnes, the palace of the Savoy,
,ance. an(j a]| t|,at district in London, which indeed belong
^ to it at this day. The revenues of this duchy are ad¬
ministered by a court which sits at Westminster, and a
chancery court at Preston, which has a seal distinct
from that of the county palatine. The title of Lan¬
caster distinguished the posterity of John of Gaunt
from those of his brother, who succeeded to the duchy
of York, in their long and bloody contest for the
crown of England. Lancashire sends two members to
parliament for the county j and 12 for the six boroughs
of Lancaster, Preston, New'ton, Wigan, Clithero, and
Liverpool.
LANCASTER, the capital of the county of Lan¬
cashire in England, is pleasantly situated on the south
side of the river Lun, over which there is a handsome
stone bridge. It is an ancient town, and is supposed
to have been the Longovicum of the Romans. King
John confirmed to the burgesses all the liberties he had
granted to those of Bristol j and Edward III. granted
that pleas and sessions should be held there, and no¬
where else in the county. It is governed by a mavor,
recorder, 7 aldermen, 2 bailiffs, 12 capital burgesses,
12 common burgesses, a town clerk, and 2 serjeants at
mace. The assizes are held in the castle, where is also
the county gaol. It carries on a very considerable trade
with Jamaica and the other islands in the West Indies,
as also with Portugal, Hamburgh, &c. There is a
market on Wednesday by grant, and another on Satur¬
day by prescription, besides one every other Wed¬
nesday throughout the year for cattle ; and three fairs,
in May, July, and October. The castle is not large,
but neat and strong. Not very long ago, in digging
a cellar, there were found several Roman utensils and
vessels for sacrifices, as also the coins of Roman emper¬
ors j so that it is supposed there was here a Roman
fortress. On the top of the castle is a square tower,
called John of Gaunt's <chairy whence there is a charm¬
ing prospect of the adjacent country, and especially
towards the sea, where is an extensive view even to the
Isle of Man. There is but one church, a fine Gothic
building. It is placed on the same elevation, and from
some points of view forms one group with the castle,
which gives the mind a most magnificent idea of this
important place. The late considerable additional
new streets and a new chapel, with other improve¬
ments, give an air of elegance and prosperity to the
town, and the new bridge of 5 equal elliptic arches, in
all 549 feet in length, adds not a little to the embel¬
lishment and conveniency of the place. Adjoining
to the castle, the new gaol is erected on an impro¬
ved plan. On the side of the hill below it, hangs a
piece of a Roman wall, called Wery-Wall. By means
of inland navigation, Lancaster has communication
with the rivers Mersey, Dee, Ribble, Ouse, Trent,
Darwent, Severn, Humber, Thames, Avon, &c. al¬
though such extensive communication was once con¬
sidered impracticable. : Population 9247. For its
peculiar government, see JDucilY-Court.
LANCE, Lancea, a spear ; an offensive weapon
worn by the ancient cavaliers, in form of a half pike.
The lance consisted of three parts, the shaft or handle,
the wings, and the dart. Pliny attributes the inven¬
tion of lances to the iEtolians. But Varro and Aulus
LAN
Gellius say, the word lance is Spanish ; whence others i,ance
conclude the use of this weapon was borrowed by the fl
people of Italy from the Spaniards. Diodorus Sicu-
lus derives it from the Gaulish, and Festus from the y——
Greek Aay^jj, which signifies the same.
Lance, or Sand-eel. See Ammodytes, Ichthyolo¬
gy Index.
LANCEOLATED leaf. See Botany Index.
LANCET, a chirurgical instrument, sharp-pointed
and two-edged, chiefly used for opening veins in the
operation of phlebotomy or bleeding j also for laying
open abscesses, tumours, &c.
LANCH, a peculiar sort of long boat, used by the
French, Spanish, and Italian shipping, and in general
by those of other European nations when employed in
voyaging in the Mediterranean sea.
A lanch is proportionably longer, lower, and more
flat bottomed than the long boat j it is by conse¬
quence less fit for sailing, but better calculated for row¬
ing and approaching a flat shore. Its principal superi¬
ority to the long boat, however, consists in being by its
construction much fitter to under-run the cable ; which
is a very necessary employment in the harbours of the
Levant sea, where the cables of different ships are fast¬
ened across each other, and frequently render this exer¬
cise extremely necessary.
Lanch, is also the movement by which the ship or
boat descends from the shore, either when she is at first
built, or at any time afterwards.
To facilitate the operation of lancbing, and pre¬
vent any interruption therein, the ship is supported by
two strong platforms, laid with a gradual inclination
to the water, on the. opposite side of her keel, to
which they are parallel. Upon the surface of this' de¬
clivity are placed two corresponding ranks of planks,
which compose the base of a frame, called the cradle,
whose upper part envelopes the ship’s bottom, whereto
it is securely attached. Thus the lower surface of the
cradle, conforming exactly to that of the frame below,
lies flat upon it lengthwise, under the opposite sides of
the ship’s bottom ; and as the former is intended to
slide downwards upon the latter, carrying the ship
along with it, the planes or faces of both are well daub¬
ed with soap and tallow.
The necessary preparations for the lanch being made,
all the blocks and wedges, by which the ship was for¬
merly supported are driven out from under her keel,
till her whole weight gradually subsides upon the plat¬
forms above^ described, which are accordingly called
the ways. The shores and stanchions, by which she is
retained upon the stocks till the period approaches for
lanching, are at length cut away, and the screws ap-
plied to move her if necessary. The motion usually
begins on the instant when the shores are cut, and the
ship slides downward along the wavs, which are gene¬
rally prolonged under the surface 'of the water, to a
sufficient depth to float her as soon as she arrives^t the
farthest end thereof.
When a ship is to be lanched, the ensign, jack and
pendant, are always hoisted, the last being displayed
from a staff erected in the middle of the ship.
Ships of the first rate are commonly constructed in
dry docks, and afterwards floated out, by throwing
open the flood gates, and suffering the tide to enter as
soon as they are finished.
’3 S a LANCEROTA,
[ 5°7 1
LAN [ 508
Larfcerola LANCEROTA, one of the Canary islands, snb-
H ject to Spain, and situated in W. Long. 13. 26. N.
Lat. 29. 8. It is about 32 m'deS in length and 22
in breadth. The ancient inhabitants were negroes,
very strong, active, and swift of foot. There is a ridge
of hills runs quite through it, on which are fed a good
number of sheep and goats. They have but few black
cattle, still fewer camels, and a very few small horses.
The valleys are dry and sandy, yet they produce a
small quantity of wheat and barley. This island was
first discovered in 1417. In 1596 it was taken by the
English under the command of the earl of Cumber¬
land ; after which it was better fortified than before.
There is in this island a city called also Lancerota,
which, at the time the earl of Cumberland was there,
consisted only of about 100 houses, all poor buildings,
generally of one story, and covered with reeds or straw
laid upon a few rafieis, and over all a coat of dirt
hardened by the sun. There was also a church which
had no windlws in it, and was supplied with light only
by the door.
LANCIANQ, a considerable town of Italy, in the
kingdom of Naples, and in the Hither Abruzzo, with
an archbishop’s see ; famous for its fairs, which are
held in July and August. It is seated on the river
Feltrino near that of Sangor. E. Long. 14. 20. N.
Lat.42. 12.
LANCISI, John Marca, an eminent Italian phy¬
sician, was born at Rome in 1564. From his earliest
years he had a turn to natural history; and studied
botany, chemistry, anatomy, and medicine, with great
vigour. In 1688 Pope Innocent XL appointed him
his physician and private chamberlain, notwithstanding
his youth ; and Cardinal Altieri Camerlinga made him
his vicar for the installation of doctors in physic, which
Pope Clement XL gave him as long as he lived, as
well as continued to him the appointments conferred
on him by his predecessor. He died in 1710, after
giving his fine library of more than 20,CC0 volumes to
the hospital of the Holy Ghost for the use of the pub¬
lic. This noble benefaction was opened in 1716, in
the presence of the pope and most of the cardinals. Pie
wrote many works which are esteemed, the principal of
which were collected together, and printed at Geneva
in 1718, in 2 vols. 4to.
LAND, in a general sense, denotes terra firma^ as
distinguished from sea.
Land, in a limited sense denotes arable ground.
See Agriculture.
Land, in the sea language, makes part of several
compound terms ; thus, land-laid, or, to lay the land,
is just to lose sight of it. Land-locked, is when land
lies all round the ship, so that no point of the com¬
pass is open to the sea. If she is at anchor in such a
place, she is said to ride land-locked, and is therefore
concluded to ride safe from the violence of the winds
and tides. Land mark, any mountain, rock, steeple,
tree, &c. that may serve to make the land known at
sea. Land is shut in, a term used to signify that an¬
other point of land hinders the sight of that from
which the ship came. Land-to, or the ship lies land-
to y that is, she is so far from shore, that it can only
just be discerned. Land-turn is a wind that in almost
all hot countries blows at certain times from the shore
] LAN
in the night To set the land; that is, to see by the
compass how it hears. J
Land Tax, one of the annual taxes raised upon the
subject. See Tax.
The land tax, in its modern shape has superseded
all the former methods of rating either property or
persons in respect of their property, whether by tenths
or fifteenths, subsidies on land, hydages, scutages, or
talliages : a short explication of which will, however,
greatly assist us in understanding our ancient laws and
history.
Tenths and fifteenths were temporary aids issuing
out of personal property, and granted to the king by
parliament. They were formerly the real tenth or
fifteenth part ol all the moveables belonging to the
subject •, when such moveables, or personal estates,
were a very different and a much less considerable
thing than what they usually are at this day. Tenths
are said to have been first granted under Henry II.
who took advantage of the fashionable zeal for croi-
sades to introduce this new taxation, in order to de¬
fray the expence of a pious expedition to Palestine,
which be really or seemingly bad projected against Sa-
ladine emperor of the Saracens, whence it was origi¬
nally denominated the Saladine tenth. But afterwards
fifteenths were more usually granted than tenths.
Originally the amount of these taxes was uncertain,
being levied by assessments new made at every fresh
grant of the commons, a commission for which is pre¬
served by Matthew Paris : but it was at length redu¬
ced to a certainty in the eighth year of Eduard HI.
when, by virtue of the king’s commission, new taxa¬
tions were made of every township, borough, and city
in the kingdom, and recorded in the exchequer j which
rate was, at that time, the fifteenth part of the value of
every township, the whole amounting to about 29,000!.
and therefore it still kept up the name of a fifteenth,,
when, by the alteration of the value of money and the
increase of personal property, things came to be in a
very different situation. So that when, of later years,
the commons granted the king a fifteenth, every parish
in England immediately knew their proportion of it $
that is, the same identical sum that was assessed by
the same aid in the eighth of Edward III. j and then
raised it by a rate among themselves, and returned it
into the royal exchequer.
The other ancient levies were in the nature of a mo¬
dern land tax : for we may trace up the original of
that charge as high as to the introduction of our mili¬
tary tenures j when every tenant of a knight’s fee was
bound, if called upon, to attend the king in his army
for 40 days in every year. But this personal attend¬
ance growing troublesome in many respects, the te¬
nants found means of compounding for it, by first
sending others in their stead, and in process of time by
making a pecuniary satisfaction to the crown in lieu of
it. This pecuniary satisfaction at last came to be levied
by assessments, at so much for every knight’s fee, under
the name of scutages; which appear to have been
levied for the first time in the fifth year of Henry II.
on account of his expedition to Toulouse, and were
then (Sir Wm. Blackstone apprehends) mere arbitrary
compositions, as the king and the subject could agree.
But this precedent being afterwards abused into a means,
of.
I
L A N [ 509 ] LAN
j;anj< of oppression (by levying scutages on the landholders
I—v—/ by the king’s authority only, whenever our kings went
to war, in order to hire mercenary troops and pay their
contingent expences), it became thereupon a matter of
national complaint j and King John was obliged to
promise, in his magna charta, that no scutage should be
imposed without the consent of the common council of
the realm.
Of the same nature with scutages upon knights fees
were the assessments of hydage upon all other lands,
and of talliage upon cities and boroughs. But they all
gradually fell into disuse, upon the introduction of
subsidies, about the time of King Richard II. and
King Henry IV. These were a tax, not immediately
imposed upon property, but upon persons in respect of
their reputed estates, after the nominal rate of 4s. in
the pound for lands, and 2s. 6d. for goods ; and for
those of aliens in a double proportion. But this assess¬
ment was also made according to an ancient valuation,
wherein the computation was so very moderate, and the
rental of the kingdom was supposed to be so exceeding
low, that one subsidy of this sort did not, according
to Sir Edward Coke, amount to more than 70,000!.
whereas a moderate land tax at the same rate produces
two millions. It was anciently the rule never to grant
more than one subsidy and two fifteenths at a time :
but this rule was broke through for the first time on a
very pressing occasion, the Spanish invasion in 1588 5
when the parliament gave Queen Elizabeth two subsi¬
dies and four fifteenths. Afterwards, as money sunk
in value, more subsidies were given 5 and we have an
instance, in the first parliament of 1640, of the king’s
desiring 12 subsidies of the commons, to be levied in
three years ; which was looked upon as a startling pro¬
posal $ though Lord Clarendon tells us that the speak¬
er, Serjeant Gianville, made it manifest to the house,
how very inconsiderable a sum 12 subsidies amounted
to, by telling them be had computed what he was to
pay for them : and when he named the sum, he being
known to be possessed of a great estate, it seemed not
worth any farther deliberation. And, indeed, upon
calculation, we shall find, that the total amount of
these 12 subsidies, to be raised in three years, is less
than what is now raised in one year by a land tax of
2s. in the pound.
The grant of scutages, talliages, or subsidies by the
commons, did not extend to spiritual preferments ;
those being usually taxed at the same time by the
clergy themselves in convocation ; which grants of the
clergy were confirmed in parliament; otherwise they
were illegal, and not binding ; as the same noble writer
observes of the subsidies granted by the convoca¬
tion, which continued sitting after the dissolution of
the first parliament in 1640. A subsidy granted by
the clergy was after the rate of 4s. in the pound, ac¬
cording to the valuation of their livings in the king’s
books j and amounted, Sir Edward Coke tells us, to
about 20,oool. While this custom continued, con¬
vocations were wont to sit as frequently as parlia¬
ments j but the last subsidies, thus given by the cler¬
gy, were those confirmed by statute 15 Car. II. c. rc.
since which another method of taxation has generally
prevailed, which takes in the clergy as well as the lai¬
ty : in recompense for which the beneficed clergy have
from that period been allowed to vote at the election
of knights of tfie shire ; and thenceforward also the Land,
practice of giving ecclesiastical subsidies hath fallen into l-—v—
total disuse.
The lay subsidy was usually raised by commissioners
appointed by the crown, or the great officers of state :
and therefore in the beginning of the civil wars be¬
tween Charles I. and his parliament, the latter having
no other sufficient revenue to support themselves and
their measures, introduced the practice of laying
weekly and monthly assessments of a specific sum upon
the several counties of the kingdom ; to be levied by
a pound rate on lands and personal estates 5 which
were occasionally continued during the whole usurpa¬
tion, sometimes at the rate of 120,cool, a month,
sometimes at inferior rates. After the Restoration, the
ancient method of granting subsidies, instead of such
monthly assessments, was twice, and twice only, re¬
newed 5 viz. in 1663, when four subsidies were granted
by the temporality and four by the clergy *, and in
1670, when 800,000k was raised by way of subsidy,
which was the last time of raising supplies in that
manner. For the monthly assessments being now
established by custom, being raised by commissioners
named by parliament, and producing a more certain
revenue j from that time forwards we hear no more of
subsidies, but occasional assessments were granted as the
national emergencies required. These periodical as¬
sessments, the subsidies which preceded them, and the
more ancient scutage, hydage, and talliage, were to
all intents and purposes a land tax j and the assessments
were sometimes expressly called so. Yet a popular
opinion has prevailed, that the land tax was first in¬
troduced in the reign of King William III.; because
in the year 1692 a new assessment or valuation of
estates was made throughout the kingdom 5 which,
though by no means a perfect one, had this effect,
that a supply of 500,000!. was equal to is. in the
pound of the value of estates given in. And, accord¬
ing to this enhanced valuation, from the year 1693 to
the present, a period of near a century, the land tax
has continued an annual charge upon the subject ;
about half the time at 4s. in the pound, sometimes at
3s. sometimes at 2s. twice at is. but without any total
intermission. The medium has been 3s. 3d. in the
pound j being equivalent to 23 ancient subsidies, and
amounting annually to more than a million and a half
of money. The method of raising it is by charging a
particular sum upon each county, according to the va¬
luation given in, A. I). 1692 j and this sum is assessed
and raised upon individuals (their personal estate, as
well as real, being liable thereto) by commissioners ap¬
pointed in the act, being the principal landholders in
the county and their officers.
An act passes annually for the raising in general,
2,037,627!. 9s. io|d. by the above said tax at 4s.
in the pound ; whereof there shall be raised in the se¬
veral counties in England, according to the propor¬
tions expressed in the act, 1,989,673!. 73. lo^d. }
and in Scotland, 47,954k Ts. 2d. by an eight months
cess of 5994!. 5s. i^d.per 77iensem, to be raised out of
the land rent, and to be paid at four terms, as specified
in the act, by two months amount each time.
Lam) Tf alter, an officer of the customhouse, whose
duty is, upon landing any merchandise, to examine,
taste, weigh, measure them, &c. and to take an account
thereof.
LAN [51
ind thereof. In some ports they also execute the office of
ft a coast waiter. They are likewise occasionally styled
'* searchers, and are to attend and join with the patent
searcher in the execution of all cockets for the ship-
ping of goods'to he exported to foreign parts j and in
cases where drawbacks on bounties are to be paid to
the merchant on the exportation of any goods, they,
as well as the patent searchers, are to certify the ship¬
ping thereof on the debentures.
LANDAI F, a town or village of Glamorganshire
in South Wales, with a bishop’s see, and on that ac¬
count has the title of a city. It is seated upon an
ascent on the river Taff, or Tave, near Cardiff 5 but
the cathedral stands on a low ground, and is a large
stately building. The original structure was built
about the beginning of the 12th century. The build¬
ing now used as the cathedral includes part of the
body ol the ancient one ; but is in other respects as
modern as the present century, about the middle of
which the old church underwent such reparation as
was almost equivalent to rebuilding. The ruins are
at the west end of the modern church, and consist of
the original western door-way, and part of the north
and south sides. I he arch over the door is circular,
and has a well carved episcopal statue immediately
over it. On the upper part of the front under which this
door stands is a whole length figure of the Virgin Mary,
with a cross on the apex of the building. In this
front are two rows of neat pointed arches for win¬
dows j and on the north and south sides above men¬
tioned are two circular door-cases half sunk in the
earth. .These ruins exhibit an aspect very diflerent
from the present cathedral, the new part of which the
architect formed principally on the Roman model,
without considering how incongruous this style of
architecture is with the plan pursued in the ancient
part.—Landaft is a place of but small extent, and
has no market. It is a port town, however, and car¬
ries on a good trade, as it has a very tolerable harbour
that opens into the river Severn about four miles di¬
stant. The ruins of the bishop’s palace show it to
have been castellated. It was built in IX 20, and was
destroyed by Henry IV. Population 504 in 1811.
W. Long. 3. 20. N. Lat. 51. 33.
LANDAU, an ancient, handsome, and very strong
town in Lower Alsace. It was formerly imperial, and
belonged to Germany, till the treaty of Munster, when
it was given up to France ; but she lost it again in
1815. It is seated on the river Zurich, in a pleasant
fertile country. It was severely bombarded by the
allies in 1793, but they were obliged to raise the siege.
E. Long. 8. 12. N. Lat. 49. 12.
LANDEN, a town of the Austrian Netherlands,
in Brabant, famous for a battle gained over the French
by the allies, in July 1693, when 20,000 men were
killed. It is seated on the river Beck, in E. Loner.
5. 5. N. Lat. 52. 45.^
. Eanden, John, F. R. S. an eminent mathemati¬
cian, was boi n at leakirk, near Peterborough in
Northamptonshne, in January He became very
early a proficient in the mathematics, for we find him
a very respectable contributor to the Ladies Diary in
1744; and he was soon among the foremost of those
who then contributed to the support of that small but
valuable publication, in which almost every English ma-
J
O ] LAN
thematician, who has arrived at any degree of eminence
for the last half century, has contended for fame at one
time of his life or other. Mr Landen continued his
contributions to it at times, and under one signature or
other, till within a few years of his death.
It has been frequently observed, that the histories of
literary men consist chiefly of a history of their writings,
and the observation was never more fully verified than
it will be in this article concerning Mr Landen.
In the 48th volume of the Philosophical Transactions,
for the year 1754, Mr Landen gave “ An investigation
of some theorems which suggest several very remark¬
able properties of the circle, and are at the same time
of considerable use in resolving fractions, the denomi¬
nators of which are certain multinomicils, into more
simple ones, and by that means facilitate the compu¬
tation of fluents.^ Ihis ingenious paper was handed
to the Society by that eminent mathematician the late
Thomas Simpson of Woolwich ; a circumstance which
will convey to those who are not themselves judges of
it some idea of its merit. In the year 1755, he pub¬
lished a volume of about 160 pages, entitled “ Mathe¬
matical Lucubrations.” The title to this publication
was made choice of as a means of informing the world
that the study of the mathematics was at that time
rather the pursuit of his leisure hours than his princi¬
pal employment; and indeed it continued to be so the
greatest part of his life, for about the year 1762 he was
appointed agent to the right honourable the earl Fitz-
william, and resigned that employment only two years
before his death. Plad it been otherwise, it seems
highly probable he would have extended his researches
in the mathematics, to which he was most enthusiasti¬
cally devoted, much farther than any other person has
done. His lucubrations contain a variety of tracts re¬
lative to the rectification of curve lines, the summa¬
tion of series, the finding of fluents, and many other
points in the higher parts of the mathematics. About
the latter end of the year 1757, or the beginning of
1758, he published proposals for printing by subscrip¬
tion “ The Residual Analysis, a new branch of the Al¬
gebraic art:” and in 1758 he published a small tract
in quarto, entitled “ A Discourse on the Residual
Analysis,” in which he resolved a variety of problems,
to which the method of fluxions had been usually
applied, by a mode of reasoning entirely new $ com¬
pared these solutions with solutions of the same pro¬
blems, investigated by the fluxionary method 5 and
showed, that the solutions by his new method were, in
general, more natural and elegant than the fluxionary
ones.
In the 51st volume of the Philosophical Transactions
for the year 1760, he gave “ A new method of com¬
puting the sums of a great number of infinite series.”
This paper was also presented to the society by his in¬
genious friend, the late Mr Thomas Simpson. In
1774, he published the first book of “ The Residual
Analysis,” in a 4to volume of 218 pages, with several
copperplates. In this treatise, besides explaining
the principles which his new analysis was founded
on, he applied it to drawing tangents and finding the
properties of curve lines ; to describing their involute*
and evolutes, finding the radius of curvature, their
greatest and least ordinates, and points of contrary
fluxure $ to the determination of their cusps, and the
drawing
ban den.
LAN . C 5
r,tnden. drawing of asymptotes: and lie proposed In a second
lin-yi. .1 book to extend the application of this new analysis to
a great variety of mechanical and physical subjects.
The papers which were to have formed this book lay
long by him $ but he hever found leisure to put them
in order for the press.
On the 16th of January 1766, Mr Landen was elected
a fellow of the Royal Society, and admitted on the 24th
of April following. In the 58th volume of the Philo¬
sophical Transactions, for the year 1768, he gave a
“ Specimen of a new method of comparing curvilineal
areas *, by means of which many areas are conapared, that
did not appear to he comparable by any other method j”
a circumstance of no small importance in that part of
natural philosophy which relates to the doctrine of
motion. In the 60th volume of the same work for
the year 1770, he gave “ Some new theorems for
Computing the whole areas of curve lines, where the
ordinates are expressed by fractions of a certain form,”
in a more consise and elegant manner than had been
done by Cotes, De Moivre, and others who had con¬
sidered the subject before him. In the 6lst volume
for 1771, he has investigated several new and useful
theorems for computing certain fluents, which are as¬
signable by arcs of the conic sections. This subject
had been considered before both by Mr Maclaurin
and M. d’Alembert j but some of the theorems
which were given by these celebrated mathematicians,
being in part expressed by the difference between an
arc of a hyperbola and its tangent, and that dif¬
ference being not directly attainable when the arc
and its tangent both become infinite, as they will do
when the whole fluent is wanted, although such fluent
be finite; these theorems therefore fail in those cases,
and the computation becomes impracticable without
farther help. This defect Mr Landen has removed
by assigning the limit of the difference between the hy¬
perbolic arc and its tangent, while the point of con¬
tact is supposed to be removed to an infinite distance
from the vertex of the curve. And he concludes the
paper with a curious and remarkable property relating
to pendulous bodies, which is deducible from those
theorems. In the same year he published, “ Animad¬
versions on Dr Stewart’s computation of the sun’s dis¬
tance from the earth.”
In the 65th volume of the Philosophical Transac¬
tions, for 1775, he gave the investigation of a general
theorem, which he had promised in 1771, for finding
the length of any arc of a conic hyperbola by means of
two elliptic arcs; and observes, that by the theorems
there investigated, both the elastic curve and the curve
of equable recess from a given point, may be con¬
structed in those cases where Mr Maclaurin’s elegant
method fails. In the 67th volume, for 1777, he gave
“ A new theory of the motion of bodies revolving
about an axis in free space, when that motion is di¬
sturbed by some extraneous force, either percussive or
accelerative.” At this time he did not know that the
subject had been handled by any person before him ;
and he considered only the motion of a sphere’s sphe¬
roid and cylinder. The publication of this paper,
however, was the cause of his being told, that the doc¬
trine of rotatory motion had been considered by M.
d’Alembert; and purchasing that author’s Opuscules
Mathematiques, he there learned that M. d’Alembert
11 ] LAN
was not the only one who had considered the matter Land*!!,
before him ; for M. d’Alembert there speaks of some * — , .<1
mathematician, though he does not mention his name,
who, after reading what had been written on the sub¬
ject, doubted whether there be any solid whatever,
besides the sphere, in which any line, passing through
its centre of gravity, will be a permanent axis of rota¬
tion. In consequence of this, Mr Landen took up
the subject again ; and though he did not then give a
solution to the general problem, viz. “ To determine
the motions of a body of any form whatever, revolving
without restraint about any axis passing through its
centre of gravity,” he fully removed every doubt of
the kind which had been started by the person alluded
to by M. d’Alembert, and pointed out several bodies,
which, under certain dimensions, have that remarkable
property. This paper is given, among many others
equally curious, in a volume of Memoirs which he pub¬
lished in the year 1780. But what renders that vo¬
lume yet more valuable, is a very extensive appendix,
containing “ Theorems for the calculation of fluents.”
I he tables which contain these theorems are more
complete and extensive than any which are to be found
in any other author, and are chiefly of his own investi-
gating; being such as had occurred to him in the
course of a long and curious application to mathemati¬
cal studies in almost every branch of those sciences. In
1781, 1782, and 1783, he published three little tracts
on the summation of converging series, in which he ex¬
plained and showed the extent of some theorems which
had been given for that purpose by M. de Moivre,
Mr Sterling, and his old friend Thomas Simpson, in
answer to some things which he thought had been
written to the disparagement of those excellent ma¬
thematicians. It was the opinion of some, that Mr
Landen did not show less mathematical skill in explain¬
ing and illustrating these theorems, than he has done
in his writings on original subjects; and that the au¬
thors of them were as little aware of the extent of their
own theorems as the rest of the world were before Mr
Landen’s ingenuity made it obvious to all.
About the beginning of the year 1782, Mr Landen
had made such improvements in his theory of rotatory
motion, as enabled him, he thought, to give a solution
of the general problem specified above ; but finding the
result of it to differ very materially from the result of
the solution which had been given of it by M. d’A¬
lembert, and not being able to see clearly where that
gentleman had erred, he did not venture to make his
own solution public. In the course of that year, hav¬
ing procured the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for
1757, which contain M. Euler’s solution of the pro¬
blem, he found that this gentleman’s solution gave the
same result as had been deduced by M. d’Alembert;
but the perspicuity of M. Euler’s manner of writing
enabled him to discover where he had erred, which
the obscurity of the other did not do. The agreement,
however, of two writers of such established reputation
as M. Euler and M. d’Alembert made him long du¬
bious of the truth of his own solution, and induced
him to revise the process again and again with the ut¬
most circumspection ; and being every time more con¬
vinced that his own solution was right and theirs
wrong, he at length gave it to the public in the 75th
volume of the Philosophical Transactions for 1785.
^andea
H
l4andes,
L A N [5
The extreme difficulty of the subject, joined to the
concise manner in which Mr Landen had been obliged
to give his solution in order to confine it within pro¬
per limits for the Transactions, rendered it too difficult,
or at least too laborious, a piece of business for most
mathematicians to read it ; and this circumstance, join¬
ed to the established reputation of Euler, induced many
to think that his solution was right and Mr Landen’s
wrong ; and there did not want attempts to prove it.
But notwithstanding these attempts were manifestly
wrong, and that every one who perused them saw it,
they convinced Mr Landen that there was a necessity
for giving his solution at greater length, in order to
render it more generally understood. About this time
also he met by chance with the late P. Frisi’s Cosmo¬
graphies Physicte et Mathematics ; in the second part
of which there is a solution ol this problem, agreeing
in the result with those of M. Euler and D’Alembert,
which is not surprising, as P. Frisi employs the same
principle that they did. Here Mr Landen learned
that M. Euler had revised the solution which he had
given formerly in the Berlin Memoirs, and given it
another form and a greater length in a volume pub¬
lished at Gryphiswell in 1765, entitled, Theoria Motus
corporum solidorum seu rigidorum. Having therefore
procured this book, Mr Landen found the same prin¬
ciples employed in it, and of course the same conclusion
resulting from them that he had found in M. Euler’s
former solution of the problems: but as the reasoning
was given at greater length, he was enabled to see
more distinctly how M. Euler had been led into the
mistake, and to set that mistake in a stronger point of
view. As he had been convinced of the necessity of
explaining his ideas on the subject more fully, so he
now found it necessary to lose no time in setting about
it. He had for several years been severely afflicted
with the stone in the bladder, and toward the latter
part of his life to such a degree as to be confined to
his bed for more than a month at a time : yet even
this dreadful disorder did not abate his ardour for ma¬
thematical studies j for the second volume of his Me¬
moirs was written and revised during the intervals of
his disorder. This volume, besides a solution of the
general problem concerning rotatory motion, contains
the resolution of the problem concerning the motion
of a top; an investigation of the motion of the equi¬
noxes, in which Mr Landen has first of any one point¬
ed out the cause of Sir Isaac Newton’s mistake in his
solution of this celebrated problem ; and some other
papers of considerable importance. He just lived to
see this work finished, and received a copy of it the
day before his death, which happened on the 15th of
January 1790, at Milton, near Peterborough, in the
71st year of his age.
LANDERNEAU, a town of France, in Lower
Bretagne, now the department of Finisterre, seated on
the river. Elhorn, 20 miles east of Brest. In an
inn here is a well which ebbs and flows like the sea,
but at contrary times. E. Long. 4. 13. N. Lat.
48. 25.^
LANDES, a department in the south-west of
France. It contains 3700 square miles, with 240,000
inhabitants. It is one of the most barren districts in
the kingdom, three-fourths of it consisting of heaths.
The produce consists of corn, wine, olives, and wood.
12 ]
LAN
There are mines of iron ; and salt is made on the coast, r
Alont de Marsan is the chief town. g
LANDGRAVE, (formed of the German land, Tandshut.
“ earth,” and graff, or grave, “judge” or “ count”) ; v——
a name formerly given to those who executed justice
in behalf of the emperors, with regard to the internal
policy of the country.. The title does not seem to
have been used,before the nth century. These judges
were first appointed within a certain district of Ger¬
many : in process of time the title became hereditary,
and these judges assumed the sovereignty of the several
districts or counties over which they presided. Land¬
grave is now applied by way of eminence to those so¬
vereign princes of the empire who possess by inheritance
certain estates called landgravates, and of which they
receive the investiture of the emperor. There are four
princes who have this title, viz. those of Thuringia,
Hessia, Alsace, and Leuchtemberg. There are also
other landgraves, who are not princes but counts of the
empire. See Count.
LANDGRAVIATE, t>r Landgravate, the of¬
fice, authority, jurisdiction, or territory of a land¬
grave.
LANDGUARD FORT seems to belong to Suffolk,
but is in the limits of Essex, and has a fine prospect of
the coasts of both counties. It was erected, and is
maintained, for the defence of the port of Harwich
over against it; for it commands the entry of it from
the sea up the Maningtree water, and will reach any
ship that goes in or out. It is placed on a point of
land so surrounded with the sea at high water, that it
looks like a little island at least one mile from the shore.
The making its foundation solid enough for so good a
fortification cost many years labour and a prodigious
expence. It was built in the reign of King James I.
Here is a small garrison, with a governor, and a plat¬
form of guns.
LANDISFARN, or Lindesfarn. See Holy-
Island.
LANDRECY, a town of the French Netherlands,
in Hainault, ceded to France by the treaty of the Py¬
renees, and is now very well fortified. It was besieged
by Prince Eugene in 1712, but to no purpose. It was
taken by the allies in April 1794, but retaken in July
following. It is seated in a plain on the river Sambre,
in E. Long. 3. 47. N. Lat. 50. 7.
LANDSCAPE, in painting, the view or prospect
of a country extended as far as the eye will reach. See
Painting and Drawing.
LANDSCROON, a sea port town of Sweden,, in
South Gothland, and territory of Schonen, seated on
the Baltic sea, within the Sound, 22 miles north of Co¬
penhagen. E. Long. 14. 20. N. Lat. 55. 42.
LANSDOWNE, a town of Somersetshire, near
Bath, where there is a fair in October for cattle and
cheese.
LANDSHUT, a strong town of Germany in
Lower Bavaria, with a strong castle on an adjacent
hill. It is seated on the river Iser. E. Long. 12. 15.
N. Lat. 48. 29. There is another small town of the
same name in Silesia, and in the duchy of Schweidnitz,
seated on the river Zeider, which falls into the Bauber :
and there is also another in Moravia, seated on the
river Morave, on the confines of Hungary and Aus¬
tria.
LANDSKIP.
Jjamtsk
Lancia
iiiire.
[ 5
9
LAN
ip, LANDSKIP. See Landscape.
LANERKSHIRE, or Lanarkshire, a county of
Scotland, called also (Jlydesdcile, from the river Clyde
by which it is watered. It is bounded on the north by
the county of Dumbarton ; on the east by Stirling,
Linlithgow, Edinburgh, and Peebles, shires 5 on the
south by Dumfries j and on the west by Ayr and Ren¬
frew shires. Its extent from north to south is about
40 miles, from east to west 36.—The river Clyde, de¬
scending from the southern part of this county, divides
it into two almost equal parts ; and after a course of
about 50 miles, meets the tide a little below Glasgow ;
(see Glasgow). Proceeding up the river from Glas¬
gow, the country is rich and well cultivated. Bothwell
castle, now in ruins, stands on an eminence which over¬
looks tire Clyde. Some of its walls are still remaining,
which measure 15 feet in thickness and 60 feet in
height. Between this castle and the priory of Blan-
tyre on the opposite side of the Clyde, there is said to
have been in ancient times a subterraneous passage un¬
der the river. A little above stands Bothwell bridge,
noted for the defeat of the Covenanters by the duke of
Monmouth in 1679.—East from Bothwell castle, in an
elevated situation, stands the Kirk of Shotts, amid a
wild and barren country. This dreary waste is cover¬
ed with heath j and though a high situation, is flat, and
very marshy in many places. It is chiefly employed
as sheep walks j and notwithstanding the vicinity of
coal and lime, seems scarce capable of cultivation.
This want is, however, compensated by the abundance
of iron stone and coal, which are here brought toge¬
ther by the hand of nature. Nor is this advantage
confined to the barren tract in the north-east corner
of the shire. The whole county abounds with these
valuable minerals 5 and two iron works are erected on
the banks of the Clyde, one a little above Glasgow,
and another at Cleland near Hamilton. But the most
considerable work of this kind in the county is that of
Cleugh, a few miles south-east from the Kirk of Shotts.
A village is here built for the accommodation of the
workmen. It is called Wilsontovon from the name of
the proprietors. There are beside these, two other
iron works in this county, one on the banks of the
Cadder near Airdrie, and the other at Shotts.—The
small borough of Lanerk is situated on the brow of a
till, on the north-east side of the Clyde, commanding
a fine prospect over the river. In this neighbourhood
are some of the greatest cotton manufactories in Scot¬
land, The Clyde near this place runs for several miles
between high rocks covered with woods ; and in its
course exhibits many astonishing cataracts: (seethe
article Clyde).——From Lanerk, passing the village of
Carstairs, a few miles to the east we meet the small
town of Carnwath. In this neighbourhood, and along
the Clyde to the south-east, tlrere is much cultivation
and rich pasture.—To the south ofdarnwath is the town
of Biggar; where is seen the ruin of a collegiate
church founded in 1545.—The lands about the vil¬
lages of Culter and Lamington are fertile 5 but
further up the Clyde we meet with nothing but
sheep walks and pasture grounds in tracing it to its
source.
In the southern part of the shire, generally called
Clydesdale, the country is not less wild. Among the
mountains here, or rather in a hollow near their sum-
Vol. XL Part II. f
r3 ] LAN
mit, we meet with the village of Leadhills, by some
said to be the highest human habitation in the island
of Great Britain. Here, however, reside many hun¬
dreds of miners with their families. These miners,
though in a great measure excluded from society by
their situation, yet not only find means to procure a
comfortable subsistence, but also pay more attention to
the cultivation of the mind than many of their coun¬
trymen situated seemingly in more favourable circum¬
stances for the attainment of knowledge. As an evi¬
dence of this, they are very intelligent, and have pro¬
vided a circulating library for the instruction and
amusement of the little community belonging to the
village.—Amid these mountains particles of gold have
sometimes been found washed down by the rains and
streams of water; but this desert tract is chiefly va*
luable for producing metals of inferior worth. “ No¬
thing (says Mr Pennant) can equal the gloomy appear¬
ance of the country round. Neither tree, nor shrub,
nor verdure, nor picturesque rock, appear to amuse the
eye. The spectator must plunge into the bowels of these
mountains for entertainment.” The veins of lead lie
mostly north and south; and their thickness varies from
a few inches to 20 inches and two feet. At one place
the Susannah vein (the richest ever discovered at Lead-
hills) swelled out to the extraordinary thickness of 14
feet. Some have been found filled with ore within two
fathoms of the surface ; others sink to the depth of 90
fathoms. The earl of Hopeton, the proprietor, has in
his possession a solid mass of lead oi'e from these mines
weighing five tons. His lordship has also, it is said,
a piece of native gold that weighs two ounces, which
was found here. The lead smelted at this place is all
sent to Leith, where it has the privilege of being ex¬
ported free of duty. The scanty pasture afforded by
this barren region feeds some sheep and cattle ; but
those in the neighbourhood of the mines sometimes
perish by drinking of the water in which the lead ore
has been washed : for the lead ore communicates a
deleterious quality to the water, though that liquid
acquires no hurtful taint from remaining in leaden pipes
or cisterns. North from this mountainous region lies
Crawford muir.
About nine miles north of Leadhills, on the east
side of the small river Douglas, which falls into the
Clyde a few miles below, stands Douglas castle, for
many ages the residence of the second family in Scot¬
land. A modern building has been erected on the
same site, in imitation of the ancient castle. Near it
stands the town of Douglas. A few miles to the
north-east is Tinto, a remarkable conic mountain,
round the base of which the Clyde makes a noble
sweep. Westward, beyond Douglas, the river Nethan
descends into the Clyde through the populous parish
of Lesmahago.—Hamilton house, the seat of the duke
of Hamilton, stands in a plain between the rivers Clyde
and Avon. It is a magnificent structure, surrounded
by many venerable oaks. In the vicinity is the town
of Hamilton, which contains many handsome houses :
(see Hamilton). Here are seen the ruins of a colle¬
giate church, founded in 1451. At a little distance
from Hamilton house is an elegant appendage to it,
called Chatelheraulty the name of the ancient possessions
held by the family in France. This building is seated
on the river Avon, and is surrounded by woods and
3 T deep
skire,
X-anesbo
rouah.
LAN [s
Lanark- deep dells, and every rural beauty that can produce a
pleasing effect on the imagination.—On the west of
Hamilton is the little town of Kilbride j and to the
south that of Strathaven, surrounded by the fertile
tract from which it derived its name. In our way from
Hamilton to Glasgow we meet with the ancient bo¬
rough of Rutherglen, inhabited chiefly by weavers and
other manufacturers : and the village of Govan stands
on the same side of the river on the road from Glasgow
to Renfrew.
The population of this county, as it is stated in the
Statistical History, according to its parishes, is the fol¬
lowing :
10
15
Parishes.
Avendale
Biggar
B lantyre
Bothwell
Cadder
Gambuslang
Cambusnethan
Carluke
Carmichael
Carmunnock
Carnwath
Carstairs
Covington
Crawford
Crawford John
Culter
Halserf
Dalziel
Dolphington
20 Douglas
Dunsyre
Glasford
Glasgow "I
Do. Barony J
Gorbalsl
Govan J
Hamilton
Kilbride
Lamington
Lanark
Lesmahago
Libberton
Monkland, New
Monkland, Old
Pettinain
Robertoun
Rutherglen
Shotts
Stonehouse
40 Symington
41 Walston
Pbpulation
in 1755*
3551
IO98
496
Ij6l
2396
934
1419
1459
899
471
2390
845
521
2009
765
422
765
35i
302
2009
359
559
Population in
1790—1798.
3343
937
1040
2707
1767
1288
1684
1730
781
570
3000
924
484
1490
59°
326
1100
478
200
25
3°
35
1715
360
788
27>45I 58>401
4389 9066
3815
2029
599
2294
3996
738
2713
1813
33°
1102
988
2322
823
264
478
5OI7
2359
417
4751
2810
750
356o
4000
386
740
i860
2041
1060
307
427
8l'’26 I2S'2J4
-Population in 1811 I9I>752
See Lanarkshire, Supplement.
LANESBOROUGH, a borough town of Ireland,
in the county of Longford and province of Leinster,
situated on the river Shannon, 62 miles from Dublin.
3
14 ] LA N
This town gave title of viscount to the family of Lane,
and now gives title of earl to that of Butler. There is
a bridge over the Shannon at Lanesborough into the
county of Roscommon. N. Lat. 53. 40. W. Long. 8. 6.
LANFRANC, an Italian, born at Pavia, became
archbishop of Canterbury in 1070. He disputed against
Berengarius in the council held at Rome in 1059, and
wrote against him concerning the real presence in the
eucharist. He had other disputes, &c. and died in
1089.
Lanfranc, John, an eminent Italian history paint¬
er, born at Parma in 1581. He was first the disciple
of Augustin Caracci $ and, after his death, of Hanni¬
bal, whose taste in design and colouring be so happily
attained, that he was instructed to execute some of his
designs in the Farnesian palace at Rome. These he
finished in so masterly a manner, that the difference is
imperceptible to this day between his work and that
of his master. His genius directed him to grand com¬
positions, which he had a peculiar facility in designing
and in painting either in fresco or in oil ; he did in¬
deed aspire to the grace of Correggio, but could never
arrive at his excellence ; his greatest power being ma¬
nifested in composition and fore shortening. He was
deficient in correctness and expression $ and his colour¬
ing, though sometimes admirable, was frequently too
dark. By order of Pope Urban VIII. he painted in
St Peter’s church at Rome the representation of that
saint walking on the water, which afforded the pope so
much satisfaction that he knighted him. He died in
1647.
LANGBAINE, Gerard, D. D. a learned Eng¬
lish writer, was born in 1608. He was educated at
Queen’s college, Oxford ; and became keeper of the
archives of that university, and provost of his college.
He w-as highly esteemed by Archbishop Usher, Selden,
and other learned men ; he died in 1657. publish,
ed, 1. An edition of Longinus, in Greek and Latin,
with notes; and other works.
Langbaine, Gerard, an eminent writer, the son of
the former, was born in 1656. He was put apprentice
to Mr Symonds, bookseller in St Paul’s churchyard :
but was soon after called from thence by his mother up¬
on the death of his eldest brother, and by her entered
a gentleman commoner of University college, Oxford,
in 1672. Here he run out a good part of his estate j
but afterwards corrected his manner of living, and for
some years lived in retirement near Oxford. During
this time he improved his taste for dramatic poetry j and
at first wrote some small pieces without his name, but
afterwards published several works which he publicly
owned. In 1690 he was elected inferior beadle of arts
in the university of Oxford j and, in January following,
was chosen superior beadle of law, but died soon after
in 1692. He wrote, 1. The Hunter, a discourse on
horsemanship. 2. A new catalogue of English plays
with their best editions, and divers remarks on the ori¬
ginals of most plays, and on the plagiaries of several
authors. 3. An account of the English dramatic poets.
LANGELAND, Robert, an old English poet of
the 14th century, and one of the first disciples of Wick-
liffe the reformer. He is said to have been born in
Shropshire. He wrote The visions of Pierce Plowman j
a piece which abounds with imagination and humour,
though dressed tp great disadvantage in very uncouth
versification
Lanejtu
rough
If
Lange lat
LAN [51
rangeland versification and obsolete language. It is written with-
1] out rhyme, an ornament which the poet has endeavour-
Langhorne.e(j to SUpp]y by making every verse begin with the
—' y same letter. Dr Hickes observes, that this kind of al¬
literative versification was adopted by Langeland from
the practice of the Saxon poets, and that these visions
abound with Saxonisms : he styles him celeberrimus ille
satirographus, morum vindex acerrimus, &c. Chaucer
and Spenser have attempted imitations of his visions,
and the learned Selden mentions him with honour.
Langeland, an island of Denmark in the Baltic
sea, in the strait called the great belt. E. Long. 11.10.
N. Lat. 55. O.
LANGETZ, a town of France, in Touraine, noted
for its excellent melons. It is seated on the river Loire,
in E. Long. o. 23. N. Lat. 42. 20.
LANG HORNE, John, D. D. was born atKirkby-
Stephen in Westmoreland. His father was the reverend
John Langhorne of Winston, who died when his son
was young. After entering into holy orders, he be¬
came tutor to the sons of Mr Cracroft, a Lincolnshire
gentleman, whose daughter he married. The lady in
a short time died : and the loss of her was very pathe¬
tically lamented by her husband in a monody $ and by
another gentleman, Mr Cartwright, in a poem entitled
“ Constantia.” Dr Langhorne held the living of Blag-
den in Somersetshire at the time of his death, which
happened April 1. 1779* He was the author of several
literary productions ; amongst others, of Poems in two
vols, 1766; Sermons in 2 vols. 1773 ; Effusions of Fan¬
cy, 2 vols 5 Theodosius and Constantia, 2 vols ; Soly-
man and Almena ; Frederic and Pharamond, or the
5 J LAN
Consolations of Human Life, 1769 ; a Dissertation on Langlinne
the Eloquence of the Pulpit, and another on Religious |i
Retirement: and he was editor of the works of St Evre-
mond, of the Poems of Collins, and some other ar-
tides.
LANGOBARDI, a people of Germany situated
between the Elbe and the Oder, (Tacitus).
LANGPORT, a town in Somersetshire, 132 miles
from London, is a well frequented town on the Parrot,
between Bridgewater and Crewkern. Here are light¬
ers which are constantly employed in carrying coals,
&c. from Bridgewater.
LANGREL shot, at sea, that consisting of two
bars of iron joined by a chain or shackle, and having
half a ball of iron fixed on each end 5 by means of which
apparatus it does great execution among the enemy’s
rigging.
LANGRES, an ancient and considerable town of
France, in Champagne, with a bishop’s see. The cut¬
lery wares made here are in high esteem. It is seated
on a mountain near the river Marne, in E. Long. 4.
24. N. Lat. 47. 52.
LANGTON, Stephen, was born in England, but
educated at Paris, and was greatly esteemed for his
learning by the king and nobility of France. He was
chancellor of Paris, a cardinal of Rome, and in the
reign of King John was made archbishop of Canterbury
by Pope Innocent III. in opposition both to the monks
of Canterbury and to the king. Langton was one of
the most illustrious men of his age for learning j and
continued archbishop 22 years, dying in 1228. A ca¬
talogue of his books is given by Bale and Tanner.
LANGUAGE.
Language. T ANGUAGE, in the proper sense of the word,
‘ » -*-J signifies the expression of our ideas and their
Defiaition var‘ous relati°ns by certain articulate sounds, which
’ are used as the signs of those ideas and relations. By
articulate sounds are meant those modulations of sim¬
ple voice, or of sound emitted from the thorax, which
are formed by means of the mouth and its several or¬
gans,—the teeth, the tongue, the lips, and the pa¬
late. In a more general sense of the word, language
is sometimes used to denote all sounds by which ani¬
mals of any kind express their particular feelings and
impulses in a manner that is intelligible to their own
species.
Nature has endowed every animal with powers suf¬
ficient to make known all those of its sensations and
desires, with which it is necessary, for the preservation
of the individual or the continuance of the kind, that
others of the same species should be acquainted. For
this purpose, the organs of all vocal animals are so
formed, as, upon any particular impulse, to utter sounds,
of which those of the same species instinctively know
the meaning. The summons of the hen is instantly
obeyed by the whole brood of chickens $ and in many
others of the irrational tribes a similar mode of commu¬
nication may be observed between the parents and the
offspring, and between one animal and its customary as¬
sociate. But it is not among animals of the same spe¬
cies only that these instinctive sounds are mutually un¬
derstood. It is as necessary for animals to know the Language,
voices of their enemies as the voice of their friends j v*
and the roaring of the lion is a sound, of which, previ-j. 2
ous to all experience, every beast of the forest is natu-j^l^re-
rally afraid. Between these animal voices and the lan- spscts dif-
guage of men there is however very little analogy. Hu-ferent from
man language is capable of expressing ideas and no-*!16
tions, which there is every reason to believe that the ^
brutal mind cannot conceive. “ Speech (says Aristo¬
tle) is made to indicate what is expedient and what in¬
expedient, and in consequence of this what is just and
unjust. It is therefore given to men j because it is pe¬
culiar to them, that of good and evil, just and unjust,
they only (with respect to other animals) possess a sense
or feeling.” The voices of brutes seem intended by na¬
ture to express, not distinct ideas or moral modes, but
only such feelings as it is for the good of the species that
they should have the power of making known j and in
this, as in all other respects, these voices are analogous j
not to our speaking, but to our weeping, laughing,
singing, groaning, screaming, and other natural and
audible expressions of appetite and passion.—Another
difference between the language of men and the voices
of brute animals consists in articulation, by which the
former may be resolved into distinct elementary sounds
or syllables j whereas the latter, being for the most part
unarticulated, are not capable of such a resolution.
Hence Homer and Hesiod characterise man by the epi-
3 T a thefc
LANGUAGE.
516
.Language, thet or “ voice'dlvitlIng,,, as denoting a power
' ~v—^ peculiar to the human species; for though there are a
* ihe par-few birds* which utter sounds that may be divided in-
liui<East°’ t° sy^ables, yet each of these birds utters but one such
India bird S0UB(J> which seems to be employed rather as notes of
called coc- natural music than for the purpose of giving informa-
katob, See. tion to others ; for when the bird is agitated, it utters
- cries which are very different, and have no articulation.
Not from --..-A third difference between the language of men
nature or an,l tl,e significant cries of brute animals, is, that the
rnsnnct, former is from art and the latter from nature. Every
human language is learned by imitation, and is intelli¬
gible only to those who either inhabit the country
where it is vernacular, or have been taught it by a mas¬
ter or by books : but the voices in question are not
learned by imitation j and being wholly instinctive,
they are intelligible to all the animals of that species by
which they are uttered, though brought together from
the most distant countries on earth. That a dog,
which had never heard another hark, would notwith¬
standing bark himself, and that the barkings or yelps
of a Lapland dog would be instinctively understood by
the dogs of Spain, Calabria, or any other country', are
facts which admit not of doubt: but there is no reason
to imagine that a man who had never heard any lan¬
guage spoken would himself speak ; and it is well
known that the language spoken in one country, is un¬
intelligible to the natives of another country where a
different language is spoken. Herodotus indeed records
a fact which, could it be depended upon, would tend
to overturn this reasoning, as it infers a natural relation
between ideas and certain articulate sounds. He tells
us, that Psammetichus king of Egypt, in order to dis¬
cover which was the oldest language, caused two chil¬
dren, newly born of poor parents, to he brought up by
a shepherd among his cattle, with a strict injunction
that they should never hear a human voice j and that
at the end of two years the children pronounced at the
same time the word /Sysxo;, which in the Phrygian lan¬
guage signified bread. Either this is one of the many
fables which that credulous historian collected among
the Egyptians, or the conduct and reasoning of Psam¬
metichus were very absurd j for it is added, that from
this circumstance he inferred that the Phrygians were
the most ancient people, and that they spoke the primi¬
tive language. The only rational purpose for which
such an experiment could he instituted, would be to dis¬
cover, not which is the eldest or the latest language,
but whether there he such a thing as a language of na¬
ture or instinct : but in such a language it is obvious
that there could be no word to denote bread, because
in what is called the state of nature bread is unknown.
The experiment of Psammetichus was probably never
made : but in the woods of different countries solitary
savages have at different times been caught,, who,,
though they apparently possessed ail the sagacity which
is natural to man, and though their organs both of
hearing and of speech were perfect, never used articu?
late sounds as signs of sensations or ideas. They utte-
ed indeed the inarticulate cries which are instinctively,
expressive of pleasure and pain, of joy and sorrow, more
distinctly and forcibly than men civilized j.bnt with re¬
spect to the very rudiments of language, they were what
Horace represents all mankind to have been originally, 
mutttm et turpe pecus. Indeed it seems to be obvious,
that were there any instinctive language, the first words
uttered by all children would be the same j and that
every child, whether horn in the desert or in society,
would understand the language of every other child,
however educated or however neglected. Nay more,
we may venture to affirm, that such a language, though'
its general use might, in society, be superseded by the
prevailing dialect of art, could never be wholly lost j
and that no man of one country would find it difficult,
far less impossible, to communicate the knowledge of
his natural and most pressing wants to the men of any
other country, whether barbarous or civilized. The
exercise of cultivated reason, and the arts of civil life,
have indeed eradicated many of our original instincts,
but they have not eradicated them all: (see Instinct),
There are external indications of the internal feelings
and desires, which appear in the most polished society,
and which are confessedly instinctive. The passions,
emotions, sensations, and appetites, are naturally ex¬
pressed in the countenance by characters which the sa¬
vage and the courtier can read with equal readiness.
The look serene, the smoothed brow, the dimpled
smile, and the glistening eye, denote equanimity and
good will in terms which no man mistakes. The con¬
tracted brow, the glaring eye, the sullen gloom, ami
the threatening air, denote rage, indignation, and de¬
fiance, as plainly and forcibly as revilings or impreca¬
tions. To teach men to disguise these instinctive indi¬
cations of their temper, and
“ To carry smiles and sunshine in their face,
“ When discontent sits heavy at their heart,”
constitutes a great part of modern and refined educa-
tiou. Yet in spite of every effort of the utmost skill,
and of every motive resulting from interest, the most
consummate hypocrite, or the most hackneyed politi¬
cian, is not always able to prevent his real disposition
from becoming apparent in his countenance. He may:
indeed, by long practice, have acquired a very great
command both over his temper and over the instinc¬
tive signs of it j but at times nature will predominate
over art, and a sudden and violent passion will flash in
his face, so as to he visible to the eye of every beholder.
If these observations be just, and we flatter ourselves
with the belief that no man will call them in question,
it seems to follow, that, if mankind were prompted by
instinct to use articulate sounds as indications of their
passions, affections, sensations, and ideas, the language
of nature could never be wholly forgotten, and that it
would sometimes predominate over the language of art.
Groans, sighs, and some inarticulate lively sounds, are
naturally expressive of pain and pleasure, and equally
intelligible to all mankind. The occasional use of these
no art can wholly banish ; and if there were articu¬
late sounds naturally expressive of the same feelings, it
is not conceivable that art or education could banish
the use of them, merely because by the organs of the
mouth they are broken into parts and resolvable into
syllables.
It being thus evident that there is no instinctive ar¬
ticulated language, it has become an inquiry of some
importance, how mankind were first induced to fabri¬
cate articulate sounds, and to employ them for the
purpose of communicating their thoughts. Children
learn to speak by insensible imitation j and. when ad-.
vanced.
LANGUAGE.
Language, vanced some years in life, they study foreign languages
‘—v'—-’' under proper instructors : but the first men had no
4 speakers to imitate, and no formed language to study $
cither re- by what means then did they learn to speak ? On this
question only two opinions can possibly be formed,
an art in- language must have been originally revealed
•vented by from heaven, or it must be the fruit of human industry,
men. The greater part of Jews and Christians, and even some
of the wisest Pagans, have embraced the former opi¬
nion ; which seems to be supported by the authority of
Moses, who represents the Supreme Being as teaching
our first parents the names of animals. The latter opi¬
nion is held by Diodorus Siculus, Lucretius, Horace,
and many other Greek and Roman writers, who consi¬
der language as one of the arts invented by man. The
first men, say they, lived for some time in woods and
caves after the manner of beasts, uttering only confused
and indistinct noises j till associating for mutual assist¬
ance, they came by degrees to use articulate sounds
mutually agreed upon for the arbitrary signs or marks
of those ideas in the mind of the speaker which he
wanted to communicate to the hearer. This opinion
sprung from the atomic cosmogony which was framed
by Moschus the Phenician, and afterwards improved
by Democritus and Epicurus; and though it is part of
a system in which the first men are represented as hav¬
ing grown out of the earth like trees and other vege¬
tables, it has been adopted by several modern writers
(a) of high rank in the republic of letters, and is cer-
5 tainly in itself worthy of examination.
Arguments The most learned, and on every account the most re-
foi its being speetable author who now supports this opinion, can-
iavc»don acknowledges, that if language was invented, it
was of very difficult invention, and far beyond the
reach of the grossest savages. Accordingly he holds,
that though men were originally solitary animals, and
had no natural propensity to the social life; yet before
language could be invented they must have been asso¬
ciated for ages, and have carried on of concert some
common work. Nay, he is decidedly of opinion, that
before the invention of an art so difficult ass language,
men must not only have herded together, but have also
formed some kind of civil polity, have existed in that
political state a very long time, and have acquired such
powers of abstraction as to be able to form general ideas.
(See Logic and Metaphysics.) But it is obvious,
that men could not have instituted civil polity, or have
carried on of concert any common work, without com¬
municating their designs to each other: and there are
four ways by which the author thinks that this could
have been done before the invention of speech ; viz.
1st, Inarticulate cries, expressive of sentiments and pas¬
sions : 2d, Gestures and the expression of countenance :
3d, Imitative sounds expressive of audible things ; and
4th, Painting, by which visible objects may be repre¬
sented. Of these four ways of communication it is plain
that only two have any connection with language, viz.
inarticulate cries and imitative sounds; and of these
the author abandons the latter as having contributed
nothing to the invention of articulation, though he
thinks it may have helped to advance its progress. 111 Language,
am disposed (says he) to believe, that the framing of
words with an analogy to the sound of the things ex¬
pressed by them belongs rather to languages of art than
to the first languages spoken by rude and barbarous na¬
tions.” It is therefore inarticulate cries only that must
have given rise to the formation of language. Such
cries are used by all animals who have any use of voice
to express their wants; and the fact is, that all barba¬
rous nations have cries expressing different things, such
as j°y» gr‘ef» terror, surprise, and the like. These, to¬
gether with gestures and expression of the countenance,
were undoubtedly the methods of communication first
used by men : and we have but to suppose (says our au¬
thor) a great number of our species carrying on some
common business, and conversing together by signs and
cries; and we have men just in a state proper for the
invention of language. For if we suppose their numbers
to increase, their wants would increase also; and then
these two methods of communication would become too
confined for that larger sphere of life which their wants
would make necessary. The only thing then that re¬
mained to be done was to give a greater variety to the
instinctive cries; and as the natural progress is from
what is easy to what is more difficult, the first variation
would be merely by tones from low to high, and from
grave to acute. But this variety could not answer all
the purposes of speech in society; and being advanced
so far, it was natural that an animal so sagacious as man
should go on farther, and come at last to. the only other
variation remaining, namely, articulation. The first
articulation would be very simple, the voice being bro¬
ken and distinguished only by a few vowels and conso¬
nants. And as all natural cries are from the throat and
larynx, with little or no operation of the organs of the
mouth, it is natural to suppose, that the first languages
were for the greater part spoken from the throat; that
what consonants were used to vary, the cries, were most¬
ly guttural; and that the organs of the mouth would at
first be very little employed. From this account of the
origin of language it appears, that the first sounds arti¬
culated were the natural cries by which men signified
their wants and desires to one another, such as calling
one another for certain purposes, and other such things
as were most necessary for carrying on any joint work :
then in process of time other cries would be articulated,
to signify, that such and such actions had been per¬
formed or were performing, or that such and such
events had happened relative to the common business*
The names would be invented of such objects as they
were conversant with; but as we cannot suppose sa¬
vages to be deep in abstraction or skilful in the art of
arranging, things according to their genera and species,
all things however similar, except perhaps the indivi¬
duals of the lowest species, would be expressed by dif¬
ferent words not related to each other either by deri¬
vation or composition. Thus w.ould language grow by
degrees ; and as it grew, it would be more and more
broken and articulated by consonants; but still the
words would retain a great deal of their original na¬
ture
(a) Father Simon, Voltaire, L’Abbe Condillac, Dr Smith, and
Language,.
the author of the Origin and Progress of '
5r8 LANG
language, ture of animal cries. And thus things would go on,
<*——v—.*/ words unrelated still multiplying, till at last the lan¬
guage would become too cumbersome for use ; and
then art would be obliged to interpose, and form a
language upon a few radical words, according to the
d rules and method of etymology.
Arguments Those (b) who think that language was originally
for its di- revealed from heaven, consider this account of its hu-
>,ne ongin' man invention as a series of mere suppositions hanging
loosely together, and the whole suspended from no fixed
principle. The opinions of Diodorus, Vitruvius, Ho¬
race, Lucretius, and Cicero, which are frequently quot¬
ed in its support, are in their estimation of no greater
authority than the opinions of other men j for as lan¬
guage was formed and brought to a great degree of
perfection long before the era of any historian with
whom we are acquainted, the antiquity of the Greek
and Roman writers, Avho are comparatively of yester-
tlay, gives them no advantage in this inquiry over the
philosophers of France and England. Aristotle has
defined man to be juifttflixor: and the definition is
certainly so far just, that man is much more remarkable
for imitation than invention; and therefore, say the
reasoners on this side of the question, had the human
race been originally mutum et turpepecus, they would
have continued so to the end of time, unless they had
been taught to speak by some superior intelligence.
That the first men sprung from the earth like vege¬
tables, no modern philosopher has ventured to assert j
nor does there anywhere appear sufficient evidence
that men were originally in the state of savages. The
oldest book extant contains the only rational cosmo¬
gony known to the ancient nations; and that book
represents the first human inhabitants of this earth, not
only as reasoning and speaking animals, but also as in
a state of high perfection and happiness, of which they
were deprived for disobedience to their Creator. Moses,
setting aside his claim to inspiration, deserves, from the
consistence of his narrative, at least as much credit as
Moschus, or Democritus, or Epicurus; and from his
prior antiquity, if antiquity could on this subject have
any weight, he would deserve more, as having lived
nearer to the period of which they all write. But
the question respecting the origin of language may be
decided without resting in authority of any kind,
merely by considering the nature of speech and the
mental and corporeal powers of man. Those who main¬
tain it to be of human invention, suppose men at first
to have been solitary animals, afterwards to have herded
together without government or subordination, then
to have formed political societies, and by their own
exertions to have advanced from the grossest ignorance
to the refinements of science. But, say the reasoners
whose cause we are now pleading, this is a supposition
contrary to all history and all experience. There is
not upon record a single instance well authenticated of
a people emerging by their own efforts from barba-
riam to civilization. There have indeed been many
nations raised from the state of savages $ but it is known
that they were polished, not by their own repeated ex¬
ertions, hut by the influence of individuals or colonies
U A G E.
from nations more enlightened than themselves. Tbeia Ua>e
original savages of Greece were tamed by the Pelasgi,  
a foreign tribe ; and were afterwards further polished
by Orpheus, Cecrops, Cadmus, &c. who derived their
knowledge from Egypt and the East. The ancient
Romans, a ferocious and motley crew, received the bles¬
sings of law and religion from a succession of foreign
kings j and the conquests of Rome at a latter period
contributed to civilize the rest of Europe. In Ame¬
rica, the only two nations which at the invasion of the
Spaniards could be said to have advanced a single step
from barbarism, were indebted for their superiority over
the other tribes, not to the gradual and unassisted pro¬
gress of the human mind, but to the wise institutions of
foreign legislators.
This is not the proper place for tracing the progress
of man from the savage state to that of political socie¬
ty (see Savage State') ; but experience teaches us that
in every art it is much easier to improve than to invent,
rhe human mind, when put into the proper track, is
indeed capable of making great advances in arts and
sciences j but if any credit be due to the records of
history, it has not, in a people sunk in ignorance and
barbarity, sufficient vigour to discover that track, or
to conceive a state different from the present. If the
rudest inhabitants of America and other countries have
continued, as there is every reason to believe they have
continued, for ages in the same unvaried state of bar¬
barism how is it imaginable that people so much ruder
than they, as to be ignorant of all language, should
think of inventing an art so difficult as that of speech,
or even to frame a conception of the thing ? In build¬
ing, fishing, hunting, navigating, &c. they might imi¬
tate the instinctive arts of other animals, but there
is no other animal that expresses its sensations and af¬
fections by arbitrary articulate sounds It is said that
before language could be invented, mankind must have
existed for ages in large political societies, and have
carried on in concert some Common work ; but if in¬
articulate cries, and the natural visible signs of the
passions and affections, were modes of communication
sufficiently accurate to keep a large society together
for ages, and to direct its members in the execution of
some common work, what could be their inducement
to the invention of an art so useful and difficult as that
of language ? Let us however suppose, say the advo¬
cates tor the cause which we are now supporting, that
different nations of savages set about inventing an art
of communicating their thoughts, which experience
had taught them was not absolutely necessary $ how
came they all, without exception, to think of the one
art of articulating the voice for this purpose ? Inar¬
ticulate cries, out of which language is fabricated,
have indeed an instinctive connexion with our passions
and affections j but there are gestures and expressions
of countenance with which our passions and affections
are in the same manner connected. If the natural
cries of passion could be so modified and enlarged as
to be capable of communicating to the hearer every
idea in the mind of the speaker, it is certain that the
natural gestures could be so modified as to answer the
very
(b) Warburton, Delaney, Johnson, Beattie, Blair, and Dr Stanhope Smith of New Jersey, &c.
LANGUAGE.
Language, very same purpose (see Pantomime) ; and it is strange
—-v——/ that among the several nations who invented languages,
not one should have stumbled upon fabricating visible
signs of their ideas, but that all should have agreed to
denote them by articulated sounds. Every nation
whose language is narrow and rude supplies its defects
by a violent gesticulation j and therefore, as much less
genius is exerted in the improvement of any art than
was requisite for its first invention, it is natural to sup¬
pose, that, had men been left to devise for themselves
a method of communicating their thoughts, they
would not have attempted any other than that by
which they now improve the language transmitted by
their fathers. It is vain to urge that articulate sounds
are fitter for the purpose of communicating thought
than visible gesticulation ; for though this may be true,
it is a truth which could hardly occur to savages, who
had never experienced the fitness of either $ and if, to
counterbalance the superior fitness of articulation, its
extreme difficulty be taken into view, it must appear
little less than miraculous that every savage tribe should
think of it rather than the easier method of artificial
gesticulation. Savages, it is well known, are remark¬
able for their indolence, and for always preferring ease
to utility j but their modes of life give such pliancy
to their bodies, that they could with very little trouble
bend their limbs and members into any positions agreed
upon as the signs of ideas. This is so far from being
the case with respect to the organs of articulation, that
it is with extreme difficulty, if at all, that a man ad¬
vanced in life can be taught to articulate any sound
which he has not been accustomed to hear. No fo¬
reigner who comes to England after the age of thirty
ever pronounces the language tolerably well 5 an Eng¬
lishman of that age can hardly be taught to utter the
guttural sound which a Scotchman gives to the Greek
j', or even the French sound of the vowel u j and of
the solitary savages who have been caught in different
forests, we know not that there has been one who,
after the age of manhood, learned to articulate any
language so as to make himself readily understood.
The present age has indeed furnished many instances of
deaf persons being taught to speak intelligibly by skil¬
ful masters moulding the organs of the mouth into the
positions proper for articulating the voice; but who
was to perform this task among the inventors of lan¬
guage, when all mankind were equally ignorant of the
means by which articulation is efiected ? In a word,
daily experience informs us, that men who have not
learned to articulate in their childhood, never after¬
wards acquire the faculty of speech but by such helps
as savages cannot obtain $ and therefore, if speech was
invented at all, it must have been either by children
who were incapable of invention, or by men who were
incapable of speech. A thousand, nay a million, of
children could not think of inventing a language.
While the organs p.re pliable, there is not understand¬
ing enough to frame the conception of a language j and
by the time that there is understanding, the organs are
become too stiff for the task, and therefore, say the
advocates for the divine origin of language, reason as
well as history intimates, that mankind in all ages must
have been speaking animals j the young having con¬
stantly acquired this art by imitating those who were
5*9
elder ; and we may warrantably conclude, that our first Language,
parents received it by immediate inspiration. —y—w
To this account of the origin of language an objec¬
tion readily offers itself. If the first language was com¬
municated by inspiration, it must have been perfect,
and held in reverence by those who spake it, i. e. by all
mankind. But a vast variety of languages have pre¬
vailed in the world ; and some of these which remain
are known to be very imperfect, whilst there is rea¬
son to believe that many others are lost. If different
languages were originally invented by different nations,
all this would naturally follow from the mixture of these
nations ; but what could induce men possessed of one
perfect language of divine original, to forsake it for
barbarous jargons of their own invention, and in every
respect inferior to that with which their forefathers or
themselves had been inspired ? ^
In answer to this objection, it is said, that nothingln what
was given by inspiration but the faculty of speech andcircumstan*
the elements of language; for when once men hadces ^ie
language, it is easy to conceive how they might have fectVtul
modified it by their natural powers, as thousands can copious
improve what they could not invent. The first lan-language
guage, if given by inspiration, must in its principlesniU!,t lje*
have had all the perfection of which language is sus-
ceptible ; but from the nature of things it could notru(]e.
possibly be very copious. The words of language are
either proper names or the signs of ideas and relations ;
but it cannot be supposed that the All-wise Instructor
would load the memories of men with words to denote
things then unknown, or with the signs of ideas which
they had not then acquired. It was sufficient that a
foundation was laid of such a nature as would support
the largest superstructure which they might ever after
have occasion to raise upon it, and that they were
taught the method of building by composition and
derivation. This would long preserve the language
radically the same, though it could not prevent the
introduction of different dialects in the different coun¬
tries over which men spread themselves. In whatever
region we suppose the human race to have been origi¬
nally placed, the increase of their numbers would in
process of time either disperse them into different na¬
tions, or extend the one nation to a vast distance on
all sides from what we may call the seat of govern¬
ment. In either case they would everywhere meet
with new objects, which would occasion the invention
of new names ; and as the difference of climate and
other natural causes would compel those who removed
eastward or northward to adopt modes of life in many
respects different from the modes of those who travelled
towards the west or the south, a vast number of words
would in one country be fabricated to denote complex
conceptions, which must necessarily be unintelligible to
the body of the people inhabiting countries where
those conceptions had never been formed. Thus would
various dialects be unavoidably introduced into the ori¬
ginal language, even whilst all mankind remained in
one society and under one government. But after
separate and independent societies were formed, these
variations would become more numerous, and the se¬
veral dialects would deviate farther and farther from
each other, as well as from the idiom and genius of
the parent tongue, in proportion to the distance of
the
S‘2o LANG
Language, the tribes by whom they were spoken. If we suppose
~ a few people either to have been banished together from
the society of their brethren, or to have wandered of
their own accord to a distance, from which through
trackless forests they could net return (and such emi*
grations have often taken place), it is easy to see how
the most copious language must in their mouths have
soon become narrow, and how the offspring of in¬
spiration must have in time become so deformed
as hardly to retain a feature of the ancestor whence
it originally sprung. Men do not long retain a
practical skill in those arts which they never ex¬
ercise ; and there are abundance of facts to prove,
that a single man cast upon a desert island, and hav¬
ing to provide the necessaries of life by his own inge¬
nuity, would soon lose the art of speaking with fluency
his mother tongue. A small number of men cast away
together, would indeed retain that art somewhat
longer j but in a space of time not very long, it would
in a great measure be lost by them or their posterity.
In this state of banishment, as their time would be.
almost wholly occupied in hunting, fishing, and other
means within their reach to support a wretched exist¬
ence, they would have very little leisure, and perhaps
less desire, to preserve by conversation the remembrance
of that ease and those comforts of which they now
found themselves for ever deprived ; and they would
of course soon forget all the words which in their
native language had been used to denote the accommo¬
dations and elegancies of polished life. This at least
geeras to he certain, that they would not attempt to
teach their children a part of a language which in their
circumstances could be of no use to them, and of
which it would be impossible to make them compre¬
hend the meaning; for where there are no ideas, the
signs of ideas cannot be made intelligible. From such
colonies as this dispersed over the earth, it is probable
that all those nations of savages have arisen, which
have induced so many philosophers to imagine that the
state of the savage was the original state of man j and
if so, we see that from the language of inspiration
must have unavoidably sprung a number of different
dialects all extremely rude and narrow, and retaining
nothing of the parent tongue, except perhaps the
name of the most conspicuous objects of nature, and
of those wants and enjoyments which are inseparable
from humanity. The savage state has no artificial
wants, and furnishes few ideas that require terms to
express them. The habits of solitude and silence in-
U A G E.
cline a savage rarely to speak; nail when lie speaks, laom.e..
he uses the same terms to denote different ideas. Speech ——\ —
therefore, in this rude condition of men, must be ex¬
tremely narrow and extremely various. Every new
region, and every new climate, suggests different ideas
and creates different wants, which "must be expressed
either by terms entirely new, or by old terms used s
with a new signification. Hence must originate great Henee the
diversity, even in the first elements of speech, among variety of
all savage nations, the words retained of the original ton?,ies
language being used in various senses, and pronounced, W,i:cl\hjVe
as vve may believe, with various accents. When anv^^4.
of those savage tribes emerged from their barbarism,
whether by their own efforts or by the aid of people
1X101 e enlightened than themselves, it is obvious that
the improvement and copiousness of their language
would keep pace with their own progress in knowledge
and in the arts of civil life ; but in the infinite multi*
tude of words which civilization and refinement add
to language, it would be little less than miraculous were
any two nations to agree upon the same sounds to re¬
present the same ideas. Superior refinement, indeed,
may induce imitation, conquests may impose a lan¬
guage, and extension of empires may melt down dif¬
ferent nations and different dialects into one mass;
but independent tribes naturally give rise to diversity
of tongues, aor does it seem possible that they should
retain more of the original language than the words
expressive of those objects with which all men are at
all times equally concerned.
Hie variety of tongues, therefore, the copionsness
of some, and the narrowness of others, furnish no
good objection to the divine origin of language in ge¬
neral j for whether language was at first revealed from
heaven, or in a course of ages invented by men, a
multitude of dialects would inevitably arise as soon as
the human race was separated into a number of distinct
and independent nations.—We pretend not to decide
for our readers in a question of this nature: we have
given the best arguments on both sides which we
could either devise or find in the writings of others:
and if it be seen, as we doubt not it will, that our
own judgment leans to the side of revelation, let it
not be hastily condemned by those whose knowledge
of languages extends no farther than to Greece and
Rome, and I* ranee and England j for if they will carry
their philological inquiries to the east, they may per¬
haps be able to trace the remains of one original lan¬
guage through a great part of the globe at this day (c).
Language,
J NJmherl?ss instai)ces of this might be given, but our limits will permit us to produce only a very few 
in the b/ianscrtt, or ancient language of the Gentoos, our signifies a day: (See Halhed's preface to the code of
trentoo laws). In other eastern languages, the same word was used to denote both light and 'fire. Thus in the
111 \heEgyptian, or is the sun or light, {Pint, de Osir. et Isid.) : In the Hebrew, aur is
th<L “i? xs the air, often light: in Latin, aura is the air, from the JEolic Greek ; and in
lush it is aear. irom the very same original we have the Greek word nv,, and the English /uv.—In He-
brew, OR signifies to raise, lift up one's self, or be raised: hence plainly are derived the Greek to raise, ex¬
cite, and the Latin ORIOR to ome; whence oriens the east, and Eng. orient, oriental; also Lat. or/Vo, and Eng.
of igtn, ongina e, c. ie word Khunt in the Shaascrit dialect, signifies a small territory, which is retained
,n Kent Canton Cantabria. The word Khan, kin, cean, gan, gen, gin, is of the same kind
and pervades Asia and Europe from the Ganges to the Garonne. The word light English, lught Flemish:
' > ^ GJeek’ b»3 been traced to Egypt. Aretz, arek, erech, hertha, earth,
and erdEj are all one word from Palestine and Chaldea to Britain and Germany.—The Chaldeans turned the
Hebrew
LANG
Language. Language, whatever was its origin, must be subject
' to perpetual changes from its very nature, as well as
|9an fr°m ^iat variety of incidents which affect all sublu-
ua'e^t* nary things j and those changes must always corre-
linv’people spond with the change of circumstances in the people
an index by whom the language is spoken. When any parti-
to their cular set of ideas becomes prevalent among any society
n,,n s' of men, words must be adopted to express them; and
from these the language must assume its character.—
Hence the language of a brave and martial people is
bold and nervous, although perhaps rude and unculti¬
vated ; while the languages of those nations in which
luxury and effeminacy prevail, are flowing and harmo-
10 nious, but devoid of force and energy of expression.
Some ex- But although it may be considered as a general rule,
ceptions to that the language of any people is a very exact index
din/rnlc!" ^ie state their minds, yet it admits of some par¬
ticular exceptions. Lor as man is naturally an imita¬
tive animal, and in matters of this kind never has re¬
course to invention but through necessity, colonies
planted by any nation, at whatever distance from the
mother country, always retain the same general sounds
and idiom of language with those from whom they are
separated. In process of time, however, the colonists
and the people of the mother country, by living under
different climates, by being engaged in different occu¬
pations, and by adopting, of course, different modes
of life, may lose all knowledge of one another, assume
different national characters, and form each a distinct
language to themselves, totally different in genius and
style, though agreeing with one another in the fun¬
damental sounds and general idiom. If, therefore,
this particular idiom, formed before their separation,
happen to be more peculiarly adapted to the genius
of the mother country than of the colonies, these will
labour under an inconvenience on this account, which
they may never be wholly able to overcome ; and this
inconvenience must prevent their language from ever
attaining to that degree of perfection to which, by the
genius of the people, it might otherwise have been
carried. Thus various languages may have been form¬
ed out of one parent tongue j and thus that happy
concurrence of circumstances which has raised some
languages to a high degree of perfection, may be easi¬
ly accounted for, while many ineffectual efforts have
been made to raise other languages to the same degree
of excellence.
U A G E. S2l
As the knowledge of languages constitutes a great Language,
part of erudition, as their beauty and deformities fur- v—
nish employment to taste, and as these depend much
upon the idioms of the different tongues, we shall pro¬
ceed to make a few remarks upon the advantages and
defects of some of those idioms of language with which i r
we are best acquainted.—As the word IDIOM and GE-Abatis
Nius of a language are often confounded, it will be,VeaJ1f.b3'
necessary to inform the reader, that by IDIOM we^nd
would here be understood to mean that general mode of by the ge-
arranging words into sentences which prevails in any nios of a
particular language; and by the genius of a language,laB2',aSe-
we mean to express the particular set of ideas which the
words of any language, either from their formation or
multiplicity, are most naturally apt to excite in the mind
of any one who hears it properly uttered. Thus, al¬
though the English, French, Italian, and Spanish lan¬
guages nearly agree in the same general idiom, yet
the particular genius of each is remarkably different:
The English is naturally bold, nervous, and strongly
articulated $ the French is weaker, and more flowing ;
the Italian more soothing and harmonious j and the t,
Spanish more grave, sonorous, and stately. Now, when Two idi-
we examine the several languages which have beenoms among
most esteemed in Europe, we find that there are on-the lan"
ly two idioms among them which are essentially di-f’^f^j j,
stinguished from one another 5 and all those lan-Europe,
guages are divided between these two idioms, follow¬
ing sometimes the one and sometimes the other, either
in whole or in part. The languages which may be said
to adhere to the first idiom, are those which in their
construction follow the order of nature j that is, ex¬
press their ideas in the natural order in which they
occur to the mind j the subject which occasions the ac¬
tion appearing first; then the action accompanied with
its several modifications $ and, last of all, the object to
which it has reference.—These may properly be called The aan-
analogous languages j and of this kind are the Eng-l0g0US ant|l
lish, French, and most of the modern languages in Eu¬
rope.—The languages which may be referred to the
other IDIOM, are those which follow no other order in
their construction than what the taste or fancy of the
composer may suggest $ sometimes making the object,
sometimes the action, and sometimes the modification
of the action, to precede or follow the other parts.
The confusion which this might occasion, is avoided by
the particular manner of inflecting their words, by which
they
Hebrew word shur or SHOR, which signifies an ox, into THOR, as likewise did the Phenicians (See Plut. Vit,
Sijl.) ; hence the Greek rat^oj, the Latin taurus, the French taureau, and the Italian and Spanish toro. The
Hebrew word BIT or beith, which signifies cavity, capacity, the concave or inside of any place, has spread itself
far and wide, still retaining nearly the original signification j in the Persian language it is bad, bed, bhad,
and signifies a house or abode. In all the dialects of the Gothic tongue, bode signifies the same thing j hence
the English abide, abode, booth, boat, and the French batteau. In all these instances there is a striking resem¬
blance in sound as well as in sense between the derived and the primitive words; but this is not always the ease,
even when of the legitimacy of the derivation no doubt can be entertained. It has been shown (see Boswell's
Life of Johnson), that the French jour, a day, is derived from the Latin dies ; but it may be certainly traced
from a higher source. In many of the oriental dialects, Dl, bright, is a name of the sun ; hence the Greek
Jupiter, and the Latin dies, a day. From dies comes diurnus ; in the pronunciation of which, either by the
inaccuracy of the speaker or of the hearer, diu is readily confounded with giu ; then of the ablative of this adjec¬
tive, corruptly pronounced giurno, the Italians make a substantive GIORNO, which by the French is readily con¬
tracted into giour or jour. From the same root di, comes A<«?, or, the Eolic AiF the Latin Ditus, and
the Celtic dhia, God.
Vol. XLPartIL f U 3
t
LANGUAGE.
Language, they are made to refer to the others with which they
>v—i., ought to be connected, in whatever part of the sentence
they occur, the mind being left at liberty to connect
14 the several parts with one another after the whole sen-
ihe trans- tence is concluded. And as the words may be here
positive transposed at pleasure, those languages may be called
languages TRANSp0sjtiVE languages. To this class we must, in
wiUi're- an especial manner, refer the Latin and Greek lan-
spcct to guages.——As each of these IDIOMS has several advan*
tages and defects peculiar to itself, we shall endeavour
to point out the most considerable of them, in order
to ascertain with greater precision the particular charac¬
ter and excellence of some of those languages now
principally spoken or studied in Europe.
The partiality which our forefathers, at the revival
of letters in Europe, naturally entertained for the
Greek and Roman languages, made them look upon
every distinguishing peculiarity belonging to them as
one of the many causes of the amazing superiority which
those languages evidently enjoyed above every other at
that time spoken in Europe.—This blind deference still
continues to be paid to them, as our minds are early
prepossessed with these ideas, and as we are taught in
our earliest infancy to believe, that to entertain the least
idea of our own language being equal to the Greek or
Latin in any particular whatever, would be a certain
mark of ignorance or want of taste.—THeir rights,
therefore, like those of the church in former ages, re¬
main still to be examined •, and we, without exertirtg
our reason to discover truth from falsehood, tamely sit
down satisfied with the idea of their undoubted pre¬
eminence in every respect. Rut if we look around us
for a moment, and observe the many excellent produc¬
tions which are to be met with in almost every language
of Europe, we must be satisfied, that even these are How
possessed of some powers which might afford at least d
presumption, that, if they were cultivated with a pro¬
per degree of attention, they might, in some respects, be
made to rival, if not to excel, those beautiful and justly
admired remains of antiquity. Without endeavouring
to derogate from their merit, let us, with the cool eye
of philosophic reasoning, endeavour to bring before the
sacred tribunal of Truth some of those opinions whi’ch
have been most generally received upon this subject,
and rest the determination of the cause oti her impartial
decision.
The learned reader well knows, that the Several
changes which take place in the arrangement of the
Words in every transfositive language, could not be
admitted without occasioning great confusion, unless
certain classes of words Were endowed with particular
variations, by means of which they might be made to
refer to the other wdVds with which they ought lifttural-
ly to be connected. From this cause proceeds the ne¬
cessity of several variations of verbs, nouns, and adjec¬
tives ; which are not in the least essential or necessary
in the analogous languages, as we have pretty fully
explained under the article Grammar, to which we
refer for satisfaction on this head. We shall in this
place consider, whether these variations are an advan¬
tage or a disadvantage to language.
As it is generally supposed, that every language
whose verbs admit of wjlection, is on that account much
more perfect than one where they are varied by auxi¬
liaries ; we shall in the first place, examine this with
some degree of attention *, and that what is said on this Langwane,
head may be the more intelligible, we shall give ex- ’ "
amples from the Latin and English languages. Wre
make choice of these languages, because the Latin is
more purely transpositive than the Greek, and the Eng¬
lish admits ot less inflection than any other language
that We are acquainted with. 15
If any preference be due to a language from the diversity 0?
one or the other method of conjugating verbs, it musts?u,1^8, Ta*
in a great measure be owing to one or more of these
three causes :—Either it must admit of a greater va- and preci-
riety of sounds, and consequently more room for har-sion of
monious diversity of tones in the language:—or anieuu*nS*
greater freedom of expression is allowed in uttering any
simple idea, by the one admitting of a greater variety
in the arrangement of the words which are necessary to
express that idea than the other does :—or, lastly, a
greater precision and accuracy in fixing the meaning
of the person who uses the language, arise from the use
of one of these forms, than from the use of the other :
for, as every other circumstance which may serve to
give a diversity to language, such as the general and
most prevalent sounds, the frequent repetition of any
one particular letter, and a variety of other circum¬
stances of that nature, which may serve to debase
a particular language, are not influenced in the least
by the different methods of varying the verbs, they
cannot be here considered. We shall therefore pro¬
ceed to make a comparison of the advantages or disad¬
vantages which may accrue to a language by inflecting
its verbs With regard to each of these particulars,—va¬
riety of sound, variety of arrangement, and accuracy of
meaning. _ 1<5
The jirst particular that we have to examine is,Diversity*!
Whether the one method of expressing the variations sounds*
of a verb admits of a greater variety of sounds ? In
tins respect the Latin seems, at first view, to have a
great advantage over the English: for the words amo,
ainabam, amaverani, amdvero, amem, &c. seem to be
more different from one another than the English trans¬
lations of these, 1 love, 1 did love, I had loved, / shall
have loved, I may love, &c.; for although the syllable
am is repeated in every one of the first, yet as the
last syllable usually strikes the ear with greater force
and leaves a greater impression than the first, it is very
probable that many will think the frequent repetition
of the word LOVE in the last instance, more striking
to the ear than the repetition of am in the former.
We will therefore allow this its full weight, and grant
that there is as great, or even a greater difference be¬
tween the sounds of the different tenses of a Latin verb,
than there is between the words that are equivalent to
them in English. But as we here consider the variety
of sounds of the language in general, before any just
conclusion can be drawn, we must not only compare
the different parts of the same verb, but also compare
the different verbs with one another in each of these
languages. And here, at first view, we perceive a
m6st striking distinction in favour of the analogous
language over the inflected: for as it would be impos¬
sible to form a particular set of inflections different
from one another for each particular verb, all those
languages which have adopted this method have been
obliged to reduce their verbs into a small number of
classes j all the words of each of which classes com-
LANGUAGE.
52.3
Language, monly called conjugations, have the several variations of
«-—»v '■ the modes, tenses, and persons, expressed exactly in the
same manner, which must of necessity introduce a si¬
milarity of sounds into the language in general, much
greater than where every particular verb always retains
Its own distinguishing sound. To be convinced of this,
we need only repeat any number of verbs in Latin and
English, and observe on which side the preference with
respect to variety of sounds must fall.
Pono,
Dono,
Cano,
Sono,
Orno,
Pugno,
Lego,
Scribo,
Puto,
Vivo,
Ambulo,
I put.
I give.
I sing.
I sound.
I adorn.
I fight.
I read.
I write.
I think.
I live.
I ivalk.
Moveo,
Doleo,
Ijugeo,
Obeo,
Gaudeo,
Incipio,
Facio,
Fodio,
Rideo,
Impleo,
Abstineo,
I move.
I ail.
I mourn.
I die.
I rejoice.
I begin.
1 make,
I dig.
I laugh.
Ifill.
Ijbrbear.
The similarity of sounds is here so obvious in the La¬
tin, as to be perceived at the first glance ; nor can we
be surprised to find it so, when we consider that all their
regular verbs, amounting to 4000 or upwards, must be
reduced to four conjugations, and even these differing
but little from one another, which must of necessity pro¬
duce the sameness of sounds which we here perceive ;
whereas, every language that follow the natural order,
like the English, instead of this small number of uni¬
form terminations have almost as many distinct sounds
as original verbs in their language.
But if instead of the present of the indicative mood,
we should take almost any other tense of the Latin
verb, the similarity of sounds would be still more per¬
ceptible, as many of these tenses have the same termi¬
nation in all the four conjugations, particularly in the
imperfect of the indicative, as below.
Pone-bam ;
Dona-bam $
Cane-bam j
Sona-bam ;
Orna-bam j
Pugna-bam ;
Lege-bam ;
Scribe-barn ;
Puta-bam 5
Vive-bam 5
I did put,
J did give,
I did sing,
I did sound,
I did adorn,
I did jig ht,
I did read,
I did write,
I did think,
I did live,
I put.
I gave.
I sung.
I sounded,
I adorned.
I fought.
1 read.
I wrote.
I thought.
I lived.
Abula-bam $
Move-bam $
Dole-bam j
Luge-bam $
Obi-bam }
Gaude-bam j
Incipie-bam j
Facie-bam;
Fodie-bam j
liide-bam 5
Imple-bam;
Abstine-bam j
It is unnecessary to make any remarks on the Latin
words in this example : hut in the English translation
we have carefully marked in the first column the words
without any inflection ; and in the second, have put
down the same meaning by an inflection of our verb ;
which we have been enabled to do, from a peculiar
excellency in our own language unknown to any other
either ancient or modern. Were it necessary to pur¬
sue this subject farther, we might observe, that the
perfect tense in all the conjugations ends universally in
I, the pluperfect in ERAM, and the future, in AM or
BO ; in the subjunctive mood, the imperfect universally
in REM, \.\\z perfect in ERIM, the pluperj'ect in issem,
and the future in ERO : and as a still greater sameness
is observable in the different variations for the persons
in these tenses, seeing the first person plural in all
tenses ends in mus, and the second person in Tis, with
little variation in the other persons ; it is evident that,
in respect to diversity of sounds, this method of conju¬
gating verbs by inf exion, is greatly inferior to the
more natural method of expressing the various connex¬
ions and relations of the verbal attributive by difl’erent
words, usually called auxiliaries.
The second particular, by which the different me-Variety of
thods of marking the relation of the verbal attributive e-xP,'e,*
can all’ect language, arises from the variety of expres-510"**
sions which either of these may admit of in uttering
the same sentiment. In this respect, likewise, the me¬
thod of conjugation by inflection seems to he deficient.
Thus the present of the indicative mood in Latin can
at most be expressed only in two ways, viz. scribo
and ego scribo } which ought perhaps in strictness to
be admitted only as one : whereas, in English, we can
vary it in four diflerent ways, viz. \st, I write; ully,
I do write ; ^dly, Write I do ; ^thly. Write do
I (d). And if we consider the further variation which
these receive in power as well as in sound, by having
3 U 2 the
1 did ivalk,
I did move,
I did ail,
1 did mourn,
I did die,
I did rejoice,
1 did begin,
I did make,
I did dig,
I did laugh,
I did fill,
I did forbear,
I walked.
I moved.
I ailed.
I mourned.
I died.
I rejoiced.
X began.
1 made.
I dug.
I laughed.
I filled.
I forbore.
Language.
(d) We are sufficiently aware, that the last variation cannot in strictness be considered as good language ;
although many examples of this manner of using it in serious composition, both in poetry and pvose, might be
easily produced from the best authors in the English language.—But however unjustifiable it may be to use it
in serious composition ; yet, when judiciously employed in works of humour, this and other forced expressions
of the like nature produce a fine effect, by giving a burlesque air to the language, and beautifully contrasting it
to the purer diction of solid reasoning. The sagacious Shakespeare, has, on many occasions, showed how suc¬
cessfully these may be employed in composition, particularly in drawing the character of ancient Pistol in Hen¬
ry V. Without this liberty, Butler would have found greater difficulty in drawing the inimitable character of
Hudibras.—Let this apology suffice for having inserted this and other variations of the same kind; which, al¬
though they may be often improper for serious composition, have still their use in language.
524 LANG
language, tlie emphasis placed on the different words j instead of
l—^ four, we will find eleven different variations : thus, 1st,
I write, with the emphasis upon the I;—2cl/i/, I
WRITE, with the emphasis upon the word WRITE.
Let any one pronounce these with the different em¬
phasis necessary, and he will be immediately satisfied
that they are not only distinct from each other with
respect to meaning, but also with regard to sound j
and the same must be understood of all the other parts
of this example.
3. I do write.
4. 1 do write.
5. I do WRITE.
6. Write I do.
7. Write I do.
8. Write I do.
9. Write do I.
10. Write do I.
11. Write do I.
None of the Latin tenses admit of more variations
than the two above mentioned: nor do almost any
of the English admit of fewer than in the above ex¬
ample ; and several of these phrases, which must be
eonsidered as exact translations of some of the tenses
of the Latin verb, admit of many more. Thus the
imperfect of the subjunctive mood, which in Latin
admits of the above two variations, admits in English
of the following:
1. I might have written. 4. Written might have I.
2. Written I might have. 5. I written might have.
3. Have written I might. 6. Have written might I.
And if we likewise consider the variations which may
be produced by a variation of the emphasis, they will be
as under :
I. I might have written.
1. I might have written.
3. I might have written.
4. I might have written.
5. Written I might have.
6. Written I might have.
7. Written I might have.
8. Written I might hate.
9. Have written I might.
10. Have written Imight.
11. Have written I might.
12. Have written I might.
13. Written might have I.
14. Written might have I.
15. Written might have I.
16. Written might have I.
17. I written might have.
18. J written might have.
19. / written might have.
20. I written might have.
21. Have written might I.
22. Have written might!.
23. Have written might!,
24. Have written might I.
In all 24 variations, instead of two.—If we likewise
consider, that the Latins were obliged to employ the
same word, not only to express “ I might have written,
bus also, “ I could, I would, or I should have written j”
each of which would admit of the same variations as
the word might; we have in all ninety-six different ex¬
pressions in English for the same phrase which in Latin
admits only of two, unless they have recourse to other
lorced turns of expression, which the defects of their
verbs in this particular has compelled them to in¬
vent.
Eat if it should be objected, that the last circum¬
stance we have taken notice of as a defect, can only
be considered as a defect of the Latin language, and
is not to be attributed to the inflection of their verbs,
seeing they might have had a particular tense for each
of these different words might, could, would, and should;
we answer, that, even admitting this excuse as valid j
the superiority of the analogous language, as such,
U A G E.
still remains in this respect as 12 to r.—Yet even this Language,
concession is greater than ought to have been made: —v~~'
For as the difficulty of forming a sufficient variety of
words for all the different modifications which a verb
may be made to undergo is too great for any rude peo¬
ple to overcome j we find, that every nation which
has adopted this mode of inflection, not excepting the
Greeks themselves, has been obliged to remain satis¬
fied with fewer words than would have been necessary
even to effect this purpose, and make the same word
serve a double, treble, or even quadruple office, as in
the Latin tense which gave rise to these observations :
So that, however in physical necessity, this may not
be chargeable upon the particular mode of construc¬
tion, yet in moral certainty it must always be the casej
and therefore we may safely conclude, that the mode
of varying verbs by inflection affords less variety in the
arrangement of the words of the particular phrases,
than the method of varying them by the help of auxi¬
liaries.
But if there should still remain any shadow of doubt
in the mind of the reader, whether the method of va- 1.s.
rying the verbs by inflection is inferior to that by auxi- Precis,on
liaries, with regard to diversity of sounds, or variety which*1 heR
of expression $ there cannot be the least doubt, but English is
that with respect to precision, distinctness, and accu- superior to
racy, in expressing any idea, the latter enjoys a supe-jhe Latm
riority beyond all comparison.—Thus the Latin verb lan^lia^e*
Amo, may be Englished either by the words, ! love,
or 1 do love, and the emphasis placed upon any of the
words that the circumstances may require j by means
of which, the meaning is pointed out with a force and
energy which it is altogether impossible to produce by
the use of any single word. The following line from
Shakespeare’s Othello may serve as an example :
 Excellent wretch !
Perdition catch my soul, but ! DO love thee :
In which the strong emphasis upon the word DO, give*
it a force and energy which conveys, in an irresistible
manner, a most perfect knowledge of the situation of
the mind of the speaker at the time.—That the whole
energy of the expression depends upon this seemingly
insignificant word, we may be atonce satisfied of, by
keeping it away in this manner :
     ■Excellent wretch !
Perdition catch my soul, but ! love thee.
How poor—»bow tame—how insignificant is this, when
compared with the other ! Here nothing remains but
a tame assertion, ushered in with a pompous exclama¬
tion which could not here be introduced with any de¬
gree of propriety. Whereas, in the way that Shake¬
speare has left it to us, it has an energy which nothing
can surpass $ for, overpowered with the irresistible
force of Desdemona’s charms, this strong exclamation
is extorted from the soul of Othello in spite of him¬
self. Surprised at this tender emotion, which brings
to his mind all those amiable qualities for which he
had so much esteemed her, and at the same time fully
impressed with the firm persuasion of her guilt, he bursts
out into that seemingly inconsistent exclamation, Ex¬
cellent wretch ! and then he adds in the warmth of his
surprise,—thinking it a thing most astonishing, th^t
any warmth of affection should still remain in his
breastj
LANG
uage. breast, he even confirms it with an oath,—Perditmi
v**""1 catch my soul, but I DO love thee.—“ In spite of all the
falsehoods with which I know thou hast deceived me
—in spite of all the crimes of which I know thee
guilty—in spite of all those reasons for which I ought
to hate thee—in spite of myself,—still I find that I
love—ves, I do love thee.” We look upon it as a
thing altogether impossible to transfuse the energy of
this expression into any language whose verbs are regu¬
larly inflected.
In the same manner we might go through all the
other tenses, and show that the same superiority is
to be found in each. Thus, in \X\e perfect tense of the
Latins, instead of the simple AMAVI, we say I HAVE
loved ; and by the liberty we have of putting the
emphasis upon any of the words which compose this
phrase, we can in the most accurate manner fix the
precise idea which we mean to excite } lor if we say,
I have lovedy with the emphasis upon the word JT, it
at once points out the person as the principal object
in that phrase, and makes us naturally look for a con¬
trast in some other person, and the other parts of the
phrase become subordinate to it ;—“ HE has loved thee
much, but I have loved thee infinitely more.” The
Latins too, as they were not prohibited from joining
the pronoun with their verb, were also acquainted with
this excellence, which Virgil has beautihdly used in
this verse :
.. — Nos patriam fugimus ;
Tu, TityrC) lentus in umbra, &c.
But we are not only enabled thus to distinguish the
person in as powerful a manner as the Latins, but can
also with the same facility point out any of the other
oircumstances as principals ; for if we say, with the
emphasis upon the word have, “ I HAVE loved,” it as
naturally points out the time as the principal object,
and makes us to look for a contrast in that peculiarity,
I HAVE : “ I have loved indeed ;—my imagination has
been led astray—my reason has been perverted;—but,
now that time has opened my eyes, I can smile at
those imaginary distresses which once perplexed me.”
—In the same manner we can put the emphasis upon
the other word of the phrase loved,—I have LOVED.”
—Here the passion is exhibited as the principa^circum-
stance ; and as this can never be excited without some
object, we naturally wish to know the object of that
passion—“ Who ! what have you lovedP' are the na¬
tural questions we would put in this case. “ I have
LOVED Eliza.” In this manner we are, on all
occasions, enabled to express, with the utmost preci¬
sion, that particular idea which we would wish to ex¬
cite, so as to give an energy and perspicuity to the
language, which can never be attained by those lan¬
guages whose verbs are conjugated by inflection : and
if to this we add the inconvenience which all inflected
languages are subject to, by having too small a num¬
ber of tenses, so as to be compelled to make one
word on many occasions supply the place of two,
three, or even four, the balance is turned still more in
our favour.—Thus, in Latin, the same word amabo
stands for shall or will love, so that the reader is left to
guess from the context which of the two meanings it
was most likely the writer had in view—In the same
manner, may or can love are expressed by the same
U: A G E. 52S
word AMEM ; as are also might, could, would, or should, Language,
love, by.the single word amarem, as we have already y—*
observed ; so that the reader is left to guess which of
these four meanings the writer intended to express :
which occasions a perplexity very different from that
clear precision which our language allows of, by not
only pointing out the different words, but also by al¬
lowing us to put the emphasis upon any of them we
please, which superadds energy and force to the preci¬
sion it would have had without that assistance.
Upon the whole, therefore, after the most candid The nie-
examination, we must conclude, that the method oftbod of
conjugating verbs by inflection is inferior to that which j\onJu&a^
is performed by the help of auxiliaries ;—because it by fnfiee-S
does not afford such a diversity of sounds,—nor al-lion int'e-
low such variety in the arrangement of expression ‘ior to that
for the same thought,—nor give so great distinction wb*°h is
and precision in the meaning.—It is, however, at-£ei^°™j^
tended with one considerable advantage above the f;CSi
other method : for as the words of which it is formed
are necessarily of great length, and more sonorous,
than in the analogous languages, it admits of a more
flowing harmony of expression ; for the number of
monosyllables in this last greatly checks that pompous
dignity which naturally results from longer words.
Whether this single advantage is sufficient to counter¬
balance all the other defects with which it is attended,
is left to the judgment of the reader to determine :—
but we may remark, before we quit the subject, that
even this excellence is attended with some peculiar in¬
conveniences, which shall be more particularly pointed
out in the sequel.
But perhaps it might still be objected, that although
the comparisons we have made above may be fair, and
the conclusion just, with regard to the Latin and En¬
glish languages ; yet it does not appear clear, that on
that account the method of conjugating verbs by in¬
fection is inferior to that by auxiliaries ; for although it
be allowed that the Latin language is defective in point
of tenses; yet if a language were formed which had
a sufficient number of inflected tenses to answer every
purpose ; if it had, for instance, a word properly
formed for every variation of each tense : one for 1
love, another for I do love ; one for I shall, another for
I will love; one for I might, another for I could, and
would, and should love; and so on through all the
other tenses ; that this language would not be liable to
the objections we have brought against the inflection
of verbs; and that of course the objections we have
brought are only valid against those languages which
have followed that mode and executed it imperfectly.
—We answer, that although this would in some mea¬
sure remedy the evil, yet it would not remove it entire¬
ly. For, in the first place, unless every verb, or every
small number of verbs, were conjugated in one way,
having the sound of the words in each tense, and di¬
vision of tenses, as we may say, different from all the
other conjugations,—it would always occasion a same¬
ness of sound, which would in some measure prevent
that variety of sounds so proper for a language. And
even if this could be effected, it would not give such a
latitude to the expression as auxiliaries allow ; for al¬
though there should be two words, one for 1 might, and
another for I could love ; yet as these are single words,
they cannot be varied j whereas, by auxiliaries, either
of,
526 . LANG
Language, cf 'these can be varied 24 different ways, as has been
» shown above. In the last place, no single word can
ever express all that variety of meaning which we can
do by the help of our auxiliaries and the emphasis. I
• have loved, if expressed by any one word, could only
denote at all times one distinct meaning •, so that to
give it the power of ours, three distinct words at least
would be necessary. However, if all this were done ;
that is, if there were a distinct conjugation formed for
every 40 or 50 verbs ;—if each of the tenses were
properly formed, and all of them different from every
other tense as well as every other verb ; and these all
carried through each of the different persons, so as to
be all different from one another j—and if likewise there
were a distinct word to mark each of the separate
meanings which the same tense could be made to as*-
some by means of the emphasis j and if all this infi¬
nite variety of words could be formed in a distinct
manner, different from each other, and harmonious j
this language would have powers greater than any that
could be formed by auxiliaries, if it were possible for
the human powers to acquire such a degree of know¬
ledge as to be able to employ it with facility. But
how could this be attained, since upwards of ten thou¬
sand words would be necessary to form the variations
of any one verb, and a hundred times that number
would not include the knowledge of the verbs alone of
such a language ? (e)—How much, therefore, ought
we to admire the simple perspicuity of our language,
which enables us, by the proper application of ten or
twelve seemingly trifling words, the meaning and use
of which can be attained with the utmost ease, to ex¬
press all that could be expressed by this unwieldy ap¬
paratus P What can equal the simplicity or the power
of the one method, but the well known powers of the
24 letters, the knowledge of which can be obtained
with so much ease—and their powers know no limits?
—or, what can be compared to the fancied perfection
of the other, but the transcript of it which the Chi¬
nese seem to have formed in their unintelligible lan¬
guage ?_
Having thus considered pretty fully the advantages
and defects of each of these two methods of varying
verbs, we cannot help feeling a secret wish arise in our
mind, that there had been a people sagacious enough
to have united the powers of the one method with
those of the other $ nor can w'e help being surprised,
that among the changes which took place in the seve¬
ral languages of Europe after the downfal of the Ro¬
man monarchy, some of them did not accidentally
stumble on the method of doing it. From many con¬
curring circumstances, it seems probable that the great¬
est part, it not all the Gothic nations that overran
Italy at that time, had their verbs varied by the help
of auxiliaries j and many of the modern European
languages which have sprung from them, have so far
borrowed from the Latin, as to have some of the tenses
U A G E,
of their verbs inflected ; yet the English alone have in Xanp-uag.
any instance combined the joint powers of the two :
which could only be done by forming inflections for the
diflerent tenses in the same manner as the Latins, and
at the same time retaining the original method of va¬
rying them by auxiliaries ; by which means either the
one or the other method could have been employed as
occasion required. We have luckily two tenses formed
in that way y \\\e. present of the indicative, and the aorist
of the past. In almost all our verbs these can be de¬
clined either with or without auxiliaries. Thus the
present, without an auxiliaiy, is, I love, 1 write, I speak;
with an auxiliary, I do write, I do love, 1 do speak. In
the same manner, the past tense, by inflection, is, I
loved, I wrote, I spoke ; by auxiliaries, / did love, I did
speak, I did write. Every author, who knows any
thing of the power of the English language, knows the
use which may be made of this distinction. What a
pity is it that we should have stopt short so soon 1 how
blind was it in many other nations to imitate the defects
without making a proper use of that beautiful language
which is now numbered among the dead ! Analo
After the verbs, the next most considerable varia- aiHj
tion we find between the analogous and transpositive positive
languages is in the nouns; the latter varying the dif-language*
ferent cases of these by inflection ; whereas the former C0^|iPare^
express all the different variations of them by the help™^1^’^
of other words, prefixed, called prepositions. Now, if cases of
we consider the advantages or disadvantages of either nouns,
of these methods under the same heads as we have done
the verbs, we shall find, that with regard to the first
particular, viz. variety of sounds, almost the same re¬
marks may be made as upon the verbs; for if we
compare any particular noun by it itself, the variety of
sourtH appears much greater between the different cases
in the transpositive, than between the translation of
these in the analogous language. Thus rex, regis,
regi, regem, &c. are more distinct from one another,
in point of sound, than the translation of these, a king,
of a king, to a king, a king, &c. But if we proceed one
step further, and consider the variety which is produ¬
ced in the language in general by the one or the other
of these methods, the case is entirely reversed. For
as it would have been impossible to form distinct varia¬
tions, different from one another, for each case of every
noun, they have been obliged to reduce all their nouns
into a few general classes, called declensions, and tOjjie2J.*r
give to all those included under each class the same ter- mer ,npe.
mination in every case ; which produces a like simila-rior in di-
rity of sound with what we already observed was oc-TC,s*t7
casioned to the verbs from the same cause; whereas insound* I
the analogous languages, as there is no necessity for
any constraint, there is almost as a great a variety of
sounds as there are of nouns. The Latins have only
five different declensions ; so that all the great number
of words of this general order must be reduced to the
very small diversity of sounds which these few classes
admit
(e) This assertion may perhaps appear to many very much exaggerated : but if any should think so, we
only beg the favour that he will set himself to mark all the variations of tenses, mode, person, and number,
which an English verb can be made to assume, varying each of these in every way that it will admit, both as
to the diversity of expression and the emphasis ; he will soon be convinced that we have here said nothing more
than enough.
5
**
Inferior
with re¬
gard to the
sentence
but
LANG
kangans'e. admit of j and even the sounds of these few classes are
■-J »~ not so much diversified as they might have been, as
many of the different cases in the different declensions
have exactly the same sounds, as we shall have occasion
to remark more fully hereafter. We might here pro¬
duce examples to show the great similarity of sounds
between different nouns in the Latin language, and va¬
riety in the English, in the same way as we did of the
verbs: but as every reader in the least acquainted with
these two languages can satisfy himself in this particu¬
lar, without any further trouble than by marking down
any number of Latin nouns, with their translations into
English, we think it unnecessary to dwell longer on
this particular.
But if the inflection of nouns is a disadvantage
to a language in point of diversity of sounds, it is very
much the reverse with regard to the variety it allows
in the arranging the words of the phrase. Here, in¬
deed, the transpositive language shines forth in all its
arrange- gl°ry» an(^ t*16 analogous must yield the palm with-
ment of out the smallest dispute. For as the nominative case
words in a (or that noun , which is the cause of the energy ex¬
pressed by the verb) is different from the accusative (or
that noun upon which the energy expressed by the verb
is exerted), these may be placed in any situation that
the writer shall think proper, without occasioning the
smallest confusion : whereas in the analogous languages,
as these two different states of the noun are expressed
by the same word, they cannot be distinguished but by
their position alone : so that the noun which is the ef¬
ficient cause must always precede the verb, and that
which is the passive subject must follow ; which great¬
ly cramps the harmonious flow of composition.—Thus
the Latins, without the smallest perplexity in the mean¬
ing, could say either Brutum amavit Cassius, or Cassius
amavit Brutum, or Brutum Cassius amavit, or Cassius
Brutum amavit. As the termination of the word Cas¬
sius always points out that it is in the nominative case,
and therefore that he is the person from whom the en¬
ergy proceeds j and in the same manner, as the termi¬
nation of the word Brutum points out that it is in the
accusative case, and consequently that he is the object
upon whom the energy is exerted *, the meaning con¬
tinues still distinct and clear, notwithstanding of all
these several variations : whereas in the English lan¬
guage, wre could only say, Cassius loved Brutus, or, by
a more forced phraseology, Cassius Brutus loved: Were
vve to reverse the case, as in the Latin, the meaning
also would he reversed j for if we say Brutus loved Cas¬
sius, it is evident, that instead of being the person be¬
loved, as before, Brutus now becomes the person from
whom the energy proceeds, and Cassius becomes the
object beloved.—In this respect, therefore, the analo¬
gous languages are greatly inferior to the transposi¬
tive f and indeed it is from this single circumstance
alone that they derive their chief excellence.
But although it thus appears evident, that any
language, which has a particular variation of its nouns
to distinguish the accusative from the nominative case,
lias an advantage over those languages which have
none $ yet it does not appear that any other of their
cases adds to the variety, but rather the reverse ; for,
in Latin, we can only say Amor Dei; in English the
same phrase may be rendered, either, the love of Gad
—of God the love,—-or, by a more farced arrangement,
U A G E. 527
God the love of. And as these oblique cases, as the Language.
Latins called them except the accusative, are clearly ' ■'-v"
distinguished from one another, and from the nomina¬
tive, by the preposition which accompanies them, we
are not confined to any particular arrangement with re¬
gard to these as with the accusative, but may place
them in what order we please, as in Milton’s elegant
invocation at the beginning of Paradise Lost:
Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, til! one greater Man
Bestore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, heavenly Muse.
In this sentence the transposition is almost as great
as the Latin language would admit of, and the meaning
as distinct as if Milton had begun with the plain lan¬
guage of prose, thus—“Heavenly muse, sing of man’s
first disobedience,” &c.
Before we leave this head, we may remark, that the
little attention which seems to have been paid to this
peculiar advantage derived from the use of an accusa¬
tive case different from the nominative, is somewhat sur¬
prising. The Latins, who had more occasion to attend
to this with care than any other nation, and even the
Greeks themselves, have in many cases overlooked it,
as is evident from the various instances we meet with in
their languages where this is not distinguished. For all
nouns of the neuter gender both in Greek and Latin
have in every declension their nominative and accusa¬
tive singular alike. Nor in the plural of such nouns
is there any distinction between these two cases $ and
in Latin all nouns whatever of the third, fourth, and
fifth declensions, of which the number is very consi¬
derable, have their nominative and aceusative plural
alike. So that their language reaps no advantage in
this respect from almost one half of their nouns. Nor
have any of the modern languages in Europe, however
much they may have borrowed from the ancient lan¬
guages in other respects, attempted to copy from them
in this particular; from which perhaps more advantage
would have been gained, than from copying all the
other supposed excellencies of their language.—But to
return to our object. a.
It remains that we consider, whether the inflection great!)-su-
of nouns gives any advantage over the method of defi-perior as
ning them by prepositions, in point of distinctness and Pre®u
precision of meaning? But in this respect, too, the ana- njeaI1jn,_T
logons languages must come off victorious. Indeed this
is the particular in which their greatest excellence con¬
sists ; nor was it, we believe, ever disputed, but that, in
point of accuracy and precision, this method must ex¬
cel all others, however it may be defective in other re¬
spects. We observed under this head, when speaking of
verbs, that it might perhaps be possible to form a lan¬
guage by inflection which should be capable of as great
accuracy as in the mox-e simple order of auxiliaries : but
this would have been such an infinite labour, that it
was not to be expected that ever human powers would
have been able to accomplish it. More easy would it
have been to have formed the several inflections of the
nouns so different from one another, as to have render¬
ed it impossible ever to mistake the meaning. Yet even
this has not been attempted. And as we find that those
languages^
LANGUAGE.
*4
These two
different
idioms of
language
compared
»• to their
general ef¬
fects.
languages whith have adopted the method of inflecting
their verbs are more imperfect in point of precision
than the other, so the same may be said of inflecting
the nouns : for, not to mention the energy which the
analogous languages acquire by putting the accent
upon the noun, or its preposition (when in an oblique
case), according as the subject may require, to express
which variation of meaning no particular variety of
words have been invented in any inflected language,
they are not even complete in other respects. The La¬
tin, in particular, is in many cases defective, the same
termination being employed in many instances for dif¬
ferent cases of the same noun. Thus the genitive and
dative singular, and nominative and vocative plural, of
the first declension, are all exactly alike, and can on¬
ly be distinguished from one another by the formation
of the sentence j—as are also the nominative, voca¬
tive, and ablative singular, and the dative and ablative
plural. In the second, the genitive singular, and no¬
minative and vocative plural, are the same, as are al¬
so the dative and ablative singular, and dative and ab¬
lative plural j except those in UM, whose nominative,
accusative, and vocative singular, and nominative,’accu¬
sative, and vocative plural, are alike. The other three
declensions agree in as many of their cases as these do $
which evidently tends to perplex the meaning, unless
the hearer is particularly attentive to and well acquaint¬
ed with the particular construction of the other parts of
the sentence } all of which is totally removed, and the
clearest certainty exhibited at once, by the help of pre¬
positions in the analogous languages.
It will hardly be necessary to enter into such a mi¬
nute examination of the advantages or disadvantages
attending the variation of adjectives; as it will ap¬
pear evident, from what has been already said, that
the endowing them with terminations similar to, and
corresponding with, substantives, must tend still more
to increase the similarity of sounds in any language,
than any of those particulars we have already taken
notice of, and were it not for the liberty which they
have, in transpositive languages, of separating the ad¬
jective from the substantive, this must have occasioned
such a jingle of similar sounds as could not fail te have
been most disgusting to the ear : but as it would have
been impossible in many cases, in those languages where
the verbs and nouns are inflected, to have pronounced
the words which ought to have followed each other,
unless their adjectives could have been separated from
the substantives j therefore, to remedy this inconveni¬
ence, they were forced to devise this unnatural method
of inflecting them also 5 by which means it is easy to
recognise to what substantive any adjective has a re¬
ference, in whatever part of the sentence it may be
placed. In these languages, therefore, this inflection,
both as to gender, number, and case, becomes abso¬
lutely necessary ; and, by the diversity which it admit¬
ted in the arranging the words of the several phrases,
might counterbalance the jingle of similar sounds which
it introduced into the language.
Having thus examined the most striking particu¬
lars in which the transpositive and analogous languages
differ, and endeavoured to show the general ten¬
dency of every one of the particulars separately, it
would not be fair to dismiss the subject without con¬
sidering each of these as a whole, and pointing out
3
their general tendency in that light : for we all know, r
1 • r 1 '• 1 • • > ’Jjangtiaee
that it otten happens in human inventions, that every 1
part which composes a whole, taken separately, may
appear extremely fine ; and yet, when all these parts
are put together, they may not agree, but produce
a jarring and confusion very different from what we
might have expected. We therefore imagine a few
remarks upon the genius of each of these two distinct
idioms of language considered as a whole will not be
deemed useless.
Although all languages agree in this respect, that The trans-
they are the means of conveying the ideas of one man positive kli
to another ; yet as there is an infinite variety of waysem fittest
in which we might wish to convey these ideas, some-for so!elT1k
times by the easy and familiar mode of conversation,
and at other times by more solemn addresses to the
understanding, by pompous declamation, &c. it may
so happen, that the genius of one language may be
more properly adapted to the one of these than the
other, while another language may excel in the oppo¬
site particular. This is exactly the case in the two
general idioms of which we now treat. Every par¬
ticular in a transpositive language, is peculiarly calcu¬
lated for that solemn dignity which is necessary for
pompous orations. Long sounding words, formed by
the inflection of the different parts of speech,—flowing
periods, in which the attention is kept awake by the
harmony of the sounds, and in expectation of that
word which is to unravel the whole,—if composed by
a skilful artist, are admirably suited to that solemn dig¬
nity and awful grace which constitute the essence of a ^
public harangue. On the contrary, in private conver- The analo-
sation, where the mind wishes to unbend itself with gous for
ease, these become so many clogs which encumber Pr*vate
and perplex. At these moments we wish to transfuse
our thoughts with ease and facility-—we are tired with writteB
every unnecessary syllable—and wish to be freed fromalogae.
the trouble of attention as much as may be. Like our
state robes, we would wish to lay aside our pompous
language, and enjoy ourselves at home with freedom
and ease. Here the solemnity and windings of the
transpositive language are troublesome; while the faci¬
lity with which a sentiment can be expressed in the ana¬
logous language is the thing that we wish to acquire.
Accordingly in Terence and Plautus, where the beau¬
ties of dialogue are most charmingly displayed, trans¬
position is sparingly used. In this humble, though
most engaging sphere, the analogous language moves
unrivalled ; in this it wishes to indulge, and never tires.
But it in vain attempts to rival the transpositive in dig¬
nity and pomp: The number of monosyllables inter¬
rupts the flow of harmony ; and although they may
give a greater variety of sounds, yet they do not natu¬
rally possess that dignified gravity which suits the other
language. This, then, must be considered as the strik¬
ing particular in the genius of these two different
idioms, which marks their characters.
If we consider the effects which these two differ¬
ent characters of language must naturally produce
upon the people who employ them, we will soon per¬
ceive, that the genius of the analogous language is
much more favourable for the most engaging purposes
of life, the civilizing the human mind by mutual in¬
tercourse of thought, than the transpositive. For as it
is chiefly by the use of speech that man is raised above
the
LANG
iksitguage. the Urate creation t-»*as it 13 Ly tSjis means he improves
v-'"--' every faculty of his mind, and to the observations
which he may himself have made, has the additional
advantage of the experience of those with whom he
may converse, as well as the knowledge which the hu¬
man race have acquired by the accumulated experience
of all preceding ages-,—as it is by the enlivening glow
of conversation that kindred souls catch fire from one
another, that thought produces thought, and each
improves upon the other, till they soar beyond the
bounds which human reason, if left alone, could ever
have aspired to -,—we must surely consider that lan¬
guage as the most beneficial to society, which most ef¬
fectually removes those bars that obstruct its progress.
Now, the genius of the. analogous languages is so easy,
so simple and plain, as to lie within the reach of every
one who is born in the kingdom where it is used to
speak it with facility ; even the rudest among the vul¬
gar can hardly fall into any considerable grammati¬
cal errors: whereas, in the transpositive languages, so
many rules are necessary to be attended to, and so
much variation is produced in the meaning, by the
slightest variations in the sound, that it requires a study
far above the reach of the illiterate mechanic ever
to attain. So that, how perfect soever the language
may be when spoken with purity, the bulk of the na¬
tion must ever labour under tbe inconvenience of rude¬
ness and inaccuracy of speech, and all tbe evils which
this naturally produces.—Accordingly, we find, that
in Home, a man, even in the highest rank, received
as much honour, and was as much distinguished among
his equals, for being able to converse with ease, as a
modern author would be for writing in an easy and
elegant style $ and Caesar among his contemporaries
was as much esteemed for his superiority in speaking
the language in ordinary conversation with ease and
elegance, as for his powers of oratory, his skill in arms,
or his excellence in literary composition. It is need¬
less to point out the many inconveniences which this
must unavoidably produce in a state. It is sufficient
to observe, that it naturally tends to introduce a vast
distinction between the different orders of men j to set
an impenetrable barrier between those born in a high
and those horn in a low station $ to keep the latter in
ignorance and barbarity, while it elevates the former
to such a height as must subject the other to be easily
led by every popular demagogue.—How far the histo¬
ry of the nations who have followed this idiom of lan¬
guage confirms this observation, every one is left to
judge for himself.
Having thus considered Language in general, and
pointed out the genius and tendency of the two most
distinguished IDIOMS which have prevailed j we shall
close these remarks with a few observations upon the
particular nature and genius of those languages which
are now chiefly spoken or studied in Europe.
Of all the nations whose memory history has trans-
tion« on mitted to us, none have been so eminently distinguished
for their literary accomplishments, as well as acquaint-
"fcieh are ance P°Hte arts, as the Greeks : nor are we
ohietyas yet acquainted with a language possessed of so many
«pofc«n or advantages, with so few defects, as that which they
jturt.ea use(j5 an(j WJ1JC[, continues still to be known by their
name.—The necessary connexion between the progress
of knowledge and the improvement of language, has
Vol. XI. Part II. f
X
„ *T
Gfcserva-
Uudied in
Ewope
•28
U A G E.
been already explained ; so that it will not be surX
prising to find their progress in the one keep pace
with that of the other : but it will be of utility to
point out some advantages which that distinguished
people possessed, which other nations, perhaps not less
distinguished for talents or taste, have not enjoyed,
which have contributed to render their language the
most universally admired in ancient as well as in mo¬
dern times.
It has been already observed, that the original inha-The great
hitants of Greece who were gross savages, and whose suPeno,'ity
language of course would be very rude and narrow, were p a,
first tamed by the Pelasgi, an eastern or an Egyptian gu^ge.ow-
ti ibe. i ioni the east it is well known that arts and ing to what
sciences were spread over the rest of the world, and that eauses*
Egypt was one of the countries first civilized. The
language, therefore, imported into Greece by the Pe¬
lasgi would be pure from the fountain head, and much
moie peifeet 111 its structure than if it had been trans¬
mitted through many nations. But this was not the
only circumstance highly fortunate for the Greek lan¬
guage. Before it had time to be fully established
among the people, its asperities, which it had in com¬
mon with the other dialects of the east, were polished
away by such a succession of poets, musicians, philo¬
sophers and legislators, from different countries, as ne¬
ver appeared in any other nation at a period so early
as to give their genius and taste its full influence. In
this respect, no people'were ever so eminently distin¬
guished as the ancient Greeks, who had their Orpheus,
their Linus, their Cecrops, and their Cadmus, who in¬
troduced their different improvements at a time when
the nation had no standard of taste formed by itself.
Hence the original sounds of the Greek language arc
the most harmonious, and the most agreeable to the
ear, of any that have hitherto been invented. They
are indeed agreeable to every person who hears them,
even when the meaning of the word is not understood j
whereas almost all other languages, till they are under¬
stood, appear, to an ear which has not been accustomed
to them, jarring and discordant. This is the funda¬
mental excellence of that justly admired language : nor
have the people failed to improve this to the utmost of
their power, by many aids of their own invention. The
Greek language is of the transpositive kind : but a
people so lively, so acute, and so loquacious, could ill
bear the ceremonious restraint to which that mode of
language naturally subjected them : and have there¬
fore, by various methods, freed it in a great measure
from the stiffness which that produced. In inflecting
their nouns and verbs, they sometimes prefix a syllable,
and sometimes add one j which, besides the variety that
it gives to the sounds of the language, adds greatly to
the distinctness, and admits of a more natural arrange¬
ment of the words than in the Latin, and of conse¬
quence renders it much fitter for the easiness of private
conversation : and indeed the genius of the people so
far prevailed over the idiom of the language, as to ren¬
der it, in the age of its greatest perfection, capable of
almost as much ease, and requiring almost as little trans¬
position of words, as those languages which have been
called analogous. But as those nations who spoke this
language were all governed by popular assemblies, and
as no authority could be obtained among them but by
a skill in rhetoric and the powers of persuasion; it
3 X became
530 LANG
X^nnmase. became necessary for every one, who wished to acquire
—v—power or consideration in the state, to improve him¬
self in the knowledge of that language, in the use of
which alone he could expect honours or reputation.
Hence it happened, that while the vivacity of the
people rendered it easy, the great men studiously im¬
proved every excellence that it could reap from its
powers as a transpositive 1 anguage; so that, when brought
to its utmost perfection by the amazing genius of the
great Demosthenes, it attained a power altogether un¬
known to any other language.—Thus happily cir¬
cumstanced, the Greek language arrived at that envied
pre-eminence which it still justly retains. From the
progress of arts and sciences j from the gaiety and in¬
ventive genius of the people ; from the number of free
states into which Greece was divided, each of which
invented words of its own, all of which contributed to
the general stock j and from the natural communica¬
tion which took place between these states, which ex¬
cited in the strongest degree the talents of the people ;
it acquired a copiousness unknown to any ancient lan¬
guage, and excelled by few of the moderns.—In point
of harmony of numbers, it is altogether unrivalled ;
and on account of the ease as well as dignity which,
from the causes above mentioned, it acquired, it ad¬
mits of perfection in a greater number of particular
kinds of composition than any other language known.
—The irresistible force and overwhelming impetuosity
of Demosthenes seem not more natural to the genius
of the language, than the more flowery charms of
Plato’s calm and harmonious cadences, or the una¬
dorned simplicity of Xenophon ; nor does the majestic
pomp of Homer seem to be more agreeable to the ge¬
nius of the language in which he wrote, than the more
humble strains of Theocritus, or the laughing festivity
of Anacreon : Equally adapted to all purposes, when
we peruse any of these authors, we would imagine the
language was most happily adapted for his particular
style alone. The same powers it likewise, in a great
measure, possessed for conversation ; and the dialogue
seems not more natural for the dignity of Sophocles
or Euripides, than for the more easy tenderness of
Menander, or buffoonery of Aristophanes.—With all
these advantages, how'ever, it must be acknowledged,
that it did not possess that unexceptionable clearness
of meaning which some analogous languages enjoy, or
that characteristic force which the emphasis properly
varied has power to give, w'ere not these defects coun¬
terbalanced by other causes which we shall afterwards
point out.
The Latin The Romans, a people of fierce and warlike dispo-
sitions, for many ages during the infancy of their re-
the Greek • PU^‘C» more ^ntent on pursuing conquests and military
and why. ’ g'ory lban in making improvements on literature or
the line arts, bestowed little attention to their language.
Of a disposition less social or more phlegmatic than
the Greeks, they gave themselves no trouble about
rendering their language fit for conversation ; and it
remained strong and nervous, but, like their ideas,
was limited and confined. More disposed to command
respect by the power of their arms, than by the force
of persuasion, they despised the more effeminate powers
of speech : so that, before the Punic wars, their lan¬
guage was perhaps more reserved and uncourtly than
any other at that time known.—But after their rival
S
U A G E.
Carthage was destroyed, and they had no longer that Language,
powerful curb upon their ambition j when riches flowed —y——j
in upon them by the multiplicity of their conquests j
——luxury began to prevail, the stern austerity of their
manners to relax, and selfish ambition to take place of
that disinterested love for their country so eminently
conspicuous among all orders of men before that pe¬
riod.—Popularity began then to be courted j ambi¬
tious men, finding themselves not possessed of that me¬
rit which ensured them success with the virtuous se¬
nate, amused the mob with artful and seditious ha¬
rangues ; and by making them believe that they were
possessed of all power, and had their sacred rights en¬
croached upon by the senate, led them about at their
pleasure, and got themselves exalted to honours and
riches by these insidious arts. It was then the Ro¬
mans first began to perceive the use to which a com¬
mand of language could be put. Ambitious men
then studied it with care, to be able to accomplish
their ends ; while the more virtuous were obliged to
acquire a skill in this, that they might be able to repel
the attacks of their adversaries.—Thus it happened,
that in a short time that , people from having entire¬
ly neglected, began to study their language with the
greatest assiduity ; and as Greece happened to be sub¬
jected to the Roman yoke about that time, and a
friendly intercourse was established between these two
countries, this greatly conspired to nourish in the minds
of the Romans a taste for that art of which they had
lately become so much enamoured. Greece had long
before this period been corrupted by luxury; their
taste for the fine arts had degenerated into unnecessary
refinement ; and all their patriotism consisted in popu¬
lar harangues and unmeaning declamation. Oratory
was then studied as a refined art; and all the subtle¬
ties of it were taught by rule, with as great care as
the gladiators were afterwards trained up in Rome.
But while they were thus idly trying who should be
the lord of their own people, the nerves of govern¬
ment were relaxed, and they became an easy prey to
every invading power. In this situation they became ths
subjects, under the title of the al/ies, of Rome, and in¬
troduced among them the same taste for haranguing
which prevailed among themselves. Well acquainted
as they were with the powers of their own language,
they set themselves with unwearied assiduity to polish
and improve that of their new masters: but with all
their assiduity and pains, they never were able to make
it arrive at that perfection which their own language
had acquired ; and in the Augustan age, when it had
arrived at the summit of its glory, Cicero bitterly com¬
plains of its want of copiousness in many particulars. 30
But as it was the desire of all who studied this lan-II co*»!d
guage with care, to make it capable of that stately n.ot be ear'
dignity and pomp necessary for public harangues, they "nVck-16
followed the genius of the language in this particular,gree of per-
and in a great measure neglected those lesser delicacies fcctiwi.
which form the pleasure of domestic enjoyment; so
that, while it acquired more copiousness, more har¬
mony, and precision, it remained stiff and inflexible
for conversation : nor could the minute distinction of
nice grammatical rules be ever brought down to the
apprehension of the vulgar : whence the language spo¬
ken among the lower class of people remained rude and
unpolished even to the end of the monarchy. The
JIuns
LANGUAGE.
Language. Huns ^vho overran Italy, Incapable of acquiring any
—*V"   knowledge of such a difficult and abstruse language,
never adopted it j and the native inhabitants being
made acquainted with a language more natural and
easily acquired, quickly adopted that idiom of speech
introduced by their conquerors, although they still
retained many of those words which the confined na¬
ture of the barbarian language made necessary to al¬
low' them to express their ideas.—And thus it was
that the language of Rome, that proud mistress of the
world, from an original defect in its formation, al¬
though it had been carried to a perfection in other re¬
spects far superior to any northern language at that
time, easily gave way to them, and in a few ages the
knowledge of it was lost among mankind : while, on the
contrary, the more easy nature of the Greek language
has still been able to keep some slight footing in the
world, although the nations in which it has been
spoken have been subjected to the yoke of foreign
dominion for upwards of two thousand years, and
their country has been twice ravaged by barbarous
nations, and more cruelly depressed than ever the
Romans were.
From the view which we have already given of the
Xatin language, it appears evident, that its idiom was
more strictly transpositive than that of any other lan¬
guage yet known, and was attended with all the de¬
fects to which that idiom is naturally subjected : nor
could it boast of such favourable alleviating circum¬
stances as the Greek, the prevailing sounds of the La¬
tin being far less harmonious to the ear 5 and although
the formation of the words is such as to admit of full
and distinct sounds, and the words are so modulated as
to lay no restraint upon the voice of the speaker; yet, to
a person unacquainted with the language, they do not
convey that enchanting harmony so remarkable in the
Greek language. The Latin is stately and solemn ; it
does not excite disgust; but at the same time it does
not charm the ear, so as to make it listen with delight¬
ful attention. To one acquainted with the language,
indeed, the nervous boldness of the thoughts, the har¬
monious rounding of the periods, the full solemn swell¬
ing of the sounds, so distinguishable in the mo*t emi¬
nent writers in that language which have been pre-
served to us, all conspire to make it pleasant and agree¬
able.—In these admired works we meet with all its
beauties, without perceiving any of its defects ; and we
naturally admire, as perfect, a language which is ca¬
pable of producing such excellent works.—Yet with
ail these seeming excellencies, this language is less co¬
pious and more limited in its style of composition, than
many modern languages ; far less capable of precision
and accuracy than almost any of these; and infinitely
behind them all in point of easiness in conversation.
Rut these points have been so fully proved already, as
to require no further illustration.—Of the compositions
in that language which have been preserved to us, the
Orations of Cicero are best adapted to the genius of
the language, and we there see it in its utmost perfec¬
tion. In the Philosophical [Forks of that great author
we perceive some of its defects; and it requires all the
powers of that great man to render his Epistles agree¬
able, as these have the genius of the language to strug¬
gle with. Next to oratory, history agrees with the ge¬
nius of this language; and Caesar, in his Commentaries,
has exhibited the language in its purest elegance, with-Lan-na'-e.
out the aid of pomp or foreign ornament. Among
the poets, Virgil has best adapted his works to his lan¬
guage. The flowing harmony and pomp of it is well
adapted for the epic strain, and the correct delicacy of
his taste rendered him perfectly equal to the task. But
Horace is the only poet whose force of genius was able
to overcome the bars which the language threw in hia
way, and succeed in lyric poetry. Were it not for the
brilliancy of the thoughts, and acuteness of the re¬
marks, vvhich so eminently distinguish this author’s
compositions, his odes would long ere now have sunk
into utter oblivion. But so conscious have all the Ro¬
man poets been of the unfitness of their language for
easy dialogue, that almost none of them, after Plautus
and 1 eience, have attempted any dramatic compositions
in that language. Nor have we any reason to regret
that they neglected this branch of poetry, as it is pro¬
bable, if they had ever become fond of these, they would
have been obliged to adopt so many unnatural contri¬
vances to render them agreeable, as would have pre¬
vented us (who of course would have considered our¬
selves as bound to follow them) from making that pro¬
gress in the drama which so particularly distinguishes
the productions of modern times.
The modern Italian language, from an inattention The Italian
too common in literary subjects, has been usually call-lailguago of
ed a child of the Latin language, and is commonly be- Got^‘c ’di-
lieved to be the ancient Latin, a little debased by tbe0™’4111^
mixture of the barbarous language of those people who
conquered Italy. The truth is, the case is directly the
reverse : for this language, in its general idiom and
fundamental principles, is evidently of the analogous
kind, first introduced by those fierce invaders, although
it has borrowed many of its words, and some of its modes
of phraseology, from the Latin, with which they were
so intimately blended that they could scarcely be avoid¬
ed ; and it has been from remarking this slight con¬
nexion, so obvious at first sight, that superficial observ¬
ers have been led to draw this general conclusion, so
contrary to fact.
When Italy was overrun by the Lombards, and the
empire destroyed by these northern invaders, they, as
conquerors, continued to speak their own native lan¬
guage. Fierce and illiterate, they would not stoop to
the servility of studying a language so clogged with
rules, and difficult of attainment, as the Latin would
naturally be to a people altogether unacquainted with
nice grammatical distinctions: while the Romans, of
necessity, were obliged to study the language of their
conquerors, as well to obtain some relief of their griev¬
ances by prayers and supplications, as to destroy that
odious distinction which subsisted between the con¬
querors and conquered, while they continued as distinct
people. As the language of their new masters, al¬
though rude and confined, was natural in its order,
and easy to be acquired, the Latins would soon attain
a competent skill in it: and as they bore such a pro¬
portion to the whole number of people, the whole lan¬
guage would partake somewhat of the general sound of
the former; for, in spite of all their efforts to the con¬
trary, the organs of speech could not at once be made to
acquire a perfect power of uttering any unaccustomed
sounds; and as it behoved the language of the barba¬
rians to be much less copious than the Latin, whenever
3X2 they
.3*
of Latin
sound.
"both ils
pa Kent
tongues.
532 LANG
Language, they found themselves at a loss for a word, they would
naturally adopt those which most readily presented
themselves from their new subjects. Thus a language
in time was formed, somewhat resembling the Latin
both in the general tenor of the sounds and in the mean¬
ing of many words: and as the barbarians gave them¬
selves little trouble about language, and in some cases
perhaps hardly knew the general analogy of their own
language, it is not surprising if their new subjects should
find themselves sometimes at a loss on that account j or
if, in these situations, they followed, on some occasions,
the analogy suggested to them by their own : which
accounts for the strange degree of mixture of heteroge¬
neous grammatical analogy we meet with in the Italian
as well as Spanish and French languages. The idiom
of all the Gothic languages is purely analogous*, and
in all probability, before their mixture with the Latins
and other people in their provinces, the several gram¬
matical parts of speech followed the plain simple idea
which that supposes, the verbs and nouns were all pro¬
bably varied by auxiliaries, and their adjectives retained
their simple unalterable state but by their mixture
with the Latins, this simple form has been in many
cases altered : their verbs become in some cases inflect¬
ed ; but their nouns in all these languages still retained
Hastiiejig.their original form; although they have varied their
^feots of adjectives, and foolishly clogged their nouns with gen¬
der, according to the Latin idioms. From this hetero¬
geneous and fortuitous (as we may say, because injudi¬
cious) mixture of parts, results a language possessing
almost all the defects of each of the languages of which
it is composed, with few of the excellencies of either :
for it has neither the ease and precision of the analo-
'gnus, nor the pomp and boldness of the transpositive,
languages ; at the same time that it is clogged with al¬
most as many rules, and liable to as great abuses.
These observations are equally applicable to the
French and Spanish as to the Italian language. With
regard to this last, in particular, we may observe, that
as the natural inhabitants of Italy, before the last in¬
vasion of the barbarians, were sunk and enervated by
luxury, and by that depression of mind and genius
which anarchy always produces, they had become fond
of feasting and entertainments, and the enjoyment of
sensual pleasures constituted their highest delight j and
their language partook of the same debility as their
body.—The barbarians too, unaccustomed to the se¬
ductions of pleasure, soon fell from their original bold¬
ness and intrepidity, and, like Hannibal’s troops of
old, were enervated by the sensual gratifications in
which a nation of conquerors unaccustomed to the re¬
straint of government freely indulged. The softness
of the air, the fertility of the climate, the unaccustomed
flow of riches which they at once acquired, together
with the voluptuous manner of their conquered sub¬
jects ; all conspired to enervate their minds, and render
them soft and effeminate. No wonder then, if a lan¬
guage new-moulded at this juncture should partake of
the genius of the people who formed it; and instead
of participating of the martial boldness and ferocity of
either of their ancestors, should be softened and en¬
feebled by every device which an effeminate people
could invent.—‘The strong consonants which termi¬
nated the words, and gave them life and boldness, be-
U A G E.
ing thought too harsh for the delicate ears of these
sons of sloth, were banished their language ; while so- ' j
norous vowels, which could be protracted to any length
in music, were substituted in their stead.—Thus Uie 34
Italian language is formed flowing and harmonious, ^ .
but destitute of those nerves which constitute the flo^g an(j
strength and vigour of a language : at the same time, harmoiu-
the sounds are neither enough diversified, nor in them- 6US> *s
selves of such an agreeable tone, as to afford greatf?eb*e ior
pleasure without the aid of musical notes ; and the '
small pleasure which this affords is still lessened by the compoii!
little variety of measure which the great similarity of »ion.
the terminations of the words occasions. Hence it
happens that the language is fitted for excelling in
fewer branches of literature than almost any other :
and although we have excellent historians, and more
than ordinary poets, in Italian, yet they labour under
great inconveniences from the language wanting nerves
and stateliness for the former, and sufficient variety of
modulation for the latter. It is, more particularly on
this account, altogether unfit for an epic poem : and
though attempts have been made in this way by two
men, whose genius, if not fettered by the language,
might have been crowned with success ; yet these,
notwithstanding the fame that with some they may.
have acquired, must, in point of poetic harmony, be
deemed defective by every impartial person. Nor is it
possible that a language which hardly admits of poetry
without rliime, can ever be capable of producing a
perfect poem of great length ; and the stanza to which
their poets have ever confined themselves, must always
produce the most disagreeable effect in a poem where
unrestrained pomp and pathos are necessary qualifica¬
tions. The only species of poetry in which the Italian
language can claim a superior excellence, is the tender
tone of elegy r and here it remains unrivalled and
alone; the plaintive melody of the sounds, and smooth
flow of the language, being perfectly adapted to ex¬
press that soothing melancholy which this species of
poetry requires. On this account the plaintive scenes
of the Pastor Ftdo of Guarini have justly gained to that
poem an universal applause; although, unless on this
account alone, it is perhaps inferior to almost every
other poem of the kind which ever appeared.—We
must observe with surprise, that the Italians, who have
fettered every other species of poetry with the severest
shackles of rhime, have in this species showed an ex¬
ample of the most unrestrained freedom ; the happy
effects of which ought to have taught all Europe the
powerful charms attending it : yet with amazement we
perceive, that scarce an attempt to imitate them has
been made by any poet in Europe except by Milton in
his Lycidas ; no dramatic poet, even in Britain, having
ever adopted the unrestrained harmony of numbers to
be met with in this and many other of their best dra¬
matic compositions.
Of all the languages which sprung up from the mix-The tsccl-
ture of the Latins with the northern people on thel611^0*
destruction of the Roman empire, none approach so the Spared
near to the genius of the Latin as the Spanish does.— lon£ue*
For as the Spaniards have been always remarkable
for their military prowess and dignity of mind, their
language is naturally adapted to express ideas of
that kind. Sonorous and solemn, it admits nearly
of
LANGUAGE.
f&nguao-e. as much dignity as the Latin. For conversation, it
w-v--*-' is the most elegant and courteous language in Eu¬
rope.
The humane and generous order of chivalry was first
invented, and kept its footing longest, in this nation j
and although it ran at last into such a ridiculous ex¬
cess as deservedly made it fall into universal disrepute,
vet it left such a strong tincture of romantic heroism
upon the minds of all ranks of people, as made them
jealous of their glory, and strongly emulous of culti¬
vating that heroic politeness, which they considered
as the highest perfection they could attain. Every
man disdained to flatter, or to yield up any point of
honour which he possessed j at the same time, he ri¬
gorously exacted from others all that was his due.—
These circumstances have given rise to a great many
terms of respect and courteous condescension, without
meanness or flattery, which gave their dialogue a re¬
spectful politeness and elegance unknown to any other
European language. This is the reason why the cha¬
racters so finely drawn by Cervantes in Don Quixote
are still unknown to all but those who understand the
language in which he wrote. Nothing can be more
unlike the gentle meekness and humane heroism of the
knight, or the native simplicity, warmth of affection,
and respectful loquacity of the squire, than the incon¬
sistent follies of the one, or the impertinent forward¬
ness and disrespectful petulance of the other, as they
are exhibited in every English translation. Nor is it,
as we imagine, possible to represent so much familiari¬
ty, united with such becoming condescension in the
one, and unfeigned deference in the other, in any other
European language, as is necessary to paint these two
admirable characters.
Although this language, from the solemn dignity
and majestic elegance of its structure, is perhaps better
qualified than any other modern one for the sublime
strains of epic poetry ; yet as the poets of this nation
have all along imitated the Italians by a most servile
subjection to rhime, they never have produced one
poem of this sort, which in point of poesy or style de¬
serves to be transmitted to posterity. And in any
other species of poetry but this, or the higher tragedy,
it is not naturally fitted to excel. But although the
drama and other polite branches of literature were
early cultivated in this country, and made considerable
progress in it, before the thirst of gain debased their
souls, or the desire of universal dominion made them
forfeit that liberty which they once so much prized $
since they became enervated by an overbearing pride,
and their minds enslaved by superstition, all the polite
arts have been neglected : so that, while other Euro¬
pean nations have been advancing in knowledge, and
improving their language, they have remained in a state
of torpid inactivity •, and their language has not arrived
at that perfection which its nature would admit, or the
acute genius of the people might have made us natu-
I rally expect.
The French W|N perhaps by some be thought an unpardon-
hntfuage able insult, if we do not allow the French the prefer-
drticient in ence of all modern languages in many respects. But
diypnity and So far must we pay a deference to truth, as to be obli-
l'iit0 i'anh it among the poorest languages in Eu¬
rope. Every other language has some sounds which
can be uttered clearly by the voice : even the Italian,
533
although it wants energy, still possesses distinctness of Language,
articulation. But the French is almost incapable of
either of these beauties $ for in that language the vow¬
els are so much curtailed in the pronunciation, and the
words run into one another in such a manner as neces¬
sarily to produce an indistinctness which renders it in¬
capable of measure or harmony. From this cause, it
is in a great measure incapable of poetic modulation,
and rhime has been obliged to be substituted in its
stead ; so that this poorest of all contrivances which
has ever yet been invented to distinguish poetry from
prose, admitted into all the modern languages when
ignorance prevailed over Europe, has still kept some
footing in the greatest part of these, rather through a
deference for established customs than from any neces¬
sity. Yet as the French language admits of so little
poetic modulation, rhime is in some measure necessary
to it; and therefore this poor deviation from prose has
been adopted by it, and dignified with the name of Foe-
try. But by their blind attachment to this artifice,
the French have neglected to improve, so much as they
might have done, the small powers for harmony of
which their language is possessed j and by being long
accustomed to this false taste, they have become fond
of it to such a ridiculous excess, as to have all their
tragedies, nay even their comedies, in rhime. While
the poet is obliged to enervate his language, and check,
the flow of composition, for the sake of linking his
lines together, the judicious actor finds more difficulty
in destroying the appearance of that measure, and pre¬
venting the clinking of the rhimes, than in all the rest
of his task.—After this, we will not be surprised to
find Voltaire attempt an epic poem in this species of
poetry ; although the more judicious Fenelon, in his
Telernaque, had shown to his countrymen the only spe¬
cies of poesy that their language could admit of for
any poem which aspired to the dignity of the epic
strain.—Madam Deshouliers, in her Idyllie, has shown
the utmost extent of harmony to which their language
can attain in smaller poems : indeed in the tenderness
of an elegy, or the gaiety of a song, it may succeed j ■
but it is so destitute of force and energy, that it can
never be able to reach the pindaric, or even perhaps
the lyric, strain,—as the ineffectual efforts even of the
harmonious Rousseau, in his ti'anslation of the Psalms
of David, of this stamp, may fully convince us.
With regard to its powers in other species of com¬
position, the sententious rapidity of Voltaire, and the
more nervous dignity of Rousseau, afford us no small
presumption, that, in a skilful hand, it might acquire
so much force, as to transmit to futurity historical
facts in a style not altogether unworthy of the subject.
In attempts of pathetic declamation, the superior abi¬
lities of the composer may perhaps on some occasions
excite a great idea; but this is ever cramped by the
genius of the language : and although no nation in
Europe can boast of so many orations where this gran¬
deur is attempted ; yet perhaps there are few who can¬
not produce more perfect, although not more laboured,
compositions of this kind.
But notwithstanding the French language labours
under all these inconveniences; although it can neither
equal the dignity or genuine politeness of the Spanish,
the nervous boldness of the English, nor the melting
softness of the Italian; although it is destitute of
poetic .
534
P
admirably
fitted for
lifflit con¬
versation.
J.atiguagc poetic harmony, and so much cramped in sound as to be
v_ ■' absolutely unfit for almost every species of musical com¬
position (f) j yet the sprightly genius of that volatile
people has been able to surmount all these difficulties,
and render it the language most generally esteemed,
and most universally spoken, of any in Europe 5 for
this people, naturally gay and loquacious, and fond to
excess of those superficial accomplishments which en¬
gage the attention of the fair sex, has invented such
an infinity of words capable of expressing vague and
unmeaning compliment, now dignified by the name of
politeness, that, in this strain, one who uses the French
can never be at a loss ; and as it is easy to converse
more, and really say less, in this than in any other lan-
guage, a man ot very moderate talents may distinguish
himself much more by using this than any other that
has ever yet been invented. On this account, it is
peculiarly well adapted to that species of conversation
which must ever take place in those general and pro¬
miscuous companies, where many persons of both sexes
are met together for the purposes of relaxation or
amusement $ and must of course be naturally admitted
into the courts of princes, and assemblies of great per¬
sonages, who, having fewer equals with whom they
can associate, are more under the necessity of conversing
with strangers, in whose company the tender stimulus
of friendship does not so naturally expand the heart to
mutual trust or unrestrained confidence. In these cir¬
cumstances, as the heart remaineth disengaged, conver¬
sation must necessarily flag ; and mankind in this situa¬
tion will gladly adopt that language in which they
can converse most easily without being deeply interest¬
ed. On these accounts the French now is, and pro¬
bably will continue to be, reckoned the most polite
language in Europe, and therefore the most generally
studied and known : nor should we envy them this
distinction, if our countrymen would not weaken and
enervate their own manly language, by adopting too
many of their unmeaning phrases.
The Engl ish is perhaps possessed of a greater de-
lencies and gree of excellence, blended with a greater number of
defects of (JefectSj t|ian any of the languages we have hitherto
U mentioned. As the people of Great Britain are a
bold, daring, and impetuous race of men, subject to
.strong passions, and from the absolute freedom and
independence which reigns amongst all ranks of people
throughout this happy isle, little solicitous about con-
LANGUAGE.
3!
Ttie excel-
lougvts-
'trolling these passions -our language takes its strong. Langur
est characteristical distinction from the genius of the ■,
people ; and, being bold, daring, and abrupt, is ad¬
mirably well adapted to express those great emotions
which spring up in an intrepid mind at the prospect
of interesting events. Peculiarly happy too in the full
and open sounds of the vowels, which form the cha¬
racteristic tone of the language, and in the strong use
of the aspirate PI in almost all those words which are
used as exclamations, or marks of strong emotions up¬
on interesting occasions, that particular class of words
called interjections have, in our language, more of that
fulness and unrestrained freedom of tones, in which
their chief power consists, and are pushed forth from
the inmost recesses of the soul in a more forcible and
unrestrained manner, than in any other language what¬
ever. Hence it is more peculiarly adapted for the
great and interesting scenes of the drama than any
language that has. yet appeared on the globe. Nor
has any other nation ever arrived at that perfection
which the English may justly claim in that respect;
for however faulty our dramatic compositions may be
in some of the critical niceties which relate to this art,
—in nervous force of diction, and in the natural ex¬
pression of those great emotions which constitute its
soul and energy,, we claim, without dispute, an un¬
rivalled superiority. Our language too, from the
great intercourse that we have had with almost all the
nations of the globe by means of our extensive com¬
merce, and from the eminent degree of perfection
which we have attained in all the arts and sciences, has
acquired a copiousness beyond what any other modern
language can lay claim to ; and even the most partial
favourers of the Greek language are forced to acknow¬
ledge, that in this respect, it must give place to the
English. Nor is it less happy in that facility of con¬
struction which renders it more peculiarly adapted to
the genius of a free people, than any other form of
language. Of an idiom purely analogous, it has de¬
viated less from the genius of that idiom, and possesses
more of the characteristic advantages attending it, than
any other language that now exists : for, while others,
perhaps by their more intimate connexion with the
Homans, have adopted some of their transpositions, and
clogged their language with unnecessary fetters, we
have preserved ourselves free from the contagion, and
still retain the primitive simplicity of our language. Our
verbs
(F) An author of great discernment, and well acquainted with the French language, has lately made the
same remark ; and as the loftiness of his genius often prevents him from bringing down his illustrations to the
level of ordinary comprehension, he has on this and many other occasions been unjustly accused of being fond of
paradoxe?.- But as music never produces its full effect hut when the tones it assumes are in unison with the
idea that the words naturally excite, it of necessity follows, that if the words of any language do not admit of
that fulness of sound, or that species of tones, which the passion or affection that may he described by the words
would naturally require to excite the same idea in the mind of one who was unacquainted with the language, it
will he impossible for the music to produce its full effect, as it will be cramped and confined by the sound of the
words ; and as the f rench language does not admit of those full and open sounds which are necessary for pathe¬
tic expression in music, it must of course be unfit for musical composition—It is true indeed, that in modern
times, in which so litGe attention is bestowed on the simple and sublime charms of pathetic expression, and a
fantastical tingling of unmeaning sounds is called music—-where the sense of the words is lost in fuo-ues, quavers
and unnecessary repetition of particular syllables,—all languages are nearly fitted for it; and among these the
French: nor is it less to he doubted, that, in the easy gaiety of a song, this language can properly enough
.admit 01 all the musical expression which that species of composition may require. 6
LANG
language, verbs are all varied by auxiliaries (except in the in-
*—-v——' stance we have already given, which is so much in our
favour) ; our nouns remain free from the perplexing
embarrassment oigendersy and our pronouns mark this
distinction where necessary with the most perfect ac¬
curacy j our articles also are of course freed from this
unnatural encumbrance, and our adjectives preserve
their natural freedom and independence. From these
causes our language follows an order of construction
so natural and easy, and the rules of syntax are so few
and obvious, as to be within the reach of the most or¬
dinary capacity. So that from this, and the great
clearness and distinctness of meaning with which this
mode of construction is necessarily accompanied, it js
much better adapted for the familiar intercourse of
private society, and liable to fewer errors in using it,
than any other language yet known 3 and on this ac¬
count we may boast, that in no nation ol Europe do
the lower class ef people speak their language with
so much accuracy, or have their minds so much en¬
lightened by knowledge, as in Great Britain.——
What then shall we say of the discernment of those
grammarians, who are every day echoing back to one
another complaints of the poverty of our language on
account of the few and simple rules which it requires
in syntax? As justly might we complain of an inven¬
tion in mechanics, which, by means of one or two
simple movements, obvious to an ordinary capacity,
little liable to accidents, and easily put in order by the
rudest hand, should possess the whole powers of a com¬
plex machine, which had required an infinite appara¬
tus of wheels and contrary movements, the knowledge
of which could only be acquired, or the various ac¬
cidents to which it was exposed by using it be re¬
paired, by the powers of the ingenious artist, as com¬
plain of this characteristic excellence of our language
as a defect.
But if wre thus enjoy in an eminent degree the ad¬
vantages attending an analogous language, we likewise
feel in a considerable measure the defects to which it is
exposed j as the number of monosyllables with which
it always must be embarrassed, notwithstanding the
great improvements which have been made in our lan¬
guage since the revival of letters in Europe, prevents
in some degree that swelling fulness of sound which so
powerfully contributes to harmonious dignity and
graceful cadences in literary compositions. And as
the genius of the people of Britain has always been
more disposed to the rougher arts of command than to
the softer insinuations of persuasion, no pains have been
taken to correct these natural defects of our language ;
but, on the contrary, by an inattention, of which we
have hardly a parallel in the history of any civilized
nation, we meet with many instances, even within this
last century, of the harmony of sound being sacrificed
to that brevity so desirable in conversation, as many
elegant words have been curtailed, and harmonious
syllables suppressed, to substitute in their stead others,
shorter indeed, but more barbarous and uncouth. Nay,
so little attention have our forefathers bestowed upon
the harmony of sounds in our language, that one would
be tempted to think, on looking back to its primitive
state, that they had on some occasions studiously de¬
based it. Our language, at its first formation, seems
to have laboured under a capital defect in point of
U A G E.
sound, as such a number of S’s enter into the forma¬
tion of our words, and such a number of letters and
combinations of other letters assume a similar sound, as
to give a general hiss through the whole tenor of our
language, which must be exceedingly disagreeable to
every unprejudiced ear. We would therefore have na¬
turally expected, that at the revival of letters, when
our forefathers became acquainted with the harmoni¬
ous languages of Greece and Rome, they would have
acquired a more correct taste, and endeavoured, if
possible, to diminish the prevalence of this disgusting
sound. But so far have they been from thinking of
th is, that they have multiplied this letter exceedingly.
The plurals of almost all our nouns were originally
formed by adding the harmonious syllable en to the
singular, which has given place to the letter s; and
instead of housen formerly, we now say houses. In
like manner, many of the variations of our verbs were
formed by the syllable eth, which we have likewise
changed into the same disagreeable letter 3 so that,
instead of loveth, moveth, writeth, walketh, &c. we
have changed them into the more modish forms of lovcsy
moves, writes, walks, &c. Our very auxiliary verbs
have suffered the same change j and instead of hath
and doth, we now make use of has and does. From
these causes, notwithstanding the great improvements
which have been made in language, within these few
centuries, in other respects 3 yet, with regard to the
pleasingness of sound alone, it was perhaps much more
perfect in the days of Chaucer than at present 3 and
although custom may have rendered these sounds so fa¬
miliar to our ear, as not to affect us much 3 yet to an
unprejudiced person, unacquainted with our language,
we have not the smallest doubt but the language of
Bacon or Sidney would appear more harmonious than
that of Robertson or Hume. This is indeed the funda¬
mental defect of our language, and loudly calls for re¬
formation.
But notwithstanding this great and radical de¬
fect with regard to pleasingness of sounds, which must
be so strongly perceived by every one who is unac¬
quainted with the meaning of our words 3 yet to those
who understand the language, the exceeding copious¬
ness which it allows in the choice of words proper for.
the occasion, and the nervous force with the perspi¬
cuity and graceful elegance the emphasis bestows upon
it, make this defect be totally overlooked ; and we
could produce such numerous works of prose, which
excel in almost every different style of composition, as
would be tiresome to enumerate : every reader of taste
and discernment will be able to recollect a sufficient
number of .writings which excel in point ef style, be¬
tween the graceful and becoming gravity so conspicu¬
ous in all the works of the author of the Whole duty of
Man, and the animated and nervous diction of Ro¬
bertson in his history of Charles the Fifth,—the more
flowery style of Shaftesbury, or the Attic simplicity
and elegance of Addison. But although we can equal,
if not surpass, every modern language in works of
prose, it is in its poetical powers that our language
shines forth with the greatest lustre. The brevity to
which we must here necessarily confine ourselves, pre¬
vents us from entering into a minute examination of
the poetical powers of our own, compared with other
languages j otherwise it would be easy to show, that
every
535
Language.
53® LANG
Language, every ether modern ’anguage labonrs under great re-
■' straints in this respect which ours is freed from that
our language admits of a greater variety of poetic
movements, and diversity of cadence, than any of the
admired languages of antiquity j that it distinguishes
with the greatest accuracy between accent and quan¬
tity, and is possessed of every other poetic excellence
which their languages were capable of; so that we
are possesded of all the sources of harmony which they
could boast; and, besides all these, have one super-
added, which is the cause of great variety and more
forcible expression in numbers than all the rest j that
is, the unlimited power given by the emphasis over
quantity and cadence j by means whereof, a necessary
union between sound and sense, numbers and meaning,
in versification, unknown to the ancients, has been
brought about, which gives our language in this re¬
spect a superiority over all those justly admired lan¬
guages. But as we cannot here further pursue this
subject, we shall only observe, that these great and
distinguishing excellencies far more than counterba¬
lance the inconveniences that we have already men¬
tioned : and although, in mere pleasantness of sounds,
or harmonious flow of syllables, our language may be
inferior to the Greek, the Latin, Italian, and Spanish ;
yet in point of manly dignity, graceful variety, intui¬
tive distinctness, nervous energy of expression, uncon¬
strained freedom and harmony of poetic numbers, it
will yield the palm to none. Our immortal Milton,
slowly rising in graceful majesty, stands up as equal, if
not superior, in these respects, to any poet, in any other
language that ever yet existed j—while Thomson,
with more humble aim, in melody more smooth and
flowing, softens the soul to harmony and peace :—the
plaintive moan of Hammond calls forth the tender
tear and sympathetic sigh ; while Gray’s more sooth¬
ing melancholy fixes the sober mind to silent contem¬
plation :—more tender still than these, the amiable
Sheustone comes ; and from his Doric reed, still free
from courtly aftectation, flows a strain so pure, so
simple, and of such tender harmony, as even Arcadian
shepherds would be proud to own. But far before
the rest, the daring Shakespeare steps forth conspicu¬
ous, clothed in native dignity \ and pressing forward
with unremitting ardour, boldly lays claim to both
dramatic crowns held out to him by Thalia and Mel¬
pomene :—Iris rivals, far behind, look up, and envy
him for these unfading glories ; and the astonished na¬
tions round, with distant awe, behold and tremble at
bis daring flight. Thus the language, equally obe¬
dient to all, bends with ease under their hands, what¬
ever form they would have it assume j and, like the
yielding wax, readily receives, and faithfully transmits
to posterity, those impressions which they have stamp¬
ed upon it.
Such are the principal outlines of the language of
Great Britain, such are its beauties, and such its most
capital oefects ; a language more peculiarly circum¬
stanced than any that has ever yet appeared.—It is
the language of a great and powerful nation, whose
fleets surround the globe, and whose merchants are in
every port: a people admired or revered by all the
world .—and yet it is less known in every foreign
country than many of the other languages in Europe.
In it are written more perfect treatises on every art and
U A G E.
science than are to be found iirany other language 5— Lunina-e
yet it is less sought after or esteemed by the literati in v—-y—■*
any part of the globe than almost any of these. Its
superior powers for every purpose of language are suf¬
ficiently obvious from the models of perfection in a!-
most every particular which can he produced in it: —
yet it is neglected, despised, and vilified by the people
who use it j and many of those authors who owe al¬
most the whole of their fame to the excellence of the
language in which they wrote, look upon that very
language with the highest contempt. Neglected and
despised, it has been trodden under foot as a thing al¬
together unworthy of cultivation or attention. Yet
in spite oi all these inconveniences, in spite of the
many wounds it has thus received, it still holds up its
. head, and preserves evident marks of that comeliness
and vigour which are its characteristical distinction.
Like a healthy oak planted in a rich and fertile soil,
it has sprung up with vigour : and although neglected,
and suffered to be overrun with weeds $ although ex¬
posed to every blast, and unprotected from every vio¬
lence : it still beareth up under all these inconveniences,
and shoots up with a robust healthiness and wild luxu¬
riance of growth. Should this plant, so s< und and
vigorous, be now cleared from these weeds with which
it has been so much encumbered ;—should every ob¬
stacle which now buries it under thick shades, and
hides it from the view of every passenger, be cleared
away j—should the soil be cultivated with care, and a
strong fence be placed around it, to prevent the idle or
the wicked from breaking or distorting its branches j—
who can tell with what additional vigour it would
flourish, or what amazing magnitude and perfection
it might at last attain !—How would the astonished
world behold, with reverential awe, the majestic grace¬
fulness of that object which they so lately despised !
Beauty of Language considered in regard to Compo¬
sition. The beauties of language may be divided into
three classes: 1. Those which arise from sound} 2.
Those which respect significance $ 3. Those derived
from a resemblance between sound and signification.
I. With respect to sound. In a cursory view, you
would imagine, that the agreeableness or disagreeable- 0i
ness of a word with respect to sound, should depend ei$m.
upon the agreeableness or disagreeableness of its com¬
ponent syllables : which is true in part, but not en¬
tirely : for we must also take under consideration the
effect of syllables in succession. In the first place.
Syllables in immediate succession, pronounced each of ^
them with the same, or nearly the same, aperture of
the mouth, produce a succession of weak and feeble
sounds ; witness the French words dit il, patheiique: on
the other hand, a syllable of the greatest aperture suc¬
ceeding one of the smallest, or the contrary, makes
a succession which, because of its remarkable disa¬
greeableness, is distinguished by a proper name, viz.
hiatus. The most agreeable succession is, where the
cavity is increased and diminished alternately, within
moderate limits ; examples, Alternative, longevity, pu¬
sillanimous. Secondly, words consisting wholly of syl¬
lables pronounced slow, or of syllables pronounced
quick, commonly called long and short syllables, have
little melody in them ; witness the words petitioner,
fruiterer, dizziness; on the other hand, the intermix¬
ture of long and short syllables is remarkably agree¬
able ;
Language- a^e » ^or example, degree, repent, wonderful, altitude,
u—y—j rapidity, independent, impetuosity ; the cause of vvhich
is explained in POETRY, Part II.
To proceed to the music of periods. As the ar¬
rangement of words in succession, so as to afford the
greatest pleasure to the ear, depends on principles re¬
mote from common view, it will be necessary to pre¬
mise some general observations upon the appearance
that objects make when placed in an increasing or de¬
creasing series j which appearance will vary according
to the prevalence of resemblance or of contrast. Where
the objects vary by small differences so as to have a
mutual resemblance, we in ascending conceive the se¬
cond object of no greater size than the first, the third
of no greater size than the second, and so of the rest j
which diminisheth in appearance the size of every ob¬
ject except the first: but when beginning at the great¬
est object, we proceed gradually to the least, resem¬
blance makes us imagine the second as great as the
first, and the third as great as the second $ which in
appearance magnifies every object except the first. On
the other hand, in a series varying by large differences,
where contrast prevails, the effects are directly oppo¬
site : a great object succeeding a small one of the same
kind, appears greater than usual $ and a little object
* See Re. succeeding one that is great, appears less than usual *.
tmblmce. Hence a remarkable pleasure in viewing a series ascend¬
ing by large differences ; directly opposite to what we
feel when the differences are small. The least object
of a series ascending by large differences has the same
effect upon the mind as if it stood single without ma¬
king a part of the series: but the second object, by
means of contrast, appears greater than when viewed
singly and apart $ and the effect is perceived in ascend¬
ing progressively, till we arrive at the last object. The
opposite effect is produced in descending; for in this
direction, every object, except the first, appears less
than when viewed separately and independent of the
series. We may then assume as a maxim, which will
hold in the composition of language as well as of other
subjects, That a strong impulse succeeding a weak,
makes a double impression on the mind; and that a
weak impulse succeeding a strong, makes scarce any
impression.
After establishing this maxim, we can be at no loss
about its application to the subject in hand. The fol-
t lowing rule is laid down by Diomedesf. “ In verbis
Vtrfeetce observandum est, ne H majoribus ad minora descendat
9rat' hb. ii. oratio} melius enim dicitur, Vir est optimus, quam,
Vir optimus est." This rule is also applicable to entire
members of a period, which, according to our author’s
expression, ought not, more than single words, to
proceed from the greater to the less, but from the
less to the greater. In arranging the members of a
period, no writer equals Cicero: The following ex¬
amples are too beautiful to be slurred over by a refe¬
rence.
Quicum qu*stor fueram,
Quicum me sors consuetudoque majorum,
Quicum me deorum hominumque judicium conjuxerat.
Again:
Habet honorem quern petimus,
Habet spem quam praepositam nobis habeaws,
Vo*. XI. Part II.
Habet existimationem, multo sudore, labore, vigi- j,
liisque, collectam.
Again:
Eripite nos ex miseriis,
Eripite nos ex faucibus eorum,
Quorum crudelitas nostro sanguine non potest expleri.
De Oratore, lib. i. § 52.
This order of words or members gradually increasing
in length, may, so far as concerns the pleasure of sound,
be denominated a climax in sound.
With respect to the music of periods as united in a
discourse, this depends chiefly on variety. Hence a
rule for arranging the members of different periods
with relation to each other j That to avoid a tedious
uniformity of sound and cadence, the arrangement,
the cadence, and the length of the members, ought to
be diversified as much as possible : and if the members
of different periods be sufficiently diversified, the pe¬
riods themselves will be equally so.
II. With respect to signification. The beauties of
language with respect to signification, may not impro¬
perly be distinguished into two kinds : first, the beauties
that arise from a right choice of words or materials for
constructing the period j and next, the beauties that
arise from a due arrangement of these words or ma¬
terials.
1. Communication of thought being the chief end of
language, it is a rule, That perspicuity ought not to
be sacrificed to any other beauty whatever. Nothing,
therefore, in language ought more to be studied, than
to prevent all obscurity in the expression} for to have
no meaning, is but one degree worse than to have a
meaning that is not understood. We shall here give a
few examples where the obscurity arises from a wrong
choice of words.
Livy, speaking of a rout after a battle, “ Multique
in ruina majore quam fuga oppress! obtruncatique.”
This author is frequently obscure by expressing but
part of his thought, leaving it to be completed by his
reader. His description of the sea fight, lib. 28. cap.
30. is extremely perplexed.
Unde tibi reditum eerto subtemine Parc*
Rupere. Horat.
Qui persaepe cava testudine flevit amorem,
Now elaboratum ad pedem. Id.
Me fabulosae Vulture in Appulo,
Altricis extra limen Apuliae,
Lude, fatigatumque somno,
Fronde nova puerum palumbes
Texere.
Purse rivus aquae, ailvaque jugerum
Paucorum, et segetis certa fides me*,
Fulgentem imperio fertilis Africse
Fallit sorte beatior.
Cum fas atque nefas exigno fine libidiuum
Discernunt avidi. Id,
Ac spem fronte serenat. Virg.
The rule next in order is. That the language ought
3 Y t«
f
LANGUAGE.
538
LiM^uge. to correspond to the subject: heroic actions or senti-
ments require elevated language ; tender sentiments
ought to be expressed in words ssft and flowing *, and
plain language, void of ornament, is adapted to subjects
grave and didactic. Language may be considered as
the dress of thought j and where the one is not suited
to the other, we are sensible of incongruity, in the
same manner as where a judge is dressed like a fop, or
a peasant like a man of quality. Where the impression
made hy the words resembles the impression made by
the thought, the similar emotions mix sweetly in the
mind, and double the pleasure } but where the im¬
pressions made by the thought and the words are dissi¬
milar, the unnatural union they are forced into is dis¬
agreeable.
This concordance between the thought and the
word has been observed by every critic, and is so
well understood as not to require any illustration.
But there is a concordance of a peculiar kind that has
scarcely been touched in works of criticism, though
it contributes to neatness of composition. It is what
follows.
In a thought of any extent we commonly find some
parts intimately united, some slightly, some disjoined,
and some directly opposite to each other. To find these
conjunctions and disjunctions imitated in the expression,
is a beauty ; because such imitation makes the words
concordant with the sense. This doctrine may be il¬
lustrated by a familiar example : W hen we have occa¬
sion to mention the intimate connexion that the soul
hath with the body, the expression ought to he, the
soul and body ; because the article the, relative to both,
makes a connexion in the expression, resembling in
some degree the connexion in the thought; but when
the soul is distinguished from the body, it is better to
say the soul and the bodi/ ; because the disjunction in
the words resembles the disjunction in the thought.
We proceed to other examples, beginning with con¬
junctions.
“ Constituit agmen j et expedire tela animosque,
equitibus jussis,” &e. Livy, lib. 38. § 25. Here the
words that express the connected ideas are artificially
connected hy subjecting them hot!) to the regimen of
one verb. And the two following are of the same kind.
“ Quum ex paucis quotidie aliqui eorum caderentaut
vulnerai’entur, et qui superarent, fessi et corporibus et
animis essent,” Ibid. § 29.
Post acer Mnestheus adducto constitit arcu,
Alta petens, pariterque oculos telumque tetendit.
JEncid, v. 507.
But to justify this artificial connexion among the
words, the ideas they express ought to be intimately
connected *, for otherwise that concordance which is
required between the sense and the expression will
be impaired. In that view, the following passage
from Tacitus is exceptionable 5 where words that
signify ideas very little connected, are however forced
into an artificial union. “ Germania omnis Gallis,
Illuctiisque, et Pannoniis, Bheno et Danubio flumini-
bus •, a Sarmatis Dacisque, mutuo metu aut montihus
separatur.”
Upon the same account, the following passage seems
equally exceptionable,
■ The fiend look’d up, and knew Language.
His mounted scale aloft; nor more, but fled v-
Murm’iing, and with him fled the shades of night.
Paradise Lost, book iv. at the end.
There is no natural connection betw'een a person’s fly¬
ing or retiring, and the succession of daylight to dark¬
ness } and therefore to connect artificially the terms
that signify these things cannot have a sweet effect.
Two members of a thought connected hy their rela¬
tion to the same action, will naturally he expressed by
twro members of the period governed hy the same verb j
in which case these members, in order to improve their
connection, ought to be constructed in the same man¬
ner. This beauty is so common among good writers as
to have been little attended to 5 but the neglect of it is
remarkably disagreeable : for example, “ Pie did not
mention Leonora, nor that her father was dead.” Bet¬
ter thus: “ He did not mention Leonora, nor her fa¬
ther’s death.”
Where two ideas are so connected as to require but
a copulative, it is pleasant to find a connexion in the
words that express their ideas, were it even so slight as
where both begin with the same letter. Thus,
“ The peacock, in all his pride, does not display half
the colour that appears in the garments of a British
lady, when she is either dressed for a ball or a birth¬
day.” SjJCCt.
“ Had not my dog of a steward run away as he did,
without making up his accounts, I had still been im¬
mersed in sin and sea-coal.” Ib.
My life’s companion, and my bosom friend,
One faith, one fame, one fate shall both attend.
Dry den, Translation of /Erie id.
Next, as to examples of disjunction and opposition
in the parts of the thought, imitated in the expression j
an imitation that is distinguished by the name of anti¬
thesis.
Speaking of Coriolanus soliciting the people to he
made consul:
With a proud heart he wore his humble weeds.
Coriolanus.
“ Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all
slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?”
Julius Ccesur.
He hath cool’d my friends and heated mine enemies.
Shakespeare.
An artificial connection among the words, is un¬
doubtedly a beauty when it represents any peculiar
connection among the constituent parts of the thought j
but where there is no such connection, it is a positive
deformity, because it makes a discordance between the
thought and expression. For the same reason, we ought
also to avoid every artificial opposition of words where
there is none in the thought. This last, termed ver¬
bal antithesis, is studied hy low writers, because of a
certain degree of liveliness in it. They do not con¬
sider how incongruous it is, in a grave composition, to
cheat the reader, and to make him expect a contrast
in the thought, which upon examination is not found
there.
A
LANG
Linkage. A fault directly opposite to the last mentioned, is to
'—-v-—'1 conjoin artiticially words that express ideas opposed to
each other. This is a fault too gross to be in common
practice ; and yet writers are guilty of it in some de¬
gree, when they conjoin by a copulative things trans¬
acted at different periods of time. Hence a want of
neatness in the following expression: “The nobility
too, whom the king had no means of retaining by suit¬
able offices and preferments, had been seized with the
general discontent, and unwarily threw themselves into
the scale which began already too much to preponde¬
rate.” Hume. In periods of this kind, it appears
more neat to express the past time by the participle
passive, thus : “ The nobility having been seized with
the general discontent, unwarily threw themselves,” &c.
or, “ The nobility, who had been seized, &c. unwarily
threw themselves,” &c.
It is unpleasant to find even a negative and affirma¬
tive proposition connected by a copulative :
If it appear not plain, and prove untrue,
Deadly divorce step between me and you.
Shakespeare.
In mirth and drollery it may have a good effect to
connect verbally tilings that are opposite to each other
in the thought. Example : Henry IV. of France in¬
troducing the mareschal Biron to some of his friends,
“ Here, gentlemen (says he) is the mareschal Biron,
whom I freely present both to my friends and ene¬
mies.”
This rule of studying uniformly between the thought
and expression may be extended to the construction of
sentences or periods. A sentence or period ought to
express one entire thought or mental proposition ; and
different thoughts ought to be separated in the expres¬
sion by placing them in different sentences or periods.
It is therefore offending against neatness, to crowd into
one period entire thoughts requiring more than one $
which is joining in language things that are separated
in reality. Of errors against this rule take the follow¬
ing examples:
“ Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea pleasant :
also our bed is green.”
Burnet, in the history of his own times, giving Lord
Sunderland’s character, says: “ His own notions were
always good ; but he was a man of great expence.”
“ I have seen a woman’s face break out in heats, as
she has been talking against a great lord, whom she
Lad never seen in her life ; and indeed never knew a
party-woman that kept her beauty for a twelvemonth.”
Sped.
Lord Bolingbroke, speaking of Strada : “ I single
him out among the moderns, because he had the foolish
presumption to censure Tacitus, and to write history
himself; and your lordship will forgive this short ex¬
cursion in honour of a favourite writer.”
To crowd into a single member of a period different
subjects, is still worse than to crowd them into one pe¬
riod.
  Trojam genitore Adamasto
Paupere (mansissetque utinam fortuna!) profectus.
JELneid) iii. 614.
From conjunctions and disjunctions in general, we
U A G E.
539
proceed to comparisons, which make one species of Language,
them, beginning with similes. And here also, the in- —*-"v '
timate connection that words have with their meaning
requires, that in describing two resembling objects, a
resemblance in the two members of tbe period ought to
be studied. To begin with examples ol resemblances
expressed in wmrds that have no resemblance.
“ I have observed of late, tbe style of some great
ministers very much to exceed that of any other pro¬
ductions.” Swift. This, instead of studying the re¬
semblance of words in a period that expresses a com¬
parison, is going out of one’s road to avoid it. Instead
of productions, which resemble not ministers great nor
small, tbe proper word is writers or authors.
“ I cannot bat fancy, however, that this imitation,
which passes so currently with other judgments must at
some time or other have stuck a little with your lord-
sliip.'1'' Shaftesb. Better thus : “ I cannot but fancy,
however, that this imitation, which passes so currently
with others, must at some time or other have stuck a
little with your lordship.'1'1
“ A glutton or mere sensualist is as ridiculous as the
other two characters.” Id.
“ They wisely prefer the generous efforts of good will
and affection, to the reluctant compliances of such as
obey by force.” Bo/ingb.
It is a still greater deviation from congruity, to af¬
fect not only variety in the words, but also in tbe con¬
struction.
Hume speaking of Shakespeare : “ There may re¬
main a suspicion that we overrate the greatness of his
genius, in the same manner as bodies appear more gi¬
gantic on account of their being disproportioned and
misbapen.” This is studying variety in a period where
the beauty lies in uniformity. Better thus : “ There
may remain a suspicion that we overrate the great¬
ness of his genius, in the same manner as we overrate
the greatness of bodies that are disproportioned and
mishapen.” ^
Next of comparison where things are opposed to
each other. And here it must be obvious, that if re¬
semblance ought to be studied in the words which ex¬
press two resembling objects, there is equal reason for
studying opposition in the words which express con¬
trasted objects. This rule will be best illustrated by-
examples of deviations from it.
“ A friend exaggerates a man’s virtues ; an enemy
inflames his crimes.” Sped. Here the opposition in
the thought is neglected in the words 5 which at first
view seem to import, that the friend and enemy are
employed in different matters, without any relation to
each other, whether of resemblance or of opposition.
And therefore the contrast or opposition will be better
marked by expressing the thought as follows : “ A
friend exaggerates a man’s virtues, an enemy his
crimes.”
“ The wise man is happy when he gains his own ap¬
probation the fool when he recommends himself to
the applause of those about him.” Ib. Better: “The
wise man is happy when he gains bis own approbation,
the fool when he gains that of others.”
We proceed to a rule of a different kind. During
the course of a period, the scene ought to be continued
without variation : the changing from person to person,
3 Y 2 from
540 LANG
■Language, from subject to subject, or from person to subject, with-
v“" -1 in the bounds of a single period, distracts the mind, and
affords no time for a solid impression.
Hook, in his Roman history, speaking of Eumenes,
who had been beat to the ground with a stone, says,
“ After a short time he came to himself; and the next
day they put him on board his ship, which conveyed
him first to Corinth, and thence to the island of
iEgina.”
The following period is unpleasant, even by a very
slight deviation from the rule : “ That sort of instruc¬
tion which is acquired by inculcating an important
moral truth,” &c. This expression includes two per¬
sons, one acquiring, and one inculcating 5 and the
scene is changed without necessity. To avoid this
blemish, the thought may be expressed thus : “ That
sort of instruction which is afforded by inculating,”
&c.
The bad effect of such a change of person is remark¬
able in the following passage: “ The Britons, daily
harassed by cruel inroads from the Piets, were forced
to call in the Saxons for their defence, who consequent¬
ly reduced the greatest part of the island to their own
power, drove the Britons into the most remote and
mountainous parts, and the rest of the country, in cus¬
toms, religion, and language, became wholly Saxon.”
Swift.
The following passage has a change from subject to
person : “ This prostitution of praise is not only a deceit
upon the gross of mankind, who take their notion of
characters from the learned j but also the better sort must
by this means lose some part at least of that desire of
fame which is the incentive to generous actions, when
they find it promiscuously bestowed on the meritorious
and undeserving.” Guardian, N° 4.
The present head, which relates to the choice of ma¬
terials, shall be closed with a rule concerning the use of
copulatives. Longinus observes, that it animates a pe¬
riod to drop the copulatives j and he gives the follow¬
ing example from Xenophon : “ Closing their shields
together, they were pushed, they fought, they slew,
they were slain.” The reason may be what follows.
A continued sound, if not loud, tends to lay us asleep :
an interrupted sound rouses and animates by its repeat¬
ed impulses : thus feet composed of syllables, being pro¬
nounced with a sensible interval between each, make
more lively impressions than can be made by a conti¬
nued sound. A period of which the members are con¬
nected by copulatives, produceth an effect upon the mind
approaching to that of a continued sound j and there¬
fore the suppressing copulatives must animate a descrip¬
tion. It produces a different effect akin to that men¬
tioned : the members of a period connected by proper
copulatives, glide smoothly and gently along 5 and are a
proof of sedateness and leisure in the speaker : on the
other hand, one in the hurry of passion, neglecting co¬
pulatives and other particles, expresses the principal
image only \ and for that reason, hurry or quick action
is best expressed without copulatives:
Veni, vidi, vici.
———    Ite :
Ferte cito fkmmas, date vela, impellite remos.
JBneid, iv. 593.
U A G E.
Quis globus, O elves, caligine volvitur atra ?
lerte cito ferrum, date tela, scandite muros.
Hostis adest, eja. JBneid, ix. jy.
In this view Longinus justly compares copulatives in a
period to strait tying, which in a race obstructs the free¬
dom of motion.
It follows, that a plurality of copulatives in the same
period ought to be avoided ; for if the laying aside co¬
pulatives give force and liveliness, a redundancy of them
must render the period languid. The following instance
may be appealed to, though there are but two copula¬
tives : “ Upon looking over the letters of my female
correspondents, I find several from women complaining
of jealous husbands j and at the same time protesting
their own innocence, and desiring my advice upon this
occasion.” Sped.
Where the words are intended to express the cold¬
ness of the speaker, there indeed the redundancy of co¬
pulatives is a beauty :
‘ Dining one day at an alderman’s in the city, Peter
‘ observed him expatiating after the manner of his bre-
* thren in the praises of his surloin of beef. “ Beef
“ (said the sage magistrate) is the king of meat: beef
“ comprehends in it the quintessence of partridge, and
“ quail, and venison, and pheasant, and plum pudding,
“ and custard.” Tale of a Tub, § 4. And the author
shows great delicacy of taste by varying the expression
in the mouth of Peter, who is represented more ani¬
mated : “ Bread (says he), dear brothers, is the staff'
“of life; in which bread is contained, inclusive, the
“ quintessence of beef, mutton, veal, venison, partridge,
“ plum pudding, and custard.”
Another case must also be excepted. Copulatives
have a good effect where the intention is to give an
impression of a great multitude consisting of many di¬
visions, for example : ‘ The army was composed of Gre¬
cians, and Carians, and Lycians, and Pamphylians, and
Phrygians.’ 1 he reason is, that a leisurely survey,
which is expressed by the copulatives, makes the parts
appear more numerous than they would do by a hasty
survey : in the latter case, the army appears in one
group; in the former, we take as it were an accurate
survey of each nation, and of each division.
2. 1o pave the way for the rules of arrangement, it
will here be necessary to explain the difference between
a natural style and that where transposition or inver¬
sion prevails. In a natural style, relative words are
by juxtaposition connected with those to which they
relate, going before or after, according to the peculiar
genius of the language. Again, a circumstance con¬
nected by a preposition, follows naturally the word with
which it is connected. But this arrangement may be
varied, when a different order is more beautiful: a cir¬
cumstance may be placed before the word with which it
is connected by a preposition ; and may be interjected
even between a relative word and that to which it re¬
lates. When such liberties are frequently taken, the
style becomes inverted or transposed.
But as the liberty of inversion is a capital point in
the present subject, it will be necessary to examine it
more narrowly, and in particular to trace the several
degrees in which an inverted style recedes more and
more from that which is natural. And first, as to the
placing
Language.
LANG
language, placing a circumstance before the worrl with which it
■''—L-j jg connected, this is the easiest of all inversion, even so
easy as to be consistent with a style that is properly
termed natural: witness the following examples.
“ In the sincerity of my heart, I profess, &c.
“ By our own ill management,,we are brought to 30
low an ebb of wealth and credit, that,” &c.
“ On Thursday morning there was little or nothing
transacted in Chang.e-alley.”
“ At St Bride’s church in Fleetstreet, Mr Woolston
(who wrote against the miracles of our Saviour), in the
utmost terrors of conscience, made a public recantation.”
The interjecting a circumstance between a relative
word and that to which it relates, is more properly
termed inversion; because, by a disjunction of words
intimately connected, it recedes farther from a natural
style. But this license has degrees ; for the disjunc¬
tion is more violent in some cases than in others.
In nature, though a subject cannot exist without its
qualities, nor a quality without a subject •, yet in our
conception of these, a material difference may be re¬
marked. We cannot conceive a quality but as belong¬
ing to some subject: it makes indeed a part of the idea
which is formed of the subject. But the opposite holds
not*, for though we cannot form a conception of a
subject void of all qualities, a partial conception may
be formed of it, abstracting from any particular qua¬
lity : we can^for example, form the idea of a fine A-
rabian horse without regard to his colour, or of a white
horse without regard to his size. Such partial concep¬
tion of a subject is still more easy with respect to ac¬
tion or motion, which is an occasional attribute only,
and has not the same permanency with colour or figure :
we cannot form an idea of motion independent of a bo¬
dy j but there is nothing more easy than to form an idea
of a body at rest. Hence it appears, that the degree
of inversion depends greatly on the order in which the
related words are placed: when a substantive occupies
the first place, the idea it suggests must subsist in the
mind at least for a moment, independent of the rela¬
tive words afterward introduced; and that moment may
without difficulty be prolonged by interjecting a cir¬
cumstance between the substantive and its connections.
This liberty therefore, however frequent, will scarce
alone be sufficient to denominate a style invei'ted. The
case is very difl’erent, where the word that occupies the
first place denotes a quality or an action ; for as these
cannot be conceived without a subject, they cannot
without greater violence be separated from the subject
that follows; and for that reason, every such separa¬
tion by means of an interjected circumstance belongs
to an inverted style.
To illustrate this doctrine, examples are necessary.
In the following, the word first introduced does not im¬
ply a relation :
— Nor Eve to iterate
Her former trespass fear’d.
.   -—Hunger and thirst at once,
Powerful persuaders, quicken’d at the scent
Of that alluring fruit, urg’d me so keen.—
Moon that now meet’st the orient sun, now fli’st
With the fix’d stars, fix’d in their orb that flies,
And ye five other wand’ring fires that move
U A G E.
In mystic dance, not without song, resound
His praise.
541
Language.
Where the word first introduced imports a relation,
the disjunction will be found more violent:
Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our wo,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing heav’nly muse.
   Upon the firm opacous globe
Of this round world, whose first convex divides
The luminous inferior orbs enclos’d
From chaos and th’ inroad of darkness old,
Satan alighted walks.
.  .Qn a sudden open fly,
With impetuous recoil and jarring sound,
Th’ infernal doors.
■  Wherein remain’d,
For what could else ? to our almighty foe
Clear victory, to our part loss and rout.
Language would have no great power, were it con¬
fined to the natural order of ideas : By inversion a
thousand beauties may be compassed, which must be
relinquished in a natural arrangement.
Hulss. 1. In the arrangement of a period, as well
as in a right choice of words, the first and great ob¬
ject being perspicuity, the rule above laid down, that
perspicuity ought not to be sacrificed to any other
beauty, holds equally in both. Ambiguities occasion¬
ed by a wrong arrangement are of two sorts ; the one
where the arrangement leads to a wrong sense, and the
other where the sense is less doubtful. The first, being
the more culpable, shall take the lead, beginning with
examples of words put in a wrong place.
“ How much the imagination of such a presence
must exalt a genius, we may observe merely from the
influence which an ordinary presence has over men.”
Shqftesb. The arrangement leads to a wrong sense:
The adverb merely seems by its position to affect the pre¬
ceding word ; whereas it is intended to affect the fol¬
lowing words, an ordinary presence; and therefore the
arrangement ought to be thus: “ How much the ima¬
gination of such a presence must exalt a genius, we
may observe from the influence which an ordinary pre¬
sence merely has over men.” [Or better], “ which
even an ordinary presence has over men.”
“ Sixtus the Fourth was, if I mistake not, a great
collector of books at least.” Boling. The expression
here leads evidently to a wrong sense ; the adverb at
least, ought not to be connected with the substantive
books, but with collector, thus: “Sixtus the Fourth
was a great collector at least, of books.”
Speaking of Louis XIV. “ If he was not the great¬
est king, he was the best actor of majesty at least that
ever filled a throne.” Id. Better thus : “ If he was
not the greatest king, he was at least the best actor
of majesty,” &c. This arrangement removes the wrong
sense occasioned by the juxtaposition of majesty and at
least.
The
3
LANGUAGE.
542
language. The following examples are of a wrong arrangement
  v—— of members.
<c I have confined myself to those methods for the
advancement of piety, which are in the power of a
prince limited like ours by a strict execution of the
laws.” Swift. The structure of this period leads to a
meaning which is not the author’s, viz. power limited
by a strict execution of the laws. That wrong sense is
removed by the following arrangement : “ I have con¬
fined myself to those methods for the advancement of
piety, which, by a strict execution of the laws, are in
the power of a prince limited like ours.”
“ This morning, when one of Tady Lizard’s daugh¬
ters was looking over some hoods and ribbands brought
by her tirewoman, with great care and diligence, I em¬
ployed no less in examining the box which contained
them.” Guardian. The wrong sense occasioned by
this arrangement, may be easily prevented by varying
it thus : “ This morning, when, with great care and
diligence, one of Lady Lizard’s daughters was look¬
ing over some hoods and ribbands,” &c.
“ A great stone that I happened to find after a
long search by the sea shore, served me for an anchor.”
Swift. One would think that the search was confined
to the sea shore ; but as the meaning is, that the great
stone was found by the sea shore, the period ought to
be arranged thns : “ A great stone that, after a long
search, I happened to find by the sea shore, served me
for an anchor.”
Next of a wrong arrangement where the sense is left
doubtiul $ beginning, as in the former sort, with ex¬
amples of a wrong arrangement of words in a mem¬
ber.
“ These forms of conversation by degrees multiplied
and grew troublesome.” Sped. Here it is left doubt¬
ful whether the modification by degrees relates to
the preceding member or to what follows : it should
be, “ These forms of conversation multiplied by de¬
grees.”
“ Nor does this false modesty expose us oniy to such
actions as are indiscreet, but very often to such as are
highly criminal.” Spect. The ambiguity is removed
by the following arrangement : Nor does this false
modesty expose us to such actions only as are indis¬
creet,” &c.
“ The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to
the north-east side of Lilliput, from whence it is
parted only by a channel of 800 yards wide.” Swift.
The ambiguity may be removed thus :. ..  
“ from whence it is parted by a channel of 800 yards
wide only.”
In the following examples the sense is left doubtful
by wrong arrangement of members.
1 he minister who grows less by his elevation, like
a little statue placed on a mighty pedestal, will always
have his jealousy strong about him.” Bolingb. Here,
so far as can be gathered from the arrangement, it is
doubtful, whether the object introduced by way of simile
relates to what goes before or to what follows. The
ambiguity is removed by the following arrangement.
“ The minister who, like a little statue placed on a
mighty pedestal, grows less by his elevation, will al¬
ways,” &c.
Speaking -of the superstitious practice of locking
up the room where a per-son of distinction dies : “ The
knight, seeing his habitation reduced to so small a Language
compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his own •—v—-
house, upon the death of his mother, ordered all the
apartments to be flung open, and exorcised by his
chaplain.” Sped. Better thus : « The knight, see¬
ing his habitation reduced to so small a compass, and
himself in a manner shut out of his own house, order-
ed, upon the death of his mother, ail the apartments
to be flung open.
Speaking of some indecencies in conversation : “ As
it is impossible for such an irrational way of conver¬
sation to last long among a people that make any
profession of religion, or show of modesty, if the coun¬
try gentlemen get into it, they will certainly be left in
the lurch.” Ib. rlhe ambiguity vanishes in the fol¬
lowing arrangement:   “ the country
gentlemen, if they get into it, will certainly be left in
the lurch.”
“ And since it is necessary that there should be a
perpetual intercourse of buying and selling, and deal¬
ing upon credit, where fraud is permitted or connived
at, or hath no law to punish it, the honest dealer is
always undone, and the knave gets the advantage.”
Swift. Better thus: “ And since it is necessary that
there should be a perpetual intercourse of buying and
selling, and dealing upon credit, the honest dealer,
where fraud is permitted or connived at, or hath no
law to punish it, is always undone, and the knave gets
the advantage.”
From these examples, the following observation
will occur ; that a circumstance ought never to be
placed between two capital members of a period j for
by such situation it must always be doubtful, so far as
we gather from the arrangement, to which of the two
members it belongs : where it is interjected, as it
ought to be, between parts of the member to which
it belongs, the ambiguity is removed, and the capital
members are kept distinct, which is a great beauty in
composition. In general, to preserve members distinct
that signify things distinguished in the thought, the
best method is, to place first in the consequent mem¬
ber, some word that cannot connect with what pre¬
cedes it.
If it shall be thought, that the objections here are
too scrupulous, and that the defect of perspicuity is
easily supplied by accurate punctuation j the answer
is, That punctuation may remove an ambiguity, but
will never produce that peculiar beauty which is per¬
ceived when the sense comes out clearly and distinctly
by means of a happy arrangement. Such influence
has this beauty, that, by a natural transition of per¬
ception, it is communicated to the very sound of the
words, so as in appearance to improve the music of
the period. But as this curious subject comes in more
properly elsewhere, it is sufficient at present to appeal
to experience, that a period, so arranged as to bring
out the sense clear, seems always more musical than
where the sense is left in any degree doubtful.
The next rule is, That words expressing things
connected in the thought, ought to be placed as near
together as possible. This rule is derived immediately
from human nature, prone in every instance to place
together things in any manner connected: where
things are arranged according to their connexions,
we have a sense of order j otherwise we have a sense
of
LANGUAGE.
Language, of disorder, as of things placed by chance: and we
» naturally place words in the same order in which we
would place the things they signify. The bad effect
of a violent separation of words or members thus inti¬
mately connected, will appear from the following ex¬
amples.
“ For the English are naturally fanciful, and very
often disposed, by that gloominess and melancholy of
temper which is so frequent in our nation, to many
wild notions and visions, to which others are not so
liable.” Sped. Here the verb or assertion is, by a pre-
ty long circumstance, violently separated from the sub¬
ject to which it refers: this makes a harsh arrangement •,
the less excusable that the fault is easily prevented by
placing the circumstance before the verb, after the fol¬
lowing manner ? “ For the English are naturally fanci¬
ful, and by that gloominess and melancholy of temper
which is so frequent in our nation, are often disposed to
many wild notions, &c.
“ From whence we may date likewise the rivalship
of the blouse of France, for we may reckon that of Va¬
lois and that of Bourbon as one upon this occasion,
and the house of Austria, that continues at this day,
and has oft cost so much blood and so much treasure in
the course of it.” Boltngbr.
“ It cannot be impertinent or ridiculous therefore in
such a country, whatever it might be in the abbot of
St Real’s, which was Savoy, I think j or, in Peru, un¬
der the incas, where Garcilasso de la Vega says it was
lawful for none but the nobility to study—for men of
all degrees to instruct themselves in those affairs where¬
in they may be actors, or judgers of those that act, or
controllers of those that judge.” Ibid.
“ If Scipio, who was naturally given to women, for
which anecdote we have, if I mistake not, the autho¬
rity of Polybius, as well as some verses of Nevius pre¬
served by Aulus Gellius, had been educated by Olym¬
pias at the court of Philip, it is improbable that he
would have restored the beautiful Spaniard.” Ibid.
If any one have a curiosity for more specimens of this
kind, they will be found without number in the works
of the same author.
A pronoun, which saves the naming a person or
thing a second time, ought to be placed as near as
possible to the name of that person or thing. This is
a branch of the foregoing rule ; and with the reason
there given, another occurs, viz. That if other ideas
intervene, it is difficult to recal the person or thing by
reference.
“ If I had leave to print the Latin letters trans¬
mitted to me from foreign parts, they would fill a vo¬
lume, and be a full defence against all that Mr Pa-
tridge, or his accomplices of the Portugal inquisition,
will be ever able to object; who, by the way, are the
only enemies my predictions have ever met with at
home or abroad.” Better thus :■  —<{ and be a full
defence against all that can be objected by Mr Pa-
tridge, or bis accomplices of the Portugal inquisition ;
who, by the way, are,” &c.
“ There being a round million of creatures in hu¬
man figure, throughout this kingdom, whose whole sub¬
sistence,” &c. Swift. Better : “ There being, through¬
out this kingdom, a round million of creatures in hu¬
man figure, whose whole subsistence, &c.
The following rule depends on the communication
5
3 43
of emotions to related objects ; a principle in human Language,
nature that hath an extensive operation; and we find '-—’-y-——*
this operation, even where the objects are not other¬
wise related than by juxtaposition of the words that ex¬
press them. Hence, to elevate or depress an object,
one method is, to join it in the expression with another
that is naturally high or low : witness the following
speech of Eumenes to the Roman senate.
“ Causam veniendi sibi Romam fuisse, prmter cupi-
ditatem visendi deos hominesque, quorum beneficio in ea
fortuna esset, supra quam ne optai'e quidem auderet,
etiam ut coram moneret senatum ut Persei conatus
obviam iret.” Livy. To join the Romans with the
gods in the same enunciation, is an artful stroke of
flattery, because it tacitly puts them on a level.
On the other hand, the degrading or vilifying an
object, is done successfully by ranking it with one that
is really low: “ I hope to have this entertainment in
readiness for the next winter ; and doubt not but it will
please more than the opera or puppet show.” Sped.
“ Manifold have been the judgments which Heaven
from time to time, for the chastisement of a sinful peo¬
ple, has inflicted upon whole nations. For when the
degeneracy becomes common, it is but just the punish¬
ment should he general. Of this kind, in our own
unfortunate country, was that destructive pestilence,
whose mortality was so fatal as to sweep away, if Sir
William Petty may be believed, five millions of Chri¬
stian souls, besides women and Jews.” Arbuthmt.
“ Such also was that dreadful conflagration ensuing
in this famous metropolis of London, which consumed,
according to the computation of Sir Samuel More¬
land, ioo.ooo houses, not to mention churches and
stables.” Ibid.
“ But on condition it might pass into a law, I would
gladly exempt both lawyers of all ages, subaltern and
field officers, young heirs, dancing masters, pickpockets^
and players.” Swift.
Sooner let earth, air, sea, to chaos fall,
Men, monkeys, lap dogs, parrots, perish all.
Rape of the Lock.
Circumstances in a period resemble small stones in a
building, employed to fill up vacuities among those of
a larger size. In the arrangement of a period, such
under parts crowded together make a poor figure ; and
never are graceful but when interspersed among the
capital parts.
It is likewise urged, that there are, by computa¬
tion, in this kingdom, above 10,000 parsons, whose
revenues, added to those of my lords the bishops,
would suffice to maintain, &c. Swift. Here two cir¬
ca instances, viz. and in this kingdom, are
crowded together unnecessarily. They make a better
appearance separated in the following manner : “ It is
likewise urged, that in this kingdom there are by com¬
putation, above 10,000 parsons,” &c.
If there be room for a choice, the sooner a circum¬
stance is introduced, the better; because circumstan¬
ces are proper for that coolness of mind, with which
we begin a period as well as a volume: in the progress,
the mind warms, and has a greater relish for matters
of importance. When a circumstance is placed at the
beginning of the period, or near the beginning, the
transition from it to the principal subject is agreeable;
it
544 LANG
l-anguagp. it is like ascending, or going upward. On the other
1 x-'B'*"1 hand, to place it late in the period has a bad effect ;
for after being engaged in the principal subject, one
is with reluctance brought down to give attention to a
circumstance. Hence evidently the preference of the
following arrangement, “ Whether in any country a
choice altogether unexceptionable has been made,
seems doubtful j” before this other, “Whether a choice
altogether unexceptionable has in any country been
made,” &c.
For this reason the following period is exceptionable
in point of arrangement. “ I have considered former¬
ly, with a good deal of attention, the subject upon
which you command me to communicate my thoughts
to you.” Boling. Which, with a slight alteration, may
be improved thus: “ I have formerly, with a good deal
of attention, considered the subject,” &c.
Swift, speaking of a virtuous and learned education :
“ And although they *nay be, and too often are,
drawn by the temptations of youth, and the opportu¬
nities of a large fortune, into some irregularities, when
they come forward into the great world; it is ever with
reluctance and compunction of mind, because their bias
to virtue still continues.” Better: “ And although,
when they come forward into the great world^ they may
be, and too often,” &c.
In arranging a period, it is of importance to deter¬
mine in what part of it a word makes the greatest
figure, whether at the beginning, during the course,
or at the close. The breaking silence rouses the at¬
tention, and prepares for a deep impression at the be¬
ginning : the beginning, however, must yield to the
close ; which being succeeded by a pause, affords time
for a word to make its deepest impression. Hence the
following rule, That to give the utmost force to a pe¬
riod, it ought, if possible, to be closed with that word
which makes the greatest figure. The opportunity of
a pause should not be thrown away upon accessories,
but reserved for the principal object, in order that it
may make a full impression : which is an additional
reason against closing a period without a circumstance.
There are, however, periods that admit not such a
structure j and in that case the capital word ought, if
possible, to be placed in the front, which next to the
close is the most advantageous for making an impres¬
sion. Hence, in directing our discourse to a man of
figure, we ought to begin with his name $ and one will
be sensible of a degradation when this rule is neglect¬
ed, as it frequently is for the sake of verse. We give
the following examples.
Integer vitas, scelerisque purus,
Non eget Mauris jaculis, neque arcu,
Nec venenatis gravida sagittis,
Fusee, pharetra. Horat. Carm. lib. I. ode 22.
Je crains Dieu, cher Abrier, et n*ai point d’autre
crainte.
In these examples, the name of the person addressed to
makes a mean figure, being like a circumstance slipt
into a corner. That this criticism is well founded, we
need no other proof than Addison’s translation of the
last example.
O Abner 1 I fear my Cod, and I fear none but him.
Guardianf N* ny.
U A G E.
O father, what intends thy hand, she cry’d,
Against thy only son ? What fury, O son,
Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart
Against thy father’s head ?
Paradise Lost, book ii. 1. 727.
Every one must be sensible of a dignity in the invoca¬
tion at the beginning, which is not attained by that
in the middle. It is not meant, however, to censure
this passage j on the contrary, it appears beautiful, by
distinguishing the respect that is due to a father from
that which is due to a son.
The substance of what is said in this and the fore¬
going section, upon the method of arranging words in
a period, so as to make the deepest impression with re¬
spect to sound as well as signification, is comprehend¬
ed in the following observation : That order of words
in a period will always be the most agreeable, where,
without obscuring the sense, the most important images,
the most sonorous words, and the longest members,
bring up the rear.
Hitherto of arranging single words, single mem¬
bers, and single circumstances. But the enumeration
of many particulars in the same period is often neces¬
sary : and the question is, In what order they should
be placed ? And, first, with respect to the enumera¬
ting particulars of equal rank : As there is no cause
for preferring any one before the rest, it is indifferent
to the mind in what order they be viewed j therefore
it is indifferent in what order they be named. 2dly, If
a number of objects of the same kind, differing only
in size, are to be ranged along a straight line, the most
agreeable order to the eye is of an increasing se¬
ries : in surveying a number of subjects, beginning
at the least, and proceeding to greater and greater, the
mind swells gradually with the successive objects, and
in its progress has a very sensible pleasure. Precisely
for the same reason, words expressive of such objects
ought to be placed in the same order. The beauty of
this figure, which may be termed a climax in sense, has
escaped Lord Bolingbroke in the first member of the
following period : “ Let but one, great, brave, disin¬
terested, active man arise, and he will be received, fol¬
lowed, and almost adored.” The following arrange¬
ment has sensibly a better effect: “ Let but one brave,
great, active, disinterested man arise,” &c. Whether
the same rule ought to be followed in enumerating men
of different ranks, seems doubtful: on the one band,
a number of persons presented to the eye in form of
an increasing series, is undoubtedly the most agreeable
order $ on the other hand, in every list of names, we
set the person of the greatest dignity at the top, and
descend gradually through his inferiors. Where the
purpose is to honour the persons named according to
their rank, the latter ought to be followed } but every
one who regards himself only, or his reader, will
choose the former order, gdly, As the sense of or¬
der directs the eye to descend from the principal to its
greatest accessory, and from the whole to its greatest
part, and in the same order through all the parts and
accessories, till we arrive at the minutest $ the same
order ought to be followed in the enumeration of such
particulars.
When force and liveliness of expression are demand¬
ed, the rule is, to suspend the thought as long as pos¬
sible,
LANGUAGE.
J &ngti*gc. s*r^e» ^ out full and entire at the close,
-y——- which cannot he done hut by inverting the natural ar¬
rangement. By introducing a word or member before
its time, curiosity is raised about what is to follow j
and it is agreeable to have our curiosity gratified at
the close of the period : the pleasure we feel resembles
that of seeing a stroke exerted upon a body by the
whole collected force of the agent. On the other
hand, where a period is so constructed as to admit more
than one complete close in the sense, the curiosity
of the reader is exhausted at the first close, and what
follows appears languid or superfluous : his disappoint¬
ment contributes also to that appearance when he finds,
contrary to expectation, that the period is not yet fi¬
nished. Cicero, and after him Quintilian, recommend
the verb to the last place. This method evidently
tends to suspend the sense till the close of the period 5
for without the verb the sense cannot be complete; and
when the verb happens to he the capital word, which it
frequently is, it ought at any rate to be the last, ac¬
cording to another rule above laid down. The follow¬
ing period is placed in its natural order: “ Were in¬
struction an essential circumstance in epic poetry, I
doubt whether a single instance could be given of this
species of composition in any language.” The period
thus arranged admits a full close upon the word com¬
position ; after which it goes on languidly, and closes
without force. This blemish will he avoided by the
following arrangement: “ Were instruction an essen¬
tial circumstance in epic poetry, I doubt whether, in
any language, a single instance could be given of this
species of composition.”
“ Some of our most eminent divines have made use
of this Platonic notion, as far as it regards the sub¬
sistence of our passions after death, with great beauty
and strength of reason.” Sped. Better thus : “ Some
of our most eminent divines have, with great beauty
and strength of reason, made use of this Platonic no¬
tion,” &c.
“ Men of the best sense have been touched, more or
less, with these groundless horrors and presages of fu¬
turity, upon surveying the most indifl’erent works of na¬
ture.” lb. Better, “ Upon surveying the most in¬
different works of nature, men of the best sense,” &c.
“ She soon informed him of the place he was in;
which, notwithstanding all its horrors, appeared to him
more sweet than the bower of Mahomet, in the com¬
pany of his Balsora.” Guardian. Better, “ She soon,
&c. which appeared to him, in the company of his Bal¬
sora, more sweet than the bower of Mahomet.”
None of the rules for the composition of periods are
more liable to be abused than those last mentioned ; wit¬
ness many Batin writers, among the moderns especial¬
ly, whose style, by inversions too violent, is rendered
harsh and obscure. Suspension of the thought till the
close of the period, ought never to be preferred before
perspicuity. Neither ought such suspension to be at¬
tempted in a long period j because in that case the mind
is bewildered amidst a profusion of words: a traveller,
while he is puzzled about the road, relishes not the
finest prospect: “ All the rich presents which Astyages
had given him at parting, keeping only some Median
horses, in order to propagate the breed of them in Per¬
sia, he distributed among his friends whom he left at
the court of Ecbatana.” Trav. of Cyrus.
Vol. XL Part II. f
III. Beauties from a Resemblance betivecn Sound
and Signification. There being frequently a strong re- v——'
semblance of one sound to another, it will not be sur¬
prising to find an articulate sound resembling one that
is not articulate j thus the sound of a bow string is imi¬
tated by the words that express it:
  —  The string let fly,
Twang'd short and shatp, like the shrill swallow’s cry.
Odyssey^ xxx. 449.
The sound of felling trees in a wood :
Loud sounds the axe, redoubling strokes on strokes,
On all sides round the forest hurls her oaks
Headlong. Deep echoing groan the thickets brown,
Then rustling, crackling, crashing, thunder down.
Iliad, xxiii. 144.
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar.
Pope’s Essay on Criticism, 369.
Hire Scj’lla there a scene of horror forms,
And here Charybdis fills the deep with storms :
When the tide rushes from her rumbling caves,
The rough rock roars j tumultuous boil the waves.
Pope.
No person can be at a loss about the cause of this
beauty ; it is obviously that of imitation.
That there is any other natural resemblance of sound
to signification, must not be taken for granted. There
is no resemblance of sound to motion, nor of sound
to sentiment. We are, however, apt to he deceived
by artful pronunciation : the same passage may be
pronounced in many different tones, elevated or hum¬
ble, sweet or harsh, brisk or melancholy, so as to ac¬
cord with the thought or sentiment: such concord
must be distinguished from that concord between sound
and sense which is perceived in some expressions in¬
dependent of artful pronunciation 5 the latter is the
poet’s work, the former must be attributed to the
reader. Another thing contributes still more to the
deceit: in language, sound and sense being intimately
connected, the properties of the one are readily com¬
municated to the other} for example, the quality of
grandeur, of sweetness, or of melancholy, though be¬
longing to the thought solely, is transferred to the
words, which by that means resemble in appearance
the thought that is expressed by them. That there
may be a resemblance of articulate sounds to some
that are not articulate, is self-evident} and that in
fact there exist such resemblances successfully employ¬
ed by writers of genius, is clear from the foregoing
examples, and from many others that might he given.
But we may safely pronounce, that this natural re¬
semblance can be carried no farther} the objects of the
different senses differ so widely from each other, as to
exclude any resemblance : sound in particular, whether
articulate or inarticulate, resembles not in any degree
taste, smell, nor motion } and as little can it resemble
any internal sentiment, feeling, or emotion. But must
we then admit, that nothing but sound can be imitated
by sound ? Taking imitation in its proper sense, as
importing a resemblance between two objects, the
proposition must be admitted : and yet in many pas-
3 Z sages
546
Language, sages that are not descriptive of sound, every one must
' he sensible of a peculiar concord between the sound of
the words and their meaning. As there can be no
doubt of the fact, what remains is to inquire into its
. cause.
Resembling causes may produce effects that have no
resemblance j and causes that have no resemblance may
produce resembling effects. A magnificent building,
for example, resembles not in any degree a heroic ac¬
tion } and yet the emotions they produce are concor¬
dant, and bear a resemblance to each other. We are
still more sensible of this resemblance in a song, when
the music is properly adapted to the sentiment 5 there
is no resemblance between the thought and sound j but
there is the strongest resemblance between the emotion
raised by music tender and pathetic, and that raised by
the complaint of an unsuccessful lover. Applying this
observation to the present subject, it appears, that, in
some instances, the sound even of a single wmid makes
an impression resembling that which is made by the
thing it signifies : witness the word running composed
of two short syllables ; and more remarkably the words
rapidity, impetuosity, precipitation. Brutal manners
produce in the spectator an emotion not unlike what is
produced by a harsh and rough sound ; and hence
the beauty of the figurative expression, rugged man¬
ners. Again, the word little, being pronounced with
a very small aperture of the mouth, has a weak and
faint sound, which makes an impression resembling
that made by a diminutive object. This resemblance
of effects is still more remarkable where a number of
words are connected in a period : words pronounced
in succession make often a strong impression ; and when
this impression happens to accord with that made by
the sense, we are sensible of a complex emotion, pe¬
culiarly pleasant ; one proceeding from the sentiment,
and one from the melody or sound of the words.
But the chief pleasure proceeds from having these
two concordant emotions combined in perfect harmony,
and carried on in the mind to a full close. Except
in the single case where sound is described, all the ex¬
amples given by critics, of sense being imitated in sound,
resolve into a resemblance of effects : emotions raised
by sound and signification may have a resemblance ; but
sound itself cannot have a resemblance to anything but
sound.
Proceeding now to particulars, and beginning with
those cases where the emotions have the strongest re¬
semblance, we observe, first, That by a number of
syllables in succession, an emotion is sometimes raised,
extremely similar to that raised by successive motion j
which may be evident even to those who are defective
in taste, from the following fact, that the term move¬
ment in all languages is equally applied to both. In
this manner, successive motion, such as walking, run-
n'n8> gaboping, can be imitated by a succession of long
or short syllables, or by a due mixture of both : for
example, slow motion may be justly imitated in a verse
where long syllables prevail; especially when aided by
a slow7 pronunciation :
Mi inter sese magna vi branchia tollunt.
Georg, iv. 174.
On the other hand, swift motion is mutated by a suc¬
cession of short syllables:
LANGUAGE.
Quadrupedante pntrem sonitu quatit ungula carii-Lau
pum.
Aga
Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas :
Thirdly, A line composed of monosyllables makes an
impression by the frequency of its pauses, similar to
what is made by laborious interrupted motion :
Pt ith many a weary step, and many a groan,
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone.
Odyssey, xi. 736.
First march the heavy mules securely slow ;
O’er hills, o’er dales, o’er craggs, o’er rocks they go.
Iliad, xxiii. 138.
Fourthly, The impression made by rough sounds in
succession, resembles that made by rough or tumultuous
motion : on the other hand, the impression of smooth
sounds resembles that of gentle motion. The following
is an example of both.
Two craggy rocks projecting to the main,
The roaring winds tempestuous rage restrain;
Within, the waves in softer murmurs glide,
And ships secure without their haulsers ride.
Odyssey, iii. 118.
Another example of the latter :
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows.
Essay on Criticism, 366.
Fifthly, Prolonged motion is expressed in an Alex¬
andrine line. The first example shall be of a slow mo¬
tion prolonged:
A needless Alexandrine ends the song ;
That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.
Ib. 356.
The next example is of forcible motion prolonged :
The waves behind impel the waves before,
Wide-rolling, foaming high, and tumbling to the shore.
Iliad, xiii. 1004.
The last shall be of rapid motion prolonged :
Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Hies o’er the unbending corn, and skims along the
main* Essay on Criticism, 373.
Again, speaking of a rock torn from the brow of a
mountain :
Still gathering force, it smokes, and urg’d amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down impetuous to the
ptain* Iliad, xiii, 197.
Sixthly, A period consisting mostly of long syllables,
that is, of syllables pronounced slow, produceth an emo¬
tion resembling faintly that which is produced by gra¬
vity and solemnity. Hence the beauty of the follow¬
ing verse :
Glli sedato respondet corde Latinus.
It resembles equally an object that is insipid and un¬
interesting.
Taedet quotidianarum harum formarum. Terence.
Seventhly;,
LANGUAGE,
Laftgoa^e. Seventhly, A slow succession of ideas is a circum-
u—-y——' stance that belongs equally to settled melancholy, and
to a period composed of polysyllables pronounced slow j
and hence, by similarity of emotion, the latter is imi¬
tative of the former :
In those deep solitudes, and awful cells,
Where heav’nly pensive Contemplation dwells,
And ever-musing Melancholy reigns.
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard.
Eighthly, A long syllable made short, or a short
syllable made long, raises, by the difficulty of pronoun¬
cing contrary to custom, a feeling similar to that of
hard labour:
"When Ajax strives some rock’s vast weight to throw,
The line too labours, and the words move slow.
Essay on Criticism, 370.
Ninthly, Harsh or rough words pronounced with
difficulty, excite a feeling similar to that which pro¬
ceeds from the labour of thought to a dull writer.
Just writes to make his barrenness appear,
And strains from hard-bound brains eight lines a year.
Pope’s Epistle to Dr Ar but knot, 1. 181.
We shall close with one example more, which of all
makes the finest figure. In the first section mention
is made of a climax in sound; and in the second of a
climax in sense. It belongs to the present subject to
observe, that when these coincide in the same passage,
the concordance of sound and sense is delightful: the
reader is conscious of pleasure not only from the two
climaxes separately, but of an additional pleasure from
their concordance, and from finding the sense so justly
imitated by the sound. In this respect, no periods are
more perfect than those borrowed from Cicero in the
first section.
The concord between sense and sound is not less
agreeable in what may be termed an anticlimax, where
547
the progress is from great to little ; for this has the ef-language,
feet to make diminutive objects appear still more dimi-'
nutive.
In this article we have mentioned none of the beau¬
ties of language but what arise from words, taken in
their pi’oper sense. Beauties that depend upon the me¬
taphorical and figurative power of words, are treated
under the separate articles of Figures, Personifica¬
tion, Apostrophe, Hyperbole, Metaphor, &c.
See also Oratory.
Purity of Language. Both the Greeks and Ho¬
mans were particularly careful of preserving the purity
of their language. It seems amongst the Romans to
have been a point which they thought worthy the atten¬
tion of the state itself; for we find the Cumeans not
daring to make use of the Latin language in their
public acts without having first obtained leave in form,
liberius himself would not hazard the word monopo-
hum in the senate without making an excuse for em¬
ploying a foreign term. Seneca gives it as a certain
maxim, that wherever a general false taste in style and
expression prevails, it is an infallible sign of corrup¬
tion of manners in that people : A liberty of introdu¬
cing obsolete words, or forming new ones, is a mark,
he thinks, of an equal licentiousness of the moral kind.
Accordingly it is observed, there are scarce more than
eight or ten instances of new words to be produced
from the most approved Roman writers, in the course
of two or three centuries. If this mode of reasoning
concerning the morals of the state was introduced and
applied in our own country, no nation on the face of
the earth could appear more abandoned $ for no na¬
tion is more fond of adopting new words j though our
language is sufficiently copious. This delicacy of Seneca
appears to be carried a little too far, and his manner
of estimating the morals of the people must be a little
fallacious. The Greeks were very remarkable for their
discernment of provincialisms, especially the Athenians,
whose dialect was inconceivably sweet and elegant.
LAN
LaH£ued, LANGUED, in Heraldry, expresses such animals
Langue- whose tongue, appearing out of the mouth, is borne of
'*oc‘ a different colour from the rest of the body.
LANGUEDOC, a large and maritime province of
France *, bounded on the north by Quercy, Rouerque,
Auvergne, and Lionnois j on the east by Daupbiny
and Provence j on the west by Gascony 5 and on the
south by the Mediterranean sea and Roussillon. It is
225 miles in length, and 100 in breadth where broad¬
est. It forms the departments of what are now called
Aude, Gard, Upper Garonne, and Herault. The
clergy were more rich and numerous here than in the
rest of France, before the Revolution. Languedoc is
divided into the Upper and Lower j and in general
it is a very pleasant country, fertile in corn, fruits,
and excellent wines $ and the inhabitants carry on a
considerable trade. There are many curious medi¬
cinal plants, with iron mines, quarries of marble, and
turquoise stone. There is also a great deal of kelp,
and on the heaths are considerable numbers of the
kermes oak. The principal rivers are the Rhone, the
LAN
Garonne, the Aude, the Tarne, the Allier, and the Laague-
Loire. There are also a great number of mineral doc’
springs. Thoulouse is the capital town. This pro- ,Langue*\
vince is famous for the royal canal, which runs through
it, joining the Mediterranean with the Atlantic
ocean. This canal was undertaken in 1666, and fi¬
nished in 1680 j the mathematician who undertook it
made a basin 400 yards long, 300 broad, and 7
feet deep, which is always kept full of water, and may
be let out by means of a sluice on the side of the Me¬
diterranean, as well as by another on the side of the
Atlantic.
LANGUET, Hubert, born at Viteaux in Bur¬
gundy in 1518, gained great reputation by his learn¬
ing and virtue in the 16th century. Having read one
of Melancthon’s books at Bologna, he conceived so
high an esteem for the author, that he went to Wir-
temberg purposely to visit him ; he arrived there in
I549* when he contracted a strict friendship with Me-
lancthon, and embraced the Protestant religion. In
IS^S> ^ie was one of the first counsellors of Augustus
3 Z 2 elector
LAN [ 548 ] LAN
Languet elector of Saxony, who employed him in several im-
portant affairs and negociations. He was afterwards
a(]mltted to the confidence of William prince of O-
range; and died at Antwerp on the 30th of September
1581. We have many of his letters written in Latin
to Sir Philip Sidney, to Camerarius the father and son,
and to Augustus elector of Saxony, which have been
several times reprinted, in three volumes; and there is
also attributed to him a famous treatise, entitled, Vin-
dicicc contra Tyrannos, and other works. His life is
written by Philibert de ia Mare.
Languet, John-Baptist-Joseph, the celebrated vi¬
car of St Sulpice at Paris, and a doctor of the Sor-
bonne, was born at Dijon in 1675. He was received
into the Sorbonne in 1698; and attached himself to
the community of St Sulpice, to which parish he was
of great service. M. de la Chetardie the vicar, con¬
scious of his talents, chose him for his curate, in which
capacity he officiated near ten years; and in 1714 suc¬
ceeded to the vicarage. His parish church being small
and out of repair, he conceived the design of building
a church suitable to the site of his parish, which be
began with the sum of 100 crowns, but soon obtained
considerable donations; and the duke of Orleans, re¬
gent of the kingdom, granted him a lottery, and laid
the first stone of the porch in 1718. It was consecra¬
ted in I745> aftef M. Languet had spared neither la¬
bour nor expence to render it one of the finest churches
in the world both for architecture and ornament. An¬
other work which did him no less honour was the
Maison de Venfant Jesus. This establishment consists
of two parts ; the first composed of about 35 poor la¬
dies of good families, and the second of more than
400 poor women and children of town and country.
The order and economy in this house, for the educa¬
tion and employment of so many persons, gave Cardi¬
nal I:leury so high an idea of the vicar of St Sulpice,
that he proposed to make him superintendant general
of all the hospitals in the kingdom ; which, however,
was declined. Never man took more pains than he did
to procure charitable donations and legacies, which he
distributed with admirable discretion : he is said from
good authority to have disbursed near a million of livres
to the poor annually. When there was a general dearth
ia 1725, he sold, in order to relieve the poor, his house¬
hold goods, pictures, and some curious pieces of furni¬
ture that he had procured with difficulty ; and when
the plague raged at Marseilles, he sent large sums into
Provence for the relief of the distressed. M. Languet
vyas not only singular in this warm, disinterested, bene¬
volent conduct, but also in other circumstances equally
rare ; and this was in the refusal of several bishoprics
that were offered him : he even resigned his vicarage
in 1748 j but continued to preach every Sunday at his
own parish church, and to support the Maison de Pen-
fant Jesus, to his death, which happened in 1750. It
is ooserved, that his piety and charity did not proceed
from poverty of talents ; for he was sensible and lively
in conversation,, and his genius often discovered itself
in his agreeable repartees.
LANGUOR, among physicians, signifies great weak¬
ness and loss of strength, attended with a dejection of
mind; so that the patients can scarce walk or even
stand upright, but are apt to faint away.
LANHAM. See Lavenham,
LANIARD (from Lanier, Fr.), a short piece of jr,ai5;ar(|
cord or line fastened to several machines in a ship, and ||
serving to secure them in a particular place, or to ma- Aansqvii.
nage them more conveniently. Such are the laniards ,
of the gun port, the laniard of the buoy, the laniard of'’
the cat hook, &.c.—The principal laniards used in a
ship, however, are those employed to extend the shrouds
and stays of the masts by their communication with the
dead eyes, so as to form a sort of mechanical power re¬
sembling that of a tackle. These laniards are fixed in
the dead eyes as follows : one end of the laniards is
thrust through one of the holes of the upper dead eye,
and then knotted, to prevent it from drawing out ; the
other is then passed through one of the holes in the
lower dead eye, whence, returning upward, it is insert¬
ed through the second hole in the upper dead eye, and
next through the second in the lower dead eye, and fi¬
nally through the third holes in both dead eyes. The
end of the laniard being then directed upwards from
the lowest dead eye, is stretched as stiff as possible by
the application of tackles; and that the several parts
of it may slide with more facility through the holes of
the dead eyes, it is well smeared with hog’s lard or
tallow, so that the strain is immediately communicated
to all the turns at once.
LANIGEROUS, an appellation given to whatever
bears wool.
LANISTA, in antiquity, is sometimes used to sig¬
nify an executioner; but more frequently for a master
gladiator, who taught the use of arms, and had always
people under him ready to exhibit shows of that kind.
For this purpose, they either purchased gladiators,
or educated children in that art that had been expo¬
sed.
LANIUS, the Shrike, ot Butcher bird?* genus of
birds belonging to the order of accipitres. See Orni¬
thology Index.
L ANNER, or Lannar. See Falco, Ornitholo¬
gy Index.
LANSDOWNE, Lord. See Granville.
LANSQU1NET, the name of a game at cards, of
French origin,
It may be played at by any indiscriminate numbei?
of people, though a single pack of cards is used during
the deal. The dealer, who possesses an advantage,
shuffles the cards, and after they have been cut by
another of the party, deals out two cards on his left
hand, turning them up, then one for himself, and a
fourth that he places on the table for the company,
which is called the rejouissance. On this card any, or
all the company, the dealer excepted, may put their
money, which the dealer is compelled to answer. The
dealer continues turning the cards upwards, one by
one, till two of a sort come up, that is to say, two aces,
two deuces, &.c. which, to prevent mistakes, or their
being considered as single cards, be places on each
side of his own card : and as often as two, three,
or the fourth sort of a card come up, he invariably
places, as before mentioned, on each side of his own
card. The company has a right to take and put
money upon any single card, unless the dealer’s card
should happen to be double, which is often the case,
by this card being the same as one of the two hand-
cards, which be first dealt out on his left hand : thus
he continues dealing till he brings either their cards
or
LAN [ 549 1 LAO
liStcqainet or liis own. Whilst the dealer’s own card remains un¬
it drawn, he wins ; and whichever card is turned up first,
Lantern. j03es> Jf j)e deals out the two cards on his left hand,
^ v" which are styled the hand-cards^ before his own, he is
entitled to deal again. This advantage amounts to no
more than his being exempted from losing, when he
turns up a similar card to his own, immediately after
he has turned up one for himself.
Lansquinet is often played without the rejouissance,
the dealer giving every one of the party a card to put
their money upon. It is also often played by dealing
only two cards, one for the company and the other for
the dealer.
It should likewise be observed, that a limitation is
generally fixed for the sum to be placed upon any card
or number of cards, either in gold or silver, beyond
which the dealer is not obliged to answer.
LANTANA, or Indian Sage, a genus of plants
belonging to the didynamia class ; and in the natural
method ranking under the 40th order, Personatce. See
Botany Index.
LANTERN, or Lanthorn, a device to carry a
candle in ; being a kind of cover usually made of white
iron, with sashes of some transparent matter, as glass,
horn, &c. to transmit the light.
Sir George Staunton informs us that some of the Chi¬
nese lanterns were entirely made of horn, so very thin
and transparent that they were at first taken for glass,
to which they prefer it as being cheaper, less liable to
accident, and more easily repaired. Those which Sir
George had the opportunity of examining, consisted of
one uniform piece of horn, the seams being made invi¬
sible by an art found out by the Chinese. The horns
commonly used are those of sheep or goats, which be¬
ing bent by immersing them in boiling water, arc cut
open and flattened, after which they are easily separa¬
ted into two or three thin plates. To make these laminae
or plates join readily, they are exposed to the penetra¬
ting heat of steam till they are perfectly soft, and the
edges that are to lap over each other are scraped and
slanted off, so that the joinings may be no thicker than
any ether part of the plate.
Such lanterns would be extremely proper for milita¬
ry store-houses 5 and Rochou of the National Institute
was desired to attempt to make them for the marine
store-houses of France. While he was thus engaged, it
occurred to him that he might supply the urgent neces¬
sities of the navy without horn, by filling up the inter¬
stices of wire cloth with fine transparent glue. He first
tinned the iron wires of the sieve-cloth he made use of;
but afterwards found it more convenient to give it a
coating of oil paint to preserve it from rust. The glue
he made use of was procured by boiling the clippings
of parchment with the air-bladders and membranes, of
sea-fish, not from any conviction of their superiority to
other articles, but as being the cheapest he could pro¬
cure. To this he added the juice of garlic and cyder,
in such proportions as he found to communicate great
tenacity. Into this transparent pure glue he plunged
his wire-cloth, which came out with its interstices filled
with the compound. The ease with which lanterns
made of this substance are repaired in case of accident,
by a slight coating of glue, is given by the inventor as
a great advantage j and, according to him, they were
employed as signal lanterns in the expedition to Ire- Xantore
land. y’
Dark Lantern, one with only one opening, which, Laocoon.
may also be closed up when the light is to be entirely —v—J
hid, or opened when there is occasion for the assistance
of the light to discover some object.
Magic Lantern, an optical machine, whereby lit¬
tle painted images are represented so much magnified,
as to be accounted the effect of magic by the ignorant.
See Dioptrics, Art. X. p. 37.
Lantern, in Architecture, a little dome raised over
the roof of a building to give light, and serve as a
crowning to the fabric.
The term lantern is also used for a square cage of
carpentry, placed over the ridge of a corridor or gal¬
lery, between two rows of shops, to illumine them, like
that of the Royal Exchange, London.
Lantern, on ship board, a well known machine, of
which there are many in a ship, particularly for the
purpose of directing the course of other ships in a fleet
or convoy ; such are the poop and top lanterns, &c.
Feast of Lanterns, in China, is a celebrated feast
held on the 15th day of the first month j so called
from the infinite number of lanterns hung out of the
houses and streets; which, it is said, is no less than
two hundred millions. On this day are exposed lan¬
terns of all prices, whereof some are said to cost 2000
crowns. Some of their grandees retrench somewhat
every day out of their table, out of their dress, equi¬
page, &c. to appear the more magnificent in lanterns.
They are adorned with gilding, sculpture, painting,
japanning, &c. And as to their size, it is extrava¬
gant j some being from 25 to 30 feet diameter : they
represent halls and chambers, and two or three such
machines together would make handsome houses; so
that in China they are able to eat, lodge, receive visits,
have balls, and act plays in a lantern. To illumine
them, they should have bonfires j but as that would
be inconvenient, they content themselves with lighting
up in them an infinite number of torches or lamps,
which at a distance have a beautiful effect. In these
they exhibit various kinds of shows, to divert the peo*
pie. Besides these enormous lanterns, there is a mul¬
titude of others smaller, which usually consist of sax
faces or lights, each about four feet high, and one and
a half broad, framed in wood finely gilt and adorned ;
over these they stretch a fine transparent silk, curiously
painted with flowers, trees, and sometimes human fi¬
gures : the painting is very extraordinary, and the co¬
lours extremely bright j and when the torches are light¬
ed, they appear highly beautiful and surprising,
Lantern Fly. See Fulgora, Entomology Index.
LANUGO, the soft down of plants, like that grow¬
ing on the fruit of the peach tree. See Hair.
LAOCOON, in fabulous history, a son of Priam and
Hecuba, or according to others of Antenor or of Capys.
As being priest of Apollo, he was commissioned by the
Trojans to offer a bullock to Neptune to render him
propitious. During the sacrifice two enormous ser¬
pents issued from the sea, and attacked Laocoon’s two
sons who stood next to the altar. The father imme¬
diately attempted to defend his sons j but the serpents
falling upon him squeezed him in their complicated
wreathes, and he died in the greatest agonies. This
punishment.
LAO [ 550
LaodooH. punishment was said to have been inflicted upon him
-> for dissuading the Trojans to bring into the city the
■: fatal wooden horse which the Greeks had consecrated
to Minerva, as also for his impiety in hnrling a javelin
against the sides of the horse as it entered within the
walls. According to Hyginus, he suffered the above
punishment for his marriage against the consent of
Apollo, or, according to others, for his polluting the
temple, by his commerce with his wife Antiope, before
the statue of the god.
Laocoon, in the history of the arts, is a celebrated
monument of Greek sculpture executed in marble by
Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, the three fa¬
mous artists of Rhodes. Agesander is supposed to have
been the father of the two latter. This remain of an¬
tiquity was found at Rome in the ruins of the palace
of Titus, in the beginning of the sixteenth century,
under the pontificate of Julius II. and afterwards depo¬
sited in the Farnese palace. Laocoon, the priest of
Apollo and Neptune, is here represented with bis two
sons, with two hideous serpents clinging round his bo-
dy, gnawing it, and injecting their poison : Virgil has
given us the following description of the fact:
]
L A O
- "■ Serpens amplexus uterque
Implicate et miseros morsu depascitur artus
Corripiunt, spirisque ligant ingentibus, et jam
Bis medium amplexi, bis collo squamea circum
Terga dati, superant capite et cervicibus altis.
* Lib.
xxsiri. c, 5
t Mat. of
Greece,
n, 177.
Phis statue exhibits the most astonishing dignity and
tranquillity of mind in the midst of the most excruci¬
ating torments : Pliny * says of it, that it is, opus om¬
nibus pictorece et statuarice artis, preeferendum.
When Italy was overrun by the French during the
late revolution, this wonderful monument of ancient art
was removed along with the celebrated Apollo Belvi-
dere, &c. from the Vatican, where they had been seen
and admired for 300 years, and placed in the Museum
of Arts at Paris. “ A hero (says the French account
of the latter), guided by victory, drew it from the Vati¬
can, and transporting it to the banks of the Seine, has
fixed it there for ever.”
The Laocoon, Dr Gillies f observes, may be re¬
garded as the triumph of Grecian sculpture j since
bodily pain, the grossest and most ungovernable of all
our passions, and that pain united with anguish and
torture of mind, are yet expressed with such propriety
and dignity, as afford lessons of fortitude superior to
any taught in the schools of philosophy. The horrible
shriek which Virgil’s Laocoou emits is a proper cir¬
cumstance for poetry, which speaks to the fancy by
images and ideas borrowed from all the senses, and has
a thousand ways of ennobling its object: but the ex¬
pression of this shriek would have totally degraded the
statue. It is softened, therefore, into a patient sigh,
with the eyes turned to heaven in search of relief. The
intolerable agony of suffering nature is represented in
the lower part, and particularly in the extremities of the
bouy $ but the manly breast struggles against calamity.
The contention is still more plainly perceived in his
fun owed foieheadj and his languishing paternal eye
demands assistance, less for himself than for his miser¬
able children, who look up to him for help.
The groupe of the Laocoon is composed of five pie¬
ces of marble, joined together with so much art and
' 3
neatness, that Phny thought the whole was of one. La0(,OQn
The right arm of the father, and two of the arms of 1
the children are wanting. The deficiency is supplied Weton
°n t,ie groi1Pe ,n plaster of Paris. -v—
-LAODICiEA on the Lycus, in Ancient Geogra¬
phy, a town of Phrygia, at first called Diospolis, then
j v!aS by Antiochus son of Stratonice,
and called after his consort Laodice. It was long an
inconsiderable place j but increased toward the ao-e of
Augustus Ctesar, after having suffered in a siege from
Mithndates. The fertility of the soil, and the good
fiirtune of some of its citizens, raised it to greatness.
Uiero who adorned it with many offerings, left the
people bis heir to more than 2000 talents. After that
benefactor followed Zeno the rhetorician $ and his son
I olemo, as renowned a sophist as ever lived. This
person flourished at Smyrna ; but was buried here by
the Syrian gate, near which were the sepulchres or
coffins of his ancestors. Laodicsea, though inland
grew more potent than the cities on the coast, and be¬
came one of the largest towns in Phrygia. It was of¬
ten damaged by earthquakes, and restored by its own
opulence or by the munificence of the Roman em¬
perors. These resources failed, and the city, it is
probable, became early a scene of ruin. About the
year 1097 it was possessed by the Turks, and sub¬
mitted to Ducas general of the emperor Alexis. In
1120 the Turks sacked some of the cities of Phrygia
by the Mgeander, but were defeated by the emperor
John Comnenus, who took Laodicma, and built anew
or repaired the walls. About 1161 it was again un¬
fortified.^ Many of the inhabitants were then killed
with their bishop, or carried with their cattle into cap¬
tivity by the Jurks. In 1190 the German emperor,
Frederick Barbarossa, going by Laodictea, with his
army toward Syria on a croisade, was received so kind¬
ly, that he prayed on his knees for the prosperity of
the people. About 1196 this region with Caria was
dreadfully ravaged by the Turks. The sultan, on the
invasion of the Tartars in 1255, gave Laodiceea to the
Romans j but they were unable to defend it, and it
soon returned to the Turks. It is now totally ruined
and deserted. Several remains of its ancient grandeur
are, however, still to be seen j particularly the ruins of
two theatres and an amphitheatre.—The memory of
this place is consecrated in Scripture, being one of the
seven churches to which St John in the Apocalypse ad¬
dresses himself, commended by St Paul.
Laodica:a on the sea, in Ancient Geography, ac¬
cording to Strabo, was a town of Seleucis in Syria, ex¬
tremely well built, with a commodious harbour. The
country about it yielded great quantities of wine. The
city took its name from Laodice, mother of Seleucus the
founder of it.
LAOMEDON, a king of Troy, whose history is
involved in fables. He was son of Ilus king of Troy;
and married Strymo, called by some Placia, or Leu-
cippe, by whom he had Podarces, afterwards known
by the name of Priam, and Hesione. He built the
walls of Troy, and was assisted by Apollo and Nep¬
tune, whom Jupiter had banished from heaven, and
condemned to be subservient to the will of Laomedon
for one year. When the walls were finished, Laomedon
refused to reward the labours of the godsj and soon af¬
ter his territories were laid waste by the sea or Nep¬
tune,
LAP [ 55i 1 LAP
Laomedoutune, and liis subjects were visited by a pestilence sent
JJ by Apollo. Sacrifices were offered to the offended di-
./ ^ ^ U * vinities ; but the calamities of the Trojans increased,
and nothing could appease the gods, according to the
words of the oracle, but annually to expose to a sea
monster a Trojan virgin. Whenever the monster ap¬
peared, the marriageable maidens were assembled, and
the lot decided which of them was doomed to death
for the good of her country. When this calamity had
continued for five or six years, the lot fell upon He-
sione, Laomedon’s daughter. The king was unwilling
to part with his daughter whom he loved with uncom¬
mon tenderness, but his refusal would irritate more
strongly the wrath of the gods. In the midst of his
fear and hesitation, Hercules came and offered to de¬
liver the Trojans from this public calamity, if Laome-
don would promise to reward him with a number of fine
horses. Ihe king consented; but when the monster
was destroyed, he refused to fulfil his engagements, and
Hercules was obliged to besiege Troy and take it by
force of arms, Laomedon was put to death after a
reign of 29 years; his daughter Hesione was given in
marriage to Telamon, one of the conqueror’s attend¬
ants ; and Podarces was ransomed by the Trojans, and
placed upon his father’s throne. According to Hy-
ginus, the wrath of Neptune and Apollo was kindled
against Laomedon, because he refused to offer on their
altars as a sacrifice all the first born of his cattle, ac¬
cording to a vow he had made.
LAON, a considerable town of France, in the de¬
partment of Aisne. Its principal trade consists in corn
and wine. Some obstinate fighting between the French
and Prussians took place here in 1814. E. Long. 3. 42.
N. Lat. 49. 34.
LAOS, a kingdom of Asia beyond the Ganges ;
bounded on the north by China; on the east, by
Tonquin and Cochin China ; on the south, by Cam¬
bodia ; and on the west, by the kingdom of Siam,
and by the territories of the king of Ava. This coun¬
try is full of forests, and abounds in rice, fruits, and
fish. The inhabitants are well made, robust, of an
olive complexion, and mild in their disposition ; but
very superstitious, and much addicted to ‘women.
Their principal occupation is tilling the ground and
fishing. The king shows himself but twice a-year,
and has large revenues from the elephants teeth found
in his dominions. Their religion is a kind of idolatry,
and much the same as in China, Langiona is the ca¬
pital town.
LAI. ATHUS, Lapethus, or T^epithusy in Ancient
Geography, a town of Cyprus, about the middle of its
north side, with a port or station for ships, and a cog¬
nomina! river. It was built by a colony of Phoenici¬
ans, according to Scylax : by Belus king of Tyre, ac¬
cording to Alexander Ephesius. According to Strabo,
it was built by a colony of Spartans ; and one of the
nine kings resided here, the last of whom was Pisistra-
tus, who commanded the naval army of Alexander the
Great. There was a temple here dedicated to Venus.
The territory round it is called Lapithia by Diodorus
and Ptolemy ; ''Lapithii, the people, tainted with a de¬
gree of fatuity ; hence denotes fatuus, (He-
sychius).—Now a vijlage called Lapitha but, accord¬
ing to the Abbe Mariti, the longest and most extensive
in the island. Besides the advantage of a fine situation,
it furnishes the best productions in the country ; and
thaugh Cyprus is in general not very abundant in
irmts, Lapitha seems a favoured spot in this respect,
and may be called the garden of the island.
LAPIDARY, an artificer who cuts precious stones.
The art of cutting precious stones is of great anti¬
quity. i he French have carried this art to a very
great perfection, but not in any degree superior to the
British.
I here are various machines employed in the cutting
of precious stones, according to their quality. The
diamond, which is extremely hard, is cut on a wheel of
soft steel, turned by a mill, with diamond dust, tem¬
pered with olive oil, which also serves to polish it.
Ihe oriental ruby, sapphire, and topaz, are cut on a
copper wheel with diamond dust tempered with olive
oil, and are polished on another copper wheel with
tripoli and water. The hyacinth, emerald, amethyst,
garnets, agates, and other stones not of an equal de¬
gree of hardness with the other, are cut on a leaden
wheel with smalt and water, and polished on a tin wheel
with tripoli. The turquois of the old and new rock,
girasol, and opal, are cut and polished on a wooden
wheel with tripoli also.
The lapid aries of Paris have been a corporation
since the year 1290. It is governed by four jurats,
who superintend their rights and privileges, visit the
master workmen, take care of the masterpiece of
workmanship, bind apprentices, and administer the
freedom.
Lapidary is also used for a virtuoso skilled in the
nature, kinds, &c. of precious stones; or a merchant
who deals in them.
Lapidary Style, denotes the style proper for monu¬
mental or other inscriptions.
This is a kind of medium between prose and verse ;
the jejune and the brilliant are here equally to be avoid¬
ed. Cicero has prescribed the rules of it: Accedat
oportet oratio varia, vehemens, plena spiritus. Om¬
nium sententiarum gravitate, omnium verborum ponde-
ribus, est utendum.
The lapidary style, which was lost with the ancient
monuments, has been retrieved at the beginning of this
age by Count Emanuel Tesoro : it is now used various
ways at the beginning of book* ; and even epistles de¬
dicatory are composed in it, of which we have no ex¬
ample among the ancients.
LAPIDESCENT, any thing which has the facul¬
ty of petrifying, or turning bodies to a stony nature.
The older naturalists speak of a lapidescent principle,
a lapidescent spirit, a lapidescent juice, &c.
LAPIS, in general, is used to denote a stone of any
kind.
Lapis, in Roman antiquity, a geographical mea¬
sure denoting a mile ; because miles were distinguish¬
ed by erecting a stone at the end of each; from the
number marked on which, the length of way from
Rome might be known. The device is by Plutarch
ascribed to Caius Gracchus. This was more accu¬
rately executed by Augustus, who erected a gilt pil¬
lar in the forum, at which all the public ways of Italy,
distinguished by stones, were terminated. The same
thing was done in the Roman provinces. Hence the
phrases
Lapathas
\)
Lapis.
/
LAP [ 552 ] LAP
Xa!H* phrases tertius lapis, centesimus lapis, &cc. for three, a
I ^ i ^un^re(^» &c. miles j and sometimes the ordinal num-
' ber without lapis, as ad duodecimum, &c. at twelve miles
distance.
Lapis Assius, in the natural history of the ancients,
the name of a stone called also sarcophagus, from its
power of consuming flesh. See Sarcophagus.
Lapis Bononiensis, the Bolognian stone. See Che¬
mistry, N° ic8i, 1082.
Lapis Fungifer, a kind of earth found near Rome,
Naples, and Florence. It is found in the chalk hills
near Naples, in a stalactitical form and of a white co¬
lour, intermixed with fine roots of shrubs. A piece of
it from Italy was found to contain siliceous, argillace¬
ous, and calcareous earth, together with some magne¬
sia, vegetable alkali, and oxide of iron.
Lapis Lazuli. See Lazulite, Mineralogy In¬
dex.
Lapis Lyncurius. See Lyncurius, 1 Mineral-
Lapis Mutabilis. See Hydrophanes, j OGXIndex.
Lapis Hepaticus. See LiVER-Stone.
Lapis Lydius. See Touchstone, and Lapis Ly-
dius. Mineralogy Index.
Lapis Obsidianus. See Obsidian, Mineralogy
Index.
Lapis Nephriticus. See J.iDs Stone, Mineralogy
Index.
LAPITHiE, in Ancient Geography, a people of
Thessaly. See the next article.
LAPITHUS, in fabulous history, a son of Apol¬
lo, by Stilbe. He was a brother to Centaurus ; and
married Orsinome, daughter of Euronymus, by whom
he had Phorbas and Periphas. The name of Ijapithte
was given to the numerous children of Phorbas and
Periphas, or rather to the inhabitants of the country of
which they had obtained the sovereignty. The chief
of the Lapitbae assembled to celebrate the nuptials of
Perithous, one of their number. Among them were
Theseus, Dryas, Hopleus, Mopsus, Phalerus, Exadius,
Prolochus, Titaresius, &c. The Centaurs were also in¬
vited to partake the common festivity j and the amuse¬
ments would have been harmless and innocent, had
not one of the intoxicated Centaurs oft’ered violence
to Hippodamia the wife of Perithous. The Lapithae
resented the injury, and the Centaurs supported their
companions; upon which the quarrel became univer¬
sal and ended in blows and slaughter. Many of the
Centaurs were slain, and they at last were obliged to
retire. Theseus among the Lapithse showed himself
brave and intrepid in supporting the cause of his
friends ; and Nestor also was not less active in the pro¬
tection of chastity and innocence* Hesiod has describ¬
ed the battle of the Centaurs and Eapitbse j as has also
Ovid, in a more copious manner. The invention of
bits and bridles for horses is attributed to the Lapi¬
thae.
LAPLAND, the most northerly country of Eu¬
rope, extending from the North cape in 710 30'N.
Lat. to the White sea under the arctic circle, is in¬
habited by the same people, though the country is
subject to different powers. Norwegian Lapland^lies
between the northern sea, the river Pais, and the lake
Euarak. Swedish Lapland comprehends all the coun¬
try from the Baltic to the mountains that separate Nor¬
way from Sweden. It is divided into six districts, de¬
nominated march or territory; and these are distiu- LapluniL
guished by the names of rivers, such as Aongnerman- -v-—-“
land, Elma, Peta, Lula, Toma, and Kimi. The eas¬
tern part, subject to Russia, situated between the lake
Enarak and the W hite sea, is divided into three dis¬
tinct prefectures ; namely that of the sea coast towards
the north, called MourmankoiLeporie ; the Terskoi Le-
porie, upon the coast of the White sea ; and the third,
or inland, known by the name of Bellamoreskoi Leporie.
In Swedish Lapland, which is the most considerable of
the three, the provinces or marcks are subdivided into
smaller districts called biars, consisting each of a certain
number of families ; among which the land is parcel¬
led out by government, or the prefect of the district
appointed by the king of Sweden.
Lapland may be termed a huge congeries of fright¬
ful rocks and stupendous mountains ; interspersed, how¬
ever, with many pleasant valleys, watered by an infinite
number of rivulets that run into the rivers and lakes,
which discharge themselves into the gulf of Both¬
nia. The names of the principal lakes in Lapland
are the Great Uma, the Great Windel, the Oreavan,
the Stor-avan, the Great Lula ; the lakes of Kartom,
Kali, Torno, Enara, and Kimi. Some of these ex¬
tend 60 leagues in length, and contain a great num¬
ber of islands; Stor-avan is said to contain 365 :
and Enara contains an archipelago of islands so
large that no Laplander has lived long enough to
visit each particular island. The natives believe this
country to be the terrestrial paradise; and indeed no¬
thing could be more enchanting than such vast pro¬
spects of mountains, hills, forests, lakes, rivers, &c.
if the country was in a moderate climate ; though
even here, in summer the roses are seen blowing wild
on the banks of the lakes and rivers, with all the beau¬
tiful glow of colour which appears in those cultivated
in our gardens. But all the intervals between the
mountains are not engrossed by these agreeable pro¬
spects ; great part of the flat country is covered with
brown dusky forests of fir and pine trees; and these are
often skirted by wide extended morasses, the stagna¬
ting waters of which in summer produce myriads of
mischievous insects, that are more intolerable than
even the cold of winter.
The cold of Lapland is very intense during the win¬
ter, freezing even brandy and the watery part of spi¬
rit of wine, if the latter is not highly rectified : all the
lakes and rivers are frozen to a prodigious thickness;
and the whole face of the country is covered with snow
to the depth of four or five feet. While this continues
loose, it is impossible to travel: for a man’s eyes are
not only blinded with it, but if a strong wind should
rise he will be buried in the drifts of snow : yet should
a partial thaw take place for a few hours, the surface
of this snow is formed by the succeeding frost into a
hard impenetrable crust, over which the Laplander
travels in his sledge with great celerity. While the
thaw prevails, the air is surcharged with vapours, and
the climate is rainy; but while the north wind blows,
the sky is beautifully serene, and the air very clear.
The heat of summer is almost as intolerable in Lap-
land as the cold of winter. At the northern extremi¬
ty of the country the sun never sets for three months
in summer, and in winter there is an uninterrupted
night of the same duration; but this is qualified in such
a
L A p [553
LfqiSa'.’.d. a manner by a constant revolution of dawn and twi
v—^ light, by a serene sky, moon light, and aurora borea
]
LAP
is, reflected from the white surface of the earth co¬
vered with snow, that the inhabitants are enabled to
hunt, fish, and proceed with their ordinary occupa¬
tions. The country abounds with excellent springs j
and is remarkable for some surprising cataracts, in
which the water tumbles over frightful precipices,
and dashes among rocks with amazing impetuosity
and noise.
The soil of Lapland is generally so chilled and
barren, that it produces little or no grain or fruit
trees of any kind. This sterility, however, is not so
much owing to the soil, which is in many places of a
rich mould, as to want of industry ; for in some di¬
stricts the Swedes have tilled and manured pieces of
ground that bear plentiful crops of rye. There is also
great plenty of berries: such as black currants 5 what
is called the Norwegian mulberry, growing upon a
creeping plant, and much esteemed as an antiscorbutic;
raspberries, cranberries, juniper berries, and bilberries.
The tops of the mountains are so much exposed to in¬
tense cold, and tempests of snow and hail, that no tree
will grow near the summit ; but in parts that are more
sheltered, we see fine woods of birch, pine, and fir,
disposed by nature as if they had been planted by art
in rows at regular distances, without any undergrowth
or encumbrance below. Besides these trees, some parts
cf Lapland produce the service tree, the willow, the
poplar, the elder, and the cornel. Among the plants
of this country, the principal is the angelica; which is
greatly esteemed by the natives, who use it in their
food. Here is likewise the acetosa or sorrel, which
grows in great plenty, and is of much service on ac¬
count of its antiscorbutic properties. They have also
other kinds of herbs peculiar to the country, different
kinds of grass, heath, fern, and moss ; which are all
enumerated by Linnaeus in his Flora Lapponica. But
the vegetable which is in greatest plenty, and of the
most extensive use among them, is the lichen rangiferns.
The rein deer is wholly sustained in winter by this ve¬
getable ; and the Laplanders themselves boil it in
broth as a cordial and restorative. They likewise use
one sort of it as a soft, easy, and wholesome bed for
their new-born children.
Some silver and lead mines have been discovered in
the provinces of Pitha and Lula ; and two of copper,
together with excellent veins of iron, in the district of
Torno ; but they are not at present worked with any
considerable advantage. In some places there are veins
of silver and gold mixed ; but these mines are worked
only for a few months in the summer, because the frost
binders the engines from playing. Here are found
beautiful crystals, of a surprising magnitude, so hard
and fine, that when polished they resemble real dia¬
monds. In some places amethysts and topazes are
also found, but pale and cloudy ; also a great quantity
of very curious stones, which are too hard to be work¬
ed by the tool of the mason. Some of these, found on
the banks of rivers and lakes, when they happen to
bear the least resemblance to the figures of animals,
the Laplanders remove to more conspicuous places,
and adore as deities. The province of Tornea affords
some curious stones of an octagonal shape, regular,
shining, and polished by the hand of nature. In some
Vol. XI. Part II. f
rivers they fish for pearls, which are generally pale ;
but some of them are as bright as the oriental pearls,
and much larger and rounder. These pearls are found
in mussel shells ; and the fishery is not in the sea, but
in rivers.
Lapland, as well as Norway, is infested with a great
number of gray wolves and bears, with whom the in¬
habitants wage perpetual war. The most honourable
exploit among the Laplanders is that of killing a bear ;
and the heroes adorn their caps with a small plate of
lead or pewter for every bear they have slain. The
country abounds also with elks, beavers, and otters,
which live here unmolested, and find plenty offish for
their subsistence, fhe forests of this country furnish
haunts to a great number of beautiful martens and
squirrels, which last change their colour every winter
from brown to gray. Lapland is also the native coun¬
try of the zibeling or sable, whose skin is extremely
valuable. Here are likewise ermines, weasels, hares,
large black cats which attend the Laplanders in hunt¬
ing, and little prick-eared curs trained to the game.
But the most remarkable animal of Lapland is the rein
deer, for an account of which, see Ceryus, Mammalia
Index. These animals, so useful in various respects to
the natives, are kept at no expence. In summer they
feed upon grasses and alpine plants ; in winter, as af-
ready mentioned, upon the lichen rangiferus, or rein¬
deer lichen, and its varieties, which are so abundant
as in many parts almost totally to cover the ground for
the space of several miles, and which the sagacious ani¬
mal discovers under the snow by the peculiar acute¬
ness of its smell. Most of those used for draught are
castrated when very young, and are larger and fatter
than the bucks. The woods, mountains, and rivers,
are well stocked with wild fowl ; such as bustard, par¬
tridge, growse, heathcock, pheasants, lapwings, swans,
wild geese, wild ducks, and all sorts of aquatic birds,
that build and breed in northern climates. In the be¬
ginning of the spring the swans go thither in numerous
flights from the German ocean ; the lapwings follow
in such swarms that they darken the sky as they pass
along, and scream so loud that they may be heard at a
great distance. The rocks and mountains are likewise
frequented by eagles, hawks, falcons, kites, and other
birds of prey. The rivers abound with delicious sal¬
mon from the gulf of Bothnia, trout, bream, and
perch of exquisite flavour and amazing magnitude ;
and the inhabitants of Wardhus, or Danish Lapland,
are well supplied with fish from the northern ocean.—
With respect to insects, the flies hatched in' the mo¬
rasses and woods in summer are so numerous, that tbev
often obscure the face of day ; and so venomous, trou¬
blesome, and intolerable, that the rein deer fly to the
tops of the highest mountains for shelter, and the
Laplanders betake themselves to the sea side, which
is the least infested by these pestilent vermine.- -
M. de Maupertuis, in bis account of the voyage
he made to Lapland, in company with the ether
French mathematicians sent thither by the king to
measure a degree of the meridian, gives us to under¬
stand, that on the tops of the mountains in Torno
the flies were so troublesome, that even the Finland
soldiers, who are accounted the most hardy troops in
the service of Sweden, were obliged to cover their faces
with the skirts of their coats from the attacks of these
4 A- animals,
Lapland.
LAP [ 554 ] LAP
Lapland, animals, which swarmed (o such a degree, that the
' ' r moment a piece of flesh appeared it was blackened all
over. Some of these flies are very large, with green
heads, and fetch blood from the skin whereever they
strike. The Laplanders shroud themselves in the smoke
of a large fire kindled for that purpose: yet even this
disagreeable expedient was not sufficient to defend the
French philosophers : they were obliged, notwithstand¬
ing the excessive heat, to wrap up their heads in gar¬
ments made of the skins of rein deer, called in that
country lapmudes, and to cover themselves with a thick
rampart of fir boughs ; yet all these precautions proved
ineffectual. M. de Maupertuis observed a lake quite
covered with little yellowish grains, resembling millet
seed, which he supposes to be the chrysalises of some
of these insects.
The Laplanders are very low in stature, and are
likewise remarkable for having large heads. They are
also ill-shaped, and their features harsh. They are,
however, strong, hardy, and robust, insomuch that
they will bear incredible fatigue; and it is remarked
that the stoutest Norwegian is not able to bend the
bow of a Laplander. The w'omen are much less home¬
ly than the men, and many of them are noted for a
delicate and florid complexion.
These people are simple, honest, hospitable, and ti¬
morous : their timidity, however, respects war alone ;
for to many other species of dangers they expose them¬
selves with surprising intrepidity, whether in ascend¬
ing and descending mountains and precipices with their
snow shoes and in sledges, or in venturing amidst whirl¬
pools and cataracts in little slender boats made of thin
fir boards, fastened together with thongs of leather,
sinews of wild beasts, or tough and flexible twigs of
willow and osier. These boats are of difl'erent sizes,
from two to six yards in length, managed with oars
and caulked with moss so tight as to keep out the
water. The Laplanders are partly settled, and in part
wild and roving : the latter live in tents made of
coarse cloth ; the former are fixed in small villages near
the lakes, and chiefly follow fishing. They build their
cottages somewhat in the shape of a cone, by placing
a circle of large trees or poles aslant in the earth, and
close to each other, so that their tops meet, and form
a small vent for the issue of the smoke ; they cover the
ground within with branches of trees. In spring their
food consists principally of the eggs of water fowl,
which are extremely plentiful in those parts ; in sum¬
mer and autumn, of the birds themselves, and of va¬
rious others of the partridge tribe ; and in winter of
the milk and flesh of the rein deer and dried fish. They
had till lately no bread ; but in lieu thereof used the
inner rind of the pine tree dried and ground, and dried
fish reduced to powder. They make confections and
decoctions of berries, angelica, and sorrel, which they
justly reckon to he preservatives against the scurvy.
I he Laplander is secured in the possession of unin¬
terrupted health by temperance and exercise, which,
together with the severity of the climate, brace bis
nerves to a very unusual pitch of strength, and fortify
his constitution in such a manner, that he often lives
to the age of 100, without feeling the least pang of
distemper, or even perceiving his vigour in the least
impaired; for it is not uncommon to see a Laplander,
in extreme old age, hunting, fowling, skating, and
performing all the severest exercises with undiminished
agility.
The summer garb of the men consists of a long
coat of coarse cloth, reaching down the middle of the
leg, and girded round the waist with a belt or girdle ;
from which hang a Norway knife, and a pouch con¬
taining flints, matches, tobacco, and other necessaries ;
the girdle itself being decorated with brass rings and
chains. Their caps are made of the skin of the north¬
ern diver, with the feathers on ; and their shoes of
the rein deer skin, with the hair outwards. They
wear no linen ; but the garments of the better sort are
of a finer cloth, and they delight in a variety of co¬
lours, though red, as the most glaring, is the most a-
greeable. In winter they are totally cased up in coats,
caps, boots, and gloves, made of the rein deer skins.
In the Flora Lapponica Linnaeus says, “ Perhaps the
curious reader will wonder how the people in Lapland,
during the terrible cold that reigns there in winter,
can preserve their lives ; since almost all birds, and
even some wild beasts, desert it at that time. The
Laplander, not only in the day, but through the
whole winter nights, is obliged to wander about m
the woods with his herds of rein deer. For the rein
deer never come under cover, nor eat any kind of fod¬
der, but a particular kind of liverwort. On this ac¬
count the herdsmen are under the necessity of living
continually in the woods, in order to take care of their
cattle, lest they should be devoured by wild beasts.
The Laplander easily does without more light, as the
snow reflects the rays that come from the stars, and
as the aurora borealis illuminates the air every night
with a great variety of figures. No part of our body
is more easily destroyed by cold than the extremities
of the limbs which are most remote from the sun of
this microcosm, the heart. The kibes that happen to
our hands and feet, so common in the northern parts
of Sweden, prove this. In Lapland you will never see
such a thing ; although, were we to judge by the situa¬
tion of the country, we should imagine just the contra¬
ry, especially as the people wear no stockings, as we
do, not only single, hut double and triple. The Lap¬
lander guards himself against the cold in the following
manner: He wears breeches made of rein deer skins
with the hair on, reaching down to his heels, and
shoes made of the same materials, the hairy part turn¬
ed outwards. He puts into his shoes slender-eared
broad-leafed cyperus grass (carcx vesicaria, Spec. PL
or the bladder carex), that is cut in summer and dried.
This he first combs and rubs in his hands, and then
places it in such a manner that it not only covers his
feet quite round, but his legs also; and being thus
guarded, he is quite secured against the intense cold.
With this grass they stuff their gloves likewise, in or¬
der to preserve their hands. As this grass keeps off
the cold in winter, so in summer it hinders the feet
from sweating, and at the same time preserves them
from being annoyed by striking against stones, &c. for
their shoes are very thin, being made, not of tanned
leather, but the raw hide.”
The women’s apparel differs very little from that of
the other sex : only their girdles are more ornamented
with rings, chains, needle-cases, and toys, that some*
times weigh 20 pounds. In winter, both men and
women lie in their furs j in summer they cover tbem-
6elve»
LAP [ 555 ] LAP
i,a[»!atu!. selves entirely with coarse blankets to defend them
-V——^ from the gnats, which are intolerable. The Laplanders
are not only well disposed, but naturally ingenious.
They make all their own furniture, their boats, sledges,
bows and arrows. They form neat boxes of thin birch
boards, and inlay them with the horn of the rein deer.
The Swedes are very fond of the Lapland baskets made
of the roots of trees, slit in long thin pieces, and
twisted together so nicely that they will hold water.
Among the manufactures of this country, we likewise
number curious horn spoons, and moulds in which they
cast the trinkets of tin which adorn their girdles. Over
and above these domestic occupations, the men within
doors perform the office of cooks in dressing victuals
for the family. The women act as tailors and em¬
broiderers*, they make clothes, shoes, and boots, and
harness for the rein deer; they spin thread of fur, and
knit it into caps and gloves that are very soft and
warm. They draw tin into wire through a horn *, and
with this they cover the thread which they use in em¬
broidering the figures of beasts, flowers, trees, and
stars upon their caps and girdles, .
The Laplanders make surprising excursions upon
the snow in their hunting expeditions.' They pro¬
vide themselves each with a pair of skates, or snow
shoes, which are no other than fir boards covered with
the rough skin of the rein deer, turned in such a man¬
ner that the hair rises against the snow, otherwise
they would be too slippery. One of these shoes is
usually as long as the person who wears it*, the other
is about a foot shorter. The feet stand in the middle,
and to them the shoes are fastened by thongs or withes.
The Laplander thus equipped wields a long pole in
his hand, near the end of which there is a round ball
of rvood to prevent its piercing too deep in the snow ;
and with this he stops himself occasionally. By means
of these accoutrements he will travel at the rate of 60
miles a-day without being fatigued *, ascending steep
mountains, and sliding down again with amazing
swiftness.
The Laplander not only travels a-foot, hut is pro¬
vided with a carriage drawn by the rein deer, in which
he journeys with still greater rapidity. The sledge,
called pulka, is made in the form of a small boat, with
a convex bottom, that it may slide the more easily
ever the snow: the prow is sharp and pointed; but the
sledge is flat behind. The traveller is swathed in this
carriage like an infant in a cradle, with a stick in his
hand to steer the vessel, and disengage it from pieces
of rock or stumps of trees that may chance to encoun¬
ter it in the route. He must also balance the sledge
with his body, otherwise he will be in danger of be¬
ing overturned. The traces, by which this carriage is
fastened to the rein deer, are fixed to a collar about
the animal’s neck, and run down over the breast be¬
tween the fore and hind legs, to he connected with the
prow of the sledge : the reins, managed by the travel¬
ler, are tied to the horns *, and the trappings are fur¬
nished with little hells, the sound of which is agreeable
to the animal. With this draught at his tail, it has
been reported that the rein deer will fly like lightning
over hill and dale at the rate of 200 miles a-day. But
this representation is greatly exaggerated. According
to the best accounts, the common pace of the rein deer
is only at the rate of about four miles an hour \ though,
if he be pressed, lie will travel 10 or 12 Swedish miles j^apiand
(70 or 84 English miles) in a day 5 but by such hard 1 y '
driving is generally destroyed. It, however, fre¬
quently happens, that he will persevere in his jour¬
ney 50 miles without intermission, and without taking
any refreshment, except occasionally moistening his
mouth with the snow. Before he sets out, the Lap¬
lander whispers in his ear the way he is to follow, and
the place at which he is to halt, firmly persuaded that
the beast understands his meaning: but, in spite of
this intimation, he frequently stops short long before
he has reached the journey’s end 5 and sometimes he
overshoots the mark by several leagues. In the begin¬
ning of winter the Laplanders mark the most frequent¬
ed roads, by strewing them with fir boughs 5 and in¬
deed these roads are no other than pathways made
through the snow by the rein deer andj the pulkas:
their being frequently covered with new snow, and al¬
ternately beaten by the carriage, consolidates them into
a kind of causeway; which is the harder if the surface
has felt a partial thaw, and been crusted by a subse¬
quent frost. It requires great caution to follow these
tracks ; for if the carriage deviates to the right or left,
the traveller is plunged into an abyss of snow. In less
frequented parts, where there is no such beaten road,
the Laplander directs his course by certain marks which'
he has made on the trees.
The chief occupation of the Laplanders is hunting,
and this exercise they perform in various ways. In
summer they hunt the wild beasts with small dogs,
trained to the diversion. In winter they pursue them
by their tracks upon the snow, skating with so great ve¬
locity, that they very often run down the prey. They
catch ermines in traps and sometimes with dogs.
They kill squirrels, martens, and sables, with blunt
darts, to avoid wounding the skin. Foxes and bea¬
vers are slain with sharp-pointed darts and arrows; in
shooting which, they are accounted the best marksmen
in the world. The larger beasts, such as hears, wolves,
elks, and wild rein deer, they either kill with fire¬
arms purchased in Sweden or Norway, or take in
snares and pits dug in the forests. Their particular
laws relating to the chase are observed with great
punctuality. The beast becomes the property of the
man in whose snare or pit he is caught; and he who
discovers a bear’s den has the exclusive privilege of
hunting him to death. The conquest of a bear is the
most honourable achievement that a Laplander can
perform ; and the flesh of this animal they account the
greatest delicacy on earth. The bear is always de¬
spatched with a fusil, sometimes laid as a snare, ready
cocked and primed ; but more frequently in the hands
of the hunter, who runs the most imminent risk of his
life should he miss his aim of wounding the beast
mortally. The death of a bear is celebrated by the
Laplanders as a signal victory. The carcass is drawn
to the cabin or hut of the victor by a rein deer, which
is kept sacred from any other work for a whole year
after this service. The bear is surrounded by a great
number of men, women, and children, reciting a par¬
ticular hymn or song of triumph, in which they thank
the vanquished enemy for having allowed himself to he
overcome without doing any mischief to his conque¬
ror, and welcome his arrival: then they make an apo¬
strophe to heaven, expressing their acknowledgment to
4 A 2 God,
LAP [ 556 ] LAP
Lapland. God, that lie has created beasts for the use of men,
'~—'v■■ and endued mankind with strength and courage to over¬
come and attack the fiercest of the brute creation. The
hero is saluted by the women, who spit chewed elder-
bark in bis face. He is feasted three days successively,
and his cap is decorated with an additional figure
wrought in tin wire.
The manner in which the young Laplander chooses
a wife is equally remarkable and ludicrous. When he
has pitched upon a female, he employs some friends as
mediators with the father ; and these being provided
with some bottles of brandy, the suitor accompanies
them to the hut of his future father-in-law, who in¬
vites the mediators to enter j but the lover is left with¬
out until thfe liquor be drank, and the proposal dis¬
cussed : then he is called in, and entertained with such
tare as the hut affords 5 yet without seeing his mistress,
who retires and goes out on this occasion. Having
obtained leave of her parents to make bis addresses in
person, he puts on his best apparel, and is admitted to
the lady, whom he salutes with a kiss $ then he pre¬
sents her with the tongue of a rein deer, a piece of
beaver’s flesh, or some other sort of provision. She de¬
clines the offer, which is made in presence of her sis¬
ters and relations *, but makes a signal to the lover to
follow her into the fields, where she accepts the pre¬
sents. Thus encouraged, he begs her permission to
sleep with her in the hut j if she consents, there is no
further difficulty $ if she disapproves of the proposal,
she drops her presents on the ground. When the lov¬
ers are agreed, the youth is permitted to visit his ina¬
morata as often as he shall think proper; but every
time he comes, he must purchase this pleasure with a
fresh bottle of brandy; a perquisite so agreeable to the
father, that he often postpones the celebration of the
nuptials for two or three years. At length the cere¬
mony is performed at church by the priest of the parish.
Even after this event, the husband is obliged to serve
his father-in-law a whole year ; at the expiration of
which he retires to his own habitation with his wife
and her patrimony of rein deer, and receives presents
from all his friends and relations. From this period he
sequesters his wife from the company of all strangers,
especially of the male sex, and watches over her conduct
with the most jealous vigilance.
Many Lapland women are barren, and none of them
are very fruitful. A woman, immediately after deli¬
very, swallows a draught of whale fat: the child is
washed with snow or cold water, and wrapped up in
a hare skin. The mother is seldom above five days in
the straw, and in fourteen is generally quite recovered:
then she carries the child to church to be baptized.
Before she can reach the residence of the priest, she is
olten obliged to traverse large forests, mountains, lakes,
and wide extended wastes of snow. The infant is
fastened in a hollowed piece of wood, stretched naked
on a bed of fine moss, covered with the soft skin of a
young rein deer, and slung by two straps to the back
of the mother, who always suckles her own child. At
home this little cradle is hung to the roof of the hut,
and the child lulled asleep by swinging it from one side
to the other. The boys from their infancy practise
the bow ; and are not allowed to break their fast
antil they have hit the mark. The female children
are as early initiated in the business peculiar to their L.-binL
sex. .—
These people, though for the most part vigorous
and healthy, are not altogether exempted from dis¬
temper. They are subject to sore eyes, and even to
blindness, from the smoke of their huts, and the fire
to which they are almost continually exposed. Some
waste away in consumptions ; others are afflicted with
rheumatic pains and the scurvy; and a few are sub¬
ject to vertigo and apoplexy. For the cure of all their
internal disorders, they use no other medicine than the
decoction of a certain species of moss; and when this
cannot be procured, they boil the stalk of angelica in
the milk of the rein deer. In order to remove a fixed
pain, they apply a large mushroom, burning hot, to
the part affected ; and this produces a blister, which
is supposed to draw off the peccant humour. To their
wounds they apply nothing but the turpentine that
drops from the fir tree. When they are frost bitten
(though according to the above extract from Lin¬
naeus this seldom or never happens), we are told that
they thrust a red-hot iron into a cheese made of rein
deer’s milk, and with the fat that drops from it anoint
the frozen member, which generally recovers. When
a Laplander is supposed to be on his death-bed, bis
friends exhort him to die in the faith of Christ, and
bear bis sufferings with resignation, by remembering
the passion of our Saviour. They are not, however,
very ready to attend him in his last moments ; and as
soon as he expires, quit the place with precipitation,
apprehending some injury from his spirit or ghost,
which they believe remains with the corpse and takes
all opportunities of doing mischief to the living. The
deceased is wrapped up in woollen or linen, accord¬
ing to his circumstances, and deposited in a coffin by
a person selected for that purpose : but this office he
will not perform, unless he is first secured from the ill
offices of the manes, by a consecrated brass ring fixed
on bis left arm. The Christian religion in this coun¬
try has not yet dispelled all the rites of heathenish su¬
perstition : together with the body they put into the
coffin an axe, a flint, and steel, a flask of brandy, some
dried fish and venison. With the axe the deceased is
supposed to hew down the bushes or boughs that may
obstruct his passage in the other world : the steel and
flint are designed for striking a light, should he find
himself in the dark at the day of judgment ; and on
the provision they think he may subsist during his
journey.
The Muscovite Laplanders observe other ceremonies,
that bear an affinity to the superstitions of the Greek
church. They not only supply the defunct with money,
but likewise provide him with money for the porter of
paradise, and a certificate signed by the priest, and di¬
rected to St Peter, specifying that the hearer had lived
like a good Christian, and ought to be admitted into
heaven. At the head of the coffin they place a little
image of St Nicholas, who is greatly reverenced in all
parts of Muscovy as a friend to the dead. Before the
interment, the friends of the deceased kindle a fire of
fir houghs near the coffin, and express their sorrow in
tears and lamentations. They walk in procession seve¬
ral times round the body, demanding, in a whining
tone, the reason of his leaving them on earth. Thev
ask
LAP [ 557 ] LAP
Lapland, ask whether he was out of humour with his wife ; whe-
-—/—*■'' tiier he was in want of meat, drink, clothintr, or other
necessaries j and whether he had not succeeded in hunt¬
ing and fishing ? These, and other such interrogations,
to which the defunct makes no reply, are intermingled
with groans and hideous bowlings; and, between whiles,
the priest sprinkles the corpse and the mourners alter¬
nately with holy water. Finally, The body is convey¬
ed to the place ol interment on a sledge drawn by a
rein deer ; and this, together with the clothes of the
deceased, are left as the priest’s perquisite. Three days
after the burial, the kinsmen and friends of the defunct
are invited to an entertainment, where they eat the flesh
of the rein deer which conveyed the corpse to the bu-
rying ground. This being a sacrifice to the manes,
the bones are collected into a basket, and interred.
Two thirds of the effects of the deceased are inherited
by his brothers, and the remainder divided among
his sisters : but the lands, lakes, and rivers, are. held
in coparceny by all the children of both sexes, ac¬
cording to the division made by Charles IX. of Sweden,
when he assigned a certain tract of land to each family.
The commerce of the Laplanders is more considex*-
abie than one would expect in a desert country, inha¬
bited by a savage ignorant people. They export
great quantities of fish to the northern parts of Both¬
nia and White Russia. They likewise trade with the
neighbouring countries of Norway, Sweden, Musco¬
vy, and Finland, by selling rein deer, fine furs, bas¬
kets and toys of their own manufacture, dried pikes,
and cheese made of the rein deer’s milk. In return
for these commodities they receive rixdollars, woollen
cloths, linen, copper, tin, flour, oil, hides, needles,
knives, spirituous liquors, tobacco, and other necessa¬
ries. The Laplanders march in caravans to the fairs
in Finland and Norway : these are composed of a
long string of 30 or 40 rein deer and pulkas tied to
one another, the foremost being led by a Laplander
on foot. Wh en they have chosen a spot for an encamp¬
ment, they form a large circle of their reen deer and
pulkas ready yoked ; and the animals lying down
quietly on the snow, are fed with moss by their ma¬
sters. The people kindle great fires, around which,
men, women, and children sit, and sup on dried fish :
but the more voluptuous spread out bear skins un¬
der their tents, where they lie at their ease and smoke
tobacco.
The revenue arising from this country is of no great
consequence : it is paid partly in rixdollars, but chiefly
in furs; nay, some that can procure neither, pay the
tribute in dried pikes. The produce of the mines forms
likewise a considerable article. Fifty squirrel skins, or
one fox skin, with a pair of Lapland shoes, are valued
at one rixdollar. Part of the taxes is allotted for the
maintenance of the Lapland clergy. The frightful as¬
pect of this country has been deemed a more effectual
defence than artificial bulwarks and garrisons, of which
here are none ; or than the arms and courage of the na¬
tives, who are neither warlike in themselves, nor in the
least tinctured with discipline.
The Laplanders call themselves Salme-Same, and Sa-
men-Almatjeh. Their country they denominate Same-
Landa, or Same-aednam ; the Swedes style it Lapland
er Lappmarken, and the inhabitants Lappar. The na¬
tives of those districts under the dominion of Sweden j ar|ati(j
are Lutherans; while many of those who are subject
to Russia are still Pagans. The churches in some Lapse,
parts lie at so great a distance from each other, that a * *
native is frequently obliged to travel three days in or¬
der to attend divine service. The Laplanders, before
their conversion to Christianity, which was not till
lately introduced amongst them, possessed no books nr
manuscripts, though they knew many traditional hi¬
stories and songs of ancient heroes and princes who
once reigned over them. They have now a translation
of the New Testament in their language; and many of
the natives are able to read and write. Though the
country is as large as France, the whole population
does not exceed 60,000 souls.
L A.PLYSIA, or Sea-hare ; a genus of marine
animals belonging to the class of vermes. See HEL¬
MINTHOLOGY Index.
LAPSANA, Nipplewort ; a genus of plants be¬
longing to the syngenesia class; and in the natural me¬
thod ranking under the 49th order, Composites. See
Botany Index.
LAPSE, in ecclesiastical law, a slip or omission of
a patron to present a clerk to a benefice within six;
months of its being void: in which case, the benefice
is said to be in lapse, or lapsed, and the right of pre¬
sentation devolved to the ordinary.
And if the ordinary neglect to present during the
same time, the right of presentation accrues to the
metropolitan, and to the king by neglect of the me¬
tropolitan. This right of lapse was first established in
the reign of Henry II. when the bishops first began to
exercise universally the right of institution to churches:
and therefore when there is no right of institution,,
there is no right of lapse ; so that no donative can
lapse to the ordinary, unless it hath been augmented,
by the king’s bounty ; but no right of lapse can ac¬
crue, when the original presentation is in the crown.
In case the benefice becomes void by death, or cession
through plurality of benefices, there the patron is
bound to take notice of the vacancy at bis own peril ;
but in case of a vacancy by resignation or canonical
deprivation, or if a clerk presented be refused for in-,
sufficiency, these being matters of which the bishop,
alone is presumed to be cognizant, here the law re¬
quires him to give notice thereof to the patron, other-,
wise he can take no advantage by way of lapse ; nei¬
ther shall any lapse accrue thereby to the metropolitan
or the king. If the bishop refuse or neglect to exa¬
mine and admit the patron’s clerk, without good rea¬
son assigned or notice given, he shall have no title to
present by lapse : and if the right of presentation be
litigious or contested, and an action be brought against,
the bishop to try the title, no lapse shall occur till the
question of right be decided. If the bishop be both
patron and ordinary, he shall not have a double time
allowed him to collate in : and if the bishop doth not
collate his own clerk immediately to the living, and
the patron presents, though after the six months are
lapsed, yet the presentation is good, and the bishop is
hound to institute the patron’s clerk. If the bishop
suffer the presentation to lapse to the metropolitan, the
patron also has the same advantage if he presents be¬
fore the archbishop has filled up the benefice: yet the.
ordinary
L A R
* Barr.
375*
ordinary cannot, after lapse to the metrepblltan, col
late his own clerk to the prejudice of the archbishop.
But if the presentation lapses to the king, the patron
shall never recover his right till the king has satisfied
his turn by presentation j for nullum tempus occurrit
regt.
LAPWING. See Tringa, Ornithology Index,
LAQUEARIUS, a kind of athleta among the an¬
cients, who in one hand held a laqueus, i. e. a sort of
snare, wherewith to embarrass and entangle his antago¬
nist, and in the other a poniard to stab him,
LAQUEUS, in Surgery, a kind of ligature so con¬
trived, that, when stretched by any weight or the like,
it draws up close. Its use is to extend broken or dis¬
jointed bones, to keep them in their places while they
are set, and to bind the parts close together.
LAR, a town of Persia, in the province of Ears,
with a castle. It carries on a great trade in silk ; and
its territory abounds in oranges, lemons, and very large
tamarinds. E. Long. 54. 15. N. Lat. 27. 30.
LARACHA, an ancient and strong town of Africa,
in the kingdom of Fez. It is seated at the mouth
of a river of the same name, with a good harbour. It
was once in the possession of the Spaniards $ but the
Moors took it from them. W. Long. 5. 55. N. Lat.
35- °-
LARARIUM, was a chapel which the Romans
frequently had in their houses for the household gods,
called lares. Spartian says, that Alexander the son of
Mammeus kept in his lararium the figure of our Sa¬
viour, together with his other idols.
LARBOARD, among seamen, the left-hand side
of the ship when you stand with your face towards the
head.
LARCENY, or Theft, by contraction for latro-
ciily, latrocinium, is distinguished by the law into two
sorts : the one called simple larceny, or plain theft, un¬
accompanied with any other atrocious circumstance ;
and mixed or compound larceny, which also includes in
it the aggravation of a taking from one’s house or
person.
I. Simple larceny, when it is the stealing of goods
above the value of twelvepence, is called grand lar¬
ceny; when of goods to that value, or under, is pe¬
tit larceny: offences, which are considerably distin¬
guished in their punishment, but not otherwise. See
Theft.
II. Mixed, or compound larceny, is such as has all
the properties of the former, (see Theft) ; but is ac¬
companied with either one or both of the aggravations
of a taking from one’s house or person. First therefore
of larceny from the house, and then of larceny from the
pei'son.
1. Larceny from the house, though it might seem
to have a higher degree ot guilt than simple larceny,
yet is not at all distinguished from the other at com¬
mon law; unless where it is accompanied with the
circumstance of breaking the house by night; and
then it falls under another description, viz. that of
burglary, (see Burglary). But now by several acts
of parliament (the history of which is very ingeniously
deduced by a learned modern writer *, who hath shown
them to have gradually arisen from our improvements in
trade and opulence), the benefit of clergy is taken from
larcenies committed in a house in almost every instance:
5
[ 553 ]
L A R
except that larceny of the stock or utensils of the Plate Xareen
Glass Company from any of their houses, &c. is made Lardi"/.’
only single felony, and liable to transportation for seven bala, ’
years. I he multiplicity of the general acts is apt to v—' J
create some confusion j but upon comparing them dili¬
gently, we may collect, that the benefit of clergy is
denied upon the following domestic aggravations of lar¬
ceny ; viz. first, in larcenies above the value of twelve-
pence, committed, 1. In a church or chapel, with ox Black.
without violence, or breaking the same : 2. In a booth
or tent in a market or fair, in the daytime or in theC<w.WHf;i*
night, by violence or breaking the same, the owner or^^'
some of his family being therein : 3. By robbino- a
dwelling house in the daytime (which robbing implies a
breaking), any person being therein ; 4. In a dwelling
house by day or by night, without breaking the same,
any person being therein and put in fear; which
amounts in law to a robbery : and in both these last
cases the accessory before the fact is also excluded from
his clergy. Secondly, In larcenies to the value of five
shillings, committed, 1. By breaking any dwelling
house, or any outhouse, shop, or warehouse thereunto
belonging, in the daytime, although no person be
therein; which also now extends to aiders, abettors,
and accessories before the fact: 2. By privately stealing
goods, wares, or merchandise in any shop, warehouse,
coach-house, or stable, by day or by night; though the
same be not broken open, and though no person be
therein : which likewise extends to such as assist, hire,
or command the offence to be pommitted. Lastly, in
larcenies to the value of forty shillings in a dwelling
house, or its outhouses, although the same be not bro¬
ken, and whether any person be therein or not; unless
committed against their masters by apprentices under
the age of 15. This also extends to those who aid or
assist in the commission of any such offence.
2. Larceny from the person, is either by privately
stealing, or by open and violent assault, which is usual¬
ly called robbery.
The offence of privately stealing from a man’s per¬
son, as by picking his pocket or the like, privily, with¬
out his knowledge, was debarred of the benefit of cler¬
gy so early as by the statute 8 Eliz. c. 4. But then
it must be such a larceny as stands in need of the be¬
nefit of clergy, viz. of above the value of I2d.; else
the offender shall not have judgment of death. For
the statute creates no new offence ; but only takes
away the benefit of clergy, which was a matter of grace,
and leaves the thief to the regular judgment of the an¬
cient law. This severity (for a most severe law it cer¬
tainly is) seems to be owing to the ease with which
such offences are committed, the difficulty of guarding
against them, and the boldness with which they were
practised (even in the queen’s court and presence) at
the time when this statute was made : besides that this
is an infringement of property in the manual occupa¬
tion or corporal possession of the owner, which was an
offence even in a state of nature. And therefore the
saccularii, or cutpurses, were more severely punished
than common thieves by the Roman and Athenian
laws.
As to open and violent larceny from the person, see-
Robbery.
LARDIZABALA, a genus of plants belonging to
the dicecia class, and order hexandria. It is a native
of
L A R [ 559 ] EAR
jjAidisa- of Cliili^ .anJ is thus described from the drawings of
bala, La Martiniere the naturalist, who accompanied La Pe-
J,ardner. rouse jn hig voyage of discovery,
j ^ ' Male Flower.—Calyx formed of six expanding leaves,
oblong, oval, and obtuse j the three outermost being
largest. Corolla composed of six sharp petals, shorter
than the leaves of the calyx.
Female Flower.—Calyx similar to that of the male,
but larger. Corolla composed of six petals rarely en¬
tire, but commonly trifid at their top. Stamina six ;
filaments distinct; anthers six, oblong, barren. Seed-
bud ; cells from three to six, oblong, nearly the length
of the corolla ; styles none $ stigmata sitting, perma¬
nent. Berries equal in number to the cells, oblong,
acuminated (divided into six cells, containing several
angular seeds).
LARDNER, Nathaniel, an eminent English dis¬
senting divine, was born at Hawkhurst in Kent, June
6. 1684. After a grammatical education, to which
great attention must have been given, and in which a
no less rapid progress must have been made, he was
sent first to a dissenting academy in London, which
was under the care of the Rev. Dr Joshua Oldfield $
and thence, in his 16th year, to prosecute his studies
at Utrecht, under the celebrated professors D’Uries,
Graevius, and Burman. Here he remained somewhat
more than three years, and then removed for a short
space to Leyden. In 1703 he returned to England,
continuing at his father’s house to employ himself by
close and diligent preparation for the sacred profession
which he had in view. Qualified as he was, it was
not till 1709 that he preached his first sermon, from
Romans i. 16.—“a text (his biographer remarks) than
which there could not have been a more proper one
for a man who was destined in the order of Divine
Providence to be one of the ablest advocates for the
authenticity and truth of the Christian revelation that
ever existed.”
A few years after this, Lardner was received into
Lady Treby’s family as domestic chaplain and tutor
to her son, and continued in this comfortable situation
till her ladyship’s death in 1721. This event threw
him into circumstances of some perplexity, having
preached to several congregations during his residence
with Lady Treby without the approbation or choice of
any one congregation. Here we are told, “ that it re¬
flects no honour on the Dissenters, that a man of such
merit should so long have been neglected.” But it has
been observed upon this, that the pulpit was not the
place in which Mr Lardner was calculated either to
Monthly convey improvement or acquire reputation. Dr Kip-
Review, pis afterwards informs us, “ that his mode of elocution
Jaa, 178(5. was very unpleasant j that from his early and extreme
deafness he could have no such command of his voice
as to give it a due modulation } and that he greatly
dropped his words.” It cannot then, as his biogra¬
pher adds, be matter of surprise that he was not po¬
pular j nor, it may be added, can it be any reflection
on the congregations to which he occasionally preached,
that they did not choose for their ministry a man, who,
notwithstanding his great learning and amiable virtues,
was so deficient as a public speaker, that it was impos¬
sible to hear him with any pleasure, and scarcely with¬
out pain.
Though Mr Lardner had no -church at which he
officiated as minister, he was engaged with some of his Larduer.
dissenting brethren in preaching a Tuesday evening > "■■■ ^ ■■■■
lecture at the Old Jewry. Acquainted probably with
the direction of his studies, they appointed him to
preach on the proof of the Credibility of the Gospel Hi¬
story. This he discussed, we are told, in two sermons j
and prosecuting the subject which he had taken up in
these discourses, in February 1727, he published, in two
volumes octavo, the First Fart of“ The Credibility of
the Gospel History, or the Facts occasionally men¬
tioned in the New Testament, confirmed by Passages
of Ancient Authors who were contemporary with our
Saviour or his Apostles, or lived near their Time.”
An Appendix was subjoined, relating to the time of
Herod’s death.
Thus Mr Lardner commenced author, and began
his literary career with singular reputation. “ It is
scarcely necessary to say (observes Dr Kippis), how
well this work was received by the learned world. Not
only was it highly approved by the Protestant Dissent¬
ers, with whom the author was more immediately con¬
nected, but by the clergy in general of the established
church $ and its reputation gradually extended into fo¬
reign countries. It is indeed an invaluable perform¬
ance, and hath rendered the most essential service to
the cause ot Christianity. Whoever peruses this work
(and to him that does not peruse it, it will be to his
own loss) will find it replete with admirable instruction,
sound learning, and just and candid criticism.” These
two, with the subsequent fifteen, volumes octavo, and
the four thin quartos entitled Jewish and Heathen Tes-
timoniesy occupied him, with the interruption arising
from some smaller productions, during the space of
forty-three years.
Dr Kippis gives us a particular account of the time
when each volume was published, and of the subjects
discussed in each. The following useful informa¬
tion which the doctor introduces, in speaking of
the “ Supplement to the Credibility,” deserves well to
be transcribed. “ I cannot avoid strongly recom¬
mending this work (says he) to the attention of
all young divines. Indeed, I think that it ought to
be read by every theological student before he quits
the university or academy in which he is educated.
There are three other works which will be found of
eminent advantage to those who are intended for, or
beginning to engage in, the Christian ministry. These
are, Butler’s Analogy, Bishop Law’s Considerations
on the Theory of Religion, and Dr Taylor’s Key to the
Apostolical Writings, prefixed to his Paraphrase on the
Epistle to the Romans. Without agreeing with every
circumstance advanced in these works, it may be said
of them with the greatest truth, that they tend to open
and enlarge the mind j that they give important views
of the evidence, nature, and design of revelation 5 and
that they display a vein of reasoning and inquiry which
may be extended to other objects besides those imme¬
diately considered in the books themselves.—It must
not be forgotten, that the Supplement to the Credibi¬
lity has a place in the excellent collection of treatises
in divinity which has lately been published by Dr Wat¬
son bishop of LandafF. lor a collection which cannot
fail of being eminently conducive to the inrstruction and
improvement of younger clergymen, and for the noble,
manly, and truly evangelical preface by which it is pre¬
ceded,
L A R [ 56° 1 L A R
Lardnes ceded, this great prelate is entitled to the gratitude of
}1 the Christian world.” It may not be improper to add,
that the Supplement to the Credibility was some years
ago, published separately by the booksellers, under the
title of The History of the Gospels and Epistles.
Applauded as Dr Lardner’s works were, he received
little recompense for them. Some of the latter volumes
of the Credibility were published at a loss $ and at last
he sold the copy-right and all the remaining printed Co¬
pies to the booksellers, for the trifling sum of 150I. His
object, however, was not private emolument, but to serve
the interests of truth and virtue ; and it pleased Divine
Providence to spare his life, both to complete his exten¬
sive plan, and to see the last volume, the 4th of the
Testimonies, published. This was in 1767. He was
seized with a decline in the summer following; and
was carried off" in a few days at Hawkhurst the place
of his nativity, where he had a small paternal estate.
He died in the 85th year of his age.
LAREDO, a sea port town of Spain, in the bay of
Biscay, with a large safe harbour. It is 30 miles west
of Bilboa, and 72 north by west of Burgos. W. Long.
3. 45. N. Lat. 43. 23.
LARENTINALIA, in antiquity, a feast held
among the Romans on the 23d day of December, but
ordered to be observed twice a year by Augustus; by
some supposed to have been in honour of the Lares,
but by others, with more probability, in honour of
Acca Laurentia; and to have been the same with Lau-
rentalia.
LARES, among the ancients, derived by Apu-
Jeius (7Je- Deo Socratis), from lar, familiaris; a kind
of domestic genii, or divinities, worshipped in houses,
and esteemed the guardians and protectors of families j
supposed to reside more immediately in the chimnev
corner.
The Lares were distinguished from the Penates : as
the former were supposed to preside over housekeep¬
ing, the servants in families, and domestic affairs j and
the latter were the protectors of the masters of families,
their wives and children. Accordingly the Lares were
dressed in short succinct habits, to show their readiness
to serve; and they held a sort of cornucopia in their
hands, as a signal of hospitality and good housekeep¬
ing. According to Ovid, there were generally two of
them, who were sometimes represented with a dog at
their feet.
Plutarch distinguishes good and evil Lares, as he
had before done good and evil Genii. There are also
some public, others private Lares.
Apuleius tells us the domestic Lares were no more
than the souls of departed persons, who had lived well,
and discharged the duties of their station j whereas
those who had done otherwise, were vagabonds, wan¬
dering about and frightening people, called Larvce and
Lemures.
1 he Lares were also called Penates, and were wor¬
shipped under the figures of little marmousets, or images
of wax, silver, or earthen ware.
’I he public Lares were also called Compitalcs, from
compitvm, “ a cross way y” and Viales, from via, “ a way
or public road as being placed at the meetings of
roads and in the high ways, and esteemed the patrons
and protectors of travellers.
The private Lares took care of particular houses
and families : these they also called Preestites from
prcesto ;
Quodpreestant oculis omnia tula suis. OviD.Fast.
They gave the name Crbani, i. e. “ Lares of cities,” to
those who had cities under their care j and Hostilii, to
those who were to keep their enemies off’. There were
also Lares of the country, called Rarales, as appears by
several antique inscriptions.
The Lares were also genial gods, and were supposed
to take care of children from their birth. It is for this
reason that when Macrobius tells us the Egyptians had
four gods who presided over the births of children,
viz. the Genius, Fortune, Love, and Necessity, called
preestites, some interpret him as if he had said the E-
gyptians had Lares 5 but they have mentioned that
there was a great difference between the Lares of the
Romans and the Praestites of the Egyptians. How¬
ever, the learned Mr Bryant affirms that they were the
same.
The ancients differ extremely about the origin of the
Lares. Varro and Macrobius say that they were the
children of Mania j Ovid makes them the issue of Mer¬
cury, and the Naiad Lara or Larunda; Apuleius assures
us they were the posterity of the Lemures ; Nigridius,
according to Arnobius, made them sometimes the guar¬
dians and protectors of houses, and sometimes the same
with the Curetes of Samothracia, whith the Greeks call
Ideei dactyh. Nor was Varro more consistent in his
opinion of these gods j sometimes making them the
manes of heroes, and sometimes gods of the air.
T. Tatius king of the Sabines was the first who
built a temple to the Lares. The chimney and fire¬
place in the house were particularly consecrated to
them.
Tertullian tells us the custom of worshipping the
Lares arose from this, that they anciently interred
their dead in their houses j whence the credulous
people took occasion to imagine their souls continued
there also, and proceeded to pay them divine honours.
To this it may be added, that the custom being after¬
wards introduced of burying in the high ways, thev
might hence take occasion to regard them as gods of
the high ways.
The victim offered to the Lares in the public sacri¬
fices was a hog: in private, they offered them wine,
incense, a crown of wool, and a little of what was left
at the table. They also crowned them with flowers,
particularly the violet, myrtle, and rosemary. Their
symbol was a dog, which was usually represented
by their side, on account of its fidelity and the ser¬
vice it does to a man in watching his house. They
were sometimes also represented as clothed in a dog’s
skin.
The term Lares, according to Mr Bryant, was
formed from laren, an ancient word by which the ark
was represented : and he supposes that the Lares and
Manes were the same domestic deities under different
names ; and that by these terms the Hetrurians and
Latins denoted the dii arbiter, who were no other than
their arkite ancestors, or the persons preserved in the
laren or ark j the genius of which was Isis, the repu¬
ted parent of the world. He observes farther, that
they are described as daemons and genii, who once lived
on earth, and were gifted with immortality. Arnd-
bius,
L A R [56
bins style tbem Lares quosdam genios el funciorum
animas; and he says, that according to Varro, they
were the children of Mania. Huetius (Demonst.
Prop. iv. p. 139.) adds, that Mania had also the name
of Larunda; and she is styled the mother of the dae¬
mons. By some she is called Lara, and was supposed
to preside over families ; and children were offered at
her altar in order to procure her favour. In lieu of
these they in after times offered the heads of poppies
and pods of garlic.
LARGE, a sea term applied to the wind when
it crosses the line of a ship’s course in a favourable di¬
rection, particularly on the beam or quarter. Thus,
if a ship steers west, then the wind in any point of the
compass to the eastward of the south or north may be
called large, unless when it is directly east, and then it
is said to be right aft. Sailing large is* therefore, ad¬
vancing with a large wind, so as that the sheets are
slackened and flowing, and the bow lines entirely dis¬
used. This phi-ase is generally opposed to sailing close
hauled.
LARGESS. See Largitio.
LARGITIO, in Roman antiquity, was a distribu¬
tion of corn, provision, clothes, money, &c. to the
people. Gracchus, when tribune, to make himself po¬
pular, passed a law for supplying the Roman citizens
with corn at a very low rate, out of the public grana¬
ries. Claudius, another tribune, with the same views
to popular applause, procured it to be distributed gra¬
tis.—Cato, to win the common people from Csesar, per¬
suaded the senate to do the same, and 300,000 citizens
shared in the distribution. Caesar, after his triumph,
extended his bounty to 150,000, giving them each a
mwa. The Roman emperors enlarged still further the
list of those who were to partake of their distributions.
Largitio is frequently taken in a bad sense, to signify
a masked bribery ; whereby candidates purchased votes,
when they stood for places of honour or trust in the
state. I he distribution of money was called covgiarium,
and the distributors divisores and sequestres.
LARGS, a village on the west coast of Scotland,
opposite to the island of Bute ; rendered memorable by
the defeat of the Norwegians here in their last invasion
of this country.—This invasion was made in the year
1263, with a fleet of 160 sail and an army of 20,000
men, commanded by Haquin king of Norway, whose
ravages on the coast of Ayr, Bute, and Arran, reach¬
ing the Scottish court, an army was immediately as¬
sembled by Alexander III. and a bloody engagement
ensued at this village, when 16,000 of the invaders
were slain in the battle and flight, with 5000 Scots.
Haquin escaped to the Orkneys, where he soon after
died of grief. The intrenchments of the Norwegian
camp may still be traced along the shore of this place.
The Scottish commanders who fell in battle were bu¬
ried in a rising field, near the village ; three or four
persons were interred in one grave, on each side of
which was a large stone, a third was placed across the
grave, supported at the extremities by the side stones,
and in this rude manner the warriors lay entombed.
Some years ago the proprietor of the field demolished
these repositories of the dead, leaving only one (a
special favour!) which serves to give an idea of the
whole.
Vol. XI. Part II. 4 j.
bun-
«lar.
1 ] L A R
LAUINO, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Lari..
Naples, in the Capitanata, with a bishop’s see. E. Long. 11
IJ. JI. N. Lat. 41. 48. Lansil
LARISSA, an ancient, rich, and celebrated town
of Greece, in the province of Janna or Thessaly, with
an archbishop’s see of the Greek church, a palace and
several handsome mosques. According to Virgil, it
was the country of Achilles. It was also the "place
where Philip the father of Alexander the Great resid-
e£'-—inhabitants, amounting to 20,000, carry on a
considerable trade. The city is agreeably seated on the
river Peneus. E. Long. 23. 36. N. Lat. 38. 51.
LARIX, the Larch Tree. See Pinus, Botany
Index.
LARK. See Alauda, Ornithology Index, and
Uird- latching.
Hie lark is not only a very agreeable bird for the
cage, but will live upon almost any food, so that it
have once a week a fresh tuft of three-leaved grass.
Ihe proper method of keeping them in health is this :
there must be two pans of food, the one containing
meat, the other oat meal and hempseed. A very good
food is the following: boil an egg very hard, to
which add the crumb of a halfpenny loaf, and as much
hempseed : let the egg he chopped very small, and the
hempseed bruised in the mortar ; when these are mix¬
ed, the bread is to be crumbled in among the rest, and
the whole to be rolled together with a common rolling
pm, and kept for use. There must be some fine small
gravel strewed at the bottom of the cage, and renewed
at farthest once in a week. This will prevent the bird’s
feet from getting hurt by being clogged with the
ung ; and his basking in this will keep him also from
growing lousy, after which few come to good. There
must be a perch in the cage, and it must either be lined
with green bays, or made of fine matting, which the
lark is very fond of. When the bird is first taken,
some meat must be strewed upon the sand in the bottom
of the cage ; for it will be sometimes almost famished
before it finds the meat in the pan.
The cock bird of this kind is known from the hen
by the loudness and length of his call, by, his tallness
as he walks about the cage, and by his doubling his
notes in the evening, as if he was going with his mate
to roost. A better rule than all others, however, is
his singing strong; for the hen wood lark sings but
very weakly.—Both the cock and hen of this kind are
subject to many disorders ; the principal of these are
cramps, giddiness of the head, and breeding lice.
Cleanliness is the best cure for the first and the
last of these complaints ; but we know of no cure
for the other. A good Strong bird, however, will
often last very well five or six years, and improve all
the time.
LARKSPUR. See Delphinium, Botany Index.
LARMIER, in Architecture, a flat square member
of the cornice below the cimasinm, and jets out farthest;
being so called from its use, which is to disperse the
water, and cause it to fall at a distance from the wall,
^.r°P k}’ ^roP» or as R by tears, the French word larm,
signifying a tear.
LARRIBUNDAR, a sea port town of Asia, in
Indostan; seated at the mouth of the river Sinda, or
Indus, with a harbour capable of receiving ships of
4 B 200
LAS C 502 ] L A T
Larrilum- 200 tons burden. It is but a small place, consisting of
about 100 bouses built ot wood ; but has a stone fort,
^ with a few guns. E. Lomr. 67. O. N. Lat. 25* O.
■ ' LARVA, in Natural History, a name given by Lin-
lUeus to insects in that state, called by other writers
cruca or cateipillar. See Entomology Index.
LARVAE, in antiquity, derived from the Hetruscan
woid !cir or lars, signifying “ prince or lord,” denoted
the ghosts of the deceased, considered as wicked and
mischievous. Hence is formed the term lai'vatus, i. e.
larva indutus or demoniac. The ingenious Mr Farmer
urges the etymology and use of this term to prove, that
the heathen demons were human ghosts.—The larvse
were also called lemures.
LARUS, the Gull, a genus of birds belonging to
the order of anseres. See Ornithology Index.
LARYNX, in Anatomy, the upper part of the wind¬
pipe. See Anatomy, N° 116.
LASCARIS, Andrew John, surnamed Byndace-
tws, of an ancient Greek family, went into Italy, after
the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. He
was well received by Laurence de Medicis, a distin¬
guished protector of learned men j and was twice sent
to Constantinople to collect the best Greek manuscripts,
by which means numberless scarce and valuable trea¬
sures of literature were carried into Italy. At his re¬
turn, Louis XII. king of France prevailed on him to
settle in the university of Paris, and sent him twice
ambassador to Venice. Ten years after, Cardinal John
de Medicis being elected pope, under the name of
Leo A". John Lascaris, his old friend, went to Rome,
and had the direction of a Greek college. He died at
Rome in 1535, at aboutfthe 90th year of his age. Fie
brought into the west most of the fine Greek manu-
scripts that are now extant, and composed some epi¬
grams in Greek and Latin.
Lascaris, Constantine, one of the Greeks who
were principally concerned in the revival of learning
in the West, retired into Italy in 1454, and taught
polite literature at Milan, whither he was called by
J'rancis Sforza •, he afterwards went to Rome, where
he was well received by Cardinal Bessarion. He af¬
terwards taught rhetoric and the Greek tongue at
Naples j and ended his days at Messina, leaving the
senate of that city many excellent manuscripts which
he had brought from Constantinople. He was inter¬
red at the public expence, and the senate of Messina
erected a marble tomb to his memory. He wrote some
grammatical works.
LASERPITIUM, Lazar-wort, a genus of plants
belonging to the pentandria class j and in the natural
method ranking under the 45th order, Umbellatce. See
Botany Index.
IjASH, or Lace, in the sea language, signifies to
bind and make fast 5 as, to lash the bonnet to the
course, or the drabbler to the bonnets ; also the car¬
penter takes care that the spare yards be lashed fast to
the ship’s side 5 and in a rolling sea, the gunners mind
that the guns be well lashed, lest they should break
loose. Lashers are properly those ropes which bind fast
the tackles and the breechings of the ordnance, when
hauled or made fast within board.
LASSI1UDE, or Weariness, in Medicine, amor-
bid sensation, that comeson spontaneously, without any
previous motion, exercise, or labour. This is a frequent.
symptom in acute distempers : it arises either from an Lassitude
increase of bulk, a diminution of proper evacuation, or (|
too great a consumption of the fluids necessary to main- Latere,
tain the spring of the solids, or from a vitiated secre- '’““Y"--
tion of that juice.
LASSUS, or Lasus, a dithyrambic poet, born at
Hermione in Peloponnesus about 500 years before
Christ. He is reckoned among the wise men of Greece
by some. He is particularly known by the answer he
gave to a man who asked him what could best render
life pleasant and comfortable P Experience. Fie was
acquainted with music. Some fragments of his poetry
are to be found in Athenseus. He wrote an ode upon
the Centaurs, and a hymn to Ceres, without inserting
the letter S in the composition.
LAST, in general, signifies the burden or load of a
ship. It signifies also a certain measure of fish, corn,
wool, leather, &c. A last of codfish, white herrings,
meal, and ashes for soap, is twelve barrels j of corn or
rapeseed, ten quarters ; of gunpowder, twenty-four
barrels; of red herrings, twenty cades ; of hides, twelve
dozen; of leather, twenty dickers; of pitch and tar,
fourteen barrels ; of wool, twelve sacks ; of stock fish,
one thousand ; of flax or feathers, 17001b.
JjASTAGE, or Lestage, a duty exacted in some
fairs and markets, for carrying things bought whither
one will. It signifies also the ballast or lading of a
ship; and sometimes is used for garbage, rubbish, or
such like filth.
LATERAN was originally the proper name of a
man ; whence it descended to an ancient palace in
Rome, and to the buildings since erected in its place ;
particularly a church called St lohn of Lateran, which
is the principal see of the popedom.
Councils of the Lateban, are those held in the basi¬
lica of the Lateran ; of these there have been five, held
in 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, and 1513.
Canons Regular of the Congregation of the Lateral,
is a congregation of regular canons ; whereof that church
is the principal place or seat.
It is pretended there has been an uninterrupted suc¬
cession of clerks, living in community, from the time
of the apostles ; and that a number of these were esta¬
blished in the Lateran in the time of Constantine. But
the canons were not introduced till the time of Lieo I.
and these held the church 800 years, till the reign of
Boniface, who took it from them, and placed secular
canons in their room: ijO years after, the regulars
were reinstated.
A LATERE, a term used to denote the qualifica¬
tions of the cardinals whom the pope sends as legates
into foreign countries. They are called legates a la¬
tere, as being his holines’s assistants and counsellors in
ordinary. These are the most considerable of the other
three kinds of legates, being such as the pope commis¬
sions to take his place in councils ; and so called, in re¬
gard that he never gives this office to any but his fa¬
vourites and confidants, who are always a latere, at his
side. A legate k latere has the power of conferring
benefices without a mandate, of legitimating bastards
to hold offices, and has a cross carried before him as the
ensign of his authority.
He Latere, legates who are not cardinals, but yet
are intrusted with an apostolical legatioji. See the ar¬
ticle Legate.
LATE-wake,
L A T l 563 ] L A T
L*te-W>ike LATE-W4KE, a ceremony used at funerals in the
|; Highlands of Scotland. The evening after the death
kaehiasa. ef any person, the relations and friends of the deceased
'"""■'V meet at the house, attended hy a bagpipe or fiddle ; the
nearest of kin, be it wife, son, or daughter, opens a
melancholy ball, dancing, and greeting (i. e. crying
violently) at the same time, and this continues till day
light ; but with such gambols and frolics among the
younger part of the company, that the loss which oc¬
casioned them is often more than supplied by the con¬
sequences of that night. If the corpse remains unbu¬
ried for two nights, the same rites are renewed. Thus,
Scvthian like, they rejoice at the deliverance of their
friends out of this life of misery.
LATEEN SAIL, a long triangular sail extended by
a lateen yard, and frequently used by xebecs, polacres,
setees, and other vessels navigated in the Mediterra¬
nean sea,
LATH, in building, a long, thin, and narrow slip of
wood nailed to the rafters of a roof or ceiling, in order
to sustain the covering.
Lath-Bricks, a particular sort of bricks made in
some parts of England, of 22 inches in length and 6
in breadth, which are used in the place of laths or
spars, supported by pillars in casts, for the drying of
malt. This is an excellent contrivance ; for besides
that they are not liable to fire, as the wooden laths are,
they retain the heat vastly better ■, so that being once
heated, a very small quantity of fire will serve to keep
them so.
LATHE, a very useful engine for the turning of
wood, ivory, metals, and other materials. The inven¬
tion of the lathe is very ancient 5 Diodorus Siculus
says, the first who used it was a grandson of Daedalus,
jramed Talus. lJliny ascribes it to Theodore of Samos $
and mentions one Thericles, who rendered himself very
famous by his dexterity in managing the lathe. With
this instrument the ancients turned all kinds of vases,
many whereof they enriched . lib figures and ornaments
in basso relievo. Thus V irgil :
Lenta quibus term Jaeili superaddita vitis.
The Greek and Latin authors make frequent mention
of the lathe •, and Cicero calls the workmen who used
it vascularii. It was a proverb among the ancients, to
say a thing was formed in the lathe, to express its de¬
licacy and justness.
The lathe is composed of two wooden cheeks or
sides, parallel to the horizon, having a groove or open¬
ing between •, perpendicular to these are two other
pieces called puppets, made to slide between the cheeks,
and to be fixed down at any point at pleasure. These
have two points, between which the piece to be turned
is sustained ; the piece is turned round, backwards
and forwards by means of a string put round it, and
fastened above to the end of a pliable pole, and un¬
derneath to a treadle or board moved with the foot.
There is also a rest which bears up the tool, and keeps
it steady.
As it is the use and application of this instrument
that makes the greatest part of the art of turning, we
refer the particular description thereof, as well as the
manner of applying it in various works, to that head.
See Turning.
LATHIUEA, a genus of plants belonging to the
didynamia class 5 and in the natural method ranking Latlntea
under the 40th order, Bersonatee. See Botany Index, y
LATHREVE, LeIDGREVE, or TriTHENGREVE, ' Latimer.
was an officer under the Saxon government, who had ' v”
authority over a third part of the county j and whose
territory was therefore called trithing, otherwise a leid
or leithin, in which manner the county of Kent is still
divided $ and the rapes in Sussex seem to answer to the
same. As to the jurisdiction of this officer, those mat¬
ters that could not be determined in the hundred court,
were thence brought to the trithing ; where all the
principal men of the three or more hundreds being as¬
sembled by the lathreve, or trithingreve, did debate
and decide it j or if they could not, then the lathreve
sent it up to the county court, to he there finally de¬
termined.
LATHYRUS, Chickling, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the diadelphia class ; and in the natural me¬
thod ranking under the 32d order, PapiUonacece. See
Botany Index.
LATIAR, in Roman antiquity, a feast or ceremony
instituted by Tarquinius Superbus, in honour of Jupiter
Latiaris or Latialis. Tarquin having made a treaty
of alliance with the Latins, proposed, in order for per¬
petuating it, to erect a common temple, where all the
allies, the Romans, Latins, Hernici, Volsci, &c. should
assemble themselves every year, hold a kind of fair, ex¬
change merchandises, feast, sacrifice, and make merry
together. Such was the institution of the Latiar. The
founder only appointed one day for this feast: the first
consul added another to it, upon concluding the peace
with the Latins ; and a third was added after the
people who had retired to the Mons Sacer were return¬
ed to Rome: and a fourth, after appeasing the sedition
raised on occasion of the plebeians aspiring to the con¬
sulate.
These four days were called the Latin feria:; and all
things done during the course of the ferioe, as feasts,
sacrifices, offerings, &c. were called Latiares.
LATICLAVE, {Laticlavimn), in Roman antiquity,
was an honourable distinction, peculiar, in the times
of the republic, to the senators : but whether it was a
particular kind of garment, or only an ornament upon
it, the critics are not agreed : But the more general
opinion is, that it was a broad stripe of purple sewed
upon the fore part of their tunic, and round the mid¬
dle of the breast. There were buttons set on the latus
claims or laticlave, which appeared like the heads of
large nails, whence some think it derived its mime.
—The senators, praetors, and chief magistrates of co¬
lonies and municipal cities had a right to wear it. The
praetexta was always worn over it; hut when the prae¬
tor pronounced sentence of death, the praetexta was
then put off and the laticlave retained. The laticluvL
um dift’ered from the angusticlavium, hut authors do
not agree in what this difference consisted j the most
general opinion seems to he, that the slips or stripes of
purple were narrower in the angusticlave.
LATIMER, Hugh, bishop of Worcester, was
born about the year 1480 at Thurcaston in Leicester¬
shire, the only son of a yeoman of that village. At
the age of fourteen he was sent to Christ’s college,
Cambridge, where he applied himself to the study of
divinity, and in proper time took the degree of ba¬
chelor ia that science. At this time he was a zealous
4 B 2 Papist,
I
L A T [564
Littjmcr, Papist, and was lionoured with the office of keeper of
Latin, the cross to the university : but when he was about
‘.»rr-y- years 0f agej jie became a convert to the Pro¬
testant religion j and being now one of the twelve licens¬
ed preachers from Cambridge, he promulgated his opi¬
nions with great freedom. It was not long before
be was accused of heresy ; and being summoned before
Cardinal Wolsey, was obliged to subscribe certain ar¬
ticles of faith, which he certainly did not believe.
About the year 1529 he was presented by the king to
the rectory of Westkinton in Wiltshire ; to which
place, after residing some time at court with his friend
and patron 13r Butts, he retired 5 but resuming his
former invectives against the Popish doctrines, he was
agam summoned to answer certain interrogatories, and
again obliged to subscribe. In 1535 Iie was promoted
to the bishopric of Worcester ; in the possession of
which dignity he continued till the year 1539, when,
rather than assent to the act 6f the six articles, he re¬
signed his mitre, and retired into the country ; but
was in a short time accused of speaking against the six
articles, and committed to the Tower, where he con¬
tinued prisoner till the death of Henry VIII. which
happened in January 1547. 0n tiie accession of Ed¬
ward VI. Latimer was released, but not restored to
his bishopric, though he preached several times before
the king, and continued to exersise- his ministerial
function with unremitting zeal and resolution. Young
Edward, alas ! finished Ins short reign in 1553 } and
Mary, of infamous memory, ascending the throne,
poor Latimer was immediately doomed to destruction,
and, together with Cranmer and Ridley,, confined in
the Tower. In April 1554, they rvere removed to
Oxford, that they mi^ht dispute with the learned
doctors of both universities. Latimer declining the
disputation on account of his great age and infirmities,
delivered his opinion in writing j and refusing to sub¬
scribe the Popish creed, was condemned for heresy;
and in October following was, together with Bishop
Ridley, burnt alive. He behaved with uncommon for¬
titude on the occasion, and died a real martyr to the
Reformation. His general character is that of a learn¬
ed, virtuous, and brave man. His works are, x. Ser¬
mons, 1635, fol. 2. Letters ; in Fox’s Acts and Mo¬
numents, vol. ii. fol. 1580. 3. An Injunction to the
Prior and Convent of St Mary’s in Worcestershire.
See record at the end of Burnet’s History of the Re¬
formation, part ii. p. 293.
LATIN, a dead language, first spoken in Latium,
and afterwards at Rome ; and still used in the Romish
church, and among many of the learned.
I his language is principally derived from the Greek,
and particularly from the Eolic dialect of that tongue,
though it has a great number of words which it bor¬
rowed from the languages of the Etrusci, Osci, and
otnei ancient people of Italy ; and foreign commerce
and wars, in course of time, added a great many more.
The Latin B a strong nervous language, perfectly
suitable to the cnaracter of the people who spoke it: we
have stirl works of every kind admirably well written
in the Latin, though there are vast numbers lost.
The Latin tongue was for a while confined almost
wholly within the walls of Rome; nor would the Ro¬
mans allow the common use of it to their neighbours,
@i'Ao the nations they subdued ; but by degrees they
]
L A T
in time became sensible of the necessity of its being ge¬
nerally understood for the conveniency of commerce ;
and accordingly used their endeavours, that all the
nations subject to their empire should be united by one
common language ; so that at length they imposed the
use of it by a particular law for that purpose. After
the translation df the seat of the empire from Rome to
Constantinople, the emperors of the east, being always
desirous of retaining the title of Roman emperors, ap¬
pointed the Latin to be still used ; but at length ne¬
glecting the empire of the west, they abandoned all
care of the Latin tongue, and used the Greek. Char¬
lemagne coming to the empire of the west, revived this
language; but at length it gave way, and the French
took place of the Latin; it was, however, prodigious¬
ly degenerated before it came to be laid aside, in which
condition it was found at the time of the Reformation,
when Vives, Erasmus, &c. began to open the way for
its recovery : since which time the monkish latinity has
been declining, and all endeavours have been used to
retrieve the pure language of the Augustan age. See
Language.
Latin Church. See Church.
LATINS, an ancient nation of Italy, See La¬
tium.
LATINUS, king of the Latins in Italy, was the
son of Taunus ; and, it is said, began to reign about
the 1216th year before the Christtan era. Lavinia,
his only daughter, married JEneas, after that Trojan
prince had killed Turnus king of the Rutuli. See
Rome.
LATISSIMUS, in Anatomy, the name of severril
muscles. See Anatomy, Table of the Muscles.
LATITUDE, in Astronomy, is the distance of a
star north or south from the ecliptic. In geography
it signifies the distance of any place north or south
from the equator. See Astronomy, and Geography,
passim.
LATITUDINARIAN, a person of moderation
with regard to religious opinions, who believes there
is a latitude in the road to heaven, which may admit
people of different persuasions.
L ATIUM, in Ancient Geography, the country of the
Latins, at first contained within very narrow bounds, but
afterwards increased by the accession of various people.
The appellation, according to Virgil, is a latendo,
from Saturn’s lying hid there from the hostile pursuits
of his son Jupiter; and from Latium comes the name
Latini, the people (\ irgil) : though Dionysius Hali-
carnassaeus derives it from iving Latinus, who reigned
about the time of the Irojan war. But whatever be
in this, it is certain, that Latium, when under JEneas
and his descendants, or the Alban kings, contained
only the Latins, exclusive of the TEqui, Volsci, Her-
nici, and other people ; only that YEneas reckoned
the Rutuli, after their conquest, among the Latins.
And this constituted the ancient I^atium, confined to
the Latins ; but afterwards, under the kings, and
after their time, it reached from the Tiber to Circeii.
Under the consuls, the country of the ./Equi, Volsci,
Hernici, &c. after long and bloody wars, was added
to Latium, under the appellation adjectitious or svperad-
ded Latium, as far as the river Liris, the eastern boun¬
dary, and to the north as far as the Marsi and Sa¬
bines. The various people, which in succession occu¬
pied
L A T [ 565 ] L A T
Latitfin Latlum, were the Aborigines, the Pelasgi, the
(! Arcades, the Siculi, the Arunci, the Rutuli $ and be-
Latsia. vond Circeii, the Volsci, the Osci, tlie Ausones : but
w|10 grst) w|10 tiextj occupied the country, it is diffi¬
cult to say.
LATMUS, in Ancient Geography, a mountain of
Ionia, or on the confines of Caria, famous for the fable
of Endymion, of whom the Moon was said to be ena¬
moured: hence called Latmius Her os, and Latmius Ve¬
nator. In the mountain was a cave in which Endymi¬
on dwelt (Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius). Supposed
by Hecatseus to be the Phtheiron Mans of Homer 5 but
by others to be Grim Mans, not far from Latmus
(Strabo).
LATOMIA, properly signifies a stone quarry :
But the places whence stones had been dug having
been made use of sometimes as dungeons, jails, or pri¬
sons for criminals, it is oftentimes applied as a name
for a prison. There was a place of confinement of
this sort at Rome, near the Tullianum ; another at
Syracuse, in which Cicero says Verres had shut up
Roman citizens.
LATONA, in Mythology, a Pagan goddess, whose
history is very obscure. Hesiod makes her the daughter
of Titan Coeus and Phoebe his sister. She was admired
for her beauty, and celebrated for the favours which
she granted to Jupiter. Juno, always jealous of her hus¬
band’s amours, made Latona the object of her ven¬
geance, and sent the serpent Python to disturb her
peace and persecute her. Latona wandered from place
to place in the time of her pregnancy, continually a-
larmed for fear of Python. She was driven from hea¬
ven ; and Terra, influenced by Juno, refused to give
her a place where she might rest and bring forth. Nep¬
tune, moved with compassion, struck with his trident
and made immoveable the island of Delos, which be¬
fore wandered in the iEgean, and appeared sometimes
above, and sometimes below, the surface of the sea.
Latona, changed into a quail by Jupiter, came to
Delos; where she resumed her original shape, and
gave birth to Apollo and Diana, leaning against a
palm tree or an olive. Her repose was of short dura¬
tion: Juno discovered the place of her retreat, and
obliged her to fly from Delos. She wandered over
the greatest part of the world ; and in Caria, where
her fatigue compelled her to stop, she was insulted and
ridiculed by the peasants, of whom she asked for wa¬
ter while they were weeding a marsh. Their refusal
and insolence provoked her, and she entreated Jupiter
to punish their barbarity. They were all changed in¬
to frogs. She was also insulted by Niobe $ who boast¬
ed herself greater than the mother of Apollo and Di¬
ana, and ridiculed the presents which the pietv of her
neighbours had offered to Latona. At last/Latona,
though persecuted and exposed to the resentment of
Juno, became a powerful deity, and saw her children
receive divine honours. Her worship was generallv
established where her children received adoration ;
particularly at Argos, Delos, &c. where she had tem¬
ples. She had a^oracle at Egypt, celebrated for the
true and decisive answers which it gave. Latona, Ve¬
nus, and Diana, were the three goddesses most in ve¬
neration among the Roman women.
LATRIA, in Theology, a religious worship due on¬
ly to God. See Adoration*
The Romanists say, “ They honour God with the i/uda
worship of latria, and the saints with the worship of H
duliaP But the terms, however distinct, are usually , batiew.
confounded.
The worship of latria, besides its inner characters,
has its external marks to distinguish it j the principal
whereof is sacrifice, which cannot be offered to any
other but God himself, as being a solemn acknowledge¬
ment or recognition of the sovereignty of God, and our
dependence on him.
Mr Daille seems to own, that some of the fathers
of the fourth century allowed the distinction between
latria and dulia.
LATRINAE, were public houses of office, or neces¬
saries, amongst the Romans. We do not find, in the
writings or buildings that remain of antiquity, that
they had any privies in their dwellings. The latrinae
were public places where the slaves washed and emp¬
tied their masters close stools. We are pretty well as¬
sured that the Romans had public places of conveni¬
ence, which were covered over, and had a sponge
hanging up in them for cleanliness. Rich men had
close stools, which were taken away occasionally to the
common sewers.
LATRUNCULI, a game amongst the Romans, of
much the same nature with our chess. The latrunculi
were properly the chess men, called also latrones and
calculi. They were made of glass, and distinguished
by black and white colours. Sometimes they were
made of wax or other convenient substances. Some
give the invention of this game to Palamedes when at
the siege of,Troy: Seneca attributes it to Chilon, one
of the seven Grecian sages j others honour Pyrrhus
with the invention j and others again contend that it
is of Persian origin-—but is not this Lis de lana capri-
na? Frequent allusions to this game are met with in
the Roman classics, and a little poem was written upon
it, addressed to Piso, which some say was the work of
Ovid, others of Lucan, in the end of some editions
of whose works it is to be found, and to which we re¬
fer for a fuller account cf the game. This game ex¬
presses so well the chance and order of war, that it is,
with great appearance of probability, attributed to
some military officer as the inventor. One Canius Ju¬
lius was so exceedingly fond of chess, that after he was
sentenced to death by Caligula, he was found playing,
but interrupted in his game by a call to execution j
he obeyed the summons, but first desired the centurion
who brought the fatal order, to bear witness that he
had one man upon the board more than his antagonist,
that he might not falsely brag of victory when he
should be no more.
LATTEN denotes iron plates tinned over, of which
tea canisters are made.
Plates of iron being prepared of a proper thinness,
are smoothed by rusting them in an acid liquor, as
common water made eager with rye. With this liquor
they fill certain troughs, and then put in the plates,
which they turn once or twice a day, that they may
be equally rusted over. After this they are’taken out,
and well scoured with sand ; and, to prevent their rust¬
ing again, are immediately plunged into pure water,
in which they are to be left till the instant they are to
be tinned or blanched j the manner of doing which is
this : They flux the tin in a large iron crucible, which
has
L A T [ 566 ] LAV
Lrtten, ijas the figure of an oblong pyramid with four faces,
Lattimo. of which two opposite ones are less than the two others,
^ 1 "» The crucible is heated only from below, its upper part
being luted with the furnace all round. The crucible
is always deeper than the plates which are to be tin¬
ned are long j they always put them in downright,
and the tin ought to swim over them ; to this purpose
artificers of different trades prepare plates of different
shapes, though Mr Reaumur thinks them all excep¬
tionable. But the Germans use no sort of preparation
of the iron to make it receive the tin, more than the
keeping it always steeped in water till the time j only
when the tin is melted in the crucible, they cover it
with a layer of a sort of suet, which is usually two
inches thick, and the plate must pass through this be¬
fore it can come to the melted tin. The first use
of this covering is to keep the tin from burning ;
for if any part should take fire, the suet would soon
moisten it, and reduce it to its primitive state again.
The blanchers say, this suet is a compounded matter.
It is indeed of a black colour; but Mr Reaumur sup¬
posed that to be only an artifice to make it a secret,
and that it is only coloured with soot or the smoke of a
chimney : but he found it true so far, that the com¬
mon unprepared suet was not sufficient ; for after se¬
veral attempts, there was always something wanting
to render the success of the operation certain. The
whole secret of blanching, therefore, was found to lie
in the preparation of this suet ; and this at length he
discovered to consist only in the first frying and burn¬
ing it. This simple operation not only gives it the co¬
lour, but puts it in a condition to give th^ iron a dis¬
position to be tinned, which it does surprisingly.
The melted tin must also have a certain degree of
heat: for if it is not hot enough, it will not stick to the
iron ; and if it is too hot, it will cover it with too thin
a coat, and the plates will have several colours, as red,
blue, and purple, and upon the whole will have a cast
of yelL'W. To prevent this, by knowing when the
fire has a proper degree of heat, they might try with
smu 1 pieces of iron 5 but, in general, use teaches them
to know the degree, and they put in the iron when
the tin is at a different standard of heat, according
as they would give it a thicker or thinner coat. Some¬
times also they give the plates a double laver, as they
would have them very thickly covered. This they do
by dipping them into the tin when very hot the first
time, and when less hot the second. The tin which
is to give the second coat must be fresh covered with
suet ; and that with the common suet, not the pre¬
pared.
La tten Brass, plates of milled brass reduced to
-different thickness, according to the uses they are in¬
tended for.
LATTIMO, in the glass trade, a name for a fine
milk-white glass. There are several ways of making
it, but the best of all is this: take 400 weight of cry¬
stal frit, 60 pounds of calcined tin, and two pounds
and a hall of prepared manganese; mix these well with
the frit, and set them in a pot in a furnace to melt
and refine. At the end of 18 hours this will be puri-
fied ; then cast it into water, purify it again afterwards
in the furnace, and make a proof of it. If it be too
clear, add 15 pounds more of calcined tin ; mix it
well with the metal, and let it stand one day to puri-
3
fy ; it will then be pf a whiteness surpassing even that ^aUint
ol snow, and is fit to work into vessels, y
LA ILS Primarium, a right line drawn through Lava,
the vertex of the section of a cone, within the same, and '"—"v—
parallel to the base.
Latus Transversum of the hyperbola, is the right
line between the vertices of the two opposite sections,
or that part of their common axis lying between the
two opposite cones.
LAVA, a stream of melted minerals which runs
out of the mouths, or bursts out through the sides, of
burning mountains, during the time of an eruption.
See ^Etna, Vesuvius, Hecla j and see also Volca¬
no, Geology Index.
The lava at its first discharge is in a state of pro¬
digious ignition, greatly superior to any thing we can
have an idea of from the small artificial furnaces made
by us. Sir William Hamilton informs us, that the
lava of \esuvius, at the place whence it issued (in
the year 1767), “ had the appearance of a river of
red hot and liquid metal, such as we see in the glass
houses, on which were large floating cinders half
lighted, and rolling over one another with great pre¬
cipitation down the side ol the mountain, forming on
the whole a most beautiful and uncommon cascade.”
Now, if we consider the materials of which the lava
consists, which undoubtedly are the common matters
to be found everywhere in the earth, namely, stones,
metallic ores, clay, sand, &c, we shall find that our
hottest furnaces would by no means be able to bring
them into any degree of fusion ; since the materials
for glass cannot be melted without a great quantity
of very fusible salts, such as alkalies, nitre, &c. mixed
along with them. The heat of a volcano must there¬
fore be immense; and besides its heat, it is sometimes t
attended with a very uncommon circumstance ; for SirExcessird
William Hamilton informs us, that “ the red-hot heat of
stones thrown up by Vesuvius on the 31st of March *av£U*
1766, were perfectly transparent;" and the like re¬
mark he makes on the vast stream of lava which issued
from the same volcano in 1779. This we cannot look
upon to be the mere effect of heat; for mere heat with
us will not make a solid body transparent ; and these
stones, we are sure, were not in a state of fusion, or the
resistance of the air would have broke them all to pieces,
even supposing them, which is very improbable, to have
been in that state detached from the rest of the lava.
For the transparency, therefore, (according to some
authors) we must have recourse to electricity ; which
in some of our experiments hath the property of render¬
ing opaque bodies transparent *. Indeed it is scarcely * See EUt-
possible but the lava and every other matter thrown out^r,CJXy
of a volcano must be in the highest degree electrical,
the fire itself takes its rise from electricity. 2
The lava, alter having once broke out, does not Probably
constantly continue running from the same vent, but*na^4>^
often has intermissions, after which it will burst out^e^1^^
sometimes at the same place, and sometimes at another.
No real flame ever appears to come from the lava. 5
In the day time its progress is marked by a thick
white smoke, from which the light of the red-hot mat-ia* a!'fieM*
ter being reflected in the night time, makes it appearance‘
like flame. But if, during its progress, it meets with
trees or other combustible substances, which it fre¬
quently does, a bright flame immediately issues from
its
LAV [ 567 ] LAV
J^ra, surface, as hath also been remarked by Sir William
u—>y.< Hamilton.—This liquid substance, after having run
pure for about 100 yards (more or less, no doubt,
according to different circumstances), begins to collect
cinders, stones, and a scum is formed on the surface.
Our author informs us, that the lava which he obser¬
ved, with its scum, had the appearance of the river
Thames, as he had seen it after a hard frost and a
great fall of snow, when beginning to thaw, carrying
down vast masses of snow and ice. In some places it
totally disappeared, and ran in a subterraneous passage
formed by the scum for several paces ; after which it
came out pure, having left the scum behind, though
a new one was quickly formed. This lava at the far¬
thest extremity from its source did not appear liquid,
but like a heap of red-hot coals, forming a wall in
some places 10 or 12 feet high, which rolling from the
top soon formed another wall, and so on.—This was
the appearance also put on by the lava which issued in
the great eruption of 1783 in Iceland 5 with this differ¬
ence, that the wall was at one time 210 feet high,
and the general thickness of it was more than 100:
(See Hecla). While a lava is in this state, Sir Wil¬
liam is of opinion, that it is very practicable to divert
it into another channel, in a manner somewhat similar
to what is practised with rivers. This he was after¬
wards told had been done with success during the great
eruption of ./Etna in 1669: that the lava was directing
its course towards the walls of Catania, and advancing
very slowly, when they prepared a channel for it round
the walls of the town, and turned it into the sea. A
succession of men, covered with sheep skins wetted,
were employed to cut through the tough flanks of la¬
va, till they made a passage for that in the centre,
which was in perfect fusion, to disgorge itself into the
channel prepared for it. But this, it is evident, can
only take place in small streams of this burning matter $
with that above mentioned it would have been impos-
Do not at- 8^e‘ hath been also observed of the lavas of ^t-
ways°de- na* t*,at not constantly fall down to the low-
scend to es'- places, but will sometimes ascend in such a manner
the lowest as to make the valleys rise into hills. On this Sir Wil-
plaess. ];am Hamilton has the following note : “ Having heard
the same remark with regard to the lavas of Vesuvius,
I determined, during an eruption of that volcano, to
watch the progress of a current of lava, and I was soon
enabled to comprehend this seeming phenomenon,
though it is, I fear, very difficult to explain. Certain
it is, that the lavas, while in their most fluid state, fol¬
low always the laws of other fluids ; but when at a
great distance from their source, and consequently en¬
cumbered with scoriae and cinders, the air likewise
having rendered their outward coat tough, they will
sometimes (as I have seen) be forced up a small ascent,
the fresh matter pushing forward that which went be¬
fore it, and the exterior parts of the lava acting always
as conductors (or pipes, if I may be allowed the ex¬
pression) for the interior parts, that have retained
their fluidity from not being exposed to the air.”
From the year 1767 to 1779, this gentleman made
many curious observations on the lavas of Vesuvius.
He found, that they constantly formed channels in
the mountain as regular as if they had been made by
art ; and that, whilst in a state of perfect fusion, they
continued their course in those channels, which were
sometimes full to the brim, and at others more or less Lava,
so according to the quantity of matter thrown out. —y—
These channels, after small eruptions, were generally
from two to five or six feet wide, and seven or eight
in depth. They were often hid from the sight by a
quantity of scoriae that had formed a crust over them,
and the lava, having been conveyed in a covered way
for some yards, came out again fresh into an open
channel. Our author informs us, that he bad walked
in some of these subterraneous galleries, which were
exceedingly curious, the sides, top, and bottom, being
exceedingly smooth and even : others were incrusted
with what he calls very extraordinary scoriae, beauti¬
fully ramified white salts in the form of dropping sta¬
lactites, &c.
On viewing a stream of lava while in its fluid state
in the month of May I779> ^ie perceived the opera¬
tion of it in the channels above described in great
perfection. After quitting them, it spread itself in the
valley, and ran gently like a river that had been fro¬
zen, and had masses of ice floating upon it. The wind
happening then to shift, our traveller was so incom¬
moded by the smoke, that the guide proposed to cross
it, which was instantly put in execution without any
other inconvenience than the violent heat with which the
legs and feet were affected. The crust was so tough,
that their weight made no impression upon it, and the
motion so slow that they were in no danger of falling.
This circumstance, according to Sir William, points
out a method of escape should any person happen to
be enclosed betwixt two lavas, hut ought never to be
tried except in cases of real necessity j and indeed, if
the current of melted matter was very broad, must un¬
doubtedly be attended with extreme danger, both from
the heat of the upper crust and the chance of its break¬
ing and falling down with the passenger into the burn¬
ing liquid below. That which Sir William Hamilton
crossed was about 50 or 60 feet broad.
Having passed this burning stream, our travellers
walked up along the side ot it to its very source.
Here they saw it boiling and bubbling violently up
out of the ground, with a hissing and crackling noise
like that which attends the playing off an artificial
fire work. A hillock of about 13 feet high was form¬
ed by the continual splashing up and cooling of the
vitrified matter. Under this was an arched hollow, red
hot within, like a heated oven ; the lava which ran
from it being received into a regular channel raised
upon a sort of wall of scoriae and cinders, almost per¬
pendicularly, of about the height of 8 or 10 feet, and
much resembling an ancient aqueduct. On quitting
this fountain of lava, they went quite up to the crater,
where as usual they found a little mountain throw¬
ing up stones and red-hot scoriae with loud explosions ;
but the smoke and smell of sulphur were so intoler¬
able, that they were obliged to quit the place with
precipitation.
By the great eruption in August 1779, the curious
channels above mentioned were entirely destroyed, the
cone of the mountain was covered with a stratum of
lava full of deep cracks, from whence continually is¬
sued a sulphureous smoke that tinged the scoriae and
cinders with a deep yellow, or sometimes white tint.
1 he lava of this eruption appeared to he more per¬
fectly vitrified than that of any former one he had ob¬
served.
L A ' V [ 568
I>3va, served. The pores of the fresh lava were generally
'of a perfect vitrification, and the scoriae them¬
selves, viewed through a magnifying glass, appeared
like a confused heap of filaments of foul vitrification.
^ lien a piece of the solid lava had been cracked in its
fail, without separating entirely, fibres of perfect glass
were always observed reaching from side to side with¬
in the cracks. The natural spun glass which fell in
some places along with the ashes of this eruption, and
which lias likewise been observed in other places, he
is of opinion must have proceeded from an operation of
the kind just mentioned 5 the lava cracking and separa¬
ting in the air at the time of its emission from the cra¬
ter, and by that means spinning out the pure vitrified
niatter from its pores or cells j the wind at the same
time carrying off the filaments of glass as fast as they
were produced.
Our author observed a kind of pumice stone stick¬
ing to some very large fragments of the new lava. On
dose inspection, however, he found that this sub¬
stance had been farced out of the minute pores of the
solid lava itself j and w?as a collection of fine vitreous
- fibres or filaments confounded together at the time of
their being pressed out by the contraction of the large
fragments of lava in cooling, and which had been bent
downwards by their own weight. “ This curious sub¬
stance (says he) has the lightness of a pumice, and re¬
sembles it in every respect, except that it is of a dark¬
er colour.”
When the pores of this lava were large, and filled
with pure vitrified matter, the latter was sometimes
found blown into bubbles on the surface ; probably by
the air which had been forced out at the time the’ la¬
va contracted itself in cooling ; and from these thin
bubbles it appeared, that this kind of volcanic glass
has much the same transparency with our common
glass bottles, and like them is of a dirty yellow co¬
lour j but when large pieces of it were broken off
with a hammer, they appeared perfectly black and
opaque.
In the lava of this eruption it was observed, that
many detached pieces were in the shape of a barley¬
corn or plum stone, small at each end, and thick in
the middle. Some of these did not weigh above an
ounce ; but others could not be less than 60 pounds.
Our author took them to be drops from the liquid
fountain of fire, which might naturally acquire such a
form in their fall. There were also many other cu¬
rious vitrifications, different from any he had seen be¬
fore, mixed with this huge shower of scoriae and masses
of lava.
In treating of Mount Etna, M. Houel makes men¬
tion of a piece of lava which, after having been once
ejected by the volcano, was swallowed up, and thrown
out a second time. The intense heat to which it was
then subjected, had such an effect upon it, that it ap¬
peared all full of chinks to a considerable depth, and
which run at right angles to one another. He had also
an opportunity of observing to great advantage some
of the hollow channels formed by the lavas of Etna, si¬
milar to those described by Sir William Hamilton, but
on a much larger scale. Here the great eruption of
water in 1755 had overturned, in a vertical direction,
a huge tube of this kind for the length of half a mile.
Tire tube itself appeared to be composed of enormous
]
LAV
Lava.
masses, somewhat resembling planks j each two feet
thick .and twelve or fifteen in breadth, continued in ,
a stiaigbt line through the whole of tliat space. At the '
same time by the action of the lava a kind of walls had
been formed, from ten to sixteen feet in height, and
curved at the top. Some of these walls appear rolled
together like paper; and M. Houel is of opinion, that
these various appearances on the surface of the lava
when cooled, must have arisen from particles heteroge¬
neous to the real lava; and which detach themselves
from it, rising to the surface under a variety of forms
proportioned to the spaces of time taken up in cool¬
ing. These crusts are. formed of different kinds of sco-
riee and dirty lava, mixed with sand or ashes. At the
same place aie also found great numbers of small pieces
like those of ice heaped upon one another after having
floated for some time on a river. Beneath these the
pure lava is met with, and which has evidently been in
a state of perfect fusion. This is extremely dense ;
and by looking narrowly into its chinks, the compo¬
sition of the whole appears to be merely homogeneous.
” It is curious (says he) to observe, so near one species
of lava which is very pure, another which has likewise
arrived at the same place in a fluid state, and has there
undergone so great a change as scarce to retain an ap¬
pearance of its original state. It is, however, like iron
dross, in grains of unequal sizes. We find it also at
various distances, such as one, two, or more hundred
fathoms. It is sometimes found in large pieces like
tables, covered over with sharp points, some longer,
and others shorter. All these pieces are quite detach¬
ed from one another, as if they had been brought thi¬
ther and scattered from a tumbril. The matter of
which toe crust of the lava is formed, seems to have
issued from it in the same manner in which froth rises
upon solution of soap in water. It appears afterwards
to have, swelled, burst, and assumed its present form,
presenting to the view various spaces filled with small
loose stones. A great number of new lavas were like¬
wise observed, all of them putting forth various kinds
of efflorescences in great quantity.
The hardness, density, and solidity of lavas, no doubt
proceed from the degree of heat to which they have
been exposed, and which seems to be greater or less ac¬
cording to their quantity. Hence the Icelandic volca¬
noes, which pour forth the greatest quantities of lava,
produce it also in the greatest degree of liquefaction,
and Dr Van Ti oil observes, that what he saw must
have been liquefied to an extreme degree.
The composition of the lavas of different volcanoes, ol 5
and even of different parts of those of the same volca-tiomon
no, is extremely , different. Sir William Hamilton is different
of opinion that this difference in composition contributes C0,,1P08*-
not a little to the facility or difficulty with which theyt,on* “f!a’
afterwards receive earth canaille of vefretation. “ Some—* - Sl'
afterwards receive earth capable of vegetation. -■ oome w< HaMi!.
(says he) have been in a more perfect state of vitrifi- ton,
cation than others, and are consequently less liable to
the impressions of time. I have often observed on
Mount Vesuvius, when I have been close to a mouth
from whence the lava was disgorging itself, that the
quality of it varied greatly from time to time. 1 have
seen it as fluid and coherent as glass when in fusion ;
and I have seen it farinaceous, the particles separating
as they forced their way out, just like meal coming
from under the grindstone. A stream of lava of this
sort
L A v t 569 ] LAV
tara. sort being less compact, and containing more earthy
' particles, would certainly be much sooner fit for vege-
6 tation than one composed of the more perfect vitrified
By Mr matter.” Mr Bergman, who has accurately analyzed
Sergman. some Icelandic lavas, informs us, that one kind is "very
coarse, heavy, and hard, full of bladders, almost black,
intermixed with white, grains resembling quartz, which
in some places have a figure not very unlike a square.
This black matter is not attracted by the magnet j but
if a piece of it is held against a compass, the needle
visibly moves. When tried in the crucible, it yields
from ten to twelve pounds of iron in every hundred
Weight. It does not dissolve in the least with sal sodm,
and very difficultly with borax, apd scarce at all with
nrinous salt. It seems to contain a great deal of
clay in its composition, which may be extracted by
all acid solvents. This last he is likewise, from expe¬
riments, assured is the case with the lava of Solfaterra
in Italy.
The white lava, which possesses more or less of those
transparent grains or rays with which lavas are gene¬
rally chequered, does not seem to be of the nature of
quartz, as it cannot be attacked by sal sodse ; it is,
however, soluble with some difficulty by borax and fu¬
sible urinous salt, or microcosmic acid. These effects
are perfectly similar to those produced upon the dia¬
mond, ruby, sapphire, topaz, and hyacinth. The
chrysolite, garnet, tourmalin, and schoerl, can neither
be dissolved by sal sedge, though they are somewhat at¬
tacked by it when reduced to a fine powder j and up¬
on the two last-mentioned ones it produces a slight
effervescence-, on which account, says Mr Bergman, it
is possible that the precious stones found upon Mount
Vesuvius, which are sold at Naples, are nearer related
to the real precious stones than is generally imagined.
He found no such grains in a finer kind of lava, quite
porous within, and entirely burnt out, and considerably
lighter than the former ones.
The Iceland agate is of a black or blackish brown
colour, a little transparent at the thin edges like glass,
and gives fire with steel. It cannot easily be melted by
itself j but becomes white, and flies in pieces. It can
hardly be dissolved in the fire by fusible urinous saltj
but it succeeds a little better with borax, though with
some difficulty. With sal sodas it dissolves very little,
though in the first moments some ebullition is perceiv¬
ed, and the whole mass is afterwards reduced to pow¬
der. Hence Mr Bergman concludes, that this agate
hath been produced by an excessive fire out of the black
lava formerly mentioned.
In the Iceland pumice-stone, quartz and crystals
are often found,^ particularly in the black and reddish
brown kind. The stones thrown out of the volcano,
whether gray, or burnt brown, seemed to consist of a
hardened clay, mixed with a siliceous earth. They
were sprinkled with rays and grains resembling quartz,
and some few flakes of mica. They fused with great
difficulty in the fire j with sal sodas they showed some
effe ivescence at first, but which ceased in a short time.
The parts resembling quartz produced no motion at
all; from whence Mr Bergman concludes, that the
black lava already mentioned proceeds principally from
this mass. Several other stones which were sent him
trom Iceland, Mr Bergman supposed to have no con-
VOL. XL Part II. +
nexion with the eruptions, but to have been produced j '
some other way. 'lrfra'
In Mr Ferber’s travels through Italy, we are in- 7
formed, that he has seen species of lava so exactly re-Mr
sembfing blue iron slags, that it was not to be distin-*
guished from them but with great difficulty. The same
author tells us likewise, “ that the Vicentine'and Ve¬
ronese lavas and volcanic ashes contain enclosed several
sorts of fire-striking and flint horn-stones, of a red,
black, white, green, and variegated colour, such as
jasper and agates j that hyacinths, chrysolites, and
ptetre obsidiane, described by Mr Arduini in his Gwr-
nole iVItaha, are found at Leonedo ; and that chal¬
cedony or opal pebbles, and noduli with enclosed water
drops, (chalcedonii bpalii enhtjdri), are dug out of the
volcanic cineritious hills near Vicenza.
M. Holomieu considers the chemical analysis of la- M. Dolo-
va as hut of little account. When subjected to the ni*eu’s-opi-
force of fire a second time, they are all of them redu-nion-
cible to the same kind of glass ; from which it has been
concluded, that all volcanic products have been form¬
ed of the same kind of materials, and that the subter¬
raneous fire has always acted on and variously modi¬
fied the same kind of stone. But an analysis by fire,
he justly observes, isofall others the most fallacious!
I he substances are all fusible, and we have no proper
methods of measuring the intensity of our fire j so
that the same substance which to-day may come’out
of our furnaces untouched, may to-morrow be found
completely altered, even though the fire employed
should not appear to us to be any more violent than the
former. Analyses by different menstrua have not been
more successful. Mr Bergman has indeed analyzed n 9 ,
some lava with acids, and gives with astonishing pre-aoXu" *
cision the following result, viz. that a hundred parts of lava,
of lava contain forty-niqe of siliceous earth, thirty-five
of argillaceous earth, four of calcareous earth, and
twelve of iron. These experiments, however, our au¬
thor observes, give us no information with regard to
laws in general. I hey only show the composition of
the particular specimens that he tried 5 and even after
the descriptions that he has given, we are a good deal
at a loss to discover the species of lava which he sub¬
jected to analysis. “ It would be as ridiculous (says
M. Dolomieu), to apply this analysis to every volcanic
product, as it would be to believe that the component
parts of a fissile rock were the same with those of every
rock composed of laminae or thin strata.” For these
reasons he is of opinion, that, in order to understand
the nature of lavas, we should consider not only that of
volcanoes themselves, but of the bases on which they
rest. Had this been done, we would have found that
the volcanic fires generally exist in beds of argillaceous T.
sohistus and horn-stone ; frequently in a species of por- Of the seat
phyry, the gluten of which is intermediate betwixt v°lcaf1ic
horn-stone anfl petrosilex ; containing a large quantity fires*
of schoerl, feldt-spar, and greenish quartz or’chrysolite^
in little rounded nodules. These substances, he tells
us, would have been found in those mountains which
are called primitive, and in strata buried under beds
of calcareous stone ; and, among other things, would
have convinced us, that the fluidity of lavas does not
make them lose the distinctive characters of their bases.
In the mountains called Primitive^ those rocks which
4 C are
LAV [ 5?o ] LAV
Lava. are assigned as the bases of the more common lavas
t——V"." ■■■* are found intermixed with micaceous ones, with gneiss,
granite, &c. and they generally rest on masses of gra¬
nite. Hence lavas must consist of all these matters,
and the fire must act upon them all whenever it meets
with them. Our author has constantly observed, that
volcanoes situated at the greatest distance from the
centre of the chain or group of mountains on which
they are established, produce lavas of a more homoge¬
neous composition, and less varied, and which contain
most iron and argillaceous earth. Those, on the con¬
trary, placed nearer the centre, are more diversified in
their products ; containing substances of an infinite
variety of different kinds. The seat of the fire, how¬
ever, he observes, does not long continue among the
granites, the inflammation being either extinguished,
or returning to the centre of the schistus rocks in its
t, neighbourhood.
Materials From this knowledge of the materials of which lavas
abundant are composed, we acquire also a considerable know-
in the ledge of the matters that are found in greatest quantity
-real' ^ *n ^ie ^ovve^s ^ie ear^. ~The excavations made by
depths rnines, &c. on the surface of the earth, are mere
shovwi by scratches in comparison of the depths of volcanic fires j
volcanic and as he considers the mountains themselves as the
ties. productions of those fires, it thence follows, that by
attentively examining the materials of which they are
composed, we may thence determine what kind of
substances are most common at these great depths in
the earth.
Thus our author thinks it probable, that schoerls
and porphyries, though rare on the surface, are very
common in the internal parts of the earth. As an in¬
stance of the truth of his observations, our author in¬
forms us, that he was convinced, from no other circum¬
stance but merely inspecting the lavas of Mount AEtna,
that in some parts of the island of Sicily, there exist¬
ed granites, porphyries, with schistus and argillaceous
horn-stones. In this opinion he persisted, notwithstand¬
ing the generally opposite sentiments of the inhabi¬
tants themselves. He searched in vain three-fourths
of the island j and at last found that all the mountains,
forming the point of Sicily called Felori/s, contain
rocks of the kind above mentioned. He then saw that
the base of these mountains was produced under Mount
^Etna on one side, and under the Lipari islands on the
other. “ We must, therefore, (says he) believe, that
these mountains have furnished the materials on which
the volcanoes have, for thousands of years, exerted
their power.”
By travelling among those elevations called the Nep¬
tunian Mountains, or Mans Pelorus, he was enabled to
discover the reason why the products of ./Etna and the
Lipari islands differ from one another. This, he says,
is the unequal distribution of the granite and schistus
rocks among them. The islands rest almost immedi¬
ately on the granite, or are separated from it by a very
thin stratum of argillaceous rock which contains por¬
phyry ; but the Sicilian volcano is situated on the pro¬
longation of the schistus rock, which it must pierce
before it reaches the granite 5 and accordingly very
little of its lava seems to have granite for its basis. If
the seat of the fire w'as still more distant from the
centre of the mountains, their lavas would be more ho¬
mogeneous j because the schist, which succeeds to the
horn-stone, is less various, and hardly includes any bo- jiava
dies foreign to its own substance. Thus the lavas, in w—
the extinguished volcanoes of the Val di Noto, which
lie 15 leagues to the south-east of /Etna, contain nei¬
ther granite nor porphyry •, but have for their bases
simple rocks, with particles of chrysolite and some
schoerls.
To the granites which extend to Metazzo, oppo¬
site to Lipari, he ascribes the formation of pumice j as
they contain an immense quantity of scaly and mica¬
ceous rocks, black and white, with fossil granites or
gneiss, the basis of which is a very fusible feldt-spar j
and these he supposes to be the proper materials of the
pumice, having found pieces of them almost untouch¬
ed in pumice-stones. There are beds of almost pure
feldt-spar j to the semivitrification of which he ascribes
an opaque enamel like lava mentioned in other parts
of his works. Few7 porphyries, however, he acknow¬
ledges, are to be met with among the Neptunian
mountains, though these stones abound in the lavas of
/Etna. “ They are not distant (says he) from the gra¬
nites ; and those I have found have neither the hard¬
ness nor perfection of those pieces which I.gathered ,
in the gullies, and which had been apparently washed
out of the anterior parts of the mountain by water.
But though the porphyries I saw here bear no propor¬
tion to those in the products of /Etna, I was sufficient¬
ly convinced of their existence, and their analogy with
those of volcanoes, by discovering that the centre of
these mountains contains a great number of them. Por¬
phyries, in general, are very raie on the surface of the
earth. Nature generally conceals them from us by
burying them under calcareous strata, orbyenclosing
them in schistus rocks with which they are almost al¬
ways mixed : but we are indebted to the labour of vol¬
canoes for informing us that they are among the most
common substances in the bowels of the earth j and
they are never so much disguised by the subterranean
fire as to be mistaken in the lavas of which they form
the basis.”
For an account of volcanic productions, see Mine¬
ralogy Index. 12
The quantity of matter thrown out from vol- Vast <juaR-
canoes under the name of lavh is prodigious. Af-title* of In¬
ter the great eruption of /Etna, in 1669, Boreiliva
went from Pisa to Sicily to observe the effects of
it. The matter thrown out at that time amounted
to 93,830,750 cubical paces ; so that had it been
extended in length on the surface of the earth, it
would have reached more than four times round the
whole earth. All this matter, however, was not Java,
but consisted also of sand, stone, gravel, &c. The
lava Ire computed at 6,300,000 paces, which formed
a river, according to our author, sometimes two miles
broad ; but according to others, it was six or seven
miles broad, and sometimes 20 or 30 yards in depth.
Sir William Hamilton informs us, that the lavas of
/Etna are very commonly 15 or 20 miles in length,
six or seven in breadth, and 50 feet deep. The most
considerable is scarce less than 30 miles long and
15 broad. The most considerable lavas of Vesuvius
do not exceed seven miles in length. The same au¬
thor, however, tells us, that the lava which issued
from Vesuvius in 1767, was six miles long, two in
breadth, and in most places 60 or 70 feet deep. In
one
LAV L 5?i ] LAV
Lava, one place it had run along a hollow way made by cur-
u. -y—. ^ rents of rain not less than 200 feet deep and 100
wide } and this vast hollow it had in one place fill¬
ed up. He says, he could not have believed that so
great a quantity of matter could have been thrown out
in such a short time, if he had not examined the whole
course of it himself. Even this quantity, however,
great as it is, appears very trifling in comparison of
that thrown out in Iceland in the year 1783, which
covered a space of ground 90 miles in length and 42
in breadth, to the depth of more than 100 feet. Dr
Van Troll, in his Letters on Iceland, tells us, that he
and his companions travelled over a tract of lava up¬
wards of 300 miles in length : and in 1728, we are told
that an eruption of lava took, place, which continued
for two years to run into a great lake, which it almost
13 filled up.
Redone a As the lavas are thrown out from the volcanoes in
Ion? time tjie j,;g{iest degree of ignition, it may easily be suppo-
tooool. ^ tjiat sucj1 vast bodies will retain their heat for a
Iqng time. It would indeed be well worth observing,
what length of time is required to cool a lava perfect¬
ly j as from thence we might in some measure judge
how far those philosophers are in the right, who argue
concerning the length of time required to cool an ig¬
nited globe of the size of our earth or larger. Sir Wil¬
liam Hamilton tells us, that in the month of April I77r»
he thrust sticks into some of the crevices of the lava
which had issued from Vesuvius in October 1767, and
they immediately took fire. On Mount JfLtna, in 1769*
he observed the lava that had been disgorged three
years before to smoke in many parts. No particular
observation, however, hath been made in what propor¬
tion the heat of lavas is gradually lost.
Sir William Hamilton informs us of a curious fact
relating to a lava in the island called Lacto. Here is
a cavern shut up with a door; and this cavern is made
use of to cool liquor, and fruit, which it does in a
14 short time as effectually as ice. Before the door was
Cold and opened, he felt the cold on his legs very sensibly j but
I inaxiotts va-wlien it was opened, the cold rushed out so as to give
lace! r ^*m Pa'n ’ an^ w‘th'u the grotto it was intolerable,
aid lavas was no^ sens‘b!e of wind attending this cold; though
upon Mount .ZEtna and Vesuvius, where there are ca¬
verns of this kind, the cold is evidently occasioned by
a subterraneous wind : the natives call such places ven-
taroli. From old lavas there also frequently happens
an eruption of noxious vapours called mofetes. These
likewise break out from wells and subterraneous places
in the neighbourhood of a volcano before an eruption.
Our author tells us, that the vapour affects the nostrils,
throat, and stomach, just as the spirit of hartshorn or
any strong volatile salt; and would soon prove fatal if
you did not immediately withdraw from it. These
mofetes, he says, are at all times to be met with under
the ancient lavas of Vesuvius, particularly the great
1 eruption of 1631.
Sfsei of Sir William Hamilton informs us, that the lavas of
^Etna and Vesuvius are much the same, but those of
iEtna rather blacker and more porous than those of
Vesuvius. Some kinds of lava take a fine polish, and
are frequently manufactured into boxes, tables, &c.
In Naples, the inhabitants commonly make use of it
for paving the streets, and even the subterraneous cities
»f Pompeii and Herculaneum have been paved with
the same substance. A fine large cubic piece of lava ^ava
is preserved in the ball of the British Museum. y
LAVANDULA, Lavender, a genus of plants be- Lavater.
longing to the didynamia class, and in the natural me- v—“’y——
thod ranking under the 42d order, Verlicillatce. See
Botany Index.
LAVATER, John Gaspard Christian, best
known by his writings on physiognomy, was born at
Zurich in Switzerland, in 1741. He was brought
up a Protestant minister, and entered into holy orders
in 1761. He was for some time pastor of the or¬
phans church in that city ; but from the year 1778, he
was deacon and pastor of St Peter’s church in the
same place. TJie eloquence of his discourses in the
pulpit procured for him an early reputation, as well as
the ardent zeal and Christian benevolence with which
he discharged the duties of his office. Though not
much conversant with books, he had a very extensive
knowledge of human nature, and a most acute discern¬
ment. His theological writings in prose and verse are
little known, but his works on physiognomy have ex¬
tended his fame throughout every part of Europe. We
are informed by himself, that he felt an early propen¬
sity to study the human face, and frequently drew such
features as made a peculiar impression upon his mind ;
but his choice of physiognomy was fixed by the sugges¬
tion of Dr Zimmerman, who, having heard his remarks
on the singular countenance of a soldier whom they saw
passing by as they stood together at a window, urged
him to pursue and methodise his ideas. He soon ac¬
quired a full conviction of the reality of physiognomical
science, and of his own discoveries in it. His first vo¬
lume on this subject appeared at Leipzig in 1776, and
the 20 sections of which it was composed he modestly
denominated fragments. With him it appeared to be
an axiom, “ that the powers and faculties of the mind
have representative signs in the solid parts of the coun¬
tenance.” This notion he extended to all animated
nature, firmly believing that internal qualities invaria¬
bly denote themselves by external marks or tokens.
Two more volumes soon appeared in succession, con¬
taining a wonderful assemblage of curious observations,
refined reasoning, delicate feeling, and philanthropic
sentiments, with a number of engravings highly finished
and singularly expressive. This work was well trans¬
lated into the French and English languages, and was
for some time the favourite topic of literary discussion.
So much was its author admired, that no foreigner of
distinction passed through Zurich without obtaining an
interview with Lavater, and asking his opinion of some
character from a shade or miniature. His huge vo¬
lumes, however, are now seldom looked at except for
the sake of the plates, and his physiognomical notions
appear to be consigned to oblivion with other science*
of a chimerical nature. One of the best known of bis
miscellaneous publications is bis Aphorisms on Man,
which contain originality both of sentiment and ex¬
pression, with deep and philosophical views of human
nature.
Lavater was zealously attached to the Christian reve¬
lation, and translated Bonnet’s Enquiry into the Evi¬
dences of Christianity, into the German language.
This book he dedicated to the celebrated Jewish philo¬
sopher, Moses Mendelsohn, with « challenge either to
refute it publicly, or profess his conviction of the truth
4 C 2
LAV [ 572 ]
of its arguments. This challenge he afterwards con- natives maintain
L A U
fessed to have been inconsiderate, and that his zeal had
misled him. His popularity at Zurich was so extreme¬
ly great, that in his walks it was no uncommon thing
to see the people flocking around him, and kissing his
hand in token of respect. He had a most exemplary
moral character, and his zeal in doing good was scarce¬
ly ever surpassed. He was mild and moderate in con¬
versation, although naturally full of fire and sensibility;
he was candid in his estimate of such as difl'ered from
him in opinion ; he always rose early, and never took
his breakfast till he thought he had earned it. He was
the determined enemy of tyranny in every shape, be¬
ing possessed of the genuine Swiss zeal for liberty. He
was therefore a friend to the French revolution at its
commencement; but the,rapine, plunder, and blood¬
shed which afterwards disgraced it, made him one of its
bitterest antagonists. On the day when the unfortu¬
nate city of Zurich was stormed by Massena in 1799,
he received a wound in the breast from a Swiss soldier
in the streets, to whom he had formerly been a bene¬
factor. He never wholly recovered from the effects of
this wound ; and he brought on a train of dangerous
symptoms by attending for more than an hour, in the
open air, a man who was condemned to be shot as a
spy. The activity and vigour of his mind, however,
continued till a short time before his death, which took
place on the 2d of January, 1801.
LAVATERA, a genus of plants, belonging to the
polyadelphia class, and in the natural method ranking
under the 37th order, Columni/erce. See Botany
Index.
LAVATORY, or Lavadero, a name given to
certain places in Chili and Peru, where gold is got out
of earth by washing.
M. F rezier gives us the following description of the
lavatories of Chili :—They dig deep into the earth, in
such places as they have reason to expect gold in ; and,
in order to facilitate this digging, turn a stream of wa¬
ter upon the spot, loosening the earth as much as possi¬
ble all the time, that the current may have the greater
effect, and tear up the earth more strongly. When
they are got to the earth they want, they turn off the
stream, and dig dry.
The earth that they now get, is carried on mules,
and discharged into a basin, made somewhat in the
manner of a smith’s bellows; into which a little rivu¬
let of water runs with a great deal of rapidity, dissolv¬
ing the parts of the earth, and carrying every thing
away with it, excepting the particles of gold, which,
by their great weight, precipitate to the bottom of the
basin, and mix with fine black sand, where they
are almost as much hidden as they were before in the
earth.
Sometimes they find very considerable pieces in la¬
vatories, particularly pieces of twenty-four ounces each.
There are several lavatories, where they find pepitas,
or pieces of virgin gold, of a prodigious size. A-
mong others, they tell of one that weighed 512
ounces, bought by the count de la Moncloa, viceroy of
Peru.
Nine or ten leagues to the east of Coquimbo, are
the lavatories of Andacoll, the gold whereof is 23
carats fine.—Their works here always turn to great
profit, excepting when the water fails them.—The
that the earth is.creative, that is,
it produces gold, continually ; because, after having
been washed 60 or 80 years, they find it impreg¬
nated afresh, and draw almost as much out of it as at
first.
LAUBAGH, a handsome and strong town of Ger-
many, m the circle of Austria, and in Carniola, with a
bishop’s see, a castle, and very handsome houses. It
is seated on a river of the same name, wherein are the
largest crawfish in Europe. E. Long. 14. 45. N. Lat.
46. 10. ,
LAUD, William, archbishop of Canterbury in
the 17th century, was born at Reading in 1573, and
educated in St John’s college, Oxford, of which he
was afterwards a fellow and grammar reader. In
1610, he went into orders. In 1611, he was elected
president of St John’s college ; but his election being
disputed, it was confirmed by his majesty. The same
year he was sworn the king’s chaplain. In 1621,
he was nominated bishop of St David’s. In 1628, he
was translated to the bishopric of London. In 1630,
he was elected chancellor of the university of Oxford.
In 1633* attended the king into Scotland, and was
sworn a privy counsellor for that kingdom. During
his stay in Scotland, he formed the resolution of bring¬
ing that church to an exact conformity with the church
of England. In the same year, he succeeded Archbi¬
shop Abbot in the see of Canterbury ; and soon after
came out his majesty’s declaration about lawful sports
on Sundays, which the archbishop was charged with
having revived and enlarged, and that with the vexa¬
tious prosecutions of such clergymen as refused to
read it in their churches. In 1634-5, archbishop
was put into the great committee of trade and the
king’s revenue ; on the 4th of March following, he
was appointed one of the commissioners of the trea¬
sury ; and on the 6th of March 16356, he received
the staff of lord high treasurer of England. In ordor
to prevent the printing and publishing what he thought
improper books, he procured a decree to be passed in
the star-chamber, on the nth of July 1637, whereby
it was enjoined that the master printers should be re¬
duced to a certain number, and that none of them should
print any books till they were licensed either by th.e
archbishop or the bishop of London, or some of their
chaplains, or by the chancellors or vice chancellors of
the two universities. A new parliament being sum¬
moned, met on the 13th of April 1640; and the con¬
vocation the day following : but the commons launch¬
ing out into complaints against the archbishop, and in¬
sisting upon a redress of grievances before they granted
any supply, the parliament was dissolved on the 7th of
May. The convocation, however, continued sitting ;
and made 17 canons, which were supposed to be form¬
ed under the immediate direction of the archbishop.
In the beginning of the long parliament he was at¬
tacked on account of those canons : and they being
condemned by tbe bouse of commons on the 16th of
December 1640, ‘s as containing many things con¬
trary to the king’s prerogative, to the fundamental
laws and statutes of this realm, to the rights of par¬
liament, to the property and liberty of the subject, and
tending to sedition, and of dangerous consequence ;”
he was, on the 18th of December, accused by the
commons of high treason, and sent to the Tower.
Being
Lava 107
J\ "
Lacd,
A U [ 573 ] L A U
Laud Being tried before the house of lords, for endeavouring
!1 to subvert the laws, and to overthrow the Protestant
, religion, he was found guilty, and beheaded on Tower-
hill on January loth following, in the ^2d year of his
age. This learned prelate, notwithstanding his being
charged with a design to bring in Popery, wrote an
Answer to Dr I isher, which is esteemed one of the best
pieces that has been printed against that religion. He
was temperate in his diet, and regular in his private
life: but his fondness for introducing new ceremonies,
in which he showed a hot and indiscreet zeal, his en¬
couraging of sports on Sundays, his illegal and cruel
severity in the star-chamber and high commission
courts, and the fury with which he persecuted the dis¬
senters, and all who presumed to contradict his senti¬
ments, exposed him to popular hatred. Besides his
Answer to Fisher, he published several sermons, and
other works.
LAUDANUM. See Opium, Materia Medica
Index.
LAUDATIO, in a legal sense, was anciently the
testimony delivered in court of the accused person’s
good behaviour and integrity of life. It resembled
the custom, which prevails in our trials, of calling per¬
sons to speak to the character of the prisoner. The
least number of the lauclatores among the Romans was
ten.
LAUDLR, William, a native of Scotland, was
educated at the university of Edinburgh, where he fi¬
nished his studies with great reputation, and acquired
a considerable knowledge of the Latin tongue. In
May 22. 1734, he received a testimonial from the
heads of the university, certifying that he was a fit
person to teach humanity in any school or college
whatever. In 1739 he published at Edinburgh an edi¬
tion of Johnston’s Psalms. In 1742, he was recom¬
mended by Mr Patrick Gumming and Mr Colin Mac-
laurin, professors of church history and mathematics
to the mastership of the grammar school at Dundee*
then vacant. Whether he succeeded in his applica¬
tion or not, is uncertain : but a few years afterwards
we find him in London, contriving to ruin the reputa¬
tion of Milton ; an attempt which ended in the de¬
struction of bis own. His reason for the attack pro¬
bably sprung from the virulence of a violent party-spi¬
rit, which triumphed over every principle of honour
and honesty. He began first to retail part of bis de¬
sign in the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1747; and find¬
ing that his forgeries were not detected, was encou¬
raged in 1751 to collect them, with additions, into a
volume, entitled, “ An Essay on Milton’s Use and Imi¬
tation of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost,” 8vo. The
fidelity of his quotations had been doubted by several
people ; and the falsehood of them was soon after de¬
monstrated by Dr Douglas, in a pamphlet, entitled,
“ Milton Vindicated from the Charge of Plagiarism*
brought against him by Lauder, and Lauder himself
convicted of several Forgeries and gross Impositions on
the Public: In a Letter humbly addressed to the Rjtrht
Honourable the Earl of Bath, 1751,” 8vo. The ap¬
pearance of tliis Detection overwhelmed Lauder with
confusion. He subscribed a confession, dictated by a
learned friend, wherein he ingenuously acknowledged
his offence, which he professed to have been occasioned
by the injury he had received from the disappointment
of his expectations of profit from the publication of Lauder
Johnston’s Psalms. This misfortune he ascribed to a f)
couplet in Mr Pope’s Dunciad, Book iv. ver. 3. and
from thence originated his rancour against Milton. He '""v
afterwards imputed his conduct to other motives j abu¬
sed the few friends who continued to countenance him j
and, finding that his character was not to be retrieved,
quitted the kingdom, and went to Barbadoes, where
he some time taught a school. His behaviour there
was mean and despicable ; and he passed the remainder
of his life in universal contempt. “ He died (says Mr
Nicholas) some time about the year 1771, as my friend
Mr Reed was informed by the gentleman who read the
funeral service over him.”
LAUDICOENI, amongst the Romans, applauders,
who for reward entered the rehearsal-rooms, attended
the repetition of plays, and were in waiting when ora¬
tions were pronounced, in order to raise or increase the
acclamation and applause.
LAUD OH N, Field Marshal, a celebrated ge¬
neral in the Imperial service, born in 1716, was a na¬
tive of Livonia, and descended from a Scottish family.
He made his first campaigns under Marshal Munich, in
the war of I7S^» between the Russians and Turks j and
was at the taking of Oczakow, Choczim, and Sfhw-
utzebane, where the Turks w'ere entirely defeated.
Frederick the Great refused, in 1741, to take young
Laudohn into his service, saying he did not like his
countenance 5 though this monarch, who was consider¬
ed as the greatest general of his age, afterwards said,
that he often admired the positions of other generals,
but that he had ever dreaded the battles of Laudohn.
In I75^» w hen but just entered into the service of the
house of Austria, with the rant of lieutenant-colonel,
he made such a rapid progress, that within less than a
year he was a general of artillery, and within three
years commander in chief of the whole army. He
rescued Olmutz, when besieged by the Prussians ; beat
the king himself at Frankfort on the Oder j at Zorn-
dorf, took General Eouquet prisoner j carried Glatz
and Schweidnitz by assault j and stopped the progress
of Frederick in a war which might have proved fatal
to the house of Austria. In 1778, when elevated to
the rank of marshal, at the head of 6o,OCO men, he
hindered Henry, brother to the king of Prussia, from
joining his army to that of the king. At Dubicza,
Novi, Grandisca, and Belgrade, in the late war between
the emperor and the Lurks, he had but to present
himself before the place, and say with Csesar, Vem\ Vidi\
Vici. But at his head quarters in Moravia, he was
seized with a fever, in consequence of an operation he
underwent for an obstruction in the urethra. His im¬
patience under the medical applications, the impetuous
ardour of his character, and the knowledge, above all,
of his importance in the war, contributed to irritate his
mind, and promote the violence of the fever. He re¬
sisted the application of cataplasms, before and after the
incisions were made, with a fatal obstinacy, which raised
the inflammation to such a height, that he expired un¬
der the accession of the fever cn the 14th of July 1 790,
in the 74th year of his age.
LAUDS, Laudes, tile second part of the ordinary
office of the breviary, said after matins j though, here¬
tofore, it ended the office of the night.
Hie laudes consist principally of psalms, hymns9
L A U [ 574 ] L A U
Lauds &c. whence they took their name, from laus, laudis,
R “ praise.”
,T augktef-. LAVENHAM, or Lanham, 6r miles from Lon¬
don, is a pleasant and pretty large town of Suffolk, on
a branch of the river Bret, from whence it rises gra¬
dually to the top of a hill, where are its church, which
is a very handsome Gothic structure, and in which are
several ancient monuments j and a spacious market¬
place, encompassed with nine streets or divisions, in a
very healthy free air. It had formerly a very consi¬
derable trade in blue cloth j and had three guilds or
companies, with each their hall. It has still a consi¬
derable manufactory of serges, shalloons, says, stuffs,
and spinning fine yarn for London ; and many hun¬
dred loads of wool are delivered every year from its
wool-hall. It is governed by 6 capital burgesses, who
are for life, and choose the inferior officers. The
church, and its steeple, which is 137 feet high, are
reckoned the finest in the county. Its tenor bell,
though not much more than a ton, has as deep a note
as a bell of twice that weight. Here is a free school
and a bridewell, part of which is a workhouse where
the poor children, &c. of the parish are employed in
spinning hemp, flax, and yarn. The tenants of the ma¬
nor and the other inhabitants were always exempted
from serving at any court held for its hamlet. The
tenure of land called Borough English exists here.
Population 1711 in 1811.
LAVENDER. See Lavandula, Botany, and
Materia Medica Index.
LAVER, in scripture history, a sacred utensil pla¬
ced in the court of the Jewish tabernacle, consisting of
a bason, whence they drew water by cocks, for wash¬
ing the hands and feet of the officiating priests, and
also the entrails and legs of the victims.
LAVERNA, in antiquity, the goddess of thieves
and cheats among the Romans, who honoured her with
public worship, because she was supposed to favour
those who wished that their designs might not be disco¬
vered. Varro says, that she had an altar near one of
the gates of Rome j hence called porta lavernalis.
LAUGERIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
pentandria class, and in the natural method ranking
among those of which the order is doubtful. See Bo¬
tany Index.
LAUGHTER, an affection peculiar to mankind,
occasioned by something that tickles the fancy.
In laughter, the eyebrows are raised about the
middle, and drawn down next the nose $ the eyes are
almost shut 5 the mouth opens and shows the teeth, the
corners of the mouth being drawn back and raised
up ; the cheeks seem puffed up, and almost hide the
eyes ; the face is usually red } the nostrils are open j
and the eyes wet.
Authors attribute laughter to the fifth pair of nerves,
which sending branches to the eye, ear, lips, tongue,
palate, and muscles of the cheek, parts of the mouth,
praecordia, &c. there hence arises a sympathy, or con¬
sent, between ali these parts} so that when one of
them is acted upon, the others are proportionably af¬
fected. Hence a savoury thing seen, or smelt, affects
the glands, and parts of the mouth ; a thing seen, or
heard, that is shameful, affects the cheeks with blushes 5
on the contrary, if it please and tickle the fancy, it af¬
fects the prsecordia, and muscles of the mouth and face,
3 "
with laughter ; if it cause sadness and melancholy, it JLangfeter.
likewise affects the prsecordia, and demonstrates itself
by causing the glands of the eyes to emit tears. Dr
W illis accounts for the pleasure of kissing from the
same cause; the branches of this fifth pair being spread
to the lips, the prsecordia, And the genital parts; whence
arises a sympathy between those parts.
The aflection of the mind by which laughter is pro¬
duced is seemingly so very difterent from the other
passions with which we are endowed, that it hath en¬
gaged the attention of very eminent persons to find it
out.-—1. Aristotle, in the fifth chapter of his Poetics,
observes of comedy, that “ it imitates those vices or
meannesses only which partake of the ridiculous:—now
the ridiculous (says he) consists of some fault or tur¬
pitude not attended with great pain, and not destruc¬
tive.” 2. “ The passion of laughter (says Mr Hobbes)
is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some
sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by
comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our
own formerly. For men (continues he) laugh at
the follies of themselves past, when they come sud¬
denly to remembrance, except when we bring with
them any sudden dishonour.” 3. Akenside, in the
third book of his excellent poem, treats of ridicule
at considerable length. He gives a detail of ridi¬
culous characters; ignorant pretenders to learning,
boastful soldiers, and lying travellers, hypocritical
churchmen, conceited politicians, old women that talk
of their charms and virtue, ragged philosophers who
rail at riches, virtuosi intent upon trifles, romantic
lovers, wits wantonly satirical, fops that out of vanity
appear to be diseased and profligate, dastards who are
ashamed or afraid without reason, and fools who are
ignorant of what they ought to know. Having finish¬
ed the detail of characters, he makes some general re¬
marks on the cause of ridicule ; and explains himself
more fully in a prose definition illustrated by examples.
The definition, or rather description, is in these words :
“ That which makes objects ridiculous, is some ground
of admiration or esteem connected with other more ge¬
neral circumstances comparatively worthless or deform¬
ed : or it is some circumstance of turpitude or defor¬
mity connected with what is in general excellent or
beautiful; the inconsistent properties existing either in
the objects themselves, or in the apprehension of the
person to whom they relate ; belonging always to the
same order or class of being ; implying sentiment and
design, and exciting no acute or vehement commotion
of the heart.” 4. Hutcheson has given another ac¬
count of the ludicrous quality, and seems to think that
it is the contrast or opposition of dignity and meanness
which occasions laughter.
All these opinions are refuted by Dr Beattie in his
Essay on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, where
he has treated the subject in a masterly manner. “ To
provoke laughter (says he), is not essential either to wit
or humour. For though that unexpected discovery of
resemblance between ideas supposed dissimilar, which is
called wit—and that comic exhibition of singular cha¬
racters, sentiments, and imagery, which is denominated
humour)—do frequently raise laughter, they do not raise
it always. Addison’s poem to Sir Godfrey Kneller, in
which the British kings are likened to heathen gods,
is exquisitely witty, and yet not laughable. Pope’s
Essay
L A U [ 575 ] L A U
j,au"liter. Essay on Man abounds in serious wit ; and examples
>—-^r—J rjf serious humour are not uncommon in Fielding’s
History of Parson Adams, and in Addison’s account
of Sir Roger de Coverley. Wit, when the subject is
grave, and the allusions sublime, raises admiration in¬
stead of laughter: and if the comic singularities of a
good man appear in circumstances of real distress, the
imitation of these singularities in the epic or dramatic
comedy will form a species of humour, which, if it
should force a smile, will draw forth a tear at the same
time. An inquiry, therefore, into the distinguishing
characters of wit and humour has no necessary connec¬
tion with the present subject.
“ Some authors have treated of ridicule, without
marking the distinction between vulicvlousand ludicrous
ideas. But I presume the natural order of proceeding
in this inquiry, is to begin with ascertaining the na¬
ture of what is purely ludicrous. Things ludicrous and
things ridiculous have this in common, that both ex¬
cite laughter; but the former excite pure laughter, the
latter excite laughter mixed with disapprobation and
contempt. My design is to analyze and explain that
quality in things or ideas, which makes them provoke
pure laughter, and entitles them to the name of ludi¬
crous or laughable.
“ When certain objects, qualities, or ideas, occur to
our senses, memory, or imagination, we smile or laugh
at them, and expect that other men should do the
same. To smile on certain occasions is not less natural,
than to weep at the sight of distress or cry out when we
feel pain.
“ There are difi'erent kinds of laughter. As a boy,
passing by night through a churchyard, sings or whis¬
tles in order to conceal his fear even from himself;
so there are men, who, by forcing a smile, endeavour
sometimes to hide from others, and from themselves
too perhaps, their malevolence or envy. Such laugh¬
ter is unnatural. The sound of it offends the ear ; the
features distorted by it seem horrible to the eye. A
mixture of hypocrisy, malice, and cruel joy, thus dis¬
played on the countenance, is one of the most hateful
sights in nature, and transforms the “ human face di¬
vine” into the visage of a fiend. Similar to this is the
smile of a wicked person pleasing himself with the hope
of accomplishing his evil purposes. Milton gives a
striking picture of it in that well-known passage :
He ceas’d ; for both seem’d highly pleased ; and Death
Grinn’d horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
H is famine should be fill’d, and blest his maw
Destin’d to that good hour.-
But enough of tiiis. Laughter that makes a man a fiend
or a monster, I have no inclination to analyze. My
inquiries are confined to that species of laughter which
is at once natural and innocent.
“ Of this there are two sorts. The laughter occa¬
sioned by tickling or gladness is different from that
which arises on reading the Tale of a Tub. The
former may be called animal laughter : the latter (if
it were lawful to adopt a new word which has become
very common of late) I should term sentimental. Smiles
admit of similar divisions. Not to mention the scornful,
the envious, the malevolent smile, I would only re¬
mark, that of the innocent and agreeable smile there
are two sorts. The one proceeds from the risible emo¬
tion, and has a tendency to break out into laughter. Lau'-bter
The other is the effect of good humour, complacency, .
and tender affection. This last sort of smile renders a
countenance amiable in the highest degree. Homer
ascribes it to Venus in an epithet which
Dryden and Pope, after Waller, improperly translate
laughter-loving; an idea that accords better with the
character of a romp or hoyden, than with the goddess
of love and beauty.
“ Animal laughter admits of various degrees ; from
the gentle impulse excited in a child by moderate joy,
to that terrifying and even mortal convulsion which
has been known to accompany a change of fortune.
This passion may, as well as joy and sorrow, he com¬
municated by sympathy; and I know not whether the
entertainment we receive from the playful tricks of
kittens and other young animals may not in part be
resolved into something like a fellow-feeling of their
vivacity.—Animal and sentimental laughter are fre¬
quently blended ; but it is easy to distinguish them.
The former is often excessive ; the latter never, unless
heightened by the other. The latter is always plea¬
sing, both in itself and in its cause ; the former may be
painful in both. But their principal difference is this :
—The one always proceeds from a sentiment or emo¬
tion excited in the mind, in consequence of certain ideas
or objects being presented to it, of which emotion we
may be conscious even when we suppress laughter ; 
the other arises not from any sentiment or perception of
ludicrous ideas, but from some bodily feeling, or sud¬
den impulse on what is called the animal spirits, pro¬
ceeding, or seeming to proceed, from the operation of
causes purely material. The present inquiry regards
that species that is here distinguished by the name of
sentimental laughter.
“ The pleasing emotion, arising from the view of
ludicrous ideas, is known to every one by experience ;
but, being a simple feeling, admits not of definition.
It is to be distinguished from the laughter that gene¬
rally attends it, as sorrow is to be distinguished from
tears ; for it is often felt in a high degree by those
who are remarkable for gravity of countenance. Swift
seldom laughed, notwithstanding his uncommon ta¬
lents in wit and humour, and the extraordinary delight
he seems to have had in surveying the ridiculous side
of things. Why this agreeable emotion should be ac¬
companied with laughter as its outward sign, or sorrow
express itself by tears, or fear by trembling or paleness,
I cannot ultimately explain, otherwise than by saying,
that such is the appointment of the Author of nature.
—All I mean by this inquiry is, to determine, “ What
is peculiar to those things which produce laughter,—
or rather, which raise in the mind that pleasing sen¬
timent or emotion whereof laughter is the external
sign.
“ Philosophers have differed in their opinions con¬
cerning this matter. In Aristotle’s definition quoted
above, it is clear that he means to characterize, not
laughable qualities in general (as some have thought),
but the objects of comic ridicule only ; and in this
view the definition is just, however it may have been
overlooked or despised by comic writers. Crimes
and misfortunes are often, in modern plays, and
were sometimes in the ancient, held up as objects
of public merriment; but if poets had that reverence
for
L A tJ [ 5
lighter, for nature which they ought to have, they would not
v " shock the common sense of mankind by so absurd a
representation. The definition from Aristotle does not,
however, suit the general nature of ludicrous ideas j
for it will appear by and by, that men laugh a^ that
in which there is neither fault nor turpitude of any
kind.
“ The theory of Mr Hobbes would hardly have
deserved notice, if Addison had not spoken of it with
approbation in the 47th paper of the Spectator. He
justly observes, after quoting the words of Mr Hobbes
formerly mentioned, that “ according to this account,
when we hear a man laugh excessively, instead of say¬
ing that he is very merry, we ought to tell him that
he is very proud.” It is strange, that the elegant au¬
thor should be aware of this consequence, and yet ad¬
mit the theory : for so good a judge of human nature
could not be ignorant, that laughter is not considered
as a sign of pride ; persons of singular gravity being
often suspected of that vice, but great laughers seldom
or never. When we see a man attentive to the inno¬
cent humours of a merry company, and yet maintain
a fixed solemnity of countenance, is it natural for us to
think that he is the humblest, and the only humble per¬
son in the circle ?
“ Another writer in the Spectator, N° 249. remarks,
in confirmation of this theory, that the vainest part of
mankind are most addicted to the passion of laughter.
Now, how can this be, if the proudest part of mankind
are also most addicted to it, unless we suppose vanity
and pride to be the same thing ? But they certainly
are different passions. The proud man despises other
men, and derives his chief pleasure from the contem¬
plation of his own importance : the vain man stands in
need of the applause of others, and cannot be happy
without it. Pride is apt to be reserved and sullen j va¬
nity is often affable, and officiously obliging. The
proud man is so confident of his merit, and thinks it
so obvious to all the world, that he will scarcely give
lumself the trouble to inform you of it t the vain man,
to raise your admiration, scruples not to tell you, not
only the whole truth, but even a great deal more. In
the same person these two passions may, no doubt, be
united j but some men are too proud to be vain, and
»ome vain men are too conscious of their own weakness
to be proud. Be all this, however, as it will, we have
not as yet made any discovery of the cause of laugh¬
ter ; in regard to which, I apprehend, that the vain are
nat more intemperate than other people 5 and I am sure
that the proud are much less so.
Hutcheson’s account of the origin of laughter is
equally unsatisfactory. Granting what he says to be
true, I would observe, in the first place, what the in¬
genious author seems to have been aware of, that there
may be a mixture of meanness and dignity where there
is nothing ludicrous. A city, considered as a collec¬
tion of low and lofty houses, is no laughable object.
Nor was that person either ludicrous or ridiculous,
• whom Pope so justly characterises,
“ The greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind.”
 But, secondly, cases might be mentioned, of laugh¬
ter arising from a group of ideas or objects, where¬
in there is no discernible opposition of meanness or
?
dignity.
that
w
L A U
are told of the dagger of Hudibrax, Lang]Uer
“ could scrape trenchers, or chip bread,
“ Toast cheese or bacon, though it were
“ To bait a mouse trap, ’twou’d not care 5
“ ’ 1 wou’d make clean shoes, or in the eartii
“ Set leeks and onions, and so forth.”
The humour of the passage cannot arise from the mean¬
ness of these offices compared with the dignity of the
dagger, nor from any opposition of meanness and dig¬
nity in the offices themselves, they being all equalfv
mean 5 and must therefore be owing to some peculm-
rity in the description. We laugh, when a droll mi¬
mics the solemnity of a grave person ; here dignity and
meanness are indeed urited : but we laugh also (though
not so heartily perhaps) when he mimics the peculia¬
rities of a fellow as insignificant as himself, and dis¬
plays no opposition of dignity and meanness. The le¬
vities of Sancho Pan^a opposed to the solemnity of his
master, and compared with his own schemes of prefer¬
ment, form an entertaining contrast: but some of the
vagaries of that renowned squire are truly laughable,
even when his preferment and his master are out of the
question. Men laugh at puns; the wisest and wittiest
of our species have laughed at them ; Queen Elizabeth,
Cicero, and Shakespeare, laughed at them ; clowns and’
children laugh at them ; and most men, at one time or
other, are inclined to do the same: but in this sort of
low wit, is it an opposition of meanness and dignity
that entertains us ? Is it not rather a mixture of same¬
ness and diversity,—sameness in the sofund5 and diver¬
sity in the signification ?
“ 1° the characters mentioned by Akenside, the
author does not distinguish between what is laughable
and what is contemptible ; so that we have no reason to
think, that he meant to specify the qualities peculiar
to those things which provoke pure laughter; and
whatever account we may make of his definition, which
to those who acquiesce in the foregoing reasonings
may perhaps appear not quite satisfactory, there is in
the poem a passage that deserves particular notice, as
it seems to contain a more exact account of the ludi¬
crous quality than is to be found in any of the theo¬
ries above mentioned. This passage we shall soon have
occasion to quote.”
Our author now goes on to lay down his own theory
concerning the origin of laughter, which he supposes
to arise from the view of things incongruous united in
tu a me assemblage. “ However imperfect (says he)
the above-mentioned theories may appear, there is none
of them destitute of merit; and indeed the most fanci¬
ful philosopher seldom frames a theory without consult¬
ing nature in some of her more obvious appearances.
Laughter very frequently arises from the view of dig¬
nity and meanness united in the same object; some¬
times, no doubt, from the appearance of assumed infe¬
riority, as well as of small faults and unimportant tur¬
pitudes ; and sometimes, perhaps, though rarely, from
that sort of pride which is described in the passage al¬
ready quoted from Hobbes.
“ All these accounts agree in this, that the cause of
laughter is something compounded; or something that
disposes the mind to form a comparison, by passing
from
L A U r 5
l^wghler. one object or idea to another. That this is in fact
w—^iC! case, cannot be proved a priori; but this holds in
ail the examples hitherto given, and will be found to
hold in all that are given hereafter. May it not then
be laid down as a principle, That laughter arises from
the view of two or more objects or ideas disposing the
/ /
mind to form a comparison ? According to the theory
oi Hobbes, this comparison would be between the lu¬
dicrous object and ourselves j according to those wri¬
ters who misapply Aristotle’s definition, it would seem
to be formed between the ludicrous object and things
or persons in general; and if we incline to Hutcheson’s
theory, which is the best of the three, we shall think
tuat there is a comparison of the parts of the ludicrous
object, first with one another, and secondly with ideas
01 things extraneous.
“Further: every appearance that is made up of
parts, or that leads the mind oi the beholder to form a
comparison, is not ludicrous. The body of a man or
woman, of a horse, a fish, or a bird, is not ludicrous,
though it consists of many parts ; and it may be com¬
pared to many other things without raising laughter;
but the picture described in the beginning of the
epistle to the Pisoes, with a man’s head, a horse’s neck,
feathers of different birds, limbs of different beasts, and
the tail of a fish, would have been thought ludicrous
1800 years ago, if we believe Horace, and in certain
circumstances would no doubt be so at this day. It
would seem then, that ‘ the parts of a laughable assem¬
blage must be in some degree unsuitable and heteroge¬
neous.’
“ Moreover : any one of the parts of the Horatian
monster, a human head, a horse’s neck, the tail of a
fish, or the plumage ot a fowl, is not ludicrous, in it¬
self ; nor would those several pieces be ludicrous if at¬
tended to in succession, without any view to their union.
For to see them disposed on the different shelves of a
museum, or even on the same shelf, nobody would
laugh, except, perhaps, the thought of uniting them
were to occur to his fancy, or the passage of Horace to
his memory. It seems to follow, that ‘ the incongruous
parts of a laughable idea or object must either be com¬
bined so as to form an assemblage, or must be supposed
to be so combined.’
“ May we not then conclude, * that laughter arises
from the view of two or more inconsistent, unsuitable,
or incongruous parts or circumstances, considered as
united in one complex object or assemblage, or as ac¬
quiring a sort of mutual relation from the peculiar
manner in which the mind takes notice of them ?’ The
lines from Akenside formerly referred to, seem to point
at the same doctrine :
Where-e’er the pow’r of ridicule displays
Her quaint-ey’d visage, some incongruous form}
‘Some stubborn dissonance of things combin'd,
Strikes on the quick observer.
And to the same purpose, the learned and ingenious
Hr Gerard, in his Essay on Taste: ‘ The sense of ri¬
dicule is gratified by an inconsistence and dissonance
®f circumstances in the same object, or in objects near¬
ly related in the main ; or by a similitude or a relation
unexpected between things on the whole opposite and
unlike.’
“ therefore, instead of saying, with Hutcheson,
Vol. XI. Part II. -j-
] L A U
that the cause or object of laugliter is an ‘ opposition
of dignity and meanness ;’ X would say, in more gene- ^ ^ ■,. '
ral terms, that it is ‘ an opposition of suitableness or
unsuitableness, or of relation and the want of relation,
united, or supposed to be united, in the same assem¬
blage.’ Thus the offices ascribed to the dagger of
Fludibras seem quite heterogeneous; but we discover
a bond of connection among them, when we, are told
that the. same weapon could occasionally perform them
all.. . I bus, even in that mimicry which displays no op¬
position, of dignity and meanness, we perceive the ac¬
tions of one man joined to the features and body of
another ; that is, a mixture of unsuitableness, or want
ot relation, arising from the difference of persons, with
congruity and similitude, arising from the sameness of
the action. And here let it be observed in general,
tnat the. greater number of incongruities that are
blended in the same assemblage, the more ludicrous it
will probably be. If, as in Butler’s resemblance of
the morning to a boiled lobster, there is a mixture of
dignity and meanness, as well as of likeness and dissimi¬
litude, the effect of the contrast will be more power¬
ful, than if only one of these oppositions had occurred
in the ludicrous idea. The sublimity of Hon Quixote’s
mind, contrasted and connected with his miserable
equipage, forms a very comical exhibition; but when
all this is still further connected and contrasted with
Sancho Panina, the ridicule is heightened exceedingly'.
Had the knight of the lions been better mounted and
accoutred, he would not have made us smile so often ;
because, the hero’s mind and circumstances being more
adequately matched, the whole group would have
united fewer inconsistencies, and reconciled fewer
incongruities. Butler has combined a still greater
variety of uncouth and jarring circumstances in Ralpho
and Hudibras : but the picture, though more elabo¬
rate, is less natural. Yet this argues no defect of
judgment. His design was, to make his hero not
only ludicrous, but contemptible; and therefore he
jumbles together, in his equipage and person, a num¬
ber of mean, and disgusting qualities, pedantry, igno¬
rance, nastiness, and extreme deformity. But the
knight ot La Mancha, though a ludicrous, was never
intended for a contemptible, personage. He often
moves our pity, he never forfeits our esteem ; and his
adventures and sentiments are generally interesting;
which could not have been the case if his story had not
been natural, and himself been endowed with great as
well as good qualities. To have given him such a
shape, and such weapons, arguments, boots, and
breeches, as Butler has bestowed on his champion,
would have destroyed that solemnity which is so stri-
king a feature in Hon Quixote; and Hudibras, with
the manners and person of the Spanish hero, would not
have been that paltry figure which the English poet
meant to hold up to the laughter and contempt of his
countrymen. Sir Launcelot Greaves is of Hon Quix¬
ote’s kindred, but a different character. Smolfet’s de¬
sign was not to expose him to ridicule, but rather to
recommend, him to our pity and admiration. He has
therefore given him youth, strength, and beauty, as
well as courage and dignity of mind ; has mounted him
on a generous steed, and arrayed him in an elegant suit
of armour. Yet, that the history might have a comic
air, he has been careful to contrast and connect Sir
4 H LaunceJot
L A U L 578 ] LAV
Laughter Launcelot with a squire and other associates of very
t| dissimilar tempers and circumstances.
Launce- « What has been said of the cause of laughter does
?ton' . not amount to an exact description, far less to a logi¬
cal definition ; there being innumerable combinations
of congruity and inconsistency, of relation and contra¬
riety, of likeness and dissimilitude, which are not lu¬
dicrous at all. If we could ascertain the peculiarities
of these, we should be able to characterise with more
accuracy the general nature of ludicrous combination.
But before we proceed to this, it would be proper to
evince, that of the present theory thus much at least is
true, that though every incongruous combination is not
ludicrous, every ludicrous combination is incongruous.
“ It is only by a detail of facts or examples that
any theory of this sort can be either established or
overthrown. By such a detail, the foregoing theories
have been, or may be, shown to be ill founded, or not
sufficiently comprehensive. A single instance of a
laughable object, which neither unites, nor is supposed
to unite, incongruous ideas, would likewise show the
insufficiency of the present $ nor will I undertake to
prove (for indeed I cannot), that no such instance
can be given. A complete enumeration of ludicrous
objects it would be in vain to attempt: and therefore
we can never hope to ascertain, beyond the possibility
of doubt, that common quality which belongs to all
ludicrous ideas that are, or have been, or may be, ima¬
gined. All that can be done in a case of this kind is
to prove by a variety of examples, that the theory now
proposed is more comprehensive, and better founded,
than any of the foregoing.” This our author after¬
wards shows at full length } but as the variety of ex¬
amples adduced by him would take up too much room
to be inserted here, and as every reader must be capable
of adducing numberless instances of ludicrous cases to
himself, we shall content ourselves with the above ex¬
planation of the diflerent theories of laughter, referring
those who desire further satisfaction to the treatise al¬
ready quoted.
LAVINGTON East, a town of Wilts, four miles
south of the Devizes, and 89 miles from London. It
is called in our histories Stepult Lavington ; but now
Cheaping or Market Lavington, on account of its mar¬
kets, which are on Monday and Wednesday. It is
supposed to have been a market town above 200 years.
Here is a charity school for 36 children, who have
books given them, and the girls are taught to knit and
sew. Population 899 in 1811.
LAVINIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of La-
tium, six miles to the east of Laurentum, according to
an ancient map ; so named from Lavinia, consort of
iEneas, and daughter of King Latinus, and built by
the Trojans. The first town of Roman original in La-
tiura, and the seat of the Dii Penates, (Livy) : situated
near the river Numicus, or Numicius; between which
and the Tiber iEneas landed, according to Virgil.
Holstenius supposes the town to have stood on an emi¬
nence, now called il Monte de Levano.
LAUNCE. See Lance.
LAUNCESTON, a town of Cornwall in England,
seated on the river Tamar, 214 miles from London.
It is also called Dunhivid, from its situation on a
down. King Henry III. made it a free borough. It
was composed before of two other boroughs, viz. Duni-
vid and Newport. It has been the place for choosing Lrubcc.
knights of the shire ever since the reign of King Ed- *ton
ward I. and the assizes town ever since Richard II. r 0
till by a late act of parliament the lord chancellor or .Lavt)i,ier'
lord keeper was empowered to name any other place ' ^
in the county lor it; since which the summer assizes
have been held at Bodmin. It was incorporated by
Queen Mary in I5J5* It governed by a mayor,
recorder, and eight aldermen, has a free school which
was founded by Queen Elizabeth, and is a populous
trading town. In the 32d of Henry VIII. an act was
made for the repair of this and other decayed Cornish
boroughs ; and it endowed this town with the privi¬
leges of a sanctuary, though it does not appear to have
used them. It had a monastery and a noble castle,
which, because of its strength, was called castle terrible,
and was given by King Richard I. to his brother, af¬
terwards King John. Here are two charity schools f@r
48 children of both sexes, where the girls are taught
to knit, sew, and make bonelace. Leland says it was
walled in his time, and one mile in compass. The
lower part of its ancient castle is used for the gaol.
Population 1758 in 1811.
LAUNCH, in the sea language, signifies to put
out: as, Launch the ship, that is, Put her out of dock :
launch aft, or forward, speaking of things that are
stowed in the hold, is Put them more forward ; launch
ho ! is a term used when a yard is hoisted high enough,
and signifies hoist no more. See also Lanch.
LAUNDER, in Mineralogy, a name given in De¬
vonshire, and other places, to a long and shallow trough,
which receives the powdered ore after it comes out of
the box or coffer, which is a sort of mortar, in which it
is powdered with iron pestles. The powdered ore,
which is washed into the launder by the water from the
coffer, is always finest near the grate, and coarser all
the way down.
LAVOISIER, Antoine Laurent, a celebrated
chemical philosopher, was born at Paris on the 26th
of August 1745. His father being a man of opu¬
lent circumstances, spared no cost on the education
of his son, who soon gave a decided preference to
the physical sciences. An extraordinary premium hav¬
ing been offered by the French government in the year
1764, for the best and most economical method of light¬
ing the streets of an extensive city, our author, although
at that time only 21 years of age, gained the gold me¬
dal ; and his excellent memoir was published by the
academy, of which he became a member on the 13th of
May 1768. His attention was alternately occupied
with the pretended conversion of water into earth, the
analysis of the gypsum found in the vicinity of Paris,
the congelation of water, the phenomena of thunder,
and the aurora borealis.
By undertaking journeys with Guettard into every
province of France, he was enabled to procure an im¬
mense variety of materials for a description of the mi-
neralogical kingdom, serving as the foundation of a
great work on the revolutions of the globe, two ad¬
mirable sketches of which are to be seen in the me¬
moirs of the French academy for 1772 and 1787. His
whole time and fortune were dedicated to the cultiva¬
tion of the sciences, nor did he seem more attached to
one than to another, till an interesting event decided
his choice in favour of chemistry. The discovery of
gases
LAV [ 579 J L A U
Lftfoisier. g»sea was just made known to the learned world, by
«— 1 > Black, Priestley, Scheele, Cavendish, and Macbride,
which appeared like a new creation.
About the year 1770, Lavosier was so struck with
the grandeur and importance of the discovery, that he
turned all his attention to this fountain of truths, per¬
ceiving the powerful influence which this new science
would have over every physical research. He was in¬
spired with the true spirit of inductive philosophy, and
all his experiments had a direct reference to general
views. He published his chemical opuscules in the year
1774, containing a history of whatever had been done
before respecting the gases, and concluding with his
own grand and interesting experiments. He demon¬
strated that metals, in calcination, derive their increased
weight from the absorption of air, of which he after¬
wards proved that nitrous acid is composed. His che¬
mical ingenuity was now so well known, that Turgot
employed him in 1776 to inspect the manufacture of
gunpowder, which he made to carry 120 toises instead of
90. In the year 1778 he discovered that all acids con¬
tain the respirable portion of the atmosphere as a con¬
stituent principle, and to this he gave the name of oxygen.
This was the first grand step towards the new chemistry,
which was fully completed by his confirming the disco¬
very of tire composition of water, ascertained in 1783.
His Elements of Chemistry were published in 1789,
which is a beautiful model of scientific composition,
elegant, clear, and logical. His celebrated system was
almost universally adopted in a very few years, so full
was the conviction it carried along with it to every can¬
did, reflecting mind. The last of Lavoisier's philoso¬
phical works was on the perspiration of animals, first
read to the academy on the 4th of May 1791. By a
number of the nicest experiments, he found that a man
in one day perspires 45 ounces j that he consumes 33
ounces of vital air, or oxygen ; that 8 cubic feet of
carbonic acid gas are discharged from his lungs j that
the weight of water discharged from the lungs is 23
ounces, composed of 3 of hydrogen and 20 of oxygen,
which interesting discoveries he directed to the improve¬
ment of medicine.
There are no fewer than 40 memoirs of Lavoisier in
the volumes of the Academy of Sciences from 1772 to
1793, full of the grand phenomena of the science; such
as the analysis of atmospherical air, the formation of
elastic fluids, the properties of the matter of heat, the
composition of acids, the decomposition of water, &c.
&c. To the sciences, arts, and manufactures, he
rendered the most essential services, both in a public
and private capacity. After Buffon and Tillet, he was
treasurer to the academy, into the accounts of which
he introduced both economy and order. He was con¬
sulted by the national convention as to the most eligi¬
ble means of improving the manufacture of assignats,
and of augmenting the difficulties of forging them.
He turned his attention also to political economy, and
between 1778 and 1785, he allowed 240 arpents in
the Vendomois to experimental agriculture, and increas¬
ed the ordinary produce by one half. In 1791, the
constituent assembly invited him to draw up a plan for
rendering more simple the collection of tire taxes, which
produced an excellent report, printed under the title of
Territorial Riches of France.
While the horrors of Robespierre’s usurpation con¬
tinued^ he used to observe to Lalande that he foresaw LavoUie;
he would be deprived of all his property, but that he l|
was extremely willing to work for his subsistence ; and Laureate,
it is supposed that he meant to pursue the profession of —“■■v——*
apothecary, as most congenial to his studies. But the
unrelenting tyrant had already fixed his doom. He suf¬
fered on the scaffold with 28 farmers general on the 8th
of May 1794* for no other crime but because be was
opulent. A paper was presented to the tribunal, drawn
up by Citizen Halle, containing a description of the
works, and a recapitulation of the merits, of Lavoisier,
sufficient to make an impression on the most obdurate
heart; but it was not even read by these men, who
were the blind, stupid, and ferocious instruments of
cruelty and death.
A man so rare and so extraordinary ought to have
enjoyed the respect of the most ignorant, and even the
most wicked. To produce the contrary, it was neces¬
sary that power should fall into the hands of a tyrant
who respected none, and whose blind and sanguinary
ambition sacrificed every thing to the desire of pleasing
the people.
Lavoisier was tall, and possessed a countenance full
of benignity, through which his genius shone conspicu¬
ous. As to his character, it was mild, humane, soci¬
able, obliging ; and he discovered an incredible degree
of activity. He had great influence on account of his
credit, fortune, reputation, and his office in the trea¬
sury ; but all the use he made of it was to do good:
yet this did not prevent jealousy on the part of others.
In 1771 married Marie-Anna-Pierette-Paulze, the
daughter of a farmer-general, whose excellent accom¬
plishments formed the delight of his life, who assisted
him in his labours, and even drew the figures for his
last work. She had the misfortune to behold her fa¬
ther, husband, and intimate friends, assassinated in one
day: she was herself imprisoned, and even menaced
with a similar fate; but the unshaken fortitude of her
mind made her rise superior to the horrors of her con¬
dition. We learn that she has since given her hand to
the celebrated Count Rumford.
LAURA, in church history, a name given to a col¬
lection of little cells at some distance from each other,
in which the hermits in ancient times lived together in
a wilderness.
These hermits did not live in community, hut each
monk provided for himself in his distinct cell. The
most celebrated lauras mentioned in ecclesiastical hi¬
story were in Palestine: as the laura of St Euthy-
mus, at four or five leagues distance from Jerusalem ;
the laura of St Saba, near the brook Cedron ; the lau¬
ra of the Towers, near the river Jordan, &c.
Poet LAUREATE, an officer of the household
of the kings of Britain, whose business consists only in
composing an ode annually on his majesty’s birth day,
and on the new year; sometimes also, though rarely,
on occasion of any remarkable victory.—Of the first
institution of poets laureate, Mr Wffiarton has given
the following account in his history of English poetry.
“ Great confusion has entered into this subject, on
account of the degrees in grammar, which included
rhetoric and versification, anciently taken in our uni¬
versities, particularly at Oxford : on which occasion,
a wreath of laurel was presented to the new graduate,
who was afterwards usually styled Poeta Laureates.
4 D 2 These
L A U [ 580 ] L A U
LaiM-caie. These scholastic laureations, however, seem to have
1 * given rise to the appellation in question. I will give
some instances at Oxford, which at the same time will
explain the nature of the studies for which our acade¬
mical philologists received their rewards. About the
year 1470, one John Watson, a student in grammar,
obtained a concession to he graduated and laureated in
that science ; on condition that he composed one hun¬
dred Latin verses in praise of the university, and a La¬
tin comedy. Another grammarian was distinguished
with the same badge, after having stipulated, that at
the next public act, he would affix the same number
of hexameters on th? great gates of St Mary’s church,
that they might be seen by the whole university. This
was at that period the most convenient mode of publi¬
cation. About the same time, one Maurice Byrchen-
saw, a scholar in rhetoric, supplicated to be admitted
to read lectures, that is, to take a degree in that fa¬
culty *, and his petition was granted, with a provision,
that he should write one hundred verses on the glory
of the university, and not suffer Ovid’s Art of Love,
and the Elegies of Pamphilius, to he studied in audi¬
tory. Not long afterwards, one John Bulman, ano¬
ther rhetorician, having complied with the terms im¬
posed, of explaining the first book of Tully’s Offices,
and likewise the first of bis Epistles, without any pe¬
cuniary emolument, was graduated in rhetoric 5 and a
crown of laurel was publicly placed on his bead by the
hands of the chancellor of the university. About the
year 1489, Skelton was laureated at Oxford, and in
the year 1493 was permitted to wear his laurel at
Cambridge. Kobert Whittington affords the last in¬
stance of a rhetorical degree at Oxford. He was a se¬
cular priest, and eminent for his various treatises in
grammar, and for his facility in Latin poetry: having
exercised his art many years, and submitting to the
customary demand of a hundred verses, he was honour¬
ed with the laurel in the year 1512.
“ With regard to the poet laureate of the kings of
England, he is undoubtedly the same that is styled the
king's versifier, and to whom 100 shillings were paid as
his annual stipend in the year 1251. But when or
how that title commenced, and whether this officer
was ever solemnly crowned with laurel at his first inves¬
titure, I will not pretend to determine, after the
searches of the learned Selden on this question have
proved unsuccessful. It seems most probable, that tbs
barbarous and inglorious name of versifier gradually
gave way to an appellation of more elegance and dig¬
nity : or rather that at length those only were in
general invited to this appointment, who had received
academical sanction, and had merited a crown of lau¬
rel in the universities for their abilities in Latin com¬
position, particularly Latin versification. Thus the
king's laureate was nothing more than ‘ a graduated
rhetorician employed in the service of the king.’ That
he originally wrote in Latin, appears from the ancient
title versficator: and may he moreover collected from
the two Latin poems, which Baston and Gulielmus,,
who appear to have respectively acted in the capacity
of royal poets to Bichard I. and Edward II. officially
composed on Bichard’s, crusade,,and Edward’s siege of
Striveling castle.
“ Andrew Bernard, successively poet laureate of
^enry ¥11, and VIIL affords a still stronger proof
that this officer was a Latin scholar. He was a na- y
tive of Thoulouse, and an Augustine monk. He was
not only the king’s poet laureate, as it is supposed, I-aurentius,
but his historiographer, and preceptor in grammar to s'"’1 y"" '•<
Prince Arthur. He obtained many ecclesiastical pre¬
ferments in England. All the pieces now to be found,
which he wrote in the character of poet laureate, are
in Latin. These are, An Address to Henry VIII. for
the most auspicious beginning of the 10th year of his
reign, with an Epithalamium on the marriage of Francis
the dauphin of France with the king’s daughter $” A
New Year’s Gift for the year 1515 ; and, Verses wish¬
ing prosperity to his majesty’s 13th year. He has left
some Latin hymns j and many of his Latin prose pieces,
which he wrote in the quality of historiographer to both
monarchs, are remaining.
“ I am of opinion, that it was not customary for
the royal laureate to write in English, till the reforma¬
tion of religion had begun to diminish the veneration
for the Latin language ; or, rather, till the love of
novelty, and a better sense of tilings, had banished tha
narrow pedantries of monastic erudition, and taught us
to cultivate our native tongue.”
LAUBEL. See Prunus and Laurus, Botany
Index.
Laurels, pieces of gold coined in the year 1619^
witn the king’s head laureated, which gave them the
name of laurels; the 20s. pieces whereof were marked
with XX. the 1 os. X. and the ys. pieces with V.
Jj AUBE NS Castra. See Laurentum.
LAUBENTALIA, or Larentalia, called also
Larentinalia, Laurentales, and Larentales, feasts cele¬
brated among the Bomans on the loth of the kalends
of January, or 23d ol December, in memory of Acca
Laurectia, wife ot the shepherd Faustulus, and nurse of
Bomulus and Bemus.
Acca Laurentia, from whom the solemnity took its
name, is represented as no less remarkable for the beau,
ty of her person, than her lasciviousness j on accounl
of which she was nick-named by her neighbours lupa,
“ she wolf j” which is said to have given rise to the
tradition of Bomulus and Bemus being suckled by a
wolf. She afterwards married a very rich man, who
brought her great wealth, which, at her death, she left
to the Boman people ; in consideration whereof they
performed to her these honours ; though others repre¬
sent the feast as held in honour of Jupiter Latiaris.
See Larentinaeia and Lares.
LAUBEN1IUS, one of the first printers, and,
according to some, the inventor of the art, was born
at Haetlem about the year 1370, and executed several
departments of magistracy of that city. Those writ¬
ers are mistaken who assign to him the surname of
Coster, or assert that the office of aedituus was heredi¬
tary in his family. In a diploma of Albert of Bava¬
ria in 1380, in which, among other citizens of Haer-
lem, our Laurentius’s /rtMe;* is mentioned by the name
of Joannes Laurentiifilius, Beroldus is called adituus,
who was surely of another family 3 and in 1396 and
1398 Henrieus a Lunen enjoyed that office 3 after
whose resignation, Count Albert conferring on the ci¬
tizens the privilege of electing their aedituus, they,
probably soon after, fixed on Laurentius : who was
afterwards called Coster from his office, and not from
bis family name, as be was descended from an illegiti-
matft
L A U [ 5S1 ] L A U
LaHreHtius mate brand) of the Gens Brederotlia. His office was
Laaren- very lucrative j and that he was a man of great proper-
11 ty, the elegance of his house may testify. That he was
Vj'—^ ' ' the inventor of printing, is asserted in the narrative of
Junius. His first work was an Horarium, containing
the Tetters of the Alphabet, the Lord’s Prayer, the
Apostles Creed, and two or three short Prayers ; the
next was the Speculum Salutis, in which he introduced
pictures on xvooden blocks; then Donatus, the larger
siz,e ; and afterwards the same work in a less size. All
these were printed on separate moveable wooden types
fastened together by threads. If it be thought im¬
probable, that so ingenious a man should have proceed¬
ed no farther than the invention of wooden types; it
may be answered, that he printed for profit, not for
fame j and wooden types were not only at that time
made sooner and cheaper than metal could be, but
were sufficiently durable for the small impressions of
each book he must necessarily have printed.—His press
was nearly shaped like the common wine-presses.—He
printed some copies of all his books both on paper and
vellum.—It has been very erroneously supposed, that
he quitted the profession, and died broken hearted :
but it is certain, that he did not live to see the art
brought to perfection.—He died in 1440, aged 70 j
and was succeeded either by his son-in-law, Thomas
Peter, who married his only daughter Lucia j or by
their immediate descendants, Peter, Andrew and Tho¬
mas ; who were old enough (even if their father was
dead, as it is likely he was) to conduct the business,
the eldest being at least 22 or 23. What books they
printed it is not easy to determine $ they having, after
the example of Laurentius (more anxious for profit
than for fame), neither added to their books their
names, the place where they were printed, nor the date
of the year. Their first essays were new editions of Do-
natus and the Speculum. They afterwards reprinted
the latter, with a Latin translation, in which they used
their grandfather’s W'ooden pictures : and printed the
book partly on wooden blocks, partly on wooden separate
types, according to Mr Meerman, who has given an
exact engraving of each sort, taken from different parts
of the same book, which was published between the
years 1442 and 1450. Nor did they stop here ; they
continued to print several editions of the Speculum,
both in Latin and in Dutch 5 and many other works,
particularly “ Historia Alexandri Magni j” “ Flavii
Vedatii [for Vegetii~] Renati Epitome de Re Militari
and “ Opera varia i Thomas Kempis.” Of each of
these Mr Meerman has given an engraved specimen.
They were all printed with separate wooden types; and,
by their great neatness, are a proof that the descendants
of Laurentius were industrious in improving his inven¬
tion. Kempis was printed at Haerlem in 1472, and
was the last known work of Laurentius’s descendants,
who soon after disposed of all their materials, and pro¬
bably quitted the employment; as the use 0$fusil types
was about that time universally diffused through Hol¬
land by the settling of Martens at Alost, where he pur¬
sued the art with reputation for upwards of 60 years.
See {History of) Printing.
LAURENTIUM, or Laurens Castra, in An¬
cient Geography, a town of Latium, supposed to be
the royal reiidence of those most ancient kings Latinus,
Picas, and Faunus, (Virgil.) Hither the emperor
Commodus retired during a pestilence. Its name was
from an adjoining grove of bay trees, midway between
Ostia and Antium. Supposed to have stood in the
place now called San Lorenzo ; which seems to be con¬
firmed from the Via Laurentina leading to Rome.
LAURO, Philippo, a celebrated painter, was born
at Rome in 1623. He learned the first rudiments of
the art from his father Balthasar, who was himself a
good painter. He afterwards studied under Angelo
Carosello, his brother-in-law j and proved so great a
proficient, that in a short time he far surpassed his tutor
in design, colouring, and elegance of taste. He applied
himself to painting historical subjects in a small size,
enriching the back grounds with lively landscapes, that
afforded the eye and the judgment equal entertain¬
ment j but though his small paintings are best approved,
he finished several grand compositions for altar pieces
that were highly esteemed. He died in 1694 j and his
works are eagerly bought up at high prices all over
Europe.
Lauro, or Lauron, in Ancient Geography, a town of
the Hither Spain, where Cn. Pompeius, son of Pompey
the Great, was defeated and slain. Now Lorigne, five
leagues to the north of Liria in Valencia.
LAURUS, the Bay Tree, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the enneandria class; and in the natural
method ranking under the nth order, Holoracece. See
Botany Index.
LAUS, or Laos, in Ancient Geography, a river of
Italy, separating Lucania from the Bruttii, and run¬
ning from east to west into the Tuscan sea; with a cog-
nominal bay, and a town, the last of Lucania, a lit¬
tle above the sea; a colony from Sybaris, according
to Strabo, Pliny, and Stephanus. Both town and
river are now called Laino, in the Calabria Citra.;
and the bay called Golfo della Scaleu, or di Policastro,
two adjoining towns, is a part of the Tuscan sea, ex¬
tending between the promontory Palinurus and the
mouth of the Laos.
Laus Pompeia, in Ancient Geography, a town of In-
subria, situated to the east of Milan, between the rivers
Addua and Lamber. A town built by the Boii after
their passing the Alps: its ancient Gaulic name is un¬
known. Strabo Pompeius, father of Pompey, leading
thither a colony, gave it a new name, and conferred the
Jus Latii on the ancient inhabitants who remained
there. rIhe modern Lodi is built from its ruins, at
some distance off. E. Long. 10. 15. N. Lat. 45. 22.
LAUSANNE, a large, ancient, and handsome
town of Switzerland, capital of the country of Vaud,
and in the canton of Berne, with a famous college and
bishop’s see. The townhouse and the other public build¬
ings are magnificent. It is seated between three hills
near the lake of Geneva, in E. Long. 6. 35. N. Lat.
46. 30. and contains about 8000 inhabitants. The
town stands on an ascent, so steep that in some places
the horses cannot draw up a carriage without great
difficulty, and foot passengers ascend to the upper
parts of the town by steps. Here is an academy for
the students of the country ; the professors are ap¬
pointed by government; and there is a pretty good pub¬
lic library. The church, formerly the cathedral, is a
magnificent Gothic building, standing on the most ele¬
vated part of the town. Among other sepulchres it
contains that of A madams VIII, duke of Savoy, styled
the.
Lauren-
tinin
11
Lausanne,
v——Y-w
L A U
Laasanne. tlie Solomon of Ills age j best known by the title of
" Antipope Felix V. who exhibited the singular example
of a man twice abdicating the sovereignty, and retiring
from regal pomp to a private station.
The same year that the country named Pays de Vaud
was conquered from the house of Savoy, the inhabi¬
tants of Lausanne put themselves under the protection
of the canton of Berne, their bishop having retired
from the town. At that time its privileges were con¬
firmed and augmented, and it is still governed by its
own magistrates. The citizens of the principal street
have the privilege of pronouncing sentence in criminal
cases. If the criminal is found, and acknowledges
himself guilty, the burghers of the street assemble $ one
of the magistrates pleads in his behalf, and another
against him ; the court of justice give their opinion
upon the point ol law ; and the majority of citizens
possessing houses in the principal street, determine the
penalty. In capital cases there is no pardon, accord-
[ 582 ]
LAV
mg to the letter of the law, unless it can be obtained r .
within 24 hours from the sovereign council of Berne, i^vorT
though it generally happens that eight days are allow- —y w
ed for this purpose. When the Criminal is seized
within the jurisdiction of the town, the fact is tried,
and the burghers pronounce sentence, from which there
is no appeal ; but if he happens to be taken in the di¬
strict of the bailiff, there is an appeal to the government
of Berne.
LAV OUT, Terra di, a province of Italy, in the
kingdom of Naples, bounded on the west by the Cam-
pagna di Roma, and by Farther Abruzzo ; on the
north by the Hither Abruzzo, and by the county of
Molissa j on the east by Principata Ultra j and on
the south by the Principata Citra. It is about 63
miles in length and 35 in breadth ; and is fertile in
corn, excellent vines, and other fruits. There are also
several mineral springs and mines of sulphur. Naples
is the capital town.
L A W.
PART I. OF THE NATURE OF LAWS IN GENERAL.
X
Genera)011 ’ T ' .'n most general and comprehensive sense,
anv| ’ _ signifies a rule of action $ and is applied indiscri¬
minately to all kinds of action, whether animate or in¬
animate, rational or irrational. Thus we say, the laws
of motion, of gravitation, of optics, of mechanics, as
well as the laws of nature and of nations. And it is
that rule of action which is prescribed by some supe¬
rior, and which the inferior is bound to obey.
Thus when the Supreme Being formed the universe,
and created matter out of nothing, he impressed cer¬
tain principles upon that matter, from which it can
never depart, and without which it would cease to be.
When he put that matter into motion, he established
certain laws of motion, to which all moveable bodies
must conform. And, to descend from the greatest
operations to the smallest, when a workman, forms a
clock, or other piece of mechanism, he establishes at
his own pleasure certain arbitrary laws for its direc¬
tion j as, that the hand shall describe a given space in
a given time j to which law as long as the work con¬
forms, so long it continues in perfection, and answers
the end of its formation.
If we farther advance, from mere inactive matter
to vegetable and animal life, we shall find them still
governed by laws; more numerous indeed, but equally
fixed and invariable. The whole progress of plants,
from the seed to the root, and from thence to the seed
again j the method of animal nutrition, digestion, se¬
cretion, and all other branches of vital economy $—
are not left to chance, or the will of the creature it¬
self, but are performed in a wondrous involuntary man¬
ner, and guided by unerring rules laid down by the
great Creator.
This then is the general signification of law, a rule
of action dictated by some superior being: and, in
those creatures that have neither the power to think
3
nor to will, such laws must be invariably obeyed, so
long as the creature itself subsists ; for its existence de¬
pends on that obedience. But laws, in their more
confined sense, and in which it is our present business
to consider them, denote the rules, not of action in ge¬
neral, but of human action or conduct: that is, the., , *
precepts by which man, the noblest of all sublunary be_ 1 artica,ar’
ings, a creature endowed with both reason and* free
will, is commanded to make use of those faculties in
the general regulation ofhis behaviour.
Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be
subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a
dependent being. A being, independent of any other,
has no rule to pursue but such as he prescribes to him¬
self j but a state of dependance will inevitably oblige
the inferior to take the will of him on whom he de¬
pends as the rule of his conduct; not indeed in every
particular, but in all those points wherein his depend¬
ance consists. This principle therefore has more or
less extent and effect, in proportion as the superiority
of the one and the dependance of the other is greater.
or less, absolute or limited. And consequently, as man
depends absolutely upon his Maker for every thing, it
is necessary that he should in all points conform to his
Maker’s will.
This will of his Maker is called the law of nature. Law of
For as God, when he created matter, and endued itnatiM#,
with a principle of mobility, established certain rules
for the perpetual direction of that motion ; so, when
he created man, and endued him with free will to con¬
duct himself in all parts of life, he laid down certain
immutable laws of human nature, whereby that free
will is in some degree regulated and restrained, and
gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the pur¬
port of those laws.
Considering the Creator only as a being of infinite
power,
Fart I. L ,
or Laws power, he was able unquestionably to have prescribed
in seaeral whatever laws he pleased to his creature man, how-
'l,L' ever un just or severe. But as he is also a Being of in¬
finite wisdom, he has laid down only such laws as were
founded in those relations of justice, that existed in the
nature of things antecedent to any positive precept.
These are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil,
to which the Creator himself in all his dispensations con-
•forms; and which he has enabled human reason to dis¬
cover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of
human actions. Such, among others, are these prin¬
ciples : That we should live honestly, should hurt no¬
body, and should render to every one his due; to which
three general precepts Justinian has reduced the whole
doctrine of law.
But if the discovery of these first principles of the
law of nature depended only upon the due exertion of
right reason, and could not otherwise be obtained than
by a chain of metaphysical disquisitions, mankind would
have wanted some inducement to have quickened their
inquiries, and the greater part of the world would have
rested content in mental indolence, and ignorance its
inseparable companion. As therefore the Creator is a
being, not only of infinite power and wisdom, but al¬
so of infinite goodness, he has been pleased so to con¬
trive the constitution and frame of humanity, that we
should want no other prompter to inquire after and
pursue the rule of right, but only our own self-love,
that universal principle of action. For he has so inti¬
mately connected, so inseparably interwoven, the laws
of eternal justice with the happiness of each individual,
that the latter cannot be attained but by observing the
former ; and if the former be punctually observed, it
cannot but induce the latter. In consequence of which
mutual connexion of justice and human felicity, he has
not perplexed the law of nature with a multitude of
abstracted rules and precepts, referring merely to the
fitness or unfitness of things, as some have vainly sur¬
mised ; but has graciously reduced the rule of obedience
to this one paternal precept, “ that man should pur¬
sue his own happiness.” This is the foundation of
* Sec Mo- what we call etfu'cs, or natural law *. For the several
'•litfj' articles into which it is branched in our systems a-
mount to no more than demonstrating, that this or that
action tends to man’s real happiness, and therefore
very justly concluding, that the performance of it is a
part of the law of nature; or, on the other hand,
that this or that action is destructive of man’s real
happiness, and therefore that the law of nature forbids
it.
This law of nature, being coeval with mankind, and
dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obli¬
gation to any other. It is binding over all the globe,
in all countries, and at all times : no human laws are
of any validity, if contrary to this, and such of them
as are valid derive all their force, and all their autho¬
rity, mediately or immediately, from this original.
But in order to apply this to the particular exigen¬
cies of each individual, it is still necessary to have re¬
course to reason: whose office it is to discover, as was
before observed, what the law of nature directs in every
circumstance of life, by considering, what method
will tend the most effectually to our own substantial
happiness. And if our reason were always, as in our
first ancestor before his transgression, clear and perfect,
\W. 583
unruffled by passions, unclouded by prejudice, unim- Of Laws
paired by disease or intemperance, the task would be’n general,
pleasant and easy ; we should need no other guide hut ^
this. But every man now finds the contrary in his own
experience ; that his reason is corrupt, and his under¬
standing full of ignorance and error.
This has given manifold occasion for the benign in¬
terposition of Divine Providence ; which, in compassion
to the frailty, the imperfection, and the blindness of
human reason, hath been pleased, at sundry times and
in divers manners, to discover and enforce its laws by 4
an immediate and direct revelation. The doctrines
thus delivered, we call the revealed or divine laiv, and ’
they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures. These
precepts, when revealed, are found upon comparison
to be really a part of the original law of nature, as
they tend in all their consequences to man’s felicity.
But we are not from thence to conclude, that the know¬
ledge of these truths was attainable by reason in its
present corrupted state; since we find, that, until they
were revealed, they were hid from the wisdom of ages.
As then the moral precepts of this law are indeed of
the same original with those of the law of nature, so
their intrinsic obligation is of equal strength and per¬
petuity. Yet undoubtedly the revealed law is of infi¬
nitely more authenticity than that moral system which
is framed by ethical writers, and denominated the na¬
tural law: because one is the law of nature, expressly
declared so to be by God himself, the other is only
what, by the assistance of human reason, we imagine
to be that law. If we could be as certain of the lat¬
ter as we are of the former, both would have an equal
authority : but till then they can never be put in any
competition together.
Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and
the law of revelation, depend all human laws ; that is
to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict
these. There are, it is true, a great number of indif¬
ferent points, in which both the divine law and the
natural leave a man at his own liberty; but which are
found necessary, for the benefit of society, to be restrain¬
ed within certain limits. And herein it is that human
laws have their greatest force and efficacy : for, with
regard to such points as are not indifferent, human laws
are only declaratory of, and act in subordination to,
the former. To instance in the case of murder: this
is expressly forbidden by the divine, and demonstrably
by the natural, law ; and from these prohibitions arises
the true unlawfulness of this crime. Those human laws
that annex a punishment to it, do not at all increase its
moral guilt, or superadd any fresh obligation in Jbro
conscientiee to abstain from its perpetration. Nay, if
any human law should allow or enjoin us to commit it,
we are bound to transgress that human law, or else we
must offend both the natural and the divine. But with
regard to matters that are in themselves indifferent, and
are not commanded or forbidden by those superior laws;
such, for instance, as exporting of wool into foreign
countries; here the inferior legislature has scope and
opportunity to interpose, and to make that action un¬
lawful which before was not so.
If man were to live in a state of nature, unconnected
with other individuals, there would be no occasion for
any other laws than the law of nature and the law
of God. Neither could any other law possibly exist:
for
5
JLaw of
nations.
Municipal
or civil
law.
584 L A
Of Laws for a law always supposes some superior wlto is to make
in general, itj and in a state of nature we are all equal, without
any other superior but him who is the Author of our
being. But man was formed for society ; and, as is
demonstrated by the writers on this subject, is neither
capable of living alone, nor indeed has the courage to
do it. However, as it is impossible for the whole race
of mankind to he united in one great society, they must
necessarily divide into many; and form separate states,
commonwealths, and nations, entirely independent of
each other, and yet liable to a mutual intercourse.
Hence arises a third kind of law to regulate this mu¬
tual intercourse, called the law of nations : which, as
none of these states will acknowledge a superiority in
the other, cannot be dictated by either ; but depends
entirely upon the rules of natural law, or upon mutual
compacts, treaties, leagues, and agreements, between
these several communities : in the construction also of
which compacts we have no other rule to resort to but
the law of nature*; being the only one to which both
communities are equally subject : and therefore the
civil law very justly observes, that quod naturalis ratio
inter omnes homines constitvit, vocatur jus gentium.
To the consideration, then, of the law of nature,
the revealed law, and the law of nations, succeeds
that of the municipal or civil law; that is, the rule by
which particular districts, communities, or nations, are
governed ; being thus defined by Justinian, 11 jus ci¬
vile est quod quisque sibipopulus constituit ” We call it
municipal law, in compliance with common speech ; for
though, strictly, that expression denotes the particular
customs of one single municipium or free town, yet it
may with sufficient propriety be applied to any one
state or nation which is governed by the same laws
and customs.
Municipal law, thus understood, is properly defined
to be “ a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the su¬
preme power in a state, commanding what is right, and
prohibiting what is wrong.” Let us endeavour to ex¬
plain its several properties, as they arise out of this
definition.
And, first, it is a rule: not a transient sudden or¬
der from a superior to or concerning a particular per¬
son ; but something permanent, uniform, and universal.
Therefore a particular act of the legislature to confis¬
cate the goods ofTitius, or to attaint him of high trea¬
son. does not enter into the idea of a municipal law :
for the operation of this act is spent upon Titius only,
and has no relation to the community in general; it is
rather a sentence than a law. But an act to declare
that the crime of which Titius is accused shall be
deemed high treason; this has permanency, uniformity,
and universality, and therefore is properly a rule. It
is also called a rule, to distinguish it from advice or
counsel, which we are at liberty to follow er not as we
see proper, and to judge upon the reasonableness or
unreasonableness of the thing advised : whereas our
obedience to the law depends not upon our approba¬
tion, but upon the Maker's will. Counsel is only
matter of persuasion, law is matter of injunction ; coun¬
sel acts only upon the willing, law upon the unwilling
also.
It is also called a rule, to distinguish it from a com¬
pact or agreement i for a compact is a promise proceed¬
ing from us, law is a command directed t® us. The
^ • Fart I.
language of a compact is, « I will, or will not, do this
that of a law is, “Thou shalt, or shall not, do it.” It;
Of Laws
in geuwal.
7
Ddiuecl.
8
lu Gist
property,
is true there is an obligation which a compact carries
with it, equal in point of conscience to that of a law ;
but then the original of the obligation is different. In
compacts, we ourselves determine and promise what
shall be done, before we are obliged to do it; in laws,,
we are obliged to act without ourselves determining or
promising any thing at all. Upon these accounts law
is defined to be “ a rule.”
Municipal law is also “ a rule of civil conduct.”
his distinguishes municipal law from the natural or property,
revealed : the former of which is the rule of moral con¬
duct; and the latter not only the rule of moral conduct,
but also of faith. These regard man as a creature ;
and point out his duty to God, to himself, and to his
neighbour, considered in the light of an individual.
But municipal or civil law regards him also as a citizen,
and bound to other duties towards his neighbour, than
those of mere nature and religion : duties, which he
has engaged in by enjoying the benefits of the com¬
mon union ; and which amount to no more, than that
he do contribute, on his part, to the subsistence and
peace of the society.
It is likewise “ a rule prescribed.” Because a bare^hk-d
resolution, confined in the breast of the legislator, with-prpperty,
out manifesting itself by some external sign, can never
be properly a law. It is requisite that this resolution
be notified to the people who are to obey it. But the
manner in which this notification is to be made, is mat¬
ter of very great indifierence. It may be notified by
universal tradition and long practice, which supposes
a previous publication, and is the case of the common
law of England and of Scotland. It may be notified
viva voce, by officers appointed for that purpose; as is
done with regard to proclamations, and such acts of
parliament as are appointed to be publicly read in
churches and other assemblies. It may, lastly, be no¬
tified by writing, printing, or the like; which is the
general course taken with all our acts of parliament.
Yet, whatever way is made use of, it is incumbent on
the promulgators to do it in the most public and per¬
spicuous manner; not like Caligula, who (according
to Dio Cassius) wrote his laws in a very small charac¬
ter, and hung them up upon high pillars, the more
effectually to ensnare the people. There is still a more
unreasonable method than this, which is called making
of laws ex post facto: when after an action (indifferent
in itself) is committed, the legislator then for the first
time declares it to have been a crime, and inflicts a
punishment upon the person who has committed it.
Hence it is impossible that the party could foresee, that
an action, innocent when it was done, should be after¬
wards converted to guilt by a subsequent law : he had
therefore no cause to abstain from it; and all punish¬
ment for not abstaining must of consequence be cruel
and unjust. All laws should be therefore made to com¬
mence infuturo, and be notified before their commence¬
ment; which is implied in the term “ prescribed.” But
when this rule is in the usual manner notified or pre¬
scribed, it is then the subject’s business to be thorough¬
ly acquainted therewith ; for if ignorance of what he
might know, were admitted as a legitimate excuse, the
laws would be of no effect, but might always be eluded
with impunity.
But
Bart 1.
L
n
Civil so¬
ciety.
Of Laws But furtlier : Municipal law is “ a rule of civil con-
in general, duct prescribed by the supreme power in a state.'>'1 For
* legislature, as was before observed, is the greatest act
Fonrth pro-0^ suPer*or‘ty can l16 exercised by one being over
petty. another. Wherefoi’e it is requisite to the very essence
of a law, that it be made by the supreme power. So¬
vereignty and legislature are indeed convertible terms j
one cannot subsist without the other.
This will naturally lead us into a short inquiry con¬
cerning the nature of society and civil government;
and the natural inherent right that belongs to the sove¬
reignty of a state, wherever that sovereignty be lodged,
of making and enforcing laws.
The only true and natural foundations of society are
the wants and fears of individuals. Not that we can
believe, with some theoretical writers, that there ever
was a time when there was no such thing as society;
and that, from the impulse of reason, and through a
sense of their wants and weaknesoes, individuals met
together in a large plain, entered into an original con¬
tract, and chose the tallest man present to be their go¬
vernor. This notion, of an actually existing uncon¬
nected state of nature, is too wild to be seriously ad¬
mitted : and besides, it is plainly contradictory to the
revealed accounts of the primitive origin of mankind,
and their preservation 2000 years afterwards; both
which were effected by the means of single families.
These formed the first society among themselves,
which every day extended its limits; and when it
grew too large to subsist with convenience in that pas¬
toral state wherein the patriarchs appear to have lived,
it necessarily subdivided itself by various migrations in¬
to more. Afterwards, as agriculture increased, which
employs and can maintain a much greater number of
hands, migrations became less frequent j and various
tribes, which had formerly separated, reunited again j
sometimes by compulsion and conquest, sometimes by
accident, and sometimes perhaps by compact. But
though society had not its formal beginning from any
convention of individuals, actuated by their wants and
their fears; yet it is the sense of their weakness and
imperfection that keeps mankind together, that de¬
monstrates the necessity of this union, and that there¬
fore is the solid and natural foundation, as well as the
cement of society. And this is what we mean by the
original contract of society j which, though perhaps
in no instance it has ever been formally expressed at
the first institution of a state, yet in nature and reason
must always be understood and implied in the very act
of associating together j namely, that the whole should
protect all its parts, and that every part should pay
obedience to the will of the whole 5 or, in Other
words, that the community should guard the rights of
each individual member, and that (in return for this
protection) each individual should submit to the laws
of the community j without which submission of all, it
was impossible that protection could be certainly ex¬
tended to any.
For when society is once formed, government results
of course, as necessary to preserve and to keep that so¬
ciety in order. Unless some superior be constituted,
whose commands and decisions all the members are
bound to obey, they would still remain as in a state of
nature, without any judge upon earth to define their
several rights, and redress their several wrongs. But
VOL. XI, Part II. t
*3
IjTerit-
ent.
A W. 585
as all the members of society are naturally equal, it Dr Laws
may be asked, In whose hands are the reins of govern- in general,
ment to be intrusted ? To this the general answer is ' I,i,r_"v
easy j but the application of it to particular cases has
occasioned one half of those mischiefs which are apt
to proceed from misguided political zeal. In general,
all mankind will agree, that government should be re¬
posed in such persons, in whom those qualities are most
likely to be found, the perfection of which is among
the attributes of him who is emphatically styled the
Supreme Being ; the three grand requisites, namely, of
wisdom, of goodness, and of power: wisdom, to discern
the real interest of the community ; goodness, to en¬
deavour always to pursue that real interest} and
strength or power to carry this knowledge and inten¬
tion into action. These are the natural foundations
of sovereignty, and these are the requisites that ought
to be found in every well constituted frame of govern¬
ment.
How the several forms of government we now see
in the world at first actually began, is matter of great
uncertainty, and has occasioned infinite disputes. It
is not our business or intention to enter into any of
them. However they began, or by what right soever
they subsist, there is and must be in all of them a su¬
preme, irresistible, absolute, uncontrolled authority, in
which the jura summa imperii, or the rights of sove¬
reignty, reside. And this authority is placed in those
hands, wherein (according to the opinion of the found¬
ers of such respective states, either expressly given or
collected from their tacit approbation) the qualities re¬
quisite for supremacy, wisdom, goodness, and power,
are the most likely to be found. 14
The political writers of antiquity will not allow Different
more than three regular forms of government: the first, form*
when the sovereign power is lodged in an aggregate t^ere°r
assembly consisting of all the members of a community,
which is called a democracy; the second, when it is
lodged in a council composed of select members, and
then it is styled an aristocracy; the last, when it is in¬
trusted in the hands of a single person, and then it
takes the name of a motiarchy. All other species of
government, they say, are either corruptions of, or re¬
ducible to, these three.
By the sovereign power, as was before observed, is
meant the making of laws $ for wherever that power
resides, all others must conform to and be directed by
it, whatever appearance the outward form and admi¬
nistration of the government may put on. For it is at
any time in the option of the legislature to alter that
form and administration by a new edict or rule, and to
put the execution of the laws into whatever hands it
pleases : and all the other powers of the state must obey
the legislative power in the execution of their several
functions, or else the constitution is at an end.
In a democracy, where the right of making laws
resides in the people at large, public virtue or goodness
of intention is more likely to be found than either of
the other qualities of government. Popular assemblies
are frequently foolish in their contrivance, and weak
in their execution; but generally mean to do the thing
that is right and just, and have always a degree of pa¬
triotism or public spirit. In aristocracies there is more
wisdom to be found than in the other forms of go¬
vernment $ being composed, or intended to be com-
4 £ posed,
if6 L A
Ot Laws posed, of tire most experienced citizens: but there is
in aeial.ess honesty than in a republic, and less strength than
n a monarchy. A monarchy is indeed the most power¬
ful of any, all the sinews of government being knit and
united together in the hand of the prince j but then
there is imminent danger of his employing that strength
to improvident or oppressive purposes.
Thus these three species of government have all of
them their several perfections and imperfections. De¬
mocracies are usually the best calculated to direct the
end of a law ; aristocracies, to invent the means by
which that end shall be obtained j and monarchies, to
carry those means into execution. And the ancients,
as was observed, had in general no idea of any other
permanent form of government but these three : for
though Cicero declares himself of opinion, “ esse optime
constitatam rempublicam, qine ex tribus generibus Mis,
rcgali, optima, et populari, sitmodice corifusa;'n yet Ta¬
citus treats this notion of a mixed government, formed
out of them all, and partaking of the advantages of
each, as a visionary whim, and one that, if effected,
15 could never be lasting or secure.
British con* But, happily for us of this island, the British con-
stitution. gtltytJon l]as ]ong remained, and we trust will long con¬
tinue, a standing exception to the truth of this obser¬
vation. For, as with us the executive power of the
laws is lodged in a single person, they have all the ad¬
vantages of strength and despatch that are to be found
in the most absolute monarchy : and, as the legislature
of the kingdom is intrusted to three distinct powers,
entirely independent of each other ; first, the king ; se¬
condly, the lords spiritual and temporal, which is an
aristocratical assembly of persons selected for their pie¬
ty, their birth, their wisdom, their valour, or their pro¬
perty $ and, thirdly, the house of commons, freely
chosen by the people from among themselves, which
makes it a kind of democracy j as this aggregate body,
actuated by different springs and attentive to different
interests, composes the British parliament, and has the
supreme disposal of every tiling, no innovation can
be attempted by either of the three branches, but will
lie withstood by one of the other two, each branch
being armed with a negative power sufficient to repel
any new measure which it shall think inexpedient or
dangerous.
Here, then, is lodged the sovereignty of the British
constitution ; and lodged as beneficially as is possible
for society. For in no other shape could we be so cer¬
tain of finding the three great qualities of government
so well and so happily united. If the supreme power
were lodged in any one of the three branches sepa¬
rately, we must be exposed to the inconveniences of
either absolute monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy ;
and so want two of the three principal ingredients of
good polity, either virtue, wisdom, or power. If it
were lodged in any two of the branches j for instance,
in the king and house of lords ; our laws might be pro¬
vidently made and well executed, but they might not
always have the good of the people in view: if lodged
in the king and commons, we should want that circum¬
spection and mediatory caution, which the wisdom of
the peers is to afford : if the supreme rights of legisla¬
ture were lodged in the two houses only, and the king
had no negative upon their proceedings, they might be
tempted to encroach upon the royal prerogative, or per-
W, Part
haps to abolish the kingly office, and thereby weaken OfLaws
(if not totally destroy) the strength of the executive in general,
power. But the constitutional government of this
island is so admirably tempered and confounded, that
nothing can endanger or hurt it, but destroying the
equilibrium of power between one branch of the legis¬
lature and the rest. For if ever it should happen, that
the independence of any one of the three should he lost,
or that it should become subservient to the views of
either of the other two, there would soon be an end of
our constitution. The legislature would be changed
from that which was originally set up by the general
consent and fundamental act of the society, and such a
change, however effected, is, according to Mr Locke
(who perhaps carries his theory too far), at once an
entire dissolution of the hands of government j and the
people are thereby reduced to a state of anarchy, with
liberty to constitute to themselves a new legislative
power.
Having thus cursorily considered the three usual jg
species of government, and our own singular constitu¬
tion selected and compounded from them all, we pro¬
ceed to observe, that, as the power of making laws con¬
stitutes the supreme authority, so wherever the supreme
authority in any state resides, it is the right of that
authority to make laws ; that is, in the words of our
definition, to prescribe the rule of civil action. And this
may he discovered from the very end and institution of
civil states. For a state is a collective body, composed
of a multitude of individuals, united for their safety
and convenience, and intending to act together as one
man. If it is therefore to act as one man, it ought
to act by one uniform will. But, inasmuch as poli¬
tical communities are made up of many natural per¬
sons, each of whom has his particular will and inclina¬
tion, these several wills cannot by any natural union he
joined together, or tempered and disposed into a lasting
harmony, so as to constitute and produce that one uni¬
form will of the whole. It can therefore be no other¬
wise produced than by a political union j by the con¬
sent of all persons to submit their own private wills to
the will of one man, or of one or more assemblies of
men, to whom the supreme authority is intrusted j and
this will of that one man, or assemblage of men, is in
different states, according to their different constitu¬
tions, understood to be law.
Thus far as to the right of the supreme powef to
make laws : but farther, it is its duty likewise. For
since the respective members are bound to conform
themselves to the will of the state, it is expedient that
they receive directions from the state declaratory ot
that its will. But it is impossible, in so great a
multitude, to give injunctions to every particular man,
relative to each particular action, therefore the state
establishes general rules, for the perpetual informatioa
and direction of all persons in all points, whether ot
positive or negative duty: and this, in order that
every man may know what to look upon as his own,
what as another’s j what absolute and what relative
duties are required at his hands ; what is to he esteem¬
ed honest, dishonest, or indifferent y what degree every
man retains of his natural liberty, and what he has gi¬
ven up as the price of the benefits of society ; and af¬
ter what manner each person is to moderate the use
and exercise of those rights which the state assigns
Part I.
Of Laws
in genera!.
L A W.
J7
Second
branch of
the defini¬
tion, illus¬
trated.
iS
Bfciara-
iory part
i if the law.
him, in order to promote ami secure the public tran-
. quillity. '
' From what has been advanced, the truth of the for¬
mer branch of our definition is (we trust) sufficiently
evident j that “ municipal law is a rule of civil con¬
duct, prescribed by the supreme power in a stated We
proceed now to the latter branch of it; that it is a rule
so prescribed, “ commanding what is right, and prohi¬
biting what is wrong.”
Now, in order to do this completely, it is first of all
necessary that the boundaries of right and wrong be
established and ascertained by law. And when this is
once done, it will follow of course, that it is likewise
the business of the law, considered as a rule of civil
conduct, to enforce these rights, and to restrain or
redress these wrongs. It remains therefore only to
consider, in what manner the law is said to ascertain
the boundaries of right and wrong; and the methods
which it makes to command the one and prohibit the
other.
For this purpose, every law may be said to consist of
several parts j one, declaratory 5 whereby the rights to
be observed, and the wrongs to be eschewed, are clear¬
ly defined and laid down : another, directory ; where¬
by the subject is intrusted and enjoined to observe those
rights, and to abstain from the commission of those
wrongs : a third, remedial; whereby a method is point¬
ed out to recover a man’s private rights, or redress his
private wrongs : to which may be added a fourth, usual¬
ly termed the sanction or vindicatory brand) of the law,
whereby it is signified what evil or penalty shall be in¬
curred by such as commit any public wrongs, and trans¬
gress or neglect their duty.
With regard to the first of these, the declaratory
part of the municipal law j this depends not so much
upon the law of revelation or of nature, as upon the
wisdom and will of the legislator. This doctrine, which
before was slightly touched, deserves a more particular
explication. Those rights, then, which God and nature
have established, and are therefore called natural rights,
such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human
laws to he more effectually invested in every man than
they are ; neither do they receive any additional strength
when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable.
On the contrary, no human legislature has power to
abridge or destroy them, unless the owner shall him¬
self commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture.
Neither do divine or natural duties (such as, for in¬
stance, the worship of God, the maintenance of child¬
ren, and the like) receive any stronger sanction from
being also declared to be duties by the law of the land.
The case is the same as to crimes and misdemeanors,
that are forbidden by the superior laws, and therefore
styled mala in se, such as murder, theft, and perjury ;
which contract no additional turpitude from being de¬
clared unlawful by the inferior legislature. For that
legislature in all these cases acts only, as was before
observed, in subordination to the Great Lawgiver,
transcribing and publishing his precepts. So that,
upon the whole, the declaratory part of the municipal
law has no force or operation at law, with regard to
actions that are naturally and intrinsically right or
wrong.
But with regard to things in themslves indifferent,
the case is entirely altered. These become either right
587
or wrong, just or unjust, duties or misdemeanors, ac» G-fLaw*
cording as the municipal legislator sees proper, form genoal.
promoting the welfare of the society, and more effec- ' —v“~--'
tually carrying on the purposes of civil life. Thus
our own common law has declared, that the goods of
the wife do instantly upon marriage become the pro¬
perty and right of the husband : and our statute law
has declared all monopolies a public offence : yet that
right, and this offence, have no foundation in nature ;
but are merely created by the law, for the purposes of
civil society. And sometimes, where the thing itself
has its rise from the law of nature, the particular cir¬
cumstances and mode of doing it become right or wrong,
as the laws of the land shall direct. Thus, for instance,
in civil duties ; obedience to superiors is the doctrine
of revealed as well as natural religion : hut who those
superiors shall he, and in what circumstances, or to
what degrees they shall he obeyed, is the province of
human laws to determine. And so, as to injuries or
crimes, it must be left to our own legislature to decide,
in what cases the seizing another’s cattle shall amount
to the crime of robbery ; and where it shall he a justi¬
fiable action, as when a landlord takes them by way of
distress for rent, r
Thus much for the declaratory part of the municipal Directory
law: and the directory stands much upon the samepart¬
footing ; for this virtually includes the former, the de¬
claration being usually collected from the direction.
The law that says, “ Thou shalt not steal,” implies a
declaration that stealing is a crime. And we have seen,
that, in things naturally indifferent, the very essence of
right and wrong depends upon the direction of the laws
to do or to omit them.
The remedial part of a law is so necessary a con- Remedial
sequence of the two former, that laws must be very part,
vague and imperfect without it. For in vain would
rights be declared, in vain directed to be observed, if
there were no method of recovering and asserting those
rights when wrongfully withheld or invaded. This is
what we mean properly, when we speak of the protec¬
tion of the law. When, for instance, the declaratory
part of the law has said, that “ the field or inheritance
which belonged to Titius’s father is vested by his death
in Titius,” and the diretory part has “ forbidden any
one to enter on another’s property without the leave of
the owner j” if Gains after this will presume to take
possession of the land, the remedial part of the law will
then interpose its office 5 will make Gains restore the
possession to Titius, and also pay him damages for the
invasion.
With regard to the sanction of laws, or the evil
that may attend the breach of public duties ; it is ob¬
served, that human legislators have for the most part
chosen to make the sanction of their laws rather vin.
dicatory than remuneratory, or to consist rather in
punishments than in actual particular rewards : Be¬
cause, in the first place, the quiet enjoyment and pro¬
tection of all our civil rights and liberties, which are
the sure and general consequence of obedience to the
municipal law, are in themselves the best and most va¬
luable of all rewards : because also, were the exercise
of every virtue to be enforced by the proposal of par¬
ticular rewards, it were impossible for any state to
furnish stock enough for so profuse a bounty ; and far¬
ther, because the dread of evil is a much more forcible
4 E 2 principle
588 L A
Of Laws principle of human actions than the prospect of good.
m gene pal. Jor which reasons, though a prudent bestowing of
v rewards is sometimes of exquisite use, yet we find that
those civil laws, which enforce and enjoin our duty, do
seldom, if ever, propose any privilege or gift to such
as obey the law j but do constantly come armed with
a penalty denounced against transgressors, either ex¬
pressly defining the nature and quantity of the punish¬
ment, or else leaving it to the discretion of the judges,
and those who are intrusted with the care of putting
at the laws in execution.
Vindiea- qj aj] j|)e par{S Gf a Jaw the most effectual is the vin-
toiy part. j{caiory% For it is but lost labour to say, “ Do this, or
avoid that,” unless we also declare, “Th is shall be the
consequence of your noncompliance.” We must there¬
fore observe, that the main strength and force of a law
consists in the penalty annexed to it. Herein is to be
found the principal obligation of human laws.
Legislators and their laws are said to compel and
oblige: not that, by any natural violence, they so con¬
strain a man as to render it impossible for him to act
otherwise than as they direct, which is the strict sense
of obligation $ but because, by declaring and exhibit¬
ing a penalty against offenders, they bring it to pass
that no man can easily choose to trangress the law ;
since, by reason of the impending correction, compli¬
ance is in a high degree preferable to disobedience.
And, even where rewards are proposed as well as pu¬
nishments threatened, the obligation of the law seems
chiefly to consist in the penalty : for rewards, in their
nature, can only persuade and allure $ nothing is com¬
pulsory but punishment.
It has been held true, and very justly, by the prin¬
cipal of our ethical writers, that human laws are bind¬
ing upon men’s consciences. But, if that were the
only or most forcible obligation, the good only would
regard the laws, and the bad would set them at de¬
fiance. And, true as this principle is, it must still
be understood with some restriction. It holds, we ap¬
prehend, as to rights; and that, when the law has de¬
termined the field to belong to Titius, it is a matter of
conscience no longer to withhold or to invade it. So
also in regard to natural duties, and such oflences as are
mala in sc: here we are bound in conscience, because
we are bound by superior laws, before those human
laws were in being, to perform the one and abstain
from the other. But in relation to those laws which
enjoin only positive duties, and forbid only such things
as are not mala in se, but mala prohibit a merely, with¬
out any intermixture of moral guilt, annexing a pe¬
nalty to noncompliance ; here conscience seems to be
no farther concerned, than by directing a submission
to the penalty, in case of our breach of those laws :
for otherwise the multitude of penal laws in a state
would not only be looked upon as an impolitic, but
would also be a very wicked, thing ; if every such law
were a snare for the conscience of the subject. But in
these cases the alternative is offered to every man ;
“ either abstain from this, or submit to such a penalty j”
and his conscience will be clear whichever side of "the
alternative he thinks proper to embrace. Thus, by the
statutes for preserving the game, a penalty is denounced
against every unqualified person that kills a hare, and
against every person who possesses a partridge in Au¬
gust. And so too, by other statutes, pecuniary pe-
W* ' Part I.
nalties are inflicted for exercising trades without serv- Of Laws
ing an apprenticeship thereto, for erecting cottages in general.
without annexing four acres of land to each, for not '
burying the dead in woollen, for not performing sta¬
tute work on the public roads, and for innumerable
other positive misdemeanors. Now these prohibitory
laws do not make the transgression a moral offence, or
sin : the only obligation in conscience is to submit to
the penalty, if levied. It must, however, be observed,
that we are here speaking of laws that are simply and
purely penal, where the thing forbidden or enjoined is
wholly a matter of indifference, and where the penalty
inflicted is an adequate compensation for the civil in¬
convenience supposed to rise from the offence. But
where disobedience to the law involves in it also any
degree of public mischief or private injury, there it falls
within our former distinction, and is also an offence
against conscience.
We have now gone through the definition laid down
of a municipal law $ and have shown that it is “ a
rule—of civil conduct—prescribed—by the supreme
power in a state—commanding what is right, and pro¬
hibiting what is wrong:” in the explication of which
we have endeavoured to interweave a few useful prin¬
ciples, concerning the nature of civil government, and
the obligation of human laws. Before we conclude this
part, it may not be amiss to add a few observations
concerning the interpretation of laws. 22
When any doubt arose upon the construction of the of the i11-
Roman laws, the usage was to state the case to the^1^1'
emperor in writing, and take his opinion upon it.]aws.°
I his was certainly a bad method of interpretation.
To interrogate the legislature to decide particular dis¬
putes, is not only endless, but affords great room for
partiality and oppression. The answers of the emperor
were called his rescripts, and these had in succeeding
cases the force of perpetual laws j though they ought
to be carefully distinguished, by every rational civilian,
from those general constitutions which had only the
nature of things for their guide. The emperor Ma-
crinus, as his historian Capitolinus informs us, had once
resolved to abolish these rescripts, and retain only the
general edicts : he could not bear that the hasty and
crude answers of such princes as Commodus and Cara-
calla should be reverenced as laws. But Justinian
thought otherwise, and he has preserved them all. In
like manner the canon laws, or decretal epistles of the
popes, are all of them rescripts in the strictest sense.
Contrary to all true forms oi reasoning, they argue
from particulars to generals.
The fairest and most rational method to interpret
the will of the legislator, is by exploring his intentions
at the time when the law was made, by signs the most
natural and probable. And these signs are either (he
words, the context, the subject-matter, the effects and
consequence, or the spirit and reason of the law. Let
us take a short view of them all.
1. Words are generally to be understood in their 23
usual and most known signification ; not so much re¬
garding the propriety of grammar, as their general
and popular use. Thus the law mentioned by Puffen-
dorf, which forbade a layman to lay hands on a priest,
was adjudged to extend to him who had hurt a priest
with a weapon. Again : Terms of art, or technical
terms, must be taken according to the acceptation of
the
Part I. LA
Of Laws the learned in each art, trade, and science. So in the
a general, act of settlement, where the crown of England is li-
mited “ to the princess Sophia, and the heirs of her
body being Protestants,” it becomes necessary to call
in the assistance of lawyers, to ascertain the precise
idea of the words “ heirs of her body;” which in a
legal sense comprise only certain of her lineal descend¬
ants. Lastly, Where words are clearly repugnant in
two laws, the latter law takes place of the elder j leges
poster lores priores contrarias abrogant, is a maxim of
universal law, as well as of our own constitutions. And
accordingly it was laid down by a law of the twelve
tables at Rome, Quod populus postremum jussit, id jus
ratum esto.
1. If words happen to be still dubious, we may
+ establish their meaning from the context; with which
it may be of singular use to compare a word or a sen¬
tence, whenever they are ambiguous, equivocal, or in¬
tricate. Thus the procme, or preamble, is often called
in to help the construction of an act of parliament. Of
the same nature and use is the comparison of a law with
other laws that are made by the same legislator, that
have some affinity with the subject, or that expressly
relate to the same point. Thus, when the law of Eng¬
land declares murder to be felony without benefit of
clergy, we must resort to the same law of England to
learn what the benefit of clergy is : and, when the com¬
mon law censures simoniacal contracts, it affords great
light to the subject to consider what the canon law has
adjudged to be simony.
25 3* to ^ie subject-matter, words are always to be
undei’Stood as having a regard thereto; for that is al¬
ways supposed to be in the eye of the legislator, and
all his expressions directed to that end. Thus, when a
law of Edward III. forbids all ecclesiastical persons to
purchase provisions at Rome, it might seem to prohibit
the buying of grain and other victual ; but when we
consider that the statute was made to repress the usur¬
pations of the papal see, and that the nominations to be¬
nefices by the pope were called pi'ovisions, we shall see
that the restraint is intended to be laid upon such pro¬
visions only.
4. As to the effects and consequence, the rule is.
That where words bear either none, or a very absurd
signification, if literally understood, we must a little
deviate from the received sense of them. Therefore
the Bolognian law', mentioned by Puffendorf, which
enacted “ that whoever drew blood in the streets should
be punished with the utmost severity,” w'as held after
long debate not to extend to the surgeon who opened
the vein of a person who fell down in the street with
a fit.
5. But, lastly, The most universal and effectual way
of discovering the true meaning of a law, when the
words are dubious, is by considering the reason and
spirit of it, or the cause which moved the legislator to
enact it. For when this reason ceases, the law itself
ought likewise to cease with it. An instance of this is
given in a case put by Cicero, or whoever was the au-
thor of the rhetorical treatise inscribed to Herennius.
w.
589
There was a law, That those who in a storm forsook of Laws
the ship should forfeit all property therein, and the ship in general,
and lading should belong entirely to those who staid in
it. In a dangerous tempest, all the mariners forsook
the ship, except only one sick passenger, who by reason
of his disease was unable to get out and escape. By
chance the ship came safe to port. The sick man kept
possession, and claimed the benefit of tbe law. Now
here all the learned agree, that the sick man is not
within the reason of the law} for the reason of making
it was, to give encouragement to such as should venture
their lives to save the vessel : but this is a merit which
he could never pretend to, who neither staid in the ship
upon that account, nor contributed any thing to its pre¬
servation. 2S
From this method of interpreting laws by the rea-Equity,
son of them, arises what we call equity; which is thus
defined by Grotius, “ the correction of that, wherein
the law (by reason of its universality) is deficient.”
For since in laws all cases cannot be foreseen or expres¬
sed, it is necessary, that, when the general decrees of
the lav/ come to he applied to particular cases, there
should be somewhere a power vested of defining those
circumstances, which (had they been foreseen) the le¬
gislator himself would have expressed. And these are
the cases which, according to Grotius, lex non exactc
dejinit, sed arbitrio boni viri permittit.
Equity thus depending, essentially, upon the parti¬
cular circumstances of each individual case, there can
be no established rules and fixed precepts of equity laid
down, without destroying its very essence, and reducing
it to a positive law. And, on the other hand, the li¬
berty of considering all cases in an equitable light must
not be indulged too far j lest thereby we destroy all
law, and leave the decision of every question entirely
in the breast of the judge. And law, without equity,
though hard and disagreeable, is much more desirable
for the public good, than equity without law j which
would make every judge a legislator, and introduce
infinite confusion : as there would then be almost as
many difi’erent rules of action laid down in our courts,
as there are differences of capacity and sentiment in the
human mind.
Having thus considered the nature of laws in gene-plan of the
ral, we shall proceed to give a view of the particular two follow-
law of our own country ; 1. Of England ; 2. Of Scot-inS parts,
land. The English law, however, being too extensive
to admit of detail in a body, we can only here give such
a sketch of it as may be sufficient to show the connexion
of its parts j but the principal of these parts themselves
are explained at large, under their proper names, in the
general alphabet.—A contrary method is followed with
regard to the law of Scotland. This being less exten¬
sive, is given in a body, with all its parts not only in
regular connection, but sufficiently explained j these
parts, again, not being explained in the order of the
alphabet, but marked with numerical references to their
explanations in the system.
PART
LAW.
59°
Law of
Ei^gland,
PART II. THE LAW OF ENGLAND,
Part II.
L.aw of
Ensjiand.
INTRODUCTION.
THE municipal law of England, or tlie rule of civil
conduct prescribed to the inhabitants of that kingdom,
may with sufEcient propriety be divided into two kinds:
the lex non scripta, the unwritten or common law 5 and
.30 the lex scripta, the written or statute law.
Common The lex non scripta, or unwritten law, includes not
only general customs, or the common law properly so
called ; but also the particular customs of certain parts
of the kingdom, and likewise these particular laws that
are by custom observed only in certain courts and ju¬
risdictions.
In calling these parts of the law leges non scriptce,
we would not be understood as if all those laws were at
present merely oral, or communicated from the former
ages to the present solely by word of mouth. It is
true indeed, that in the profound ignorance of letters
which formerly overspread the whole western world,
all laws were entirely traditional ; for this plain reason,
that the nations among which they prevailed had but
little idea of writing. Thus the British as well as the
Gallic druids committed all their laws as well as learn¬
ing to memory j and it is said of the primitive Saxons
here, as well as their brethren on the continent, that
leges sola memoria et usu retinebant. But, with us at
present, the monuments and evidences of our legal cus¬
toms are contained in the records of the several courts
oi justice, in books of reports and judicial decisions,
and in the treatises of learned sages of the profession,
preserved and handed down to us from the times of
highest antiquity. However, we therefore style these
parts of our law leges non scripta;, because their original
institution and authority are not set down in writing,
as acts of parliament are; but they receive their
binding power, and the force of laws, by long and
immemorial usage, and by their universal reception
throughout the kingdom : in like manner as Aldus
Gellius defines \\\e jus non scriptum to be that which
is tacito et illiterate hominum consensu et moribus ex-
pressum.
Our ancient lawyers, and particularly Fortescue,
insist with abundance of warmth, that these customs
are as old as the primitive Britons, and continued down
through the several mutations of government and in¬
habitants to the present time, unchanged and unadul¬
terated. This may be the case as to some. But in
general, as Mr Selden in his notes observes, this asser¬
tion must be understood with many grains of allowance;
and ought only to signify, as the truth seems to be,
that tnere never was any formal exchange of one sy¬
stem of laws for another : though doubtless, by the
intermixture of adventitious nations, the Romans, the
Piets, the Saxons, the Danes, and the Normans, they
must insensibly have introduced and incorporated many
ef their own customs with those that were before esta¬
blished , tnereby, in all probability, improving the
texture and wisdom of the whole, by the accumulated
wisdom of divers particular countries. Our laws saith
Lord Bacon, are mixed as our language ; and as our
language is so much the richer, the laws are the more
complete.
And indeed our antiquarians and first historians do
all positively assure us, that our body of laws is of this
compound nature. For they tell us, that in the
time of Alfred the local customs of the several provin¬
ces of the kingdom were grown so various, that he
found it expedient to compile his dome book, or liber
judicwlis, for the general use of the whole kingdom.
Ihis book is said to have been extant so late as the
reign of Edward IV. hut is now unfortunately lost. It
contained, we may probably suppose, the principal
maxims of the common law, the penalties for misde¬
meanors, and the forms of judicial proceedings. Thus
much may at least be collected from that injunction to
observe it, which we find in the laws of King Edward
the Elder, the son of Alfred. Omnibus qui reipublicee
preesunt etiam atque etiam mando, ut omnibus crquos se
prabeant judices perinde ac in judiciali libro scriptum
habetur: nec quiqvam formident quin jus commune
audacter hbereque dicant.
But the irruption and establishment of the Danes in
England, which followed soon after, introduced new
customs, and caused this code of Alfred in many pro¬
vinces to fall into disuse, or at least to be mixed and
debased with other laws of a coarser alloy. So that,
about the beginning of the nth century, there were
three principal systems of laws prevailing in different
districts. I, The Mercen Lage, or Mercian Jaws,
which w'ere observed in many of the inland counties,
and those bordering on the principality of Wales, the
retreat ol the ancient Britons ; and therefore very pro¬
bably intermixed with the British or Druidical cu¬
stoms. 2. The JFest Saxon Lagc, or laws of the West
Saxons, which obtained in the counties to the south
and west of the island, from Kent to Devonshire. These
were probably much the same with the laws of Alfred
above mentioned, being the municipal law of the far
most considerable part of bis dominions, and particular¬
ly including Berkshire, the seat of bis peculiar resi¬
dence. Dane Lage, or Danish law, the very
name of which speaks its original and composition.
This was principally maintained in the rest of the mid¬
land counties, and also on the eastern coast, the part
most exposed to the visits of that piratical people. As
for the very northern provinces, they were at that time
under a distinct government.
Out of these three laws, Roger Hoveden and Ra-
nulphus Cestrensis inform us, King Edward the Con¬
fessor extracted one uniform law, or digest of Jaws, to
lie observed throughout the whole kingdom ; though
Hoveden and the author of an old manuscript chronicle
assure us likewise, that this work was projected and
begun by his grandfather King Edgar. And indeed a
general digest of the same nature lias been constantly
found expedient, and therefore put in practice by other
great nations, which were formed from an assemblage
of little provinces, governed by peculiar customs. As
in Portugal, under King Edward, about the beginning
of the 15th century. In Spain, under Alonzo X. who
about
Part II.
L A W.
Law of
i'ngland
3*
11 f three
tais.
32
im
anck of
about the year 1250 executed the plan of his father
St Ferdinand, and collected all the provincial customs
J into one uniform law, in the celebrated code entitled
Las Partidas. And in Sweden, about the same era, a
universal body of common law was compiled out of
the particular customs established by the laghman of
every province, and entitled the Land’s Lagh, being
analogous to the common law of England.
Both these undertakings of King Edgar and Edward
the Confessor, seem to have been no more than a new
edition, or fresh promulgation, of Alfred’s code or
dome book, with such additions and improvements as
the experience of a century and a half had suggested.
For Alfred is generally styled by the same historians
the legum Anglicanarum conditor, as Edward the Con¬
fessor is the restitutor. These, however, are the laws
which our histories so often mention under the name
of the la ws of Edward the Confessor ; which our ances¬
tors struggled so hardly to maintain, under the first
princes of the Norman line $ and which subsequent
princes so frequently promised to keep and to restore,
as the most popular act they could do, when pressed
by foreign emergencies or domestic discontents. These
are the laws, that so vigorously withstood the repeated
attacks of the civil law 5 which established in the I2th
century a new Homan empire over the most of the
states on the continent : states that have lost, and
perhaps upon that account, their political liberties j
while the free constitution of England, perhaps upon
the same account, has been rather improved than de¬
based. These, in short, are the laws which gave rise
and origin to that collection of maxims and customs
which is now known by the name of the common law:
A name either given to it, in contradistinction to other
laws, as the statute law, the civil law, the law merchant,
and the like; or, more probably, as a law common
to all the realm, the jms commune or folcright, mention¬
ed by King Edward the Elder, after the abolition of
the several provincial customs, and particular laws bs-
fbre mentioned.
But though this is the most likely foundation of this
collection of maxims and customs, yet the maxims and
customs so collected, are of higher antiquity than me¬
mory or history can reach : nothing being more difficult
than to ascertain the precise beginning and first spring
of an ancient and long established custom. Whence it
is, that in our law the goodness of a custom depends
upon its having been used time out of mind ; or, in the
solemnity of our legal phrase, time whereof the memory
of man runneth not to the contrary. This it is that
gives it its weight and authority j and of this nature are
the maxims and customs which compose the common
law, or lex non script a, of this kingdom.
This unwritten, or common law, is properly di¬
stinguishable into three kinds : 1. General customs j
which are the universal rule of the whole kingdom,
and form the common law in its stricter and more
usual signification. 2. Particular customs j which for
the most part affect only the inhabitants of particular
districts. 3. Certain particular laws ; which by custom
are adopted and used by some particular courts, of
591
lie unwrit-Pre^y general an^ extensive jurisdiction.
‘ n Inw >
fjeneral
I. As. to general customs, or the common law pro¬
perly so called $ this is that law, by which proceedings
and determinations in the king’s ordinary courts of jus-
5
tice are guided and directed. This, for the most part, Law of
settles the course in which lands descend by inheritance j England,
the manner and form of acquiring and transferring pro- ,
perty j the solemnities and obligation of contracts j the
rules of expounding wills, deeds, and acts of parlia¬
ment j the respective remedies of civil injuries j the se¬
veral species of temporal offences, with the manner and
degree of punishment, and an infinite number of minu¬
ter particulars, which diffuse themselves as extensively
as the ordinary distribution of common justice requires.
Thus, for example, that there shall be four superior
courts of record, the chancery, the king’s bench, the
common pleas, and the exchequer ;—that the eldest son
alone is heir to his ancestor \—that property may be
acquired and transferred by writing 5—that a deed is of
no validity unless sealed and delivered ;—that wills shall
be construed more favourably, and deeds more strict¬
ly ;—that money lent upon bond is recoverable by ac¬
tion of debt j—that breaking the public peace is an of¬
fence, and punishable by fine and imprisonment :—all
these are doctrines that are not set down in any written
statute or ordinance j but depend merely upon imme¬
morial usage, that is, upon common law, for their sup¬
port.
Some have divided the common law into two prin¬
cipal grounds or foundations: 1. Established customs j
such as that, where there are three brothers, the eldest
brother shall be heir to the'second, in exclusion of the
youngest; and, 2. Established rules and maxims; as,
“ that the king can do no wrong, that no man shall
“ be bound to accuse himself,” and the like. But
these seem to be one and the same thing. For the
authority of these maxims rests entirely upon general
reception and usage ; and the only method of proving
that this or that maxim is a rule of the common law,
is by showing that it hath been always the custom to
observe it.
But here a very natural, and very material, question
arises : How are these customs or maxims to be known,
and by whom is their validity to be determined ? The
answer is, By the judges in the several courts of justice.
They are the depository of the laws ; the living oracles
who must decide in all cases of doubt, and who are
bound by an oath to decide according to the law of
the land. Their knowledge of that law is derived from
experience and study ; from the viginti annorum lucu-
brationes, which Fortescue mentions ; and from being
long personally accustomed to the judicial decisions of
their predecessors. And indeed these judicial decisions
are the principal and most authoritative evidence, that
can be given, of the existence of such a custom as shall
form a part of the common law. The judgment itself,
and all the proceedings previous thereto, are carefully
registered and preserved under the name of records, in
public repositories set apart for that particular purpose ;
and to them frequent recourse is had, when anv criti¬
cal question arises, in the determination of which for¬
mer precedents may give light or assistance. And
therefore, even so early as the Conquest, we find the
preeteritorum memoria eventorum reckoned up as one of
the chief qualifications of those who were held to be
legibus patrjce optime instituti. For it is an established
rule, 1 o abide by former precedents, where the same
points come again in litigation, as well to keep the
scale of justice even and steady, and not liable to waver
with.
SSt-i. ^
Law of with every new judge’s opinion j as also because the
England. law Jn that case being solemnly declared and determi-
 ^ ned, what before was uncertain, and perhaps indiffer¬
ent, is now become a permanent rule, which is not in
the breast of any subsequent judge to alter or vary from
according to his private sentiments : he being sworn
to determine, not according to his own private judge¬
ment, but according to the known laws and customs of
the land $ not delegated to pronounce a new law, but
to maintain and expound the old one. Yet this rule
admits of exception, where the former determination is
most evidently contrary to reason ; much more if it
be contrary to the divine law. But even in such cases
the subsequent judges do not pretend to make a new
law, but to vindicate the old one from misrepresenta¬
tion. For if it be found that the former decision is
manifestly absurd or unjust, it is declared, not that
such a sentence was bad law, but that it was not law $
that is, that it is not the established custom of the
realm, as has been erroneously determined. And hence
it is that our lawyers are with justice so copious in their
encomiums on the reason of the common law : that
they tell us, that the law is the perfection of reason,
that it always intends to conform thereto, and that
what is not reason is not law. Not that the particular
reason of every rule in the law, can at this distance of
- time be always precisely assigned j but it is sufficient
that there be nothing in the rule flatly contradictory to
reason, and then the law will presume it to be well
founded. And it hath been an ancient observation in
the laws of England, that whenever a standing rule of
law, of which the reason perhaps could not be remem¬
bered or discerned, hath been wantonly broke in upon
by statutes or new resolutions, the wisdom of the rule
hath in the end appeared from the inconveniences that
have followed the innovation.
The doctrine of the law then is this : That prece¬
dents and rules must be followed, unless flatly absurd
or unjust $ for though their reason be not obvious at
first view, yet we owe such a deference to former times
as not to suppose they acted wholly without considera¬
tion. To illustrate this doctrine by examples. It has
been determined, time out of mind, that a brother of
the half blood shall never succeed as heir to the estate
of his half brother, but it shall rather escheat to the
king, or other superior lord. Now this is a positive
law, fixed and established by custom ; which custom- is
proved by judicial decisions j and therefore can ne¬
ver be departed from by any modern judge without a
breach of his oath and the law. For herein there is
nothing repugnant to natural justice ; though the arti¬
ficial reason of it, drawn from the feodal law, may not
be quite obvious to every body. And therefore on ac¬
count of a supposed hardship upon the half brother, a
modem judge might wish it had been otherwise settled,
yet it is not in his power to alter it. But if any court
A W.
Part II.
were now to determine, that an elder brother of the Law of
half blood might enter upon and seize any lands that England,
were purchased by his younger brother, no subsequent '"■—“v—
judges would scruple to declare that such prior deter¬
mination was unjust, was unreasonable, and therefore
was not law. So that the law, and the opinion of the
judge, are not always convertible terms, or one and the
same thing •, since it sometimes may happen that the
judge may mistake the law. Upon the whole, however,
we may take it as a general rule, “ That the decisions
of courts of justice are the evidence of what is common
law,” in the same manner as in the civil law, what the
emperor had once determined was to serve for a guide
for the future.
The decisions therefore of courts are held in the
highest regard, and are not only preserved as authentic
records in the treasuries of the several courts, but are
handed out to public view in the numerous volumes of
reports which furnish the lawyers library. These re¬
ports are histories of the several cases, with a short
summary of the proceedings, which are preserved at
large in the record $ the arguments on both sides, and
the reasons the court gave for its judgment: taken
down in short notes by persons present at the determi¬
nation. And these serve as indexes to, and also to
explain, the records j which always, in matters of
consequence and nicety, the judges direct to be
searched. The reports are extant in a regular series
from the reign of King Edward II. inclusive j and
from his time to that of Henry VIII. were taken by
the prothonotaries, or chief scribes of the court, at the
expence of the crown, and published annually, whence
they are known under the denomination of the pear
books. And it is much to be wished that this beneficial
custom had, under proper regulations, been continued
to this day j for though King James I. at the instance
of Lord Bacon, appointed two reporters, with a hand¬
some stipend, for this purpose ; yet that wise institution
was soon neglected, and from the reign of Henry VIII.
to the present time this task has been executed by ma¬
ny private and contemporary hands ; who sometimes
through haste and inaccuracy, sometimes through mis¬
take and want of skill, have published very crude and
imperfect (perhaps contradictory) accounts of one and
the same determination. Some of the most valuable of
the ancient reports are those pnblished by Lord Chief
Justice Coke j a man of infinite learning in his profes¬
sion, though not a little infected with the pedantry and
quaintness of the times he lived in, which appear strong¬
ly in all his works. However, his writings are so high¬
ly esteemed, that they are generally cited without the
author’s name (a).
Besides these reporters, there are also other authors,
to whom great veneration and respect are paid by the
students of the common law. Such are Glanvil and
Bracton, Britton and Fleta, Littleton and Fitzherbert,
with
(a) His reports, for instance, are styled, xitr “ the reports $” and in quoting them we usually say,
l or 2 Rep. not I or 2 Coke’s Rep. as in citing other authors. The reports of Judge Croke are also cited
in a peculiar manner, by the name of those princes in whose reigns the cases reported in his three vo¬
lumes were determined j viz. Queen Elizabeth, King James, King Charles I. j as well as by the number of
each volume. For sometimes we call them i, 2, and 3 Cro.; but more commonly Cro. Eliz. Cro. Jac. and
Gro. Car.
Law of with some others of ancient date, whose treatises are
England, cited as authority; and are evidence that cases have
- ' formerly happened in which such and such points were
determined, which are now become settled and first
principles. One of the last of these methodical writers
in point of time, whose works are of any intrinsic au¬
thority in the courts of justice, and do not entirely de¬
pend on the strength of their quotations from older au¬
thors, is the same learned judge we have just mention¬
ed, Sir JEdvvard Coke j who hath written four volumes
of Institutes, as he is pleased to call them, though they
have little of the institutional method to warrant such
a title. The first volume is a very extensive comment
upon a little excellent treatise of tenures, compiled by
Judge Littleton in the reign of Edward IV. This
comment is a rich mine of valuable common law learn¬
ing, collected and heaped together from the ancient
reports and year hooks, but greatly defective in me¬
thod (b). The second volume is a comment upon ma¬
ny old acts of parliament, without any systematical or¬
der j the third a more methodical treatise of the pleas
of the crown ; and the fourth, an account of the several
species of courts (c).
And thus much for the first ground and chief cor¬
ner-stone of the laws of England j which is generally
immemorial custom, or common law, from time to time
declared in the decisions of the courts of justice ; which
decisions are preserved among the public records, ex¬
plained in the reports, and digested for general use
in the authoritative writings of the venerable sages of
the law.
rlhe Roman law, as practised in the times of its li¬
berty, paid also a great regard to custom j but not so
much as our law : it only then adopting it when the
written law was deficient, though the reasons alleged
in the Digest will fully justify our practice in making
it of equal authority with, when it is not contradicted
by, the written law. “ For since (says Julianus) the
written law binds us for no other reason but because it
is approved by the judgment of the people, therefore
those laws which the people have approved without
writing ought also to hind every body. For where is
the difference whether the people declare their assent
to a law by a sullrage, or by an uniform course of act¬
ing accordingly.” Thus did they reason while Rome
had some remains ol her freedom j but when the im¬
perial tyranny came to be fully established, the civil
laws speak a very different language. Qz/off principi
placuit legis habet vigor cm, cum popuius ei et ineumomne
suum imperium etpotestatem conferat, says Ulpian. Im-
perator solus et conditor et interpres legis existimcitur,
says the Code. And again, Sacrilegiiinstar est rescripto
principis obviari. And indeed it is one of the charac¬
teristic marks of British liberty, that the common law
depends upon custom : which carries this internal evi¬
dence of freedom along with it, that it probably was
introduced by the voluntary consent of the Deoule.
Vol. XI. Part II. ^ ^ .
II. The second branch of ihe unwritten laws of Law of
England are particular customs, or laws which affect England,
only the inhabitants of particular districts. -v—
Ihese particular customs, or some of them, are
without doubt the remains of that multitude of local branch of
customs before mentioned, out of which the common the unwiit-
law, as it now stands, was collected at first by Kingten law :~
Alfred, and afterwards by King Edgar and Edward
the Confessor: each district mutually sacrificing someCUSl ’U'
of its own special usages, in order that the^whole
kingdom might enjoy the benefit of one uniform and
universal system of laws. But, for reasons that have
been now long forgotten, particular counties, cities
towns, manors, and lordships, were verv early indulged
with the privilege of abiding by their own customs,
in contradistinction to the rest of the nation at lar^e :
which privilege is confirmed to them by several actiT of
parliament.
Such is the custom of gavelkind in Kent and some
o her parts of the k.ngdom (though perhaps it was
ako general ti the Norman conquest) ; which ordains
among other things, that not the eldest son only of
the fa her shall succeed to his inheritance, but all the
sons alike ; and that, though the ancestor he attainted
and hanged, yet the heir shall succeed to his estate
without any escheat to the iord.-Such is the custom
that prevails in divers ancient boroughs, and therefore
called borough English, that the youngest son shall in-
hent the estate, in preference to all his elder brothers"
7 II. 18 ! n Th°n\ in °ther borougK that a widow
shall be entitled, for her dower, to all her husband’s
lands , whereas at the common law she shall be endow-
ed of one-third part only—Such also are the special
and particular customs of manors, of which every one
has more or less, and which bind all the copyhold te¬
nants that hold of the said manors.—Such likewise is
the custom of holding divers inferior courts, with power
°.f causes> m cities and trading towns ^ the
right of holding which, when no royaf grant can be
shown depends entirely upon immemorial and esta!
blished usuage.—Such, lastly, are the many particular
customs w,thin the city of London, with regard to trade
apprentices, widows, orphans, and a variety of otlJ;
mat ers All these are contrary to the general law of
he land, and are good only by special usage ; though
par!iamenT.3 ^ 8lS0 C°nfirmed ^
To this head may most properly be referred a parti¬
cular system of customs used only among one set of the
king s subjects called the custom of merchants, or lex
mercatoria: which, however different from the general
rules of the common law, is yet ingrafted into it, and
ult ^ ^ °l 7 eing al,°VVetl for the of
trade, o be of the utmost validity in all commercial
t ansactions ; for it is a maxim of law, that cuilibet in
sua arte credendum est.
Ihe rules relating to particular customs regard ei-
4 F ther
34
(B) It is usually cited either by the name of Co. Litt. or as i Inst.
(C) Ihese are cited as 2, 3, or 4 Inst, without any author’s mmp- An W j- .
served, is paid to the works of no other writer : the^eneralitv of renm-t ’^ary distinction, which, we ob-
-ame of tho compiler, as 2 Veotris, 4 Leonard, 1 Side^ and"tle Se 0'her traClS bei"S
594
Law of
England.
Bales in
establish,
ing <:us«
toms.
LAW.
tlier the proof of their existence; their legality when
proved ; or their usual method of alloivance. And first
vve will consider the rules of proof.
As to gavelkind and borough English, the law takes
particular notice of them ; and there is no occasion to
prove, that such customs actually exist, hut only that
the lands in question are subject thereto. All other pri¬
vate customs must be particularly pleaded j and as well
the existence of such customs must be shown, as that
the thing in dispute is within the customs alleged. The
trial in both cases (both to show the existence of the
custom, as, “ That in the manor of Dale lands shall
descend only to the heirs male, and never to the heirs
female j” and also to show “ that the lands in question
are within that manor”) is by a jury of twelve men,
and not by the judges ; except the same particular cus¬
tom has been before tried, determined, and recorded,
in the same court.
The customs of London differ from all others in
point of trial : for if the existence of the custom be
brought in question, it shall not be tried by a jury, but
by a certificate from the lord mayor and aldermen by
the mouth of their recorder *, unless it be such a custom
as the corporation is itself interested in, as a right of
taking toll, &c. for then the law permits them not to
certify on their orvn behalf.
When a custom is actually proved to exist, the next
inquiry is into the legality of it; for if it is not a good
custom, it ought to be no longer used. Mains usus
vbolendus est, is an established maxim of the law. To
make a particular custom good, the following are ne¬
cessary requisites :
1. That it have been used so long, that the me¬
mory of man runneth not to the contrary. So that
if any one can show the beginning of it, it is no
good custom. For which reason, no custom can pre¬
vail against an express act of parliament ; since the
statute itself is a proof of a time when such a custom
did not exist.
2. It must have been continued. Any interruption
would cause a temporary ceasing : the revival gives it
a new beginning, which will be within time of me¬
mory, and thereupon the custom will be void. But
this must be understood with regard to an interruption
of the right : for an interruption of the possession only
for 10 or 20 years, will not destroy the custom. As
if the inhabitants of a parish have a customary right of
watering their cattle at a certain pool, the custom is
not destroyed, though they do not use it for 10 years;
it only becomes more difficult to prove : but if the right
be anyhow discontinued for a day, the custom is quite
at an end.
3. It must have heen peaceable, and acquiesced in;
not subject to contention and dispute. For as customs
owe their original to common consent, their being im-
rrtemorially disputed, either at law or otherwise, is a
proof that such consent was wanting.
4. Customs must be reasonable ; or rather, taken ne¬
gatively, they must not be unreasonable. Which is
not always, as Sir Edward Coke says, to be under¬
stood of every unlearned man’s reason ; but of artificial
and legal reason, warranted by authority of law. Upon
which account a custom may be good, though the par¬
ticular reason of it cannot be assigned ; for it sufficetb,
if no good legal reason can bs assigned against it.
Part II,
Thus a custom in a parish, that no man shall put his Law of
beasts into the common, till the third of October, would England,
be good ; and yet it would be hard to show the reason
why that day in particular is fixed upon rather than
the day before or after. But a custom that no cattle
shall be put in till the lord of tire manor has first put in
his, is unreasonable, and therefore bad : for peradven-
tnre the lord will never put in his ; and then the tenants
will lose all their profits.
5. Customs ought to be certain. A custom, that
lands shall descend to the most worthy of the owner’s
blood, is void ; for how shall this worth be determined ?
but a custom to descend to the next male of the blood,
exclusive of females, is certain, and therefore good.
A custom to pay twopence an acre in lieu of tithes-, is
good ; but to pay sometimes twopence and sometimes
threepence, as the occupier of the land pleases, is bad
for its uncertainty. Yet a custom, to pay a year’s im¬
proved value for a fine on a copyhold estate, is good j
though the value is a thing uncertain : for the value
may at any time be ascertained ; and the maxim of law
is, Id cerium est, quod cerium reddi potest.
6. Customs, though established by consent, must be
(when established) compulsory: and not left to the op¬
tion of every man, whether he will use them or no.
Therefore a custom, that all the inhabitants shall be
rated toward the maintenance of a bridge, will be good;
but a custom, that every man is to contribute thereto
at his own pleasure, is idle and absurd, and indeed no
custom at all.
7. Lastly, Customs must be consistent with each
other. One custom cannot he set up in opposition to
another. For if both are really customs, then both are
of equal antiquity, and both established by mutual con¬
sent : which to say of contradictory customs, is absurd.
Therefore, if one man prescribes that by custom he
has a right to have windows looking into another’s gar¬
den ; tire other cannot claim a right by custom to stop
up or obstruct those windows : for these two contradic¬
tory customs cannot both be good, nor both stand toge¬
ther. He ought rather to deny the existence of the
former custom.
Next, as to the allowance of special customs. Cus¬
toms, in derogation of the common law, must be con¬
strued strictly. Thus, by the custom of gavelkind, an
infant of 15 years may by one species of conveyance
(called a deed of feoffment) convey away his lands in
fee simple, or for ever. Yet this custom does not em¬
power him to use any other conveyance, or even to lease
them for seven years : for the custom must be strictly
pursued. And, moreover, all special customs must
submit to the king’s prerogative. Therefore, if the
king purchases lands of the nature of gavelkind, where
all the sons inherit equally ; yet, upon the king’s de¬
mise, his eldest son shall succeed to those lands alone.
And thus much for the second part of the leges non
scriptce, or those particular customs which affect parti¬
cular persons or districts only.
III. The third branch of them are those peculiar Third
haws which by custom are adopted and used only in branch ^
certain peculiar courts and jurisdictions. And by these lbe unWllt“
are understood the civil and Canon laws. ten law.
It may seem a little improper, at first view, to rank
these laws under the head of leges non scriptce, or un¬
written laws, seeing they are set forth by authority in
their
Part IL
L
taw ofJ their pamlects, their codes, and their Institutions j their
Eft^aad. councils, decrees, and decretals 5 and enforced by an
immense number of expositions, decisions, and trea¬
tises ot the learned in both branches of the law. But
this is done after the example of Sir Matthew Hale,
because it it most plain, that it is not on account of
their being written laws, that either the canon law, or
the civil law, have any obligation within this kingdom :
neither do their force and efficacy depend upon their
own intrinsic authority; which is the case of our writ¬
ten laws or acts of parliament. They bind not the
subjects of England, because their materials were col¬
lected from popes or emperors, were digested by Jus¬
tinian, or declared to be authentic by Gregory. These
considerations give them no authority here: for the le¬
gislature of England doth not, nor ever did, recognize
any foreign power, as superior or equal to it in this
kingdom : or as having the right to give law to any
the meanest of its subjects. But all the strength that
either the papal or imperial laws have obtained in this
realm (or indeed in any other kingdom in Europe) is
only because they have been admitted and received by
immemorial usage and custom in some particular cases,
and some particular courts; and then they form a
branch of the leges non scripts, or customary law : or
else, because they are in some other cases introduced
by consent of parliament, and then they owe their va¬
lidity to the leges scriptce, or statute law. This Is ex¬
pressly declared in those remarkable words of the sta¬
tute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 41. addressed to the king’s royal
majesty.—“ This your grace’s realm, recognizing no
superior under God but only your grace, hath been
and is free from subjection to any man’s laws, but only
to such as have been devised, made, and ordained with¬
in this realm for the wealth of the same; or to such
other as, by sufferance of your grace and your proge¬
nitors, the people of this your realm have taken at their
free liberty, by their own consent, to be used among
them; and have bound themselves by long use and
custom to the observance of the same: not as to the
observance of the laws of any foreign prince, potentate,
or prelate; but as to the customed and ancient laws
of this realm, originally established as laws of the same,
by the said sufferance, consents, and custom; and none
^ otherwise.”
firi! law. i* By the civil law, absolutely taken, is generally un¬
derstood the civil or municipal law of the Roman em¬
pire, as comprised in the Institutes, the Code, and the
Digest of the emperor Justinian, and the novel consti¬
tutions of himself and some of his successors ; of which
it maty not be amiss to give a short and general ac¬
count.
The Roman law (founded first upon the regal con¬
stitutions of their ancient kings, next upon the 12 tables
of the decemviri, then upon the laws or statutes enacted
by the senate or people, the edicts of the prsetor, and
the responsa prudentium or opinions of learned law¬
yers, and lastly upon the imperial decrees or constitu¬
tions of successive emperors) had grown to so great a
bulk, or, as Livy expresses it, tam immensus aliarum
super alias acervatarum legum cumulus^ that they were
computed to be many camels load by an author who
preceded Justinian. This was in part remedied by the
collection of three private lawyers, Gregorius, Her-
mogenes, and Papirius; and then by the emperor Theo-
A W. ■ 595
dosius the younger, by whose orders a code was com- Lw of
piled, A. I). 438, being a methodical collection of England,
all the imperial constitutions then in force: which ' v"
Theodosian code was the only book of civil law re¬
ceived as authentic in the western part of Europe, till
many centuries after: and to this it is probable that
the Franks and Goths might frequently pay some re¬
gard, in framing legal constitutions for their newly
erected kingdoms. For Justinian commanded only in
the eastern remains of the empire ; and it was under
his auspices, that the present body of civil law was
compiled and finished by Trebonian and other lawyers,
about the year 533.
Jhis consists of, 1. The Institutes; which contain 3*
the elements or first principles of the Roman law, in
four books. 2. The Digests or Pandects, in 50 books ;
containing the opinions and writings of eminent law¬
yers, digested in a systematical method. 3. A new
code, or collection of imperial constitutions ; the lapse
of a whole century having rendered the former code of
Theodosius imperfect. 4. The Novels, or new con¬
stitutions, posterior in time to the other books, and
amounting to a supplement to the code: containing
new decrees of successive emperors, as new questions
happened to arise. These form the body of Roman
law, or corpus juris civilis, as published about the time
of Justinian : which, however, fell soon into neglect and
oblivion, till about the year 1130, when a copy of the
Digests was found at Amalfi in Italy; which accident,
concurring with the policy of the Roman ecclesiastics,
suddenly gave new vogue and authority to the civil
law, introduced it into several nations, and occasioned
that mighty inundation of voluminous comments, with
which this system of law, more than any other, is now
loaded.
2. The canon law is a body of Roman ecclesiastical Canon law,
law, relative to such matters as that church either has,
or pretends to have, the proper jurisdiction over. This
is compiled from the opinions of the ancient Latin fa¬
thers, the decrees of general councils, the decretal
epistles and bulls of the holy see. All which lay in
the same disorder and confusion as the Roman civil
law: till, about the year 1151, one Gratian an Ita¬
lian monk, animated by the discovery of Justinian’s
Pandects, reduced the ecclesiastical constitutions also
into some method, in three books; which he entitled
Concordia discordantium canonum, but which are gene¬
rally known by the name of Decretum Gratiani. These
reached as low as the time of Pope Alexander III. The
subsequent papal decrees, to the pontificate of Gre¬
gory IX. were published in much the same method un¬
der the auspices of that pope, about the year 1230,
in five books; entitled Decretalia Gregorii noni. A
sixth book was added by Boniface VIII. about the
year 1298, which is called Sextus Deeretalium. The
Clementine constitutions, or decrees of Clement V.
were in like manner authenticated in 1317 by his suc¬
cessor John XXII. ; who also published 20 constitutions
of his own, called Extravagantes Joannis: all which
in some measure answer to the novels of the civil law.
To these have been since added some decrees of later
popes, in five books, called Extravagantes Communes.
And all these together, Gratian’s decree, Gregory’s
decretals, the sixth decretal, the Clementine constitu¬
tions, and the Extravagants of John and his successors,
4 F 3 form
596 L A
Law of from tlie corpus juris canonici, or body of the Roman
I-n^lund. canon law.
Besides these pontifical collections, which during the
times of popery were received as authentic in this
inland, as well as in other parts of Christendom, there
is also a kind of national canon law, composed of le-
gatine and provincial constitutions, and adapted only
to the exigencies of this church and kingdom. The
legatine constitutions were ecclesiastical laws, enacted
in national synods, held under the cardinals Otho and
Othobon, legates from Pope Gregory IX. and Pope
Clement IV. in the reign of King Henry HI. about
the years 1220 and 1268. The provincial constitu¬
tions are principally the decrees of provincial synods,
held under divers archbishops of Canterbury, from
Stephen Langton in the reign of Henry III. to Henry
Chichele in the reign of Henry V. y and adopted also
by the province of York in the reign of Henry VI.
At the dawn of the Reformation, in the reign ot King
Henry VIII. it was enacted in parliament, that a re¬
view should be had of the canon law 5 and till such re¬
view should be made, all canons, constitutions, ordi¬
nances and synodals provincial, being then already
made, and not repugnant to the law of the land or the
king’s prerogative, should still be used and executed.
And, as no such review has yet been perfected, upon
this statute now depends the authority of the canon
law in England.
As for the canons enacted by the clergy under
James I. in the year 1603, and never confirmed in par¬
liament, it has been solemnly adjudged upon the prin¬
ciples of law and the constitution, that where they are
not merely declaratory of the ancient canon law, but
are introductory of new regulations, they do not bind
the laity, whatever regard the clergy may think pro¬
per to pay them.
43 There are four species of courts, in which the civil
and canon laws are permitted under difi'erent restric¬
tions to be used. 1. The courts of the archbishop and
bishops, and their derivative officers •, usually called
courts Christian, {curi-x Christianitatis), or the ecclesi¬
astical courts. 2. The military courts. 3. The courts
of admiralty. 4. The courts of the two universities.
In all, their reception in general, and the dift’erent de¬
grees of that reception, are grounded entirely upon
custom ; corroborated in the latter instance by act of
parliament, ratifying those charters which confirm
the customary law of the universities. The more mi¬
nute consideration of them will fall under their pro¬
per articles. It will suffice at present to remark a few
W. _ Part II.
particulars relative to them all, which may serve to in- i^aw 0f
culate more strongly the doctrine laid down concern- England,
ing them. -y—w
1. And first, The courts of common law have the
snperintendency over these courts ; to keep them with¬
in their jurisdictions-, to determine wherein they ex¬
ceed them •, to restrain and prohibit such excess ; and
(in case of contumacy) to punish the officer who exe¬
cutes, and in some cases the judge who enforces, the
sentence so declared to be illegal.
2. The common law has reserved to itself the expo¬
sition of all such acts of parliament, as concern either
the extent of these courts, or the matters depending
before them. And therefore, if these courts either re¬
fuse to allow these acts of parliament, or will expound
them in any other sense than what the common law
puts upon them, the king’s court at Westminster will
grant prohibitions to restrain and controul them.
3. An appeal lies from all these courts to the king,
in the last resort; which proves that the jurisdiction
exercised in them is derived from the crown of Eng¬
land, and not from any foreign potentate, or intrinsic
authority of their own.—And, from these three strong
marks and ensigns of superiority, it appears beyond a
doubt, that the civil and canon laws, though admitted
in some cases by custom in some courts, are only sub¬
ordinate and leges sub graviori lege ; and that thus ad¬
mitted, restrained, altered, new-modelled, and amend¬
ed, they are by no means with us a distinct independ¬
ent species of laws, but are inferior branches of the
customary or unwritten laws of England, properly call¬
ed the king's ecclesiastical, the king's military, the king's
maritime, or the king's academical laws.
Let us next proceed to the leges scriptx, the written
law's of the kingdom; which are statutes^ acts, or ten law.
edicts, made by the king’s majesty, by and with the
advice of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons
in parliament assembled. The oldest of these now ex¬
tant, and printed in our statute books, is the famous
magna charta, as confirmed in parliament 9 Hen. III.
though doubtless there were many acts before that
time, the records of which are now lost, and the deter¬
minations of them perhaps at present currently receiv¬
ed for the maxims of the old common law’.
The manner of making these statutes being explain¬
ed under the articles Bill and Parliament, we shall
here only take notice of the different kinds of statutes ;
and of some general rules with regard to their con¬
struction (d).
First, As to their several kinds. Statutes are either
general
(d) The method of citing these acts of parliament is various. Many of the ancient statutes are called after
the name of the place where the parliament was held that made them ; as the statutes of Merton and Marle-
berge, of Westminster, Gloeester, and Winchester. Others are denominated entirely from their subject; as
the statutes of Wales and Ireland, the articuli cleri, and the prerogativa regis. Some are distinguished by their
initial words, a method of citing very ancient; being used by the Jews, in denominating the'books of th*
Pentateuch ; by the Christian church, in distinguishing their hymns and divine offices ; by the Romanists, in
describing their papal bulls; and in the short by the whole body of ancient civilians and canonists, among whom
this method of citation generally prevailed, not only with regard to chapters, but inferior sections also ; in
imitation of all which we still call some of the old statutes by their initial words, as the statute of Quia emptc-
res, and that of Circumspecte agatis. But the most usual method of citing them, especially since the time of
Edward II. is by naming the year of the king’s reign in which the statute was made, together with tb*
chapter or particular act, according to its numeral order; as 9 Geo. II. c. 4. For all the acts of ons
r session
Part II. L
Law of general or special, public or private. A general or
EnsHanJ. public act is an universal rule that regards the whole
»" 4 community: and of this the courts of law are bound
to take notice judicially and ex ojficio, without the sta¬
tute being particularly pleaded, or formally set forth,
by the party who claims an advantage under it. Spe¬
cial or private acts are rather exceptions than rules,
being those which only operate upon particular persons
and private concerns; such as the Romans entitled se~
fiatus decreta, in contradistinction to the senatus con-
sulta, which regarded the whole community; and of
these the judges are not bound to take notice, unless
they be formally shown and pleaded. Thus, to show
the distinction, the statute 13 Eliz. c. 10. to prevent
spiritual persons from making leases for longer terms
than 2r years or three lives, is a public act 3 it being
a rule prescribed to the whole body of spiritual persons
in the nation: but an act to enable the bishop of Chester
to make a lease to A. B. for 60 years, is an exception
to this rule ; it concerns only the parties and the bi¬
shop’s successors, and is therefore a private act.
Statutes also are either declaratory of the common
law, or remedial of some defects therein. Declaratory,
where the old custom of the kingdom is almost fallen
into disuse, or become disputable 3 in which case the
parliament has thought proper, in perpetuum rei testi¬
monium, and for avoiding all doubts and difficulties, to
declare what the common law is and ever hath been.
Thus the statute of treasons, 25 Edw. III. cap. 2. doth
not make any new species of treasons : but only, for
the benefit of the subject, declares and enumerates
those several kinds of offence, which before were trea¬
son at the common law. Remedial statutes are those
which are made to supply such defects, and abridge
such superfluities, in the common law, as arise either
from the general imperfection of all human laws, from
change of time and circumstances, from the mistakes
and unadvised determinations of unlearned judges, or
from any other cause whatsoever. And this being
done, either by enlarging the common law where it
was too narrow and circumscribed, or by restraining it
where it was too lax and luxuriant, hath occasioned
another subordinate division of remedial acts of parlia¬
ment into enlarging and restraining statutes. To in¬
stance again in the case of treason. Clipping the cur¬
rent coin of the kingdom was an offence not sufficiently
guarded against by the common law : therefore it was
thought expedient by statute 5 Eliz. c. 11. to make
it high treason, which it was not at the common law :
so that this was an enlarging statute. At common law,
also, spiritual corporations might lease out their estates
for any term of years, till prevented by the statute 13
Eliz. before mentioned : this was therefore a restrain¬
ing statute.
Secondly, the rules to be observed with regard to
the construction of statutes are principally these which
follow.
1. There are three points to be considered in the
43
CoHsiruc-
I tioB of
statutes.
A W. _ 597
construction of all remedial statutes 3 the old law, the Law of
mischief and the remedy 5 that is, how the common England,
law stood at the making of the act 3 what the mischief 1 1
was, for which the common law did not provide 5 and
what remedy the parliament hath provided to cure this
mischief. And it is the business of the judges so to
construe the act, as to suppress the mischief and ad¬
vance the remedy. Let us instance again in the same
restraining statute of 13 Eliz. c. 10. By the common
law, ecclesiastical corporations might let as long leases
as they thought proper : the mischief was, that they
let long and unreasonable leases, to the impoverishment
of their successors : the remedy applied by the statute
was by making void all leases by ecclesiastical bodies
for longer terms than three lives or 21 years. Now in
the construction of this statute it is held, that leases,
though for a longer term, if made by a bishop, are
not void during the bishop’s continuance in his see 3
or, if made by a dean and chapter, they are not void
during the continuance of the dean 3 for the act was
made for the benefit and protection of the successor.
The mischief is therefore sufficiently suppressed by va¬
cating them after the determination of the interest of
the granters 3 but the leases, during their continuance,
being not within the mischief, are not within the re¬
medy.
2. A statute, which treats of things or persons of
an inferior rank, cannot by any general words be ex¬
tended to those of a superior. So a statute, treating
of “ deans, prebendaries, parsons, vicars, and others
having spiritual promotion” is held not to extend to
bishops, though they have spiritual promotion 3 deans
being the highest persons named, and bishops being of
a still higher order.
3. Penal statutes must be construed strictly. Thus
the statute 1 Edw. IV. c. 12. having enacted that those
who are convicted of stealing /iorscs should not have the
benefit of clergy, the judges conceived that this did
not extend to him who should steal but one horse, and
therefore procured a new act for that purpose in the
following year. And, to come nearer to our own
times, by the statute 14 Geo. II. c. 6. stealing sheep or
other cattle, was made felony without benefit of clergy.
But these general words, “ or other cattle,” being
looked upon as much too loose to create a capital of¬
fence, the act was held to extend to nothing but mere
sheep. And therefore, in the next sessions, it was
found necessary to make another statute, 15 Geo. II.
c. 34. extending the former to bulls, cows, oxen, steer?*
bullocks, heifers, calves, and lambs, by name.
4. Statutes against frauds are to be liberally and be¬
neficially expounded. This may seem a contradiction
to the last rule : most statutes against frauds being in
their consequences penal. But this difference is here
to be taken : where the statute acts upon the offender,
and inflicts a penalty, as the pillory or a fine, it is then
to be taken strictly ; but when the statute acts upon
the offence, by setting aside the fraudulent transaction,
here
session of parliament taken together made properly hut one statute: and therefore, when two sessions have been
held in one year, we usually mention stat. 1. or 2. Thus the bill of rights is cited, as 1 W. & M. st. 2. c. 2.
signifying that it is the second chapter or act of the second statute, or the laws made in the second sessions of
parliament held in the first year of King William and Queen Mary.
59S L A
Law of here it is to be construed liberally. Upon this footing
En^aisd. the statute of 13 Eliz. c. 5. which voids all gifts of
goods, &.c. made to defraud creditors and others, was
held to extend by the general words to a gift made to
defraud the queen of a forfeiture.
5. One part of a statute must be so construed by
another, that the whole may (if possible) stand: vt res
mavis valcat quam pereat. As if land be vested in the
king and bis heirs by act of parliament, saving the
right of A j and A has at that time a lease of it for three
years ; here A shall hold it for his term of three years,
and afterwards it shall go to the king. For this inter¬
pretation furnishes matter for every clause of the sta¬
tute to work and operate upon. But,
6. A saving, totally repugnant to the body of the
act, is void. If therefore an act of parliament vests
land in the kingtand his heirs, saving the right of all
persons whatsoever j or vests the land of A in the king,
saving the right of A : in either of these cases the saving
is totally repugnant to the body of the statute, and (if
good) would render the statute of no effect or operation ;
and therefore the saving is void, and the land vests ab¬
solutely in the king.
7. Where the common law and a statute differ, the
common law gives place to the statute ; and an old
statute gives place to a new one. And this upon the
general principle laid down in the last section, that
legespostei'iores priores contrarias abrogant. But this
is to be understood only when the latter statute is
couched in negative terms, or by its matter necessarily
implies a negative. As if a former act says, that a ju¬
ror upon such a trial shall have twenty pounds a-year,
and a new statute comes and says he shall have twenty
merks •, here the latter statute, though it does not ex¬
press, yet necessarily implies, a negative, and virtually
repeals the former. For if twenty merks be made qua¬
lification sufficient, the former statute which requires
twenty pounds is at an end. But if both the acts be
merely affirmative, and the substance such that both
may stand together, here the latter does not repeal the
former, but they shall both have a concurrent efficacy.
If by a former law an offence be indictable at the
quarter sessions, and a latter law makes the same offence
indictable at the assizes j here the jurisdiction of the
sessions is not taken away, but both have a concurrent
jurisdiction, and the offender may be prosecuted at
either: unless the new statute subjoins express negative
words j as, that the offence shall be indictable at the
assizes, and not elsewhere.
8. If a statute, that repeals another, is itself re¬
pealed afterwards, the first statute is hereby revived,
without any formal words for that purpose. So when
the statutes of 26 and 35 Henry VIII. declaring the
king to be the supreme head of the church, were re¬
pealed by a statute 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, and this
latter statute was afterwards repealed by an act of
I Eliz. there needed not any express word of revival
in Queen Elizabeth*s statute, but these acts of Kung
Henry were impliedly and virtually revived.
9.. Acts of parliament derogatory from the power of
subsequent parliaments bind not. So the statute II
Hen. 'VHL c. I. which directs, that no person for as¬
sisting a king de facto shall be attainted of treason
by act of parliament or otherwise, is held to be good
only as to common prosecutions for high treason^
. Part IT,
hut will not restrain or clog any parliamentary at- ^
tainder. Because the legislator, being in truth the England,
sovereign power, is always of equal, always of abso- 1—-v'—*
lute authority : it acknowledges no superior upon earth,
which the prior legislature must have been if its ordi¬
nances could bind the present parliament. And upon
the same principle Cicero, in his letters to Atticus,
treats with a proper contempt these restraining clauses,
which endeavour to tie up the hand of succeeding le¬
gislatures. “ When you repeal the law itself (says°he),
you at the same time repeal the prohibitory clause which
guards against such repeal.”
10. Lastly, Acts of parliament that are impossible
to he performed are of no validity j and if there arise
out ot them collaterally any absurd consequences, ma¬
nifestly contradictory to common reason, they are with
regard to those collateral consequences void. We lav
down the rule with these restrictions ; though we know
it is generally laid down more largely, that acts of par¬
liament contrary to reason are void. But if the parlia¬
ment will positively enact a thing to be done which is
unreasonable, we know of no power that can controul
it : and the examples usually alleged in support of
this sense of the rule do none of them prove that where
the main, object of a statute is unreasonable, the judges
are at liberty to reject it j for that were to set the ju¬
dicial power above that of the legislature, which would
be subversive of all government. But where some col¬
lateral matter arises out of the general words, and hap¬
pens to be unreasonable ; there the judges are in de¬
cency to conclude that this consequence was not fore¬
seen by the parliament, and therefore they are at li¬
berty to expound the statute by equity, and only quoad
hoc disregard it. 1 bus if an act of parliament gives a
man power to try all causes that arise within his ma¬
nor of Dale j yet, if a cause should arise in which he
himself is party, the act is construed not to extend to
that, because it is unreasonable that any man should
determine his own quarrel. But, if we could conceive
it possible for the parliament to enact, that he should
try as well his own causes as those of other persons,
there is no court that has power to defeat the intent of
the legislature, when couched in such evident and ex¬
press words as leave no doubt whether it was the in¬
tent of the legislature or not.
These are the several grounds of the laws of England :
over and above which, equity is also frequently called
in to assist, to moderate, and to explain them. What
equity is, and how impossible in its very essence to be
reduced to stated rules, hath been shown above. It
may be sufficient therefore, to add in this place, that,
besides the liberality of sentiment with which our com¬
mon law judges interpret acts of parliament, and such
rules of the unwritten law as are not of a positive kind,
there are also courts of equity established for the be¬
nefit of the subject, to detect latent frauds and conceal¬
ments, which the process of the courts of law is not
adapted to reach ; to enforce the execution of such
matters of trust and confidence, as are binding in con¬
science, though not cognizable in a court of law; to
deliver from such dangers as are owing to misfortune
or oversight j and to give a more specific relief, and
more adapted to the circumstances of the case, than
can always he obtained by the generality of the rules
of the positive or common law. This is the business of
of
Part II. LAW. 599
Law of of the courts of equity, which however are only con-
Bngland rersant in matters of property. For the freedom of
Epitomised. 0l)r constitution will not permit, that in criminal cases
a power should be lodged in any judge to construe the
law otherwise than according to the letter. This cau¬
tion, while it admirably protects the public liberty, can
never bear hard upon individuals. A man cannot suf¬
fer more punishment than the law assigns, but he may
suffer less. The laws cannot be strained by partiality
to inflict a penalty beyond what the letter will warrant j
but, in cases where the letter induces any apparent
hardship, the crown has the power to pardon.
The objects of the laws of England are, I. The rights
of persons. 2. The rights of things. 2. Private
wrongs. 4. Public wrongs.
Chap. I. Of the Rights ^Persons.
Sect. I. Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals*
(1.) The objects of the Laws of England are,
I. Rights, 2. Wrongs.
(2.) Rights are the rights o{persons, or the rights
of things.
(3.) The rights oipersons are such as concern, and
are annexed to, the persons of men: and, when the
person to whom they are due is regarded, they are cal¬
led (simply) rights; but, when we consider the per¬
son from whom they are due, they are then denomina¬
ted duties.
(4.) Persons are either natural, that is, such as
they are formed by nature $ or artificial, that is,
created by human policy, as bodies politic or corpora¬
tions.
(5.) The rights of natural persons are, 1. Absolute,
or such as belong to individuals. 2. Relative, or such
as regard members of society.
(6.) The absolute rights of individuals regarded by
the municipal laws (which pay no attention to duties,
of the absolute kind), compose what is called political
or civil liberty.
(7.) Political or civil liberty is the natural liberty of
mankind, so far restrained by human laws, as is neces¬
sary for the good of society.
(8.) The absolute rights or civil liberties of English¬
men, as frequently declared in parliament, are princi¬
pally three ; the right of personal security, of personal
liberty, and of private property.
(9.) The right of personal security consists in the
legal enjoyment of life, limb, body, health, and reputa¬
tion.
(10.) Ihe right of personal liberty consists in the
free power of loco-motion, without illegal restraint or
banishment.
(11.) The right oiprivate property in every
man’s free use and disposal of his own lawful acquisi¬
tions, without injury or illegal diminution.
(12.) Besides these three primary rights, there are
others which are secondary and subordinate ; viz. (to
preserve the former from unlawful attacks). 1. The
constitution and power of parliaments ; 2. The limita¬
tion of the king’s prerogative ;—and (to vindicate them
when actually violated ; 3. The regular administration
of public justice $ 4. The right of petitioning for re¬
dress of grievances; 5. The right of having and using Law of
arms for self-defence. England
Epitomised.
Sect. II. Of the Parliament. y—-j
(1.) The relations oipersons are, 1. Public ; 2. Pri- *dT*
vote. The public relations are those of magistrates and
people. Magistrates are superior or subordinate. And
of supreme magistrates, in England, the parliament is
the supreme legislative, the king the supreme executive*
(2.) Parliaments, in some shape, are of as high an¬
tiquity as the Saxon government in this island j and
have subsisted, in their present form, at least five hun¬
dred years.
(3.) The parliament is assembled by the king’s
writs, and its sitting must not be intermitted above
three years.
(4.) Its constituent parts are the king’s majesty, the
lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons repre¬
sented by their members : each of which parts has a
negative, or necessary, voice in making laws.
(5.) With regard to the general law of parliament ;
its power is absolute : each house is the judge of its
own privileges ; and all the members of either house are
entitled to the privilege of speech, of person, of their
domestics, and of their lands and goods.
(6.) The peculiar privileges of the lords (besides
their judicial capacity), are, to bunt in the king’s fo¬
rests $ to be attended by the sages of the law; to make
proxies 5 to enter protests ; and to regulate the election
of the 16 peers of North Britain.
(7.) The peculiar privileges of the commons are, to
frame taxes for the subject; and to determine the me¬
rits of their own elections, with regard to the qualifica¬
tions of the electors and elected, and the proceedings
at elections themselves.
(8.) Bills are usually twice read in each house, com¬
mitted, engrossed, and then read a third time ; and
when they have obtained the concurrence of both
houses, and received the royal assent, they become acts
of parliament.
(9.) The houses may adjourn themselves ; but the
king only can prorogue the parliament.
(lO.) Parliaments are dissolved, 1. At the king’s
will. 2. By the demise of the crown, that is, within
six months after. 3. By length of time, or having sat
for the space of seven years.
Sect. III. Of the King and his Title.
(1.) The supreme executive power of this kingdom
is lodged in a single person j the king or queen.
(2.) This royal person may be considered with re¬
gard to, 1. His title. 2. His royal family. 3. His
councils. 4. His duties. 5. His prerogative. 6. His
revenue.
(lO With regard to his title; the crown of Eng¬
land, by the positive constitution of the kingdom, hath
ever been descendible, and so continues.
(4.) The crown is descendible in a course peculiar
to itself.
(5.) This course of descent is subject to limitation
by parliament.
(6.) Notwithstanding such limitations, the crown
retains
600 L J
Law of retains its descendible quality, f,nd becomes hereditary
England in the prince to whom it is limited.
Epitomised. King Egbert, King Canute, and King Wil-
'""r Ham I. have been successively constituted the common
stocks, or ancestors, of this descent.
(8.) At the Revolution the convention of estates, or
representative body of the nation, declared, that the
misconduct of King James II. amounted to an abdica¬
tion of the government, and that the throne was there-
by vacant.
(9.) In consequence of this vacancy, and from a re¬
gard to the ancient line, the convention appointed the
next Protestant heirs of the blood royal of King
Charles I. to fill the vacant throne, in the old order of
succession $ with a temporary exception, or preference,
to the person of King William III.
(10.) On the impending failure of the Protestant line
of King Charles I. (whereby the throne might again
have become vacant) the king and parliament extend¬
ed the settlement of the crown to the Protestant line of
King James I. viz. to the princess Sophia of Hanover,
and the heirs of her body, being Protestants: And she
is now the common stock, from whom the heirs of the
crown must descend.
Sect. IV. Of the King's Royal Family.
*dvii. (1.) The king’s royal family consists, first, of the
queen: who is regnant, consort, or dowager.
(2.) The queen consort is a public person, and hath
many personal prerogatives and distinct revenues.
(3.) The prince and princess of Wales, and the
princess-royal, are peculiarly regarded by the law.
(4.) The other princes of the blood-royal are only
entitled to precedence.
Sect. V. Of the Councils belonging to the King.
nlviii. (1.) The king's councils are, 1. The parliament.
2. The great council of peers. 3. The judges, for
matters of law. 4. The privy council.
(2.) In privy counsellors may be considered, 1. Their
creation. 2. Their qualifications. 3. Their duties.
4. Their powers. 5. Their privileges. 6. Their dis¬
solution.
Sect. VI. Of the King's Duties.
xlix. (i.) The king's duties, are to govern his people ac¬
cording to law, to execute judgment in mercy, and to
maintain the established religion. These are his part
of the original contract between himself and the people j
founded in the nature of society, and expressed in his
oath at the coronation.
Sect, VII, Of the King's Drerogative.
b (1.) Prerogative is that special power and pre-emi¬
nence which the king hath above other persons, and
out of the ordinary course of law, in right of his regal
dignity.
(2.) Such prerogatives are either direct, or incidental.
The incidental, arising out of other matters, are consi-
iered as they arise : We now treat only of the direct.
'' • Chap. L
(3.) T\\e direct prerogatives regard, 1. The king's 1.3w of
dignity, or royal character j 2. His authority, or regal England
power : 3* His revenue, or royal income. Epitomised.
(4.) The king's dignity consists in the legal attributes “* J
of, 1. Personal sovereignty. 2. Absolute perfection.
3. Political perpetuity.
(5.) In the king's authority, or regal power, consists
the executive part of government.
(6.) In foreign concerns ; the king, as the represen¬
tative of the nation, has the right or prerogative, 1. Of
sending and receiving ambassadors. 2. Of making trea¬
ties. 3. Of proclaiming war or peace. 4. Of issuing
reprisals. 5. Of granting safe conducts.
(7.) In domestic affairs $ the king is, first, a consti¬
tuent part of the supreme legislative power j hath a ne¬
gative upon all new laws ; and is bound by no statute,
unless specially named therein.
(8.) He is also considered as the general of the king¬
dom, and may raise fleets and armies, build forts, ap¬
point havens, erect beacons, prohibit the exportation of
arms and ammunition, and confine his subjects within
the realm, or recal them from foreign parts.
(9.) The king is also the fountain of justice, and ge¬
neral conservator of the peace 5 and therefore may erect
courts (where he hath a legal ubiquity), prosecute of¬
fenders, pardon crimes, and issue proclamations.
(10.) He is likewise the fountain of honour, of of¬
fice, and of privilege.
(11.) He is also the arbiter of domestic commerce j
(not of foreign, wdiich is regulated by the law of mer¬
chants) ; and is therefore entitled to the erection of
public marts, the regulation of weights and measures,
and the coinage or legitimation of money.
(12.) The king is, lastly, the supreme head of the
church j and, as such, convenes, regulates, and dissolves
synods, nominates bishops, and receives appeals in all
ecclesiastical causes.
Sect. VIII. Of the King's Revenue.
(1.) The king's revenue is either ordinary or extra- ^
ordinary. And the ordinary is, 1. Ecclesiastical. 2.
Temporal.
(2.) The king's ecclesiastical revenue consists in,
I. The custody of the temporalities of vacant bishop¬
rics. 2. Corodies and pensions. 3. Extra-parochial
tithes. 4. The first fruits and tenths of benefices.
(3.) The king's ordinary temporal revenue consists
in, I. The demesne lands of ihe crown. 2. The here¬
ditary excise; being part of the consideration for the
purchase of his feodal profits, and the prerogatives of
purveyance and pre-emption. 3. An annual sum issuing
from the duty on wine licenses; being the residue of
the same consideration. 4. His forests. 5. His courts
of justice. 6. Royal fish. 7. Wrecks, and things jet¬
sam, flotsam, and ligan. 8. Royal mines. 9. Trea¬
sure trove. 10. Waifs. ll.Estrays. 12, Forfeitures
for offences, and deodands. 13. Escheats of lands.
14. Custody of ideots and lunatics.
(4.) The king's extraordinary revenue, consists in
aids, subsidies, and supplies, granted him by the com*
mens in parliament.
(5.) Heretofore these were usually raised by grants
of the (nominal) tenth or fifteenth part of the move¬
ables
Chap, I. . L A
Law of ai>les in every township j or Ly scutages, Magee, an<l
LnfTiand talliages ; which were succeeded by subsidies assessed
P'; uP°n individuals, with respect to their lands and goods.
(6.) A new system of taxation took, place about the
time of the Revolution : our modern taxes are therefore,
1. Annual. 2. Pet'petuaL
(7O annual taxes are, r. The land tax, or the
ancient subsidy raised upon a new assessment. 2. The
malt tax, being an annual excise on malt, mum, cyder,
and perry.
(8.) Ihe perpetual taxes are, 1. The customs, or
tonnage and poundage of all merchandise exported or
smpoited. 2. The excise duty, or inland imposition
on a great variety of commodities. 3. The salt duty,
or excise on salt. 4. The post office, or duty for the
carriage of letters. 5. The stamp duty on paper,
paichnaent, &c. 6. The duty on houses and windows.
7. Ihe duty on licenses for hackney coaches and chairs.
8. Ihe duty on offices and pensions.
(9.) Part of this revenue is applied to pay the inte¬
rest of the national debt, till the principal is dischar¬
ged by parliament.
(10.) The produce of these several taxes were ori¬
ginally separate and specific funds, to answer specific
loans upon their respective credits ; but are now con¬
solidated by parliament into three principal funds, the
aggregate^ general, and South sea funds, to answer all
the debts of the nation : the public faith being also
superadded to supply deficiencies, and strengthen the
security of the whole.
(“•) J^he surplusses of these funds, after paying the
interest of the national debt, are carried together, and
■denominated the si/tking fund : which, unless otherwise
appropriated by parliament, is annually to be applied
towards paying off some part of the principal.
(12.) But, previous to this, the aggregate fund is
now charged with an annual sum for" the civil list;
which is the immediate proper revenue of the crown",
settled by parliament on the king at his accession, for
defraying the charges of civil government.
w.
the peace, to keep watch and ward, and to apprehend
offenders.
(6.) Surveyors of the highways are officers appoint¬
ed annually in every parish j to remove annoyances in,
and to direct the reparation of the public roads.
(7.) Overseers oi the poor are officers appointed an¬
nually in every parish ; to relieve such impotent, and
employ such sturdy poor, as are settled in each parish,
—by birth,—by parentage,—by marriage,—or by 40
days lesidence j accompanied with, 1. IMotice. 2.
Renting a tenement of ten pounds annual value. 3.
Paying^ their assessed taxations, 4, Serving an an¬
nual office. 5. Hiring and service for a year." 6. Ap¬
prenticeship for seven years. 7. Having a sufficient
estate in the parish.
Sect. X. Ofithe People, whether Aliens, Denizens, or
Natives.
(1.) The people are either aliens, that is, born out of
the dominions or allegiance of the crown of Great
Biitain^ or natives, that is, born within it.
(2.) Allegiance is the duty of all subjects; being
the reciprocal tie of the people to the prince, in return
for the protection he afiords them ; and, in natives, this
duty of allegiance is natural and perpetual : in aliens,
is local and temporary only.
(3.) Ihe rights of natives are also natural and per¬
petual . those of aliens, local and temporary only ; un¬
less they be made denizens by the king, or naturalized
by parliament.
Sect. XI. OJthe Clergy.
60 r
Law of
England
Epitomised.
Sect. IX. Of Subordinate Magistrates.
lij, OO Subordinate magistrates, of the most general use
and authority, are, 1. Sheriff's. 2. Coroners. 3. Justices
of the Peace. 4, Constables. Surveyors high¬
ways. 6. Overseers of the poor.
( 2.)I he slier jj is the keeper of each county, annual¬
ly nominated in due form by the king ; and is (within
his county) a judge, a conservator of the peace, a mini¬
sterial officer, and the king’s bailiff.
(3O Coronets are permanent officers of the crown in
each county, elected by the freeholders ; whose office
it is to make inquiry concerning the death of the king’s
subjects, and certain revenues of the crown ; and also
in particular cases, to supply the office of sheriff.
(4.) Justices of the peace are magistrates in each
county, statutably qualified, and commissioned by the
king’s majesty : with authority to conserve the peace ;
to hear and determine felonies, and other misdemea¬
nors ; and to do many other acts committed to their
charge by particular statutes.
.(5*) Constables are officers of hundreds and town-
snips, appointed at the leet, and empowered to preserve
Vol. XI. Part II. |
. C1’) The people, whether aliens, denizens, or na¬
tives, are also either clergy, that is, all persons in holy
orders, or in ecclesiastical offices: or laity, which com¬
prehends the rest of the nation.
(2.) The clerical part of the nation, thus defined,
are, I. Archbishops and bishops ; who are elected by
their several chapters at the nomination of the crown,
and afterwards confirmed and consecrated by each other.
2. Deans and chapters. 3. Archdeacons. 4, Rural
teans. 3. I arsons (under which are included appro-
puators) and vicars; to whom there are generally re¬
quisite, holy orders, presentation, institution and induc¬
tion. 6. Curates. To which may he added, 7. Church
wardens, 8. Parish clerks and sextons.
Sect. XII. Of the Civil Slate.
(1.) The laity are divisible into three states ; civil
military, and maritime.
(2.) The civil state (which includes all the nation
except the clergy, the army, and the navy, and many
individuals among them also), may be divided into the
nobility and the commonalty.
(3.) The nobility are dukes, marquises, earls, vis¬
counts, and barons. These had anciently duties annex¬
ed to their respective honours ; they are created either
by writ, that is, by summons to parliament ; or hv the
king’s letters patent, that is, by royal grant: and they
enjoy many privileges exclusive of their senatorial ca¬
pacity.
4 G (4.) The
liii.
h'v.
lv.
602
Law of (4O The commonalty consist of knights of the gar-
En^land ter, knights bannerets, baronets, knights of the bath,
Epitomised knights bachelors, esquires, gentlemen, yeomen, trades-
V v men, artificers, and labourers.
Sect. XIII. Of the Military and Maritime States.
Ivi. (1.) The military state, by the standing constitu¬
tional law, consists of the militia of each county, rais¬
ed from among the people by lot, officered by the
principal landholders, and commanded by the lord lieu¬
tenant.
(2.) The more disciplined occasional troops of the
kingdom are kept on foot only from year to year by
parliament j and, during that period, are governed by
martial law, or arbitrary articles of war, formed at the
pleasure of the crown.
(3.) The maritime state consists of the officers and
mariners of the British navy j who are governed by ex¬
press and permanent laws, or the articles of the navy,
established by act of parliament.
\ _
Sect. XIV. Of Master and Servants.
Ivii. (1.) The private, economical, relations, of persons
are those of, 1. Master and servants. 2. Husband and
wife. 3. Parent and child. 4. Guardian and ward.
(2.) The first relation may subsist between a master
and four species of servants, (for slavery is unknown
to our laws) : viz. 1. Menial servants ; who are hired.
2. Apprentices j who are bound by indentures. 3. La¬
bourers ; who are casually employed. 4. Stewards, bai-
liffs, and factors 3 who are rather in a ministerial state.
(3.) From this relation result divers powers to the
master, and emoluments to the servant.
(4.) The master hath a property in the service of
his servant 3 and must be answerable for such acts as
the servant does by his express, or implied, command.
[ Sect. XV. Of Husband and Wife.
Iviii. (x.) The second private relation is that of marriage;
which includes the reciprocal rights and duties of hus-
band and wife.
(2.) Marriage is duly contracted between persons,
1. Consenting. 2. Free from canonical impediments,
which make it voidable. 3. Free also from the civil
impediments,—of prior marriage,—of want of age—of
non-consent of parents or guardians, where requisite,
—and of want of reason j either of which make it to¬
tally void. And it must be celebrated by a clergyman
in due form and place.
(3.) Marriage is dissolved, I. By death. 2. By di¬
vorce in the spiritual court: not a mensa et thoro only,
but a vinculo matrimonii, for canonical cause existing
previous to the contract. 3. By act of parliament, as
for adultery.
(4.) By marriage the husband and wife become one
person in law 3 which unity is the principal foundation
of their respective rights, duties, and disabilities.
Sect. XVI. Of Parent and Child.
41*. (.1.) The third, and most universal private relation
is that of parent and child.
3
Part II,
(2.) Children are, 1. Legitimate; being those who l-.w or
are born in lawful wedlock, or within a competent time England
after. 2. Bastards, being those who are not so. Epitomised.
(3.) The duties of parents to legitimate children are,  1
1. Maintenance. 2. Protection. 3. Education.
(4.) The power of parents consists principally in cor¬
rection, and consent to marriage. Both may after death
be delegated by will to a guardian ; and the former al¬
so, living the parent, to a tutor or master.
(5.) The duties of legitimate children to parents are
obedience, protection, and maintenance.
(6.) The duty of parents to bastards is only that of
maintenance.
(7.) The rights of a bastard are such only as lie can
acquire 3 for he is incapable of inheriting any thing.
Sect. XVII. Of Guardian and Ward.
(1.) The fourth private relation is that of guardian
and ward, which is plainly derived from the last 3 these
being, during the continuance of their relation, recipro¬
cally subject to the same rights and duties.
(2.) Guardians are of divers sorts : 1. Guardians by
nature, or the parents. 2. Guardians for nurture, as¬
signed by the ecclesiastical courts. 3. Guardians in so¬
cage, assigned by the common law. 4. Guardians by
statute, assigned by the father’s will. All subject to
the snperintendance of the court of chancery.
(3.) Full age in male or female for all purposes is
the age of 21 years (different ages being allowed for
different purposes) 3 till which age the person is an in¬
fant-
(4.) An infant, in respect of his tender years, hath
various privileges, and various disabilities, in law 3
chiefly with regard to suits, crimes, estates and con¬
tracts.
Sect. XVIII. Of Corporations.
(1.) Bodies politic, or corporations, which are arsi-
ficial persons, are established for preserving in perpetual
succession certain rights 3 which, being conferred on
natural persons only, would fail in process of time.
(2.) Corporations are, I. Aggregate, consisting of
many members. 2. Sole, consisting of one person only.
(3.) Corporations are also either spiritual, erected to
perpetuate the rights of the church 3 or lay. And the
lay are, 1. Civil; erected for many temporal purposes.
2. Eleemosynary; erected to perpetuate the charity of
the founder.
(4). Corporations are usually erected and named by
virtue of the king’s royal charter 3 but may be created
by act of parliament.
(5.) The powers incident to all corporations are,
I, To maintain perpetual succession. 2. To act in their
corporate capacity like an individual. 3. To hold lands,
subject to the statutes of mortmain. 4. To have a com¬
mon seal. 5. To make by-laws. "Which last power,
in spiritual or eleemosynary corporations, may be exe¬
cuted by the king or the founder.
(6.) The duty of corporations is to answer the ends
of their institution.
(7.) To enforce this duty, all corporations may he
visited: spiritual corporations by the ordinary ; lay cor¬
porations by the founder, ox* his representatives 3 viz.
tbs
LAW,
ha]). It. LAW.
Law of c‘vil by the king (who is the fundator incipiens of
England all represented in his court of king’s bench j the elee-
litamised. moSynary by the endower (who is the fundator perfi-
“"■w ciens of such), or by his heirs or assigns.
(8.) Corporations may be dissolved, I. By act of
parliament. 2. By the natural death of all their mem¬
bers, 3. By surrender of their franchises. 4. By for¬
feiture of their charter.
60
Ixii.
Chap. II. Of the Rights <j/Things.
Sect. I. Of Property in General,
kiii. (1.) All dominion over external objects has its ori¬
ginal from the gift of the Creator to man in general.
(2.) The substance of things was, at first, common
to ail mankind ; yet a temporary property in the use
of them, might even then be acquired, and continued,
by occupancy.
(3.) In process of time a permanent property was
established in the substance, as well as the use of things}
which was also originally acquired by occupancy only.
(4.) Lest this property should determine by the
owner’s dereliction or death, whereby the thing would
again become common, societies have established con¬
veyances, wills, and heirships, in order to continue the
property of the first occupant: and, where by accident
such property becomes discontinued or unknown, the
thing usually results to the sovereign of the state, by
virtue of the municipal law.
(5.) But of some things, which are incapable of per¬
manent substantial dominion, there still subsists only
the same transient usufructuary property, which origir
nally subsisted in all things.
SECT. II. Of Peal Property ; and, first, of Corporeal
Hei'editaments.
kiv. (!•) 1° this property, or exclusive dominion, consist
the rights of things; which are, i„ Things real. 2 Things
personal.
(2.) In things real may be considered, I. Their se¬
veral kinds. 2. The tenures by which they may be
holden. 3. The estates which may be acquired there¬
in. 4. Their title, or the means of acquiring and losing
them.
(3.) All the several kinds of things real are reduci¬
ble to one of these three, viz. lands, tenements, or he¬
reditaments ; whereof the second includes the first, and
the third includes the first and second.
(4.) Hereditaments, therefore, or whatever may come
to be inherited (being the most comprehensive deno¬
mination of things real), are either corporeal or incor¬
poreal.
(5.) Corporeal hereditaments consist wholly of lands,
in their largest legal sense } wherein they include not
only the face of the earth, but every other object of
sense adjoining thereto, and subsisting either above or
beneath it.
Sect. Ill, Of Incorporeal Hereditaments.
(1.) Incorporeal hereditaments are rights issuing out
of things corporeal, or concerning, or annexed to, or Law of
exercisable within the same. England
(2.) Incorporeal hereditaments are, I. Epitomised.
2. Tithes. 3. Commons. 4. Ways. 5. Offices. 6. Dig-
nities. 7. Franchises. 8. Corodies or pensions. 9. An¬
nuities. 10. Rents.
(3.) An advowson is a right of representation to an
ecclesiastical benefice } either appendant, or in gross.
This may be, 1. Presentative. 2. Collative. 3. Do¬
native.
(4.) Tithes are the tenth part of the increase yearly
arising from the profits and stock of lands, and the per¬
sonal industry of mankind. These, by the ancient and
positive law of the land, are due of common right to
the parson, or (by endowment) to the vicar ; unless
specially discharged, 1. By real composition. 2. By
prescription, either de modo decimandi, or de non deci-
mando.
(5.) Common is a profit which a man hath in the
land of another} being, 1. Common of pasture, which
is either appendant, appurtenant, because of vicinage,
or in gross. 2. Common of piscary. 3. Common of
turbary. 4. Common of estovers, or botes.
(6.) Ways are a right of passing over another man’s
ground.
(7.) Offices are the right to exercise a public or pri¬
vate employment.
(8.) For dignities, which are titles of honour, see
chap. i. sect. 12.
(9.) Franchises are a royal privilege, or branch of
the king’s prerogative, subsisting in the hands of a sub¬
ject.
(10.) Corodies are allotments for one’s sustenance;
which may be converted into pensions, see chap. i.
sect. 8.
(11.) An annuity is a yearly sum of money, char¬
ged upon the person, and not upon the lands of the
granter.
(12.) Rents are a certain profit issuing yearly out
of lands and tenements; and are reducible to, 1. Kent-
service. 2. Rent-charge. 3. Rent-seck.
Sect. IV. Of the Feodal System.
(1.) The doctrine of tenures is derived from the Ixrr.
feodal law ; which was planted in Europe by its nor¬
thern conquerors at the dissolution of the Roman em¬
pire.
(2.) Pure vindi proper feuds were parcels of land allot¬
ted by a chief to his followers, to be held on the con¬
dition of personally rendering due military service to
their lord.
(3.) These were granted by investiture; were held
under the bond of fealty; were inheritable only by de¬
scendants ; and could not be transferred without the
mutual consent of the lord and vassal.
(4.) Improper feuds were derived from the other ;
but diftered from them in their original, their services
and renders, their descent, and other circumstances.
(5.) The lands of England were converted into
feuds, of the improper kind, soon after the Norman
conquest; which gave rise to the grand maxim of te¬
nure, viz. That all lands in the kingdom are holden,
mediately or immediately, of the king."
4 Cr 2
Sect.
6 C4
JjilW of
England
EpitomiseeL
Ixvii.
L A W.
Part II.
Ixviii.
Sect. V. Of the Ancient English Tenures.
(x.) The distinction of tenures consisted in the na¬
ture of their services: as, i. Chivalry knight-service;
where the service was free, but uncertain. 2. Free soc¬
age ; where the service was free, and certain. 3. Pure
villenage ; where the service was base, and uncertain.
4. Frivilegedvillenage, or villein socage; where the ser¬
vice was base, but certain.
(2.) The most universal ancient tenure xvas that in
chivalry, or by knight-service; in which the tenant of
every knight’s fee was bound, if called upon, to attend
his lord to the wars. This was granted by livery, and
perfected by homage and fealty j which usually drew
after them suit of court.
(30 The other truits and consequences of the te¬
nure by knight-service were, 1. Aid. 2. Relief.
3. Primer seisin. 4. Wardship. 5. Marriage. 6. Fines
upon alienation. 7. Escheat.
(4.) Grand serjeanty differed from chivalry princi¬
pally in its render, or service j and not in its fruits and
consequences.
CiO The personal service in chivalry was at length
gradually changed into pecuniary assessments, which
were called scutage by esctioge.
(6.) These military tenures (except the services of
grand serjeanty) were, at the restoration of King
Charles, totally abolished, and reduced to free socage
by act of parliament.
Sect. \ I. Of the Modern English Tenures.
(1.) Free soc.age is a tenure by any free, certain, and
determinate service.
(2.) This tenure, the relick of Saxon liberty, in¬
cludes petit serjeanty, tenure in burgage, and gavel¬
kind.
(3.) Free socage lands partake strongly of the feodal
nature, as well as those in chivalry : being holden *,
subject to some service, at the least to fealty and suit of
court •, subject to relief, to wardship, and to escheat,
but not to marriage j subject also formerly to aids, pri¬
mer seisin, and fines for alienation.
(4.) Fure villenage was a precarious and slavish te¬
nure, at the absolute will of the lord, upon uncertain
services of the basest nature.
(5.) From hence, by tacit consent or encroachment,
have arisen the modern copyholds, or tenure by copy of
court-roll : in which lands may be still held at the (no¬
minal) will of the lord, (but regulated) according to
the custom of the manor, "
(6.) These are subject, like socage lands, to services,
reliel, and escheat; and also to heriots, wardship, and
fines upon descent and alienation.
(7.) Privileged villenage, or villein socage, is an ex-,
ailed species ot copyhold tenure, upon base, but cer¬
tain, services j subsisting only in the ancient demesnes
of the crown ; whence the tenure is denominated the
tenure in ancient demesne.
(8.) These copyholds of ancient demesne have di¬
vers immunities annexed to their tenure j but are still
held by copy of court-roll, according to the custom of
the manor, though not at the will of the lord.
(90 is a tenure by spiritual services at
large, whereby many ecclesiastical and eleemosynary p T °f
corporations now hold their lands and tenements’; be-EpS^
ing of a nature distinct from tenure by divine service
in certain.
Sect. VII. Of Freehold Estates of Inheritajice.
(1.) Estates in lands, tenements, and hereditaments,
are such interest as the tenant hath therein; to ascertain Isis
which, may be considered, 1. The quantity of interest.
2. The time of enjoyment. 3. The number and con¬
nexions of the tenants.
(2.) Estates, with respect to their qaantity of inte¬
rest, or duration, are either freehold, or less than free¬
hold. J
Cs)’ b- freehold estate, in lands, is such as is creat¬
ed by livery of seisin at common law; or, in tene¬
ments of an incorporeal nature, by what is equivalent
thereto.
(4.) Freehold estates are either estates of inheri¬
tance or not of inheritance, viz. for life only : and in¬
heritances are, 1. Absolute, or fee-simple. 2. Limited
fees.
(5.) Tenant \n fee-simple is he that hath lands, te¬
nements, or hereditaments, to hold to him and his heirs
for ever.
(6.) Limited fees are, I. Qualified, or base, fees.
2. Fees conditional at the common law. -
(70 Qualified or base fees are those which, having
a qualification subjoined thereto, are liable to be de¬
feated when that qualification is at an end.
(8.) Conditional fees, at the common law, were such
as were granted to the donee, and the heirs of his
body, in exclusion of collateral heirs.
(9.) These were held to be fees, granted on condi¬
tion that the donee had issue of his body ; which con¬
dition being once performed by the birth of issue, the
donee might immediately alien the land : but the sta¬
tute de donis being made to prevent such alteration,
thereupon from the division of the fee (by construction
of this statute into a particular estate and a reversion),
the conditional fees began to be called fees tail.
(10.) All tenements real, or savouring of the realty,
are subject to entails.
(11.) Estates tail may be, 1. General, or special ;
2. Male, or female ; 3. Given in frank marriage.
(12.) Incident to estates tail are, 1. Waste. 2. Dow¬
er. 3. Curtesy. 4. Bar;-~by fine, recovery, or lineal
warranty with assets.
(13.) Estates tail are now, by many statutes and re¬
solutions of the courts, almost brought hack to the state
of conditional fees at the common law.
Sect. VIII. Of Freeholds, not oj Lnheritance.
(1.) Ireeholds, not of inheritance, or for Uj'e only,
are, 1. Conventional, or created by the act of the par¬
ties. 2. Legal, or created by operation of law.
(2.) Conventional zstvAvs fox life are created by an
express grant for term of one’s own life, or pur outer
vie ; or by a general grant, without expressing any term
at all.
(3.) Incident to this, and all other estates for life.
kllj
5
Chap. IT.
L A \V.
Xaw of are estovers, and emblements : and to estates auter
England vie general occupancy was also incident j as special oc-
ipitoinised. cupancy still is, if cestuy que vie survives the tenant.
""r—(4O Legal estates for life are, 1. Tenancy in tail,
after possibility of issue extinct. 2. Tenancy by the
curtesy of England. 3. Tenancy in dower.
(50 Tenancy in tail, after possibility of issue extinct,
is where an estate is given in special tail; and, before
issue had, a person dies from whose body the issue was
to spring j whereupon the tenant (if surviving) becomes
tenant in tail, after possibility of issue extinct.
(6.) This estate partakes both of the incidents to an
estate tail, and those of an estate for life.
(7.) Tenancy by the curtesy of England is where a
man’s wife is seized of an estate of inheritance j and he
by her has issue, born alive, which was capable of in¬
heriting her estate in which case he shall, upon her
death, hold the tenements for his own life, as tenant
by the curtesy.
(8.) Tenancy in dower is where a woman’s husband
is seized of an estate of inheritance, of which her issue
might by any possibility have been heir; and the hus¬
band dies : the woman is thereupon entitled to dower,
or one-third part of the lands and tenements, to hold
for her natural life.
(9.) Dower is either by the common law; by spe¬
cial custom ; ad ostium ecclesicr; or, ex assensu patris.
(lO.) Dower may be forfeited or barx-ed, particular¬
ly by an estate in jointure.
Sect. IX. Of Estates less than Freehold.
I taxi. OO Estates iess than freehold are, 1. Estates for
years. 2. Estates at will. 3. Estates at sufferance.
(2.) An estate for years is where a man, seized of
lands and tenements, letteth them to another for a cer¬
tain period of time, which transfers the interest of the
term ; and the lessee enters thereon, which gives him
possession of the term, but not legal seisin of the
land.
(3.) Incident to this estate are estovers ; and also
emblements, if it determines before the full end of the
term.
(4.) An estate at will is where lands are let by one
man to another, to hold at the will of both parties ;
and the lessee enters thereon.
(5.) Copyholds are estates held at the will of the
lord, (regulated) according to the custom of the
manor.
(6.) An estate at sufferance is where one comes into
possession of land by lawful title, but keeps it after¬
wards without any title at all.
Sect. X. OJ Estates upon Condition.
■ taxii. (l*) Estates (whether freehold or otherwise) may
also be held upon conditioii; in which case their exist¬
ence depends on the happening, or not happening, of
some uncertain event.
(2.) These estates are, 1. On condition implied.
2. On condition expressed. 3. Estates in gage. 4. E-
states by statute, merchant or staple. 5. Estates by
elegit.
(3') I^tatcs on condition implied are where a grant
of an estate has, from its essence and constitution, a
condition inseparably annexed to it j though none be
expressed in words.
(4.) Estates on condition expressed are where an ex¬
press qualification or provision is annexed to the grant
of an estate.
(5.) On the performance of these conditions either
expressed or implied (if precedent) the estate may be
vested or enlarged ; or, on the breach of them (if sub-
sequent) an estate already vested may be defeated.
(6.) Estates.in gage, in vadio, or in pledge, are e-
states granted as a security for money lent; being,
1. In vivo vadio, or living gage; where the profits of
land are granted till a debt be paid, upon which pay¬
ment the granter’s estate will revive. 2. In mortuo va¬
dio, in dead, or mart gage ; wherein an estate is grant¬
ed, on condition to be void at a day certain, if the
granter then repays the money borrowed ; on failure
of which, the estate becomes absolutely dead to the
granter.
(7.) Estates by stafwfe-merchant, or sta/Hte-staple,
are also estates conveyed to creditors, in pursuance of
certain statutes, till their profits shall discharge the
debt.
(8.) Estates by elegit are where, in consequence of
a judicial writ so called, lands are delivered by the
sherilF to a plaintiff, till their profits shall satisfy a debt
adjudged to be due by law.
Sect. XI. Of Estates in Possession, Remainder, and
Reversion.
(1.) Estates, with respect to their time of enjoy¬
ment, are either in immediateor in expectan¬
cy ; which estates in expectancy wee, created at the same
time, and are parcel of the same estates, as those upon
which they are expectant. These are, 1. Remainders.
2. Reversions.
(2.) A remainder is an estate limited to take effect,
and he enjoyed, after another particular estate is de¬
termined.
(30 Therefore, 1. There must be a precedent par¬
ticular estate, in order to support a remainder. 2. The
remainder must pass out of the granter, at the creation
of the particular estate. 3. The remainder must vest
in the grantee, during the continuance, or at the de¬
termination, of the particular estate.
(4.) .Remainders are, 1. Vested ; where the estate
is fixed to remain to a certain person, after the particu¬
lar estate is spent. 2. Contingent; where the estate is
limited to take effect, either to an uncertain person, or
upon an uncertain event.
(5.) An executory devise is such a disposition of
lands, by will, that an estate shall not vest thereby at
the death of the devisor, but only upon some future
contingency, and without any precedent particular
estate to support it.
(6.) A reversion is the residue of an estate left in the
granter, to commence in possession after the determina¬
tion of some particular estate granted: to which are in¬
cident fealty, and rent.
(7.) Where two estates, the one less, the other
greater, the one in possession, the other in expec¬
tancy, meet together in one and the same person, and
in one and the same right, the less is merged in the
greater*
Sect.
605
Law of
England
Epitomised!.
In.— ,,— i^l
Ixxiii.
6o6 LAW. Part IT
Law of
England Sect. XII. Of Estates, in Severalty, Joint Tenancy,
Epitomised. Coparcenary, and Common.
kxir. Estates, with respect to the number and con-
nexions of their tenants, may be held, i. In several¬
ty. 2. In joint tenancy. 3. In coparcenary. 4. In
common.
(2.) An estate in severalty is where one tenant holds
it in his own sole right, without any other person being
joined with him.
(3.) An estate in joint tenancy is where an estate is
granted to two or more persons j in which case the
law construes them to be joint tenants, unless the
words of the grant expressly exclude such construc¬
tion.
(4.) Joint tenants have an unity of interest, of title,
of time and of possession : they are seised per my et per
tout: and therefore upon the decease of one joint te¬
nant, the whole interest remains to the survivor.
(5.) Joint tenancy may be dissolved, by destroying
one of its four constituent unities.
(6.) An estate in coparcenary is where an estate of
inheritance descends from the ancestor to two or more
persons $ who are called parceners, and all together
make but one heir.
(7.) Parceners have an unity of interest, title, and
possession ; but are only seised per my, and not per
tout: wherefore there is no survivorship among parce¬
ners.
(8.) Incident to this estate is the law of hotchpot.
(9.) Coparcenary may also be dissolved, by destroy¬
ing any of its three constituent unities.
(10.) An estate in common is where two or more per¬
sons hold lands, possibly by distinct titles, and for di¬
stinct interests ; but by unity of possession, because
none knoweth his own severalty.
(11.) Tenants in common have therefore an unity
of possession, (without survivorship ; being seised per
my, and not per tout) ; but no necessary unity of title,
time, or interest.
(12.) This estate may be created, 1. By dissolving
the constituent unities of the two former ; 2. By ex¬
press limitation in a grant: and may be destroyed,
I. By uniting the several titles in one tenant j 2. By
partition of the land.
Sect. XIII. Of the Title to Thmgs Heal, in General.
Ixjtv, (1.) A title to things real is the means whereby a
man cometh to the just possession of his property.
(2.) Herein may be considered, 1. A mere or naked
possession. 2. The right of possession 5 which is, 1st, an
apparent, 2dly, an actual right. 3. The mere right
ol property. 4. The conjunction of actual posses¬
sion with both these rights $ which constitutes a perfect
title.
Sect. XIV. Of Title by Descent.
Ixxvf, OO title to things real may be reciprocally ac¬
quired or lost, I. By descent. 2. By purchase.
(2.) Descent is the means whereby a man, on the
death of his ancestor, acquires a title to the estate, in
right of his representation, as his heir at law.
(3.) To understand the doctrine of descents, we must i,aw ot-
form a clear notion of consanguinity ; which is the con- England
nexion, or relation, of persons descended from the same Epitomised,
stock or common ancestor j and it is, 1. Lineal, where '’’■‘“v'"—'
one of the kinsmen is lineally descended from the
other. 2. Collateral, where they are lineally descend¬
ed, not one from the other, but both from the same
common ancestor.
(4.) The rules of descent, or canons of inheritance,
observed by the laws of England, are these :
1st, Inheritances shall lineally descend to the issue of
the person last actually seised, in infinitum ; but shall
never lineally ascend.
2d, The male issue shall be admitted before the female.
$d, Where there are two or more males in equal de¬
gree, the eldest only shall inherit j but the females alt
together.
qth, The lineal descendants, in infinitum, of any person
deceased shall represent their ancestor; that is, shall
stand in the same place as the person himself would
have done, had he been living.
§th, On failure of lineal descendants, or issue, of the
person last seised, the inheritance shall descend to the
blood of the first purchaser; subject to the three
preceding rules. To evidence which blood, the two
following rules are established.
6th, The collateral heir of the person last seised must
be his next collateral kinsman, of the whole blood.
*lih, In collateral inheritances, the male stocks shall be
preferred to the female i that is, kindred derived
from the blood of the male ancestors shall be admit¬
ted before those from the blood of the female : un¬
less where the lands have, in fact, descended from a
female.
Sect. XV. Of Title by Purchase, and first by Escheat.
(1.) Purchase, or perquisition, is the possession of
an estate which a man hath by his own act or agree¬
ment; and not by the mere act of law, or descent from
any of his ancestors. This includes, 1. Escheat.
2. Occupancy. 3. Prescription. 4. Forfeiture. 5. A*
lienation.
(2.) Escheat is where, upon deficiency of the te¬
nant’s inheritable blood, the estate falls to the lord of
the fee.
(3.) Inheritable blood is wanting to, I. Such as are
not related to the person last seised. 2. His maternal
relations in paternal inheritances, and vice versa. 3. His
kindred of the half blood. 4. Monsters. 5. Bastards.
6. Aliens, and their issue. 7. Persons attainted of
treason or felony. 8. Papists, in respect of themselves
only, by the statute law.
Sect. XVI. Of Title by Occupancy.
(1.) Occupancy is the taking possession of those ixxtlii,
things which before had no owner.
(2.) Thus, at the common law, where tenant pur
outer vie died during the life of cestuy que vie, he, who
could first enter, might lawfully retain the possession ;
unless by the original grant the heir was made a special
occupant.
(3.) The law of derelictions and alluvions has nar¬
rowed the title of occupancy.
Sect,
Chap. IT. L .
J>aw of
England Sect. XVII. Of Title by Prescription.
Epitomised.
(i.) Prescription (as distinguished from evsioni) is a
pcrsonol.immemorial usage of enjoying a riglit in some
incorporeal hereditament, by a man, and either his an¬
cestors or those whose estate of inheritance he hath : of
which the first is called prescribing in his ancestors, the
latter in a qve estate.
Sect. XVIII. Of Title by Forfeiture.
Ixxx. (i.) Forfeiture is a punishment annexed bylaw to
some illegal act, or negligence, in the owner of things
real ; whereby the estate is transferred to another, who
is usually the party injured.
(2.) Forfeitures are occasioned, r. By crimes. 2. By
alienation, contrary to law. 3. By lapse. 4. By simony.
5. By nonperformance of conditions. 6. By waste.
7. By breach of copyhold customs. 8. By bankruptcy.
( 3.,) Forfeitures lor crimes, or misdemeanors, are for,
I. Treason. 2. Felony. 3. Misprision of treason. 4,
Prcemunire. 5. Assaults cn a judge, and batteries,
sitting the courts. 6. Popish recusancy, &e.
(4.) Alienations, or conveyances, which induce a
forfeiture, are, 1. Those in mortmain, made to corpo¬
rations contrary to the statute law. 2. Those made to
aliens. 3. Those made by particular tenants, when
larger than their estates will warrant.
(5.) Lapse is a forfeiture of the right of presentation
to a vacant church, by neglect of the patron to present
within six kalendar months.
(6.) Simony is the corrupt presentation of any one
to an ecclesiastical benefice, whereby that turn becomes
forfeited to the crown.
(7.) For forfeiture by nonperformance of conditions,
see Sect. 10.
(8.) JFastc is a spoil, or destruction, in any corporeal
hereditaments, to the prejudice of him that hath the
inheritance.
(9.) Copyhold estates may have also other peculiar
causes of forfeiture, according to the custom of the ma¬
nor.
(10.) Bankruptcy is the act of becoming a bank¬
rupt; that is, a trader who secretes himself, or does
certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors, see
Sect. 22.
(11.) By bankruptcy all the estates of the bankrupt
are transferred to the assignees of his commissioners, to
be sold for tbe benefit of his creditors.
Sect. XIX. Of Title by Alienation.
JxxkL (i.) Alienation, Conveyance, or purchase in its more
limited sense, is a means of transferring real estates,
wherein they are voluntarily resigned by one man, and
accepted by another.
(2.) This formerly could not be done by a tenant,
without license from his lord ; nor by a lord, without
attornment of his tenant.
(3.) All persons are capable of purchasing; and all
that are in possession of any estates, are capable of con¬
veying them: unless under peculiar disabilities by law :
as being attainted, non compotes, infants under duress,
feme coverts, aliens, or papists.
K W. foy
(4.) Alienations are made \>y common assurances; Law of
which are, I. By deed, or matter in pais. 2. By mat- England
ter of record. 3. By special custom. 4. By devise. Epitomised.
Sect. XX. Of Alienation by Deed.
(1.) In assurances by deed may be considered, I. Its ^xxii.
general nature. 2. Its several species.
(2.) A deed, in general, is the solemn act of the
parties ; being usually a writing sealed and delivered ;
and it may be, I. A deed indented, or indenture. 2.
A deed poll.
(3.) The requisites of a deed are, 1. Sufficient joar-
ties, and proper subject matter. 2. A good and suffici¬
ent consideration. 3. Writing on paper, or parchment,
duly stamped. 4. Legal and orderly parts; (which
are usually, 1st, the premises ; 2dly, the habendum;
3dly, the tenendum ; 4thly, the reddendum ; 5thly, the
conditions ; 6thly, the warranty, which is either lineal
or collateral; 7thly, the covenants; 8thly, the con¬
clusion, which includes the date). 5. Heading it, if
desired. 6. Scaling, and, In many cases, signing it al¬
so. 7. Delivery. 8. Attestation.
(4.) A deed may be avoided, 1. By the want of any
of the requisites before mentioned. 2. By subsequent
matter; as, 1st, Rasure, or alteration. 2dly, Defacing
its seal. 3^7* Cancelling it. 4thly, Disagreement of
those whose consent is necessary. 5thly, Judgment of
a court of justice.
(5.) Of the several species of deeds, some serve
to convey real property, some only to charge and dis¬
charge it.
(6.) Deeds which serve to convey real property, of
conveyances, are either by common law, or by statute.
And, of conveyances by common law, some are origi¬
nal or primary, others derivative or secondary.
(7.) Or^g-zW/conveyancesare, 1.Feoffments. 2. Gifts.
3. Grants. 4. Leases. 5. Exchanges. 6. Partitions.
Derivative are, 7. Releases. 8. Confirmations. 9. Sur¬
renders. 10. Assignments. 11. Defeasances.
(8.) h. feoffment is the transfer of any corporeal he¬
reditament to another, perfected by livery of seisin, or
delivery of bodily possession from the feofi’er to the fe¬
offee ; without which no freehold estate therein can be
created at common law.
(9.) A gift is properly the conveyance of lands in
tail.
(10.) A. grant is the regular method, by common
law, of conveying incorporeal hereditaments.
(ll.) A lease is the demise, granting, or letting to
farm of any tenement, usually for a less term than the
lessor hath therein; yet sometimes possibly for a great¬
er ; according to the regulations of the restraining and
enabling statutes.
(12.) An exchange is the mutual conveyance of equal
interests, the one in consideration of the other.
(13.) A partition is the division of an estate held in
joint tenancy, in coparcenary, or in common, between
the respective tenants ; so that each may hold his dis¬
tinct part in severalty.
(14.) A release is the discharge or conveyance of a
man’s right, in lands and tenements, to another that
hath some former estate in possession therein.
(I5*) -A- confirmation is the conveyance of an estate
or right in esse, whereby a voidable estate is made sure,
or a particular estate is increased.
(16.) A,
633 _ LA
Law of (i6>) A turremhr Is the yielding up of an estate
Enrj.and for jjfe or years to him that hath the immediate re.
i— ^ . mainoer or reversion j wherein the particular estate
may merge.
(17.) An assignment is the transfer, or making over
to another, of the whole right one has in any estate j
but usually in a lease, for life or years.
(18.) A defeazance is a collateral deed, made at
the same time with the original conveyance ; contain¬
ing some condition, upon which the estate may be de-
feated.
(19.) Conveyances hy statute depend much on the
doctrine of uses and trusts: which are a confidence re¬
posed in the terre tenant, or tenant of the land, that he
shall permit the profits to be enjoyed, according to the
directions of cestuij que use, or cestuy que trust.
(20.) The statute of uses, having transferred all uses
into actual possession, (or, rather, having drawn the
possession to the use,) has given birth to divers other
species of conveyance : 1. A covenant to stand seized
to use. 2. A bargain and sale enrolled. 3. A lease
and release. 4., A deed to lead or declare the use of
other more direct conveyances. 5. A revocation of
uses ; being the execution of a power, reserved at the
creation of the use, of recalling at a future time the use
or estate so creating. Ail which owe their present ope¬
ration principally to the statute of uses.
(21.) Deeds which are used not to convey, but only
to charge real property, and discharge it, are, 1. Obli¬
gations. 2. Recognizances. 3. Defeazances uyonhoih.
Part II,
(8.) A common recovery is by an actual, or ficti. law of
tious, suit or action for land, brought against the te. England
nant of the freehold ; who thereupon vouches another, Epitomised,,
who undertakes to warrant the tenant’s title : but, up. "“"’"Y-—4
on such vouchee’s making default, the land is recovered
by judgment at law against the tenant; who, in return,
obtains judgment against the vouchee to recover lands
of equal value in recompense.
(9.) The force and effect of a recovery are to assure
lands to the recoverer, by barring estates tail, and all
remainders and reversions expectant thereon j provid-
ed the tenant in tail either suffers, or is vouched in, such
recovery.
(10.) The uses of a fine or recovery may be directed
by, 1. Deeds to lead such uses 5 which are made pre¬
vious to the levying or suffering them. 2. Deeds to
declare the uses ; which are made subsequent.
Sect. XXII. Of Alienation by Special Custom.
(1.) Assurances by special custom are confined to Ixswr,
the transfer of copyhold estates.
(2.) This is effected by, 1. Surrender by the tenant
into the hands of the lord to the use of another, accord¬
ing to the custom of the manor. 2. Presentment, by
the tenants or homage, of such surrender. 3. Admit¬
tance of the surrenderee by the lord, according to the
uses expressed in such surrender.
(3.) Admittance may also be had upon original
grants to the tenant from the lord, and upon descents
to the heir from the ancestor.
Sect. XXI. Of Alienation by matter of Record.
(1.) Assurances hy matter of record are where the
sanction of some court of record is called in, to sub¬
stantiate and witness the transfer of real property.
These are, 1. Pi'ivate acts oiparliament. 2. The king's
grants. 3. Fines. 4. Common recoveries.
(2.) Private acts of parliament are a species of as¬
surances, calculated to give (by the transcendant au¬
thority of parliament) such reasonable powers or re¬
lief as are beyond the, reach ol the ordinary course of
law.
(3.) The king's grants, contained in charters or
letters patent, are all entered on record, for the dig¬
nity of the royal person, and security of the royal re¬
venue.
(4.) A fine (sometimes said to be a feoffment of re¬
cord) is an amicable composition and agreement of
an actual, or fictitious, suit ; whereby the estate in
question is acknowledged to be the right of one of the
parties.
(S-) The parts of a fine are, 1. The writ of covenant.
2. Ihe license to agree. 3. The concord. 4. The note.
5. The foot. To which the statute hath added, 6. Pro¬
clamations.
(6.) Fines are of four kinds : Sur cognizance de
droit, come ceo que il ad de son done. 2. Sur cognizance
de droit tuntum. 3. Sur concessit. 4* Sur done, grant,
et render ; which is a double fine.
(7.) The force and efi'ect of fines (when levied by
such as have themselves any interest in the estate) are
to assure the lands in question to the cognizee, by
barring the respective rights of parties, privies, and
strangers.
Sect. XXIII. Of Alienation by Devise.
(1.) Devise is a disposition of lands and tenements,
contained in the last will and testament of the owner.
(2.) This was not permitted by the common law, as
it stood since the conquest ; but was introduced by the
statute law, under Henry VIII. since made more uni¬
versal by the statute of tenures under Charles II. with
the introduction of additional solemnities by the statute
of frauds and perjuries in the same reign.
(S') ^ lle construction of all common assurances should
be, 1. Agreeable to the intention. 2. To the words of
the parties. 3. Made upon the entire deed. 4. Bear¬
ing strongest against the contractor. 5. Conformable
to law. 6. Rejecting the latter of two totally repug¬
nant clauses in a deed, and the former in a will. 7,
Most favourable in a case of devise.
Sect. XXIV. Of Things Personal.
(r.) Things personal are comprehended under the hcmi,
general name of chattels; which includes whatever
wants either the duration, or the immobility, attending
things real.
(2.) In these are to be considered, 1. Their distri¬
bution. 2. The property of them. 3. The title to that
property.
(3.) As to the distribution of chattels, they are, I.
Chattels real. 2. Chattels personal.
(4.) Chattels real are such quantities of interest, in
things immoveable, as are short of the duration of free¬
holds j being limited to a time certain, beyond which
they cannot subsist. (See Sect. 7.)
/
(5.) Chattels
L A W.
Pimp. II.
Law of (5.) Cliattols personal arc tliinga moveable; which
Cnglaiv-I may be transferred from place to place, together with
pitomucd. jhe person of the owner.
Sect. XXV, Of Properly in Things Personal.
iixxvii. C1*) Property, in chattels personal, is either in pos¬
session, or in action.
(2.) Property in possessioti, where a man has the ac¬
tual enjoyment of the thing, is, j. Absolute. 2. Quali¬
fied.
(3.) Absolute property is where a man has such an
exclusive right in the thing, that it cannot cease to be
his, without his own act or default.
(4.) Qualified property is such as is not, in its na¬
ture, permanent; but may sometimes subsist, and at
other times not subsist.
(5.) This may arise, I. Where the subject is inca¬
pable of absolute ownership. 2. From the peculiar cir¬
cumstances of the owners.
(6.) Property in action, is where a man hath not
the actual occupation of the thing; but only a right to
it, arising upon some contract, and recoverable by an
action at law.
(7.) The property of chattels personal is liable to
remainders, expectant on estates for life j to joint te¬
nancy $ and to tenancy in common.
Sect. XXVI. Of Title to Things Personal by Occu¬
pancy.
Sect. XXVIII, Of Title by Custom,
(r.) By custom, obtaining in particular places, a
right may be acquired in chattels j the most usual of
which customs are those relating to, 1. Hei'iots. 2.
Mortuaries. 3. Heir looms.
(2.) Heriots are either heriot service, which dif¬
fers little from a rent} or heriot custom, which is a
customary tribute, of goods and chattels, payable to
the lord of the fee on the decease of the owner of
lands.
.(30 Mortuaries are a customary gift, due to the
minister in many parishes, on the death of his pa¬
rishioners. r
(4.) Heir looms are such personal chattels as descend
by special custom to the heir, along with the inheri¬
tance of his ancestor.
Sect. XXIX. Of Title by Succession, Marriage, and
Judgment.
(1.) By succession the right of chattels is vested in
corporations aggregate; and likewise in such corpora¬
tions sole as are the heads and representatives of bodies
aggregate.
(2.) By marriage the chattels real and personal of
the wife are vested in the husband, in the same degree
of property, and with the same powers, as the wife
when sole had over them ; provided he reduces them to
possession.
irsrii:.
(1.) The title to things personal may be acquired or
lost by, I. Occupancy. 2. Prerogative. 3. Forfeiture.
4. Custom. 5. Succession. 6. Marriage. 7. Judgment.
8. Gift, or grant. 9. Contract. 10. Bankruptcy. 11.
Testament. 12. Administration.
(2.) Occupancy still gives the first occupant a right
to those few things which have no legal owner, or
which are incapable of permanent ownership. Such
as, 1. Goods of alien enemies. 2. Things found.
3. The benefit of the elements. 4. Animals ferae na-
turce. 5. Emblements. 6. Things gained by acces¬
sion j or, 7* By confusion. 8. Literary property.
Sect. XXVII. Of Title by Prei'ogative, and Forfeiture.
(1.) By prerogative is vested in the crown, or its
granters, the property of the royal revenue, (see
Chap. I. Sect. 8.) j and also the property of all game
in the kingdom, with the right of pursuing and taking
it.
(2.) forfeiture, for crinaes and misdemeanors, the
right of goods and chattels may be transferred from one
man to another j either in part or totally.
(3*) Total forfeitures of goods arise from conviction
of, 1. Treason, and misprision thereof. 2. Felony.
3. Excusable homicide. 4. Outlawry for treason or
felony. 5. Flight. 6. Standing mute. 7. Assaults
on a judge ; and batteries, sitting the courts. 8. Pra-
vtunire. 9. Pretended prophecies. 10. Owling. 11.
Residing abroad of artificers. 12. Challenges to fight,
for debts at play.
Vol. XL Part II. +
(3*) The wife also acquires, by marriage, a property
in her own paraphernalia. 1
(4*) By judgment, consequent on a suit at Jaw, a
man may in some cases, not only recover, but originally
acquire, a right to personal property. As, 1. To penal¬
ties recoverable by action popular. 2. To damages.
3. To costs of suit.
Sect. XXX. Of Title by Gift, Grant, and Contract.
00 ^ sif^y or §ranti is a voluntary conveyance of
a chattel personal in possession, without any considera¬
tion or equivalent.
. OO.A contract is an agreement, upon sufficient con¬
sideration, to do or not to do a particular thing: and,
by such contract, any personal property (either in pos¬
session or in action) may be transferred.
(3.) Contracts may either he express or implied ;
either executed or executory.
(4.) The consideration of contracts is, 1. A good
consideration. 2. A valuable consideration ; which is
1. .Do, ut des. 2. Facio, ut facias. 3. Facto, ut des.
4. Do, ut facias.
(5.) The most usual species of personal contracts are,
I. Sale or exchange. 2. Bailment. 3. Hiring or bor¬
rowing. 4. Debt.
(6.) Sale or exchange is a transmutation of property
from one man to another, in consideration of some re¬
compense in value.
(7.) Bailment is the delivery of goods in trust; up¬
on a contract, express or implied, that the trust shall
be faithfully performed by the bailee.
(8.) Hiring or borrowing is a contract, whereby the
4 H possession
609
Law of
England
Epitomisrd.
xc.
xcl.
x«ii.
i o Li
Law of possession of chattels is transferred for a particular time,
England on condition that the identical goods (or sometimes
> pitoimsed. their value) be restored at the time appointed, tege-
ther with (in case of hiring) a stipend or price for the
use.
(9.) This price, being calculated to answer the ha¬
zard as well as inconvenience of lending, gives birth
to the doctrine of interest, or usury, upon loans 5 and,
consequently, to the doctrine of bottomry or respondent
tia, and insurance.
(10.) Debt is any contract, whereby a certain sum
of money becomes due to the creditor. This is, 1. A
debt of record. 2. A debt upon special c6ntract. 3. A
debt upon simple contract ; which last includes paper
credit, or bills of exchange, and promissory notes.
Sect. XXXf. Of Title by Bankruptcy.
xciii. C1-) Bankruptcy (as defined in Sect. 18.) is the act
of becoming a bankrupt.
(2.) Herein may be considered, I. Who may be¬
come a bankrupt. 2. The acts whereby he may be¬
come a bankrupt. 3. The proceedings on a commis¬
sion of bankrupt. 4. How his property is transferred
thereby.
(3.) Persons of full age, using the trade of merchan¬
dise, by buying, and selling, and seeking their liveli¬
hood thereby, are liable to become bankrupts; for
debts of a sufficient amount.
(4.) A trader, who endeavours to avoid his credi¬
tors, or evade their just demands, by any of the ways
specified in the several statutes of bankruptcy, doth
thereby commit an act of bankruptcy.
(5.) The proceedings on a commission of bankrupt,
so far as they affect the bankrupt himself, are princi¬
pally by, x. Petition. 2. Commission. 3. Declara¬
tion of bankruptcy. 4. Choice of assignees. 5. The
bankrupt’s surrender. 6. His examination. 7. His
discovery. 8. His certificate. 9. His allowance.
10. His indemnity.
(6.) The property of a bankrupt’s personal estate is,
immediately upon the act of bankruptcy, vested by
construction of law in the assignees; and they, when
they have collected, distribute the whole by equal divi¬
dends among all the creditors.
Sect. XXXII. Of Title by Testament, and Admini¬
stration.
aciv (l*) Concerning testaments and administrations, con¬
sidered jointly, are to be observed, 1. Their original
and antiquity. 2. Who may make a testament. 3. Its
nature and incidents. 4. What are executors and admi- 1
mstralors. 5. Their office and duty.
(2.) Testaments have subsisted in England immemo-
rially ; whereby the deceased was at liberty to dispose
of his personal estate, reserving anciently to his wife
and children their reasonable part of his effects.
(3.) Ihe goods of intestates belonged anciently to
the king j who granted them to the prelates to be dis¬
posed in pious uses : but, on their abuse of this trust
in the times of Popery, the legislature compelled them
to delegate their power to administrators expressly pro¬
vided by law.
(4.) All persons may make a testament unless dis-
3
W. Part II,
abled by, I. Want of discretion. 2. Want of free will, £,aw of
3. Criminal conduct. England
(5.) Testaments are the legal declaration of a man’s Epitomised,
intentions, which he wills to he performed after his v~~“
death. These are, 1. Written. 2. Nuncupative.
(6.) An executor is he, to whom a man by his will
commits the execution thereof.
(7.) Administrators are, 1. Durante minore cetate oi
an infant executor or administrator j or durante ab¬
sentia ; or pendente lite. 2. Cum testamenlo annexo ;
when no executor is named, or the executor refuses to
act. 3. General administrators ; in pursuance of the
statutes of Edward III. and Henry VIII. 4. Admi¬
nisters de bonis non ; when a former executor or admi¬
nistrator dies without completing his trust.
(8.) The office and duty of executors (and, in many
points, of administrators also) are, 1. To bury the de¬
ceased. 2. To prove the will, or take out administra¬
tion. 3. To make an inventory. 4. To collect the
goods and chattels. 5. To pay debts, observing the
rules of priority. 6. To pay legacies, either general
or specific 5 if they be vested, and not lapsed. 7. To
distribute the undevised surplus, according to the sta¬
tute of distributions.
Chap. III. (^Private Wrongs.
Sect. I. Of the Redress of Private Wrongs, by the
mere Act of the Parties.
(1.) Wrongs are the privation of ngAtf; and are, jtcy
1. Private. 2. Public.
(2.) Private wrongs, or civil injuries, are an in¬
fringement, or privation, of the civil rights of indivi¬
duals, considered as individuals.
(3.) The redress of civil injuries is one principal ob¬
ject of the laws of England.
(4.) This redress is effected, 1. By the mere act of
the parties. 2. By the mere operation of law. 3. By
both together, or suit in courte.
(5.) Redress, by the mere act of the parties, is that
which arises, 1. From the sole act of the party injured.
2. From the joint act of the parties.
(6.) Of the first sort are, I. Defence of one’s self, or
relatUns. 2. Recaption of goods. 3. Entry on lands
and tenements. 4. Abatement of nuisances. 5. D is-
tress ; for rent, for suit or service $ for amercements,
for damage, or divers statutable penalties ; made of
such things only as are legally distrainable j—ami ta¬
ken and disposed of according to the due course of law,
6. Seising of heriots, &c.
(7.) Of the second sort are, I. Accord. 2. Arbi¬
tration.
Sect. II. Of Redress by the mere Operation of Law.
Redress, effected by the mere operation of law, is, „cv->
I. In the case of retainer i where a creditor is executor
or administrator, and is thereupon allowed to retain
his own debt. 2. In the case of remitter; where one,
who has a good title to lands, &c. comes into posses¬
sion by a bad one, and is thereupon remitted to his
ancient good title, which protects his ill-acquired pos¬
session.
Sect.
3!iap. III.
Law of
England Sect. III. Of Courts in General,
pitoraised.
(i.) Redress, that is effected by the act both of law
and of the parties, is by suit or action in the courts of
justice.
(2.) Herein may be considered, r. The courts them¬
selves. 2. The cognizance of wrongs or injuries there¬
in. And, of courts, l. Their nature and incidents,
2. Their several species.
(3.) A court is a place wherein justice is judicially
administered, by officers delegated by the crown ; be¬
ing a court either of record, or not of record.
(4.) Incident to all courts are a plaintiff, defendant,
and judge : and, with us, there are also usually attor¬
neys j and advocates or counsel, viz. either barristers
or serjeants at law.
Sect. IV. Of the Public Courts of Common haw and
Equity.
KSTiii. (I.) Courts of justice, with regard to their several
species, are, 1. Of a public, or general, jurisdiction
throughout the realm. 2. Of a private, or special, ju¬
risdiction.
(2.) Public courts of justice are, 1. The courts of
common law and equity. 2. The ecclesiastical courts.
3. The military courts. 4. The maritime courts.
(3.) The general and public courts of common law
and equity are, 1. The court of piepoudre. 2. The
court-baron. 3. The hundred court. 4. The county
court. 5. The court of common pleas. 6. The court
of king’s bench. 7. The court of exchequer. 8. The
court of chancery, (Which two last are courts of
equity as well as law}. 9. The courts of exchequer
chamber. 10. The house of peers. To which may
be added, as auxiliaries, H. The courts of assize and
nisi prius.
Sect. V. Of Courts Ecclesiastical, Military, and Ma¬
ritime.
sok. (l.) Ecclesiastical courts, (which were separated
from the temporal by William the Conqueror), or courts
Christian, are, 1. The courts of the archdeacon. 2. The
court of the bishop’s consistory. 3. The court of
arches, 4. The court of peculiars. 5. The preroga¬
tive court. 6, The court of delegates. 7. The court
of review.
(2.) The only permanent military court is that of
chivalrythe courts martial, annually established by
net of parliament, being only temporary.
(3.) Maritime courts are, 1. The court of admi¬
ralty and vice-admiralty. 2, The court of delegates.
3. The lords of the privy council, and others, autho¬
rized by the king’s commission, for appeals in prize-
causes.
Sect. VI. Of Courts of a Special Jurisdiction.
«* Courts of a special or private jurisdiction are,
1. The forest court $ including the courts of attach¬
ments, regard, swienmot, and justice seat. 2. The
6l l
court of commissioners of sewers. 3. The court of po- i,aw 0f
licies of assurance. 4. The court of the marshalsea and England
the palace court. 5. The courts of the principality pfEpitomised.
Wales. 6. The court of the duchy chamber of Lan- ' ’
caster. 7. The courts of the counties palatine, and
other royal franchises. 8. The stannery courts. 9. The
courts of London, and other corporations To which
may be referred the courts of requests or courts of con¬
science j and the modern regulations of certain courts
baron and county courts. 10. The courts of the two
universities.
Sect. VII. Of the Cognizance of Private Wrongs.
(1.) All private wrongs or civil injuries are cogni- c‘*
zable either in the courts ecclesiastical, military, mari¬
time, or those of common law.
(2.) Injuries cognizable in the ecclesiastical courts
are, 1. Pecuniary. 2. Matrimonial. 3. Testamentary.
(3.) Pecuniary \n]\ir\es, here cognizable, are, Sub¬
traction oi tithes. For which the remedy is by suit to
compel their payment, or an equivalent; and also their
double value. 2. Non-payment of ecclesiastical dues.
Remedy : by suit for payment. 3. Spoliation. Re¬
medy : by suit for restitution. 4. Dilapidations. Re¬
medy : by suit for damages. 5. Non-repair of the
church, &c.; and non-payment of church-rates. Re¬
medy : by suit to compel them.
(4.) Matrimonial injuries are, I. Jactitation of mar¬
riage. Remedy : by suit for pex-petual silence. 2. Sub-
traction of conjugal rights. Remedy : by suit for re¬
stitution. 3. Inability for the marriage state. Reme¬
dy : by suit for divorce. 4. Refusal of decent mainte¬
nance to the wife. Remedy : by suit for alimony.
(5.) Testamentary vnyixws are, 1. Disputing the va¬
lidity of wills. Remedy: by suit to establish them.
2. Obstructing of administrations. Remedy : by suit
for the granting them. 3. Subtraction of legacies.
Remedy : by suit for the payment.
(6.) The course of proceedings herein is much con¬
formed to the civil and canon law: but their only com¬
pulsive process is that of excommunication ; which is
enforced by the temporal writ of significavit, or de ex¬
communicato capiendo.
(7.) Civil injuries, cognizable in the court military,
or court of chivalry, are, 1. Injuries in point of ho¬
nour. Remedy: by suit for honourable amends.
2. Encroachments in coat-armour, &c. Remedy : by
suit to remove them. The proceedings are in a sum¬
mary method.
(8.) Civil injuries cognizable in the courts maritime,
are injuries, in their nature, of common law cognizance,
but arising wholly upon the sea, and not within the
precincts of any county. The proceedings are herein
also much conformed to the civil law.
(9.) All other injuries are cognizable only in the
courts of common law: of which in the remainder of
this chapter.
(lO») Two of them are, however, commissible by
these and other inferior courts, viz. 1. Refusal, or ne¬
glect ai justice. Remedies : by writ of procedendo, or
mandamus. 2. Encroachment of jurisdiction* Remedy:
by writ of prohibition.
4H 2
LAW.
Sect.
612 L
JLaw of
Epitomised. ^ECT* ^ Of Wrongs and their Remedies, respeet-
• ing the Righ ts of Persons.
«ii. (i.) In treating of the cognizance of injuries by the
courts oi common law, may be considered, i. The 7«-
juries themselves, and their respective remedies. 2. The
pursuit of those remedies in the several courts.
(2.) Injuries between subject and subject, cogniz¬
able by the courts of common law, are in general re¬
medied by putting the party injured into possession of
the right whereof he is unjustly deprived.
,(3*) ^is is effected, 1. By delivery of the thing de¬
tained to the rightful owner. 2. Where that remedy
is either impossible or inadequate, by giving the party
injured a satisfaction in damages.
(4.) The instruments, by which these remedies may
be obtained, are suits or actions; which are defined to
be the legal demand of one’s right: and these are,
1. Personal. 2. Real. 3. Mixed.
(5-) Injuries (whereof some are with, others without,
force) are, 1. Injuries to the rights of persons. 2. In¬
juries to the rights of property. And the former are,
j. Injuries to the absolute, 2. Injuries to the relative,
rights of persons.
(6.) The absolute rights of individuals are, 1. Per¬
sonal security. 2. Personal liberty. 3. Private property t
(bee Chap. I. Sect. I.) To which the injuries must
be correspondent.
(7.) Injuries to personal security are, 1. Against a
man’s life. 2. Against his limbs. 3. Against his body.
4. Against his health, y. Against his reputation.——
The first must be referred to the next chapter.
(8.) Injuries to the limbs and body are, 1. Threats.
2. Assault. 3. Battery. 4. Wounding. 5. Mayhem.
Remedy: by action of trespass, vi et armis; for da¬
mages.
(9.) Injuries to health, by any unwholesome prac¬
tices, are remedied by a special action of trespass, on
the case 5 for damages.
(10.) Injuries {0 reputation we, 1. Slanderous and
malicious ivords. Remedy : by action on the case;
for damages. 2. Libels. Remedy : the same. 3. Ma¬
licious prosecutions. Remedy : by action of conspira¬
cy, or on the case j for damages.
(n.) The sole injury to personal libei'ty U false im¬
prisonment. Remedies : 1. By writ of, 1st, Mainprizej
2dly, Odio et alia ; 3dly, Homine rcplegiando ; 4thly,
Habeas corpus; to remove the wrong. 2. By action
of trespass j to recover damages.
(12.) For injuries to private property, see the next
section.
(13. Injuries to relatives rights affect, 1. Husbands.
2. Parents. 3. Guardians. 4. Masters.
(14.) Injuries to a husband are, 1. Abduction, or
taking away his wife. Remedy : by action of trespass,
de uxore rapta et abducta y. to recover possession of his
wife, and damages. 2. Criminal conversation with her.
Remedy . by action on the case j for damages. 3. Beat¬
ing her. Reffiedy : by action on the case, per yuod con¬
sortium amisit; for damages.
(15.) The only injury to a parent or guardian is the
abduction of their children or wards. Remedy : by ac¬
tion of trespass, de filiis, vel custodiis, raptis vel ab-
ductis, to recover possession cf them, and damages.
Part I],
A W.
(16.) Injuries to a master are, 1. Retaining his ser- lew 0f
vants. Remedy : by action on the case ; for damages. England
2. Beating them. Remedy : by action on the case, Epitomised.
per quod servitium amisit ; for damages. —v-~-»
Sect. IX. Of Injuries to Personal Property.
(1.) Injuries to the rights of property are either to ori.
those of personal or real property.
(2«) Personal property is either in possession or in
action.
(30 Injuries to personal property in possession are,
1. By dispossession. 2. By damage, while the owner
remains in possession.
(4.) Dispossession may be effected, 1. By an unlaw¬
ful taking. 2. By an unlawful detaining.
(5.) For the unlawful taking of goods and chattels
personal, the remedy is, 1. Actual restitution, which
(in case of a wrongful distress) is obtained by action of
replevin. 2. Satisfaction in damages : \st, in case of
rescous, by action of rescous, poundbreach, or on the
case ; idly, in case of other unlawful takings, by ac¬
tion of trespass or trover.
(6.) For the unlawful detaining of goods lawfully
taken, the remedy is also, 1. Actual restitution j by
action of replevin or detinue. 2. Satisfaction in da¬
mages j by action, on the case, for trover and conver-
sion*
(7.) For damage to personal property, while in the
owner’s possession, the remedy is in damages 5 bv ac¬
tion of trespass vi et armis, in case the act be immedi¬
ately injurious *, or by action of trespass on the case, to
redress consequential damage.
(8.) Injuries to personal property, in action, arise by
breach of contracts, 1. Express. 2. Implied.
(9.) Breaches of express contracts are, 1. By non¬
performance of debts. Remedy : 1st, Specific payment
recoverable by action of debt. 2dly, Damages for non¬
payment ; recoverable by action on the case. 2. By
nonperformance of covenants. Remedy : by action of
covenant, 1st, to recover damages, in covenants per¬
sonal j idly, to compel performance, in covenants real.
3. By nonperjormance oi promises, or assumpsits. Re¬
medy : by action on the case j for damages.
(10.) Implied contracts are such as arise, 1. From
the nature and constitution of government. 2. From
reason and the construction of law.
(11.) Breaches of contracts, implied in the nature
oi government, are by the nonpayment of money which
the laws have directed to be paid. Remedy : by action
of debt (which, in such cases is frequently a popular
frequently a qui tarn action); to compel the specific
payment;—or, sometimes, by action on the case ; for
damages.
(12.) Breaches of contracts, implied in reason and
construction of law, are by the nonperjormance of legal
presumptive assumpsits: for which the remedy is in da¬
mages ; by an action on the case on the implied as¬
sumpsits, I. Of a quantum meruit. 2. Of a quantum
valebat. 3. Of money expended for another. 4. Of
receiving money to another’s use. 5. Of an insimul
computassent, on an account stated (the remedy on an
account unstated being by action of account).. 6. Of
performing one’s duty, in any employment, w'ith in¬
tegrity, diligence, and skill. In some of which cases
an
Chap. HI. L A
.Law of an action of deceit (on the case, in nature of deceit)
England will lie.
Epitomised.
Sect. X. Of Injuries to Heal Property ; and,Jirstt of
Dispossession, or Ouster, of the Freehold.
cit. (i.) Injuries affecting rca/property are, I. Ouster.
2. Trespass. 3. Nuisances. 4. Waste. 5. Subtraction.
6. Disturbance.
(2.) Ouster is the amotion of possession j and is, 1.
From freeholds. 2. From chattels real.
(3.) Ouster from freeholds is effected by, 1. Abate¬
ment. 2. Intrusion. 3. Disseisin. 4. Discontinuance.
5. Deforcement.
(4.) Abatement is the entry of a stranger, after the
death of the ancestor, before the heir.
(5.) Intrusion is the entry of a stranger, after a par¬
ticular estate of freehold is determined, before him in
remainder or reversion.
(6.) Disseisin is a wrongful putting out of him that
is seised of the freehold.
(7.) Discontinuance is where tenant in tail, or the
husband of tenant in fee, makes a larger estate of the
land than the law alloweth.
(8.) Deforcement is any other detainer of the free¬
hold from him that hath the property, but who never
had the possession.
(9.) The universal remedy for all these is restitution
or delivery of possession j and, sometimes, damages for
the detention. This is effected, 1. By mere entry.
2. By act.Ion possessory. 3. By writ of right.
(10.) Mere entry, on lands, by him who hath the
apparent right of possession, will peaceable') divest
the mere possession of a wrongdoer. But forcible entiles
are remedied by immediate restitution, to be given by
a justice of the peace.
(11.) Where the wrongdoer hath not only mere
possession, but also an apparent right of possession, this
may be divested by him who hath the actual right of
possession, by means of the possessory actions of writ of
entry or assi%e.
(12.) A writ of entry Is a real action, which dis¬
proves the title of the tenant, by showing the unlawful
means under which he gained or continues possession.
And it may be brought either against the wrongdoer
himself, or in the degrees called the per, tlje per and
cut, and the post.
(13.) An assize is a real action, which proves the
title of the demandant, by showing his own or his an¬
cestor’s possession. And it may be brought either to
remedy abatements j viz. the assize of tnort d'ancestor,
&c. : Or to remedy recent disseisins $ viz. the assize of
novel disseisin.
(14.) Where the wrongdoer hath gained the actual
right of possession, he who has the right of property cun
only be remedied by a writ of right, or some writ of a
similar nature. As, I. Where such right of possession
is gained by the discontinuance of tenant in tail. Re¬
medy, for the right of property: by writ of formedon.
2. Where gained by recovery in a possessory action, had
against tenants of particular estates by their own de-
lault. Remedy : by writ of quod ei deforceat. 3. Where
gained by recovery in a possessory action, had upon the
sncrits. 4,. Where gained by the statute of limitations.
W. ' 613
Remedy, in both cases: by a mere writ of right, the L,aw 0f
highest writ in the law. England
Epitomised.
Sect. XI. Of Dispossession, or Ouster, of Chattels \r—
real..
(1.) Ouster from chattels real is, t. From estates by ev
statute and elegit. 2. From an estate for years.
(2.) Ouster from estates by statute or elegit, is ef¬
fected by a kind of disseisin. Remedy : restitution, and
damages j by assize of novel disseisin.
(3.) Ouster from an estate for years, is effected by a
like disseisin, or ejectment. Remedy : restitution, and
damages 'r t. By writ of ejeciione jirmce. 2. By writ of
quare ejecit infra terminum.
(4.) A writ of ejectione firmer, or action of trespass
in ejectment, lieth where lands, &c. are let for a terra
of years, and the lessee is ousted or ejected from his
term ; in which case he shall recover possession of his
term, and damages.
(5.) This is now the usual method of trying titles
to land, instead of an action real: viz. By, 1. The
claimant’s making an actual (or supposed) lease upon
the land to the plaintiff. The plaintiff’s actual (or
supposed) entry thereupon. 3. His actual (or suppos¬
ed) ouster and ejectment by the defendant. For which
injury this action is brought either against the tenant,,
or (more usually) against some casual or fictitious ejec¬
tor j in whose stead the tenant may be admitted defen¬
dant, on condition that the lease, entry, and ouster, be
confessed, and that nothing else be disputed but the me¬
rits of the title claimed by the lessor of the plaintiff.
(6.) A writ of quare ejecit infra terminum is an ac¬
tion of a similar nature *, only not bi-ought against the
wrongdoer or ejector himself, but such as are in. pos¬
session under his title.
Sect. XII. Of Trespass..
Trespass is an entry upon, and damage done to, CTj.
another’s lands, by one’s self; or one’s cattle ; with¬
out any lawful authority, or cause of justification :
which is called a breach of his doss. Remedy: da¬
mages j by action of trespass, quare clausum fregit;
besides that of distress, damage feasant. But, unless
the title to the land came chiefly in question, or the
trespass was wilful or malicious, the plaintiff (if the da¬
mages be under forty shillings) shall recover no mere
costs than damages.
Sect. XIII. Of Nuisance.
(1.) Nuisance, or annoyance, is any thing that
worketh damage or inconvenience : and it is either a
public and common nuisance, of which in the next chap¬
ter ; or, a private nuisance, which is any thing done to
the hurt or annoyance of, 1, The corporeal 5 2. The
incorporeal, hereditaments of another.
(2.) The remedies for a private nuisance (besides
that of abatement) are, 1. Damages 5 by action on
the case; (which also lies for special prejudice by a
public nuisance). 2. Removal thereof and damages j
by assize of nuisance. 3. Like removal, and damages^;
by writ of Quoadpermittat prosternere.
Sect. .
614
Law of
England
Epitomised.
Sect. XIV. Of Waste.
frii! _ (l») Waste is a spoil and destruction in lands and
tenements, to the injury of him who hath, l. An im¬
mediate interest (as, by right of common) in the lands.
2. The remainder of reversion of the inheritance.
(2.) The remedies, for a commoner, are restitution,
and damages $ by assize of common : Or damages on¬
ly j by action on the case.
(3.) The remedy, for him in remainder, or rever¬
sion, is, 1. Preventive : by writ of estrepement at law,
or injunction out of chancery $ to stay waste. 2. Cor¬
rective : by action of waste; to recover the place wast¬
ed, and damages.
Sect. XV. Of Subtraction.
(l.) Subtraction is when one, who owes services to
another, withdraws or neglects to perform them. This
may be, 1. Of rents, and other services, due by tenure.
2. Of those due by custom.
(2.) For subtraction of rents and services, due by
tenure, the remedy is, 1. By distress ; to compel the
payment or performance. 2. By action of debt. 3. By
assize. 4. By writ de consuetudinibus et servitiis; 
to compel the payment. 5. By writ of cessavit;—and,
6. By writ of right sur disclaimer to recover the
land itself.
(3.) To remedy the oppression of the land, the law
has also given, 1. The writ of JVe injuste vexes. 2. The
writ of mesne.
(4.) For subtraction of services, due by custom, the
remedy is, 1. By writ of Seda ad tnolendinum, furnum
torrale, See. to compel the performance, and recover
damages. 2. By action on the case ; for damages
only.
Sect. XVI. Of Disturbance.
cx. (1.) Disturbance is the hindering, or disquieting, the
owners of an incorporeal hereditament, in their regular
and lawful enjoyment of it.
(2.) Disturbances are, 1. Of franchises. 2. Of
commons. 3. Of ways. 4. Of tenure. 5. Of patron-.
age.
(3.) Disturbance offranchises is remedied by a spe¬
cial action on the cases; for damages.
(4.) Disturbance of common, is, 1. Iniercommoning
without right. Eemedy: damage ; by an action of
the case, or of trespass : besides distress, damage fea¬
sant ; to compel satisfaction. 2. Surcharging the com¬
mon. Remedies : distress, damage feasant; to compel
satisfaction : action on the case ; for damages: or,
writ of admeasurement of pasture ; to apportion the
common: and writ de secunda superoneratione ; for the
supernumerary cattle, and damages. 3. Enclosure, or
obstruction. Remedies : restitution of the common and
damages; by assize ot novel disseisin, and by writ of
quod admittat: or, damages only ; by action on the
case.
(5.) Disturbance of ways, is the obstruction, 1. Of
a way in gross, by the owner of the land. 2. Of a way
appendant, by a stranger. Remedy, for both: dama¬
ges ; by action on the case.
L A W. part
(6.) Disturbance of tenure, by driving away te- Law of
nants, is remedied by a special action on the case ; for England
damages. Epitonps«(i.
(7.) Disturbance of patronage, is the hinderance of ' ' ~
a patron to present his clerk to a benefice ; whereof
usurpation, within six months, is now become a spe¬
cies.
(8.) Disturbers may be, I. The pseudo-patron, by
his wrongful presentation. 2. His clerk, by demanding-
institution. 3. The ordinary, by refusing the clerk of
the true patron.
(9.) The remedies are, 1. By assize of darrein pre¬
sentment ; 2. By writ of quare impedit to compel in¬
stitution and recover damages : Consequent to which
are the writs of quare incumbravit, and quare non ad-
misit; for subsequent damages. 3. By writ of right of
advowson ; to compel institution, or establish the per¬
manent right.
Sect. XVII. Of Injuries Proceeding from, or Affect¬
ing, the Crown.
(1.) Injuries to which the crown is a party are, cxi.
I. Where the crown is the aggressor. 2. Where the
crown is the sufferer.
(2.) The crown is the aggressor, whenever it is in
possession of any property to which the subject hath a
right.
(3.) This is remedied, 1. By petition of right; where
the right is grounded on facts disclosed in the petition
itself. 2. By monstrans de droit; where the claim is
grounded on facts, already appearing on record. The
effect of both which is to remove the hands (or posses-
sion) of the king.
(4.) Where the crown is the sufferer, the king’s re¬
medies are, I. By such common law actions as are
consistent with the royal dignity. 2. By inquest of
office, to recover possession : which, when found, gives
the king his right by solemn matter of record ; but
may afterwards be traversed by the subject, 3. By
writ of scire facias, to repeal the king’s patent ox-
grant. 4. By information of intrusion, to give damages
for any trespass on the lands of the crown ; or of debt,
to recover moneys due upon contract, or forfeited by
the breach of any penal statute; or sometimes (in the
latter case) by information in rem: all filed in the ex¬
chequer ex officio by the king’s attorney general. 5. By
writ of quo warranto, or information in the nature of
such writ; to seise into the king’s hands any franchise
usurped by the subject, or to oust an usurper from any
public office. 6. By writ of mandamus, unless cause ;
to admit or restore any person entitled to a franchise or
office : to which, if a false cause be returned, the re¬
medy is by traverse, or by action on the case for dama¬
ges ; and, in consequence, a peremptory mandamus,
or writ of restitution.
Sect. XVIII. Of the Pursuit of Remedies by Action ;
and, First, of the Original W’'it,
(1.) The pursuit of the several remedies furnished by
the laws of England, is, 1. By action in the courts
of common law. 2. By proceedings in the courts of
equity.
(2.) Of an action in the court of common pleas (ori¬
ginally
L A W.
Chap. III.
Law of ginally tlie proper court for prosecuting civil suits) the
England orderly parts aje, I. The original writ. 2. The process.
’■-pitoini-ed. Tlie pleadings. 4. The issue or demurrer. S' The
" trial. 6. The judgment. 7. The proceedings in na¬
ture ol appeal. 8. The execution.
(3.) The original writ is the beginning or foundation
, of a suit, and is either (called praecipe'), com¬
manding the defendant to do something in certain, or
otherwise show cause to the contrary ; ox peremptory,
(called a si j’ecemt te securum), commanding, upon secu¬
rity given by the plaintiff, the defendant to appear in
court, to show wherefore he hath injured the plaintiff":
both issuing out of chancery under the king’s great seal,
and returnable in bank during term time.
Sect. XIX, Of Process.
cxiii. (1.) Process is the means of compelling the defend¬
ant to appear in court.
(2.) This includes, 1. Summons. 2. The writ of
attachment, or pone; which is sometimes the first or
original process. 3. The writ of distringas, or distress
infinite. 4. The writs of capias ad respondendum and
testatum capias: or, instead of these in the king’s bench,
the bill of Middlesex, and writ of latitat:—and, in the
exchequer, the writ of quo minus. 5. The alias and
pluries writs. 6. The exigent, or writ of exigifacias,
proclamations, and outlawry. 7. Appearance and com¬
mon bail. 8. The arrest. 9. Special bail, first to the
sheriff, and then to the action.
Sect. XX. Of Pleadings.
«xiv. Pleadings are the mutual altercations of the plain¬
tiff and defendant in writing j under which are com¬
prised, I. The declaration of court j (wherein, inci¬
dentally, of the visne, nonsuit, retraxit, and disconti¬
nuance.) 2. The defence, claim of cognizance, im¬
parlance, view, oyer, aid-prayer, voucher, or age.
3. The plea j which is either a dilatory plea (isf, to
the jurisdiction j idly, in disability of the plaintiff;
^dly, in abatement), or it is a plea to the action; some¬
times confessing the action either in whole or in part ;
(wherein of a tender, paying money into court, and set
off) : but usually denying the complaint, by pleading
either, xst, the general issue : or, 2dly, a special bar
(wherein of justifications, the statutes of limitation, &c.)
4. Replication, rejoinder, surrejoinder, rebutter, surre¬
butter, &c. Therein of estoppels, colour, duplicity,
departure, new assignment, protestation, averment, and
other incidents of pleading.
Sect. XXI. Of Issue and Demurrer.
exv. (i-) Issue is where the parties, in a course of plead¬
ings, come to a point affirmed on one side and denied
, on the other ; which, if it be a matter of law, is called
a. demurrer ; if it be a matter of fact, still it retains the
name of an issue, of fact.
(2.) Continuance is the detaining of the parties in
court from time to time, by giving them a day certain
to appear upon. And, if any new matter arises since
the last continuance or adjournment, the defendant may
take advantage of it, even after demurrer or issue, by
alleging it in a plea puis darrein continuance.
(3.) The determination in an issue of law, or de- Law of
murrer, is by the opinion of the judges of the court, England
which is afterwards entered on record. Epitomised.
Sect. XXII. Of the Several Species of Trial.
(1.) Trial is the examination of the matter of fact cxvi-
put in issue.
(2.) The species of trial are, 1. By the record. 2. By
inspection. 3. By certificate. 4. By witnesses. 3. By
wager of battel. 6. By wager of law. 7. By jury.
(3.) I rial by tbe record is bad, when the existence
of such record is the point in issue.
(4.) Trial by inspection or examination is had by the
court, principally when the matter in issue is the evi¬
dent object of the senses.
(5.) Trial by certificate is had in those cases, where
such certificate must have been conclusive to a jury.
(6.) Trial by witnesses (the regular method in the
civil law) is only used on a writ of dower, when the
death of the husband is in issue.
(7.) Trial by wager of battel, in civil cases, is only
had on a writ of right; but, in lieu thereof, the tenant
may have at his option, the trial by the grand assize.
(8.) Trial by wager of law is only had, where the
matter in issue may be supposed to have been privily
transacted between the parties themselves, without the
intervention of other witnesses.
Sect. XXIII. Of the Trial by Jury.
(1.) Trial by jury is, 1. Extraordinary as, by the c*vii.
grand assize, in writs of right; and by the grand jury,
in writs of attaint. 2. Ordinary.
(2.) The method and process of the ordinary trial
by jury is, 1. The writ of venire facias to the sheriff",
coroners, or elisors ; with the subsequent compulsive
process of habeas corpora, or distringas. 2. The car¬
rying down of the record to the court of nisi prius.
3. The sheriff’s return; or panel of, 1st, special; 2dly,
common jurors. 4. The challenges ; 1st, to the array ;
2dly, to the polls of the jurors; either propter honoris
respectum, propter defectum, propter affectum, (which is
sometimes a principal challenge, sometimes to the fa¬
vour), ox propter delictum. 5. The tales de circumstan-
tibus. 6. The oath of the jury. 7. The evidence ;
which is either by proofs, 1st, written; 2dly, parole :
—or, by the private knowledge of the jurors. 8. The
verdict; which may be, 1st, privy; 2dly, public;
3diy, special.
Sect. XXIV. Of Judgment and its Incidents.
(1.) Whatever is transacted at the trial in the court txviii.
of nisiprius, is added to the record under the name of
a postea : consequent upon which is the judgment.
(2.) Judgment may be arrested or stayed for causes,
1. Extrinsic, or dehors the record; as in the case of new
trials. 2. Intrinsic, or within it; as where the decla¬
ration varies from the writ, or the verdict from the
pleadings, and issue ; or where the case, laid in the de¬
claration, is not sufficient to support the action in point
of law.
(3.) Where the issue is immaterial or insufficient,
the court may award a repleader.
(4.)
6i6 L
Lnw of (4.) Judgment is the sentence of the law, pronoun*
Krigtand ccd by the court, upon the matter contained in the re-
ip.tonmed.cord.
(5.) Judgments are, 1. Interlocutory j which are in¬
complete till perfected by a writ of inquiry. 2. Final.
(6.) Coats, or expences of suit, are now the necessary
consequence of obtaining judgment.
Sect. XXV. Of Proceedings, in the Nature of Appeals.
sxii, (1.) Proceedings, in the nature of appeals from
judgment, are, 1. A writ of attaint to impeach the
verdict of a jury; which of late has been superseded
by new trials. 2. A writ of audita querelai to dis¬
charge a judgment by matter that has since happened.
3. A w-rit of error, from one court of record to ano¬
ther; to correct judgments, erroneous in point of law,
and not helped by the statutes of amendment and jeo¬
fails.
(2.) Writs of error lie, 1. To the court of king's
bench, from all inferior courts of record ; from the
court of common pleas at Westminster ; and from the
court of king's bench in Ireland. 2. To the courts of
exchequer chamber, from the law side of the courts of
exchequer; and from proceedings in the court of king's
bench by bill. 3. To the house of peers, from pro¬
ceedings in the court of king's bench by original, and
on writs of error; and from the several courts oi ex¬
chequer chamber.
A W,
Part IT.
(4.) The essential diflerences, whereby the F.nglish j„#w ojf
courts of equity are distinguished from the courts of law, England
are, 1. The mode of proof by a discovery on the oath EPilonnM,
of the party ; which gives a jurisdiction in matters of
account, and fraud. 2. The mode of trial; by depo¬
sitions taken in any part of the world. 3. The mode
of relief; by giving a more specific and extensive reme¬
dy than can be had in the courts of law ; as, by carry¬
ing agreements into execution, staying waste or other
injuries by injunction, directing the sale of encumbered
lands, &c. 4. The true construction of securities for
money, by considering them merely as a pledge. 5. The
execution of trusts, or second uses, in a manner analo¬
gous to the law of legal estates.
(5.) The proceedings in the court of chancery (to
which those in the exchequer, &c. very nearly conform)
are, 1. Bill. 2. Writ of subpoena; and, perhaps, in¬
junction. 3. Process of contempt; viz. (ordinarily)
attachment, attachment with proclamations, commis¬
sion of rebellion, serjeant at arms, and sequestrations.
4. Appearance. 5. Demurrer. 6. Plea. 7. Answer.
8. Exceptions; amendments; cross, or supplemental,
bills ; bills of revivor, interpleader, &c. 9. Replica¬
tion. 10. Issue. 11. Depositions, taken upon inter¬
rogatories; and subsequent publication thereof. 12.
Hearing. 13. Interlocutory decree ; feigned issue, and
trial; reference to the master, and report; &c. 14. Fi¬
nal decree. 15. Rehearing, or bill of review. 16. Ap¬
peal to parliament.
Sect. XX\ I. Of Execution.
eat. Execution is the putting in force of the sentence or
judgment of the law. Which is effected, 1. WThere
possession of any hereditament is recovered : by writ
of habere facias seisinam, possessionem, Spc. 2. Where
any thing is awarded to be done or rendered, by a spe¬
cial writ for that purpose : as, by writ of abatement,
in case of nuisance; retorna habendo and capias in
vjitheram, in replevin; distringas and scire facias, in
detinue. 3. Where money only is recovered ; by writ
of, 1st, Capias ad satisfaciendum, against the body of the
defendant; or in default therefore, scire facias against
his bail. 2&\y, Fieri facias, against his goods and chat¬
tels. 3dly, Levari facias, against his goods and the
profits of his lands. 4thly, Elegit, against bis goods,
and the possession of his lands. Jthly, Extendi facias,
and other process, on statutes, recognizances,&c. against
his body, lands, and goods.
Sect. XX\ II. Of Proceedings in the Courts of Equity.
tfxxi. C1*) Matters of equity which belong to the peculiar
jurisdiction of the court of chancery, are, 1. The guar¬
dianship of infants. 2. The custody of idiots and luna¬
tics. j. The superintendance of charities. 4. Com¬
missions of bankrupt.
(2.) The court of exchequer and the duchy court of
Lancaster, have also some peculiar causes, in which the
interest of the king is more immediately concerned.
(3*) Equity is the true sense and sound interpreta¬
tion of the rules of law ; and, as such, is equally at¬
tended to by the judges of the courts both of common
law and equity.
Chap. IV. 0/Public Wrongs.
Sect. I. Of the Nature of Crimes, and their Punish¬
ment.
(i.) In treating of public wrongs may be considered, «**«•
i. The general nature of crimes and punishments. 2. The
persons capable of committing crimes. 3. Their seve¬
ral degrees of guilt. 4. The several species of crimes,
and their respective punishments. 5. The means of
prevention. 6. The’method oipunishment.
(2.) A crime, or misdemeanour, is an act committed,
or omitted, in violation of a public law either forbidding
or commanding it.
(3.) Crimes are distinguished from civil injuries, in
that they are a bteach and violation of the public rights,
due to the whole community, considered as a commu¬
nity.
(4.) Punishments may be considered with regard to,
1. The power ; 2. The end; 3. The tfjeasi/re;—of their
infliction.
(5.) The power, or right, of inflicting human punish¬
ments for natural crimes, or such as are mala in se, was
by the law of nature vested in every individual: but,
by the fundamental contract of society, is now transfer¬
red to the sovereign power; in which also is vested, by
the same contract, the right of punishing positive of¬
fences, or such as are mala prohibita.
(6.) The end of human punishments is to prevent
future offences ; 1. By amending the offender himself.
2. By deterring others through his example. 3. By
depriving him of the power to do future mischief.
(7.) The measure of human punishments must be
determined by the wisdom of the sovereign power, and
not
Ifhap. IV. L
Law of not by any uniform universal rule : though that wis-
England dom may be regulated, and assisted, by certain general,
1 pitomised. equitable, principles.
Sect. II. Of the Persons capable of Committing
Crimes.
«x*ur. (i.) All persons are capable of committing crimes,
unless there be in them a defect of will: for, to con¬
stitute a legal crime, there must be both a vitious will,
and a vitious act.
(2.) Tiie will does not concur with the act, i. Where
there is a defect of understanding, i. Where no will
is exerted. 3. Where the act is constrained by force
and violence.
(3.) A vitious will may therefore be wanting, in the
oases of, 1. Infancy. 2. Idiocy, or lunacy. 3. Drunk¬
enness 5 which doth not, however, excuse. 4. Mis¬
fortune. 5. Ignorance, or mistake of fact. 6. Com¬
pulsion, or necessity; which is, 1st, that of civil sub¬
jection ; 2dly, that of per minus; 3dly, that of
choosing the least pernicious of two evils, where one is
unavoidable; 4thly, that of want, or hunger; which is
no legitimate excuse.
(4.) The king, from his excellence and dignity, is
also incapable of doing wrong.
Sect. III. Of Principals and Accessories.
esxr. (1.) The different degrees of guilt in criminals are,
1. As principals. 2. As accessories.
(2.) A principal in a crime is, i. lie who commits
the fact. 2. He who is present at, aiding, and abet¬
ting, the commission.
(3') j!^11 accessory is he who doth not commit the
fact, nor is present at the commission ; but is in some
sort concerned therein, either before ox after.
(4.) Accessories can only be in petit treason, and
felony : in high treason, and misdemeanors, all are
principals.
CiO accessory, before the fact, is one who, be¬
ing absent when the crime is committed, hath pro¬
cured, counselled, or commanded, another to commit
it.
(6.) An accessory after the fact, is where a person,
knowing a felony to have been committed, receives,
relieves, comforts, or assists, the felon.' Such acces-’
sory is usually entitled to the benefit of clergy; where
the principal, and accessory before the fact, are exclud¬
ed from it.
Sect. IV. Of Offences against God and Religion.
(1.) Crimes and misdemeanors cognizable by the
laws of England are such as more immediately offend,
I. God, and his holy religion. 2. The law of nations.
3. The king, and his government. 4. The public or
Commonwealth. 5. Individuals.
(2.) Crimes more immediately offending God and
religion.' are, 1. Apostacy. For which the penalty is
incapacity, and imprisonment. 2. Heresy. Penalty
for one species thereof: the same. 3. Offences against
the established church:—Either, by rety'AVzg its ordi¬
nances. Penalties: fine; deprivation ; imprisonment;
forfeiture.—Or, by nonconformity to its worship ;
Vol. XI. Part II. ' +
6l ‘
A W.
1st, Through total irreligion. Penalty: fine, sdly, Jaw f'
Through Protestant dissenting. Penalty: suspended by England
the toleration act. 3^7) Ihrough Popery, either in Epitomised,
professors of the popish religion, popish recusants, con- v-—<
vict, or popish priests. Penalties : incapacity ; double
taxes; imprisonment; fines; forfeitures; abjuration of
Hie realm ; judgment of felony, without clergy : and
judgment of high treason. 4. Blasphemy. Penalty:
fine, imprisonment, and corporal pun ishment. 5. Pro¬
fane swearing and cursing. Penalty : fine, or house of
correction. 6. Witchcraft; or, at least, the pretence
thereto. Penalty : imprisonment, and pillory. 7. Re¬
ligious impostures. Penalty : fine, imprisonment, and
corporal punishment. _ 8. Simony. Penalties : forfei¬
ture of double value; incapacity. 9. Sabbath-breaking.
lenalty: fine. 10. Drunkenness. Penalty: fine or
stocks. 11. Lewdness. Penalties : fine ; imprisonment;
house of correction.
Sect. V. Of Offences against the Law of Nations.
(1.) The law of nations is a system of rules, dedu- cxxvlj
Cible by natural reason, and established by universal
consent, to regulate the intercourse between indepen¬
dent states.
. (20 England, the law oi nations is adopted in
its full extent, as part of the law of the land.
(3.) Offences against this law are principally inci¬
dent to whole states or nations ; but, when committed
by private subjects, are then the objects of the munici¬
pal law.
C4*) Onmes against the law of nations, animadverted
on by the laws of England, are, 1. Violation of safe
conducts. 2. Infringement of tiie rights oi embassadors.
lenalty, in both: arbitrary. 3. Piracy. Penalty:
judgment of felony, without clergy.
Sect. VI. Of High Treason.
(1.) Crimes and misdemeanors more peculiarly of¬
fending the king and his government are, i.High trea¬
son. ' 2. Felonies injurious to the prerogative. 3. Prce-
munire. 4. Other misprisions and contempts.
(2.) High treason may, according to the statute of
Edward III. be committed, 1. By compassing or ima¬
gining the death of the king, or queen-consort, or their
tduest son and heir: demonstrated by some overt act.
2. By violating the king’s companion, his eldest daugh-
tci, 01 the wife of his eldest son. 3* Ey some overt act
oi levying war against the king in his realm. 4. By
adherence to the king’s enemies. 3. By counterfeiting
the king’s great or privy seal. 6. By counterfeiting
the king’s money, or importing counterfeit money. 7. By
killing the chancellor, treasurer, or king’s justices, in
the execution of their offices.
(3‘) High treasons, created by subsequent statutes
are such as relate, 1. To Papists : as, the repeated de¬
fence of the pope’s jurisdiction ; the coming from be¬
yond sea of a natural born popish priest ; the renoun¬
cing of allegiance, and reconciliation to the pope or
other foreign power. 2. To the coinage, or other sig-
natures of the king: as, counterfeiting (or, import¬
ing and uttering counterfeit) foreign coin, here cur¬
rent ; forging the sign-manual, privy signet, or privy
seal ; falsifying, &c. the current coin. 3. To the
4 I Protestant
e xx vim
6i 8
LAW.
Part II.
J.aw of Protestant succession; as, corresponding with, or re-
liagifiatl mitting to, the late Pretender’s sons ; endeavouring to
t-^ne.misecl.jmt>ede the succession; writing or printing in defence
of any pretender’s title, or in derogation of the act of
settlement, or of the power of parliament to limit the
descent of the crown.
(4.) The punishment of high treason, in males, is
(generally) to be, I. Drawn. 2. Hanged. 3. Em-
bowelled alive. 4. Beheaded. 5. Quartered. 6. The
head and quarters to be at the king’s disposal. But,
in treasons relating to the coin, only to be drawn, and
hanged till dead. Females, in both cases, are to be
drawn, and burned alive.
Sect. VII. Of Felonies injurious to the King's Prero¬
gative.
«xxix. (1.) Felony is that offence which occasions the total
forfeiture of lands or goods, at common law *, now usual¬
ly also punishable with death, by hanging $ unless
through the benefit of clergy.
(2.) Felonies injurious to the king’s prerogative (of
which some are within, others without clergy) are,
I. Such as relate to the com : as, the wilful uttering
of counterfeit money, &c. $ (to which head some infe¬
rior misdemeanors affecting the coinage may be also
referred). 2. Conspiring or attempting to kill a privy
counsellor. 3. Serving /om^v? states, or inlisting sol¬
diers for foreign service. 4. Embezzling the king’s
armour or stot'es. 5. Desertion from the king’s armies
by land or sea.
Sect. VIII. Of Prcemunire.
cxxk. (I#) Praemunire, in its original sense, is the offence
of adhering to the temporal power of the pope, in de¬
rogation of the regal authority. Penalty : outlawry,
forfeiture, and imprisonment: which hath since been
extended to some offences of a different nature.
(2.) Among these are, I. Importing Popish trin¬
kets. 2. Contributing to the maintenance of Popish
seminaries abroad, or Popish priests in England. 3.
Molesting the possessors of abbey lands. 4. Acting as
broker in an usurious contract, for more than ten per
cent. 5. Obtaining any stay of proceedings in suits
for monopolies. 6. Obtaining an exclusive patent for
gunpowder or arms. 7. Exertion of purveyance or
pre-emption. 8. Asserting a legislative authority in
both or either house of parliament. 9. Sending any
subject a prisoner beyond sea. 10. Refusing the oaths
of allegiance and supremacy. Jl. Preaching, teach¬
ing, or advised speaking, in defence of the right of
any pretender to the crown, or in derogation of the
power of parliament to limit the succession. 12. Treat¬
ing of other matters by the assembly of peers of Scot¬
land, convened for electing their representative in par¬
liament. 13. Unwarrantable undertakings by unlaw¬
ful subscriptions to public funds.
Sect. IX. Of Misprisions and Contempts affecting the
King and Government.
cxxxi, (1.) Misprisions and contempts are all such high of¬
fences as are under the degree of capital.
(2.) These are, I. Negative, in concealing what ought
to be revealed. 2. Positive, in committing what ought
not to be done.
(2.) AfcgafaW misprisions are, I. Misprisions of trea¬
son. Penalty : forfeiture and imprisonment. 2. Mis¬
prision of felony. Penalty : fine and imprisonment.
3. Concealment of treasure trove. Penalty : fine and
imprisonment.
(4.) Positive misprisions, or high misdemeanors and
contempts, are, 1. Maladministration of public trusts,
which includes the crime of peculation. Usual penal¬
ties : banishment ; fines ; imprisonment j disability.
2. Contempts against the Vimfs prerogative. Penalty:
fine, and imprisonment. 3. Contempt against his
person and government. Penalty : fine, imprisonment,
and infamous corporal punishment. 4. Contempts a-
gainst his title. Penalties: fine, and imprisonmentj
or fine, and disability. 5. Contempts against his
or cowrfa of justice. Penalties: fine j imprison¬
ment 5 corporal punishment j loss of right hand j for¬
feiture.
Law of
Engtend
Epitomised.
Sect. X. Of Offences against Public Justice.
(1.) Crimes especially affecting the commonwealth cxxxii.
are offences, 1. Against the yuMWc justice. 2. Against
the public peace. 3. Against the public trade. 4. A-
gainst the public health. 5. Against the public police
or economy.
(2.) Offences against the pvhWc justice, are, 1. Km-
bez'zling or vacating records, and personating others in
courts of justice. Penalty: judgment of felony, usual¬
ly without clergy. 2. Compelling prisoners to become
approvers. Penalty : judgment of felony. 3. Obstruct¬
ing the execution of process. 4. Escapes. 5. Breach
of prison. 6. Rescue. Which four may (according
to the circumstances) be either felonies, or misde¬
meanors punishable by fine and imprisonment. 7. Re¬
turning from transportation. This is felony, without
clergy. 8. Taking rewards to help one to his stolen
goods. Penalty : the same as for the theft. 9. Recei¬
ving stolen goods. Penalties : transportation ; fine ;
and imprisonment.—10. Theftbote. 11. Common bar-
retry and suing in a feigned name. 12. Maintenance,
13. Champerty. Penalty, in these four : fine, and im¬
prisonment. 14. Compounding prosecutions on penal
statutes. Penalty: fine, pillory, and disability. 15.
Conspiracy ; and threats of accusation in order to ex¬
tort money, &c. Penalties: the villanous judgment;
fine; imprisonment; pillory ; whipping, transporta¬
tion. 16. Perjury, and subornation thereof. Penal¬
ties : infamy ; imprisonment ; fine, or pillory ; and
sometimes, transportation or house of correction. 17.
Bribery. Penalty : fine and imprisonment. 18. Em¬
bracery. Penalty: infamy, fine, and imprisonment.
19. False verdict. Penalty : the judgment in attaint.
20. Negligence of public officers, &c. Penalty : fine,
and forfeiture of the office. 21. Oppression by magis¬
trates. 22. Extortion of officers. Penalty, in both :
imprisonment, fine, and sometimes forfeiture of the
office.
Sect. XI. Of Offejices against the Public Peace.
Offences against the public peace, are, 1. Riotous rx*x1"’
assemblies to the number of twelve. 2. Appearing
armed,
Jhap, IV. L 2
X,aw of armed, or hunting in disguise. 3. Threatening, or de-
England manding any valuable thing by letter.—All these are
felonies, without clergy. 4. Destroying oi turnpikes,
&c. Penalties : whipping ; imprisonment; judgment
of felony, with and without clergy. 5. Affrays. 6.
Jhots, routs, and unlawful assemblies. 7. Tumultuous
petitioning. 8. Forcible entry, and detainer. Penalty,
in all four : fine, and imprisonment. 9. Going unu¬
sually armed. Penalty: forfeiture of arms, and im¬
prisonment. 10. false news. Penalty : fine
and imprisonment. 11. Pretended prophecies. Penal¬
ties: fine*, imprisonment5 and forfeiture. \2. Challenges
to fight. Penalty : fine, imprisonment, and sometimes
forfeiture. 13. Libels. Penalty : fine, imprisonment,
and corpora] punishment.
Sect. XII. Of Offences against Public Trade.
«K«dr. Offences against the public trade, are, 1. Owling.
Penalties : fine ; forfeiture ; imprisonment; loss of left
hand; transportation; judgment of felony. 2. Smug¬
gling. Penalties: fines; loss of goods; judgment of
felony, without clergy. 3. Fraudulent bankruptcy.
Penalty: judgment of felony without clergy. 4. U-
sury. Penalty: fine, and imprisonment. 5. Cheating.
Penalties : fine ; imprisonment; pillory ; tumbrel,
whipping, or other corporal punishment, transporta¬
tion. 6. Forestallmg. 7. Regrating. 8. Engrossing.
Penalties, for all three: loss of goods; fine; impri¬
sonment ; pillory. 9. Monopolies and combinations to
raise the price of commodities. Penalties : fines ; im¬
prisonment; pillory ; loss of ear; infamy; and, some¬
times the pains oKpraemunire. 10. Exercising n trade,
not having served as an apprentice. Penalty: fine.
II. Transporting, or residing abroad of artificers. Pe¬
nalties : fine ; imprisonment; forfeiture ; incapacity ;
becoming aliens.
Sect. XIII. Of Offences against the Public Health,
and Public Police or Economy.
iXKKT. (1.) Offences against the public health, are, 1. Ir¬
regularity, in the time of the plague, or of quarantine.
Penalties : whipping ; judgment of felony, with and
without clergy. 2. Selling unwholesome provisions.
Penalties : amercement; pillory ; fine ; imprisonment;
abjuration of the town.
(2.) Offences against the public police and economy.
or domestic order of the kingdom, are, 1. Those re¬
lating to clandestine and irregular marriages. Penal¬
ties : judgment of felony, with and without clergy.
2. Bigamy, or (more properly) polygamy. Penalty :
judgment of felony. 3. Wandering, by soldiers or ma¬
riners. 4. Remaining in England, by Egyptians; or
being in their fellowship one month. Pioth these are
felonies, without clergy. 5. Common nuisances, 1st, By
annoyances or purprestures in highways, bridges, and
rivers ; 2dly, By offensive trades and manufactures ;
3dly, By disorderly houses; 4thly, By lotteries; Jthly,
By cottages ; 6th!y, By fireworks ; 7thly, By evesdrop-
ping. Penalty: in all fine. Sthly, By common scold¬
ing. Penalty: the cucking stool. 6. Idleness, disorder,
vagrancy, and incorrigible roguery. Penalties : impri¬
sonment ; whipping ; judgment of felony. 7. Luxury,
in diet. Penalty, discretionary. %. Gaming. Penalties:
W. 619
to gentlemen, fine ; to others, fine and imprisonment; Law or-
to cheating gamesters, fine, infamy, and the corporal England
pains of perjury. 9. Destroying the game. Penalties ; Epitomised,
fines, and corporal punishment. y——'
Sect. XIV. Of Homicide.
(r.) Crimes especially affecting individuals, are,
I. Against their persons. 2. Against their habitations.
3. Against their property.
(2.) Crimes against the persons of individuals, are, cxxsvi.
1. By homicide, or destroying life. 2. By other cor¬
poral injuries.
(3.) Homicide is, 1. Justifiable. 2. Excusable. 3.
Felonious.
(4.) Homicide is justifiable. 1. By necessity, and
command of law. 2. By permission of law ; 1st, For
the furtherance of public justice ; 2dly, For prevention
of some forcible felony.
(5.) Homicide is excusable, 1. Per infortunium, or
by misadventnre. 2. Se defendendo, or in self-defence,
by chance-medley. Penalty, in both: forfeiture of
goods ; which however is pardoned of course.
(6.) Felonious homicide is the killing of a human
creature without justification or excuse. This is, 1. Kil¬
ling one's self. 2. Killing another.
(7.) Killing one's self, or self-murder, is where one
deliberately, or by any unlawful malicious act, puts an
end to his own life. This is felony ; punished by igno¬
minious burial, and forfeiture of goods and chattels.
(8.) Killing another is, 1. Manslaughter. 2.Murder.
(9.) Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another,
without malice, express or implied. This is either,
I. Voluntary, upon a sudden heat. 2. Involuntary,
in the commission of some unlawful act. Both are fe¬
lony, hut within clergy ; except in the case of stabbing.
(10.) Murder is when a person, of sound memory
and discretion, unlawfully killeth any reasonable crea¬
ture, in being, and under the king’s peace; with ma¬
lice aforethought, either express or implied. This is
felony, without clergy; punished with speedy death,
and hanging in chains or dissection.
(11.) Petit treason (being an aggravated degree of
murder) is where the servant kills his master, the wife
her husband, or the ecclesiastic his superior. Penalty:
in men, to be drawn and hanged; in women, to be
drawn and burned.
Sect. XV. Of Offences against the Persons of Indivi¬
duals.
Crimes affecting the persons of individuals, by other
corporal injuries not amounting to homicide, are,
I. Mayhem; and also shooting at another. Penalties :
fine ; imprisonment; judgment of felony, without cler¬
gy. 2. Forcible abduction, and marriage or defilement,
of an heiress; which is felony : also, stealing, and de¬
flowering or marrying, any woman child under the age
of sixteen years ; for which the penalty is imprisonment,
fine, and temporary forfeiture of her lands. 3. Rape,
and also carnal knowledge, of a woman child under the
age of ten years. 4. Buggery, with man or beast. Both
these are felonies, without clergy. 5. Assault. 6. i?a£-
tcry especially of clergymen. 7. Wounding. Penal¬
ties, in all three: fine; imprisonment; and other cor-
4 I 2 poral
620
A.
8. False imprisonment. Penalties :
Law of poral punishment.   A cimuit.s .
FpiUm'iged fin-8 ’ imPrisonmenti and (in some atrocious cases) the
/pains ot prcemu?iire, and incapacity of office or pardon.
9. Kidnapping, or forcibly stealing away the king’s sub¬
jects. Penalty: fine j imprisonment j and pillory.
Sect. XVI. Of Offences against the Habitations of
Individuals.
w.
Part II.
sures by act of parliament, is felony; and, in most cases, Law of
w.thout benefit of clergy. EngTand
fo.) largery is the fraudulent making or alteration Epbomistd.
of a writing, in prejudice of another’s right. Pe- v—“
nalties: fine; imprisonment; pillory; loss of nose
and ears; forfeiture; judgment of'felony, without
CXXXVI11.
CXXXIK.
(1.) Crimes, affecting the habitations of individuals
are, 1. Arson. 2. Burglary.
(2.) Arson is the malicious and wilful burning of the
house, or out-house, of another man. This is felony :
in some cases within, in others without, clergy.
. (30 BurglaryAs the breaking and entering, by night,
into a mansion house : with intent to commit a felony.
JLhis is felony, without clergy.
Sect. XVII. Of Offences against Private Property.
(1.) Crimes affecting the private property of indivi¬
duals are, 1. Larciny. 2. Malicious mischief. 2. For¬
gery.
(2.) Larciny is, 1. Simple. 2. Mixed or compound.
(3.) Simple larciny is the felonious taking, and car¬
rying away, of the personal goods of another. And it
is, I. Grand larciny ; being above the value of twelve-
pence. Which is felony; in some cases within, in
others without, clergy. 2. Petit larciny ; to the value
of twelyepence or under. Which is also felony, but
not capital ; being punished with whipping, or trans¬
portation.
(4.) Mixed, or compound, larciny, is that wherein
the taking is accompanied with the aggravation of be-
ing, I. 1 rom the house. 2. 1 rom the person.
(5;) L^rcinies from the house, by day or night, are
felonies without clergy, when they are, 1. Larcinies,
above twelvepence, from a church ; or by breaking a
tent or booth in a market or fair, by day or nifflit, the
owner or his family being therein;—or by breaking a
dwelling house by day, any person being therein; or
from a dwelling house by day, without breaking, any
person therein being put in fear;—or from a dwelling
house by nignt, without breaking, the owner, or his fa¬
mily being therein and put in fear. 2. Larcinies, of
five shillings, by breaking the dwelling house, shop’ or
warehouse by day, though no person be therein ;—or,
by private stealing in any shop, warehouse, coach¬
house, or stable, by day or night, without breaking,
and though no person lie therein. 3. Larcinies, of
forty shillings, from a dwelling house or its out-houses,
without breaking, and though no person be therein.
(6.) Larciny from the person is, 1. By privately
sterling, from the person of another, above the value of
twelvepence. 2. By robbery; or the felonious and
-forcible taking, from the person of another, in or near
the highway, goods or money of any value, by putting
him m fear. These are both felonies without clergy.
An attempt to rob is also felony.
(7.) Malicious mischief, by destroying dykes, goods,
cattle, ships, garments, fish ponds, trees, woods, church!
6S, chapels, meeting-houses, houses, out-houses, corn,
hay, straw, sea or river banks, hop-binds, coal-mines (or
engines thereunto belonging), or any fences for enclo-
Sect. XVIII. Of the Means of Preventing Offences.
(1.) Crimes and misdemeanors may be prevented,
by compelling suspected persons to give security]
which is effected by binding them in a conditional re-
cognizance to the king, taken in court, or by a magis¬
trate. J °
(2.) These recognizances may be conditioned, x. To
keep the peace. 2. JTo be of good behaviour.
(3-) I hese may be taken by any justice or conserva¬
tor of the peace, at his own discretion ; or, at the re¬
quest of such as are entitled to demand the same.
(4.) All persons, who have given sufficient cause to
apprehend an intended breach of the peace, may be
bound over to keep the peoce; and all those, that be
not of good fame, may be bound to the good behaviour;
and may, upon refusal in either case, be committed to
gaol.
Sect. XIX. Of Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction.
(x.) In the method of punishment may be consider¬
ed, 1. 1 he several rewfe of criminal jurisdiction. 2.
J.be several proceedings therein.
(2.) The criminal courts are, 1. Those of a public
and general jurisdiction throughout the realm. 2. Those
of a private nob special jurisdiction.
($1) Public criminal courts are, I. The high court
oi parliament; which proceeds by impeachment. 2. The
court of the lord high steward; and the court of the
king in full parliament: for the trial of capitally in¬
dicted peers. 3. The court of king’s bench. 4. The
court of chivalry. 5. The court of admiralty, under
the king’s commission. 6. The courts of oyer and
terminer, and general gaol delivery. 7. The court of
quarter sessions of the peace. 8. The sheriff’s tourn
9. The court left. 10. The court of the coroner.
11. I he court of the clerk of the market.
(4.) Private criminal courts are, 1. The court of the
lord steward, &c. by statute of Henry VII. 2. The
court of the lord steward, &c. by statute of Hen¬
ry VIII. 3. The university courts.
Sect. XX. Of Summary Convictions.
(1.) Proceedings in criminal courts are, 1. Summary.
2. Regular. J
(2.) Summary proceedings are such, whereby a man
may be convicted of divers offences, without any form¬
al process or jury, at the discretion of the judge or
judges appointed by act of parliament, or common
law.
(SO Such are, 1. Trials of offences and fraud*
against the laws of excise and other branches of the
king’s revenue. 2. Convictions before justices of the
peace upon a variety of minute offences, chiefly against
the
cxl.
chi.
exlii.
>hap. IV. ]
Law of the public police. 3. Attachments for contempts to the
England superior courts of justice,
pitomised.
Sect. XXI. Of Arrests,
\ cxlii. C1*) Regular proceedings in the courts of common
law, are, 1. Arrest. 2. Commitment and bail. 3. Vro-
secution. 4. Process. 3. Arraignment, and its inci¬
dents. 6. Plea and issue. 7. Trial and conviction.
%. Clergy. 9. ./Wgw£72f, and its consequences. 10. Re¬
versal ot judgment. 11. Reprieve ox pardon. 12. Exe¬
cution.
(2.) An arrest is the apprehending, or restraining,
of one’s person ; in order to be forthcoming to answer
a crime whereof one is accused or suspected.
(3.) This may be done, 1. By warrant. 2. By an
officer, without warrant. 3. By a private person, with¬
out warrant. 4. By hue and cry.
Sect. XXII, Of Commitment and Bail.
«xliv. Commitment is the confinement of one’s per¬
son in prison, for safe custody, by warrant from pro¬
per authority ; unless, in bailable offences, he puts
in sufficient bail, or security for his future appear¬
ance.
(2.) The magistrate is bound to take reasonable bail,
if offered ; unless the offender be not bailable.
(3.) Such are, 1. Persons accused of treason ; or,
2. Of murder ; or, 3. Of manslaughter, by indictment;
or if the prisoner was clearly the slayer. 4. Prison
breakers, when committed for felony. 5. Outlaws.
6. Those who have abjured the realm. 7. Approvers,
and appellees. 8. Persons taken with the mainour.
9. Persons accused of arson. 10. Excommunicated
persons.
(4-) The magistrate may, at his discretion, admit to
bail, or otherwise, persons not of good fame, charged
with other felonies, whether as principals or as acces¬
sories.
(5.) If they be of good fame, he is bound to admit
them to bail.
(6.) The court of king’s bench, or its judges in time
of vacation, may bail in any case whatsoever.
Sect. XXIII. Of the Several Modes of Prosecution.
AW. 621
king’s person or government : or, 2. Filed by the ma- Law of
ster of the crown office (with leave of the court of England
king’s bench) at the relation of some private subject EPiton,i,ed*
for other gross and notorious misdemeanors. All dif- * v ' '
fering from indictments in this, that they are exhibited
by the informer, or the king’s officer j and not on the
oath of a grand jury.
(5.) An appeal is an accusation or suit, brought by
one private subject against another, for larclny, rape,
mayhem, arson, or homicide:, which the king can¬
not discharge or pardon, but the party alone can re¬
lease.
Sect. XXIV. Of Process upon an Indictment.
OO Process to bring in an offender, when indicted cxlvi.
m Ins absence, is, in misdemeanors, by venire jacias,
distress infinite, and capias: in capital crimes, by capias
only : and, in both, by outlawry.
(2.) During this stage of proceedings, the indict¬
ment may be removed into the court of king’s bench
from any inferior jurisdiction, by writ of certiorari fa¬
cias: and cognizance must be claimed in places of ex¬
clusive jurisdiction.
Sect. XXV. Of Arraignment, and its Incidents.
(l.) Arraignment is the calling of the prisoner to the exhii.
bar of the court, to answer the matter of the indict¬
ment.
(2.) Incident hereunto are, 1. The standing mute
of the prisoner: for which, in petit treason, and felo¬
nies of death, he shall undergo the peine fort et dure.
2. His confession 5 which is either simple, or by way of
approvement.
Sect. XXVI. Of Plea, and its Issue.
C1-) The plea, or defensive matter alleged by the exlriii.
prisoner, may be, 1. A plea to the jurisdiction. 2. A
demurrer. in point of law. 3* A plea in abatement.
4. A special plea in bar; which is, 1st, Auterfoits ac¬
quit; 2dly, Auterfoits convict; 3dly, Auterfoits attaint;
4thly, A pardon. 3. The general issue, not guilty*
(2.) Hereupon issue is joined by the clerk of the ar¬
raigns, on behalf of the king.
exfv. C1*) Prosecution, or the manner of accusing of¬
fenders, is either by a previous finding of a grand
jury ; as, 1. By presentment. 2. By indictment. Or,
without such finding. 3. By information. 4. By ap¬
peal.
(2.) A presentment is the notice taken by a grand
jury of any offence, from their own knowledge or ob¬
servation.
(3.) An indictment is a written accusation of one or
more persons of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred to,
and presented on oath by, a grand jury; expressing,
with sufficient certainty, the person, time, place, and
offence.
(^O And information is, 1. At the suit of the king
and a subject, upon penal statutes. 2. At the suit of
the king only. Either, I. Filed by the attorney ge¬
neral ex officio, for such misdemeanors as affect the
Sect. XX\II. Of Trial, and Conviction.
(1.) Trials of offence, by the laws of England,
were and are, 1. By ordeal, of either fire or water.
2. By the corsned. Both these have been long abolished.
3. By battel, in appeals and improvements. 4. By the
peers of Great Britain. 3. By jury.
(2.) The method and process of trial by jury is,
1. The impannelling of the jury. 2. Challenges;
1 st, for cause ; 2dly, peremptory. 3. Tales de circum-
stantibus. 4. The oath of the jury. 3. The evidence.
6. The verdict, either general or special.
(3.) Conviction is when the prisoner pleads, or is
found guilty : whereupon, in felonies, the prosecutor
is entitled to, i. His expences. 2. Restitution of his
goods.
Sect.
<522
Law of
England
Epitomised.
cl.
cli.
Sect. XXVIII. Of the Benefit of Clergy.
(l.) Clergy, or the benefit thereof, was originally
derived from the usurped jurisdiction of the Popish ec¬
clesiastics ; but hath since been new-modelled by several
statutes.
(2.) It is an exemption of the clergy from any other
secular punishment for felony, than imprisonment for
a year, at the court’s discretion j and it is extended
likewise, absolutely, to lay peers, for the first ofl’ence $
and to all lay-commoners, for the first offence also,
upon condition of branding, imprisonment, or trans¬
portation.
(3.) All felonies are entitled to the benefit of cler¬
gy, except such as are now ousted by particular sta¬
tutes.
(4.) Felons, on receiving the benefit of clergy,
(though they forfeit their goods to the crown), are
discharged of all clergyable felonies before committed,
and restored in all capacities and credits.
Sect. XXIX. Of Judgment, and its Consequences.
(1.) Judgment (unless any matter be offered in ar¬
rest thereof) follows upon conviction ; being the pro¬
nouncing of that punishment which is expressly ordain¬
ed by law.
(2.) Attainder of a criminal is the immediate conse¬
quence, I. Of having judgment of death pronounced
upon him. 2. Of outlawry for a capital offence.
(3.) The consequences of attainder are, 1. Forfei¬
ture to the king. 2. Corruption of blood.
(4.) Forfeiture to the king is, 1. Of real estates,
upon attainder j—in high treason, absolutely, till the
death of the late Pretender’s sons ;—in felonies, for the
king’s year, day, and waste ;—in misprision of treason,
assaults on a judge, or battery sitting the courts ; during
the life of the offender. 2. Of personal estates, upon
conviction; in all treason, misprision of treason, felony,
excusable homicide, petit larceny, standing mute upon
arraignment, the above-named contempts of the king’s
courts, and flight.
(5.) Corruption of blood is an utter extinction of all
inheritable quality therein : so that, after the king’s
forfeiture is first satisfied, the criminal’s lands escheat
L A W. part iji
to the lord of the fee ; and he can never afterwards in- i,aW of
herit, be inherited, or have any inheritance derived Englaad
through him. Epitomised,
Sect. XXX. Of Reversal of Judgment.
(1.) Judgments, and their consequences, may be
avoided, 1. By falsifying, or reversing, the attainder.
2. By reprieve, or pardon.
(2.) Attainders may befalsified, or reversed, 1. With¬
out a writ of error; for matter dehors the record. 2. By
writ of error ; for mistakes in the judgment, or record.
3. By act of parliament; for favour.
(3.) When an outlawry is reversed, the party is re¬
stored to the same plight as if he had appeared upon
the capias. When 9. judgment, on conviction, is rever¬
sed, the party stands as if never accused.
Sect. XXXI. Of Reprieve, and Far don.
(1.) A reprieve is a temporary suspension of the
judgment, 1. Ex arbitrio judicis. 2. Ex necessitate le-
gis; for pregnancy, insanity, or the trial of identity of
person, which must always be tried instanter.
(2.) A pardon is a permanent avoider of the judge¬
ment by the king’s majesty, in offences against his
crown and dignity ; drawn in due form of law, allowed
in open court, and thereby making the offender a new
man.
(3*) ^he king cannot pardon, 1. Imprisonment of
the subject beyond the seas. 2. Offences prosecuted by
appeal. 3. Common nuisances. 4. Offences against
popular or penal statutes, after information brought by
a subject. Nor is his pardon pleadable to an impeach¬
ment by the commons in parliament.
Sect. XXXII. Of Execution.
(1.) Execution is the completion of human punish¬
ment, and must be strictly performed in the manner
which the law directs.
(2.) The warrant for execution is sometimes under
the hand and seal of the judge ; sometimes by writ
from the king; sometimes by rule of court; but com¬
monly by the judges signing the calendar of prisoners,
with their separate judgments in the margin.
elii.
cHii.
dir.
PART III. THE LAW OF SCOTLAND.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
elv.
Municipal I. THE municipal law of Scotland, as of most other
countries, consists partly of statutory or written law,
which has the express authority of the legislative power;
partly of customary or unwritten law, which derives
force from its presumed or tacit consent.
Statutory 2. Under our statutory or written law is compre-
^ bended, (1.) Our acts of parliament: not only those
which Were m£U*e ^ie reI8n James I* of Scot¬
land, and from thence down to our union with Eng¬
land in 1707, but such of the British statutes enacted
since the Union as concerned this part of the united
kingdom.
3. The remains of our ancient written law were pub-aef/;aill
lished by Sir John Skene, clerk register, in the begin-Majesta-
ning of the last century, by license of parliament. Thetew.
books of Regiam Majestatem, to which the whole col¬
lection owes its title, seem to be a system of Scots law,
written by a private lawyer at the command of David
I.; and though no express confirmation of that trea¬
tise by the legislature appears, yet it is admitted to
have been the ancient law of our kingdom by express
statutes. The borough laws, which were also enacted
by the same King David, and the statutes of William,
Alexander IE. David II. and the three Roberts, are
universally allowed to be genuine. Our parliament#
have once and again appointed commissions to revise and
amend
jfts of se-
eruut.
/thority
athe civil
atil canon
levs.
’art III. L A
amend the Regiam Majestatem, and the other ancient
hooks of our law, and to make their report : but as no
report appears to have been made, nor consequently any
ratification by parliament, none of these remains are re¬
ceived, as of proper authority, in our courts j yet they
are of excellent use in proving and illustrating our most
ancient customs.
4. Our written law comprehends, (2.) The acts of
sederunt, which are ordinances for regulating the forms
of proceeding before the court of session in the admi¬
nistration of justice, made by the judges, who have a
delegated power from the legislature for that purpose.
Some of these acts dip upon matter of right, which de¬
clare what the judges apprehend to he the law of Scot¬
land, and what they are to observe afterwards as a rule
of judgment.
5. The civil, or Roman and canon laws, though
they are not perhaps to be deemed proper parts of our
written law, have undoubtedly bad the greatest in¬
fluence in Scotland. The powers exercised by our
sovereigns and judges have been justified upon no other
ground, than that they were conformable to the civil
or canon laws; and a special statute was judged neces¬
sary, upon the Reformation, to rescind such of their
constitutions as were repugnant to the Protestant doc¬
trine. From that period, the canon law has been little
respected, except in questions of tithes, patronages,
and some few more articles of ecclesiastical right: but
the Roman continues to have great authority in all
cases where it is not derogated from by statute or cus¬
tom, and where the genius of our law suffers us to ap¬
ply it.
Cftomary Our unwritten or customary law, is that which
ironmiun wjti10ul; bejng expressly enacted by statute, derives its
force from the tacit consent of king and people ; which
consent is presumed from the ancient custom of the
community. Custom, as it is equally founded in the
will of the lawgiver with written law, has therefore the
same effects: hence, as one statute may he explained
or repealed by another, so a statute may he explained
by the uniform practice of the community, and even
go into disuse by a posterior contrary custom. But
this power of custom to derogate from prior statutes
is generally confined by lawyers to statutes concerning
private right, and does not extend to those which re¬
gard public policy.
7. An uniform tract of the judgments or decisions
of the court of session is commonly considered as part
of our customary law ; and without doubt, where a par¬
ticular custom is thereby fixed or proved, such custom
of itself constitutes law : hut decisions, though they
bind the parties litigating, have not, in their own na¬
ture, the authority of law in similar cases ; yet, where
they continue uniform, great weight is justly laid on
Jifementg them. Neither can the judgments of the house of peers
«fi|e house of Great Britain reach farther than to the parties in the
01 pers’ appeal, since in these the peers act as judges, not as
p i lawgivers.
jjofhaws 8. Though the laws of nature are sufficiently pub-
1 lished by the internal suggestion of natural light, civil
laws cannot be considered as a rule for the conduct of
life, till they are notified to those whose conduct they
are to regulate. The Scots acts of parliament were, by
our most ancient custom, proclaimed in all the different
shires, boroughs, and baron courts, of the kingdom.
Visions
ie ses-
tiJ<
w.
But after our statutes came to he printed, that custom
was gradually neglected ; and at last the publication
of our laws, at the market-cross of Edinburgh, was
declared sufficient ; and they became obligatory 40
days thereafter. British statutes are deemed sufficient¬
ly notified, without formal promulgation ; either be¬
cause the printing is truly a publication ; or because
every subject is, by a maxim of the English law, party
to them, as being present in parliament either by him¬
self or his representative. After a law is published, no
pretence of ignorance can excuse the breach of it.
9. As laws are given for the rule of our conduct,
they can regulate future cases only ; for past actions,
being out of our power, can admit of no rule. Decla¬
ratory laws form no exception to this ; for a statute,
where it is declaratory of a former law, does no more
than interpret its meaning; and it is included in the
notion of interpretation, that it must draw back to the
date of the law interpreted.
10. By the rules of interpreting statute law received *.nterPrct*'
in Scotland, an argument may be used from the title
to the act itself, a rubro ad nigrum ; at least, where ’
the rubric has either been originally framed, or after¬
wards adopted by the legislature. The preamble or
narrative, which recites the inconveniences that had
arisen from the former law ; and the causes inducing
the enactment, may also lead a judge to the general
meaning of the statute. But the chief weight is to he
laid on the statutory words.
IX. Laws, being directed to the unlearned as well
as the learned, ought to be construed in their most ob¬
vious meaning, and not explained away by subtle di¬
stinctions ; and no law is to suffer a figurative interpre¬
tation, where the proper sense of the words is as com¬
modious, and equally fitted to the subject of the sta¬
tute. Laws ought to be explained so as to exclude ab¬
surdities, and in the sense which appears most agreeable
to former laws, to the intention of the lawgiver, and
to the general frame and structure of the constitution.
In prohibitory laws, where the right of acting is taken
from a person, solely for the private advantage of an¬
other, the consent of him, in whose behalf the law was
made, shall support the act done in breach of it ; but
the consent of parties immediately interested has no
effect in matters which regard the public utility of a
state. Where the words of a statute are capable but of
one meaning, the statute must be observed, however
hard it may bear on particular persons. Nevertheless,
as no human system of laws can comprehend all pos¬
sible cases, more may sometimes be meant by the law¬
giver than is expressed ; and hence certain statutes,
where extension is not plainly excluded, may he ex¬
tended beyond the letter, to similar and omitted cases:
others are to be confined to the statutory words.
12. A strict interpretation is to be applied, (1.) To St riot,
correctory statutes, which repeal or restrict former laws;
and to statutes which enact heavy penalties, or restrain
the natural liberties of mankind. (2.) Laws, made on
occasion of present exigencies in a state, ought not to
be drawn to similar cases, after the pressure is over.
(3’) Where statutes establish certain solemnities as re¬
quisite to deeds, such solemnities are not suppliable by
equivalents ; lor solemnities lose their nature, when they
are not performed specifically. (4.) A statute, which
enumerates special cases, is, with difficulty, to be ex¬
tended
624
Law of
Scotland.
Ample,
clvi.
Jurisdic¬
tion.
King the
fountain of
jurisd iction
Distinc¬
tions of ju¬
risdiction.
L A
tended to cases not expressed ; but, where a law does
not descend to particulars, there is greater reason to
extend it to similar cases. (5.) Statutes, which carry
a dispensation or privilege to particular persons or so¬
cieties, suffer a strict interpretation ; because they de¬
rogate from tbe general law, and imply a burden upon
the rest of the community. Rut at no rate can a
privilege be explained to the prejudice of those in
whose behalf it was granted. As the only founda¬
tion of customary law is usage, which consists in fact,
such law can go no farther than the particular usage
has gone.
13. All statutes, concerning matters specially fa¬
voured by law, receive an ample interpretation *, as laws
for the encouragement of commerce, or of any useful
public undertaking, for making effectual the wills of
dying persons, for restraining fraud, for the security
of creditors, &c. A statute, though its subject matter
should not be a favourite of the law, may he extended
to similar cases, which did not exist when the statute
was made; and for which, therefore, it was not in the
lawgiver’s power to provide.
14. Every statute, however unfavourable, must re¬
ceive the interpretation necessary to give it effect: and,
on the other hand, in the extension of favourable laws,
scope must not be given to the imagination, in disco¬
vering remote resemblances ; the extension must he li¬
mited to the cases immediately similar. Where there
is ground to conclude that the legislature has omitted
a case out of the statute purposely, the statute cannot
be extended to that case, let it be ever so similar to the
cases expressed.
15. The objects of the laws of Scotland, according
to Mr Erskine, one of the latest writers on the subject
are, Persons, Things, and Actions.
Chap. I. Of Persons.
Among persons, judges, who are invested with juris¬
diction, deserve the first consideration.
Sect. I. Of Jurisdiction and Judges in General.
Jurisdiction is a power conferred upon a judge or
magistrate, to take cognizance of and decide causes ac¬
cording to law, and to carry his sentences into execu¬
tion. That tract of ground, or district, within which
a judge has the right of jurisdiction, is called his ter¬
ritory: and every act of jurisdiction exercised by a
judge without his territory, either by pronouncing sen¬
tence, or carrying it into execution, is null.
2. The supreme power, which has the right of en¬
acting laws, falls naturally to have the right of erect¬
ing courts, and appointing judges, who may apply
these laws to particular cases : but, in Scotland this
right has been always intrusted with the crown, as hav¬
ing the executive power of the state.
3. Jurisdiction is either supreme, inferior, or mixed.
That jurisdiction is supreme, from which there lies no
appeal to a higher court. Inferior courts are those
whose sentences are subject to the review of the supreme
couits, and whose jurisdiction is confined to a particu¬
lar territory. Mixed jurisdiction participates of the
nature both of the supreme and inferior: thus the
judge of the high court of admiralty, and the com-
y*; Part III,
missaries of Edinburgh, have an universal jurisdiction Ka,Vof
over Scotland, and they can review the decrees oE Scotland,
inferior admirals and commissaries : but since their v—"y-—'
own decrees afe subject to tbe review of the courts of
session or justiciary, they are, in that respect, inferior
courts.
5. Jurisdiction is either civil or criminal : by the first,
questions of private right are decided ; by the other,
crimes are punished. Rut, in all jurisdiction, though
merely civil, there is a power inherent in the judge°o
punish either corporally, or by a pecuniary fine, those
who offend during the proceedings of the court, or
who shall afterwards obstruct the execution of the sen¬
tence.
5. Jurisdiction is either private or cumulative.
Private jurisdiction, is that which belongs only to
one court, to the exclusion of all others. Cumulative,
otherwise called concurrent, is that which may be exer¬
cised by any one of two or more courts, in the same
cause. In civil cumulative jurisdiction, the private pur¬
suer has the right of election before which of the courts
he shall sue ; but as, in criminal questions which are
prosecuted by a public officer of court, a collision of
jurisdiction might happen, through each of the judges
claiming the exercise of their right, that judge, by
whose warrant the delinquent is first cited or appre¬
hended (which is the first step of jurisdiction), acquires
thereby (jure praventionis) tbe exclusive right of judg¬
ing the cause.
6. All rights of jurisdiction, being originally grant¬
ed m consideration of the fitness ot the grantee, were
therefore personal, and died with himself. But, upon
the introduction of the feudal system, certain jurisdic¬
tions were annexed to lands, and descended to heirs, as
well as the lands to which they were annexed ; but now
all heritable jurisdictions, except those of admiralty
and a small pittance reserved to barons, are either a-
bolished, or resumed and annexed to the crown.
7. Jurisdiction is either proper or delegated. Pro- .
per jurisdiction, is that which belongs to a judge or
magistrate himself, in virtue of his office. Delegated,
is that which is communicated by the judge to another
who acts in his name, called z. depute or deputy. Where
a deputy appoints one under him, he is called substi¬
tute. No grant of jurisdiction, whtch is an office re¬
quiring personal qualifications, can be delegated by
the grantee to another, without an express power in the
grant.
S. Civil jurisdiction is founded, 1. jRot/ojze ffow/cz'/Zz", Civil juris-
if the defender has his domicile within the judge’s ter-^ction»
ritory. A domicile is the dwelling place where a per-''tcr.eill
son lives with an intention to remain ; and custom has<0Un 6
fixed it as a rule, that residence for 40 days founds ju¬
risdiction. If one has no fixed dwelling place, e. g. a
soldier, or a travelling merchant, a personal citation
against him within the territory is sufficient to found
the judge’s jurisdiction over him, even in civil ques¬
tions. As the defender is not obliged to appear before
a court to which he is not subject, the pursuer must fol¬
low the defender’s domicile.
9. It is founded, 2. liatione res sitce, if the subject
in question lie within the territory. If that subject be
immoveable, tbe judge, whose jurisdiction is founded
in this way, is the sole judge competent, excluding the
judge of the domicile.
10. Where
i*at.
oflran-
<hap. L L
,aw of 10. Where one, who has not his domicile within the
•otlaurl, territory, is to be sued before an inferior court, ratione
v_ ret sitce, the court of session must be applied to, whose
liters of jurisdiction is universal, and who, of course, grants let-
*ip,e* ters of supplement to cite the defender to appear be¬
fore the inferior judge. Where the party to be sued
resides in another kingdom, and has an estate in this,
the court of session is the only proper court, as the
communeforum to all persons residing abroad ; and the
defender, it his estate be heritable, is considered as law¬
fully summoned to that court, by a citation at the mar¬
ket cross of Edinburgh, and pier and shore of Leith :
but where a stranger, not a native of Scotland, has on¬
ly a moveable estate in this kingdom, he is deemed to
be so little subject to the jurisdiction of our courts, that
action cannot be brought against him till his effects be
first attached by an arrestment jarisdictionisfundandce
causa ; which is laid on by a warrant issuing from the
supreme courts of session, or admiralty, or from that
within whose territory the subject is situated, at the
suit of the creditor.
Ajestment u. A judge may, in special cases, arrest or secure
the persons of such as have neither domicile nor estate
within his territory, even for civil debts. Thus, on the
border between Scotland and England, warrants are
granted of course by the judge-ordinary of either side,
against those who have their domicile upon the op¬
posite side, for arresting their persons, -till they give
caution7«r//c70 sisti; and even the persons of citizens or
natives may be so secured, where there is just reason to
suspect that they are in meditatione fugce, i. e. that they
intend suddenly to withdraw from the kingdom j upon
which suspicion, the creditor who applies for the war¬
rant must make oath. An inhabitant of a borough-
royal, who has furnished one who lives without the bo¬
rough in meat, clothes, or other merchandise, and who
has no security for it but his own account book, may
arrest his debtor, till he give securityjWz’cz’o sisti,
G undsoF 12. A judge may be declined, i. e. his jurisdiction
Jaflma- disowned judicially, i. Ratione causes, from his incom¬
petency to the special cause brought before him. 2. Ra¬
tione suspecti judicis ; where either the judge himself, or
his near kinsman, has an interest in the suit. No judge
can vote in the cause of his father, brother, or son, ei¬
ther by consanguinity or affinity j nor in the cause of
his uncle or nephew by consanguinity. 3. Ratione pri-
vilegii; where the party is by privilege exempted from
their jurisdiction.
13. Prorogated jurisdiction {jurisdictio in consenti
A W.
625
in.
Fllrogated
jimclic
lu
elites) is that which is, by the consent of parties, con¬
ferred upon a judge, who, without such consent, would
be incompetent. Where a judge is incompetent, every
step he takes must be null, till his jurisdiction be made
competent by the party’s actual submission to it. It
is otherwise where the judge is competent, but may be
declined by the party upon privilege.
14. In order to prorogation, the judge must have
jurisdiction, such as may be prorogated. Hence, pro¬
rogation cannot be admitted where the judge’s jurisdic¬
tion is excluded by statute. Yet where the cause is of
the same nature with those to which the judge is com¬
petent, though law may have confined his jurisdiction
within a certain sum, parties may prorogate it above
that sum unless where prorogation is prohibited. Pro¬
rogation is not admitted in the king’s causes ; for the
Vol. XI. Part II. +
interest of the crown cannot be hurt by the negligence Law of
of its officers. . _ _ Scotland.
15. All judges must at their admission swear, 1. The  v  
oath of allegiance, and subscribe the assurance ; 2. The Pat^s
oath of abjuration ; 3. The oath of supremacy j lastly,
The oath defideli administratione.
16. Al party who has either properly declined the Letters of
jurisdiction of the judge before whom he had been ci- ailveea-
ted, or who thinks himself aggrieved by any proceed-t‘on*
ings in the cause, may, before decree, apply to the court
of session to issue letters of advocation for calling the
action from before the inferior court to themselves.
The grounds, therefore, upon which a party may pray
for letters of advocation, are incompetency and iniqui¬
ty. Under incompetency, is comprehended not only
defect of jurisdiction, but all the grounds of declining
a jurisdiction, in itself competent, arising either from
suspicion of the judge, or privilege in the parties. A
judge is said to commit iniquity, when he either delays
justice, or pronounces sentence, in the exercise of his
jurisdiction, contrary to law.
17. That the court of session may not waste their Advoca-
time in trifles, no cause for a sum below twelve poundstfon bow-
sterling can be advocated to the court of session from
the inferior judge competent: but if an inferior judge
shall proceed upon a cause to which he is incompetent,
the cause may be carried from him by advocation, let
the subject be ever so inconsiderable.
Sect. II. Of the Supreme Judges and Courts of
Scotland.
cl vii.
1. The king, who is the fountain of jurisdiction,Kinj,
might by our constitution have judged in all causes,
either in his own person, or by those whom he was plea-and
sed to vest with jurisdiction.
2. The parliament of Scotland, as our court of the Parliament,
last resort, had the right of reviewing the sentences of
all our supreme courts.
3. By the treaty of Union, 1707, the parliaments 0fParfiament
Scotland and England are united into one parliament P1,*1
of Great Britain. From this period, the British house ^rita‘W
of peers, as coming in place of the Scots parliament,
is become our court of the last resort, to which appeals
lie from all the supreme courts of Scotland: but that
court has no original jurisdiction in civil matters, in
which they judge only upon appeal. By art. 22. of
that treaty, the Scots share of the representation in
the house of peers is fixed to 16 Scots peers elective }
and in the house of commons, to 45 commoners, of
which 30 are elected by the freeholders of counties,
and 15 by the royal boroughs. The Scots privy coun¬
cil was also thereupon abolished, and sunk into that of
Great Britain, which for the future is declared to have
no other powers than the English privy council had at
the time of the union.
4. A court was erected in 1425, consisting of cer-Courtof
tain persons to be named by the king, out of the three8e8sio11
estates of parliament, which was vested with the juris¬
diction formerly lodged in the council, and got the
name of the session, because it was ordained to hold
annually a certain number of sessions at the places to
be specially appointed by the king. This court had
a jurisdiction, cumulative with the judge ordinary, in
spuilzies, and other possessory actions, and in debts $
4 K but
625
L A
Lava of
bcotiaml.
College of
justice.
Judges, by
whom na¬
med.
Their qua¬
lifications
and trial.
Privileges
of the col¬
lege of ju¬
stice.
J tnisdic-
tion of the
session.
hut they had no cognizance in questions of property of
heritable subjects. No appeal lay front its judgments
to the parliament. The judges of this court served by
rotation, and were changed from time to time, after
having sat 40 days ; and became so negligent in the
administration of justice, that it was at last thought
necessary to transfer the jurisdiction of this court to a
council to be named by the king, called the daily
council.
5. The present model of the court of session, or col¬
lege of justice, was formed in the reign of James V.
The judges, thereof, who were vested with an universal
civil jurisdiction, consisted originally of seven church¬
men, seven laymen, and a president, whom it behoved
to be a prelate; but spiritual judges were in 1584
partly, and in 1640 totally, prohibited. The judges
of session have been always received by warrants from
the crown. Anciently his majesty seems to have trans¬
ferred to the court itself the right of choosing their own
president; and in a sederunt recorded June 26. 1593,
the king condescended to present to the lords, upon
every vacancy in the bench, a list of three persons, out
of which they were to choose one. But his majesty soon
resumed the exercise of both rights, which continued
with the crown till the usurpation ; %vhen it was or¬
dained that the king should name the judges of the
session, by the advice of parliament. Alter the Kesto-
ration, the nomination was again declared to be solely
in the sovereign.
6. Though judges may, in the general case, be na¬
med at the age of 21 years, tiie lords of session must
be at least 25. No person can be named lord of session,
who has not served as an advocate or principal clerk of
session for five years, or as a writer to the signet for
ten : and in the case of a writer to the signet, lie must
undergo the ordinary trials upon the Roman law, and
be found qualified two years before he can be named.
Upon a vacancy in the bench, the king presents the
successor by a letter addressed to the lords, wherein he
requires them to try and admit the person presented.
The powers given to them to reject the presentee upon
trial are taken away, and a bare liberty to remonstrate
substituted in its place.
7. Besides the 15 ordinary judges, the king was al¬
lowed to name three or four lords of his great council,
who might sit and vote with them. These extraordi¬
nary lords were suppressed in the reign of Geo. I.
8. The appellation of the college of justice is not con¬
fined to the judges, who are distinguished by the name
of scnatorsy but comprehends advocates, clerks of ses¬
sion, writers to the signet, and others, as described,
Act S. 23d I eh. 1687. Where, therefore, the college
ot justice is entitled to any privilege, it extends to all
the members of the college. They are exempted from
watching, warding, and other services within borough ;
and from the payment of ministers stipends, and of all
customs, &c. imposed upon goods carried to or from
the city of Edinburgh. Part of these privileges and
immunities were lately called in question by the city
of Edinburgh ; hut they were found by the court of
session (affirmed upon appeal) to he in full force.
9. 1 hough the jurisdiction of the session be properly
limited to civil causes, the judges have always sustain¬
ed themselves as competent to the crime of falsehood.
W. Part III,
Where the falsehood deserves death or demembration, Law of
they, after finding the crime proved, remit the crimi- Scoikmi,
nal to the court of justiciary. Special statute has given
to the court of session jurisdiction in contraventions of
law-burrows, deforcements, and breach of arrestment;
and they have been in use to judge in battery pendente
life, and in usury.
10. In certain civil causes, the jurisdiction of the ses¬
sion is exclusive of all inferior jurisdictions ; as in de¬
clarators of property, and other competitions of heri¬
table rights, proving of the tenor, cessiones honorum^
restitution of minors, reductions of decrees or of writ¬
ings, sales of the estates of minors or bankrupts, &c.
In a second class of causes, their jurisdiction can be
only exercised in the way of review, after the cause is
brought from the inferior court; as in maritime and
consistorial causes, which must be pursued in the first
instance before the admiral or commissary ; and in ac¬
tions, below twelve pounds sterling, which must he
commenced before the judge ordinary. In all civil ac¬
tions, which fall under neither of these classes, the ju¬
risdiction of the session is concurrent, even in the first
instance, with that of the judge ordinary. The session
may proceed as a court of equity by the rules of con¬
science, in abating the rigour of law, and giving aid
in proper cases to such as in a court of law can have
no remedy : and this power is inherent in the supreme
court of every country, where separate courts are not
established for law and for equity.
This court formerly met upon the 12th day of
June and rose upon the nth day of August for the
summer session ; but now, in consequence of an act
passed in the session of parliament 1790, it meets on the
12th of May and rises on the nth of July for the sum¬
mer session; the winter sederunt still remaining as for¬
merly, viz. from the 12th of November to the'nth of
March inclusive.
n. The supreme criminal judge was styled the Justiciar?
Justiciar; and he had anciently an universal civil ju-coort*
risdiction, even in matters of heritage. He was obli¬
ged to hold two justice courts or ayres yearly at Edin¬
burgh or Peebles, where all the freeholders of the king¬
dom were obliged to attend. Besides this universal
court, special justice ayres were held in all the different
shires in the kingdom twice in the year. These last
having gone into disuse, eight deputies were appoint¬
ed, two for every quarter of the kingdom, who should
make their circuits over the whole in April and Oc¬
tober.
12. The office of deputies was suppressed in 1672;
and five lords of session were added, as commissioners of
justiciary, to the justice general and justice clerk. The
justice general, if present, is constant president of the
court, and in his absence the justice clerk. The king¬
dom is divided into three districts, and two of the judges
are appointed to hold circuits in certain boroughs of
each district twice in the year; one judge may pro¬
ceed to business in the absence of his colleague. In
trials before this court the evidence was always taken
down in writing till the act 23d Geo. III. was passed ;
by which the judges may try and determine all causes
by the verdict of an assize upon examining the witnes¬
ses viva focc, without reducing the testimony into writ¬
ing, unless it shall appear more expedient to proceed in
the
jphap. I. L
Law of the former way, which they have it ia their power to
Scotland, do. This act was at first temporary, but is now made
' ‘ perpetual by 27th Geo. III. cap. 18. **
13. By an old statute, the crimes of robbery, rape,
murder and wilful fire raising (the four pleas of the
crown), are said to be reserved to the king’s court of
justiciary; but the only crime in which, de praxi, the
jurisdiction of justiciary became at last exclusive of all
I f inferior criminal jurisdiction, was that of high treason.
The court of justiciary, when sitting at Edinburgh, has
a power of advocating causes from all inferior criminal
judges, and of suspending their sentences.
14. The circuit court can also judge in all criminal
causes which do not infer death or demembration, up¬
on appeal from any inferior court within their district;
and has a supreme civil jurisdiction, by way of appeal,
in all causes not exceeding twelve pounds sterling, in
which their decrees are not subject to review; but no
appeal is to lie to the circuit, till the cause be finally
determined in the inferior court.
iurtof jj.' 'j’he court of exchequer, as the king’s cham-
y'liequer. berlain court, judged in all questions of the revenue.
In pursuance of the treaty of Union, that court was abo¬
lished, and a new court erected, consisting of the lord
high treasurer of Great Britain, and a chief baron,
with four other barons of exchequer ; which barons
are to be made of Serjeants at law, English barristers,
or Scots advocates of five years standing. This court
has a private jurisdiction conferred upon it, as to the
duties of customs, excise, or other revenues appertain¬
ing to the king or prince of Scotland, and as to all ho¬
nours and estates that may accrue to the crown ; in
which matters, they are to judge by the forms of pro¬
ceeding used in the English court of exchequer, under
■the following limitations : That no debt due to the
xrown shall affect the debtor’s real estate in any other
manner than such estate may be affected by the laws of
Scotland, and that the validity of the crown’s titles to
any honours or lands shall continue to be tried by the
court of session. The barons have the powers of the
Scots court transferred to them, of passing the accounts
of sheriffs, or other officers who have the execution of
writs issuing from, or returnable to, the court of ex¬
chequer, and of receiving resignations, and passing sig¬
natures of charters, gifts of casualties, &c. But though
all these must pass in exchequer, it is the court of ses¬
sion only who can judge of their preference after they
are completed.
illjbiralty The jurisdiction of the admiral in maritime
causes was of old concurrent with that of the session.
The high admiral is declared the king’s justice general
upon the seas, on fresh water within flood mark, and
in all hartours and creeks. His civil jurisdiction ex¬
tends to all maritime causes: and so comprehends ques¬
tions of charter parties, freights, salvages, bottomries,
&c. He exercises this supreme jurisdiction by a dele¬
gate, the judge of the high court of admiralty ; and he
may also name inferior deputies, whose jurisdiction is
limited to particular districts, and whose sentences are
subject to the review of the high court. In causes which
are declared to fall under the admiral’s cognizance,
his jurisdiction is sole ; insomuch, that the session itself,
though it may review his decrees by suspension or re¬
duction, cannot carry a maritime question from him by
advocation. The admiral has acquired, by usage, a ju-
A W. 627
risdiction in mercantile causes, even where they are not Law of
strictly maritime, cumulative with that of the judge Scotfamh
ordinary. 1 v——*
17* All our supreme courts have seals or signets, pro-Signet,
per to their several jurisdictions. The courts of session
and justiciary used formerly the same signet, which was
called the king’s, because the writs issuing from them
run in the king’s name ; and though the justiciary got
at last a separate signet for itself, yet that of the session
still retains the appellation of the king's signet. In this
office are sealed summonses for citation, letters of execu¬
torial diligence, or for staying or prohibiting of dili¬
gence, and generally whatever passes' by the warrant of
the session, and is to be executed by the officers of
the court. All these must, before sealing, be signed
by the writers or clerks of the signet : But letters of
diligence, where they are granted in a depending pro¬
cess, merely for probation, though they pass by the
signet, must be subscribed by a clerk of session. The
clerks of the signet also prepare and subscribe all sig¬
natures of charters, or other royal grants, which pass
in exchequer.
Sect. III. Of inferior Judges and Courts of Scotland,
clviii
1. Sheriff (from reeve governor, and sheer to cut or Sheriff,
divide) is the judge ordinary constituted by the crown
over a particular division or county. The sheriff’s
jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, was, in ancient
times, nearly as ample within his own territory as that
of the supreme courts of session and justiciary was over
the whole kingdom.
2. His civil jurisdiction now extends to all actions
upon contracts, or other personal obligations ; forth¬
comings, poindings of the ground, mails and duties ;
and to all possessory actions, as removings, ejections,
spuilzies, &c.; to all brieves issuing from the chancery,
as of inquest, terce, division, tutory, &c.; and even to
adjudications of land estates, when proceeding on the
renunciation of the apparent heir. His present crimi¬
nal jurisdiction extends to certain capital crimes, as
theft, and even murder, though it be one of the pleas
of the crown ; and he is competent to most questions of
public police, and has a cumulative jurisdiction with
justices of the peace in all riots and breaches of the
peace.
3. Sheriffs have a ministerial power, in virtue of which
they return juries, in order to a trial of causes that
require juries. The writs for electing members of par¬
liament have been, since the union, directed to the she¬
riffs, who, after they are executed, return them to the
crown office from whence they issued. They also exe¬
cute writs issuing from the court of exchequer ; and in
general, take care of all estates, duties, or casualties
that fall to the crown within their territory, for which
they must account to the exchequer.
4. A lord of regality was a magistrate who had a Lord of
grant of lands from the sovereign, with royal jurisdic-regality,
tion annexed thereto. His civil jurisdiction was equal
to that of a sheriff; his criminal extended to the four
pleas of the crown. He had a right to repledge or re¬
claim all criminals, subject to his jurisdiction from any
other competent court, though it were the justiciary
itself, to his own. He had also right, according to the
most common opinion, to the single escheat of all de-
4 K 2 nounced
Stewart.
Bailie,
IVinee of
Scotland.
628 L
nouncetf persons residing within his jurisdiction, even
though such privilege had not been expressed in the
grant of regality.
5. The stewart was the magistrate appointed by the
king over such regality lands as happened to fall to the
crown by forfeiture, &c. and therefore the Stewart’s
jurisdiction was equal to that of a regality. The two
stewartries of Kirkcudbright, and of Orkney and Zet¬
land, make shires and counties by themselves, and send
each a representative to parliament.
6. Where lands not erected into a regality fell into
the king’s hands, he appointed a bailie over them,
whose jurisdiction was equal to that of a sheriff.
7. By the late jurisdiction act, 20 Geo. II. all herit¬
able regalities and bailieries, and all such heritable
sheriffships and stewartries as were only parts of a shire,
are dissolved ; and the powers formerly vested in them
are made to devolve upon such of the king’s courts as
these powers would have belonged to if the jurisdictions
dissolved had never been granted. All sheriffships and
stewartries that were no part of a shire, where they had
been granted, either heritably or for life, are resumed
and annexed to the crown. No high sheriff or Stewart
can hereafter judge personally in any cause. One sheriff
or stewart-depute is to be appointed by the king in
every shire, who must be an advocate of three years
standing; and whose office as sheriff or slewart-depute
is now by 28 Geo. II. held ad vitam aut culpam.
8. The appanage, or patrimony, of the prince of
Scotland, has been long erected into a regality jurisdic¬
tion, called the Principality. It is personal to the
king’s eldest son, upon whose, death or succession it re¬
turns to the crown. The prince has, or may have, his
own chancery, from which his writs issue, and may
name his own chamberlain and other officers for re¬
ceiving and managing his revenue. The vassals of the
prince are entitled to elect, or to be elected, members
of parliament for counties, equally with those who hold
of the crown.
Justices of 9. Justices of the peace are magistrates named by
the peace. tJ)e sovereign over the several counties of the kingdom,
for the special purpose of preserving the public peace.
Anciently their power reached little farther than to
bind over disorderly persons for their appearance before
the privy council or justiciary; afterwards they were
authorised to judge in breaches of the peace, and in
most of the laws concerning public policy. They may
compel workmen or labourers to serve for a reasonable
fee, and they can condemn masters in the wages due to
their servants. They have power to judge in questions
of highways, and to call out the tenants with their
cottars and servants to perform six days work yearly
for upholding them. It has been lately, however,
found by the court of session, that justices have no juris¬
diction whatever in common actions for debt. So that
it now seems fixed, that they are incompetent in such
actions, except where they are declared competent by
special statute.
10. Since the union, our justices of the peace, over
and above the power committed to them by the laws
of Scotland, are authorised to exercise whatever be¬
long to the office of an English justice, in rela¬
tion to the public peace. From that time, the Scots
and the English commissions have run in the same
style, which contains powers to inquire into apd judge
A W. Partlll.
in all capital crimes, witchcraft, felonies, and several Law of
others specially enumerated : with this limitation sub- Scotland,
joined, of which justices of the peace may lawfully in- v 1'J
quire. I wo justices can constitute a court. Special
statute has given the cognizance of several matters of
excise to the justices, in which their sentences are fi¬
nal. As to which, and the powers thereby vested in
them, the reader must of necessity be referred to the
excise laws; it not falling within the plan of this
work, to enter into so very minute a detail as that
would prove.
tl. A borough is a body corporate, made up of Borough,,
the inhabitants of a certain tract of ground, erected by
the sovereign, with jurisdiction annexed to it. Bo¬
roughs are erected, either to be holden of the sovereign
himself, which is the general case of royal boroughs ;
or of the superior of the lands erected, as boroughs of
regality and barony. Boroughs royal have power, by
their charters, to choose annually certain office bearers
or magistrates ; and in boroughs of regality and ba¬
rony, the nomination of magistrates is, by their char¬
ter, lodged sometimes in the inhabitants, sometimes in
the superior. Bailies of boroughs have jurisdiction in
matters of debt, services, and questions of possession
betwixt the inhabitants. Their criminal jurisdiction
extends to petty riots, and reckless fire-raising. The
dean of guild is that magistrate of a royal borough
who is head of the merchant company ; he has the cog¬
nizance of mercantile causes within'borough ; and the
inspection of buildings, that they encroach neither on
private property, nor on the public streets; and he
may direct insufficient houses to be pulled down. His
jurisdiction has no dependence on the court of the bo¬
rough, or bailie court.
112!' m b.a.ro,n’ V1 ^be la^e sense of that word, is one Barons
who holds his lands immediately of the crown ; and, as
such, had, by our ancient constitution, right to a seat
in parliament, however small his freehold might have
been. The lesser barons were exempted from the bur¬
den of attending the service of parliament. This ex¬
emption grew insensibly into an utter disability in all the
lesser barons from sitting in parliament, without elec¬
tion by the county ; though no statute is to be found
expressly excluding them.
I3* '-^'0 constitute a baron in the strict law sense his
lands must have been erected, or at least confirmed’ by
the king m liberam baroniam; and such baron bid a
certain jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, which he
might have exercised, either in his own person, or by
his bailie. '
14. By the late jurisdiction act, the civil jurisdic¬
tion of a baron is reduced to the power of recovering
from his vassals and tenants, the rents of his lands, and
of condemning them in mill services ; and of judging
in causes where the debt and damages do not exceed
40s. sterling. His criminal jurisdiction is, by the
same statute, limited to assaults, batteries, and other
smaller offences, which may be punished by a fine not
exceeding 208. sterling, or by setting the offender ill
the stocks in the day time not above three hours ; the
fine to be levied by poinding, or one month’s imprison-
ment. The jurisdiction formerly competent to pro¬
prietors of mines, and coal or salt works, over their
workmen, is reserved : and also that which was com¬
petent to proprietors who had the right of fairs or
markets.
Chap, I. LAW. 629
Law of markets, for correcting the disorders that might hap-
Suotland. pen (jurJng their continuance j provided they shall ex-
~ ercise no jurisdiction inferring the loss of life or de¬
membration.
onstabu- j ^ 'pjle high constable of Scotland had no fixed ter¬
ritorial jurisdiction, but followed the court *, and had,
jointly with the marischal, the cognizance of all crimes
committed within two leagues of it. All other consta¬
bularies were dependent on him : these had castles, and
sometimes boroughs, subject to their jurisdiction, as
Dundee, Montrose, &c. and among other powers, now
little known, they had the right of exercising criminal
jurisdiction within their respective territories during
the continuance of fairs. By the late jurisdiction act,
all jurisdictions of constabulary are dissolved, except
that of high constable.
Lyon king 16. The office of the Lyon king of arms was chief-
it anus, Jy ministerial, to denounce war, proclaim peace, carry
public messages, &c. But he has also a right of ju¬
risdiction, whereby he can punish all who usurp arms
contrary to the law of arms, and deprive or suspend
messengers, heralds, or pursuivants, (who are officers
named by himself) ; but he has no cognizance of the
damage arising to the private party through the mes¬
senger’s fault. Messengers are subservient to the su¬
preme courts of Session and Justiciary ; and their pro¬
per business is to execute all the king’s letters either in
civil or criminal causes. They must find caution for
the proper discharge of their duty c/i/a messengers j and
in case of any malversation, or neglect, by which da¬
mage arises to their employers, their sureties may be
recurred upon for indemnification. These sureties,
however, are not answerable for the conduct of the mes¬
senger in any other capacity but gwa such ; and, there¬
fore, if a messenger is authorised to uplift payment
from a debtor, and fails to account to his employer, the
cautioner is not liable ; his obligation extending only to
the regular and proper duties of the office in executing
the diligence or the like.
cHtence 17. Our judges had, for a long time, no other sala-
! loney. j-Jes or appointments than what arose from the sentences
they pronounced. Our criminal judges applied to their
own use the fines or issues of their several courts; and
regalities had a right to the single escheat of all per¬
sons denounced, who resided within their jurisdiction ;
and our civil judges got a certain proportion of the
sum contained in the decree pronounced. But these
were all prohibited upon regular salaries being settled
upon them.
Sect. V. Of Ecclesiastical Persons.
11
fhe pope. 1. The pope, or bishop of Rome, was long acknow¬
ledged, over the western part of Christendom, for the
head of the Christian church. The papal jurisdiction
was abolished in Scotland anno 1560. The king was,
by act 1669, declared to have supreme authority over
all persons, and in all causes ecclesiastical ; but this act
was repealed by 1690, as inconsistent with Presbyte¬
rian church government, which was then upon the point
of being established.
lergjv 2. Before the reformation from Popery, the clergy
was divided into secular and regular. The secular had
a particular tract of ground given them in charge,
within which they exercised the pastoral office of bi- Law of
shop, presbyter, or other church officer. The regular Scotland,
clergy had no cure of souls ; but were tied down to re- < “ - "
sidence in their abbacies, priories, or other monaste¬
ries : and they got the name of regular, from the rules
of mortification to which they were bound, according
to the institution of their several orders. Upon the va¬
cancy of any benefice, whether secular or regular, com-
mendators were frequently appointed to levy the fruits,
as factors or stewards during the vacancy. The pope
alone could give the higher benefices in commendam ;
and, at last, from the plenitude of bis power, he came
to name commendators for life, and without any obli¬
gation to account. After the Reformation, several ab¬
bacies and priories were given by James YI. in perpe-
tuam commendam., to laics.
3. Upon abolishing the pope’s authority, the regular
clergy were totally suppressed ; and in place ef all the
different degrees which distinguished the secular cler¬
gy, we had at first only parochial presbyters or mini¬
sters, and superintendants, who had the oversight of the
church within a certain district; soon thereafter the
church government became episcopal by archbishops,
bishops, &,c.; and after some intermediate turns, is now
Presbyterian by kirk sessions, presbyteries, synods, and
general assemblies.
4. Prelate, in our statutes, signifies a bishop, abbot,
or other dignified clergyman, who, in virtue of his of¬
fice, had a seat in parliament. Every bishop had his
chapter, which consisted of a certain number of the
ministers of the diocese, by whose assistance he ma¬
naged the affairs of the church within that district.
The nomination of bishops to vacant sees has been in
the crown since 1540, though under the appearance of
continuing the ancient right of election, which was in
the chapter. The confirmation by the crown under the
great seal, of the chapter’s election, conferred a right
to the spirituality of the benefice ; and a second grant
upon the consecration of the bishop-elect, gave a title
to the temporality ; but this second grant fell soon into
disuse.
5. He who founded or endowed a church was entitled pay.cnage<
to the right of patronage thereof, or advocatio ecclesice ;
whereby, among other privileges, he might present a
churchman to the cure, in case of a vacancy. The pre¬
sentee, after he was received into the church, bad a
right to the benefice pi'oprio jure; and if the church
was parochial, he was called a. parson. The pope claim¬
ed the right of patronage of every kirk'to which no
third party could show a special title; and, since the
Reformation, the crown, as coming in place of the pope,
is considered as universal patron, where no right of pa¬
tronage appears in a subject. Where two churches are
united, which had different patrons, each patron pre¬
sents by turns.
6. Gentlemen of estates frequently founded colleges
or collegiate churches ; the head of which got the name
of provost, under whom were certain prebendaries, or
canons, who had their several stalls in the church, where
they sung masses. Others of lesser fortunes founded
chaplainries, which were donations granted for the
singing of masses for deceased friends at particular al¬
tars in a church. Though all these were suppressed
upon the Reformation, their founders continued pa¬
trons
^39
Law of
Scotland
Patients.
Provisions
for the re-
tormed
clergy.
Irons of the endowments
• lowed to provide bursars, to be educated in any of the
^ universities.
7. Where a fund is gifted for the establishment of a
second minister in a parish where the cure is thought
■too heavy for one, the patronage of such benefice does
not belong to the donor, but to him who was patron
of the church, unless either where the donor has re¬
served to himself the right of patronage in the dona¬
tion, or where he and his successors have been in the
constant use of presenting the second minister, without
challenge from the patron. The right of presenting in¬
cumbents was by 1690, c. 33. taken from patrons, and
vested in the heritors and elders of the parish, upon
payment to be made by the heritors to the patron of
600 merks $ but it was again restored to patrons, 10
An. c. 12. with the exception of the presentations sold
in pursuance of the former act.
8. Patrons were not simply administrators of the
church 5 for they held the fruits of the vacant benefice
as their own for some time after the Reformation. But
that right is now no more than a trust in the patron,
who must apply them to pious uses within the parish,
at the sight of the heritors, yearly as they fall due. If
he fail, lie loses his right of administering the vacant
stipend for that and the next vacancy. The king,
who is exempted from this rule, may apply the va¬
cant stipend of his churches to any pious use, though
not within the parish. If one should be ordained to a
church, in opposition to the presentee, the patron,
whose civil right cannot be affected by any sentence of
« church court, may retain the stipend as vacant. Pa¬
trons are to this day entitled to a seat and burial place
in the churches of which they are patrons, and to the
right of all the teinds of the parish not heritably dis¬
poned.
9. That kirks may not continue too long vacant, the
patron must present to the presbytery (formerly to the
bishop) a fit person for supplying the cure, within
tix months from his knowledge of the vacancy, other¬
wise the right of presentation accrues to the presbytery
jure devoluio. Upon presentation by the patron, the
bishop collated or conferred the benefice upon the pre¬
sentee by a writing, in which be appointed certain mi¬
nisters of the diocese to induce or institute him into the
church \ which induction completed his right, and was
performed by their placing him in the pulpit, and de¬
livering to him the Bible and keys of the church. The
bishop collated to the churches of which himself was
patron, ptenojure, or without presentation : which lie
also did in mensal churches, whose patronages were
sunk, by the churches being appropriated to him, as
part of bis patrimony. Since the Revolution, a judicial
act of admission by the presbytery, proceeding either
upon a presentation, or upon a call from the heritors
and elders, or upon their own devolutum, completes
the minister’s right to the benefice.
10. Soon after the Reformation, the Popish church¬
men were prevailed upon to resign in the sovereign’s
hands a third of their benefices; which was appropri¬
ated, in the first place, for the subsistence of the reform¬
ed clergy. To make this fund effectual, particular lo¬
calities were assigned in every benefice, to the extent of
a third, called the assumption of thirds; and for the far¬
ther support of ministers, Queen Mary made a grant
L A W. Part Illt
out of which they were al- in their favour of all the small benefices not exceeding Law of
300 merks. Bishops, by the act which restored them Scotland,
to the whole of their benefices, were obliged to main- ' » 1
tain the ministers within their dioceses, out of the
thirds ; and in like manner, the laic titulars, who got
grants of the teinds, became bound, by their accepta¬
tion thereof, to provide the kirks within their erec¬
tions in competent stipends.
11. But all those expedients for the maintenance ofCommig.
the clergy having proved ineffectual, a commission of‘*on Q*
parliament was appointed in the reign of James VI.
for planting kirks, and modifying stipends to ministers jujng Va'
out of the teinds; and afterwards several other com-teindi, &«,
missions were appointed, with the more ample powers
of dividing large parishes, erecting new ones, &c. all
of which were, in 1707, transferred to the court of
session, with this limitation, that no parish should be
disjoined, nor new church erected, nor old one remov¬
ed to a new place, without the consent of three-fourths
of the heritors, computing the votes, not by their num¬
bers, but by the valuation of their rents within the pa¬
rish. The judges of session, when sitting in that court,
are considered as a commission of parliament, and have
their proper clerks, macers, and other officers of court,
as such.
12. The lowest stipend that could be modified to aStipeadt,
minister by the first commission, was 300 merks, or
five chalders of victual, unless where the whole teinds
of the parish did not extend too far : and the highest
was 1000 merks, or ten chalders. The parliament
1633 raised the minimum to eight chalders of victual,
and proportionably in silver; but as neither the com¬
mission appointed by that act, nor any of the subse¬
quent ones, was limited as to the maximum, the com¬
missioners have been in use to augment stipends con¬
siderably above the old maximum, where there is suffi¬
ciency of free teinds, and the cure is burdensome, or
living expensive.
13. Where a certain quantity of stipend is modified
to a minister out of the teinds of a parish, without pro¬
portioning that stipend among the several heritors, the
decree is called a decree of modif cation ; but where
the commissioners also fix the particular proportions
payable by each heritor, it is a decree of modif catioji
and locality. Where a stipend is only modified, it is
secured on the whole teinds of the parish, so that the
minister can insist against any one heritor to the full
extent of his teinds ; such heritor being always en¬
titled to relief against the rest for what he shall have
paid above his just share: but where the stipend is also
localled, each heritor is liable in no more than his own
proportion.
14. Few of the reformed ministers were, at first, Manse,
provided with dwelling houses ; most of the Popish
clergy having, upon the first appearance of the Refor¬
mation, let their manses in feu, or in long tack : mi¬
nisters therefore got a right, in 1563, to as much of
these manses as would serve them, notwithstanding such
feus or tacks. Where there was no parson’s nor vicar’s
manse, one was to be built by the heritors, at the sight
of the bishop, (now the presbytery), the charge not ex¬
ceeding loool. Scots, nor below 300 merks. Under a
manse are comprehended stable, barn, and byre, with
a garden; for all which it is usual to allow half an acre
of ground.
15. Every
Law of
ifcotiand
hap. L LA
15. Every incumbent is entitled at his entry to have
his manse put in good condition ; for which purpose
the presbytery may appoint a visitation by tradesmen,
and order estimates to be laid before them of the sums
necessary for the repairing, which they may proportion
among the heritors according to their valuations. The
presbytery, after the manse is made sufficient, ought,
upon application of the heritors, to declare it a free
manse ; which lays the incumbent under an obligation,
to uphold it in good condition during his incumbency,
otherwise he or his executors shall be liable in dama¬
ges ; but they are not bound to make up the loss a-
rising from the necessary decay of the building by the
waste of time.
lebe and All ministers, where there is any landward or
country parish, are, over and above their stipend, en¬
titled to a glebe, which comprehends four acres of
arable land, or sixteen sovvms of pasture ground where
there is no arable land (a sowm is what will graze ten
sheep or one cow) ; and it is to be designed or marked
by the bishop or presbytery out of such kirklands with¬
in the parish as lie nearest to the kirk, and, in default
of kirklands, out of temporal lands.
17. A right of relief is competent to] the heritors,
whose lands are set oft' for the manse or glebe, against
the other heritors of the parish. Manses and glebes
being once regularly designed, cannot be feued or sold
by the incumbent in prejudice of his successors, which
is in practice extended even to the case where such a-
lienation evidently appears profitable to the benefice.
18. Ministers, beside their glebe, are entitled to
grass for a horse and two cows. And if the lands,
out of which the grass may he designed, either lie at
a distance, or are not fit for pasture, the heritors are
to pay to the minister 20I. Scots yearly, as an equiva¬
lent. Ministei’s have also fi'eedom of foggage, pastur¬
age, fuel, feal, divot, loaning, and free ish and entry,
accoi'ding to use and wont: but what these privileges
are, must be determined by the local custom of the se¬
veral parishes.
19. The legal terms at which stipends become due
w.
Crass.
I !rm« of
fyincnt of to ministers are Whitsunday and Michaelmas. If the
incumbent He admitted to his church before Whitsun¬
day (till which term the corns are not presumed to he
fully sown), he has right to that whole year’s stipend j
and, if he is received after Whitsunday, and before
Michaelmas, he is entitled to the half of that yearj
because, though the corns were sown before his en¬
try, he was admitted before the term at which they
are presumed to be reaped. By the same reason, if
he dies or is transported befoi’e Whitsunday, he has
right to no part of that year; if before Michaelmas,
to the half; and if not till after Michaelmas, to the
whole.
nat or 20. After the minister’s death, the executors have
#. right to the annat; which, in the sense of the canon
law, was a right reserved to the pope of the first
year’s fruits of evei’y benefice. Upon a threatened in¬
vasion from England anno 1547, the annat was given
by our parliament, notwithstanding this right in the
pope, to the executors of such churchmen as should
fall in battle in defence of their country : but the word
annat or anji, as it is now understood, is the right
which law gives to the executors of ministers, of half
S
a year’s benefice over and above what was due to the
minister himself for his incumbency.
21. The executors of a minister, need make up no
title to the ann by confirmation : neither is the right
assignable by the minister, or affectable with his debts ;
for it never belonged to him, but is a mere gratuity
given by law to those for whom it is presumed the de¬
ceased could not sufficiently provide; and law has-
given it expressly to executors; and if it were to be go¬
verned by the rules of succession in executory, the wi¬
dow, in case of no children, would get one half, the
other would go to the next of kin ; and where there
are children, she would he entitled to a third, and the
other two-thirds would fall equally among the children.
But the court oi session, probably led by the ireneral
practice, have in this last case divided the ann into two
equal parts ; of which one goes to the widow, and the
other among the children in capita.
22. From the great confidence that was, in the first ju,.is(}ictjon
ages of Christianity, reposed in churchmen, dying per-of bishops,
sons frequently committed to them the care of their
estates, and of their orphan children ; but these were
simply rights of trust, not of jurisdiction. The clergy
soon had the address to establish to themselves a proper
jurisdiction, not confined to points of ecclesiastical
right, but extending to questions that had no concern
with the church. They judged not only in teinds,
patronages, testaments, breach of vow, scandal, &e.
but in questions of marriage and divorce, because
mai’riage was a sacrament; in tochers, because these
were given in consideration of marriage; in all que¬
stions where an oath intervened, on pretence that
oaths were a part of religious worship, &c. As
churchmen came, by the means of this extensive juris¬
diction, to he diverted from their proper functions,
they committed the exercise of it to their officials, or
commissaries : hence the commissary court was called-
the bishop's court, and curia Christianitatis; it was also
styled the consistorial court; from consistory, a name first
given to the court of appeals of the Boman emperors,
and afterwards to the courts of judicature held by
churchmen.
23. At the Reformation, all episcopal jurisdiction,^^
exercised under the authority of the bishop of Rome,
was abolished. As the course of justice in consistorial
causes was thereby stopped, Q. Mary, besides naming
a commissary for every diocese, did, by a special grant,
establish a new commissary court at Edinburgh, con¬
sisting of four judges or commissaries. This court is
vested with a double jurisdiction ; one diocesan, which
is exercised in the special territory contained in the
grant, viz. the counties of Edinburgh, Haddington,
Linlithgow, Peebles, and a great part of Stirlingshire ;
and another universal, by which the judges confirm the
testaments of all who die in foreign parts, and may re¬
duce the decrees of all inferior commissaries, provided
the reduction be pux-sued within a year after the de¬
cree. Bishops, upon their re-establishment in the reign
of James VI. were restoi*ed to the right of naming their
several commissaries.
24. As the clergy, in time of Popery, assumed a
jurisdiction independent of the civil power or any se¬
cular court, their sentences could be reviewed only by
the pope, or judges delegated by. him ; so that, with
regard
632 L A
I^aw of regard to the courts of Scotland, their jurisdiction was
Scotland, supreme. But, by an act 1560, the appeals from the
^k" bishops courts, that were then depending before the
Homan consistories, were ordained to be decided by
the court of session: and by a posterior act, 1609, the
session is declared the king’s great consistory, with
power to review all sentences pronounced by the com¬
missaries. Nevertheless, since that court had no inhe¬
rent jurisdiction in consistorial causes prior to this sta^
tute, and since the statute gives them a power of
judging only by way of advocation, they have not, to
this day, any proper consistorial jurisdiction in the first
instance $ neither do they pronounce sentence in any
consistorial cause brought from the commissaries, but
remit it back to them with instructions. By the prac¬
tice immediately subsequent to the act before quoted,
they did not admit advocations from the inferior com¬
missaries, till the cause was first brought before the
commissaries of Edinburgh j but that practice is now
in disuse.
25. The commissaries retain to this day an exclusive
power of judging in declarators of marriage, and of
the nullity of marriage j in actions of divorce and of
non-adherence, of adultery, bastardy, and confirmation
of testaments j because all these matters are still consi¬
dered to be?properly consistorial. Inferior commissaries
are not competent to questions of divorce, under which
are comprehended questions of bastardy and adherence,
when they have a connexion with the lawfulness of mar¬
riage, or with adultery.
26. Commissaries have now no power to pronounce
decrees in absence for any sum above 40I. Scots, except
in causes properly consistorial j but they may authenti¬
cate tutorial and curatorial inventories; and all bonds,
contracts, &c. which contain a clause for registration in
the books of any judge competent, and protests on bills,
may be registered in their book.
Sect. VI. Of Marriage.
cix. I. Persons, when considered in a private capacity, are
Marriage, chiefly distinguished by their mutual relations j as hus¬
band and wife, tutor and minor, father and child,
master and servant. The relation of husband and
wife is constituted by marriage j which is the con¬
junction of man and wife, vowing to live inseparably
till death.
2. Marriage is truly a contract, and so requires the
consent of parties. Idiots, therefore, and furious per¬
sons, cannot marry. As no person is presumed capable
of consent within the years of pupillarity, which, by
our law, lasts till the age of 14 in males, and 12 in
females, marriage cannot be contracted by pupils j but
if the married pair shall cohabit after puberty, such
acquiescence gives force to the marriage. Marriage is
fully perfected by consent; which, without consum¬
mation, founds all the conjugal rights and duties. The
consent requisite to marriage must be de prwsenti. A
promise of marriage (stipvlatio sponsalitia) may be re¬
siled from, as long as matters are entire j but if any
thing be done by one of the parties, whereby a pre¬
judice arises from the non-performance, the party re¬
siling is liable in damages to the other. The cano¬
nists, and after them our courts of justice, explain a
3
W. Part HI.
copula subsequent to a promise of marriage into actual Law of
marriage. Scotland.
3. It is not necessary that marriage should be cele- ^    
brated by a clergyman. The consent of parties may Fo1r!'1 <lf.
be declared before any magistrate, or simply before^ 6JrRUon‘
witnesses : and though no formal consent should ap¬
pear, marriage is presumed from the cohabitation, or
living together at bed and board, of a man and wo¬
man who are generally reputed husband and wife. One’s
acknowledgement of his marriage to the midwife whom
he called to his wife, and to the minister who baptized
his child, was found sufficient presumptive evidence of
marriage, without the aid either of cohabitation or of
lLabit and repute. The father’s consent was, by the Ro¬
man law, essential to the marriage of children in fami-
lia: but, by our law, children may enter into marriage,
without the knowledge, and even against the remon¬
strances, of a father.
4. Marriage is forbidden within certain degrees of Forbidden
blood. By the law of Moses (Leviticus xviii. ), which ^e=ree4‘
by the act 1567. c. 15. has been adopted by us, seconds
in blood, and all remoter degrees, may all lawfully
marry. By seconds in blood are meant first cousins.
Marriage in the direct line is forbidden in infinitum; as
it is also in the'collateral line, in the special case where
one of the parties is loco parentis to the other, as
grand uncle, great grand uncle, &c. with respect to
his grand niece, &c. The same degrees that are prohi¬
bited in consanguinity, are prohibited in affinity j which
is the tie arising from marriage betwixt one of the mar¬
ried pair and the blood relations of the other. Mar-Other
riage also, where either of the parties is naturally unfit Sro,!n(*s ^
for generation, or stands already married to a third per-nul*ity‘
son, is ipso jure null.
5. To prevent bigamy and incestuous marriages, proc[ama_
the church has introduced proclamations of banns ;tion of
which is the ceremony of publishing the names and banns,
designations of those who intend to intermarry in the
churches where the bride and bridegroom reside, after
the congregation is assembled for divine service; that
all persons who know any objection to the marriage may
offer it. When the order of the church is observed, the
marriage is called regular; when otherwise, clandestine.
Marriage is valid when entered into in either of these
ways } but when clandestine, there are certain penalties
imposed upon the parties as well as the celebrator and
witnesses.
6. By marriage, a society is created between the mar- Commu¬
ned pair, which draws after it a mutual communication nion of
of their civil interests, in as far as is necessary for main- S,,0^s*
taining it. As the society lasts only for the joint lives
of the socii; therefore rights that have the nature of
a perpetuity, which our law styles heritable, are not
brought under the partnership or communion of goods;
as a land estate, or bonds bearing a yearly interest: it
is only moveable subjects, or the fruits produced by he¬
ritable subjects during the marriage, that become com¬
mon to man and wife.
7. The husband, as the head of the wife, has the Jm tnariti
sole right of managing the goods in communion, which
is called jws tnariti. This right is so absolute, that it
bears but little resemblance to a right of administering
a common subject. For the husband can, in virtue
thereof, sell, or even gift, at his pleasure, the whole
Law of
fcotland,
F^apher
mia.
13 dens
afl:ting
m iti.
Chap. I. LA
goods falling under communion : and his creditors
■ may affect them for the payment of his proper debts :
so that the jus mariti carries all the characters of an
assignation, by the wife to her husband, of her move-
able estate. It arises ipso jure from the marriage ; and
therefore needs no other constitution. But a stranger
may convey an estate to a wife, so as it shall not he
subject to the husband’s administration ; or the hus¬
band himself may, in the marriage contract, renounce
his jus mariti in all or any part of his wife’s moveable
estate.
8. From this right are excepted paraphernal goods,
which, as the word is understood in our law, compre¬
hends the wife’s wearing apparel, and the ornaments
proper to her person ; as necklaces, ear-rings, breast
or arm jewels, buckles, &c. These are neither alien¬
able by the husband, nor affectable by his creditors.
Things of promiscuous use to husband and wife, as
plate, medals, &c. may become paraphernalia, by the
husband’s giving them to the wife, at or before mar¬
riage ; but they are paraphernal only in regard to
that husband who gave them as such, and are esteem¬
ed common moveables, if the wife, whose parapherna¬
lia they were, be afterwards married to a second hus¬
band j unless he shall in the same manner appropriate
them to her.
9. The right of the husband to the wife’s moveable
estate, is burdened with the moveable debts contracted
by her before marriage j and as his right is universal,
so also is his burden ; for it reaches to her whole
moveable debts, though they should far exceed her
moveable estate. Yet the husband is not considered as
the true debtor in his wife’s debts. In all actions for
payment, she is the proper defender : the husband is
only cited for his interest: that is, as curator to her,
and administrator of the society goods. As soon there¬
fore as the marriage is dissolved, and the society goods
thereby suffer a division, the husband is no farther con¬
cerned in the share belonging to his deceased wife: and
consequently is no longer liable to pay her debts, which
must be recovered from her representatives or her sepa¬
rate estate.
10. This obligation upon the husband is, however,
perpetuated against him, (1.) Where his proper estate,
real or personal, has been affected, during the marriage
by complete legal diligence ; in which case, the hus¬
band must, by the common rules of law, relieve his
property from the burden with which it stands charged ;
but the utmost diligence against his person is not suf¬
ficient to perpetuate the obligation j nor even incom¬
plete diligence against his estate. (2.) The husband
continues liable, even after the wife’s death, in so far
as he is lucratus or profited by her estate: Still, how¬
ever, the law does not consider a husband who has got
but a moderate tocher with the wife as lucratus by
the marriage \ it is the excess only which it considers
as lucrum, and that must be estimated by the quality
of the parties and their condition of life:—As he
was at no time the proper debtor in his wife’s moveable
debts 5 therefore, though he should be lucratus, he is,
after the dissolution, only liable for them subsidiarily
i. e. if her own separate estate is not sufficient to pay
them off.
II. Where the wife is debtor in that sort of debt,
which, if it had been due to her, would have excluded
Vol, XI. Part II. f
I* r ex¬
tol ed a-
1st the
haiind.
W. < 6J3
the, jus mariti, e. g. in bonds bearing interest, which, as jjaw of
we shall afterwards see (clxiii. 4.), continues heritable Scotland.
as to the rights of husband and wife, notwithstanding
of the enactment of the statute 1661, which renders
them moveable in certain other respects, the husband
is liable only for the bygone interests, and those that
may grow upon the debt during the marriage ; because
his obligation for her debts must be conimensurated to
the interest lie has in her estate. It is the husband
alone who is liable in personal diligence for his wife’s
debts, while the marriage subsists : the wife, who is the
proper debtor, is free from all personal execution .upon
them while she is vestita viro.
12. The husband by marriage becomes the perpe-The hus-
tual curator of the wife. From this right it arises,hand is the
T That no suit can proceed a gainst the wife till the vvife’s cura"
tor.
husband be cited for his interest. 2. All deeds, done'
by a wife without the husband’s consent, are mil1 j nei¬
ther can she sue in any action without the husband’s
concurrence. Yet, where the husband refuses, or by
reason of forfeiture, &c. cannot concur ; or where the
action is to be brought against the husband himself, for
performing his part of the marriage articles ; the judge
will authorize her to sue in her own name. The effects
arising from tins curatorial power discover themselves
even before marriage, upon the publication of banns j
after which the bride, being no longer sui juris, can con¬
tract no debt, nor do any deed, either to the prejudice
of her future husband, or even to her own. But in
order to this, it is necessary that the banns shall have
been published in the bride’s parish church as well as
in that of her husband.
13. If the husband should either withdraw from hisgeparate
wife, or turn her out of doors; or if, continuing in alimony,
family with her, he should by severe treatment endan¬
ger her life; the commissaries will authorize a separa¬
tion a mensa et thoro, and give a separate alimony to
the wife, suitable to her husband’s estate, from the
time of such separation until either a reconciliation or
a sentence of divorce.
14. Certain obligations of the wife are valid, not-6bjj
withstanding her being sub cur a mariti; ex.gr. obli-;raliong'0/‘
gations arising from delict; for wives have no privilege the wife
to commit crimes. But if the punishment resolves in-vahd.
to a pecuniary mulct, the execution of it must, from her
incapacity to fulfil, be suspended till the dissolution of
the marriage, unless the wife has a separate estate ex¬
empted from the jus mariti.
15. Obligationsarising from contract, affect either
the person or the estate. The law has been so careful
to protect wives while sub cura tnariti, that all per¬
sonal obligations granted by a wife, though with the
husband’s consent, as bonds, bills, &c. are null ; w ith
the following exceptions: (1.) Where the wife gets
a separate peculium or stock, either from her father or
a stranger, for her own or her children’s alimony, she
may grant personal obligations in relation to such stock :
and by stronger reason, personal obligations granted
by a wife are good, when her person is actually with¬
drawn from the husband’s power by a judicial separa¬
tion. (2.) A wife’s personal obligation, granted in
the form of a deed inter vivos, is valid, if it is not to
take effect till her death. (3*) Wliere the wife is by
the husband preeposita negotns, intrusted with the ma¬
nagement either of a particular branch of business or,
4 L of
634
I^aw of
Scotland.
Inhibition
against a
wife.
Rights af¬
fecting her
estate.
"Donations
»evocable
and irrevo
cable.
Ratifica¬
tion by
wives.
LAW.
of his whole affairs, all the contracts she enters into in
the exercise of hzrprcepositura are effectual, even though
they be not reduced to writing, but should arise mere¬
ly ex r£, from furnishings made to her : but such obli¬
gations have no force against the wife ; it is the hus¬
band only, by whose commission she acts, who is there¬
by obliged.
16. A wife, while she remains in family with her
husband, is considered pr&posita negotiis domesticis,
and consequently may provide things proper for the
family ; for the price whereof the husband is liable,
though they should be misapplied, or though the hus¬
band should have given her money to provide them else¬
where. A husband who suspects that his wife may
hurt his fortune by high living, may use the remedy of
inhibition against her j by which all persons are inter-
pelled from contracting with her, or giving her credit.
After the completing of this diligence, whereby the
preepositura falls, the wife cannot bind the husband, un¬
less for such reasonable furnishings as he cannot instruct
that he provided her with aliunde. As every man, and
consequently every husband, has a right to remove his
managers at pleasure, inhibition may pass at the suit of
the husband against the wife, though he should not offer
to justify that measure by an actual proof of the extra¬
vagance or profusion of her temper.
17. As to rights granted by the wife affecting her
estate, she has no moveable estate, except her para¬
phernalia ; and these she may alien or impignorate,
with consent of her husband. She can, without the
husband, bequeath by testament her share of the goods
in communion j but she cannot dispose of them inter
vivos; for she herself has no proper right to them while
the marriage subsists. A wife can lawfully oblige her¬
self, in relation to her heritable estate, with consent of
her husband: for though her person is in some sense
sunk by the marriage, she continues capable of hold¬
ing a real estate ; and in such obligations her estate is
considered, and not her person. A husband, though
he be curator to his wife, can, by his acceptance or in¬
tervention, authorize rights granted by her in his own
favour: for a husband’s curatoi’y differs in this respect
from the curatory of minors, for it is not merely in¬
tended for the wife’s advantage, but is considered as a
mutual benefit to both.
18. All donations, whether by the wife to the hus¬
band or by the husband to the wife, are revocable by
the donor 5 but if the donor dies without revocation,
the right becomes absolute. Where the donation is
not pure, it is not subject to revocation : thus, a grant
made by the husband, in consequence of the natural
obligation that lies upon him to provide for his wife, is
not revocable, unless in so far as it exceeds the measure
ef a rational settlement; neither are remuneratory grant*
revocable, where mutual grants are made in considera¬
tion of each other, except where an onerous cause is si¬
mulated, or where what is given hinc inde bears no pro¬
portion to each other. AH voluntary contracts of se¬
paration, by which the wife is provided in a yearly ali¬
mony, are effectual as to the time past, but revocable
either by the husband or wife.
19. As wives are in the strongest degree subject to
the influence of their husbands, third parties, in whose
favours they had made grants, were frequently vexed
with actions of reduction, as if the grant had been tx-
2
Part III8
torted from the wife through the force or fear of the of
husband. To secure the grantees against this danger, Scotland,
ratifications were introduced, whereby the wife, ap- y—
pearing before a judge, declares upon oath, her hus¬
band not present, that she was not induced to grant
the deed ex vi aut metu. A wife’s ratification is not
absolutely necessary for securing the grantee : law in¬
deed allows the wife to bring reduction of any deed she
has not ratified, upon the head of force or fear; of
which, if she bring sufficient evidence, the deed will be
set aside ; but if she fails in the proof, it will remain
effectual to the receiver.
20. Marriage, like other contracts, might, by the Dissolution
Roman law, be dissolved by the contrary consent ofofmarri-
parties $ but by the law of Scotland, it cannot be dis-a£e*
solved till death, except by divorce, proceeding either
upon the head of adultery or of wilful desertion.
21. Marriage is dissolved by death, either within
year and day from its being contracted, or after year
and day. If it is dissolved within year and day, all
rights granted in consideration of the marriage (unless
guarded against in the contract) become void, and
things return to the same condition in which they stood
before the marriage $ with this restriction, that the
husband is considered as a bona fide possessor, in rela¬
tion to what he has consumed upon the faith of his
right •, but he is liable to repay the tocher, without
any deduction, in consideration of his family expence
during the marriage. If things cannot be restored on
both sides, equity hinders the restoring of one party
and not the other. In a case which was lately before
the court of session, it was determined after a long
hearing in presence, that where a marriage had been
dissolved within the year without a living child, by the
death of the husband, the widow was entitled to be ali¬
mented out of an estate of which he died possessed,
though there were no conventional provisions stipulated
in favour of the wife.
22. Upon the dissolution of a marriage, after year
and day, the surviving husband becomes the irrevocable
proprietor of the tocher j and the wife, where she sur¬
vives, is entitled to her jointure, or to her legal provi¬
sions. She has also right to mournings, suitable to
the husband’s quality j and to alimony from the day
of his death till the term at which her liferent provi¬
sion, either legal or conventional, commences. If a
living child be procreated of the marriage, the mar¬
riage has the same effect as if it had subsisted beyond
the year. A day is adjected to the year, in majorcm
evidentiam, that it may clearly appear that the year it¬
self is elapsed j and therefore, the running of any part
of the day, after the year, has the same effect as if
the whole were elapsed. The legal right of courtesy
competent to the surviving husband is explained below,
N° clxx. 28.
23. Divorce is such a separation of married persons, j)jTor£e.
during their lives, as looses them from the nuptial tie,
and leaves them at freedom to intermarry with others.
But neither adultery, nor wilful desertion, are grounds
which must necessarily dissolve marriage j they are on¬
ly handles, which the injured party may take hold of
to be free. Cohabitation, therefore, by the injured
party, after being in the knowledge of the acts of
adultery, implies a passage from the injury 5 and no di¬
vorce can proceed, which is carried on by collusion be¬
twixt
(hap. I. LA
<>w of tmxt the parties, lest, contrary to the first institution
fottand. of marriage, they might disengage themselves by their
own consent; and though, after divorce, the guilty
person, as well as the innocent, may contract second
marriages ; yet, in the case of divorce upon adultery,
marriage is by special statute (1600.C. 20.) prohibited
betwixt the two adulterers,
24. Where either party has deserted from the other
for tour years together, that other may sue for adhe¬
rence. If this has no effect, the church is to proceed,
first by admonition, then by excommunication •, all
which previous steps are declared to be a sufficient
ground for pursuing a divorce. De praxi, the commis¬
saries pronounce sentence in the adherence, after one
year’s desertion j but four years must intervene between
the first desertion and the decree of divorce.
25. The legal effects of divorce on the head of de¬
sertion are, that the offending husband shall restore the
tocher, and forfeit to the wife all her provisions, legal
and conventional; and, on the other hand, the offend¬
ing wife shall forfeit to the husband her tocher, and all
the rights that would have belonged to her in the case
of her survivance. This was also esteemed the rule in
divorces upon adultery. But by a decision of the court
of session 1662, founded on a tract of ancient decisions
recovered from the records, the offending husband was
allowed to retain the tocher.
Sect. VII. Of Minors, and their Tutors and Curators.
cxli. I. The stages of life principally distinguished in law
ipillarity, are pupillarity, puberty or minority, and majority. A
1child is under pupillarity, from the birth to 14 years
of age if a male, and till 12 if a female. Minority be¬
gins where pupillarity ends, and continues till majori¬
ty } which, by the law of Scotland, is the age of 21
years complete, both in males and females : but mi¬
nority, in a large sense, includes all under age, whe¬
ther pupils or puberes. Because pupils cannot in any
degree act for themselves, and minors seldom with dis¬
cretion, pupils are put by law under the power of tu¬
tors, and minors may put themselves under the direc-
'rtou. tion of curators. Tutory is a power and faculty to go¬
vern the person, and administer the estate, of a pupil.
Tutors are either nominate, of law, or dative.
2. A tutor nominate is he who is named by a fa¬
ther, in his testament or other writing, to a lawful
child. Such tutor is not obliged to give caution for
the faithful discharge of his office because his fidelity
is presumed to have been sufficiently known to the fa¬
ther.
3. If there be no nomination by the father, or if
the tutors nominate do not accept, or if the nomina¬
tion falls by death or otherwise, there is a place for a
tutor of law. This sort of tutory devolves upon the
■Ijaates. next agnate ; by which we understand he who is
nearest related by the father, though females inter¬
vene.
4. Where there are two or more agnates equally
near to the pupil, he who is entitled to the pupil’s legal
succession falls to be preferred to the others. But as
the law suspects that he may not be over careful to pre¬
serve a life which stands in the way of his own interest,
this sort of tutor is excluded from the custody of the
pupil’s person j which is commonly committed to the
w.
mother, while a widow, until the pupil he seven years
old $ and, in default of the mother, to the next cog¬
nate, i. e. the nigbest relation by the mother. The
tutor of law must (by act 1474) be at least 23 years of
age. He is served or declared by a jury of sworn
men, who are called upon a brief issuing from the chan¬
cery, which is directed to any judge having jurisdiction.
He must give security before he enters upon the ma¬
nagement.
5. If no tutor of law demands the office, any per¬
son, even a stranger, may apply for a tutory dative.
But because a tutor in law ought to be allowed a com¬
petent time to deliberate whether he will serve or not,
no tutory dative can be given till the elapsing of a year
from the time at which the tutor of law had first a
right to serve. It is the king alone, as the father of
his country, who gives tutors dative, by his court of
exchequer j and by act 1672, no gift of tutory can
pass in exchequer, without the citation or consent of
the next of kin to the pupil, both by the father and
mother, nor till the tutor give security, recorded in
the books of exchequer. There is no room for a tu¬
tor of law, or tutor dative, while a tutor nominate can
be hoped for: and tutors of law or dative, even after
they have begun to act, may he excluded by the tutor
nominate, as soon as he offers to accept, unless he has
expressly renounced the office. If a pupil be without
tutors of any kind, the court of session will, at the suit Judicial
of any kinsman, name a factor (steward) for the ma-fact01*
nagement of the pupil’s estate.
6. After the years of pupillarity are over, the mi¬
nor is considered as capable of acting by himself, if he
has confidence enough of his own capacity and pru¬
dence. The only two cases in which curators are im-Curators,
posed upon minors are, (1.) Where they are named
by the father, in a state of health. (2.) Where the
father is himself alive ', for a father is ipso jure, with¬
out any service, administrator, that is, both tutor and
curator of law to his children, in relation to whatever
estate may fall to them during their minority. This
right in the father does not extend to grandchildren,
nor to such even of his immediate children as are foris¬
familiated. Neither has it place in subjects which
are left by a stranger to the minor exclusive of the fa¬
ther’s administration. If the minor chooses to be un¬
der the direction of curators, he must raise and execute
a summons, citing at least two of his next of kin to
appear before his own judge ordinary, upon nine days
warning (by act 1555)* At the day and place of ap¬
pearance, he offers to the judge a list of those whom
he intends for his curators : such of them as resolve
to undertake the office must sign their acceptance,
and give caution j upon which an act of curatory is
extracted.
7. These curators are styled adnegotia; to distinguish
them from another sort called curators ad lites, who
are authorized by the judge to concur with a pupil or
minor in actions of law, either where he is without tu¬
tors and curators, or where his tutors and curators are
parties to the suit. This sort is not obliged to give
caution, because they have no interrjieddling with the
minor’s estate : they are appointed for a special pur¬
pose j and when that is over, their office is at an end. Whodebar-
Women are capable of being tutors and curators under ed from to-
the following restrictions : (1.) The office of a female t°r^i
4 L 2 tutor r
md
euratiwy.
6 ^6
L A W.
Part IIL
of
Scotfand.
Difference
between
tutory and
curatory.
Judicial in¬
ventories.
Powers of
tutors and
curators.
tntor or curator falls by her marriage, even though the
nomination should provide otherwise ; for she is no
longer sui juris, anti incapable of course ot having an¬
other under her power. (2.) No woman can be tutor
of law. Papists are (by act tyoo) declared incapable
of tutory or curatory. Where the minor has more tu¬
tors and curators than one, who are called in the no¬
mination to \\\e joint management, they must all concur
in every act of administration ; where a certain num¬
ber is named for a quorum, that number must concur:
where any one is named sine qua non, no act is valid
without that one’s special concurrence. But if they
are named without any of these limitations, the concur¬
rence of the majority of the nominees then alive is suf¬
ficient.
8. In this, tutory differs from curatory, that as pu¬
pils are incapable of consent, they have no person ca¬
pable of acting ; which defect the tutor supplies : hut
a minor pubes can act for himself. Hence, the tutor
subscribes alone all deeds of administration : but in cu¬
ratory, it is the minor who subscribes as the proper
party ; the curator does no more than consent. Hence
also, the persons of pupils are under the power either
of their tutors or of their nearest cognates •, but the
minor, after pnpillarity, has the disposal of his own
person, and may reside where he pleases. In most other
particulars, the nature, the powers, and the duties of
the two offices, coincide. Both tutors and curators
must, previous to their administration, make a judicial
inventory, subscribed hy them and the next o( kin, be¬
fore the minor judge ordinary, of his whole estate
personal and real ; of which, one subscribed duplicate
is to be kept by the tutors or curators themselves j an¬
other, by the next of kin on the father’s side ; and a
third hy the next of kin on the mother’s. If any estate
belonging to the. minor shall afterwards come to their
knowledge, they must add it to the inventory within
two months after their attaining possession thereof.
Should they neglect this, (he minor’s debtors are not
obliged to make payment to them : they may he remo¬
ved from their offices as suspected ; and they are enti¬
tled to no allowance for the sums disbursed by them in
the minor’s affairs (act 1672), except the expence laid
out upon the minor’s entertainment, upon his lands and
houses, and upon completing his titles.
9. Tutors and curators cannot grant leases of the
minor’s lands, to endure longer than their own office •,
nor under the former rental, without either a warrant
from the court of session, or some apparent necessity.
10. They have power to sell the minor’s moveables ;
but cannot sell their pupil’s land estate, without the
authority of a judge *, yet this restraint reaches not to
such alienations as the pupil could by lawr be compelled
to grant, <?. g. to renunciations of wadsets upon redemp¬
tion by the reverser ; for in such case, the very tenor
of his own right lays him under the obligation j nor to
the renewal of charters to heirs ; but the charter must
contain no new right in favour of the heir. The aliena¬
tion, however, o{ heritage by a minor, with consent of
his curators, is valid.
11. Tutors and curators cannot, contrary to the na¬
ture of their trust, authorize the minor to do any deed
for their own benefit -, nor can they acquire any debt
affecting the minor’s estate : and, where a tutor or cu¬
rator makes such acquisition, in his own name, for a
less sum than the right is entitled to draw, the benefit Law of
thereof accrues to the minor. It seems, however, that Scotland1.
such purchase would be considered as valid, piovided   *—^
it were bona Jide acquired at a public sale; for in such
case it occurs that the tutor or curator is in fact melio¬
rating the situation ot his ward by enhancing the value
of his property by a fair competition. In general, it
seems to be the genius and spirit of our law, that tutors
and curators shall do every thing in their power towards
the faithful and proper discharge of their respective of¬
fices.
12. By the Roman law, tutory and curatory, beingTheir ob!i-
viunera publica, might be forced upon every one who Salio“s-
had not a relevant ground of excuse : but, with us, the
persons named to these offices may either accept or de¬
cline : and where a father, in liege poustie (when in a
state of health) names certain persons both as tutors
and curators to his children, though they have acted as
tutors, they may decline the office of curatory. Tutors
and curators having once accepted, are liable in dili¬
gence, that is, are, accountable for the consequences of
their neglect in any part of their duty from the time
of their acceptance. They are accountable singuli in
solidum, i. e. every one of them is answerable, not only
for his own diligence, hut for that of his co-tutors ; and
any one may be sued without citing the rest: but he
who is condemned in the whole, has action of relief
against his co tutors.
13. I'rorn this obligation to diligence, rve may ex¬
cept, (1.) Fathers or administrators in-law’, who, from
the presumption that they act to the best of their
power for their children, are liable only for actual in¬
tromissions. (2.) Tutors and curators named by the
father in consequence of the act, 1696, with the special
provisos, that they shall be liable barely for intromis¬
sions, not for omissions 5 and that each of them shall be
liable only for himself, and not in solidum for the co¬
tutors : but this power of exemption from diligence is
limited to the estate descending from the father him¬
self. Tutors or curators are not entitled to any salary
or allowance for pains, unless a salary has been express¬
ly contained in the testator’s nomination for their of¬
fice is presumed gratuitous.
14. Though no person is obliged to accept the of¬
fice of tutor or curator •, yet having once accepted, he
cannot throw it up or renounce it without sufficient
cause; but, if he should be guilty of misapplying the
minor’s money, or fail in any other part of his duty,
he may be removed at the suit of the minor’s next in
kin, or by a co-tutor or co-curator. Where the rtiis-
conduct proceeds merely from indolence or inattention,
the court, in place of removing the tutor, either join
a curator with him, or, if lie be a tutor nominate, they
oblige him to give caution for his past and future ma¬
nagement.
15. The offices of tutory and curatory expire also by Flew tnt*-
the pupil’s attaining the age of puberty, or the minor’s r)‘ a,ut tB-
attaining the age of 21 years complete ; and by theratory **'
death either of the minor, or of his tutor and curator.
Curatory also expires by the marriage of a female mi¬
nor, who becomes thereby under the coverture of her
own husband. After expiry of the office, reciprocal ac¬
tions lie at the instance both of the tutors and curators,
and of the minor. That at the instance of the minor
is called actio tutclcc directa, by which he can com¬
pel
Fccts of
by
lyiors.
Ivhap. L
Law of pel the tutors to account
cotlaud. tutors, actio tutelcc contraries by which the minor can
‘ be compelled to repeat what has been profitably expend¬
ed during the administration : but this last does not lie
till after accounting to the minor 5 for till then the
tutors are presumed intus habere to the effects in their
own hands for answering their disbursements.
16. Deeds either by pupils, or by minors having cu¬
rators without their consent, are null; but they oblige
the granters in as far as relates to sums profitably ap¬
plied to their use. A minor under curators can indeed
make a testament by himself j but whatever is execu¬
ted in the form of a deed inter vivos, requires the cu¬
rator’s consent. Deeds by a minor who has no cura¬
tors, are as effectual as if he had had curators, and sign¬
ed them with their consent j he may even alien his he¬
ritage, without the interposition of a judge.
Istitution. Minors may be restored against all deeds grant¬
ed in their minority, that are hurtful to them. Deeds,
in themselves void, need not the remedy of restifution ;
but where hurtful deeds are granted by a tutor in bis
pupil’s affairs, or by a minor who has no curators, as
these deeds subsist in law, restitution is necessary: and
even where a minor, having curators, executes a deed
hurtful to himself with their consent, be has not only
action against the curators, but he has the benefit of
restitution against the deed itself. The minor cannot
be restored, if be does not raise and execute a summons
for reducing the deed, ex capite niinorennitatis et Icesi-
onis, before be be 25 years old. These four years, be¬
tween the age of 21 and 25, called quadriennium utile,
j are indulged to the minor, that be may have a reason¬
able time, from that period, when be is first presumed
to have the perfect use of bis reason, to consider with
himself what deeds done in his minority have been truly
prejudicial to him.
1.8. Questions of restitution are proper to the court
of session. Two things must be proved by the minor,
in order to the reduction of the deed : (1.) That he
was minor when it was signed : (2.) That be is hurt
or lesed .by the deed. This lesion must not proceed
merely from accident j for the privilege of restitution
was not intended to exempt minors from the common
misfortune of life j it must be owing to the imprudence
or negligence of the minor, or bis curator.
19. A minor cannot be restored against his own de¬
lict or fraud ; e. g. if he should induce one to bargain
with him by saying he was major. (1.) Restitution is
excluded, if the minor, at any time after majority, has
approved of the deed, either by a formal ratification,
or tacitly by payment of interest, or by other acts in¬
ferring approbation. (2.) A minor, who has taken
himself to business, as a merchant-shopkeeper, &c. can¬
not be restored against any deed granted by him in the
course of that business, especially if he was pro.ximus
majorennitati at signing the deed. (3.) According to
the more common opinion, a minor cannot be restored
in a question against a minor, unless some gross unfair¬
ness shall be qualified in the bargain,
tran*- 20. The privilege of restitution does not always die
*"Jfd t° wJt|, the minor himself. (1.) If a minor succeeds to
|Par- a minor, the time allowed for restitution is governed
by the minority of the heir, not of the ancestor. (2.) If
a minor succeeds to a major, who was not full 25, the
privilege continues with the heir during his minority ;
L A W. 637
that at the instance of the but he cannot avail himself of the anni utiles, except Law of
rcqui-
r cx-
td.
in so far as they were unexpired at the ancestor’s death. Scotlajid.
(3.) If a major succeeds to a minor, he has only the 1 *v—
quadriennium utile after the minor’s death, and if he
succeeds to a major dying within the quadriennium, no
more ot it can he profitable to him than what remain¬
ed when the ancestor died.
21. No minor can be compelled to state himself as Minor non
a defender, in any action, whereby his heritable estate trnctwpin-
flowing from ascendants may be evicted from him, by
one pretending a preferable right.
22. This privilege is intended merely to save minors
from the necessity of disputing upon questions of prefer¬
ence. It does not therefore take place, (1.) Where
the action is pursued on the father’s falsehood or delict.
(2.) Upon his obligation to convey heritage. ^3.) On
his liquid bond for a sum of money, though such ac¬
tion should have the eflect to carry oft the minor’s
estate by adjudication. (4.) Nor in actions pursued by
the minor’s superior, upon feudal casualties. (5.) This
privilege cannot he pleaded in bar of an action which
had been first brought against the father, and is only
continued against the minor ; nor where the father was
not in the peaceable possession of the heritable subject
at his death. Before the minor can plead it, he must
he served heir to his father. The persons of pupils are
by said act 1696 protected from imprisonment on civil
debts.
23. Curators are given, not only to minors, hut in feratois
general to every one who, either through defect ofhliou and
judgment, or unfitness of disposition, is incapable 0f|u,*< us
rightly managing his own affairs. Of the first sort, are *’
idiots and furious persons. Idiots, or fatui, are en¬
tirely deprived of the faculty of reason. The distemper
of the furious person does not consist in the defect of
reason j but in an overheated imagination, which ob¬
structs the application of reason to the purposes of life.
Curators may be also granted to lunatics ; and even to
persons dumb and deaf, though they are of sound judge¬
ment, where it appears that they cannot exert it in ths
management of business. Every person, who is come
oi age, and is capable of acting rationally, has a natu¬
ral right to conduct his own affairs. The only regular
way, therefore, of appointing this sort of curators, is
by a jury summoned upon a brief from the chancery 5
which is not, like the brief of common tutory, di¬
rected to any judge ordinary, but to the judge of the
special territory where the person alleged to be fatuous
or furious resides j that, it he is truly of sound judge¬
ment, he may have an opportunity to oppose it: and
tor this reason, he ought to be made a party to the
brief. The curatory of idiots and furious persons be¬
longs to the nearest agnate; hut a father is preferred
to the curatory of his fatuous son, and the husband to
that of his fatuous wife, before the agnate.
24. A clause is inserted in the brief, for inquiring
how long the furious or fatuous person has been in that
condition : and the verdict to he pronounced by the
inquest has a retrospective effect: for it is declared a
sufficient ground, without further evidence, for redu¬
cing all deeds granted after the period at which it ap¬
peared by the px-oof that the fatuity or furiosity began.
But, as fatuous and furious persons are, by their very
state, incapable of being obliged, ail deeds done by
them may be declared void, upon proper evidence of
their
63 B
L A W.
Part HI,
Law of
Scotland.
fnterdic*
tion.
Registra¬
tion of in-
terdictioiu
tlieir fatuity at the time of signing, though they should
never have been cognosced idiots by an inquest.
25. We have some few instances of the sovereign’s
giving curators to idiots, where the next agnate did
not claim ; but such gifts are truly deviations from our
law, since they pass without any inquiry into the state
of the person upon whom the curatory is imposed.—
Hence the curator of law to an idiot serving qiiando-
cunqiiCy is preferred, as soon as he offers himself, be¬
fore the curator-dative. This sort of curatory does not
determine by the lucid intervals of the person sub cu-
ra ; hut it expires by his death, or perfect return to a
sound judgment j which last ought regularly to be de¬
clared by the sentence of a judge.
26. Persons, let them be ever so profuse, or liable to
be imposed upon, if they have the exercise of reason,
can effectually oblige themselves, till they are fettered
by law. This may be done by Interdiction, which is
a legal restraint laid upon such persons from signing
any deed to their own prejudice, without the consent
of their curators or interdictors.
27. There could be no interdiction by our ancient
practice, without a previous inquiry into the person’s
condition. But as there were few who could bear the
shame that attends judicial interdiction, however ne¬
cessary the restraint might have been, voluntary inter¬
diction has received the countenance of law ; which is
generally executed in the form of a bond, whereby the
granter obliges himself to do no deed that may affect
his estate, without the consent of certain friends there¬
in mentioned. Though the reasons inductive of the
bond should be but gently touched in the recital, the in¬
terdiction stands good. Voluntary interdiction, though
it be imposed by the sole act of the person interdicted,
cannot be recalled at his pleasure : but it may be taken
off, (l.) By a sentence of the court of session, declar¬
ing, either that there was from the beginning no suf¬
ficient ground for the restraint j or that the party is,
since the date of the bond, become rei sui providus.
(2.) It falls, even without the authority of the lords,
by the joint act of the person interdicted, and his in¬
terdictors, concurring to take it off. (3.) W here the
bond of interdiction requires a certain number as a
quorum, the restraint ceases, if the interdictors shall
by death be reduced to a lesser number.
28. Judicial interdiction is imposed by a sentence
cf the court of session. It commonly proceeds on an
action brought by a near kinsman to the party j and
sometimes from the nobile ojjicmm of the court, when
they perceive, during the pendency of a suit, that any
of the litigants is, from the facility of his temper, sub¬
ject to imposition. This sort must be taken off by the
authority of the same court that imposed it.
29. An interdiction need not be served against the
person interdicted ; but it must he executed, or pub¬
lished by a messenger, at the market cross of the ju¬
risdiction where he resides, by publicly reading the in¬
terdiction there, after three oyesses made for convoca-
ting the lieges. A copy of this execution must be af¬
fixed to the cross ; and thereafter, the interdiction, with
its execution, must (by the act 1581) be registered in
the books both of the jurisdiction where the person
interdicted resides and where his lands lie, or (by the
act 1600) in the general register of the session, within
4c days from the publication. An interdiction, before
it is registered, has no effect against third parties, Law of
though they should be in the private knowledge of it ; Scotland,
but it operates against the interdictors themselves, as
soon as it is delivered to them.
30. An interdiction, duly registered, has this effect,Effects,
that all deeds done thereafter, by the person interdict¬
ed, without the consent of his interdictors, affecting
his heritable estate, are subject to reduction. Begis-
tration in the general register secures all bis lands
from alienation, wherever they lie 5 but where the in¬
terdiction is recorded in the register of a particular
shire, it covers no lands except those situated in that
shire. But persons interdicted have full power to dis¬
pose of their moveables, not only by testament, but by
present deeds of alienation : And creditors, in personal
bonds granted after interdiction, may use all execution
against their debtor’s person and moveable estate : such
bonds being only subject to reduction in so far as di¬
ligence against the heritable estate may proceed upon
them.
31. All onerous or rational deeds granted by the
person interdicted, are as effectual, even without the
consent of the interdictors, as if the granter had been
laid under no restraint j but he cannot alter the succes¬
sion of his heritable estate, by any settlement, let it be
ever so rational. No deed, granted with consent of
the interdictors, is reducible, though the strongest le¬
sion or prejudice to the granter should appear : the on¬
ly remedy competent, in such case, is an action by the
granter against his interdictors, for making up to him
what he has lost through their undue consent. It is no^®’ceo^
part of the duty of interdictors to receive sums or ma-itUertiic'
nage any estate ; they are given merely adauctoritatem^’
prcBstandam, to interpose their authority to reasonable
deeds : and so are accountable for nothing but their
fraud or faul«, in consenting to deeds hurtful to the
person under their care.
32. The law concerning the state of children fallsIjawruJ
next to be explained. Children are either born in wed-c^*^ien'
lock, or out of it. All children born in lawful mar¬
riage or wedlock, are presumed to be begotten by the
person to whom the mother is married j and conse¬
quently to be lawful children. This presumption is so
strongly founded, that it cannot be defeated but by
direct evidence that the mother’s husband could not he
the father of the child, e, g. where be is impotent, or
was absent from the wife till within six lunar months
of the birth. The canonists indeed maintain, that the
concurring testimony of the husband and wife, that the
child was not procreated by the husband, is sufficient
to elide this legal presumption for legitimacy: but it
is an agreed point, that no regard is to be paid to such
testimony, if it be made after they have owned the
child to be theirs. A father has the absolute right of
disposing of his children’s person, of directing their edu¬
cation, and of moderate chastisement j and even after
they becnme puberes, he may compel them to live in
family with him, and to contribute their labour and
industry, while they continue there, towards his service.
A child who gets a separate stock from the father for
carrying on any trade or employment, even though he
should continue in the father’s house, may be said to be
emancipated or forisfamiliated, in so far as it concerns
that stock j for the profits arising from it are his own.
Forisfamiliation, when taken in this sense, is also infer¬
red
ilhfip. II. L A
Law of red by the child’s marriage, or by his living in a sepa-
sotlaud. rate house, with his father’s permission or good will.
%"'“v Children, after their full age of twenty-one years, be¬
come, according to the general opinion, their own ma¬
sters ; and from that period are bound to the father
only by the natural ties of duty, affection, and grati¬
tude. The mutual obligations between parents and
children to maintain each other, are explained after¬
wards, N° clxxiii. 4.
Jstards. 33* Children born out of wedlock, are styled natu¬
ral children, or bastards. Bastards may he legitimat¬
ed or made lawful. (1.) By the subsequent inter¬
marriage of the mother of the child with the father.
And this sort of legitimation entitles the child to all
the rights of lawful children. The subsequent mar¬
riage, which produces legitimation, is considered by
the law to have been entered into when the child legi¬
timated was begotten ; and hence, if he be a male, he
excludes, by his right of primogeniture, the sons pro¬
created after the marriage, from the succession of the
father’s heritage, though the sons were lawful chil¬
dren from the birth. Hence, also, those children only
can be thus legitimated, who are begotten of a woman
whom the father might at that period have lawfully
married. (2.) Bastards are legitimated by letters of
legitimation from the sovereign. N° clxxxii. 3.
Srvants, 34. As to the power of masters over their servants :
All servants now enjoy the same rights and privileges
with other subjects, unless in so far as they are tied
down by their engagements of service. Servants are
either necessary or voluntary. Necessary are those
whom law obliges to work without wages, of whom
immediately. Voluntary servants engage without com¬
pulsion, either for mere subsistence, or also for wages.
Those who earn their bread in this way, if they should
stand off from engaging, may be compelled to it by
the justices of the peace, who have power to fix the
rate of their wages.
dlliersand 35. Colliers, coal-bearers, salters, and other persons
sjters. necessary to colliers and salt works, as they are parti¬
cularly described by act l66l,were formerly tied down
to perpetual service at the works to which they had
once entered. Upon a sale of the works, the right of
their service was transferred to the new proprietor. All
persons were prohibited to receive them into their ser¬
vice, without a testimonial from their last master ; and
if they deserted to another work, and were redemanded
within a year thereafter, he who had received them
was obliged to return them within twenty-four hours,
under a penalty. But though the proprietor should
neglect to require the deserter within the year, he did
not by that short prescription, lose his property in him.
Colliers, &c. where the colliery to which they were re¬
stricted was either given up, or not sufficient for their
maintenance, might lawfully engage with others ; but
if that work should be again set a going, the proprietor
might reclaim them back to it.
4 vtrunts 36- -But by 15 Oeo. III. c. 28. these restraints, the
lijfcly ta- only remaining vestiges of slavei’y in the law of Scot-
land, are abrogated j and, after the 1st July 1775, all
colliers, coal-bearers, and salters, are declared to be up¬
on the same footing with other servants or labourers.
The act subjects those who are bound prior to the 1st
July I775> to a certain number of years service for
their freedom, according to the age of the person.
W. ' 639
37. The poor make the lowest class or order of per- Law of
sons. Indigent children may be compelled to serve any Scotland,
of the king’s subjects without wages, till the age of’ T
thirty years. Vagrants and sturdy beggars maybe also^ie P00^
compelled to serve any manufacturer. And because
few persons were willing to receive them into their ser¬
vice, public workhouses are ordained to be built for
setting them to work. The poor who cannot work,
must be maintained by the parishes in which they were
born $ and where the place of their nativity is not
known, that burden falls upon the parishes where they
have had their most common resort, for the three years
immediately preceding their being apprehended or
their applying for the public charity. Where the con¬
tributions collected at the churches to which they be¬
long are not sufficient for their maintenance, they are
to receive badges from the minister and kirk session, in
virtue of which they may ask alms at the dwelling-
houses of the inhabitants of the parish.
Chap. II. Of Things.
The things, or subjects, to which persons have right,
are the second object of law.
Sect. I. Of the Division of Rights, and the several c!xii.
ways by which a Right may be acquired.
1. The right of enjoying and disposing of a subject propert->
at one’s pleasure, is called property. Proprietors are ^ *
restrained by law from using their property emulously
to. their neighbour’s prejudice. Every state or sove¬
reign has a power over private property, called, by
some lawyers, dominium eminens, in virtue of which,
the proprietor may be compelled to sell his property
for an adequate price, where an evident utility on the
part of the public demands it.
2. Certain things are by nature itself incapable ofThings in¬
appropriation ; as the air, the light, the ocean, &c. 5 capable of
none of which can be brought under the power of any a.PPl0Pria-
one person, though their use be common to all. Otherst!0fi'
are by law exempted from private commerce, in respect
of the uses to which they are destined. Of this last
kind are, (1.) Res publicce, as navigable rivers, high¬
ways, bridges, &c. the right of which is vested in the
king, chiefly for the benefit of his people, and they are
called regalia. (2.) Res universitatis, things which be¬
long in property to a particular corporation or society,
and whose use is common to every individual in it, hut
both property and use are subject to the regulations of
the society 5 as town houses, cox-poration halls, market¬
places, churchyards, &c. The lands or other reve¬
nue belonging to a corporation do not fall under this
class, but are juris privati, quoad the corporation.
3. Property may be acquix ed either by occupation or Ways of
accession ; and transferi'ed by tradition or prescription ; acquiring
but prescription being also a way of losing property, propert).
falls to be explained under a separate title. Occupa¬
tion, or occupancy, is the appropriating of things
which have no owner, by apprehending them, or seiz¬
ing their possession. This was the original method of
acquiring property : and continued, under certain re¬
strictions, the doctrine of the Roman law, Qwoi/ nulling
est,fit occupantis; but it can have no room in the feudal
plan*
6.4-0 L A
Law of plan, by which the king is looked on as original
Scotland, proprietor of all the lands within his dominions.
v_ 4. Even in that sort of moveable goods which are
presumed to have once had an owner, this rule obtains
by the law of Scotland, Quod nullius cat, fit domini rc-
gis. Thus, the right of treasure hid under ground is not
acquired by occupation, hut accrues to the king.—
Thus also, where one finds strayed cattle or other
moveables, which have been lost by their former owner,
the finder acquires no right in them, but must give
public notice thereof; and if, within year and day after
such notice, the proprietor does not claim his goods,
they fall to the king, sheriff, or other person to whom
the king has made a grant of such escheats.
5. In that sort of moveables which never had an
owner, as wild beasts, fowls, fishes, or pearls found on
the shore, the original law takes place, that he who
first apprehends, becomes proprietor j insomuch, that
though the right of hunting, fowling, and fishing, be
restrained by statute, under certain penalties, yet all
game, even what is catched in contravention of the
law, becomes the property of the catcher (unless where
the confiscation thereof is made part of the penalty),
the contravener being obnoxious, however, to the pe¬
nal enactment of the statutes in consequence of his
transgression. It was not for a long time a fixed point
whether a person, though possessed of the valued rent
by law entitling him to kill game, could hunt upon
another person’s ground without consent; but it was
lately found by the court of session, and affirmed upon
appeal, that he could not ; it being repugnant to the
idea of property, that any person, however qualified,
should have it in his power to traverse and hunt upon
another’s grounds without consent of the proprietor.
Although certain things became the property of the
first occupant, yet there are others which fall not un¬
der this rule. Thus, whales thrown in or killed on our
coasts, belong neither to those who kill them, nor to
the proprietor of the grounds on which they are cast •,
but to the king, providing they are so large as that
they cannot be drawn by a wain with six oxen.
Accession. g, ACCESSION is that way of acquiring property, by
which, in two things which have a connexion with,
or dependence on, one another, the property of the
principal thing draws after it the property of its acces¬
sory. Thus the owner of a cow becomes the owner of
the calfj a house belongs to the owner of the ground
on which it stands, though built with materials belong¬
ing to and at the charge of another; trees taking root
in our ground, though planted by another become ours.
Thus also the insensible addition made to one’s ground
by what a river washes from other grounds, (which is
called alluvio\ accrues to the master of the ground
which receives the addition ; but where it happened
that a large piece of ground was disjoined and annexed
to another person’s by the forc'e of a river or any other
accident, and which was bv the Romans called avulsio,
they considered the owner’s right of property still to
subsist, § 21. Inst, de nr. divis.; and it is probable
tb*t, in a similar case, our courts would countenance
the distinction. The Romans excepted from this rule
the case of paintings drawn on another man’s board or
canvas, in consideration of the excellency of the art;
which exception our practice has for a like reason ex¬
tended to similar cases.
W* Part III,
7. Under accession is comprehended Specification ; Law of
by which is meant, a person’s making a new species or Scotland.
subject, from materials belonging to another. Where  X—
the new species can be again reduced to the matter
which it was made, law considers the former mass as
still existing ; and therefore, the new species, as an ac¬
cessory to the former subject, belongs to the proprietor
ot that subject: hut where the thing made cannot be
so reduced, as in the case of wine, which cannot he
again turned into grapes, there is no place for tUefictio
juris; and therefore the workmanship draws after it
the property of the materials. But the person who.
thus carries the property from the other is bound to
indemnify him according to the true value ; and in case
it was done mala fide, he may be made liable in the jsrc-
tium ajfectionis or utmost value.
8. Though the new species should be produced from Commix,
the Commixtion or confusion of different substances1,0®"
hi longing to different proprietors, the same rule holds ;
but where the mixture is made by the common consent
of the owner, such consent makes the whole a com¬
mon property, according to the shares that eacli pro¬
prietor had formerly in the several subjects. Where
things of the same sort are mixed without the consent
of the proprietors, which cannot again be separated ;
e. g. two hogsheads of wine, the whole likewise be¬
comes a common property ; but, in the after division,
regard ought to he had to the different quality of the
wines : if the things so mixed admit of a separation,
e. g. two flocks of sheep, the property continues di¬
stinct.
9. Property is carried from one to another by Tra-Tradiiien,
DTTION ; which is the delivery of possession by the pro¬
prietor with the intention to transfer the property to
the receiver. Two things are therefore requisite, in
order to the transmitting of property in this way:
I. The intention or consent of the former owner to
transfer it on some proper title of alienation, as sale,
exchange, gift, &c. (2.) The actual delivery in pur¬
suance of that intention. The first is called the causa,
the other the modus transferendi dominii: which last is
so necessary to the acquiring of property, that he who
gtts the last right, with the first tradition, is prefer¬
red according to the rule, Traditionibus,non nvdisgac-
tis, transferuntiir rerum dominia.
10. Tradition is either real, where the ipsa corpora
of moveables are put into the hands of the receiver; oy
symbolical, which is used where the thing is incapable
of real delivery, or even when actual delivery is only
inconvenient. Where the possession xor custody of the
subject has been before with him to whom the pro¬
perty is to be transferred, there is no room for tradi¬
tion.
11. Possession, which is essential both to the acqnt-pOSsfSsioJi;
sition and enjoyment of property, is defined, the deten¬
tion of a thing, with a design or animus in the detainer
of holding it as his own. It cannot be acquired by
the sole act of the mind, without real detention ; but,
being once acquired, it may he continued solo snimo.
Possession is either natural, or civil. Natural possession natmaj
is, when one possesses by himself: thus, we possess lands
by cultivating them and reaping their fruits, houses by
inhabiting them, moveables by detaining them in our
hands. Civil possession is our holding the thing, either
by the sole act of the mind, or by the hands of another
Imp. II,
Law of who holds It In our name ;
jjsotland. lent possesses It by the borrower j the proprietor of lands,
'■"■“V"***"' by his tacksmen, trustee, or steward, &c. The same
subject cannot be possessed entirely, or in soliclum, by
two different persons at one and the same time : and
therefore possession by an act of the mind ceases, as
soon as the natural possession is so taken up by another,
that the former possessor is not suffered to re-enter. Yet
two persons may, in the judgment of law, possess the
same subject, at the same time, on different rights :
thus, in the case of a pledge, the creditor possesses it in
his own name, in virtue of the right of impignoration ;
while the proprietor is considered as possessing, in and
through the creditor, in so far as is necessary for sup¬
porting his right of property. The same doctrine holds
in liferenters, tacksmen, and, generally, in every case
where there are rights affecting a subject distinct from
the property.
UafbAe 12. A bona fide possessor is he who, though he is not
really proprietor of the subject, yet believes himself pro¬
prietor on probable grounds. A male fide possessor is he
who knows, or is presumed to know, that what he pos¬
sesses is the property of another. A possessor bona fide
acquired right, by the Roman law, to the fruits of the
subject possessed, that had been reaped and consumed
by himself, while he believed the subjects his own. By
our customs, perception alone, without consumption,
secures the possessor : nay, if he has sown the ground,
while his bona fides continued, he is entitled to reap the
croy, propter cur am et culturam. But this doctrine does
not reach to civil fruits, e. g. the interest of money,
which the bona receiver must restore, together with
the principal, to the owner.
13. Bonafides necessarily ceaseth by the conscientia
rei alienee in the possessor, whether such consciousness
should proceed from legal interpellation, or private
knowledge. Malafides is sometimes induced by the
true owner’s bringing his action against the possessor,
sometimes not till litiscontestation, and, in cases un¬
commonly favourable, not till the sentence be pro¬
nounced against the possessor.
Jtsof 14* The property of moveable subjects is presumed
y«|ession. by the bare act of possession, until the contrary be
proved; but possession of an immoveable subject, though
for a century of years together, if there is no seisin,
does not create even a presumptive right to it: Nulla
sesina, nulla terra. Such subject is considered as ca-
duciary, and so accrues to the sovereign. Where the
property of a subject is contested, the lawful possessor
is entitled to continue his possession, till the point of
right be discussed ; and, if he has lost it by force or
stealth, the judge will upon summary application, im¬
mediately restore, it to him.
I r. Where a possessor has several rights in his per¬
son, affecting the subject possessed, the general rule
is, that he may ascribe his possession to which of them
be pleases ; but one cannot prescribe his possession to
a title other than that on which it commenced, in pre¬
judice of him from whom his title flowed.
Sect. II. Of Heritable and Moveable Bights.
iKxii. I. For the better understanding the doctrine of this
title, it must be known, that by the law of Scotland,
and indeed of most nations of Europe since the intro-
Vql. XI. Part II. f
Je
L A W. 641
thus, the owner of a thing duction of feus, wherever there are two or more in the Law of
same degree of consanguinity to one who dies intestate, Scotland,
and who are not all females, such rights belonging to
the deceased as are either properly feudal, or have any
resemblance to feudal rights, descend wholly to one of
them, who is considered as his proper heir; the others,
who have the name of next of kin or executors, must
be contented with that portion of the estate which is
of a more perishable nature. Hence has arisen the
division of rights to be explained under this title : the
subjects descending to the heir are styled heritable;
and those that fall to the next of kin moveable.
2. All rights of, or affecting lands, under which are Division of
comprehended houses, mills, fishings, teinds ; and all riKllts i*110
rights of subjects that are fundo annex a ^ whether com-^1£Yta^e
pleted by seisin or not, are heritable ex sua natura. On !^)e ,nove~
the other hand, every thing that moves itself or can be
moved, and in general whatever is not united to land,
is moveable; as household furniture, corns, cattle, cash,
arrears of rent and of interest, even though they should
be due on a right of annualrent; for though the arrears
last mentioned are secured on land, yet being presently
payable, they are considered as cash.
3. Debts, {nomina debitor uni), when due by bill, pro¬
missory note, or account, are moveable. When con¬
stituted by bond, they do not all fall under any one
head; but are divided into heritable and moveable, by
the following rules. All debts constituted by bond
bearing an obligation to infeft the creditor in any he¬
ritable subject in security of the principal sum and an¬
nualrent, or annualrent only, are heritable ; for they
not only carry a yearly profit, but are secured upon
land.
4. Bonds merely personal, though bearing a clause
of interest, are, by act 1661, declared to be moveable
as to succession ; i. e. they go, not to the heir, but to
the next of kin or executors ; but they are heritable
with respect to the fisk, and to the rights of husband
and wife ; that is, though by the general rule, move-
able rights fall under the communion of goods conse¬
quent upon marriage, and the moveables of denounced
persons fall to the crown or fisk by single escheat, yet
such bonds do neither, but are heritable in both re¬
spects.
5. Bonds taken payable to heirs and assignees, se¬
cluding executors, are heritable in all respects, from the
destination of the creditor. But a bond, which is made
payable to heirs, without mention of executors, de¬
scends, not to the proper heir in heritage, though heirs
are mentioned in the bond, but to the executor ; for
the word heir, which is a generic term, points out him
who is to succeed by law in the right; and the execu¬
tor, being the heir inmobilibus, is considered as the per¬
son to whom such bond is taken payable. But where
a bond is taken to heirs male, or to a series of heirs,
one after another, such a bond is heritable, because its
destination necessarily excludes executors.
6. Subjects originally moveable become heritable, How
(1.) By the proprietor’s destination. Thus a jewel, able rights"
or any other moveable subject, may be provided to the become he-
heir, from the right competent to every proprietor toritable‘
settle his property on whom he pleases. (2.) Move-
able rights may become heritable, by the supervening
of an heritable security : Thus, a sum due by a per¬
sonal bond becomes heritable, by the creditor’s accept-
4 M ing
Law of
Scotland.
Rights
partly heri¬
table, part¬
ly inove-
stfol e.
What pe¬
riod makes
a subject
heritable or
moveable.
642 L A
ing an heritable right for securing it, or by adjudging
upon it.
7. Heritable rights tlo not become moveable by ac¬
cessory moveable securities ; the heritable right being
in such case the Jus nobilius, which draws the other af¬
ter it.
8. Certain subjects partake, in different respects, of
the nature both of heritable and moveable. Personal
bonds are, by the above cited act 1661, moveable in
respect of succession ; but heritable as to the fisk, and
the rights of husband and wife. All bonds, whether
merely personal, or even heritable, on which no seisin
has followed, may be affected at the suit of creditors,
either by abjudication, which is the diligence proper
to heritage, or by arrestment, which is peculiar to
moveables. Bonds secluding executors, though they
descend to the creditor’s heir, are payable by the debt¬
or’s executors, without relief against the heir ; since the
debtor’s succession cannot be affected by the destination
of the creditor.
9. All questions, whether a right be heritable or
moveable, must be determined according to the condi¬
tion of the subject at the time of the ancestor’s death.
If it was heritable at that period, it must belong to the
heir ; if moveable, it must fall to the executor, without
regard to any alterations that may have affected the
subject in the intermediate period between the ances¬
tor’s death and the competition.
I. HERITABLE RIGHTS.
Sect. III. O f the Constitution of Heritable Rights by
Charter and Seisin.
1. Heritable rights are governed by the feudal law,
which owed its origin, or at least its first improvements,
to the Longobards j whose kings, upon having penetra¬
ted into Italy, the better to preserve their conquests,
made grants to their principal commanders of great
part of the conquered provinces, to be again subdivided
by them among the lower officers, under the conditions
of fidelity and military service.
2. The feudal constitutions and usages were first re¬
duced into writing about the year 1150, by two law¬
yers of Milan, under the title of Consuetudines Feudo-
rum. None of the German emperors appear to have
expressly confirmed this collection by their authority :
but it is generally agreed, that it had their tacit appro¬
bation, and was considered as the customary feudal law
of all the countries subject to the empire. No other
country has ever acknowledged these books for their
law •, but each state has formed to itself such a system
of feudal rules, as best agreed with the genius of its
own constitution. In feudal questions, therefore, we
are governed, in the first place, by our own statutes
and customs ; where these fail us, we have regard to
the practice of neighbouring countries, if the genius of
their law appears to be the same with ours; and should
the question still remain doubtful, we may have re¬
course to those written books of the feus, as to the
original plan on which all feudal systems have pro¬
ceeded.
Definition 3» This military grant got the name, first of bene-
of feus. jiciunij and afterwards ei feudum ; and was defined a
clxiv.
Origin of
the feudal
4 aw.
W. Part III,
gratuitous right to the property of lands, made under Law of
the conditions of fealty and military service, to he per- Scotland,
formed to the granter by the receiver j the radical '
right of the lands still remaining in the granter. Un¬
der lands, in this definition, are comprehended all rights
or subjects so connected with land, that they are deem¬
ed a part thereof j as houses, mills, fishings, jurisdic¬
tions, patronages, &c. Though feus in their original
nature were gratuitous, they soon became the subject
of commerce } services of a civil or religious kind were
frequently substituted in place of military ; and now,
of a long time, services of every kind have been entire¬
ly dispensed with in certain feudal tenures. He who
makes the grant is called the superior, and he who re- Superior
ceives it the vassal. The subject of the grant is com-
monly called the feu; though that word is at other
times, in our law, used to signify one particular tenure.
(See Sect. iv. 2.). The interest retained by the supe¬
rior in the feu is styled dominium directum, or the su¬
periority ; and the interest acquired by the vassal,
dominium utile, or the property. The word fee is pro¬
miscuously applied to both.
4. Allodial goods are opposed to feus j by which are Allodial
understood goods enjoyed by the owner, independentS001^-
of a superior. All moveable goods are allodial j lands
only are so when they are given without the condition
of fealty or homage. By the feudal system, the sove¬
reign, who is the fountain of feudal rights, reserves to
himself the superiority of all the lands of which he
makes the grant; so that, with us, no lands are allo¬
dial, except those of the king’s own property, the supe¬
riorities which the king reserves in the property-lands
of his subjects, and manses and glebes, the right of
which is completed by the presbytery’s designation,
without any feudal grant.
5. Every person who is in the right of an immove- 'Wbo can
able subject, provided he has the free administration grantfeu-
of his estate, and is not debarred by statute, or by the*181‘‘S111*-
nature of his right, may dispose of it to another. Nay,
a vassal, though he has only the dominium utile, can
subfeu his property to a subvassal by a subaltern right,
and thereby raise a new dominium directum in himself,
subordinate to that which is in his superior ; and so in
infinitum. The vassal who thus subfeus is called the
subvassal’s immediate superior, and the vassal’s superior
is the subvassal’s mediate superior.
6. All persons who are not disabled by law, may ac- Who caa
quire and enjoy feudal rights. Papists cannot purchase receive
a land estate by any voluntary deed. Aliens, who owe^em.
allegiance to a foreign prince, cannot hold a feudal
right without naturalization : and, therefore, where
such privilege was intended to be given to favoured na¬
tions or persons, statutes of naturalization were neces¬
sary, either general or special; or, at least, letters of
naturalization by the sovereign.
7. Every heritable subject capable of commerce, what sub-
may be granted in feu. From this general rule are ex-j^'cts caa
capped, 1. The annexed property of the crown, which [)e^r8nte
is not alienable without a previous dissolution in par-111
liament. 2. Tailzied lands, which are devised under
condition that they shall not be aliened. 3. An estate
in hcercditate jacente cannot be effectually aliened by
the heir-apparent (i. e. not entered) ; hut such aliena¬
tion becomes effectual upon his entry, the supervening
right
31iap.
Law of
Scotland.
tsudal
*arter.
II. L
right accruing in that case to the purchaser; which is
a rule applicable to the alienation of all subjects not
belonging to the vender at the time of the sale.
8. The feudal right, or, as it is called, investiture,
is constituted by charter and seisin. By the charter,
we understand that writing which contains the grant
of the feudal subject to the vassal, whether it be exe¬
cuted in the proper form of a charter, or of a disposi¬
tion. Charters by subject superiors are granted, ei¬
ther, x. A me de superiore meo, when they are to be
holden, not of the granter himself, but of his superior.
This sort is called a public holding, because vassals were
in ancient times publicly received in the superior’s
court before the pares curice or co-vassals. Or, 2. JAe
tne, where the lands are to be holden of the granter.
These were called sometimes base rights from bets, low¬
er: and sometimes private, because, before the esta¬
blishment of our records, they were easily concealed
from third parties; the nature of all which will be
more fully explained, Sect. vii. An original charter
is that by which the fee is first granted : A charter by
progress is a renewed disposition of that fee to the heir
or assignee of the vassal. All doubtful clauses in char¬
ters by progress ought to be construed agreeably to the
original grant; and all clauses in the original charter
are understood to be implied in the charters by pro¬
gress, if there be no express alteration.
Itconsti- 9. The first clause in an original charter, which
tijnt parts.follows immediately after the name and designation of
the granter, is the. narrative or recital, which expresses
the causes inductive of the grant. If the grant be
made for a valuable consideration, it is said to be one¬
rous ; if for love and favour, gratuitous. In the dis¬
positive clause of a charter, the subjects made over are
described either by special boundaries or march stones,
(which is called a bounding charter), or by such other
characters as may sufficiently distinguish them. A
charter regularly carries right to no subjects but what
are contained in this clause, though they should be
mentioned in some other clause of the charter. It
has been however found, that a right to salmon fish¬
ing was carried by a clause cum piscariis in the tenen-
das of a charter, the same having been followed with
possession.
10. The clause of tenendas (from its first words te-
nendas prcedictas terras) expresses the particular te¬
nure by which the lands are to he holden. The clause
of reddendo (from the words reddendo inde annuatim)
specifies the particular duty or service which the vassal
is (0 pay or perform to the superior.
11. The clause of warrandice is that by which the
granter obliges himself that the right conveyed shall
be effectual to the receiver. Warrandice is either per¬
sonal or real. Personal warrandice, where the granter
is only bound personally, is either, 1. Simple, that
he shall grant no deed in prejudice of the right; and
this sort, which is confined to future deeds, is implied
even in donations. 2. Warrandice from fact and deed,
by which the granter warrants that the right neither
has been, nor shall be, hurt by any fact of his. Or,
3. Absolute warrandice contra omnes mortales, whereby
the right is warranted against all legal defects in it
which may carry it off from the receiver either wholly
or in part. Where a sale of land proceeds upon an
onerous cause, the granter is liable in absolute warran-
Vf i t an
iif,
AW. 64-
dice, though no warrandice be expressed; but in as- Law oi
signations to debts or decrees, no higher warrandice Scotland,
than from fact and deed is implied. •—-v—- ^
12. Gratuitous grants by the crown imply no war¬
randice ; and though warrandice should be expressed,
the clause is ineffectual, from a presumption that it
has crept in by the negligence of the crown’s officers.
But where the crown makes a grant, not jure coronce,
but for an adequate price, the sovereign is in the same
case with his subjects.
13. Absolute warrandice, in case of eviction, affords Eflects of
an action to the grantee against the granter, for mak-wairu*i-
ing up to him all that he shall have suffered through
the defect of the right; and not simply for his indem¬
nification, by the granter’s repayment of the price to
him. But as warrandice is penal, and consequently
stricti juris, it is not easily presumed, nor is it incurred
from every light servitude that may affect the subject;
far less does it extend to burdens which may affect the
subject posterior to the grant, nor to those imposed by
public statute, whether before or after, unless specially
warranted against.
14. Real warrandice is either, 1. Express, whereby, Real war-
in security of the lands principally conveyed, other randice.
lands, called warrandice lands, are also made over, to
which the receiver may have recourse in case the prin¬
cipal lands be evicted. Or, 2. Tacit, which is con-Bxcam-
stituted by the exchange or excambion of one piece ofluon*
ground with another; for, if the lands exchanged are
carried off from either of the parties, the law itself,
without any paction, gives that party immediate re¬
course upon his own first lands, given in exchange for
the lands evicted.
15. The charter concludes with a/jrccept 0/* .?mm, Precept of
which is the command of the superior granter of the seisin,
right to his bailie, for giving seisin or possession to the
vassal, or his attorney, by delivering to him the pro¬
per symbols. Any person, whose name may be insert¬
ed in the blank left in the precept for that purpose,
can execute the precept as bailie ; and whoever has
the precept of seisin in his hands, is presumed to have a
power of attorney from the vassal for receiving posses¬
sion in his name.
16. A seisin is the instrument or attestation of a no-lugtrument
tary, that possession was actually given by the superiorseism,
or his bailie, to the vassal or his attorney ; which is
considered as so necessary a solemnity, as not to be sup-
pliable, either by a proof of natural possession, or even
of the special fact that the vassal was duly entered to
the possession by the superior’s bailie.
17. The symbols by which the delivery of posses-Symbols
sion is expressed, are, for lands, earth and stone; for used in *ei-
rights of annualrent payable forth of land, it is also8*115*
earth and stone, with the addition of a penny money :
for parsonage teinds, a sheaf of corn ; for jurisdictions,
the book of the court; for patronages, a psalm book,
and the keys of the church ; for fishings, net and
coble ; for mills, clap and happer, &c. The seisin
must be taken upon the ground of the lands, except
where there is a special dispensation in the charter
from the crown.
18. All seisins must be registered within 60 daysp^iatra.
after their date, either in the general register of seisins tion of sei-
at Edinburgh, or in the register of the particular shire sins-
appointed by the act 1617 ; which, it must be observ-
4 M 2 ed,
644 ^ A
Lhw of ‘s not, In every case, the shire within which the
Scotland, lands lie. Burgage seisins are ordained to be register-
‘ " v“r ' ed in the books ot the borough.
19. Unregistered seisins are ineffectual against third
parties, but they are valid against the granters and
their heirs. Seisins regularly recorded, are preferable
not according to their own dates, but the dates of their
registration.
, , r> # # t #
use seism 20. Seisin necessarily supposes a superior by whom
eoiUiuious it is given $ the right therefore which the sovereign,
and in uni-wd’0 acknowledges the superior, has over the whole
ted tene- lands of Scotland, is constituted jure coronce without
nients. seisin. In several parcels of land that lie contiguous
to one another, one seisin serves for all, unless the right
of the several parcels be either holden of different su¬
periors, or derived from different authors, or enjoyed
by different tenures under the same superior. In dis¬
contiguous lands, a separate seisin must be taken on
every parcel, unless the sovereign has united them in¬
to one tenandry by a charter of union j in which case,
if there is no special place expressed, a seisin taken on
any part of the united lands will serve for the whole,
even though they be situated in different shires. The
only effect of union is, to give the discontiguous lands
the same quality as if they had been contiguous or na¬
turally united $ union, therefore, does not take off the
necessity of separate seisins, in lands holden by differ¬
ent tenures, or the rights of which flow from different
superiors, these being incapable of natural union.
Barony im- 21. The privilege of barony carries a higher right
s union. jjian un;on (joeSj an(l consequently includes union in it
as the lesser degree. This right of barony can neither
be given, uor transmitted, unless by the crown ; but
the quality of simple union, being once conferred on
lands by the sovereign, may be communicated by the
vassal to a subvassal. Though part of the lands united
or erected into a barony be sold by the vassal to be
holden a tne, the whole union is not thereby dissolved :
what remains unsold retains the quality.
4 charter 22. A charter, not perfected by seisin, is a right
becomes merely personal, which does not transfer the property
reaUjnly. ^see 1.) ; anil a seisin of itself bears no
ers w;th0ut its warrant: It is the charter and seisin
joined together that constitutes the feudal right, and
secures the receiver against the effect of all posterior
seisins, even though tiie charters on which they proceed
should be prior to his.
All burdens 23. No quality which is designed as a lien or real
must be in- burden on a feudal right, can be effectual against sin-
serted in gUlar successors, if it be not inserted in the investiture,
j ‘ c '' If the creditors in the burden are not particularly men¬
tioned, the burden is not real ; for no perpetual un¬
known encumbrance can be created upon lands. Where
the right itself is granted with the burden of the sum
therein mentioned, or where it is declared void if the
sum be not paid against a day certain, the burden is
real ; but where the receiver is simply obliged by bis
acceptance to make payment, the clause is effectual
only against him and his heirs.
Sect. IV. Of the several kinds of Holding.
clxv. I. Feudal subjects are chiefly distinguished by their
Ward-hold-^'fferent manners of holding, which %vere either tvard,
jug;- blanch, feu, or burgage. Ward-holding, (which is now
W. Part HI.
abolished by 20 Geo. II. c. 50.) was that which was j atv of
granted for military service. Its proper reddendo was Scotland.
services, or services used and wont; by which last was -v——'
meant the performance of service whenever the supe¬
rior’s occasions required it. As all feudal rights were
originally held by this tenure, ward holding was in du-
bio presumed. Hence, though the reddendo had con¬
tained some special service or yearly duty, the holding
was presumed ward, if another holding was not parti¬
cularly expressed.
2. FVw-holding is that whereby the vassal is obliged Fen-bold-
to pay to the superior a yearly rent in money or grain, mg-
and sometimes also in services proper to a farm, as
ploughing, reaping, carriages for the superior’s use,
Sic. nomine feudifirmce. This kind of tenure was in¬
troduced for the encouragement of agriculture, the
improvement of which was considerably obstructed by
the vassal’s obligation to military service. It appears
to have been a tenure known in Scotland as far back
as leges burgorum.
3. Blaneh-\io\A\ng is that whereby the vassal is to Blancli-
pay to the superior an elusory yearly duty, as a penny bolding,
money, a rose, a pair of gilt spurs, &c. merely in
acknowledgement of the superiority, nomine albcef rma’.
This duty, where it is a thing of yearly growth, if it
be not demanded within the year, cannot be exacted
thereafter ; and where the words sipetalur tantum are
subjoined to the reddendo, they imply a release to the
vassal, whatever the quality of the duty may be, if it
is not asked within the year.
4. JB*/r§77ge-hoi ding is that, by which boroughs- Burgage-
royal hold of the sovereign the lands which are con-holding,
tained in their charters of erection. This, in the opi¬
nion of Craig, does not constitute a separate tenure,
but is a species of ward-holding; with this speciality,
that the vassal is not a private person, but a communi¬
ty : and indeed, watching and warding, which is the
usual service contained in the reddendo of such char¬
ters, might be properly enough said, some centuries
ago, to have been of the military kind. As the royal
borough is the king’s vassal, all burgage-holders hold
immediately of the crown : the magistrates, therefore,
when they receive the resignation of the particular
burgesses, and give seisin to them, act, not as supe¬
riors, but as the king’s bailies specially authorized
thereto,
5. Feudal subjects, granted to churches, monaste-MortiSca-
ries, or other societies for religious or charitable uses,*!011'
are said to be mortified, or granted ad manum mov-
tuam; either because all casualties must necessarily be
lost to the superior, where the vassal is a corporation,
which never dies; or because the property of these
subjects is granted to a dead band, which cannot trans¬
fer it to another. In lands mortified in times of Po¬
pery to the church, whether granted to prelates for
the behoof of the church, or in puram eleemosynam ;
the only services prestable by the vassals were prayers,
and singing of masses for the souls of the deceased,
which approaches nearer to blanch-holding than ward.
The purposes of such grants having been, upon the
Reformation, declared superstitious, the lands mortified
were annexed to the crown : but mortifications to uni¬
versities, hospitals, &c. were not affected by that an¬
nexation ; and lands may, at this day, be mortified to
any lawful purpose, either by blanch or by feu-hold-
(asual
; gilts.
Vard-
tialding.
Chap. I. LA
j aw of *nS • as superior must lose all the casualties
Scotland, of superiority in the case of mortifications to churches,
-v—-' universities, &c, which, being considered as a corpora¬
tion, never dies $ therefore lands cannot be mortified
without the superior’s consent. Craig, lib. i. dieg. II.
§ 21.
, . Sect. V. Of the Casualties due to the Superior.
1. The right of the superior continues unimpaired,
glits of notwithstanding the feudal grant, unless in so far as
ipeiiority. the dominium utile, or property, is conveyed to his
vassal. The superiority carries a right to the services
and annual duties contained in the reddendo of the vas¬
sal’s charter. The duty payable by the vassal is a de-
bitum fundi, i. e. it is recoverable, not only by a person¬
al action against himself, but by a real action against
the lands.
2. Besides the constant fixed rights of superiority,
there are others which, because they depend upon un¬
certain events, are called casualties.
3. The casualties proper to a ward-holding, while
that tenure subsisted, were ward, recognition, and mar¬
riage, which it is now unnecessary to explain, as by the
late statutes 20 and 25 Geo. II. for abolishing ward-
holdings, the tenure of the lands holden ward of the
crown or prince is turned into blanch, for payment of
one penny Scots yearly, sipetatur tantum; and the te¬
nure of those holden of subjects into feu, for payment
of such yearly feu duty in money, victual, or cattle, in
place of all services, as should lie fixed by the court of
session. And accordingly that court, by act of sederunt
Feb. 8. 1749, laid down rules for ascertaining the ex¬
tent of these feu duties. A full history of their casual¬
ties, and of the effects consequent upon their falling to
the superior, will be found in Erskine’s large Institute,
B. 2. t. 5. J 5. et sequen. j to which the reader is re¬
ferred.
4. The only casualty, or rather forfeiture, proper to
feu-holding, is the loss or tinsel of the feu right, by the
neglect of payment of the feu duty for two full years.
Yet where there is no conventional irritancy in the feu
right, the vassal is allowed to purge the legal irritancy
at the bar j that is, he may prevent the forfeiture, by
making payment before sentence •, but where the legal
irritancy is fortified by a conventional, he is not allow¬
ed to purge, unless where he can give a good reason
for the delay of payment.
5. The casualties common to all holdings are non¬
entry, relief, liferent, escheat, disclamation, and pur-
presture. Non-entry is that casualty which arises
to the superior out of the rents of the feudal subject,
through the heirs neglecting to renew the investiture
after his ancestor’s death. The superior is entitled to
this casualty, not only where the heir has not obtained
himself infeft, but where his retour or infeftment is
set aside upon nullities. The heir, from the death of
the ancestor, till he be cited by the superior in a pro¬
cess of a general declarator of non-entry, loses only the
retoured duties of his lands, (see next parag.) j and he
forfeited these, though his delay should not argue any
contempt of the superior, because the casualty is con¬
sidered to fall, as a condition implied in the feudal
right, and not as a penalty of transgression : but rea-
eu-hokl-
Jon-entry.
w. 645
sonable excuses are now admitted to liberate even from Law of
the retoured duties before citation. Scotland.
6. For understanding the nature of retoured duties, v——'
it must be known, that there was anciently a general
valuation of all the lands in Scotland, designed both
for regulating the proportion of public subsidies, and
for ascertaining the quantity of non-entry and relief
duties payable to the superior j which appears, by a
contract between K. R. Bruce and his subjects anno
1327, preserved in the library of the Faculty of Advo¬
cates, to have been settled at least as far back as the
reign of Alexander III. This valuation became in the
course of time, by the improvement of agriculture, and
perhaps also by the heightening of the nominal value
of our money, from the reign of Robert I. downwards
to that of James III. much too low a standard for the
superior’s casualties $ wherefore, in all services of heirs,
the inquest came at last to take proof likewise of the
present value of the lands contained in the brief {(quan¬
tum nunc valent), in order to fix these casualties. The
first was called the old, and the other the new, extent, old and
Though both extents were ordained to be specified in extents,
all retours made to the chancery upon brieves of in¬
quest ; yet by the appellation of retoured duties in a
question concerning casualties, the new extent is always
understood. The old extent continued the rule for le-
veying public subsidies, till a tax was imposed by new
proportions, by several acts made during the usurpa¬
tion. By two acts of Cromwell’s parliament, held at
Westminster in 1656, imposing taxations in Scotland,
the rates laid upon the several counties are precisely
fixed. The subsidy granted by the act of convention
1667 was levied on the several counties, nearly in the
same proportions that were fixed by the usurper in
1656 5 and the sums to which each county was subjec¬
ted were subdivided among the individual landholders
in that county, according to the valuations already
settled, or that should be settled by the commissioners
appointed to carry that act into execution. The rent
fixed by these valuations is commonly called the valued vaiuefj
rent; according to which the land tax and most ofrent.
the other public burdens, have been levied since that
time.
7. In feu-holdings, the feu duty is retoured as the
rent, because the feu duty is presumed to be, and truly
was at first, the rent. The superior therefore of a feu-
holding gets no non-entry, before citation in the gene¬
ral declarator $ for he would have been entitled to the
yearly feu duty, though the fee had been full, i. e.
though there had been a vassal infeft in the lands. The
superior of teinds gets the fifth part of the retoured duty
as non-entry, because the law considers teinds to be
worth a fifth part of the rent. In rights of annualrent
which are holden of the granter, the annualrenter be¬
comes his debtor’s vassal j and the annualrent contain¬
ed in the right is retoured to the blanch or other duty
contained in the right before declarator.
8. It is because the retoured duty is the presumed
rent, that the non-entry is governed by it. If, there¬
fore, no retour of the lands in non-entry can be pro¬
duced, nor any evidence brought of the retoured duty,
the superior is entitled to the real, or at least to the
valued, rent, even before citation. In lands formerly
bolden ward of the king, the heir, in place of the re-
toured
646 L A W. Part III,
Law of toured duties, is subjected only to the annual payment
Scotland, of one per cent, of tbe valued rent.
1 9. The heir, after he is cited by the superior in the
action of general declarator, is subjected to the full
rents till his entry, because his neglect is less excusable
after citation. The decree of declarator, proceeding
on this action, entitles the superior to the possession,
and gives him right to the rents downward from the
citation. As this sort of non-entry is properly penal,
our law has always restricted it to the retoured duties,
if the heir had a probable excuse for not entering.
In wnat 10. Non entry does not obtain in burgage holdings,
*ases non- because the incorporation of inhabitants holds the
j'm'whole incorporated subjects of the king; and there
can be no non-entry duty in lands granted to communi¬
ties, because there the vassal never dies. This covers
the right of particulars from non-entry : for if non¬
entry be excluded with regard to the whole, it cannot
obtain with regard to any part. It is also excluded,
as to a third of the lands, by the terce, during the wi¬
dow’s life; and as to the whole of them, by the cour¬
tesy during the life of her husband. But it is not ex¬
cluded by a precept of seisin granted to the heir till
seisin be taken thereupon.
Relief. 11. Relief is that casualty which entitles the supe¬
rior to an acknowledgment or consideration from the
heir for receiving him as vassal. It is called relief,
because by the entry of the heir, his fee is relieved out
of the hands of the superior. It is not due in feu-hold¬
ings flowing from subjects, unless where it is expressed
in the charter by a special clause for doubling the feu
duty at the entry of an heir ; but in feu rights holden
of the crown, it is due, though there should be no such
clause in the charter. The superior can recover this
casualty, either by a poinding of the ground, as a de-
bitmnfundi, or by a personal action against the heir.
In blanch and feu-holdings, where this casualty is ex¬
pressly stipulated, a year’s blanch or feu duty is due in
name of relief, beside the current year’s duty payable
in the name of blanch or feu farm.
Escheat. 1Escheat (from escheoir, to happen or fall) is that
forfeiture which falls through a person’s being denoun¬
ced rebel. It is either single or liferent. Single es¬
cheat, though it does not accrue to the superior, must
be explained in this place, because of its coincidence
with liferent.
Letters of I3> After a debt is constituted either by a formal
homing. decree, or by registration of the ground of debt, which
to the special effect of execution, is in law accounted a
decree : the creditor may obtain letters of horning,
issuing from the signet, commanding messengers to
charge the debtor to pav or perform his obligatior,
within a day certain. Where horning proceeds on a
formal decree of the session, the time indulged bv law
to the debtor is fifteen days ; if upon a decree of the
commission of teinds or admiral, it is ten ; and upon
the decrees of all inferior judges, fifteen days. W here
it proceeds on a registered obligation, which specifies
the number of days, that number must be the rule ; and,
if no precise number be mentioned, the charge must he
given in fifteen days, which is the term of law, unless
where special statute interposes ; as in bills, upon which
the debtor may be charged on six days.
14. The messenger must execute these letters (and
3
indeed all summonses against the debtor, either per- j
sonaliy or at his dwelling house ; and, if he get not Scotland,
access to the house, he must strike six knocks at the ‘"’-—-v''—^
gate, and thereafter affix to it a copy of his execution.
If payment be not made within the days mentioned in
the horning, the messenger, after proclaiming three
oyesses at the market cross of the head borough of
the debtor’s domicile, and reading the letters there,
blow's three blasts with a horn, by which the debtor is
understood to be proclaimed rebel to the king for con¬
tempt of his authority ; after which, he must affix a
copy of the execution to the market cross: This is
called the publication of the diligence, or a denunciation Demmcia.
at the horn. Where the debtor is not in Scotland, heticn.
must be charged on sixty days, and denounced at the
market cross of Edinburgh, and pier and shore of
Leith.
15. Denunciation, if registered within 15 days, ei-Consequen-
ther in the sheriff’s books, or in tbe general register, ces thereof,
drew after it the rebel’s single escheat, i. e. the for¬
feiture of his moveables to the crown. Persons de¬
nounced rebels have not % persona standi in judicio;
they can neither sue nor defend in any action. But this
incapacity being unfavourable, is personal to the rebel,
and cannot be pleaded against his assignee.
16. Persons cited to the court of justiciary may beDenuncia-
also denounced rebels, either for appearing there with tien in cri-
too great a number of attendants ; or, if they fail ton“na*
appear, they are declared fugitives from the law. Single c:ises'
escheat falls, without denunciation, upon sentence of
death pronounced in any criminal trial; and, bv special
statute, upon one’s being convicted of certain crimes,
though not capital; as perjury, bigamy, deforcement,
breach of arrestment, and usury. By the late act abo¬
lishing ward-holdings, the casualties both of single and
liferent escheat are discharged, when proceeding upon
denunciation for civil debts; but they still continue,
when they arise from criminal causes. All moveables
belonging to the rebel at tbe time of bis rebellion,
(whether proceeding upon denunciation, or sentence in
a criminal trial), and all that shall be afterwards acquir¬
ed by him until relaxation, fall under single escheat.
Bonds hearing interest, because they continue heritable
quoadfiscum, fall not under it, nor such fruits of herit¬
able subjects as became due after the term next ensu¬
ing the rebellion, these being reserved for the liferent
escheat.
17. The king never retains the right of escheat to
himself, but makes it over to a donatory, whose gift is
not perfected till, upon an action of general declara¬
tor, it be declared that the rebel’s escheat has fallen to
the crown by his denunciation, and that the right of it
is now transferred to the pursuer by the gift in his fa¬
vour. Everv creditor therefore of the rebel, whose debt
was contracted before rebellion, and who has used dili¬
gence before declarator, is preferable to the donatory.
But the escheat cannot be affected by anv debt con¬
tracted, or by any voluntary deed of the rebel after
rebellion.
18. The rebel, if he either pays the debt charged Letters »f
for, or suspends the diligence, may procure letters of1,6^*31100,
relaxation from the horn, which, if published in the
same place, and registered 15 days thereafter in the
same register with the denunciation, have tbe effect to
restore
f!
diap. II.
LAW.
647
Law of
 v"*~
trent
■iieat.
Dfclama-
tia.
I’l H?e>-
tJ.
atures.
Scji-:,
restore him to !iis former state ; but they have no re¬
trospect as to the moveables already fallen under es-
' cheat, without a special clause for that purpose.
19. The rebel, if he continues unrelaxed for year
and day alter rebellion, is construed to be civilly dead :
and therefore, where he holds any feudal right, his su¬
periors, as being without a vassal, are entitled, each of
them, to the rents of such of the lands belonging to
the rebel as hold of himself, during ail the days of the
rebel’s natural life, by the casualty of LIFERENT ES¬
CHEAT ; except where the denunciation proceeds upon
treason or proper rebellion, in which case the liferent
falls to the king.
20. It is that estate only, to which the rebel has a
proper right of liferent in his own person, that falls un¬
der his liferent escheat.
21. Though neither the superior nor his donatory
can enter into possession inconsequence of this casualty,
till decree of declarator ; yet that decree, being truly
declaratory, has a retrospect, and does not so properly
confer a new right, as declare the right formerly con¬
stituted to the superior, bv the civil death of his vassal.
He nee, all charters or heritable bonds, though granted
prior to the rebellion, and all adjudications, though led
upon debts contracted before that period, qre ineffec¬
tual against the liferent escheat, unless seisin be taken
thereon within year and day after the granter’s rebel¬
lion.
22. Here, as in single escheat, no debt contracted
after rebellion can hurt the donatory, nor any voluntary
right granted after that period, though in security or
satisfaction of prior debts.
23. Disclamation is that casualty whereby a vas¬
sal forfeits his whole feu to his superior, if he disowns
or disclaims him, without ground, as to any part of it.
Turpresture draws likewise a forfeiture of the whole
feu after it; and is incurred by the vassal’s encroaching
upon any part of his superior’s property, or attempting,
by building, enclosing, or otherwise, to make it his own.
In both these feudal delinquencies, the least colour of
excuse saves the vassal.
24. All grants from the crown, whether charters,
gifts of casualties, or others, proceed on signatures
which pass the signet. When the king resided in Scot¬
land, all signatures were superscribed by him ; but, on
the accession of James VI. to the crown of England,
a cachet or seal was made, having the king’s name en¬
graved on it, in pursuance of an act of the privy coun¬
cil, April 4. 1603, with which all signatures were to
be afterwards sealed, that the lords of exchequer were
empowered to pass; and these powers are transferred
to the court of exchequer, which was established in
Scotland after the union of the two kingdoms in 1 707.
Grants of higher consequence, as remission of crimes,
gifts proceeding upon forfeiture, and charters of wo^o-
damus, must have the king’s sign manual for their war¬
rant.
2 v If lands holding of the crown were to be con¬
veyed, the charter passed, before the union of the
kingdoms in ijOJ, by the great seal of Scotland ; and
now by a seal substituted in place thereof. Grants of
church dignities, during Episcopacy, passed also by the
great seal; and the commissions to all the principal of¬
ficers of the crown, as justice clerk, king’s advocate,
solicitor, &c. do so at this day. AH rights which sub¬
jects may transmit by simple assignation, the king trans- Law of
mits by the privy seal : as gifts of moveables, or of Scotland,
casualties that require no seisin. The quarter seal, v
otherwise called the testimonial of the great seal, is ap¬
pended to gifts of tutorv, commissions of brieves issuing
from the chancery, and letters of presentation to lands
holding of a subject, proceeding upon fojfeiture, bas¬
tardy, or ultirnus heeres.
26. Seals are to royal grants what subscription is Their nse.
to rights derived from subjects, and give them authori¬
ty ; they serve also as a check to gifts procured [sub-
reptione vel obreptione) by concealing the truth, or ex¬
pressing a falsehood ; for, where this appears, the gift
may he stopped before passing the seals, though the sig¬
nature should have been signed by the king. All rights
passing under the great or privy seal must be registered
in the registers of the great or privy seal respective, be¬
fore appending the seal.
Sect, VI. Of the Bight which the Vassal acquires by clxvii.
getting the Feu.
1. Under the dominium wfi’/e which the vassal acquires Dominium
by the feudal right, is comprehended the property oiut^e’
whatever is considered as part of the lands, whether of
houses, woods, enclosures, &c. above ground; or of
coal, limestone, minerals, &c. under ground. Mills
have, by the generality of our lawyers, been deemed
a separate tenement, and so not carried by a charter
or disposition, without either a special clause convey¬
ing mills, or the erection of the lands into a barony.
Yet it is certain, that if a proprietor builds a mill on
his own lands, it will be carried by his entail, or by a
retour, without mentioning it, although the lands are
not erected into a barony. If the lands disponed be
astricted, or thirled to another mill, the purchaser is
not allowed to build a new corn mill on his property,
even though he should offer security that it shall not
hurt the thirle ; which is introduced for preventing
daily temptations to fraud.
2. Proprietors are prohibited to hold dove-cots, un¬
less their yearly rent, lying within two miles thereof,
extend to ten chalders of victual. A purchaser of lands,
with a dove-cot, is not obliged to pull it down, though
be should not be qualified to build one ; but, if it be¬
comes ruinous, he cannot rebuild it. The right of
brewing, though not expressed in the grant, is implied
in the nature of property ; as are also the rights of fish¬
ing, fowling, and hunting, in so far as they are not re¬
strained by statute.
3. There are certain rights naturally consequent on Regalia,
property, which are deemed to be preserved by the
crown as regalia; unless they be specially conveyed.
Gold and silver mines are of this sort; the first univer¬
sally ; and the other, where three halfpennies of silver
can be extracted from the pound of lead, by act 1424,
(three halfpennies at that time was equal to about
two shillings five pennies of our present Scots money).
These were by our ancient law annexed to the crown ;
but they are now dissolved from it; and every proprie¬
tor is entitled to a grant of the mines within his own
lands, with the burden of delivering to the crown a
tenth of what shall be brought up.
4. Salmon fishing is likewise aright understood to be
reserved by the crown, if it be not expressly granted :
but
648
JLaw of
Scotland
Res inch.
He#.
Pertinents,
Privileges
af barony.
Tack or
lease.
L A
but 43 years possession thereof, where the lands are ei¬
ther erected into a barony, or granted with the general
' clause of fishings, establishes the full right of the sal¬
mon fishing in the vassal. A charter of lands within
which any of the king’s forests lie, does not carry the
property of such forest to the vassal.
5. All the subjects which were by the Roman law
accounted respublica:, as rivers, highways, ports, &c,
are, since the introduction of feus, held to be inter re¬
galia, or in patrimonio pnneipis ; and hence encroach¬
ment upon a highway is said to infer purpresture. No
person has the right of a free port without a special
grant, which implies a power in the grantee to levy-
anchorage and shore dues, and an obligation upon him
to uphold the port in good condition. In this class of
things, our forefathers reckoned fortalices, or small
places of strength, originally built for the defence of
the country, either against foreign invasions or civil
commotions; but these now pass with the lands in
every charter.
6. The vassal acquires right by his grant, not only
to the lands specially contained in the charter, but to
those that have been possessed 40 years as pertinent
thereof. But, 1. If the lands in the grant are marked
out by special limits, the vassal is circumscribed by the
tenor of his own right, which excludes every subject
without these limits from being pertinent of the lands.
2. A right possessed under an express infeftment is pre¬
ferable, cceteris paribus, to one possessed only as perti¬
nent. 3. Where neither party is infeft per expressum,
the mutual promiscuous possession by both, of a subject
as pertinent, resolves into a commonly of the subject
possessed : but if one of the parties has exercised all the
acts of property of which the subject was capable, while
the possession of the other was confined to pasturage
only, or to casting feal and divot, the first is to he
deemed sole proprietor, and the other to have merely a
right of servitude.
7. As barony is a nomen universitatis, and unites
the several parts contained in it into one individual
right, the general conveyance of a barony carries with
it all the different tenements of which it consists, though
they should not be specially enumerated (and this
holds, even, without erection into a barony, in lands
that have been united under a special name). Hence,
likewise, the possession by the vassal of the smallest part
of the barony lands preserves to him the right of the
whole.
8. The vassal is entitled, in consequence of his pro¬
perty, to levy the rents of his own lands, and to reco¬
ver them from his tenants by an action for rent before
his own court j and from all other possessors and intro-
mitters, by an action of mails and duties before the
sheriff. He can also remove from his lands, tenants
who have no leases j and he can grant tacks or leases
to others. A tack is a contract of location, whereby
the use of land, or any other immoveable subject, is set
to the lessee or tacksman for a certain yearly rent, ei¬
ther in money, the fruits of the ground, or services.
It ought to be reduced into writing, as it is a right
concerning lands : tacks, therefore, that are given ver¬
bally, to endure for a term of years, are good against
neither party for more than one year. An obligation
to grant a tack is as effectual against the granter as a
formal tack, A liferenter having a temporary pro-
Law of
Scotland,
^ * Part III
perty in the fruits, may grant tacks to endure for the
term of his own liferent.
9. The tacksman’s right is limited to the fruits '" v—
which sprung up annually from the subject set, ei¬
ther naturally, or by his own industry $ he is not
therefore entitled to any of the growing timber a-
bove ground, and far less to the minerals, coal, clay,
&c. under ground, the use of which consumes the sub¬
stance. Tacks are, like other contracts, personal rights
in their own nature j and consequently ineffectual
against singular successors in the lands ; but, for the
encouragement of agriculture they were, by act 1449,
declared effectual to the tacksman for the full time of
their endurance, into whose hands soever the lands
might come.
10. To give a written tack the benefit of this sta¬
tute, it must mention the special tack duty payable to
the proprietor, which, though small, if it be not elusory,
secures the tacksman ; and it must be followed by pos¬
session, which supplies the want of a seisin. If a tack
does not express the term of entry, the entry will com¬
mence at the next term after its date, agreeable to the
rule, Quod pure debetur,pr(esenti die debetur. If he does
not mention the ish, i. e. the term at which it is to de¬
termine, it is good for one year only ; but, if the in¬
tention of parties to continue it for more than one year,
should appear from any clause in the tack, (e. g. if the
tacksman should be bound to certain annual prestations),
it is sustained for two years as the minimum. Tacks
granted to perpetuity, or with an indefinite ish, have
not the benefit of the statute. Tacks of houses within
borough do not fall within this act, it being customary
to let these from year to year.
11. Tacks necessarily imply a Je/tecfc/.s/WTSOfleg,a choice Tacks are
by the setter of a proper person for his tenant. Hence
the conveyance of a tack which is not granted to assig¬
nees, is ineffectual without the landlord’s consent. A
right of tack, though it be heritable, falls under the jus
viariti, because it cannot be separated from the labour¬
ing cattle and implements of tillage, which are move-
able subjects. A tack, therefore, granted to a single
woman, without the liberty of assigning, falls by her
marriage ; because the marriage, which is a legal con¬
veyance thereof to the husband, cannot be annulled.
This implied exclusion of assignees, is, however, limited
to voluntary, and does not extend to necessary, assign¬
ments ; as an adjudication of a tack by the tacksman’s
creditor : but a tack, expressly excluding assignees,
cannot be carried even by adjudication. It was not a
fixed point for a long time, whether a tenant could sub¬
set without consent of the landlord ; but the court of
session, in a case which occurred a few years ago, de¬
nied the power of subsetting in the tenant. Liferent
tacks, because they import a higher degree of right
in the tacksman than tacks for a definite term, may be
assigned, unless assignees be specially excluded.
12. If neither the setter nor tacksman shall properly Tacit relo-
discover their intention to have the tack dissolved at thecat’on'
term fixed for its expiration, they are understood, or
presumed, to have entered into a new tack upon the
same terms with the former, which is called tacit reloca¬
tion ; and continues till the landlord warns the tenant
to remove, or the tenant renounces his tack to the land¬
lord : this obtains also in the case of moveable tenants,
who possess from year to year without written tacks.
In
i!hiip. II.
L A W.
CH9
Law of In judicial tacks, however, by the court of session,
Scotland, tacit relocation neither does nor can take place j foi*
"—cautioners being interposed to these, they are loosed at
the end of the tack : and therefore, where judicial
tacksmen possess after expiry of the right, they are ac*
countable as factors.
13. In tacks of land, the setter is commonly bound
to put all the houses and office houses, necessary for the
farm, in good condition at the tenant’s entry •, &nd the
tenant must keep them and leave them so at his removal.
But, in tacks of houses, the setter must not only deliver
to the tenant the subject set, in tenantable repair at his
entry, hut uphold it in that repair during the whole
years of the tack, unless it is otherwise covenanted be-
1 twist the parties.
14. If the inclemency of the weather, inundation,
or calamity of war, should have brought upon the crop
an extraordinary damage {plus quam tolerabile), the
landlord had, by the Homan law, no claim for any part
of the tack-duty ; if the damage was more moderate,
he might exact the full rent. It is nowhere defined,
what degree of sterility or devastation makes a loss plus
qziam tolerabile ; but the general rule of the Roman law
seems to be made ours. Tenants are not obliged to pay
any public burdens to which they are not expressly
bound by their tack, except mill services.
Estitotioa 15. Tacks may be evacuated during their currency,
olacke. (j.) In the same manner as feu rights, by the tacks¬
man’s running in arrear of his tack duty for two years
together. This imtancy may be prevented by the
tenant’s making payment at the bar before sentence.
(2.) Where the tenant either runs in arrear of one
year’s rent, or leaves his farm uncultivated at the usual
season ; in which case he may, by act of sederunt 1756,
be ordained to give security for the arrears, and for the
rent of the five following crops, if the tack shall subsist
so long ; otherwise to remove, as if the tack were at
an end. (3.) Tacks may be evacuated at any time by
the mutual consent of parties.
16. The landlord, when he intends to remove a te¬
nant whose tack is expiring, or who possesses without a
tack, must, upon a precept signed by himself, warn
the tenant forty days preceding the term of Whitsun-
'vinniig. <^7, at or immediately preceding the ish, personally
or at his dwelling house, to remove at that term, with
his family and effects. This precept must be also exe¬
cuted on the ground of the lands, and thereafter read
in the parish church where the lands lie, after the morn¬
ing service, and affixed to the most patent door thereof.
Whitsunday, though it be a moveable feast, is, in que¬
stions of removing, fixed to the 15th of May. In
warnings from tenements within borough, it is sufficient
that the tenant be warned forty days before the ish
of the tack, whether it be Whitsunday or Martinmas j
and in these the ceremony of chalking the door is su¬
stained as warning, when proceeding upon a verbal or¬
der from the proprietor.
17. This process of warning was precisely necessary
for founding an action of removing against tenants, till
the act of sederunt 1756, which leaves it in the option
of the proprietor, either to use the former method, or
to bring his action of removing before the judge ordi¬
nary : which, if it be called 40 days before the said term
of Whitsunday, shall be held as equal to a warning.
Where the tenant is bound, by an express clause of his
Vol. XL Part II. f
tack, to remove at the ish without warning, such ob- Lawu
ligation is, by the said act, declared to be a sufficient Scotland,
warrant for letters of horning; upon which, if the y——v--*
landlord charge his tenant forty days before the said
Whitsunday, the judge is authorized to eject him with¬
in six days after the term of removing expressed in the
tack.
18. Actions of removing might, even before this act Actions of
of sederunt, have been pursued without any previous removing,
warning, (1.) Against vicious possessors, i. e. persons
who had seized the possession by force, or who, without
any legal title, had intruded into it, after the last pos¬
sessor had given it up. (2.) Against possessors who had
a naked tolerance. (3.) Against tenants who had run
in arrear of rent, during the currency of their tacks,
(4.) Against such as had sold their lands, and yet con¬
tinued to possess after the term of the purchaser’s entry.
Upon the same ground, warning was not required, in
removings against possessors of liferented lands, after
the death of the liferenter who died in the natural pos¬
session : but if he possessed by tenants, these tenants
could not be disturbed in their possessions till the next
Whitsunday, that they might have time to look out
for other farms; but they might be compelled to re¬
move at that term, by an action of removing, without
warning.
19. A landlord’s title in a removing, let it be ever
so lame, cannot be brought under question by a tenant
whose tack flows immediately from him j but, if he is
to insist against tenants not his own, his right must be
perfected by infeftment, unless it be such as requires no
infeftment; as terce, &c.
20. The defender, in a removing, must (by act 1555), Violent
before offering any defence which is not instantly veri-profits,
fied, give security to pay to the setter the violent profits>
if they should he awarded against him. These are so
called, because the law considers the tenant’s possession
after the warning as violent. They are estimated, in
tenements within borough, to double the rent j and in
lands, to the highest profits the pursuer could have
made of them, by possessing them either by a tenant or
by himself.
21. If the action of removing shall be passed from, Efftcl 0f
or if the landlord shall, after using warning, accept ofwaming
rent from the tenant, for any term subsequent to tbatnot
of the removal, he is presumed to have changed his'0,
mind, and tacit relocation takes place. All actions of
removing against the principal or original tacksman,
and decrees thereupon, if the order be used, which is
set forth supra (17.), are, by the act of sederunt 1756,
declared to be effectual against the assignees to the tack
or subtenants.
22. The landlord has, in security of his tack-duty, Hypothec,
over and above the tenant’s personal obligation, a tacit
pledge or hypothec, not only on the fruits, but on the
cattle pasturing on the ground. The corn, and other
fruits are hypothecated for the rent of that vear where¬
of they are the crop 5 for which they remain afiected,
though the landlord should not use his right for years
together. In virtue of this hypothec, the landlord is
entitled to a preference over any creditor, though he
has actually used a poinding j except in the special
case, that the poinding is executed after the term of
payment, when the landlord can appropriate the crop
for his payment, the poinder in such case being obliged
4 ^ ta
650 L A
Law of to leave as mucli on the ground as to satisfy the land-
Scotland. lord’s hypothec : and it was found by the court of ses-
y sion, that this right of the landlord is preferable even
to a debt due to the crown, for which a writ of extent
had been issued.
23. The whole cattle on the ground considered as a
quantity, are hypothecated for a year’s rent, one after
another successively. The landlord may apply this hy¬
pothec for payment of the past year’s rent, at any time
within three months from the last conventional term of
payment, after which it ceases for that year. As the
tenant may increase the subject of this hypothec, by
purchasing oxen, sheep, &c. so he can impair it, by
selling part of his stock $ but if the landlord suspects
the tenant’s management, he may, by sequestration or
poinding, make his right, which was before general up¬
on the whole stock, special upon every individual. A
superior has also a hypothec for his feu-duty, of the
same kind with that just explained.
24. In tacks of houses, breweries, shops, and other
tenements, which have no natural fruits, the furniture,
and other goods brought into the subject set are hypo¬
thecated to the landlord for one year’s rent. But the
tenant may by sale impair this hypothec, as he might
that of cattle in rural tenements ; and indeed, in the
particular case of a shop, the tenant rents it for no
other purpose than as a place of sale.
Sect. VII. Of the Transmission of Rights, by Con¬
firmation and Resignation.
clXThi. .
Transmts- I. A vassal may transmit his ten either to universal
sioa of feu-successors, as heirs j or to singular successors, i. e. those
dal rights. wj10 aCqUire by gift, purchase, or other singular title.
This last sort of transmission is either voluntary, by dis¬
position 5 or necessary, by adjudication.
2. By the first feudal rules, no superior could be
compelled to receive any vassal in the lands, other than
the heir expressed in the investiture j for the superior
alone had the power of ascertaining to what order of
heirs the fee granted by himself was to descend. But
this right of refusal in the superior did not take place,
(1.) In the case of creditors appraisers or adjudgers,
whom superiors were obliged to receive upon payment
of a year’s rent (1469, c. 37. 1672, c. 19.) : (1.) In
the case of purchasers of bankrupt estates, who were
put on the same footing with adjudgers, by 1690, c. 20.
The crown refuses no voluntary disponee, on his paying
a composition to the exchequer of a sixth part of the
valued rent. Now, by 20 Geo. II. superiors are di¬
rected to enter all singular successors (except incorpo¬
rations) who shall have got from the vassal a disposition,
containing procuratory of resignation : they always re¬
ceiving the fees or casualties that law entitles them to
on a vassal’s entry, i. e. a year’s rent (a).
Y! • Part 1II{
3. Base rights, i. e. dispositions to be holden of the i,riw of
disponer, are transmissions only of the property, the Scotland.
superiority remaining as formerly. As this kind of' v—i>
right might, before establishing the registers, have been Ease
kept quite concealed from all but the granter and re¬
ceiver, a public right was preferable to it, unless cloth¬
ed with possession : but as this distinction was no long¬
er necessary after the establishment of the records, all
infeftments are declared preferable, according to the
dates of their several registrations; without respect to
the former distinction of base and public, or of being
clothed and not clothed with possession.
4. Public rights, i. e. dispositions to be holden of the pubii*
granter’s superior, may be perfected either by confir-rights,
mation or resignation ; and therefore they generally
contain both precept of seisin and procuratory of resign
nation. When the receiver is to complete his right in
the first way, he takes seisin upon the precept: but
such seisin is ineffectual without the superior’s confir¬
mation } for the disponee cannot be deemed a vassal till
the superior receive him as such, or confirm the hold-
ing. By the usual style in the transmission of lands,
the disposition contains an obligation and precept of
infeftment, both a me and de me, in the option of the
disponee j upon which, if seisin is taken indefinitely, it
is construed in favour of the disponee to be a base in¬
feftment, because a public right is null without confir¬
mation : but if the receiver shall afterwards obtain the
superior’s confirmation, it is considered as if it had been
from the beginning a public right.
5. Where two several public rights of the same sub- Prefereree
ject are confirmed by the superior, their preference is in confir.
governed by the dates of the confirmations, not of themat;io11*
infeftments confirmed ; because it is the confirmation
which completes a public right.
6. Though a public right becomes, by the supe-Effect of
rior’s confirmation, valid from its date 5 yet if any mid«o»firniR-
impediment intervene betwixt that period and thetlon'
confirmation, to hinder the two from being conjoined,
e. g. if the granter of a public right should afterwards
grant a base right to another, upon which seisin is ta¬
ken before the superior’s confirmation of the first, the
confirmation will have effect only from its own date j
and consequently the base right first completed will
carry the property of the lands preferable to the public
one.
7. Resignation is that form of law, by which a vas-Resigna.
sal surrenders his feu to his superior 5 and it is eithertio)(ls'
adperpetuam remanentiam, or in favorem. In resigna¬
tions ad remanentiam, where the feu is resigned, to the
effect that it may remain with the superior, the superior,
who before had the superiority, acquires, by the resig¬
nation, the property also of the lands resigned : and as
his infeflment in the lands still subsisted, notwithstand¬
ing the right by which he had given his vassal the pro¬
perty ; therefore, upon the vassal’s resignation, the su¬
perior’s
(a) It was long matter of doubt how this composition due to the superior upon the entry of singular successors
should be regulated. The matter at last received a solemn decision ; finding, That the superior is entitled, for
the entry of singular successors, in all cases where such entries are not taxed, to a year’s rent of the subject,
whether lands or houses, as the same are set, or may be set at the time j deducting the feu-duty and all public
burdens, and likewise all annual burdens imposed on the lands by consent of the superior, with all reasonable an¬
nual repairs to houses and other perishable subjects.
Phap, II. LAW.
law of perior’s right of property revives, and is consolidated
iGotland, with the superiority, without the necessity of a new in-
*—feftment j but the instrument of resignation must be re¬
corded.
8. .Resignations in favorem are made, not with an
intention that the property resigned should remain with
the superior, but that it should be again given by him,
in favour either of the resigner himself, or of a third
party \ consequently the fee remains in the resigner,
till the person in whose favour resignation is made gets
his right from the superior perfected by seisin. And
because resignations in favorem are but incomplete per¬
sonal deeds, our law has made no provision for record¬
ing them. Hence, the first seisin on a second resigna¬
tion is preferable to the last seisin upon the first resigna¬
tion ; but the superior, accepting a second resignation,
whereupon a prior seisin may be taken in prejudice of
the first resignatory, is liable in damages.
p. By our former decisions, one who was vested with
a personal right of lands, i. e. a right not completed
by seisin, effectually divested himself by disponing it to
another; after which no right remained in the dispo-
ner, which could be carried by a second disposition,
because a personal right, is no more than a. jus obligatio-
nisj which may be transferred by any deed sufficiently
expressing the will of the granter. But this doctrine,
at the same time that it rendered the security of the re¬
cords extremely uncertain, was not truly applicable to
guch rights as required seisin to complete them ; and
therefore it now obtains, that the granter even of a per¬
sonal right of lands is not so divested by conveying the
right to one person, but that he may effectually make
it over afterwards to another; and the preference be¬
tween the two does not depend on the dates of the dis¬
positions, but on the priority of the seisins following up¬
on them.
Sect. VIII. Of Redeemable Rights.
1. An heritable right is said to be redeemable, when
(versions jt contajns a right 0f reversion, or return, in ^favour of
the person from whom the right flows. Reversions
are either legal, which arise from the law itself, as in
adjudications, which law declares to be redeemable
within a certain term after their date ; or convention¬
al, which are constituted by the agreement of parties,
as in wadsets, rights of annualrent, and rights in se-
adset. curity. A wadset (from wad or pledge) is a right, by
which lands, or other heritable subjects, are impigno-
rated by the proprietor to his creditor in security of
his debt: and, like other heritable rights, is perfected
by seisin. The debtor, who grants the ivadset, and
has the right of reversion, is called the reverser ; and
the creditor, receiver of the wadset, is called the wad¬
setter.
2. Wadsets, by the present practice, are commonly
made out in the form of mutual contracts, in which
one party sells the land, and the other grants the right
of reversion. When the right of reversion is thus in¬
corporated in the body of the wadset, it is effectual
without registration ; because the singular successor in
the wadset is, in that case, sufficiently certified of the
reversion, though it be not registered, by looking into
his own right, which bears it in gremio. But where
65
the right of reversion is granted in a separate writing, Law of
it is ineffectual against the singular successor of the Scotland,
wadsetter, unless it be registered in the register of sei- ^ """ »1 ““
sins within 60 days after the date ot the seisin upon the
wadset.
3. Rights of reversion are generally esteemed s/nctf/Reversion
juris; yet they go to heirs, though heirs should not be1.*®^70^
mentioned, unless there be some clause in the right, dis-^r,m‘
covering the intention of parties, that the reversion
should be personal to the reverser himself. In like
manner, though the right should not express a power
to redeem from the wadsetter’s heir, as well as from
himself, redemption will be competent against the heir.
All our lawyers have affirmed, that reversions cannot
be assigned, unless they are taken to assignees ; but
from the favour of legal diligence, they may be ad¬
judged.
4. Reversions commonly leave the reverser at liberty
to redeem the lands quandocunque, without restrictiontlon’
in point of time ; but a clause is adjected to some re¬
versions, that if the debt be not paid against a deter¬
minate day, the right of reversion shall be irritated,
and the lands shall become the irredeemable property
of the w7adsetter. Nevertheless the irritancy being pe¬
nal, as in wadsets, where the sum lent falls always
short of the value of the lands, the right of redemption
is by indulgence continued to the reverser, even after
the term has expired, while the irritancy is not decla¬
red. But the reverser, if he does not take the benefit
of this indulgence within 40 years after the lapse of the
term, is cut out of it by prescription.
5. If the reverser would redeem his lands, he must
use an order of redemption against the wadsetter : the
first step of which is premonition (or notice given un¬
der form of instrument) to the wadsetter, to appear at
the time and place appointed by the reversion, then
and there to receive payment of his debt, and there¬
upon to renounce his right of wadset. In the volun¬
tary redemption of a right of wadset holden base, a
renunciation duly registered, re-establishes the reverser
in the full right of the lands. Where the wadset was
granted to be holden of the grantor’s superior, the su¬
perior must receive the reverser, on payment of a year’s
rent, if he produce a disposition from the wadsetter,
containing procuratory of resignation. If, at executing
the wadset, the superior has granted letters of regress,
i. e. an obligation again to enter the reverser upon re-£.etters
demption of the lands, he will be obliged to receive regre*&.
him without payment of the year’s rent. But letters
of regress will not have this effect against singular suc¬
cessors in the superiority, if they are not registered in
the register of reversions. All wadsets that remain
personal rights, are extinguished by simple discharges,
though they should not be recorded.
6. If the wadsetter either does not appear at the Rederap-
time and place appointed, or refuses the redemption tioa mouey.
money, the reverser must consign it under form of in¬
strument, in the hands of the person appointed in the
right of reversion } or, if no person be named, in
the hands of the clerk to the bills, a clerk of session,
or any responsible person. An instrument of consigna¬
tion, with the consignatory’s receipt of the money con¬
signed, completes the order of redemption, stops the
farther currency of interest against the reverser, and
4 N a founds
L.aw of
Scotland.
652 L A
founds him in an action for declaring the order to be
formal, and the lands to be redeemed in consequence
» 1 ■ of it.
7. After a decree of declarator is obtained, by which
the lands are declared to return to the debtor, the
consigned money, which comes in place of the lands,
becomes the wadsetter’s, w'ho therefore can charge the
consignatory upon letters of horning to deliver it up
to him 5 but, because the reverser may, at any time
before decree, pass from his order, as one may do from
any other step of diligence, the consigned sums con¬
tinue to belong to the reverser, and the wadsetter’s in¬
terest in the wadset continues heritable till that pe¬
riod.
§. If the wadsetter chooses to have his money ra¬
ther than the lands, he must require from the reverser,
under form of instrument, the sums due by the wad¬
set, in terms of the right. The wadset-sums may be
heritable, notwithstanding requisition, which may be
passed from the w'adsetter even after the reverser
has consigned the redemption money in consequence
thereof.
Wadsets 9. Wadsets are either proper or improper. A pro-
proper and ppr wadset is that whereby it is agreed, that the use of
improper. ^[ie ]an(j g|)afl g0 for tfle use 0f f|le money • so that
the wadsetter takes his hazard of the rents, and enjoys
them without accounting, in satisfaction, or in solutum
of h is interest.
10. In an improper wadset, the reverser, if the rent
should fall short of the interest, is taken bound to make
up the deficiency $ if it amounts to more, the wadsetter
is obliged to impute the excrescence towards extinction
of the capital : And, as soon as the whole sums, princi¬
pal, and interest, are extinguished by the wadsetter’s
possession, he may he compelled to renounce, or divest
himself in favour of the reverser.
11. It the wadsetter he entitled by his right to en¬
joy the rents without accounting, and if at the same
time the reverser be subjected to the hazard of their
deficiency, such contract is justly declared usurious:
and also in all proper wadsets wherein any unreasonable
advantage has been taken of the debtor, the wadsetter
must (by act 1661), during the not requisition of the
sum lent, either quit his possession to the debtor, upon
his giving security to pay the interest, or subject him¬
self to account for the surplus rents, as in improper
wadsets.
JLi^ht of I2* Infeftments of annualrent, the nature of which
annuahcm. has been explained, are also redeemable rights. A
right of annualrent does not carry the property of the
lands j but it creates a real nexus or burden upon the
property, for payment of the interest or annualrent
contained in the right; and consequently the bygone
interests due upon it are debita fundi. The annualren-
ter may therefore either insist in a real action for ob¬
taining letters of poinding the ground, or sue the te¬
nant in a personal action towards the payment of his
past interest : and in a competition for those rents, the
annualrenter’s preference will not depend on his having
used a poinding of the ground, for his right was com¬
pleted by the seisin ; the power of poinding the ground,
arising from that antecedent right, is meratfacultatis,
and need not be exercised, if payment can be otherwise
got. As it is only the interest of the sum lent which
is a burden upon the lands, the annualrenter, if he
W. . Part Hi
wants his principal sum, cannot recover it either by x,aw of
poinding or by a personal action against the debtor’s Scotland,
tenants ; but must demand it from the debtor himself,
on his personal obligation in the bond, either by re¬
quisition, or by a charge of letters of horning, accord¬
ing as the right is drawn.
13. Rights of annualrent, being servitudes upon the
property, and consequently consistent with the right of
property in the debtor, may be extinguished without
resignation.
14. Infeftments in security are another kind of re-Rights 0f
deemable rights (now frequently used in place of rights security,
of annualrent), by which the receivers are infeft in
the lands themselves, and not simply in an annualrent
forth of them, for security of the principal sums, inte¬
rest, and penalty, contained in the rights. If an in-
feftment in security be granted to a creditor, he may
thereupon enter into the immediate possession of the
lands or annualrent for his payment. They are extin¬
guished as rights of annualrent.
15. All rights of annualrent, rights in security, and
generally whatever constitutes a real burden on the
fee, may be the ground of an adjudication, which is
preferable to all adjudications, or other diligences,
intervening between the date of the right and of the
adjudication deduced on it; not only for the princi¬
pal sum contained in the right, but also for the whole
past interest contained in the adjudication. This pre¬
ference arises from the nature of real debts, or debi¬
ta fundi: but in order to obtain it for the interest of
the interest accumulated in the adjudication, such ad¬
judication must proceed on a process of poinding the
ground.
Sect. IX. Of Servitudes.
1. Servitude is a burden affecting lands, or rather
heritable subjects, whereby the proprietor is either re-kinds of
strained from the full use of what is his own, or isserviuid*.
obliged to suffer another to do something upon it. Ser¬
vitudes are either natural^ legal, or conventional. Na¬
ture itself may be said to constitute a servitude upon
inferior tenements, whereby they must receive the wa¬
ter that falls from those that stand on higher ground.
Legal servitudes are established by nature or custom,
from considerations of public policy ; among which may
be numbered the restraints laid upon the proprietors of
tenements within the city of Edinburgh. There is as
great a variety of conventional servitudes, as there are
ways by which the exercise of property may be re¬
strained by paction in favour of another.
2. Conventional servitudes are constituted, either by
grant, where the will of the party burdened is expres¬
sed in writing: or by prescription, where his consent
is presumed from his acquiescence in the burden for 40
years. A servitude constituted by writing, or grant, is
not effectual against the granter’s singular successors,
unless the grantee has been in the use or exercise of
his right: hut they are valid against the granter and
his heirs even without use. In servitudes that may be
acquired by prescription, 40 years exercise of the rights
is sufficient, without any title in writing, other than a
charter and seisin of the lands to which the servitude
is claimed to he due.
3. Servitudes constituted by grant are not effectual.
iCIiap. II. L A
Law of in a question with the superior of the tenements bur-
cotland. dened with the servitude, unless his consent be adhi-
»—v— mJ {jJted j for a superior cannot be hurt by his vassal’s
deed : but where the servitude is acquired by prescrip¬
tion, the consent of the superior, whose right afforded
him a good title to interrupt, is implied. A servitude
by grant, though followed only by a partial possession,
must be governed, as to its extent, by the tenor of the
grant; but a servitude by prescription is limited by the
measure or degree of the use had by him who prescribes :
agreeable to the maxim, Tantum prcescriptum, quan¬
tum possessum.
Jedial 4. Servitudes are either predial or personal. Predial
s viludes, servitudes are burdens imposed upon one tenement, in
favour of another tenement. That to which the servi¬
tude is due is called the dominant^ and that which owes
it is called the servient tenement. No person can have
right to a predial servitude, if he is not proprietor of
some dominant tenement that may have benefit by it;
for that right is annexed to a tenement, and so cannot
pass from one person to another, unless some tenement
goes along with it.
5. Predial servitudes are divided into rural servi¬
tudes, or of lands $ and urban servitudes, or of houses.
firal scr- The rural servitudes of the Romans were iter, actus,
vudes. v{a^ aquceductus, aqucehaustus, and jus pascendi peco-
ris. Similar servitudes may be constituted with us, of
a foot-road, horse-road, cart-road, dams and aqueducts,
watering of cattle, and pasturage. The right of a high¬
way is not a servitude constituted in favour of a parti¬
cular tenement, but is a right common to all travellers.
The care of high-ways, bridges, and ferries, is commit¬
ted to the sheriffs, justices of peace, and commissioners
of supply in each shire.
6. Common pasturage, or the right of feeding one’s
cattle upon the property of another, is sometimes con¬
stituted by a general clause of pasturage in a charter
or disposition, without mentioning the lands burdened ;
in which case, the right comprehends whatever had
been formerly appropriated to the lands disponed out of
the granter’s own property, and likewise all pasturage
due to them out of other lands. When a right of pa¬
sturage is given to several neighbouring proprietors, on
a moor or common belonging to the granter, indefinite
as to the number of cattle to be pastured, the extent of
their several rights is to be proportioned according to
the number that each of them can fodder in winter up¬
on his own dominant tenement.
Itoanser- q. The chief servitudes of houses among the Romans
*udes. were t]lose 0f support, viz. tigni immittendi, and oneris
ferendi. The first was the right of fixing in our neigh¬
bour’s wall, a joist or beam from our house : the second
was that of resting the weight of one’s house upon his
neighbour’s wall.
§. With us, where different floors or stories of the
same house belong to different persons, as is frequent
in the city of Edinburgh, the property of the house
cannot be said to be entirely divided ; the roof remains
a common roof to the whole, and the area on which
the house stands supports the whole ", so that there is a
communication of property, in consequence of which
the proprietor of the ground floor must, without the
constitution of any servitude, uphold it for the support
of the upper, and the owner of the highest story must
uphold that as a cover to the lower. When the high-
W. _ 653
est is divided into garrets among the several proprie- j^aw of
tors, each proprietor is obliged, according to this rule, Scotland,
to uphold that part of the roof which covers his own V"
garret.
9. No proprietor can build, so as to throw the rain
water falling from his own house, immediately upon
his neighbour’s ground, without a special servitude,
which is called of but, if it falls within his
own property, though at the smallest distance from the
march, the owner of the inferior tenement must receive
it.
10. The servitudes altius non tollendi, et non qfficien-
di luminibus vel prospectui, restrain proprietors from
raising their houses beyond a certain height, or from
making any building whatsoever that may hurt the
light or prospect of the dominant tenement. These
servitudes cannot be constituted by prescription alone ;
for, though a proprietor should have his house ever so
low, or should not have built at all upon his grounds
for 40 years together, he is presumed to have so for his
own conveniency or profit : and therefore cannot be
barred from afterwards building a house on his proper¬
ty, or raising it to what height he pleases, unless he be
tied down by his own consent.
11. We have two predial servitudes to which the Servitude
Romans were strangers, viz. that of fuel or fleal and anu
divot, and of thirlage. The first is a right, by which rvot*
the owner of the dominant tenement may turn up peats,
turfs, feals, or divots, from the ground of the servient,
and carry them off either for fuel, or thatch, or the
other uses of his own tenement.
12. Thirlags: is that servitude, by which lands are Thirlage.
astricted, or thirled, to a particular mill j and the pos¬
sessors bound to grind their grain there, for payment
of certain multures and sequels as the agreed price of
grinding. In this servitude, the mill is the dominant
tenement and the lands astricted (which are called al¬
so the thirl or sucken) the servient. Multure is the
quantity of grain or meal payable to the proprietor of
the mill, or to the multurer his tacksman. The se¬
quels are the small quantities given to the servants, un¬
der the name of knaveship, bannock, and lock or gow-
pen. The quantities paid to the mill by the lands not
astricted, are generally proportioned to the value of the
labour, and are called out-town or out-sucken multures;
but those paid by the thirl are ordinarily higher, and
are called in-town or in-sucken multures.
13. Thirlage may be constituted by a landholder,
when, in the disposition of certain lands, he astricts
them to his own mill ; or when in the disposition of a
mill, he astricts his own lands to the mill disponed j or
when in letting his lands, he makes it a condition in
the tacks. The grant of a mill with the.general clause
of multures, without specifying the lands astricted, con¬
veys.the thirlage of all the lands formerly astricted to
that mill, whether tliey were the property of the granter,
or of a third party.
14. A less formal constitution serves to astrict ba¬
rony lands to the mill of the barony, than is necessary
in any other thirlage j which perhaps proceeds from
the effects of the union betwixt the two. Hence, if a
bar on makes over the mill of a barony, cum multuns,
or cum astrictis multuris, it infers an astriction of the
barony lands to the mill conveyed, although they had
not formerly been astricted. But if prior to the baron’s -»
conveyance.
^54 L A "W. Part III,
Law of conveyance of his mill cum multuris, he had sold any
Scotland, part of the barony lands to another cum 7?iulturis, the
first purchaser’s lands are not astricted by the posterior
grant; for a right of lands with the multures, implies
a freedom of these lands from thirlage.
15. Thirlage is either, I. Of grindable corns; or,
2. Of all growing corns : or, 3. Of the invecta et il-
lata, i. e. of all the grain brought within the thirl,
though of another growth. Where the thirlage is of
grindable grain, it is in practice restricted to the corns
which the tenants have occasion to grind, either for the
support of their families, or for other uses; the surplus
may be carried out of the thirl unmanufactured, with¬
out being liable in multure. Where it is of the grana
crescentia, the whole grain growing upon the thirl is
astricted, with the exceptions, 1. Of seed and horse-
corn, which are destined to uses inconsistent with grind¬
ing ; and, 2. Of the farm duties due to the landlord,
if they were delivered in grain not grinded. But, if the
rent be payable in meal, flour, or malt, the grain of
which these are made must be manufactured in the do¬
minant mill.
16. The thirlage of invecta et illata is seldom consti¬
tuted but against the inhabitants of a borough or vil¬
lage, that they shall grind all the unmanufactured grain
they import thither at the dominant mill. Multure,
therefore, cannot be exacted in a thirlage of invecta et
illata^ for flour or oatmeal brought into the servient
tenement, unless the importer had brought it in grain,
and grinded it at another mill. The same grain that
owes multure, ^ granum crescem, to the mill in whose
thirl it grew, if it shall be afterwards brought within a
borough where the invecta are thirled, must pay
a second multure to the proprietor of that dominant
tenement; but, where the right of these two thirlages
is in the same proprietor, he cannot exact both. Where
lands are thirled in general terms, without expressing
the particular nature of the servitude, the lightest thir¬
lage is presumed, from the favour of liberty; but in
the astriction ot a borough or village, where there is
no growing grain which can be the subject of thirlage,
the astriction of invecta et illata must be necessarily un¬
derstood.
17. Thirlage, in the general case, cannot be esta¬
blished by prescription alone, for iis quce sunt merce fa-
cultatis non prcescnbitur; but where one has paid for
40 years together the heavy in-sucken multures, the
slightest title in writing will subject his lands. Thir¬
lage may, contrary to the common rule, be constituted
by prescription alone, 1. Where one pays to a mill a
certain sum, or quantity of grain yearly, in name of
multure, whether he grinds at it or not, (called dry
multure). 2. In mills of the king’s property ; which
is constituted jure coroner, without titles in writing ;
and, where he derives right from another, his titles
are more liable to be lost. This is extended in prac¬
tice to mills belonging to church lands, where thirty
years possession is deemed equivalent to a title in writ¬
ing, Irom a presumption that their rights were de¬
stroyed at the Reformation. Though thirlage itself can¬
not be constituted by mere possession, the proportion
of multure payable to the dominant tenement may be
so fixed.
18. The possessors of the land astricted are bound
to uphold the mill, repair the dam dykes and aque*
3
ducts, and bring home the millstones. These services Lawof *
though not expressed in the constitution, are implied. Scotland, ]
19. Servitudes, being restraints upon property, are ^ J
stncti juris: they are not therefore presumed if the
acts upon which they are claimed can be explained con-^j, n6i
sistently with freedom : and when servitudes are con¬
stituted, they ought to be used in the way least bur¬
densome to the servient tenement. Hence, one who
has a servitude of peats upon his neighbour’s moss, is
not at liberty to extend it for the use of any manufac¬
ture which may require an extraordinary expence of
fuel: but must confine it to the natural uses of the do¬
minant tenement.
20. Servitudes are extinguished, (1.) Confusione,
when the person comes to be proprietor of the domi¬
nant and servient tenements; for res sua nomini servit,
and the use the proprietor therefore makes of the ser¬
vient tenement is notj'ure servitutis, but is an act of
property. (2.) By the perishing either of the domi¬
nant or servient tenement. (3.) Servitudes are lost «o«
utendo, by the dominant tenement neglecting to use
the right of 40 years ; which is considered as a de¬
reliction of it, though he who has the servient tene¬
ment should have made no interruption by doing acts
contrary to the servitude.
21. Personal servitudes are those by which the pro-
perty of a subject is burdened, in favour, not of a te¬
nement, but of a person. The only personal servitude
known in our law, is usufruct or liferent ; which is a
right to use and enjoy a thing during life, the substance
of it being preserved. A liferent cannot therefore belafierent,
constituted upon things which perish in the use ; and
though it may upon subjects which gradually wear out
by time, as househould furniture, &c. yet with us, it is
generally applied to heritable subjects. He whose pro¬
perty is burdened, is usually called the Jiar.
22. Liferents are divided into conventional and/<?-Liferent!,
gal. Conventional liferents are either simple, or by
reservation. A simple liferent, or by a separate con¬
stitution, is that which is granted by the proprietor in
favour of another : And this sort, contrary to the na¬
ture of predial servitudes, requires seisin in order to af¬
fect singular successors ; for a liferent of lands is, in
strict speech, not a servitude, but a right resembling
property which constitutes the liferenter vassal for life;
and singular successors have noway of discovering alife-
rent right, which perhaps is not yet commenced, but
by the records: whereas, in predial servitudes, the con¬
stant use of the dominant tenement makes them pub¬
lic. The proper right of liferent is intransmissible;
ossihus usufructuarii inheeret: When the profits of the
liferented subject are transmitted to another, the right
becomes merely personal : for it entitles the assignee
to the rent, not during his own life, but his cedent’s ;
and is therefore carried by simple assignation, without
seisin.
23. A liferent by reservation, is that which a pro¬
prietor reserves to himself in the same writing by which
he conveys the fee to another. It requires no seisin ;
for the granter’s former seisin, which virtually included
the liferent, still subsists as to the liferent which is ex¬
pressly reserved. In conjunct infeftments taken to hus¬
band and wife, the wife’s right of conjunct fee resolves,
in the general case, into a liferent.
24. Liferents, by law, are the terce and the cour~ Teree.
tesy.
(Jap. II. L
iiaw of toy- The terce (tertia) is a liferent competent by
Sjtlmjd. law to widows, who have not accepted of special pro-
' visions, in the third of the heritable subjects in which
their husbands died infeft; and takes place only where
the marriage has subsisted for year and day, or where
a child has been born alive of it (b).
25. The terce is not limited to lands, but extends
to teinds, and to servitudes and other burdens affecting
lands j thus, the widow is entitled, in the right of her
terce, to a liferent of the third of the sums secured,
either by rights of annualrent, or by rights in security.
In improper wadsets, the terce is a third of the sura
lent: In those that are proper, it is a third of the wad-
get lands ; or, in case of redemption, a third of the re-
Idemption money. Neither right of reversion, supe¬
riority, nor patronage, fall under the terce ; for none of
these have fixed profits, and so are not proper subjects
for the widow’s subsistence •, nor tacks, because they are
not feudal rights. Burgage tenements are also exclud¬
ed from it, the reason of which is not so obvious.
Since the husband’s seisin is both the measure and secu¬
rity of the terce, such debts or diligences alone, as ex¬
clude the husband’s seisin, can prevail over it.
26. Where a terce is due out of lands burdened with
a prior terce still subsisting, the second tercer has only
right to a third of the two thirds that remain unaffect-
ted-by the first terce. But upon the death of the first
widow, whereby the lands are disburdened of her terce,
the lesser terce becomes enlarged, as if the first had
never existed. A widow, who has accepted of a spe¬
cial provision from her husband, is thereby excluded
from the terce, unless such provision shall contain a
clause that she shall have right to both.
27. The widow has no title of possession, and so can¬
not receive the rents in virtue of her terce, till she be
served to it 5 and in order to this she must obtain a
brief out of the chancery, directed to the sheriff, who
calls an inquest, to take proof that she was wife to the
deceased, and that her husband died infeft in the sub¬
jects contained in the brief. The service or sentence
of the jury, finding these points proved, does, without
the necessity of a retour to the chancery, entitle the
wife to enter into the possession} hut she can only pos¬
sess with the heir pro indiviso, and so cannot remove
tenants till the shei’iff kens her to her terce, or divides
the lands between her and the heir. In this division,
after determining by lot or kavil, whether to begin by
the sun or the shade, i. e. by the east or the west, the
sheriff sets off the two first acres for the heir, and the
third for the widow. Sometimes the division is execu¬
ted, by giving one entire farm to the widow, and two
of equal value to the heir. The widow’s right is not
properly constituted by this service 5 it was constituted
before by the husband’s seisin, and fixed by his death j
A W. 655
the service only declares it, and so entitles her to the j^w oi
third part of the rents retro to her husband’s death, Scotland,
preferable to any rights that may have affected the v
lands in the intermediate period between that and her
own service. The relict, if she was reputed to he law¬
ful wife to the deceased, must be served, notwithstand¬
ing any objections by the heir against the marriage,
which may be afterwards tried by the commissary.
28. Courtesy is a liferent given by law, to the sur-(;eurj€jy<
viving husband, of all his wife’s heritage in which she
died infeft, if there was a child of the marriage born
alive. A marriage, though of the longest continuance,
gives no right to the courtesy, if there was no issue of
it. The child born of the marriage must be the mo¬
ther’s heir: If she bad a child of the former marriage,
who is to succeed to her estate, the husband has no
right to the courtesy while such child is alive ; so that
the courtesy is due to the husband, rather as father to
an heir, than as husband to an heiress. Heritage is
here opposed to conquest *, and so is to he understood
only of the heritable rights to which the wife succeed¬
ed as heir to her ancestors, excluding what she herself
had acquired by singular titles.
29. Because the husband enjoys the liferent of his
wife’s whole heritage, on a lucrative title, he is con¬
sidered as her temporary representative 5 and so is liable
in payment of all the yearly burdens chargeable on the
subject, and of the current interest of all her debts,
real and personal, to the value of the yearly rent he
enjoys by the courtesy. The courtesy needs no solemn-
nity to its constitution: That right which the husband
had to the rents of his wife’s estate during the marriage,
jure mariti, is continued with him after her death, un¬
der the name of courtesy, by an act of the law itself.
As in the terce, the husband’s seisin is the ground and
measure of the wife’s right j so in the courtesy, the
wife’s seisin is the foundation of the husband’s 5 and the
two rights are, in all other respects, of the same nature ;
if it is not that the courtesy extends to burgage hold¬
ings, and to superiorities.
30. All liferenters must use their right salva rei sub¬
stantia: whatever therefore is part of the fee itself,
cannot be encroached on by the liferenter, e. g. woods
or growing timber, even for the necessary uses of the
liferented tenement. But, where a coppice or silva
ccedua has been divided into hags, one of which was in
use to be cut annually by the proprietor, the liferenter
may continue the former yearly cuttings ; because these
are considered as the ahnual fruits the subject was in¬
tended to yield, and so the proper subject of a liferent.
31. Liferenters are bound to keep the subject life-
rented in proper repair. They are also burdened with
the alimony of the heir j where he has not enough for
maintaining himself. The bare right of apparency
founds
(b) In the case referred to, when treating of the effects of the dissolution of marriage within the year with¬
out a living child, and where no special provisions had been granted to, or accepted by, the widow j she did
not demand her legal provisions of terce or jus relictee, but merely insisted, that as widow she was entitled to be
alimented out of the heritable estate of which her husband died possessed : So that the decision in that case can¬
not so properly be said to be an alteration in the law, as an equitable interposition of the court of session, in
their capacity as a court of equity, in order to grant a subsistence to the widow of a man whose estate was fully
sufficient, and who, it could not reasonably he presumed, would have inclined that his widow should be left
destitute, when his estate went perhaps to a distant series of heirs.
SS6
L A W.
Part III,-
Law of founds the action against tlie liferenter. It Is a burden
Scotland, personal to the liferenter himself, and cannot be thrown
upon his adjudging creditors as coming in his place
by their diligences. Lil'erenters are also subjected to
the payment of the yearly cessesi, stipends, &c. falling
due during their right, and to all other burdens that
attend the subject liferented.
32. Liferent is extinguished by the liferenter’s death.
That part of the rents which the liferenter had a pro¬
per right to, before his death, falls to his executors 9
the rest, as never having been in bonis of the deceased,
goes to the fiar. Martinmas and Whitsunday are, by
our custom, the legal terms of the payment of rent :
consequently, if a liferenter of lands survives the term
of Whitsunday, his executors are entitled to the half
of that year’s rent, because it was due the term before
his death ; and if he survives the term of Martinmas,
they have right to the whole. If the liferenter, being
in the natural possession, and having first sowed the
ground, should die, even before Whitsunday, his execu¬
tors are entitled to the whole crop, in respect that both
seed and industry were his. In a liferent of money
constituted by a moveable bond, the executors have a
right to the interest, down to the very day of the life-
renter’s death, where no terms are mentioned for the
payment thereof; but in the case of an heritable bond,
or of a money liferent secured on land, the interests of
liferenter and fiar (or of heir and executor, for the
same rules serve to fixThe interests of both) are both
governed by the legal terms of land rent, without re¬
gard to the conventional.
Sect. X. Triads,
clxxi.
Term] s.
1. Teinds, or tithes, are that liquid proportion of our
rents or goods, which is due to churchmen for per¬
forming divine service, or exercising the other spiri¬
tual functions proper to their several offices. Most of
the canonists affirm, that the precise proportion of a
tenth, not only of the fruits of the ground, but of what
is acquired by personal industry, is due to the Christian
clergy, of divine right, which they therefore call the
proper patrimony of the church; though it is certain that
tithes, in their infancy, were given, not to the clergy
alone, but to lay-monks who were called pauperes, and
to other indigent persons. Charles the Great was the
first secular prince who acknowledged this right in the
church. It appears to have been received with us, as
far back as David I.
2. The person employed by a cathedral church or
monastery to serve the cure in any church annexed
was called a vicar, because he held the church, not in
his own right, but in the right or vice of his employ¬
ers j and so was removeable at pleasure, and had no
share of the benefice, other than what they thought fit
to allow him: but, in the course of time, the appella¬
tion of vicar was limited to those who were made per¬
petual, and who got a stated share of the benefice for
their incumbency 5 from whence arose the distinction
of benefices into parsonages and vicarages.
3. Parsonage teinds are the teinds of corn j and they
are so called because they are due to the parson or
other titular of the benefice. Vicarage teinds are the
small teinds of calves, lint, hemp, eggs, &c. which
were commonly given by the titular to the vicar who
served the cure In his place. The first sort was univer- jjaw of
sally due, unless in the case of their infeudation to laics, Scotland,
or of a pontifical exemption ; but by the customs of
almost all Christendom, the lesser teinds were not de¬
manded where they had not been in use to be paid.
By the practice of Scotland, the teinds of animals, or
of things produced from animals, as lambs, wool, calves,
are due though not accustomed to be paid ; but roots,
herbs, &c. are not tithable, unless use of payment be
proved : neither are personal teinds (i. e. the tenth of
what one acquires by his own industry) acknowledged
by our law : yet they have been found due, when sup¬
ported by 40 years possession.
4. The parson who was entitled to the teind of corns,
made his right effectual, either by accepting of a cer¬
tain number of teind bolls yearly from the proprietor
in satisfaction of it *, or, more frequently, by drawing
or separating upon the field his own tenth part of the
corns, after they were reaped, from the stock or the re¬
maining nine-tenths of the crop, and carrying it off to
his own granaries ; which is called drawn teind.
5. After the Reformation, James VI. considered him-^nexat;on
self as proprietor of all the church lands; partly be-of church
cause the purposes for which they had been granted lands to the
were declared superstitious; and partly, in consequenceCIOwn‘
of the resignations which he, and Queen Mary his mo¬
ther, had procured from the beneficiaries : and even as
to the teinds, though our reformed clergy also claimed
them as the patrimony of the church, our sovereign
did not submit to that doctrine farther than extended
to a competent provision for ministers. He therefore
erected or secularized several abbacies and priories into
temporal lordships; the grantees of which were called
sometimes lords of erection, and sometimes titulars, as
having by their grants the same title to the erected
benefices that the monasteries had formerly.
6. As the crown’s revenue suffered greatly by these
erections, the temporality of all church benefices (i. e.
church lands) was, by 1587, c. 29. annexed to the
crown. That statute excepts from the annexation such
benefices as were established before the Reformation in
laymen, whose rights the legislature had no intention
to weaken. Notwithstanding this statute his majesty
continued to make farther erections, which were de¬
clared null by 1592, c. 119. with an exception of such
as had been made in favour of lords of parliament
since the general act of annexation in 1587.
7. King Charles I. soon after his succession, raised a
reduction of all these erections, whether granted before
or after the act of annexation, upon the grounds men¬
tioned at length by Mr Forbes in his Treatise of Tithes,
p. 259. At last the whole matter was referred to the
king himself by four several submissions or compromi¬
ses ; in which the parties on one side were the titu¬
lars and their tacksmen, the bishops with the inferior
clergy, and the royal boroughs, for the interest they
had in the teinds that were gifted for the provision of
ministers, school, or hospitals within their boroughs;
and, on the other part, the proprietors who wanted to
have the leading of their own teinds. The submission
by the titulars contained a surrender into his majesty’s
hands of the superiorities of their several erections.
8. Upon each of these submissions his majesty Pr0* Valuation
nounced several decrees arbitral, dated Sept. 2. 1629,0f teinda.
which are subjoined to the acts of parliament of his reign.
He
• hap. IT.
Law of He made it lawful to proprietors to sue the titulars for
-cotland- a valuation, and if they thought fit for a sale also, of
IJ'r"" their teinds, before the commissioners named or to be
named tor that purpose. The rate of teind, when it was
possessed by the proprietor jointly with the stock, for
payment of a certain duty to the titular, and so did not
admit a separate valuation, was fixed at a fifth part of
the constant yearly rent, which was accounted a rea¬
sonable surrogatum, in place of a tenth of the increase.
Where it was drawn by the titular, and consequently
might be valued separately from the stock, it was to
be valued as its extent should be ascertained, upon a
proof before the commissioners; but in this last valua¬
tion, the king directed the fifth part to be deducted
from the proved teind, in favour of the proprietor,
which was therefore called the kmg's ease. The pro¬
prietor suing for a valuation gets the leading of his
own teinds as soon as his suit commences, providing he
does not allow protestation to be extracted against him
for not insisting.
9. Where the proprietor insisted also for a sale of his
teinds, the titular was obliged to sell them at nine years
purchase of the valued teind duty. If the pursuer had
a tack of his own teinds, not yet expired ; or if the
defender was only tacksman of the teinds, and so could
not give the pursuer an heritable right; an abatement
of the price was to be granted accordingly bv the com¬
missioners.
10. There is no provision in the decrees arbitral, for
selling the teinds granted for the sustentation of mini¬
sters, universities, schools, or hospitals ; because these
were to continue, as a perpetual fund, for the mainte¬
nance of the persons or societies to whom they were
appropriated ; and they are expressly declared not sub¬
ject to sale, by 1690, c. 30.—1693, c. 23. By the last
of these acts, it is also provided, that the teinds be¬
longing to bishops, which had then fallen to the crown
upon the abolishing of Episcopacy, should not be sub¬
ject to sale as long as they remained with the crown
not disposed of; nor those which the proprietor, who
had right both to stock and teind, reserved to himself
in a sale or feu of the lands. But, though none of
these teinds can be sold, they may be valued.
11. The king, by the decrees arbitral, declared his
kt to the own j-Jght to the superiorities of erection which had
ti Tof^erec- ^een res'gned to him by the submission, reserving to
the titulars the feu duties thereof, until payment by
himself to them of 1000 merks Scots for every chal-
der of feu victual, and for each 100 merks of feu du¬
ty ; which right of redeeming the feu duties was af¬
terwards renounced by the crown. If the church vas¬
sal should consent to hold his lands of the titular, he
cannot thereafter recur to the crown as his immediate
superior.
12. In explaining what the constant rent is by
winch the teind must be valued, the following rules
are observed. The rent drawn by the proprietor
from toe sale of subjects, that are more properly parts
of the land than of the fruits, e. g. quarries, minerals,
mosses, Stc. is to be deducted from the rental of the
lands , and also the rent of supernumerary bouses,
over and above what is necessary for agriculture ; and
the additional rent that may be paid by the tenant,
in consideration of the proprietor’s undertaking any
burden that law imposes on the tenant, e. e. uphold-
Vol. XI. Part II. ’ 5 r t
for
'&i *(>■ the
>'flt iu the
fttion of
sAis.
A W. 6i7
ing the tenant’s houses, because none of these ar- Law of
tides are paid properly on account of the fruits. Or- Scotland,
chards must also be deducted, and mill rent, because V“”“vr"
the profits of a mill arise from industry ; and the corns
manufactured there suffer a valuation as rent payable
by the tenant, and therefore ought not to be valued a
second time against the titular as mill rent. The yearly
expence of culture ought not to be deducted : for no
rent can be produced without it : but, if an improve¬
ment of rent is made at an uncommon expence, e. g. by
draining a lake, the proprietor is allowed a reasonable
abatement on that account.
. I3- Notwithstanding the several ways of misapply-Teinds re-
ing paiochial teinds in the times of Popery, some fewdecmable,
benefices remained entire in the bands of the parsons.&G*
The ministers planted in these, after the Reformation*
continued to have the full right to them, as proper be¬
neficiaries : but a power was afterwards granted to the
patron, to redeem the whole teind from such benefici¬
aries, upon their getting a competent stipend modi¬
fied to them ; which teind so redeemed, the patron is
obliged to sell to the proprietor, at six years purchase.
14. Some teinds are more directly subject to an al¬
location for the minister’s stipend than others. The
teinds in the bands of the lay titular fall first to be
allocated, who, since he is not capable to serve the
cure in bis own person, ought to provide one who
can ; and if the titular, in place of drawing the teind,
has set it in tack, the tack duty is allocated ; this sort
is called free teind. Where the tack duty, which is
the titular’s interest in the teinds, falls short, the tack
itself is burdened, or, in other words, the surplus
teind over and above the tack duty : but, in this case,
the commissioners are empowered to recompense the
tacksman, by prorogating his tack for such a number
of years as they shall judge equitable. Where this
likewise proves deficient, the allocation falls on the
teinds heritably conveyed by the titular, unless he
has warranted his grant against future augmentations ;
in which case, the teinds of the lands belonging in
property to the titular himself must be allocated in the
first place.
15. Where there is sufficiency of free teinds in a
parish, the titular may allocate any of them he shall
think fit for the minister’s stipend, since they are all
his own ; unless there has been a previous decree of lo¬
cality : and this holds, though the stipend should have
been paid immemorially out of the teinds of certain
particular lands. This right was frequently abused by
titulars, who, as soon as a proprietor had brought an
action of sale of his teinds, allocated the pursuer’s
full teind for the stipend, whereby such action became
ineffectual ; it was therefore provided, that after cita¬
tion in a sale of teinds, it shall not be in the titular’s
power to allocate the pursuer’s teinds solely, hut only
in proportion with the other teinds in the parish.
16. Ministers glebes are declared free from the pay¬
ment of teind. Lands cum deeimis inclusts are also ex¬
empted from teind. But in order to exempt lands
from payment of teind, it is necessary that the pro¬
prietor prove his right thereto, cum decimis inclusis, as
far back as the above act of annexation 1 cSy.
17. Teinds are debita fructuum, not fundi. The Miiustera
action therefore for bygone teinds is only personal, S^el>€*>
against those who have intermeddled, unless where the!**”1**1-8*1.
, c\ . . from Uindf.
4 u titular
658 L A
J.aw of titular is infeft in the lands, in security of the valued
Scotland, teind duty. Where a tenant is, by his tack, bound
to pay a joint duty to the landlord for stock and teind,
without distinguishing the rent of each, his defence of
a bona fide payment of the whole to the landlord has
been sustained in a suit at the instance of a laic titular,
but repelled where a churchman was pursuer. In botii
cases the proprietor who receives such rent is liable as
intermeddler.
Inhibition jg. ]n tacks of teinds, as of lands, there is place
of teiuds. jpor relocation: to stop the effect of which, the
titular must obtain and execute an inhibition of teinds
against the tacksman ; which differs much from inhibi¬
tion of lands (explained under the next section), and
is intended merely to interpel or inhibit the tacksman
from farther intermeddling. This diligence oi inhibi¬
tion may also be used at the suit of the titular, against
any oilier possessor of the teinds ; and if the tacksman
or possessor shall intermeddle after the inhibition is ex-
ecuted, he is liable in a spuilzie.
19. Lands and teinds pass by different titles : a dis¬
position of lands, therefore, though granted by one
who has also right to the teind, will not carry the teind,
unless it shall appear from special circumstances that a
sale of both was designed by the parties. In lands cffwz
decimis inclusis, where the teinds are consolidated with
the stock, the right of both must necessarily go together
in all cases.
Sect. XI. Of Inhibitions.
e’Ksii. I. The constitution and transmission of feudal rights
being explained, and the burdens with which they
are chargeable, it remains to be considered how these
rights may be affected at the suit of creditors by legal
Diligences, diligence. Diligences are certain forms of law, where¬
by a creditor endeavours to make good his payment,
either by affecting the person of his debtor, or by se¬
curing the subjects belonging to him from alienation,
or by carrying the property of these subjects to him¬
self. They are either real or personal. Heal diligence
is that which is proper to heritable or real rights ;
personal, is that by which the person of the debtor
may he secured, or his personal estate affected. Of
the (11st sort we have two, viz. inhibition and adjudi¬
cation.
Inhibition. 2. Inhibition is a personal prohibition, which passes
by letters under the signet, prohibiting the party inhi¬
bited to contract any debt, or do any deed, by which
any part of his lands may be aliened or carried off in
prejudice of the creditor inhibiting. It must he exe¬
cuted against the debtor, personally, or at his dwell¬
ing house, as summonses, and thereafter published and
registered in the same manner with interdictions, (see
INI0 clxxxiii. 21.).
3. Inhibition may proceed, either upon a liquid
obligation, or even on an action commenced by a cre¬
ditor for making good a claim not yet sustained by
the judge; which last is called inhibition vpon a depend¬
ing action. The summons, which constitutes the de¬
pendence, must be executed against the debtor before
the letters of inhibition pass the signet; for no suit
can he said to depend against one till he be cited in
it as a defender: but the effect of such inhibition is
suspended till decree he obtained in the action against
w.
Part HI.
the debtor; and in the same manner, inhibitions on i,aw ,:f
conditional debts have no effect till the condition he Scatlaul,
purified. Inhibitions are not granted, without a trial w*“•v-—"'
oi the cause, when they proceed on conditional debts.
And though, in other cases,. inhibitions now pass of
course, the lords are in use to stay, or recal them, ei¬
ther on the debtor’s showing cause why the diligence
should not proceed, or even ex officio where the ground
of the diligence is doubtful.
4. Though inhibitions, by their uniform style, dis- Diiritfd u
able the debtor from selling his moveable as well
his heritable estate, their effect has been long limited
to heritage, from the interruption that such an em¬
bargo upon moveables must have given to commerce;
so that debts contracted after inhibition may be the
foundation of diligence against the debtor’s person and
moveable estate. An inhibition secures the inhibitor
against the alienation, not only of lands that belonged
to his debtor when he was inhibited, hut of those that
he shall afterwards acquire : but no inhibition can ex¬
tend to such a Iter-purchases as lie in a jurisdiction
where the inhibition was not registered ; for it could
not have extended to these though they had been made
prior to the inhibition.
5. This diligence only strikes against the voluntary
debts or deeds of the inhibited person : it does not re¬
strain him from granting necessary deeds, i. e. such as
he was obliged to grant anterior to the inhibition,
since he might have been compelled to grant these be¬
fore tiie inhibitor had acquired any right by his dili¬
gence. By this rule, a wadsetter or annualrenter
might, after being inhibited, have effectually renoun¬
ced his right to the reverser on payment, because law
couid have compelled him to it ; but to secure inhibi¬
tors against the effect of such alienations, it is declared
by act of sederunt of the court of session, Feb. 19.
1680, that, after intimation of the inhibition to the
reverser, no renunciation or grant of redemption shall
be sustained, except upon declarator of redemption
brought by him, to which the inhibitor must be made
a party.
6. An inhibition is a diligence simply prohibitory, simply
so that the debt, on which it proceeds, continues per-proliliiwiy-
sonal after the diligence ; and consequently, the inhi¬
bitor, in a question with anterior creditors whose debts
are not struck at by the inhibition, is only preferable
from the period at which his debt is made real by ad¬
judication : and where debts are contracted on herit¬
able security, though posterior to the inhibition, the
inhibitor’s debt, being personal, cannot be ranked with
them ; he only draws back from the creditors ranked
the sums contained in his diligence. The heir of the
person inhibited is net restrained from alienation by
the diligence used against his ancestor ; for the prohi¬
bition- is personal, affecting only the debtor against
whom the diligence is used.
7. Inhibitions do not of themselves make void the
posterior debts or deeds of the person inhibited ; they
only afford a title to the user of the diligence to set
them aside, if he finds them hurtful to him : and even
where a debt is actually reduced ex capite inhibitionis,
such reduction, being founded solely in the inhibitor’s
interest, is profitable to him alone, and cannot alter the
natural preference of the other creditors.
8. Inhibitions may be reduced upon legal nullities,
• • inhibition8'
ansmtr
O
Jimp. IT. ^
Law of arising either from the ground of debt or the form of
leaUaiid. diligence. When payment is made by the debtor to
u—y—**-/ the inhibitor, the inhibition is said to be purged. Any
creditor, whose debt is struck at by the inhibition,
may, upon making payment to the inhibitor, compel
him to assign the debt and diligence in his favour, that
he may make good his payment the more eCectually
against the common debtor.
Sect. XII. Of Comp risings. Adjudications, and Judi¬
cial Sales.
LixxJj. x. Heritable rights may be carried from the debtor to
the creditor, either by the diligence of appraising (now
adjudication), or by a judicial sale carried on before
„ the court of session. Appraising, or comprising, was
the sentence of a sheriff, or of a messenger who was
specially constituted sheriff for that purpose, by' which
the heritable rights belonging to the debtor were sold
for payment of the debt due to the appraiser ; so that
appraisings were, by their original constitution, proper
sales of the debtor’s lands to any purchaser who offer¬
ed. If no purchaser could he found, the sheriff was to
appraise or tax the value of the lands by an inquest
(whence came the name of appraising'), and to make
over to the creditor lands to the value of the debt. A
full history of appraisings will be found in the begin¬
ning of MrErskine’s large i/zsfAz/tfe under this title ; it
being considered as unnecessary to enter into a deduc¬
tion now no longer necessary, as by the act 1672 adju¬
dications were substituted in their place.
2. That creditors may have access to affect the state
of their deceased debtor, though the heir should stand
off from entering, it is made lawful (by 1540, c. ic6.)
for any creditor to charge the heir of his debtor to en¬
ter to his ancestor (year and day being past after the
ancestor’s death), within 40 days after the charge 5 and
if the heir fails, the creditor may proceed to appraise
his debtor’s lands, as if the heir had been entered. Cu¬
stom has so explained this statute, that the creditor
may charge the heir, immediately after the death of
his ancestor, provided that the summons which is to be
founded on the charge be not raised till after the ex¬
piry both of the year and of the 40 days next ensuing
the year, within which the heir is charged to enter.—
But this statute relates only to such charges on which
appraising is to be led against the ancestor’s land ; for
in those which are to be barely the foundation of a
common summons or process against the heir, action
will be sustained if the year be elapsed from the
ancestor’s death before the execution of the summons,
though the 40 days should not be also expired. Though
the statute authorises such charges against majors only,
practice has also extended it against minors, and the
rule is extended to the case where the. heir is the
debtor. One must, in this matter, distinguish between
a general and a special charge. A general charge
serves only to fix the representation of the heir who is
charged, so as to make the debt his which was for¬
merly his ancestor’s : but a special charge makes up
lor the want of a service (N° clxxx. 25.) j and states
the heir, jictione juris, in the right of the subjects to
which he is charged to enter. Where, therefore, the
heir is the debtor, a general charge for fixing the re-
presEJitation against him is unnecessary, since the only
Jp'aitin
A Wt _ ^ 4 659
concern of the creditor is, that his debtor make up titles Law of
to the ancestor’s estate, which is done byaspecial charge: Scotland,
but where the deceased wa§ the debtor, the creditor —v
must first charge his heir to enter in general, that it
may be known whether he is to represent the debtor :
il he does not enter within forty days, the debt may
be fixed against him by a decree of constitution j after
which the heritable rights belonging to the ancestor
will fall to be attached j in doing which, the diligence
to be used is different, according to the state of the
titles in the ancestor’s person: for if the ancestor stood
vested by infeftment, the heir must be charged to en¬
ter heir in special ; but if the ancestor had but a per¬
sona! right to the subjects (i. e. not perfected by sei¬
sin), which would have been carried to the heir by a
general service, then what is called a general special
charge must be given to the heir. These charges ei¬
ther special or general special, as the circumstances of
the case may require, are by the statute 1540 made
equivalent to the heir’s actual entry j and therefore an
adjudication led after the induciw of the charges are
elapsed, effectually carries to the creditor the subjects
to which the heir was charged to enter.
3. Appraisings in course of time underwent many Adjndica-
changes in their form and effect, till at length, by aettion*.
1672, c. 19. adjudications were substituted in their
place, and are carried on by way of action before the
court of session. By that statute, such part of the
debtor’s lands is to be adjudged as is equivalent to the
principal sum and interest of the debt, with the compo¬
sition due to the superior and expences of infeftment,
and a fifth part more in respect the creditor is obliged
to take land for bis money. The debtor must deliver
to the creditor a valid right of the lands to be ad¬
judged, or transumpts thereof, renounce the possession
in his favour, and ratify the decree of adjudication:
and law considers the rent of the houses as precisely
commensurated to the interest of the debtj so that
the adjudger lies under no obligation to account for
the surplus rents. In this, which is called a special
adjudication, the legal, or time within which the debtor
may redeem, is declared to be five years j and the cre¬
ditor attaining possession upon it can use no farther ex¬
ecution against the debtor, unless the lands be evicted
from him.
4. W here the debtor does not produce a sufficient
right to the lands, or is not willing to renounce the
possession, and ratify the decree (which is the case
that has most frequently happened), the statute makes
it lawful for the creditor to adjudge all right belong¬
ing to the debtor in the same manner, and under the
same reversion of ten years, as he could, by the former
laws have appraised it. In this last kind, which is
called a general adjudication, the creditor must limit
his claim to the principal sum, interest, and penalty,
without demanding a fifth part more. But no general
adjudication can be insisted on, without libelling in the
summons the other alternative of a special adjudication;
for special adjudications are introduced by the statute
in the place of appraisings; and it is only where the
debtor refuses to comply with the terms thereof, that
the creditor can lead a general adjudication.
5. Abbreviates are ordained to be made of all ad¬
judications, which must be recorded within 60 days
after the date of the decree. In every other respect,
4 O 2 general
66o
L A
Law of general adjudications have the same effects that apprais-
Scotlaud. ings had : adjudgers in possession are accountable for
v'—'v ’ the surplus rents j a citation in adjudications renders
the subject litigious; superiors are obliged to enter ad-
udgers; the legal of adjudications does not expire
during the debtor’s minority, &c. Only it may be ob¬
served, that though appraisings could not proceed be¬
fore the term of payment, yet where the debtor is ver-
gens ad inopiatn, the court e.v nobiliofficio admit adjudi¬
cation for the debt before it be payable. But this sort
being founded solely in equity, subsists merely as a se¬
curity, and cannot carry the property to the creditor bv
the lapse of any length of time.
Two kind* 6. There are two kinds of adjudication, which took
of adjiuliea plact; at the same time with appraisings, and still ob¬
tain ; viz. adjudications on a decree cognitionis causa,
otherwise called contra hccrcditatemjacentem; and adju¬
dications in implement. Where the debtor’s apparent
heir, who is charged to enter, formally renounces the
succession, the creditor may obtain a decree cognitionis
causa; in which, though the heir renouncing is cited
for the sake of form, no sentence condemnatory can
be pronounced against him, in respect of his renuncia¬
tion ; the only effect of it is to subject the hcereditasja -
ce7is to the creditor’s diligence.
7. Adjudications contra hcereditatem jacentcm, carry
not only the lands themselves that belonged to the de¬
ceased, but the rents thereof fallen due since his death ;
for these, as an accessory to the estate belonging to the
deceased, would have descended to the heir if lie had
entered, which rule is applied to all adjudications led
on a special charge. This sort of adjudication is de¬
clared redeemable within seven years, by any co-ad-
judging creditor, either of the deceased debtor or of
the heir renouncing. The heir himself, who renounces,
cannot be restored against his renunciation, nor conse¬
quently redeem, if he be not a minor. But even a
major may redeem indirectly, by granting a simulate
bond to a confident person: the adjudication upon
which, when conveyed to himself, is a good title to
redeem all other adjudications against the lands belong¬
ing to his ancestor.
8. Adjudications in implement are deduced against
those who have granted deeds without procuratory of
resignation or precept of seisin, and refuse to divest
themselves; to the end that the subject conveyed may
be effectually vested in the grantee. These adjudica¬
tions may be also directed against the heir of the grant-
er, upon a charge to enter. Here there is no place
for a legal reversion ; for as the adjudication is led for
completing the right of a special subject, it must carry
that subject as irredeemably as if the right had been
voluntarily completed.
9. All adjudications led within year and day of that
one which has been made first effectual by seisin (where
seisin is necessary), or exact diligence for obtaining sei¬
sin, are preferable pari passu. The year and day runs
from the date of the adjudication, and not of the sei¬
sin or diligence, for obtaining it. After the days of
that period, they are preferable according to their
dates. All tne co-adjudgers within the year are pre¬
ferable pari passu, as if one adjudication had been led
for all their debts. This makes the seisin or diligence
on the first adjudication a common right to the rest
who must therefore refund to the owner of that dili-
v* . Part III,
gence his whole expence laid out in carrying on and Tl
completing it. And though that first adjudication SeotTanlf.
should be redeemed, the diligence upon it still subsists  v—
as to the rest. I his yiorr preference, however,
does not destroy the legal preference of adjudications
led on debitafundi (see N° clxix. 15.) ; nor does it take
place in adjudications in implement.
A new sort of adjudication has been lately introdu¬
ced into the law of Scotland by the act of the 23d
Geo. III. for rendering the payment of the creditors
of insolvent debtors more equal and expeditious. A-
mong the many other provisos in that statute for ex¬
pediting the payment of creditors, and lessening the
expence of diligence against the debtor’s estate, it is
enacted, Ihat upon an order from the court of session
or lord ordinary, the bankrupt shall be bound to exe¬
cute a disposition or dispositions, making over to the
trustee or trustees chosen by the creditors the whole
estate real and personal, wherever situated ; and in case
of the bankrupt’s refusal, or of the order not being
complied with from any other reason, the court or the
lord ordinary shall, upon the application of the trustee,
issue an act or decree, adjudging the property of the
whole sequestered estate to be in the trustee for hehobf
of the creditors; which shall have the same effect as if
the bankrupt had executed the conveyance : and by
a subsequent clause in the statute, it is enacted, that
this disposition of the heritable estate, together with
the order of the court or lord ordinary on which it
proceeds, or failing thereof, the decree of adjudication
of the court or the lord ordinary, shall within 60 days
of the date thereof he registered in the register of ab-
bieviates of adjudications; and shall have the effect to
entitle the trustee for behoof of the whole creditors to
rank in the same manner upon the heritable estate as
il it had been a proper decree of adjudication, obtain¬
ed at the date of the interlocutor awarding the seques¬
tration ; accumulating the whole debts, principal and
interest, as at that period, and adjudging lor security
or payment thereof, so as to rank pari passu with any
piior effectual adjudication, and within year and day
of the same. By this act also, in order to lessen the
number of adjudications, and consequently the expence
upon a bankrupt estate, it is declared, that intimation
shall be made of the first adjudication which is e-alled,
so as all creditors who are in readiness may, within
such a reasonable time as may be allowed, not exceed¬
ing twenty sederunt days, produce tbeir grounds of
debt, and be conjoined in the decree to follow on said
first adjudication. At the same time it may be proper
to mention, that this aet is only temporary ; and after
eight years experience, will probably suffer very consi¬
derable alterations, when it shall become necessary to
digest another bankrupt law for Scotland.
10. Before treating of judicial sales of bankrupts SeipiesU'**
estates, the nature of sequestration may be shortly ex-tiou>
plained, which is a diligence that generally ushers in
actions of sale. Sequestration of lands is a judicial act
of the court or session, whereby the management of an
estate is put into the hands of a factor or steward named
by the court, who gives security, and is to be account¬
able for the rents to all having interest. This diligence
is competent, either where the right of the lands is
doubtful, if it be applied for before either of the com-
petitoxs has attained possession^ or where the estate is
heavily
L A W.
(liap. II.
Law of heavily charged with debts : hut, as it is an unfavour-
.»«t!ancl. able diligence, it is not admitted, unless that measure
' v shall appear necessary tor the security of creditors.
Subjects not brought before the court by the diligence
of creditors, cannot fall under sequestration ; for it is
the competition of creditors which alone founds the
jurisdiction of the court to take the disputed subject
Into their possession.
II. The court of session who decrees the sequestra¬
tion has the nomination of the factor, in which they
are directed by the recommendation of the creditors.
A factor appointed by the session, though the proprie¬
tor had not been infeft in the lands, has a power to re¬
move tenants. Judicial factors must, within six months
after extracting their factory, make up a rental of the
estate, and a list of the arrears due by tenants, to be
put into the bands of the clerk of the process, as a
charge against themselves, and a note of such altera¬
tions in the rental as may afterwards happen : and must
also deliver to the clerk annually a scheme of their ac¬
counts, charge and discharge, under heavy penalties.
They are, by the nature of their office, bound to the
same degree of diligence that a prudent man adhibits
in his own affairs j they are accountable for the inte¬
rest of the rents, which they either have, or by dili¬
gence might have, recovered, from a year after their
falling due. As it is much in the power of those fac¬
tors to take advantage of the necessities of creditors, by
purchasing their debts at an undervalue, all such pur¬
chases made either by tbe factor himself, or to bis be¬
hoof, are declared equivalent to an acquittance or ex¬
tinction of the debt. No factor can warrantably pay
to any creditor, without an order of the court of ses¬
sion ; for he is, by the tenor of his commission, di¬
rected to pay the rents to those who shall be found to
have the best right to them. Judicial factors are en¬
titled to a salary, which is generally stated at five per
cent, of their intromissions: but it is seldom ascertained
till their office expires, or till their accounting j that
the court may modify a greater or smaller salary, or
none, in proportion to the factor’s integrity and dili¬
gence. Many cases occur, where the court of session,
without sequestration, name a factor to preserve the
rents from perishing j e. g. where an heir is deliberat¬
ing whether to enter, where a minor is without tutors,
where a succession opens to a person residing abroad j
in all which cases the factor is subjected to the rules
laid down in act of sederunt, Feb. 13. 1730.
As to sequestrations under the bankrupt act before
recited, the reader must necessarily be referred to the
act itself; for being only temporary, as before men¬
tioned, it seems quite inconsistent with the plan of this
work to enter into a minute detail of the different re¬
gulations thereby laid down in cases of sequestration
under it.
Sfe of 12. The word bankrupt is sometimes applied to per-
fkni‘r>t sons whose funds are not sufficient for their debts; and
e ' sometimes, not to the debtor, hut to his estate. The
court of session are empowered, at the suit of any real
creditor, to try the value of a bankrupt’s estate, and
sell it for tbe payment of his debts.
13. No process of sale, at the suit of a creditor, can
proceed without a proof of the debtor’s bankruptcy, or
at least that his lands are so charged with debts that
no prudent persons will buy from him; and therefore
the summons of sale must comprehend the debtor’s jjaw ot-
whole estate. The debtor, or his apparent heir, and Scotland,
all the real creditors in possession, must be made par- —v—
ties to the suit; but it is sufficient if the other credi¬
tors he called by an edictal citation. The summons of
sale contains a conclusion of ranking, or preference of
the bankrupt’s creditors. In this ranking, first and se-of
cond terms are assigned to the whole creditors for exhi-crcdiioi*,0
biting in court (or producing) their rights and dili¬
gences ; and tbe decree of certification proceeding
thereupon, against the writings not produced, has the
same effect in favour of the creditors who have produ¬
ced their rights, as if that decree had proceeded upon
an action of reduction improbation. See N° clxxxiii, 3.
By the late bankrupt act, tbe sale may precede the
ranking of the creditors, unless the court, upon applica¬
tion of the creditors, or any of them, shall find sufficient
cause to delay the sale. The irredeemable property of
the lands is adjudged by tbe court to the highest offerer
at the sale. The creditors receiving payment must
grant to the purchaser absolute warrandice, to tbe ex¬
tent of the sum received by them ; and the lands pur¬
chased are declared disburdened of all debts or deeds
of tbe bankrupt or his ancestors, either on payment of
the price by the purchaser to the creditors according to
their preference, or on consignation of it. By the act
1695, purchasers were bound to consign the price in
the bands of the magistrates of Edinburgh ; but by
§ 5. of the above act, they may consign it in the Royal
Bank or Bank of Scotland. The only remedy provided
to such creditors as judge themselves hurt by the sale
or division of the price, even though they should be
minors, is an action for recovering their share of the
price against the creditors who have received it.
14. The expence of those processes is disbursed by
the factor out of the rents in his hands ; by which the
whole burden of such expence falls upon the posterior
creditors.
15. Apparent heirs are entitled to bring actions of
sale of the estates belonging to their ancestors, whe¬
ther bankrupt or not ; tbe expence of which ought to
fall upon the pursuer, if there is any excrescence of the
price, after payment of the creditors : but if there be
no excrescence, the creditors, who alone are gainers by
the sale, ought to hear the charge of it.
16. As processes of ranking and sale are designed
for the common interest of all the creditors, no dili¬
gence carried on or completed during their pendencv
ought to give any preference in the competition ; pen¬
dente lite, nihil innovandum.
17. It is a rule in all real diligences, that where a-
creditor is preferable on several difi’erent subjects, he
cannot use his preference arbitrarily, by favouring one
creditor more than another ; but must allocate his uni¬
versal or catholic debt proportionally against all the
subjects or parties whom it affects. If it is material to
such creditor to draw his whole payment out of any
one fund, he may apply his debt so as may best secure
himself: but that inequality will be rectiHed as to the
posterior creditors, who had likewise by their rights
and diligences, affected the subjects out of which he
drew his payment, by obliging him to assign in their
favour bis right upon the separate subjects which lie
did not use in the ranking ; by which they may recur
against these separate subjects for the shares which tiie
debt
662
j,aw of debt preferred might have drawn out of them. As the
Scotland, obligation to assign is founded merely in equity, the
   v ™,~' catholic creditor cannot be compelled to it, it this as¬
signing shall weaken the preference of any separate
debt vested in himself, affecting the special subject
sought to be assigned. But if a creditor upon a spe¬
cial subject shall acquire from another a catholic right,
or a catholic creditor shall purchase a debt affecting a
special subject, with a view of creating to the special
debt a higher degree of preference than was naturally
due to it, by an arbitrary application of the catholic
debt, equity cannot prevent him from assigning in fa¬
vour of the creditor excluded by such application, es¬
pecially if, prior to the purchase, the subject has be¬
come litigious by the process of ranking.
II. MOVEABLE RIGHTS.
The law of heritable rights being explained, Move-
able Rights fall next to be considered •, the doctrine of
which depends chiefly on the nature of obligations.
Sect. XIII. Of Obligations and Contracts in general.
elxiciii.
Obligation. I. An obligation is a legal tie, by which one is bound
to pay or perform something to another. Every obliga¬
tion on the person obliged implies an opposite right in
the creditor, so that what is a burden in regard to the
one is a right with respect to the other ; and all rights
founded on obligation are called personal. There is
this essential difference between a real and a personal
right, that jus in re, whether of property, or of an
inferior kind, as servitude, entitles the person vested
with it to possess the subject as bis own 5 or if he is not
in possession, to demand it from the possessors : where¬
as the creditor in a personal right has on\y jus ad rem,
or a right to compel the debtor to fulfil his obligation ;
without any right in the subject itself, which the debt¬
or is bound to transfer to him. One cannot oblige
himself, but by a present act of the will. A bare reso¬
lution, therefore, or purpose, to be obliged, is alter¬
able at pleasure.
Division of 2. Obligations are either, (r.) Merely natural,
sbligntioas. where one person is bound to another by the law of na-
»tore, but cannot be compelled by any civil action to
the performance. Thus, though deeds granted by a
minor having curators, without their consent, are null,
yet the minor is naturally obliged to perform such
deeds j and parents are naturally obliged to provide
their children in reasonable patrimonies. Natural obli¬
gations entitle the creditor to retain what he has got
in virtue thereof, without being subjected to restore it.
(2.) Obligations are merely civil, which may be sued
upon by an action, but are elided by an exception in
equity j this is the case of obligations granted through
force or fear, &c. (3.) Proper or full obligations, are
those which are supported both by equity and the civil
sanction.
3. Obligations may also be divided into, (1.) Pure,
to which neither day nor condition is adjected. These
may be exacted immediately. (2.) Obligations (e#
die), which have a day adjected to their performance.
In these, dies statim ccdit, sed non venit ; a proper debt
arises from the date of the obligation, because it is cer¬
tain that the day will exist 5 but the execution is sus-
Paft III(
pended till the lapse of that day. (3.) Conditional Law of
obligations’, in which there is no proper debt {dies non Scotland,
cediti) till the condition be purified, because it is pos- —J
sible the condition may never exist; and which there¬
fore are said to create only the hope of a debt; but tire
granter, even of these, lias no right to resile. An obli¬
gation, to which a day is adjected that possibly may
never exist, implies a condition ; dies incertvs pro con-
dilione habetur. Thus, in the case of a provision to a
child, payable when he attains to the age of fourteen,
if the child dies before that age, the provision falls.
4. Obligations, when considered with regard to their
cause, were divided by the Romans into those arising
from contract, quasi contract, delict, and quasi delict:
but there are certain obligations, even full and proper
ones, which cannot be derived from any of these sources,
and to which Lord Stair gives the name of obediential.
Such as the obligation on parents to aliment or main¬
tain their children ; which arises singly from the rela¬
tion of parent and child, and may be enforced by tha
civil magistrate. Under parents are comprehended, the
mother, grandfather, and grandmother, in their proper
order. This obligation on parents extends to the pro¬
viding of their issue in all the necessaries of life, and
giving them suitable education. It ceases, when tbs
children can earn a livelihood by their own industry ;
but the obligation on parents to maintain their indi¬
gent children, and reciprocally on children to maintain
their indigent parents, is perpetual. This obligation
is, on the father’s death, transferred to the eldest son,
the heir of the family ; who, as representing the father,
must aliment his younger brothers and sisters: the bro¬
thers are only entitled to alimony till their age of twen¬
ty-one, after which they are presumed able to do for
themselves ; but the obligation to maintain the sisters
continues till their marriage. In persons of lower
rank, the obligation to aliment the sisters ceases after
they are capable of subsisting by any service or em¬
ployment.
5. All obligations, arising from the natural duty of
restitution, fall under this class; thus, things given up¬
on the view of a certain event, must be restored, if that
event does not afterwards exist: thus also, things given
oh turpem causam, where the turpitude is in the recei¬
ver and not in the giver, must be restored. And on
the same principle, one upon wiiose ground a house is
built or repaired by another, is obliged, without any
covenant, to restore the expence laid out upon it, in
so far as it has been profitable to him.
6. A contract is the voluntary agreement of two or Contract*,
more persons, whereby something is to be given or per¬
formed upon one part, for a valuable consideration,
either present or future, on the other part. Consent,
which is implied in agreement, is exclude d, (1.) By
error in the essentials of the contract: for, in such case,
the party does not properly contract, hut errs or is
deceived ; and this may be also applied to contracts
which take their rise from fraud 01 imposition. (2.)
Consent is excluded by such a degree of restraint upon
any of the contracting parties, as extorts the agreement;
for where violence or threatening are used against a
person, his will has really no part in the contract.
7. Loan, or mutuum, is that contract which obliges Loan,
a person, who has borrowed any fungible subject from
another, to restore to him as muth of the same kind,
and
L A W.
Law of
feoUaru?.
C^tHr.o-
4 c.
II. L A
and of equal goodness. Whatever receives its estima¬
tion in number, weight, or measure, is a fungible ; as
•* corn, wine, current coin, &c. The only proper sub¬
jects of this contract are things which cannot be used
without either their extinction or alienation : hence
the property of the thing lent is necessarily transferred
by delivery to the borrower, who consequently must
run all the hazards either of its deterioration or its
perishing, according to the rule, res pent suo domino.
Where the borrower neglects to restore at the time
and place agreed on, the estimation of the thing lent
must be made according to its price at that time and
in that place; because it would have been worth so
much to the lender, if the obligation had been duly
performed. If there is no place nor time stipulated for,
the value is to be stated according to the price that the
commodity gave when and where it was demanded. In
the loan of money, the value put on it by public au¬
thority, and not its intrinsic worth, is to be considered.
This contract is one of those called by the Romans
unilateral, being obligatory only on one part 5 for the
lender is subjected to no obligation : the only action
therefore that it produces, is pointed against the bor¬
rower, that he may restore as much in quantity and
quality as he borrowed, together with the damage the
lender may have suffered through default of due per¬
formance.
8. Commodate is a species of loan, gratuitous on the
part of the lender, where the thing lent may be used,
without either its perishing or its alienation. Hence,
in this sort of loan, the property continues witli the
lender j the only right the borrower acquires in the
subject is its use, after which lie must restore the indi¬
vidual thing that he borrowed : consequently, if the
subject perishes, it perishes to the lender, unless it has
perished by the borrower’s fault. What degree of fault
or negligence makes either of the contracting parties
liable jo the other in damages, is comprehended under
the following rules. Where the contract gives a mutual
benefit to both parties, each contractor is bound to
adhibit a middle sort of diligence, such as a man of or¬
dinary prudence uses in his affairs. Where only one of
the parties has benefit by the contract, that party must
use exact diligence j and the other who has no advan¬
tage by it, is accountable only for dole, or for gross
omissions, which the law construes to be dole. Where
one employs less care on the subject of any contract
which implies an exuberant trust, than he is known to
employ in his own affairs, it is considered as dole.
9. He nee it will appear that this is a bilateral con¬
tract the borrower must be exactly careful of the
thing lent, and restore it at the time fixed by the con¬
tract, or after that use is made of it for which it was
lent: if he puts it to any other use, or neglects to re¬
store it at the time covenanted, and if the thing pe¬
rishes thereafter, even by mere accident, he is bound to
pay the value. On the other part, the lender is obliged
to restore to the borrower such of the expences disburs¬
ed by him on that subject as arose from any uncommon
accident, hut not those that naturally attend the use of
it. Where a thing is lent gratuitously, without speci¬
fying any time of re-delivery, it constitutes the contract
ofprecarium, which is revocable at the lender’s plea¬
sure, and, being entered into from a personal regard to
the borrower, ceases by his death.
■\V. 66.
10. Depositation is also a bilateral contract, by which Law of
one who has the custody of a thing committed to him Scotland,
(the depositary) is obliged to restore it to the deposi-
tor. If a reward is bargained for by the depositary
for his care, it resolves into the contract of location.
As this contract is gratuitous, the depositary is only
answerable for the consequences of gross neglect 5 but
after the deposit is redemanded, he is accountable even
for casual misfortunes. He is entitled to a full indem¬
nification for the losses he has sustained by the contract,
and to the recovery of all sums expended by him on
the subject.
11. An obligation arises without formal paction,
barely by a traveller’s entering into an inn, ship,
stable, and there depositing his goods, or putting up
his horses; whereby the innkeeper, shipmaster, or sta¬
bler, is accountable, not only for his own facts and those
of his servants (which is an obligation implied in the
very exercise of these employments), but of the other
guests or passengers ; and, indeed, in every case, unless
where the goods have been lost damno fatali, or carried
off by pirates or house-breakers. Not only the masters
of ships, but their employers, are liable each of them
for the share that lie has in the ship ; but by the pre¬
sent custom of trading nations, the goods brought into
a ship must have been delivered to the master or mate,
or entered into the ship books. Carriers fall within
the intendment of this law; and practice has extended
it to vintners within borough. The extent of the da¬
mage sustained by the party may be proved by his own
oath in litem.
12. Sequestration, whether voluntarily consented toSequestm-
by the parties, or authorized by the judge, is a kind ofUofl*
deposite; but as the office of sequestree, to whose
care the subject in dispute is committed, is not consi¬
dered as gratuitous, lie cannot throw it up at pleasure,
as a common depositary may do ; and is liable in
the middle degree of diligence. Consignation of money Consigna-
is also a deposite. It may be made, either where the1*011-
debt is called in question by the debtor, as in sus¬
pensions ; or where the creditor refuses to receive his
money, as in wadsets, &c. The risk of the consigned
money lies on the consigner, where he ought to have
made payment, and not consignation ; or has consigned
only a part ; or has chosen for consignatory, a person
neither named by the parties nor of good credit. The
charger, or other creditor, runs the risk, if he has
charged for sums not due, or has without good reason
refused payment, by which refusal the consignation be¬
came necessary. It is the office of a consignatory, to
keep the money in safe custody till it is called for : if
therefore he puts it out at interest, he must run the
hazard of the debtor’s insolvency ; but for the same
reason, though he should draw interest for it, he is
liable in none to the consigner.
13. Pledge, when opposed to wadset, is a contract, Pledge,
by which a debtor puts into the hands of his creditor a
special moveable subject in security of the debt, to be
re-delivered on payment. Where a security is establish¬
ed by law to the creditor, upon a subject which con¬
tinues in the debtor’s possession, it has the special name
of an hypothec. Tradesmen and ship carpenters have Hypothec,
an hypothec on the house or ship repaired, for the
materials and other charges of reparation ; but not for
the expence of building a new ship. This, however,
must
664 L A
Lnw of must not now be understood to apply universally : for
Scotland. jlie court 0f session, in dift’erent cases which lately oc-
v curred before them, and founding upon the law and
practice of England in similar cases, have found, that
no hypothec exists for the expence of repairs done in
a hovie port. Owners of ships have an hypothec on
the cargo for the freight ; heritors on the fruits of the
ground j and landlords on the invecta et Mata, for their
rents. Writers also, and agents, have a right of hy¬
pothec, or more properly of retention, in their consti¬
tuent’s writings, for their claim of pains and disburse¬
ments. A creditor cannot, for his own payment, sell
the subject impignorated, without applying to the judge
ordinary for a warrant to put it up to public sale or
roup 5 and to this application the debtor ought to be
made a party. •
w.
clxxiv
Verbal
Sect. XIV. Of Obligations by Word or Writ.
Wilting.
1. The appellation of verbal may be applied to all
a£'ee,,lei,t'obligations to the constitution of which writing is not
essential, which includes both real and consensual con¬
tracts •, but as these are explained under separate titles,
obligations bij word, in the sense of this rubric, must be
restricted, either to promises, or to such verbal agree¬
ments as have no special name to distinguish them.
Agreement implies the intervention of two different
parties, who come under mutual obligations to one
another. Where nothing is to be given or performed
but on one part, it is properly called a promise ; which,
as it is gratuitous, does not require the acceptance of
him to whom the promise is made. An offer, which
must be distinguished from a promise, implies some¬
thing to be done by the other party ; and consequently
is not binding on the offerer, till it be accepted, with
its limitations or conditions, by him to whom the of¬
fer is made 5 after which, it becomes a proper agree¬
ment.
2. Writing must necessarily intervene in all obliga¬
tions and bargains concerning heritable subjects, though
they should be only temporary $ as tacks, which, when
they are verbal, last but for one year. In these, no
verbal agreement is binding, though it should be refer¬
red to the oath of the party ; for, till writing is adhi¬
bited, law gives both parties a right to resile, as from
an unfinished bargain ; which is called \ocus pocnitentiw.
If, upon a verbal bargain of lands, part of the price
shall be paid by him who was to purchase, the intcr-
ventus rei, the actual payment of money, creates a va¬
lid obligation, and gives a beginning to the contract
of sale : and, in general, wherever matters are no
longer entire, the right to resile seems to be excluded.
An agreement, whereby a real right is passed from, or
restricted, called pactum liberatorium, may be perfect¬
ed verbally; for freedom is favourable, and the purpose
of such agreement is rather to dissolve than to create an
obligation. Writing is also essential to bargains made
under condition that they shall be reduced into writ¬
ing ; for in such cases, it is pars cdhtraclus, that, till
writing be adhibited, both parties shall have liberty
to withdraw. In the same manner, verbal or nuncu¬
pative testaments are rejected by our law j but verbal
legacies are sustained, where they do not exceed look
Scots.
3. Anciently, when writing was little used, deeds
Part III.
were executed by the party appending his seal to them Law of
in presence of witnesses. For preventing frauds that Scotland,
might happen by appending seals to false deeds, the ^ ^TT1
subscription also of the granter was afterwards requir- ,
ed, and, it he could not write, that of a notary. As it obligations,
might be of dangerous consequences to give full force
to the subscription of the parties by initials, which is
more easily counterfeited ; our practice, in order to su¬
stain such subscription, seems to require a proof, not
only that the granter used to subscribe in that way, but
that de facto he had subscribed the deed in question j
at least, such proof is required, if the instrumentary
witnesses be still alive.
4. As a further check, it was afterwards provided,
that all writings carrying any heritable right, and other
deeds of importance, be subscribed by the principal
parties, if they can subscribe ; otherwise, by two nota¬
ries, before four witnesses specially designed. The sub¬
sequent practice extended this requisite of the designa¬
tion of the witnesses to the case where the parties them¬
selves subscribed. Custom has construed obligations for
sums exceeding look Scots, to be obligations of im¬
portance. In a divisible obligation, ex. gr. for a sum
of money, though exceeding look the subscription
of one notary is sufficient, if the creditor restricts his
claim to look: But in an obligation indivisible, e. g.
for the performance of a fact, if it be not subscribed
in terms of the statute, it is void. "When notaries thus
attest a deed, the attestation or doequest must specially
express that the granter gave them a mandate to sign ;
nor is it sufficient that this be mentioned in the body
of the writing.
5. In every deed, the name of him who writes it,
with his dwelling place or other mark of distinction,
must be inserted. The witnesses must both subscribe
as witnesses, and their names and designations be in¬
serted in the body of the deed. And all subscribing
witnesses must know the granter, and either see him
subscribe, or hear him acknowledge his subscription j
otherwise they are declared punishable as accessary to
forgery. Deeds, decrees, and other securities, consist¬
ing of more than one sheet, may be written by way of
book, in place of the former custom of pasting together
the several sheets, and signing the joinings on the mar¬
gin j provided each page be signed by the granter, and
marked by its number, and the testing clause express
the number of pages.
6. Instruments of seisin are valid, if subscribed by Sohni,’i!ie‘
one notary, before a reasonable number of witnesses no’0ifa‘
which is extended by practice to instruments of resig-^'^c.
nation. Two witnesses are deemed a reasonable num¬
ber to every deed that can be executed by one notary.
It is not necessary that the witnesses to a notorial in¬
strument or execution see the notary or messenger sign }
for they are called as witnesses to the transaction which
is attested, and not to the subscription of the person at¬
testing.
7. A new requisite has been added to certain deeds
since the Union, for the benefit of the revenue : They
must be executed on stamped paper, or parchment, pay¬
ing a certain duty to the crown. These duties must
also be paid before wrote upon, under a penalty ; but
they are so numerous and complex, that it would be
tedious, even if it fell under our plan, to enter in¬
to an enumeration of them. They will be found at
length
Caap. II.
L A W.
665
paw of
iiotland-
link
p-rfJeged
ieds.
84* af 6K
age.
Hi ir so-
liiies
obiiga-
lengtli in Swinton’s Abridgement, voce Stamps, to which
the reader is referred. Certain judicial deeds, such as
bail bonds, bonds of cautionry, in suspensions, &c. are
exempted, and do not require stamps, as will be seen
from the several acts referred to by the compiler of the
above abridgement of the statutes.
8. The grantor’s name and designation are essential,
not properly as solemnities, but because no writing can
have effect without them. Bonds were, by our an¬
cient practice, frequently executed without filling up
the creditor’s name } and they passed from hand to hand,
like notes payable to the bearer: But as there was no
method for the creditor of a person possessed of these to
secure them for his payment, all writings taken blank
in the creditor’s name are declared null, as covers to
fraud ; with the exception of indorsations of bills of
exchange.
9. Certain privileged writings do not require the
ordinary solemnities. 1. Holograph deeds (written by
the granter himself) are effectual without witnesses.
The date of no holograph writing, except a bill of ex¬
change (see next parag.) can be proved by the grantee’s
own assertion, in prejudice either of his heir or his
creditors, but must be supported by other adminicles.
2. Testaments, if executed where men of skill and bu¬
siness cannot be had, are valid though they should not
be quite formal : and let the subject of a testament be
ever so valuable, one notary signing for the testator,
before two witnesses, is in practice sufficient. Clergy¬
men were frequently rotaries before the Reformation $
and, though they wTere afterwards prohibited to act as
notaries, the case of testaments is excepted ; so that
these are supported by the. attestation of one minister,
with two witnesses. 3. Discharges to tenants are sus¬
tained without witnesses, from their presumed rusticity,
or ignorance in business. 4. Missive letters in re mer-
eatoria, commissions, and fitted accounts in the course
of trade, and bills of exchange, though they are not ho¬
lograph, are, from the favour of commerce, sustained
without the ordinary solemnities.
10. A bill of exchange is an obligation in the form
of a mandate, whereby the drawer or mandate desires
him to whom it is directed, to pay a certain sum, at
the day and place therein mentioned, to a third party.
Bills of exchange are drawn by a person in one country
to his correspondent in another $ and they have that
name, because it is the exchange, or the value of money
in one place compared with its value in another, that
generally determines the precise extent of the sum con¬
tained in the draught. The creditor in the bill is
sometimes called the possessor, ovporteur. As parties
to bills are of different countries, questions concerning
them ought to be determined by the received custom of
trading nations, unless where special statute interposes.
For this reason, bills of exchange, though their form
admits not of witnesses, yet prove their own dates, in
questions either with the heir or creditors of the debtor $
but this doctrine is not extended to inland bills payable
to the drawer himself.
rI. A bill is valid, without the designation either
of the drawer or of the person to whom it is made
payable : It is enough, that the drawer’s subscription
appears to be truly his ; and one’s being possessor of a
bill marks him out to the creditor if he bears the
name given in the bill to the creditor: Nay, though
Vol. XL Part II. f
the person drawn on should not he designed, his accept- x.aw of
ance presumes that it was he whom the drawer had in Scotland,
his eye. Bills drawn blank, in the creditor’s name,' " " v
fall under the statutory nullity; for though indorsations
of bills are excepted from it, bills themselves are not.
Not only the person drawn upon must sign his accept¬
ance, but the drawer must sign his draught, before any
obligation can be formed against the accepter : Yet it
is sufficient in practice, that the drawer signs before
the bill be produced in judgment ; though it should be
after the death both of the creditor and accepter. A
creditor in a bill may transmit it to another by indor¬
sation, though the bill should not bear io his order ; by
the same rule that other rights are transmissible by as¬
signation, though they do not bear to assignees.
12. The drawer, by signing bis draught, becomes Obliga-
liable for the value to the creditor in the bill, in case1*0518'
the person drawn upon either does not accept, or after
acceptance does not pay ; for he is presumed to have re¬
ceived value from the creditor at giving him the draught,
though it should not hear for value received: But, if
the drawer was debtor to the creditor in the bill before
the d raught, the bill is presumed to be given towards
payment of the debt, unless it expressly bears for value.
The person drawn upon, if he refuses to accept, while
be has the drawer’s money in his hand, is liable to him
in damages. As a bill presumes value from the credi¬
tor, indorsation presumes value from the indorsee; who
therefore, if he cannot obtain payment from the ac¬
cepter, has recourse against the indorser, unless the bill
be indorsed in these words, without recourse.
13. Payment of a bill, by the accepter, acquits botli
the drawer and him at the hands of the creditor : but
it entitles the accepter, if he was not the drawer’s
debtor, to an action of recourse against him ; and, if
he was, to a ground of compensation. Where the bill
does not bear value in the hands of the person drawn
upon, it is presumed that be is not the drawer’s debtor,
and consequently lie has recourse against the drawer,
ex mandato.
14. Bills, when indorsed, are considered as so many
bags of money delivered to the onerous indorsee ; which
therefore carry right to the contents, free of all burdens
that do not appear on the hills themselves. Hence, a
receipt or discharge, by the original creditor, if grant¬
ed on a separate paper, does not exempt the accepter
from second payment to the indorsee ; hence, also, no
ground of compensation competent to the accepter a-
gainst the original creditor can he pleaded against the
indorsee: hut, if the debtor shall prove, by the oath of
the indorsee, either that the bill is indorsed to him for
the indorser’s own behoof, or that he paid not the full
value for the indorsation, the indorsee is justly consi¬
dered as but a name; and therefore all exceptions, re¬
ceivable against the original creditor, will be sustained
against him. A protested bill, after registration, cannot
be transmitted by indorsation, but by assignation.
15. Bills must be negociated by the possessor, against Xegoeia-
the person drawn upon, within a precise time, in order lion,
to preserve recourse against the drawer. In bills pay¬
able so many days after sight, the creditor has a dis¬
cretionary power of fixing the payment somewhat
sooner or later, as his occasions shall require. Bilk
payable on a day certain, need not be presented for ac¬
ceptance till the day of payment, because that day can
4 P neither
666
L A
Law of
Scotland.
Days of
grace.
Privileges
of bills by
statutev
Inland bills.
Certain
bills not
privileged.
neither be prolonged nor shortened by the time of ac¬
ceptance. For the same reason the acceptance of bills,
payable on a precise day, need not be dated : but, where
a bill is drawn payable so many days after sight, it
must because there the term of payment depends on
the date of acceptance.
16. Though bills are, in strict law, due the very day
on which they are made payable, and may therefore be
protested on the day thereafter; yet there are three
days immediately following the day of payment, called
days of grace, within any of which the creditor may
protest the bill ; but if he delay protesting till the day
after the last day of grace, he loses his recourse. Where
a bill is protested, either from not acceptance or not
payment, the dishonour must be notified to the drawer
or indorser, within three posts at farthest. This strict¬
ness of negociation is confined to such bills as may be
protested by the possessor upon the third day of grace :
where, therefore, bills are indorsed after the days of
grace are expired, the indorsee is left more at liberty,
and does not lose his recourse, though he should not take
a formal protest for not payment, if, within a reasonable
time, he shall give the indorser notice of the accepter’s
refusing to pay. Not only does the possessor, who ne¬
glects strict negociation, lose his recourse against the
the drawer, where the person drawn upon becomes after¬
wards bankrupt; but though he should continue sol¬
vent: for he may in that case recover payment from
the debtor, and so is not to be indulged in an unneces¬
sary process against the drawer, which he has tacitly
renounced by his negligence. Recourse is preserved
against the drawer, though the bill should not be duly
negociated, if the person drawn upon was not his debt¬
or j for there the drawer can qualify no prejudice by
the neglect of diligence, and he ought not to have
drawn on one who owed him nothing.
17. The privileges superadded to bills by statute are,
that though, by their form, they can have no clause of
registration, yet, if duly protested, they are registrable
within six months after their date in case of not accept¬
ance, or in six months after the term of payment in
the case of not payment; which registration is made
the foundation of summary diligence, either against the
drawer or indorser in the case of not acceptance, or
against the accepter in the case of not payment. This
is extended to inland bills, i. e. bills both drawn and
made payable in Scotland. After acceptance, sum¬
mary diligence lies against no other than the accepter j
the drawer and indorser must be pursued by an ordi¬
nary action. It is only the principal sum in the bill,
and interest, that can be charged for summarily: the ex¬
change, when it is not included in the draught, the re¬
exchange incurred by suffering the bill to be protested
and returned, and the expence of diligence, must all
be recovered by an ordinary action $ because these are
not liquid debts, and so must be previously constituted.
18. Bills, when drawn payable at any considerable
distance of time after date, are denied the privileges of
bills : for bills are intended for currency, and not to
lie as a security in the creditor’s hands. Bills are not
valid which appear ex facie to be donations. No ex¬
trinsic stipulation ought to be contained in a bill which
deviates from the proper nature of bills : hence, a bill
to which a penalty is adjected, or with a clause of in¬
terest from the date, is null. Inland precepts drawn,
"W• Part III,
not for money, the medium of trade, but for fungibles, Law of
are null, as wanting writer’s name and witnesses. It is Scotland
not an agreed point whether promissory notes, without
writer and witnesses, unless holograph, are probative.
19. So stood the law of Scotland, in regard to bills and Later al-
promissory notes, previous to the statute 12 Geo. XII. Orations as
By that statute, however, the law of Scotland hast0 bl!ls an(!
undergone very material alterations. They are de-no0^5*013'
dared to have the same privileges, and to prescribe in
six years after the term of payment. Bank notes and
post bills are excepted from this prescription : nor does
it run during the years of the creditor’s minority. In¬
land bills and promissory notes must be protested with¬
in the days of grace, to secure recourse; and the disho¬
nour notified within 14 days after the protest. Sum¬
mary diligence may pass not only against the accepter,
but likewise against the drawer, and all the indorsees
jointly and severally ; and at the instance of any in¬
dorsee, though the bill was not protested in his name,
upon his producing a receipt or letter from the pro¬
testing indorsee. This act was in force only for seven
years after 15th May 1772, and to the end of the then
next session of parliament. But as it was found by
experience that it had been of great advantage to Scot¬
land, it was made perpetual by the late act 23 Geo.
III. so that it has now become a permanent part of the
law of Scotland.
20. As for the solemnities essential to deeds signed
in a foreign country, where they come to receive exe¬
cution in Scotland, it is a general rule, that no law can
be of authority beyond the dominions of the lawgiver.
Hence, in strictness, no deed, though perfected accord-s0]emni[jes
ing to the law of the place where it is signed, can have 0f deeds
effect in another country where different solemnities are signed ins
required to a deed of that sort. But this rigour is sof°re^n
softened ex comitate, by the common consent of nations,CQUUtr3r’
that all personal obligations granted according to the
law of that country where they are signed, are effectual
everywhere; which obtains in obligations to convey
heritage. Conveyances themselves, however, of heri¬
table subjects must be perfected according to the law
of the country where the heritage lies, and from which
it cannot be removed.
21. A writing, while the granter keeps it under his Delivery
own power or his doer’s, has no force ; it becomes ob- and depon-
ligatory, only after it is delivered to the grantee him-tation of
self, or found in the hands of a third person. As todeej8‘
which last, the following rules are observed. A deed
found in the hands of one who is doer both for the
granter and grantee, is presumed to have'been putin
his hands as doer for the grantee. The presumption
is also for delivery, if the deed appears in the hands of
one who is a stranger to both. Where a deed is depo¬
sited in the hands of a third person, the terms of de¬
positation may be proved by the oath of the depositary,
unless where they are reduced into writing. A deed
appearing in the custody of the grantee himself is con¬
sidered as his absolute right; insomuch that the gran¬
ter is not allowed to prove that it was granted in trust,
otherwise than by a written declaration signed by the
trustee, or by his oath.
22. The following deeds are effectual without deli-whatJeeds
very. (1.) Writings containing a clause dispensing effectual
with the delivery; these are of the nature of revocuoie^*1*10111
deeds, where the death of the granter is equivalent tolmry'
delivery,
{hap.
II. L
Law of delivery, because after death there can be no revocation.
Gotland. ^2.) Deeds in favour of children, even natural ones j
" for parents are the proper custodiars or keepers of their
children’s writings. From a similar reason, postnuptial
settlements by the husband to the wife need no delivery.
(3.) Rights which are not to take effect till the granter’s
death, or even where he reserves an interest to himself
during his life ; for it is presumed he holds the custody
of these, merely to secure to himself such reserved inte¬
rest. (4.) Deeds which the granter lay under an ante¬
cedent natural obligation to execute, e. g. rights grant¬
ed to a cautioner for his relief. (5.) Mutual obliga¬
tions, e. g. contracts for every such deed, the moment
it is executed, is a common evident to all the parties
contractors. Lastly, The publication of a writing by
registration is equivalent to delivery.
Sect. XV. Of Obligations and Contracts arising from
Consent, and of accessory Obligations.
slxxv.
Gnsensual
dtitraets.
1. Contracts consensual (Y. e. which might, by the
Roman law, be perfected by the sole consent, without
the intervention either of things or of writing), are sale,
•permutation, location, society, and mandate. Where the
subject of any of these contracts is heritable, writing is
necessary.
2. Scde is a contract, by which one becomes obliged
to give something to another, in consideration of a cer¬
tain price in current money to be paid for it. Things
consisting merely in hope, may be the subject of this
contract, as the draught of a net. Commodities, where
their importation or use is absolutely prohibited, can¬
not be the subject of sale ; and even in run goods, no
action lies against the vender for the delivery, if the
buyer knew the goods were run. So far indeed has
this principle been carried, and so anxious have our
judges been to put a stop to the practice of smuggling,
that in different cases which have occurred of action
being brought at the instance of a foreign merchant
against persons resident in Scotland for payment of
goods which had been smuggled, a distinction has been
made betwixt the case of the foreign merchant being
or not being a native of Scotland. Where the foreign
merchant was a native of Scotland, it has been pre¬
sumed that he was acquainted with the revenue law of
the country, and that he was in a manner versam
in re ilhcita ,* and therefore action has been denied for
recovery of the price of such goods : but where, on the
other hand, the foreign merchant was not a native of
Scotland, nowise amenable to, and even presumed ig¬
norant of its laws, he has with justice been allowed ac¬
tion lor the price of such goods, unless it were shown
that he had in tact been particeps cr{minis, by aiding the
smuggle. The same principle has regulated the decisions
in the courts of England in cases of a similar nature,
which have within these few years come before them.
3. Though this contract may be perfected before de¬
livery of the subject, the property remains till then with*
the vender : (See N0 clxii. 9.). Yet till delivery, the
hazard of its deterioration falls on the purchaser, because
he has all t'he profits arising from it after the sale. On
the other hand, the subject itself perishes to the vender :
(l.) If it should perish through his fault, or after his
undue delay to deliver it. (2.) If a subject is sold as
a fungible, and not as an individual, or corpus, e. g. a
A W. 667
quantity of farm-wheat, sold without distinguishing the j^aw of
parcel to be delivered from the rest of the farm. Scotland.
(3.) periculum lies on the vender till delivery, if 1——y— ..»
he be obliged by a special article in the contract to de¬
liver the subject at a certain place.
4. Location is that contract where a hire is stipu-Location,
lated for the use of things, or for the service of persons.
He who lets his work or the use of his property to
hire, is the locator or lessor j and the other, the con¬
ductor or lessee. In the location of things, the lessor
is obliged to deliver the subject, fitted to the use it was
let for; and the lessee must preserve it carefully, put
it to no other use, and, after that is over, restore it.
Where a workman or artificer lets his labour, and if
the work is either not performed according to contract,
or if it be insufficient, even from mere unskilfulness, he
is liable to his employer in damages, for he ought not,
as an artificer, to have undertaken a work to which he
was not equal. A servant hired for a certain term is
entitled to his full wages, though from sickness or other
accident he should be disabled for a part of his time :
but if he die before the term, his wages are only due
for the time he actually served. If a master dies, or
without good reason turns off, before the term, a servant
who eats in his house, the servant is entitled to his full
wages, and to his maintenance till that term ; and, on
the other part, a servant who without ground deserts his
service, forfeits his wages and maintenance, and is liable
to his master in damages.
5. Society or copartnership is a contract, whereby the Society,
several partners agree concerning the communication
of loss and gain arising from the subject of the con¬
tract. It is formed by the reciprocal choice which the
partners make one of another j and so is not constitut¬
ed in the case of co-heirs, or of several legatees in the
same subject. A copartnership may be so constituted,
that one of the partners shall, either from his sole right
of property in the subject, or from his superior skill, be
entitled to a certain share of the profits, without being
subjected to any part of the loss; but a society, where
one partner is to bear a certain proportion of loss, with¬
out being entitled to any share of the profits, called by
the Romans societas leonina, is justly reprobated. All
the partners are entitled to shares of profit and loss pro¬
portioned to their several stocks where it is not other¬
wise covenanted.
6. As partners are united, from a delectus personce,
in a kind of brotherhood, no partner can, without a
special power contained in the contract, transfer any
part of his share to another. All the partners are bound
in solidum by the obligation of any one of them, if he
subscribe by the first or social name of the company $
unless it be a deed that falls not under the common
course of administration. The company effects are the
common property of the society subjected to its debts ;
so that no partner can claim a division thereof, even af¬
ter the society is dissolved, till they are paid j and, con¬
sequently, no creditor of a partner can, by diligence,
carry to himself the property of any part of the com¬
mon stock, in prejudice of a company creditor: but he
may, by arrestment, secure his debtor’s share in the com¬
pany’s hands, to be made forthcoming to him at the
close of the copartnership, in so far as it is not exhaust¬
ed by the company debts.
7. Society being founded in the mutual confidence
4 P 2 among
668
L»w of
Scotland.
A joint
trade.
Mandate.
L A W. Partin
among the socii, is dissolved, not only by the renuncia¬
tion, but by the death of any one of them, if it be not
otherwise specially covenanted. A partner who re¬
nounces upon unfair views, or at a critical time, when
his withdrawing may be fatal to the society, looses his
partners from all their engagements to him, while he
is bound to them for all the profits he shall make by
his withdrawing, and for the loss arising thereby to
the company. Not only natural, but civil death, e. g.
arising from a sentence inflicting capital punishment,
makes one incapable to perform the duties of a part¬
ner, and consequently dissolves the society. In both
cases of death and renunciation, the remaining part¬
ners may continue the copartnership, either expressly,
by entering into a new contract 5 or tacitly, by carry¬
ing on their trade as formerly. Public trading com¬
panies are now every day constituted, with rules very
diflerent from those which either obtained in the Ro¬
man law, or at this day obtain in private societies. The
proprietors or partners in these, though they may trans¬
fer their shares, cannot renounce 5 nor does their death
dissolve the company, but the share of the deceased de¬
scends to his representative.
8. A joint trade is not a copartnership, but a mo¬
mentary contract, where two or more persons agree to
contribute a sum, to be employed in a particular course
of trade, the produce whereof is to be divided among
the adventurers ; according to their several shares, after
the voyage is finished. If, in a joint trade, that part¬
ner who is intrusted with the money for purchasing the
goods, should, in place of paying them in cash, buy
them upon credit, the furnisher who followed his faith
alone in the sale, has no recourse against the other ad¬
venturers, he can only recover from them what of the
buyer’s share is yet in their hands. Where any one of
the adventurers in a joint trade becomes bankrupt, the
others are preferable to bis creditors, upon the common
stock, as long as it continues undivided, for their relief
of all the engagements entered into by them on ac¬
count of the adventure.
p. Mandate is a contract, by which one employs
another to manage any business for him ; and by the
Roman law, it must have been gratuitous. It may be
constituted tacitly, by one’s suffering another to act in
a certain branch of his affairs, for a tract of time toge¬
ther, without challenge. The mandatory is at liberty
not to accept of the mandate j and, as bis powers are
solely founded in the mandant’s commission, he must, if
he undertakes it, strictly adhere to the directions given
him : Nor is it a good defence, that the method lie fol¬
lowed was more rational 5 for in that his employer was
the proper judge. Where no special rules are prescri¬
bed, the mandatory, if he acts prudently, is secure,
whatever the success may he ; and he can sue for the
recovery of all the expences reasonably disbursed by
him ia the execution of his office.
10. Mandate may be general, containing a power
of administering the mandant’s whole affairs j but no
mandate implies a power of disposing gratuitously of
the constituent s property, nor even of selling his heri¬
tage for an adequate price 5 but a general mandatory
may sell such of the moveables as must otherwise perish.
No mandatory can, without special powers, transact
doubtful claims belonging to his constituent, or refer
them to arbiters.
11. Mandates expire, (1.) Ry the revocation of the Law of
employer, though only tacit, as if he should name an- Scotland,
other mandatory for the same business. (2.) By the '" "
renunciation of the mandatory 5 even after he has exe¬
cuted a part of his commission, if his office be gratuitous.
C3O % the death either of the mandant or mandatory:
But if matters are not entire, the mandate continues
in force, notwithstanding such revocation, renunciation,
or death. Procuratories of resignation and precepts
ot seisin are made out in the form of mandates 5 but,
because they are granted for the sole benefit of the man¬
datory, all of them, excepting precepts of clare constat,
are declared (by act 1693) t° continue after the death
either of the granter or grantee. Deeds which con¬
tain a clause or mandate lor registration, are for the
same reason made registrable after the death of either
(by act 1693 and 1696).
12. The favour of commerce has introduced a tacit
mandate, by which masters of ships are empowered
to contract in name of their exercitors or employers,
for repairs, ship-provisions, and whatever else may he
necessary for the ship or crew } so as to oblige not them¬
selves only, but their employers. Whoever has the ac¬
tual charge of the ship is deemed the master, though
he should have no commission from the exercitors, or
should be substituted by the master in the direction of »
the ship without their knowledge. Rxercitors are
liable, whether the master has paid his own money to
a merchant for necessaries, or has borrowed money to
purchase them. The furnisher or lender must prove
that the ship needed repairs, provision, &c. to such an
extent j but he is under no necessity to prove the ap¬
plication of the money or materials to the ship’s use.
If there are several exercitors, they are liable singuli in
sohdum. In the same manner the undertaker of any
branch of trade, manufacture, or other land negocia-
tion, is bound by the contracts of the institors whom he
sets over it, in so far as relates to the subject of the
prcepositura.
13. Contracts and obligations, in themselves imper-Homolo**-
fect, receive strength by the contractor or his heirs do- tion*
ing any act thereafter which imports an approbation of
them, and consequently supplies the want of an origi¬
nal legal consent. This is called homologation ; and it
takes place even in deeds intrinsically null, whether
the nullity arises from the want of statutory solemnities
or from the incapacity of the granter. It cannot he
inferred, (1.) By the act of a person who was not in the
knowledge ot the original deed 5 for one cannot ap¬
prove what he is ignorant of. (2.) Homologation has
no place where the act or deed, which is pleaded as
such, can be ascribed to any other cause ; for an inten¬
tion to come under an obligation is not presumed.
14. Quasi-contracts are formed without explicit con- Quasi-con¬
sent, by one of the parties doing something which by itstfacts’
nature either obliges him to the other party, or the
other party to him. Under this class may be reckoned
tutory, &e. the entry of an heir, negotiorum gestio, in-
dcbiii solutio, communion of goods between two or more
common proprietors, and mercium jactus levandce navis
causa. Negotiorum gestio forms those obligations which
arise from the management of a person’s affairs, in his
absence, by another, without any mandate. As such
manager acts without authority from the proprietor,
he ought to be liable in exact diligence, unless he has
from
Ciap. II. LAW.
Law of from friendship interposed in affairs which admitted no
fcottand. delay : and he is accountable for his intromissions with
v interest. On the other part, he is entitled to the re¬
covery of his necessary disbursements on the subject,
and to be relieved of tbe obligations in which he may
have bound himself in consequence of the management.
15. Indebiti solutio, or tbe payment to one ot what
is not due to him, if made through any mistake, either
of fact, or even of law, founds him who made tbe p-ay-
ment in an action against the receiver for repayment
{condictio indebiti'). This action does not lie, (1.) If
the sum paid was due ex eqiutate, or by a natural ob¬
ligation : fos- tbe obligation to restore is founded solely
in equity. (2.) If he who made tbe payment knew
that nothing was due : for qin consulto dat quod non
debebat, prcesumitur donat'e.
Ight of 16. Where two or more persons become common
♦Wing proprietors of the same subject, either by legacy, gift?
®u",i°ta or purchase, without the view of copartnership, an ob-
^ ligation is thereby created among the proprietors to
communicate the profit and loss arising from the subject,
while it remains common : And the subject may be
divided at the suit of any having interest. This divi¬
sion, where the question is among the common proprie¬
tors, is according to the valuation of their respective
properties : But where the question is between the pro¬
prietors and those having servitudes upon the property,
the superfice is only divided, without prejudice to the
property. Commonties belonging to the king, or to
royal boroughs, are not divisible. Lands lying runrig,
and belonging to different proprietors, may he divided,
with the exception of borough and incorporated acres j
the execution of which is committed to the judge or¬
dinary, or justices ot the peace.
|:xjRA<>- 17. The throwing of goods overboard, for lighten-
,11 de ing a ship in a storm, creates an obligation, whereby
ftiu- the owners of the ship and goods saved are obliged to
contribute for the relief of those whose goods were
thrown overboard, so that all may bear a proportional
loss of the goods ejected for the common safety. In
this contribution, the ship’s provisions suffer no estima¬
tion. A master who has cut his mast, or parted with
his anchor, to save the ship, is entitled to this relief:
hut if he has lost them by the storm, the loss falls only
on the ship and freight. If the ejection does not save
the ship, the goods preserved from shipwreck are not
liable in contribution. Ejection may be lawfully
made, if the master and a third part of the mariners
judge that measure necessary, though the owner of the
goods should oppose it: and the goods ejected are to
be valued at the price that goods of the same sort
which are saved shall he afterwards sold for.
csegKoif 18. There are certain obligations which cannot sub-
ligaUoKS.sjst by themselves, but are accessions to, or make a part
of, other obligations. Of this sort arefdejussion, and
the obligation to pay interest. Cautionry, ox fide fis¬
sion, is that obligation by which one becomes engaged
as security for another, that he shall either pay a sum,
or perform a deed.
^utiowiy. 19. A cautioner for a sum of money may be hound,
either simply as cautioner for the principal debtor, or
conjunctly and severally for and with the principal
debtor. The first has, by our customs, the benejicium
ordinis, or of discussion 5 by which the creditor is ob¬
liged to discuss the proper debtor, before be can in-
669
sist for payment against the cautioner. Where one is Law of
hound as full debtor with and for the principal, or con- Scotland,
junctly and severally with him, the two obligants are v~' 1 ‘
bound equally in the same obligation, each m sqlidurn ;
and consequently, the cautioner, though he is but an
accessory, may he sued for the whole, without either dis¬
cussing or even citing the principal debtor. Cautioners
for performance of facts by another, or for the faith¬
ful discharge of an office (e. g. for factors, tutors, &c.),
cannot by the nature of their engagement be hound
conjunctly and severally with the principal obligant,
because the fact to which the principal is bound can¬
not possibly be performed by any other. In such en¬
gagements, therefore, the failure must be previously
constituted against the proper debtor, before action can
he brought against tbe cautioner for making up the loss
of the party suffering,
,20. The cautioner, who binds himself at the desire
of the principal debtor, has an actio mandati or of re¬
lief against him, for recovering the principal and in¬
terest paid by himself to the creditor, and for necessary
damages: which action lies dc jure, though the credi¬
tor should not assign to him on payment. As relief
against the debtor is implied in fidejussory obligations,
the cautioner, where such relief is cut off, is no longer
bound : hence the defence of prescription frees the cau¬
tioner, as well as the principal debtor.
21. But (T.) Where the cautionry is interposed to
an obligation merely natural, the relief is restricted
to the sums that have really turned to the debtor’s
profit. (2.) A cautioner who pays without citing the
debtor, loses his relief, in so far as the debtor had a re¬
levant defence against the debt, in whole or in part.
Belief is not competent to the cautioner, till he either
pays the debt, or is distressed for it j except, 1st, Where
the debtor is expressly hound to deliver to the cau¬
tioner his obligation cancelled, against a day cer¬
tain, and has failed; or, 2dly,' Where the debtor is
vergens ad inopiam ; in which case the cautioner may,
by proper diligence, secure the debtor’s funds for his
own relief, even before payment or distress.
22. A right of relief is competent de jure to the
cautioner, who pays, against his co-cantioners, unless
where the cautioner appears to have renounced it. In
consequence of this implied relief, a creditor, if he
shall grant a discharge to any one of the cautioners,
must, in demanding the debt from the others, deduct
that part as to which he has cut off their relief by
that discharge. Where the principal debtor, in a
bond in which the cautioner is bound, grants bond of
corroboration, with a new cautioner, both cautioners,
as they intervene for the same debt, and at the desire
of the same debtor, have a mutual relief against each
other ; but where the cautioner in the first bond signs
as a principal obligant in the corroboration, the cau¬
tioner in the new bond, it would seem, would be en¬
titled to a total relief against the first cautioner. At
same time, the decisions of the court of session are not
perfectly at one upon this branch of the doctrine of
cautionryr.
23. Cautionry is %\so judicial, as in a suspension. It Judieiaf
is sufficient to loose the cautioner, that w hen he became cautionn ,
bond, the suspender had good reason to suspend, e. g.
if the charger had at that period no title, or Stad not
then performed his part, though these grounds of sus¬
pension
6y(
liaw of
Scotland.
pension should be afterwards taken off. In all mari-
i causes, where the parties are frequently foreigners,
the defender must give cauWon judicio sisti et judicatum
solvi: such cautioner gets free by the death of the de¬
fender before sentencej but he continues bound, though
the cause should be carried from the admiral to the
court of session. This sort of caution is only to be ex¬
acted in causes strictly maritime.
24. It happens frequently, that a creditor takes
two or more obligants bound to him, all as principal
debtors, without fidejussion. Where they are so
bound, for the performance of facts that are in them¬
selves indivisible, they are liable each for the whole or
singuh m sohdum. But, if the obligation be for a
sum of money, they are only liable pro rata ; unless,
(1.) Where they are in express words bound conjunct-
ly and severally ; or, (2.) In the case of bills or pro¬
missory notes. One of several obligants of this sort,
who pays the whole debt, or fulfils the obligation, is
entitled to a proportional relief against the rest; in such
manner, that the loss must, in every case, fall equally
upon all the solvent obligants.
Interest of 25. Obligations for sums of money are frequently
money. accompanied with an obligation for the annualrent or
interest thereof. Interest (usura) is the profit due by
the debtor of a sum of money, to the creditor for the
use of it. The canon law considered the taking of
interest as unlawful : the law of Moses allowed it to
be exacted from strangers : and all the reformed na¬
tions of Europe have found it necessary, after the ex¬
ample of the Romans, to authorise it at certain rates
fixed by statute. Soon after the Reformation, our le¬
gal interest was fixed at the rate of 10 per cent, per
annum : from which time it had been gradually redu¬
ced, till at last, by 12 Ann. stat. 2. c. 16. it was
brought to five per cent, and has continued at that rate
ever since.
26. Interest is due, either by law or by paction.
It is due by law, either from the force of statute, un¬
der which may be included acts of sederunt, or from
the nature of the transaction. Bills of exchange, and
inland bills, though they should not be protested, car¬
ry interest from their date in case of not acceptance $
or from the day of their falling due, in case of ac¬
ceptance and not payment. Where a bill is accept¬
ed, which bears no term of payment, or which is pay¬
able on demand, no interest is due till demand be
made of the sum, the legal voucher of which is a no¬
torial protest. Interest is due by a debtor after de¬
nunciation, for all the sums contained in the dilisrence,
even for that part which is made up of interest. Sums
paid by cautioners on distress carry interest, not only
as to the principal sum in the obligation, but as to the
interest paid by the cautioner. Factors named by the
court of session are liable for interest, by a special act
of sederunt j see N° clxxii. 11.
27. It arises ex lege, or from the nature of the
transaction, that a purchaser in a sale is liable in inte¬
rest for the price of the lands bought from the term
of his entry, though the price should be arrested in
his hands, or though the seller should not be able to
deliver to him a sufficient progress or title to the
lands ; for no purchaser can in equity enjoy the fruits
of the lands, while at the same time he retains the in¬
terest of the price: but lawful consignation of the
L A W. Part III,
price made by a purchaser, upon the refusal of the ;Law of
person’s having right to receive it, stops the currency Scotland.
o( interest. Where one intermeddles with money be- '-—v—
longing to another which carries interest, he ought to
restore, it cum omni obventione et causa ; and is therefore
liable in the interest of it, as being truly an accessory
of the subject itself. It is also from tbe nature of the
transaction, that interest is in certain cases allowed to
merchants or others in name of damages.
28. Interest is due by express paction, where there
is a clause in a bond or obligation, by which money
is made to carry interest. An obligation is not law¬
ful, where it is agreed on, that the yearly interest of
the sum lent, if it should not be paid punctually as it
falls due, shall be accumulated into a principal sum
bearing interest; but an obligation may be lawfully
granted, not only for the sum truly lent, but for the
interest to the day at which the obligation is made
payable, whereby the intermediate interest is accumu¬
lated into a principal sum from the term of payment.
Interest may be also due by hnplied paction : Thus
where the interest upon a debt is by a letter promised
for time past, such promise implies a paction for interest
as long as the debt remains unpaid j thus also the use
of payment of interest presumes a paction, and when
interest is expressed for one term, it is presumed to be
bargained for till payment.
29. I he subject matter of all obligations consists ^ef,eral
either of things or of facts. Things exempted from prope.rties
commerce cannot be the subject of obligation. (Seet/0„ ‘§a'
N° clxii. 2. One cannot be obliged to the perform¬
ance of a fact naturally impossible j nor of a fact in
itself immoral, for that is also in the judgment of law
impossible. Since impossible obligations are null, no
penalty or damage can be incurred for non-perform¬
ance : but it is otherwise, if the fact be in itself pos¬
sible, though not in the debtor’s power ; in which case
the rule obtains, locwn facti imprcestabilis subit dam¬
num et interesse.
30. An obligation, to which a condition is object¬
ed, either naturally or morally impossible, is in the
general case null j for the parties are presumed not to
have been serious. But such obligation is valid, and
the condition thereof held two non scripta, (1.) In tes¬
taments : (2.) In obligations, to the performance of
which the granter lies under a natural tie, as in bonds
of provision to a child. Where an obligation is
granted under a condition, lawful but unfavourable,
e. g. that the creditor shall not marry without the
consent of certain friends, no more weight is given
to the condition than the judge thinks reasonable.
A condition, which is in some degree in the power
of the creditor himself, is held as fulfilled, if he has
done all he could to fulfil it. Implement or perform¬
ance cannot be demanded in a mutual contract, by that
party who himself declines or cannot fulfil the coun¬
terpart.
31. Donation, so long as the subject is not deliver-Dcnation.
ed to the donee, may be justly ranked among obliga¬
tions ; and it is that obligation which arises from the
mere good will and liberality of the granter. Dona¬
tions imply no warrandice, but from the future facts
of the donor. They are hardly revocable by our law
for ingratitude, though it should be of the grossest
kind : those betwixt man and wife are revocable by
the
Law of
Scotland.
Cliap. II. L A
the donor, even after the death of the donee ; but re-
muneratory grants, not being truly donations, cannot
be so revoked. That special sort of donation, which
is constituted verbally, is called a. promise. The Ho¬
man law entitled all donors to the benejicium competsn-
tice^ in virtue of which they might retain such part of
the donation as was necessary for their own subsist¬
ence. Our law affords this benefit to fathers, with
respect to the provisions granted to their children ;
and to grandfathers, which is a natural consequence
of children’s obligation to aliment their indigent pa¬
rents $ but to no collateral relation, not even to bro¬
thers.
Donations made in contemplation of death, or
W- 671
plication is to be so made, cceteris paribus, that both Law of
32:
mortis causa, are of the nature of legacies, and like
them revocable: consequently, not being effectual in
the granter’s life, they cannot compete with any of
his creditors ; not even with those whose debts were
contracted after the donation. They are understoad
to be given from a personal regard to the donee, and
therefore fall by his predecease. No deed, after de¬
livery, is to be presumed a donatio mortis causa ; for
revocation is excluded by delivery.
33. Deeds are not presumed, in dubio, to be dona¬
tions. Hence, a deed by a debtor to his creditor, if
donation be not expressed, is presumed to be granted
in security or satisfaction of the debt $ but bonds of
provision to children are, from the presumption of pa¬
ternal affection, construed to be intended as an addi¬
tional patrimony ; yet a tocher, given to a daughter
in her marriage contract, is presumed to be in satis¬
faction of all former bonds and debts j because mar¬
riage contracts usually contain the whole provisions in
favour of the bride. One who aliments a person that
is come of age, without an express paction for board,
is presumed to have entertained him as a friend, unless
in the case of those who earn their living by the en¬
tertainment or board of strangers. But alimony given
to minors, who cannot bargain for themselves, is not
accounted a donation ; except either where it is pre¬
sumed from the near relation of the person alimenting,
that it was given ex pietate; or where the minor had a
father or curators, with whom a bargain might have
been made.
Sect. XVI. Of the Dissolution or Extinction of Obli¬
gations.
I. Obligations may be dissolved performance, or
implement, consent, compensation, novation, and confu¬
sion. (1.) By specif cal performance : thus, an obli¬
gation for a sum of money is extinguished by payment.
The creditor is not obliged to accept of payment by
parts, unless where the sum is payable by different di¬
visions. If a debtor in two or more separate bonds to
the same creditor, made an indefinite payment, with¬
out ascribing it at the time to any one of the obliga¬
tions, the payment is applied, 1st, To interest, or to
sums not bearing interest. 2dly, To the sums that are
least secured, if the debtor thereby incurs no rigorous
penalty. But, 3dly, If this application be penal on
the debtor, e. g. by suffering the legal of an adjudica¬
tion to expire, the payment will be applied so as to
save the debtor from that forfeiture. Where one of the
debts is secured by a cautioner, the other not, the ap-
creditor and cautioner may have equal justice done to Scotland,
them. i——
2. Payment made by the debtor upon a mistake in
fact, to one whom he believed, upon probable grounds,
to have, the right of receiving payment, extinguishes
the obligation. But payment made to one, io whom
the law denies the power of receiving it, has not this
effect ; as if a debtor, seized by letters of caption,
should make payment to the messenger j for ignorantia
juris neminem excusat. In all debts, the debtor, if he
be not interpelled, may safely pay before the term, ex¬
cept in tack duties or feu duties; the payment where¬
of, before the terms at which they are made payable,
is construed to be collusive, in a question with a credi¬
tor of the landlord or superior. Payment is in dubio
presumed, by the voucher of the debt being in the
hands of the debtor *, chirographum, apud debitorem
repertum, prcesumiiur solutum.
3. Obligations are extinguishable by the consent o/Bycon-
the creditor, who, without full implement, or evensent*
any implement, may renounce the right constituted in
his own favour. Though a discharge or acquittance
granted by one whom the debtor bona fide took for
the creditor, but who was not, extinguishes the obli¬
gation, if the satisfaction made by the debtor was
real j yet where it is imaginary, the discharge will
not screen him from paying to the true creditor the
debt for which he had made no prior satisfaction. In
all debts which are constituted by writing, the extinc¬
tion, whether it be by specifical performance or bare
consent, must be proved, either by the oath of the
creditor, or by a discharge in writing 5 and the same
solemnities which law requires in the obligation, are
necessary in the discharge: but, where payment is
made, not by the debtor himself, but by the creditor’s
intromission with the rents of the debtor’s estate, or by
delivery to him of goods in name of the debtor, such
delivery or intromission, beingycc^z, may be proved by
witnesses, though the debt should have been not only
constituted by writing, but made real on the debtor’s
lands by adjudication.
4. A discharge, though it should be general, of all
that the granter can demand, extends not to debts of
an uncommon kind, which are not presumed to have
been under the granter’s eye. This doctrine applies
also to general assignations. In annual payments, as
of rents, feu-duties, interest, &c. three consecutive dis¬
charges by the creditor, of the yearly or termly duties,
presume the payment of all preceding.®. Two discharges
by the ancestor, and Uie third by the heir, do not infer
this presumption, if the heir was ignorant of the ances¬
tor’s discharges. And discharges by an administrator,
as a factor, tutor, &c. presume only the payment of
all preceding duties incurred during his administra¬
tion. This presumption arises from repeating the dis¬
charges thrice successively j and so does not hold in the
case of two discharges, though they should include the
duties of three or more terms.
5. Where the same person is both creditor and By corn-
debtor to another, the mutual obligations, if they arePensati°n
for equal sums, are extinguished by compensation ; if
for unequal, still the lesser obligation is extinguish¬
ed, and the greater diminished, as far as the con¬
course of debit and credit goes. To found compensa¬
tion,
672
.Law of
Scoti and.
i!y reteu.
lioii.
L A
tlon, (1.) Each of the parties must be debtor and cre¬
ditor at the same time. (2.) Each of them must be
debtor and creditor in his own right. (3.) The mu¬
tual debts must be of the same quality : hence, a sum
of money cannot be compensated with a quantity of
corns } because, till the prices are fixed, at which the
corns are to be converted into money, the two debts
are incommensurable. Lastly, Compensation cannot
be admitted, where the mutual debts are not clearly
ascertained, either by a written obligation, the sentence
of a judge, or the oath of the party. Where this re¬
quires but a short discussion, sentence for the pursuer
is delayed for some time, excequitate, that the defender
may make good his ground of compensation. Where a
debt for fungibles is ascertained in money by the sen¬
tence of a judge, the compensation can have no effect
farther back than the liquidation ; because, before sen¬
tence, the debts were incommensurable: but, where a
debt for a sum of money is, in the course of a suit,
constituted by the oath of the debtor, the compensa¬
tion, after it is admitted by the judge, operates retro,
in so tar as concerns the currency of interest, to the
time when, by the parties acknowledgment, the debt
became due : for, in this case, the debtor’s oath is not
what creates the debt, or makes it liquid : it only de¬
clares that such a liquid sum was truly due before.
Compensation cannot be offered after decree, either by
way of suspension or reduction ; unless it has been for¬
merly pleaded, and unjustly repelled. Decrees in ab¬
sence are excepted.
6. The right ol retention, which bears a near re¬
semblance to compensation, is chiefly competent, where
the mutual debts, not being liquid, cannot be the
ground of compensation j and it is sometimes admit¬
ted ex eequitate in liquid debts, where compensation
is excluded by statute : thus, though compensation
cannot be pleaded after decree, either against a credi¬
tor or his assignee ; yet, if the original creditor should
become bankrupt, the debtor, even after decree, may
retain against the assignee, till he gives security for sa¬
tisfying the debtor’s claim against the cedent. This
right is frequently founded in the expence disbursed on
work employed on the subject retained, and so arises
from the mutual obligations incumbent on the par¬
ties. It has never been disputed that retention of
goods was competent, until payment or satisfaction
of the debt incurred in relation to these goods $ but
it was found, by the court of session, in a case which
was very lately before them, that goods could not
be retained by a manufacturer until payment of a
prior debt ; the debt incurred upon the goods in his
hands being offered ; and although the debtor had be¬
come bankrupt, and the manufacturer must otherwise
rank as a common creditor for his prior debt. But
retention may be sustained, though the debt due to
him who claims it does not arise from the nature of
the obligation by which he is debtor : thus, a factor
on a land estate may retain the sums levied by him in
consequence of his factory, not only till he be paid of
the disbursements made on occasion of such estate, but
also till he be discharged from the separate engage¬
ments he may have entered into on his constituent’s ac¬
count.
By ne7&- 7. Obligations are dissolved by novation, whereby
tkm. one obligation is changed into another, without chan-
Law of
Scoliand.
W- PartlH,
ging either the debtor or creditor. The first obliga¬
tion being thereby extinguished, the cautioners in it
are loosed, and all its consequences discharged j so that v“" V'N—
the debtor remains bound only by the last. As the cre¬
ditor to whom a right is once constituted, ought not to
lose it by implication, novation is not easily presumed
and the new obligation is construed to be merely corro¬
borative of the old j but, where the second obligation By d«l
expressly bears to be in satisfaction of the first, these tion. ***
words must necessarily be explained into novation.
Where the creditor accepts of a new debtor, in place
of the former who is discharged, this method of extinc¬
tion is called delegation.
8. Obligations are extinguished confusione, where the By •oBfo.
debit and credit meet in the same person, either by suc-siou.
cession or singular title, e. g. when the debtor succeeds
to the creditor, or the creditor to the debtor, or a stran¬
ger to both j for one cannot be debtor to himself. If
the succession, from which the confusio arises, happens
afterwards to be divided, so as the debtor and creditor
come again to be different persons ; the confusio does
not produce an extinction, but only a temporary sus¬
pension, of the debt.
Sect. XVII. Of Assignations.
. . cksvii. 1 5
1. Heritable rights, when they are clothed with in-A.8S>£|,a- »
feftment, are transmitted by disposition, which is a wri-tions-
ting containing procuratory of resignation and precept
of seisin j but those which either require no seisin, or
on which seisin has not actually followed, are trans¬
missible by simple assignation. He who grants the
assignation is called the cedent ^ and he who receives
it, the assignee or cessionary : if the assignee conveys
his right to a third person, the deed of conveyance is
called a translation; and if he assigns it back to the ce¬
dent, a retrocession. Certain rights are, from the uses
to which they are destined, incapable of transmission,
as alimentary rights : others cannot be assigned by the
person invested in them, without special powers given
to him; as tacks, reversions: the transmission of a
third sort, is not presumed to be intended, without an
express conveyance ; as of paraphernal goods, which
are so proper to the wife, that a general assignation,
by her to her husband, of ail that did or should belong
to her at her decease, does not comprehend them. A
liferent right is, by its nature, incapable of a proper
transmission; but its profits may be assigned while it
subsists.
2. Assignations must not only be delivered to the as- fniijiiatien
signee, but intimated by him to the debtor. Intima-
tions are considered as so necessary for completing thetions*
conveyance, that in a competition between two assig¬
nations, the last, if first intimated, is preferred.
3. Though, regularly, intimation to the debtor isWhatiioti-
made by' an instrument, taken in the hands of a notary, ^0afl9U
by the assignee or his procurator; yet the Jaw admitse^,!ivaleBt
equipollencies, where the notice of the assignment given
to the debtor is equally strong. Thus, a charge upon ^
letters of horning at the assignee’s instance, or a suit
brought by him against the debtor, supplies the want
of intimation ; these being judicial acts, which expose
the conveyance to the eyes both of the judge and of
the debtor , or the debtor s promise of payment by
writing to the assignee, because that is in effect a cor¬
roborating
(tap. IT
aw of roborating of the original debt. The assignee’s posses-
' sion of the right, by entering into payment of the rents
^ or interest, is also equal to an intimation ; for it im¬
ports, not only notice to the debtor, but his actual
compliance: but the debtor’s private knowledge of the
assignment is not sustained as intimation.
U hat 4. Certain conveyances need no intimation. (1.) In-
not dorsations of bills of exchange ; for these are not to be
1 niJ,cssa,,Jr' fettered with forms, introduced by the laws of particu¬
lar states. (2.) Bank notes are fully conveyed by
the bare delivery of them j for as they are payable to
the bearer, their property must pass with their posses¬
sion. (3.) Adjudication, which is a judicial convey¬
ance, and marriage, which is a legal one, carry the
lull right of the subjects thereby conveyed, without
intimation : nevertheless, as there is nothing in these
conveyances which can of themselves put the debtor
in mala fide, he is therefore in tuto to pay to the wife,
or to the original creditor in the debt adjudged, till
the marriage or adjudication be notified to him. As¬
signments of moveable subjects, though they be inti¬
mated, if they are retentapossessione, (the cedent
retaining the possession) cannot hurt the cedent’s cre¬
ditors 5 for such rights are presumed, in all questions
with creditors, to be collusive, and granted in trust for
the cedent himself.
Effajs o? 5. An assignation carries to the assignee the whole
asHjKtioa.right subject conveyed, as it was in the cedent;
and consequently be may use diligence either in his
cedent’s name while he is alive, or in his own.
6. After an assignation is intimated, the debtor can¬
not prove a payment or compensation, by the oath of
the cedent, who has no longer any interest in the debt j
unless the matter has been made litigious by an action
commenced prior to the intimation: but the debtor
may refer to the oath of the assignee, who is in the
right of the debt, that the assignment was gratuitous,
or in trust for the cedent: either of which being pro¬
ved, the oath of the cedent will affect the assignee. If
the assignation be in part onerous, and in part gratui¬
tous, the cedent’s oath is good against the assignee,
only in so far as his right is gratuitous. All defences
competent against the original creditor in a moveable
debt, which can be proved otherwise than by his oath,
continue relevant against even an onerous assignee}
whose right can be no better than that of his author,
and must therefore remain affected with all the burdens
which attended it in the author’s person.
Sect. XVIII. Of Arrestments and Poindings.
I. The diligences whereby a creditor may affect his
debtor’s moveable subjects, are arrestment and poind¬
ing. By arrestment is sometimes meant the securing
of a criminal’s person till trial} hut as it is understood
in the rubric of this title, it is the order of a judge, by
which he who is debtor in a moveable obligation to the
arrester’s debtor, is prohibited to make payment or de¬
livery till the debt due to the arrester be paid or se¬
cured. The arrester’s debtor is usually called the com¬
mon debtor } because, where there are two or more
competing creditors, he is debtor to all of them. The
person in whose hands the diligence is used is styled
the arrestee.
2. Arrestment may be laid on by the authority either
Vol. XL Part II. ' f
. 673
of the supreme court, or of an inferior judge. In the i,aw of
first case, it proceeds either upon special letters of ar- ScotlamJ.
restment, or on a warrant containing letters of horn- ■ v'-"—1
ing: and it must be executed by a messenger. The
warrants granted by interior judges are called precepts
of arrestment, and they are executed by the officer pro¬
per to the court. Where the debtor to the common
debtor is a pupil, arrestment is properly used in the
hands of the tutor, as the pupil’s administrator: this
doctrine may perhaps extend to other general admini¬
strators, as commissioner, &c. But arrestment used in
the hands of a factor or steward, cannot found an ac¬
tion of forthcoming without calling the constituent.
W here the debtor to the common debtor is a corpora¬
tion, arrestment must be used in the hands of the di¬
rectors or treasurer, who represent the whole body.
Arrestment, when it is used in the bands of the debtor
himself, is inept 5 for that diligence is intended only
as a restraint upon third parties.
3. All debts in which one is personally hound,
though they should be heritably secured, are grounds
upon which the creditor may arrest the moveable estate
belonging to his debtor. Arrestments may proceed on
a debt, the term of payment whereof is not yet come,
in case the debtor be vergens ad inopiarn. If a debt be
not yet constituted by decree or registration, the cre¬
ditor may arise and execute a summons against his
debtor (or payment, on which pending action arrest¬
ment may be used, in the same manner as inhibition,
which is called arrestment upon a dependence. If one’s
ground of credit be for the performance of a fact, or
if his depending process be merely declaratory, without
a conclusion of payment or delivery, such claims
are not admitted to be sufficient grounds for arrest¬
ment.
4. Moveable debts are the proper subject of arrest-What deMi
ment } under which are comprehended conditional an'**ub,'c-
debts, and even depending claims. For lessening the
expence of diligence to creditors, all bonds which have
not been made properly heritable by seisin are declared
arrestable: but this does not extend to adjudications,
wadsets, or other personal rights of lands, which are
not properly debts. Certain moveable debts are not
arrestable. (1.) Debts due by bill, which pass from
hand to hand as bags of money. (2.) Future debts}
for though inhibition extends to adquirenda as well as
adquisita, yet arrestment is limited, by its warrant, to
the debt due at the time of serving it against the ar¬
restee. Hence, an arrestment of rents or interest car¬
ries only those that have already either fallen due or at
least become current. Claims, depending on the issue
of a suit, are not considered as future debts} for the
sentence, when pronounced, has a retrospect to the pe¬
riod at which the claim was first founded. The like
doctrine holds in conditional debts. (3.) Alimentary
debts are not arrestable} for these are granted on per¬
sonal considerations, and so are not communicable to
creditors : but the past interest due upon such debt may
be arrested by the person who has furnished the ali¬
mony. One cannot secure his own effects to himself
for his maintenance, so as they shall not be affectable
by his creditors. Salaries annexed to offices granted
by the king, and particularly those granted to the
judges of the session, and the fees of servants, are con¬
sidered as alimentary funds; but the surplus fee, over
4 Q and
L A W.
674
Law of and above wbat Is necessary for the servant’s personal
Scotland, uses, may be arrested. It has also been found, that a
T wadset sum consigned after an order of redemption
used, but before decreet of declarator, is not arrest¬
able.
b^Vof 5* 'n contempt °f the arrestment, the arrestee
arrestment ma^e payment of the sum, or deliver the goods
arrested, to the common debtor, he is not only liable
criminally for breach of arrestment, but he must pay
the debt again to the arrester. As the law formerly
stood, an arrestment used at the market cross of Edin¬
burgh, pier and shore of Leith, against a person furtli
of the kingdom, was good j so that if the arrestee made
payment to his creditor after the date of the arrest¬
ment, he was found liable in second payment to the ar¬
rester, because he had done all in his power to notify
his diligence. This, however, is very properly altered
by § 3. of the act of the 23d Geo. III. which declares
that an arrestment used at the market cross of Edin¬
burgh, pier and shore of Leith, in the hands of any
person out of the kingdom, without other sufficient no¬
tification, shall not interpel the arrestee from paying
bona fide to the original creditor. Arrestment is not
merely prohibitory, as inhibitions are $ but is a step of
diligence which founds the user in a subsequent action
whereby the property of the subject arrested may be
adjudged to him. It therefore does not, by our latter
practice, fall by the death of the arrestee ; but continues
to subsist, as a foundation for an action of forthcoming
against his heir, while the subject arrested remains in
medio. Ear less is arrestment lost, either by the death
of the arrester, or of the common debtor.
Loosing of 6. Where arrestment proceeds on a depending ac-
arrestment.tion, it may be loosed by the common debtor’s giving
security to the arrester for his debt in the event it shall
be found due. Arrestment founded on decrees, or on
registered obligations, which in the judgment of lav/
are decrees, cannot be loosed but upon payment or con¬
signation j except, (1.) Where the term of payment
of the debt is not yet come, or the condition has not
yet existed. (2.) Where the arrestment has proceed¬
ed on a registered contract, in which the debts or mu¬
tual obligations are not liquid. (3.) Where the de¬
cree is suspended, or turned into a libel: for, till the
suspension be discussed, or the pending action conclud¬
ed, it cannot be known whether any debt be truly
due. A loosing takes off the nexus which had been
laid on the subject arrested j so that the arrestee may
thereafter pay safely to his creditor, and the cautioner
is substituted in place of the arrestment, for the arrest¬
er’s security : yet the arrester may, while the subject
continues with the arrestee, pursue him in a forthcom¬
ing, notwithstanding the loosing.
Forthcom- 7* Arrestment is only an inchoated or begun dili-
ing on ar- gence \ to perfect it, there must be an action brought
restment. Jjy the arrester against the arrestee, to make the debt
or subject arrested forthcoming. In this action, the
common debtor must be called for his interest, that he
may have an opportunity of excepting to the lawful¬
ness or extent of the debt on which the diligence pro¬
ceeded. Before a forthcoming can be pursued, the
debt due by the common debtor to the arrester must be
liquidated •, for the arrester can be no further entitled
to the subject arrested than to the extent of the debt
due to him by the common debtor. Where the sub-
Part II.
ject arrested is a sum of money, it is, by the decree of Lawof
forthcoming, directed to be paid to the pursuer towards Scotland,
satisfying his debt j where goods are arrested, the judge
ordains them to be exposed to sale, and the price to be
delivered to the pursuer. So that, in either case de¬
crees of forthcoming are judicial assignations to the ar¬
rester of the subject arrested.
8. In all competitions, regard is had to the dates, Prefcienc.
not of the grounds of debt, but of the diligences pro-mawesu
ceeding upon them. In the competition of arrestments,
the preference is governed by their dates, according to
the priority even of hours, where it appears with any
certainty which is the first. But, as arrestment is but
a begun diligence, therefore if a prior arrester shall ne¬
glect to insist in an action of forthcoming for such a
time as may be reasonably construed into a desertion of
his begun diligence, he loses his preference. But, as
dereliction of diligence is not easily presumed, the di¬
stance of above two years, between the first arrestment
and the decree of forthcoming, was found not to make
such a mora as to entitle the posterior arrester to atpre-
ference. This rule of preference, according to the
dates of the several arrestments, holds by our present
practice, whether they have proceeded on a decree or
on a dependence; on debts not yet payable, or on
debts already payable 5 provided the pendency shall
have been closed, or the debt have become payable, be¬
fore the issue of the competition.
By act 23d Geo. III. § 2. it is enacted, that when
a debtor is made bankrupt, in terms of the act 1696,
as thereby extended (clxxxiii. 13.), all arrestments
which shall have been used for attaching any personal
effects of such bankrupt within thirty days prior to the
bankruptcy, or within four kalender months immedi¬
ately subsequent, shall be pan passu preferable : and in
order to save as far as possible the expence of a multi¬
plicity of arrestments, it is declared, that where the ef¬
fects of a debtor are arrested by any creditor within
thirty days before the bankruptcy, or within four
months after it, and a process of forthcoming or mul¬
tiplepoinding is brought in which such arrestment is
founded on, it shall be competent for any other credi¬
tor producing his interest, and making his claim in the
said process, at any time before the expiration of the
said four months, to be ranked in the same manner as
if he had used the form of arrestment j the expence of
raising the process, and of the diligence at the instance
of the creditor who raises it, being always paid out of
the common fund. We here again repeat, that the
enactments of this statute are only temporary, and not
yet a permanent part of the law of Scotland, whatever
they may become when the subject is resumed by the
legislature upon the expiry of the act.
9. In the competition of arrestments with assigna¬
tions, an assignation by the common debtor, intimated
before arrestment, is preferable to the arrestment. If
the assignation is granted before arrestment, but not in¬
timated till after it, the arrester is preferred.
10. PoiNDING is that diligence affecting moveable p0jnjing,
subjects, by which their property is carried directly to
the creditor. No poinding can proceed, till a charge
be given to the debtor to pay or perform, and the days
thereof be expired, except poindings against vassals for
their feu-duties, and poindings against tenants for rent,
proceeding upon the landlord’s own decree) in which
L A W.
II
the
■Fr    ——      -   ■■ ——     —s
F*ni
tkeof.
Ciap. II. L A
,aw of the ancient custom of poinding without a previous
Sotland. charge continues. A debtor’s goods may be poinded
^ by one creditor, though they have been arrested before
by anotiier ; for arrestment being but an imperfect di¬
ligence, leaves the right of the subject still in the debt¬
or, and so cannot hinder any creditor from using a more
perfect diligence, which has the effect of carrying the
property directly to himself.
11. No cattle pertaining to the plough, nor instru¬
ments of tillage can be poinded in the time of labour¬
ing or tilling the ground, unless where the debtor has
no other goods. By labouring time is understood, that
time, in which that tenant, whose goods are to be
poinded, is ploughing, though he should have been
earlier or later than his neighbours ; but summer fal¬
lowing does not fall under this rule.
12. In the exection of poinding, the debtor’s goods
must be appraised, first, on the ground of the lands
where they are laid hold on, and a second time at the
market cross of the jurisdiction, by the stated appraisers
thereof j or, if there be none, by persons named by the
messenger or other officer employed in the diligence.
Next, the messenger must, after public intimation by
three oyesses, declare the value of the goods according
to the second appraisement, and require the debtor to
make payment of the ''debt, including interest and ex-
pences. If payment shall be offered to the creditor, or
in his absence to his lawful attorney ; or if, in case of
refusal bv them, consignation of the debt shall he made
in the hands of the judge ordinary or his clerk, the
goods must be left with the debtor; if not, the mes¬
senger ought to adjudge and deliver them over, at the
appraised value, to the user of the diligence towards his
payment: and the debtor is entitled to a copy of the
warrant and executions, as a voucher that the debt is
discharged in whole or in part by the goods poinded.
13. Ministers may poind for their stipends, upon one
appraisement on the ground of the lands, and landlords
were always in use to poind so, for their rents. Ap¬
praisement of the goods at the market cross of the next
royal borough, or even of the next head borough of
stewartry or regality, though these jurisdictions he
abolished, is declared as sufficient as if they were car¬
ried to the head borough of the shire. Poinding, whe¬
ther it be considered as a sentence, or as the execution
of a sentence, must be proceeded in between sun-rising
and sun-setting; or at least it must he finished before
jrers of the going oft’of day-light.—The powers of the officer
It senSers employed in the execution of poindings are not clear-
iBlknlnrl Ilf*,, • . r 1 • 1
ly defined by custom, in the case or a third party
claiming the property of the goods to be poinded.
This is certain, that he may take the oath of the claim¬
ant upon the verity of bis claim; and if from thence
it shall appear that the claimant’s title is collusive, be
ought to proceed in the diligence ; hut if there remains
the least doubt, his safest course is to deliver the goods
to the claimant, and to express in his execution the
reasons why poinding did not proceed.
14. Any person who stops a poinding via facti, on
groundless pretences, is liable, both criminally, in the
pains of deforcement (see N° clxxxvi. 15.), and civilly,
in the value of the goods which might have been poind¬
ed by the creditor.
By the foresaid statute 23. Geo. III. § 4. it is de¬
clared, that after a person is rendered bankrupt, as
i“ioind-
1
W.
67 s
thereby directed, no poinding of the moveables be- Law of
longing to such bankrupt, within 30 days before his Scotland,
bankruptcy, or within four kalendar months thereafter,‘'“““V'—-
shall give a preference to such poinder over the other
lawful creditors of the bankrupt; but the goods so
poinded shall be considered as in medio, and the person
receiving the price of them shall be liable to make the
same forthcoming, so as that all the other creditors
of the bankrupt who are possessed of liquidate grounds
of debt or decrees for payment, shall be entitled to their
proportion of the same ; provided they make their
claim by summoning the poinder at any time before
the expiration of the said four months, deducting al¬
ways the expence of such poinding from the first end
of the price of such goods, together with 20 per cent,
on the appraised value, which the poinder shall retain
to account of his debt in preference to the other cre¬
ditors ; reserving liberty to him to rank on the re¬
maining sum for the full amount of the debt contained
in his diligence. And it is by the said act further de¬
clared, that where any person concerned in trade or
manufactures is bankrupt, as before mentioned, it may
be lawful for any creditor, to the amount of look
any two creditors to the amount of 150I. or any three
or more creditors to the amount of 200I. or upwards,
to apply for sequestration of the estate real or personal
belonging to the debtor; after awarding which, an
interim factor, and then a trustee, shall be chosen by
the creditors, who is to conduct the business of the
sequestration, according to the various rules fixed and
laid down by the statute. The act, however, expressly
excludes all others, except those concerned in trade or
manufacture, from the benefit of the sequestration;
but it is probable, when it comes to be renewed or
digested in another form, this part of it will suffer an
alteration.
Sect. XIX. Of Prescription. clxxix„
1. Prescription, which is a method, both of establish-Prescrip-
ing and of extinguishing property, is either positive*10**'
or negative. Positive prescription is generally defined,
as the Roman usncapio, The acquisition of property
(it should rather be, when applied to our law, the
securing it against all further challenge) by the posses¬
sor’s continuing bis possession for the time which law
has declared sufficient for that purpose : negative, is
the loss or amission of a right, by neglecting to follow
it forth, or use it, during the whole time limited by
law. The doctrine of prescription, which is, by some
writers, condemned as contrary to justice, has been
introduced, that the claims of negligent creditors
might not subsist forever, that property might be at last
fixed, and forgeries discouraged, which the difficulty
of detecting must have made exceeding frequent, if
no length of time had limited the legal effect of writ¬
ings.
2. Positive prescription was first introduced into ourPotitire.
law by 1617, c. 12. which enacts, that whoever shall
have possessed bis lands, annualrents, or other heri¬
tages, peaceably in virtue of iiifeftments, for 40 years
continually after their dates, shall not thereafter be dis¬
quieted in bis right by any person pretending a better
title. Under heritages are comprehended every right
that is fundo annexum, and capable of continual posses-
4 Q 2 sion.
676
Law of
Scotland
Ke satire
pre»«H'ip>
A shofter
segative
jirescrip-
tion.
L A
slon. Continued possession, if proved as far back as the
memory of man, presumes possession upwards to the
date ot the infeftrnent. Che whole course of possession
must by the act be founded on seisins ; and consequent¬
ly no part thereof on the bare right of apparency : but
40 years possession, without seisin, is sufficient in the
prescription of such heritable rights as do not require
seisin. The possession must also be without wy lawful
interruption, i. e. it must neither be interrupted via
facti, nor via juris. The prescription of subjects not
expressed in the infeftment as part and pertinent ofan-
other subject specially expressed, has been explained
N° clxvii. 6.
3. The act requires, that the possessor produce, as
his title of prescription, a charter of the lands, pre¬
ceding the 40 years possession, with the seisin follow¬
ing on it : and where there is no charter extant, sei¬
sins, one or more, standing together for 40 years, and
proceeding either on retours or precepts of dare con¬
stat. This has given rise to a reasonable distinction,
observed in practice, between the prescription of a sin¬
gular successor, and of an heir. Singular successors
must produce for their title of prescription, not only
a seisin, but its warrant, as a charter, disposition, &c.
either in their own person, or in that of their, author :
but the production, by an heir, of seisins, one or more,
standing together for 40 years, and proceeding on re¬
tours or precepts of dart constat, is sufficient. The
heir is not obliged to produce the retours or precepts
on which his seisins proceed, nor is the singular succes¬
sor obliged to produce the ground of his charter: so
that if the title of prescription produced be a fair deed,
and a sufficient title of property, the possessor is secure
by the act, which admits no ground of challenge, but
falsehood. A special statute, for establishing the posi¬
tive prescription in moveable rights, was not necessary :
for since a title in writing is not requisite for the ac¬
quiring ot these, the negative prescription, by which
all right of action for recovering their property is cut
off, effectually secures the possessor.
4. The negative prescription of obligations, by the
lapse of 40 years, was introduced into our law long
before the positive, (1469, c. 29.—1474, c. 55.).
This prescription is now amplified by the foresaid act
(1617), which has extended it to all actions competent
upon heritable bonds, reversions, and others whatsoever;
unless where the reversions are either incorporated in
the body of the wadset-right, or registered in the re¬
gister of reversions : And reversions so incorporated, or
registered, are not only exempted from the negative
prescription, but they are an effectual bar against any
person from pleading the positive.
5. A shorter negative prescription is introduced by
statute, in certain rights and debts. Actions of spuil-
ziy, ejection, and others of that nature, must be pursued
within three years after the commission of the fact on
which the action is founded. As in spuilzies and ejec¬
tions, the pursuer was entitled, in odium of violence, to
a proof by his own oath in litem, and to the violent pro¬
fits against the defender, the statute meant only to limit
these special privileges by a three years prescription,
without cutting off'the right of action, where the claim
is restricted to simple restitution. Under the general
words, and others of that nature, are comprehended all
w.
Part III,
actions where the pursuer is admitted to prove his libel of
by his own oath in litem. . Seotia'ld,
6. Servant’s fees, house rents, men’s ordinaries, (i. e.  v—
money due for board), and merchants accounts, fall ^escriP~
under the triennial prescription, (by 1 C70, c. 83.).t,0!‘
I here is also a general clause subjoined to this statute, &c#
of other the like debts, which includes alimentary debts,
wages due to workmen, and accounts due to writers,
agents, or procurators. These debts, may, by this act,
be proved after the three years, either by the writing
or oath of the debtor; so that they prescribe only as
to the mean of proof by witnesses : but after the three
years it behoves the creditor to refer to the debtor’s
oath, not only the constitution, but the subsistence
ot the debt. In the prescription of house rents, ser¬
vants fees, and alimony, each term’s rent, fee, or ali¬
mony, runs a separate course of prescription ; so that
in an action for these the claim will be restricted to
the arrears incurred within the three years immediately
before the citation : But, in accounts, prescription does
not begin till the last article ; for a single article can¬
not be called an account. Actions of removing must
also be pursued within three years after the warning.
Keductions of erroneous retours prescribe, if not pur¬
sued within 20 years.
7. Ministers stipends and multures prescribe in fiveQfn’lin‘*
years after they are due ; and arrears of rent, five years8ters sti*
after the tenant’s removing from the lands. As thepends,&C'
prescription of mails and duties was introduced in fa¬
vour of poor tenants, that they might not suffer by
neglecting to preserve their discharges, a proprietor of
lands subject to a liferent, who had obtained a lease of
all the liferented lands from the liferenter is not en¬
titled to plead it, nor a tacksman of one’s whole estate,
who had by the lease a power of removing tenants.
Bargains concerning moveables, or sums of money
which are proveable by witnesses, prescribe in five years
after the bargain. Under these are included sales, lo¬
cations, and all other consensual contracts, to the con¬
stitution of which writing is not necessary. But all the
above-mentioned debts, may, after the'five years, be
proved, either by the oath or the writing of the debt¬
or; of which above, (par. 6.). A quinquennial pre¬
scription is established in arrestment whether on de¬
crees or depending actions : The first prescribe in five
years after using the arrestments, and the last in five
years after sentence is pronounced on the depending
action.
8. No person binding for or with another, either as Limitation
cautioner or co-principal, in a bond or contract for a°i cantionry
sum of money, continues bound after seven years from
the date of the bond, provided he has either a clause
of relief in the bond, or a separate bond of relief, in¬
timated to the creditor, at his receiving the bond. But
all diligence used within the seven years against the
cautioner shall stand good. As this is a public law,
intended to prevent the bad consequences of rash en¬
gagements, its benefit cannot, before the lapse of the
seven years, be renounced by the cautioner: As it is
correctory, it is strictly interpreted: Thus, bonds
bearing a mutual clause of relief/>ro rata, fall not un¬
der it; nor bonds of corroboration, nor obligations,
where the condition is not purified, or the term of pay¬
ment not come within the seven years ; because no di¬
ligence
Chap. II.
L A W.
677
Sescrip-
»a of ho-
1'^raph
witiiigs.
Law of licence can be used on these. The statute excludes all
fieotland. cautionries for the faithful discharge of offices j these
not being obligations in a bond or contract for sums of
money. And practice has denied the benefit of it to all
judicial cautioners, as cautioners in a suspension.—Ac¬
tions of count and reckoning, competent either to mi¬
nors against their tutors or curators, or vice versa, pre¬
scribe in ten years after the majority or death of the
minor.
9. Holograph bonds, missive letters, and books of
account, not attested by witnesses, prescribe in 20
years, unless the creditor shall thereafter prove the
verity of the subscription by the debtor’s oath. It is
therefore sufficient to save from the effect of this pre¬
scription, that the constitution of the debt be proved
by the party’s oath after the 20 years ; whereas, in sti¬
pends, merchants accounts, &c. not only the constitu¬
tion, but the subsistence of the debt, must be proved
by writing or the debtor’s oath, after the term of pre¬
scription. Some lawyers extend this prescription of ho¬
lograph writings to all obligations for sums not exceed¬
ing tool. Scots, which are not attested by witnesses;
because though these are in practice sustained, yet
they ought not to have the same duration with deeds
attested by witnesses. Though in the short prescrip¬
tions of debts, the right of action is for ever lost, if not
exercised within the time limited : yet where action
was brought on any of those debts, before the prescrip¬
tion was run, it subsisted, like any other right, for 40
years. As this defeated the purposes of the acts esta¬
blishing these prescriptions, all processes upon warn¬
ings, spuilzies, ejections, or arrestments, or for pay¬
ment of the debts contained in act 1669, c. 9. are by
the said act joined with 1685, c. 14. declared to pre-
cribe in five years, if not wakened within that time;
see N° clxxxiii. 26.
10. Certain obligations are lost by the lapse of less
tfls b ta ^ian 4° years» without the aid of statute, where the
elmiLy *nature of the obligation, and the circumstances of par¬
ties justify it: thus, bills which are not intended for
lasting securities, produced no action where the credi¬
tor had been long silent, unless the subsistence of the
debt be proved by the debtor’s oath ; but the precise
time was not fixed by practice. But the duration of
bills is now limited to six years by the 12 Geo. III. ;
rendered perpetual by 23 Geo. III. Thus, also, a re¬
ceipt for bills granted by a writer to his employer, not
insisted upon for 23 years, was found not productive of
an action. The prescriptions of the restitution of mi¬
nors, of the benefit of inventory, &c. are explained in
their proper places.
11. In the positive prescription, as established by the
act 1617, the continued possession for 40 years, pro¬
ceeding upon a title of property not chargeable with
falsehood, secures the possessor against all other grounds
of challenge, and so presumes bona Jides, prcesumplione
juris et cle jure. In the long negative prescription,
bonafides in the debtor is not required : the creditor’s
neglecting to insist for so long a time, is construed as
an abandoning of his debt, and so is equivalent to a
discharge. Hence, though the subsistence of the debt
should be referred to the debtor’s own oath, after the
40 years he is not liable.
12. Prescription runsde momenta in momentum: the
whole time defined by law mu$t be completed, before
Slfinction
ofjbliga-
ft&ijidcs
prwrip-
a right can be either acquired or lost by it ; so that jjaw ()f
interruption, made on the last day of the 40th year, Scotland,
breaks its course. The positive prescription runs a- ' v——
gainst the sovereign himself, even as to his annexed P,rescr,P'
property; but it is generally thought he cannot sufferr,ani’sV
by the negative: he is secured against the negligence whom it
of his officers in the management of his processes, by runs,
express statute, 1600, c. 14. The negative, as well
as the positive prescription, runs against the church,
though churchmen have but a temporary interest in
their benefices. But because the rights of beneficia¬
ries to their stipends are liable to accidents, through
the frequent change of incumbents, 13 years posses¬
sion does, by a rule of the Roman chancery which we
have adopted, found a presumptive title in the benefi¬
ciary : but this is not properly prescription ; for if by
titles recovered, perhaps out of the incumbent’s own
hands, it shall appear that he has possessed tithes or
other subjects to a greater extent than he ought, his
possession will be restricted accordingly. This right
must not be confounded with that established in favour
of churchmen, which is confined to church lands and
rents, and constitutes a proper prescription upon a pos¬
session of 30 years.
13. The clause in the act 1617, saving minors from
prescription, is extended to the positive, as well as to
the negative prescription ; but the exception of mino¬
rity is not admitted in the case of hospitals for chil¬
dren, where there is a continual succession of minors,
that being a casus insohtus. Minors are expressly ex¬
cepted in several of the short prescriptions, as
c. 18. 1669, c. 9.; but where law leaves them in
the common case, they must be subject to the common
rules.
14. Prescription does not run contra non valentem
agere, against one who is barred by some legal incapa¬
city, from pursuing ; for in such case, neither negli¬
gence nor dereliction can be imputed to him. This
rule is, by a favourable interpretation, extended to
wives, who ex reverentia maritali forbear to pursue ac¬
tions competent to them against their husbands. On
the same ground, prescription runs only from the time
that the debt or right could be sued upon. Thus, inhi¬
bition prescribes only from the publishing of the deed
granted to the inhibiter’s prejudice ; and in the pre¬
scription of removings, the years are computed only
from the term at which the defender is warned to re¬
move. Neither can prescription run against persons
who are already in possession, and so can gain nothing
by a pursuit. Thus, where a person who has two ad¬
judications affecting the same lands, is in possession
upon one of them, prescription cannot run against the
other during such possession.
15. Certain rights are incapable of prescription : Certam
(1.) Things that law has exempted from commerce.r^lts
(2.) Res nierce Jacultatis, e. g. a faculty to charge aPaljic
subject with debts, to revoke, &c. cannot be lost by^. "1
prescription ; for faculties may, by their nature, be
exercised at any time : hence, a proprietor’s right of
using any act of property on his own grounds cannot
be lost by the greatest length of time. (3.) Excep¬
tions competent to a person for eliding an action, can¬
not prescribe, unless the exception is founded on a right
productive of an action, e. g. compensation ; such right
must be insisted on within the years of prescription.
(40
I
678
Law of
Scotland
L A
(4.) Obligations of yearly pensions or payments,
though no demand has been made on them for 40
' ' years, do not suffer a total prescription, but still subsist
as to the arrears fallen due within that period j because
prescription cannot run against an obligation till it be
payable, and each year’s pension or payment is consi¬
dered as a separate debt.
16. No right can be lost non utendo by one, unless
the effect of that prescription be to establish it in ano¬
ther. Hence the rule arises, jun sanguinis nunquam
prcescribitur. Hence also, a proprietor of land cannot
Jose his property by the negative prescription, unless
he who objects it can himself plead the positive. On
the same ground, a superior’s right of feu duties can¬
not be lost non utendo ; because being inherent in the
superiority, it is truly a right of lands that cannot
suffer the negative prescription, except in favour of
one who can plead the positive $ which the vassal can¬
not do, being destitute of a title. This rule applies
also to parsonage tithes, which are an inherent burden
upon all lands not specially exempt j and from
which therefore the person liable cannot prescribe an
immunity by bare non-payment: but such vicarage
tithes as are only due where they are established by
usage, may be lost by prescription. In all these cases,
though the radical right cannot suffer the negative
prescription, the bygone duties, not demanded with¬
in the 40 years, are lost to the proprietor, superior, or
titular.
kiterrup- 17. Prescription may be interrupted by any deed
tion of pre-whereby the proprietor or creditor uses his right or
fcenpuou. groun4 0f debt. In all interruptions, notice must be
given to the possessor of the subject, or the debtor,
that the proprietor or creditor intends to sue upon his
right. All writings whereby the debtor himself ac¬
knowledges the debt, and all processes for payment
brought, or diligences used against him upon his obli¬
gation, by horning, inhibition, arrestment, &c. must
be effectual to interrupt prescription.
18. Interruptions by citation upon libelled sum¬
monses, where they are not used by a miner, prescribe,
if not renewed every seven years $ but where the ap¬
pearance of parties, or any judicial act has followed
thereupon, it is no longer a bare citation, but an action
which subsists for 40 years. It has been found, that
the sexennial prescription of bills is not interrupted by
a blank citation, as practised in the court of admiralty.
Citations for interrupting the prescription of real rights
must be given by messengers j and the summonses, on
which such citations proceed, must pass the signet up¬
on the bill, and be registered within 60 days after the
execution, in a particular register appointed for that
purpose : and where interruption of real rights is made
viafacti, an instrument must be taken upon it, and re¬
corded in the said register; otherwise it can have no
effect against singular successors.
10. Interruption has the effect to cut off the course
of prescription, so that the person prescribing can avail
himself of no part of the former time, but must begin
a new course, commencing from the date of the inter¬
ruption. Minority, therefore, is no proper interrup¬
tion : for it neither breaks the course of prescription,
nor is it a document or evidence taken by the minor
on his right: it is a personal privilege competent to
him, by which the operation of the prescription is in-
w.
Part III,
deed suspended during the years of minority, which Law of
are therefore discounted from it 5 but it continues to Scotland.
run after majority, and the years before and after the  '
minority may be conjoined to complete it. The same
doctrine applies to the privilege arising from one’s in¬
capacity to act.
20. Diligence used upon a debt, against any one of
two °r more co-obligants, preserves the debt itself, and
so interrupts prescription against all of them ; except
in the special case of cautioners, who are not affected
by any diligence used against the principal debtor. In
the same manner, a right of annualrent, constituted
upon two separate tenements, is preserved as to both
from the negative prescription, by diligence used a-
gainst either of them. But whether such diligence has
also the effect to hinder the possessor of the other tene¬
ment by singular titles from the benefit of the positive
prescription, may be doubted.
HI. Of SUCCESSION.
Sect. XX. Of Succession in Heritable Rights.
clxxx.
1. Singular successors are those who succeed to a Successors
person yet alive, in a special subject by singular titles; siHPiar
but succession, in its nroner sense, is a method 0fand *niv«r-
succession, m its proper sense,  „VW1V/V,
transmitting rights from the dead to the living. He-Sal*
ritable 1 ights descend by succession to the heir proper¬
ly so called j moveable rights to the executors, who are
sometimes said to be heirs in moveables. Succession
is either by special destination, which descends to those
named by the proprietor himself; or legal, which de¬
volves upon the persons whom the law marks out for
successors, from a presumption that the proprietor
would have named them had he made a destination.
The first is in all cases preferred to the other, as pre¬
sumption must yield to truth.
2. In the succession of heritage, the heirs at law0rderof
are otherwise called heirs general, heirs whatsoever, ?B®ccs.sio?
or heirs of line; and they succeed by the right 0fln hentas*'
blood, in the following order. First, Descendants;
among these, sons are preferred to daughters, and the
eldest son to all the younger. Where there are daugh¬
ters only, they succeed equally, and are called heirs
portioners. Failing immediate descendants, grand¬
children succeed ; and in default of them, great-grand¬
children ; and so on in infinitum ; preferring, as in the
former case, males to females, and the eldest male to
the younger.
3. Xext a:ter descendants, collaterals succeed; among Coliateisb.
whom the brothers gcrwa/2 of the deceased have the first
place. But as, in no case, the legal succession of heri¬
tage is, by the law of Scotland, divided into parts,
unless where it descends to females ; the immediate
younger brother of the deceased excludes the rest, ac¬
cording, to the rule, heritage descends. Where the de¬
ceased is himself the youngest, the succession goes to
the immediate elder brother, as being the least devia¬
tion from this rule. If there are no brothers german,
the sisters german succeed equally : then brothers con-
sanguinean, in the same order as brothers german ; and
failing them, sisters consanguinean equally. Next the
father succeeds. After him, his brothers and sisters,
according to the rules already explained; then the
grandfather; failing him, his brothers and sisters ; and
so
iiother.
uccession
it capita
nd in
\irpc.
liaccestion
nf heirs
|iortio»crs.
Qiap. II. L
Law of so upwards, as far back as propinquity can be proved.
Scotland. Though children succeed to their mother, a mother
v cannot to her child *, nor is there any succession by our
on by the'^aw through the mother of the deceased j insomuch that
one brother ittenne, i. e. by the mother only, cannot
succeed to another, even in that estate which flowed ori¬
ginally from their common mother.
4. In heritage there is a right of representation, by
which one succeeds, not from any title in himself, but
in the place, and as representing some of his deceased
ascendants. Thus, where one leaves a younger son, and
a grandchild by his eldest, the grandchild, though far¬
ther removed in degree from the deceased than his
uncle, excludes him, as coming in place of his father
the eldest son. Hence arises the distinction between
succession in capita, where the division is made into as
many equal parts as there are capita or heirs, which is
the case of heirs portioners j and succession in stirpes,
where the remoter heirs draw no more among them
than the share belonging to their ascendants or stirps,
whom they represent; an example of which may be
figured in the case of one who leaves behind him a
daughter alive, and two grand-daughters by a daughter
deceased. In which case the two grand-daughters would
succeed equally to that half which would have belong¬
ed to their mother had she been alive.
5. In the succession of heirs portioners, indivisible
rights, e. g. titles of dignity, fall to the eldest sister.
A single right of superiority goes also to the eldest;
for it hardly admits a division, and the condition of the
vassal ought not to be made worse by multiplying su¬
periors upon him. Where there are more such rights,
the eldest may perhaps have her election of the best j
but the younger sisters are entitled to a recompense, in
so far as the divisions are unequal 5 at least, where the
superiorities yield a constant yearly rent. The princi¬
pal seat of the family falls to the eldest, with the gaiv
den and orchard belonging to it, without recompense
to the younger sisters j but all other houses are divided
amongst them, together with the lands on which they
are built, as parts and pertinents of these lands. A
prcecipuum, however, is due only in the case of succes¬
sion of heirs portioners ab intestate ; and therefore there
is no place for it where the succession is taken under a
deed.
6. Those heritable rights, to which the deceased did
himself succeed as heir to his father or other ancestor,
get sometimes the name of heritage in a strict sense, in
opposition to the feuda nova, or feus of conquest, which
he had acquired by singular titles, and which descend
not to his heir of line, but of conquest. This distinc¬
tion obtains only where two or more brothers or uncles,
or their issue, are next in succession 5 in which case, the
immediate younger brother, as heir of line, succeeds to
the proper heritage, because that descends j whereas
the conquest ascends to the immediate elder brother.
It has no place in female succession, which the law di¬
vides equally among the heirs portioners. Where the
deceased was the younger brother, the immediate elder
brother is heir both of line and of conquest. An estate
disponed by a father to his eldest son, is not conquest
in the son’s person, but heritage : because the son would
have succeeded to it, though there had been no dispo¬
sition. The heir of conquest succeeds to all rights af¬
fecting land, which require seisin to perfect them. But
leir of
onquest.
A W. ^ . 679
teinds go to the heir of line; because they are merely j ,uv ol-
a burden on the fruits, not the land. Tacks do not Scotland,
fail under conquest, because they are complete rights —v——»
without seisin : nor personal bonds taken to heirs seclud¬
ing executors.
7. The heir of line is entitled to the succession, not Heirship-
only ot subjects properly heritable, but to that sort oflil0ipeables.
moveables called heirship, which is the best of certain
kinds. Ibis doctrine has been probably introduced,
that the heir might not have a house and estate to suc¬
ceed to, quite dismantled by the executor. In that sort
which goes by pairs or dozens, the best pair or dozen
is the heirship. There is no heirship in fungibles, or
things estimated by quantity; as grain, hay, current
money, &c. To entitle an heir to this privilege, the
deceased must have been either, (1.) A prelate : (2.) A
baron, i. e. who stood infeft at his death in lands, though
not erected into a barony; or even in a right of annual-
rent: Or, (3.) A burgess; not an honorary one, but
a trading burgess of a royal borough, or at least one
entitled to enter burgess in the right of his ancestor.
Neither the heir of conquest, nor of tailzie, has right
to heirship moveables.
8. As to succession by destination, no proprietor can guecessj0n
settle any heritable estate, in the proper form of a testa-by destina-
ment; not even bonds secluding executors, thoughtion.
these are not heritable ex sua natural But, where a
testament is in part drawn up in the style of a deed in¬
ter vivos, such part of it may contain a settlement of
heritage, though executors should be named in the
testamentary part. The common method of settling
the succession or heritage is by disposition, contract of
marriage, or simple procuratory of resignation; and,
though a disposition settling heritage should have nei¬
ther precept nor procuratory, it founds an action a-
gainst the heir of line to complete his titles to the
estate; and thereafter divest himself in favour of the
disponee. The appellation of tailzie, or entail, is chief¬
ly used in the case of a land estate, which is settled on
a long series of heirs substituted one after another.
The person first called in the tailzie, is the institute ;
the rest, the heirs of tailzie, or the substitutes.
9. Tailzies, when considered in relation to their se-T •. •
veral degrees of force, are either, (1.) Simple destina- ai Zie**
tions. (2.) Tailzies with prohibitory clauses. (3.) Tail¬
zies with prohibitory, resolutive, and irritant clauses.
That is a simple destination, where the persons called
to the succession are substituted one after another, withg
out any restraint laid on the exercise of their property.
The heirs, therefore, succeeding to such estate, are ab¬
solute fiars, and consequently may alter the destination
at pleasure.
10. In tailzies with clauses prohibitory, e. g. declar¬
ing that it shall not be lawful to the heirs to contract
debts or alien the lands in prejudice of the succession,
none of the heirs can alien gratuitously. But the mem¬
bers of entail may contract debts which will be effec¬
tual to the creditors, or may dispose of the estate for
onerous causes. In both these sorts the maker himself
may alter the tailzie : except, (1.) Where it has been
granted for an onerous cause, as in mutual tailzies: or,
(2.) Where the maker is expressly disabled, as well as
the institute or the heirs.
11. Where a tailzie is guarded with irritant and re¬
solutive clauses, the estate entailed cannot be carried off
6So
LAW.
Part III,
Their re¬
quisites.
Heirs of
tious.
JLaw of by the debt, or deed, of any of the heirs succeeding
Scotland, thereto, in prejudice of the substitutes. It was long
v doubted, whether such tailzies ought to be effectual,
even where the superior’s consent was adhibited ; be¬
cause they sunk the property of estates, and created a
perpetuity of liferents. They were first explicitly au¬
thorized by 1685, c. 22. By this statute, the entail
must be registered in a special register established for
that purpose ; and the irritant and resolutive clauses
must be inserted, not only in the procuratories, pre¬
cepts, and seisins, by which the tailzies are first consti¬
tuted, but in all the after conveyances thereof; other¬
wise they can have no force against singular successors.
But a tailzie, even without these requisites, is effectual
against the heir of the granter, or against the institute
who accepts of it. It has been found, that an entail,
though completed by infeftment before the act 1685,
was ineffectual, because not recorded in terms of the
act.
12. An heir of entail has full power over the entail-
entail,their ed estate, except in so far as he is expressly fettered ;
powers ami anj as entaj]s are an unfavourable restraint upon pro-
restnc- • * *
perty, and a frequent snare to trading people, they are
strictissimi juris ; so that no prohibition or irritancies
are to be inferred by implication. By 10 Geo. III. c. 51.
heirs of entail are entitled (notwithstanding any re¬
striction in the deed of entail) to improve their estates
by granting leases, building farm houses, draining, en¬
closing, and excambing, under certain limitations, and
to claim repayment of three-fourths of the expence from
the next heir of entail.—This act extends to all tail¬
zies, whether made prior or posterior to the 1685.
13. An heir, who counteracts the directions of the
tailzie, by aliening any part of the estate, charging it
with debt, &c. is said to contravene. It is not the
simple contracting of debt that infers contravention ;
the lands entailed must be actually adjudged upon the
debt contracted. An heir may, where he is not ex¬
pressly barred, settle rational provisions on his wife and
children, without incurring contravention. It is not
quite clear whether the heirs also of the contravener
would forfeit their right from the acts or deeds of their
predecessor where there is no express clause in the en¬
tailed settling it; and though the words of the act 1685
(which declares, that entails executed according to the
directions of it, shall be effectual not only against the
contravener and his heirs, but against creditors), may
seem to favour the idea that heirs also would forfeit,
the more favourable opinion has received the sanction
of our supreme court. For the greater security, how¬
ever, a clause is now usually inserted in tailzies, de¬
claring, that the contravention of the heir in possession
shall not affect his descendants, when such is the in¬
tention of the granter.
14. When the heirs of the last person specially call¬
ed in a tailzie come to succeed, the irritancies have no
longer any person in favour of whom they can operate,
and consequently, the fee, which was before tailzied,
becomes simple and unlimited in the person of such
heirs. By the late act 20th George II. for abolishing
wardholdings, the king may purchase lands within Scot¬
land, notwithstanding the strictest entail ; and where
the lands are in the hands of minors or fatuous persons,
his majesty may purchase them from the curators or
guardians. And heirs of entail may sell to their vas¬
Coatraven
tion, by
whom in-
1'crred.
In what
eases an
heir may
sell.
sals the superiorities belonging to the entailed estate ; j aw of
but in all these cases, the price is to be settled in the Sootmnd.
same manner that the lands or superiorities sold were’'■"—■v-—
settled before the sale.
15. Rights, not only of land estates, but of bonds,Rights
are sometimes granted to two or more persons in con-t»ken in
junct fee. Where a right is so granted to two stran-con-iUJ?ct
gers, without any special clause adjected to it, each offee*
them has an equal interest in the fee, and the part of
the deceased descends to his own heir. If the right ba
taken to the two jointly, and the longest liver and their
heirs, the several shares of the conjunct fiars are affect-
able by their creditors during their lives ; but, on the
death of any one of them, the survivor has the fee of
the whole, in so far as the share of the predeceased re¬
mains free, after payment of his debts. Where the
right is taken to the two in conjunct fee, and to tha
heirs of one of them, he to whose heirs the right is ta¬
ken is the only fiar; the right of the other resolves into
a simple liferent: yet where a father takes a right to
himself and his son jointly, and to the son’s heirs, such
right being gratuitous, is not understood to strip the fa¬
ther of the fee, unless a contrary intention shall plainly
appear from the tenor of the right.
16. Where a right is taken to a husband and wife,
in conjunct fee and liferent, the husband, as the^er-
sona dignior, is the only fiar : the wife’s right resolves
into a liferent, unless it be presumable, from special
circumstances, that the fee was intended to be in the
wife. Where a right of moveables is taken to husband
and wife, the heirs of both succeed equally, according
to the natural meaning of the words.
17. Heirs of provision are those who succeed to any
subject, in virtue of a provision in the investiture, orproTision.
other deed of settlement. This appellation is given
most commonly to heirs of a marriage. These are more
favourably regarded than heirs by simple destination,
who have only the hope of succession ; for heirs of a
marriage, because their provisions are constituted by an
onerous contract, cannot be disappointed of them by
any gratuitous deed of the father. Nevertheless, as
their right is only a right of succession, which is not
designed to restrain the father from granting onerous
or rational deeds, he continues to have the full power
of selling the subject, or charging it with debts, unless
a proper right of credit be given to the heir by the
marriage contract, e. g. if the father should oblige him¬
self to infeft the heir in the lands, or make payment of
the sum provided against a day certain, or when the
child attains a certain age, &c.; for such rights, when
perfected by infeftment, or secured by diligence, are
effectual against all the posterior deeds of the father,
even onerous.
18. Though all provisions to children, by a mar-Effects of
riage contract conceived in the ordinary form, being provision
merely rights of succession, are postponed to every one-to
rous debt of the granter, even to those contracted po-^reH’
sterior to the provisions ; yet where a father executes
a bond of provision to a child actually existing, whether
such child be the heir of a marriage or not, a proper
debt is thereby created, which, though it be without
doubt gratuitous, is not only effectual against the fa¬
ther himself and his heirs, but is not reducible at the
instance even of his prior onerous creditors, if he was
solvent at the time of granting it. A father may, not¬
withstanding
Chap.
! Law of
Scatland
rcmsion
tl heirs.
I bati*ns
Cit
r|r
,sl
se of
in.
n. l
withstanding a first marriage contract, settle a jointure
on a second wife, or provide the children of a second
marriage; for such settlements are deemed onerous;
but where they are exorbitant, they will be restricted
to what is rational: and in all such settlements, where
the provisions of the first marriage contract are en¬
croached upon, the heirs of that marriage have recourse
against the father, in case he should afterwards acquire
a separate estate, which may enable him to fulfil both
obligations.
19. In marriage contracts, the conquest, or a certain
part of it, is frequently provided to the issue ; by which
is understood whatever real addition shall be made to
the father’s estate during the marriage by purchase or
donation. Conquest therefore must he free, i. e. what
remains after payment of debts due by the father. As
in other provisions, so in conquest, the father is still
fiar, and may therefore dispose of it for onerous or ra¬
tional causes. Where heritable rights are provided to
the. heirs of a marriage, they fall to the eldest son, for
he is the heir at law in heritage. Where a sum of
money is so provided, the word heir is applied to the
subject of the provision, and so marks out the executor,
who is the heir in moveables. When an heritable right
is provided to the bairns (or issue) of a marriage, it is
divided equally among the children, if no divison be
made by the father; for such destination cuts off the
exclusive right of tiie legal heir. No provision granted
to bairns gives a special right of credit to any one
child as long as the father lives : the right is granted
fa mil ice ; so that the whole must indeed go to one or
other of tuem ; but the father lias a power inherent in
him, to divide it among them in such proportions as he
thinks best, yet so as none of them may be entirely
excluded, except in extraordinary cases.
20. A clause of return is that, by which a sum in a
bond or other right, is in a certain event limited to
return to the granter himself, or his heirs. When a
right is granted for onerous causes, the creditor may
defeat the clause of return, even gratuitously. But,
where the sum in the right flows from the granter, or
where there is any other reasonable clause for the pro¬
vision of return in his favour, the receiver cannot disap¬
point it gratuitously. Yet since he is fiar, the sum may
be either assigned by him for an onerous cause, or af¬
fected by his creditors.
2r. An heir is, in the judgment of law, eadem per¬
sona cum define to, and so represents the deceased uni¬
versally, not only in his rights, but in his debts : in the
first view, he is said to be an heir active ; in the second,
passtv. From this general rule are excepted, heirs sub¬
stituted in a special bond, and even substituted in a
disposition omnium bonorum, to take effect at the grant¬
er s death ; for such substitutes are considered as sin¬
gular successors, and their rights as an universal legacy,
which does not subject the legatee ulttm valorem : but
heirs male or of tailzie, though their right be limited to
special subjects, are liable not merely to the extent of
the subject entailed or provided, butz'/z solidum; because
such rights are designed to carry a universal character,
and so infer a universal representation of the granter.
File heir of line is primarily liable for the debts of his
predecessor; for he is the most proper heir, and so must
be discussed before any other can be pursued ; next to
him the heir of conquest, because he also succeeds to
Vol. XI. Part II. |
A W. . 6S1
the umversitas of the whole heritable rights which his Law of
predecessor had acquired by singulai titles ; then, the Scotland,
heir male, or of a marriage ; for their propinquity 0f '■ v*"'
blood subjects them more directly than any other heir
of tailzie, who may possibly be a stranger ; and who for
that reason is not liable to be discussed, except for such
of the predecessor’s debts or deeds as relate specially
to the lands tailzied ; as to which he is liable even be¬
fore the heir of line. Heirs portioners are liable pro
rata for their predecessor’s debts ; but if any of them
prove insolvent, the creditors may, after discussing her,
insist for her share against the rest, who will be liable
in so far as they are lucratce by the succession. Where
an heir, liable subsidarie, pays the predecessor’s debt,
he has relief against the heir who is more direct¬
ly liable, in respect of whom he is not co-heir, but
creditor.
22. Before an heir can have an active title to his an¬
cestor s rights, he must be entered by service and re¬
tour. He who is entitled to enter heir, is, before his
actual entry, called apparent heir. The bare right of Apparent
apparency carries certain privileges with it. An ap-heils*
parent heir may defend his ancestor’s titles against
any third party who brings them under challenge.
"tenants may safely pay him their rents; and after
they have once acknowledged him by payment, ha
may compel them to continue it ; and the rents not
uplifted by the apparent heir belong to the executors,
upon his death.
23. As an heir is, by his entry, subjected universally./zzs deli.
to his ancestor’s debts, apparent heirs have therefore •o.berandi.
year {annus deliberandi) allowed to them from the an¬
cestor’s decease, to deliberate whether they will enter
or not: till the expiry of which, though they may
Jie charged by creditors to enter, they cannot be sued
in any process founded upon such charge. Though
declaratory actions, and others which contain no per¬
sonal conclusion, may be pursued against the apparent
heir without a previous charge, action does not lie
even upon these, within the year, if the heir cannot
make the proper defence without incurring a passive
title. But judicial sales, commenced against an ances¬
tor, may by special act of sederunt be continued upon
a citation of the heir, without waiting the year of de¬
liberating. This annus deliberandi is computed, in the
case of a posthumous heir, from the birth of such heir.
An apparent heir, who, by inimixing with the estate
of his ancestor, is as much subjected to his debts as if
he had entered, can have no longer a right to delibe-
rale whether he will enter or not.
24. All services proceed on brieves from the chan- Service of
eery, which are called brieves of inquest, and have been^e‘rs'
long known in Scotland. The judge, to whom the
brief is directed, is required to try the matter by an
inquest of 15 sworn men. The inquest, if they find
the claim verified, must declare the claimant heir to the
deceased, by a verdict or service, which the judge must
attest, and return the brief, with the service proceeding
on it, to the chancery ; from which an extract is ob¬
tained called the retour of the service.
25. I he service of heirs is exVaer general or special, general aad
A general service vests the heir in the right of all he-sPec*al*
ritable subjects, which either do not require seisin, or
which have not been perfected by seisin in the person of
the ancestor. A public right, therefore, according to
4 K the
F.nti'y by
inrentory
L A
the feudal law, though followed by seisin, having
no legal effects till it be confirmed by the superior,
’ must, as a personal right, be carried by a general ser¬
vice. A special service, followed by seisin, vests the
heir in the right of the special subjects in which the
ancestor died infeft.
26. If an heir, doubtful whether the estate of his
ancestor be sufficient for clearing his debts, shall, at
any time within the annus deliberandi, exhibit upon
oath a full inventory of all his ancestor’s heritable sub¬
jects to the clerk, of the shire where the lands lie ; or,
if there is no heritage requiring seisin, the clerk of the
shire where he died $ and if, after the same is subscri¬
bed by the sheriff or sheriff-depute, the clerk, and him¬
self, and registered in the sheriff’s books, the extract
thereof shall be registered within four days after expiry
of the annus deliberandi in the general register appoint¬
ed for that purpose, his subsequent entry will subject
him no farther than to the value of such inventory. If
the inventory be given up and registered within the
time prescribed, the heir may serve on it, even after
the year.
27. Creditors are not obliged to acquiesce in the va¬
lue of the estate given up by the heir ; but, if they be
real creditors, may bring the estate to a public sale, in
order to discover its true value ; since an estate is al¬
ways worth what can be got for it. An heir by in¬
ventory, as he is in effect a trustee for the creditors,
must account for that value to which the estate may
have been improved since the death ot the ancestor,
and he must communicate to all the creditors the cases
he has got in transacting with any one of them.
Tnity Up0n 28. Practice has introduced an anomalous sort of
a precept of entry, without the interposition of an inquest, by the
dare con. sole consent of the superior j who, if I19 be satisfied that
the person applying to him is the next heir, grants
him a precept (called of clare constat, from the first
words of its recital), commanding his bailie to infeft
him in the subjects that belonged to bis ancestor. The
heir, by taking seisin on this precept, becomes
liable for all the debts on bis ancestor ; and, on the
other hand, acquires an active title, as to the subjects
contained in the precept in questions with the superior
or his heirs; and they may, when followed by seisin,
afford a title of prescription : But as no person can be
declared an heir by private authority, they cannot bar
the true heir from entering after 20 year-’, as a legal
entry would have done ; the true heir, in such case,
having it still in his power to set aside that right, and
obtain himself regularly served at any time within the
years of prescription. Of the same nature is the entry
by hasp and staple, commonly used in burgage tene¬
ments of houses ; by which the bailie, without calling
an inquest, cognosces or declares a person heir, upon
evidence, brought before himself; and, at the same
time, infefts him in the subject, by the symbol of the
hasp and staple of the door. Charges given by credi¬
tors to apparent heirs to enter, stand in the place of an
actual entry, so as to support the creditor’s diligence
(clxxii. 2.).
\ s e 'al 29. A general service cannot include a special one ;
service in- since it has no relation to any special subject, and car-
cltides age-ries only that class of rights on which seisin has not
neral cne. proceeded : hut a special service implies a general one
of the same kind or character, and consequently tarries
Entry by
hasp and
staple.
W. Part III.
even such rights as have not been perfected by seisin. jjaw of
Service is not required to establish the heir’s right in Scotland.
titles of honour, or offices of the highest dignity 3 for  r—^
these descend jure sanguinis,
30. An heir, by immixing with his ancestor’s estate Passive ti.
without entry, subjects himself to his debts, as if he badges,
entered 3 or, in our law phrase, incurs a passive title.
The only passive title by which an apparent heir be¬
comes liable universally for all his ancestor’s debts, is
gestio pro hcerede, or his behaving as none but an heir ^
lias right to do. Behaviour as heir is inferred from the /uercde.
apparent heir’s intromission, after the death of the an¬
cestor with any part of the lands or other heritable sub¬
jects belonging to the deceased, to which he himself
might have completed an active title by entry.
31. This passive title is excluded, if the heir’s in¬
tromission be by order of law ; or if it be founded on
singular titles, and not as heir to the deceased. But an
apparent heir’s purchasing any right to his ancestor’s
estate, otherwise than at public roup (auction), or his
possessing it in virtue of rights settled in the person of
any near relation of the ancestor, to whom he himself
may succeed as heir, otherwise than upon purchase by
public sale, is deemed behaviour as heir.
32. Behaviour as heir is also excluded where the in¬
tromission is small, unless an intention to defraud the
ancestor’s creditors be presumable from the circum¬
stances attending it. Neither is behaviour inferred
against the apparent heir, from the payment of his an¬
cestor’s debt, which is a voluntary act, and profitable
to the creditors : ncr by his taking out of brieves to
serve 3 for one may alter his purpose, while it is not
completed : nor by his assuming the titles of honour
belonging to his ancestor, or exercising an honorary
office hereditary in the family ; for these rights an¬
swer to the blood, which may be used without proper
representation. But the exercising an heritable office
of profit, which may pass by voluntary conveyance, and
consequently is adjudgeable, may reasonably bethought
to infer a passive title. Lastly, as passive titles have
been introduced merely for the security of creditors 3
therefore, where questions conceiving behaviour arise
among the different orders of heirs, they are liable
to one another no farther than in valorem of their se¬
veral intromissions.
33. Another passive title in heritage, may be incur- pmeTptio
red by the apparent heir’s accepting a gratuitous righthwvecCUx-
from the ancestor, to any part of the estate to which id-
he h imself might iiave succeeded as heir 5 and it is call¬
ed prceceptio haercditatis, because it is a taking of the
succession by the heir before it opens to him by the
death ot his ancestor. If the right be onerous, there
is no passive title 3 if the consideration paid for it does
not amount to its full value, the creditors of the de¬
ceased may reduce it, in so far as it is gratuitous, but
still it infers no passive title.
34. The heir incurring this passive title is no farther
liable, than if he had at the time of his acceptance
entered heir to the granter, and so subjected himself
to the debts that were then chargeable against him 3
but witli the posterior debts he has nothing to do, not
even with those contracted between the date of the
right and the infeftment taken upon it, and he is
therefore called successor titulo lucrative post contraction
debitum.
3S-
1
(hap.
'Law of
fcotland
“—v~“~
(Bier pas'
s|c uties
uction
h| lie heir
unite
IT. . L
35. Neither of these passive titles takes place, unless
• the subject intermeddled with or disponed be such as
J the intromitter or receiver would succeed to as heir.
In this also, these two passive titles agree, that the in¬
tromission in both must he after the death of the ances¬
tor*, for there can be no termini habiles of a passive
title, while the ancestor is alive. But in the following
respect they differ : Gestio pro hcerede, being a vicious
passive title founded upon a quasi delict, cannot be ob¬
jected against the delinquent’s heir, if process has not
been litiscontested while the delinquent himself was
alive $ whereas the successor titulo lucrative is by the ac¬
ceptance of the disposition understood to have entered
into a tacit contract with the granler’s creditors, by
which be undertakes the burden of their debts; and
all actions founded on contract are transmissible against
heirs.
36. An apparent heir, who is cited by the ancestor’s
creditor in a process for payment, if he offers any pe¬
remptory defence against the debt, incurs a passive
title; for he can have no interest to object against it,
but in the character of heir. In the same manner, the
heir’s not renouncing upon a charge to enter heir, in¬
fers it: But the effect of both these is limited to the
special debt pursued for, or charged upon. This pas¬
sive title, which is inferred from the heir’s not renoun¬
cing, has no effect til! decree'pass against him; and
even a renunciation offered after decree, if the decree
be in absence, will entitle the heir to a suspension of all
diligence against his person and estate, competent upon
his ancestor’s debts.
37. By the principles of the feudal law, an heir,
when he is to complete his titles by special service, must
necessarily pass over Ins immediate ancestor, c. g. his
father, if he was not infeft; and serve heir to that an¬
cestor who was last vested and seized in the right, and in
whose hcereditatis jacens theright must remain, till a title
be connected thereto from him. As this bore hard
upon creditors who might think themselves secure in
contracting with a person whom they saw* for some
time in the possession of an estate, and from thence con¬
cluded that it was legally vested in him ; it is there¬
fore provided by act 1695, that every person, passing
over his immediate ancestor who had been three years
in possession, and serving heir to one more remote, shall
be liable for the debts and deeds of the person inter¬
jected, to the value of the estate to which he is served.
This being corrector}7 of the feudal maxims, has been
strictly interpreted, so as not to extend to the gratui¬
tous deeds of the person interjected, nor to the case where
the interjected person was a naked fiar, and possessed
only civilly through the liferenter.
38. Our law, from its jealousy of the weakness of
mankind while under sickness, and of the importunity
of friends on that occasion, has declared that all deeds
affecting heritage, if they be granted by a person on
deathbed, (7. e. after contracting that sickness which
ends in death, to the damage of the heir, are ineffec¬
tual, except where the debts of the granter have laid
him under a necessity to alien his lands. As this law
of deathbed is founded solely in the privilege of the
heir, deathbed deeds, when consented to by the heir,
are not reducible. The term properly opposed to
deathbed is liege poustic, by which is understood a state
of health; and it gets the name, because persons in
A W
68
health have (lie legitima potestas, or lawful power, of Law of
disposing of their property at pleasure. Scotland.
39. The two extremes being proved, of the grantor’s ^ 
sickness immediately before signing, and of his death
following it, though at the greatest distance of time,
did, by our former law, found a presumption that the deed,
deed was granted on deathbed, which could not have
been elided but by a positive proof of the granter’s
convalescence ; but now the allegation of deathbed is
also excluded, by his having lived 60 days after sign¬
ing the deed. The legal evidence of convalescence is
the granter’s having been, after the date of the deed,
at kirk OR market unsupported; for a proof of either
will secure the deed from challenge. The going to
kirk or market must he performed when the people
are met together in the church or churchyard for any
public meeting, civil or ecclesiastical, or in the mar¬
ket place at the time of public market. No other
proof of convalescence is receivable, because at kirk
and market there are always present unsuspected wit¬
nesses, which we can hardly be sure of in any other
case.
40. The privilege of setting aside deeds cx capite To what
Ac//is competent to all heirs, not to heirs of line only, heirs thi*
but of conquest, tailzie, or provision: not only to the re(*uct'0H *5
* i • . •. , . , . • . J competent,
immediate, but to remoter heirs, as soon as the succes-
sion opens to them. But, where it is consented to
or ratified by the immediate heir, it is secured against
all challenge, even from the remoter. \ret the imme¬
diate heir cannot, by any antecedent writing, renounce
his right of reduction, and thereby give strength to
deeds that may be afterwards granted in lecto to his
hurt; for no private renunciation can authorise a per¬
son to act contrary to a public law ; and such renuncia¬
tion is presumed to he extorted through the fear of
exheredation. If the heir should not use this privilege
of reduction, his creditor may, by adjudication, trans¬
fer it to himself; or he may, without adjudication,
reduce the deed, libelling upon his interest as credi¬
tor to the heir: But the granter’s creditors have no
right to this privilege, in regard that the law of death¬
bed was introduced, not in behalf of the granter him¬
self, hut of his heir.
41. The law of deathbed strikes against dispositions WhatrigbiU
of every subject to which the heir would have succeed-may *5,el^BS
ed, or from which he would have had any benefit, hadset
it not been so disponed. Deathbed deeds granted in
consequence of a full or proper obligation in liegepou-
stie, are not subject to reduction ; but, where the an¬
tecedent obligation is merely natural, they are reducible.
By stronger reason, the deceased cannot, by a deed
merely voluntary, alter the nature of his estate on death¬
bed to the prejudice of his heir, so as from heritable
to make it moveable ; but if he should, in liegepoustie, *
exclude his apparent heir, by an irrevocable deed con¬
taining reserved faculties, the heir cannot be heard to
quarrel the exercise of these faculties on deathbed.
42. In a competition between the creditors of the
deceased and of the heir, our law (act 1661) has
justly preferred the creditors of the deceased, as every
man’s estate ought to be liable, in the first place, for
his own debt. But this preference is, by the statute,
limited to the case where the creditors of the deceased
have used diligence against their debtor’s estate, with¬
in three years from his death ; and therefore the heir’s
4 H -2 creditors
684
Law of creditors may, after that period, affect it for their
,Scot!a"d: own payment. All dispositions by an heir, of the
ancestor’s estate, within a year after his death, are
null, in so far as they are hurtful to the creditors of
the ancestor. Ibis takes place, though these credi¬
tors should have used no diligence, and even where
the dispositions are granted after the year : It is
thought they are ineffectual against the creditors of
the deceased who have used diligence within the three
years.
L A W.
clxxxi.
Mo>eable
succession
by Jaw.
Succession
in move*
ables by
destina¬
tion.
Sect. XXI. Of Succession in Moveables.
i. In the succession of moveable rights, it is an uni¬
versal rule, that the next in degree to the deceased (^or
next oi kin) succeeds to the whole } and if there are
two or more equally near, all of them succeed by equal
parts, without that prerogative, which takes place in
lientage, of the eldest son over the younger, or ot males
over lemales. Xeither does the right of representa¬
tion (explained N clxxx. 4O obtain in the succession
of moveables, except 111 the single case of a competi¬
tion between the full blood and the half blood ; for a
niece by the full blood will be preferred before a bro¬
ther by the half blood, though she is by one decree
more remote from the deceased than her uncle. Where
the estate of a person deceased consists partly of heri¬
tage, and partly of moveables, the heir in the heri¬
tage has no share of the moveables, if there are others
as near in degree to the deceased as himself: But where
the heir, in such case, finds it his interest to renounce
bis exclusive claim to the heritage, and betake himself
to his right as one of the next of kin, he may collate
or communicate the heritage with the others, who in
their turn must collate the moveables with him *, so
that the whole is thrown into one mass, and divided
equally among all of them. This doctrine holds, not
only in the line of descendants, but of collaterals j for
it was introduced, that the heir might in no case he
worse than the other next of kin.
2. One may settle his moveable estate upon Avhom
he pleases, excluding the legal successor, by a testa¬
ment j which is a written declaration of what a per¬
son wills to be done with his moveable estate after his
death. No testamentary deed is effectual till the death
of the testator 5 who may therefore revoke it at plea¬
sure, or make a new one, by which the first loses its
force, according to the rule, voluntas testatoris est ani-
bulatorin usque ad mortem ; and hence testaments are
called last or latter wills. Testaments, in their strict
acceptation, must contain a nomination of executors,
i. e. of persons appointed to administer the succession
according to the will of the deceased : Yet nothing hin¬
ders one from making a settlement of moveables, in fa¬
vour of an universal legatee, though he should not have
appointed executors ; and on the other part, a testa¬
ment where executors are appointed is valid, though
the person who is to have the right of succession should
not be named. In this last case, if the executor nomi¬
nated be a stranger, i. e. one who has no legal interest
in the moveable estate, he is merely a trustee, account¬
able to the next of kin } but be may retain a third of
the dead’s part (explained par. 6.) for his trouble in
executing the testament 5 in payment of which, lega-
Part III.
cies, if any he left to him, must be imputed. The Law
heir, it he be named executor, has right to the third as Scotlimd.
a stranger ; but if one be named who has an interest 1 y—j
in the legal succession, he has no allowance, unless such
interest be less than a third. Nuncupative or verbal
testaments are not, by the law ol Scotland, effectual for
supporting the nomination of an executor, let the sub¬
ject of the succession he ever so smalt : But verbal le-
gacies, not exceeding rook Scots, are sustained: and
even where they are granted for more, they are inef¬
fectual only as to the excess.
3. A legacy is a donation by the deceased, to be legacy,
paid by the executor to the legatee. It may be grant¬
ed either in the testament or in a separate writing.
Legacies are not due till the granter’s death j and
consequently they can transmit no right to the exe¬
cutors of the legatee, in the event that the granter
survives him. A case occurred some years ago, where
a testator left a legacy payable when the legatee arri¬
ved at a certain age. The legatee survived the testa¬
tor, but died before the legacy was payable. It was
found, chiefly upon the authority of the Roman law,
that the legacy vested in the legatee a morte testatoris,
and upon his decease was due to the legatee’s next of
kin.
4. Legacies, where they are general, i. e. of a cer¬
tain sum of money indefinitely, give the legatee no
right in any one debt or subject j he can only insist in
a personal action against the executor for payment out
of the testator’s effects. A special legacy, i. e. of a
particular debt due to the deceased, or of a particular
subject belonging to him, is @f the nature of an assig¬
nation, by which the property of the special debt or
subject vests, upon the testator’s death, in the legatee,
who can therefore directly sue the debtor or possessor :
let as no legacy can be claimed till the debts are paid,
the executor must be cited in such process, that it may
be known, whether there are free effects sufficient for
answering the legacy. Where there is not enough for
payment of all the legacies, each of the general lega¬
tees must suffer a proportional abatement: But a spe¬
cial legatee gets his legacy entire, though there should
be nothing over for payment of the rest j and, on the
contrary, he has no claim, if the debt or subject be¬
queathed should perish, whatever the extent of the free
executry may be.
5. Minors, after puberty, can test without their cu- wll9 caB
rators, wives without their husbands, and persons inter-test, an5
dieted without their interdictors: but bastards cannot
test, except in the cases afterwards set forth, N° clxxii.r?st,ic*
3. As a certain share of the goods, falling under the1*085'
communion that is consequent on marriage, belongs,
upon the husband’s decease, to his widow,relieter,
and a certain share to the children, called the legitime,
portion natural, or bairns part of gear ; one who has a
wife or children, though he be the absolute administra¬
tor of all these goods during his life, and consequently
may alien them by a deed inter vivos, in liegepoustie,
even gratuitously, if no fraudulent intention to disap¬
point the wife or children shall appear, yet cannot im¬
pair their shares gratuitously on deathbed : nor can
lie dispose of his moveables to their prejudice by testa¬
ment, though it should be made in liege poustie ; since
testaments do not operate till the death of the testator,
at
(hap. XL
Law of at which period the division of the goods in communion
eotland. have their full effect in favour of the widow and chil¬
dren.
6. If a person deceased leaves a widow, but no child,
his testament, or, in other words, the goods in com¬
munion, divide in two : one half goes to the widow :
the other is the dead’s part, i. e. the absolute property
of the deceased, on which he can test, and which falls
to his next of kin, if he dies intestate. Where he leaves
children, one or more, but no widow, the children get
one half as their legitime: the oilier half is the deed’s
part: which falls also to the children, if the father has
not tested upon it. If he leaves both widow and chil¬
dren, the division is tripartite : the wife takes one-third
by herself j another falls, as legitime, to the children
equally among them, or even to an only child, though
he should succeed to the heritage ; the remaining third
is the dead’s part. Where the wife predeceases with¬
out children, one half is retained by the husband, the
other falls to her next of kin : Where she leaves chil¬
dren, the division ought also to be bipartite, by the
common rules of society, since no legitime is truly due
on a mother’s death : yet it is in practice tripartite j
two-thirds remain with the surviving father, as if one-
third were due to him proprio nomine, and another as
administrator of the legitime for his children ; the re¬
maining third, being the wife’s share, goes to her chil¬
dren, whether of that or any former marriage: for they
are all equally her next of kin.
7. Before a testament can be divided, the debts ow¬
ing by the deceased are to be deducted ; for all execu-
try must be free. As the husband has the full power
of burdening the goods in communion, his debts affect
the whole, and so lessen the legitime and the share of
the relict, as well as the dead’s part. His funeral
charges, and the mournings and alimony due to the
widow, are considered as Ins proper debts ; but the le¬
gacies, or other gratuitous rights granted by him on
deathbed, affect only the dead’s part. Bonds bearing
interest, due by the deceased, cannot diminish the re¬
lict’s shave, because such bonds, when due to the de¬
ceased, do not increase it. The funeral charges of the
wife predeceasing, fall wholly on her executors who
have right to her share. Where the deceased leaves no
family, neither husband, wife, nor child, the testament
suffers no division, but all is the dead’s part.
8. The whole issue of the husband, not only by that
marriage which was dissolved by his death, but by any
former marriage, has an equal interest in the legitime ;
otherwise the children of the first marriage would be
cut out, as they could not claim the legitime during
their father’s life. But no legitime is due, (r.) Upon
the death of a mother. (2.) Neither is it due to grand¬
children, upon the death of a grandfather. Nor, (3.)
To children forisfamiliated, i. e. to such as, by having-
renounced the legitime, are no longer considered as in
familia, and so are excluded from any farther share of
the moveable estate than they have already received.
9. As the right in legitime is strongly founded in
of the nature, the renunciation of it is not to be inferred bv
ime. implication. Renunciation by a child of his claim of
legitime has the. same effect as his death, in favour of
the other children entitled thereto ; and consequently
the share of the renouncer divides among the rest 5 but
he does not thereby lose his right to the dead’s part, if
debts
atet the
ttlcutrv.
A W. 685
he does not also renounce his share in the father’s exe- jjaw 0f
entry. Nay, his renunciation of the legitime, where Scotland.
he is the only younger child, has the effect to convert ' v—
the whole subject thereof into dead’s part, which will
therefore fall to the renouncer himself as next of kin,
if the h eir be not willing to collate the heritage with
him. Yet it has been found that the renunciation of
the only younger child made the whole legitime accrue
to the heir without collation.
10. For preserving an equality among all the chil-Collation
dren who continue entitled to the legitime, we have^mong »
adopted the Roman doctrine of col/atio bonorum ;y°lin3er
whereby the child, who has got a provision from hisC 1<ien*
father, is obliged to collate it with the others, and im¬
pute it towards his own share of the legitime ; but if
from the deed of provision, the father shall appear to
have intended it as a prcecipuvm to the child, collation
is excluded. A child is not bound to collate an heri¬
table subject provided to him, because the legitime is
not impaired by such provision. As this collation takes
place only in questions among children who are entitled
to the legitime, the relict is not bound to collate dona¬
tions given her by her husband, in order to increase the
legitime ; and on the other part, the children are not
obliged to collate their provisions, in order to increase
her share.
11. As an heir in heritage must complete his titles 0on{;17na^
by entry, so an executor is not vested in the right oftion.
the moveable estate of the deceased without confirma¬
tion. Confirmation is a sentence of the commissary or
bishop’s court, empowering an executor, one or more,
upon making inventory of the moveables pertaining to
the deceased, to recover, possess, and administer them,
either in behalf of themselves, or of others interested
therein. Testaments must he confirmed in the com-
missariot where the deceased had his principal dwelling
house at his death. If he had no fixed residence, or
died in a foreign country, the confirmation must be at
Edinburgh, as the commune forum; but if he went
abroad with an intention to return, the commissariot
within which he resided before he left Scotland, is the
only proper court.
12. Confirmation proceeds upon an edict, which is
affixed on the door of the parish church where the de¬
ceased dwelt, and serves to intimate to all concerned
the day of confirmation, which must be nine days at
least after publishing the edict. In a competition for
the office of executor, the commissary prefers, primo
loco, the person named to it by the deceased himself,
whose nomination he ratifies or confirms, without any
previous decerr.iture : this is called the confirmation of
a testament testamentary. In default of an executor
named by the deceased, universal disponees are by the
present practice preferred 5 after them the next of kin j
then the relict; then creditors; and, lastly, special le¬
gatees. All these must be decerned executors, by a
sentence called a decree-dative ; and if afterwards they
incline to confirm, the commissary authorizes them to
administer, upon their making inventory, and giving
security to make the subject thereof forthcoming to all
having interest; which is called the confirmation of a
testament dative.
13. A creditor, whose debtor’s testament is already confrrma_
confirmed, may sue the executor, who holds the office tion qua
for all concerned, to make payment of his debt. Where ex6cnt°r-
therecr<jditor-
Confiinia-
tion ad
omusa, 5c c
686 L A
Law of there is no confirmation, he himself may apply for the
Scotland, office, and confirm as executor-creditor j which entitles
' v him to sue for and receive the subject confirmed, for
his own payment : and where one applies for a confir¬
mation as executor-creditor, every co-creditor may ap¬
ply to be conjoined with him in the office. As this
kind of confirmation is simply a form of diligence, cre¬
ditors are exempted from the necessity of confirming
more than the amount of their debts.
14. A creditor, whose debt has not been constituted
or his claim not closed by decree, during the life of his
debtor, has no title to demand directly the office of
executor qua creditor : but he mav charge the next of
kin who stands off, to confirm, who must either re¬
nounce within twenty days after the charge, or he liable
ior the debt j and if the next of kin renounces, the pur¬
suer may constitute his debt, and obtain a decree cog?ii-
tioms causa, against the hcereditas jacens of the move¬
ables, upon which he may confirm as executor-creditor
to the deceased. T\ here one is creditor, not to the
deceased, but to his next of kin who stands ofi from
confirming, he may affect the moveables of the de¬
ceased, by obtaining himself decerned executor-dative
to the deceased, as if he were creditor to him, and not
to his next of kin.
15. W here an executor 1ms either omitted to give up
any of the effects belonging to the deceased in invento¬
ry, or has estimated them below their just value, there
is place for a new confirmation, acl omissa, vcl male ap-
pretiata, at the suit of any having interest and if it
appears that he has not omitted or undervalued any
subject dolose, the commissary will ordain the subjects
omitted, or the difference between the estimations in
the principal testament and the (rue values, to be added
thereto •, but if dole shall be presumed, the whole sub¬
ject of the testament ad omissa vcl male appretiata, w ill
be carried to him who confirms it, to the exclusion cf
the executor in the principal'testament.
16. Ihe legitime and relict’s share, because they are
rights arising e& lege, operate ipso jure, upon the father’s
death, in favour of the relict and children j and conse¬
quently pass from them, though they should die before
confirmation, to their next of kin : whereas the dead’s
part, which falls to the children or other next of kin in
the way of succession, remains, if they should die be¬
fore confirming, in bonis of the first deceased; and so
does not descend to their next of kin, but may be con¬
firmed by the person who, at the time of confirmation,
is the next o; kin to the first deceased. Special assig¬
nations, though neither intimated nor made public du¬
ring the life of the granter, carry to the assignee the
full right of the subjects assigned, without confirmation.
Special legacies are really assignations, and so fall un¬
der this rule. The next of kin, by the bare possession
ot the ipsa corpora of moveables, acquires the property
thereof without confirmation, and transmits it to his
executors.
17. The confirmation of any one subject by the next
of kin, as it proves his right of blood, has been ad¬
judged to carry the whole executry out of the testa¬
ment 01 the deceased, even what was omitted, and to
transmit all to his own executors. The confirmation
of a stranger, who is executor nominated, as it is
merely a trust for the next of kin, has the effect to
establish the right of the next of kin to the subjects
Legitime
Sec. trans¬
mit vm fl¬
oat couiir-
iu u. lion.
Partial
con fc (na¬
tion.
Part III,
confirmed, in the same manner as if himself had con- r r
fiiniei] them. . _ sXi
10. Executry, though it carries a certain degree of ——v~—
representation of the deceased, is properly an office ;
executors therefore are not subjected to the debts due
by the deceased, beyond the value of the inventory ; ’
but, at the same time, they are liable in diligence for
making the inventory effectual to all having interest.
An executor-creditor W'ho confirms more than his debt
amounts to, is liable in diligence for what he confirms.
Executors are not liable in interest, even upon such
bonds recovered by them as carried interest to the de¬
ceased, because their office obliges them to retain the
sums they have made effectual, in order to a distribu¬
tion thereof among all having interest. This holds
though they should again lend out the money upon in¬
terest, as they do it at their own risk.
19. There are certain debts of the deceased called In wkat
privileged debts, which were always preferable to every oases thtj
other. Under that name are comprehended, medicines
furnished to the deceased on deathbed, physicians fees vwl*i0ut
during that period, funeral charges, and the rent of his ' 1 ‘
house, and his servants wages for the year or term cur¬
rent at his death. These the executors are in safety
to pay on demand. All the other creditors, who ei¬
ther obtain themselves confirmed, or who cite the exe¬
cutor already confirmed, within six months after their
debtor’s death, are preferred, pari passu, with those
who have done more timely diligence ; and therefore no
executor can either retain for his own debt, or pay a
testamentary debt, so as to exclude any creditor, who
shall use diligence within the six months, from the be¬
nefit of the pari passu preference ; neither can a decree
for payment of debt be obtained, in that period, against
an executor, because, till that term be elapsed, it can¬
not be known bow many creditors may be entitled to
the fund in his bands. If no diligence be used within
the six months, the executor may retain for his own
debt, and pay the residue prirno venienti. Such credi¬
tors of the deceased as have used diligence within a
year after their debtor’s death, are preferable on the
subject of his testament to the creditors of his next of
kin.
20. The only passive title in moveables is vitious in-Vitioui in¬
tromission ; which may be defined, an unwarrantabletrolTi’t,'01,•
intermeddling with the moveable estate of a person
deceased, without the order of law. This is not con¬
fined, as the passive titles in heritage are, to the per¬
sons interested in the succession, but strikes against all
intromitters whatever. Where an executor confirmed
intromits with more than he has confirmed, he incurs a
passive title ; fraud being in the common case presum¬
ed from his not giving up in inventory the full subject
intermeddled with. A itious intromission is also presu¬
med, where the repositories of a dying person are not
sealed up, as soon as he becomes incapable of sense,
by his nearest relations ; or, if he dies in a house not
his own, they must he sealed by the master of such
house, and the keys delivered to the judge ordinary,
to be kept by him, for the benefit of all having in¬
terest.
21. The passive title of vitious intromission does not
take place where there is any probable title or circum¬
stance that takes off the presumption or fraud. In con¬
sequence of this rule, necessary intromission, ov custodies
causa.
Chap. II.
L A W.
687
Law of
ftotWiud.
causa, hy tlie wife or cliilflren, who only continue the
possession of the deceased, in order to preserve his goods
for the benefit of all concerned, infers no passive title.
And upon the same principle, an intromitter, by con¬
firming himself executor, and thereby subjecting him¬
self to account, before action be brought against him
on the passive titles, purges the vitiosity of his prior
intromission : and where the intromitter is one who is
interested in the succession, e. g. next of kin, his con¬
firmation, at any time within a year from the death of
the deceased, will exclude the passive title, notwith¬
standing a prior citation. As the passive title was in¬
tended only for the security of creditors, it cannot be
sued upon by legatees ; and since it arises ex delicto, it
cannot be pleaded against the heir of the intromitter.
As in delicts, any one of many delinquents may he
subjected to the whole punishment, so any one of many
intromitters may he sued in solidum for the pursuer’s
debt, without calling the rest 5 but the intromitter who
pays, has an action of relief against the others for their
share of it. If the intromitters are sued jointly, they
are liable, noty;ro rata of their several intromissions,
but pro virili.
re- 22. The whole of a debtor’s estate is subjected to the
li* betwkt payment of his debts ; and therefore, both his heirs and
t|heir and executors are liable for them, in a question with credi¬
tors : but a succession is by law divided into the he¬
ritable and the moveable estate, each of these ought, in
a question between the several successors, to bear the
burdens which naturally affect it. Action of relief is
accordingly competent to the heir who has paid a move¬
able debt, against the executor j and vice versa. This
relief is not cut oft'by the deceased’s having disponed
either his land estate or his moveables, with the bur¬
den of his whole debts ; for such burden is not to be
construed as an alteration of the legal succession, but
merely as a farther security to creditors, unless the con¬
trary shall be presumed from the special style of the
disposition.
enciitor.
ixxxii.
IV. Of LAST HEIRS and BASTARDS.
ere
th
h
Mit
eels.
T. By our ancient practice, feudal grants taken to the
e is no vassal, and to a special order of heirs, without settling
, the the last' termination upon heirs whatsoever, returned to
sue- the superior, upon failure of the special heirs therein
contained ; but now that fens are become patrimonial
rights, the superior is, by the general opinion, held to
he fully divested by such grant, and the right descends
to the vassal’s heirs at law. And even where a vassal
dies without leaving any heir who can prove the re¬
motest propinquity to him, it is not the superior, as the
old law stood, but the king, who succeeds as last heir,
both in the heritable and moveable estate of the de¬
ceased, in consequence of the rule, Quod nulling est,
cedil domino Jlegt.
2. If the lands to which the king succeeds be
holden immediately of himself, the property is conso¬
lidated with the superiority, as if resignation had been
made in the sovereign’s hand. If they are holden of
a subject, the king, who cannot be vassal to his own
subject, names a donatory ; who, to complete his title,
must obtain a decree of declaratory ; and thereafter he
is presented to the superior, by letters of presentation
from the king under the quarter seal, in which the supe¬
rior is charged to enter the donatory. The whole estate Law of
of the deceased, is, in this case, subject to his debts, and Scotland,
to the widow’s legal provisions. Neither the king nor
Ins donatory is liable beyond the value of the succession.
A person who lias no heir to succeed to him, cannot
alien his heritage ?n lecio, to the prejudice of the
king, who is entitled to set aside such deed, in the cha¬
racter of ultimus hceres.
3. A bastard can have no legal heirs, except those King suc-
oi his own body; since there is no succession but by *77“.* ;S. 7
the father, and a bastard has no certain father. The tJJ^c
king therefore succeeds to him, failing his lawful issue staacb
as last heir. Though the bastard, as absolute proprie¬
tor of his own estate, can dispose of his heritage in
liege povstie, and of his moveables by any deed inter vi¬
vos ; yet he is disabled ex defectu natalium, from be¬
queathing by testament, without letters of legitimation
from the sovereign. If the bastard has lawful chil¬
dren, he may test without such letters, and name tu¬
tors and curators to his issue. Letters of legitimation,
let their clauses be ever so strong, cannot enable the
bastard to succeed to his natural father, to the exclusion
of lawful heirs.
4. The legal rights of succession, being founded in Bastfirds
marriage, can be claimed only by those who are born In incapable
lawful marriage: the issue therefore of an unlawful but
marnage are incapable ot succession. A bastard is ex- tjne(i SHC_
eluded, (1.) From his father’s succession ; because law cession,
knows no father who is not marked out by marriage.
(2.) From all heritable succession, whether by the fa¬
ther or mother ; because he cannot be pronounced law¬
ful heir by the inquest, in terms of the brief. And,
(3.) From the moveable succession of his mother; for
though the mother be known, the bastard is not her
lawful child, and legitimacy is implied in all succession
conferred by law. A bastard, though he cannot su-
ceed jure sanguinis, may succeed by destination, where
lie is specially called to the succession by an entail or
testament.
5. Certain persons, though born in lawful marriage, Aliens can-
are incapable of succession. Aliens are, from their al-!10^su^c
legiance to a foreign prince, incapable of succeeding in j.;,r]lls .
feudal rights, without naturalization. Children born 0
in a foreign state, whose fathers were natural born sub¬
jects, and not attainted, are held to he natural born
subjects. Persons educated in, or professing the Popish nor Papists,
religion, if they shall neglect, upon their attaining the
age of 15, to renounce its doctrines by a signed declara¬
tion, cannot succeed in heritage : but must give place
to the next Protestant heir, who will hold the estate
irredeemably, if the Popish heir does not, within ten
years after incurring the irritancy, sign theformula pre¬
scribed by the statute 1700, c. 3.
Chap. III. Of Actions.
Hitherto of Persons, and Rights, the two first ob¬
jects of law : Actions are its third object, whereby per¬
sons make their rights effectual.
Sect. I. Nature, Division, Sfc, of Actions.
d.xsxiii.
I. An action may be defined, A demand regularly made An notion,
and insisted in, before the judge competent, for the at-w^at*
taining
688
L A
.Law of taming or recovering of a right •, ami it suffers several
Scotland, divisions, according to the different natures of the rights
pursued upon.
Division of 2. Actions are either real or personal. A real
actions. action is that which arises from a right in the thing it¬
self, and which therefore may be directed against all
possessors of that thing : thus, an action for the recove¬
ry, even of a moveable subject, when founded on z jus
tn re, is in the proper acceptation real ; but real ac¬
tions are, in vulgar speech, confined to such as are di¬
rected against heritable subjects. A personal action is
founded only on an obligation undertaken for the per¬
formance of some fact, or the delivery of some subject;
and therefore can be carried on against no other than
the person obliged, or his heirs.
3* Actions, again, are either ordinary or rescissory.
All actions are, in the sense of this division, ordinary,
which are not rescissory. Rescissory actions are di¬
vided, (i.) Into actions of proper improbation. (2.)
Actions of reduction-improbation. (3.) Actions of
• noroba°n S‘mPle reduct!on- Proper improbations, which are
tioa.° a* brought for declaring writings false or forged, are no¬
ticed below, N° clxxxvi. 32. Reduction-improbation
is an action, whereby a person who mav be hurt or af¬
fected by a writing, insists for producing or exhibiting
it in court, in order to have it set aside, or its effect
ascertained, under the certification that the writing,
if not produced, shall be declared false and forged.
This certification is a fiction of law, introduced that
the production of writings may be more effectually
forced, and therefore it operates only in favour of the
pursuer. Because the summons in the action proceeds
on alleged grounds of falsehood, his majesty’s advocate,
who is the public prosecutor of crimes, must concur
in it.
4. As the certification in this process draws after it
so heavy consequences, two terms are assigned to the
defenders for production. After the second term is
elapsed, intimation must be made judicially to the de¬
fender, to satisfy the production within ten days; and
till these are expired, no certification can be pronoun¬
ced. Certification cannot pass against deeds record¬
ed in the books of session, if the defender shall, be¬
fore the second term, offer a condescendence of the
dates of their registration, unless falsehood be object¬
ed : in which case, the original must be brought from
the record to the court. But an extract from the in¬
ferior court is no bar to certification ; the principal
writing must be laid before the court of session on a
proper warrant.
5. In an action of simple reduction the certification
is only temporary, declaring the writings called for
null, until they be produced ; so that they recover
their full force after production, even against the pur¬
suer himself; for which reason, that process is now
seldom used. Because its certification is not so severe
as in reduction-improbation, there is but one term as¬
signed to the defender for producing the deeds called for.
fLoundsof 6. The most usual grounds of reduction of writings
reduction. are, the want of the requisite solemnities ; that the gran-
ter was minor, or interdicted, or inhibited ; or that he
signed the deed on deathbed, or w^as compelled or fright¬
ened into it, or was circumvented ; or that he granted
it in prejudice of his lawful creditor®.
7. In reduction on the head of force, or fear, or
Simple bc
duetroa.
w. r
fraud and circumvention, the pursuer must libel the
particular circumstances from which his allegation is
to be proved. Reduction is not competent upon every
degree of force or fear ; it must be such as would shake
a man of constancy and resolution. Neither is it com¬
petent, on that fear which arises from the just authority
of husbands or parents, over their wives or children,
nor upon the fear arising from the regular execution of
lawful diligence by caption, provided the deeds granted
under that fear relate to the ground of debt contained
in the diligence ; but if they have no relation to that
debt, they are reducible cx metu.
8. Alienations granted by debtors after contract¬
ing ol lawful debts, in lavour of conjunct or confi¬
dent persons, without just and necessary causes, and
without a just price really paid, are, by the act 1621,
declared to be null. One is deemed a*prior creditor,
whose ground of debt existed before the right granted
by the debtor; though the written voucher of the
debt should bear a date posterior to it. Persons are
accounted conjunct, whose relation to the granter is
so near, as to bar them from judging in his cause.
Confident persons are those who appear to be in the
granter’s confidence, by being employed in his affairs
or about his person; as a doer, steward, or domestic
servant.
9. Rights, though gratuitous, are not reducible, if
the granter had, at the date thereof, a sufficient fund
for the payment of his creditors. Provisions to child¬
ren are, in the judgment of law, gratuitous; so that
their effect, in a question with creditors, depends on
the solvency of the granter; hut settlements to wives,
either in marriage contracts, or even after marriage, are
onerous, in so far as they are rational ; and consequent¬
ly are not reducible, even though the granter was in¬
solvent. This rule holds also in rational tochers con¬
tracted to husbands : But it must, in all cases, be quali¬
fied with the limitation, if the insolvency of the granter
was not publicly known; for if it was, fraud is pre¬
sumed in the receiver of the right, by contracting with
the bankrupt.
10. The receiver of the deed, if he be a conjunct
or confident person, must instruct or support the one¬
rous cause of his right, not merely by his own oath,
but by some circumstances or adminicles. But where
a right is granted to a stranger, the narrative of it ex¬
pressing an onerous cause, is sufficient/Jtr se to secure
it against induction.
11. All voluntary payments or rights made by a
bankrupt to one creditor, to disappoint the more timo¬
rous diligence of another, are reducible at the instance
of that creditor who has used the prior diligence. A
creditor, though his diligence be but begun bv citation,
may insist in a reduction of all posterior voluntary
rights granted to his prejudice ; but the creditor who ne¬
glects to complete his begun diligence within a reason¬
able time, is not entitled to reduce any right granted by
the debtor, after the time that the diligence is consider¬
ed as abandoned,
12. A prohibited alienation, when conveyed by the
receiver to another who is not privy to the fraud, sub¬
sists in the person of the bonaJide purchaser. In the
case of moveable rights, this nullity is receivable by ex¬
ception ; but it must be declared by reduction, where
the right is heritable.
13. By
(Imp. III.
i^avv of
Gotland
Set n* ei-
U»e ret
pel ento-
! /«br pe-
les.
13.’ Sy act 1696, c. 5. all alienations by a bank¬
rupt, within 60 days before his bankruptcy, to one
creditor in preference to another, are reducible, at the
instance even of such co creditors as had not used the
least step of diligence. A bankrupt is there described
by the following characters ; diligence used against
him by horning and caption j and insolvency, joined
either with imprisonment, retiring to the sanctuary,
absconding, or forcibly defending himself from dili¬
gence. It is sufficient that a caption is raised against
the debtor, though it be not executed, provided he
has retired to shun it. And by the late bankrupt sta¬
tute 23 Geo. III. it is declared, that in all actions
and questions arising upon the construction and effect
of the act 1696; when a debtor is out of Scotland, or
not. liable to be imprisoned by reason of privilege or
personal protection, a charge ’of horning executed
against him, together with either an arrestment of any
of his personal effects not loosed or discharged within
fifteen days, or a poinding executed of any of his
moveables, or a decree of adjudication of any part of
his heritable estate, or sequestration by the act of a
proper court, of all or any part of his estate or effects,
heritable or moveable, for payment of debt, shall,
when joined with insolvency, be held as sufficient
proof of notour bankruptcy ; and from and after the
last step of such diligence, the said debtor, if insolvent,
shall be held bankrupt. It is provided (by said act
1696), that all heritable bonds or rights on which sei¬
sin may follow, shall be reckoned, in a question with
the granter’s other creditors upon this act, to be of the
date of the seisin following thereon. But this act was
found to relate only to securities for former debts, and
not to nova debita.
14. Actions are divided into reipersecutorice, and
pcenales. By the first, the pursuer insists barely to re-
. cover the subject that is his, or the debt due to him :
and this includes the damage sustained ; for one is as
truly a sufferer in this patrimonial interest .by that da¬
mage, as by the loss of the subject itself. In penal ac¬
tions, which always arise ex delicto, something is also
demanded by way of penalty.
15. Actions ol spuilzie, ejection, and intrusion, are
penal. An action of spuilzie is competent to one dis¬
possessed of a moveable subject violently, or without
order of law, against the person dispossessing: not only
for being restored to the possession of the subject, if
extant, or for the value, if it be destroyed, but also for
the violent profits, in case the action be brought with¬
in three years from the spoliation. Ejection and intru¬
sion are, in heritable subjects, what spuilzie is in move¬
ables. The difference between the two first is, that in
ejection, violence is used $ whereas the intruder enters
into the void possession, without either a title from the
proprietor, or the warrant of a judge. The actions
arising from all the three are of the same general na¬
ture.
16. The action of contravention of law-burrows is
also penal. It proceeds on letters of law-burrows,
(from borgh, a cautioner), which contain a warrant to
charge the party complained upon, that he may give
security not to hurt the complainer in his person, fa¬
mily, or estate. These letters do not require the pre¬
vious citation of the party complained upon, because
the caution which the law requires is only for doino-
Vol. XI. Part II. f
A W* 689
what is every man’s duty ; but, before the letters are J aw of
executed against him, the complainer must make oath Scotland.
that he dreads bodily harm from him. The penalty ' ^  
of contravention is ascertained to a special sum, ac¬
cording to the offender’s quality ; the half to be ap¬
plied to the fisk, and the half to the complainer. Con¬
travention is not incurred by the uttering of reproach¬
ful words, where they are not accompanied, either
with acts of violence, or at least a real injury } and as
the action is penal, it is elided by any probable ground
of excuse.
17. Penalties are the consequence of delict, or Penal ac-
transgression j and as no heir ought to be accountabletions, wiie-
for the delict of his ancestor, farther than the injured th.e*.tr»ns-
person has really suffered by it, penal actions die with
the delinquent, and are not transmissible against heirs. jjursuer>
Yet the action, if it has been commenced and litis-
contested in the delinquent’s lifetime, may be conti¬
nued against the heir, though the delinquent should die
during the dependence. Some actions are rei per seen-
torice on the part of the pursuer, when he insists for sim¬
ple restitution ; which yet may be penal in respect of
the defender: e. g. the action on the passive title of
vitious intromission, by which the pursuer frequently
recovers the debt due to him by the deceased, though
it should exceed the value of the goods intermeddled
with by the defenders.
18. The most celebrated division of actions in our Actions ne-
laws is into petitory, possessory, and declaratory. Petitory titory, aJV
actions are those, where something is demanded from
the defender, in consequence of a right of property, or
of credit in the pursuer: Thus, actions for restitution
of moveables, actions of poinding, of forthcoming, and
indeed all personal actions upon contracts, or quasi-con¬
tracts, are petitory. Possessory actions are those which possessory
are founded, either upon possession alone, as spuilzies;
or upon possession joined with another title, as rerao-
vingsj and they are competent either for getting into
possession, for holding it, or for recovering it; analo¬
gous to the interdicts of the Roman law, quorum bom-
rum, utipossidetis, and unde vi.
19* An action of mo;estation is a possessory action, Of molest#.-
competent to the proprietor of a land estate, againstlion-
those who disturb his possession. It is chiefly used in
questions of commonty, or of controverted marches.
Where a declarator of property is conjoined with a pro¬
cess of molestation, the session alone is competent to the
action. Actions on brieves of perambulation, have the
same tendency with molestations, viz. the settling of
marches between conterminous lands.
20. Eiie action of mails and duties is sometimes Of mail*
petitory, and sometimes possessory. In either case, it and duties,
is directed against the tenants and natural possessors of
land estates, for payment to the pursuer of the rents
remaining due by them for past crops, and of the full
rent for the future. It is competent, not only to a
proprietor whose right is perfected by seisin, but to a
simple disponee, for a disposition of lands includes a
light to the mails and duties; and consequently to an
adjudger, for an adjudication is a judicial disposition.
In the petitory action, the pursuer, since he founds Petitory
upon the right, not possession, must make the proprie¬
tor, from whom the tenants derive their right, party to
the suit ; and he must support his claim by titles of
property or diligences, preferable to those in the person
4 S 0f
6<po
L A W.
Law of
Scotland.
Possessory
judgment.
Declara¬
tory ac¬
tion.
of his competitor. In the possessory, the pursuer who
libels that, he his ancestors, or authors, have been seven
years in possession, and that therefore he has the bene-
ossessory. oj. a p0ssess0,,y judgment, need produce no other title
than a seisin, which is a title sufficient to make the
possession of heritage lawful j and it is enough, if he
calls the natural possessors, though he should neglect
the proprietor. A possessory judgment founded on
seven years possession, in consequence either of a seisin
or a tack, has this eflect, that though one should claim
under a title preferable to that of the possessor, he can¬
not compete with him in the possession, till in a formal
process of reduction he. shall obtain the possessor’s title
declared void.
21. A declaratory Mixon is that, in which some right
is craved to be declared in favour of the pursuer, but
nothing sought to be paid or performed by the defend¬
er, such as declarators of marriage, of irritancy, of
expiry of the legal reversion, &c. Under this class
may be also comprehended rescissory actions, which
without any personal conclusion against the defender,
tend simply to set aside the rights or writings libelled,
in consequence of which a contrary right or immunity
arises to the pursuer. Decrees upon actions that are
properly declaratory confer no new right; they only
declare what was the pursuer’s right before, and so have
a retrospect to the period at which that right first com¬
menced. Declarators, because they have no personal
conclusion against the defender, may be pursued against
an apparent heir without a previous charge given him
to enter to his ancestor; unless where special circum¬
stances require a charge.
jrovin th 22’ act‘on ^or Prov‘ng ^ie tenor, whereby a wri-
tenouS the ^"g’ destroyed or amissing, is endeavoured to
be revived, is in effect declaratory. In obligations that
are extinguishable barely by the debtor’s retiring, or
cancelling them, the pursuer, before a proof of the te¬
nor is admitted, must condescend on such a casus amis-
sionis, or accident by which the writing was destroyed,
as shows it was lost when in the creditor’s possession ;
otherwise bonds that have been cancelled by the debtor
on payment, might be reared up as still subsisting
against him : But in writings which require contrary
deeds to extinguish their effect, as assignations, dispo¬
sitions, charters, &c. it is sufficient to libel that they
were lost, even casu fortuito.
23. Regularly no deed can be revived by this action.
Action for
Adminicles
in writing, without some adminicle in writing, referring to that
which is libelled: for no written obligation ought to
be raised up barely on the testimony of witnesses. If
these adminicles afford sufficient conviction that the
deed libelled did once exist, the tenor is admitted to
be proved by witnesses, who must depose, either that
they were, present at signing the deed, or that they
afterwards saw it duly subscribed. Where the rela¬
tive writings contain all the substantial clauses of that
which is lost, the tenor is sometimes sustained with¬
out witnesses. In a writing which is libelled to have
contained uncommon clauses, all these must appear by
the adminicles. Actions of proving the tenor are, on
account of their importance, appropriated to the court
of session; and, by the old form, the testimony of the
witnesses could Hot be received but in presence of all
the judges.
Multiple- 24. The action of double or multiple-poindino, may
poinding. a 1
par{. jjj
be abo reckoned declaratory. It is competent to a Iaw /
debtor, who is distressed, or threatened with distress, Scotland
by two or more persons claiming right to the debt, ^
and who therefore brings the several claimaints into the
held, m order to debate and settle their several prefer-
ences that so he may pay securely to him whose right
shall be found preferable. This action is daily pur-
suec y an airestee, in the case of several arrestments
used in his hands for the same debt; or by tenants in
the case of several adjudgers, all of whom claim right
to the same rents. In these competitions, any of the
competitors may bring an action of multiple-poinding
in name of the tenants, or other debtors, without their
consent, or even though they should disclaim the pro¬
cess; since the law has introduced it as the proper re¬
medy for getting such competitions determined : And
while the subject in controversy continues in medio, any
third person who conceives he has a right to it, may
though he should not be cited as a defender, produce’
bis titles, as if he were an original party to the suit,
and will be admitted for his interest in the competition.
y the foresaid bankrupt statute, however, it is compe¬
tent, in the case of a forthcoming or multiple-poinding
raised on an arrestment used within thirty days prior,
or four kalender months subsequent, to a bankruptcy’
tor any other creditor producing his interest, and making
ms claim, in the process at any time before the expira¬
tion of the four months, to be ranked in the same man-
nei as if he had used the form of arrestment.
25. Certain actions may be called accessory, because AcG<?ssm7
t.iey are merely preparatory or subservient to other ac-aatl<m
tions. Ihus, exhibitions ad deliberandum, at the in¬
stance of an heir against the creditors or custodiers of
his ancestor’s writings, are intended only to pave the
way for future processes. An action o'i transference Js Transfer-
also of this sort, whereby an action, during the pen-6™*’
tlency of which the defender happens to die, is craved
to be transferred against bis representative, in the same
condition m which it stood formerly. Upon the pur¬
suer s death his heir may insist in the cause against the
defender, upon producing either a retour or a’confirm¬
ed testament, according as the subject is heritable or
moveable. Transferences being but incidental to other
actions can be pronounced by that inferior judge a-
lone before whom the principal cause depended • but
where the representatives of the deceased live in ano-
ther territory, it is the supreme court must transfer.
Obligations may now he registered summarily after the
creditor s aeath ; which before was not admitted, with¬
out a separate process of registration, to which the granl-
er was necessarily to be made a party.
26. A process of wakening is likewise accessory.Waken^
An action is said to sleep, when it lies over not insist¬
ed in for a year, m which case its effect is suspended ;
but even then it may, at any time within the years of
prescription, be revived or wakened by a summons, in
which the pursuer recites the last step of the process,
and concludes that it may be again carried on as if it
had not been discontinued. An action that stands upon
any ot the inner-house rolls cannot sleep; nor an action
in which decree is pronounced, because it has got its
full completion: Consequently the decree may be ex¬
tracted after the year, without the necessity of a waken¬
ing.
27. An action of transumpt falls under the same Transnmpt*
class.
Gap. III.
jaw of
Gotland.
Sramons-
an Indu-
#' legates
C icourse
a! ;etions.
class. It is competent to those who have a partial in¬
terest in writings that are not in their own custody,
against the possessors thereof, for exhibiting them,
that they may be transumed for their behoof. Though
the ordinary title in this process be an obligation by
the defender to grant transumpts to the pursuer, it is
sufficient if the pursuer can show that he has an inte¬
rest in the writings ; but in this case, he must transume
them on his own charges. Actions of transumpt may
be pursued before any judge-ordinary. After the writ¬
ings to be transumed are exhibited, full duplicates are
made out, collated, and signed, by one of the clerks of
court, which are called transumptsy and are as effec¬
tual as an extract from the register.
28. Actions proceeded anciently upon brieves issu¬
ing from the chancery, directed to the justiciary or
judge-ordinary, who tried the matter by a jury, upon
whose verdict judgment was pronounced : And to this
day we retain certain brieves, as of inquest, terce, idio-
try, tutory, perambulation, and perhaps two or three
others : But summonses were, immediately upon the
institution of the college of justice, introduced in the
place of brieves. A summons, when applied to actions
pursued before the session, is a writ in the king’s name,
issuing from his signet upon the pursuer’s complaint,
authorizing messengers to cite the defender to appear
before the court and make his defences, with certifi¬
cation, if he fail to appear, that decree will be pronoun¬
ced against him in terms of the certification of the sum¬
mons.
29. The days indulged by law to a defender, be¬
tween his citation and appearance, to prepare for his
defence are called inducice legates. If he is within the
kingdom, 21 and 6 days, for the first and second diets
of appearance, must be allowed him for that purpose ;
and if out of it, 60 and 15. Defenders residing in
Orkney or Zetland must be cited on 40 days. In
certain summonses which are privileged, the inducice
are shortened : Spuilzies and ejections proceed on 15
days ; wakenings and transferences, being but inci¬
dental, on six ; (see the list of privileged summonses,
in act of sederunt June 29. 1672). A summons must
be executed, i. e. served against the defender so as the
last diet of appearance may be within a year after the
date of the summons 5 and it must be called within a
year after that diet, otherwise it falls for ever. Of¬
fence against the authority of the court, acts of mal¬
versation in office by any member of the college of ju¬
stice, and acts of violence and oppression committed
during the dependence of a suit by any of the parties,
may be tried without a summons, by a summary com¬
plaint.
3c. Though the Romans acknowledged a concourse
of actions in their proceedings, it is not known in the
law of Scotland. Therefore, where an action is in part
penal, e. g. a removing, spuilzie, &c. a pursuer who
restricts his demand to, and obtains a decree merely
for, restitution, cannot thereafter bring a new process
for the violent profits. Yet the same fact mav be the
foundation both of a criminal and civil action, because
these two are intended for different purposes ; the one
for satisfying the public justice, the other for indemni¬
fying the private party : And though the defender
should be absolved in the criminal trial, for want of evi¬
dence, the party injured may bring an action ad cu
A W. 691
vilem effectum, in which he is entitled to refer the libel Law of
to the defender’s oath. Scotland.
31. One libel or summons may contain different con-' '
elusions on the same ground of right, rescissory, de-^ccl"^uIa'
, , . o ■I* , . J tion ofac-
claratory, petitory, oec. if they be not repugnant totj0nS.
each other : Nay, though different sums be due to one,
upon distinct grounds of debt, or even by different
debtors, the creditor may insist against them all in the
same summons.
32. Defences are pleas offered by a defender for Defences,
eliding an action. They are either dilatory, which do
not enter into the cause itself, and so can only procure
an absolvitor from the hs pendens : Or, peremptory,
which entirely cut off the pursuer’s right of action. The
first, because they relate to the forms of proceeding,
must be offered in limine judicii, and all of them at
once. But peremptory defences may be proponed at
any time before sentence. By an act of sederunt, how¬
ever (1787), all defences, both dilatory and peremp¬
tory, so far as they are known, must be proposed at re¬
turning the summons, under a penalty $ and the same
enactment extends to the cases of suspensions and ad¬
vocations. The writings to be founded upon by the
parties also must be produced : the intention of the
court, in framing the act of sederunt, being to accele¬
rate as much as possible the decision of causes.
33* A cause, after the parties had litigated it beforelAiscon-
the judge, was said by the Romans to be litiscontested.tes*a**on*
By litiscontestation a judicial contract is understood to
be entered into by the litigants, by which the action
is perpetuated against heirs, even when it arises ex de¬
licto. By our law, litiscontestation is not formed till
an act is extracted, admitting the libel or defences to
proof.
Slct. II. Of Probation.
clxxxir.
1. All allegations by parties to a suit, must be sup-Probation,
ported by proper proof. Probation is either by writ¬
ing* by the party’s own oath, or by witnesses. In the
case ol allegations, which may be proved by either of
the three ways, a proof is said to be admitted prout deprout de
jure; because, in such case, all the legal methods etijare;
probation are competent to the party; if the proof he
brings by writing be lame, he may have recourse either
to witnesses or to his adversary’s oath ; but, if he should
first take himself to the proof by oath, he cannot there¬
after use any other probation (for the reason assigned
par. 3.) ; and, on the contrary, a pursuer who has
brought a prool by witnesses, on an extracted act, is
not allowed to recur to the oath of the defender.—
Single combat, as a sort of appeal to Providence, was, by single
by our ancient law, admitted as evidence, in matters combat;
both civil and criminal. It was afterwards restricted
to the case of such capital crimes where no other proof
could he had ; some traces of this blind method of trial
remained even in the reign of James YI. who, by 1600,
c. r2. might authorize duels on weighty occasions.
2. As obligations or deeds signed by the party him-by writing,
self, or his ancestors or authors, must be, of all evidence,
the least liable to exception; therefore every debt or
allegation may he proved by proper evidence in writing.
The solemnities essential to probative deeds have been
already explained, (N° clxxiv. 3. et seq.'). Books of ac¬
count kept by merchants, tradesmen, and other dealers
4 S 2 in
6g:
Law of
Scotland.
Probation
oath of fiar-
t* in lei'er-
enoe.
Qualified
Oaths in
supple-
meau
Oath of
g aim tiny.
L A
in business, tbough not subscribed, are probative against
him who keeps them ; and, in case of furnishings by a
shopkeeper, such books, if they are regularly kept by
him, supported by the testimony of a single witness,
afford a semiplena probatio in his favour, which becomes
full evidence by his own oath in supplement. Notorial
instruments and executions by messengers bear full evi¬
dence, that the solemnities therein set forth were used,
not to be invalidated otherwise than by a proof of false¬
hood ; but they do not prove any other extrinsic facts
therein averred, against third parties.
3. Regularly, no person’s right can be proved by
his own oath, nor taken away by that of bis adversary j
because these are the bare averments of parties in their
own favour. But, where the matter in issue is referred
by one of the parties to the oath of the other, such
oatii, though made in favour of the deponent himself,
is decisive of the point; because the reference is a vir¬
tual contract between the litigants, by which they are
understood to put the issue of the cause upon what shall
be deposed : and this contract is so strictly regarded,
that the party who refers to the oath of the other can¬
not afterwards, in a civil action, plead upon any deed
against the party deposing, inconsistent with his oath,
lo obviate the snares that may be laid for perjury, he
to whose oath of verity a point is referred, may refuse
to depose, till his adversary swear that he can bring no
other evidence in proof of his allegation.
4. A defender, though he cannot be compelled to
swear to facts in a libel properly criminal ; yet may, in
trespasses, where the conclusion is limited to a fine, or
fo damages. In general, an oath of party cannot either
hurt or benefit third parties j being, as to them, res
inter alios acta.
5. An oath upon reference is sometimes qualified by
special limitations restricting it. The qualities which
are admitted by the judges as part of the oath, are call¬
ed intrinsic ; those which the judge rejects or separates
from the oath, extrinsic. Where the quality makes a
part of the allegation which is relevantly referred to
oath, it is intrinsic. Thus, because a merchant suing
for furnishings after the three years, must, in order to
make a relevancy, offer to prove by the defender’s oath,
not only the delivery of the goods, but that the price
is still due ; therefore, though the defender should ac¬
knowledge upon oath his having received the goods,
yet, if he adds, that he paid the price, this last part
being a denial that the debt subsists, is intrinsic, since
it is truly the point referred to oath. Where the qua¬
lity does not import an extinction of the debt, but
barely a counter-claim, or mutua petitio, against the
pursuer, it is held as intrinsic, and must be proved ali¬
unde. Neither can a defender who in his oath admits
the constitution of a debt, get off by adjecting the
quality of payment, where, the payment ought by its
nature to be vouched by written evidence.
6. Oaths of verity are sometimes referred by the
judge to either party, ex officio; which, because they
are not founded on any implied contract between the
litigants, are not finally decisive, but may be traversed
on proper evidence afterwards produced. These oaths
are commonly put by the judge for supplying a lame or
imperfect proof, and are therefore called oaths in sup¬
plement. (See par. 2.).
7. To prevent groundless allegations, oaths of ca-
Part IIL
lummy have been introduced, by which either party j,a.v ()f
may demand his adversary’s oath, that he believes the Scotland,
fact contained in his libel or defences to be just and «-j
true. As this is an oath, not of verity, but only of
opinion, the party who puts it to bis adversary does not
lenounce other probation 5 and therefore no party is
bound to give an oath of calumny, on recent facts of
bis own, for such oath is really an oath of verity. These
oaths have not been so frequent since the act of sede¬
runt, Feb. 1. 1715, whereby any party, against whom
a fact shall be alleged, is obliged, without making
oath, to confess or deny it j and, in case of calumnious
denial, is subjected to the expence that the other party
has thereby incurred.
8. In all oaths, whether of verity or calumny, the ci¬
tation carries, or at least implies, a certification, that
if the party does not appear at the day assigned for de¬
posing, he shall be held pro confesso ; from a presump¬
tion of his consciousness, that the fact upon which be
declines to swear makes against him ; but no party can
be held pro confesso, if he be in the kingdom, without a
previous personal citation used against him. Though
an oath which resolves into a non memini cannot, be said A. non me.
to prove any point 5 yet where one so deposes upon » mini oa-fc.
recent fact, to which lie himself was privy, his oath is
considered as a dissembling of the truth, and he is held
pro conftsso, as if he had refused to swear.
9. An oath in litem is that which the judge refers Oath
to a pursuer, for ascertaining either the quantity or the
value of goods which have been taken from him by the
defender without order of law, or the extent of his da¬
mages. An oath in litem, as it is the affirmation of a
party in his own behalf, is only allowed where there is
proof that the other party has been engaged in some
illegal act, or wheie the public policy lias made it ne¬
cessary, (see N° clxxiii. 11.). This oath, as to the quan¬
tities, is not admitted, where there is a concurring te¬
stimony of witnesses brought in proof of it. 'When it
is put as to the value of goods, it is only an oath of
credulity ; and therefore it has always been subject to
the modification of the court.
10. The law of Scotland rejects the testimony of Probation
witnesses, (1.) In payment of any sum above 100I. by witnes-
Scots, all which must be proved either scripto vel jura-8es’in wliai
mento. (2.) In all gratuitous promises, though for the
smallest trifle. (3.) In all contracts, where writing isJeC *
cither essential to their constitution (see N3clxxiv. 2.),
or where it is usually adhibited, as to the borrowing
of money. And it is a general rule, subject to the
restriction mentioned in the next part, that no debt or
right, once constituted by writing, can be taken away
by witnesses.
11. On the other part, probation by witnesses is ad-in what
mitted to the extent of loci. Scots, in payments, nun-admitud
cupative legacies, and verbal agreements which con-
_ tain mutual obligations. And it is received to the
highest extent, (1.) In all bargains which have known
engagements naturally arising from them concerning
moveable goods. (2.) In facts performed in satisfaction
even of a written obligation, where such obligation
binds the party precisely to the performance of them.
(3.) In facts which with difficulty admit of a proof by
writing, even though the effect of such proof should be
the extinction of a written obligation, especially if the
facts import fraud or violence j thus a bond is redu¬
cible
Wtt per-
*oj i
ec s wit-
m :s.
P«i tti«n
lues
L
clble e.v doiO) on a proof by witnesses. Lastly, all in¬
tromission by a creditor with the rents of his debtor’s
estate payable in grain, may be proved by witnesses :
and even intromission with the silver x’ent, where the
creditor has entered into the total possession of the
debtor’s land.
12. Nor person, whose near relation to another bars
reject-bini from being a judge in his cause, can be admitted
as a witness for him : but he may against him, except
a wife or child, who cannot he compelled to give testi¬
mony against the husband or parent, ob reverentiam
personas et metum perjrtrii. Though the witness whose
propinquity to one of the parties is objected to, be
as nearly related to the other, the objection stands
good.
13. The testimony of infamous persons is rejected,
i. e. persons who have been guilty of crimes that law
declares to infer infamy, or who have been declared
infamous by the sentence of a judge; hut infamia facli
does not disqualify a witness. Pupils are inhabile wit¬
nesses ; being, in the judgment of law, incapable of the
impressions of an oath. And in general witnesses 0-
tlierwise exceptionable may, where there is a penury of
witnesses arising from the nature or circumstances of
the fact, he received cum nota; that is, their testimo¬
ny, though not quite free from suspicion, is to be con¬
joined with the other evidence, and to have such weight
given it as the judge shall think it deserves.
14. All witnesses, before they are examined in the
cause, are purged of partial counsel ; that is, they must
declare that they have no interest in the suit, nor have
given advice how to conduct it; that they have got
neither bribe nor promise, nor have been instructed how
to depose ; and that they bear no enmity to either of
the parties. These, because they are the points put to
a witness before his making oath, are called initiala
tcstimonii. Where a party can bring present proof of
witness’s partial counsel in any of the above particu¬
lars, he ought to offer it before the witness be sworn ;
but, because such objection, if it cannot be instantly
verified, will be no bar to the examination, law allows
the party in that case to protest for reprobator, before
the witness is examined ; i. e. that he may he after¬
wards allowed to bring evidence of his enmity, or other
inability. Iteprobator is competent even after sen¬
tence, where protestion is duly entered ; but in that
case, the party insisting must consign look Scots, which
he forfeits if he succumb. This action must have the
concurrence of the king’s advocate, because the con¬
clusion of it imports perjury ; and for this reason, the
witness must be made a party to it.
x5. The interlocutory sentence or warrant, by which
twit-parties are authorized to bring their proof, is either by
w'ay of act, or of incident diligence. In an act, the
lord ordinary who pronounces it is no longer judge
in the process; but in an incident diligence, which is
commonly granted upon special points, that do not
exhaust the cause, the lord ordinary continues judge.
If a witness does not appear at the day fixed by the
warrant of citation, a second warrant is granted of the
nature of a caption, containing a command to messen¬
gers to apprehend and bring him before the court.
Where the party to whom a proof is granted, brings
Wrj nfluc-none within the term allowed by the warrant, an inter-
t,*tt locator is pronounced, circumducing the term, and pre-
BifF-uce
4
A W. 693
eluding him from bringing evidence thereafter. Where i>w of
evidence is brought, if it be upon an act, the lord , or- Scvtlaud.
dinary on the acts, after the term for providing is elap- —v--*^
sed, declares the proof concluded ; and thereupon a
state of the case is prepared by the ordinary on con¬
cluded causes, which must he judged by the whole
lords ; hut if the proof he taken upon an incident dili¬
gence, the import of it may be determined by the lord
ordinary in the cause.
16. Where facts do not admit a direct proof, pre- Preswrnp-
sumptionsarereceived as evidence which, in many cases,tions.
make as convincing a proof as the direct. Presump¬
tions are consequences deduced from facts known or
proved, which infer the certainty, or at least a strong
probability, of another faot to be proved. This kind
of probation is therefore called artificial, because it re¬
quires a reasoning to infer the truth of the point in
question, from the facts that already appear in proof.
Presumptions are either, 1. juris et de jure; 2. juris;
or, 3. hominis ovjudicis. The first sort obtains, where
statute or custom establishes the truth of any point upon
a presumption ; and it is so strong that it rejects all
proof that may be brought to elide it in special cases.
Thus, the testimony of a witness, who forwardly offers
himself without being cited, is, from a presumption of
his partiality, rejected, let his character he ever so
fair ; and thus also, a minor, because he is bv law pre¬
sumed incapable of conducting his own affairs, is upon
that presumption disabled from acting without the con¬
sent of his curators, though he should be known to be¬
have with the greatest prudence. Many such presump¬
tions are fixed by statute.
17. Prcesumptionesjuris are those which our law
books or decisions have established, without founding
any particular consequences upon them, or statuting
super preesumpto. Most of this kind are not proper pre-
sumptions inferred from positive facts, but are founded
merely on the want of a contrary proof: thus, the legal
presumptions for freedom, for life, for innocence, &c.
are in effect so many negative propositions, that servi¬
tude, death, and guilt, are not to be presumed, with¬
out evidence brought by him who makes the allegation.
All of them, whether they be of this sort, or proper
presumptions, as they are only conjectures formed from
what commonly happens, may be elided, not only by
direct evidence, but by other conjectures, affording a
stronger degree of probability to the contrary. Prce¬
sumptiones hominis or judicis, are those which arise
daily from the circumstances of particular cases ; the
strength of which is to be weighed by the judge.
18. A fictio juris differs from a presumption. Things Ficho
are presumed, which are likely to be true; but a fic- Juris,
tion of law assumes for truth what is either certainly
false, or at least is as probably false as true. Thus an
heir is feigned or considered in law as the same person
with his ancestor. Fictions of law, must, in their ef¬
fects, be always limited to the special purposes of equity
for which they were introduced; see an example, N°
clxxxiii. 3*
Sect. III. Of Sentences and their Executions. c-msmi.'
I. Property would be most uncertain, if debatcahle
points might, after receiving a definitive judgment, be
brought again in question, at the pleasure of either of
the
Res judica¬
ta;.
Decrees in
faro.
Two conse
cutive in¬
terlocutors
are final.
Time limit
cd for ap¬
peals.
Decrees ia
ubeence.
Decrees re¬
viewed ei¬
ther by re¬
duction or
suspension.
L A
the parties : every state has therefore fixed the charac¬
ter oi final to certain sentences or decrees, which in
the Homan law are called res judicata:, and which ex¬
clude all review or rehearing.
2. Decrees of the court of session, are either in foro
contradictona, where both parties have litigated the
cause, or in absence ol the defender. Decrees of the
session in foro cannot, in the general case, be again
brought under the review of the court, either on points
which the parties neglected to plead before sentence
(which we call competent and omitted'), or upon points
pleaded and found insufficient (proponed and repelled).
But decrees, though in J'oro, are reversible by the
court, where either they labour under essential nulli¬
ties j e. g. where they are ultra petita, or not con¬
formable to their grounds and warrants, or founded
on an error in calcul, &c. ; or where the party against
whom the decree is obtained has thereafter recovered
evidence sufficient to overturn it, of which he knew
not before.
3* -^s parties might formerly reclaim against the
sentences of the session, at any time before extracting
the decree, no judgment was final till extract; but
now, a sentence of the inner house, either not re¬
claimed against within six sederunt days after its date,
or adhered to upon a reclaiming bill, though it cannot
receive execution till extract, makes the judgment
final as to the court of session. And by an order of
the house of lords, March 24. 1725, no appeal is to
be received by them from sentences of the session after
five years from extracting the sentence j unless the per¬
son entitled to such appeal be minor, clothed with a
husband, non compos mentis, imprisoned, or out of the
kingdom. Sentences pronounced by the lord ordi¬
nary have the same effect, if not reclaimed against, as
if they were pronounced in presence ; and all petitions
against the interlocutor of an ordinary must be pre¬
ferred within eight sederunt days after'signing such in¬
terlocutor.
4* Decrees, in absence of the defender, have not
the force of resjudicatce as to him 5 for where the de¬
fender does not appear, he cannot be said to have sub¬
jected himself by the judicial contract which is implied
in litiscontestation : a party therefore may be restored
against these, upon paying to the other his costs in re¬
covering them. The sentences of inferior courts may
be reviewed by the court of session,—before decree, by
advocation,—and after decree, by suspension or reduc¬
tion ; which two last are also the methods of callinir in
question such decrees of the session itself, as can again
be brought under the review of the court.
5. Reduction is the proper remedy, either where
the decree has already received full execution by pay¬
ment, or where it decrees nothing to be paid or per¬
formed, but simply declares a right in favour of the
pursuer. Suspension is that form of law by which the
eliect of a sentence condemnatory, that has* not yet re¬
ceived execution, is stayed or postponed till the cause
be again considered. The first step towards suspension
is a bill preferred to the lord ordinary on the bills.
T. his bill, when the desire of it is granted, is a war¬
rant for issuing letters of suspension which pass the sig¬
net ; but if the presenter of the bill shall not, within
12 days after passing it, expedite the letters, execu¬
tion may by act of sederunt 1677 proceed on the sen-
w- . Part Hi.
tence. In practice, however, it is usual for the char- Law of
ger to put up a protestation in the minute book for ^cotknd.
production of the suspension, which may be expedited
at any time before this is done ; and if the suspender
shall allow the protestation to be extracted, the sist
falls. Suspensions of decrees m foro cannot pass, but
by the whole lords in time of session, and by three in
vacation time ; but other decrees may be suspended by
any one of the judges. By the act of sederunt (1787),
in order to remedy the abuse of presenting a multipli¬
city of bills of suspension of the decrees of inferior
judges in small cases which have passed in absence, it
is declared, that all bills of suspension of decreets by
inferior judges, in absence of the defenders, in causes
under 12I. sterling value, shall be refused and remitted
to the inferior judge, if competent; the suspender,
however, before being heard in the inferior court, re¬
imbursing the charger of the expences incurred by him
previous to the remit.
. 6- As suspension has the effect of staying the execu-saspende
tion of the creditor’s legal diligence, it cannot, in the must giTe*
general case, pass without caution given by the suspen-caution.
der to pay the debt, in the event it shall be found due.
W here the suspender cannot, from his low or suspect¬
ed circumstances, procure unquestionable security, the
lords admit juratory caution, i. e. such as the suspen¬
der swears is the best he can ofler 5 but the reasons of
suspension are, in that case, to be considered with par¬
ticular accuracy at passing the bill. Decrees in favour
of the clergy, of universities, hospitals, or parish-
schoolmasters, for their stipends, rents, or salaries,
cannot be suspended, but upon production of dis¬
charges, or on consignation of the sums charged for.
A charger, who thinks himself secure without a cau¬
tioner, and wants despatch, may, where a suspension
of his diligence is sought, apply to the court to get
the reasons of suspension summarily discussed on the
bill.
7. Though he, in whose favour the decree suspend-Suspension,
ed is pronounced, be always called the charger, yet a when corn-
decree may be suspended before a charge be given onpet«“‘*
it. Nay, suspension is competent even where there is
no decree, for putting a stop to any illegal act what¬
soever : thus, a building, or the exercise of a power
which one assumes unwarrantably, is a proper subject
of suspension. Letters of suspension are considered
merely as a prohibitory diligence 5 so that the suspen¬
der, if he would turn provoker, must bring an action
of reduction. If, upon discussing the letters of suspen¬
sion, the reasons shall be sustained, a decree is pro¬
nounced, suspending the letters of diligence on which
the charge was given simpliciter ; which is called a de¬
cree of suspension, and takes off the effect of the decree
suspended. If the reasons qf suspension be repelled,
the court find the letters of diligence orderly proceed¬
ed, i. e. regularly carried on : and they ordain them
to be put to farther execation.
8. Decrees are carried into execution, by diligence, Extraction
either against the person or against the estate of the of decrees,
debtor. The first step of personal execution is by let¬
ters of horning which pass by a warrant of the court
of session, on the decrees of magistrates of boroughs,
sheriffs, admirals, and commissaries. If the debtor
does not obey the will of the letters of horning within
the days of the charge, the charger, after denouncing
him
Ciap. Ill, L A
aw of him rebel, and registering the horning, may apply for
Sotland. letters of caption, which contain a command, not only
' ¥ to messengers, but to magistrates, to apprehend and
imprison the debtor. All messengers and magistrates,
who refuse their assistance in executing the caption, are
liable subsidiarie for the debt ; and such subsidiary ac¬
tion is supported by the execution of the rnesenger,
employed by the creditor, expressing that they were
charged to concur, and would not. Letters of caption
contain an express warrant to the messenger, in case he
cannot get access, to break open all doors and other
lock-fast places.
at per- 9. Law secures peers, married women, and pupils,
s4i secu- against personal execution by caption upon civil debts,
re against Such commoners also as are elected to serve in parlia-
ron" ment, are secured against personal execution by the
privilege of parliament. No caption can be executed
against a debtor within the precincts of the king’s pa¬
lace of Holyroodbouse 5 but this privilege of sanctuary
afforded no security to criminals, as that did which was
by the canon law conferred on churches and religious
bouses. Where the personal presence of a debtor, un¬
der caption, is necessary in any of our supreme courts,
the judges are empowered to grant him a protection,
for such time as may be sufficient for his coming and
going, not exceeding a month. Protection from dili¬
gence is also granted by the court of session under the
bankrupt statute, where it is applied for, with concur¬
rence of the trustee, or a certain number of the credi¬
tors, as the case may require.
10. After a debtor is imprisoned, he ought not to
>s oners * . 7 0
u i,e he indulged the benefit of the air, not even under a
cilely con-guard *, for creditors have an interest, that their debtor
be kept under close confinement, that, by the squalor
carceris, they may be brought to pay their debt : and
any magistrate or jailor, who shall suffer the prisoner
to go abroad, without a proper attestation, upon oath,
of the dangerous state of his health, is liable subsidiarie
for the debt. Magistrates are in like manner liable if
they shall suffer a prisoner to escape through the in¬
sufficiency of their prison : but if he shall escape un¬
der night, by the use of instruments, or by open force,
or by any other accident which cannot be imputed to
the magistrates or jailor, they are not chargeable with
the debt; provided they shall have immediately after
his escape, made all possible search for him. A case
lately occurred where a messenger having apprehended
a person for a debt, upon letters of caption, delivered
him over to the provost of the burgh, and took a re¬
ceipt for him. The provost allowed him to remain at
the inn all night, and afterwards allowed him what is
called open goal, by which he had access to the court¬
house, under the same roof with the prison, where he
transacted business. As the person at whose instance
he was apprehended upon the caption, considered that
the magistrates had not kept the debtor in prison as
commanded by the letters, he brought an action against
them for the debt, although the debtor had not so
much as attempted to make his escape. It was con¬
tended by the magistrates, that they were not liable,
having only followed the usual practice of the burgh :
but the court of session, considering the magistrates as
principal keepers of the prison, and as such having no
discretionary power, were of opinion, that the debtor
had never been imprisoned in the eye of law, and
w. 695
therefore found the magistrates liable ; and their judge- Law of
ment was affirmed upon an appeal. Regularly, no pri- Scotland
soner for debt upon letters of caption, though he should
have made payment, could be released without letters ofForm.oflu
suspension, containing a charge to the jailor to set him a
at liberty j because the creditor’s discharge could not1
take off the penalty incurred by the debtor for con¬
tempt of the king’s authority : but to save unnecessary
expence to debtors in small debts, jailors are empowered
to let go prisoners where the debt does not exceed 200
merks Scots, upon production of a discharge in which
the creditor consents to his release.
11. Our law, from a consideration of compassion, Liberatron
allows insolvent debtors to apply for a release from pri-uPon a wes¬
son upon a cessio bonorum, i. e. upon their making oversz0 ^onr)-
to the creditors all their estate real and personal. Thi$rUWI ’
must be insisted for by way of action, to which all the
creditors of the prisoner ought to be made parties. The
prisoner must, in this action, which is cognizable only
by the court of session, exhibit a particular inventory
of his estate, and make oath that he has no other estate
than is therein contained, and that he has made no con¬
veyance of any part of it, since his imprisonment, to
the hurt of his creditors. He must also make oath, whe¬
ther he has granted any disposition of his effects before
his imprisonment, and condescend on the persons to
whom, and on the cause of granting it j that the court
may judge, whether, by any collusive practice, he has
forfeited his claim to liberty.
12. A fraudulent bankrupt is not allowed this pri-not com-
vilege '■) nor a criminal who is liable in any assythmentPetent to
or indemnification to the party injured or his executors, c,e*'n"
though the crime itself should be extinguished by
pardon. A disposition granted on a cessio bonorum is
merely in farther security to the creditors, not in satis¬
faction or in solutum of the debts. If, therefore, the
debtor should acquire any estate after his release, such
estate may be attached by his creditors, as if there had
been no cessio, except in so far as is necessary for bis sub¬
sistence. Debtors, who are set free on a cessio bonorum,
are obliged to wear a habit proper to dyvours or bank-Dyvours
rupts. The lords are prohibited to dispense with this habit,
mark of ignominy, unless, in the summons and process
of cessio, it be libelled, sustained, and proved, that the
bankruptcy proceetls from misfortune. And bankrupts
are condemned to submit to the habit, even where no
suspicion of fraud lies against them, if they have been
dealers in an illicit trade.
13. Where a prisoner for debt declares upon oath
before the magistrates of the jurisdiction, that he has,
not wherewith to maintain himself, the magistrate may
set him at liberty, if the creditor, in consequence of
whose diligence he was imprisoned, does not aliment
him within ten days after intimation made for that pur¬
pose. But the magistrate may, in such case, detain him
in prison, if the creditor chooses to bear the burden of
the aliment rather than release him. The statute an-Act of
thorizing this release,. which is usually called the are/Srace*
of grace, is limited to the case of prisoners for civil
debts.
14. Decrees are executed against the moveable estate Executior!
of the debtor by arrestment or poinding ; and against against tl;«
his heritable estate, by inhibition, or adjudication. Jfdebtor’s
one be condemned, in a removing or other process, toeslale'
quit the possession of lands, and refuses, notwithstanding
6g6
L A W.
Jjaw of a charge, letters of ejection are granted of course, or-
Scotland. daining the sherilf to eject him, and to enter the obtain-
^ er of the decree into possession. Where one opposes by
violence the execution of a decree, or of any lawful di¬
ligence, which the civil magistrate is not able by him¬
self and his officers to make good, the execution is en¬
forced manu militari.
bUraT**^ A decree arbitral, which is a sentence proceed¬
ing on a submission to arbiters, has some affinity with
^ ^ . a judicial sentence, though in most respects the two dif-
n ruiision. ^ submission is a contract entered into by two
or more parties who have disputable rights or claims,
whereby they refer their differences to the final deter¬
mination of an arbiter or arbiters, and oblige them¬
selves to acquiesce in what shall be decided. Where
the day within which the arbiters are to decide, is left
blank in the submission, practice has limited the arbi¬
ters power of deciding to a year. As this has proceed¬
ed from the ordinary words of style, empowering the
arbiters to determine betwixt and the day of
next to come; therefore, where a submission
is indefinite, without specifying any time, like all other
contracts or obligations, it subsists for 40 years. Sub¬
missions, like mandates, expire by the death of any of
the parties submitters before sentence. As arbiters are
not vested with jurisdiction, they cannot compel wit¬
nesses to make oath before them, or havers of tvritings
to exhibit them j but this defect is supplied by the
court of session, who, at the suit of the arbiters, or of
either of the parties, will grant warrant for citing wit¬
nesses, or for the exhibition of writing. For the same
reason the power of arbiters is barely to decide; the
execution of the decree belongs to the judge. Where
the submitters consent to the registration of the decree
arbitral, performance may be enforced by summary di¬
ligence.
16. The power of arbiters is wholly derived from
the consent of parties. Hence where their powers are
limited to a certain day, they cannot pronounce sen¬
tence after that day. Nor can they subject parties to a
penalty higher than that which they have agreed to in
the submission. And where a submission is limited to
special claims, sentence pronounced on subjects not spe¬
cified in the submission is null, as \it\ngultra vires com-
promissi.
Decrees ar- jy. But, on the other hand, as submissions are de-
far redu°VV s‘Sne<^ f°r a niost favourable purpose, the amicable com¬
posing of differences, the powers thereby conferred on
arbiters receive an ample interpretation. Decrees arbi¬
tral are not reducible upon any ground, except corrup¬
tion, bribery, or falsehood.
Powers of
arbiters.
cible.
ebnoevi.
Sect. IV. Of Crimes.
Crimes,
1. The word crime, it its most general sense, includes
every breach either of the law of God or of onr coun¬
try j in a more restricted meaning, it signifies such trans¬
gressions of law as are punishable by courts of justice,
pablic, and, Crimes were, by the Roman law, divided into public
and private. Public crimes were those that were ex¬
pressly declared such by some law or constitution, and
which, on account of their more atrocious nature and
hurtful consequences, might be prosecuted by any mem¬
ber of the community. Private crimes could be pur¬
sued only by the party injured, and were generally pu-
private.
Part HI,
nished by a pecuniary fine to be applied to his use. By j aw of
the law of Scotland, no private party, except the per-Scotland,
son injured, or his next of kin, can accuse criminally: '““""Y-*-*
but the king’s advocate, who in this question represents
the community, has a right to prosecute all crimes in
vindictampublicum, though the party injured should re¬
fuse to concur. Smaller offences, as petty riots, inju¬
ries, &c. which do not demand the public vengeance,
pass generally by the appellation of delicts, and are pu¬
nished either by fine or imprisonment.
2. The essence of a crime is, that there be an inten-Wiat £s-
tion in the actor to commit 5 for an action in which se”tlal tw
the will of the agent has no part is not a proper objectCrUUe8’
either of rewards or punishments ; hence arises the
rule, crimen dolo contrahitur. Simple negligence does
not therelore constitute a proper crime. Yet where it
is extremely gross, it may be punished arbitrarily. Far
less can we reckon in the number of crimes, those com¬
mitted by an idiot or furious person : but lesser degrees
of fatuity, which only darken reason, will not afford a
total defence, though they may save from the poena or-
dinaria. Actions committed in drunkenness are not to
be considered as involuntary, seeing the drunkenness
itself, which was the first cause of the action, is both
voluntary and criminal.
3. On the same principle, such as are in a state of
infancy, or in the confines of it, are incapable of a cri¬
minal action, dole not being incident to that age ; but
the precise age at which a person becomes capable of
dole, being fixed neither by nature nor by statute, is
by our practice to be gathered by the judge, as he best
can, from the understanding and manners of the per¬
son accused. Where the guilt of a crime arises chiefly
from statute, the actor, if he is under puberty, can
hardly be found guilty; but, where nature itself points
out its deformity, he may, if he is proximiis puber-
tuti, he more easily presumed capable of committing it:
yet, even in that case, he will not be punished ^ccna or-
dinaria.
4. One may be guilty of a crime, not only by per-Aceesso-
petrating it himself, but being accessory to a crime ries, or art
committed by another; which last is by civilians styledaild P31,1,
ope ct comilio, and, in our law phrase, ai't and part. A
person may be guilty, art and part, either by giving
ad vice or counsel to commit the crime; or, 2. By gi¬
ving warrant or mandate to commit it; or, 3. By ac¬
tually assisting the criminal in the execution. It is ge¬
nerally agreed by doctors, that, in the more atrocious
crimes, the adviser is equally punishable with the cri¬
minal ; and that, in the slighter, the circumstances ari¬
sing from the adviser’s lesser age, the jocular or careless
manner of giving advice, &c. may be received as pleas
for softening the punishment. One who gives mandate
to commit a crime, as he is the first spring of action,
seems more guilty than the person employed as the in¬
strument in executing it; yet the actor cannot excuse
himself under the pretence of orders which he ought
not to have obeyed.
5. Assistance may be given to the committer of a
crime, not only in the actual execution, but previous
to it, by furnishing him, intentionally, with poison,
arms, or the other means of perpetrating it. That sort
of assistance which is not given till after the criminal
act, and which is commonly called abetting, though it
be of itself criminal, does not infer art and part of the
principal
ap. III.
L A W.
697
principal crime ; as if one should favour the escape of
a criminal, knowing him to be such, or conceal him
from justice.
6. Those crimes that are in their consequences most
hurtful to society, are punished capitally, or by death ;
others escape with a lesser punishment, sometimes fixed
by statute, and sometimes arbitrary, i. e. left to the
discretion of the judge, who may exercise his jurisdic¬
tion, either by fine, imprisonment, or a corporal pu¬
nishment. Where the punishment is left, by law, to
the discretion of the judge, he can in no case extend it
to death. The single escheat of the criminal falls on
conviction, in all capital trials, though the sentence
should not express it.
Bl|>hemy. 7. Certain crimes are committed more immediately
against God himself; others, against the state j and a
third kind, against particular persons. The chief crime
in the first class, cognizable by temporal courts, is blas¬
phemy, under which may be included atheism. This
crime consists in the denying or vilifying the Deity by
speech or writing. All who curse God or any of the
persons of the blessed Trinity, are to suffer death, even
for a single act \ and those who deny him, if they per¬
sist in their denial. The denial of a Providence, or of
the authority of the holy Scriptures, is punishable ca¬
pitally for the third offence.
8. No prosecution can row be carried on for witch¬
craft or conjuration. But all who undertake from
their skill in any occult science, to tell fortunes, or
discover stolen goods, are to suffer imprisonment for a
year, stand in the pillory four times in that year, and
find surety for their future good behaviour.
9. Some crimes against the state are levelled direct¬
ly against the supreme power, and strike at the consti¬
tution itself: others discover such a contempt of law,
as tends to baffle authority, or slacken the reins of go¬
vernment. Treason, crimen majestatis, is that crime
which is aimed against the majesty of the state 5 and
can be committed only by those who are subjects of.
that state either by birth or residence. Soon after the
union of the two kingdoms in 1707, the laws of trea¬
son, then in force in England, were made ours by
7 Ann. c. 21. both with regard to the facts constitu¬
ting that crime, to the forms of trial, the corruption of
blood, and all the penalties and forfeitures consequent
on it.
JO. It is high treason, by the law of England, to
imagine the death of the king, queen consort, or of the
heir apparent to the crown ; to levy war against the
king, or adhere to his enemies; to counterfeit the king’s
coin, or his great or privy seal ; to kill the chancellor,
treasurer, or any of the 12 judges of England, while
they are doing their offices : which last article is by
the forenamed act 7 Ann. applied to Scotland, in the
case of slaying any judge of the session or of justiciary
sitting in judgment. Those who wash, clip, or lighten,
the proper money of the realm ; who advisedly affirm
by writing or printing, that the pretender has any right
to the crown, that the king and parliament cannot li¬
mit the succession to it, or who hold correspondence
with the pretender, or any person employed by him,
are also guilty of treason.
tx. The forms of proceedings in the trial of treason,
whether against peers or commoners, are set forth in a
small treatise, published by order of the house of lords
Vol. XL Part II. t
Law of
Scotland.
in 1709, subjoined to a collection of statutes concern¬
ing treason. By the conviction upon this trial, the
whole estate of the traitor forfeits to the crown. His '■“"“"Y’T
blood is also corrupted, so that, on the death of an an¬
cestor, he cannot inherit ; and the estate which he
cannot take, falls to the immediate superior as escheat,
ob defectum heredis, without distinguishing whether the
lands hold of the crown, or of a subject. No attain¬
der for treason shall, after the death of the pretender
and all his sons, hurt the right ef any person, other
than that of the ofiender, during his nartural life; the
rights ot creditors and other third parties, in the case
of forfeiture on treason, must be determined by the law
of England.
12. Misprision of treason, from meprendre, is the Misprision
overlooking or concealing of treason. It is inferred byof treason,
one’s bare knowledge of the crime, and not discover¬
ing it to a magistrate or other person entitled by his
office to take examination ; though he should not in
the least degree assent to it. The foresaid act 7 Ann.
makes the English law of misprision ours. Its punish¬
ment is, by the law of England, perpetual imprison¬
ment, together with the forfeiture of the offender’s
moveables, and of the profits of his heritable estate,
during his life ; that is, in the style of our law, his
single and liferent escheat.
13. Ihe crime of sedition consists in the raising com-Sedition,
motions or disturbances in the state. It is either verbal
or real. Verbal sedition, or leasing-making, is infer¬
red from the uttering of words tending to create dis¬
cord between the king and his people. It is punished
either by imprisonment, fine, or banishment, at the dis¬
cretion of the judge. Beal sedition is generally com¬
mitted by convocating together any considerable num¬
ber of people, without lawful authority, under the pre¬
tence of redressing some public grievance, to the di¬
sturbing of the public peace. Those who are convicted
of this crime are punished by the confiscation of their
goods ; and their lives are at the king’s will. If anv
persons, to the number of 12, shall assemble, and be¬
ing required by a magistrate or constable to disperse,
shall nevertheless continue together for an hour after
such command, the persons disobeying shall sufi’er death
and confiscation of moveables.
14. Judges, who, wilfully or through corruption, Corruption
use their authority as a cover to injustice or oppression, in judges,
are punished with the loss of honour, fame and dig¬
nity. Under this head may be classed theftbote (from
bote, “ compensation”), which is the taking a consi¬
deration in money or goods from a thief to exempt
him from punishment, or connive at his escape from
justice. A sheriff or other judge, guilty of this crime,
forfeits his life and goods. And even a private person,
who takes theftbote, suffers as tbe principal thief. The
buying of disputed claims, concerning which there is a
pending process, by any judge or member either of the
session or of an inferior court, is punished by the loss
of the delinquent’s office, and all the privileges thereto
belonging.
13. Deforcment is the opposition given, or resist-deforce-
ance made, to messengers or other officers, while they manf-
are employed in executing the law. The court of ses'«
eion is competent to this crime. It is punishable with
the confiscation of moveables, the one half to the king,
and the other to the creditor at whose suit the diligence
4 ^ was
Law of was used. Armed persons, to the number of three or
Scotland, more, assisting in the illegal running, landing, or ex-
porting of prohibited or uncustomed goods, or any who
shall resist, wound, or maim any officer of the revenue,
in the execution of his office, are punishable with death
and the confiscation of moveables.
Breach of 16. Breach of arrestment (see N° Ixxviii. 5.) is a
arrestment. cr;me 0f t|le same nature with deforcement, as it im¬
ports a contempt of the law and of our judges. It sub¬
jects to an arbitrary corporal punishment, and the es¬
cheat of moveables j with a preference to the creditor
for h is debt, and for such farther sum as shall be mo¬
dified to him by the judge. Under this head of crimes
against good government and police, may be reckon-
'>1S’ C‘ ed the forestalling of markets; that is, the buying of
goods intended for a public market, before they are
carried there 5 which for the third criminal act infers
tke escheat of moveables; as also slaying salmon in
forbidden time, destroying plough graith in time of
tillage, slaying or houghing horses or cows in time of
harvest, and destroying or spoiling growing timber ;
as to the punishment of which, see statutes 1503, c. 72.
—1587, c. 82. and 1689, c. 16.—I Geo. I. St. 2.
c. 48.
Murder. 17. Crimes against particular persons may be direct¬
ed either against life, limb, liberty, chastity, goods,
or reputation. Murder is the wilful taking away of a
person’s life, without a necessary cause. Our law makes
no distinction betwixt premeditated and sudden homi¬
cide: both are punished capitally. Casual homicide,
where the actor is in some degree blameable ; and ho¬
micide in self-defence, where the just bounds of defence
have been exceeded, are punished arbitrarily: but the
slaughter of night thieves, housebreakers, assistances in
masterful depredations, or rebels denounced for capital
crimes, may be committed with impunity. The crime
of demembration, or the cutting off a member, is joined
with that of murder: but in practice its punishment
has been restricted to the escheat of moveables, and an
assythment or indemnification to the party. Mutilation,
or the disabling of a member, is punished at the discre¬
tion of the judge.
Self-naur- 18. Self-murder \s as highly criminal as the killing
‘1*r* our neighbour ; and for this reason, our law has, con¬
trary to the rule, cnmina morte extinguuntur, allowed
a proof of the crime, after the offender’s death, that his
single escheat might fall to the king or his donatory.
To this end, an action must be brought, not before the
justiciary, but the session, because it is only intended
ad civilem effectum, for proving and declaring the self-
murder ; and the next of kin to the deceased must be
made a party to it.
Parricide. 19. The punishment of parricide, or of the murder
of a parent, is not confined, by our law, to the crimi¬
nal himself. All his posterity in the right line are de¬
clared incapable of inheriting ; and the succession de¬
volves on the next collateral heir. Even the cursing
or beating of a parent infers death, if the person guilty
be above 16 years ; and an arbitrary punishment, if
he be under it. A presumptive or statutory murder
is constituted by 1690, c. 21. by which any woman
who shall conceal her pregnancy, during its whole
course, and shall not call for, or make use of, help in
the birth, is to be reputed the murderer, if the child
be dead, or amissing. This act was intended to dis-
courage the unnatural pr&ct*ce of women making away Law of
with their children begotten in fornication, to avoid ScotlM<i.
church censures. u—y—j
20. Duelling, is the crime of fighting in single com- Duelling
bat, on previous challenges given and received. Fight¬
ing in a duel, without license from the king, is punish¬
able by death ; and whatever person, principal or se¬
cond1, shall give a challenge to fight a duel, or shall ac¬
cept a challenge, or otherwise engage, therein, is pu¬
nished by banishment and escheat of moveables, though
no actual fighting should ensue.
21. Haimsucken (from harm “home,” and sockenHainutc-
“ ^ seek or pursue”) is the assaulting or beating of a Un¬
person in his own house. The punishment of this crime
is nowhere defined, except in the books of the Majesty,
which makes it the same as that of a rape; and it is*
like rape, capital by our practice. The assault must
be made in the proper house of the person assaulted,
where he lies and rises daily and nightly ; so that nei¬
ther a public house, nor even a private, where one is
only transiently, falls within the law.
22. Any party to a law suit, who shall slay, wound, Battery,
or otherwise invade his adversary, at any period of time
between executing the summons and the complete exe¬
cution of the decree, or shall be accessory to such inva¬
sion, shall lose his cause. The sentence pronounced on
this trial, against him who has committed the battery,
is not subject to reduction, either on the head of mino¬
rity, or on any other ground whatever : and if the per¬
son prosecuted for this crime shall be denounced for not
appearing, his liferent, as well as single escheat, falls
upon the denunciation.
23. The crime of wrongous imprisonment is inferred, Wrongous
by granting warrants of commitment in order to trial,impriton.
proceeding on informations not subscribed, or withoutment*
expressing the cause of commitment; by receiving or
detaining prisoners on such warrants ; by refusing to a
prisoner a copy of the warrant of commitment; by de¬
taining him in close confinement, above eight days af¬
ter his commitment; by not releasing him on bail,
where the crime is bailable; and by transporting per¬
sons out of the kingdom, without either their own con¬
sent, or a lawful sentence. The persons guilty of a
wrongous imprisonment are punished by a pecuniary
mulct, from 6000I. down to 400I. Scots, according to
the rank of the person detained ; and the judge, or
other person guilty, is over and above subjected to pay
to the person detained a certain sum per diem propor*
tioned to his rank, and is declared incapable of public
trust. All these penalties may be insisted for by a
summary action before the session, and are subject to
no modification.
24. Adultery, is the crime by which the marriage Adultery,
bed is polluted. This crime could neither by the Ro¬
man nor Jewish law be committed, but where the
guilty woman was the wife of another: by ours, it is
adultery, if either the man or woman be married. We
distinguish between simple adultery, and that which is
notorious or manifest. Open and manifest adulterers,
who continue incorrigible, notwithstanding the cen¬
sures of the church, are punished capitally. This
crime is distinguished by one or other of the following
characters : where there is issue procreated between
the adulterers ; or where they keep bed and company
together notoriously; or whfere they give scandal to
the
w of the church, and are, upon their obstinate refusing to
tland. listen to its admonitions, excommunicated. The pu¬
nishment of simple adultery, not being defined by sta¬
tute, is left to the discretion of the judge; but custom
has made the falling of the single escheat one of its pe¬
nalties.
Muy. 25. Bigamy is a person’s entering into the engage¬
ments of a second marriage, in violation of a former
marriage vow still subsisting. Bigamy, on the part
of the man, has been tolerated in many states, before
the establishment of Christianity, even by the Jews
themselves ; but it is prohibited by the precepts of the
gospel; and it is punished by our law, whether on the
part of the man or of the woman, with the pains of
perjury.
26. Incest, is committed by persons who stand with¬
in the degreess of kindred forbidden in Lev. xviii. and
is punished capitally. The same degrees are prohi¬
bited in affinity, as in consanguinity, Lev. xviii. 13.
et seq. As this crime is repugnant to nature, all chil¬
dren, whether lawful or natural, stand on an equal
footing : civilis ratio civilia jura corrumpere potest, non
vero naturalia. It is difficult indeed to bring a legal
proof of a relation merely natural, on the side of the
father; but the mother may be certainly known with¬
out marriage.
27. There is no explicit statute making rape, or the
ravishing of women, capital ; but it is plainly supposed
in act 1612, c. 4. by which the ravisher is exempted
from the pains of death, only in the case of the wo¬
man’s subsequent consent, or her declaration that she
went off with him of her own free will; and even then,
he is to suffer an arbitrary punishment, either by im¬
prisonment, confiscation of goods, or a pecuniary fine.
28. Theft is defined, A fraudulent intermeddling with
the property of another, with a view of making gain.
Our ancient law proportioned the punishment of the
theft to the value of the goods stolen ; heightening it
gradually, from a slight corporal punishment to a ca¬
pital, if the value amounted to thirty-two pennies Scots,
which in the reign of David I. was the price of two
sheep. In several latter acts, it is taken for granted,
that this crime is capital. But where the thing stolen
is of small value, we consider it not as theft but as pic¬
kery, which is punished either corporally or by banish¬
ment. The breaking of orchards, and the stealing of
green wood, is punished by a fine, which rises as the
crime is repeated.
29. Theft may be aggravated into a capital crime,
though the value of the thing stolen be trifling; as
theft twice repeated, or committed in the night, or by
landed men ; or of things set apart for sacred uses.
rJL 0f The receivers and concealers of stolen goods, knowing
th| them to be such, suffer as thieves. Those who barely
harbour the person of the criminal within 48 hours
either before or after committing the crime, are punished
as partakers of the theft. Such as sell goods belong¬
ing to thieves or lawless persons who dare not them¬
selves come to market, are punished with banishment
and the escheat of moveables,
ery, 30. Theft attended with violence is called robbery,
an(f in our statutes, rief or siouthrief; under which
class may be included sorning, or the taking of meat and
drink by force, without paying for it. Stouthrief came
at last to be committed so audaciously, by bands of men
Ttt.
A W. 5^^
associated together, that it was thought necessary to vest r.aw of
all our freeholders with a pow'er of holding courts up- Scotland,
on sorners and rievers, and condemning them to death. v 1 ^ —>
Nay, all were capitally punished, who, to secure their
lands from depredation, paid to the rievers a yearly
contribution, which got the name of black mail. An
act also passed, commanding to banishment a band of
sorners, who were originally {ram Egypt, c&WeA gypsies,
and adjudging to death all that should be reputed Egyp¬
tians, if found thereafter within the kingdom. Bob¬
bery committed on the seas is called piracy, and is
punished capitally by the high admiral. Several of the
facts which constitute this crime are set forth in a Bri¬
tish statute, 8 Geo. I. c. 24.
31* Falsehood, in a large sense, is the fraudulent imi- Falsehood,
tation or suppression of truth, to the damage of another.
The lives and goods of persons convicted of using false
weights or measures were, by our old law, in the king’s
mercy : and their heirs could not inherit but upon a
remission. The latest statute against this crime pu¬
nishes it by confiscation of moveables. That particular
species of falsehood, which consists in the falsifying of
writings, passes by the name oiforgery. Our practice Forgery,
has now of a long time, agreeably to the Boman law,
made this crime capital ; unless the forgery be of exe¬
cutions, or other writings of smaller moment; in which
case, it is punished arbitrarily.
32. The writing must not only be fabricated, but
put to use or founded on, in order to infer this crime.
And though it be strictly criminal, yet the trial of it
is proper to the court of session ; but where improba-
tion is moved against a deed by way of exception, the
inferior judge, before whom the action lies, is competent
to it adcivilcm effectum. When it is pleaded as an ex¬
ception, our practice, to discourage affected delays,
obliges the defender, who moves it, to consign 40I.
Scots ; which he forfeits, if his plea shall appear calum¬
nious.
33. Where a person, found guilty of forgery by the
court of session, is by them remitted to the justiciary,
an indictment is there exhibited against him, and "a
jury sworn, before whom the decree of session is produ¬
ced, in place of all other evidence of the crime, in re¬
spect of which the jury find the pannel guilty ; so that
that decree being pronounced by a competent court, is
held as full proof, or, in the style of the bar, as proba-
tio probata.
3^. Perjury, which is the judicial affirmation of a
falsehood on oath, really constitutes the crimen falsi ;
for he who is guilty of it does, in the most solemn
manner, substitute falsehood in the place of truth. To
constitute this crime, the violation of truth must be
deliberately intended by the swearer; and therefore
reasonable allowances ought to be given to forgetful¬
ness or misapprehension, according to his age, health,
and other circumstances. The breach of a promissory
oath does not infer this crime ; for he who promises on
oath may sincerely intend performance when he swears,
and so cannot be said to call on God to attest a false¬
hood. Though an oath, however false, if made upon
reference in a civil question, concludes the cause, the
person perjured is liable to a criminal trial; for the ef¬
fect of the reference can go no further than the private
right of the parties.
35. Notwithstanding the mischierous consequences
4 T 2 of
JQO
Usury*
L A
cf perjury to society, It Is not punished capitally, but
by confiscation of moveables, imprisonment for a year,
and infamy. The court of session is competent to per¬
jury incidenter, when, in any examination upon oath,
taken in a cause depending before them, a person ap¬
pears to have sworn falsely : but in the common case,
that trial is proper to the justiciary. Subornation of
perjury consists in tampering with persons who are to
swear in judgment, by directing them how they are
to depose : and it is punished with the pains of per-
jury.
Stellionate. 36. The crime of stellionate, from stcllio, includes
every fraud which is not distinguished by a special
name j but is chiefly applied to conveyances of the
same numerical right, granted by the proprietor to dif¬
ferent disponees. The punishment of stellionate must
necessarily be arbitrary, to adapt it to the various na¬
tures and different aggravations of the fraudulent acts.
The persons guilty of that kind of it, which consists in
granting double conveyances, are by our law declared
infamous, and their lives and goods at the king’s mer¬
cy. The cognizance offraudulent bankruptcy is appro¬
priated to the court of session, who may inflict any pu¬
nishment on the ofl'ender that appears proportioned to
his guilt, death excepted.
37. The crime of usury, before the Reformation,
consisted in the taking of any interest for the use of
money ; and now in taking a higher rate of interest
than is authorized by law. It is divided inttj usura
manifesto, or direct 5 and velata, or covered. One may
be,guilty of the first kind, either where he covenants
with the debtor for more than the lawful interest on
the loan-money: or where one receives the interest
of a sum before it is due, since thereby he takes a con¬
sideration of the use of money before the debtor has
really got the use of it. Where a debt is clogged
with an uncertain condition, by which the creditor runs
the hazard of losing his sum, he may covenant for a
higher interest than the legal, without the crime of
usury: for there the interest is not given merely in con¬
sideration of the use of the money, but of the danger
undertaken by the creditor.
38. Covered usury, is that which was committed un¬
der the mask, not of a loan, but of some other contract;
e. g. a sale or an improper wadset. And in general, all
obligations entered into with an intention of getting
more than the legal interest for the use of money,
however they may be disguised, are usurious. As a
farther guard against this crime, the taking more than
the legal interest for the forbearance of payment of
money, merchandise, or other commodities, by W’ay of
loan, exchange, or other contrivance whatever, or the
taking a bribe for the loan of money, or for delaying
its payment when lent, is declared usury. Where usury
is proved, the usurious obligation is not only declared
void, but the creditor, if be has received any unlawful
profits, forfeits the treble value of the sums or goods
lent. Usury when it is to be pursued criminally, must
be tried by the justiciary : but where the libel con¬
cludes only for voiding the debt, or restitution, the ses¬
sion is the proper court.
39. Injury, in its proper acceptation, is the re¬
proaching or affronting our neighbour. Injuries are
either verbal or real. A verba! injury, when directed
against a private person, consists in the uttering contu-
Injury,
Part III.
melious words, which tend to expose our neighbour’s ot
character by making him little or ridiculous. It does Scotland,
not seem that the twitting one with natural defects "*—/—
without any sarcastical reflections, though it be inhu¬
man, falls under this description, as these imply no real
reproach in the just opinion of mankind. Where the
injurious expressions have a tendency to blacken one’s
moral character, or fix some particular guilt upon him,
and are deliberately repeated in different companies, or
handed about in whispers to confidants, it then grows
up to the crime of slander : and where a person’s mo¬
ral character is thus attacked, the animus iijuriandiis
commonly inferred from the injurious words themselves,
unless special circumstances be offered to take off the
presumption, ex gr. that the words were uttered in
judgment in one’s own defence, or by way of informa¬
tion to a magistrate, and had some foundation in fact.
Though the cognizance of slander is proper to the com¬
missaries, who, as the judices Christianitatis, are the
only judges of scandal ; yet, for some time past, bare
verbal injuries have been tried by other criminal judges,
and even by the session. It is punished either by a
fine, proportioned to the condition of the persons inju¬
ring and injured, and the circumstances of time and
place; or if the injury import scandal, by publicly ac¬
knowledging the offence ; and frequently the two are
conjoined. The calling one a bankrupt is not, in strict
speech, a verbal injury, as it does not affect the person’s
moral character; yet, as it may hurt his credit in the
way of business, it founds him in an action of damages,
which must be brought before the judge-ordinary.
A real injury is inflicted by any fact, by which a per¬
son’s honour or dignity is affected ; as striking one
with a cane, or even aiming a blow without striking ;
spitting in one’s face ; assuming a coat of arms, or
anv other mark of distinction proper to another, &c.
The composing and publishing defamatory libels may
be reckoned of this kind. Real injuries are tried by
the judge-ordinary, and punished either by fine or
imprisonment, according to the demerit of the offenders.
40. After having shortly explained the several crimes
punishable by our law, this treatise may be concluded
with a few observations on criminal jurisdiction, the
forms of trial, and the methods by which crimes may
be extinguished. Criminal jurisdiction is founded,
1. Piatione domicilii, if the defender dwells within the Criminal
territory of the judge. Vagabonds, who have no cer-jadsdie-
tain domicile, may be tried wherever they are sppre-tion‘
bended. 2. Ratione delicti, if the crime was com¬
mitted within the territory. Treason is triable, bv
the English law, in any county that the king should
appoint ; and, by a temporary act now expired, trea¬
son committed in certain Scots counties was made tri¬
able by the court of justiciary, wherever it should sir.
41. No criminal trial can proceed, unless the person \yiat j'er-
accused is capable of making his defence. .Absentssons are
fatuous nor fur'^*1®1101 tF‘al''r*
therefore cannot be tried
persons, durante furore.
; nor ratuous nor lurious
even for crimes committed
while they were in their senses. For a like reason,
minors who had no curators, could not, by the Roman
law, he tried criminally : hut our practice considers
every person who is capable of dole, to be also suffi¬
ciently qualified for making his defence in a criminal
trial.
42. No person can be imprisoned in order to stand Commit-
trial Bunt*
lap. IIT. Tj
aw of trial for any crime, without a warrant in writing ex-
otland. pressing tlie cause, and proceeding upon a subscribed
—v—information, unless in the case of indignities done to
judges, riots, and the other offences specially mentioned
jn 1701, c. 6. Every prisoner committed in order to
trial, if the crime of which he is accused be not capi¬
tal, is iutitled to be released upon bail, the extent of
which is to be modified by the judge, not exceeding
12,000 merles Scots for a nobleman, 6000 for a landed
gentleman, 2000 for every other gentleman or burgess,
and 600 for any other enferior person. 1 hat persons
who, either from the nature of the crime with which
they are charged, or from their low circumstances,
cannot procure bail, may not lie for ever in prison un¬
tried, it is lawful for every such prisoner to apply to
the criminal judge, that his trial may be brought on.
The judge must, within 24 hours alter such applica¬
tion, issue letters directed to messengers, for intimating
to the prosecutor to fix a diet for the prisoner’s trial,
within 60 days after the intimation, under the pain of
wrongous imprisonment: And if the prosecutor does
not insist within that time, or if the trial is not finished
in forty days more when carried on before the jnstici-
arv, or in" thirty when before any other judge j the
prisoner is, upon a second application, setting forth
that the legal time is elapsed, entitled to his freedom,
under the same penalty.
43. Upon one’s committing any of the grosser
crimes, it is usual for a justice of the peace, sheriff, or
other judge, to take a precognition of the facts, i. e.
to examine those who were present at the criminal act,
upon the special circumstances attending it, in order
to know whether there is ground for a trial, and to
serve as a direction to the prosecutor, how to set forth
the facts in the libel j but the persons examined may
insist to have their declarations cancelled before they
give testimoney at the trial. Justices of the peace,
sheriffs, and magistrates of boroughs, are also autho¬
rized to receive informations, concerning crimes to be
tried in the circuit-courts : which informations are to
be transmitted to the justice-clerk 40 days before the
sitting of the respective courts. To discourage ground¬
less criminal trials, all prosecutors, where the defend¬
er was absolved, were condemned by statute, in costs,
as they should be modified by the judge, and besides
were subjected to a small fine, to be divided between
the fisk and the defender : And where the king’s ad¬
vocate was the only pursuer, bis informer was made
liable. This sufficiently warrants the present practice
of condemning vexatious prosecutors in a pecuniary
mulct, though far exceeding the statutory sum.
u, 0f 44. The forms upon trial in criminal accusations,
l. differ much from those observed in civil actions, if we
except the case of such crimes as the court of session is
competent to, and of lesser offences tried before infe¬
rior courts. The trial of crimes proceeds either upon
indictment, which is sometimes used when the person
to he tried is in prison ; or by criminal letters issuing
from the signet of the justiciary. In either case, the
defender must be served with a full copy of the indict¬
ment or letters, and with a list of the witnesses to be
brought against him, and of the persons who are to
pass on the inquest, and 15 free days must intervene
between his being so served and the day of appearance.
A W. 70.1
When the trial proceeds upon criminal letters, the pri- j (1VV of
vate prosecutor must give security, at raising the let- Scotland,
ters, that he will report them duly executed to the ——*-—
justiciary, in terms of 1535, c. 35. ; and the defender,
if he be not already in prison, is, by the letters, re¬
quired to give caution, within a certain number of days
after his citation, for his appearance upon the day
fixed for his trial: And if he gives none within the
days of the charge, he may be denounced rebel, which
infers the forfeiture of his moveables.
45. That part of the indictment, or of the criminal
letters, which contains the ground of the charge against
the defender, and the nature or degree of the punish¬
ment he ought to suffer, is called the libel. Ail libels
must be special, setting forth the particular facts in¬
ferring the guilt, and the particular place where these
facts w'ere done. The time of committing the crime
may be libelled in more general terms, with an alter¬
native as to the month, or day of the month : but as
it is not practicable, in most cases, to libel upon the
precise circumstances of accession that may appear in
proof, libels against accessories are sufficient, if they
mention, in general, that the persons prosecuted are
guilty art and part.
46. The defender in a criminal trial may raise letters
of exculpation, for citing witnessses in proof of his de¬
fences against the libel, or of his objections against any
of the jury or witnesses $ which must be executed to
the same day of appearance with that of the indictment
or criminal letters.
47. The diets of appearance, in the court of justi¬
ciary, are peremptory : the criminal letters must be
called on the vexy day on which the defender is cited :
and hence, if no accuser appears, their effect is lost,
instantiaperiiy and new letters must be raised. If the
libel, or any of the executions, shall to the prosecutor
appear informal, or if he be diffident ol the proof,
from the absconding of a necessary witness, the court
will, upon a motion made by him, desert the diet pro
loco et tempore; after which new letters become also
necessary. A defendei*, who does not appear on the
very day to which he is cited, is declared fugitive ; in
consequence of which his single escheat falls. The
defender, after his appearance in court, is called the
pannel.
48. The two things to be chiefly regarded in a cri-^.^
minal libel, are, 1. The relevancy of the facts, i. e. their appear-
sufficiency to infer the conclusion ; 2. Their truth, ance.
The consideration of the first belongs to the judge of
the court j that of the other, to the jury or assize. If
the facts libelled be found irrelevant, the pannel i#
dismissed from the bar ; if relevant, the court remits
the proof thereof to he determined by the jury ; which
must consist of 15 men picked out by the court from a
greater number, not exceeding 45, who have been all
summoned, and given in list to the defender at serving
him with a copy of the libel.
49. Crimes cannot, like debts, be referred to theprobatio
defender’s oath j for no person is compellable to swearof crimes,
against himself, where his life, limb, liberty, or estate
is concerned, nor even in crimes which infer infamy ;
because one’s good name is, in right estimation, as
valuable as bis life. There is one exception however to
this rule in trying the crime of usury, which may be
proved
70.2 L
Law of proved by the usurer’s own oath, notwithstanding the
Scotland, rule, Nemo teneturjurarein suamturpitudinem. Crimes
therefore are in the general case proveable only by the
defender’s free confession, or by writing, or by wit¬
nesses. No extrajudicial confession, unless it is ad¬
hered to by the pannel in judgment, can be admitted
as evidence.
Sociicrimi- $0. All objections relevant against a witness in civil
Tlls- cases are also relevant in criminal. No witness is ad¬
mitted, who may gain or lose by the event of the
trial. Socn crimmis, or associates in the same crime,
are not admitted against one another, except either in
crimes against the state, as treason j in occult crimes,
where other witnesses cannot he had, as forgery ; or
in theft, or depredations committed in the Highlands.
The testimony of the private party injured may be
received against the pannel, where the king’s advocate
is the only prosecutor, if from the nature of the crime,
there must needs be a penury of witnesses, as in rape,
robbery, &c.
assbtei^ ^ie witnesses have been examined in
court, the jury are shut up in a room by themselves,
where they must continue, excluded from all correspon¬
dence, till their verdict or judgment be subscribed by
the foreman ^or chancellor) and clerk, and according
to this verdict the court pronounces sentence, either
absolving or condemning. It is not necessary, by the
law of Scotland, that a jury should be unanimous in
finding a person guilty j the narrowest majority is as
suflicient against the pannel, as for him. Juries can¬
not be punished on account of an erroneous verdict,
either for or against the pannel.
Ihliw8 °f 52‘ .Thougl1 the ProPer business of a jury be to in-
J ^ quire into the truth of the facts found relevant by the
court, for which reason they are sometimes called the
inquests; yet, in many cases, they judge also in matters
of law or relevancy. Thus, though an objection against
a witness should be repelled by the court, the jury are
under no necessity to give more credit to his testimony
than they think just : And in all trials of art and part,
where special facts are not libelled, the jury, if they
return a general verdict, are indeed judges not only of
the truth, but the relevancy of the facts that are sworn
to by the witnesses. A general verdict, is that which
finds in general terms, that the pannel is guilty or not
guilty, or that the libel or defences are proved or not
proved. In a special verdict, the jury finds certain
facts proved, the import of which is to be afterwards
considered by the court,
Scute aces. 53. Criminal judges must now suspend for some
time the execution of such sentences as affect life or
limb, that so condemned criminals, whose cases deserve
favour, may have access to apply to the king for mercy.
No sentence of any court of judicature, south of the
river Forth, importing either death or demembration,
can be executed in less than 30 days; and, if north
of it in less than 40 days, after the date of the sentence.
But corporal punishments, less than death or dismem¬
bering, e. g. whiping, pillory, &c. may be inflicted
eight days after sentence on this side Forth, and twelve
days after sentence beyond it.
Extinction 54. Crimes are extinguished, 1. By the death of
oicrimes, the criminal: both because a dead person can make
A J- , P.rtin,
iz:,
should be ever so notorious, he is after death carried ^
beyond the reach of human penalties : Such trials
therefore can have no effect, but to punish the inno¬
cent heir, contrary to that most equitable rule, Culpa
tenet suos auctores. 2. Crimes may be extinguished by
a remission from the sovereign. But a remission, though
it secures the delinquent from the public resentment,
the exercise of which belongs to the crown, cannot
cut oft the party injured from his claim of damages,
over which the crown has no prerogative. Whoever
therefore founds on a remission, is liable in damages
to the private prosecutor, in the same manner as if he
had been tried and found guilty. Even general acts
of indemnity passed in parliament, though they secure
against such penalties as law inflicts upon the criminal
merely per modum pczna, yet do not against the pay¬
ment of any pecuniary fine that is given by statute
to the party injured, nor against the demand of anv
claim competent to him in name of damages.
55. Lesser injuries, which cannot be properly said
to aflect the public peace, may be extinguished, either
by the private party’s expressly forgiving him, or by
his being reconciled to the offender, after receiving
the injury. Hence arises the rule, Dissimulatione tollitur
injuria. But where the ofl'ence is of a higher nature,
the party injured, though he may pass from the pro¬
secution, in so far as his private interest is concerned,
cannot preclude the king’s advocate, or procurator-
fiscal, from insisting ad vindictam publicam.
56. Crimes are also extinguished by prescription, Preccriu.
which operates by the mere lapse of time, withouttien.
any act either of the sovereign or of the private sufferer.
Crimes prescribe in 20 years ; but in particular crimes,
the prescription is limited by statute to a shorter time!
No person can be prosecuted upon the act against
wrongous imprisonment, after three years. High trea¬
son, committed within his majesty’s dominions, suffers
likewise a triennial prescription, if indictment be not
found against the traitor within that time. All actions
brought upon any penal statute made or to be made,
where the penalty is appropriated to the crown, expire
in two years after committing the offence ; and where
the penalty goes to the crown or other prosecutor, the
prosecutor must sue within one year, and the crown
within two years after the year ended. Certain crimes
are, without the aid of any statute, extinguished by a
shorter perscription than twenty years. By our old
iaw, in the cases of rape, robbery, and hamesucken,
the party injured was not heard after a silence of
twenty-four hours ; from a presumption, that persons
could not be so grossly injured, without immediately
complaining . And it is probable, that a prosecution
for these ciimes, if delayed for any considerable^ time
would be cast even at this day, or at least the punish¬
ment restricted. Lesser injuries suffer also a short pre¬
scription ; law presuming forgiveness, from the nature
of the offence, and the silence of the party. The par.
ticular space of time suflicient to establish this pre¬
sumption must be determined by the judge, according
to circumstances.
INDEX.
LAW.
INDEX.
7°3
a
JpCESSORIES} whatj p. 617, 696
At of grace, 695
Ations, nature of, 687
different sorts of, 689
indications, what, 659
inicles, 690
'miralty, court of, 627
’ultery, 698
ienation by deed, what, 607
record, 608
special custom, ib.
devise, ib.
Ataignment, what, 62^
Abiters, 696
1 rests, what, 621
Asignations, account of, 672'
B
l il and commitment, what, 621
j 'nkrupt estates, sale of, 661
j ron, definition of a, 628
i stards incapable of legal succession, 687
J ttery, 698
J ramy, 699
j ?Ao/>s, jurisdiction of, 631
1 jsphemy, '697
i rough, definition of, 628
l each of arrestment, 698
Brieves, 691
British constitution, 586
tion, 695
\utionry, whatj 669
:«o bonorutn, . ^9S
ttels, dispossession of, 613
•cumduction, 693
il society, what, 585
rgy, of the, 601
benefit of, whatj 622
bat, single, probation by, 691
\nmitment, 700
mon law, what, 390
three kinds of, 591
eviction, what, 621
yorations, what* 602
'ruption in judges, 697
CJms, ecclesiastical, 611
of special jurisdiction, ib.
of the cognizance of private
wrongs,'1 ib.
commissary, 63 s
limes, definition, &c. of, 696
probation of, 701
extinction off 702
prescription of, ib.
Crwnno/jurisdiction, p. 700
Crown, injuries proceeding from the, 614
D
Decrees, 694
Defences, 691
Deforcement, 697
Demurrer, what, 615
Diets of appearance, 701
Disturbance, what, 614
Duelling, 698
Dyvours habit, 695
Entry by inventory, what, 682
hasp and staple, ib.
a precept of clare constat, ib.
Equity, what, 589
Estates in possession, what, 605
upon condition, ib.
in reversion, iff.
in severalty, &c. 606
Exchequer, court of, 627
Execution, what, 616
F
Falsehood, 699
Felonies, what, 618
Fictio juris, 693
Forestalling, 698
Forgery, 699
Freehold estates, what, 604
G
God, offences against, 617
Government, what, 58s
different forms of, ibi
Guardian, what, 602
H
Haimsucken, 698
Heir apparent, description of an, 681
Hereditaments, corporeal, 603
incorporeal, ib.
High treason, what, 617
Holding, several kinds of, 644
Homicide, description of, 619
Husband, description of a, 602
Imprisonment, wrongous, 698
Incest, 699
Individuals, offences against, 619
habitations of, ib.
offences against, 620
Inhibitions, account of, 658
Injury, 700
Interdictions, registration of, 638
Judges, jurisdiction of, 624
by whom named, 626
Judges, qualifications of, p. 626
Jury, 702
Justice, college of, 626
offences against,' 618
K
Kindred, degrees of, forbidden to
marry, 632
King, title of the, 599
family of the, 600
councils belonging to the, ib.
duties of the, ibl
prerogative of the, ib.
revenue of the, ib.
Laws, nature of, in general, 582
of revelation, 583
of nations, 384
municipal, ib.
interpretation of, 388
of England 390
civil, 593
canon, ib.
written, 396
Litiscontestation, 691
Lord of regality, what, 627
Lyon king at arms, office of, 629
M
Magistrates^ subordinate, 601
Mandate, definition of, 668
Marriage, nature of, 634
Masters, description of, 602
Minors, tutors of, 633
Misprision of treason, 697
Misprisions, what, 618
Murder, 698
N
Nuisance, what, 613
Oaths, probation by, 692
Obligations and contracts, 667
dissolution of, 671
Offences, means of preventing, 620
Parent, description of a, 602
Parliament, of the, 399
Parricide, 698
Patronage, account of, 629
People, of the, whether natives, &c. 601
Perjury, _ 699
Personal property, injuries done to, 612
Persons, rights of, ib.
capable of committing crimes, 617
Pleadings, what, 61 ^
Poindings,
7°4
Poindings, nature of, p. 673
jurisdiction of the, 629
Pramunire, what, 618
Precognition, 701
Prescription of crimes, 702
positive, 675
negative, 676
Presumptions, 693
Private wrongs, how redx’essed, 6io
Probation, various ways of, 691
Process, what, 615
Property, real, what, 603
injuries done to, 613
Prosecution, various modes of, 621
Public wrongs, what, 616
R
Rape, 699
Reduction, 694
Reset of theft, 699
Remedies, pursuit of by action, 614
Reprieve and pardon, what, 622
Rights, division of, 639
heritable, what, 640
acquired by feu, 647
transmission of, 650
redeemable, 651
moveable, 662
Robbery, 699
S
Scotland, municipal law of, 622
common law of, 623
L A W.
Scotland, courts of, p. 624
prince of, 628
Sedition, 6c)1]
Self-murder, 698
Sentences, 693
Sequestration, what, 660
Servajits, description of, 602
Servitudes, account of, 652
Socii criminis, 702
Spuilzies, 689
Stale, civil, 601
military and maritime, 602
Statutes, construction of, 597
Stellionate, 700
Submission, what, 696
Subtraction, what, 6x4
Succession, nature of, 678
in moveables, 684
Summotises, 691
Superior, casualties due to the, 645
Suspension, 694
System, the feodal, 603
T
Teinds, description of, 656
Tenures, modern English, 604
ancient English, ib.
Theft, 699
Things, rights of, 603
real, title to, 606
personal, what, 608
property in, 609
Things, title to, by occupancy,
by prerogative,
Title by descent, what,
purchase
occupancy,
prescription,
forfeiture,
alienation,
custom,
succession,
gift,
bankruptcy,
testament,
Transference, action of,
Transumpt, action of,
Treason,
Trespass, what,
Trial, species of,
form of,
Verdict,
Usury,
U
w
JVakening, process of,
Waste, what,
Tf ife, description of a,
obligations of a,
inhibition of a,
Witnesses, probation by,
IVord, obligation by,
Writ, obligation by,
Wrongs, and their remedies, what,
Index,
p. 609
ib,
606
ib,
ib.
607
ib.
ib.
609
ib.
ib.
610
ib.
690
ib.
697
613
6i5
701
702
700
690
614
602
633
634
692
664
ib,
6l2
LAW
Law- Law-Language. In England all law proceedings
Language. were formerly written, as indeed all public proceedings
w- were^ ju Jsforman or law French, and even the argu¬
ments of the counsel and decisions of the court were in
the same barbarous dialect:—An evident and shame¬
ful badge, it must he owned, of tyranny and foreign
servitude ; being introduced under the auspices of
William the Norman, and his sons : whereby the ob¬
servation of the Roman satirist was once more verified,
that Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos. This
continued till the reign of Edward III. ; who, having
employed his arms successfully in subduing the crown
of France, thought it unbeseeming the dignity of the
victors to use any longer the language of a vanquished
country. By a statute, therefore, passed in the 36th
year of his reign, it was enacted, that for the future
all pleas should be pleaded, shown, defended, answered,
debated, and judged, in the English tongue ; but be
entered and enrolled in Latin : In like manner as Don
Alonso X. king of Castile (the great-grandfather of
our Edward III.) obliged his subjects to use the Ca¬
stilian tongue in all legal proceedings *, and as, in 1286,
the German language was established in the courts of
the empire. And, perhaps, if our legislature had then
directed that the writs themselves, which are mandates
from the king to his subjects to perform certain acts,
«r to appear at certain places, should have been framed
LAW
in the English language, according to the rule of our Law-
ancient law, it had not been very improper. But the I*»ngnag*.
record or enrolment of these writs and the proceed-
ings thereon, which was calculated for the benefit of
posterity, was more serviceable (because more durable)
in a dead and immutable language than in any flux or
living one. The practisers, however, being used to the
Norman language, and therefore imagining they could
express their thoughts more aptly and more concisely
in that than in any other, still continued to take their
notes in laxv French; and, of course, when those notes
came to be published, under the denomination of re¬
ports, they were printed in that barbarous dialect j
which, joined to the additional terrors of a Gothic black
letter, has occasioned many a student to throw away
his Plowden and Littleton, without venturing to attack
a page of them. And yet in reality, upon a nearer
acquaintance, they would have found nothing very for¬
midable in the language j which differs in its gram¬
mar and orthography as much from the modern French,
as the diction of Chaucer and Gower does from that oi
Addison and Pope. Besides, as the English and Nor¬
man languages were concurrently used by our ances¬
tors for several centuries together, the two idioms have
naturally assimilated, and mutually borrowed from each
other : for which reason the grammatical construction
of each is so very much the same, that I apprehend an
Englishman
LAW [ 705 ] LAW
iaw. Englishman (with a week’s preparation) would under-
gaage. stand the laws of Normandy, collected in their grand
"V™1 ■ * coustumier, as well, if not better, than a Frenchman bred
within the walls of Paris.
The Latin, which succeeded the French for the en¬
try and enrolment of pleas, and which continued in
use for four centuries, answers so nearly to the English
(oftentimes word for word) that it is not at all surpris¬
ing it should generally be imagined to be totally fa¬
bricated at home, with little more art or trouble than
bp adding Roman terminations to English words.
Whereas in reality it is a very universal dialect, spread
throughout all Europe at the irruption of the northern
nations; and particularly accommodated and moulded
to answer all the purposes of the lawyers with a pecu¬
liar exactness and precision. This is principally owing
to the simplicity, or (if the reader pleases) the poverty
and baldness of its texture, calculated to express the
ideas of mankind just as they arise in the human mind,
without any rhetorical flourishes, or perplexed orna¬
ments of style: for it may be observed, that those laws
and ordinances, of public as well as private communi¬
ties, are generally the most easily understood, where
strength and perspicuity, not harmony or elegance of
expression, have been principally consulted in compil¬
ing them. These northern nations, or rather their le¬
gislators, though they resolved to make use of the Latin
tongue in promulging their laws, as being more du¬
rable and more generally known to their conquered
subjects than their own Teutonic dialects, yet (either
through choice or necessity) have frequently intermix¬
ed therein some words of a Gothic original : which is,
more or less, the case in every country of Europe, and
therefore not to be imputed as any peculiar blemish in
oar English legal latinity. The truth is, what is ge¬
nerally denominated law-Latin is in reality a mere
technical language, calculated for eternal duration, and
easy to be apprehended both in present and future times ;
and on those accounts best suited to preserve those me¬
morials which are intended for perpetual rules of ac¬
tion. The rude pyramids of Egypt have endured from
the earliest ages, while the more modern and more ele¬
gant structures of Attica, Rome, and Palmyra, have
sunk beneath the stroke of time.
As to the objection of locking up the law in a strange
and unknown tongue, this is of little weight with re¬
gard to records; which few have occasion to read, hot
such as do, or ought to, understand the rudiments of
Latin. And besides, it may be observed of the law-
Latin, as the very ingenious Sir John Davis observes
of the law-French, “ that it is so very easy to he
learned, that the meanest wit that ever came to the
study of the law doth come to understand it almost per¬
fectly in ten days without a reader.”
It is true, indeed, that the many terms of art, with
which the law abounds, are sufficiently harsh wiien
Latinized (yet not more so than those of other sciences),
and may, as Mr Selden observes, give oflence “ to
some grammarians of squeamish stomachs, who would
rather choose to live in ignorance of things the most
useful and important, than to have their delicate ears
wounded by the use of a word unknown to Cicero,
Sallust, or the other writers of the Augustan age.”
Yet this is no more than must unavoidably happen when
things of modern use, of which the Romans had no
Vol. XI. Part II. t
idea, and consequently no phrases to express them, Law-
come to be delivered in the Latin tongue. It would Language,
puzzle the most classical scholar to find an appellation,
in his pure Latinity, for a constable, a record, or a
deed of feoffment: it is therefore to be imputed as
much to necessity as ignorance, that they were styled
in our forensic dialect, co7istabularius, rccordum, and
feoffamentum. Thus again, another uncouth word of
our ancient laws (for I defend not the ridiculous b, .r-
barisms sometimes introduced by the ignorance of mo¬
dern practisers), the substantive murdrum, or the verb
murdrare, however harsh and unclassical it may seem,
was necessarily framed to express a particular offence ;
since n@ other word in being, occiderc, intcrficcre, nceare,
or the like, was sufficient to express the intention of
the criminal, or quo animo the act was perpetrated;
and therefore by no means came up to the notion of
murder at present entertained by law ; viz. a killing
with malice aforethought.
A similar necessity to this produced a similar effect
at Byzantium, when the Roman laws were turned into
Greek for the use.of the oriental empire ; for without
any regard to Attic elegance, the lawyers of the im¬
perial courts made no scruple to translate jideicommis-
sarioSy tylou x.6[t[tt<r<rctguig ; cubiculum ; x.h&wtXuov ; jilium-
famiiiasy’xou'ba-tyu.y.iXiois; repudium, giTrvciMv; compromis-
suniy z.o{u.7r(?6{u<r<rov; reverentia et obsequium, (pui^inct r.xi
eSs-ejtajfir ; and the like. They studied more the exact and
precise import of the wox-ds, than the neatness and deli¬
cacy of their cad^pce. And it may be suggested, that
the terms of the law are not more numerous, more un¬
couth, or more difficult to be explained by a teacher,
than those of logic, physics, and the whole circle of
Aristotle’s philosophy; nay, even of the politer art
of architecture and its kindred studies, or the science
of rhetoric itself. Sir Thomas More’s famous legal
question contains in it nothing more difficult, than the
definition which in his time the philosophers currently
gave of their materiaprima, the groundwork of all na¬
tural knowledge ; that it is neque qiiidy neque quantum,
neque quale, neque aliquid eorvm quibus ens determina-
tur-, or its subsequent explanation by Adrian Heere-
board, who assures us, that materiaprima non est corpus,
neque per formam corporeitatis, neque per simplicem es~
sentiam: est tamen ens, et quidem substantia, licet in-
completa ; habetque actum ex se entitativum, et simul est
potentia subjectiva. The law, therefore, with regard to
its technical phrases, stands upon the same footing with
other studies, and requests only the same indulgence.
This technical Latin continued in use from the time
of its first introduction, till the subversion of our an¬
cient constitution under Cromwell: when, among many
other innovations in the law, some for the better and
some for the worse, the language of our records was al¬
tered and turned into English. But, at the restoration
of King Charles, this novelty was no longer counte¬
nanced ; the practisers finding it very difficult to ex¬
press themselves so concisely or significantly in any
oilier language but the Latin. And thus it continued
without any sensible inconvenience till about, the year
I 730, when it was again thought proper that the pro¬
ceedings at law should he done into English, and it
was accordingly so ordered by statute 4 Geo. II. c 26.
Tliis was done, in order that the common people
might have knowledge and understanding of what
4 V was
LAW [ 706 ] LAW
Law, was alleged or done for and against them in the
v- i4“' process and pleadings, the judgment and entries in
cause. Which purpose it is doubtful how well it
has answered ; but there is reason to suspect, that
the people are now, after many years experience,
altogether as ignorant in matters of law as before. On
the other hand, these inconveniences have already
arisen from the alteration 5 that now many clerks and
attorneys are hardly able to read, much less to under¬
stand, a record even of so modern a date as the reign
ot George I. And it has much enhanced the expence
ot all legal proceedings : for since the practisers are
confined (for the sake of the stamp duties, which are
thereby considerably increased) to write only a stated
number of words in a sheet; and as the English lan¬
guage, through the multitude of its particles, is much
more verbose than the Latin j it follows, that the num¬
ber of sheets must be very much augmented by the
change. The translation also of technical phrases, and
the names of writs and other process, were found to
be so very ridiculous (a writ of m'siprius, quare impeditf
fieri facias, habeas corpus, and the rest, not being ca¬
pable of an English dress with any degree of serious¬
ness), that in two years time a new act was obliged to
be made, 6 Geo. II. c. 14. which allows all technical
words to continue in the usual language, and has
thereby defeated every beneficial purpose of the former
statute.
Trial by Wager of Law, {yadiatio legis') ; a species
of trial, in the English law, so called, its another species
is styled “ wager of battel,” vadiatio duelli, (see BaT-
TEl) 5 because, as in the wager of battel, the defendant
gave a pledge, gage, or vadium, to try the cause by bat¬
tel ; so here he was to put in sureties or radios, that at
such a day he will make his law, that is, take the be¬
nefit which the law has allowed him. (See the article
Trial). For our ancestors considered, that there
were many cases where an innocent man, of good cre¬
dit, might be overborne by a multitude of false wit¬
nesses 5 and therefore established this species of trial,
by the oath of the defendant himself: for if he will
absolutely swear himself not chargeable, and appears to
be a person of reputation, he shall go free, and for ever
acquitted of the debt, or other cause of action.
ftlackst. The manner of waging and making law is this.
< ommetit. J|e that has waged, or given security to make his
law, brings with him into court eleven of his neigh¬
bours : a custom which we find particularly described
so early as in the league between Alfred and Guthrun
the Dane j for by the old Saxon coustitution every
man’s credit in courts of law depended upon the opi¬
nion which his neighbours had of his veracity. The
defendant then, standing at the end of the bar, is ad¬
monished by the judges of the nature and danger of a
false oath. And if he still persists, he is to repeat
this or the like oath : “ Hear this, ye justices, that I
do not owe unto Richard Jones the sum of ten pounds,
nor any penny thereof, in manner and form as the said
Richard hath declared against me. So help me God.”
And thereupon his eleven neighbours or compurga¬
tors shall avow upon their oaths, that they believe in
their consciences that be saith the truth ; so that him¬
self must be sworn de fidelitate, and the eleven de credu-
litate.
In the old Swedish or Gothic constitution, wager
of law was not only permitted, as it is in criminal j,avv
cases, unless the fact be extremely clear against the u——y—j
prisoner j but was also absolutely required, in many
civil cases : which an author ot their own very justly Stiernhoak
charges as being the source of frequent perjury. This, hh- ix. c. 1’
he tells us, was owing to the Popish ecclesiastics, who
introduced this method of purgation from their canon
law ; and, having sown a plentiful crop of oaths in all
judicial proceedings, reaped afterwards an ample har¬
vest of perjuries : for perjuries were punished in part
by pecuniary fines, payable to the coffers of the
church. But with us in England wager of law is ne¬
ver required; and then only admitted, where an action
is brought upon such matters as may be supposed to
be privately transacted between the parties, and where¬
in the defendant may be presumed to have made satis¬
faction without being able to prove it. Therefore it
is only in actions of debt upon simple contract, or for
amercement, in actions of detinue, and of account,
where the debt may have been paid, the goods restor¬
ed, or the account balanced, without any evidence of
either. And by such wager of law (when admitted)
the plaintiff is perpetually barred j for the law, in the
simplicity of the ancient times, presumed that no one
would forswear himself for any worldly thing. Wager
of law, however, lieth in a real action, where the te¬
nant alleges he was not legally summoned to appear, as
well as in mere personal contracts.
The w'ager of law was never permitted but where
the defendant bore a fair and unreproachable charac¬
ter j and it was also confined to such cases where a
debt might be supposed to be discharged, or satisfac¬
tion made in private, without any witnesses to attest
it: and many other prudential restrictions accompa¬
nied this indulgence. But at length it was considered,
that (even under all its restrictions) it grew too great
a temptation in the way of indigent and profligate men :
and therefore by degrees new remedies were devised,
and new forms of actions were introduced, wherein no
defendant is at liberty to wage his law. So that now
no plaintiff need at all apprehend any danger from the
hardiness of his debtor’s conscience, unless he volunta¬
rily chooses to rely on his adversary’s veracity, by
bringing an obsolete, instead of a modern action.
Therefore, one shall hardly hear at present of an ac¬
tion of debt brought upon a simple contract: that be¬
ing supplied by an action of trespass on the case for the
breach of a promise or assumpsit; wherein, though the
specific debt cannot be recovered, yet damages may,
equivalent to the specific debt. And, this being an
action of trespass, no law' can be waged therein. So,
instead of an action of detinue to recover the very thing
detained, an action of trespass on the case in trover and
conversion is usually brought j wherein though the
horse or other specific chattel cannot be had, yet the
defendant shall pay damages for the conversion, equal
to the value of the chattel ; and for this trespass also
no wager of law is allowed. In the room of actions
of account, a bill in equity is usually filed : wherein,
though the defendant answers upon his oath, vet such
oath is not conclusive to the plaintiff; but he may
prove every article by other evidence, in contradiction
to what the defendant has sworn. So that wager of
law is quite out of use, being avoided by the mode of
bringing the action ; but still it is not out of force.
And
LAW [ 707 ] LAW
1 milt on'■
raduc-
I to
\ rehan-
And therefore, when a new statute inflicts a penalty,
and gives an action of debt for recovering it, it is
usual to add, “ in which no wager of law shall be al¬
lowedotherwise a hardy delinquent might escape
any penalty of the law, by swearing he had never in¬
curred, or else had discharged it.
Custom-house Laws. The expedient of exacting
duties on goods imported, or exported, has been a-
dopted by every commercial nation in Europe. The
attention of the British legislature has not been con¬
fined to the object of raising a revenue alone, but they
have attempted by duties, exemptions, drawbacks,
bounties, and other regulations, to direct the national
trade into those channels that contribute most to the
public benefit. And, in order to obtain every requi¬
site information, all goods, exported or imported,
whether liable to duty or not, are required to be en¬
tered at the respective custom-houses ; and, from these
entries, accounts are regularly made up of the whole
British trade, distinguishing the articles, their quanti¬
ty and value, and the countries which supply or receive
them.
The objects of the British legislature may be reduced
to the following heads.
First, To encourage the employment of British ship¬
ping and seamen, for the purpose of supplying our navy
when public exigencies require.
Secondly, To increase the quantity of money in the
nation, by prohibiting the exportation of British coin,
by encouraging exportation, and discouraging impor¬
tation, and by promoting agriculture, fisheries, and
manufactures. For these purposes, it is penal to en¬
tice certain manufacturers abroad, or export the tools
used in their manufactures : the exportation of raw
materials is, in most instances, prohibited •, and their
importation permitted free from duty, and sometimes
rewarded with a bounty. The exportation of some
goods, manufactured to a certain length only (for
example white cloth), is loaded with a duty, but per¬
mitted duty free when the manufacture is carried to
its full extent. The importation of rival manufactures
is loaded with heavy duties, or absolutely prohibited.
These restrictions are most severe towards nations with
which the balance of trade is supposed against us, or
which are considered as our most formidable rivals in
power or commerce. Upon this principle the com¬
merce with France, till lately, laboured under the
heaviest restrictions.
Thirdly, To secure us plenty of necessaries for sub¬
sistence and manufacture, by discouraging the expor¬
tation of some articles that consume by length of time,
and regulating the corn trade according to the exigen¬
cies of the seasons.
Fourthly, To secure the trade of the colonies to the
mother country, and preserve a mutual intercourse, by
encouraging the produce of their staple commodities,
and restraining their progress in these commodities,
which they receive from us in exchange.
The foundation of our commercial regulations is the
famous act of navigation, which was first enacted dur¬
ing the time of the Commonwealth, and adopted by
the first parliament after the Restoration. The sub¬
stance of this act, and subsequent amendments, is as
follows :
I. Goods from Asia, Africa, and America, may not
be imported, except in British ships duly navigated j or Custom-
ships belonging to the British plantations ; and they house
can only he imported from the place of their produc- Laws,
tion or manufacture, or the port where they are usually
first shipped for transportation. Goods of the Spanish
or Portuguese plantations, imported from Spain and
Portugal in British ships, bullion, and some other in¬
considerable articles, are excepted.
The restriction on European goods is not universal,
but extends to several of the bulkiest articles. Russian
goods, masts, timber, boards, salt, pitch, rosin, tar,
hemp, flax, raisins, figs, prunes, olives, oil, corn, su¬
gar, potashes, wine, and vinegar, may not be import¬
ed, except in ships belonging to Great Britain or Ire¬
land, legally manned j nor Turkey goods and currants,
except in ships British built *, or in ships belonging to
the country where these goods are produced or manu¬
factured, or first shipped for exportation, and, if im¬
ported in foreign ships, they pay alien’s duty.
In order to entitle a ship to the privileges of a Bri¬
tish ship, it must be built in Britain, and belong en¬
tirely to British subjects ; and the master, and three-
fourths of the mariners, must be British subjects, ex¬
cept in case of death, or unavoidable accidents. In
time of war, the proportion of British mariners re¬
quired is generally confined to one-fourth j i and the
same proportion only is required in the Greenland
fishery.
No goods may be imported into, or exported from,
the plantations in Asia, Africa, or America, except in
ships built in Britain, Ireland, or the plantations, or
prize ships, manned by British subjects, duly register¬
ed, and legally navigated.
The following goods, enumerated in the act of na¬
vigation and subsequent acts, may not be exported
from the plantations, except to some other plantation,
or to Britain : Tobacco, cotton wool, indigo, ginger,
fustic, and other dying wood, molasses, hemp, copper
ore, beaver skins and other furs, pitch, tar, turpentine,
masts, yards, and boltsprits, coffee, pimento .cocoa-
nuts, whale fins, raw silk, pot and pearl ashes. Rice
and sugar were formerly comprehended in this list, but
their exportation is now permitted under certain re¬
strictions.
Iron may not be imported to Europe, except to
Ireland j and none of the non-enumerated may be im¬
ported to any country north of Cape Finisterre, except
the bay of Biscay and Ireland.
2. For the more effectual prevention of smuggling,
no goods may be imported in vessels belonging to Bri¬
tish subjects 5 and no wine, in any vessel whatever, un¬
less the master have a manifest on hoard, containing
the name, measure, ami built of the ship, the place to
which it belongs, and a distinct enumeration of the
goods on hoard, and places where they were laden.
If the ship be cleared from any place under his maje¬
sty’s dominions, the manifest must be attested by the
chief officer of the customs, or chief magistrate, who
is required to transmit a copy thereof to the place of
destination. Shipmasters must deliver copies of this
manifest to the first customhouse officer who goes on
board within four leagues of the shore, and also to the
first who goes on board within the limits of any port,
and must deliver the original manifest to the custom¬
house at their arrival, and make report of their cargo
4 U 2 upon
LAW [ 708 ] L A W
Custom, upon oath. If the report disagree with the manifest,
house or either disagree with the cargo on board, the ship-
Laws. master is liable in the penalty of 200I. The pro*
prietors of the goods must enter them, and pay the
duties within 20 days ; otherwise they may be carried
to the customhouse, and sold by auction, if not relie¬
ved within six months ; and the overplus of the value,
after paying duty and charges, paid to the proprie¬
tors.
3. The importation of cattle, beef, mutton, and
pork, except from Ireland, woollen cloths, malt, and
various articles of hardware, cutlery, and earthen ware,
is prohibited : Also the following goods from Germany
and the Netherlands 5 olive oil, pitch, tar, potashes,
rosin, salt, tobacco, wines, except Rhenish wine, and
Hungary wines from Hamburgh.
4. The importation of various other goods is re¬
stricted by particular regulations, respecting the time
and place of importation, the packages, the burden of
the ship, the requisition of a license, and other circum¬
stances.
To guard more effectually against clandestine trade,
the importation of some articles is only permitted in
ships of a certain burden, whose operations are not ea¬
sily concealed. Spirits must be imported in ships of
too tone or upwards, except rum, and spirits of Bri¬
tish plantations, which are only restricted to 70 tons ;
wine, 60 tons j tea, tobacco, and snuff, 50 tons 5 salt,
40 tons. Wine, spirits, and tobacco are also restricted
in respect of the packages in which they may be im¬
ported.
• 5. Diamonds and precious stones, flax, flax seed, li¬
nen rags, beaver wool, wool for clothiers, linen yarn
unbleached, and most drugs used in dyeing, may be im¬
ported duty free.
6. All goods imported are liable to duties, except
such as are expressly exempted. The revenue of-‘Cus¬
toms is of great antiquity in Britain, but was new-
modelled at the restoration of Charles II. A subsidy
of tonnage on wines, and of poundage, or is. per
pound value of other goods, was granted during the
king’s life, and, after several prolongations, rendered
perpetual. A book of rates was composed for ascer¬
taining these values ; and articles not rated paid duty
according to the value, as affirmed upon oath by the
importer. If the goods be valued too low by the im¬
porter, the customhouse officer may seize them, upon
paying to the proprietor the value he swore to, and
10 per cent, for profit ; such goods to be sold, and
the overplus paid into the customs. Various addi¬
tional duties have been imposed ; some on all goods,
some on particular kinds 5 some according to the rates,
some unconnected with the rates ; some with an al¬
lowance of certain abatements, some without any al¬
lowance ; the greater part to be paid down in ready
money, and a few for which security may be granted ;
often with variations, according to the ship’s place
and circumstances of importation. The number of
branches p.mounted to upwards of 50 *, and sometimes
more than 10 were chargeable on the same articles.
By this means, the revenue of the customs has be¬
come a subject of much intricacy. The inconveniences
which this gave rise to are now removed by the consoli¬
dation act} which appoints oue fixed duty for each ar¬
ticle free from fractions, instead of the various branches Custom,
to which they were formerly subject. heuse
7. Goods of most kinds may be exported duty free ^aw*,
when regularly entered ; and those that have paid dutyM^ntile
on importation are generally entitled to drawback of
part, sometimes of the whole, when re-exported within
three years, upon certificate that the duties were paid
on importation, and oath of their identity. In some
cases, a bounty is given on manufactured goods, when
the materials from which they are manufactured have
paid duty on importation ; and manufactures subject to
excise, have generally the whole or part of the excise
duties returned.
8. The following goods are prohibited to be ex¬
ported 5 white ashes, horns, unwrought hides of black
cattle, tallow, corn, brass, copper, engines for knit¬
ting stockings, tools for cotton, linen, woollen, silk,
iron and steel manufactures, wool, wool fells, wool¬
len yarn, fullers earth, fulling clay, and tobacco-pipe
clay.
9. The object of the laws respecting the corn trade
is to encourage agriculture, by not only permitting the
free exportation, but rewarding it with a bounty when
the prices are low, and checking the importation by a
heavy duty ; and to prevent scarcity, by prohibiting
the exportation when the prices are high, and permit¬
ting importation at an easy duty. Various temporary
laws have been enacted for these purposes, and some¬
times other expedients employed in times of scarcity,
such as prohibiting the distillery from corn, and manu¬
facture of starch.
10. Bounties are allowed on the exportation of re¬
fined sugar, sail-cloth, linen under limited prices, silk
stuffs of British manufacture, cordage, spirits when bar¬
ley is under 24s. beef, pork, and the following kinds
of fish, salmon, herrings, pilchards, cod, ling, flake, and
sprats.
Various other bounties are allowed for the encou¬
ragement of our fisheries. Ships from 150 to 300
tons employed in the Greenland whale fishery, and
conforming to the regulations prescribed, are allowed
30s. per ton. Vessels employed in the herring fishery
receive 20s. per ton, besides a bounty on the herrings
caught and cured, amounting in some cases to 4s. per
barrel. Other bounties are granted to a limited num¬
ber of the most successful vessels employed in the her¬
ring and Newfoundland fisheries, and in the southern
whale fishery.
It is unnecessary and impracticable, in this place, to
enter into a full detail of our customhouse laws. In¬
deed, all that can he admitted into a work of this
kind, must convey but very imperfect information •,
and even that little becomes useless in a short time
from alterations in the law. YVe have therefore only
marked the general outlines in the present article ;
which, however, will be sufficient to enable the reader
to judge of die principles upon which the British legis¬
lature has acted. How far the means employed have
contributed to the ends proposed, and how far the ends
themselves are always wise ; or whether a trade encum¬
bered by fewer restrictions would not prove more ex¬
tensive and beneficial j has often been a subject of dis¬
cussion.
Mercantile Laws, The laws relating to commercial
and
LAW
and maritime affairs approach nearer to
through the different countries of Europe, than those
on other subjects. Some of the fundamental regula¬
tions have been taken from the Roman law ; others
have been suggested by experience, during the pro¬
gress of commerce 5 and the whole have been gradual¬
ly reduced to a system, and adopted into the laws of
trading nations, but with some local varieties and ex¬
ceptions.
The British legislature has enacted many statutes
respecting commerce ; yet the greater part of our mer¬
cantile law is to be collected from the decisions of our
courts of justice, founded on the custom of merchants.
A proof of such custom, where no direct statute inter¬
feres, determines the controversy, and becomes a pre¬
cedent for regulating like cases afterwards. The exist¬
ence of a custom not formerly recognized, is, in Eng¬
land, determined by a jury of merchants.
The most common mercantile contracts are those be¬
tween buyer and seller ; between factor and employer j
between partners j between the owners, masters, ma¬
riners, and freighters of ships j between insurers and
the owners of the subject insured $ and between the
parties concerned in transacting bills of exchange. See
Factorage, Sale, Partnership, Insurance, Bill,
&c. and the next article.
Maritime Laws. The most ancient system of mari¬
time laws is that of Rhodes, which was in force during
the time of the Grecian empire, and afterwards incor¬
porated into the Roman law. Although, in some parts,
not applicable to the present state of trade, and, in
others, now hardly intelligible, it contains the ground¬
work of the most e quitable and beneficial rules observ¬
ed in modern commerce. A like system was set forth
by Richard I. of England, called the Statutes of Ole-
ron ; and another, by the town of Wisby, in the island
of Gothland. From these systems, improved and en¬
larged in the course of time, our general maritime law
is derived. The jurisdiction of matters purely mari¬
time belongs, in England, to the court of admiralty,
which proceeds on the civil law 5 but their proceedings
are subject to the controul, and their decisions to the
review, of the superior courts.
We shall here consider the obligations which subsist
between the masters or owners of ships, the freighters,
and the furnishers of provisions or repairs.
1. Masters and Freighters. A charter party is a
contract between the master and freighters, in which
the ship and voyage is described, and the time and con¬
ditions of performing it are ascertained.
The freight is most frequently determined for the
whole voyage, without respect to time. Sometimes it
depends on the time.
In the former case, it is either fixed at a certain sum
for the whole cargo ; or so much per ton, barrel bulk,
or other weight or measure $ or so much per cent, on
the value of the cargo. This last is common on goods
sent to America 5 and the invoices are produced to as¬
certain the value.
The burden of the ship is generally mentioned in the
contract, in this manner, o?ie hundred tons, or thereby;
and the number mentioned ought not to differ above
five tons, at most, from the exact measure. If a cer¬
tain sum be agreed on for the freight ot the ship, it
must all be paid, although the ship, when measured,
[ 709 ] LAW
uniformity should prove less, unless the burden be warranted. If
the ships be freighted for transporting cattle, or slaves,
at so much a head, and some of them die on the pas¬
sage, freight is only due for such as are delivered a-
live ; but, if for lading them, it is due for all that
were put on board.
When a whole ship is freighted, if the master suffers
any other goods besides those of the freighter to be put
on board, he is liable for damages.
It is common to mention the number of days that
the ship shall continue at each port to load or unload.
The expression used is, work weather days ; to signi¬
fy, that Sundays, holidays, and days when the weather
stops the work, are not reckoned. If the ship be de¬
tained longer, a daily allowance is often agreed on, in
name of demurrage.
If the voyage be completed in terms of the agree¬
ment, without any misfortune, the master has a right
to demand payment of the freight before he delivers
the goods. But if the safe delivery be prevented by
any fault or accident, the parties are liable, according
to the following rules.
If the merchant do not load the ship within the time
agreed on, the master may engage with another, and
recover damages.
If the merchant load the ship, and recal it after it
has set sail, he must pay the whole freight j but if he
unload it before it sets sail, he is liable for damages
only.
If a merchant loads goods which it is not lawful to
export, and the ship be prevented from proceeding
on that account, he must pay the freight notwith¬
standing.
If the shipmaster be not ready to proceed on the
voyage at the time agreed on, the merchant may load
the whole, or part of the cargo, on board another
ship, and recover damages ; but chance, or notorious
accident, by the marine law, releases the master from
damages.
If an embargo be laid on the ship before it sails, the
charter-party is dissolved, and the merchant pays the
expence of loading and unloading ; but if the embargo
be only for a short limited time, the voyage shall be
performed when it expires, and neither party is liable
for damages.
If the shipmaster sails to any other port than that
agreed on, without necessity, he is liable for damages j
if through necessity, he must sail to the port agreed on,
at his own expence.
If a ship be taken by the enemy, and retaken 01
ransomed, the charter-party continues in force.
If the master transfer the goods from his own ship to
another, without necessity, and they perish, he is liable
for the value j but if his own ship be in imminent dan¬
ger, the goods may be put on board another ship at the
risk of the owner.
If a ship be freighted out and home, and a sum
agreed on for the whole voyage, nothing is due till it
return ; and the whole is lost if the ship be lost on the
return.
If a certain sum be specified for the homeward voy¬
age, it is due, although the factor abroad should have
no goods to send home.
In the case of a ship freighted to Madeira, Caroli¬
na, and home, a particular freight fixed for the home¬
ward
Maritime
.Laws.
LAW [ 7
Maritime ward voyage, and an option reserved for the factor at
I*aws. Carolina to decline it, unless the ship arrived before
v 1st of March : the shipmaster, foreseeing he could not
arrive there within that time, and might be disap¬
pointed of a freight, did not go there at all. He
was found liable in damages, as the obligation was
absolute on his part, and conditional only on the
other.
If the goods be damaged without fault of the ship
or master, the owner is not obliged to receive them
and pay freight, but he must either receive the whole,
or abandon the whole ; he cannot choose those that are
in best order, and reject the others. If the goods be
damaged through the insufficiency of the ship, the
master is liable for the same ; but, if it be owing to
stress of weather, he is not accountable. It is custom¬
ary for shipmasters, when they suspect damage, to take
a protest against wind and weather, at their arrival.
But as this is the declaration of a party, it does
not bear credit, unless supported by collateral circum¬
stances.
If part of the goods be thrown overboard, or taken
by the enemy, the part delivered pays freight.
The shipmaster is accountable for all the goods re¬
ceived on board, by himself or mariners, unless they
perish by the act of God, or of the king’s enemies.
Shipmasters are not liable for leakage on liquors j
nor accountable for the contents of packages, unless
packed and delivered in their presence.
Upon a principle of equity, that the labourer is
worthy of his hire, differences arising with regard to
freight, when the case is doubtful, ought rather to be
determined in favour of the shipmaster.
2. Ship and Owners with Creditors. When debts
are contracted for provisions or repairs to a ship, or
arise from a failure in any of the above-mentioned obli¬
gations, the ship and tackle, and the owners, are liable
for the debt, as well as the master.
By the mercantile law, the owners are liable in all
cases, without limitation $ but by statute, they are not
liable for embezzlement beyond their value of ship,
tackle, and freight.
A shipmaster may pledge his ship for necessary re¬
pairs during a voyage; and this hypothecation is im¬
plied by the maritime law when such debts are con¬
tracted. This regulation is necessary, and is therefore
adopted by all commercial nations ; for, otherwise, the
master might not find credit for necessary repairs, and
the ship might he lost. If repairs be made at different
places, the last are preferable.
The relief against the ship is competent to the court
of admiralty in England, only when repairs are fur¬
nished during the course of a voyage ; for the necessity
of the case extends no further. If a ship be repaired
at home (e. g. upon the river Thames), the creditor is
only entitled to relief at common law.
The creditor may sue either the master or owners ;
but if he undertook the work on the special promise of
the one, the other is not liable.
If the master buys provisions on credit, the owners
are liable for the debt, though they have given him
money to pay them.
If a ship be mortgaged, and afterwards lost at sea,
the owners must pay the debt ; for the mortgage is
o ] LAW
only an additional security, though there be no express M. .. .
w'ords to that purpose in the covenant. Laws"'*
If a ship be taken by the enemy, and ransomed, the '■ 
owners are liable to pay the ransom, though the ran¬
somer die in the hands of the captors.
3. Owners of ship and cargo with each other. There
is a mutual obligation which subsists between all the
owners of a ship and cargo. In time of danger, it
is often necessary to incur a certain loss of part for
the greater security of the rest; to cut a cable ; to
lighten the ship, by throwing part of the goods over¬
board ; to run it ashore ; or the like: and as it is un¬
reasonable that the owners of the thing exposed for
the common safety should bear the whole loss, it is
defrayed by an equal contribution among the proprie¬
tors of the ship, cargo, and freight. This is the fa¬
mous Lex Rhodia de jactu, and is now called a general
average.
The custom of valuing goods which contribute to a
general average, is not uniform in all places. They
are generally valued at the price they yield at the port
of destination, charges deducted ; and goods thrown
overboard are valued at the price they would have
yielded there. Sailors wages, clothes and money be¬
longing to passengers, and goods belonging to the king,
pay no general average ; hut proprietors of gold and
silver, in case of goods being thrown overboard, contri¬
bute to the full extent of their interest.
The following particulars are charged as general
average : Damage sustained in an engagement with the
enemy ; attendance on the wounded, and rewards given
for service in time of danger, or gratuities to the wi¬
dows or children of the slain ; ransom ; goods given to
the enemy in the nature of a ransom ; charges of bring¬
ing the ship to a place of safety when in danger from
the enemy, or waiting for convoy ; charges of quaran¬
tine ; goods thrown overboard ; masts or rigging cut;
holes cut in the ship to clear it of water ; pilotage,
when a leak is sprung; damage, when voluntarily run
aground, and expence of bringing it afloat ; goods lost
by being put in a lighter ; the long boat lost in light¬
ening the ship in time of danger ; hire of cables and
anchors; charges of laying in ballast, victualling, and
guarding the ship when detained ; charges at law, in
reclaiming the ship and cargo ; interest and commis¬
sion on all these disbursements.
Though goods put on board a lighter, and lost, are
charged as a general average ; yet if the lighter be
saved, and the ship with the rest of the goods be lost,
the goods in the lighter belong to their respective
proprietors, without being liable to any contribu¬
tion.
If part of the goods be plundered by a pirate, the
proprietor or shipmaster is not entitled to any contribu¬
tion.
The essential circumstances that constitute a general
average are these ; the loss must be the effect of a vo¬
luntary action ; and the object of that action the com¬
mon safety of the whole. Quarantine, wdiich ia allow¬
ed, seems not to fall within this description.
4. Quarantine. See Quarantine.
5. Wrecks. See Wreck.
6. Impress. See Impressing.
7. Insurance. See Insurance.
Game-
LAW [ 711 ] LAW
ame- Game-Lows. See the article Game.
iaws. Sir William Blackstone, treating of the alterations
in our laws, and mentioning franchises granted of chase
and free warren, as well to preserve the breed of ani¬
mals, as to indulge the subject, adds, “ From a similar
principle to which, though the forest laws are now mi¬
tigated, and by degrees grown entirely obsolete $ yet
from this root has sprung a bastard slip, known by the
name of the game law, now arrived to and wantoning
in its highest vigour : both founded upon the same un¬
reasonable notion of permanent property in wild crea¬
tures ; and both productive of the same tyranny to the
commons; but with this difference, that the forest laws
established only one mighty hunter throughout the
land ; the game laws have established a little Nimrod
in every manor. And in one respect the ancient law
was much less unreasonable than the modern ; for the
king’s grantee of a chase or free warren, might kill
game in every part of his franchise ; but now, though
a freeholder of less than look a year is forbidden to
kill partridge upon his own estate, yet nobody else
(not even the lord of the manor, unless he hath a grant
of free warren) can do it without committing a trespass
and subjecting himself to an action.
Under the article Game, the destroying such beasts
and fowls as are ranked under that denomination, was
observed (upon the old principles of the forest law)
to be a trespass and offence in all persons alike, who
have not authority from the crown to kill game (which
is royal property) by the grant of either a free war¬
ren, or at least a manor of their own. But the laws
called the game laws have also inflicted additional pu¬
nishments (chiefly pecuniary) on persons guilty of this
general offence, unless they be people of such rank or
fortune as is therein particularly specified. All persons,
therefore, of what property or distinction soever, that
kill game out of their own territories, or even upon
their own estates, without the king’s licence expressed
by the grant of a franchise, are guilty of the first ori¬
ginal offence of encroaching on the royal prerogative.
And those indigent persons who do so, without having
such rank or fortune as is generally called a quali¬
fication, are guilty, not only of the original offence,
but of the aggravations also created by the statutes
for preserving the game : which aggravations are so se¬
verely punished, and those punishments so implacably
inflicted, that the offence against the king is seldom
thought of, provided the miserable delinquent can make
his peace with the lord of the manor. The only ia-
tional footing upon which this offence, thus aggravated,
can be considered as a crime, is, that in low and indi¬
gent persons it promotes idleness, and takes them away
from their proper employments and callings : which is
an offence against the public police and economy of the
commonwealth.
The statutes for preserving the game are many and
various, and not a little obscure and intricate j it be¬
ing remarked, that in one statute only, 5 Ann. c. 14.
there is false grammar in no fewer than six places, be¬
sides other mistakes : the occasion of which, or what
denomination of persons were probably the penners of
these statutes, it is unnecessary here to inquire. It
may be in general suflicient to observe, that the qua¬
lifications for killing game, as they are usually called,
or more properly the exemptions from the penalties
inflicted by the statute law, are, I. The having a free¬
hold estate of look per annum ; there being fifty times
the property required to enable a man to kill a par¬
tridge, as to vote for a knight of the shire. 2. A
leasehold for 99 years of 150I. per annum. 3. Being
the son and heir apparent of an esquire (a very loose
and vague description) or person of superior degree.—
4. Being the owner or keeper of a forest, park, chase,
or warren. For unqualified persons transgressing these
laws, by killing game, keeping engines for that pur¬
pose, or even having game in their custody, or for per¬
sons (however qualified) that kill game or have it in
possession, at unseasonable times of the year, or unsea¬
sonable hours of the day or night, on Sundays or on
Christmas day, there are various penalties assigned,
corporal and pecuniary, by dift'erent statutes (after
mentioned), on any of which, but only on one at a
time, the justices may convict in a summary way, or
(in most of them) prosecutions may be carried on at
the assizes. And, lastly, by statute 28 Geo. II. c. 12.
no person, however qualified to kill, may make mer¬
chandise of this valuable privilege, by selling or expo¬
sing to sale any game, on pain of like forfeiture as if
he had no qualification.
The statutes above referred to are as follow : No
person shall take pheasants or partridges with engines
in another man’s ground, without license, on pain of
10I. stat. 11 Hen. VIII. c. 13. If any person shall take
or kill any pheasants or partridges with any net in the
night time, they shall forfeit 20s. for every pheasant,
and 10s. for every partridge taken: and hunting with
spaniels in standing corn, incurs a forfeiture of 40s.
23 Eliz. c. 10. Those who kill any pheasant, par¬
tridge, duck, heron, hare, or other game, are liable
to a forfeiture of 20s. for every fowl and hare ; and
selling or buying to sell again, any hare, pheasant, &c.
the forfeiture is 10s. for each hare, &c. I Jac. I. c. 17.
Also pheasants or partridges are not to be taken be¬
tween the first of July and the last of August, on pain
of imprisonment for a month, unless the offenders pay
20s. for every pheasant, &c. killed : and constables,
having a justice of peace’s warrant, may search for
game and nets, in the possession of persons not qua¬
lified by law to kill game or to keep such nets,
1 Jac. I. c. 11. Constables, by a warrant of a justice
of peace, are to search houses of suspected persons for
game : and if any game, be found upon them, and they
do not give a good account how they came by the
same, they shall forfeit for every hare, pheasant, or
partridge, not under 5s. nor exceeding 20s. And in¬
ferior tradesmen hunting, &c. are subject to the pe¬
nalties of the act, and may likewise be sued for tres¬
pass. If officers of the army or soldiers kill game with¬
out leave, they forfeit 5I. an officer, and 10s. a sol¬
dier 5 4 and 5 W. and M. c. 23. Higglers, chapmen,
carriers, innkeepers, victuallers, &c. having in their
custody hare, pheasant, partridge, heath game, &c.
(except sent by some person qualified to kill game),
shall forfeit for every hare and fowl 5I. to be levied
by distress and sale of their goods, being proved by one
witness, before a justice ; and for want of distress shall
be committed to the house of correction for three
months: one moiety of the forfeiture to the informer,
and the other to the poor. And selling game, or offer¬
ing the same to sale, incurs the like penalty; where¬
in
Game-
Laws.
LAW [7
Game- hare and other game found in a shop, See. is ad-
Laws. judged an exposing to sale : killing hares in the night
is liable to the same penalties : and if any persons shall
drive wild fowls with nets, between the first day of
July and thp first of September, they shall forfeit 5s.
for every fowl j 5 Ann. c. 14. 9 Ann. c. 25. If any
unqualified person shall keep a gun, he shall forfeit
lol.; and persons being qualified may take guns from
those that are not, and break them ; 21 and 22 Car. IT.
c. 25. and 33 Hen. VIII. c. 6. One justice of peace,
upon examination and proof of the offence, may commit
the offender till he hath paid the forfeiture of 10I.
And persons, not qualified by larv, keeping dogs, nets,
or other engines to kill game, being convicted thereof
before a justice of peace, shall forfeit 5!. or be sent to
the house of correction for three months j and the
dogs, game, &c. shall be taken from them, by the
statute 5 Ann. If a person hunt upon the ground of
another, such other person cannot justify killing of his
dogs, as appears by 2 Roll. Abr. 567. But it was
otherwise adjudged, Mich. 33 Car. II. in C. B.
2 Cro. 44. and see 3 Lev. xxviii. In actions of debt,
qui tarn, &c. by a common informer on the statute
5 Ann. for 15I. wherein the plaintiff declared on tw'o
several counts, one for 10I. for killing two partridges,
the other for 5I. for keeping an engine to destroy the
game, not being qualified, &c. the plaintiff had a ver¬
dict for 5]. only : this action was brought by virtue of
the stat. 8 Geo. I. See stat. 9 Geo. I. c. 22. See
likewise 24 Geo. II. c. 34. for the better preservation
of the game in Scotland. By the stat. 26 Geo. II.
c. 2. all suits and actions brought by virtue of stat. 8
Geo. I. c. for the recovery of any pecuniary pe¬
nalty, or sum of money, for offences committed against
any law for the better preservation of the game, shall
be brought before the end of the second term aLer the
offence committed.
By 28 Geo. II. c. 12. persons selling, or exposing to
sale, any game, are liable to the penalties inflicted by
5 Ann. c. 14. on higglers, &c. ofl’ering game to sale :
and game found in the house or possession of a poulter¬
er, salesman, fishmonger, cook, or pastry cook, is deem¬
ed exposing thereof to sale.
By 2 Geo. III. c. 19. after the first June 1762, no
person may take, kill, buy or sell, or have in his cu¬
stody, any partridge between 12th February and 1st
September, or pheasant between 1st February and 1st
October, or heath fowl between 1st January and 20th
August, or grouse between 1st December and 25th
July, in any year j pheasants taken in their proper
season, and kept in mews or breeding places, excepted :
and persons offending in any of the cases aforesaid, for¬
feit 5I. per bird, to the prosecutor, to be recovered,
with full costs, in any of the courts at Westminster.
By this act, likewise, the whole of the pecuniary pe¬
nalties under the 8 Geo. I. c. 19. may be sued for, and
recovered to the sole use of the prosecutor, with double
costs j and no part thereof to go to the poor of the pa¬
rish.
By 5 Geo. III. c. 14. persons convicted of enter¬
ing warrens in the night-time, and taking or killing
coneys there, or aiding or assisting therein, may be
punished by transportation, or by whipping, fine, or
imprisonment. Persons convicted on this act, not liable
to be convicted under any former act. This act does
2 ] LAW
not extend to the destroying coneys in the day time, Game-
on the sea and river banks in the county of Lincoln, Law?.
&c. No satisfaction to be made for damages occasioned
by entry, unless they exceed is. It may not be improper
to mention an act lately made, and not yet repealed,
viz. 10 Geo. III. c. 19. for preservation of the game,
which shows the importance of the object. It is thereby
enacted, That if any person kill any hare, &c. between
sunsetting and sunrising, or use any gun, &c. for de¬
stroying game, he shall for the first ofl’ence be imprison¬
ed for any time not exceeding six nor less than three
months : if guilty of a second offence, after conviction of
a first, to be imprisoned for any time not exceeding 12
months nor less than six ; and shall also within three
days after the time of his commitment, either for the first
or for any other offence, be once publicly whipped.
By 25 George III. c. 50. and 31 George III. c. 21.
every person in Great Britain (the royal family ex¬
cepted), who shall, after July 1. 1785, use any dog,
gun, net, or other engine, for the taking or destruction
of game (not acting as gamekeeper), shall deliver in
a paper or account in writing, containing his name and .
place of abode, to the clerk of the peace or his deputy,
and annually take out a certificate thereof j and every
such certificate shall be charged with a stamp duty of
2l. 28. (and an additional il. is. by 31 George III.
c. 21.) making in the whole 3I. 3s.—Every deputation
of a gamekeeper shall be registered with the clerk of
the peace, and such gamekeeper shall annually takeout
a certificate thereof j which certificate shall be charged
with a stamp duty of 10s. 6d. (and an additional ios.
6d. by 31 Geo. III. c. 21.), making in the whole il.
is.—The duties to be under the management of the
commissioners of the stamp office.
From and after the said 1st of July 1785, the clerk
of the peace shall annually deliver to persons requiring
the same, duly stamped, a certificate or license ac¬
cording to the form therein mentioned, for which be
shall be entitled to demand is. for his trouble; and on
refusal or neglect to deliver the same, forfeit 2ol. 
Every certificate to bear date the day when issued, and
to continue in force to the 1st day of July then follow¬
ing, on penalty of 20I.
After the 1st clay of July 1785, any person that
shall use any grehound, hound, pointer, setting dog,
spaniel, or other dog, or any gun, net, or engine, for
taking or killing of game, without a certificate, is
liable to the penalty of 20I. And if any gamekeeper
shallj for the space of 20 days after the said 1st day of
July, or if any gamekeeper thereafter to he appointed
shall, for the space of 20 days next after such ap¬
pointment, neglect or refuse to register his deputation
and take out a certificate thereof, he is liable to the
penalty of 20I.
The clerks of the peace are to transmit to the
stamp office in London alphabetical lists of the certifi¬
cates granted in every year before the first day of Au¬
gust under penalty of 20I. These lists are to be kept
at the stamp office in London, and there to be in¬
spected on payment of is.: And the commissioners of
the stamp duties are, once or oftener in every year, as
soon as such lists are transmitted to them, to cause the '
same to be published in the newspapers circulating in
each county, or such public paper as they shall think
most proper.
Gamekeepers
LAW [ 713 ] LAW
*nn« Gamekeepers were first introduced by the qualifica-
aw*. tion act, 22 and 23 Car. II. c. 25. and subsequent sta-
"^^^tutes have made a number of various regulations re¬
specting them. This authorises lords of manors of the
degree of esquire, to appoint gamekeepers, who shall
have power, within the manor, to seize guns, nets, and
engines, kept by unqualified persons to destroy game.
By 5 Ann. c. 14. s. 14. lords and ladies of manors
are authorised to empower their gamekeepers to kill
game ; but prohibited the latter, under pain of three
months imprisonment, from selling or disposing of the
game so killed, without the consent of the lord or lady,
under whose appointment they acted.
By 3 Geo. I. c. 11. no lord of a manor is to ap¬
point any person to be a gamekeeper with power to
take and kill game, unless such person be qualified by
law so to do, or be truly and properly a servant to the
lord, or immediately employed to take or kill game,
for the sole use or benefit of the said lord. Offences
against this act to be punished with pecuniary fines.
Gamekeepers are enumerated among the difl'erent
descriptions of servants chargeable with the duty under
25 Geo. III. c. 43.
If any gamekeeper, who shall have registered his
deputation, and taken out a certificate thereof, shall
be changed, and a new gamekeeper appointed in his
stead, the first certificate is declared null and void, and
the person acting under the same, after notice, is liable
to the penalty of 20I. And any person in pursuit of
game, who shall refuse to produce his certificate, or to
tell his name or place of abode, or shall give in any
false or fictitious name or place of abode to any person
requiring the same, who shall have obtained a certifi¬
cate, is liable to the penalty of 50I.
The certificates are not to authorise persons to kill
game at any time prohibited by law, nor to give any
person any right to kill game, unless such person shall
be qualified so to do by the laws now in being, but shall
be liable to the same penalties as if this act had not
passed. [So that though by this act qualified and
unqualified persons are equally included, yet having a
certificate does not give an unqualified person aright to
kill game: the point of right still stands upon the for¬
mer acts of parliament; and any unqualified person kil¬
ling game without a certificate, is not only liable to the
penalty inflicted by this act, but also to all the former
penalties relating to the killing of game, &C.3
Witnesses refusing to appear on justices summons, or
appearing and refusing to give evidence, forfeit 10I.
The certificates obtained under deputations, not to be
given in evidence for killing of game by a gamekeeper
out of the manor, in respect of which such deputation
or appointments was given and made. Persons coun¬
terfeiting stamps to suffer death as felons.
Penalties exceeding 20!. are to he recovered in any
of his majesty’s courts of record at Westminster; and
penalties not exceeding 20I. are recoverable before two
justices, and may be levied by distress. The whole of
the penalties go to the informer.
By 40 Geo. III. c. 50. persons to the number of
two or more, found in any field, &c. or other open or
inclosed ground, between eight at night and six in the
morning, from the first day of October to the first of
February, or between the hours of ten at night and
four in the morning, from 1st February to first Octo-
Vol. XL Part II. f
ber, in each and every year, having any gun or en¬
gine to kill or take any hare, pheasant, partridge,
heathfowl, commonly called black game, or grous, com¬
monly called red game, or any other game ; or persons
aiding them with offensive weapons, may be apprehend¬
ed, and, on conviction before a justice, shall be deem¬
ed rogues and vagabonds, within the meaning of 17
Geo. III. c. 5. &c.
Militanj Law. See Military and Marine.
LAW, John, the famous projector, was the eld¬
est son of a goldsmith in Edinburgh, by Elizabeth
Campbell, heiress of Laurieston near that city ; and
was born about the year 1681. He was bred to no
business ; but possessed great abilities, and a very
fertile invention. He had the address, when but a
very young man, to recommend himself to the king’s
ministers in Scotland to arrange the revenue accounts,
which were in great disorder at the time of settling
the equivalent before the union of the kingdoms.
Jlie attention of the Scottish parliament being also
turned to the contrivance of some means for supply¬
ing the kingdom with money, and facilitating the
circulation of specie, for want of which the indus¬
try of Scotland languished ; he proposed to them,
for these purposes, the establishment of a bank of a
particular kind, which he seems to have imagined
might issue paper to the amount of the whole value
of all the lands in the country : but this scheme
the parliament by no means thought it expedient to
adopt.
His father dying about the year 1704, Law suc¬
ceeded to the small estate of Laurieston ; but the rents
being insufficient for his expences, he had recourse to
gaming. He was tall and graceful in his person, and
much addicted to gallantry and finery ; and giving a
sort of ton at Edinburgh, he went commonly by the
name of Beau Law. He was forced to fly his coun¬
try, however, in the midst of his career, in conse¬
quence of having fought a duel and killed his antago¬
nist ; and in some of the French literary gazettes it is
said that he run off with a married lady. In his flight
from justice he visited Italy ; and was banished from
Aenice and Genoa, because he contrived to drain the
youth of these cities of their money, by his superiority
in calculation, that is, by being a cheat and a sharper.
He wandered over all Italy, living on the event of the
most singular bets and wagers, which seemed to be ad¬
vantageous to those who were curious after novelty ;
but which were always of the most certain success with
regard to him. He arrived at Turin, and proposed
his system to the duke of Savoy, who saw at once,
that, hy deceiving his subjects, be would in a short
time have the whole money of the kingdom in his pos¬
session : but that sagacious prince asking him how his
subjects were to pay their taxes when all their money
should be gone, Law was disconcerted, not expecting
such a question.
Having been banished from Italy, and thus repulsed
at Turin, Law proceeded to Paris, where he was al¬
ready known as a projector. In the lifetime of Louis
XIV, he had transmitted his schemes to Hesmarest
and to Chamillard, who had rejected them as dan¬
gerous innovations. He now proposed them to the
Due d’Orleans, who desired Noailles to examine
them, to be as favourable in his report as possible, and
4 X to.
LAW [71
to remark such of them as were practicable. Noailles
called in the assistance of several merchants and bank¬
ers, who were averse to the system. Law then propos¬
ed the establishment of a bank, composed of a com¬
pany, with a stock of six millions. Such an institu¬
tion promised to be very advantageous to commerce.
An arret of the 2d March 1716 established this bank,
by authority, in favour of Law and his associates ; two
hundred thousand shares were instituted of one thou¬
sand livres each ; and Law deposited in it to the value
of two or three thousand crowns which he had accumu¬
lated in Italy, by gaming or otherwise. This establish¬
ment very much displeased the bankers, because at the
beginning business was transacted here at a very small
premium, which the old financiers had charged very
highly. Many people had at first little confidence in
this bank ; but when it was found that the payments
were made with quickness and punctuality, they began
to prefer its notes to ready money. In consequence oi
this, shares rose, to more than 20 times their original
value ; and in 1719 their valuation was more than 80
times the amount of all the current specie in the king¬
dom. But the following year, this great fabric of false
credit fell to the ground, and almost overthrew the
French government, ruining some thousands of fami¬
lies ; and it is remarkable, that the same desperate game
was playing by the South sea directors in England, in
the same fatal year, 1720. Law being exiled as soon
as the credit of his projects began to fail, retired to
Venice, where he died in I729*
The principles upon which Law’s original scheme was
founded, are explained by himself in A Discourse con¬
cerning Money and Trade, which he published in Scot¬
land where (as we have seen) he first proposed it. “ The
splendid but visionary ideas which are set forth in that
and some other works upon the same principles (Dr
Adam Smith observes), still continue to make an im¬
pression upon many people, and have perhaps in part
contributed to that excess of banking which has of
late been complained of both in Scotland and in other
places.”
LAW, Edmund, D. D. bishop of Carlisle, was
born in the parish of Cartmel in Lancashire, in the
year 1703. His father, who was a clergyman, held a
small chapel in that neighbourhood ; but the family had
been situated at Askham, in the county of Westmore¬
land. He was educated for some time at Cartmel
school, afterwards at the free grammar school at Ken¬
dal ; from which he went, very well instructed in the
learning of grammar schools, to St John’s college in
Cambridge.
Soon after taking his first degree, he was elected fel¬
low of Christ college in that university. During his resi¬
dence in which college, he became known to the pub¬
lic by a translation of Archbishop King’s Essay upon
the Origin of Evil, with copious notes; in which many
metaphysical subjects, curious and interesting in their
own nature, are treated of with great ingenuity, learn¬
ing, and novelty. To this work was prefixed, under the
name of a preliminary dissertation, a very valuable
piece, written by the reverend Mr Gay of Sidney col¬
lege. Our bishop always spoke of this gentleman in
terms of the greatest respect. In the Bible, and in the
writings of Mr Locke, no man, he used to say, was so
well versed.
4 ] LAW
He also, whilst at Christ college, undertook and
went through a very laborious part in preparing for
the press an edition of Stephens’s Thesaurus. His ac¬
quaintance, during this his first residence in the univer¬
sity, was principally with Dr Waterland, the learned
master of Magdalen college ; Dr Jortin, a name known
to every scholar ; and Dr Taylor, the editor of the
Demosthenes.
In the year 1737 he was presented by the university
to the living of Graystock in the county of Cumber¬
land, a rectory of about 300I. a-year. The advowson
of this benefice belonged to the family of Howards of
Graystock, but devolved to the university, for this turn,
by virtue of an act of parliament, which transfers to these
two bodies the nomination to such benefices as appertain,
at the time of the vacancy, to the patronage of a Homan
Catholic. The right, however, of the university was
contested ; and it was not till alter a law suit of two
years continuance that MrLaw was settled in his living.
Soon after this, he married Mary the daughter of John
Christian, Esq. of Unerigg, in the county of Cumber¬
land ; a lady whose character is remembered with ten¬
derness and esteem by all who knew her.
In 1743, he was promoted by Sir George Fleming,
bishop of Carlisle, to the archdeaconry of that diocese ;
and in 1746 went from Graystock to reside atSalkeld,
a pleasant village upon the banks of the river Eden,
the rectory of which is annexed to the archdeaconry.
Mr Law was not one of those who lose and forget
themselves in the country. During his residence at
Salkeld, he published Considerations on the Theory of
Religion : to which were subjoined, Reflections on the
Life and Character of Christ ; and an Appendix con¬
cerning the use of the words Soul and Spirit in ho¬
ly Scripture, and the state of the dead there de¬
scribed.
Dr Keene held at this time, with the bishopric of
Chester, the mastership of Peterhouse in Cambridge.
Desiring to leave the university, he procured Dr Law
to be elected to succeed him in that station. This
took place in the year 1756; in which year Dr Law
resigned his archdeaconry in favour of Mr Eyre, a bro¬
ther-in-law of Dr Keene. Two years before this, he
had proceeded to his degree of doctor of divinity : in
his public exercise for which, he defended the doctrine
of what is usually called the “ sleep of the soul.”
About the year 1760, he was appointed head libra¬
rian of the university ; a situation which, as it pro¬
cured an easy and quick access to books, was peculiar¬
ly agreeable to his taste and habits. Some time after
this, he was also appointed casuistical professor. In
the year 1762, he suffered an irreparable loss by the
death of his lady ; a loss in itself every way afflicting,
and rendered more so by the situation of his family,
which then consisted of eleven children, many of them
very young. Some years afterwards, he received seve¬
ral preferments, which were rather honourable expres¬
sions of regard from his friends, than of much advan¬
tage to his fortune.
By Dr Cornwallis, then bishop of Litchfield, after¬
wards archbishop of Canterbury, who had been bis
pupil at Christ college, he was appointed to the arch¬
deaconry of Staffordshire, and to a prebend in the
church of Litchfield. By his old acquaintance Dr
Green, bishop of Lincoln, he was made a prebendary
LAW r 715 ] LAW
aw, of that church. But in the year 1767, by the inter-
wv——1 vention of the duke of Newcastle, to whose interest in
the memorable contest for the high stewardship of the
university, he had adhered in opposition to some temp¬
tations, he obtained a stall in the church of Durham.
The year after this, the duke of Grafton, who had a
short time before been elected chancellor of the univer¬
sity, recommended the master of Peterhouse to his ma¬
jesty for the bishopric of Carlisle. This recommenda¬
tion was made not only without solicitation on his part
or that of his friends, but without his knowledge, until
the duke’s intention in his favour was signihed to him
by the archbishop.
* About the year 1777, Bishop Law gave to the pu¬
blic a handsome edition, in three volumes quarto, of the
works of Mr Locke, with a Life of the Author, and a
Preface. Mr Locke’s writings and character he held
in the highest esteem, and seems to have drawn from
them many of his own principles : He was a disciple of
that school. About the same time he published a tract,
which engaged some attention in the controversy con¬
cerning subscription } and he published new editions of
his two principal works, with considerable additions,
and some alterations.
Dr Law held the see of Carlisle almost 19 years;
during which time he twice only omitted spending the
summer months in Ins diocese at the bishop’s residence
at Hose Castle ; a situation with which he was much
pleased, not only on account of the natural beauty of
the place, but because it restored him to the country in
which he had spent the best part of his life. In the
year 1787 he paid this visit in a state of great weakness
and exhaustion : and died at Hose Castle about a month
after his arrival there, on the 14th day of August, and
in the 84th year of his age.
The life of the bishop of Carlisle was a life of inces¬
sant reading and thought, almost entirely directed to
metaphysical and religious inquiries. Besides the works
already mentioned, he published, in 1734 or x735» a
very ingenious Intjuiry into the Ideas of Space and Jiniej
&c. in which he combats the opinions of Dr Clarke
and his adherents cn these subjects : but the tenet by
which his name and writings are principally distinguish¬
ed, is “ that Jesus Christ, at his second coming, will,
by an act of his power, restore to life and consciousness
the dead of the human species, who by their own na¬
ture, and without this interposition, would remain in
the state of insensibility to which the death brought
upon mankind by the sin of Adam had reduced them.”
He interpreted literally that saying of St Haul,
1 Cor. xv. 21. “ As by man came death, by man
came also the resurrection of the dead,” Ibis opi¬
nion had no other effect upon his own mind than to in¬
crease his reverence for Christianity, and for its divine
Founder. He retained it, as he did his other specula¬
tive opinions, without laying, as many are wont to do,
an extravagant stress upon their importance, and with¬
out pretending to more certainly than the subject al¬
lowed of. No man formed his own conclusions with
more freedom, or treated those of others with ^greater
candour and equity. He never quarrelled with any
person for differing from him, or considered that dif¬
ference as a sufficient reason for questioning any man’s
sincerity, or judging meanly of his understanding. He
was zealously attached to religious liberty, because ne
thought that it leads to truth ; yet from his heart he Law
loved peace. But he did not perceive any repugnancy !j
in these two things. There was nothing in his elevation < Lawles?,
to his bishopric which he spoke of with more pleasure, "y
than its being a proof that decent freedom of inquiry
was not discouraged.
He was a man of great softness of manners, and of
the mildest and most tranquil disposition. His voice
was never raised above its ordinary pitch. His counte¬
nance seemed never to have been ruffled ; it preserved
the same kind and composed aspect, truly indicating the
calmness and benignity of his temper. He had an utter
dislike of large and mixed companies. Next to his
books, his chief satisfaction was in the serious conver¬
sation of a literary companion, or in the company of
a few friends. In this sort of society lie would open
his mind with great unreservedness, and with a pecu¬
liar turn and sprightliness of expression. His person
was low, but well formed : his complexion fair and de¬
licate. Except occasional interruptions by the gout,
he had for the greatest part of his life enjoyed good
health; and when not confined by that distemper, was
full of motion and activity. About nine years before
bis death, he was greatly enfeebled by a severe attack
of the gout in his stomach ; and a short time after that,
lost the use of one of his legs. Nothwithstanding his
fondness of exercise, he resigned himself to this change,
not only without complaint, but without any sensible
diminution of his cheerfulnes and good humour. His
fault (for we are not writing a panegyric) was the ge¬
neral fault of retired and studious characters, too great
a degree of inaction and facility in his public station.
The modesty, or rather bashfulness of his nature, to¬
gether with an extreme unwillingness to give pain, ren¬
dered him sometimes less firm and efficient in the admi¬
nistration of authority than was requisite. But it is the
condition of human morality. There is an opposition
between some virtues which seldom permits them to
subsist together in perfection.
The bishop was interred in his cathedral church,
in which a handsome monument is erected to his me¬
mory.
LAWBURROWS, in Scots Law. See Law, Part
III. N° clxxviii. 16.
LAWENBUHG, Duchy of, a territory of Ger¬
many, in the circle of Lower Saxony, bounded by the
dutchy of Holstein on the north and west, by the duchy
of Mecklenburg on the east, and by the duchy of Lu¬
nenburg, from which it is separated by the river
Elbe, on the west; being about 85 miles long, and 2a
broad. The chief towns are Lawenburg, Molen,
Wittemburg, and Ratzeburg. It came into the pos¬
session of Denmai’k in 1815.
Lawenburg, a city of Germany in the circle of
Lower Saxony, and capital of a duchy of the same
name. It is a small but populous town, situated on the
Elbe, under the brow of a very high hill, from whence
there is a delightful prospect over the adjacent country.
It has a castle on an eminence, and is convenient for
trade. E. Long. 10. 48. N. Lat. 53. 22.
Lawenburg, a town of Germany in Earther Pome¬
rania, and the chief place to the territory of the same
name belonging to the elector of Brandenburg.
LAWLESS COURT, a court said to be held an¬
nually on the King’s Hill at Rochford in Essex, on the
4X2 Wednesday
LAW [7
Lawless Wednesday morning after Michaelmas day at cock-
11 crowing, where they whisper, and have no candle, nor
La.\teiree.any pen ancj |jUt on|y a coa]. Persons who owe
suit, or service, and do not appear, forfeit double their
rent every hour they are missing.
This servile attendance, Camden informs us, was im¬
posed on the tenants for conspiring at the like unseason¬
able hour to raise a commotion. The court belongs to
the honour of Raleigh, and to the earl of Warwick ;
and is called lawless, from its being held at an unlaw¬
ful hour.
LAWINGEN, a town of Germany, in the circle
of Suabia ; formerly imperial, but now subject to the
duke of Neuburg. Here the duke of Bavaria, in
1704, fortified his camp to defend his country against
the British forces and their allies commanded by the
duke of Marlborough, who forced their intrenchments.
It is seated on the Danube, in E. Long. 10. 29. N. Lat.
48‘ 32' T ,
LAWN, a spacious plain in a park, or adjoining
to a noble seat. As to the dimensions of a lawn : In
a large park, it should be as extensive as the ground
will permit; and, if possible, it should never be less
than 50 acres : but in gardens of a moderate extent, a
lawn of 10 acres is sufficient: and in those of the lar¬
gest size IJ acres. The best situation for a lawn is
in the front of the house : and here, if the house front
the east, it will be extremely convenient; but the most
desirable aspect for a lawn is that of the south-east.
As to the figure of the lawn, some recommend an ex¬
act square, others an oblong square, some an oval, and
others, a circular figure : but neither of these are to
be regarded. It ought to be so contrived, as to suit
the ground ; and there should be trees planted for
shade on the boundaries of the lawn, so the sides may
be broken by irregular plantations of trees, which, if
there are not some good prospects beyond the lawn,
should bound it on every side, and be brought round
pretty near to each end of the house. If in these
plantations round the lawn, the trees are placed irre¬
gularly, some breaking much forwarder on the lawn
than others, and not crowded too close together, thev
will make a better appearance than any regular plan¬
tations can possibly do $ and if there are variety of
trees, properly disposed, they will have a good effect ;
hut only those which make a fine appearance, and
grow large, straight, and handsome, should be admit¬
ted here. The most proper trees for this purpose, are
the elm, oak, chesnut, and beech ; and if there are
some clumps of evergreen trees intermixed with the
others, they will add to the beauty of the whole, espe¬
cially in the winter season ; the best sorts for this pur¬
pose are Lord Weymouth’s pine, and the silver and
spruce firs.
Lawn, in manufactures, a fine sort of linen, remark¬
able tor being used in the sleeves of the clerical dress
of bishops.
LAWRENCE, St, the largest river in North A-
merica, proceeding from Lake Ontario, from which it
runs a course of 700 miles to the Atlantic ocean.
From Lake Ontario to Montreal, this river has the
name of Iroquois, and after taking a north-east course
it embosoms the island of Montreal, above which it re¬
ceives Ottawas from the west, forming several islands of
great fertility. From Montreal it takes the name of
16 ] LAY
St Lawrence, and passing by Quebec, it meets the tide Lawreiiee
more than 400 miles from the sea, and is so far navi- H
gable for large vessels. Having received in its course ^ajers.
St John’s, Seguina, Lesprairies, Trois Rivieres, and ^ '  
numberless other smaller streams, it falls into the ocean
at Cape Rosieres, by a mouth about 90 miles broad.
The principal entrance into the gulf of St Lawrence
from the Atlantic ocean, is between Capes Ray and
Breton. It contains a number of islands, viz. St John’s,
at its southern extremity, on the coast of New Bruns¬
wick and Nova Scotia ; Anticosti, at the mouth of ths
St Lawrence, besides a number of small islands.
Prince Edward’s island, about 120 miles in length,
with a population of 8000 persons, is also in the gulf
of St Lawrence. Here a new settlement was made by
Lord Selkirk, in 1803, composed of a colony of emi¬
grants amounting to 800, from the Highlands of Scot¬
land.
LAWSONIA, Egyptian Privet, a genus of
plants belonging to the octandria class ; and in the na¬
tural method ranking with those of which the order is
doubtful. See Botany Index.
LAWYER, a counsellor, or one who is learned or
skilled in the law. See Counsellor, Barrister,
and Serjeant.
LAY, a kind of ancient poem among the French,
consisting of very short verses.
There were two sorts of lays ; the great, and the
little. The first was a poem consisting of twelve cou¬
plets of verses, of different measures. The other was a
poem consisting of sixteen or twenty verses, divided
into four couplets.
These lays were the lyric poetry of the old French
poets, who were imitated by some among the English.
They were principally used on melancholy subjects,
and are said to have been formed on the model of the
trochaic verses of the Greek and Latin tragedies.
Father Morgues gives us an extraordinary instance
of one of these ancient lays, in his Treatise of French
Poetry.
Sur Vappuis du monde
Quefuut il qu'on fonde
D'espoir ?
Cette mer profonde
JEn debris feconde
Fait voir
Calme au matin, Conde
Ft P or age y gronde
Le soir.
LAY-Brothers, among the Romanists, those pious but
illiterate persons, who devote themselves at some con¬
vent to the service of the religious. They wear a dif¬
ferent habit from that of the religious 5 but never enter
into the choir, nor are present at the chapters j nor do
they make any other vow except of constancy and obe¬
dience. In the nunneries there are also lay sisters.
Lay-Muu, one who follows a secular employment,
and has not entered into holy orders.
LAYERS, in Gardening, are tender shoots or twigs
of trees, laid or buried in the ground, till, having
struck root, they are separated from the parent tree,
and become distinct plants.—The propagating trees by
layers is done in the following manner : The branches
of the trees are to be slit a little way, and laid under
the
LEA [
Mayer* the mould for about half a foot; the ground should
)i be first made very light, and after they are laid they
ei>d- should be gently watered. If they will not remain
easily in the position they are put in, they must be
pegged down with wooden hooks: the best season for
doing this is, for evergreens, toward the end of Au¬
gust, and, for other trees, in the beginning of Febru¬
ary. It they are found to have taken root, they are
to be cut of! from the main plant the succeeding win¬
ter, and planted out. It the branch is too high from
the ground, a tub of earth is to be raised to a proper
height for it. Some pare otf the rind, and others
twist the branch before they lay it, but this is not ne¬
cessary. The end ot the layer should be about a foot
out of the ground ; and the branch may be either tied
tight round with a wire, or cut upwards from a joint,
or cut round for an inch or two at the place, and it is
a good method to pierce several holes through it with
an awl above the part tied with the wire.
LAYING THE LAND, in Navigation, the state of
motion which increases the distance from the coast,
so as to make it appear lower and smaller, a circum¬
stance which evidently arises from the intervening con¬
vexity of the surface of the sea. It is used in con¬
tradistinction to raising the land, which is produced by
the opposite motion of approach towards it. See
Land.
LAZAR house, or Lazaretto, a public build¬
ing, in the nature of an hospital, to receive the poor,
and those afflicted with contagious distempers. In
some places, lazarettos are appointed for the perform¬
ance of quarantine ; in which case, those are obliged
to be confined in them who are suspected to have come
from places infected with the plague.
LAYSTOFF, or Lowestoff, a town of Suffolk,
117 miles from London, seems to hang over the sea,
and its chief business is fishing for cod in the North sea,
and for herring, mackarel, and sprats, at home. The
church is at some distance, but there is a chapel in the
town. Having been a part of the ancient demesnes
of the crown, this town has a charter and a seal, by
the former of which the inhabitants are exempted from
serving on juries. Some take this to be the most
eastern part of Britain.
LAZULI, Lazulite, or Lapis Lazuli, a species
of mineral belonging to the siliceous genus. See La-
zulite, Mineralogy Index.
LEACHLADE, a town of Gloucestershire, 12
miles east from Cirencester, 29 miles from Gloucester,
and 77 from London. The river Thames waters it on
the south and east sides, and divides it from Wiltshire
and Berkshire. The Leach runs through the north
side of the parish. The Thames river is navigable for
barges of 50 tons burden, but want of water during
part of the year makes the navigation very uncertain.
The church is a large handsome building with double
aisles, supported by two rows of fluted pillars.
LEAD, one of the metals, of a white colour inclin¬
ing to blue, the least ductile, the least elastic, and the
least sonorous, of the whole, but possessing a considerable
degree of specific gravity. See Chemistry and Mi¬
neralogy Index.
White Lead, or Ceruse. See Chemistry Index.
Black Lead, or Plumbago, a species of mineral be-
17 ] LEA
longing to the class of Inflammables. See Graphite
Mineralogy Index.
Milled Lead. See Chemistry Index.
Poison of Lead. See Poison.
Sheet Lead. See Plumbery.
LEAF, a part of a plant extended into length and
breadth, in such a manner as to have one side distin¬
guishable from the other. This is Miller’s definition.
Linnaeus denominated leaves “ the organs of motion,
or muscles of the plant.”—The leaves are not merely
ornamental to plants ; they serve very useful purposes,
and make part of the organs of vegetation.
I he greater number of plants, particularly trees,
are furnished with leaves : in mushrooms, and shrubby
horse tail, they are totally wanting. Ludwic defines
leaves to be fibrous and cellular processes of the plant,
which are of various figures, but generally extended
into a plain membranaceous or skinny substance. They
are of a deeper green than the footstalks on which
they stand, and are formed by the expansion of the
vessels of the stalk, among which, in several leaves
the proper vessels are distinguished by the particular
taste, colour, and smell, ot the liquors contained with¬
in them.
By the expansion of the vessels of the stalk, are pro¬
duced several ramifications or branches, which, cross¬
ing each other mutually, form a kind of net: the
meshes or interstices of which are filled up with a ten¬
der cellulai substance, called pulp, pith, or paren¬
chyma. The pulpy substance is frequently consumed
by certain small insects, whilst the membranous net
remaining untouched exhibits the genuine skeleton of
the leaf.
The net in question is covered externally with an
epidermis or scarf skin, which appears to be a conti¬
nuation of the scarf skin of the stalk, and perhaps
of that of the stem. M. de Saussure, a judicious na¬
turalist, has attempted to prove, that this scarf skin,
like that of the petals, is a true bark, composed itself
of an epidermis and cortical net; these parts seem to
be the organs of perspiration, which serve to dissipate
the superfluous juices.
The cortical net is furnished, principally on the
surface of the leaf, with a great number of suckers or
absorbent vessels, destined to imbibe the humidity of
the air. The upper surface, turned towards heaven
serves as a defence to the lower, which looks down¬
ward ; and this disposition is so essential to the vege¬
table economy, that, if a branch is overturned in such
a manner as to destroy the natural direction of the
leaves, they will, of themselves, in a very short time,
resume their former position : and that as often as the
branch is thus overturned.
Leaves, then, are useful and necessary organs ; tree*
perish when totally divested of them. In general
plants stript of any of their leaves, cannot shoot vigo¬
rously : witness those which have undergone the de¬
predations of insects; witness, likewise, the very com¬
mon practice of stripping off some of the leaves from
plants, when we would suspend their growth, or di¬
minish the number of their shoots. This method is
sometimes observed with corn and the esculent grasses ;
and, in cold years, is practised on fruit trees and vines,
to render the fruit riper and better coloured : but in
this
LEA [ 718 ] LEA
.Leaf, this case it is proper to wait till the fruits have acqui-
Lcague. red their full bulk, as the leaves contribute greatly to
their growth, but hinder, when too numerous, that ex¬
quisite rectifying of the juices, which is so necessary to
render them delicious and palatable.
When vegetation ceases, the organs of perspiration
and inspiration become superfluous. Plants, therefore,
are not always adorned with leaves: they produce new
ones every year; and every year the greater part are
totally divested of them, and remain naked during the
winter.
Leaf Insect. See Cimex, Entomology Index.
LEAF-Skeletons. One help for acquiring a know¬
ledge of the anatomy of plants, is the art of reducing
leaves to skeletons, which may be done by exposing
the leaves to decay for some time soaked in water, by
which means the softer will be separated from the in¬
ternal harder parts. By carefully wiping, pressing, and
rinsing them, the harder parts may be obtained from
the rest alone and entire. Some have been able to se¬
parate the outer covering on both sides from the woody
net, and even to split the latter into two. A naturalist
in the year 1645 first conceived the idea of making
leaf-skeletons by employing decomposition for that pur¬
pose, assisting it by several ingenious operations of art.
When the method of producing these skeletons was
publicly known, numberless preparations of them were
everywhere attempted. So much did leaf-skeletons
afterwards engage the attention of philosophers, that
one Seligmann wrote a treatise on the various methods
which may be employed in their preparation.
The art also of raising trees from leaves has been
long known, the first account of which was published
by Agostino Mandirola, an Italian of the Franciscan
order, who assures us that he produced trees from the
leaves of the cedar and lemon tree. In the garden of
Baron de Munchausen, a young tree was obtained from
a leaf of the limon d Rivo, which yielded fruit the se¬
cond year : It is more than probable that the multipli¬
cation of the opuntia or Indian fig, first suggested the
idea of such experiments, for every joint of that plant
when stuck into the earth, and properly nurtured,
throws out roots and grows.
Leaf, in clocks and watches, an appellation given
to the notches of their pinions.
Gold Leaf, usually signifies fine gold beaten into
plates of exceeding thinness, which are employed in the
arts of gilding, &c. See Gold Leaf.
LEAGUE, a measure of length, containing more
or fewer geometrical paces, according to the different
usages and customs of countries. A league at sea,
where it is chiefly used by us, being a land measure
mostly peculiar to the French and Germans, contains
30OG geometrical paces, or three English miles. The
French league sometimes contains the same measure,
and in some parts of France it consists of 3500 paces :
the mean or common league consists of 2400 paces,
and the little league of 2000. The Spanish leagues
are larger than the French, 17 Spanish leagues ma¬
king a degree, or 20 French leagues, or 691- English
statute miles. The Dutch and German leagues con¬
tain each four geographical miles. The Persian leagues
are pretty near of the same extent with the Spanish ;
that is, they are equal to four Italian miles, which is
pretty near to what Herodotus calls the length of the
Persian parasang, which contained 30 stadia, eight
whereof, according to Strabo, make a mile. The
word comes from leuca or leaga, an ancient Gaulish
word for an itinerary measure, and retained in that
sense by the Romans. Some derive the word lexica
from Aeu*«j, “ white j” as the Gauls, in imitation of
the Romans, marked the spaces and distances of their
roads with white stones.
League also denotes an alliance or confederacy be¬
tween princes and states for their mutual aid, either in
attacking some common enemy, or in defending them¬
selves. The word comes from liga, which, in the cor¬
rupt Latin, was used for a confederacy : Qua quis cum
alio ligatur.
Leagues, among the Greeks, were of three sorts :
1. Sjrav^ji, SavS-jjxjj, orE^vj], whereby both parties were
obliged to cease from hostilities, without even molest¬
ing the allies of each other ; 2. F.7rtpci%tct, whereby thev
engaged to lend assistance to each other in case of in¬
vasion •, and, 3. whereby they engaged to
have the same friends and enemies, and to assist each
other upon all occasions. All these leagues were con¬
firmed with oaths, and imprecations, and sacrifices.
The victims most generally used were a boar, ram, or
goat, sometimes all three; and sometimes bulls and
lambs. They cut out the testicles of the animal, and
stood upon them while they swore ; and some of the
hair of the victim was distributed to all present. Then
they cut the animal’s throat, which was called o^xtx
re/unui, in Latin, /mV’e fccdus. This done, they repeat¬
ed their oaths and imprecations, calling the gods to
witness the honesty of their intentions. A libation
was then made of wine, which at this time was mixed,
to imply their conjunction and union ; while this was
pouring out, they prayed that the blood of him who
should break the treaty might be poured out in like
manner. Upon these occasions no part of the victim
was eaten. Still further to increase the solemnity of
this obligation, the league was engraven upon brass,
fixed up in places of public concourse, and sometimes
read at the solemn games. Some exchanged certain
rvpcfioXct, or tesserce, upon the occasion, and frequently
sent ambassadors on some appointed day, to keep them
in mind of their engagements to each other.
The ceremonies ot the Romans in making leagues
were performed by the Feciales. See Feci ales.
Leagues of the Grisons, are a part of Switzerland,
consisting of three subdivisions, viz. the upper league,
the league of the house of God, and the league of the
ten jurisdictions. See the. article Grisons.
The League, by way of eminence, denotes that fa¬
mous one on foot in France, from the year 1576 to
1593. Its intent .was to prevent the succession of
Henry IV. who was of the reformed religion, to the
crown ; and it ended with his abjuration of that faith.
The leaguers, or confederates, were of three kinds.
The jealous leaguers aimed at the utter destruction not
only of the Huguenots, but also of the ministry. The
Spanish leaguers had [irincipally in viewr the transfer¬
ring the crown of France to the king of Spain, or the
infanta his daughter. The moderate leaguers aimed
only at the extirpation of Calvinism, without any alte¬
ration of the government.
LEAK, at sea, is a hole in the ship, through which
the water comes in. A ship is said to spring a leak
when
league
11
Leak.
LEA' [ 7
.eak when she begins to leak or to let in the water. The
!! manner of stopping a leak is to put into it a plug
ea^e‘ wrapped in oakum and well tarred, or in a tarpawling
clout, which keeps out the water, or nailing a piece
of sheet lead on the place. Seamen sometimes stop a
leak by thrusting a piece of salt beef into it. The
sea water, says Mr Boyle, being fresher than the brine
imbibed by the beef, penetrates into its body, and
causes it to swell so as to bear strongly against the
edges of the broken plank, and thereby stops the influx
of the water. A ready way to find a leak in a ship is
to apply the narrower end of a speaking trumpet to
the ear, and the other to the side of the ship where the
leak is supposed to be ; then the noise of the water is¬
suing in at the leak will be heard distinctly, whereby
it may be discovered.
LEAKAGE, the state of a vessel that leaks, or lets
water or other liquid ooze in or out.
Leakage, in commerce, is an allowance of 12 per
cent, in the customs, allowed to importers of wines for
the waste or damage it is supposed to have received in
the passage : an allowance of two barrels in 22 is al¬
so made to the brewers of ale and beer by the excise
office.
LEAKE, Richard, master gunner of England,
was born at Harwich in 1629, and was bred to the
sea. At the Restoration, he was made master gunner
of the Princess, a frigate of 50 guns j and in the first
Dutch war distinguished himself by his skill and bra¬
very in two extraordinary actions $ one against 15 sail
of Dutch men of war ; and another in 1667 against two
Danes in the Baltic, in which the commanding offi¬
cers of the Princess being killed or desperately wounded
ed, the command, according to the rules of war at
that time, fell to thegonner. In 1669, ^ie 'vas
ed to be gunner of the Royal Prince, a first rate man
of war. He was engaged, with his two sons, Henry
and John, in the battle against Van Trump, in 1673 j
when the Royal Prince had all her masts shot away,
near 400 of her men killed and disabled, and most of
her upper tier of guns dismounted. As she lay thus
like a wreck, a great Dutch man of war came down
upon her with two fire ships, either to burn or carry
her off-, and Captain Rooke, afterwards Sir George,
thinking it impossible to defend her, ordered the men
to save their lives, and the colours to be struck. Mr
Leake hearing this, ordered the lieutenant ofi the quar¬
ter deck, and took the command upon himself, say¬
ing, “ The Royal Prince shall never be given up to
the enemy while I am alive to defend her.” The un¬
daunted spirit of the brave gunner inspired the small re¬
sidue of the ship’s company with resolution 5 they re¬
turned with alacrity to the fight, and under the direc¬
tion of this valiant gunner and his two sons sunk both
the fire ships, and obliged the man of war to sheer oft;
and having thus saved the Royal Prince, he brought
her into Chatham. But Mr Leake’s joy in obtaining
this victory was damped by the loss of Henry, his
eldest son, who was killed near him. Soon after, Mr
Leake was preferred to the command of a yacht, and
also made gunner of Whitehall. In 16775 obtain¬
ed a grant for life of the office of master gunner of
England, and storekeeper of the ordnance at Wool¬
wich. By this post he had full scope for his genius.
9 ] LEA
He accordingly, among other things, invented the Leake,
cushee piece ; and contrived to fire a mortar by the
blast of a piece, which has been used ever since. He
was also the principal contriver of what the French
call infernals, used at the bombardment of St Malo’s
in 1693. Mr Leake had a surprising genius for all in¬
ventions of this kind ; and had frequent trials of skill
with French and Dutch gunners and engineers in
Woolwich warren, at which King Charles II. and the
duke of York were often present, and he never failed
to excel all his competitors : nor was he less skilled in
the art of making compositions for fireworks ; of which
he likewise made frequent trials with equal success.
Leake, Sir John, an English admiral, distinguish¬
ed by his bravery and success, was born in 1656, and
wae taught mathematics and gunnery by Mr Richard
Leake his father, who was master gunner of Eng¬
land. Entering early into the navy, he distinguish¬
ed himself under his father in 1673, in the memorable
engagement between Sir Edward Spragg and Van
Tromp, when but 16 years of age ; and being after¬
wards made captain, he signalized himself, among
other occasions, by executing the desperate attempt of
convoying some victuallers into Londonderry, which
obliged the enemy to raise the siege; and at the
famous battle of La Hogue. In 1702, being made
commodore of a squadron, he destroyed the French
trade and settlements at Newfoundland, and restored
the English to the possession of the whole island. On
his return he was created rear admiral ; soon after, he
was made vice admiral of the blue, and was afterwards
knighted. He was engaged with Admiral Rooke in
taking Gibraltar: soon after which, he particularly di¬
stinguished himself in the general engagement oft Ma¬
laga ; when commanding the leading squadron of the
van, consisting only of six ships, he drove that of the
enemy, consisting of 13, out of the line of battle, so dis¬
abled that they never returned to the fight. In I705>
he relieved Gibraltar, which the French had besieged
by sea, and the Spaniards by land, so seasonably, that
the enemv was to have attacked the town that very night
in several places, and would undoubtedly have made
themselves masters of it. Five hundred Spaniards had,
by the help of rope ladders, climbed up the rocks by
a way that was thought inaccessible. At the same time
they had got a great number of boats to land 3000 men
at the New Mole, who, by making a vigorous assault
on the side next the sea, were to draw the garrison to
oppose the attack, while the 500 concealed men rush¬
ed into the town. These being the next day drawn
by hunger out of their ambuscade, were discovered ; on.
which Sir John assisting the garrison with sailors and
marines, they were attacked with such vigour, that,
though they had taken an oath not to surrender to the
English, 190 common soldiers and 35 officers took
quarter : 200 were killed on the spot; and the rest,
who endeavoured to make their escape, fell headlong
down the rock. He was soon after made vice admiral
of the white, and then twice relieved that fortress.
The last time, he attacked five ships of the French
fleet coming out of the bay, of whom two were ta¬
ken, and two run ashore and were destroyed : Baron
Pointi died sson after, of the wounds he received in
the battle; and in a few days the enemy raised the
siege.
LEA [7
siege. In the year 1705 Sir John was engaged in the
reduction of Barcelona ; and the next year relieved that
city, when it was reduced to the last extremity, and
obliged King Philip to raise the siege. Soon after he
took the city of Carthagena; from whence proceed¬
ing to Alicant and Joyce, both these submitted to
him ; and he concluded the exploits of that year with
the reduction of the city and island of Majorca. Up¬
on his return home, Prince George of Denmark made
him a present of a ring valued at 400I. and he had the
honour of receiving xoool. from the queen as a reward
for his services. Upon the unhappy death of Sir
Cloudesly Shovel, in 1707, he was made admiral of
the white, and commander in chief of her majesty’s
fleet j and the next year, surprising a convoy of the
enemy’s corn, he sent it to Barcelona, and thus saved
both that city and the confederate army from the dan¬
ger of famine j soon after convoying the new queen
of Spain to King Charles her consort, her majesty
made him a present of a diamond ring of 500I. va¬
lue. He then proceeded to the island of Sardinia,
which he reduced to the obedience of King Charles ;
and soon after assisted the lord Stanhope in the conquest
of Minorca. Then returning home, he was appointed
one of the council to the lord high admiral ; and in
1709 was made rear admiral of Great Britain. He
was several times chosen member of parliament for Ro¬
chester j and in 1712 conducted the English forces to
take possession of Dunkirk. But upon the accession
of King George I. he was superseded, and allowed a
pension of 600I. a-year. After this he lived privately
till his death, which happened at his house in Green¬
wich in 1720.
Leake, Stephen Martin, Esq. son of Captain Mar¬
tin, went through different ranks in the heralds of¬
fice till he came to be garter. He was the first per¬
son who wrote professedly on our English coins, two
editions of his “ Historical Account” of which were
published by him with plates, under the title of Num-
mi Britannici Historia, London, 1726, 8vo.; the se¬
cond, much improved, London, 1745, 8vo. He print¬
ed, in 1750* 44 The Lite of Sir John Leake, knight,
admiral of the fleet,” &c. to whom he was indebted
for a considerable estate; which the admiral devised to
trustees for the use of his son for life ; and upon his
death to Captain Martin (who married Lady Leake’s
sister) and his heirs: By which means it came to the
Captain’s son ; who, in gratitude to the memory of Sir
John Leake, wrote an accurate account of his life, of
which only 50 copies were printed. In 1776, he print¬
ed also 50 copies of “ The Statutes of the Order of
the Garter,” 410. He died in 1773 ; and was buried
in his chancel in the parish church of Thorp in Essex,
of which manor he was lord.
LEANDER, in poetic history, a young man of
Abydos in Asia. He used to swim over the Helles¬
pont by night to visit Hero his mistress, who set forth
a light to guide him: but in a tempestuous winter
night he was drowned ; upon which Hero seeing him
dead on the shore, cast herself headlong from the tower,
and died also. See Hero.
LEAO, in Natural History, a mineral substance
approaching to the nature of the lapis lazuli, found in
the East Indies, and of great use in the Chinese por-
20 ] LEA
celain manufactures, as it affords the finest blue they
are possessed of.
LEA15 in Music, is when the song does not pro¬
ceed by conjoint degrees, as when between each note
there is an interval of a third, a fourth, fifth, &c.
Leap Year. See \ear, and Chronology, N° 24.
Lover's Leap. See Leucata.
LEAPING, or Vaulting, was an exercise much
used both amongst the Greeks and Romans. The
Grecians called it and performed it with weights
upon their heads and shoulders. Sometimes they car¬
ried the weights in their hands, which were of differ¬
ent figures, but generally oval, and made with holes
or covered with thongs, through which the contend¬
ers put their fingers. These weights were called
The contest was who could leap the highest
and farthest. The place from whence they jumped
was called /3asru£, and that to which they leaped,
t<rx*y.pi]ix, because the ground was there dug up. This
exercise was performed in the same manner by the Ro¬
mans.
LEAR, the name of a British king, said in old
chronicles to have succeeded his father Bladud, about
A. M. 3160. The story of this king and his three
daughters is well known, from Shakespeare’s excellent
tragedy founded on it.
LEASE, from the French leiser, demittere, “ to let,”
in law, a demise, or letting of lands, tenements, or he¬
reditaments, unto another for life, terms of years, oral
will, for a rent reserved.
A lease is either written, called an indenture, deed-
roll, or lease in writing; or by word of mouth, called
lease parole.
All estates, interests of freehold, or terms for years
in lands, &c. not put in writing and signed by the
parties, shall have no greater effect than as estates at
will ; unless it be of leases not exceeding three years
from the making; wherein the rent reserved shall be
two-thirds of the value of the things demised. Leases
exceeding three years must be made in writing ; and
if the substance of a lease be put in writing, and sign¬
ed by the parties, though it be not sealed, it shall have
the effect of a lease for years, &c.
An assignment differs from a lease only in this, that
by a lease one grants an interest less than his own, re¬
serving to himself a reversion; in assignments he parts
with the whole property, and the assignee stands to all
intents and purposes in place of the assignor.
Lease, in Scots Laiv. See Tack.
Lease and Release, a species of conveyance used
in the English law, first invented by Serjeant Moore,
soon after the statute of uses, and now the most com¬
mon of any, and therefore not to be shaken; though
very great lawyers (as particularly Mr Noy) have
formerly doubted its validity. It is thus contrived :
A lease, or rather bargain and sale, upon some pecu¬
niary consideration, for one year, is made by the te¬
nant of the freehold to the lessee or bargainee. Now
this without any enrolment, makes the bargainer
stand seized to the use of the bargainee, and vests in
the bargainer the use of the term for a year; and then
the statute immediately annexes the possession. He
therefore, being thus in possession, is capable of re¬
ceiving a release of the freehold and reversion, which
must
LEA [721] LEA
must be made to a tenant in possession : and according¬
ly, the next day, a release is granted to him. This
is held to supply the place of livery of seisin ; and so
a conveyance by lease and release is said to amount to
a feoffment.
LEASH, among sportsmen, denotes three creatures
of any kind $ but chiefly grehounds, foxes, bucks, and
hares.
The term leash also signifies a line to hold in a hunt¬
ing dog; and a small long thong of leather, by which
a falconer holds his hawk.
LE ASIN G-making, in Scots Law, the uttering of
words tending to excite discord between the king and
his people ; also called verbal sedition.
LEATHER, the skin of several sorts of beasts
dressed and prepared for the use of various manufactu¬
rers, whose business it is to make them up.
Dyeing of Leather, Skins, Sfc. Blue is given by
steeping the subject a day in urine and indigo, then
boiling it with alum : or it may be given by tempering
the indigo with red wine, and washing the skins there¬
with. Red is given by washing the skins, and laying
them two hours in galls, then wringing them out, dip¬
ping them in a liquor made with ligustrum, alum, and
verdigris in water; and lastly, in dye made of Bra¬
zil wood, boiled with ley. Purple is given by wetting
the skins with a solution of roche alum in warm water;
and, when dry again, rubbing them with the hand
with a decoction of logwood in colder. Green is given
by smearing the skin with sap-green and alum-water
boiled. Dark green is also given with steel filings and
sal ammoniac steeped in urine till soft, then smeared
over the skin ; which is to be dried in the shade. Sky
colour is given with indigo steeped in boiling water,
and the next morning warmed and smeared over the
skin. Yellow, by smearing the skin over with aloes
and linseed oil dissolved and strained; or by infusing it
in weld. Orange colour is given by smearing with fus¬
tic berries boiled in alum water ; or, for a deep orange,
with turmeric.
Processes for Dyeing Leather Red and Yellow as
practised in Turkey, with directions for Preparing and
Tanning the Skins ; as communicated by Mr PhHippo,
a native of Armenia, who received from the Society for
the Fj neon rage men t of Arts, £fc. one hundred pounds,
and also the gold medal of the Society, as a reward for
discovering this secret.
1. First Preparation of the Skins, both for Red and
Yellow Leather, by dressingthem in Lime. Let the skins,
dried with the hair on, be first laid to soak in clean
water for three days ; let them then be broken over
the flesh side, put into fresh water for two days longer,
and afterwards hung up to drain half an hour. Let
them now be broken on the flesh side, limed in cold
lime on the same side, and doubled together with
the grain side outward. In this state they must be
hung up within doors over a frame for five or six days,
till the hair be loose ; which must then be taken off,
and the. skins returned into the lime pit for about
three weeks. Take them out, and let them he well
worked flesh and grain, every sixth or seventh day du¬
ring that time : after which, let them be washed ten
times in clear water, changing the water at each wash¬
ing. They are next to be prepared in drench, as be¬
low mentioned.
Vox.. XL Part II. f
2. Second Preparation of the Skins for both the Red
and Yellow Dyes by drenching. After squeezing the
water out of the skins, put them into a mixture of bran
and water, warm as new milk, in the following pro¬
portions ; viz. about three pounds of bran for five
skins, and water sufficient to make the mixture mo¬
derately fluid, which will be about a gallon to each
pound of bran. In this drench let the skins lie three
days ; at the end of which time they must be well
worked, and afterwards returned into the drench two
days longer. They must then be taken out and rub¬
bed between the hands ; the water squeezed from
them, and the bran scraped off clear from both sides
of the skins. After this they must be again washed
ten times in clear water, and the water squeezed out
of them.
Thus far the preparatory process of all the skins,
whether intended to be dyed red or yellow, is the
same ; but afterwards those which are to be dyed red,
must be treated as follows.
3. Preparation in Honey and Bran of Skins that
are to be dyed Red. Mix one pound of honey with
three pints of lukewarm water, and stir them together
till the honey is dissolved. rI hen add two double
handfuls of bran ; and taking four skins (for which the
above quantity of the mixture will be sufficient), work
them well in it one after another. Afterwards fold up
each skin separately into a round form, with the flesh
side inwards; and lay them in an earthen pan, or other
proper vessel ; if in the summer, by the side of each
other; but in the winter, on the top of each other.
Place the vessel in a sloping position, so that such part
of the fluid as may spontaneously drain from the skins,
may pass from them. An acid fermentation will then
rise in the liquor, and the skins will swell considerably.
In this state they must continue for seven or eight
days ; but the moisture that drains from them must
be poured off, once or twice a-day, as occasion may re¬
quire. After this a further preparation in salt is ne¬
cessary ; and which must be performed in the following
manner.
4. Preparation in Salt, of the Skins to be dyed Red.
After the skins have been fermented in the honey and
bran, as above mentioned, let them be taken out of that
mixture on the eighth or ninth day, and well rubbed
with dry common sea salt, in the proportion of about
half a pound to each skin; the salt must be well rub¬
bed and worked with them. This will make them con¬
tract again, and part with a further considerable quan¬
tity of moisture; which must be squeezed out by draw¬
ing each skin separately through the hands." They
must next be scraped clean on both sides from the bran",
superfluous salt, and moisture that may adhere to them.
After which, dry salt must be strewed over the grain-
side, and well rubbed in with the hand. They are
then to be doubled with the flesh side outwards, length¬
wise from neck to tail, and a little more dry salt must
be thinly strewed over the flesh side, and rubbed in ;
for (he two last operations, about a pound and a half
ef salt will be sufficient for each skin. They must then
be put, thus folded on each other, between two clean
boards, placed sloping, breadthwise ; and a heavyj
weight laid on the upper board, in order gradually to
pres out what moisture they will thus part with. IuJ
this state of pressure, they must be continued two daysj
4 ^ or
.Leather.
LEA [ 722 ] LEA
JsnYber. or longer, till it is convenient to dye them, for which
»—v they will then be duly prepared.
5. Preparation of the Red Dye, in a proper propor¬
tion for four Skins. Put eight gallons of water into a
copper, with seven ounces of shenan (a) tied up in a
linen bag. Light a fire under a copper ; and when the
water has boiled about a quarter of an hour, take out
the bag of shenan, and put into the boiling fluid or
lixivium, 1st, Two drams of alum $ 2dly, Two drams
pomegranate bark ; 3dly, Three quarters of an ounce
of turmeric ; 4^,'y» Ahree ounces of cochineal ; ythly,
Two ounces of loaf sugar. Let the whole mixture boil
about six minutes, then cover the fire, and take out a
quart of liquor, putting it into a flat earthen pan ; and
when it is as cold as new milk, take one skin, folded
lengthwise, the grain side outwards, and dip it in the
liquor, rubbing it gently with the hands. Then taking
out the skin, hang it up to drain, and throw away the
superfluous dye. Proceed in the same manner with the
remaining three skins j repeating the operation of each
skin separately, eight times, squeezing the skins by
drawing them through the hands before each fresh dip¬
ping. Lay them now on one side of a large pan, set
sloping, to drain off as much of the moisture as will run
from them without pressure, for about two hours, or till
they are cold ; then tan them as below directed.
6. 1 arming the Red Skins. Powder four ounces of
the best white galls in a marble mortar, sifting it
through a fine sieve. Mix the powder with about three
quarts ol water, and work the skins well in this mix¬
ture for halt an hour or more, folding up the skins four¬
fold. Let them lie in this tan for 24 hours ; when they
must be worked again as before 5 then taken out, scra¬
ped clean on both sides from the frrst galls, and put
into a like quantity of fresh galls and water. In this
fresh mixture they must be again well worked for three
quarters of an hour 5 then folded up as before, and left
in the fresh tan lor three days. On the fourth day
they must be taken out, washed clean from the galls in
seven or eight fresh quantities of water, and then hung
up to dry.
7. Manner of Dressing the Skins after they are tanned.
When the skins have been treated as above, and are
very near dry, they should be scraped with the proper
instrument or scraper on the flesh side, to reduce them
to a proper degree of thickness. They are then to be
laid on a smooth board, and glazed by rubbing them
with a smooth glass. After which they must be oiled,
by rubbing them with olive oil, by means of a linen
rag, in the proportion of one ounce and a half of oil
for four skins : they are then to be grained on a grain- LeaiW
ing board, lengthwise, breadthwise, and cornenvise, or y--«I
from corner to corner.
8. Preparations ivith Galls, for the Skins to be dyed
Yellow. After the four skins are taken out of the
drench of bran, and clean washed as before directed in
the second article, they must be very well worked, half
an hour or more, in a mixture of a pound and a half of
the best white galls, finely powdered, with two quarts
ol clean water. The skins are then to be separately
doubled lengthwise, rolled up with the flesh side out¬
wards, laid in the mixture, and close pressed down on
each other, in which state they must continue two whole
days. On the third day let them be again worked in
the tan j and afterwards scraped clean from the galls,
with an ivory or brass instrument (for no iron must
touch them). They must then be put into a fresh tan,
made of two pounds of galls finely powdered, with a-
bout three quarts of water, and well worked therein
15 times. After this they must be doubled, rolled up
as before, and laid in the second tan for three days.
On the third day a quarter of a pound of white sea-
salt must be worked into each skin \ and the skins dou¬
bled up as before, and returned into the tan, till the
day following, when they are to be taken out, and well
washed six times in cold water, and four times in wa¬
ter lukewarm. The water must be then well squeezed
out, by laying the skins under pressure, for about half
an hour, between two boards, with a weight of about
200 or 300 pounds laid upon the uppermost board,
when they will be ready for the dye.
9. Preparation of the Yellow Dye, in the proper pro¬
portion for four Skins. Mix six ounces of cassiari gehi-
ra (b), or dgehira, or the berries of the eastern rham-
nus, with the same quantity of alum 5 and pound them
together till they be fine, in a marble or brass mortar,
with a brass pestle. Then dividing the materials, thua
powdered, into three equal parts of four ounces each,
put one of those three parts into about a pint and a half
of water, in a china or earthen vessel, and stir the mix¬
ture together. Let the fluid stand to cool, till it will
not scald the hand. Then spreading one of the skins
flat on a table, in a warm room, with the grain-side up¬
permost, pour a fourth part of the tinging liquor, pre¬
pared as above directed, over the upper or grain-side,
spreading it equally over the skin with the hand, and
rubbing it well in. Afterwards do the like with the
other three skins, for which the mixture first made will
be sufficient.
This operation must be repeated twice more on each
skin
(a) Shenan is a drug much used by dyers in the east; and may easily be procured at any of the ports of Syria
and Africa, in the Levant. It is the eastern jointed-kali, called by botanists salicornia; and grows in great
plenty in those and other parts of the east. There is a lesser species of the salicornia on our coast, which, from its
great affinity with the shenan, might be presumed to have the same qualities. On some trials, however, it has not
appeared to answer the intention of tne shenan ; but it will be prudent to pursue the examination of this fur¬
ther, as some unknown circumstances in the collecting or using the English salicornia might occasion the miscar¬
riage. But be this as it may, the eastern shenan may, at all events, be easily procured in any quantity, at a
very trifling expence, by any of the captains of Turkey ships, at Aleppo, Smyrna, &c.
(b) The cassiari gehira is the berries of an eastern rhamnus, or buckthorn tree ; and may be had at Aleppo,
and other parts of the Levant, at a small price. The common Avignon or yellow berries may be substituted,
but not with so good an effect; the cassiari gehira being a stronger and brighter yellow dye, both for this us«
and also that of colouring paper hangings, &c.
LEA [ 723 ] LEG
Bather. s^‘n separately, with the remaining eight ounces of the
powder of the berries, and alum, with the above-men¬
tioned due proportions of hot water, put to them as
before directed.
The skins, when dyed, are to be hung up on a
wooden frame, without being folded, with the grain-
side outwards, about three quarters of an hour to drain j
when they must be carried to a river or stream of run¬
ning water, and well washed therein six times or more.
After this they must be put under pressure for about an
hour, till the water be well squeezed out; afterwards
the skins must be hung up to dry in a warm room.
This being done, the skins are to be dressed and
grained as before directed for those dyed red j except
the oiling, which must be omitted.
Blacking Leather. In the tanning of leather it
is so much impregnated with the astringent parts of
oak bark, or with that matter which strikes a black
with green vitriol, that rubbing it over three or four
times with a solution of the vitriol, or with a solution
of iron made in vegetable acids, is sufficient for staining
it black. Of thi s we may be convinced by dropping
a little of the solution on the unblacked side of com¬
mon shoe leather. This operation is performed by the
currier-, who, after the colouring, gives a gloss to the
leather with a solution of gum arable and size made
in vinegar, Where the previous astringent impregna¬
tion is insufficient to give due colour, and for those
sorts of leather which have not been tanned, some galls
or other astringents are added to the solution of iron ;
and in many cases, particularly for the finer sorts of
leather, and for renewing the blackness, ivory or lamp¬
black is u^ed. A mixture of either of these with lin¬
seed oil makes the common oil blacking. For a shin¬
ing blacking, small beer or water is taken instead of
oil, in tbe quantity of about a pint to an ounce of the
ivory black, with an addition of half an ounce of
brown sugar and as much gum arable. The white of
an egg, substituted for the gum, makes the black
more shining, but is supposed to hurt the leather, and
make it apt to crack. It must be obvious, however,
that all these compositions admit of a great many varia¬
tions.
Gilding of Leather. Take glair of the whites of
eggs, or gum water, and with a brush rub over the
leather with either of them : then lay on the gold or
silver, and, letting them dry, burnish them. See the
articles Gilding and Burnishing.
To dress or cover L ea ther with Silver or Gold. Take
brown-red \ grind or move it on a stone will) a muller,
adding water and chalk 5 and when the latter is dissol¬
ved, rub or lightly daub the leather over with it, till
it looks a little whitish 5 and then lay on the leaf-silver
»r gold before the leather is quite dry, laying the leaves
a little over each other, that there may not be the least
part uncovered ; and when they have well closed with
the leather, and are sufficiently dried on and hardened,
rub them over with an ivory pousher, or the foretooth
of a horse.
By several statutes, regulations are made for the tan-
ning and manufacturing ol leather j anti by the 2^tli
Geo. III. c. 13. a duty is laid upon all hides and skins
imported, and drawbacks allowed on the exportation
thereof. Several duties are also imposed on hides and
skins tanned in Great Britain, of what kind soever, as
set forth in schedules annexed to the said act. By the ij€atket
23 Geo. III. c. 37. further regulations are made re- Q
specting the said duties, which are under the manage- I»ecoo.
ment of the officers of excise. v”—
LEAVEN, a piece of sour dough, used to ferment
and render light a much larger quantity of dough or
paste. See Bread, Barm, and Baking.
Leaven was, strictly forbidden by the law of Moses
during the seven days of the passover ; and the Jews, in
obedience to this law, very carefully purified their
houses from all leaven as soon as the vigil of the feast
began. Nothing of honey or leaven was to have place
in any thing presented to the Lord, upon his altar,
during this solemnity. If, during the feast, the least
particle of leaven was found in their houses, they ima¬
gined the whole was polluted, for a little leaven leaven-
eth the whole lump. Leaven, in its figurative sense,
signifies the bad passions of envy and malice, and ran¬
cour, which sour the temper, and extend their ferment
over the social affections j whereas unleavened bread
implies sincerity and truth. It is frequently used for
anv kind of moral contagion.
LEAVES of plants. See Leaf.
Colours extractedfrom Leaves. See CoLOUR-Mak-
ing, N° 37.
LEBADEA, or Lebadia, an ancient town of
Boeotia, on the borders of Phocis, situated between
Helicon and Chaeronia, still called Livadia. In it stood
the oracle of Jupiter Trophonius, which whoever went
to consult, descended into a subterraneous gulf.
LEBEDA, an ancient sea port town of Africa, in
the kingdom of Tripoli, with a pretty good harbour,
and an old castle, seated on the Mediterranean seaj in
E. Long. 14. 50. N. Lat. 32. 10.
LEBEDOS, reckoned among the twelve ancient
cities of Ionia, was situated to the south of Smyrna.
It was the residence of stage-players, and the place
where they met from all parts of Ionia, as far as the
Hellespont, and celebrated annual games in honour of’
Bacchus, (Strabo). It was overthrown by Lysima-
chus, who removed the inhabitants to Ephesus $ scarce
ever after recovering itself, and becoming rather a vil¬
lage than a town, (Horace).
LEBEN, or Lebena, in Ancient Geography, one
of the port towns of the Gortynians, near the promon¬
tory Leon, on the south-east side of Crete; famous for
a temple of JEsculapius in imitation of that of Cyre-
naica.
LEBRIXA, an ancient, strong, and pleasant town
of Spain, in Andalusia; seated in a territory abound¬
ing in corn, wine, and a great number of olive trees,
of whose fruit they make the best oil in Spain. W.
Long. 5. 32. N. Lat. 36. 52.
LEBUS, a tow n of Germany, in the circle of Up¬
per Saxony, and in the marquisate of Brandenburg,
with a bishop’s see, secularized in favour of the house
of Brandenburg. It is seated on the river Oder, in E.
Long. 14. 44. N. Lat. 52. 28.
LECCE, a rich populous, and most beautiful town
of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples and in the Terra
d’Otranto, of which it is the chief place, and the see
of a bishop. E. Long. 18. 28. N. Lat. 40. 40.
LECCO, a town of Italy in the duchy of Milan,
seated on the eastern side of the lake Como. E. Long.
9. 23. N. Lat. 45. 5.
4 Y 2
LECHLADE,
LEG
LccKlade LECHLADE, a town of Gloucestershire in Eng-
li land, seated at the confluence of the rivers Lech and
L.cpturers. Xhames. W. Long. 2. 15. N. Lat. jji. 42.
LECHNICH, a town of Germany, in the circle of
the lower Rhine, now subject to Prussia. E. Long. 6.
35- N- If5°- 4°-
LECTI, beds or couches, were of two kinds among
the Romans, as being destined to two different uses, to
lie upon at entertainments, and to repose upon for
nightly rest. The first were called /ecti tricliniures, the
other lecti cubicularii. See Beds.
LEG 1ICA, was a litter or vehicle in which the
Romans were carried. It was of two kinds, covered
and uncovered. The covered lectica is called by Pliny
cubiculum viatorvm, a traveller’s bedchamber : And
indeed we are informed that Augustus frequently or¬
dered his servants to stop his litter that he might sleep
upon the road. This vehicle was carried by six or
eight men called lectirarii. The lectica differed from
the sella, lor in the first the traveller could recline
himself for sleep, in the latter he was obliged to sit.
The lectica was invented in Bithynia ; the sella w!as a
Roman machine, and esteemed the more honourable of
the two. Lectica was also the name of the funeral bed
or bier for carrying out the dead.
LEG IICARII, among the Romans, servants who
carried the Lectica.
LECTICARIUS was also an officer in the Greek
church, whose office it was to bear off the bodies of
those who died, and to bury them. These were other¬
wise denominated decani and copiatce.
LEG ITO, Reading. Considered in a medicinal
view, it is said by Celsus, lib. i. cap. 4. to be bad,
especially after supper, for those whose heads are weak;
and in lib. i. cap. 8. he recommends reading with an
audible voice for such as have weak stomachs. It is
also directed by Paulus iEgineta as an exercise, lib. i.
cap. 19.
LEC1 lb TERNIUM, a solemn ceremony observed
by the Romans in times of public danger, wherein an
entertainment was prepared with great magnificence,
and served up in the temples. The gods were invited
to partake of the good cheer, and their statues placed
upon couches round the table in the same manner as
men used to sit at meat. The first lectisternium held
at Rome was in honour of Apollo, Latona, Diana, Her¬
cules, Mercury, and Neptune, to put a stop to a con¬
tagious distemper which raged amongst the cattle, in
the year of Rome 354. At these feasts the Epulor.es
presided, and the sacred banquet was called epulvm.
See Epulo, Epulum, &c.
Something like the lectisternium was occasionally
observed among the Greeks, according to Casau-
bon.
LECTORES, among the Romans, servants in great
men’s houses, who were employed in reading while
their masters were at supper. They were called by the
Greeks Anagnostje.
LEC1 011111., an ancient and strong town of France,
in Gascony, vvitti a castle and a bishop’s see ; seated
on a mouatain, at the foot of which runs the river
Gers. E. Long. o. 42. N. Lat. 43. 56.
LEC1UREKS, in England, are an order of preach¬
ers in parish churches, distinct from the rector*, vicar,
and curate. They age chosen by the vestry, or chief
[ 724 ]
LEE
of the parish, supported by voluntary sub- Lefef
nd legacies, and are usually the afternoon n
inhabitants
scriptions and legacies, and are usually the afternoon
preachers in the Sunday service. The term is also
more generally applied to those who preach on Sun-'
day, or on any stated day of the week, in churches or
other places of public worship. By 13 and 14 Gar. II.
cap. 4. lecturers in churches, unlicensed, and not con¬
forming to the liturgy, shall be disabled, and shall also
sufier three months imprisonment in the common gaol;
and two justices, or the mayor in a town corporate^
shall, upon ceitificate from the ordinary, commit them
accordingly. Where there are lectures founded by the
donations of pious persons, the lecturers are appointed
by the founders without any interposition or consent of
rectors of churches, &c. though with the leave and ap¬
probation of the bishop ; such is that of Lady Moyer’s
at St Paul’s. But the lecturer is not entitled to the
pulpit, without the consent of the rector or vicar, who
is possessed of the freehold of the church.
LED A, in fabulous history, a daughter of King
Thespius and Eurythemis, who married Tyndarus king
of Sparta. She was seen bathing in the river Eurotas
by Jupiter, when sue was some few days advanced in
her pregnancy, and the god, struck with her beauty, re¬
solved to deceive her. He persuaded Venus to change
herself into an eagle, while he assumed the form of°a
swan, and after this metamorphosis Jupiter, as if fear¬
ful of the tyrannical cruelty of the bird of prey, fled
through the air into the arms of Leda, who willingly
sheltered the trembling swan from the assaults of his
superior enemy. The caresses with which the naked
Leda leceived the swan, enabled Jupiter to avail him¬
self of his situation, and nine months after tins adven¬
ture tile wife of lyndarus brought forth two eggs, of
one of which sprung Pollux and Helena, and of the
other Castor and Clytemnestra. I he two former were
deemed the offspring of Jupiter, and the others claimed
J ynda: us for their father. Some mythologists attri¬
bute this amour to Nemesis and not to Leda; and
they farther mention, that Leda was intrusted with
the education of the children which sprung from the
eggs brought forth by Nemesis. To reconcile this di¬
versity of opinions, others maintain that Leda received
the name of Nemesis after death. Homer and Hesiod
make no mention oi the metamorphosis of Jupiter into
a swan, whence some have imagined that the fable was
unknown to those two ancient poets, and probably in¬
vented since their age.
LEDBURY, a town of Herefordshire in England,
11 is a wed bunt town, sealed on a rich clay soil, and
inhabited mostly by clothiers. Population 3186. W.
Long. 2. 20. N. Lat. 52. 6.
LEDESMA, an ancient and strong town of Spain,
in t ie kingdom or Leon, seated on the river Tome, in
W. Long. 5. 25. N. Lat. 47. 2.
LEDGER, the principal hook wherein merchants
enter their accounts. See Book keeping.
LEDUM, Marsh Cistus, or Wild Rosemary; a
genus of plants belonging to the decandria class ; and
in the natural method ranking under the 18th order,
Bicornes. See Botany Index.
LEE, an epithet used by seamen to distinguish that
part ol the hemisphere to which the wind is directed,
from the other part whence it arises ; which latter is
accoidingly caded, to windward. Ibis expression is
chiefly
Lee.
LEE
[ 725 ]
LEE
£«ee- cbiefly used wlien the wind crosses the line of a ship’s
course, so that all on a side of her is called to wind¬
ward, and all on the opposite side to leeivard. Hence,
Under the Lee, implies farther to the leeward, or
farther from that part of the horizon whence the wind
blows : as,
Under the Lee of the shore ; i. e. at a short distance
from the shore which lies to windward. This phrase
is commonly understood to express the situation of a
vessel anchored, or sailing under the weather-shore,
where there is always smoother water, and less danger
of heavy seas, than at a great distance from it.
Lee Larches, the sudden and violent rolls which a
ship often takes to the leeward in a high sea, parti¬
cularly when a large wave strikes her on the weather-
side.
LEE-Sidc, all that part of a ship or boat which lies
between the mast and the side farthest from the direc¬
tion of the wind ; or otherwise, that half of a ship
which is pressed down towards the water by the effort
of the sails, as separated from the other half by a line
drawn through the middle of her length. That part
of the ship which lies to windward of this line is
accordingly called the weather-side. Thus admit a ship
to be sailing southward, with the wind at east, then is
her starboard or right side the lee-side ; and the lar¬
board, or left, the weather side.
LEE-Stone. See LsE-Penny.
Lee Way. See Navigation.
LEE, Nathaniel, a very eminent dramatic poet
of the last century, was the son of a clergyman, who
gave him a liberal education.—He received his first
rudiments of learning at Westminster school ; from
whence he went to Trinity college, Cambridge.—
Coming to London, however, his inclination prompt¬
ed him to appear on the theatre; but he was not
more successful in representing the thoughts of other
men, than many a genius besides, who have been
equally unfortunate in treading the stage, although
they knew so well how to write for it. He produced
ii tragedies, all of which contain a very great por¬
tion of true poetic enthusiasm. None, if any, ever
felt the passion of love more truly ; nor could any one
describe it with more tenderness. Addison commends
his genius highly ; observing, that none of our Eng¬
lish poets had a happier turn for tragedy, although
his natural fire and unbridled impetuosity hurried him
beyond all hounds of probability, and sometimes were
quite out of nature. The truth is, this poet’s imagi¬
nation ran away with 1ns reason j so that a* length he
became quite crazy } and grew so mad, that his fnencs
were obliged to confine him in bedlam, where he made
that famous witty reply to a coxcomb scribbler, who
had the cruelty to jeer him with his misfortune, by
observing that it was an easy thing to write like a mad¬
man : “ No (said Lee), "it is not an easy thing to
write like a madman 5 but it is very easy to write like
a fool.” Lee had the good fortune to recover the use
of liis reason so far as- to he discharged from his me¬
lancholy confinement j but he did not long survive his
enlargement, dying at the early age nf 34. Cibber, in
his Lives of the Poets, says he perished miiortunately
in a night ramble in London streets.— Mis Theodosius
and Alexander the Great are stock plays, and to this
day are often acted with great applause. The late Mr
Barry was particularly fortunate in the character of Lee,
the Macedonian hero. Lee-Penny.
IjEE-Penvy, or Lee-stone, a curious piece of antiqui- s“““v
ty belonging to the family of Lee in Scotland, and of
which the following account lias been given in the
Gentleman’s Magazine for December 1787.
It is a stone of a dark red colour and triangular
shape, and its size about half an inch each side. It is
set in a piece of silver coin, which, though much de¬
faced, by some letters still remaining is supposed to be a
shilling of Edward I. the cross being very plain, as it is
on his shillings.—It has been, by tradition, in the Lee
family since the year 1320; that is, a little after the
death of King Robert Bruce, who having ordered his
heart to be carried to the Holy Land, there to be
buried, one of the noble family of Douglas was sent
with it, and it is said got the crowned heart in his
arms from that circumstance : but the person who car¬
ried the heart was Simon Locard of Lee, who just about
this time borrowed a large sum of money from Sir
William de Lendsay, prior of Air, for which he grant¬
ed a bond of annuity of ten pounds of silver, during the
life of the said Sir William de Lendsay, out of his
lands of Lee and Cartland. The original bond, dated
1323, and witnessed by the principal nobility of the
country, is still remaining among the family papers.
As this was a great sum in those days, it is thought
it was borrowed for that expedition ; and from his
being the person who carried the royal heart, he
changed his name to Lockheart, as it is sometimes
spelled, or Lockhart, and got a heart within a lock
for part of his arms, with the motto Corda serata pan-
do.—This Simon Lockhart having taken prisoner a
Saracen prince or chief, his wife came to ransom him j
and on counting out the money or jewels, this stone
fell out of her purse, which she hastily snatched up :
which Simon Lockhart observing, insisted to have it,
else he would not give up his prisoner. Upon this the
lady gave it him, and told him its many virtues, viz.
that it cured all diseases in cattle, and the bite of a
mad dog both in man and beast. It is used by dip¬
ping the stone in water, which is given to the diseas¬
ed cattle to drink; and the person who has been bit,
and the wound or part infected, is washed with the
water. There are no words used in the dipping of the
stone, or any money taken by the servants, without
incurring the owner’s displeasure. Many are the cures
said to he performed by it, and people come from all
parts of Scotland, and even as far up in England as
Yorkshire, to get the water in which the stone is
dipped, to give their cattle, when ill of the mur¬
rain especially, and black-leg.—A great many years
ago, a complaint was made to the ecclesiastical courts
against the laird of Lee, then Sir James Lockhart, for
using witchcraft.—It is said, when the plague was last
at Newcastle, the inhabitants sent for the Lee-penny,
and gave a bond for a large sum in trust for the loan ;
and that they thought it did so much good, that they
offered to pay the money, and keep the Lee-penny : but
the gentleman would not part with it. A copy of this
bond is very well attested to have been among the ia-
mily papers, but supposed to have been spoiled, along
with many more valuable ones, about 50 years ago, by
rain getting into the charter room, during a long ink
nority, and no family residing at Lee.
We
LEE [ 726 ] LEE
Lee-Penny We have given this history, not on account of the
B utility of the information, but as a proof of the super-
■ ^ S* r 8^tion of the times. None of the virtues which the
•tone was formerly supposed to possess, are now ascribed
to it, excepting, we believe, in the case of some of the
diseases of cattle; and even these in more enlight¬
ened times will become daily less numerous and less
powerful.
LEECH, in Zoology. See Hirudo, Helmintho-
jlogy Index.
Leeches, in a ship, the borders or edges of a sail
which are either sloping or perpendicular.
The leeches of all sails whose tops and bottoms are
parallel to the deck, or at right angles to the mast, are
denominated from the ship’s side, and the sail to which
they belong; as the starboard leech of the main-sail,
the lee leech of the fore-top sail, &c. But the sails
which are fixed obliquely on the masts have their
leeches named from their situation with respect to the
ship’s length ; as the fore leech of the mizen; the after-
leech of the jib or fore-stay sail, &c.
Leech Lines, certain ropes fastened to the middle
of the leeches of the main-sail and fore-sail, and com¬
municating with blocks under the opposite sides of the
top, whence they pass downward to the deck, serving
to truss np those sails to the yard as occasion requires.
See Brails.
LEECH-Rope, a name given to that part of the bolt-
rope to which the border or skirt of a sail is sewed. In
all sails whose opposite leeches are of the same length,
it is terminated above the earing, and below the clue.
See BoLT-Rope, Clue, and Earing.
LEEDS, a town of the west riding of Yorkshire,
196 miles from London, has a magnificent stone bridge
over the river Aire to the suburbs. It was incorpo¬
rated by King Charles I. with a chief alderman, nine
burgesses, and 20 assistants; and by Charles II. with
a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 24 assistants. It has been
a long time famous for the woollen manufacture, and
is one of the largest and most flourishing towns in the
county, yet had but one church till the reign of
Charles I. Bv means of inland navigation, it has com¬
munication with the rivers Mersey, Dee, Bubble, Ouse,
Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber, Thames, Avon,
&c.; which navigation, including its windings, extends
above 500 miles in the counties of Lincoln, Notting¬
ham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, Cluster, Stafford, War¬
wick, Leicester, Oxford, Worcester, &c. Here is a long
street full of shops, and a hall for the sale of cloth, built
in 1758. The merchants of this place, Aork, and, Hull,
ship them off at the latter port, for Holland, Hamburgh,
and the north. After ringing of the market-bell at six
or seven in the morning, the chapmen come and match
their patterns, when they treat for the cloth with a whis¬
per, because the clothiers standings are so near each
other; and perhaps 20,000). worth of cloth is sold in an
hour’s time. At half an hour after eight the bell rings
again, when the clothiers make room for the linen-
drapers, hardware men, shoemakers, fruiterers, &c. At
the same time the shambles are well stored with all sorts
of fish and flesh ; and 400 horse loads of apples have
been counted here in a day. There is a magnificent
hall, where they also sell great quantities of white
cloth ; and here is a noble guildhall, with a fine marble
statue of Queen Anne, erected about the year 1714.
Its river being navigable by boats, they send other Ls£(j,
goods, besides their cloth, to Wakefield, York, and U
Hull, and furnish York with coals. There is a house L«ar.
called Red hall, because it was the first brick building
in the town, and King Charles I. had an apartment in
it, which is ever since called the King''schamber. There
is another place called Tower hill, on which there was
once a tower; besides which, there was a castle which
King Stephen besieged in his march to Scotland.
Here was also a park, where are now inclosures.
There is a workhouse here of free stone, where poor
children are taught to mix wool, and perform other
easy branches of that manufacture, and a part of it has
been used many years as an hospital for the reception
ol the aged poor. Here are three alms houses, and two
charity schools of blue coat boys to the number of 100
In the ceiling of St Peter’s, its only parochial church,
the delivery of the law to Moses is finely painted in
fresco by Parmentier. It is a venerable free-stone pile
built in the cathedral fashion, and seems to have been
the patch work of several ages. The increase of build¬
ing in Leeds in the year 1786, was nearly 400 houses.
The population in 1801 amounted to 30,669. There
is a Presbyterian meeting-house here, erected in 1691,
called the new chapel, which is the stateliest, if not the
oldest, of that denomination in the north of England :
and in the town and its suburbs are several other meet¬
ing-houses, as is always observable in towns of great
trade and manufacture. It is noted for some medicinal
springs ; one of which, called St Peter's, is very cold,
and has been found very beneficial in rheumatisms,
rickets, &c. Here is an hospital for relief of the poor
who had been honest and industrious, endowed with
8cl. a-year, besides 10I. a-year for a master to read
prayers and instruct them ; also a free school. Its mar¬
kets are Tuesdays and Saturdays, and the market-Iawa
are more strictly observed here than anywhere. It has
two fairs in the year. Leeds, though a large town,
sends no members to parliament.
LEEK. See Allium, Botany Index; and for its
culture, see Gardening.
Leek, a town of Staffordshire in England, 135
miles from London. It lies among the barren moor¬
lands, has a manufacture of buttons, a market on Wed¬
nesday, and seven fairs in the year. In the church¬
yard, at the south-east corner of the chancel, are the
remains of a Danish cross, now upright, and 10 feet
high from the ground, beneath which are three steps,
in Blue-hills in the neighbourhood are coal mines;
and a salt stream comes from thence, which tinges the
stones and earth through which it runs with a rusty co¬
lour, and, with the infusion of galls, turns as black as
ink. Here are rocks of a most surprising height, with¬
out any turf or mould upon them.
LEER, in glass-making, a sort of third furnace,
intended to anneal and cool by proper degrees the
vessels when made. This properly comprehends two
parts, the tower and leer. The tower is that part
which lies directly above the melting furnace, with a
partition between them of a foot thick, in the midst
whereof there is a round hole, placed exactly over the
furnace, through which the flame and heat pass into
the tower: on the floor of this tower the vessels are
set to anneal. There are two openings by which the
vessels are put into this tower; and after standing there
some
LEE [727] LEG
Leer some time, they are put into iron pans, which by de¬
ll grees are drawn out all along that part of this furnace,
Hetakoo. which is properly called the leer; which is five or six
'u-'r yards long, that the vessels may cool by degrees. This
leer is continued to its tower and arched all along, and
is about four feet wide, and high within. The glasses
are cool hy that time they are brought to the mouth of
this, which enters into a room where the glasses are
placed when taken out.
LEES, the grossest and most ponderous parts of li¬
quors, which, being separated by fermentation, fall to
the bottom. The word comes from the French he;
and that either from limits, “ mud,” or from Lyeus,
one of the surnames of Bacchus j or, according to Du
Cange, from Ha, a corrupt Latin word signifying the
same. The vinegar-makers make a great trade of the
lees of wine dried and made into cakes, after having
squeezed out the remains of the liquor in presses.
LEFT, or Court Leet {leta visus franciplegii),
is a court of record, ordained for punishing odences
against the crown j and is said to be the most ancient
court of the land. It inquires of all offences under
high treason ; but those who are to be punished with
loss of life or member, are only inquirable and pre¬
sentable here, and to be certified over to the justices
of assize, (Stat. I. Edw. III.). And this court is cal¬
led the view of frank pledge, because the king is to be
there certified by the view of the steward, how many
people are within every leet, and have an account of
their good manners and government; and every person
of the age of 12 years, who hath remained there for a
year and a day, may he sworn to be faituful to the
king, and the people are to be kept in peace, &c. A
leet is incident to a hundred, as a court baron to a ma¬
nor : for by grant of a hundred, a leet passeth 5 and a
hundred cannot be without a leet.— I he usual method
of punishment in the court leet, is by fine and amerce¬
ment j the former assessed by the steward, and the lat¬
ter by the jury.
LEETAKOQ, a considerable town in southern A-
frica, situated in 26° 30' S. Lat. and 270 E. Long. A
river runs through the midst of it, which from the ex¬
tent of the channel must be sometimes of considerable
magnitude. This town, which was discovered by a
mission from the Cape of Good Hope in 1801 and
1802, is computed to be fully of as great extent as
Cape Town j hut the exact number of the houses, says
Mr Barrow, could not be ascertained, owing to the ir¬
regularity of the streets and the lowness of the build¬
ings. It contains, according to some, about 10,000 in¬
habitants of all descriptions, while others make them
amount to nearly 15,000. Ihe ground plan of every
house is a complete circle, from 12 to 15 feet diame¬
ter *, the floor consists of hard beaten clay, raised four
inches above the surface of the inclosure. One-fourth
of it, commonly facing the east, is entirely open, the
other three-fourths walled up with clay and stones, to
the height of about five feet. The people deposit their
valuable articles in another apartment described with
the same radius as the former, such as skin clothing,
ivory ornaments, knives and other articles, which to
them are of essential service. In this also the elder
part of the family take their repose, and the children
sleep in the half-closed viranda. .
The whole house is covered with a roof in the form
of a tent, supported by poles built into the wall. The Leetak##
roof is thatched with reeds, bound together with lea- |]
them thongs. The inhabitants preserve their grain and Legate.
pulse in large clay vessels adjacent to the house, exhi-
biting the appearance of large oil jars, and some of
them containing about 200 gallons.
'f'lie regularity and decorum with which the people
of Leetakoo conduct themselves, give a very favourable
opinion of them, as being greatly superior to savages,
and evince them to be bordering on a state of civiliza¬
tion, which it would be no difficult matter to introduce
among them. They are friendly, peaceable, and inof¬
fensive, and appear to live under a government which
may be denominated purely patriarchal, and the chief
of consequence must be the idol of the people. They
do not appear to have any particular form of religious
worship, in the common acceptation of that word, yet
they circumcise all male children, and dance in a circle
the whole night of the full moon. They seem also to
believe that there is a power directing the operations of
nature, who is infinitely superior to themselves, and to
whose influence they are subject. Harrow'’s Travels
to Cochin China. Appendix.
Leeward Ship, a vessel that falls much to leeward
of her course, when sailing close hauled, and conse¬
quently loses much ground.
To Leeward, towards that part of the horizon
which lies under the lee, or whither the wind bloweth.
Thus, “ We saw a fleet woofer the lee,''’ and, “ We saw
a fleet to leeward,” are synonymous expressions.
LEG, in Anatomy, the whole lesser extremity from
the acetabulaof the ossa innominata, commonly divided
into three parts, viz. the thigh, the leg properly so cal¬
led, and the foot. See ANATOMY, N° 60.
LEGACY, in Scots Law, a donation by one person
to another, to be paid by the giver’s executor after bis
death. See Law, N° clxxxi. 3.
LEGATE, a cardinal or bishop, whom the pope
sends as his ambassador to sovereign pnnees. See Am¬
bassador.
There are three kinds of legates, viz. legates a la¬
tere, legates de latere, and legates hy office, or legati
nati: of these the most considerable are the legates h
latere, the next are the legates de latere. See the ar¬
ticle Latere.
Legates by office are those who have not any parti¬
cular legation given them but who, by virtue of their
dignity and rank in the church, become legates : such
are the archbishop of Rlieims and Arles: but the au¬
thority of these legates is much inferior to that of the
legates a latere.
The power of a legate is sometimes given without
the title. Some of the nuncios are invested with it.
It was one of the ecclesiastical privileges of England
from the Norman conquest, that no foreign legate
should be obtruded upon the English, unles the king
should desire it upon some extraordinary emergency,
as when a case was too difficult for the English prelates
to determine.
The term legate comes from legatus, which Varro
derives from legere, “ to choose }” and others from Ic-
gare, delegare, “ to send, delegate.”
Court of the Legate, was a court obtained by Car¬
dinal Wolsey of Pope Leo X. in the ninth year of
Henry VIII. wherein he, as legate of the pope, had
power
LEG [ 728 ] LEG
Legate power to prove wills, and dispense with offences against
H the spiritual laws, &c. It was but of short continu-
ance>
LEGATEE, in Scots Law, the person to whom a
legacy is provided.
LEG AT 10 libera, was a privilege frequently ob¬
tained of the state, by senators of Rome, for going
into any province or country, upon their own private
business, in the quality of legati or envoys from the se¬
nate, that the dignity of this nominal office might se¬
cure them a good reception, and have an influence
on the management of their concerns. The cities and
towns through which they passed were obliged to de¬
fray their expences.—This was called libera legatio,
because they might lay aside the office as soon as they
pleased, and were not encumbered with any actual
trust.
LEGATUS, a military officer amongst the Romans,
who commanded as deputy of the commander in chief.
The legati, at their first institution, were not so much
to command as to advise. They were generallv chosen
by the consuls, with the approbation of the senate. As
to the number of the legati, we have no certain infor¬
mation, though we may upon good grounds assign one
to every legion. In the absence of the consul or pro-
consul, they had the honour to use the fasces.
Under the emperors there were two sorts of legati,
consulares and preetorii. The first commanded whole
armies, as the emperors lieutenant-generals ; and the
other had the command of particular legions.
The legati under the proconsuls in the provinces,
served forjudging inferior causes, and management of
smaller concerns, remitting things of great moment to
the governor or president himself. This was the ori¬
ginal office of the legati, as was hinted above $ though,
as we have seen, they were afterwards admitted to com¬
mand in the army.
LEGEND, any idle or ridiculous story told by the
Romanists concerning their saints, and other persons,
ic order to support the credit of their religion.
The legend was originally a book used in the old
Romish churches, containing the lessons to be read at
divine service j hence the lives of the saints and mar¬
tyrs came to be called legends, because chapters were
read out of them at matins, and at the refectories of
religious houses. Among these the golden legend,
which is a collection of the lives of the saints, was re- Legend
ceived in the church with great applause, which it
maintained for 200 years 5 though it is so full of ridi¬
culous and romantic stories, that the Romanists them¬
selves are now ashamed of it.
Legend is also used by authors to signify the words
or letters engraven about the margin, &c. of coins
Th us the legend of a French crown is, six NOMEN DO¬
MINI BENEDICTVM } that of a moidore, IN hoc SIG-
NO VINCES: on those of the last emperors of Constan¬
tinople, we find IESVS CHRISTVS BASILEVS BASILEON,
IHS XPS NIKA, IESVS CHRISTVS VINCIX.
Legend is also applied to the inscription of medals,
which serves to explain the figures or devices represent-
ed on them. In strictness, the legend differs from the
inscription ; this last properly signifying words placed
on the reverse of a medal, in lieu of figures.
It seems as if the ancients had intended their medals
should serve both as images and as emblems j the for¬
mer for the common people, and the other for persons
of taste and parts j the images to represent the faces of
princes j emblems their virtues and great actions ; so
that the legend is to be looked on as the soul of the
medal, and the figures as the body.
Every medal has properly two legends ; that on the
front, and that on the reverse. The first generally
serves only to distinguish the person by his name, titles,
offices, &c.: the latter is intended to express his noble
and virtuous sentiments, his good deeds, and the ad¬
vantages the public has reaped by him. This, however,
does not hold universally 5 for sometimes we find the
titles shared between both sides, and sometimes also the
legend.
In the medals of cities and provinces, as the head
is usually the genius of the place, or at least some
deity adored there, the legend is the name of the city,
province, or deity, or of both together ; and the re¬
verse is some symbol of the city, &c. frequently with¬
out a legend, sometimes with that of one of its magi¬
strates.
Legends generally commemorate the virtues of
princes, their honour and consecrations, signal events,
public monuments, deities, vows, privileges, &c. which
are either in Latin or Greek, or a mixture of both, and
are intended to eternize their names, and the benefits
done by them to the empire.
LEGERDEMAIN,
OR SLEIGHT OF HAND,
A DENOMINATION given to certain deceptive
performances, which either depend altogether on
dexterity and address, or derive but a small degree of
aid from philosophical principles. Of these we shall pre¬
sent our readers with a selection of the best that have
been either explained in books or publicly exhibited.
Sect. I. Performances with Cups and Balls.
Prelimiaa- The following method of exercising this simple and
17 esp/a- ingenious amusement is that practised by one MrKopp
a German, whose performances are deservedly prefer¬
red to those ol former artists. In this, however, as
in all the other branches belonging to the art of leger¬
demain, it is not sufficient that a person has the requi¬
site dexterity or sleight of hand $ it is necessary also
to take oft the attention of the spectators by some en¬
tertaining discourse j which not only prevents disco¬
very, but adds greatly to the amusement of the com¬
pany ; for which reason, such discourse is inserted ia
this article.
To play this part properly, the performer on cups
and
alls.
’late
ext:.
Set. I.
Pdform- and balls ought to provide himself with a bag about
ai# with 12 inches long, and from eight to ten in depth. The
£i«s and inside must be furnished with a number of pockets,
! for holding the several articles necessary in the amuse¬
ment j and this bag the performer must hang before
him.
The materials necessary for the performer are,
1. Three white polished tin cups, represented by
A, B, and C (fig. I.) in the shape of a truncated cone
with a double ledge D towards the base. This ledge,
which is about half an inch in breadth, serves to raise
the cups easily by, admitting also the hand to pass a
small cork ball (see fig. 5.). The upper part E of the
cup ought to be hollowed in the form of a sphere, suf¬
ficient to contain the balls without their appearing
above the upper edge of the cups.
2. It is also necessary to have a small rod, called Ja¬
cob's staff; which is usually made of ebony, and neatly
tipt with ivory at both ends. This is frequently used
for striking on the cups j and being held in the hand
where the balls are also kept, it gives the operator an
opportunity of keeping that hand generally shut, or of
varying its position, in order to avoid being discovered.
The balls are made of cork, blackened by slight burn¬
ing on the outside.
The dexterity in performing this operation consists
in artfully secreting a ball in the right hand, and mak¬
ing it to appear or disappear in the same hand. The
secreting it between the fingers is called conjui'ing the
ball, at which time the spectators are to suppose that
it is kept in the other hand, or that it was passed under
a cup but if it is made to reappear when held secretly
in the hand, they must believe that it came out of the
place last touched by the fingers.
Conjuring the ball is performed by putting it between
the place of the thumb A and the finger B (fig. 2.),
conveying it with the thumb, by rolling it upon the
fingers the length of the line BC, moving the middle
finger D to a distance, and placing the hall at the junc¬
tion of the fingers C (fig. 3.) ; but in this part of the
operation it is necessary to hold the ball rather tight,
lest it should fall down and discover the secret. In or¬
der to make it appear, we must bring back the ball
the same way from C to D ; and every time that it is
conjured, or made to disappear, as well as when it is
made to reappear, the palm of the hand should be
turned from the side of the table on which the opera¬
tor is playing.
While this part of the trick is performing, the opera-
rator must let the spectators know that the ball has
been passed under a cup, or into another hand 5 and in
the first case he makes a motion with the hand (as
represented fig. 4.), indicating that he had thrown it
through the cup ; at which time also he conjures it,
approaching the two fingers of the right hand towards
the left, which last he holds open, and makes a motion
as if the ball had been placed there, shutting the left
hand instantly. It is also to be supposed, at every
time when a ball seems to be placed below a cup, that
it has been held in the left hand ; and when he raises
the cup with the right hand, as in fig. 5. the left hand
must be opened, and he rests the ball at that instant
upon the hollow of the other, sliding it along the
fingers.
At the time the ball is to be put secretlv under
Vol. XI. Part IL
LEGERDEMAIN.
729
Balls.
f‘l!
firs
Fh
the cup, it should lie between the two fingers of the Perform-
right hand (fig. 5.). With this hand he raises the cup ; ances witt»
and placing it on the table, lets go the ball, which, ac- CuPs aad
cording to its position in fig. 6. should be found near
the edge of the cup when taken into the hand. If be^~T
would put the ball secretly between the two cups, it *
must be let go by jerking it towards the bottom of the
cup which he holds, and placing it very quickly on that
in which the ball is to be found. When the ball is in
this situation, if the operator should want it to disap¬
pear, he must raise the two cups with his right hand,
and draw out hastily that under which the ball is pla¬
ced j at the same instant lowering with his left hand
the other cup, under which he places it.
In speaking of the tricks which follow, terms are
made use of which explain whether what is said be
feigned or true ; of which terms explanations are given,
and numbers adapted to the explanations of the differ¬
ent operations which follow.
I. To put the ball under the cup : Beally done, with
the fingers of the right or left hand.
II. To put the ball under the cup, or in the hand.—
A feigned conjuration ; pretending to shut it up in the
left hand, which is afterwards opened, in order to have
it supposed that the ball is under the cup or else¬
where. See fig. 5.
III. To pass the ball under the cup.—The ball sup¬
posed to be conjured is to be really introduced.
IV. To pass the balls between the cups, is likewise
real.
V. To make the ball which is between the cups disap¬
pear.—This is likewise real } and performed, as has al¬
ready been described, by drawing back with much pre¬
cipitation and dexterity the cup on which it is placed,
aad lowering upon the table that which is above,
and under which the ball must of consequence be
found.
^I. To take the ball. Heal.—It is taken between
two fingers of the right hand, and shown before conju¬
ration.
VII. To take away the ball from under the cup.
This is done by taking it away in the sight of the spec¬
tators.
VIII. To draw the ball. Feigned ; or by pretend¬
ing to draw it from the end of the rod, from the cup,
or any other place, by bringing into the fingers the
ball which was secreted.
IX. To throw the ball through the cup, is to conjure
it in pretending to throvy it.
X. To raise up the cups. This is really done in three
ways; viz. either with the right hand, the rod, or
the left hand. The first is when the ball is to be se¬
cretly inserted in returning the cup to its place. In the
second, the rod is to be put on the tops of the cups to
turn them over again, so that the balls may be shown
which were to be passed into them. The third is when
the operator intends to show that no balls are in the
cups, or that there are some.
XI. To cover a cup. This is really done, by taking
with the right hand that which is to be put over ano¬
ther, and introducing at the same time a ball between
the two.
XII. To recover a cup. It is done by taking with
the left hand the cup to be put over or above, without
introducing any thing into it.
4 Z The
73°
LEGERDEMAIN.
Sect. I.
The Performances.
T. To put a ball under each cup, and take it out again.
Having placed on the table the three cups and little
rod, as shown in fig. I. the performer must begin his
manoeuvres, by endeavouring to amuse the spectators
with some kind of entertaining discourse. Nothing can
be more apt'opos than the origin of the little rod and
cups 5 and he must be very assiduous in this sort of dis¬
course, to take off the eyes of the spectators as much
as possible. rI he following may be a specimen of the
manner in which he ought to address his audience :
“ There are many persons who meddle with the play
of the cups and balls, and yet know nothing about
them. rlhis is by no means extraordinary: even I
who now play before you, pretend to know but little.
Nay, some time ago, I was such a novice as to think,
of playing before a numerous assembly with glass cups,
in which you may guess I did not meet with great ap¬
plause. I do not indeed practise this method but be¬
fore such as are actually blind ; neither do I play with
China cups, lest, through awkwardness in feigning to
break their handles, I should do so in reality. These
are the cups which answer my purposes. They are
made of such metal as the alchymists attributed to
Jupiter and Mars, or, to speak more properly and in¬
telligibly, they are made of tin. Behold and examine
these cups (shewing the cups to the company, and putting
them on the table) : All my science, and it is in that in
which it is admirable, consists in deceiving the eyes,
and passing the balls into the cups without your per¬
ceiving how it is done. I advise you therefore to pay
no attention to my words, but to examine well n/y
hands, (showing his hands). If there is in this com¬
pany any person who has the misfortune to use specta¬
cles, he may retire ; but the most clear sighted will see
nothing there.
“ Here is the little Jacob’s red (showing the rod
with the left hand) ; that is to say, the magazine from
which I take all my balls (taking secretly with the other
hand a ball from his bag, which he hides between his fin¬
gers). There is not one in England so well furnished.
Observe, that the more I take from it. the more re¬
main : I draw from it (VIII.) this ball (showing it,
and placing it upon the table, (L). Observe that there
is nothing under the cups (showing the inside of the
cups), and that I have no other hall in my hands,
(showing his hands). I take (VI.) this ball. I put it
(II.) under the first cup. I draw (VIII.) a second
ball from my little rod, and I put it under this second
cup (actually done). It is proper here to tell you,
that the generality of those who play the cups only
feign to put the halls there j but I do not deceive you,
and I actually put them there. (He raises the cup B,
and taking the ball which he has put under it into his
right hand fingers, shows it to the company). I return
it (II.) under the same cup. I take (VIII.) this third,
and put it (II.) in the same way under this last cup.
You are about to say that this is not very extraordi¬
nary, and that you cousd do it as well yourselves. I
agree with you ; but the difficulty consists in taking out
these balls again through the cups, (striking the first
nip with the rod). I take (VIII.) this first' ball
(showing it). I put it (II.) into my hand, and send
it to Constantinople, (he opens the left hand). I take
(VIII.) this (striking with the rod on the second cup). Perform.
I put it (H-) into my hand, and I send it to the Eastances w'tit
Indies, (opening his left hand). I take (VIII.) the c“l,s ^
last and I put it (I.) on the table : Observe that there < ^ ^
are no more under any of these cups (turning down
the cups with the rod).
2. IFiilh the single ball remaining on the table to pass a
ball through each of the cups, and to lake it off from the
same. “ I return the cups to their places, and take
(VI.) this ball, and I put it under this first cup. I
take it back again (VIII.) : observe that it is not there
now, (raising (X.) the cup with the lift hand). I put
it (II.) und er this other cup: I take it out again (VIII.)
in the same manner, ( raising (X.) the cup). I put it
(II.) under the last cup, and take it out again (VIII.)
(raising the last cup with the left hand, and placing the
ball on the table).
3. With the single ball remaining on the table, to take
away a ball through two or three cups.—In this per¬
formance the three cups are distinguished by A, B, C,
as in fig. I.
“ I never have any ball secreted in my hands, as
the greatest part of them who play at the cups and balls
have (showing his hands). I take (VI.) this ball, and
I put it (II.) under this cup B. I cover it (XII.)
with this cup C, and I take again (VIII.) this ball
th rough the two cups (shows the ball placing it on the
table, returns afterwards the cup C to its place, and
raises (X.) the cup B to show that there is nothing
there). I take again (VI.) this same ball. I put it
(II.) under the same cup B : I cover it (XII.) with
the two other cups C and A; and I take out (VIII.)
this ball through the three cups (showing it and placing
it on the table).
4. With the single ball remaining on the table, to pass
the same ballfrom cup to cup.—“ I now beg of you to
pay every possible attention, and you will very di¬
stinctly see this ball pass from one cup into the other
(putting the cups at a gi'eater distance from each other).
I take (VI.) this ball, and I put it (II.) under the
cup C: there is nothing under this cup B (raising it,
introducing the ball and taking the rod in his hand). I
command that which I have put under the cup to pass
under that B. You see it (moving the end of the rod
from one cup to the other, as if he followed the ball) :
observe that it is passed (raising the cup with his left
hand, and taking the ball with his right, shows it to the
company). 1 return it (II.) under this cup B ; there
is nothing under this A (raising the cup with his right
hand, and introducing the ball there). I am going to
pass it under this last cup A. Book well j come near :
(making as if seeing it he would show with the end of
the rod the path that it took). You did not see it pass ?
I am not much surprised : I did not. see it myself; how¬
ever, here it is under the cup (raising the cup A, and
placing it on the tabic).
5. With the same ball remaining on the table. The
cups being covered, to pass a ball from one into the other,
without raising them up.—I was very right in telling
you, that the most clear sighted would not see very
much ; but for your comfort, here is a trick in which
you will see nothing at all. I take this ball, and put
it (II.) under this cup B. I cover it (XI.) with the
two other cups (taking one in each hand, and introdu¬
cing the ball upon the cup B) : pay attention, that there
is
Set. I.
jlrform- i* alisolutely nothing in my hands (showing them). I
*** with command this bali to mount up upon the first cup (ta-
#;>« and king vp the two cups, and putting them in their places,
he shows that it has mounted). I return (II.) this ball
under the sa.me cup B. I cover it as before (covers it
in taking a cup in each hand, and introducing a ball be¬
tween the second and third cup). I take (the only ball
with which he plays being under the third cup, he can¬
not show it, but acts as ij he had taken it out, and puts
it into the fingers of his left hand, which he holds in the
air, in conducting the hand from one side to the other).
I take the hall, which is under these three cups; and I
throw it through the first cup (feigning to throw it) :
observe that I have not conjured the ball, having
nothing in my hands (showing them) ; it is passed,
however, (raising the first cup with the left hand, put¬
ting the ball upon the table and the cups in their
places).
6. With the single ball remaining on the table, to pass
a bull through the table and two cups.—“ You are un¬
doubtedly surprised, that, having hut a single ball, I
have been able, after having shown it to you, to pass it
tinder this cup without raising it ; hut let not that asto¬
nish you : I have secrets much more wonderful. I con¬
vey, for example, the. steeple of one village into an¬
other : 1 have sympathetic quadrants, with which a
conversation may be held at 200 leagues distance : I
have a flying chariot which can conduct me to Home in
three days. I will show all these curiosities as soon as
my machines are entirely completed ; that is to say, in
a few centuries: but to amuse you till the arrival of
all these prodigies, I now continue the entertainment of
the cups and balls. I put (II.) this ball under the cup
A. I take it away again (VIII.) (showing it, and
feigning to put it into his left hand fingers.) I cover
(XI.) this cup with the two others B and C (introdu¬
cing the ball between these two cups, using always the
right hand, and feigning still to hold it m his left), and
I pass this same ball through the table and the two cups
(putting the left hand under the table). There it is
passed (raising the first cup).
j. With the same ball. A ball having been put under
a cup, to take it away again, and to pass it between two
others.—“ Here is again a very pretty trick : I take
this ball, and I put it (II.) under this cup A. Ob¬
serve, that there is nothing under the others (showing
them and introducing the ball under the cup C), nor in
my hands : l take this ball, which is under the cup A
( feigning to take it out, and raising the bottom of the
cup so that the spectators may not attend to his fingers).
I cover this cup C with the two others A and B, and
1 throw it (IX.) through these two cups (raising them,
and showing them that the ball is passed there.)
8. With this single ball and a shilling; to pass a ball
from one hand into the other.—“ I take this ball ; I put
it (II.) into this band, and I put into the other the
shilling. In which hand do you think the ball is ? or
in which do you think the shilling may be ? (Whatever
answer the spectator makes, the performer shows him
that he is mistaken, and that the whole is in the right
hand; and this truth serves as a pretence to take a ball
ft'otn the bag in putting the shilling back into it).
The performer may, however, without breaking the
connexion of these operations, dispense with this trick,
731
and feign to drop the balls he plays with, which affords perf0rm-
him a pretence for taking another. ances witii
9. With the ball remaining on the table, and that which C»PS aBd
is secretly taken out of the bag ; to pass under a cup the ^a^*'
two balls put under the others.—The operator goes on v
with his discourse : “ In order to give you still farther
amusement, I take this ball and cut it in two (taking
it m his left hand, and holding the rod with his right;
feigning to cut it, he puts afterwards the rod on the table,
and brings back to his fingers ends the ball which he took
out of the bag). Nothing is so commodious as to be
able in this manner to multiply the balls. When I am
in want of money, I cut them again and again, until
I may have had five or six bushels (placing the two balls
on the table). Observe that there is nothing under this
cup A. I put there (II.) this first ball : there is
nothing more under the two other cups (introducing
the ball under the cup B). I take this second ball, and
I put it (II.) under the cup C : there is now a ball un¬
der these two cups A and C. I take away (VIII.) from
this cup C this ball, and I throw it (IX.) through the
middle cup B : observe that it is passed (raising the cup
B, and introducing there the second ball). I command
this, which is under the other cup A, to pass under the
same cup B (raising this cup, and showing that they
are both there, and placing them on the table).
10. With the two balls which are upon the table.
Two balls having been put under the same cup, to past
them under two others.—“ When I was at college, the
tutor told me, it was necessary to know how to do my
exercise in two ways. I have just now passed these
two balls into the middle cup; I am now to make them
go out; the one is not more difficult for me than the
other. I take therefore these two halls, and place them
under this cup B (putting one ball under the cup, and
conjuring the other) ; observe that there is nothing un¬
der the cup A, nor under the other C (introducing into
this last the ball that he conjured) : I. command one of
these balls, which are under the middle cup, to pas*
under the one or the other of these two cups A and C.
Behold it already gone (raising the cup B to show that
there is no more than a single ball; and taking, with
the right hand, the ball which is underneath, he shows
it, and puts it (II.) under the same cup B). Let us see
into which cup it has passed (raising immediately the
cup A, and introducing the ball that he took from the
cup B) : here it is under this enp C (raising the cup) ;
I command the other ball to pass under this cup A (he
raises it, and shows that it passed there)." This trick
is frequently done with three balls, but it appears much
more extraordinary with two.
X I. With these two balls, a third which he shows, and
a fourth secreted in his hands ; to pass three balls under
the same cup.—“ All this is but a trifle ; I am going to
show you another trick with three balls (taking out of
the bag a third ball, and placing it on the table, secreting
at the same time a fourth in his hand). Observe that
there is nothing under any of these cups (raising them,
and introducing them under the cup C). I take this first
ball, and throw it (IX.) through this cup C. Observe
that it is passed (raising (X.) the cup with the right
hand) ; I take this second ball, and throw it (XI).
through the same cup. There it is passed (raising (X.)
again the cup); I take the third, and I make it pass the
4 Z 2 tame
LEGERDEMAIN.
732
Perform- same (raising (X.) the cup, and showing that these are
ances with passed under all the three).
12* ^ ^ie three halls remaining under the cup, and
* ^ that held secretly in the hand ; to pass two balls from one
cup into another, at the choice of a person, without touch¬
ing any of the cups—“ Here is another in which I have
never been able to comprehend any thing j but it will
astonish you much (raising the cup C, and taking away
the three balls from their places, he puts them under each
cup, and in raising the cup C introduces there the fourth
ball which he held secretly in his hand). I take this ball
(that which is under the cup B), and I put it (II.) un¬
der the same cup. I take this (the ballfrom the cup
A), and I place it (I.) under the same cup (putting
there also that which was secreted in his hand) : I take
this last, and I throw it (IX.) through the cup C ; and
to show that I do not deceive you, behold it passed
(raising (X.) the cup that has been fixed upon, which
suppose to be G, and showing that there are two). I
take again these two balls, and put them under the cupC
(putting really but one) : observe that there is no more
under this cup B (introducing there the ball that he had
just taken away, and showing that he had no other in his
hand) ; I command one of these balls, which are under
this cup C, to go and join that which is under this A.
Observe that it is passed. There ! (raising the cup C,
and returning the two balls under the same cup, and rai¬
sing C, in order to show that there is but a single one ;
and he places it again under the same cup : he docs not
raise the cup B under which a ball remains).
13. With the three balls that were placed upon cups,
and that which remains hidden under the middle cup; to
pass under the same cup the balls put under the others. 
“ I take this ball (that which is upon the cupC), and I
put it (II.) under the same cup C ; and I order it to
pass into this cup B : there it is passed (in raising this
cup he introduces a third ball). I take this third ball,
and put it (II.) under this cup G j and I command it
to pass into the cup B along the table, and in the sight
of the spectators (taking the rod in his left hand, feign¬
ing to show the way that it passed between the two
cups). You did not see it then ? Here it is (Redraws
it (VIII.)/,the end of the rod, which appears to
show it). Go quickly (throwing it (IX.) through the
cup B ; and showing that they are all three there, and
that there is nothing under the two others ; placing af¬
terwards three of the balls on the table, and secreting
the fourth in his hand).
14. With the three balls remaining upon the table,
and that which is held secretly in his hand.—Multi¬
plication of the balls.
For this trick there must be a tin vase (see fig. 8.),
at the bottom of which there must be contrived a false
bottom A, which will fall down at pleasure ; that is to
say, in reversing it upon the table, by means of a small
trigger placed at the base of one of the handles B, in¬
troducing previously between the false and true bot¬
toms a dozen of balls. The operator goes on with his
discourse.
“ If any of the company believe in witches, I would
give my advice that they should believe in them no
ionger j as what I am about to do is much more sur¬
prising than the feats of any witch.—I put (I.) these
three balls under the three cups you see on the table :
I take away (VII.) this first ball (that which is under
LEGERDEMAIN.
the cup C), and I put it (II.) into this vase. I take
this, and I also put it (II.) into the vase. I take away
O HO this third (that which is under the cup A), and
1 throw it (II.) the same way.” (Every time that he
raises one of the cvps to take away the ball, he intro¬
duces that winch always remains secreted in his right
hand; and this he repeats, constantly taking out one
ball and putting in another, till he has introduced all
the twelve balls; after which he resumes his discourse),
“ You imagine, perhaps, that I always make use of the
same balls ", but to prove the contrary, here they are,
(inverting the vase so as to turn them all out). ’
In this trick, it the vase be well made, the inside
may be shown, and it may even be previously invert¬
ed ; in which case, it will not be supposed that any
balls have been put into it.
15. ith the three balls remaining under each of the
cups, and that which is hidden in his hand; to pass one
ball under each of the three cups.
“ I put all these balls into my pocket. I take
(M.) this (the one secreted in his hand), and I make
it pass through the table under this first cup C, (con¬
juring it). I take another from my bag, (showing the
same ball). I make it pass in the same manner through
this B, (conjures it again). I take a third (showing
still the same), and I make it pass under this last cup
A (conjuring it). Here are all the three passed (turn¬
ing over the cups, and in taking them up again intro¬
duces the ball that he has in his hand under the cup B,
and puts the three balls upon the three cups.
16. Wiuh the three balls put upon each cup, and that
which was introduced under the middle cup ; to draw
two balls through the same cup.—“ There will be want¬
ed now only two balls.” Here the operator takes
that which is under the cup C, and puts it (II.) into
his bag. He takes in tbe fingers of his right hand
the bail which is on the cup B, showing it •, and with
the other covers the cup B, with that passing (IV.)
there the ball which he feigned to put into his bag.
He then takes the ball which is under the cup A with
the right hand ; and, showing a ball in each hand,
tells the company that he put them (II.) under the cup
A ; though he actually puts but one, which he holds in
his left. He then draws one of these balls through the
same cup A, showing it, and placing it upon the cop
C. He then raises the cup A, and takes the ball
which is under it with his right hand, adding, “ There
remains but one more.” While pronouncing these
words, he puts it (II.) under the cup. “ I take (adds
he) the other ball,” (raising the cup, and showing that
it is there no longer) ; then, taking one of the two balls
which seemed to remain alone, he puts it (II.) into his
bag, saying, “ I return this into my bag.”
17. With a ball which is hidden under the middle
cup, another hidden under that which covers it. that
which remains in the hand, and a fourth which is
Upon the table; to pass the same ball successively
through the three cvps.—The preceding trick was on¬
ly on purpose to prepare the spectators for this; as
they now imagine that the performer played only with
one ball. He may now address them in the following
manner :
“ I am now going to make a very pretty trick with
this single ball. I forgot to show it to you at th£
beginning: I cover (XL) these cups (putting the cup
A
Sect. I.
Perform,
ances vrjt),
Cups alul
Balls.
Set. I. L E G E R
Morm- A upon C and B). I take (VI.) this ball, and I
antes withthrow it (IX.) through the first cup;” {raising (X.)
G'anTd t^ie CVP ^ W^1 ^ie hand). He then shows that it
is passed between C and A ; and, putting it in its
place, he introduces there that which he has in his
hand. “ I take (says he) (VI.) this same ball, and
I throw it through the other cup Cand while he
says so, he raises (X.) the cup C, showing that it has
passed, introducing there that which he has in his hand,
and putting it in the place of the former. “ I take
again (continues he) (VI.) this same ball, and I throw
it (IX.)through that last cup B,” ( raising (IX.) the
cup B). During which time he takes away the ball
from under it with his left hand, then places it on the
table, and returns the cup to its place, introducing there
the ball which he has in his left hand.
18. With the three halls which are under the cups, that
which is on the table, and two which he takes from
the bag ; to pass under a cup the balls put under the tivo
others without raising these last.—The performer may
proceed in his discourse in the following manner:
“ Let us now return to the order of the entertain¬
ment which I have interrupted, and continue to play
with three balls.” He now takes two balls from his
bag, by which means he in fact plays with six balls,
though he pretends to play only with three. These
two balls, together with that which remains on the
table, he puts on the top of each cup. “ I take
(says he) (VI ) this ball, {that which is on the cup C).
I throw it (IX.) through that cup : there it is pas¬
sed.” He now raises (X.) the cup, shows it; and
thus has an oportunity of introducing the ball which
he has in his hand, “ I take (VI.) this {the ball which
is under the cup B), and throw it (IX.) through the cup
B.” At this he raises the cup with his left hand,
showing that it has passed, and covering it again. “ I
take again (VIII.) this ball from the same cup, and
throw it (IX.) through that C: observe that it is pas¬
sed.” Then, raising up (X.) the cup C, showing that
there are then two there, he introduces other two
which he had in his hand. “ I take (says he) (IV.)
this ball {that which is under the cup A), and I throw
it (IX.) through the same cup A. There ! it is pas¬
sed,” {raising the cup C); after which he shows thethree
balls, and introduces there that which was in his hand,
putting the three balls upon the table.
19. With the three balls which remain under the cups,
and the three others which remain upon the table ; to pass
separately the three balls through each cup. In this
inanceuvre the performer puts again the three balls
which are upon the table upon the top of each cup.
He takes that which is on the cup C, and throws it
(IX.) through the same cup ; and while he announ¬
ces this to the company, he raises (X.) the cup : tak¬
ing away (VIII.) the ball, showing that it has passed,
introducing there that which * was in his hand, and
putting the same ball upon the same cup. He then
Takes that which is upon the cup B, and throws it
(IX.) through the same cup ; shows that it is passed,
takes it away (VII.) and introduces the ball that
was in his hand under this cup, putting it in like
manner on the cup. Then he takes the ball which is
on the cup A, and throws it (IX.) through the same
cup A. As he announces its passage he raises the cup,
taking away (VII.) and showing the ball ; introdu-
D E M A I N.
733
cing in the same manner that which was in his hand ; PerfoKm.
putting this first at the top of the cup A, and then antes witk
shows that it is not in his hand, and that he has but Cui)*
three balls. Bn]h
20. With the three balls remaining upon the table, and 'r
those which are under each cup. Having put the balls
into the bag, to make them return under the cups.—“ I
take these three balls, and 1 return them into my bag,
{keeping one in his hand). Behold to what all is redu¬
ced that I bad to show you for your amusement. I
did know some more very pretty tricks, but I have
forgot them. {Pretending to muse for a moment) : Ah !
I still remember two or three very pleasing ones.
Come, my little balls ! Return under the cups, {turn¬
ing over the cups). See how nimble they are, and obe¬
dient at the same time {covering them again ivith the
cups).
21. With the three balls which are under the cups,
and that in his hand; to pass the balls through the two
cups.—Here the operator begins with taking away
(VII.) the ball which is under the cup C ; he covers
it with the cup B ; and passes (III.) the other ball
which he has in his right hand between the two cups.
He then takes (VI.) the ball which he had in his left
hand, and throws it (IX.) between the two cups B and
C. In announcing its passage he raises the cup (X.),
shows that it is passed, and introduces the ball in his
hand. He then takes the ball under the cup B, and
throws it (IX.) through the two cups C and B. An¬
nouncing to the company its passage, he raises (X.)
the cup, and shows that there are two balls, introdu-
cing (III.) at the same time the third. He then takes
the last ball, viz. that which is under the cup A, co¬
vers again with the left hand the two cups B and C,
and throws (IX.) the third ball through these two
cups. He then announces their passage, raises the two
cups, and shows the three halls, covering again the cup
C with the two others.
22. With the three balls which are upon the cup C,
and the one in his hand; to take out the three through
two cups.—“ I take (says the performer) (VIII.) the
first ball, and put it (II.) into my bag. I take
(VIII.) in the same manner the second, and I put
it also into my bag. I take (VIII.) the third, and
I put it into my bag, {putting in really that which he
had in his hand). While he desires the spectators to
observe that there are no more in the cups, he raises
the cup A with the left hand, and, putting it in its
place, raises with the right hand the cup C. In sup¬
porting it with the cup B, he puts it down quickly,
and a little on the side of B, and at the same time
places C on the table, under which will be found the
three balls, which had not time to separate.
23. With the three balls remainingunder the middle cup,
and three others taken out of the bag ; to pass, in one
action, three balls through a cup.—This trick is be¬
gun by the performer taking three balls from his hag,
and putting them on the top of the cup B, which he
covers with the cup A. Ordering them to disappear
and to pass under the cup C, he takes away very sud¬
denly with the left hand the cup B, as is done in the
preceding trick, leaving in the middle of the play the
cup C, under which the balls are found. Taking them
then away, and replacing them on the same cup, he
makes them return again in the same manner under the
cup
734
I’erform- cup C. At last he takes the three halls, and putting
ance* with them in his bag, pretends to pass them through the
^ table under the cup where the others were. He then
, ^ ' , returns two or three of these last balls into his bag,
and takes two white balls, which he puts upon the
table.
24. With the black ball remaining on the table, two
other white balls, and a blac k one which he holds se¬
cretly in his hand; to pass three balls from one cup in¬
to another.
N. B. To make the balls white, they are rubbed
with a little chalk instead of being blackened with the
candle.
“ Let us now (says the operator) have a trick to
prove that I do not conjure the balls. There is nothing
under this cup C, {introducing the black ball that was
in his hand'). There is no yreat thing under this B.
I place there these three balls, {the three which are
upon the table, of which he conjures the white one).
There is nothing more under this third cup A, {intro¬
ducing there the while ball). I order one of these two
white balls which are under the cup B, to pass under
this A.” With these words he raises the cup B ; and
taking the white ball in the fingers of his left hand,
and the black one in those of the right, he shows them,
saying, “ Observe that there is but one white one.
I put again .these two balls under the cup B.”
While speaking thus he puts the white one under the
cup, and conjures the other, while feigning to put it
in with that of the left hand. He then announces its
passage ; and while he does so, raises the cup A, and
introduces the black ball. Commanding then the black
ball to pass under the cup A, he raises the cup B,
takes in his right hand fingers the. ball which is there,
and shows it. “ I put it again (says he) (II.) under
this cup {conjuring it) ; and I show you that it is pas¬
sed under this A, {introducing there the white ball).
I order at last the white ball, which is under this cup
B, to pass into this A.” While telling the company
that it is passed, he raises the cup A, and puts the
three halls upon each cup, the black one upon the
middle.
25. With the three balls put at the top of the cups, and
that which has been inserted under one of them in the
preceding trick; to change the colour of the balls. The
operator goes on with his discourse : “ If there is any
one here who knows how to play the cups and balls, he
will do well to observe, that it is not possible to do this
trick by the common method, and with three balls only.
However I have no more, {showing his hands). I
take this white ball {that which is upon the cup C),
and I throw it (IX.) through this cup {the same under
which he left a black ball in the preceding trick.) I
take this black ball {with the left hand fingers) ; there
is nothing under this cup B, {introducing there the
white bull). I throw it (IX.) through this cup B,
{taking again the ball into his right hand fingers).
I take this other white ball, {with his left hand fin¬
gers). There is nothing under this cup A, {introdu¬
cing the black ball) : I throw it (IX.) through the cup
A, {taking it again into his right hand fingers to con¬
jure it). Observe that they have all changed their co¬
lour,” {covering each of them with their cups).
26. With the three balls which are left under the cups,
two white balls, and a black one that he took trick by trick
Sect, I,
from his bag ; to change the sizes of the balls.—In per- Perfbp*
forming this trick the operator takes away the white ancei with
ball which is under the cup C with his left hand fin- Cup* aad
gers, and raising the cup with his right, introduces ,
there a white ball which he took out of his bag. The
white ball which he introduces is kept in his hand with
the fourth and little finger; and he raises the cup in
the same manner as when he introduces the balls.
In turning over the cup afterwards, he advances his
hand to introduce this ball. These balls should be fill¬
ed with horse hair or paper, so that they may be very
light, and make no noise. The operator then tells his
company, that he makes the ball pass through the
table under the same cup; and while he speaks thus,
he takes the ball again in his right band, and while
putting his hand under the table, be takes a black ball
out of the bag. He then takes away the ball from
the cup B, introducing the black one in its stead.
He then tells the spectators, that he makes it repass
through the table ; and, while he tells them so, he takes
a white ball; then, while taking away that which is
under the cup A, he introduces that ball, making it
repass in the same manner through the table, and at
last shows them to the company, and covers them with
their cups.
27. With the three balls which are under the cups, two
other black balls, and a dbhite one that was taken trick by
trick from his bag ; to pass the balls from one cup into
another.—“ Observe well (says the operator), that there
are two white balls under these two cups A and C,
and a black one under tins {raising the cups). I cover
again these three balls {covering each of them with a
cup). I make to pass out through the table the white
ball which is under the cup C.” Here he lakes a white
ball from his bag; and in order not to fail, the black
and white balls should be in separate pockets. Having
taken out the ball, he puts the first into bis bag, tell¬
ing the company that there is now nothing under the
cup C; and while he says so, he raises it, holding the
ball with Ins little finger, proceeding in his discourse
as follows : “ I take away this ball {that which is undei'
the cup A), and I pass it through the table under the
cup C {taking a black ball from his bag).” While
the passage of this ball is announced, he raises the cup
C to take it away and show' it; introducing there
this black ball, “ I put it again (says he) this other
white ball into my bag, and I command the black
one which is under the cup B to pass under this. It
is no longer under this cup;” and while he says so,
he raises the cu PB, in supporting with his little fin¬
ger the ball which remains there. . Announcing its
passage, he raises the cup C and shows the ball ; taking
it afterwards into the left hand, throws it into the air;
returning it into his right hand, and feigning to throw
it into the air a second time, he lets it fall into his
bag; casting his eyes upwards and downwards as if
he saw it fall upon the cup B ; he raises this cup, and
shows it to the spectators, as the former, passed through
the cup.
Sect. II. Performances with the Curds.
Previous to the performances with cards, it will be
necessarv to explain the method of making the pass;
that is, bringing a certain number of cards from the
bottom
LEGERDEMAIN
LEGERDEMAIN.
Set. II.
Fform- bottom of the pack to tbe top as many of these per-
a*6i with formances depend on that manoeuvre.
t^Cards. JJold the pack of cards in your right hand, so that
~ the palm of your hand may be under the cards : place
the tus 0 t*le thumb of that hand on one side of tbe pack, the
first, second, and third fingers on the other side, and
your little finger between those cards that are to be
brought to the top and the rest of the pack. Then
place your left hand over the cards, in such a manner
ate ^|)aj. j[ie tJ1umb may be at C (fig. 20, 21.), the fore
KXCI. gnger at A, and the other fingers at B.
The hands and the two parts of the cards being thus
disposed, you draw off the lower cards confined by the
little finger and the other parts of the right hand, and
place them, with an imperceptible motion, on the top
of the pack.
It is quite necessary, before you attempt any of the
experiments that depend on making the pass, that you
can perform it so dexterously that the eye cannot dis¬
tinguish the motion of your hand ; otherwise, instead
of deceiving others, you will expose yourself. It is al¬
so proper that the cards make no noise, as that will oc¬
casion suspicion. This dexterity is not to be attained
without some practice.
There is a method of preparing a pack of cards by
inserting one or more that are a small matter longer or
wider than the rest; which preparation will be neces¬
sary in several of the following experiments.
Tfcjcncdof 2. Have a pack in which there is a long card*, open
divlaifon. the pack at that part where the long card is, and pre¬
sent the pack to a person in such a manner that he will
naturally draw that card. He is then to put it into
any part of the pack, and shuffle the cards. You take
the pack, and offer the same card in like manner to a
second or third person *, observing, however, that they
do not stand near enough to see the card each other
draws. You then draw several cards yourself, among
which is the long card, and ask each of the parties if
his card be among these cards, and he will naturally
•ay Yes, as they have all drawn the same card. You
then shuffle all the cards together, and cutting them at
the long card, you hold it before the first person, so
that the others may not see it, and tell him that is his
card. You then put it again into the pack, and shuf¬
fling them a second time, you cut again at the same
card, and hold it in like manner to the second person,
and so of the rest (a).
If the first person should not draw the long card,
each of the parties must draw different cards j when
cutting the pack at a long card, you put those they
have drawn over it $ and seeming to shuffle tne cards
indiscriminately, you cut them again at the long card
and show one of them his card. \ou then shuffle and
cut again, in the same manner, and show another per¬
son his card, and so on: remembering, that the card
drawn by the last person is the first next the long card,
and so of the others.
This experiment may be performed without the long
card, in the following manner. Let a person draw per(cHim
any card whatever, and replace it in the pack: you ancei
then make the pass, and bring the card to the top of the Can't.
the pack, and shuffle them without losing sight of that v  
card. You then offer that card to a second person,
that he may draw it, and put it in the middle of the
pack. You make the pass and shuffle the cards a se¬
cond time in the same manner, and offer the card to a
third person, and so again to a fourth or fifth, as is
more fully explained further on.
3. You let a person draw any four cards from the^’h^ f°UB
pack, and tell him to think on one of them. When he
returns you the four cards, you dexterously place two
of them under the pack and two on the top. Under
those at the bottom you place four cards of any sort j
and then, taking eight or ten from the bottom cards,
you spread them on the table, and ask the person if the
card he fixed on be among them. If he say No, you
are sure it is one of the two cards on the top. You
then pass those two cards to the bottom, and drawing
off the lowest of them, you ask him if that is not his
card. If he again say No, you take that card up, and
bid him draw his from the bottom of the pack.
If the person say his card is among those he first
drew from the bottom, you must dexterously take up
the four cards that you put under them, and, placing
those on the top, let the other two be at tbe bottom
cards of the pack, which you are to draw in the man¬
ner before described.
4. After a card has been drawn, you place it under Dmnatioi*
the long card, and by shuffling them dexterously youby tlie
bring it to the top of the pack. Then lay or throw the‘'V0lf
pack on the ground, observing where the top card lies.
A handkerchief is then bound over your eyes, in such
a manner however that you can see the ground, which
may be easily done. A sword is then put into your
hand, with which you touch several of the cards, seem-
ingly in great doubt, but never losing sight of the top
card, in which at last you fix the point of the sword,
and present it to him who drew it. Two or three cards
may be discovered in the same manner, that is, by
placing them under the long card, and then bringing
them to the top of the pack#
5. You must have in the pack two cards of the same The u-mm-
sort, suppose the king of spades.. One of these is to be mutable
placed next the bottom card, which may be the seven cal(ls*
of hearts, or any other card. The other is to be pla¬
ced at top. You then shuffle the cards without dis¬
placing those three cards, and show a person that the
bottom card is the seven of hearts. Then drawing that
card privately aside with your finger, which you have
wetted for that purpose, you take the king of spades
from the bottom, which the person supposes to be the
seven of hearts, and lay it on the table, telling him to
cover it with his hand. You then shuffle the cards
again, without displacing the first and last card, and
passing the other king of spades at the top to the bot¬
tom, you show it to another person. You then draw
that
fA) There is frequently exhibited another experiment, similar to this, which is by making a person draw the
long card : then giving him the pack, you tell him to place his card where he pleases and shuffle them, and you
will then name his card or cut the pack where it is. You may also tell him to put the pack in his pocket, and
you will draw the card j which you may easily do by the touch.
/o6
Pcrform-
isees willi
tte Cards.
Tke in-
eomgre-
heaiible
transpo-
To aai«.e
sereral
e*rd* that
two pec-
*ott.4 have
drawn.
The two
oooTertiblc
aotts,
L E G E R
that privately away ; and taking tlie bottom card,
which will then he the eeven of hearts, you lay that on
the table, and tell the second person, who believes it to
be the king of spades, to cover it with his hand.
You then command the seven of hearts, which is sup¬
posed to be under the hand of the first person, to change
into the king of spades j and the king of spades, which
is supposed to be under the hand of the second person,
to change into the seven of hearts ; and when the two
parties take their hands off, and turn up the cards, they
will see to their no small astonishment, after having so
carefully observed the bottom cards, that your com¬
mands are punctually observed.
6. Take a card, the same as your long card, and
rolling it up very close, put it in an egg, by making a
hole as small as possible, and which you are to fill
up carefully with white wax. You then offer the long
card to be drawn ; and when it is replaced in the pack,
you shuffle the cards several times, giving the egg to
the person who drew the card, and, while he is break-
*ng ‘t, you privately withdraw the long card, that it
may appear, upon examining the cards, to have gone
from the pack into the egg. The experiment may be
rendered more surprising by having several eggs, in
each of which is placed a card of the same sort, and
then giving the person the liberty to choose which egg
he thinks fit.
This deception may be still further diversified, by
having, as most public performers have, a confederate,
who is previously to know the egg in which the card is
placed ; for you may then break the other eggs, and
show that the only one that contains a card is that in
which you directed it to be.
7. Divide a piquet pack of cards into two parts by
a long card. Let the first part contain a quint to a
king in clubs and spades, the four eights, the ten of
diamonds, and ten of hearts 5 and let the other part
contain the two quart majors in hearts and diamonds,
the four sevens, and the four nines (b).
Then shuffle the cards, but observe not to displace
any of those cards of the last part which are under the
long card. You then cut at that card, and leave the
pack in two parts. Next, present the first of those
parts to a person, and tell him to draw two or three
cards, and place the remainder on the table. You
present the second parcel in like manner to another.
Then having dexterously placed the cards drawn by
the first person in the second parcel, and those drawn
by the second person in the first parcel, you shuffle the
cards, observing to displace none but the upper cards.
Then spreading the cards on the table, you name those
that each person drewr •, which you will very easily do,
by observing the cards that are changed in each par¬
cel.
8. On the ace of spades fix, with soap, a heart, and
on the ace of hearts, a spade, in such a manner that
they will easily slip off'.
Show these two aces to the company ; then taking
the ace of spades, you desire a person to put his foot
upon it, and as you place it on the ground, draw
away the spade. In like manner you place the seem-
D E M A I N. Sect. II.
ing ace of hearts under the foot of another person. Perform.
You then command the two cards to change their ances witi,
places $ and that they obey your command, the two l^e C^ds.
persons, on taking up their cards, will have ocular' *
demonstration. A deception similar to this is some¬
times practised with one card, suppose the ace of
spades, over which a heart is placed slightly. After
showing a person the card, you let him hold one end
of it, and you hold the other, and while you amuse him
with discourse, you slide off the heart. Then laying
the card on the table, you bid him cover it with his
hand. You then knock under the table and command
the heart to turn into the ace of spades. By deceptions
like these, people of little experience and much conceit
are frequently deprived of their money, and rendered
ridiculous.
9. You must he prepared with two cards, like those The 6fte«n
represented by fig. 22. and with a common ace and athoB*an<i
five of diamonds. lirres.
The five of diamonds and the two prepared cards
are to be disposed as in fig. 23. and holding them in
your hand, you say, “ A certain Frenchman left
15,000 livres, which are represented by these three
cards, to his three sons. The two youngest agreed to
leave their 5000, each of them, in the hands of the
elder, that he might improve it.” While you are tell¬
ing this story, you lay the 5 on the table, and put the
ace in its place, and at the same time artfully change
the position of the other two cards, that the three cards
may appear as in fig. 24. You then resume your dis¬
course, “ The eldest brother, instead of improving the
money, lost it all by gaming, except 3000 livres, as
you here see.” You then lay the ace on the table,
and, taking up the 5, continue your story: “ The
eldest, sorry for having lost the money, went to the
East Indies with these 3OCO, and brought back 15,000.”
You then show the cards in the same position as at first,
in fig. 22.
To render this deception agreeable, it must be per¬
formed with dexterity, and should not be repeated, but
the cards immediately put in the pocket *, and you
should have five common cards in your pocket, ready
to show, if any one should desire to see them.
TO. Take a parcel of cards, suppose 40, among To tell tk
which insert two long cards : let the first be, for ex-*umbero^
ample, the 15th, and the other the 26th, from the top.car<^ ^
Seem to shuffle the cards, and then cutting them
the first long card, poise those you have cut off in your
hand, and say, “ there should be here 15 cards.” Cut
them again at the second long card, and say, “ There
are here only 11 cards.” Then poising the remainder,
you say, “ here are 14 cards.”
ir. Several different cards being shown to different To naji:e
persons, that each of them may Jix on one of those cards ; *everal
to name that on which each person has fixed.—There
must be as many different cards shown to each person j^r-
as there are persons to choose : therefore, suppose there sow havs
are three persons, then to each of them you must show1^6^
three cards $ and telling the first person to retain one
in his memory, you lay those three cards down, and
show three others to the second person, and so to the
third.
(b) The cards may be divided in any other manner that is easy to be remembered.
Sit. ir. L E G E R D
orm- tbirtl. You then take up the first person’s cards, and
with lay them down one by one, separately, with their faces
th*S«rds. upward. You next place the second person’s card
^ over the first, and in like manner the third person’s
card over the second’s ; so that in each parcel there will
be one card belonging to each person. You then ask
each of them in which parcel his card is ; and when
you know that, you immediately know which card it
is j for the first person’s card will always be the first,
the second person’s the second, and the third person’s
the third, in that parcel where they each say his card
is.
This experiment may be performed with a single per¬
son, by letting him fix on three, four, or more cards.
In this case you must show him as many parcels as he
is to choose cards, and every parcel must consist of
that number, out of which he must fix on one; and
you then proceed as before, he telling you the parcel
that contains each of the cards.
Tklaagic I2, a ring large enough to go on the second
riae or third finger (fig. 15.) in which let there be set a
large transparent stone, to the bottom of which must
be fixed a small piece of black silk, that may be
either drawn aside or expanded by turning the stone
round. Under the silk is to be the figure of a small
card.
Then make a person draw the same sort of card as
that at the bottom of the ring, and tell him to burn it
in the candle. Having first shown him the ring, you
take part of the burnt card, and reducing it to powder’,
you rub the stone with it, and at the same time turn it
artfully about, so that the small card at bottom may
come in view.
13. To change one card into another.—Provide a ma-
’ hogany tea caddy about four or five inches deep, and
long enough to admit a common sized •splaying card :
(see fig. 9.). This caddy must be furnished with a
moving false bottom B, moveable upon hinges on the
inside edge of the front A. This bottom may be
made of brass, tin, or lead ; and the false bottom must
be so exactly fitted, that it cannot, from a slight view,
be distinguished from the other. The inside of both
caddy and false bottom ought to be lined with black
or other dark-coloured cloth or velvet, so that it may
not make any noise in falling down. It would be pro¬
per that the false bottom should rise with a spring to¬
wards the front, and it must be kept tight, with a brass
spring catch (rt, fig. 10.) screwed to the left side of
the box near the top, and which is hid by the cloth
covering. The end of this spring projects a little into
the front. It is driven back, to let go the false bottom
by means of a small bent wire bb let into the front of
the caddy ; and this pin is moved by the bolt c, which,
when the box is locked, shoots out against it, by rea¬
son of the spring being driven in ; by which means
the bottom springs down, and covers the card placed in
the box.
Before you attempt to show any trick with this cad¬
dy, a card must be placed, in the inside between the
front A and the false bottom B, springing up the bot¬
tom afterwards against the front; after which it is
ready for use, and shown openly to the company with¬
out any danger of a discovery.
Two persons may now be desired to draw two dif¬
ferent cards from a pack, one of which must be the
Vol. XI. Part II. f
EMAIN. 7>y
same with the one concealed in the caddy. Taking peifoim-
this card from the person who drew it, you put it in ances whit
the pack, pretend to shuffle it, but keep the card ei- the Card#,
ther uppermost or undermost, so that you can easily f
find it afterwards. Desiring then the other person to
come forward and put his card very attentively into
the caddy, you in the mean time secretly convey away
from the pack the card drawn by the other; then,
giving him the key, you desire the caddy to be locked
up. After some pretended conjurations, desire him to
unlock it again and take out the card ; which he will
find not to be his, but that drawn by his neighbour :
his card being apparently vanished from the caddy, as
the other is from the pack.
14. Provide two pieces of pasteboard A and B (fig. The twa
II.) of equal dimensions, 3J inches long and three maKic port-
broad. Place these beside one another, as shown in '0'*os-
the figure. Take then a very smooth silk ribbon, and
put a band of it from C to E towards the edge of the
pasteboard A, and another from D to F in such a man¬
ner as to come beyond the pasteboard, and to admit of
being folded over at the two ends. This must be glued
on the back of the board A at the places C and D,
and at the back of the board B at the places E and F.
Place two other bands in a similar manner on the
pasteboard B, turning them over on the hack of the
same board at the places land L, and at the back of A
at the places G and H. These two bands should fall
in the inside of the pasteboard, according to the breadth
of the ribbons. The two pasteboards being now placed
the one upon the other, will form a kind of port- folio,
one of the sides of which will always be hinged when
the other is opened. Four small bands of the same
ribbon are to be put at the four extremities of the
sides MNQR of the two pieces of pasteboard ; obser¬
ving that they pass below the bands already placed.
Glue their ends in the same manner as their ends at
the back of the boards, ornamenting also the two sides
O and P of the pasteboard B with pieces of the same
ribbon ; but these last six bands are of no use in the
performance.
Two pieces of paper folded like the cover of a letter
must now be provided, large enough to cover the two
ribbons GE and HE, as well as the space contained
within them. Glue one of these upon the two rib¬
bons, and apply the other below this ; so that the up¬
permost of these two wrappers may fall exactly over
the other, enclosing and hiding the two ribbons en¬
tirely. A second port-folio similarly constructed is
now to be provided, and both of them covered with
coloured paper from the sides where the ribbons are
glued and folded.—The deceptions with these port¬
folios are as" follows :
(1.) Two cards, chosen at random, having been shut up
in two separate places; to make them pass reciprocally from
the one into the other.—The port-folios being construct¬
ed in the manner above described ; if you open one of
them either on the one side or on the other, one of
the paper wrappers will always be visible ; and thus it
will naturally be supposed that there is no more but
one. Having then secretly enclosed a card in each of
the wrappers of the port-folios, procure a pack of
cards that has but two sorts, and cause two persons
fairly draw two cards similar to the first. Present then
a port-folio, open, to the first person who drew a card
5 A similar
73S
LEGERDEMAIN.
Perform, similar to that which was placed in the second, desiring
anees-with J-;j{y, j;0 p|ace Jt Jn the wrapper which he finds vacant.
ihe Cauls. rpake 1,3^ t|ien t|ie port-folio ; and, in placing it 011
the table, artfully turn it over: having placed likewise
in the vacant wrapper of the second port-folio the card
drawn by the second person ; and putting it in the
same way upon the table, command the cards recipro¬
cally to pass from the one port-folio into the other j
and open them so that each of the persons may take
out the card which the other inserted.
(2.) A card being shut up in the port-folio; to make it
return into the pack.—To perform this, procure a pack,
which has two cards of the same kind. One of these
is to be openly drawn, and the person who has done
so must be told to shut it up under the wrapper of one
of the port-folios j and inform him that you will make
it return into the pack. Give him the port-folio to blow
upon ; and on opening it, present him with the empty
wrapper, to show him that his card is not there ; after
which, presenting him with the pack, he will find there
the other card, which he will naturally imagine to be
the one he put into the wrapper.
(3.) To make an answer appear to a question secretly
written.—Transcribe on different cards a certain num¬
ber of questions, and on others the same questions with
their answers ; taking care to have the handwriting as
much alike as possible, so that no difference can easily
be perceived. The same caution must be observed with
regard to the cards themselves ; which, for that reason,
ought to be plain ones. Having written with a pen¬
cil at the bottom of the first questions their correspond¬
ing answers, shut up one of them secretly in the port¬
folio ; and presenting them to any person, let him
draw as by chance that which is similar to the one thus
shut up. Make him then place in the other wrapper
the question which he had drawn ; and telling him that
you are about to write an answer even through the
port-folio, take a glass, and pretend to read in it the
answer to the question. Open it afterwards, so that he
may take out the other card himself, and he will ima¬
gine it to be the one he selected.
In performing this trick, it will be proper to have a
port-folio of the same kind with the two described,
which opens only at one side, and which consequently
has but one wrapper. This must be shown to such as
seem to be too inquisitive, and will be of use tq prevent
them from entertaining any idea that the folio opens
upon both sides. The former must therefore be imme¬
diately put into the pocket, in order to give an oppor¬
tunity of drawing out the other in case the port-folio
should be asked for.
The card in Provide a mirror, either round, as A (fig. 18.)
the minor. or ova|^ t|)e frame 0f which must be at least as wide as
a card. The glass in the middle must be made to
move in the two grooves CD and EF, and so much
of the quicksilver must be scraped off as is equal to
the size of a common card. You will observe that
Plate
C’CXCI.
Sect. II,
the glass must likewise be wider than the distance be- perfol
tween the frame by at least the width of a card. aoces wii'li
ri hen paste over the part where the quicksilver isdieCuuk
rubbed off a piece of pasteboard, on which is a card ^
that must exactly fit the space, which must at first be
placed behind the frame.
This mirror must be placed against a partition,
through which is to go two strings, by which an assist¬
ant in the adjoining room can easily move the glass iu
the grooves, and consequently make the card appear or
disappear at pleasure (c).
Matters being thus prepared, you contrive to make
a person draw the same sort of card with that fixed to
the mirror, and place it in the middle of the pack : you
then make the pass, and bring it to the bottom ; you
then direct the person to look for his card in the mir¬
ror, when the confederate behind the partition is to
draw it slowly forward, and it will appear as if placed
between the glass and the quicksilver. While the card
is drawing forward, you slide off the card from the bot¬
tom of the pack, and convey it away.
The card fixed to the mirror may easily be changed
each time the experiment is performed. This experi¬
ment may also be made with a print that has a glass
before it and a frame of sufficient width, by making
a slit in the frame through which the card is to pass j
but the effect will not be so striking as in the mirror.
16. Place a vase of wood or pasteboard AB (fig. The ma*.
17.) on a bracket L, fixed to the partition M. Let^UoHs
the inside of this vase be divided into five parts, c, d,
ei ft S> an(^ Iet ^ie divisions c and d be wide enough
to admit a pack of cards, and those of e,f, g, one card
only.
Fix a thread of silk at the point IT, the other end of
which passing down the division d, and over the pulley
I, runs along the bracket L, and goes out behind the
partition M.
Take three cards from a piquet pack, and place
one of them in each of the divisions e,f g, making
the silk thread or line go under each of them. In
the division r, put the pack of cards from which you
have taken the three cards that are in the other di¬
visions.
Then take another pack of cards, at the top of
which are to be three cards of the same sort with
these in the three small divisions 5 and making the
pass, bring them to the middle of the pack, and let
them be drawn by three different persons. Then give
them all the cards to shuffle j after which place the
pack in the division d, and tell the parties they shall
see the three cards they drew come, at their command,
separately out of the vase.
An assistant behind the partition then drawing the
line with a gentle and equal motion, the three cards
will gradually rise out of the vase. Then take the
cards out of the division c, and show that those three
cards are gone from the pack.
The
(c) This experiment may be performed without an assistant, if a table be placed against the partition, aad
the string from the glass be made to pass through a leg of it, and communicate with a small trigger, which you
may easily push down with your foot ; and at the same time wiping the glass with your handkerchief, as if to
make the card appear the more conspicuous. It may also be diversified, by having the figure of a head, suppose
that of some absent friend, in the place of the card.
t. III.
orm. The vase must be placed so high that the inside can-
with not be seen by the company. You may perform this
ards. experiment also without an assistant, by fixing a weight
to the end of the silk line, which is to be placed on a
support, and let down at pleasure by means of a spring
in the partition.
idivi- 17. Let a small perspective glass be made, that is
g per- wide enough, at the end where the object glass is
elve placed, to hold a table similar to the following.
LEGERDEMAIN. 739
requires no great practice; the two principal points Expe*!-
1.131
2.231
3-331
4.121
5.221
6.321
7.111
8.211
9-311
10.. 132
11.. 23 2
12.. 332
13.. 122
14.. 222
15.. 322
16.. 112
17.. 212
18.. 312
I9-I33
20.233
21-333
22.123
23.223
24- 3 23
25- 1 x3
26 213
27-3I3
Take a pack of cards that consists of 27 only, and
giving them to a person, desire him to fix on any one,
then shuffle them, and give the pack to you. Place
the 27 cards in three heaps, by laying down one al¬
ternately on each heap; but before you lay each card
down, show it to the person, without seeing it your¬
self ; and when the three heaps are finished, ask him
at what number, from X to 27, he will have his card
appear, and in which heap it then is P Then look at
the heap through the glass, and if the first of the three
numbers which stands against that number it is to ap¬
pear at be I, put that heap at top ; if the number be 2,
put it in the middle ; and if it be 3, put it at bottom.
Then divide the cards into three heaps, in the same
wanner, a second and third time, and his card will then
be at the number he chose.
For example : Suppose he desire that his card shall
be the 20th from the top, and the first time of making
the heaps he says it is in the third heap : you then look
at the table in the perspective, holding it at the same
time over that heap, and you see that the first figure is
2; you therefore put that figure in the middle of the
pack. The second and third times you in like manner
put the heap in which he says it is, at the bottom, the
number each time being 3. Then looking at the pack
with yonr glass, a^- if to discover which the card was,
vou lay the cards down one by one, and the 20th card
will be that he fixed on.
You may show the person his card in the same man¬
ner, without asking him at what number it shall ap¬
pear, by fixing on any number yourself.
The foregoing experiments with the cards will be
found sufficient to explain most others of a similar na¬
ture that have or may be made : the number of which
is very great. To perform those we have described
are, the making the pass in a dexterous manner, and aments witk
certain address by which you influence a person to drawSymPatke-
the card you present. Those that are performed by tic .
the long card are in general the most easy, but they
are confined to a pack of cards that is ready prepared j
whereas those which depend on making the pass, may
be performed with any pack that is offered.
Sect. III. Experiments with Sympathetic Inks.
[See Sympathetic Ink.~\
Experiments with Class I.
1. Make a book of 70 or 80 leaves; and in the co-Thefeo#ic
ver at the end of it let there be a case which opens next°ffate-
the binding, that it be not perceived.
At the top of each right hand page write any ques¬
tion you please ; and at the beginning of the book let
there be a table of all those questions, with the number
of the page where each is contained. Then write with
common ink on separate papers, each about half the
size of the pages in the book, the same questions that
are in the boak, and under each of them write, with
the ink made of the impregnation of saturn, or the so¬
lution of bismuth, the answer.
Soak a double paper in the vivifying liquor made of
quicklime and orpimenl, or the phlogiston of the liver
of sulphur, and place it, just before you make the
experiment, in the case that is in the cover of the
book.
Then deliver some of the papers on which the ques¬
tions are wrote, to the company; and, after they have
chosen such as they would have answered, they put
them in those leaves where the same questions are con¬
tained, and, shutting the hook for a few minutes, the
sulphureous spirit with which the paper in the cover
of the book is imbibed, will penetrate the leaves, and
make the answers visible, which will be of a brown co¬
lour, and more or less deep in proportion to the tim*
the book has been closed (d).
2. Make a box about four inches long, and three Tit iwm-
wide, as ABCD, and quite shallow. Let it shut with VcIIoh» ptr-
hinges and fasten with a hook ; and let it have two bot-i.™11'
toms, the lowest of woood, that draws out by a groove,
and the uppermost of pasteboard. Between these two
bottoms i« to be placed a paper dipped in the vivifying
liquor mentioned in the last experiment. Let there be
also a board of the same size with the inside of the
box', which being placed in it may press a paper against
the pasteboard bottom.
Then take several pieces of paper of the same size
with the inside of the box, and draw on them the figures
of men and women, in difl’erent attitudes and employ¬
ments, as walking, riding, reading, writing, &c. These
figures must he drawn with a new pen, or pencil, dip¬
ped in the impregnation of saturn.
Being thus provided, and having privately placed,
the paper dipped in the vivifying liquor between the tw«
bcUoms, you tell a person you will show him what an
5 A 2 absent
(d) If a weight be placed upon the book, the effect will be the sooner produced. Or you may put the book
ia a box that will press it close down.
740
Experi- absent friend of his is doing at the present hour. You
wcHts with then give him the paper adapted to the employment
you intend, and tell him to write his friend’s name at
. ‘ ^^ the bottom, that you may not change the paper.
Then placing the paper next the pasteboard bottom,
and putting the piece of wood over it, you shut the
box. After amusing him with discourse for three or
four minutes, you take out the paper, when he will
see his friend in the employment you have assigned
him.
The ai tifi- 3- Let a workman make a hand of wood, as in fig.
eial kand. 16. fixed at the end next the elbow to the piece E,
the ends of which go through the screws CD and EF.
The fore and middle fingers, and the thumb, are to
be moveable at their joints. There must go a wire
through the arm, that is fixed at one end to the fore
finger, and at the other to the piece E, round which
it is to move: under the two joints of the two fingers
are also placed two small springs, which are to raise
it up.
To the fore finger and thumb fix two small rings,
through which a pin may be put, so as not to impede
their motion. Under the arm at the point I, place a
small brass roller, which serves to sustain the arm.
The pedestal on which this hand is placed must be
at least a foot long, if the hand be of a natural size,
and about eight inches wide. The pedestal must be
hollow, and at the part ST there must be an opening
about three inches long and two inches wide; the
whole pedestal may be covered with a thin stuff, by
which the hole will be concealed. There is to be a
valve, or sort of trap door, on the inside of the pedes¬
tal, which is to fasten against the opening.
Over the hand and pedestal place a glass frame, as
in the figure; cover the hand with fine leather of flesh
colour, and decorate the arm with a ruffle and cuff,
which will entirely conceal the machinery.
Then take a number of cards, and write on them
different questions ; and on the same number of papers
write, with the impregnation of lead, the answers.
Give the cards to any one, and let him choose a ques¬
tion ; and you place the paper with the answer under
the pen in the hand, letting him first see there is no
writing on it (e). Now the pedestal being placed
against a partition, the end F is to go through it.
Therefore an assistant upon a signal given, turns a
handle fixed to F ; and, as the piece E turns round,
the wires that move the fingers and thumb are alter¬
nately lengthened and shortened, by which their joints
are kept in continual motion ; and the screw at the
same time turning gently from F towards G, gives the
whole arm a motion which very much resembles that
of nature (f).
The hand and pen serve here merely to assist the il-
Sect. Ill,
lusion : but if a bit of sponge, dipped in the vivifying Ejt .
liquor, be placed at the end of the pen, as it goes over mentiTwitli
the writing on the paper, it will make it become gra-S>rn|>athe-
duaily visible, and in this case the trap door and dip- *'c Inks,
ped paper may be omitted (g). ' V~'"J
Deception with Class II.
4. Take several pieces of paper, of a size that you T]ie wri>
can put in any hook that will go into your pocket, and tins against
write at the top of each of them a question, with com-the wall,
mon ink, and under it write the answer with the so¬
lution of gold or silver. Give any of these papers,
closely wrapt up, to a person, and tell him to place
it against the wall of his chamber, and keeping the
door locked he will next day find the answer wrote
on it.
As the gold ink will sometimes give a yellow cast
to the paper, you may previously give a slight tincture
of that kind to the papers you use for this purpose.
Deception with Class III.
5. On different papers draw the figures of several
leaves or flowers with one ol the colourless juices men-vegetations
tioned : then take one of the corresponding leaves or
flowers, and laying it on an iron plate, over a chafing-
dish of hot coals, let it burn to ashes. Put these ashes
into a sieve, in which there is some very fine steel fi¬
lings, and sift them over the paper on which the flower
is drawn, when they will adhere to the glutinous li¬
quor, and form an exact representation of the figure of
the leaf or flower.
Deceptions with Class IV.
6. Make a little triangular box, each side of which The tnlis-
is to be about five inches, and let its inside be divi-niRn, fig.y#
ded into three parts. The first part A, which makes
the bottom of the box, it to be covered by the second
part B, in form of a case, and let the top C exactly
cover the part B, as is expressed in the figure and the
profiles.
Upon the bottom of the box let there be a plate of
copper about one-twentieth of an inch thick, on
which let there be a number of hieroglyphic charac¬
ters contiguous to each other, and cut in different sorts
of metal.
Ou the top of the cover place a knob O, that goes
through it, and to which the copper triangle Q is to be
fixed occasionally, in such a manner as it may go into the
case B. There must be a space of one quarter of an
inch between the triangle Q and the bottom of the
case B ; into which another plate of copper, of that
thickness, may be placed.
The outside of this talisman may be decorated with
uncommon
LRGERDEMAIN.
(E) The paper dipped in the vivifying liquor is to be previously placed against the opening in the table, and
supported by the trap door.
(f) This might be performed without an assistant, by means of a trigger placed in the leg of the table, and
communicating with the handles, which the operator might thrust down with his foot. Where expence is not
regarded, there may be a complete figure of a man in wood, or plaster of Paris, seated by the table.
(g) You may also have a glass ink-stand with some of the vivifying liquor, into which the pen may be dip¬
ped, and it will then appear to write with common ink. The spectators should cot be permitted to come very
near this machine, which may be applied to several other purposes.
Sfct. III.
Iperi- uncommon figures or characters, to give it the appear-
mets wiihance of greater mystery.
SJripathe- Qn seVeral pieces of paper, of the same size with the
,^^s‘ . inside of the talisman, write different questions in com¬
mon ink, and write the answers in those different sorts
of sympathetic ink that appear when heated, observ¬
ing that each word of the answer is to be wrote in a
different ink.
Having properly heated the triangle, and placed it
under the cover, you introduce the talisman, and tell
any one of the company to choose one of the papers
on which the questions are wrote, and place it in the
talisman, and he will immediately have an answer
wrote on that paper, the words of which will be of
different colours, according to the different metals of
which the talisman is composed. The paper being
placed in the talisman, and the cover placed over it,
the heat of the triangle will make the answer visible
in a few moments. This experiment may he repeat¬
ed if the triangle he made sufficiently hot; and two
papers may be placed in the talisman at the same
time.
This deception, when well executed, occasions a
surprise that cannot be conceived by a mere descrip¬
tion.
li »ibyN, 7-Make a wooden pedestal AB, about ten inches
long, eight wide, and one deep: and at one end erect a
box C, about ten inches high, eight broad, and two and
a half deep.
The top of the pedestal must slide in a groove, on
which inscribe a dial M, of six inches diameter, and
which is to be divided into nineteen equal parts, in
twelve of which write the names of the months, and
mark the respective signs of the zodiac; and in the
seven other divisions, which must be next the end B,
write the days of the week, and mark the figures of
the planets. Next the inner circle NO, make an
opening into the box, of about one-tenth of an inch.
On the centre of the dial place an index that turns
freely on its centre.
Within the pedestal place a pulley P, about four
inches diameter, which is to turn on an axis that is
directly under the centre of the dial j and on the up¬
per part of that axis fix a bent index R, which comes
out at the opening made by the inner circle (h), and
passes over those seven divisions only on which are wrote
the days of the week.
Within the box C, let there be two rollers S and
T, as in the figure: let that of S contain a spring;
and at the end of T let there be a pulley V, of three
quarters of an inch diameter, round which goes a
string or thread that passes under the small pulley X,
and is fastened to that of P: so that when the last
pulley makes about one-third of a turn, that of V may
make three or four turns.
There must also be a scroll of paper, about two feet
long, and each end of which must be pasted to one of
the rollers. In the front of the box, between the two
rollers, make an aperture D, about four inches long
741
and one inch and a half wide: to this opening let there Evj-eri-
be a little flap or slider, by which it may be closed at nitius witk
pleasure. Sympuhe-
The apparatus being thus disposed, place the index Uc _
R successively against each of the divisions marked
with one of the planets; and as the paper is gradually
wound up the roller, mark, against that part which is
at the aperture D, the name of one of the following
sibyls:
The Hellespontian")
Cumean j
Artemisian J
Phrygian ^ sibyl.
Albunean
Persian
Libyan
On each of the seven cards write a different que¬
stion, and draw one of the seven planets. Next take
a memorandum book that contains seven leaves, and
on each of them write the name of one of the fore¬
going sibyls; in each of the leaves place several pieces
of paper; and on each of them write, with the sym-'
pathetic ink that does not appear till the paper is heat¬
ed, different answers to the same question.
Then give a person the seven cards on which the
questions are wrote, and tell him to choose one of them
privately, and conceal the rest, so that it cannot possibly
be known which of them he has chosen.
Next, tell him to place the index that points to the
month against that in which he was horn (l), and to
place the index of the planets against that which is on
the card he has chosen, and which is to preside over
the answer: you tell him to do this privately, that
no one may see him, and after that to cover the dial
with his handkerchief. Then let him open the door
that is before the aperture in the box, and tell you the
name of the sibyl there visible.
You then open the memorandum book, and taking
out the papers that are in the leaf where the name of
the sibyl just mentioned is wrote, you desire him to
choose any one of them he thinks proper. The talis¬
man used in the last experiment being properly heated,
is then to be introduced, when you direct the person
to put the blank paper into it; and taking it out
a few moments after, he will find the answer to his
question.
To make this operation appear the more extraordi¬
nary, it will be proper to have a small press or cup¬
board, at the back of which there is a door that
opens into an adjoining room, by which means an as¬
sistant having prepared the talisman, may place it in
the cupboard the moment before it is wanted. This
contrivance will be useful on many other ocansions.
8. Provide an urn of wood or metal about six .
inches high, and two and a half diameter in the widest urn. *
part, and of such figure in other respects as you think
proper (see fig. 9.). Let there be a cylinder of cop¬
per C, (fig. 10.) of about one-eighth of an inch dia¬
meter,
LEGERDEMAIN.
(h) If the axis be made to pass through the top of the pedestal, this opening will not be necessary.
(1) These months and the index are of no other use than to give the experiment an air of greater my¬
stery.
742
LEGERDEMAIN.
Sect. II],
Experi- meter, which is to fill a hole AB made in the urn.
meats with The top of this cylinder is to be in the top of the urn,
Sympathe- so may eas;|y taken out. To this urn there
t ’ , must be a cover D, which fits it exactly.
On a small square piece of paper draw the figure of
a flower or leaf, with that sort of sympathetic ink
whose colour most resembles it. You then present se-
reral sorts of flowers or leaves to a person, and desire
him to choose any one of them. Then put that flower
on a chafingdish of hot coals j and taking the pa¬
per on which it is secretly drawn, you give it to the
person to examine, and then put it in the urn, having
previously heated the cylinder (k). Then taking some
of the ashes of the burnt flower, you strew them over
the paper, after which you take it out and show the
company the figure of that flower. While the flower
is burning, you may sprinkle some powder over it, sup¬
pose that ot saltpetre ; and by that, mixed with the
ashes of the flower, the company may imagine the effect
is produced.
The press or cupboard mentioned in the preceding
experiment, will he here very convenient for heating
the cylinder and placing it in the urn. A similar de¬
ception may be performed by putting the paper in a
copper vessel, that may be placed on an iron plate over
the chafingdish in which the flower is burnt. But this
method has not so mysterious an appearance as the
other, and in some persons may cause a suspicion that
the effect is produced by heat.
The con- 9. To perform this experiment, you must observe,
▼ertible that there are several letters which may be changed
* into others, without any appearance of the alteration j
as, the a into r/, the c into <7, e, d, gt 0, or y, the i into
bt c/, or /, the l into t, the 0 into o, d, g, or the v in¬
to^, &c.
Take a parcel of cards, suppose 20, and on one of
them write, with the ink of the fourth class, the word
law (l), and on the other, with the same ink, the
words old woman; then holding them to the fire, they
will both become visible. Now you will observe, that
by altering the a in the word law into c/, and adding
0 before the /, and oman after the w, it becomes old
woman. Therefore, you make those alterations with
the invisible ink, and let it remain so. On the rest of
the cards you write any words you think fit.
Present the cards in such a manner to two persons,
that one of them shall draw the word law, and the
other the word old woman. You then tell the person
who drew the word law, that it shall disappear, and
the words on the other card shall be wrote in its place ;
and that you may not change the cards, desire each of
the parties to write his name on the cards. Then put¬
ting the cards together, and holding them before the
fire, as if to dry the names just ivrote, the word law will
presently change into old woman.
Th is experiment may be varied by fixing on a word
that may be changed into three other words, and mak¬
ing four persons draw the cards on which those words
are wrote; and it may be further diversified by choos- .
ing three such words, as that the first can be changed 1^1115^
into the second, and the second into the third. You Sy®p*the.
then tell him who drew the first word, that it shall be tic
changed into that drawn by the second person; and ^
him you tell, that his word shall be changed into that
of the third person.
10. Write on several slips of paper different ques-The wuc,.
tions, and such as may be answered by the name ofla*lettw*.
some person ; for example, Who is the merriest man
in the company ? Answer, Mr * * *. To whom will
Miss * * * be married ? Answer, To Mr * * *,
These questions are to be wrote in the sympathetic
ink of this class, and exposed to the fire, and the an¬
swers wrote in the same ink, and left invisible. The
papers are to be folded in form of letters, and in such
manner that the part where the name is wrote shall be
directly under the seal, and the beat of the wax will
make it visible. Then give the letter to the person
who requires the answer, and he will find it plainly
wrote.
A deception similar to this may he made with a
number ot blank cards, on each of which an ace of
spades is drawn with the invisible ink ; then let a per¬
son choose any one of them, and enclose it in a letter-
case, prepared in such a manner that the figure of the
ace shall be directly under the seal, and on opening the
letter it will he immediately visible.
Deceptions with Class V.
II. Have a box that is divided into three parts af-Theineera.
ter the same manner as the talisman in the 21st experi-!tfeAeDi'^(!
merit, except that, instead of being triangular, it must’™*1*5'
be of a long square, (see fig. 14.). Divide its top B
into two equal parts D and E, as in fig. 13. and to the
part D adjust a plate of copper L about one quarter
of an inch thick, and under both the plate L, and the
opening E place a cloth. The upper part C must have
a button by which it may be fixed on the cover B, so
as to appear of one piece with it.
At the bottom of the box place a piece of cloth, or
other stuff, on which you may stamp certain mysterious
characters, and observe that the bottom of the cover
must rest upon the doth.
Then provide a slip of paper GH (fig. 12.) of the
same size with the bottom of the box ; and at each
end of it write, with the green sympathetic ink, the
name of a different card, and make some private mark
by which you can tell at which end each name is
wrote (m).
Take a parcel of cards, and offer those two of them
whose names are wrot1 on the paper to the two per¬
sons, that they may draw them. You tell the parties
to keep their cards to themselves, and you propose to
make the names of those cards appear upon a slip of
paper, which you put into the box. You then ask
which name of the two cards shall appear first. The
copperplate being previously heated and placed in the
cover,
(k) There are some sorts of sympathetic inks that require much more beat than others.
(l) These letters should not be joined.
(m) That there may be no suspicion of the paper being prepared, you mar cat it from a whole sheet, before
the company, having previously wrote the names.
t. III.
ri- cover, you put it over that end of the paper on which
thc^,S ^ie name reflll're^j an(^ W|ll presently appear.
jn]ta Then taking the paper out, and showing the name
wrote, you put it in again, turning the other end to
the side of the box where the plate is, and it will in
like manner become visible.
The first name mav be made to disappear at the
same time that the second appears, if the cloth at the
end opposite to that where the plate is made be damp.
Wlter I2> Take a print that resembles winter, and trace
chjiged over the proper parts of the trees, plants, and ground,
” rnijspring.with the green sympathetic ink; observing to make
some parts deeper than others, according to their di¬
stance. When those parts are dry, paint the other
objects with their natural colours. Then put the print
in a frame with a glass, and cover the hack of it with
a paper that is pasted over its border only.
When the print is exposed to the heat of a mode¬
rate fire, or to the warm rays of the sun, all the grass
and foliage will turn to a pleasing green ; and if a yel¬
low tint be given to some parts of the print, before the
sympathetic ink be drawn over, this green will be of
different shades ; and the scene that a minute before
represented winter, will now be changed to spring.
When this print is placed in the cold, winter will again
appear, and will again be driven away by the warm
rays of the sun. This alternate change of seasons may
be repeated as often as you please; remembering, how¬
ever, as was before observed, not to make the print
at any time too hot, for then a faded autumn will for
ever remain.
Deceptions with Class VII.
13. Provide a number of artificial flow'ers, such as
roses, jonquils, pinks, or any other you find conveni¬
ent. These flowers must be made of white thread or
silk, and their leaves of parchment. Dip the roses in
the red sympathetic ink, the jonquils in the yellow, the
pinks in the violet, and their leaves in a solution of salt
or tartar. When they are all dry, form them into small
bouquets, which will all appear white, and may be used
in this experiment, either the day they are dipped, or
several days after.
You take one of these bouquets, and after showing
the company that every part of it is white, you dip it
in an infusion of any of the blue flowers mentioned un¬
der the article CoLOUR-Making, N° 13. and, drawing
it presently out, ail the flowers and leaves will appear
in their natural colours (n).
14. Write on a paper, with the violet liquor, as
many letters or words as you please ; and ask any per¬
son whether he will have that writing turn to yellow',
green, or red.
Have a sponge with three sides that you can readily
distinguish, and dip each of its sides in one of the three
sympathetic inks. Draw the side of the sponge that
corresponds to the colour the person has chosen, over
LEGERDEMAIN. 745
the writing once onlv ; and it will directly change to Mbeclla-
THet'cvirf-
Siedjou-
TkJraas-
•ol Ited
wr||ie-.
the colour required ^o).
Sect. IV. Miscellaneous Performances.
15. A person having an even number of counters To tell odds
one hand, and an odd number in the other, to tell m or evens.
which hand the odd or even number is.—Let the per¬
son multiply the number in his right hand by an odd
number, and the number in his left hand by an even
number, and tell you if the sum of the products added
together be odd or even. If it be even, the even num¬
ber is in the right hand ; but if it be odd, the even
number is in the left hand.
Example.
I. Number in the right!
hand J
Multipliers
Their sum
2. Number in the ri
hand
.Ig,,t}
Multipliers
Their sum
18
3
54
68
7
3
21
3^
57
In the left
In the left
7
2
I4
38
2
Tt
16. To tell, by the dial of a watch, at what hour t0 ttll at
any person intends to rise.—-Let the person set the hand what how
of the dial to any hour he pleases, and tell you what?11? Perso*
hour that is : and to the number of that hour you add, V?te,ll^s u
in your mind, 12. Then tell him to count privately the"5*'
number of that amount upon the dial, beginning with
the next hour to that on which he proposes to rise, and
counting backwards, first reckoning the number of the
bom- at which he has placed the hand. An example
will make this plain.
Suppose the hour at which he intends to rise be 8,
and that he has placed the hand at 5. You add 12 to
5, and tell him to count 17 on the dial, first reckoning
5, the hour at which the index stands, and counting
backwards from the hour at which he intends to rise $
and the number 17 will necessarily end at 8, which
shows that to be the hour he chose.
That the hour at which the counting ends must be
that on which he proposed to rise, will be evident on a
little reflection ; for if he had begun at that hour, and
counted 12, be would necessarily have come to it again j
and calling the number 17, by adding 5 to it, only
serves
(n) The liquor should be put in a sort of jar with a narrow neck, that it may not be seen by the company :
and you should draw the flowers gently out that the liquor may drop if thin, and they may have time to acqaire
their colours.
(o) The sponge should be well cleaned immediately after the experiment.
744
Miscella. serves to disguise tlie matter, but can make no sort of
neous Per- difference in the counting.
la.mances, jy, Jf (;|ie number 11 be multiplied by any one of
The magi. nine the two figures of the products will al-
•al cen. ways be similar. As follows :
t»rr.
II II II II II II II II II
•12 3 4 C6780
LEGERDEMAIN.
And 4 added to it, makes
Which multiplied by 5, gives
To which 1 2 being added, it is
That multiplied by 10, makes
From which deducting 320, the remainder is
Sect. Ill,
18 Miscclla-
po neom Per.
II 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99
Place a parcel of counters on a table, and propose
to any one to add, alternately, a certain number of
those counters, till they amount to too, but never
to add more than 10 at a time. You tell him, more¬
over, that, it you stake first, he shall never make the
even century, but you will. In order to which, you
must first stake 1, and remembering the order of the
above series, 11, 22, 33, &c. you constantly add to
what he stakes, as many as will make one more than
the numbers of that series, that is, as will make 12,
23, 34, &c. till you come to 89, after which the other
party cannot make the century himself, nor prevent
you from making it.
If the other party has no knowledge of numbers,
you may stake any other number first, under 10, pro¬
vided you take care to secure some one of the last
terms, as 56, 67, 78, &c.
I his deception may be performed with other num¬
bers ; and in order to succeed, you must divide the
number to be attained by a number that has one di¬
git more than what you can stake each time, and the
remainder will be the number you must first stake.
Observe, that, to be sure of success, there must be
always a remainder. Suppose, for example, the num¬
ber to be attained is 52, making use of a pack of cards
instead of counters, and that you are never to add
more than 6: then divide 32 by the next number above
6, that is, by 7, and the remainder, which is 3, will be
the number you must stake first; and whatever the other
stakes, you must add as much to it as will make it equal
to the number by which you divided, that is 7. There¬
fore, if his first stake be I, you must stake 6, &c. so
that your second stake will make the heap 10, your
third stake will make it 17, and so on, till you come
to 45, when, as he cannot stake more than 6, you must
make the number 32.
In this, as in tbe former case, if tbe other person
has no knowledge of numbers, you may stake any
number first under 7 ; or you may let him stake first,
only taking care to secure either of the numbers 10,
17, 24, 31, &c. after which he cannot make 32, if
you constantly add as many to his stake as will make
it 7.
18. A person privately fixing on any number, to tell
him that number.——Khev the person has fixed on a
beta per- number, bid him double it and add 4 to that sum, then
«>0Nii pt»- multiply tbe whole by 3 ; to tbe product let him add
\ a l jr tSset an{jj multiply tbe amount by 10. From the sum of
the whole let him deduct 320, and tell you the remain¬
der; from which, if you cut oft’ the two last figures, the
number that remains will be that fixed on.
To led
what, nuiit
Example.
Let the number chosen be
Which doubled is
And by striking off the two cyphers, it becomes
the original number - - _
19. Three dice being thrown on a table, to tell the T« tell tl,,
number of each ofi them, and the order in which they numb« of
stand.—Let the person who lias thrown the dice double p}oinU
tbe number of that next his left band, and add 3 to
that sum ; then multiply the amount by 3, and to the without’
product add the number of the middle die; then let thesceinS
whole be multiplied by 10, and to that product add thethew-
number of tbe third die. From tbe total let there be
subtracted 230, and the figures of tbe number that re¬
mains will answer to the points of the three dice as
they stand on tbe table.
Example. Suppose tbe points of the three dice thrown
on the table to be 4, 6, and 2.
Then the double of the first die will be
To which add - - .
That sum multiplied by 5 will be
To which add the number of the middle die
7
14
And multiply the sum by
To that product add the number of the third die 2
From the total - - - 712
Subtract - - . 230
And the three remaining figures - - 462
will answer to tbe numbers on tbe dice, and show the
order in which they stand.
20. Some person in company having put a ring pri¬
vately on one of his fingers ; to name the person, the
hand, the finger, and the joint, on which it is placed.—
Let a third person double the number of the order in
which he stands who has tbe ring, and add 3 to that
number; then multiply that sum by 3, and to the pro¬
duct add 10. Let him next add I to tbe. last number
if tbe ring be on the right hand, and 2 if on the left,
and multiply the whole by 10: to this product be must
add tbe number of the finger (counting tbe thumb as
the first finger), and multiply the whole again by 10.
Let him then add the number of the joint; and, lastly,
to the whole join 33.
He is then to tell you the amount of the whole, from
which yon are to subtract 3335, and the remainder
will consist of four figures, the first of which will ex¬
press the rank in which the person stands, the second
the hand (the number I signifying the right hand, and
2 the left), the third number the finger, and the fourth
the joint.
Example. Suppose the person who stands the third
in order has put the ring upon the second joint of the
thumb of his left hand ; then
The
To tell on
wbat fin¬
ger, joint,
&<r. a ring
hat been
private;]!
put.
Leg KKDKMAIN
/'/^/yzirrArv.
Ft 9.I.
V
Fit/. .2.
o
/'’///■ O.
Set. IV.
touatices.
X v • —  
scella- The double of the rank of the third person is
as Per- To which add - -
LEGER
Multiply the sura by
To which add
And the number of the left hand
Which being multiplied by
To which add the number of the thumb
And multiply again by
Then add the number of the joint
And lastly the number
From which deducting
The remainder is - -
3212
Of which, as we have said, the 3 denotes the third per¬
son, the 2 the left hand, the 1 the thumb, and the last
2 the second joint.
, 21.1 Cover the outside of a small memorandum book
tng re- with black paper, and in one of its inside covers make
d. a flap to open secretly, and observe there must be no¬
thing over the flap but the black paper that covers the
book.
Mix soot with black or brown soap, with which rub
the side of the black paper next the flap ; then wipe it
quite clean, so that a white paper pressed against it will
not receive any mark.
Provide a black lead pencil that will not mark with¬
out pressing hard on the paper. Have likewise a small
box, about the size of the memorandum book, and that
opens on both sides, but on one of them by a private
method. Give a person the pencil, and a slip ol thin
paper, on which he is to write what he thinks proper:
vou present him the memorandum book at the same
time, that be may not write on the bare board. You
tell him to keep what he writes to himself, and direct
him to burn it on an iron plate laid on a chafingdish ot
coals, and give you the ashes. You then go into ano¬
ther room to fetch your magic box above described,
and take with you the memorandum book.
H aving previously placed a paper under the flap in
the cover of the book, when he presses bard with the
pencil, to write on the paper, every stroke, by means
of the stuff rubbed on the black paper, will appear on
that under the flap. You therefore take it out, and
put it into one side of the box.
You then return to the other room, and taking a
slip of black paper, you put it into the other side of
the box, strewing the ashes of the burnt paper over it.
Then shaking the box for a few moments, and at the
same time turning it dexterously over, you open the
ether side, and show the person the paper you first put
Yol. XI. Part II.
D E M A I N. 745
in, the writing on which he will readily acknowledge Miscella-
to be his. _ neous Per-
22. Take two guineas and two shillings, and grindfori>lance,-t
part of them away, on one side only, so that they may trans_
be but of half the common thickness ; and observe tliat p0Sa|j]e
they must be quite thin at the edge: then rivet a gui-process,
nea and a shilling together. Lay one of these double
pieces with the shilling upwards, on the palm of your
hand, at the bottom of your three first fingers ; and
lay the other piece, with the guinea upwards, in like
manner, in the other hand. Let the company take
notice in which hand is the guinea, and in which the
shilling. Then as you shut your hands, you naturally
turn the pieces over j and when you open them again,
the shilling and the guinea will appear to have changed
their places.
23. Provide a round tin box, of the size of a large The pene-
snuff box ; and in this place eight other boxes, which
will go easily into each other, and let the least of thems
be of a size to hold a guinea. Each of these boxes
should shut with' a hinge : and to the least of them there
must he a small lock, that is fastened with aspring, but
cannot he opened without a key : and observe that all
these boxes must shut so freely, that they may be all
closed at once. Place these boxes in each other, with
their tops open, (see fig. 12.) in the drawer of the
table on which you make your experiments j or, if you
please, in your pocket, in such a manner that they can¬
not be displaced.
Then ask a person to lend you a new guinea, and
desire him to mark it, that it may not be changed.
You take this piece in one hand, and in the other you
have another of the same appearance 5 nnd putting
vour hand in the drawer you slip the piece that is
marked into the least box, and, shutting them all at
once, take them out. T-hen showing the piece you
have in your hand, and which the company suppose
to he the same that was marked, you pretend to
make it pass through the box, and dexterously convey
it away.
You then present the box, for the spectators do not
yet know there are more than one, to any person in
company ; who, when he opens it, finds another, and
another, till he comes to the last, hut that lie cannot
open without the key (see fig. 13O which you then
give him, and retiring to a distant part of the room,
you tell him to take out the guinea himself, and see if
it be that he marked.
This deception may be made more surprising, by
putting the key into the snuff box of one of the com¬
pany j which you may do by asking him for a pinch of
his snuff, and at the same time conceal the key, which
must he very small, among the snuff: and when the
person who is to open the box asks for the key, you tell
him that one of the company has it in his snuff box.
This part of the deception may likewise he performed
by means of a confederate.
24. ABCD, fig. 15. represents a small wooden box The three
seven or eight inches long, two and a half broad, and”^cPie*
half an inch deep ; the bottom of which, by means urpiate
of two cross pieces, is divided into turee equal parts. QCXC.
EFGH represents the lid, which is fastened to the bot-fi^ ^ ^
tom by a hinge, and has in front a small plate shaped
like a lock, and two small eyes for hooks which serve to
fasten it when it is shut. ILM are three small flexible
5 B springs,
746 L E G E R
Miscella- springs, flat, and about inch long. NOP are three
’icou* Per- vvooden tablets of tlie same size, upon which are mark-
."rrmnicts. e(^ tjie figUres 4, and 5. The tablets are of different
thicknesses, and the difference is so small as not to be
perceived by the eye. The outside of the box is cover¬
ed with shagreen or morocco leather, and on the inside
with silk taffety j these coverings being indispensably
necessary to hide the three small springs above men¬
tioned. Pig. 14. shows the two hinges E and F bent
close to the top of the lid ABCD ; the piece of brass
G, similar to a lock, being also curved to the lid. A
small brass stud is'rivetted upon the end of each of
these springs inserted into the lid, and passes through
the curved part of each of the hinges and the lock j so
that on the outside they appear as the heads of small
pins which fasten them upon the lid. These small studs
will be elevated more or less according to the thick¬
nesses of the tablets, that they may be shut up in each
of the partitions in which they may be found placed ;
so that the tablet N elevates them more than the tablet
O, and the latter less than P j though these elevations
are but barely sensible to the sight or touch, and that
by a person accustomed to look at or handle them.
Thus it may be easily known in whatever order the
tablets are placed, however carefully shutj and con¬
sequently the number named as enclosed.
Give now the box to any indifferent person, leave
him at liberty to form with the tablets any number he
pleases, desiring him to return the box well shut up ;
then taking the box, and determining by the touch
or rather by the eye, what order the tablets are in, it
will be very surprising to hear you declare the number
without seeing it.
N. B. It will still be equally possible to discover the
number, though the tablets should be returned with
the bottom upwards, or even though one should he
withdrawn in order to defeat your design ; particularly
if care had been taken to make the studs remain even
with the plates when a number is omitted.
The nume- 2S- discover any particular counter which has been
wat table, secretly placed within a box that turns upon it.—This
table, which is made of wood, is represented by A,
fig. 16. It is of a hexagonal shape, and about three
or four inches diameter. Fox the sake of neatness in
appearance, a proportionably sized pillar with a foot is
fixed to it. Round a centre there turns a small round
box B of about | inch diameter in the inside, the lid of
which takes off at B. At the bottom of this box,
near the circumference in the inside, is fixed a brass
pin to fit a hole made in a flat ivory counter shown
at b, fig. 17. The pin and counter are represented
in fig. 18. which is a flat view of fig. 19. with the
lid of the box B taken off. Opposite to the pin &,
in the same figure, D represents a fine dot designed as
a secret mark on the outside of the box, which serves
always as a guide to the number of the counter private¬
ly placed in the inside of the box, as is afterwards par¬
ticularly explained. Upon one of the corners of the
table is an ivory mark C, fig. 16. and 18. which serves
to place the spot a upon the counters in its proper posi¬
tion. See fig. 17. There are 12 counters fitted to the
box B, marked 10, 20, &c. as far as 120, on the mid¬
dle of each. On each of these counters is the hole b,
fig. 17. and 18. which goes over the pin in the bottom
of the box j and on one side of this hole a red or black
DETAIN. Sect, IV.
spot is placed in the following manner. When N° 10 nr
it put into the box, the spot must be so far to the left neoliT^*'
bantl ot the hole, that when it is brought to the mark
U, hg. 18. the hole b will be opposite to the side mark- 
ed 1. When N° 20 is put in, the spot being brought
to the mark C will carry the hole to the corner mark-
ed 2‘. Wll^n N° 3° Put in, and the spot brought
opposite to C, the hole will be brought against the side
marked 3, as is shown in the figure, and so on for the
rest. Therefore, as opposite to the brass pin, or hole
on the counter on the outside of the box B, there is a
secret mark D already mentioned, this must serve as an
index to the number contained in the box, according
as it is opposite to a side or corner of the table.
Give now the table with the box and the 12 coun¬
ters to any person, and desire him to put one of the
counters secretly into the box, keeping the rest to
himself; and after having placed the hole over the
pm in the box, to place particularly, by turning the
box round, the spot a against the mark C on the table.
Let him then cover the box, give you the table, and
keep the counters himself. Observe then privately
what side or corner the secret outside marked D stands
against, reckon the tens accordingly, and tell him the
number.
'T'0 draw out of the well with a bucket any one^he magi*
o/four liquors which have been previously mixed and put 'V*1L
into it.—Provide two tin cylinders of seven or eight
inches height ; the diameter of the largest, represented
by AB, fig. 19. to be four inches, and that of the least,
CD, two inches. Place the small one within the larger,
and connect them together by soldering to them four
tin partitions, making the equal spaces <*,/, g, h. Turn
a piece of wood three inches thick, hollow withinside,
and lined with tin, of which a section is given, fig. 20.
Into this the exterior cylinder should be closely fitted
at a and b. Anotner circle of wood (ol which a section
is given fig. 21.), hollowed at «, b, and c, is also to be
procured, and which may cover exactly the space be*
tween the tvyo cylinders j and, lastly, let the whole be
constructed in such a manner, that when these three se¬
parate pieces are placed together, they may represent
a well, as in fig. 22. The two brass or wooden pil¬
lars AA., with the axis and handle G, serve to let down
and draw up a small glass bucket B, an inch and a
hail m diameter. Make also four tin reservoirs of the
same height with the cylinder, and so shaped as to
fij the lour spaces e, f g, h, (fig. 19O which must be
well closed at their extremities B and C. On the top
of each make a small hole about the tenth part of an
inch diameter, and solder at the base C a small tube
D, the end of which should be bent towards the inside
of the well when the reservoir is placed in it. Solder
on the top of each reservoir a small spring lever and
prop ABDE, fig. 23. I he spring will serve always to
press the end of the lever D down upon the hole at
the top of the reservoir B ; and in order to cover it
more perfectly, a small piece of leather is to be glued
on to the end of the lever D. Lastly, A small peg or
stud C is placed at the end of each of the levers, and
which must be close to the under part of the wooden
circle which covers the reservoirs. To conceal these
studs, and at the same time to be able to press upon
them with the lingers, circular apertures, as shown in
fig. 21. must be made in the piece of wood, the top
covered
t. IV. LEGERDEMAIN.
eila. covered with a piece of vellum, and the whole neatly same metal, in which
I resni-
«i**d
toter.
late
» Per-painted v;ith oil colour.
ces. If n0Vv you plunge one of these reservoirs perpendi¬
cularly into any liquor, in pressing on the stud, so as
to uncover the hole at the top, it will be filled with the
liquor in proportion to the depth to which it is immer-
ged ; and as long as the lever continues to press upon
the hole by means of the spring, the liquor cannot run
out for want of air, though it will do so the moment
the stud is pressed upon and the air admitted. If the
reservoir is properly placed, then the liquor will flow
out of it into the glass bucket when let down to a pro¬
per depth.
Fill now the four reservoirs with the four different
liquors ; putting them in their places, and covering
them with the circular top. Take a quantity of the
same liquor, mix them well together, and pour the
whole into the well ; after which you may draw out
any one which the company desires, by letting down
the bucket, and pressing secretly upon the stud belong¬
ing to the reservoir which contains it, and which will
thus discharge the liquor it contains.
27. Provide a small tin mortar, that is double, as
A (fig. 8.), whose bottom B turns round on an axis,
by means of a spring which communicates with the
piece C. There must he a hollow space under the
false bottom. To the under side of the bottom fasten,
by a thread of fine silk, a flower, with its stalk and
leaves.
Then take a flower that exactly resembles the other,
and plucking it from the stalk, and all the leaves from
each other, put them into the mortar, and pound them
with a small pestle $ after which you show the mortar
to the company, that they may see the parts are all
bruised.
Then taking the mortar up in your hands, you hold
it over the flame of a lamp or candle, by whose warmth
the flower is supposed to be restored 5 and at the same
time pressing the piece at C, the bottom will turn
round, the bruised parts descend into the space under
the bottom, and the whole flower will be at top : you
then put your hand into the mortar, and easily break¬
ing the silk thread, which may be very short as well as
fine, you take the flower out and present it to the com¬
pany.
There is an experiment similar to this, in which a
live bird is concealed at the bottom of the mortar, and
one that is dead is pounded in it : after which, by the
motion of the bottom, the live bird is set at liberty.
But surely the pounding a bird in a mortar, though it
he dead, must produce, in persons of any delicacy,
more disgust than entertainment.
28. Procure a tin box ABCD (fig. I.) about eight
inches high, four wide, and two deep, and let it be
fixed on the wooden stand E. On two of the insides
let there he a groove FG ; and in the front an opening
I, three inches wide and one high.
At the back of the box let there be a little tin door,
that opens outward, by which two wax candles M may
he put in. Let the top of the box have a cover of the
71 lomi
i oca-
'{at*
I
747
in which there are several holes, and MiscdU-
which may be taken off at pleasure. neous Per-
Provide a double glass OP (fig. 2.) constructed informa-nce*.
the same manner as that in the last experiment. On ' f
one of its sides you are to paste a black paper, the
length of which is to be divided into three parts, and
the breadth into fifteen j in every two of these fifteen
divisions you cut out letters, which will make in the
whole three answers to three questions that may be
proposed. On the other side of the glass paste a very
thin paper, and to the top fasten a small cord, by
which they may be made to rise or descend in the
groove FG.
Then take a slip of pasteboard RS (fig. 3.) one inch
and a half wide and three inches long, which is to be
divided into fifteen equal parts similar to those of the
paper OP, and cut out spaces, as in the figure, so that
this paper sliding horizontally before OP, will either
cover or conceal the papers cut in that.
This pasteboard is to slide between two brass wires,
and is to be fastened to one side of the box, by a string
that communicates with a small brass spring; and to
the other side, by a string fastened to the box by %
small piece of wax, so situated that the string may be
easily set at liberty by the heat of the candles placed
in the box.
Take a parcel of cards, and write on them different
questions, three of which are to correspond with the
answers on the glass. Shuffle these cards, and let a
person draw any one of the three questions. Then by
raising the glass, you bring the answer against the hole
in the front of the box. You next place the candles
in the box, the heat of which will melt the wax that
holds the paper RS, which being then drawn by the
spring, the answer will be visible j and in proportion
as the composition between the glasses becomes diluted
by the increase of the heat, the letters will become
more strongly illuminated.
The letters cut in the paper may be made to answer
several different questions, as has been explained in
other experiments j and the whole parcel of cards may
consist of questions that may be answered by one or
other of the three divisions of the paper.
29. Make a thin box ABCD (fig. 4.), with a cover A flower
M, that takes off. Let this box be supported by theP^dueed
pedestal FGHI, of the same metal, and on which there , n *u
is a little door L. In the front of this box is to be aas“es*
glass O.
In a groove, at a small distance from O, place a
double glass of the same sort with that in the last expe¬
riment. Between the front and back glasses place a
small upright tin tube supported by the cross piece R.
Let there he also a small chafingdisb placed in the pe¬
destal FGHI. The box is to be open behind. You
privately place a flower (q,) in the tin tube R j and
presenting one that resembles it to any one (r), desire
him to burn it on the coals in the chafingdish.
You then strew some powder over the coals, which
may be supposed to aid the ashes in producing the
flower : and then put the chafingdish on the pedestal
„ 5 ^ 2 under
(q,) This flower must not be placed so near as to make it in the least degree visible.
(r) You may present several flowers, and let the person choose any one of them. In this case, while he is
turning j
748
Miscella- under the box. As the heat by degrees melts the com-
Beotis Per- position between the glasses, the flower will gradually
Soimances. appear ^ but when the chafingdish is taken away, and
'" {[le p0vver 0f the ashes is supposed to be removed, the
flower soon disappears.
Sect. IV,
lor entertaining experiments, illusions, &c. of a Miscella
philosophical nature, seethe articles Acoustics, Ca-neons pe,'
toptrics, Chromatics, Dioptrics, Pyrotechnics, foi'm»nc«i.
Science, Amusements of,
LEGERDEMAIN.
LEG
-Leger LEGER LINE, in Music, one added to the staff of
Line, gve lines, when the ascending or descending notes run
, very high or low ; there are sometimes many of these
lines both above and below the staff, to the number of
four or five.
LEGHORN, anciently called Liburnus Portus, but
by the modern Italians Livorno, a handsome town of
Italy, in the duchy of Tuscany, and a free port, about
30 miles south-west from Florence, in the territory of
Pisa. The only defect of the harbour is its being too
shallow for large ships. Cosmo I. had this town in
exchange for Sarzana, from the Genoese ; and it is the
only sea port in the duchy. It was then but a mean
unhealthy place 5 but is now very handsome, and well
built, with broad, straight, parallel streets. It is also
well fortified ; but wants good water, which must be
brought from Pisa, 14 miles distant. It is about two
miles in circuit, and the general form of it is square.
Part of it has the convenience of canals *, one of which
is five miles in length, and, joining the Arno, merchan¬
dise and passengers are thus conveyed to Pisa. The
port, consisting of two havens, one for the duke’s gal¬
leys, and the other for merchant ships, is surrounded
with a double mole, above a mile and a half in length,
and defended, together with the town, by a good ci¬
tadel, and 12 forts. Roman Catholics, Jews, Greeks,
Armenians, Mahometans, and even the English factory,
are indulged in the public exercise of their religion 5
but other Protestants must be satisfied with the pri¬
vate. The trade carried on here is very great, and
most of it passes through the hands of the Jews.
Though only two piasters, or scudi, are paid for every
bale, great or small, imported or exported, yet the
duties on all provisions and commodities brought from
the continent to the town are very heavy. The num¬
ber of the inhabitants in 1819 was about 60,000 *, and
one-third of these are Jews, who live in a particular
quarter, but without any mark of distinction, and have
a fine synagogue. They have engrossed the coral ma¬
nufactory, have a considerable trade, and possess the
chief riches of the place. The garrison consists of
2000 men. The walks on the ramparts are very
agreeable. There is good anchorage in the road ; but
ships riding there are much exposed to the weather
and the Barbary corsairs. The number of English
families in Leghorn, some years ago, amounted to a-
bout 365 and they were formerly much favoured by
the government. The power of the inquisition is limit-
LEG
ed to ecclesiastical matters and Roman Catholics. There LepHom
are a great many Turkish slaves here, brought in by the ||
duke’s galleys, who are often sent out on a cruise a- Legion,
gainst the corsairs of Barbary. The lighthouse stands ''■""v—
on a rock in the sea ; near which is the lazaretto,
where quarantine is performed. Another source, from
which the duke draws a great revenue, is the monopoly
of brandy, tobacco, and salt but that, with the heavy
duties, makes provisions dear. The Turks, who are
not slaves, live in a particular quarter, near that of the
Jews. The common prostitutes also have a particular
place assigned them, out of which they must not be
seen, without leave from the commissary. The number
of the rowers in the galleys, whether Turkish slaves,
criminals, or volunteers, is about 2000. In the area
before the darsena or inner harbour, is a fine statue of
Duke Ferdinand, with four Turkish slaves, in bronze,
chained to the pedestal. The ducal palace is one of
the finest structures in the town, and the ordinary resi¬
dence of the governor. Leghorn is the see of a bishop,
and has a noble cathedral $ but the other churches are
not remarkabje. Leghorn did not escape those changes
in which the French revolutionary war involved the
towns and states of Italy. E. Long. 10. 6. N. Lat.
43- 32.
LEGIO VII. Gemina, in Ancient Geography, a
town or station of that legion in Asturias. Now Leon,
capital of the province of that name in Spain. W.
Long. 6. 5. N. Lat. 43—Another Legio, a town of
Galilee : from which Jerome determines the distances
of the places in Galilee j not a bare encampment,
though the name might originally be owing to that cir¬
cumstance. It lay 15 miles to the west of Nazareth,
between Mount Tabor and the Mediterranean. Now
thought to be Legune.
LEGION, in Roman antiquity, a body of foot which
consisted of different numbers at different periods of
time. The word comes from the Latin legere, to choose;
because, when the legions were raised, they made
choice of such of their youth as were most proper to
hear arms.
In the time of Romulus the legion consisted of 3000
foot and 300 horse ; though, after the reception of the
Sabines, it was augmented to 4000. In the war with
Hannibal, it was raised to jjoco, after this it sunk to
400c or 45OG ; this was the number in the time of Po¬
lybius. The number of legions kept in pay together,
differed according to times and occasions. During the
consular
burning the flower, you fetch the box from another apartment, and at the same time put in a corresponding
flower, which will make the experiment still more surprising.
LEG [ 749 1 LEI
, consular state four legions were fittetl up every year,
ijlato’r. and divided between the two consuls j yet we meet with
the number of 16 or 18, 41s the situation of afiairs re¬
quired. Augustus maintained a standing army of 23 or
25 legions ; hut this number in after times is seldom
found. The different legions borrowed their names
from the order in which they were raised ; hence we
read of legio primci, secunda, tertia : but as there mignt
be many primes, secundee, tertia:, &c. they were sur-
named from the emperors, as Augusta, Claudiana, Gal-
biana, Flavia, Ulpia, Trajana, Antoniana, &c. or from
the provinces which had been conquered by their means,
as Parthica, Scythica, Gallica, Arabica, &c. or from
the deities under whose protection the commanders had
particularly placed themselves, Adinervia, Apolhnaris,
&c. or from the regions where they were quartered, as
Cretensis, Cyrenaica, Pntannica, &c. or from particu¬
lar accidents, as adjutrix, martin, j'ulmi-vatrix, rapax,
victrix.
Each legion was divided into 10 cohorts, each cohort
into 10 companies, and each company into two centu¬
ries. The chief commander of the legion was called
legatus, i. e. lieutenant.
The standards borne by the legions were various ; at
first, the standard was a wolf, in honour of Romulus’s
nurse $ afterwards a hog, which animal was usually
sacrificed at the conclusion of a treaty, to indicate that
war is undertaken with a view to peace 5 sometimes a
minotaur, to remind the general of his duty of secrecy,
of which the labyrinth was an emblem, and conse¬
quently the minotaur *, a horse was also borne, also a
boar *, and Marius, we are told, was the first who chan¬
ged all these for the eagle.
LEGISLATOR, a lawgiver, or person who esta¬
blishes the polity and laws of a state. Such was Mo¬
ses, among the Jews ; Lycurgus, among the Lacedae¬
monians, &c. See Mosaic haw.
The first laws amongst the Athenians seem to have
been those of Theseus ; for what we can find earlier
than this period is involved in fable. After Theseus
came Draco the Archon, whose laws were said, for
their severity, to have been written with blood : by his
laws every offence was punished with death ; so that
stealing an apple, and betraying their country, were
treated as equal crimes. These laws were afterwards
repealed by Solon, except such as related to murder:
By tvay of distinction, Draco’s laws were called Garpei,
and Solon’s Nopet. The laws of Solon were in a great
measure suspended during the usurpation of Pisistratusj
but, after the expulsion of his family, were revived with
some additions by Chsthenes. Alter this, the form Oi
government was again changed, first, by the four hun¬
dred, and afterwards by the thirty tyrants; but these
storms being over, the ancient laws were again restored
in the archonship of Eoclides, and others established
at the instances of Diodes, Aristophon, and last 01 all,
of Demetrius the Phalerian. This is a short sketch of
the history of the Athenian legislation, before that
state submitted to the Roman yoke. Lu- many laws
were enacted by the suffrages of the people on parti¬
cular exigencies } the decrees of the senate continued
to have the force of laws no longer than a year. If a
new law was to he proposed to the assembly, it was ne¬
cessary to write it upon a white tablet, and fix it up
8ome days before the meeting, lest their judgment
should be caught by surprise. The laws were carefully Legislator
revised every'year j and if any of them, from a change II
of circumstances, were found unsuitable or prejudicial, Lcillllllr--
they were repealed : This was called jjTri^sigofovot rvy
vcpm, because the suffrages were given by holding up
of hands. The first laws amongst the Grecians were
unwritten and composed in verse, that the common
people might with more ease commit them to memory.
Solon penned his laws upon wooden tablets, called
A|«rsj and some authors with great probability assert
that they were written in the manner called
from left to right, and from right again to lelt, in the
same manner as oxen walk the furrows in plowing,
thus,
EK AIOS AP
•vesmux
It was against the law for any person to erase a decree j
and certain persons, called were appointed
to prevent any corruption 5 whose business it was also
to transcribe the old and enter the new ones.
At Rome the people were in a great measure their
own legislators ; though Solon may be said, in some
sense, to have been their legislator, as the decemviri,
who were created for the making of laws, borrowed a
great number from those of Solon. See Lex.
With us the legislative power is lodged in the king,
lords, and commons assembled in parliament. See Law
and Parliament.
LEGITIMATION, an act whereby illegitimate
children are rendered legitimate. See Bastard.
LEGITIME, in Scots Law, that share of the move¬
able effects belonging to a husband and wife, which up¬
on the husband’s death falls to the children. See Law
Index.
LEGUMEN, or Pod, in Botany; a species of seed-
vessel which has two valves or external openings en¬
closing a number of seeds that are fastened along one
suture only. In this last circumstance the seed vessel
in question differs from that termed by botanists
in which the enclosed seeds are fastened alternately to
both the sutures or joinings of the pod.
The seed-vessel 'of aU the pea-bloom or butterfly-
shaped flowers, the diadclphia of Linnaeus, is of this
pod kind. Such, for instance, is the s^ed-vessel of the
pea, vetch, lupine, and broom.
LEGUMINOUS, an appellation given to all plants
whose fruit is a legumen.
LEIBNITZ, Godfrey William de, an eminent
mathematician and philosopher, was born at Leipsic
in Saxony in 1646. At the age of 15 years, he applied
himself to mathematics at Leipsic and Jena ; and in
1663, maintained a thesis de Principiis Individuationis.
rpii£> year following he was admitted master of arts.
He read with great attention the Greek philosophers 5
and endeavoured to reconcile Plato with Aristotle, as
he afterwards did Aristotle with Des Cartes. But the
study of the law was his principal view ; in which fa¬
culty he was admitted bachelor in 1665* i lie year
following he would have taken the degree of doctor ;
hut was refused it on pretence that he was too young,
though in reality because he had raised himself several
enemies by rejecting the principles of Aristotle and the
schoolmen. Upon this he went to Altorf, where he
maintained a thesis deCasibus Perplcxis, with such ap¬
plause,
LEI [ 75° ] LEI
Lcibnita, plause, that he had the degree of doctor conferred on
.Leibnitziauhim. He might have settled to great advantage at
Philoaophy. parjs : but
as it would have been necessary to have
embraced the Roman Catholic religion, he refused all
offers. In 1673, he went to England 5 where he be¬
came acquainted with Mr Oldenburg, secretary of
the Royal Society, and Mr John Collins, fellow of
that society. In 1676, he returned to England, and
thence went into Holland, in order to proceed to
Hanover, where he proposed to settle. Upon his ar¬
rival there, he applied himself to enrich the duke’s li¬
brary with the best books of all kinds. The duke dy¬
ing in 1679, l,is successor Ernest Augustus, then bi¬
shop of Osnaburg, showed our author the same fa¬
vour as his predecessor had done, and ordered him to
write the history of the house of Brunswick. Pie un¬
dertook it, and travelled over Germany and Italy in
order to collect materials. The elector of Branden-
burgh, afterwards king of Prussia, founded an acade¬
my at Berlin by his advice ; and he was appointed
perpetual president, though his affairs would not per¬
mit him to reside constantly at Berlin. He projected
an academy of the same kind at Dresden j and this de¬
sign would have been executed, if it had not been pre¬
vented by the confusions in Poland. He was engaged
likewise in a scheme for an universal language. His
writings had long before made him famous over all
Europe. Beside the office of privy counsellor of jus¬
tice, which the elector of Hanover had given him, the
emperor appointed him in 1711 aulic counsellor; and
the czar made him privy counsellor of justice, with a
pension of 1000 ducats. He undertook at the same
time the establishment of an academy of science at
Vienna; but the plague prevented the execution of it.
However, the emperor, as a mark of his favour, set¬
tled a pension on him of 2000 florins, and promised
him another of 4000 if he would come and reside at
Vienna. He would have complied with this offer, but
he was prevented by death in 1716. His memory was
so strong, that in order to fix any thing in it, he had
no more to do but to write it once ; and he could even
in his old age repeat Virgil exactly. He professed the
Lutheran religion, but never went to sermon ; and up¬
on his deathbed, his coachman, who was his favourite
servant, desiring him to send for a minister, he refused,
saying had no need of one. Mr Locke and Mr Mo-
lyneux plainly seem to think that he was not so great
a man as he had the reputation of being. Foreigners
ascribed to him the honour of an invention, of which,
it is said, he received the first hints from Sir Isaac New¬
ton’s letters, who had discovered the method of fluxions
in 1664 and 1665. ®ut W0lfld be tedious to give a
detail of the dispute concerning the right to that in¬
vention. See Fluxions.
LEIBNITZIAN Philosophy, or the philosophy
of Leibnitz, is a system of philosophy formed and pub¬
lished by its author in the last century, partly in emen¬
dation of the Cartesian, and partly in opposition to the
Newtonian. The basis of Mr Leibnitz’s philosophy
was that of Des Cartes ; for he retained the Cartesian
subtile matter, with the universal plentitude and vor¬
tices ; and represented the universe as a machine that
should proceed for ever by the laws of mechanism, in
the most perfect state, by an absolute inviolable neces¬
sity, though in some things he differs from Des Car¬
tes. After Sir Isaac Newton’s philosophy was pub-j);ji) • •
fished in 1687, he printed an essay on the celestial mo-Pkile" oubv
tions, Act. Erud. 1689, where he admits of the circu*
lation of the ether with Des Cartes, and of gravity
with Sir Isaac Newton : though he has not reconciled
these principles, nor shown how gravity arose from the
impulse ol this ether, nor how to account for the pla¬
netary revolutions, and the laws of the planetary mo¬
tions in their respective orbits. That which he call*
the harmonicalcirculation is the angular velocity of any
one planet, which decreases from the perihelium to the
aphelium in the same proportion as its distance from
the sun increases ; but this law does not apply to the
motions of the different planets compared together:
because the velocities of the planets, at their mean di¬
stances, decrease in the same proportion as the square
roots of the numbers expressing those distances. Be¬
sides, his system is defective, as it does not reconcile
the circulation of the ether with the free motions of
the comets in all directions, or with the obliquity of
the planes of the planetary orbits ; nor resolve other
objections to which the hypothesis of the plenum and
vortices is liable. Soon after the period just mention¬
ed, the dispute commenced concerning the invention of
the method of fluxions, which led Mr Leibnitz to take
a very decided part in opposition to the philosophy of
Sir Isaac Newton. From the wisdom and goodness of
the Deity, and his principle of a sufficient reason, he
concluded that the universe was a perfect work, or the
best that could possibly have been made ; and that other
things, which were incommodious and evil, were permit¬
ted as necessary consequences of what was best : the
material system, considered as a perfect machine, can
never fall into disorder, or require to be set right; and
to suppose that God interposes in it, is to lessen the skill
of the Author, aud the perfection of his work. Ho
expressly charges an impious tendency on the philosophy
of Sir Isaac Newton, because he asserts, that the fabric
of the universe and course of nature could not continue
for ever in its present state, but would require, in pro¬
cess of time, to be re-established or renewed by the
hand of its Former. Tdie perfection of the universe,
by reason of which it is capable of continuing for ever
by mechanical laws in its present state, led Mr Leib¬
nitz to distinguish between the quantity of motion aad
the force of bodies ; and, whilst he owns, in opposition
to Des Cartes, that the former varies, to maintain that
the quantity of force is for ever the same in the uni¬
verse, and to measure the forces of bodies by the squares
of their velocities.
Ihis system also requires the utter exclusion of
atoms, or of any perfectly hard and inflexible bodies.
The advocates of it allege, that according to the law
of continuity, as they call a law of nature invented for
the sake of the theory, all changes in nature are pro¬
duced by insensible and infinitely small degrees ; so that
no body can, in any case, pass from motion to rest, or
from rest to motion, without passing through all pos¬
sible intermediate degrees of motion : whence they con¬
clude, that atoms or perfectly hard bodies are impos¬
sible : because if two of them should meet with equal
motions, in contrary directions, they would necessarily
stop at once, in violation of the law' of continuity.
Mr Leibnitz proposes two principles as the founda¬
tion of all our knowledge; the first, that it is impos¬
sible
LEI
[ 75i ]
L E I
fybnitj-iansible for a thing to be and not to be at the same time,
Pilloiophy. which, he says, is the foundation of speculative truth:
IJr T the other is, that nothing is without a sufficient rea¬
son why it should be so rather than otherwise ; and by
this principle, according to him, we make a transition
from abstracted truths to natural philosophy. Hence
he concludes, that the mind is naturally determined,
in its volitions and elections, by the greatest apparent
good, and that it is impossible to make a choice be¬
tween things perfectly like, which he calls indiscerni-
bles; from whence he infers, that two things perfect¬
ly like could not have been produced even by the Dei¬
ty : and he rejects a vacuum, partly because the parts
of it must be supposed perfectly like to each other.
For the same reason he also rejects atoms, and all si¬
milar particles of matter, to each of which, though
divisible in infinitum, he ascribes a monad (Act. Lipsite
1698, p. 435O or active kind of principle, endued,
as he says, with perception and appetite. The essence
of substance he places in action or activity, or, as he
expresses it, in something that is between acting and
the faculty of acting. He affirms absolute rest to be
impossible j and holds motion, or a sort of nisus, to be
essential to all material substances. Each monad he
describes as representative of the whole universe from
its point of sight j and after all, in one of his letters he
tells us, that matter is not a substance, but a substan-
tiatum, or phenomena bienfoncle. He frequently urges
the comparison between the effects of opposite motives
on the mind, and of weights placed in the scales of a
balance, or of powers acting upon the same body with
contrary directions. His learned antagonist Dr Clarke
denies that there is a similitude between a balance
moved by weights, and a mind acting upon the view
. of certain motives j because the one is entirely passive,
and the other not only is acted upon, but acts also.
The mind, he owns, is purely passive in receiving the
impression of the motive, which is only a perception,
and is not to be confounded with the power of acting
after, or in consequence of, that perception. The dif¬
ference between a man and a machine does not consist
only in sensation and intelligence, but in this power of
acting also. The balance, for want of this power, can¬
not move at all when the weights are equal.*, but a free
agent, he says, when there appear two perfectly alike
reasonable ways of acting, has still within itself a power
of choosing; and it may have strong and very good rea¬
sons not to forbear.
The translator of Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History
observes, that the progress of Arminianism has de¬
clined in Germany and several parts of Switzerland, in
consequence of the influence of the Leibnitzian and
Wolfian philosophy. Leibnitz and Wolf, by attacking
that liberty of indifference, which is supposed to im¬
ply the power of acting not only without, but against,
motives, struck, he says, at the very foundation of the
Arminian system. He adds, that the greatest possible
perfection of the universe, considered as the ultimate
end of creating goodness, removes from the doctrine
of predestination those arbitrary procedures and nar¬
row views with which the Calvinists are supposed to
have loaded it, and gives it a new, a more pleasing,
and a more philosophical aspect. As the Leibnitzians
laid down this great end as the supreme object of God’s
universal dominion, and the hope to which all his dis¬
pensations are directed ; so they concluded, that if this
end was proposed, it must be accomplished. Hence Philosophy,
the doctrine of necessity, to fulfil the purposes of a pre- Leicester,
destination founded in wisdom and goodness j a neces- ’
sity, physical and mechanical, in the motions of ma¬
terial and inanimate things, but a necessity moral and
spiritual in the voluntary determinations of intelligent
beings, in consequence of propellent motives, which
produce their effects with certainty, though these ef¬
fects be contingent, and by no means the offspring of
an absolute and essentially immutable fatality. These
principles, says the same writer, are evidently applica¬
ble to the main doctrines of Calvinism ; by them pre¬
destination is confirmed, though modified with respect
to its reasons and its end : by them irresistible grace
(irresistible in a moral sense) is maintained upon the
hypothesis of propellent motives and a moral necessity :
the perseverance of the saints is also explicable upon
the same system, by a series of moral canses producing
a series of moral effects.
LEICESTER, the capital of a county of the same
name in England, upon the river Leire, now called
Soure. From its situation on the Fosse way, and the
many coins and antiquities discovered here, it seems
probable that it was a place of some note in the time
of the Romans. In the time of the Saxons it was a
bishop’s see, and afterwards so repaired and fortified
by Edelflida, that it became, according to Matthew
Paris, a most wealthy place, having 32 parish churches j
but in Henry the Second’s reign it was in a manner
quite ruined, for joining in rebellion against him with
Robert earl of Leicester. In the reign of Edward III.
however, it began to recover by the favour of his son
Henry Piantagenet, duke and earl of Lancaster, who
founded and endowed a collegiate church and hospital
here. It is a borough and corporation, governed by
a mayor, recorder, steward, bailiff, 24 aldermen, 48
common council men, a solicitor, a town clerk, and
two chamberlains. It had its first charter from King
John. The freemen are exempt from paying toll in
all the fairs and markets of England. It has three
hospitals ; that mentioned above, built by Henry Pian¬
tagenet duke of Lancaster, and capable of supporting
100 aged people decently j another erected and en¬
dowed in the reign of Henry VIII. for 12 poor lazars j
and another for six poor widows. The castle was a pro¬
digious large building, where the duke of Lancaster
kept his court. The hall and kitchen still remain en¬
tire, of which the former is very spacious and lofty j
and in the tower over one of the gateways is kept the
magazine for the county militia. There was a famous
monastery here, anciently called from its situation in
the meadows, St Mary de Pratis or Preat. In these
meadows is now the course for the horse race. It is
said that Richard III. who was killed at the battle of
Bosworth, lies interred in St Margaret’s church. The
chief business of Leicester is the stocking trade, which
employs about 7000 or 8000 persons. In a parliament
held here in the reign of Henry V. the first law for the
burning of heretics was made, levelled against the fol¬
lowers of Wickliffe, who was rector of Lutterworth in
this county, and where his pulpit is said still to remain.
The town suffered greatly in the civil wars, by two suc¬
cessive sieges. It has given the title of earl to several
noble families. The present earl was created in 1784,
and
L E I
.Leicester and is the marquis of Townshend’s son.
|) Saturday is one of the greatest in England for provisions,
Leighlin. especially for corn and cattle. The population in 1811
1 ’ " was estimated at 23,146.
Leicestershire, an inland county of England, in
form almost circular. It has Nottinghamshire and
Derbyshire to the north ; Rutlandshire and Lincoln-
shore on the east; Warwickshire on the west, from
which it is parted by the Roman military way called
Wailing-street; and by Northamptonshire on the south ;
and is about 170 miles in circumference. As it lies
at a great distance from the sea, and is free from
bogs and marshes, the air is sweet and wholesome. It
is a champaign country in general, and abundantly
fertile in corn and grass, being watered by several ri¬
vers, as the Soure, or Sare, which passes through the
middle of it, and abounds in excellent salmon and other
fish; the Wreke, Trent, Eye, Sense, Anker, and
Aven. These rivers being mostly navigable, greatly
facilitate the trade of the county. In some parts
there is a great scarcity of fuel, both wood and coal ;
but in the more hilly parts there is plenty of both, to¬
gether with great flocks of sheep. Besides wheat, bar¬
ley, oats, and pease, it produces the best beans in
England. They grow so tall and luxuriant in some
places, particularly about Barton in the Beans, that
they look, towards the harvest time, like a forest; and
the inhabitants eat them not only when they are green
as in other places, but all the year round ; for which
reason their neighbours nickname them bean bellies.
They have plenty of good wool, of which they not on¬
ly make great quantities of stockings, but send a great
quantity unmanufactured into other parts of England.
They make great profit of their corn and pulse ; and
likewise breed great numbers of coach and dray horses.
It is not uncommon to rent grass farms from 500I. to
2000I. a-year. It is in the midland circuit, and
diocese of Lincoln : and sends four members to
parliament, two for Leicester, and two for the coun¬
ty. It contains 200 parishes ; and had 150,^ 19 inha¬
bitants in 1811.
LEIGH, Sir Edward, a very learned English¬
man, was born at Shawel in Leicestershire, and edu¬
cated at Magdalen hall, Oxford. He was a member
of the long parliament, and one of the members of the
bouse of commons who were appointed to sit in the as¬
sembly of divines. He was afterwards colonel of a re¬
giment for the parliament; but in 1648 was number¬
ed among the Presbyterians who were turned out, and
in December he was imprisoned. From this period to
the Restoration he employed himself in writing a con¬
siderable number of learned and valuable books, which
showed profound learning, a knowledge of the lan¬
guages, and much critical sagacity; and of which a
list is given by Antony Wood. Sir Edward died at
his house called Rushali Hall, in Staffordshire, June 2.
1671 ; and was buried in the chancel of Rushall
church.
LEIGHLIN, a town of Ireland, situated in the
county of Carlow, and province of Leinster; about
43 miles from Dublin, near the river Barrow. It is a
borough, and formerly returned two members to parlia¬
ment ; patronage in the bishop of the diocese, this being
a bishopric united to Ferns. At the east end of the
church of Old Leigbliu is a famous well covered with
[ 752 1 LEI
Its market on great ash trees, and dedicated to St Lasarian. This
place w'as formerly a city, though now a very mean vil¬
lage, and the cathedral has been kept in good repair.
It was a sole bishopric, founded in 632, and joined to
Ferns in 1600. It is reported, that Gurmundus a Da¬
nish prince was buried in this church. The last bishop
of Leighhn before its union with Ferns, was the right
reverend Robert Grave, who coming by sea to be in¬
stalled, suffered shipwreck in the harbour of Dublin,
and perished in the waves. This cathedral was burnt
to the ground, it is said, by lightning; and rebuilt,
A. D. 1232, then dedicated to St Lasarian or Lazari-
nus, before mentioned ; since the sees were joined, it is
made use of as a parish church. Leighlin bridge is
situated about two miles from this village; it was de¬
stroyed by the Irish in 1577. Here are the remains of
a castle and of an old abbey. This is a post town, and
has fairs in May, September, and October.
LEIGHTON, Robert, archbishop of Glasgow.
During Cromwell’s usurpation, he was minister of a
church near Edinburgh, and distinguished himself by
his charity, and his aversion to religious and political
disputes. The ministers were then called over yearly
in the synod, and were commonly asked, Whether they
had preached to the times ? “ For God’s sake (answer¬
ed Leighton), when all my brethren preach to the
times, suffer me to preach about eternity.” His mo¬
deration, however, giving offence, he retired to a life
of privacy. But soon after, he was called by the una¬
nimous voice of the magistrates, to preside over the col¬
lege of Edinburgh ; where, during ten years, he dis¬
played all the talents of a prudent, wise, and learned
governor. Soon after the Restoration, when the ill-
judged affair of introducing Episcopacy into Scotland
was resolved on, Leighton was consecrated bishop of
Dunblane, and immediately gave an instance of his
moderation : for when Sharpe and the other bishops in¬
tended to enter Edinburgh in a pompous manner,
Leighton remonstrated against it; but finding that what
he said had no weight, he left them, and went to Edin¬
burgh alone. Leighton, in his own diocese, set such a
remarkable example of moderation, that he was revered
even by the most rigid of the opposite party. He went
about, preaching without any appearance of pomp;
he gave all he had to the poor; and removed none of
the ministers, however exceptionable he might think
their political principles. But finding that none of the
other bishops would be induced to join, as he thought,
properly in the work, he went to the king, and resign¬
ed his bishopric, telling him he would not have a hand
in such oppressive measures. Soon after, the king and
council, partly induced by this good bishop’s remon¬
strances, and partly by their own observations, resolved
to carry on the cause of Episcopacy in Scotland on a
different plan ; and with this view, Leighton was per¬
suaded to accept of the archbishopric of Glasgow, on
which he made one effort more; but finding it not in
his power to stem the violence of the times, he resigned
his archbishopric, and retired into Sussex, where he de¬
voted himself to acts of piety. He died in the year
1684. He was of a most amiable disposition, strict in
his life, polite, cheerful, engaging in his manners, and
profoundly learned. He left many sermons and useful
tracts, which are greatly esteemed.
LEINSTER, the eastern province of Ireland, bound¬
ed
LEI [7S3] LEI
Jn’iistei- ed by Ulster on the north j St George’s, or the Irish
channel, on the east and south j and by the provinces
*tth. 0f Connaught and Munster on the west. The capital
city of this province and of the kingdom is Dublin.
It contains 12 counties, viz. Carlow, Dublin, Kildare,
Kilkenny, King’s county, Longford, Louth, Meath,
Queen’s county, West Meath, Wexford, and Wick¬
low. It is the most level and best cultivated province
in the kingdom ; containing 2,642,958 Irish planta¬
tion acres, 858 parishes, 99 baronies, and 53 bo¬
roughs-, it is about 124 miles long and 74 broad, and
extends from 510 457 to 550 45' north latitude. Der-
mond king of Leinster marrying his daughter Lva to
Strongbow earl of Pembroke, on his decease made him
liis universal heir ; whereby the earl inherited the pro¬
vince of Leinster, and was afterwards enfeoffed ot it
by Henry II. He died in 1176, and left an only
daughter Isabel, espoused to William Marshal earl of
Pembroke ; by her he had five sons, who succeeded to
his great estates in Leinster. This province gives title
of duke to the ancient and noble family of Fitzgerald.
In the early ages, this district was almost one conti¬
nued forest, and was principally the seat of the Kinse-
laghs.
LEIPSIC, a large, strong, and populous town of
Saxony in Germany, with a castle, and a famous uni¬
versity. It is neat, and regularly built, and the streets
are lighted in the night j it. carries on a great trade,
and has a right to stop and sell the merchandises de¬
signed to pass through it, and the country for 75 miles
round has the same privilege. There are three great
fairs every year, at the beginning of the year, Easter
and Michaelmas, which last 15 days each. There are
six handsome colleges belonging to the university, be¬
sides the private colleges. The townhouse makes an
indifferent appearance, but the exchange is a fine struc¬
ture. It is seated in a plain near the confluence of the
Playsse, the Elster, and the Barde. A battle was
fought here on the 18th October 1813, between the
French under Bonaparte, and the Russians, Austrians,
and Prussians, which ended in the tota.1 defeat of the
former. E. Long. 12. 55. N. Lat. 51. 19.
LEITH, (anciently called Inverleitfi), the port of
Edinburgh, is seated on the banks of the Forth, about
two miles from the capital. It is built on both sides of
the harbour ; by which it is divided into two parts, cal¬
led North and South Leith. The communication be¬
tween these was by a stone bridge of three arches found¬
ed by Robert Ballantyne abbot of Holyroodhouse in
1495, but many years ago pulled down. 1 lie harbour
is formed by the conflux of the rivulet called the JFater
of Leith with the frith of Forth. The depth of water,
at neap tides, is about nine feet; but in high spring
tides, it is about 16 feet. In the beginning of the 18th
century, the town council of Edinburgh improved the
harbour at an enormous expence, by extending a stone
pier a considerable way into the sea. In 1777’ they
erected an additional stone quay towards its west side.
Upwards of 100 ships could then lie conveniently in this
port : but it can now admit of a much greater number,
in consequence of improvements. In order to enlarge
it, the old bridge was pulled down, and a drawbridge
erected a little "to the eastward. A second drawbridge,
lower down, and upon a more improved plan, has since
been built. It is accommodated with wet and dry
Vol. XL Part II. +
docks, and other conveniences for ship-building, which Leith,
is there carried on to some extent, as vessels come to
Leith to be repaired from many parts of Scotland. A
new bason was completed and opened in 1805, which
affords a safe and convenient station for trading ves¬
sels ; and another of the same size was opened in 1817.
The road of Leith affords good anchorage for ships of
the greatest size.
About the close of the American war, when the peo¬
ple w'ere alarmed by the appearance of Paul Jones in the
frith with no more than three armed vessels, threaten¬
ing to destroy all the ships in the roads and harbour, a
battery was erected to the westward of the citadel. A
party of artillery with a considerable park is constantly
stationed at the battery. A martello tower, a quarter
of a mile from the pier-end, has since been added.
The harbour of Leith was granted to the community
of Edinburgh by King Robert in 1329 ; but the banks
of the harbour belonged to Logan of Restalrig, a tur¬
bulent and ambitious baron, from whom the citizens
were under the necessity of purchasing the bank or
waste piece of ground between the houses and the rivu¬
let above mentioned, for the purposes of wharfs, as well
as for erecting shops and granaries, neither of which
they could do before. As the situation of Leith, how¬
ever, is much more convenient for trade than that of
Edinburgh, which is two miles distant from the har¬
bour, the inhabitants of the metropolis have fallen upon
various methods of restraining the trade of Leith. They
first purchased, from Logan of Restalrig, an exclusive
privilege of carrying on every species of traffic in the
town of Leith, and of keeping warehouses and inns for
the entertainment of strangers in that place ; and in
1483, the town council prohibited, under severe penal¬
ties, the citizens of Edinburgh from taking into part¬
nership any inhabitant of Leith. To free themselves
from this oppression, the people of Leith purchased the
superiority of their town from Logan of Restalrig, for
3000!. Scots, and it was erected into a burgh of barony
by the queen regent, Mary of Lorraine, who promised
to erect it into a royal borough. She died, however,
before this was accomplished ; and upon her death,
Francis and Mary, in violation of the private rights of
the people of Leith, resold the superiority to the town
of Edinburgh, to whom it has since been confirmed by
grants from successive sovereigns.
On the breaking out of the disturbances at the Re¬
formation, the queen regent caused the whole town to
be fortified, that the French troops might have a more
ready inlet into the kingdom. It was accordingly sur¬
rounded with a wall, having eight bastions: but this
wall went no farther than the street now called Ber¬
nard's nook, because at that time the sea came up the
length of that street; and even as late as 1623, a house
situated exactly where the weigh-house is at present, is
described as bounded on the east by the “ sand of the
sea shore.” All that space, therefore, on which the
row of houses neat est the harbour of Leith now stands,
has been gained since that time from the sea.
In the time of Charles I. a fortification was erected
at Leith by the Covenanters. Cromwell built a strong
fort at the place still called the citadel in North Leith;
but it was pulled down.on the restoration of Charles II.
by order of government. A gate with portcullises
are the present remains of that fortification.—A pa-
5 C lace
LEI [ 754 ] LEI
Leith, lace also appears to have formerly stood here, situated
“■"v at the north-east boundaries of the former town, on the
spot where the present weigh-house stands. It was de¬
stroyed by the English in the time of Henry VIII. The
remains of this building, called the king's work, with
a garden, and a piece of waste land that surrounded it,
was erected into a barony by James VI. and bestowed
upon Bernard Lindsay of Lochill, groom of the cham¬
ber to that prince. He is said to have fully repaired,
and appropriated it to the recreations of the court; but
it soon fell from its dignity, and became subservient to
much more ignoble purposes. The tennis court was
converted into a weigh-house j and the street which
bounds it still bears the name of the founder, from
whence it is called Bernard's nook.
As Leith lay within the parish of Restalrig, the
church of Restalrig was of consequence the place of
worship for the inhabitants of Leith j but in 1650 the
Assembly ordered that church to be pulled down as a
monument of idolatry, so that Leith wanted a parish
church for upwards of 50 years. During that period
they resorted for worship to a large and beautiful cha¬
pel already built, and dedicated to St Mary, which is
now called South Leith Church ; and in 1609 this cha¬
pel was by authority of parliament declared to be the
parish church of the district: so that Restalrig is now
in the parish of South Leith, as the. latter was formerly
in that of Restalrig. In lyyg, a chapel of ease was
erected by the inhabitants, as the parish church was in¬
sufficient to contain the number of hearers. There are
also an Episcopal and several dissenting congrega¬
tions in Leith. North Leith is a parish by itself, and
a handsome new church was built there for the accom¬
modation of the inhabitants in 1816. A new school
was built by subscription in 1805.
Though a very great trade is carried on betwreen
Leith and many foreign ports, yet the articles of ex¬
port and import fluctuate so much, that it would be
useless to enter into any details either as to species or
quantity. In general, the imports from France, Spain,
and Portugal, are wines, brandy, and fruits j from
the West Indies and America, rice, indigo, rum, su¬
gar, and logwood. But the principal foreign trade of
Leith is by the eastern seas, for the navigation of which
it is most happily situated. To Germany, Holland,
and the Baltic, it exports lead, glass ware, linen and
woollen stuff*, and a variety of other goods; and from
thence it imports immense quantities of timber, oak.
bark, hides, linen rags, pearl ashes, flax, hemp, tar, and
many other articles. The Baltic trade was long car¬
ried on to a great extent, but has rather diminished.
The number of vessels which entered inwards in 1818,
was, in the foreign trade, 398 British, and 121 fo¬
reign ; outwards, 281 British, and 49 foreign. Of coast-
ting vessels there entered inwards 2115, outwards
1447. rIhe coasting trade is a principal branch for the
shipping at Leith, including those which belong to other
ports on the lorth, which are said to make about one-
fourth of the tonnage of the Leith vessels. The vessels
employed in the London trade, which amount to 27,
belonging to four companies, are in general of a large
size, elegantly constructed, well manned, and furnish¬
ed with excellent accommodations for passengers. Du¬
ring this year (1821) steam boats have begun to ply
between Leith and London. Jliese vessels carry pas- t •
sengers only, and make the voyage in about 60 hours.
The largest ships in this port, however, are those tm- V
P1(fH in the Greenland fishery. The annual amount
of shore dues averages io,oool.; harbour dues, after
deducting pilotage, about 2000I. and dock dues about
5000I.
The shipping at Leith renders the demand for ropes,
sail cloth, and cordage, very considerable; and differ¬
ent companies carry on these manufactures, besides
private persons who deal less considerably. The first
of those companies was established in the beginning of
the 18th century. I his has proved a prosperous and
lucrative concern.
In the middle of the 17th century, a manufactory of
green glass was established at the citadel of Leith.
Chopin bottles were sold at 4s. 6d. per dozen, and
other bottles in proportion. Soon afterwards this ar¬
ticle was manufactured also in North Leith; and in
chopin bottles were sold at 2s. 6d. per dozen,
and so on proportionably. That house being burnt
down in 1746, a new house was built the following
year on South Leith sands, and an additional one in
1764. Two companies are now engaged in the glass
manufacture ; the one for common bottles, and the other
for window glass and crystal ware of all sorts. Manu¬
factures of soft soap and candles were erected by St
Clair of Roslin and some merchants; the former in
175°, and the latter in 1770: a manufacture of hard
soap was also established in 1770.
There is, beside a branch of the British Linen Compa¬
ny, a banking house in Leith, called the Leith Banking
Company, who issue notes, and carry on business to a
considerable extent. An elegant building for the ac¬
commodation ®f this company was erected in 1807.
The inhabitants of Leith were divided into four
classes ; and these erected into corporations by the
queen dowager, Mary of Lorraine. These were ma¬
riners, mailmen, trades, and traffickers. The first of
these consisted of shipmasters and sailors ; the second,
of malt-makers and brewers ; the third of coopers, ba¬
kers, smiths, wrights, &.C.; and the fourth, of mer¬
chants and shopkeepers. Of these corporations the
mariners are the most considerable. They obtained
from Mary of Lorraine a gift, afterwards ratified by
William and Mary, of one penny duty on the ton of
goods in the harbour of Leith, for the support of their
poor. This duty, which not many years ago did not
amount to 40I. a-year, now rises from 70I. to 120I.
as trade flourishes. For the same purposes the ship¬
masters also pay 6d. a pound cut ot their own wages
annually; and the like sum they give upon the wage*
of their sailors. From these and other donations, this
corporation is enabled to pay from 600I. to 700I. a-
year to their poor. Opposite to South Leith church
there is a handsome building belonging to them, called
the Trinity Hospital, because originally consecrated to
the Holy Trinity. In this house some of their poor
used formerly to be maintained, but now they are ail
out-pensioners.
As the town of Leith was very ill supplied with wa¬
ter, and the streets were neither properly cleaned nor
lighted, an act for remedying these defects was passed
in the year 1771, appointing certain persons from
among
L E L [ 755 ] L E L
11 ; LtitU mong the magistrates of Edinburgh, lords of session,
A inhabitants of Edinburgh and Leith, and members of
Lid and. ^l,e corporations of Leith, commissioners of police; em-
' powering them to put this act in execution ; and, for
that purpose, to levy a sum not exceeding 6d. in the
pound upon the valued rent of Leith. The great
change which has since taken place on the streets of
Leith shows the good effect of this act, and that it has
both been judiciously prepared, and attentively executed.
Leith, however, has never been well supplied with wa¬
ter: that brought in pipes from Lochend in the eastern
part of the parish is not of a good quality, for it is not
derived from springs.
In 1801, Leith contained 20,363 inhabitants 5 and
by the returns in the present year (1821), the number
ia found to be, 26,000.
LEITRIM, a county of Ireland, situated in the pro¬
vince of Connaught, is bounded on the north by the bay
of Donnegal and part of Fermanagh, on the south and
west by Sligo and Roscommon, and on the east by Fer¬
managh and Cavan. It is a fruitful county; and, though
mountainous, produces great herds of black cattle ; but
has few places of note. It contains 206,830 Irish
plantation acres, 21 parishes, 5 baronies, and 2 bo¬
roughs, and formerly sent six members to parliament ;
and is about 42 miles long, and 17 broad.
Leitrim, the shire town of the county of that name,
is pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Shan¬
non, about 80 miles from Dublin ; and appears to have
been formerly a place of some note. St Mac Liegus,
•on of Cernac, was bishop here : and his festival is ob-
•erved on the 8th of February.
LEIXLIP, a post and fair town of Ireland, plea¬
santly situated in the county of Kildare, and pro¬
vince of Leinster, about eight miles from Dublin.
Near it are the ruins of the church and castle of
Confy. The castle of Leixlip is beautifully situated
on the banks of the river Lifi'ey : it is a fine edifice,
with large and pleasant gardens, at one side of which
i* a fine waterfall called the Salmon leap, there be¬
ing plenty of that species of fish hereabouts. A mile
from this is Castletown, the magnificent seat of Mr
Conoily.
LELA.ND, John, a celebrated English antiquary,
was born in London about the year 1307- Having
lost his parents when a child, he had the good for¬
tune to find a friend and patron in one Mr Thomas
Miles, who placed him in St Paul’s school, of which
the grammarian Lilye was master. Irom that school
he was sent to Christ’s college, Cambridge ; whence,
after some years residence, he removed to All-Souls,
Oxford. From Oxford he went to Paris, chiefly with
a design to study the Greek language, which at that
time was but little understood in this kingdom. On
his return to England he took orders, and was soon
appointed chaplain to King Henry VIII. who also
gave him the rectory of Poppeling, in the marshes of
Calais, appointed him his librarian, and in 1533
granted to him, by commission under the great seal,
the office of king’s antiquary, an office never borne
by any other person before or since. By this com¬
mission he was empowered to search for ancient writ¬
ings in all the libraries of colleges, abbeys, priories,
dee. in his majesty’s dominions. We are told by bis
last biographer, that he renounced Popery soon after Leland.
his return to England ; but he quotes no authority. Be v—-
this as it may, in 1536 he obtained a dispensation to
keep a curate at Poppeling, and set out on his journey
in search of antiquities. In this employment he spent
six years, during which time he visited every part of
England where monuments of antiquity were to be ex¬
pected. After his return, in the year 1542, he was pre¬
sented by the king to the rich rectory of Haseley in Ox¬
fordshire ; and in the following year he gave him a pre¬
bend of King’s college, now Christ’s church, in Oxford,
besides that of East and WestKnowle, in the cathedral
of Salisbury. Being thus amply provided for, he re¬
tired to a house of his own in the parish of St Michael
le Querne in London, where he spent six years more in
digesting the materials which he had collected. King
Henry VIII. died in 1547 j and in a short time after,
poor Leland lost his senses. He was at first seized
with a deep melancholy, which was succeeded by a to¬
tal deprivation of his reason. In this dreadful state
he continued till the beginning of the year 1552, when
he was happily released by death. He was buried in
the church of St Michael le Querne, which was destroy¬
ed by the fire in 1666. Mr Leland is remembered as
a man of great learning, an universal linguist, an ex¬
cellent Latin poet, and a most indefatigable and skil¬
ful antiquary. On his death, King Edward VI. gave
all his papers to Sir John Checke, his tutor and Latin
secretary of state. The king dying, and Sir John be¬
ing obliged to leave the kingdom, he gave four folio vo¬
lumes of Leland’s collections to Humphrey Purefoy,
Esq. which in 1612, were by his son given to William
Burton, author of the history of Leicestershire. Tim
gentleman also became possessed of the Itinerary in
8 vols folio, which, in 1632, he deposited in the Bod¬
leian library. Many other of Leland’s manuscripts,
after the death of Sir John Checke, fell info the hand*
of Lord Paget, Sir William Cecil, and others, which
at last fortunately came into the possession of Sir John
Cotton. These manuscripts were of great use to all
our subsequent antiquarians, particularly Camden, Sir
William Dugdale, Stowe, Lambard, Dr Batteley, Ant.
Wood, &c. His Itinerary throughout most parts of
England and Wales, was published by Mr Hearne,
9 vols 8vo, in 1710-11 ; as was also his Collectanea de
rebus Britannicis, 6 vols 8vo, in 1715*
Leland, John, a distinguished writer in defence of
Christianity, was born at Wrigan in Lancashire in 1691,
of eminently pious and virtuous parents. They took
the earliest care to season his mind with proper instruc¬
tions ; but, in his sixth year, the smallpox deprived
him of his understanding and memory, and expunged
all his former ideas. He continued in this deplorable
state near a twelvemonth, when his faculties seemed to
spring up anew; and though he did not retain the
least traces of any impressions made on him before the
distemper, yet he nowr discovered a quick apprehension
and strong memory. In a few years after, his parents
settled in Dublin, which situation gave him an easy
introduction to learning and the sciences. When he
was properly qualified by years and study, he was cal¬
led to be pastor to a congregation of Protestant dissen¬
ters in that city. He was an able and acceptable
preacher, but his labours were not confined to the pul-
5 C 2 pit.
L E L [ 756 ] L E 'M
L“!anJ pit. The many attacks made on Christianity, and by
j !! some writers of no contemptible al)ilities, engaged liim
e -v' , to consider the subject with the exactest care, and the
most faithful examination. Upon the most deliberate
inquiry, the truth and divine original, as well as the
excellence and importance of Christianity, appearing
to him with great lustre, he published answers to seve¬
ral authors who appeared successively in that cause.
He was indeed a master in this controversy ; and his
history of it, styled “ A View of the Deistical Writers
that have appeared in England in the last and present
Century,” &c. is very greatly and deservedly esteem¬
ed. In the decline of life he published another labo¬
rious work, entitled “ The Advantage and Necessity
of the Christian Revelation, shown from the State of
Religion in the ancient Heathen World, especially
with respect to the Knowledge and Worship of the One
true God j a Rule of Moral Duty, and a State of Fu¬
ture Rewards and Punishments : to which is prefixed,
a long and preliminary Discourse on Natural and Re¬
vealed Religion,” 2 vols 410. This noble and exten¬
sive subject, the several parts of which have been slight¬
ly and occasionally handled by other writers, Leland
has treated at large with the greatest care, accuracy,
and candour. And, in his “ View of the Deistical
Writers,” his cool and dispassionate manner of treating
their arguments, and his solid confutation of them,
have contributed more to depress the cause of atheism
and infidelity, than the angry zeal of warm disputants.
Rut not only his learning and abilities, but also his
amiable temper, great modesty, and exemplary life, re¬
commended his memory to general esteem and affec¬
tion. He died in 1766.
LELEGEIS, the ancient name of Miletus, from
the Leleges, the first inhabitants of it.
LELEGES, anciently a people of Asia, of Greek
original : the name denoting “ a collection of people
they first occupied the islands ; then passing over to the
continent, they settled partly in Mysia on the Sinus
Adramyttenus, and partly in that part of Ionia next
Caria.—-There were Leleges also of Laconia. These
went to the Trojan war with Altes their king. Achilles
plundered their country, and obliged them to retire to
the neighbourhood of Halicarnassus, where they fixed
their habitation.—The inhabitants of Laconia and of
Megara also bore this name for some time, from Lelex
one of their kings.
LELEX, an Egyptian who came with a colony to
Megara, where he reigned about 200 years before the
Trojan war. His subjects were called from him Lele¬
ges.— Also the name ot a Greek who was the first king
of Laconia in Peloponnesus. His subjects were also
called Leleges, and the country where he reigned Le-
legia.
LELY, Sir Peter, an eminent painter, was born
in Westphalia in the year 1617. He was placed as a
disciple with Peter Grebber at Haerlem ; and in 1641
was induced, by the encouragement. Charles I. gave to
the hne arts, to come to England. He became state-
painter to Charles II. who knighted him ; and being as
complete a gentleman as a painter, that king took plea¬
sure in conversing with him. He practised portrait paint¬
ing, and succeeded so well that he was preferred before
all his contemporaries. Hence he became perpetually
involved in business; so that he was thereby prevented
from going into Italy to finish the course of his stu¬
dies, which in his younger days he was very desirous
ot : however, he made himself amends, by getting the
best drawings, prints, and paintings, of the most cele¬
brated Italian masters. Among these were the better
part of the Arundel Collection, which he had from
that family, many whereof were sold after his death at
prodigious rates, hearing upon them his usual mark
of P. L.—The advantage he reaped from this collec¬
tion, the best chosen of any one of his time, appears
from that admirable style which he acquired by daily
conversing with the works of those great masters. In
his correct draught and beautiful colouring, hut more
especially in the graceful airs of his heads, and the
pleasing variety of his postures, together with the gentle
and loose management of the draperies, he excelled
most of his predecessors. Yet the critics remark, that
he preserved in almost all his female faces a drowsy
sweetness of the eyes peculiar to himself j for which he
is reckoned a mannerist. The hands of his portraits
are remarkably fine and elegantly turned 5 and he fre¬
quently added landscapes in the back grounds of his
pictures, in a style peculiar to himself, and better suit¬
ed to his subject than most men could do. He excel¬
led likewise in crayon painting. He was familiar with,
and much respected by, persons of the greatest emi¬
nence in the kingdom. He became enamoured of a
beautiful English lady, to whom he was some time af¬
ter married ; and he purchased an estate at Kew in the
county of Surrey, to which he often retired in the lat¬
ter part of his life. He died of an apoplexy in 1680
at London ; and was buried at Covent Garden church,
where there is a marble monument erected to his me¬
mory, with his bust, carved by Mr Gibbons, and a La¬
tin epitaph, written, as is said, by Mr Flatman.
LEMBERG, a town of Poland, capital of Red
Russia, seated in the palatinate of Lemburg, on the ri¬
ver Pelteu. It is pretty well fortified, and defended by
two citadels, one of which is seated on an eminence with¬
out the town. The square, the churches, and the pub¬
lic buildings, are magnificent; and it is a large and rich
trading place. It has a Roman Catholic archbishop,
and an Armenian as well as a Russian bishop ; but the
Protestants are not tolerated. The city was reduced
to the last extremity by the rebel Cossacs and Tartars,
and was forced to redeem itself with a great sum of mo¬
ney. In 1672, it was besieged in vain by the Turks j
but in 1704, was taken by storm by Charles XII. of
Sweden. E. Long. 23. 59. N. Lat. 49. 51.
LEMERY, Nicholas, a celebrated chemist, born
at Rouen in Normandy in 1645. After having made
the tour of France, he, in 1672, commenced an ac¬
quaintance with M. Martyn, apothecary to Monsieur
the Prince j and performed several courses of chemistry
in the laboratory of this chemist at the Hotel de Conde ;
which brought him to the knowledge and esteem of
the prince. He provided himself at length with a la¬
boratory of his own, and might have been made a doc¬
tor of physic : but he chose to continue an apothecary,
from his attachment to chemistry, in which he opened
public lectures 5 and his confluence of scholars was so
great as scarcely to allow him room to perform his
operations. The true principles of chemistry in his
time were but ill understood ; Lemery was the first
who abolished the senseless jargon of barbarous terms,
reduced
Jemeiy
B
ninos.
LEM [ 757 3
reduced the science to clear and simple ideas, and pro- dered bj their wives,
mised nothing that he did not perform. In 1681, he
was disturbed on account of his religion j and came to
England, where he was well received by Charles II.:
but a Bairs not promising him the same tranquillity, he
returned to France, and sought for shelter under a doc¬
tor’s degree j but the revocation of the edict of Nantz
drove him into the Romish communion to avoid perse¬
cution. He then became associate chemist and pension¬
ary in the Royal Academy of Sciences, and died in
1715. He wrote, A course of chemistry j An univer¬
sal pharmacopoeia; An universal treatise of drugs 5
and, a treatise on antimony.
LEMING, in Zoology. See Mus, Mammalia
Index.
LEMMA, (of Xttf&xw, “ I assume,”) in Mathema¬
tics, denotes a previous proposition, laid down in order
to clear the way for soma following demonstration j
and prefixed either to theorems, in order to render
their demonstration less perplexed and intricate } or to
problems, to make their resolution more easy and short.
Thus, to prove a pyramid one-third of a prism, or pa¬
rallelepiped, of the same base and height with it, the
demonstration whereof in the ordinary way is difficult
and troublesome $ this lemma may be premised, which
is proved in the rules of progression, that the sum of
the series of the squares, in numbers in arithmetical
progression, beginning from o, and going on I, 4> 9»
16, 25, 36, &c. is always subtriple of the sum of as
many terms, each equal to the greatest j or is always
one-third of the greatest term multiplied by the num¬
ber of terms. Thus, to find the inflection of a curve
line, this lemma is first premised, that a tangent may
be drawn to the given curve in a given point.
So in physics, to the demonstration of most propo¬
sitions, such lemmata as these are necessary first to be
allowed: that there is no penetration of dimensions;
that all matter is divisible ; and the like. As also in
the theory of medicine, that where the blood circu¬
lates, there is life, &c.
LEMNA, DuckmeaT, a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the moncecia class ; and in the natural method
ranking under the 54^* order, Mtscellanecs. See Bo¬
tany Index.
LEMNIAN EARTH, Terra Lemnia, a medicinal,
astringent sort of earth, of a fatty consistence and red¬
dish colour; used in the same cases as HOLE. It has
its name from the island of Lemnos, whence it is cnief-
ly brought. Many form it into round cakes, and im¬
press a seal upon it; whence it is also called teira si-
gillata. A sort is said to be imported from Sene¬
gal, which is not properly an earth, though so called,
but composed of the dried pulp of the fruit of the
Baobab.
LEMNIUS, Ltevinus, a famous physician, horn at
Ziric Zee in Zealand, in 1505. He practised physic
with applause; and after his wife’s death being made
priest, became canon of Zinc Zee, where he died in
1560. He left several works, the principal of which
is entitled De occultis naturae miracuhs.
LEMNOS, in Ancient Geography, a noble island in
the jEgean sea, near Thrace, called also Dipolis, from
its consisting of two towns. 1 he first inhabitants were
the Pelasgi, or rather the Thracians, who were mur-
L E M
     After them came the children
of the Lemnian widows by the Argonauts, whose de¬
scendants were at last expelled by the Pelasgi, about
1100 Ye:irs before the Christian era. Lemnos is about
112 miles in circumference according to Pliny; who
says, that it is often shadowed by Mount Athos, though
at the distance of 87 miles. It has been called Hipsi-
pyle from Queen Hipsipyle. It is famous for a certain
kind of earth or chalk called terra Lemnii, or terra
sigillata, from the seal or impression which it can bear,
and which is used for consolidating wounds. As the
inhabitants were blacksmiths, the poets have taken oc¬
casion to fix the forges of Vulcan in that island, and to
consecrate the whole country to his divinity. Lemnos
is also celebrated for a labyrinth, which, according to
some traditions, surpassed those of Crete and Egypt.
Some remains of it were still visible in the age of Pliny.
The island of Lemnos was reduced under the power of
Athens by Miltiades.
LEMON. See Citrus, Botany Inaex.
Lemon Island, one of the Skelig islands so called ;
situated off the coast of the county of Eerry, in the
province of Munster in Ireland. It is rather a round
rock, always above water, and therefore no way dan¬
gerous to ships. An incredible number of gannets and
other birds breed here ; and it is remarkable that the
gannet nestles nowhere on the southern coasts of Ire¬
land but on this rock, though many of them are seen
on all parts of our coast on the wing. There is ano¬
ther rock on the northern coast of Ireland remarkable
for the same circumstance.
LEMONADE, a liquor prepared of water, sugar,
and lemon or citron juice, which is very cooling and
grateful.
LEMOVICES, a people of Aquitania, situated be¬
tween the Bituriges Cubi to the north, the Arverni to
the east, the Cadurci to the south, and the Pictones to
the west. Now the Limosin, and La Marche.
LEMUR, the Maucauco, a genus of quadrupeds
belonging to the order of primates. See Mammalia
Index.
LEMURES, in antiquity, spirits or hobgoblins;
restless ghosts of departed persons, who return to ter¬
rify and torment the living.
These are the same with larva;, which the ancients
imagined to wander round the world, to frighten good
people, and plague the bad. For which reason at
Rome they had lemuria or feasts instituted to appease
the manes of the defunct. See Lares.
Apuleius explains the ancient notion of manes thus:
the souls of men released from the bands of the body,
and freed from performing their bodily functions, be¬
come a kind of demons or genii, formerly called lemu-
res. Of these lemures, those that were kind to their
families were called lares familiares; but those who,
for their crimes, were condemned to wander continu¬
ally, without meeting with any place of rest, and ter¬
rified good men, and hurt the bad, are vulgarly called
larvce.
An ancient commentator on Horace mentions, that
the Romans wrote lemures for remures; which last
word was formed from Remus, who was killed by his
brother Romulus, and who returned to the earth to tor¬
ment him.
But
L E N
Mouses.
Lefnures But Apnleius observes, that in the ancient Latin
D tongue lemurcs signifies the soul of a man separated
from the body by death.
/ LEMURIA, or Lemuralia, a feast solemnized at
Rome, on the 9th of May, to pacify the manes of the
dead, or in honour of the lemures.—It was institut¬
ed by Romulus, to appease the ghost of his murder¬
ed brother Remus, which he thought was continually
pursuing him to revenge the horrid crime.—The name
lemuria is therefore supposed to be a corruption of Re-
muria, i. e. the least ot Remus. Sacrifices continued
for three nights, the temples were shut up, and mar¬
riages were prohibited during the solemnity. A va¬
riety of whimsical ceremonies were performed, magical
words made use of, and the ghosts desired to withdraw,
without endeavouring to hurt or affright their friends
above ground. The chief formalities were ablution,
putting black beans into their mouths, and beating
kettles and pans, to make the goblins keep their di¬
stance.
LENA, a great river of Siberia in Asia, which
takes its rise in N. Lat. 50. 30. and E. Long. 124. 30.
from Ferro. After traversing a large tract of country, it
divides itself into five branches about Lat. 730. Three
of these run westward, and two eastward, by which it
discharges itself into the Icy sea. Its three western
mouths lie in 1430 E. Long, from Ferro, but the
eastern ones extend to 153. The current is everywhere
slow, and its bed entirely free from rocks. The bot¬
tom is sandy, and the banks are in some places rocky
and mountainous. Sixteen large rivers fall into the
Lena during its course to the northern ocean.
LEN^EA, a festival kept by the G reeks in honour of
Bacchus, at which there was much feasting and Baccha¬
nalian jollity, accompanied with poetical contentions,
and the exhibition of tragedies. The poor goat was
generally sacrificed on the occasion, and treated with
various marks of cruelty and contempt, as being natu¬
rally fond of browsing on the vine shoots.
LENCICIA, a strong town of Poland, and capital
of a palatinate of the same name, with a fort seated on
a rock. The nobility of the province held their diet
here. It stands in a morass on the banks of the river
Bsura, in E. Long. 19. 17. N. Lat. 51. 52.
LENDING-Houses. That it should have once been
conceived unlawful to exact interest for the loan of mo¬
ney will not appear surprising, when it is considered,
that at an early period the occupations by which a man
could support his family were neither so numerous nor
productive as in modern times. As money, therefore,
was at that time sought to remove immediate necessity,
those who advanced it were influenced by benevolence
and friendship. But on the extension of trade, arts,
and manufactures, money lent produced much more
than what was adequate to the borrower’s daily support,
and therefore the lender might reasonably expect from
him some remuneration. To the lending of money up¬
on interest, according to the earliest accounts we have,
succeeded the practice of establishing funds for the re¬
lief of the needy, on condition that they could de¬
posit any thing in value equal to double the sum bor¬
rowed, for which they were to pay no interest.
But as, on the one hand, the idea of exacting inte¬
rest for the loan of money was odious to the members
of the Popish church in general, and as, on the other,
[ 758 ]
L E N
it appeared highly proper and even necessary, to pay in¬
terest for money to be employed in commerce, the pon¬
tiffs themselves at length allowed the lending-house to
take a moderate interest; and in order not to alarm the
prejudices of those to whom the measure was obnoxious,
it was concealed under the name of being paid pi'o in~
de?nnitate>—the expression made use of in the papal
bull.
It appears that lending-houses, which gave money on
the receipt of pledges, at a certain interest, are by no
means of recent date $ for many of the houses of this
nature, in Italy at least, were established in the 15th
century, by Marcus Bononiensis, Michael a Carcano,
Cherubinus Spoletanus, Antonius Yercellensis, Bernar-
dinus Tomitano, and others.
The lending-house at Perugia, established by Barna¬
bas Interamnensis, was inspected by Bernardinus in
I4^5» vv!’° augmented its capital, and in tbe same year
established one at Assisi, which was confirmed by Pope
Innocent, and visited and improved by its founder in the
year 1487. He likewise established one at Mantua
after formidable opposition being made to the measure,
procuring for it the sanction of the pope, as Wadding
informs us. The same person also founded lending-
houses at Florence, Parma, Chieti, and Piacenza, in do¬
ing which he was sometimes well received, while at 0-
thers he frequently met with the most formidable oppo¬
sition. A house of this kind was established at Padua
in the year 149G ant^ another at Ravenna, which were
approved of and confirmed by Pope Alexander VI.
Long after the above period, lending-houses were
established at Rome and Naples, that of the former city
having taken place in 1539, antl tliat of the latter pro¬
bably in the following year. A lending-house was esta¬
blished in Nuremberg in Germany about 1618, the in¬
habitants having obtained from Italy the regulations of
different houses, in order to select the best. In France,
England, and the Netherlands, lending-houses were
first known under the denomination of Lombards. Si¬
milar institutions were formed at Brussels in 1619 j at
Antwerp in 1620, and at Ghent in 1622.
Although such houses must be allowed to be of con¬
siderable utility under certain circumstances, especially
when the interest is not allowed to be exorbitant, yet
they were always odious in France ; but one was esta¬
blished at Paris in 1626, in the reign of Louis XIII.
which the managers next year were obliged to abandon.
1 he inont deplete at that city, which has sometimes had
in possession 40 casks full of gold watches that were
pledged, was established by royal authority in the year
I777» as we learn from the Tableau de Paris, publish¬
ed at Hamburg in 1781.—Beckman's Hist, oj' Inven¬
tions.
LENT AN I, .Tames, a learned French writer, was
born in 1661. After studying at Saumur, he went to
Heidelberg, where he received imposition of hands for
the ministry in 1684. He discharged the functions of
this character with great reputation there, as chap¬
lain to the electress dowager Palatine, and pastor in
ordinary to the French church. The descent of the
French into the Palatinate obliged our author to de¬
part from Heidelberg in 1687. He went to Berlin,
where the elector Frederic, afterwards king of Prussia,
appointed him one of the ministers. There he conti¬
nued 39 years, distinguishing himself by hi* writings.
He
Tending.
Hoiiei'
kenfaut,
L E N
[ 759 1
L E N
Infant
R
Llgthen-
ioff-
He was preacher to the queen of Prussia, Charlotta
Sophia; and after her death, to the late king of
Prussia. In 1707 he took a journey to England and
Holland, where he had the honour to preach before
Queen Anne; and might have settled in London,
with the title of chaplain to her majesty. In 1712 he
went to Helmstadt, in 1715 to Leipsic, and in 1725
to Breslau, to search for rare books and MSS. It is
not certain whether it was he that first formed the de¬
sign of the Bihliothcque Gcrmaniquc, which began in
1720; or whether it was suggested to him by one of
the society of learned men, which took the name of
Anonymous, and who ordinarily met at his house. He
died in 1728. His principal works are, I. The Hi¬
story of the Council of Constance, 2 vois 410. 2. A
History of the Council of Pisa, 2 vols 4to. 3. The
New Testament, translated from the Greek into the
French, with Notes by Beausobre and Lenfant, 2 vols
4to. 4. The History of Pope Joan, from Spanheim’s
Latin Dissertation. 5. Several pieces in the Biblio-
theque Choisie, La Bepublic des Lettres, La Biblio-
theque Germanique, &c.
LENGLET, Nicholas du Fresnoy, l’abbe',
born at Beauvais in France, 1674, was a most fertile
and useful French author on a variety of subjects, his¬
torical, geographical, political, and philosophical. The
following deserve particular notice: 1. A Method of
Studying History, with a Catalogue of the Principal
Historians of every Age and Country, published in
1713: a work which established his reputation as an
historical writer: it was translated into most of the
modern languages, particularly our own, with conside¬
rable improvements, by Richard Rawlinson, LL. D,
and F. R. S. and published at London in 1730, in
2 vols 8vo. 2. A Copious Abridgement of Universal
History and Biography, in chronological order, under
the title of Tahlettes Chronologiques; which made its
first appearance at Paris in 1744, in 2 vols small 8vo,
and was universally admired by the literati in all parts
of Europe. The author attended with great candour,
as every writer ought, to well-founded judicious criti¬
cisms. In future editions he made several alterations
and improvements, and from one of these, we believe,
that of 1759, an English translation was made, and
published at London in 1762, in 2 vols large 8vo.
Du Fresnoy died in 1755: the Paris edition of 1759
was printed from the author’s corrected copy; and
the impression being sold off, another edition appeared
in 1763, with considerable improvements by an un¬
known editor: to the biographical part a great num¬
ber of names of respectable persons are added, not to
be found in the former edition ; and it has this supe¬
rior advantage in the historical parts, that the general
history is brought down to the year 1762. Du Fres¬
noy, however, has loaded his work with catalogues of
saints, martyr's, councils, synods, heresies, schisms, and
other ecclesiastical matters, fit only for the libraries of
Popish convents and seminaries.
LENGTH, the extent of any thing material from
end to end. In duration, it is applied to any space of
time, whether long or short.
LENGTHENING, in ship carpentry, the opera¬
tion of cutting a ship down across the middle, and add¬
ing a certain portion to her length. It is performed
by sawing her planks asunder in different places of her
length, on each side of the midship frame, to prevent Lengthen-
her from being too much weakened in one place. The
two ends are then drawn apart to a limited distance ;
which must be equal to the proposed addition of
length. An intermediate piece of timber is next
added to the keel, upon which a sufficient number of
timbers are erected, to fill up the vacancy produced
by the separation. The two parts of the kelson are
afterwards united by an additional piece which is sco¬
red down upon the floor timbers, and as many beams
as may be necessary are fixed across the ship in the new
interval. linally, The planks of the side are prolonged
so as to unite with each other ; and those of the ceiling-
refitted in the same manner; by which the whole pro¬
cess is completed.
LENOX or Dunbartonshire, a county of Scot¬
land. See Dunbartonshire. Among the rivers of this
county is the Blane, which, though itself an inconside¬
rable stream, has been rendered famous by the birth of
George Buchanan, the celebrated Latin poet and histo¬
rian. The same part of the country gave birth to the
great mathematician and naturalist, Baron Napier of
Merchiston, inventor of the logarithms. The title of
Lenox, with the property of great part of the shire, was
heretofore vested in a branch of the royal family of
Stuart, with which it was reunited in the person of King
Ja mes VI. whose father, Henry Lord Darnley, wasson
of the duke of Lenox. This prince conferred the title
upon his kinsman Esme Stuart, son of John Lord d’Au-
bigny in France ; but his race failing at the death of
Charles duke of Lenox and Richmond, and the estate
devolving to the crown, King Charles II. conferred
both titles on his own natural son by the duchess of
Portsmouth ; and they are still enjoyed by his posterity.
The people of Lenoxshire are chiefly Lowlanders, though
in some parts of it divine service is performed in the
Erse language.—The most numerous clans in this di¬
strict are the Macfarlanes, the Colquhouns, and the
Buchanans.
LENS, a piece of glass, or any other transparent
substance, the surfaces of which are so formed, that
the rays of light, by passing through it, are made to
change their direction, either tending to meet in a
point beyond the lens, or made to become parallel af¬
ter converging or diverging; or lastly, proceeding as
if they had issued from a point before they fell upon
the lens. Some lenses are convex, or thicker in the
middle ; some concave, or thinner in the middle ; some
plano-convex, or plano-concave ; that is, with one side
flat, and the other convex or concave; and some are
called meniscuses, or convex on one side and concave on
the other. See Dioptrics.
Lenses are of two kinds, either blown or ground.
Blown Lenses, are only made use of in the single
microscope, and the common method of making them
has been to draw out a fine thread of the soft white
glass called crystal, and to convert the end of it into a
spherule by melting it at the flame of a candle. Mr
Nicholson observes that window glass affords excellent
spherules. A thin piece from the edge of a pane of
glass one-tenth of an inch hroad was held perpendicu¬
larly, and the flame of a candle was directed against
it by means of the blow-pipe, when it became soft, and
the lower end descended by its own weight to the di¬
stance of about two feet, where it remained suspended
by
mg
II
Leo*.
L E N [ 760 ] LEO
Letts, by a thin thread of glass about of an inch in dia-
Lent. meter. A part of this thread was applied endwise to
1 the lower blue part of the flame of the candle without
the blow-pipe, when the end became instantly white-
hot, and formed a globule, which was gradually thrust
towards the flame till it became sufficiently large. A
number of these were made and examined, by viewing
their focal images with a deep magnifier, when they
appeared bright, perfect, and round.
Ground Lenses are such as are rubbed into the shape
required, and polished. Several shapes have been pro¬
posed, but the spherical has been found to be the most
practically useful. Yet by various modes of grinding,
the artificer can produce no more than an approxima¬
tion to a figure exactly spherical, and men of letters or
others must depend entirely on the care and integrity
of workmen for the sphericity of the lenses of their te¬
lescopes. Mr Jenkins has described a machine, which
being so contrived as to turn a sphere at one and the
same time on two axes, cutting each ether at right
angles, will produce the segment of a true sphere,
merely by turning round the wheels, and that with¬
out any care or skill in the workmen. See Me¬
chanics.
LENT, a solemn time of fasting in the Christian
church, observed as a time of humiliation before Easter,
the great festival of our Saviour’s resurrection.
Those of the Romish church, and some of the Pro¬
testant communion, maintain, that it was always a
fast of 40 days, and, as such, of apostolical institu¬
tion. Others think it was only of ecclesiastical in¬
stitution, and that it was variously observed in dif¬
ferent churches, and grew by degrees from a fast of
40 hours to a fast of 40 days. This is the sentiment
of Morton, Bishop Taylor, Du Moulin, Daille, and
others.
Anciently the manner of observing lent among those
who were piously disposed, was to abstain from food
till evening : their only refreshment was a supper j and
then it was indifterent whether it was flesh or any other
food, provided it was used with sobriety and modera¬
tion.
Lent was thought the proper time for exercising,
more abundantly, every species of charity. Thus what
they spared from their own bodies by abridging them
of a meal, was usually given to the poor ; they em¬
ployed their vacant hours in visiting the sick and those
that were in prison, in entertaining strangers, and re¬
conciling difl'erences. The imperial laws forbade all
prosecution of men in criminal actions, that might
bring them to corporeal punishment and torture, during
the whole season. This was a time of more than or¬
dinary strictness and devotion, and therefore in many
of the great churches they had religious assemblies for
prayer and preaching every day. All public games
and stage plays were prohibited at this season j as also
the celebration of all festivals, birth days, and mar¬
riages, as unsuitable to the present occasion.
The Christians of the Greek church observe four
lents : the first commences on the 15th of November j
the second is the same with our lent; the third begins
the week after Whitsuntide, and continues till the fes¬
tival of St Peter and St Paul 5 and the fourth com¬
mences on the first of August, and lasts no longer than
till the 15th. These lents are observed with great Lem
strictness and austerity j but on Saturdays and Sundays 8
they indulge themselves in drinking wine and using
oil, which were prohibited on other days.
LENTIL. See Ervum, Botany Index.
L EX TIN I. See Leontini.
LENTISCUS. See Pistacia, Botany Index.
LEO. See Felis, Mammalia Index.
Leo, in Astronomy, the fifth of the 12 signs of the
zodiac. The stars in the constellation Leo, in Ptolemy’s
catalogue are 27, besides the unformed, which are 8 j
in Tycho’s 20 *, in the Britannic catalogue 95.
Leo X. Hope, second son of Lorenzo de Medici,
was horn at Florence in December 1475, and received
the baptismal name of Giovanni, or John. He re¬
ceived the tonsure at seven years, of age, his father
having desstined him for the church. Being even at
that early period declared capable of clerical prefer¬
ment, he obtained two rich abbacies through the in¬
terest of his father with Louis XI. of France, and Pope
Sixtus IV. At a very early period he held no fewer
than 29 church preferments, a strong proof of the most
scandalous corruption, as well as of the interest which
his family enjoyed. In the time of Innocent VIII. he
was promoted to the high rank of cardinal, when no
more than 13 years of age, which took place in the
year 1488. If the great influence of his father was
unquestionably censurable in promoting the rapid and
illegal advancement of his son, it is hut justice to ad¬
mit that he employed all his efforts to qualify him for
such premature dignity. The learned Angelo Poli-
ziano had the care of his early education, which was
greatly accelerated by the uncommon gravity and so¬
lidity of his disposition. He was invested with the pur¬
ple in 1492, going afterwards to reside at Rome as one
of the sacred college. Having opposed the election of
Alexander VI. to the pontificate, be found it prudent
to withdraw to Florence, in which place he acquired
much personal esteem j but on the invasion of Italy by
Charles VIII. of France, he was involved in the ex¬
pulsion of his brother Piero, and took refuge at Bolog¬
na. In 1499 he made a tour through the states of
Venice, Germany, and France, going afterwards to
Rome, where he lived safe and respected during the
pontificate of Alexander, in consequence of his prudent
behaviour.
In 1505, when 30 years of age, he began to take an
active part in public affairs, and Julius II. appointed
him governor of Perugia. As he adhered with un¬
shaken resolution to the interest of the pope, he acquir¬
ed the confidence of his holiness, in so eminent a man¬
ner, that he was entrusted with the direction of the pa¬
pal army against France; and if he was not competent
to conduct the military operations, he was of singular
service in maintaining good order in the camp. He
was taken prisoner at the bloody battle of Ravenna in
1512, and conveyed to Milan, where the dignity of
his sacred office procured him respect. From this place
he found means to escape, and returned to Bologna,
assuming the government of the district in the capacity
of the pope’s legate.
At the election of a new pope in the room of J ulius II.
he was chosen to the pontificate, being then only 38
years of age. "Whatever might be the leading motives
of
LEO [ 761 ] LEO
of the conclave for electing so young a pope, it is
—-y—agreed on all hands, that it was not eftVcted by those
corrupt practices too common on such occasions •, and
he ascended the throne under the name of Leo X. with
greater proofs of affection on the part of both Italians
and foreigners than the greater part of his predecessors.
He displayed his love of literature by the nomination
of Bembo and Sadoleti to the office of papal secre¬
taries.
One of his first attempts was to free Italy from the
dominion of foreign powers : and having taken into
pay a large body of Swiss, he gained a victory over
the Frencli in the reign of Louis XII. at the bloody
battle of Novara, by which means they were driven
from Italy ; and the king of France having incurred
ecclesiastical censure, submitted in form, and receiv¬
ed absolution. Having thus secured internal tranquilli¬
ty, he turned his attention to the encouragement of li¬
terature and men of genius. He affected the restora¬
tion of the Roman university to its former splendour
by means of new grants and privileges, and by filling
the professorships with distinguished characters from
every quarter. A Greek press was established in the
city, and all Europe was informed that persons bring¬
ing ancient manuscripts to the pope would be liberally
rewarded, besides having them printed at the expence
of the holy see. He also promoted the study of ori¬
ental literature, and he had the honour of founding the
first professorship of the Syriac and Chaldaic languages
at Bologna.
On the death of Louis XII. of France, and the ac¬
cession of Francis I. to the throne, it soon became ap¬
parent that a new war was inevitable in the north of
Italy. Leo endeavoured to remain neuter, but with¬
out success, in consequence of which he joined in a
league with the emperor, the king of Arragon, the
states of Milan and Florence, and the Swiss cantons,
against the French king and the state of Venice. But
he soon found it expedient to desert his allies, and
form a union with Francis, which took place in 1515,
at an interview between the two sovereigns.
In 1^17, the duke of Urbino, whom he had expell¬
ed, in order to make way for his nephew Lorenzo, col¬
lected an army, and by rapid movements regained bis
capital and dominions, which chagrined Leo to such a
degree, that he endeavoured to raise all the Christian
princes against him. He raised an army under the
command of his nephew, and the duke was finally com¬
pelled to relinquish his dominions upon honourable
terms. In this year the life of Leo was in danger,
and all bis moments embittered by a conspiracy against
him in his own court. Petrucci, the chief author
of it, had formed a plan of destroying the pope by
poison ; but having failed in this attempt, he withdrew
from Rome, still, however, carrying on a correspond¬
ence with his secretary. Some of his letters being in¬
tercepted, he was arrested on his way to Rome, and
committed to prison. He was strangled, and his ac¬
complices were put to death with the severest tortures.
To shelter himself from danger, whether real or ima¬
ginary, Leo created 31 new cardinals in one day,
chiefly from among his own relations, and some of
them deserving of such dignity by their virtues and
talents.
Vol. XI. Part IL f
In the reign of this pontiff began the reformation of i>0.
religion under the celebrated Martin Luther, who in- <—-v—
flicted such a wound on the Romish church as will
never be healed. Leo’s taste for luxurious magnificence
and every object of expence having exhausted his
coflers, he took from the church the profits arising from
the sale of indulgences for his own private emolument.
These wares were extolled in language which shocked
the pious and thinking part of mankind, and facilita¬
ted the progress of the reformation in the hands of such
a man as Luther, whom nothing could intimidate.
This great man, during his opposition to the extrava¬
gance of Leo in the sale of indulgences, was still will¬
ing to be reconciled; but as he insisted on making an
unqualified appeal to the language of Scripture, and
Leo would admit of nothing but an unqualified appeal
to the decrees of the church, it is obvious that a re¬
conciliation was impossible. The works of Luther
were burnt in different places by Leo’s command, and
Luther in his turn made a solemn and public confla¬
gration of the papal decrees and constitutions, and even
of the bull itself. It was this pontiff who conferred on
Henry VII. of England the title of defender of the
faith, to which he appears to have had very little
claim.
The private hours of Leo, it is said, were devoted to
indolence, or to amusements; and that some of them
were unworthy of bis clerical dignity. Many enor¬
mities are ascribed to him which we shall pass over in
silence, as they do not appear to have such incontesta¬
ble evidence as to warrant the belief of them. He
never lost sight of his favourite idea of expelling the
French from Italy. The Swiss who had been in the
service of France were induced to desert, the allies
crossed the Adda, and entered Milan without opposi¬
tion. They next entered the territories of the duke of
Ferrara who had espoused the cause of France. Many
of his strong places were taken, and siege was about to
be laid to his capital, when it was prevented by the in¬
disposition of the pope, which in the space ol eight
days terminated in his death, on December I. 1521,
in the 46th year of his age, and the 9th of his ponti¬
ficate. It was supposed by some that be died by poison,
but we have seen no sufficient proof lor such a conclu¬
sion. Without attempting to draw the moral and po¬
litical character of this celebrated pontiff, about which
mankind have been so much divided, it may be fairly
asserted that he claims the gratitude of posterity for the
ample encouragement which he afforded to men of
science and literature, and the eagerness with which he
promoted the study of the fine arts, qualities ^sufficient
to veil all the failings or faults which can justly be
charged to his account. This character of Leo has
been finely celebrated by Pope in the following verses.
But see ! each muse, in Leo’s golden days,
Starts from her trance, and trims her wither’d bays $
Rome’s ancient Genius, o’er its ruins spread,
Shakes off the dust, and rears his rev’rend head.
Then Sculpture and her sister Arts revive :
Stones leap to form, and rocks begin to live ;
With sweeter notes each rising temple rung j
A Raphael painted, and a Vida sung.
Leo, St, a small but strong town of Italy, in the
5 D territory
LEO [ 762 ] LEO
Lro territory of the church, ami duchy of Urbino, with a
I! bishop’s see. It is seated 00 a mountain, near the ri-
Leonard. ver \Iarrechia, in E. Long. 12. 25. N. Lat. 43. 57.
v LEOMINS1ER, a town ot Herefordshire, in
England, seated on the river Lug, which waters the
north and east sides of the town, and over which there
are several bridges. It is a large, handsome, populous
borough ; and is a great thoroughfare betwixt South
Wales and London, from which last it is distant 113
measured miles. In King John’s reign it was burnt,
but soon rebuilt. It was incorporated by Queen Mary,
and is governed by a high steward, bailiff', recorder,
&c. Hie best flax is said to grow here, and it has
been equally noted for the best wheat, barley, and the
finest bread. I he inhabitants have a considerable
trade in wool, gloves, leather, hat-making, &c. and
there are several rivers about the town on which they
have machinery. Near its church are some remains of
its priory ; and on a neighbouring hill are the ruins of a
palace, called to this day Comfort Castle. It sends
two members to parliament j and had 3238 inhabi¬
tants in 181 r. W. Long. 2. 36. N. Lat. 52. 20.
LEON, an ancient town ot I ranee, in Lower Bre¬
tagne, and capital of the Leonnois, with a bishop’s
see. It is seated near the sea, in W. Long. 3. 55.
N. Lat. 48. 41.
Leon, a province of Spain, with the title of a king¬
dom ; bounded on the north by Asturias j on the west
by Galicia and Portugal ; and on the south by Estre-
madura and Castile, which also bounds it on the east.
It is about 125 miles in length, and 100 in breadth ;
and is divided into two almost equal parts by the river
Huero, or Houro. It produces all the necessaries of
life, and Leon is the capital town.
Leon, an ancient and large episcopal town of Spain,
and capital of the kingdom of that name, built by the
Romans in the time of Galba. It has the finest cathe¬
dral church in all Spain. It was formerly more rich
and populous than at present, and had the honour of
being the capital of the first Christian kingdom in Spain.
It is seated between two sources of the river Esta, in
W. Long. 5. 37. N. Lat. 42. 36.
Leon, Peter Cicca De, author of the history of Peru.
He left Spain, his native country, at 13 years of age,
in order to go into America, where he resided 17
years j and observed so many remarkable things, that
lie resolved to commit them to writing. The first part
of his history was printed at Seville in 1553. He be¬
gan it in 1541, and ended it in 1550. He was at Li¬
ma, the capital of the kingdom of Peru, when he gave
the finishing stroke to it, and was then 32 years of age.
Leon de Nicaragua, a town of North America, in
New Spain, and in the province of Nicaragua ; the re¬
sidence ot the governor, and a bishop’s see. It con¬
sists of about 1000 houses, and has several monasteries
and nunneries belonging to it. At one end of the
town is a lake which ebbs and flows like the sea. The
town is seated at the foot of a volcano, which ren¬
ders it subject to earthquakes. It was taken by the
bucaniers in 1685, in sight of a Spanish army who were
six to one. W. Long. 86. 56. N. Lat. 12. 25.
^ LEONARD de NOBLET, St, an ancient town of
France in the province of Guienne and territory of
Limosin, with a considerable manufactory of cloth and
paper. It is seated on the river Vienne, in E. Long
I. 35. N. Lat. 45. 50.
LEONARDO da vinci. See Vinci.
LEONCLAVIUS, John, one of the most learn¬
ed men of the 16th century, was a native of Westpha¬
lia. He travelled into Turkey, and collected excel¬
lent materials for composing the Ottoman History j
and it is to him the public is indebted for the best ac¬
count we have of that empire. To his knowledge in
the learned languages he had added that of the&civil
law, whereby he was very well qualified to translate
the Basilica. His other versions were esteemed, though
critics pretend to have found many faults in them. He
died in 1593, aged 60.
LEONIDAS I. king of Sparta, a renowned war¬
rior, slam in defending the straits of Thermopylae
against Xerxes, 480 B. C. See Sparta.
LEONINE, in poetry, is applied to a kind of verses
which rhime at every hemistic, the middle always
chiming to the end. Of which kind we find several an¬
cient hymns, epigrams, prophecies, &c.—For instance,
Muretus speaking of the poetry of Lorenzo Gambara
of Bresse, says,
Bnxia, wsfr-atis merdosa volumina t>atis,
Non sunt msfrates tergere digna walls.
The following one is from the school of Salernum :
Ut vites poenam de potibus incipe coenam.
The origin of the word is somewhat obscure: Pas-
quier derives it from one Leoninus or Leonius, who
excelled in this way 5 and dedicated several pieces to
Pope Alexander III.; others derive it from Pope Leo ;
and others from the beast called lion, by reason it is the
loftiest of all verses.
LEONTICA, feasts or sacrifices celebrated among
the ancients in honour of the sun.—They were called
Lcontica, and the priests who officiated at them Leones,
because they represented the sun under the figure of a
lion radiant bearing a tiara, and griping in his two
lore paws the horns of a bull, who struggled with him
in vain to disengage himself.
The critics are extremely divided about this feast.
Some will have it anniversary, and to have made its re¬
turn not in a solar but in a lunar year ; but others hold
its return more frequent, and give instances where the
period was not above two hundred and twenty days.
The ceremony was sometimes also called Mithriaca,
Mithras being the name of the sun among the ancient
Persians. There was always a man sacrificed at these
feasts, till the time of Hadrian, who prohibited it by
a law. . Commodus introduced the custom afresh, after
whose time it was again exploded.
LEON I ICE, Lion’s Leaf, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the hexandria class j and in the natural me¬
thod ranking under the 24th order, Corudales. See
Botany Index.
LEONTINI, or Leontium, in Ancient Geography,
a town of Sicily on the south side of the river Terias’
20 miles north-west of Syracuse. The territory, called
Campi Leontini, was extremely fertile (Cicero) : these
were the Campi Lcestrigonii anciently so called 5 the
seat of the Laestrigons, according to the commentators
on the poets. The name Leontini is from Leo, the im¬
pression
L E P [ 7
pression on their coin being a lion. Now called Len-
tint, a town situated in the Val di Noto, in the south¬
east of Sicily.
LEONT1UM, one of the twelve towns of Achaia,
whether on, or more distant from, the bay of Corinth,
is uncertain. Leontium of Sicily. See Leontini.
LEONTODON, Dandelion, a genus of plants
belonging to the syngenesia class, and in the natural
method ranking under the 49th order, Compositce. See
Botany Index.
LEONURUS, Lion’s-tail, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the didynamia class, and in the natural me¬
thod ranking under the 42d order, Verticillatce. See
Botany Index.
LEOPARD. See Felis, Mammalia Index.
Leopard's Bane. See Dohonicum, Botany Index.
LEPANTO, a strong and considerable town of Tur¬
key in Europe, and in Livadia, with an archbishop’s
see and a strong fort. It is built on the top of a moun¬
tain, in form of a sugar-loaf j anti is divided into four
towns, each surrounded by walls, and commanded by
a castle on the top of the mountain. The harbour is
very small, and may be shut up by a chain, the en¬
trance being but 50 feet wide. It was taken from the
Turks by the Venetians in 1678 •, but was afterwards
evacuated, and the castle demolished in 1699, in con¬
sequence of the treaty of Carlowitz. It was near this
town that Don John of Austria obtained the famous
victory over the Turkish fleet in 1571. The produce
of the adjacent country is wine, oil, corn, and rice.
Turkey leather is also manufactured here. The wine
would be exceeding good if they did not pitch their
vessels on the inside, but this renders the taste very
disagreeable to those who are not accustomed to it.
The Turks have six or seven mosques here, and the
Creeks two churches. It is seated on a gulf of the
same name, anciently called the gulf of Corinth. E.
Long. 22. II. N. Lat. 38. 34.
LEPAS, the Acorn, a genus of shell-fish belong¬
ing to the order of vermes testacea. See CoNCHOLOGY
Index.
LEPIDIUM, Dittander, or a genus
cf plants belonging to the tetradynamia class, and in
the natural method ranking under the 39th order, Sili-
quosec. See Botany Index.
LEPIDOPTERA, in 'Zoologi/, an order of insects,
with four -wings, which are covered with imbricated
scales. See ENTOMOLOGY.
LEPISMA, a genus of insects belonging to the or¬
der of Aptera. See Entomology Index.
LEPROSY, a foul cutaneous disease, appearing in
dry, white, thin scurfy scabs, either on the whole body,
or only some parts of it, and usually attended with a vio¬
lent itching and other pains. See Medicine Index.
The leprosy is of various kinds, but the Jews were
particularly subject to that called Elephantiasis. Hence
the Jewish law excluded lepers from communion with
mankind, banishing them into the country or uninha¬
bited places, without excepting even kings. When a
leper was cleansed, he came to the city gate, and was
there examined by the priests ; after this he took two
live birds to the temple, and fastened one of them to
a wisp of cedar and hyssop tied together with a scarlet
libbon; the second bird was killed by the leper, and
the blood of it received into a vessel of water j with
63 ] LEE
tills water the priest sprinkled the leper, dipping the
wisp and the live bird into it: this done, the live bird
was let go ; and the leper, having undergone this ce¬
remony, was again admitted into society and to the use
of things sacred. See Levit. xiii. 46, 47. and Levit.
Xiv. I 2 &c.
LEPTOCEPHALUS, a genus of fishes, belong¬
ing to the order of Apodes. See Ichthyology In-
dex.
LEPTOPOLYGINGLIMI, in Natural History,
a genus of fossil shells, distinguished by a number of
minute teeth at the hinge. Specimens of these are
found at Harwich cliff, and in the marl pits of Sus¬
sex.
LEPTUM, in antiquity, a small piece of money,
which, according to some, was only the eighth part of
an obolus ; but others will have it to be a silver or
brass drachm.
LEPTURA, a genus of insects belonging to the or¬
der of coleoptera. See Entomology Index.
LEPUS, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the or¬
der of glires. See Mammalia Index.
Leeds, the hare, in Astronomy, a constellation of
the southern hemisphere ; whose stars in Ptolemy’s
catalogue are 12 j in that of Tycho’s 13 ; and in the
Britannic 19.
LERCHEA, a genus of plants belonging to the
monadelpbia class. See Botany Index.
LERI A, or Leiria, a strong town of Portugal, in
Estremadura, with a castle and bishop’s see. It con¬
tains about 3500 inhabitants, and was formerly the re¬
sidence of the kings of Portugal. W. Long. 8. 34.
N. Lat. 39. 40.
LERI DA, an ancient, strong, and large town of
Spain, in Catalonia, with a bishop’s see, an university,
and a strong castle. This place declared for King
Charles after the reduction of Barcelona in 1705 5 but
it was retaken by the duke of Orleans in 1707, after
the battle of Almanza. It is seated on a hill near
the river Segra, and in a fertile soil, in E. Long. O. 25,
N. Jjat. 41. 31.
LERINA, or Planasia, in Ancient Geography,
one of the two small islands over against Antipolis, cal¬
led also Lerinas and Lirinus. Now St Honorat, on
the coast of Provence, scarce two leagues to the south
of Antibes.
LERINS, the name of two islands in the Mediter¬
ranean sea, lying on the coast of Provence in France,
five miles from Antibes j that near the coast, called St
Margaret, is guarded by invalids, state prisoners being
sent here. It was taken by the English in 1746, but
Marshal Belleisle retook it in 1747- The other is call¬
ed St Honorat; and it is less than the former, hut has
a Benedictine abbey.
LERMA, a town of Spain in Old Castile, seated on
the river Arlanza, with the title of a duchy. W. Long.
3. 5. N. Lat. 42. 2.
LERNA, in Ancient Geography, not far from Ar¬
gos, on the confines of Laconia; supposed to he a town
of Laconia, but on the borders of Argolis; the position
Pausanias allots to it, near Temenium, on the sea;
without adding whether it is a town, river, or lake.
According to Strabo, it is a lake, situated between the
territories of Argos and Mycene, in contradiction
to Pausanias. If there was a town of this name, it
5 D 2 seems
L E S [ 7^4 ] • L E S
•Lenta seems to have stood towards the sea, hut the lake to
L1 have been more inland. Mela calls it a well known
^esi)0s' , town on the Sinus Argolicus; and Statius by Lerna
seems to mean something more than a lake. This, how¬
ever, is the lake in which, as Strabo says, was the fa¬
bled Hydra of Hercules: therefore called Lerna An-
gaifera (Statius). The lake runs in a river or stream
to the sea, and perhaps arises from a river (Virgil).
From the lake the proverb, Lerna Malarum^ took its
rise $ because, according to Strabo, religious purgations
were performed in it ; or, according to Hesyehius, be¬
cause the Argives threw all their filth into it.
LERNEA, a genus of animals of the class of ver¬
mes. See Helminthology Index.
LERNICA, formerly a large city in the island of
Cyprus, as appeals from its ruins : but is now no more
than a large village, seated on the southern coast of
that island, where there is a good road, and a small fort
for its defence.
EERO, in Ancient Geography, one of the two small
islands, in the Mediterranean, opposite to Antipolis,
and half a mile distant from it to the south. Now
St Margarita, over against Antibes, on the coast of
Provence.
Eero, or Leros, an island of the Archipelago, and
one of the Sporades ; remarkable, according to some
authors, for the birth of Patroclus. E. Eong. 26. I c.
N. Eat. 37. o.
_ EE Roy le veut, the kingV assent to public
bills. See the articles Bill, Statute, and Par¬
liament.
LERWICK, a town on the Mainland of Shetland,
and the seat of the courts of that stewartry. It is si¬
tuated on the spacious harbour called ZemwA: or Bres-
say sound, and derives its only importance from the
courts of law, and the vessels employed in the whale-
fishery, which make a rendezvous of the bay. It
contained 1949 inhabitants in 1811. The parish ex¬
tends about six miles along the sea-coast, and is in
no place more than a mile in breadth. On the north
and east it is bounded by the sea, which separates it
from Bressay island. The surface of the parish is rocky
and mountainous, but there are a number of fine arable
fields on the sea-coast, the soil of which is light and
sandy, but fertile and productive. Near the north end
of the town there is a small fortification, called Fort
Charlotte, which commands the north entry to Bressay
sound, and is garrisoned by a detachment of invalids.
It was completely repaired by order of government in
the year 1781." There are several large cannon for
commanding the harbour and protecting the town.
There is a straw-plaiting manufactory at Lerwick,
furnishing upwards of 50 girls with employment, who
have one penny per yard for their work : 20 yards of
which can be made by some of them in the course of a
day. It is carried on by a company in London. There
are two chalybeate springs in the vicinity of the town,
but neither of them is highly impregnated, although
the one is stronger than the other. W. Eong. 1. qo
N. Eat. 60. 20. .
LESBOS, a large island in the iEgean sea, on the
coast of iEtolia, about ifi8 miles in circumference. It
has been severally called Pelasgia, from the Peiasgi, bv
whom it was first peopled ; Macaria, from Macareus
who settled in it $ and Lesbos, from the son-in-law and
successor of Macareus, who bore the same name. The LeKbsi
chief towns of Lemnos were Metbymna and Mitylene. []
It was originally governed by kings, but they were af- Le»guif.
terwards subjected to the neighbouring powers. The v"—~
wine which it produced was greatly esteemed by the
ancients, and still is in the same repute with the mo¬
derns. The Lesbians were so debauched and dissipated,
that the epithet of Lesbian was often used to signify
debauchery and extravagance. Lesbos has given liirth
to many illustrious persons, such as Arion, Terpander,
Sappho, &c. See MlTYLENE.
E ESC A IEEE, James, a celebrated Dutch poet
and printer, was born at Geneva. He and his daugh¬
ter Catherine Eescaille have excelled all the Dutch
poets. That lady, who was surnamed the Sappho of
Holland, and the tenth Muse, died in 1711. A col¬
lection of her poems has been printed, in which aro
the tragedies of Genseric, Wenceslaus, Herod and
Mariamne, Hercules and Dejanira, Nicomedes, A-
riadne, Cassandra, &c. James Eescaille her father
deserved the poet’s crown, with which the emperor
Leopold honoured him in the year 1603 : he died about
the year 1677, agei^ 67.
EESCAR, a town of France, in the department of
the Lower Pyrenees, with a bishop’s see ; seated on a
hill, in W. Long. o. 30. N. 43. 23.
LESGUIS, a people of Asia, whose country is in¬
differently called by the Georgians Lesguistan and
Daghestan. It is bounded to the south and east by
Persia and the Caspian ; to the south-west and west
by Georgia, the Ossi, and Kisti; and to the north by
the Kisti and Tartar tribes. It is divided into a va¬
riety of districts, generally independent, and governed
by chiefs elected by the people. Guldenstaedt has re¬
marked, in the Lesguis language, eight different dia¬
lects, and has classed their tribes in conformity to this
observation.
The first dialect comprehends 15 tribes, which are
as. follow: 1. Avar, in Georgia Chunsagh. The
chief of this district, commonly called Avar Khan, is
the most powerful prince of Eesguistan, and resides at
Kabuda, on the river Kaseruk. The village of Avar
is, in the dialect of Andi, called Harbul. 2. Kase¬
ruk, in the high mountains, extending along a branch
of the Koisu, called Karak. This district is depend¬
ant on the khan of the Kast Kumychs. 3. Idatle,
on the Koisu, joining on the Andi; subject "to the A-
var Khan. 4. Mukratle, situated on the Karak, and
subject to the Avar Khan. 5. Onsekul, subject to
the same, and situated on the Koisu. 6. Karakhle,
upon the Karak, below Kaseruk, subject to the same.
7_* Gbumbet, on the river Ghumbet, that joins the
Koisu, subject to the chief of the Coumyks. 8. A-
rakan 5 and, 9. Burtuma, on the Koisu. 10. Ant-
sugh, on the Samura, subject to Georgia. 11. Te-
bel, on the same river, independent. 12. Tamurgi,
or Tumural, on the same river. 13. Akhti j and,
14. Ratal, on the same. 15. Dshar, in a valley that
runs from the Alazan to the Samura. It was former¬
ly subject to Georgia, but is now independent. In
this district are seen remains of the old wall that
begins at Derbent, and probably terminates at the A-
lazan.—The inhabitants of Derbent believe that their
town was built by Alexander, and that this wall for¬
merly extended as far as the Black sea. It is, how¬
ever,
L E S [ 765 ] L E S
ever, probable, from many Inscriptions in old Turkish,
1 Persian, Arabic, and Rnfish characters, that the wall,
and the aqueducts with their various subterraneous pas¬
sages, many of which are now filled up, are of high
antiquity. This town suffered greatly during its siege
by Sultan Amurath, who entirely destroyed the lower
quarter, then inhabited by Greeks. It was again taken
by Schali Abbas. (Gaerber). This town is the old
Pylse Caspioe.
The second dialect is spoken in the two following
districts: I. Dido, or Didonli, about the source of the
Samura. This district is rich in mines; a ridge of
uninhabited mountains divides it from Caket. 2. Un-
so, on the small rivulets that join the Samura. These
two districts, containing together about IOOO families,
were formerly subject to Georgia, but are now inde¬
pendent.
The third dialect is that of Kabutsh, which lies on
the Samura rivulets, east of Dido, and north of Ca¬
ket.
The fourth dialect is that of Audi, situated on a
rivulet that runs into the Koisu. Some of its villages
are subject to the Avar Khan, but the greater part to
the khan of Axai. The whole consists of about 800
families.
The fifth dialect is common to four districts, name¬
ly, I. Akusha, on the Koisu, subject to the Usmei,
or khan of the Caitaks, and Kara Caitaks, containing
about 1000 families. The following custom is attri¬
buted by Colonel Gaerber to the subjects of this
prince : “ Whenever the Usmei lias a son, he is carried
round from village to village, and alternately suckled
by every woman who has a child at her breast until he
is weaned. This custom, by establishing a kind of
brotherhood between the prince and his subjects, singu¬
larly endears them to each other.” 2. Balkar. 3. Zu-
dakara, or Zudakh, down the Koisu, subject to the
Usmei. 4. Kubesba, near the Koisu. Colonel Gaer¬
ber, who wrote an account of these countries in
1728, gives the following description of this very cu¬
rious place: “ Kubesha is a large strong town, situated
on a hill between high mountains. Its inhabitants call
themselves Franki (Franks, a name common in the east
to all Europeans), and relate, that their ancestors were
brought hither by some accident, the particulars of
•which are now forgotten. The common conjecture is,
that they were mariners cast away upon the coast j but
those who pretend to be better versed in their history,
tell the story this way :—The Greeks and Genoese,
nay they, carried on, during several centuries, a consi¬
derable trade, not only on the Black sea, but likewise
on the Caspian, and were certainly acquainted with the
mines contained in these mountains, from which they
drew by their trade with the inhabitants great quantities
of silver, copper, and other metals. In order to work
these upon the spot, they sent hither a number of work¬
men to establish manufactures, and instruct the inhabi¬
tants. The subsequent invasions of the Arabs, Turks,
aad Mongols, during which the mines were filled up,
and the manufactures abandoned, prevented the stran¬
gers from efiecting their return, so that they continued
here, and erected themselves into a republic. What
renders this account the more probable is, that they are
still excellent artists, and make very good fire arms, as
well rifled as plain j sabres, coats of mail, and several
articles in gold and silver, for exportation. They have Lesgni#,
likewise, for their own defence, small copper cannons, Leskard.
of three pounds calibre, cast by themselves. They coin
Turkish and Persian silver money, and even rubles,
which a'eadily pass current, because they are of the full
weight and value. In their valleys they have pasture
and arable lands, as well as gardens ',.but they purchase
the greater part of their corn, trusting chiefly for sup¬
port to the sale of their manufactures, which are much
admired in Persia, Turkey, and the Crimea. They
are generally in good circumstances, are a quiet inof¬
fensive people, but high spirited, and independent.
Their town is considered as a neutral spot, where the
neighbouring princes can deposite their treasures with
safety. They elect yearly twelve magistrates, to whom
they pay the most unlimited obedience; and as all the
inhabitants are on a footing of perfect equality, each in¬
dividual is sure to have in his turn a share in the go¬
vernment. In the year 1725, their magistrates, as well
as the Usmei, acknowledged the sovereignty of Russia,
but without paying any tribute.” 5. Zudakara, or
Zadakh, down the Koisu, subject to the Usmei. I
contains about 2000 families.
The sixth dialect belongs to the districts on the
eastern slope of Caucasus, between Tarku and Der-
bent, which are, 1. Caitak; and, 2. Tabasseran, or
Kara Caitak, both subject to the Usmei.
The seventh dialect is that of Kasi-Coumyk, on a
branch of the Koisu, near Zudakara. This tribe has
a khan, whose authority is recognized by some neigh¬
bouring districts.
The eighth dialect is that of Kuraele, belonging to
the khan of Cuban.
Besides these, there are some other Lesguis tribes,
whose dialects Mr Guldenstaedt was unable to procure.
From a comparison of those which he has obtained, it
appears that the language of the Lesguis has no kind
of affinity with any other known language, excepting
only the Samoyede, to which it has a remote resem¬
blance.
This people is probably descended from the tribes of
mountaineers, known to ancient geographers under the
name of Lesgce, or Ligyes. The strength of their conn*-
try, which is a region of mountains whose passes are
known only to themselves, has probably at all times
secured them from foreign invasion ; but as the same
cause must have divided them into a number ol tribes,
independent of each other, and perhaps always di¬
stinguished by different dialects, it is not easy to ima¬
gine any common cause of union which can ever have
assembled the whole nation, and have led them to un¬
dertake very remote conquests. Their history, there¬
fore, were it known, would probably be very uninte¬
resting to us. They subsist by raising cattle, and by
predatory expeditions into the countries of their more
wealthy neighbours. During the troubles in Persia,
towards the beginning of this century, they repeatedly
sacked the towns of Shamachie and Ardebil, and ra¬
vaged the neighbouring districts; and the present
v;retched state of Georgia and of part of Armenia, is
owing to the frequency of their incursions. In their
persons and dress, and in their general habits of life, as
far as these are known to us, they greatly resemble the
Circassians.
LESKARD, a town in Cornwall, seated in a plain,
is
L E S [ >766 ]
X-eskard, is a corporation, ami sends two members to parliament, to the Tower.
Leslie. It had formerly a castle, now in ruins. It is one of the
largest and best built towns in Cornwall, with the great¬
est market. It was first incorporated by Edward earl
of Cornwall, afterwards by King John’s son, Richard
king of the Romans, and had privileges from Edward
the Black Prince. Queen Elizabeth granted it a char¬
ter 5 by which it was to have a mayor and burgesses,
who should have a perpetual succession, purchase lands,
&»c. Heie is a handsome town hall built on stone pil¬
lars, with a turret on it, and a noble clock with four
dials, a large church, a meeting house, an eminent free
school, and a curious conduit j and on the adjacent
commons, which feed multitudes of sheep, there have
been frequent horse races. Here is a great trade in all
manufactures ot leather; and some spinning, which is
encouraged by the clothiers of Devonshire. On the
hills of INorth Leskard, and in the way from hence to
Launceston, are many mines of tin, which is cast at the
blowing houses into blocks, that are sent hither to be
coined. Popuhation 1975 in 18 ri.
LESLIE, John, bishop of Ross in Scotland, the
son of Gavin Leslie an eminent lawyer, was born in
the year 1526, and educated at the university of A-
herdeen ; Ot which diocese he was made official, when
but a youth. He was soon after created doctor of
civil and canon law ; but being peculiarly addicted to
the study of divinity, he took orders, and became par¬
son of Une. When the Reformation began to spread
in Scotland, and disputes about religion ran high, Dr
Leslie, in Ijj6o, distinguished himself at Edinburgh as
a principal advocate for the Romish church, and was
afterwards deputed by the chief nobility of that reli¬
gion to condole with Queen Mary on the death of her
husband the king of France, and to invite her to re¬
turn to her native dominions. Accordingly, after a
short residence with her majesty, they embarked toge¬
ther at Calais in 1561, and landed at Leith. She
immediately made him one ot her privy council, and a
senator of the college of justice. In 1564, he was made
abbot of Lindores ; and on the death of Sinclair was
promoted to the bishopric of Ross. These accumulated
honours he wished not to enjoy in luxurious indolence.
The influence derived from them, he exerted to the
prosperity of his country. It is to him that Scotland is
indebted for the publication of its laws, commonly cal¬
led “ The Z>/ac& acts of parliament,” from the Saxon
character in which they were printed. At his most
earnest desire, the revision and collection of them were
committed to the great officers of the crown. In 1568,
Queen Mary having fled to England for refuge, and
being there detained a prisoner, Queen Elizabeth ap¬
pointed certain commissioners at York to examine into
the cause of the dispute between Mary and her subjects.
These commissioners were met by others from the Queen
of Scots. The bishop of Ross was of the number, and
pleaded the cause of his royal mistress with great energy,
though without success; Elizabeth had no intention to
release her. Mary, disappointed in her expectations
from the conference at York, sent the bishop of Ross
ambassador to Elizabeth, who paid little attention to
his complaints. He then began to negociate a mar¬
riage between his royal mistress and the duke of Nor¬
folk ; which negociation, it is well known, proved fa¬
tal to the duke, and was the cause of Leslie’s being sent
2
L E S
I573 ’tvaR banished the kingdom,
and retired to Holland. Jhe two following years he 1
spent in fruitless endeavours to engage the powers of
Europe to espouse the cause of his queen. His last ap¬
plication was to the pope ; but the power of the heretic
Elizabeth bad no less weight with his holiness than
with the other Roman Catholic princes of Europe.
Finding all bis personal applications ineffectual, he had
recourse to his pen in Queen Mary’s vindication; but
Elizabeth s ultima I'atio regain was too potent for all
his arguments. Bishop Leslie, during his exile, was
made coadjutor to the archbishop of Rouen. He was
at Brussels when lie received the account of Queen
-Ykiry s execution ; and immediately retired to the con¬
vent of Guirternberg near that city, where he died in
the year 159^' I*- was during the long and unfortu¬
nate captivity of Mary, that be amused himself in vvri-
mg the History of Scotland, and his other works.
The elegance and charms of literary occupations serv¬
ed to assuage the violence of his woes. His know¬
ledge and judgment as an historian are equally to be
commended. Where he acts as the transcriber of
Boece, there may be distinguished, indeed, some of the
inaccuracies of that writer. But, when he speaks in
his own person, he has a manliness, a candour, and a
moderation, which appear not always even in authors
°J tl'6 Protestant persuasion. His works are, 1. yj/l
JUcti animi consolationes, &c. composed for the consola¬
tion of the captive queen. 2. De origine, moribus, et
gestis Scotori/m. JDe tiiulo et jure sere mssimce Maria;
Scotorum regime, quo regniAnglia:successionem sibijuste
vindicat. 4. Paramesis ad Anglos et Scotos. 5. Deil-
lust.jieminarum in republ. administranda, &c. 6. Ora-
tio ad reginam Elixabetham pro libertate impctranda.
7. Parcenesis ad nobilitatem populumque Scoticum. 8.
An account ol 1ns proceedings during Ins embassy in
England from 1568 101572, manuscript, Oxon. ' 9.
Apology for the bishop of Ross, concerning the duke
of Norfolk ; manuscript, Oxon, 10. Several letters
manuscript.
Leslie, Charles, a learned divine of Ireland, the
time and place of whose birth is uncertain. He was
educated at Inniskilling ; and in 1664, WHS created fel¬
low of Trinity-college, Dublin, where he continued
till he became A. M. At the decease of his father
he came over to England, and entered himself in the
.Temple at London. Ihe study of the law very soon
disgusted him, and he turned all his attention to theo¬
logy, being admitted into holy orders in 1680. In
1687, he was chosen chancellor of the church and dio¬
cese of Connor, at which time he made himself ex¬
tremely unpopular by his determined opposition to the
tenets of the church of Rome. He imbibed the ab¬
surd and pernicious doctrines of passive obedience and
non-resistance, by which his judgment was so much
biassed, ibat he refused to take the oath of allegiance
to King William and Queen Mary, at the revolution.
He was a strenuous champion for the cause of the
nonjurors, in defence of which be published a work in
1692, being an answer to The State of Protestants in
Ireland under the late King James’s Government, writ¬
ten by Archbishop King. He also wrote a paper cal-
ed the Rehearsal, originally published once a week, and
afterwaids twice, in a fono hall-sheet, consisting of a
dialogue on the affairs of the times. It lasted during
Leslie
Leslie
L E S [ 767 ] L E S
six or seven years. They were afterwards collected
and published by an emiment writer, who observes that
he pursues a thread of argument in them all, against
the lawfulness of resistance in any case whatever, de¬
riving the source of government wholly from God. He
wrote against the Deists, Jew's, Papists, and Socinians,
all oi which he collected together, and published in
two volumes folio, wuth the exception of a very illi¬
beral piece against the learned and pious Dr Tiilot-
son.
The frequent visits which he paid to the courts of St
Germains and Bar-le-Duc, made him obnoxious to the
British government, which wms increased by his “ He¬
reditary Right of the Crown of England Asserted,” of
which he was the reputed author. He was sent to
Bar-le-Duc by some gentlemen of eminence, to at¬
tempt to convert the son of James II. to the Prote¬
stant religion, who wished to see him settled on the
throne. At Bar-le-Duc he was permitted to discharge
the duties of the sacerdotal office, according to the forms
of the church of England, where he endeavoured, but
in vain, to convert the Pretender. It is the opinion of
Lord Bolinghroke, that he was ill used by the Pre¬
tender, who not only refused to hear him himself, hut
sheltered the ignorance of his priests behind his autho¬
rity, and prohibited all discourse concerning religion.
At the close of the reign of Queen Anne, when the
partizans of the Pretender were anxious to promote his
interest in England, Mr Leslie wrote a letter from Bar-
ie-Duc, in which he dwelt at large on the graceful
mien of the Pretender, his magnanimity of spirit, devo¬
tion free from bigotry, application to business, ready
apprehension, sound judgment, and affability, so that
none conversed with him, who were not charmed with
his good sense and temper. In 1715, a rash and ill
digested enterprise took place in Scotland and in the
northern parts of England, in favour of the Pretender,
which ultimately terminated in the dispersion of the re¬
bels ; this obliged him to quit France, and retire to Italy,
whither Mr Leslie followed him, and remained in that
country till the year 1721. He met with so many dif¬
ficulties and disappointments at this time, that he deter¬
mined to return and die in his native country. Some
of his friends acquainted Lord Sunderland with his re¬
solution, who generously promised to protect him from
the interference of government. On the arrival of Mr
Leslie in England, a member of the house of commons
waited upon his lordship with the news ; but we are
happy to inform our readers that he had no great reason
to boast of his reception. On Mr Leslie’s return to
Ireland, he died in 1722, in the month of April, at his
own house, in the county of Monaghan,
He was undoubtedly a man of great merit and ex¬
tensive erudition, distinguished by his piety, humility,
and integrity, among whose works are some masterly
defences of the Christian religion, against Deists and
Jews, and of the Protestant faith against that of the
church of Rome. His opinions were rather singular
respecting church government, but it must be allowed
that he defended them with great ability and acute¬
ness.
LESSER tone, in 'Music. See Tone.
LESSINES, a town of the Netherlands, in Hain-
ault, seated on the river Dender, and famous for its
linen manufacture. W. Long. 3. 53. N. Lat. 51. 41.
LESSONS, among ecclesiastical writers, portions of Lessons
the Holy Scripture, 1’ead in'Christian churches, at the !!
time of divine service. L’Esteatige
In the ancient church, reading the Scriptures was v ~J
one part of the service of the cafechumens j at which
all persons were allowed to he present, in order to ob¬
tain instruction.
1 lie church of England, in the choice of lessons,
pioceeds as follows: for the first lesson on ordinary
days, she directs, to begin at the beginning of the
year with Genesis, and so continue on," till the books
of the Oid lestament are read over j only omitting the
Chronicles, which are for the most part the same with
the booics of Samuel and Ivings, and other particular
chapters in other books, either because they contain
names of persons, places, or other matters less profit¬
able to ordinary readers.
The course of the first lessons for Sundays is regu¬
lated after a different manner. From Advent to Sep-
tuagesima Sunday, some particular chapters of Isaiah
are appointed to be read, because that book contains
the clearest prophecies concerning Christ. Upon Sep-
tuagesima Sunday Genesis is begun, because that book
which treats of the fall of man, and the severe judge¬
ment of God inflicted on the world for sin, best suits
with a time of repentance and mortification. After
Genesis, follow chapters out of the books of the Old
Testament, as they lie in order ; only on festival Sun-
days, such as Easter, Whitsunday, &c. the particular
history relating to that day is appointed to be read \
and on the saints days, the church appoints lessons out
of the moral hooks, such as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ec-
clesiasticus, &c. as containing excellent instructions for
the conduct of life.
As to the second lessons, the church observes the
same course both on Sundays and week days : reading
the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles in the morning,
and the Epistles in the evening, in the order they stand
in the New Testament : excepting on saints days and
holidays, when such lessons are appointed as either ex¬
plain the mystery, relate the history, or apply the ex¬
ample to us.
LESTOFF, or Leostoff, a town of Suffolk in
England, seated on the sea shore, 117 miles north-east
of London. It is concerned in the fisheries of the
North sea, cod, herrings, mackerels, and sprats ; has a
church and a dissenting meeting-house 5 and for its se¬
curity, six 18 pounders, which they can move as occa¬
sion requires ; but it has no battery. The town con¬
tained 3189 inhabitants in 1811. The streets, though
tolerably paved, are narrow. The coast is there very
dangerous for strangers.
L’ESI RANGE, Sir Roger, a celebrated writer in
the 17th century, was descended from an ancient fa¬
mily, seated at Hunstanton-hall in the county of Nor¬
folk, where he was born in 1616, being the youngest
son of Sir Hammond L’Estrange, Bart, a zealous royal¬
ist. Having in 1644 obtained a commission from
King Charles I. for reducing Lynn in Norfolk, then in
possession of the parliament, his design was discovered,
and his person seized. He was tried by a court-mar¬
tial at Guildhall in London, and condemned to die
a spy j but was reprieved, and continued in Newgate
for some time. He afterwards went beyond sea; and
in August 1653 returned to England, where he ap¬
plied
LET [ ?68 ] LET
1/Estrange plied himself to the protector Oliver Cromwell, and
11 having once played before him on the bass viol, he was
Letchlade. [jy som8 nicknamed Oliver's fiddler. Being a man of
v_”l~ * parts, master of an easy humorous style, but withal in
narrow circumstances, he set up a newspaper, under
the title of The Public Intelligencer, in 1663 ; but
which he laid down, upon the publication of the first
Liondon gazette in 1665, having been allowed, how¬
ever, a consideration by government. Some time af¬
ter the Popish plot, when the Tories began to gain the
ascendant over the Whigs, he, in a paper called the
Observator, became a zealous champion for the former.
He was afterwards knighted, and served in the parlia¬
ment called by King James II. in 1685. But things
taking a different turn in that prince’s reign, in point
of liberty of conscience, from what most people expect¬
ed, our author’s Observators were disused as not at all
suiting the times. However, he continued licenser of
the press till King William’s accession, in whose reign
he met with some trouble as a disaffected person.
However, he went to his grave in peace, after he had
io a manner survived his intellects. He published
a great many political tracts, and translated several
works from the Greek, Latin, and Spanish ; viz. Jose¬
phus’s works, Cicero’s Offices, Seneca’s Morals, Eras¬
mus’s Colloquies, iEsop’s Fables, and Bouas’s Guide
to Eternity. The character of his style has been va¬
riously represented ; his language being observed by
some to be easy and humorous, while Mr Gordon says,
“ that his productions are not fit to be read by any
who have taste or good-breeding. They are full of
phrases picked up in the streets, and nothing can be
more low or nauseous.”
LEST WE IT H E L, a town of Cornwall in Eng¬
land, about 229 miles distant from London. It is a
well-built town, where are kept the common gaol, the
weights and measures for the whole stannary, and the
county courts. It stands on the river Foy, which
brought up vessels from Fowey, before it was choked
up with sand coming from the tin mines, and therefore
its once flourishing trade is decayed ; but it holds the
bushelage of coals, salt, malt, and corn, in the town
of Fowey, as it does the anchorage in its harbour. It
was made a corporatiort by Richard earl of Cornwall
when he was king of the Romans, and has had other
charters since. It consists of seven capital burgesses
(whereof one is a mayor), and ty assistants or common
council. It is part of the duchy of Cornwall, to which
it pays III. 19s. lod. a year for its liberties. Its chief
trade is the woollen manufactory. It first returned
members to parliament in the 33d of Edward I. They
are chosen by the burgesses and assistants. It was an¬
ciently the shire town. The number of inhabitants in
1811 was 825.
LETCHLADE, a town of Gloucestershire, 90
miles from London, on the borders of Oxfordshire and
Berks, and the great road to Gloucester j had ancient¬
ly a nunnery, and a priory of black canons. In this
parish is Clay-hill. The market is on Tuesday: and it
has two fairs. It is supposed to have been a Roman
town ; for a plain Roman road runs from hence to Ci¬
rencester $ and by digging in a meadow near it some
years ago, an old building was discovered, supposed to
be a Roman bath, which was 50 feet long, 40 broad,
and 4 high, supported with 100 brick pillars, curiously
inlaid with stones of divers colours of tesseraic work.
The Leech, the Coin, the Churn, and Isis, which all
rise in the Cotswould hills, join and become one river,
called the Thames, which begins here to be navigable j
and barges take in butter, cheese, and other goods, at
its quay, for London. Population 993 in 1811.
LETHARGY , in Medicine (from ZsOjj, oblivion, and
agyicc, numbness, la%iness), a disease consisting of a pro¬
found drowsiness or sleepiness, from which the patient
can scarce be awaked ; or, if awaked, be remains stu¬
pid, without sense or memory, and presently sinks a-
gain into bis forme* sleep. See Medicine Index.
Lethargy, in Farriery. See Farriery, N° 507,
LETHE,,(from Xctvtxw, “ I bide or conceal”), in
the ancient mythology, one of the rivers of hell,
signifying oblivion or forgetfulness j its waters having,
according to poetic fiction, the peculiar quality of
making those who drank them forget every thing that
was past.
LETI, Gregorio, an eminent Italian writer, was
descended of a family which once made a considerable
figure at Bologna : Jerom, his father, was page to
Prince Charles de Medicis ; served some time in the
troops of the grand duke as captain of foot j and set¬
tling at Milan, married there in 1628. He was after¬
wards governor of Almantea in Calabria, and died at
Salerno in 1639. ^ur al,,l10i' was born at Milan in
1630, studied under the Jesuits at Cosenza, and waa
afterwards sent by an uncle to Rome, who would have
him enter into the church ; but he being averse to it,
went to Geneva, where he studied the government and
the religion there. Thence he went to Lausanne; and
contracting an acquaintance with John Anthony Gue¬
rin, an eminent physician, lodged at his house, made
profession of the Calvinist religion, and married his
daughter. He settled at Geneva; where he spent al¬
most twenty years, carrying on a correspondence with
learned men, especially those of Italy. Some contests
obliged him to leave that city in 1679; upon which he
W'ent to France, and then to England, where he was
received with great civility by Cliaries II. who, after
his first audience, made him a present of a thousand
crowns, with a promise of the place of historiographer.
He wrote there the History of England ; but that work
not pleasing the court on account of hid too great li¬
berty in writing, he was ordered to leave the kingdom.
He went to Amsterdam in 1682, and was honoured
with the place of historiographer to that city. He died
suddenly in 1701. He was a man of indefatigable ap¬
plication, as the multiplicity of his works show. The
principal of these are, I. The universal monarchy of
Louis XIV. 2. The Life of Pope Sixtus V7. 3. The
Life of Philip II. King of Spain. 4. The Life of the
Emperor Cliaries V. 5. The Life of Elizabeth, Queen
of England. 6. The History of Oliver Cromwell. 7.
The History of Great Britain, 5 vols i2mo. 8. The
History of Geneva, &c.
LETRIM, a county of Ireland. See Leitrim.
LETTER, a character used to express one of the
simple sounds of the voice ; and as the diflerent simple
sounds are expressed by different letters, these, by be¬
ing differently compounded, become the visible signs
or characters of all the modulations and mixtures of
sounds used to express our ideas in a regular language.
See Language. Thus, as by the help of speech we
render
LET [ 769 ] LET
Letter, render out ideas audible ; by the assistance of letters we
—Y—* render them visible, and by their help we can wrap up
our thoughts, and send them to the most distant parts
of the earth, and read the transactions of different ages.
As to the first letters, what they were, who first in¬
vented them, and among what people they were first
in use, there is still room to doubt ; Philo attributes
this great and noble invention to Abraham j Josephus,
St Irenaeus, and others, to Enoch ; Bibliander to A-
dam 5 Eusebius, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cornelius A-
grippa, and others, to Moses; Pomponius Mela, He-
rodian, Kufus Festus, Pliny, Lucan, &c. to the Phoe¬
nicians ; St Cyprian, to Saturn ; Tacitus, to the Egyp¬
tians ; some, to the Ethiopians ; and others, to the Chi¬
nese: but, with respect to these last, they can never
be entitled to this honour, since all their characters are
the signs of words, formed without the use of letters;
which renders it impossible to read and write their lan¬
guage without avast expence of time and trouble; and
absolutely impossible to print It by the help of types,
or any other manner but by engraving, or cutting in
wood. See Printing.
There h ave been also various conjectures about the
difterent kinds of letters used in different languages :
thus, according to Crinitus, Moses invented the He¬
brew letters ; Abraham, the Syriac and Chaldee ; the
Phoenicians, those of Attica, brought into Greece by
Cadmus, and from thence into Italy by the Pelasgians ;
Nicostrata, the Roman ; Isis, the Egyptian ; and Vul-
filas, those of the Goths.
It is probable, that the Egyptian hieroglyphics were
the first manner of writing: but whether Cadmus and
the Phoenicians learned the use of letters from the E-
gyptians, or from their neighbours of Judea or Samaria,
is a question; for since some of the books of the Old
Testament were then written, they are more likely to
have given them the hint, than the hieroglyphics of
Egypt. But wheresoever the Phoenicians learned this
art, it is generally agreed, that Cadmus the son of
Agenor first brought letters into Greece ; whence, in
following ages, they spread over the rest of Europe.
See Alphabet and Writing.
Letters make the first part or elements of grammar ;
an assemblage of these compose syllables and words,
and these compose sentences. The alphabet of every
language consists of a number of letters, which ought
each to have a different sound, figure, and use. As
the difference of articulate sounds was intended to ex¬
press the different ideas of the mind, so one letter was
originally intended to signify only one sound, and not,
as at present, to express sometimes one sound and some¬
times another ; which practice has brought a great deal
of confusion into the languages, and rendered the learn¬
ing of the modern tongues much more difficult that, it
would otherwise have been. This consideration, to¬
gether with the deficiency of all the known alphabets,
from their wanting some letters to express certain
sounds, has occasioned several attempts towards an uni¬
versal alphabet, to contain an enumeration of all such
single sounds or letters as are used in any language,
feee Alphabet.
Grammarians distinguish letters into vowels, conso¬
nants, mutes, liquids, diphthongs, and characteristics.
They are likewise divided into capital and small letters.
Vol. XL Part II. t
They are also denominated from the shape and turn of Letttr.
the letters ; and in writing are distinguished into dif- v——
ferent hands, as round text, German text, round hand,
Italian, &c. and in printing, into Roman, Italic, and
black letter.
The term Letter, or Type, among printers, not on¬
ly includes the CAPITALS, SMALL CAPITALS, and
small letters, but all the points, figures, and other
marks cast and used in printing ; and also the large or¬
namental letters, cut in wood or metal, which take place
of the illumined letters used in manuscripts. The let¬
ters used in printing are cast at the ends of small piece*
of metal, about three quarters of an inch in length ; and
the letter being not indented, but raised, easily gives
the impression, when, after being blacked with a glu¬
tinous ink, paper is closely pressed upon it. See the
articles Printing and Type. A fount of letters in¬
cludes small letters, capitals, small capitals, points, fi¬
gures, spaces, &c. ; hut besides, they have different
kinds of two-line letters, only used tor titles, and the
beginning of books, chapters, &c. See Fount.
Letter is also a writing addressed and sent to a
person. See Epistle.
The art of epistolary writing, as the late translator
of Pliny’s Letters has observed, was esteemed by the
Romans in the number of liberal and polite accom¬
plishments ; and we find Cicero mentioning with great
pleasure, in some of his letters to Atticus, the elegant
specimen he had received from his son of his geniu*
in this way. It seems indeed to have formed part of
their education ; and, in the opinion of Mr Locke,
it well deserves to have a share in ours. “ The writ¬
ing ol letters (as that judicious author observes) enters
so much into all the occasions of life, that no gentleman
can avoid showing himself in compositions of this kind.
Occurrences will daily force him to make this use of
his pen, which lays open his breeding, and sense, and
his abilities, to a severer examination than any oral dis¬
course.” It is to be wondered we have so few writers
in our own language who deserve to be pointed out as
models upon such an occasion. After having named
Sir Will iam Temple, it would perhaps be difficult to
add a second. The elegant writer of Cowley’s life
mentions him as excelling in this uncommon talent;
but as that author declares himself of opinion, “ That
letters which pass between familiar friends, if they are
written as they should be, can scarce ever be fit to see
the light,” the world is deprived of what no doubt
would have been well worth its inspection. A late di¬
stinguished genius treats the very attempt as ridiculous,
and professes himself “ a mortal enemy to what they
call a fine letter” His aversion, however, was not so
strong, but he knew to conquer it when lie thought
proper ; and the letter which closes his correspondence
with Bishop Atterburyis, perhaps, the most genteel and
manly address that ever was penned to a friend in dis¬
grace. The truth is, a fine letter does not consist in
saying fine things, but in expressing ordinary ones in an
uncommon manner. It is the proprie communia dicere,
the art of giving grace and elegance to familiar occur¬
rences, that constitutes the merit of this kind of writ¬
ing. Mr Gay’s letter, concerning the two lovers who
were struck dead with the same flash of lightning, is a
masterpiece of the sort; and the specimen he has there
5 E givea
LET [ 77° ]1 LET
Letter, given of Ins talents for this species of composition make
1 v— it much to be regretted we have not more from the
same hand.
^ * Of the Style of Epistolary Composition. Purity in the
choice of words, and justness of construction, joined
with perspicuity, are the chief properties of this style.
Accordingly Cicero says : “ In writing letters, we make
use of common words and expressions.” And Seneca
more fully, “ I would have my letters to be like my
discourses, when we either sit or walk together, un¬
studied and easy.” And what prudent man, in his
common discourse, aims at bright and strong figures,
beautiful turns of language, or laboured periods? Nor
is it always requisite to attend to exact order and me¬
thod. He that is master of what he writes, will na¬
turally enough express his thoughts without perplexity
and confusion : and more than this is seldom necessary,
especially in familiar letters.
Indeed, as the subjects of epistles are exceedingly
various, they will necessarily require some variety in
the manner of expression. If the subject be something
weighty and momentous, the language should be
strong and solemn j in things of a lower nature, more
free and easy $ and upon lighter matters, jocose and
pleasant.' In exhortations, it ought to be lively and
vigorous; in consolations, kind and compassionate;
and in advising, grave and serious. In narratives, it
should be clear and distinct j in requests, modest; in
commendations, friendly ; in prosperity cheerful, and
mournful in adversity. In a word, the style ought to
be accommodated to the particular nature of the thing
about which it is conversant.
Besides, the different character of the person, to
whom the letter is written, requires a like difference
in the modes of expression. We do not use the same
language to private persons, and those in a public sta¬
tion ; to superiors, inferiors, and equals. Nor do we
express ourselves alike to old men and young, to the
grave and facetious, to courtiers and philosophers,
to our friends and strangers. Superiors are to be
addressed with respect, inferiors with courtesy, and
equals with civility ; and every one’s character, sta¬
tion, and circumstances in life, with the relation we
stand in to him, occasion some variety in this respect.
But when friends and acquaintances correspond by
letters, it carries them into all the freedom and good-
humour of conversation ; and the nearer it resembles
that the better, since it is designed to supply the room
of it. For when friends cannot enjoy each others
company, the next satisfaction is to converse with
each other by letters, Indeed, sometimes greater
freedom is used in epistles, than the same persons
would have taken in discoursing together; because,
as Cicero says, “ A letter does not blush.” But still
nothing ought to be said in a letter, which, considered
in itself, would not have been fit to say in discourse ;
though modesty perhaps, or some other particular
reason, might have prevented it. And thus it fre¬
quently happens in requests, reproofs, and other cir¬
cumstances of life. A man can ask that by writing,
which he could not do by word, if present; or blame
what he thinks amiss in his friend with greater liberty
when absent, than if they were together. From hence
it is easy to judge of the fitness of any expression to
stand in an epistle, only by considering, whether the
same way of speaking would be proper in talking with Letter
the same person. Indeed, this difference may be al- v—■
lowed, that as persons have more time to think, when
they write, than when they speak; a greater accu¬
racy of language may sometimes be expected in one,
than the other. However, this make no odds as to the
the kind of style : for every one would choose to speak
as correctly as he writes, if he could. And there¬
fore all such words and expressions as are unbecom¬
ing in conversation, should be avoided in letters- and
a manly simplicity, free of all affectation, plain, but
decent and agreeable, should run through the whole.
This is the usual style of Cicero’s epistles, in which
the plainness and simplicity of his diction is accom¬
panied with something so pleasant and engaging, that
he keeps up the attention of his reader, without suf¬
fering him to tire. On the other hand, Pliny’s style
is succinct and witty : but generally so full of turns
and quibbles upon the sound of words, as apparently
render it moie stiff and affected than agrees with
conversation, or than a man of sense would choose in
discourse, were it in his power. Aou may in some
measure judge of Pliny’s manner, by one short letter
to his friend, which runs thus “ How fare you ?
As I do in the country ? pleasantly ? that is, at leisure?
lor which reason I do not care to write long letters,
but to lead them ; the one as the effect of niceness,
and the other of idleness. For nothing is more idle
than your nice folks, or curious than your idle ones.
Farewell.” Every sentence here consists of an anti¬
thesis, and a jingle of words, very different from the
style of conversation, and plainly the effect of study.
But this was owing to the age in which he lived, at
which time the Roman eloquence was sunk into puns,
and an affectation of wit; for he was otherwise a man
of fine sense and great learning.
Letter of Attorney, in Law, is a writing by which
one person authorizes another to do some lawful act
in his stead ; as to give seisin of lands, to receive debts
sue a third person, &c.
The nature of this instrument is to transfer to the
person to whom it is given, the whole power of the
maker, to enable him to accomplish the act intended
to be performed. It is either general or special; and
sometimes it is made revocable, which is when a bare
authority is only given ; and sometimes it is irrevo¬
cable, as where debts, §cc. are assigned from one per¬
son to anotner. It is generally held, that the power
granted to the attorney must be strictly pursued ; and
that where it is made to three persons, two cannot exe¬
cute it. In most cases, the power given by a letter of
attorney determines upon the death of the "person who
gave it. No letter of attorney made by any seaman,
&c. in any ship of war, or having letters of marque, or
by their executors, &c. in order to empower any per¬
son to receive any share of prizes or bounty-money^
shall be valid, unless the same be made revocable, and
for the use of such seamen, and be signed and executed
before, and attested by, the captain °and one other of
the signing officers of the ship, or the mayor or chief
magistrate of some corporation.
IjETTER of Mart or Marque. See Marque,
Letters Patent or Overt, are writings sealed with
the great seal of England, whereby a man is autho¬
rized to do, or enjoy any thing, which, of himself,
h«
LEU r 771 3 LEU
Letler lie could not do. See Patent.—They are so calied
K by reason of their form ; as being open, with the seal
Lencata. affixed, ready to be shown for the confirmation of the
authority given by them.
LETTUCE. See Lactuca, Botany Index ; and
for the cultivation of the different kinds of lettuce, see
Gardening Index.
LEVANT, in Geography, signifies any country
situated to the east of us, or in the eastern side of any
continent or country, or that on which the sun rises.
Levant is also a name given to the eastern part of
the Mediterranean sea, bounded by Natoliaor the Les¬
ser Asia on the north, by Syria and Palestine on the
(east, by Egypt and Barca on the south, and by the
island of Candia and the other part of the Mediterra¬
nean on the west.
LEVATOR, in Anatomy, a name given to several
muscles. See Anatomy, Table of the Muscles.
LEUCA, in antiquity, a geographical measure of
length in use among the latter Gauls ; which, according
to Jornandes, who calls \lleuga, contained fifteen hun¬
dred paces, or one mile and a half. Hence the name
of league, now reckoned at three miles j in the lower
age, called leuva.
LEUCAD ENDHON, a genus of plants belonging to
to the tetrandria class; and in the natural method rank¬
ing under the 48th order, Aggregatce. See Botany
Index.
LEUCADIA, formerly called Her It is, a peninsula
of Acarnania, (Homer) ; but afterwards, by cutting
through the peninsula, made an island, as it is at this
day, called St Maura.
LEUCAS, in Ancient Geography, formerly called
Neritos and Neritum, a town of Leucadia or Leucas •,
near a narrow neck of land, or isthmus, on a hill facing
the east and Acarnania; the foot or lower part of the
town was a plain lying on the sea by which Leucadia
was divided from Acarnnnia, (Livy) ; though Thucy¬
dides places Leucas more inward in the island, which
was joined to the continent by a bridge. It was an
illustrious city ; the capital of Acarnania, and the place
of general assembly.
LEUCATA, or Leucate, in Ancient Geography,
a promontory of Leucadia, according to Strabo, a white
rock projecting into the sea towards Cephalenia, on
which stood a temple of Apollo surnamed Leucadius.
At h is festival, which was annually celebrated here, the
people were accustomed to gffer.an expiatory sacrifice
to the god, and to avert on the head of the victim all
the calamities with which they might be threatened.
For this purpose, they made choice of a criminal con¬
demned to die ; and leading him to the brink of the
promontory, precipitated him into the sea amidst the
loud shouts of the spectators. The criminal, how¬
ever, seldom perished in the water : for it was the cus¬
tom to cover him with feathers, and to fasten birds to
his body, which by spreading their wings might serve
to break his fall. No sooner did he touch the sea, than
a number of boats stationed for the purpose flew to his
assistance, and drew him out; and after being thus
Aaved, he was banished for ever from the territory of
Leucadia. (Strabo, lib. x. p. 452).
According to ancient authors, a strange opinion
concerning this promontory prevailed for some time
among the Greeks. They imagined that the leap of
Leucata was a potent remedy against the violence of Lewau
love. Hence disappointed or despairing loyers, it is II
said, were often known to have come to Leucadia ; Ueueope-
and, having ascended the promontory, offered sacri- , tllans'
fices in the temple, and engaged by a formal vow to
perform the desperate act, to have voluntarily precipi¬
tated themselves into the sea. Some are reported to
have recovered from the effects of the fall : and among
others mention is made * of a citizen of Buthroton, * Pulan.
in Epirus, whose passions always taking fire at new Hephett.
objects, he four times had recourse to the same reme-"P- Phr,t.
dy, and always with the same success. As those who^ 49^
made the trial, however, seldom took any precaution
to render their fall less rapid, they were generally de¬
stroyed : and women often fell victims to this act of
desperation. At Leucata was shown the tomb of Ar¬
temisia, that celebrated queen of Caria, who gave so
many proofs of courage at the battle of Salamis f. f Ifrrodot.
Inflamed with a violent passion for a young man who Tiii>
inflexibly refused her love, she surprised him in his ^ 87*
sleep and put out his eyes. Regret and despair soon
brought her to Leucata, where she perished in the
waves notwithstanding every effort to save her J. Such I Ptolem.
likewise was the end of the unhappy Sappho. Forsa-
ken by her lover Phaon, she came hither to seek relief'^*
from her sufferings, and found her death. (Menand.
ap. Strab. lib. x. p. 452.)
LEUCIPPUS, a celebrated Greek philosopher and
mathematician ; first author of the famous system of
atoms and vacuums, and of the hypothesis of storms ;
since attributed to the moderns. He flourished about
428 B. C.
LEUCOGiEUS, in Ancient Geography, a hill si¬
tuated between Puteoli and Neapolis in Campania,
abounding in sulphur; now PAlumcra. Whence there
were also springs called Leucogceifantes ; the waters
of which, according to Pliny, gave a firmness to the
teeth, clearness to the eyes, and procured a cure in
wounds.
LEUCOJUM, Great Snow-drop, a genus of
plants belonging to the hexandria class ; and in the na¬
tural method ranking under the ninth order, Spathaceee.
See Botany Index.
LEUCOMA, in antiquity, was a public register
amongst the Athenians, in which were inserted the
names of all the citizens, as soon as they were of age. to
enter upon their paternal inheritance.
Leucoma, in Surgery, a distemper of the eyes, other¬
wise called albugo. See Albugo and SURGERY.
LEUCOPETRA, in Ancient Geography, so called
from its white colour, (Strabo) ; a promontory of the
Bruttii, in the territory of Rhegium, the termination
of the Apennines ; the utmost extremity of the Brut¬
tii, or the modern Calabria Ultra; as the Japygium
is of the ancient Calabria, or the modern Calabria Ci-
tra. ,
LEUCQPETRIANS, in ecclesiastical history, the
name of a fanatical sect which sprang up in the Greek
and eastern churches towards the close of the 12th cen¬
tury : the fanatics of this denomination professed to
believe in a double Trinity, rejected wedlock, abstain¬
ed from flesh, treated with the utmost contempt the
sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, and all
the various branches of external worship; placed the
essence of religion in internal prayer alone; and main-
5 E 2 tained,
LEU [ 772 ] LEV
Leurope- tained, as it is said, that an evil being, or genius,
tnans dwelt in the breast of every mortal, and could be ex-
JLeuctra Pe^e<^ lrom thence by no other method than by per-
t - petual supplication to the Supreme Being. The found¬
er of this enthusiastical sect is said to have been a
person called Leucopetms, and his chief disciple Ty-
chicus, who corrupted, by fanatical interpretations, se¬
veral books of Scripture, and particularly St Matthew’s
Gospel.
LEUCOPHLEGMATIA, in Medicine, a kind of
dropsy, otherwise called anasarca. See Leucopotion,
Medicine Index.
LEUCOTHOE, or Leucothea, in fabulous his¬
tory, the wife of Athamas, changed into a sea deity ;
see Ino. She was called Matuta by the Romans. She
bad a temple at Rome, where all the people, particu¬
larly women, ofiered vows for their brothers children.
Ihey did not entreat the deity to protect their own
children, because Ino had been unfortunate in hers.
No female slaves were permitted to enter the temple j
or if their curiosity tempted them to trangress this
rule, they were beaten with the greatest severity. To
this supplicating for other people’s children, Ovid al¬
ludes in these lines,
Mon tamen hanc pro stirpe sua pia mater adorat.
Ipsa parurn feiix visa fuisse parens. East. vi.
LEUCTRA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Bceo-
tia, to the west of Thebes, or lying between Platese and
Thespiae, where the Lacedaemonians had a great defeat
given them by Epaminondas and Pelopidas, the The¬
ban generals. T he Theban army consisted at most but
of 6000 men, whereas that of the enemy was at least
thrice that number ; but Epaminondas trusted most in
his horse, wherein he had much the advantage, both
in their quality and good management ; the rest he en¬
deavoured to supply by the disposition of his men, and
the vigour of the attack, tie even refused to suffer
any to serve under him in the engagement, but such
as he knew to be fully resolved to conquer or die. He
put himself at the head of the left wing, opposite to
Cleombrotus king of Sparta, and placed the main
stress of the battle there •, rightly concluding, that if
he could break the body of the Spartans, which was
hut 12 men deep, whereas his own was 50, the rest
would be soon put to flight. He closed his own with
the sacred band, which was commanded by Pelopidas j
and placed his horse in the front. His right, from
which he had drawn so many men, he ordered to fall
back, in a slanting line, as if they declined to fight,
that they might not be too much exposed to the ene¬
my, and might serve him for a corps of reserve in case
of need. This was the wise disposition which the
two Theban generals made of these few but resolute
forces; and which succeeded in every part, according
to their wish. Epaminondas advanced with his left
wing, extending it obliquely, in order to draw the ene¬
my’s right from the main body ; and Pelopidas char¬
ged them with such desperate speed and fury, at the
head of his battalion, before they could reunite, that
their horse, not being able to stand the shock, were
forced back upon their infantry, which threw the
whole into the greatest confusion : so that though the
Spartans were of all the Greeks the most expert in re¬
covering from any surprise, yet their skill on this oc¬
casion either failed them or proved of no effect; for 1 cae,r#
the Thebans, observing the dreadful impression they Lev/*’
had made on them with their horse, pushed furiously  
upon the Spartan king, and opened their way to him
with a great slaughter.
Upon the death of Cleombrotus, and several officers
of note, the Spartans, according to custom, renewed
the fight with double vigour and fury, not so much to
revenge his death as to recover his body, which was
such an established point of honour as they could not
give up without the greatest disgrace. But here the
Theban general wisely chose rather to gratify them in
that point, than to hazard the success of a second on¬
set; and left them in possession of their king, whilst
he. marched straight against their other wing, com¬
manded by Archidamus, and consisting chiefly of such
auxiliaries and allies as had not heartily engaged in
the Spartan interest: these were so discouraged by the
death of the king and the defeat of that wing, that
they betook themselves to flight, and were presently
followed by the rest of the army. The Thebans,
however, pursued them so closely, that they made a
second dreadful slaughter among them ; which com¬
pleted Epaminendas’s victory, who remained master of
the field, and erected a trophy in memory of it. This
was the conclusion of the famed battle of Leuctra, in
which the Lacedaemonians lost 4000 men, and the The¬
bans but 300.
LEVEL is an instrument which enables us to find
a line parallel to the horizon, or concentric with the
circumference of the earth, and to continue it to any
distance :•—to form a surface exactly level, having all
its parts at equal distances from the earth’s centre, or
to find the difference of ascent between several places
for the purpose of making roads, conducting water,
draining low grounds, rendering rivers navigable,
forming canals, &c. &c.
Among the great variety of instruments which have
been invented for these purposes, the following are the
most important and useful.
Air-Level, that which shows the line of level byA;r/Tfj
means of a bubble of air inclosed with some liquor in
a glass tube of an indeterminate length and thickness,
whose two ends are hermetically sealed. When the
bubble fixes itself at a certain mark, made exactly in
the middle of the tube, the plane or ruler wherein it
is fixed is level. "When it is not level, the bubble will
rise to one end. This glass tube may be set in another
of brass, having an aperture in the middle, through
which the bubble of air may be observed. The liquor
with which the tube is filled is oil of tartar, or aqua
seennda ; these not being liable to freeze as common
water, nor to rarefaction and condensation, as spirit of
wine is. This application of a bubble of air was the
invention of Dr Hooke.
There is one of these instruments made with sights,
which is an improvement upon that last described, and
which, by a little additional apparatus, becomes more
commodious and exact. It consists of an air level (fig. Plate
1.), about eight inches long, and seven or eight lines CCXCII.
in diameter, set in a brass tube 2, with an aperture in *2* 1‘
the middle, C. The tubes are supported hy a straight
ruler a foot long ; at whose end are fixed two sights,
3, 3, exactly perpendicular to the tubes, and of an e-
qual height, having a square hole, formed by two fillets
•f
LEV [ 773 ] - LEV
Lerel. of brass crossing eacb other at right angles, in the mid-
——V die of which is drilled a very small hole, through which
a point on a level with the instrument is observed. The
brass tube is fastened on the ruler by means of two
screws; one of which, marked 4, serves to raise or de¬
press the tube at pleasure, for bringing it towards a
level. The top of the ball and socket is rivetted to a
little ruler that springs, one end whereof is fastened
with a screw to the great ruler, and at the other end
has a screw, 5, serving to raise and depress the instru¬
ment when nearly level.
The instrument just described, however, is still less
commodious than the following one ; for though the
Iholes be ever so small, they will take in too great a
space to determine the point of level precisely.
The instrument alluded to consists of an air-level,
fig. J. with telescopic sights. This level (fig. 2.) is like the
last; with this difference, that, instead of plain sights,
it carries a telescope to determine exactly a point of
level at a great distance. The telescope is a little brass
tube, about 15 inches long, fastened on the same ruler
as the level. At the end of the tube of the telescope,
marked 1, enters the little tube I, carrying the eye¬
glass and a hair placed horizontally in the focus of
the object-glass, 2; which little tube may be drawn
out, or pushed into the great one, for adjusting the
telescope to different sights : at the other end of the
telescope is placed the object-glass. The screw 3, is for
raising or lowering the little fork, for carrying the hair,
and making it agree with the bubble of air when the
instrument is level; and the screw 4, is for making the
bubble of air, D or E, agree with the telescope : the
whole is fitted to a ball and socket. M. Huygens is
said to be the first inventor of this level ; which has
this advantage, that it may be inverted by turning the
ruler and telescope half round ; and if then the hair
cut the same point that it did before, the operation is
just.
)cs«gu-
eut
V 3*
It may be observed, that one may add a telescope to
any kind of level, by applying it upon, or parallel to,
the base or ruler, when there is occasion to take the le¬
vel of remote objects.
Dr Desaguliers contrived an instrument, by which
ers'sleve!-the difference of level of two places, which could not
os instru-bje taken in less than four or five days with the best
telescopic levels, may be taken in as few hours. The
instrument is as follows. To the ball C (fig. 3.) is
joined a recurve tube BA, with a very fine bore, and
a small bubble at top A, whose under part is open.
It is evident from the make of this instrument, that
if it he inclined in carrying, no injury will he done
to the liquor, which will always be right both in the
ball and tube when the instrument is set upright. If
the air at C be so expanded with heat, as to drive the
liquor to the top of the tube, the cavity A will receive
the liquor, which will come down again and settle at
D, or near it, according to the level of the place
where the instrument is, as soon as the air at C returns
to the same temperament as to heat and cold. To
preserve the same degree of heat, when the different
observations are made, the machine is fixed in a tin ves¬
sel EF, filled with water up to g h, above the ball,
and a very sensible thermometer has also its ball under
water, that one may observe the liquor at D, in each
experiment, when the thermometer stands at the same Level,
height as before. The water is poured out when the — v-—. >
instrument is carried ; which one may do conveniently
by means of the wooden frame, which is set upright by
the three screws, S, S, S, (fig. 4.), and a line and Fig. 4. nn(j
plummet PP, (fig. 5.). At the back part of the woodenS*
frame, from the piece at top K, hangs the plummet P,
over a brass point at N; M are brackets to make
the upright board KN continue at right angles with
tiie horizontal one at N. Fig. 6. represents a front Fig- 6,
view of the machine, supposing the fore part of the tin
vessel transparent; and here the brass socket of the re¬
curve-tube, into which the ball is screwed, has two
wings at II, fixed to the bottom, that the ball may not
break the tube by its endeavour to emerge when the
water is poured in as high as g h.
After the doctor had contrived this machine, he
considered, that as the tube is of a very small bore, if
the liquor should rise into the ball at A (fig. 3.) in car¬
rying the instrument from one place to another, some
of it would adhere to the sides of the ball A, and up¬
on its descent in making the experiment, so much
might be left behind, that the liquor would not be
high enough at D to show the difference of the level;
therefore, to prevent that inconveniency, he contrived
a blank screw, to shut up the hole at A, as soon as one
experiment is made, that in carrying the machine, the
air in A may balance that in C, so that the liquor
shall not run up and down the tube, whatever degree
of heat and cold may act upon the instrument, in go¬
ing from one place to another. Now, because one ex¬
periment may be made in the morning, the water may
be so cold, that when a second experiment is made at
noon the water cannot be brought to the same degree
of cold it had in the morning; therefore, in making
the first experiment, warm water must be mixed with
the cold, and when the water has stood some time, be¬
fore it comes to be as cold as it is likely to be at the
warmest part of that day, observe and set down the de¬
gree of the thermometer at which the spirit stands,
and likewise the degree of the water in the barometer
at D ; then screw on the cape at A, pour out the wa¬
ter, and carry the instrument to the place whose level
you would know; then pour in your water, and %vhen
the thermometer is come to the same degree as before,
open the screw at top, and observe the liquor in the
barometer.
The doctor’s scale for the barometer is ten inches
long, and divided into tenths; so that such an in¬
strument will serve for any heights not exceeding
ten feet, each tenth of an inch answering to a foot in
height.
The doctor made no allowance for the decrease of
density in the air, because he did not propose this ma¬
chine for measuring mountains (though, with a proper
allowance for the decreasing density of the air, it will
do very well), but for heights that want to be known
in gardens, plantations, and the conveyance of water,
where an experiment that answers two or three feet in
a distance of 20 miles, will render this a very useful
instrument.
Artillery Foot-Level is in form of a square, havingArtHkrv
its two legs or branches of an equal length ; at a junc-f0ot-]eVel>
ture whereof is a little hole, whence hangs a thread
and
LEV
Level.
fis
Carpenters
and Pa-
viers level.
Pig. 8.
S
Oanners
level.
Fig.p.
Masons le¬
vel.
Plumb or
pendulum
level.
Fijr. jo.
and plummet playing on a perpendicular line In the
middle of a quadrant. It is divided into twice 45 de¬
grees from the middle. Fig. 7,
This instrument may be used on other occasions, by
placing the ends of its two branches on a plane •, for
when the thread plays perpendicularly over the middle
division of the quadrant, the plane is assuredly level.
To use it in gunnery, place the two ends on the piece
of artillery, which you may raise to any proposed
height, by means of the plummet, whose thread will
give the degree above the level.
Carpenters and Paviers Level, consists of a lono-
ruler, in the middle of which is fitted, at right angles,
another somewhat larger. At the top of this is fasten¬
ed a thread, which, when it hangs over a fiducial line
at right angles with the base, shows that this base is
horizontal. Sometimes this level is composed of one
board. See fig. 8.
Gunners Level, for levelling cannons and mortars,
consists of a triangular brass plate, about four inches
high, (fig. 9.) at the bottom of which is a portion of a
circle, divided only into 45 degrees ; as this number
is sufficient for the highest elevation of cannons and
mortars, and for giving shot the greatest range. On
the centre of this segment of a circle is screwed a piece
of brass, by means of which it may be fixed or screwed
at pleasure. The end of this piece of brass is made so
as to serve for a plummet and index, in order to show
the different degrees of elevation of pieces of artillery.
This instrument has also a brass foot, to set upon can¬
nons or mortars, so that when those pieces are horizon¬
tal, the instrument will be perpendicular. The foot of
this level is to be placed on the piece to be elevated, in
such a manner, as that the point of the plummet may
fall on the proper degree j this is what they call level¬
ling the piece.
Masons Level, is composed of three rules, so join¬
ed as to form an isosceles triangle somewhat like a Ro¬
man A. At the vertex of this triangle is fastened a
thread, from which hangs a plummet, that passes over
a fiducial line, marked in the middle of the base, when
the thing to which the level is applied is horizontal j
but declines from the mark, when the thing is lower on
the one side than on the other.
Plumb or Pendulum Level, that which shows the
horizontal lines by means of another line perpendicular
to that described by a plummet or pendulum. This
instrument, (fig. 10.) consists of two legs or branches,
joined together at right angles. The branch which
carries the thread and plummet is about a foot and a
half long ; and the thread is hung towards the top of
the branch, at the point 2. The middle of the branch
where the thread passes is hollow, so that it may hang
free everywhere: but towards the bottom, where there
is a little blade of silver, on which is drawn a line per¬
pendicular to the telescope, the said cavity is covered
by two pieces of brass, making as it were a kind of
case, lest the wind should agitate the thread. For this
reason the silver blade is covered with a glass G, in or¬
der that it may be seen when the thread and plummet
play upon the perpendicular. The telescope is fastened
to the other branch of the instrument, and is about
two feet long ; having a hair placed horizontally
across the focus of the object-glass, which determines
the point of the level. The telescope must be fitted
C 774 1
LEV
Level.
at right angles to the perpendicular. It has a bail and
socket, by which it is fixed to the foot, and was invent¬
ed by M. Picard.
Reflecting Level, that made by means of a pretty Mariotte’*
long surface ol water representing the same object in-reflecting
verted which we see erected by the eye ; so that the lcvel*
point where these two objects appear to meet is a level
with the place where the surface of the water is found.
This is the invention of M. Mariotte.
There is another reflecting level consisting of a mir-Cassini’s,
ror of steel, or the like, well polished, and placed a
little before the object-glass of a telescope, suspended
perpendicularly. This mirror must make an angle of
450 with the telescope; in which case the perpendicu¬
lar line of the telescope is converted into a horizontal
line, which is the same with the line of level. This is
the invention of M. Cassini.
Water Level, that which shows the horizontal line Waterle-
by means of a surface of water or other liquor; found-vtf, or *11(1.
ed on this principle, that water always places itselfrobates a(
level. the an-
The most simple water level is made of a long^611*’
wooden trough or canal, whose sides are parallel to the
base ; so that being equally filled with water, its sur¬
face shows the line of level. This is the chorobates of
the ancients. See Chorobata.
It is also made with two cups fitted to the two ends
of a pipe, three or four feet long, about an inch in
diameter, by means of which the water communicates
from the one to the other cup ; and this pipe being
moveable on its stand by means of a ball and socket,
when the two cups become equally full of water, their
two surfaces mark the line of level.
Ibis instrument, instead of cups, may also be made
with two short cylinders of glass three or four inches
long, fastened to each extreme of the pipe with wax
or mastic. Into the pipe is poured some common or
coloured water, which shows itself through the cylin¬
ders, by means of which the line of level is determined ;
the height of the water, with icspect to the centre of
the earth, being always the same in both cylinders.
I his level, though very simple, is yet very commodious
for levelling at small distances. jj
De la Hire’s level consists of two vessels filled with De la
water, and communicating with each other by means ofHfr®’* le¬
one or more tubes. A small cylindrical box made ofve*‘
thin copper or planished tin, and terminating below in
an obtuse cone, floats in each of these boxes, which are
kept in a vertical position by introducing into the cone*
a hall of lead or a quantity of mercury. One of the
boxes carries the object-glass ; and the eye-glas*
along with the cross wires are fastened into the other,
hut in such a manner as to be elevated or depressed by
sliding in two grooves, in order that the axes of the
lenses may be exactly level, which is effected by mea¬
suring a base. See Traitc du Nivellement par M. Pi- I2
card. The inconveniences attending this instrument Defects A
arise from the difficulty of bringing the floating eye-Del;1
glass into the same line with the axis of the object-
glass, and of making the boxes settle in such a position
that distinct vision may be procured through the tele¬
scope ; for if the wires in the focus of the eye-glass be
out of the axis, or at the smallest distance from the fo¬
cus of the object-glass, the image will be both indis¬
tinct and deformed. Id order that De la Hire’s level
may
j Hide's le¬
vel.
LEV
C 775 ]
LEV
! Level.
. 13
€lupiet’
»#>roYe-
ifel.
14
nt)ar-
may be perfect, it is necessary that the boxes should be
of the same weight and magnitude, that the boxes which
contain the water should be put nearly on a level by
means of a plummet, that the same quantity of water
should be introduced, and that the object-glass should
be kept at the same height with the eye-glass. These
conditions, which are requisite to the perfection of the
level, are too numerous and to difficult to be attained,
to render this instrument of any use where accurate re¬
sults are required.
These defects in De la Hire’s level were partly re¬
medied bv M. Couplet, by inserting the object-glass
'n"}.0,:Deand eye-glass into the same tube, and by placing this
re 6 telescope loosely on two boxes which formerly floated
at random on the fluid. He equalized the weight of
these boxes by means of a quantity of small shot, and
verified the instrument by putting one of the boxes be¬
neath the object-glass, and the other beneath the eye¬
glass of the telescope. It is evident, however, that the
accuracy of Couplet’s level depends upon the equal
distribution of the small shot contained in the boxes j
for if it is distributed unequally, the box will be more
depressed on one side than another, and consequently
the intersection of the cross wires in the focus of the
eye-glass, will either recede from, or approach to the
surface of the water, according as the small shot is un¬
equally distributed in the box which supports the eye¬
glass, or in that which carries the object-glass. Besides
this source of error, considerable inconvenience must
arise in practice from the want of connection between
the telescope and the two boxes upon which it floats.
_ The level of Deparcieux is properly an improve-
ti iks le- rnenj upon that of Couplet. It consists of two parts, a
*late l,ox ABCD of light wood, in which are placed two
XOtfl. vessels of tin EFG, EFG filled with water. These
1. vessels are each 10 inches long, 7 inches wide, and 4J
deep, and communicate by one or more tubes GE.
’ The other part is composed of three tubes M, M, M,
and of two boxes L, L, enclosed on all sides, having
8 J inches of length, 6 of breadth, and 4 of depth, and
above these are soldered the three tubes. (Fig. I. is a
vertical section, and fig. 2. a horizontal section of the
instrument). The two outermost tubes are telescopes
from 18 to 36 inches long, pointed in opposite direc¬
tions to prevent the necessity of turning the level, and
are necessary for its adjustment and verification.—A
piece of lead weighing about two pounds is soldered to
the bottom of each box L, L, and a weight F of half
a pound is made to move towards Q or 11 by the screw
HQ, in order to adjust the level by making one of the
floating boxes sink deeper in the water than the other.
This weight should be fixed to a small tin tube which
can move easily within the greater one, and the screw
is turned by means of a handle similar to that which is
used for winding up a clock. The whole instrument is
thus covered with a case a & to prevent the wind from
I(; agitating the water,
oil irf In order to adjust the level, place the box ABCD
Hag1*, upon a table, and elevate one end or another by means
of wedges till the intersection of the two cross wires in
the focus of the eye-glass of one of the telescopes seems
to fall upon a very remote object, each of these wires
being moveable by screws so that their point of intersec¬
tion can be varied. Then take the level out of the box
ABCD, and invert its position, so that one of the tin
Level.
boxes EF may occupy the position which the other had
before, and look through the other telescope. If the
intersection of the wires falls upon the same object,
their position is correct, and the axes of the telescopes
are parallel j but if it falls at a distance from the ob¬
ject, the point of intersection must be shifted one-hajf
of that distance towards the object, and the same ope¬
ration repeated till the intersection of the hairs of one
of the telescopes covers the same point of the object
that is hid by the intersection of the hairs of the other
telescope. When this happens, the axes of the tele¬
scopes will be exactly parallel.
I he level is then placed upon its stand, which is fix¬
ed to the box at K, and a very remote object is exa¬
mined with one of the telescopes, so as to find the point
of it which is hid by the intersection of the wires. The
level is then inverted, and the object examined with
the other telescope. If the intersection of the wires co¬
vers the same point of the object as before, the level is
adjusted, and the object is in the line of apparent level
passing through the intersection of the wires. But if
this is not the case, the weight P towards Q or towards
B, according as the point of the object first examined
is above or below the intersection of the wires, in order
to make the image of the object rise or fall one-half of
the distance between the points that are covered by the
intersection of the wires in each observation. The ope¬
ration is then repeated, till the intersection of the wires
in both telescopes falls upon the same point of the ob¬
ject, in which case the axes of the telescopes will be
exactly level, and the instrument properly adjusted. It
is obvious that by moving the weight P from the posi¬
tion which it has when the level is adjusted, the axes
of the telescopes will be inclined to the line of the level
either above or below it according as the weight is
moved to one side or another. Hence, by measuring
a base with a vertical object at its remote extremity, it
may be easily found how many minutes or seconds cor¬
respond with a given variation in the position of the
weight, merely by measuring the tangents on the verti¬
cal object j so that a scale may be engraven on the tube
TT which will exhibit the angles of inclination to the
line of apparent level, formed by the axes of the tele¬
scopes when the weight P has different positions.
The mercurial level lately invented by the ingenious Keith
Alexander Keith, Esq. of Bavelston, is founded on the nierei>l‘ial
1#
same^principie as the levels of De la Hire, Couplet,^
and Deparcieux, with this difference, that mercury is coXCIIf
employed instead of water. A section of the mercurial
level is represented in fig. 3. where A, A are two ob-Fig*3*
long square cavities communicating by means of the
channel MINT. BB are two grooves hollowed out of
the wood which contain the sights D, D', fig. 4. when Fig. 4.
the instrument is not in use. The sight D has a small
hole in it, and the other is furnished with a cross hair.
They are fixed into two pieces of ivory or hard woodt
which are nearly of the same form as the cavities A, A,
hut a little smaller, so that they may go into these cavi¬
ties without touching the sides. A quantity of mercu¬
ry is then introduced into the communicating vessels
A, A till they be about half full. The two sights are
then placed in the cavities, and float on the horizontal
surface of the mercury ; consequently (Hydrodyna¬
mics, art. 34, 37) if the sights be of the same dimension
and weight, a line joining the cross hair in D' and the
small
I -
LEV
[ 776 ]
LEV
Level.
rig. 5.
principle.
Plate
CCXCIV.
Sg. 1.
Fig. t.
small hole in D will be level or parallel with the hori¬
zontal surface of the mercury. The instrument com¬
pletely fitted up is represented in fig. 5. where D, D'
are the sights, D being the sight to which the eye is
applied. When there is a strong wind the level is co¬
vered with a case, in which two holes are left opposite
to the sights.—The preceding level might be improved
by making the cross hair move up and down with a
screw, and by engraving a scale on the side of the
square aperture at D7, whose divisions being subdivided
by a scale on the circumference of the nut that moves
the screw, would indicate to great accuracy the angle
j j of inclination.
Description The following mode of constructing a level upon a
of a level new principle has occurred to the writer of this article,
upon a new Jiet a reflecting surface either of glass or water,
and let MN be a straight ruler held above this surface ;
thus it follows from optical principles that the line MN
will be perpendicular to the plane AB when the object
MN and its image NM' appear in the same straight
line to an eye placed at M. Hence, by the bye, we may
ascertain the error of a square, by placing one of its sides
opon the surface of a looking glass, and applying the eye
to its extremity M ; for if it is inaccurate, the image
of the side MN will form an angle with MN, thus if
»»N be the side of the square, its image will be N in'.
—Now let W be a vessel containing either water or
mercury, and let VV be the surface of the fluid. This
vessel must he firmly connected with the base CD and
also with the vertical plane EF (perpendicular to CD)
by means of the cross bars ab, cd. The telescope AB
is fastened to MN, another plane which rises perpen¬
dicular to the plane EF, and the plane MN is so con¬
nected with EF by means of screws, that its side MN
may be made to vary its angle with the horizon, in any
direction. The vessel \ V, therefore, and the planes
EF, CD remain fixed, while the telescope AB and the
plane MN can vary their position relative to the other
parts of the level. The telescope AB should be so con¬
structed as to answer the purpose of two telescopes. It
has an object-glass both at A and B, and also an eye¬
glass with cross wires at A and B ; and these are so fitted
into the tube, that when the eye is applied to the end
B, the object-glass at B, and the eye-glass at A with its
cross hairs, may be turned to one side so as to have di¬
stinct vision with the remaining eye-glass at B and the
object-glass at A. When the eye is applied to A, the
eye-glass at B and the object-glass at A are moved out
of the axis of the telescope for the same reason. This
contrivance is for the purpose of avoiding the necessity
of having two telescopes. The cross hair in the focus
of each eye-glass must be made capable of varying their
position, so that the point of intersection may be shifted
for the purposes of adjustment.
In order to adjust the instrument, place its base CD,
upon a table, and move the telescope of the index MN
till the image N'M' is in the same straight line with
MN. Then look through the extremity B at a distant
object, and mark the point of it which is covered by the
intersection of the wires. Insert the whole instrument
so that the end A may be at B, adjust the index MN
as before, and look through the telescope at the same
object. If the intersection of the wires falls upon the
same point of the object as formerly, the instrument is
properly adjusted. But if not, the intersection of the
Method of
adjusting
it.
cross wires in one of the eye-pieces must be varied, as Level
in the adjustment ol Deparcieux’s level, till it covers -v~—J
the same point of the object that was covered at the
first observation. When this happens, the instrument
is duly adjusted, and may be used by placing the base
CD upon a stand, and adjusting the index MN ; for
when this is done, the axis of the telescope will be in a
line accurately horizontal.
Level of Mr Huygens's invention, consists of a tele- Huygens’,
scope a, (fig. 11.) in form of a cylinder, going through level,
a ferril, in which it is fastened by the middle. This
ferril has two flat branches bb, one above, and the 0-
thor below ; at the ends whereof are fastened little ^ U‘
moving pieces, which carry two rings, by one of which
the telescope is suspended to a hook at the end of the
screw 3, and by the other a pretty heavy weight is sus¬
pended in order to keep the telescope m ceyuilibrio.
This weight hangs in the box 5, which is almost filled
with linseed oil, oil of walnuts, or other matter that
will not easily coagulate, for more aptly settling the
balance of the weight and telescope. The instrument
carries two telescopes close and parallel to each 0-
ther; the eye-glass of the one being against the object-
glass of the other, that one may see each way without
turning the level. In the focus of the object-glass of
each telescope must a little hair be strained horizon¬
tally, to be raised and lowered as occasion requires
by a little screw. If the tube of the telescope be not
found level when suspended, a ferril or ring, 4, is put
on it, and is to be slid along till it fixes to a level.
The hook on which the instrument is hung is fixed to
a flat wooden cross j at the ends of each arm whereof
there is a hook serving to keep the telescope from
too much agitation in using or carriage. To the said
flat cross is applied another hollow one, that serves as
a case for the instrument ; but the two ends are left
open, that the telescope may be secured from the wea¬
ther and always in a condition to be used. The foot
of this instrument is a round brass plate, to which are
fastened three brass ferrils, moveable by means of joints
whereon are put staves, and on this foot is placed the
box.
Fig. 12. marked I, is a balance-level j which being pjg Iti
suspended by the ring, the two sights, when in cequi-,
librio, will be horizontal, or in a level.
Spirit-Level. The most accurate levelling instru-siIWn’s
ment, and that possessed of the greatest essential ad-spirit-le-
vantages in use, is the spirit-level; which was firsts
constructed by Mr Sisson, and to which some small ad¬
ditions and improvements have been since made. The
following is a description of one of the best of these le¬
vels, as made by the principal mathematical-instrument
makers.
Fig. 3. is a representation of the instrument mounted
on its complete staves. The telescope, ABC, is madeGr<*?'ft^
from 15 inches to two feet in length, as may be required.
It is achromatic, of the best kind, and shows the objects ^
erect. In the focus of the eye-glasses are exceedingly
fine cross wfires, the intersection of which is evidently
shown to be perfectly in the axis of the tube; for by
turning it round on its two supporters DE, and looking
through the telescope, the intersection of the wires will
constantly cut the same part of the object viewed. By
turning the screw a at the side of the telescope, the ob¬
ject-glass at g is moved 3 and thus the telescope is exact-
]y
LEV [ 777 ] LEV
Lerel. ly adapted to tlie eye. IF these cross wires are at any
; time out of their adjustment, which is discovered by
their intersection not cutting the same part of the ob¬
ject during the revolution of the telescope on its axis,
they are easily adjusted by means of the four screws
b b b, placed on the telescope about an inch from the
end lor the eye. These screws act in perpendicular di¬
rections to one another, by unscrewing one and tight¬
ening the other opposite to the wire, so that, if connect¬
ed with it, it may be moved either way at pleasure ;
and in this manner the other wire perpendicular to it
may be moved, and thus the intersection of the wires
brought exactly in the axis of the tube.
To the telescope is fixed, by two small screws r c,
the level tube containing the spirits, with a small bub¬
ble of air: This bubble of air, when the instrument is
well adjusted, will settle exactly in the same place, in
or near the middle of its tube, whether the telescope
he reversed or not on the supporters, which in this case
are kept unmoved.
It is evident, that the axis of the telescope, or the
intersection o( the wires, as before shown, must in this
case be truly level. In this easy mode of adjustment
consists the improvement of the instrument ; and it is
hereby capable of being adjusted by only one station
and one object, which will at the same time determine
it to he in a true level. If by change of weather, ac¬
cident, or any other cause, the instrument should have
lost its level or adjustment, it may thus be readily re¬
stored and readjusted at the first station ; which is an
advantage possessed by none of the instruments formerly
made. The two supporters DE, on which the level rests
and turns, are shaped like the letter Y. The telescope
rests within the upper part of them ; and the inner
sides of each of these Y’s are tangents to the cylindric
tube of the telescope, which is turned to a true cylin¬
der, and each touches it only at one place.
rIhe lower ends of these supporters are inserted into
a. strong brass plate FE, so as to stand perpendicularly
on it. One ol these is kept fast by a tightening screw
O, and to the other is applied a fine threaded screw
II, to adjust the tube, when on its supporters, to a true
level. To the supporter I) is sometimes applied a
line of tangents as far as 12 degrees, in order to take
an angle of depression or elevation to that extent. Be¬
tween the supporters is also sometimes fixed a compass-
box I, divided into 360 degrees, and again into four
90°; having a centre pin and needle, and trigger, at o',
to throw off the needle from the centre when not used ;
so as to constitute a perfect circumferentor, connected
with all the foregoing improvements. This plate is fix¬
ed on a conical brass ferrule K, which is adapted to the
hell-metal frustum of a cone at top of the brass head of
the staves, having a ball and socket, with three bell-
metal joints, two strong brass parallel plates LL, four
screws eeee for adjusting the horizontal motion, a re¬
gulating screw M to this motion, and a fastening screw
N to tighten it on the cone when necessary. The fast¬
ening screw N, and the regulating screw M, by which
the whole instrument is moved with accuracy through
a small space in a horizontal direction, was an addition
of Mr Ramsden’s.
1/ie manner of adjusting the spirit-level at the first
station.— 1 he whole level being now placed steadily on
its staves, it must be rendered parallel to the axis of
You XI. Part II. 4.
the telescope before you adjust the horizontal motion. Level,
lor this purpose the telescope must be placed in a line —\r~
with two of the screws e e, and then levelled by these
till the bubble of air in the spirit-tube keeps its position
in the middle, while turned about to three points, mak¬
ing nearly right angles at the centre to one another.
I he horizontal motion being thus adjusted, the rims
ff of the Ys are to be opened, the telescope taken off
and laid the contrary way upon the supporters. If the
bubble of air then rests exactly the same, the level and
telescope are adjusted rightly to one another; but if
the bubble does not remain the same, the end to which
the air bubble goes must be noticed, and the distance
of it from the telescope altered ; correcting one half
the error by the screws cc, and the other half by the
screws ee.
Now the intersection of the wires being directed
to any distant object, it may be one of the vanes of
the staves hereafter described : if they continue to be
against it precisely while the telescope is turned round
on its T s, it proves, as before mentioned, that the axis
of. the telescope coincides with the intersection of the
wires, and that the instrument will give the true level
direction.
The operation of levelling being of a very accurate
and important nature, and the best instrument when
out of its adjustment being of little use, it is quite ne¬
cessary that every person using such an instrument
should have it readily in his power to correct it ; and
the one above described appears to be the best adapted
for that purpose of any hitherto described.
Theory of the Spirit Level.
Eet ABC, fig. 3. be a vessel of glass hermetically Plate
sealed, its upper surface ABC being the arch of a cir- C9XCIV-
cle whose centre is O. rIhis vessel contains a quantity * ^
of spirit of wine or alcohol, whose level or surface is
NEN. The line \ OT intersecting the arch N n in
B, and extending to T, which is supposed to be the
centre of the earth. Therefore, (Hydrodynamics,
art. 36.) the surface NE n is the arch of a circle whose
centre is 1, X\ Z is a right fine fixed with respect
to the radius B, and consequently with regard to the
vessel ABCD. Now let the radius O r T nxzR,
and the arch B b—m.
In the present situation of the vessel the vertical line
Vi’ coincides with the radius BO ; but if the position
of the vessel is altered til! BO takes the situation bo, it
will then make with VT an angle O c T, which we
shall suppose 1", and which may be supposed equal to
the angle O b T, as BT may be considered as parallel
to h T. The angle XVT will now become X'Y'T, and
will vary by a quantity equal to O £ T. Then by tak¬
ing NN', and nn! equal to B b, the points N' and
will be determined, which in the new position of the
vessel become the points in which the superior surface
of the fluid meets the arch ABC.
Noiv, calling the angle BT b~p, we have (Euclid,
book i. prop. 32.) BO b'zzip + i", and <?=
bT \b OrrR : r, and consequently r—, and sub¬
stituting instead of and (p arcs of the same value,
having unity for radius, the product R will be equal
to the arc E e, for which we may take B b or m ; ami
5 F since
LEV
LcycI.
Plate
CCXCU.
Plate
CCXC1V,
LEV [ 778
since (see Tables de Berlin, tom. iii. p. 270.)
O.OOOOO4848137, we shall have
m
r~
]
— 01 f°r
0.000004848137-fP 0.000004848137
will be very small compared with ET, and therefore
the angle ET e may be neglected in relation to the
angle O e T.
Let us suppose for the sake of example that B b or
its equals N N', nn', is one-tenth of an inch or
0.0083333 of a foot, thus we shall have the length of
the radius BO, or = 1736
feet
0.000004848 137
nearly ; thus a derangement of the vessel ABC which
makes the radius BO, or the line XZ, vary a minute
of a degree, will make each of the points N, n describe
a space of 60 tenths or 6 inches, along the arc ABC,
that is, the same space which the extremity of a plumb
line 1736 feet long, would describe when it moved
through one minute of a degree. Hence we are able
to render extremely sensible the smallest changes of
position in the line XZ. The vessel ABC is nothing
more than a spirit level, the line XZ representing the
axis of the telescope which is attached to that instru¬
ment, as shewn in fig. 13. where c c is the level, and
CA the telescope. The glass vessel, which is ground
in the inside so as to be a portion of a circle of consi¬
derable radius, is almost entirely hid by the cylinder of
brass which contains it, excepting a small part which
appears in the centre of the cylinder j and the instru¬
ment must be so adjusted, that when the bubble of air
is in the middle of the glass tube, the axis of the te¬
lescope, the line XZ, is truly horizontal.
From these remarks, it would seem that a spirit level
will measure small angles with the same accuracy as a
sector whose radius is equal to B'O, fig. 3. the radius ot
the curvature of the glass tube or of a plumb line of the
same length ; but there are some causes which diminish
its accuracy. When the bubble of air has been brought
to the centre of the glass tube, and when the tube, af¬
ter being deranged, is brought to the very same posi¬
tion, we cannot be sure that the bubble of air will re¬
turn to the very centre of the tube. 1 his irregularity
is produced by the friction of the included fluid against
the sides of the tube, and depends on the magnitude of
the bubble and the quantity of fluid. In a good level,
where the bubble moves about five lines for a minute of
inclination, this uncertainty does not exceed half a line,
which may be ascertained by pointing the telescope to
any object. The coincidence of a plumb line with a
particular mark will, on account of the insensible oscil¬
lation of the thread, leave an uncertainty of about jV
of a line, that is, about double the uncertainty which
is left by the index of a sector, which may be estimat¬
ed at about locdth of a line. But the radius of a tube,
whose bubble moves five lines for a minute of inclina¬
tion, will be found by a preceding formula to be about
358 feet ; and therefore to know the length of a plumb
line which will give the same precision, we have \ : 3%-
= 358 : 14-32 feet, the length required.
On the Construction of Levels. t
Levels are commonly made of glass tubes in the state
they are obtained at the glass-house. Of these the
straightest and most regular are selected and examined,
by filling them nearly with spirit of wine, and ascer¬
taining by trial that side at which the bubble moves most
regularly, by equal inclinations of the instrument upon
a stage, called the bubble trier, which is provided with
a micrometer screw, for that purpose. The most regu¬
lar side is chosen for the upper part of the instrument,
the others being of little consequence to its perfection.
Spirit of wine is used, because it does not freeze, and
is more fluid than water. Ether is better, because still
more fluid (a). The tube and the bubble must be of
considerable length. The longer the bubble, the more
sensible it is to the smallest inclination. A very small
bubble is scarcely sensible, appears as if attached to
the glass, and moves but slowly.
In the use of a level of this kind, constructed by
Sieur Langlois, it was remarked, than when it was pro¬
perly set, in the cool of the morning, it was no longer
so in the middle of the day, when the weather became
hot j and that when it was again rectified for the mid¬
dle of the day it became false in the evening, after the
heat had diminished. The bubble was much longer in
cold than in hot weather, and when longer it was too
much so, and could not be kept in the middle of the
tube, but stood a little on the one or the other side,
though the inclination was precisely the same. These
defects were small, and such as claim the notice of
careful observers only j but they appeared of too much
consequence not to produce a wish to remedy them. It
was observed, that they arose from irregularities in the
interior surface of the tube j and by examining a great
number of tubes, selected for levels of the same kind,
there was reason to conclude that all these levels would
have more or less of the same defects, because there
was not one tube of a regular figure within. They were
at best no otherwise cylindrical than plates of glass from
the glass-house can be said to be plane before they are
ground. The irregularities were easily discernible.
It was therefore concluded, that it would be advise-
able to grind the inner surfaces of the tubes, and give
them a regular cylindrical or rather spindle form, of
which the two opposite sides should correspond with
portions of circles of very long radius. To accomplish
this, a rod of iron was taken, of twice the length of
the glass tube, and on the middle of this rod was fixed
a stout tube of copper (cuivre) of the same length as
the tube of glass, and nearly equal in diameter to the
bore. The rod was fixed between the centres of a
lathe, and the glass gently rubbed on the copper cylin¬
der, with fine emery and water, causing it to move
through its whole length. The glass was held by the
middle, in order that it might be equally ground, and
was from time to time shifted on its axis, as was also the
copper cylinder, in order that the wear might be every¬
where alike. The operation had scarcely commenced,
before
Level.
f Al II' the ether he not well rectified, it is subject to two great inconveniences tn this use. lithe tube be very
sliuht V agitated, the ether divides itself into several bubbles, which employ a cons,de,able time before they unite.
In the second place, as this ether is decomposed in the course of time, it depos.ts very small drops of oil, which
adhere to the H,be, stop the mo,loo of the bubble, and render the level very faulty. The ether .s bes.des more
fluid when rectified and freed from a saponaceous matter which causes its bad edects.
E V [ 779 ] LEV
and several others experienced will not be endangered by grinding its external surface
before the tube broke
the same misfortune, though they had been well anneal¬
ed. It was supposed that the emery which became fix¬
ed in the copper might contribute to split the glass, each
grain continuing its impression with the same point, in
the same right line, which in some instances might be
as well disposed to cut the glass as diamond. A cylin¬
der of glass was substituted instead of the copper, and
the emery rolling itself on the surface of the last, in¬
stead of fixing itself, had better success ; so that every
part of the circumference of the tube and the cylinder
touched each other through their whole length. The
same operation was continued, using finer and finer
emery to smooth the tube, and prepare it for polishing j
after which the tube and cylinder having been well
washed, thin paper was pasted round the cylinder, and
the paper was very equally covered with a small quan¬
tity of Venice tripoli. The tube was then replaced and
rubbed as before, till it had acquired a polish.
A level thus ground, may be either of the proper sen¬
sibility, or be too much or too little sensible. It will
be too sluggish, if before grinding, exclusive of the ir¬
regularities of the tube, its diameter should much ex¬
ceed in the middle of the length the diameter of the
extremities; or it will be too sensible if this diameter
should not sufficiently exceed the other ; or, lastly, if
the middle diameter he smaller than that of the ex¬
tremes, the hobble will be incapable of continuing in
the middle, but will, in every case, either run to one
or the other end, or he divided into two parts.
To correct these defects, and to give the instrument
the required degree of perfection, it is proper to examine
its figure before the grinding is entirely finished. For
this purpose, after cleaning it well, a sufficient quantity
of spirit of wine must he put into it; and secured by a
cork at each end. The tube must then be placed on
the forks or Y’s of a bubble trier, and its sensibility,
or the magnitude and regularity of the space run over
by the bubble by equal changes of the micrometer screw,
must be ascertained. If the run or spaces passed over
be too great, they may be rendered smaller by grinding
the tube on a short cylinder ; but if they be too short,
they may, on the contrary, be enlarged, by grinding
on a longer cylinder. It is necessary, therefore, to be
provided with a number of these cylinders of the same
diameter, but of different lengths, which it is advise-
ahie to bring to a first figure, by grinding them in a
hollow half cylinder of brass. By means of these it
will be easy to regulate the tube of the level to any re¬
quired degree of sensibility, after which the tube may
be very quickly smoothed and polished.
The level which was thus ground is one foot in
length ; and the cylinder on which it was first worked
is of tiie same length. When it was finished it was
found to be too sensible. It was therefore worked on
another cylinder of between nine and ten inches long,
which diminished its sensibility so far, that the bubble,
which is nine inches and four lines long, at the tempe¬
rature of 16° of Reaumur above freezing, is carried
from the middle of the tube exactly one line for every
second of a degree of inclination. This degree of sen-
aibility was thought sufficient; but any greater degree
which may be required may be obtained by the process
here described.
It may be remarked that a glass tube is very subject
to be split by grinding its inner surface ;• the same tube
I.evel,
even with coarse emery ; and when once the polish of Levelling,
the inside is ground off, the danger is over, and coarser " *
emery may be used without fear. Thick glass is more
subject to this misfortune than thinner. The coarsest
emery made use of in grinding the tube here spoken of
was sufficiently fine to employ one minute in descend¬
ing through the, height of three inches in water.
LEVELLING may be defined, the art which in¬
structs us in finding how much higher or lower any gi¬
ven point on the surface of the earth is than another;
or, in other words, the difference in their distance from
the centre of the earth.
The practice of levelling therefore consists, I. In
finding and marking two or more points that shall be
in the circumference of a circle whose centre is that of
the earth. 2. In comparing the points thus found
with other points, to ascertain the difference in their
distances from the earth’s centre.
With regard to the theory of levelling, we must ob¬
serve that a plumb line, hanging freely in the air,
points directly towards the centre of the earth ; and a
line drawn at right angles, crossing the direction of
the plumb line, and touching the earth’s surface, is a
true level only on that particular spot ; but if this line
which crosses the plumb he continued for any consi¬
derable length, it will rise above the earth’s surface,
and the apparent level will he above the true one, be¬
cause the earth is globular; and this rising will be as
the square of the distance to which the said right line
is produced ; that is to say, however much it is raised
above the earth’s surface at one mile’s distance, it will
rise four times as much at the distance of two miles,
nine times at the distance of three, &c. This is owing
to the globular figure of the earth ; and this rising is
the difference betwixt the true and apparent levels ;
the real curve of the earth being the true level, and the
tangent to it the apparent level. Hence it appears,
that the less distance we take betwixt any two stations,
the truer will he our operations in levelling ; and so soon
does the difference betwixt the true and apparent le¬
vels become perceptible, that it is necessary to make
an allowance for it if the distance betwixt the two sta¬
tions exceeds two chains in length.
Let BD, fig. 4. be a small portion of the earth whose Difference
centre is A, then (HYDRODYNAMICS, art. 36.) all the between
points of this arch will be on a level. But a ^or'zonta^g^ta^j"
line BC meeting the vertical line AD in C, will be thetn)e {evc|
apparent level at the point B ; and therefore DC is the Plate
difference between the apparent and true level at the CCXCIY.
point B. The distance CD, therefore, must always be
deducted from the observed heights, before we can have
the true differences of level, or the difference between
the distances of two points from the surface of the
earth, or from the centre of curvature A.
In order to find an expression of DC, we have (Eu¬
clid, book i. prop. 47.) AC*=:AB2-f-CBS, and calling
AB = R, BC“/?i, and C D~.r, and considering that
ACzrR+^, we have the equation R*-f-2 ^ ^ "f” ^
=r»2*-fR*. But as the value of the arc DB is always
sufficiently small, that CD may he regarded as suffi¬
ciently small when compared with AD or AB, we
may safely consider a’* as nothing in the preceding
• • • »
equation, which in that case becomes
5 F a
The
mean
LEV
Hiiig. value of E. may be considered as 19630764 feet,
r—-' and therefore the value of x may be deduced from the
e'1"ation 'l'=?vr^6i=i^iT^’ m b'lnsex-
pi’essed in feet. Hence it is obvious, that the depress
of the true level is as the square of the distance ; and
if this distance be 6000 feet, we shall have 91698
of a foot =11 inches.
[ 78° ]
LEV
The preceding formula supposes the visual ray CB to Levellin-r
be a straight line ; whereas, on account of the unequal
densities of the air at different distances from the earth,
the rays of light are incurvated by refraction. This ef¬
fect has been considered in the following table, which
contains the difference between the apparent and true
level, both when the refraction of the atmosphere is
omitted, and taken into account.
I ABLE shewing the Difference between the True and Apparent Levels, whether taking the Terrestrial lie-
fraction into account or not, and marking the Errors that arise tchen this Refraction is omitted.
Dif;tanct
in feet.
300
360
420
480
540
600
720
840
900
960
ic8o
1200
1320
1440
1500
1560
1680
1800
1920
2040
2100
2160
2280
2400
2520
2640
2700
2760
2880
3000
3120
324°
33oo
3360
3480
3600
3900
4200
45°o
4800
510°
5400
5700
6000
Elevation of the apparent
level above the true level
expressed in feet.
Vo allowance
made for ter¬
restrial re¬
fraction.
Allowance
made for ter
res trial re¬
fraction.
' O.OO23
0-0035
0.0046
0.0058
0.0075
0.0092
°-OI33
0.0179
0.0208
ao237
°-0295
o 0370
0.0445
°.0527
0.0579
0.0625
0.0723
0.0827
°-0937
°-I059
0.1128
0.1180
°-I325
0.1470
0.1620
0.1777
0.1875
0.1944
0.2X12
O.2292
O.2483
O.2674
O.2772
O.2876
O.3084
O.3299
O.387I
C.449O
O.5156
O.5868
0.6620
0.7425
O.7947
O.9167
0.0020
O.OO3O
O.OO4O
O.OO5O
O.O064
O.OoSl
O.OII4
O.OI54
0.0178
0.0205
°-C253
0.0317
0.0482
0.045 r
0.0496
0-°53f>
0.0620
0.0709
0.0803
0.0908
0.0967
0.1012
0.1136
0.1260
0.1403
0-1523
0.1607
0.1667
0.1810
0.1964
0.2x28
0.2306
0.2376
0.2465
0.2644
0.2827
0.3318
0.3849
0.4420
0.5030
0-5675
0.6364
0.6726
0.7857
Difference
between the
two eleva¬
tions.
O.OOO3
O.OOO5
O.OO06
O.OO08
0.0011
0.0011
0.0019
0.0025
0.0030
O.OC32
0.0042
0.0053
0.0063
0.0076
0.0083
0.0089
0.0103
0.0118
0.0134
0.0151
0.0161
0,0168
0.0189
0.02X0
0.0217
0.0254
0.0268
0.0277
0.0302
0.0328
°-°355
0.0367
0.0396
0.0411
0.0440
0.0472
°‘0553
0.0641
0.0736
0.0838
0.0945
0.1061
0.1121
0.1310
Distance
in feet
6300
6600
6900
7200
7500
7800
8400
9000
9600
10200
IO800
11400
I 2000
I2600
13200
13800
I44OO
15OOO
15600
162OO
16800
174OO
I 80OO
l8600
I92OO
19800
2O4OO
2X000
2l600
22200
22800
23400
24OOO
24600
252CO
25800
264OO
27OCO
27600
28200
28800
294OO
30000
360OO
Elevation of the apparent
level above the true level
expressed in feet.
No allowanc
made for ter
re's trial re¬
fraction.
I.OOOO
1.1088
1.2141
I.3200
I,43 23
1.5492
x-7963
2.0625
2.3466
2.6487
2.9699
3.3090
3.6667
4.0422
4-4363
4.8489
5.2800
5*7292
6.1967
6.6823
7.1865
7.7089
8.2500
8.8090
9.3866
9.9826
10.6105
11.2292
11.8796
I2-5491
13.2367
13.9421
14.6667
I5-4°9I
16.1701
16.9490
X7.7465
18. ;62i:
19.3964
20.2494
21.1198
22.0092
22.9167
33.0000
Allowance
made for ter
1 estrial re¬
fraction.
O.8571
O.9504
I.0407
I.1314
1.2277
I*3279
1- 5397
1.7678
2.0257
2.2989
2- 5456
2.9363
3.4648
3- 8o29
4.1 ;62
4- 5258
4.9107
5- 3II5
5- 7277
6- 1597
6.6076
7- °7I4
7- 55o6
8.0456
8- 5565
9.0947
9.6250
10.1825
10.7 564
u-3457
11.9504
12.5714
13.2078
13.8601
14,5278
I5,2II3
16.9107
16.6255
17.4566
18.1027
18.8651
10.6431
28.2857
Difference
between the
tw« eleva¬
tions.
O.I429
O.I584
0-1734
O.1886
O.2046
O.2213
O.2566
O.2947
O.3209
O.3498
O.4243
O.4727
0.5236
0-5774
o-6334
0.6927
0.7542
0.8185
0.8852
0.9546
1.0266
1.10x3
1.1786
1.2584
1.3410
1.4261
1- 5I58
1.6042
1.6971
1.7927
1.8910
1.9917
2,0953
2.2013
2.3100
2.4212
2- 53 5 2
2.6518
2.7709
2.8928
3.0x71
3- I44I
3- 2736
4- 7J43
The
LEV [ 781 ] LEV
The following is a simple rule for determining the
depression of the true level in the practice ot level-
ling.
“ Multiply the number of Gunter’s decimal statute
chains that are contained in length between any two
stations where the levels are to be taken by itselt, and
the product arising therefrom again by 124, which is a
common multiplier for all manner of distances lor this
purpose on account of the earth’s curvature: then di¬
vide the second product arising therefrom by 100,000 ",
or, which is also the same, with the dash of the pen cut
off five figures on the right hand side of the product,
and what remains on the left side is inches, and the
five figures cut oil' decimal parts ot an inch.”
The following is A Table of Curvature of the Earthy
and shows the quantity below the apparent level at
the end of every number of chains to 100.
or between them. Compound levelling is nothing more
than a repetition of many simple operations.
An example of simple levelling is given Plate
CCXCV. fig. 1. where AB are the station points of
the level ; CD the two points ascertained. Let the
height
Feet. Inches.
From A to C be - 600
From B to D be - 900
The difierence - 300
shows that B is three feet lower than A.
If the station-points of the level are above the line
of sight, as in fig. 2. and the distance from A to C be
six feet, and from B to D nine feet, the difference will
still be three feet which B is higher than A.
As an example of compound levelling, suppose it
were required to know the difference of height be¬
tween the point A on the river Zome, and N on the
river Belann, fig. 3. (As our author could find no satis¬
factory examples in any English author, he copied this
and the following ones from M. Le tebure). In this
operation stakes should he driven down at A and N, Levelling:,
exactly level with the surface of the water 3 and these v—~
stakes should be so fixed, that they may not be chan¬
ged until the whole operation be finished : a plan of the
ground between the two rivers should then he made,
by which it will be discovered, that the shortest way
between the rivers is by the dotted line AC, CH,
HN; from whence also the number of stations ne¬
cessary to be taken will he determined. The operator
will also be able to distribute them properly according
to the nature and situation of the ground. In the fi¬
gure, 12 stations are marked. Stakes ought to be
driven in at the limits of each station, as A, B, C, I),
&c. They ought to he about two or three inches a-
hove the ground, and driven 18 inches into it. Stakes
should also be driven in at each station of the instru¬
ment, as 1, 2, 3, 4, &c.
The operation may be begun in the following man¬
ner. Let the first station he at 1, equally distant from
the two points A and B, which themselves are distant
166 yards. Write down then in one column the first
limit A 5 in another, the number of feet, inches, and
tenths 3 with the points of sight indicated on the sta¬
tion-staff at A, viz. 7. 6. o. In the third column, the
second limit B ; in the fourth, the height indicated at
the station-staff B, viz. 6. o. o. Lastly, in the fifth
column, the distance from one station-staff to the other,
which in this case is 166 yards. Remove now' the le¬
vel to the point marked 2, which is in the middle be¬
tween B and C, the two places where the station-staves
are to be held 3 observing that B, which was the se¬
cond limit in the former operation, is the first in this.
Then write down the observed heights as before 3 in
the first column B ; in the second, 4. 6. o. 3 in the
third, C 3 in the fourth, 5. 6. 2. 3 in the fifth 560, the
distance between B and C.
It being impossible, on account of the inequality of
the ground at the third station, to place the instrument
in the middle between the two station-staves, find the
most convenient point as at 3 ; then measure exactly
how far this is from each station-staff, and you will find
that from 3 to C is 160 yards 5 from 3 to D 80 yards5
and the remainder of the operation will be as in the
preceding station.
In the fourth operation, wre must endeavour to com¬
pensate for auy error which might have happened in
the last. Mark out, therefore, 80 yards from the sta¬
tion staff D to the point 4 3 and 160 yards from 4 to
E 3 and this must he carefully attended to, as by such
compensations the work may be much facilitated. Pro¬
ceed in the same manner with the eight remaining sta¬
tions, observing to enter every thing in its proper co¬
lumn : and when the whole is finished, add the sums of
each column together, and then subtract the lesser from
the greater; the difference, which in the present case
is 5. 4. 8. show's the ground at N to be thus much
lower than the ground at A.
To obtain a section of this level, draw the dotted
line 00, fig. 4. either above or below the plan 3 which
may he taken for the level or horizontal line. Let fall
then perpendiculars upon this line from all the station-
points and places where the station-staves were fixed.
Beginning now at A, set off 7 feet 6 inches upon the
line from A to a; for the height of the level point de¬
termined on the staff at this place, draw a line through
a
LEV [ 782 ] LEV
Levelling.-a parallel to the dotted line 00, which will cut the third
‘ —v-" perpendicular at b, the second station-stall’. Set off
from this point downwards six feet to B, which shows
the second limit of the first operation j and that the
ground at B is one foot six inches higher than at A:
place your instrument between these two lines at the
height of the level line, and trace the ground accord¬
ing to its different heights. Now set off', on the second
«tation-staff' B, four feet six inches to C, the height
determined by the level at the second station : and
from C draw a line parallel to 00, which will cut the
fifth perpendicular at r/, the third station-staff. From
this point set off 5 feet 6 inches T7^ downwards to C,
which will be our second limit with respect to the pre¬
ceding one, and third with respect to the first. Then
draw your instrument in the middle between B and C,
and delineate the ground with its inequalities. Pro¬
ceed in the same manner from station to station, till
you arrive at the last N, and you will have the profile
of the ground over which the level was taken.
This method answers very well where only a ge¬
neral profile of the different stations is required ; but
where it is necessary to have an exact detail of the
ground between the limits, we must then go to work
more particularly. Suppose, therefore, the level to
have been taken from A to N by another route, but
on more uniform ground, in order to form a canal
marked O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, X, Y. Draw at plea¬
sure a line Z, Y, fig. 5. to represent the level, and re¬
gulate the rest ; then let fall on this line perpendicu¬
lars to represent the staves at the limits of each station,
taking care that they be fixed accurately at their re¬
spective distances from each other. The ciifference be¬
tween the extreme limits, in this case, ought to be the
same as in the former, viz. 5 feet 4 inches ^o- Set off
this measure upon the perpendicular 0 the first limit j
and horn 0, prolonging the perpendicular, mark off at a
the height determined at the first station-staff; then do
the same with the second and third, and so on with the
following, till this part of the work is finished ; there
remains then only to delineate in detail the ground be¬
tween the station-staves, the distances in this example
being assumed larger on account of the detail.
To obtain the section of the ground between O and
P, place your instrument at one of the limits, as P, fix¬
ing it so that the cross hairs may answer to the point
C ; then look towards the first limit 0, raising or de¬
pressing the vane till it coincides with the intersection
of the cross hairs; and the line of sight from one point
to the other will mark the level or horizontal line.
rl 0 set off the height ol the brink of the river above
the first limit, drive a stake down close to the ground
at a; and place your station-staff’ upon it, observing
where the hairs intersect the vane, which will he at 4
feet 10 inches ; then laying off’ upon the line 0 z the
distance from the first to the last stake, let fall from
thence a perpendicular, and set off’thereon 4. 10. O. to
cz, which gives the height at the first stake ; or, which
is the same, the height from the edge of the river
above the surface of the water, as is evident from the
section. Drive a second stake at 6, in a line between
the limits; place the station-staff'upon this stake, and
observe the height 4. 6. intersected by the cross hairs,
the instrument still remaining in the same situation. Set
off on the level line the distance from the first stake a
to the second b: and then let fall a perpendicular, and
mark upon it 4. 6 to b, which gives the height of the
ground at this place.
The small hollow c is marked out by driving down
a third stake even with the ground, in the middle of it
at c; hut the exact distance of the second stake b from
the third c, must be marked upon the level line : then
let fall a perpendicular from c, and set off upon it
6. 8. o, pointed out by the cross hairs on the staff,
which determines the depth of the hollow, as appears
from the figure. As the distances between the stakes
are now very short, they can easily be marked by the
operator, who can settle any little inequalities by a
comparison with those already ascertained. Proceed
thus with the other stations till you arrive at the last,
and you will always obtain an accurate section of your
work ; by which it is easy to form a just estimation of
the land to be dug away, in order to form the canal,
by adding the depth to be given to it.
Fig. 6. gives an example of compound levelling,
where the situation is so steep and mountainous, that
the staves cannot be placed at equal distances from the
instrument, or where it is even impossible to make a
reciprocal levelling from one station to the other.-—
Thus suppose the point K to be the bottom of a bason
where it is required to make a fountain, the reservoir
being at A ; so that, in order to know the height to
which the jet d’eau will rise, it is necessary to know
how high the point A is above K.
In great heights such as this, it will he necessary to
proceed by small descents, as from A to D. The instru¬
ment must be adjusted with all possible care ; and it
will even he proper, in some part of the work, to use
a smaller instrument. The following is a table of the
different operations used in making this level, it having
been taken from M. le Febure’s practice.
Feet. In.
21 6
4
3
5
10
5
5
Feet. in.
C O 9
D o
E 16
F 17
G 5
H 19
K 47
Yards.
90
40
35°
250
375
3C0
1000
55
106
2405
In this case only two levellings are made between
A and D, though more would have been necessary ;
but they are omitted to avoid confusion. In the
fourth station the height found was 16 feet 8 inches ;
but on account of the great length, it w-as requisite to
reduce the apparent level to the true one, which is al¬
ways necessary where the length is considerable. At
the last limit we get the height from N to 0; then
from 0 to I; from I to K, fig, 7. &c. ; all which add¬
ed together, and then corrected for the curvature,
gives 47 feet 3 inches. Now, by adding each co¬
lumn together, and subtracting one from the other,
we have 51 feet 9 inches for the height which the
point A is above the bottom of the bason, and which
will cause the jet d’eau to rise about 45 feet. The ge¬
neral section of this operation is shown at fig. 7. 8.
but
Levelling.
LEVELS
J'L A TK CCXCIZ.
V.ViV.ViY.'iViYiYiYi’Yi'i:,
LEVELLING.
PLATE CCXCITI.
Fuj. 4.
Trujf1 by TtT&DJizarvEdui -
- .,
I
- t
L E E I> E I X <
Elate CC XC \Y
//cJ ('// V / <f . //^Ct/t •
f
LF.VELLIN (
TLATE CCJCCV.
//</- if.
Irujrmvd by WitZ>Zuars ZdinburoTi
LEV [ 783 ] LEV
erellinp;. ^ut an exact profile of the mountain is more difficult,
as requiring many operations*, though some ot these
might be obtained bv measuring from the level line
•without moving the instrument.
The last example given by our author is likewise
from M. le Febure, and includes a length of near five
German miles (25 of ours) in a straight line, and 9 or
IO (45 or 50 English) including the turnings and
windings. In this the declivity of the river Haynox
was measured from Lignebruk to Villebourg. The
first operation was to drive stakes at several parts of
the river even with the water’s edge •, the first of which
a little above the mills of Lignebruk showed the upper
water-mark, and another showed the lower water-mark
at the same mills. Two stakes above and below the
mills of Maxurance, somewhat more than half way be¬
tween Lignebruk and Villebourg, pointed out the dif¬
ference between high and low water there, and formed
likewise the third and fourth limits of the operation ;
while the stakes above and below the mills of Ville¬
bourg pointed out the difference between high and low
water, and likewise formed the last limits of the opera¬
tion.
These marks were all made at the edge of the wa¬
ter, exactly even with its surface, and all made at the
different parts of the river nearly at the same instant
of time. “ The principal limits of the levelling (says
Mr Adams) being now determined and fixed, it only
remains to find the level between the limits, according
to the methods already pointed out, using every ad¬
vantage that may contribute to the success of the work,
and at the same time avoiding all obstacles and diffi¬
culties that may retard or injure the operations. The
first rule is always to take the shortest possible way
from one limit to another, though this rule ought not to
be followed if there are considerable obstacles in the
way, as hills, woods, marshy ground, or if, by going
aside, any advantage can be obtained.” In the pre¬
sent case it was found necessary to deviate very consi¬
derably from the general rule, in order to take in se¬
veral ponds, the surfaces of which might all be taken
for a perfect level ; and thus levels were frequently
taken across the country for a considerable way. The
difference of height between the mills of Lignebruk
and Villebourg was at last found to be about 19 feet,
indicating a descent of not quite a foot in a mile.
LEVELUNG-Staves, instruments used in levelling,
serving to carry the marks to be observed, and at the
same time to measure the heights of those marks from
the ground. They usually consist of two mahogany
staves ten feet long, in two parts, that slide upon one
another to about 5TSo feet, for the more portable car¬
riage. They are divided into 1000 equal parts, and
numbered at every tenth division by 10, 20, 30, &c.
to IOOO and on one side the feet and inches are also
sometimes marked.
A vane A slides up and down upon each set of these
staves, which by brass springs will stand at any part.
These vanes are about 10 inches long and 4 inches
broad 5 the breadth is first divided into three equal
parts, the two extremes painted white, the middle
space divided again into three equal parts, which are
less; the middle one of them is also painted white, and
the two other parts black ; and thus they are suited
to all the common distances, These vanes have each
3
a brass wire across a small square hole in the centre, Levelling
which serves to point out the height correctly, by co- 3
inciding with the horizontal wire of the telescope of Leviti.
the level. v"
LEVEN, a river of Lenox or Dunbartonshire of
Scotland. See Lenox.
LEV ER, in Mechanics, is a bar of iron or wood,
one part of which being supported by a prop, all other
parts turn upon that prop as their centre of motion.
This instrument is of two kinds. First, the common
sort, where the weight we desire to raise rests at one
end of it, our strength is applied at the other end, and
the prop is between both. When we stir up the fire
with a poker, we make use of this lever ; the poker is
the lever, it rests upon one of the bars of the grate as
a prop, the incumbent fire is the weight to be over¬
come, and the other end held in the hand is the strength
or power. In this, as in all the rest, we have only to
increase the distance between the strength and prop
to give the man that works the instrument gi’eater
power.
The lever of the second kind has the prop at one
end, the strength is applied to the other, and the weight
to be raised rests between them. Thus in raising the
water-plug in the streets, the workman puts his iron
lever through the hole of the plug till he reaches the
ground on the other side, and, making that his prop,
lifts the plug with his strength at the other end of the
lever. In this lever also, the greater the distance of
the prop from the strength, the greater is the work¬
man’s power.
These instruments, as we see, assist the strength ; but
sometimes a workman is obliged to act at a disadvan¬
tage, in raising either a piece of timber or a ladder
upon one end. We cannot, with grammatical proprie¬
ty, call this lever, since such a piece of timber in fact
in no way contributes to raise the weight. In this case,
the man who is the strength or power, is in the middle,
the part of the beam already raised is the weight, the
part yet at the ground is the prop on which the beam
turns or rests. Here the man’s strength will be dimi¬
nished in proportion to the weight it sustains. The
weight will be greater the farther it is from the prop,
therefore the man will bear the greater weight, the
nearer he is to the prop. See Mechanics.
LEVERET, among sportsmen, denotes a hare in
the first year of her age.
LEVIGATIGN, in Pharmacy and Chemistry, the
reducing hard and ponderous bodies to an impalpa¬
ble powder, by grinding them on ta porphyry, or in a
mill.
LEVITE, in a general sense, means all the descend¬
ants of Levi, among whom were the Jewish priests
themselves, who, being descended from Aaron, were
likewise of the race of Levi. In a more particular
sense, Levite is used for an order of officers in that
church, who were employed in performing the manual
service of the temple. They were obedient to the
priests in their ministration, and brought them wood,
water, and other necessaries for the sacrifice.—They
sung and played upon instruments in the temple and
in other places. They applied themselves to the study
of the law, and were the ordinary judges of the coun¬
try, but always subordinate to the priests. Their sub¬
sistence was the tithes of corn, fruit, and cattle,
throughout
LEU [ 784 ] LEW
JLevite throughout Israel : but the priests were entitled to a Leyden, in 1722. He died in 1725 at 01 years of t
i! tenth of their tithes, by way of first fruits to the Lord. age. ' tho^ekn,
tlT E'ght and forty c!tieS were assig.netl for, tllR residence LEVY, in Law, signifies to gatherer collect 5 as to tl
 '-r . of the Levites, of which the priests claimed thirteen, levy money, and to levy a fine of lands in the passin'-- J"evves-
six whereof were chosen for cities of refuge. They a fine.
were consecrated, before they entered upon their mi- LEWARDEN, a handsome, rich, and strong town
nistry, by shaving their flesh, washing their clothes, and of the United Provinces, capital of Ostergow, Wester-
sprinkling with the water of expiation. Imposition of gow, Sevenwolden, and West Friesland. It was the
hands was used in consecration, and two bullocks were usual place of residence of the Stadtholder ■ and in
offered at the door of the tabernacle. They waited buildings, as well public as private, is very magnifi-
weekly, and by turns, in the temple, beginning their cent. It has several canals running through the streets
attendance on one sabbath and ending the next : Dur- which are of great service to their trade, especially as
ing this time they were maintained out of the offer- they are continued to the sea and to the most consider-
ings, &c. In the time of Solomon, the number of able towns of the province. E. Long. 5. 42. E. Lat.
Levites, from the age of 20, and capable of serving, 53. 12.
was 30,000.
LEVITICUS, a canonical book of the Old Testa¬
ment, so called from its containing the laws and regu¬
lations relating to the priests, Levites, and sacrifices.
LEVITY, in Physiology, the privation or want of
weight in any body when compared with another that
is heavier than it; in which sense it stands opposed to
gravity.
LEUK, a town of Switzerland, almost in the middle
of the Valais; remarkable for its natural strength, for
the assembly of the states that often meet there, and
for its baths, whose water is so hot that it will boil
eggs.
LEUSDEN, John, a celebrated philologer, born
in 1624. He studied the learned languages and ma¬
thematics at Utrecht; and then went to Amsterdam,
to converse with the rabbis, and perfect himself in the
Hebrew tongue. After which he was professor of
Hebrew at Utrecht, whei’e he acquired a great repu¬
tation, and died in 1699. He wrote many valuable
works ; the principal of which are, 1. Onomasticum Sa¬
crum, 8vo. 2. Clavis Hebraica et Philologica Veteris
Testamenti, 4to. 3. Novi 'Pcstamenti Clavis Graca, cum
Annotationibus Philologicis, 8vo. 4. Compendium Bibli-
cum Velcris Testamenti, 8vo. 5. Compendium Grcecum
Novi Testamenti; the best edition of which is that of
London, in 1668, i2mo. 6. Philologus Hebrceus, 4to.
7. Philologus PLebrceo mixtus, 4to. 8. Philologus Jle-
brcEO-Grcecus, 4to. 9. Notes on Jonas, Joel, Hosea,
&c. He also gave correct editions of several learned
works.
LEUTKIRK, a town of Germany in Suabia, seat¬
ed on a rivulet that falls into the Ular. It is now sub¬
ject to Wirtemberg. E. Long. 10. 10. N. Lat. 47.
53*
LEUTMERITZ, a town of Bohemia, capital of a
circle of the same name, with a bishop’s see, seated on
the river Elbe, in E. Long. 14. 25* N. Lat. 30. 34.
LEUWENHOEK, Antony, a celebrated Dutch
philosopher, was born at Delft in 1632, and acquired
an extensive reputation all over Europe, by means of
his discoveries and experiments in natural history, which
were made by him with the microscope. Fie particu¬
larly excelled in making glasses for microscopes and
spectacles j and he was a member of most of the liter¬
ary societies of Europe, to which he sent a number of
valuable memoirs. Those in the Philosophical Trans¬
actions and in the Paris Memoirs, extend through many
volumes $ the former were extracted and published at
LEWDNESS. See Fornication.—Lewdness is
punishable by our law by fine, imprisonment, &c. And
Mich. 15 Car. II. a person was indicted for open lewd¬
ness, in showing his naked body in a balcony, and
other misdemeanors ; and was fined 2000 merks, im¬
prisoned for a week, and bound to his good behaviour
for three years. 1 Sid. 168. In times past, when any
man granted a lease of his house, it was usual to insert
an express covenant, that the tenant should not enter¬
tain any lewd women, &c.
LEWENTZ, a town of Upper Hungary, in the
county of Gran, and on the river of the same name,
where the Turks were defeated in 1644. E. Long 18
16. N. Lat. 48. 15.
LEWES, a large well built town of Sussex, in Eng¬
land, seated on an eminence on the banks of the Ouse,
50 miles from London. It is famous for a bloody
battle fought near it, wherein King Henry III. wras
defeated and taken prisoner by the barons ; and is so
ancient, that w'e read the Saxon king Athelstan ap¬
pointed two mint-houses here, and that in the reign bf
Edward the Confessor it had 127 burgesses. It is a
borough by prescription, by the style of constables
and inhabitants. The constables are chosen yearly.
It has handsome streets and two suburbs, with six pa¬
rish churches. It carries on a great trade ; and the
river Ouse runs through it, which brings goods in
boats and barges from a port eight miles off. On this
river are several iron-works, where cannon are cast for
merchant ships, besides other useful works. A charity-
school was opened here in 1711, where 20 boys are
taught, clothed, and maintained, at the expence of a
private gentleman, by whom they were also furnished
with books j and 8 hoys more are taught here at the
expence of other gentlemen. Here are horse-races
almost every summer for the king’s plate of 100I.
The roads here are deep and dirty ; but then it is the
richest soil in this part of England. The market here
is on Saturday j and the fairs May 6. Whitsun-Tues-
day, and October 2. The timber of this part of the
county is prodigiously large. The trees are some¬
times drawn to Maidstone and other places on the
Medway, on a sort of carriage called a tug, drawn by
22 oxen a little way, and then left there for other
tugs to carry it on ; so that a tree is sometimes two
or three years drawing to Chatham ; because, after
the rain is once set in, it stirs no more that year, and
sometimes a whole summer is not dry enough to make
the roads passable. It is cheap living here j and the
town
LEW [ 785 ] L E W
Lewes, town not being under the direction of a corporation,
Lewis, but governed by gentlemen, it is reckoned an excellent
“^v~" ' retreat for half-pay officers who cannot so well confine
themselves to the rules of a corporation. It sends two
members to parliament. Population 6221 in 1811.
LEWIS, one of the largest of the Hebrides, or West¬
ern islands of Scotland, extending about 60 miles in
length from north to south, and from 13 to 14 in
breadth, consisting of a great number of isles and rocks,
and parted by the sea into two divisions, called Lewis
and Harries, the former lying to the westward of the
other. Lewis belongs to the shire of Ross j is divided
by several channels, distinguished by several names,
and portioned out among different proprietors; but
the Lewis, strictly so called, stretches about 36 miles
ia length, from the north point of Bowling-head to
the southern extremity of Hussiness in Harries. The
air is temperately cold, moist, and healthy ; great part
of the low ground is flooded with lakes; the rest is
arable in many places, and has been counted fruitful in
oats, barley, rye, flax, and hemp. The soil in these
parts is a light sand, which the inhabitants manure
with soot and sea-ware : but great part of the island
is covered with heath. The labouring people dig the
land with spades, and break the clods with small har¬
rows, the foremost teeth of which are made of wood,
and the remainder of rough heath, which smooths what
the others have broken ; and this harrow is drawn by
one man, having a strong trace of horse-hair across his
breast. Of their corn they not only make malt for
ale, but likewise a strong spirit called tresfareg, which
is the whisky, or usquebaugh, three times distilled.
Lewis abounds with convenient bays and harbours,
in which are caught, in great plenty, cod, ling, and
herring : here are likewise whales of difl’erent sizes,
which the natives drive into the bays, and kill with
harpoons. These bays afford great plenty of shell-fish,
such as clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, limpets, welks ;
and such a prodigious quantity of spout-fish is some¬
times cast up from the sand oft" Lochtua, that they in¬
fect the air, and render it unhealthy to the neighbour¬
ing inhabitants, who are not able to consume them,
either by eating, or using them as manure for the
ground. Some of these lochs and bays likewise pro¬
duce small coral and coralline. The fresh water lakes
are well stored with trout and eels, and the rivers yield
plenty of salmon. Along the coast are found a great
number of caves, which serve as shelter for the seals
and otters, which are also eaten as dainties by the in¬
habitants j and vast numbers of sea-fowl build upon the
rocks and promontories.
The land animals reared in this island, are cows,
horses, sheep, goats, hogs, and deer $ all these are of
a diminutive size. The beef, mutton, and pork, are
juicy and delicious j the horses are active and hardy ;
the deer, which are of the red kind, confine themselves
to the chace of Oservaul, about 15 miles in compass,
which affords tolerable pasturage; but in the winter,
when the ground is covered with frost and snow, these
animals are forced to feed on sea-ware, and endure all
the rigour of the season, without any shelter from
wood or copse, for there is not a tree to be seen ; ne¬
vertheless, the roots of very large trees, which have
been cut by the axe, are found in different places.
VOL. XI. Part II. f
There ia likewise a small grove of birch and hazel on
the south-west side of Loch Stornaway.
The inhabitants of Lewis are well-proportioned, tall,
fair, sanguine, strong, and healthy. They are in ge¬
neral sober, circumspect, and hospitable j dexterous in
shooting, swimming, and leaping} bold and skilful ma¬
riners; and so temperate, that they will tug at the oar
all day, without any other provision than bread and
water, with a snush of tobacco.
Along this coast we see several natural mounts, or
forts, called Duns ; such as Dun-rowly, Dun Coradel,
and Dun-eisten. There are also the remains of some
old castles, and other monuments of antiquity. At
Stornaway village we see the ruins of a fortress destroy¬
ed by the English garrison sent thither by Oliver Crom¬
well. To the northward of Brago there is round
tower built of large stones, three stories high, taper¬
ing towards the top, with a double wall, and a cir¬
cular staircase between, by which one may go quite
round the building. On the heaths and summits of
hills there are several cairns or heaps of stones, which
served either for graves or beacons. In the parish of
Barvas we see a single stone called the thrushd, stand¬
ing upright, above 20 feet high, and almost as much
in breadth. Three stones, about 12 feet high each,
are seen standing on the north side of Loch Carlvay ;
and many others standing single at great distances,
and in remote parts of the island. But the most re¬
markable monument of this kind appears by the village
of Classerniss. Here we find 39 pyramidal stones stand¬
ing upright, about six or seven feet high from the sur¬
face, each about two feet in breadth. They are pla¬
ced in form of an avenue, eight feet wide; the di¬
stance between every stone amounting to six feet, and
a single piece stands at the entrance. This avenue
leads to a circle of I 2 stones of the same dimensions,
with one in the centre 13 feet in length, and shaped
like a rudder: on the east, south, and west sides of
this circle, are four stones, such as those that compose
this round and avenue, forming three lines, or as it
were rays from the body of the circle. This is sup¬
posed to have been a Druid temple ; and tradition re¬
ports, that the chief Druid stood by the large stone in
the centre, and harangued the audience. At the dis¬
tance of a quarter of a mile there is another circle of
the same nature ; but without the range and avenue.
In all probability, these, as well as the monuments we
have described in our account of the Orkneys, and
Stonehenge on Salisbury plain, were places of worship
erected by the Druids in time of Pagan superstition.
The chief town in Lewis is Stornaway.
There is a considerable number of inferior adjacent
isles and rocks, some of which hardly deserve to be
mentioned: such as the small island Garve at the
mouth of Loch Carlvay, Berinsay, Fladda, Bernera
Minor and Bernera Major, Kialisay, Cavay, Carvay,
Grenim, Pabay, Shirem, Vexay, Wuya the Larger
and Lesser, and the Flannan islands, which the sea¬
men denominate the northern hunters. These are vi¬
sited every summer by the inhabitants of the Lewis,
who go thither in quest of fowls, eggs, down, quills,
and feathers, as well as to shear or kill the sheep that
are kept here for pasture. As these islands are very
steep and rocky, the visitors, after having landed and
5 G climbed
LEW [ ?86 ] LEW
Lewis, climbed up the rock by a ladder, uncover their heads,
“■"■v"—and, making a turn sun-ways, thank God for having
escaped the danger they have undergone. In the
largest island are the ruins of a chapel dedicated to St
Flannan, from whom the isles derive their name. Thi¬
ther the fowlers repairing, strip themselves of their up¬
per garments, which being laid upon a stone, they ad¬
vance towards the altar, and repeat three prayers j an
exercise which is performed every morning and even¬
ing. They observe many other superstitious customs
during their residence on these rocks; and when they
have landed their boat with their purchase, return to
the larger islands. Among the islands belonging to
the Lewis, we may likewise take notice of the small
isle of Pigmies, so called, because, it is said, bones re¬
sembling those of human creatures, but of very small
dimensions, have been dug out of the ground.
The island of Lewis is divided into the two parishes
of Barvas and Eye, and in each of these one minister
is settled ; but there is a great number of churches
and chapels dedicated to difl’erent saints, in the differ¬
ent isles which compose this cluster. All these were
sanctuaries before the Reformation, but now they are
divested of that privilege. The people of these islands
are Presbyterians, with a few Protestants of the English
communion, and a still smaller number of Roman Ca-
thol ics. The Protestants observe the festivals of Christ¬
mas, Good Friday, Easter, and Michaelmas; on the
last of which the individuals of both sexes perform an
anniversary cavalcade. Population 13,942.
Lewis, or Louis, the name of several kings of France.
See France.
Lewis VII. anno 1137, was the first who had the
courage to oppose the encroachments of the popes on
the regal authority : Pope Innocent II. excommuni¬
cated him for appointing an archbishop of Bourges ;
but Lewis defended his prerogatives, and put the
priests to death who had been the authors of the quar¬
rel. In 1147* he put himself at the head of an army
of 80,000 men, and marched against the Saracens, in
the second crusade, but was defeated ; and returning
into France by sea, was taken by the Greeks, but re¬
scued by Roger king of Sicily. His queen Eleonora
accompanied him in this expedition ; and being sus¬
pected of infidelity with Saladin, a young Turk, Lewis
divorced her, and she was married six weeks after to
Henry duke of Normandy, (Henry II. king of Eng¬
land). Lewis died in 1180, aged 60.
Lewis IX. anno 1226 (canonized), was one of the
greatest monarchs of France, equally memorable for
his valour and his virtues; but, unfortunately misled
by the superstition of the times, he sacrificed his own
repose, and the welfare of his kingdom, to the folly of
crusading. In 1248, leaving France to the care of
his mother, he embarked for Egypt, attended by his
queen, his three brothers, and the flower of the French
nobility. At first his victories were rapid ; he took
Damietta in 1249; the following year he was
defeated and taken prisoner by the Turks, with all
the nobility in his train, and the greatest part of his
army. The sultan sent to him in prison, to demand
an exorbitant sum (or his ransom; and his answer
being truly noble, deserves to be recorded : “ Tell
tbe sultan, that a king of France is not to be ran¬
somed with money; I will give the sum required for
my people, and Damietta for myself.” These terms
were accepted, and a peace of ten years ensued. Upon t—
his return to France, he diminished the taxes, re¬
voked those which the cupidity ot the financiers had
introduced; issued several salutary edicts; founded se¬
veral churches and hospitals; and effectually overturn¬
ed the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the court of Rome,
by his pragmatic sanction in 1269, which established
the independency of the Gallican church. Thirteen
years residence in his capital indemnified his subjects
for his absence; but his pious zeal prevented the enjoy¬
ment of this happiness: he embarked for the sixth cru¬
sade in 1270 ; and died the same year, at the siege of
Tunis, aged 55.
Lewis XI. anno 1461. His oppressions obliged
his subjects to enter into a league against him, styled,
“ Ligue de lien publiq” in which his brother the duke
of Berri and some of the principal nobility were con¬
cerned : they solicited succours from John duke of Cala¬
bria, who joined them with 500 Swiss (the first intro¬
duction of Swiss soldiers into the French armies). His
reign was almost one continued scene of civil war; and
it is computed, that 4000 of his subjects were executed
in public and privately, either for being in arms against
him, or suspected by him. In his last illness, he drank
the warm blood of children, in the vain hope of restor¬
ing his decayed strength. He died in 1483, aged 60.
I he posts for letters were established in his reign, ow¬
ing to his eagerness for news ; the first institution of this
nature in Europe.
Lewis XII. anno 1462, styled the Just, and the Fa¬
ther of his people ; memorable for his valour in the field,
and his wisdom in the cabinet. A great general ; but
unfortunate towards the end of his reign, when he did
not command Ins troops in person : his orders trans¬
mitted from home were misunderstood, or wilfully dis¬
obeyed ; and he had the mortification, before he died,
to see the total expulsion of the French from the posses¬
sions he had acquired for them by his personal bravery.
53 years of age, he married the princess Mary of
England, sister of Henry VIII. and being of a delicate
constitution, fella victim (according to the French his¬
torians) to amorous dalliance; for he died in about two
months after his nuptials, in 1515.
Lewis XIII. anno 1610, increased the military re¬
putation of his country, and made considerable addi¬
tions to its domains. The beginning of his reign was
occupied in civil wars with his mother and his Pro¬
testant subjects; in which he was excited to continue
by his famous minister Cardinal Richelieu, who attend¬
ed him to the siege of Rochelle, the bulwark of the
Huguenot party. This place was reduced by famine
to surrender, in 1628, after a siege of more than a
year. Upon this and other occasions, the king gave
proofs of great personal bravery. His attachment to
his ally the duke de Nevers, who succeeded to the
duchy of Mantua, but was refused the investiture by
Charles VI. emperor of Germany, involved him in a
war with tjiat prince, the Spaniards, and the duke of
Savoy ; in which Lewis was victorious; and obtained
a treaty of peace, by which the duke of Mantua was
guaranteed in the possession of his dominions. In 1635,
a new war broke out between France and Spain, and
the emperor took part with the latter: it lasted, 13
years against the emperor, and 25 against Spain, with
varioua
LEX [ 787 ] LEY
Eciric various success; and the different armies kept on foot
t,ei. ’ in the Low Countries, on the frontiers of France, and
*■■—v— in Italy, in the first years of this war, paved the way
for the signal victories of Louis XIV. the campaigns
of these armies being a military school of discipline
and experience for the French officers, besides giving
them a knowledge of the countries which became the
■eat of war in the next reign. Lewis XIII. died 1643,
aged 41.
Lewis XIV. le Grand (king at five years of age),
anno 1643. He was at first styled Dieu-donne, be¬
cause the I rench considered him as the gift of heaven
granted to their prayers after the queen had been bar-
Iren 22 years. This princess (Anne of Austria) was
declared regent by Lewis XIII. and saw herself un¬
der a necessity to continue the war against Philip IV.
king of Spain her brother. The duke d’Enghien was
made general of the French armies ; and so signal was
the success of this renowned warrior (afterwards prince
of Conde, and known by the style of the great Conde),
that his victories brought on the advantageous treaties
of Munster, in 1648, between France, the emperor
Ferdinand III. and Christina queen of Sweden : See
Britain, United Provinces, &c. Lewis XIV. died
in 1715, aged 77.
Lewis XV. (his great-grandson) succeeded in 1715.
He was styled, in the course of his reign, the well be¬
loved, which he lost some years before he died ; and was
detested and despised by his subjects for his shameful at¬
tachment to a mistress, who, through her patron the duke
d’Aiguillon, governed the kingdom, and invaded the an¬
cient rights and privileges of the people. He died in
1774, in the 64th year of his age and 59th of his reign.
Lewis XVI. the most unfortunate of his race, and
perhaps the most enlightened and virtuous of all the
■overeigns of France. He was guillotined 21st January
1793. For an account of his life and character, see
the article France.
LEX, Law. See Law.—The Roman laws were
of three kinds : 1st, Such as were made by their kings,
jd, the laws of the twelve tables brought by the De¬
cemviri from Athens, &c. And, 3. Such as were pro¬
posed by the superior magistrates in the times of the
republic. The laws of this last class were enacted in
the following manner.
No law could be proposed but by some of the fol¬
lowing magistrates, viz. the prcetor, the consuls, the
dictator, the interrex, the decemviri, the military tri¬
bunes, triumviri, and tribunes of the people, ] f any
of these proposed a law, it was first committed to writ¬
ing, and privately examined as to its utility and pro¬
bable consequences, by some persons well qualified for
the task; sometimes it was referred to the whole se¬
nate for their sentiments. It was then hung up pub¬
licly for three market days, that all the people might
have time to examine it, and consider its tendency :
Th is was called legispromulgatio, quasi provulgatio. If
the person who framed the bill did not see cause in the
mean time to drop it, the people were convened in co-
mitia, and he addressed them in an oration, being also
seconded by his friends, setting forth the expediency
and probable utility of such a law : This was called
rvgatio legis, because the address was always prefaced
with this petitionary form of words, Vehtis jubcatisne,
Quirites ? “ Will you, O Romans, consent and order
this law to pass ?” This being done, those that disliked Lex
the motion delivered their sentiments in opposition to |
it. An urn was then brought to certain priests who Leydea.
attended upon the occasion, into which were cast the '■“‘"V'"—”
names of the tribes, centuries, or curice, as the comitia
happened to be iributa, centuriata, or curiata. The
names were shaken together; and the first-drawn tribe
or century was called piccrogativa, because their suffra¬
ges were first taken. The curia that was first drawn
was called principium for the same reason. The other
tribes, centuries, &c. were called tribus jure vocatx,
centurece jure vocatce, &c.
Matters being in this situation, the veto or negative
voice of the tribunes of the people might put an entire
end to the proceedings, and dissolve the assembly. The
tribune’s interference was called intercessio. The con¬
sul also had it in his power to stop further proceeding*,
by commanding any of the holidays called /er/Vc impe-
rativce to be observed. The comitia would of course
be dissolved also by any of the persons present being
seized with the falling sickness, or upon the appear¬
ance of an unlucky omen. But supposing the busi¬
ness to meet with no interruption of this sort, the
people were each of them presented with two tablets,
on one of which was written in large characters A.
on the other U. R. Their disapprobation of the bill
was expressed by throwing into an urn the tablet in¬
scribed A. signifying “ I forbid it ;” anliquo, “ I pre¬
fer the old.” Their assent was signified by throw!>g
in the tablet marked U. R. i. e. uti rogas, “ be it as
you desire.” According to the majority of these tab¬
lets the law passed or not. If it passed, it was written
upon record, and carried into the treasury ; this was
called legemferre. Afterwards it was engraved upon
plates of brass, and hung up in the most public and
conspicuous places: this was termed legem Jigere, and
a future repeal of this law was legem rej'igere.
If a law passed in the comitia curiata, it wascalled lex
curiata ; if in the comitia centuriata, it had the name of
lex centuriata ; but if it passed in the comitia tributa, it
was termed plebiscitum. The laws, too, generally bore
the names of the proposers, as lex JElia, lex Fusia, &c.
Romulus used to make laws by his own single autho¬
rity, but succeeding kings sought the approbation of
the people.
LEXIARCHI, at Athens, six officers, assisted by
30 inferior ones, whose business it was to lay fines upon
such as came not to the public assemblies, and also to
make scrutiny among such as were present.
The lexiarchi kept a register of the age, manners,
and abilities of the citizens, who were always en¬
rolled at the age of 20. ^
LEXICON, the same w'ith dictionary. The word
is chiefly used in speaking of Greek dictionaries : it is
derived from the Greek Pujfy, word, diction; of Aey«,
I speak.
LEXINGTON, a town of North America, and
considered as the capital of Kentucky. It stands on
the head-waters of Elkhorn river. Here the courts are
held, and business regularly conducted. In 1818 it
contained about 7000 inhabitants, and several stores,
with a good assortment of dry goods. There are manu¬
factures of cottons and woollens, flannels, blankets, &c,
LEYDEN, in Latin Lugdunum Batavorum, one of
the largest and finest cities in Holland, abounds with
5 G 2 canals,
L H U [ 788 ] L H U
Leyden canals, along which are rows of lofty trees that afford
ti ^ very pleasant walks. An arm or small branch of the
Lliuyq. Rt|jne rung through it. Over the canals are 145
bridges, most of them of stone or brick. The univer¬
sity here is the oldest in the United Provinces : it has
large privileges ; a library well furnished, and particu¬
larly rich in manuscripts; a physic-garden well stocked
with all sorts of plants, many of which have been
brought from the Cape of Good Hope and the East
Indies; an anatomy hall, well provided with skeletons ;
and an observatory. The professors, who are generally
very eminent, read public lectures four times a-week,
for which they take no money, hut about three guineas
are paid for a course of private lectures, which lasts a
whole year. The students have no distinct habit, but
all wear swords, though they generally go to the pub¬
lic and private lectures in their night-gowns and slip¬
pers. The salaries of the professors are from lool. to
2001. a-year : they wear gowns only when they preside
at public disputations, read public lectures, or meet in
the senate ; and their lectures are always in Latin.
The students do not lodge in the university, but where
they please in the town. The cloth manufacture here
is much decayed, which formerly flourished to such a
degree, that 100,000 pieces, it is said, have sometimes
been made in a year. The city is famous for the long
and severe siege it maintained in 1573 against the
Spaniards. We cannot help mentioning the reply of
th»t illustrious magistrate, Adrian de Verf, when the
citizens represented to him the havoc made by the
famine during the siege, and insisted upon his surrend¬
ering : “ Friends (said he), here is my body, divide it
among you to satisfy your hunger, but banish all
thoughts of surrendering to the cruel and perfidious
Spaniards.” They took his advice, in regard to their
not surrendering, and never would listen to any over¬
tures ; but told the Spaniards, they would hold out as
long as they had one arm to eat and another to fight.
There are some fine churches here, and many long,
broad, handsome, streets ; hut the Papists, as at Haer-
3em, are more numerous than the Protestants.
Leyden Phial, a phial coated on the inside and out¬
side with tinfoil, or other proper conducting substance,
and furnished with a brass wire and knob, for giving
the electrial shock. See Electricity Index.
Lvcas Van Leyden. See Lucas.
LEYSERA, a genus of plants belonging to the syn-
genesia class ; and in the natural method ranking under
the 49th order, Compositce. See Botany Index.
LEYTE, one of the Philippine islands in the East
Indies, situated in E. Long. 118. o. N. Lat. II. o.
Its greatest length is about 40 leagues, and its circum¬
ference about 90 or 100. Its soil on the east side is
very fruitful ; but there are very high mountains which
cut it almost through the middle, and occasion so great
an alteration in the air, that when it is winter on the
north side, it is summer on tiie southern part of the
island. Thus when the inhabitants of one half of the
island reap the others sow ; and they have two plen¬
tiful harvests in a year, to which the rivers running
down from the above-mentioned mountains contribute
not a little. The island contains about 9000 inhabi¬
tants, who pay tribute to the Spaniards in rice, wax,
and quilts.
LHUYD, or Lhoyd, Humphrey, a learned anti¬
quarian of the 16th century, born at Denbigh, who j
applied himself to the study of physic ; and living most- ^'
ly within the walls of Denbigh castle, practised there
as a physician ; ami died in 1570, with the character
of a well-bred gentleman. He wrote and translated
several pieces relative to history and antiquities; in
particular, The History of Cambria, now called Wales,
from Caradoc of Langcarvan, &c. but died before it
was finished : however, Sir Henry Sidney, lord presi¬
dent of Wales, employed Dr David Powel to finish it,
who published it in 1584. A new and improved edi¬
tion of this work was published in 1774.
Lhuyd, Edward, keeper of the museum at Ox¬
ford, was a native of South Wales, the son of Charles
Lhuyd, Esq. of Lhanvorde. He was educated at Je-
sOs College, Oxford, where he was created M. A.
July 21. 1701. He was bred under Dr Plot, whom
he succeeded as keeper of the Ashmolean museum, and
had the use of all Vaughan’s collection. With in¬
cessant labour and great exactness he employed a consi¬
derable part of his life in searching into the Welsh an¬
tiquities ; and perused or collected a great deal of an¬
cient and valuable matter from their MS. ; transcribed
all the old charters of the monasteries that he could meet
with ; travelled several times over Wales, Cornwall,
Scotland, Ireland, Armoric Bretagne, countries inhabi¬
ted by the same people ; compared their antiquities, and
made observations on the whole ; but died in July 1709,
before he had digested them into the form of a discourse,
as he intended, on the ancient inhabitants of this island.
The untimely death of this excellent antiquary prevent¬
ed the completing of many admirable designs. For want
of proper encouragement, he did very little towards un¬
derstanding the British hards, having seen but one of
those of the sixth century, and not being able to pro¬
cure access to two of the principal libraries in the coun¬
try. He communicated many observations to Bishop
Gibson, whose edition of \he Britannia he revised ; and
published “ Archceologia Pritannica, giving some ac¬
count additional to what has been hitherto published
of the languages, histories, and customs, of the original
inhabitants of Great Britain, from collection and ob¬
servations in travels through Wales, Cornwall, Bas
Bretagne, Ireland, and Scotland, vol, i. Glossography,
Oxford, 1707.” fol. He left in MS. a Scottish or
Irish-English Dictionary, proposed to be published in
1732 by subscription, by Mr David Maicome, a mini¬
ster of the church ot Scotland, with additions; as also
the Elements of the said language ; with necessary and
useful informations for propagating more effectually the
English language, and for promoting the knowledge of
the ancient Scottish or Irish, and very many branches
of useful and curious learning. Lhuyd, at the end of
his preface to the Archseologia, promises an historical
dictionary of British persons and places mentioned in
ancient records. It seems to have been ready for press,
though he could not set the time of publication. His
collections for a second volume, which was to give an
account of the antiquities, monuments, &c. in the
principality of Wales, were numerous and well chosen ;
but, on account of a quarrel between him and Dr
Wynne, then fellow, afterwards principal of the college,
and bishop of St Asaph, he refused to buy them, and
they were purchased by Sir Thomas Seabright, of
Beachwood in Hertfordshire, in whose library the
greatest
LIB [ 789 ] LIB
Lhiiyd
B
Libation.
greatest part still remain, but so indigested, and writ¬
ten with so many abbreviations, that nobody can un¬
dertake to publish them. They consist of about 40
volumes in folio, 10 in quarto, and above IOO smaller,
and all relate to Irish or Welsh antiquities, and chief¬
ly in those languages. Carte made extracts from them
about or before 1736 ; but these were chiefly historical.
Sir John Seabright has given Mr Pennant 23 of Lhuyd’s
MSS. Latin and English. Many of his letters to Lis¬
ter, and other learned contemporaries, were given by
Dr Fothergill to the university of Oxford, and are
now in the Ashmolean museum. Luyhd undertook
more, for illustrating this part of the kingdom than any
one man besides ever did, or than any one man can be
equal to.
LIBANIUS, a famous Greek rhetorician and so¬
phist in the 4th century, was born at Antioch, and
had a great share in the friendship of Julian the A-
postate. That prince offered him the dignity of pra-
fectus prelorio; but Libanius refused it, thinking the
name of sophist, ov professor of eloquence, much more
honourable. There are still extant several of his let¬
ters and Greek orations, by which he acquired great
reputation : but bis style is somewhat affected and ob¬
scure He was a Pagan. Basil and Chrysostom were
his disciples about the year 360. His letters were
published at Amsterdam in 1738 j his orations at Ve¬
nice, 1755. . . . ' .
LIBANOMANTIA, in antiquity, a species of di¬
vination performed with frankincense j which, if itp.e-
sently caught fire, and sent forth a grateful odour, was
esteemed a happy omen, and vice versa.
LIBANUS, the name of a chain of mountains of
Turkey in Asia, which lie between Proper Syria, and
Palestine, extending from west to east, from the Me¬
diterranean sea as far as Arabia. The summits of
these mountains are so high, that they are always co¬
vered with snow ; but below are very pleasant and
fruitful valleys. They were formerly famous for the
great number of cedar trees growing thereon j but
now there are very few remaining. Geographers di¬
stinguish this chain into Libanus and Antilibanus j
the latter of which lies on the south side of the valley,
rising near the ruins of Sidon, and terminates at
others in Arabia, in N. Lat. 34. They are separated
from each other at an equal distance throughout, and
form a bason, or country, called by the ancients C<xlo-
Syria.
LIBATION, amongst the Greeks and Romans, was
an essential part of solemn sacrifices. It was also per¬
formed alone, as a drink-offering, by way of procuring
the protection and favour of the gods, in the ordinary
affairs of life. Libations, according to the different
natures of the gods in honour of whom they were
made, consisted of different liquids, but wine was the
most usual. The wine offered to the gods was al¬
ways unmixed with water. We meet with libations
of water, libations of honey, libations of milk, and
libations of oil $ these are called The li¬
bation was made with a serious deportment and solemn
prayer. At sacrifices, the libation, alter it had been
tasted by the priest, and handed to the bystanders, was
poured upon the victim. At entertainments, a little
wine was generally poured out of the cup, before the
liquor began to circulate, to show their gratitude to the Libation
gods for the blessings they enjoyed. |j
Libations were also in use among the Hebrews, who J->beb
poured a kind of wine on the victim after it was killed, /-■“**
and the several pieces of the sacrifice were laid on the
altar, ready to be consumed in the flames.
LIB AW, a sea-port town of Courland, lying on the
Baltic sea, consisting entirely of wooden houses. It
belongs to Russia, and is situated in E. Long. 21. 27.
N. Lat. 56. 27.
LIBEL, {libellus famnsus), taken in its largest and
most extensive sense, signifies any writing, picture, or
the like, of an immoral or illegal tendency $ but, in
a peculiar sense, is used to denote a malicious defama¬
tion of any person, and especially a magistrate, made
public by either printing, writing, signs or pictures,
in order to provoke him to wrath, or expose him to
public hatred, contempt and ridicule. The direct
tendency of these libels is the breach of the public
peace, by stirring up the objects of them to revenge,
and perhaps to bloodshed. The communication of a
libel to any one person is a publication in the eye of
the law : and therefore the sending an abusive private
letter to a man is as much a libel as if it were openly
printed, for it equally tends to a breach of the peace.
With regard to libels in general, there are, as ia
many other cases, two remedies ) one by indictment,
and another by action. The former for the public of¬
fence ; for every libel has a tendency to break the
peace, or provoke others to break it: which offence
is the same whether the matter contained be true or
false ; and therefore the defendant, on an indictment
for publishing a libel, is not allowed to allege the truth
of it by way of justification. But in the remedy by
action on the case, which is to repair the party in da¬
mages for the injury done him, the defendant may, as
for words spoken, justify the truth of the facts, and
show that the plaintiff has received no injury at all.
What was said with regard to words spoken, will also
hold in every particular with regard to libels by writ¬
ing or printing, and the civil actions consequent there¬
upon : but as to signs or pictures, it seems necessary
always to show, by proper inuendos and averments
of the defendant’s meaning, the import and applica¬
tion of the scandal, and that some special damage has
followed ; otherwise it cannot appear, that such libel
by picture was understood to be levelled at the plain¬
tiff, or that it was attended with any actionable conse¬
quences.
In a civil action, then, a libel must appear to be
false, as well as scandalous ; for, if the charge be
true, the plaintiff has received no private injury, and
has no ground to demand a compensation for him¬
self, whatever offence it may be against the public
peace : and therefore, upon a civil action, the truth
of the accusation may be pleaded in bar of the suit.
But, in a criminal prosecution, the tendency which
all libels have to create animosities, and to disturb the
public peace, is the sole consideration of the law.
And therefore, in such prosecutions, the only points
to be considered are, first, the making or publishing
of the book or writing; and, secondly, whether the
matter be criminal: and, if both these points are
against the defendant, the offence against the public is
complete.
LIB
Libel
I
Liber.
complete. The punishment of such libellers, for either
making, repeating, printing, or publishing the libel,
^ is a fine, and such corporal punishment as the court in
its discretion shall inflict j regarding tile quantity of the
offence, and the quality of the offender. By the law
of the twelve tables at Rome, libels, which affected the
reputation of another, were made a capital offence:
but, before the reign of Augustus, the punishment be¬
came corporal only. Under the emperor Valentinian
it was again made capital, not only to write, but to
publish, or even to omit destroying them. Our law,
in this and many other respects, corresponds rather
with the middle age of Romish jurisprudence, when li¬
berty, learning, and humanity, were in their full vi¬
gour, than with the cruel edicts that were established
in the dark and tyrannical ages of the ancient decem¬
viri, or the latter emperors.
In this, and other instances, where blasphemous,
immoral, treasonable, schismatical, seditious, or scan¬
dalous libels are punished by the English law, some
with a greater, others with a less degree of severity,
the liberty of the press, properly understood, is by no
means infringed or violated. See Liberty of the
Press.
LIBELLA, a piece of money amongst the Ro¬
mans, bemg the tenth part of the denarius, and equal
in value to the as. It was called libella, as being a
little pound, because equal to a pound of brass.—Its
value in our money is i ob. I qu. or a halfpenny far¬
thing. See Money.
Libella, or Libellula, a genus of four-winged flies,
called in English dragonflies or adder flies. See En¬
tomology Index.
LIBELLI, was the name given to the bills which
were put up amongst the Romans, giving notice of the
time when a show of gladiators would be exhibited,
with the number of combatants, and other circumstan¬
ces. This was called munus pronunctare or proponere.
—These bills were sometimes termed edicta. These
public notices were given by the person who designed
to oblige the people with the show, and were frequently
attended with pictures representing the engagement of
some celebrated gladiators. This custom is alluded to
by Horace, lib. ii. sat. vii. 96, &c.
There was also the famosus libelhts, a defamatory li¬
bel. Seneca calls them contumeliosi libelli, infamous
rhymes, which by a Roman ordnance were punishable
with death. Libellus also in the civil law signifies the
declaration, or state of the prosecutors charge against
the defendant j and it has the like signification in our
spiritual courts.
LIBER, in vegetables, the bark or rind, principal¬
ly of trees. This is to be conceived as consisting of a
number of cylindric and concentric surfaces whose tex¬
ture is reticular, and in some trees plainly extrusible
every way, by reason that the fibres are soft and flexi¬
ble. While in this condition, they are either hollow
regular canals, or, if not so, they have interstitial spaces
which serve the office of canals. The nutritious juice
which they are continually receiving, remains in part in
them, makes them grow in length and thickness, and
strengthens and brings them closer together j and by
this means the texture which was before reticular be¬
comes an assemblage of straight fibres ranged vertically
and parallel to each other $ that is, as they are thus al-
[ 79° ]
L I B
tered behind one another, they by degrees become a Lik,r
new substance, more woody, called blea. I
•'n Mythology, the name of a goddess EiberUnti.
which Cicero in his book Of the Gods, represents as ' r—
the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. Ovid in his Fasti
says, that the name was given by Bacchus to Ariadne.
Libera is exhibited on medals as a kind of female
Bacchus, crowned with vine leaves.
LIBERAL arts, are such as depend more on the
labour of the mind than on that of the hands j or, that
consist more in speculation than operation ; and have
a greater regard to amusement and curiosity than to
necessity. J
The word comes from the Latin liberalis, which a-
mong the Romans signified a person who was not a
slave ; and whose will, of consequence, was not check¬
ed by the command of any master.
Such are grammar, rhetoric, painting, sculpture,
architecture, music, &c. The liberal arts used former¬
ly to be summed up in the following Latin verse :
Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus, Angulus, Astra.
And the mechanical arts, which, however, are innu¬
merable, under this :
Bus, Genius, Arma, Faber, Vulnera, Lana, Rates.
See Arts.
LIBERALIA, feasts celebrated by the ancient Ro¬
mans, m honour of Liber or Bacchus, the same with those
which the Greeks called Dionysia, and Dionysiaca.
They took their name from liber, i. e.free, a title
conferred on Bacchus in memory of the liberty or free¬
dom which he granted to the people of Bceotia ; or
perhaps, because wine, whereof he was the reputed
deity, delivers men from care, and sets their mind at
ease and freedom. Varro derives the name of this feast
from liber, considered as a noun adjective, and signifying
free-, because the priests were free from their function,
and eased of all care, during the time of the liberalia :
as the old women officiated in the ceremonies and sacri¬
fices of these feasts.
LIBERIA, in Roman antiquity, a festival observed
on the 16th of the kalends of April, at which time the
youth laid aside their juvenile habit for the toga virilis,
or habit peculiar to grown men. See the article Toga.
LIBERTINES, Libertini, in ecclesiastical his¬
tory, a religious sect, which arose in the year 1.525,
whose principal tenets were, that the Deity was the sole
operating cause in the mind of man, and the immedi¬
ate author of all human actions ; that, consequently, the
distinctions of good and evil, which had been established
with regard to those actions, were false and groundless,
and that men could not, properly speaking, commit
sin j that religion consisted in the union of the spirit or
rational soul with the Supreme Being ; that all those
who had attained this happy union, by sublime con¬
templation and elevation ot mind, were then allowed
to indulge, without exception or restraint, their appe¬
tites or passions ; that all their actions and pursuits
were then perfectly innocent; and that, after the death
of the body, they were to be united to the Deity.
They likewise said that Jesus Christ was nothing but
a vaereje ne spai quoi, composed of the spirit of God,
and of the opinion of men.
These maxims occasioned their being called Liber¬
tines i
libertine*
. D
iLiberty.
LIB C 791 ] LIB
tines ; and the word has been used in an ill sense ever
since.
The Libertini spread principally in Holland and
Brabant. Their leaders were one Qnintin a Picard,
Pockesius, Ruffus, and another called Chopin, who
joined with Quintin, and became his disciple.
This sect obtained a certain footing in France
through the favour and protection of Margaret, queen
of Navarre, and sister to Francis I. and found patrons
in several of the reformed churches. This sect was
probably a remnant of the more ancient Beguards or
Brethren of the Free Spirit.
Libertines of Geneva^ were a cabal of rakes rather
than of fanatics j for they made no pretences to any
religious system, but pleaded only for the liberty of
leading voluptuous and immoral lives. This cabal was
composed of a certain number of licentious citizens,
who could not bear the severe discipline of Calvin, who
punished with rigour not only dissolute manners, but
also whatever bore the aspect of irreligion and impiety.
In this turbulent cabal there were several persons who
were not only notorious for their dissolute and scanda¬
lous manner of living, but also for their atheistical
impiety and contempt of all religion. To this odious
class belonged one Gruet, who denied the divinity of
the Christian religion, the immortality of the soul, and
difference between moral good and evil, and rejected
with disdain the doctrines that are held most sacred
among Christians $ for which impieties he was at last
brought before the civil tribunal, in the year 1550, and
condemned to death. The Genevan spirit of refor¬
mation, improperly directed by the violence and zeal of
Calvin, did at this time operate to a degree which has
marked the character of this great reformer with re¬
proach. For in 1544, Sebastian Castalio, master of
the public school at Geneva, who was a man of probity,
and distinguished by his learning and taste, was never¬
theless deposed from his office, and banished the city,
because he disapproved some of the measures that were
pursued and some of the opinions entertained by Calvin
and his colleagues, and particularly that of absolute
and unconditional predestination. Jerome Bolsec also,
a man of genius and learning, who became a convert
to the Protestant religion and fled to Geneva for pro¬
tection, was cast into prison, and soon after sent into
banishment, because, in 1551, he imprudently and in¬
decently declaimed, in full congregation and at the
close of public worship, against the doctrine of abso¬
lute decrees.
LIBERTUS, or Libertinus, among the Romans,
a freedman, or a person set free from a legal servi¬
tude.
These still retained some mark of their ancient state:
he who made a slave free having a right of patronage
over the libertus : so that if the latter failed of showing
due respect to his patron, he was restored to his servi¬
tude ; and if the libertus died without children, his pa¬
tron was his heir. See Slave.
In the beginning of the republic, libertinus denoted
the son of a libertus or freedman ; but afterwards, be¬
fore the time of Cicero, and under the emperors, the
terms libertus and libertinus, as Suetonius has remark¬
ed, were used as synonymous.
LIBERTY, denotes a state of freedom, in contra¬
distinction to slavery or restraint; and may be consi- Liberty,
dered as either natural or civil. —y—
The absolute rights of man, considered as a free
agent, endowed with discernment to know good from
evil, and with power of choosing those measures which
appear to him to be most desirable, are usually sum¬
med up in one general appellation, and denominated
the natural liberty of mankind. This natural liberty
consists properly in a power of acting as one think*
lit, without any restraint or controul, unless by the
law of nature ; being a right inherent in us by birth,
and one of the gifts of God to man at his creation,
when he endued him with the faculty of free-will.
But every man, when he enters into society, gives up
a part of his natural liberty, as the price of so va¬
luable a purchase ; and, in consideration of receiving
the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himself
to conform to those laws which the community has
thought proper to establish. And this species of le¬
gal obedience and conformity is infinitely more desire-
able than that wild and savage liberty which is sacri¬
ficed to obtain it. For no man, that considers a mo¬
ment, would wish to retain the absolute and uncon-
trouled power of doing whatever he pleases : the conse¬
quence of which is, that every other man would also
have the same power ; and then there would be no
security to individuals in any of the enjoyments of
life.
Political, therefore, or civil liberty, which is that
of a member of society, is no other than natural li¬
berty, so far restrained by human laws (and no farther)
as is necessary and expedient for the general advantage
of the public. Hence we may collect, that the law,
which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fel¬
low-citizens, though it diminishes the natural, in¬
creases the civil liberty of mankind : but every wan¬
ton and causeless restraint of the will of the subject,
whether practised by a monarch, a nobility, or a po¬
pular assembly, is a degree of tyranny. Nay, that
even laws themselves, whether made with or without
our consent, if they regulate and constrain our conduct
in matters of mere indifference, without any good end
in view, are laws destructive of liberty : whereas, if
any public advantage can arise from observing such
precepts, the controul of our private inclinations, in
one or two particular points, will conduce to preserve
our general freedom in others cf more importance,
by supporting that state of society which alone can
secure our independence. Thus the statute of King
Edward IV. which forbade the fine gentlemen of those
times (under the degree of a lord) to wear pikes upon
their shoes or boots of more than two inches in length,
was a law that savoured of oppression j because, how¬
ever ridiculous the fashion then in use might appear, the
restraining it by pecuniary penalties could serve no
purpose of common utility. But the statute of King
Charles II. which prescribes a thing seemingly as in¬
different, viz. a dress for the dead, who were all ordered
to be buried in woollen, is a law consistent with public
liberty ; for it encourages the staple trade, on which in
great measure depends the universal good of the nation.
So that laws, when prudently framed, are by no means
subversive, but rather introductive, of liberty j for (as
Mr Locke has well observed) where there is no law
there
Blaektt.
Comment.
1 B [ 792 ] LIB
But Jsen, on llie other hand, that parliament, before the fatal rupture between them }
and by the many salutary laws, particularly the habeas
corpus act, passed under Charles II. To these succeed¬
ed the bill of rights, or declaration delivered by the
lords and commons to the prince and princess of
Orange, 13th February 1688 ; and afterwards enacted
in parliament, when they became king and queen :
which declaration concludes in these remarkable words ;
“ antl they do claim, demand, and insist upon, all and
singular the premises, as their undoubted rights and li¬
ber ties.” And ihe act of parliament itself recognises
“ all and singular the rights and liberties asserted and
claimed in the said declaration to he the true, ancient
and indubitable rights of the people of this kingdom.”
Lastly, These liberties were again asserted at the com¬
mencement of the last century, in the act of settle-
merit, whereby the crown was limited to his present
majesty’s illustrious house: and some new provisions
were added, at the same fortunate era, for better secu¬
ring our religion, laws, and liberties j which the sta¬
tute declares to be “ the birthright of the people of
England,” according to the ancient doctrine of the
common law.
Thus much for the declaration of our rights and li¬
berties. The rights themselves, thus defined by these
several statutes, consist in a number of private immu¬
nities ; which will appear, from what has been pre¬
mised, to be indeed no other, than either that rest-
L
Liberty, there is no freedom.
—■'V"—"^ constitution or frame of government, that system of
laws, is alone calculated to maintain civil liberty,
which leaves the subject entire master of his own con¬
duct, except in those points wherein the public good
requires some direction or restraint.
The idea and practice pf this political or civil liber¬
ty, flourish in their highest vigour in these kingdoms,
where it falls little short of perfection, and can only be
lost or destroyed by the folly or demerits of its owner }
the legislature, and of course the laws of Britain, be¬
ing peculiarly adapted to the preservation of this ines¬
timable blessing even in the meanest subject. Very
different from the modern constitutions of other states
on the continent of Europe, and from the genius of the
imperial law j which in general are calculated to vest
an arbitrary and despotic power, of controuling the ac¬
tions of the subject, in the prince, or In a few gran¬
dees. And this spirit of liberty is so deeply implanted
in our constitution, and rooted even ia our very soil,
that a slave or a negro, the moment he lands in Bri¬
tain, falls under the protection of the laws, and so far
becomes a freeman 5 though his master’s right to his
service may possibly still continue.
The absolute rights of every Briton (which, taken
in a political and extensive sense, are usually called
their liberties'), as they are founded on nature and rea¬
son, so they are coeval with our form of government ;
though subject at times to fluctuate and change, their
establishment (excellent as it is) being still human.
At some times we have seen them depressed by over¬
bearing and tyrannical princes ; at others, so luxuriant
as even to tend to anarchy, a worse state than tyranny
itself, as any government is better than none at all.
But the vigour of our free constitution has always de¬
livered the nation from these embarrassments : and, as
soon as the convulsions consequent on the struggle have
been over, the balance of our rights and liberties has
settled to its proper level j and their fundamental ar¬
ticles have been from time to time asserted in parlia¬
ment, as often as they were thought to be in dan¬
ger :
First, By the great charter of liberties, which was
obtained, sword in hand, from King John, and after¬
wards, with some alterations, confirmed iri parliament
by King Henry HI. his son. Which charter contain¬
ed very few new grants j but, as Sir Edward Coke ob¬
serves, was for the most part declaratory of the princi¬
pal grounds of the fundamental laws of England. Af¬
terwards, by the statute called confirmatio cartarurn,
whereby the great charter is directed to he allowed as
the common law ; all judgments contrary to it are de¬
clared void ; copies of it are ordered to be sent to all
cathedral churches, and read twice a-year to the peo¬
ple j and sentence of excommunication is directed to
be as constantly denounced against all those that bv
word, deed, or counsel, act contrary thereto, or in any
degree infringe it. Next, By a multitude of subsequent
corroborating statutes (Sir Edward Coke reckons 32),
from the first Edward to Henry IV. Then, after a
long interval, by the petition of right; which was a par¬
liamentary declaration of the liberties of the people,
assented to by King Charles I. in the beginning of his
reign. Which was closely followed by the still more
ample concessions made by that unhappy prince to his
Liberty,
duum of natural liberty, which is not required by the
laws of society to he sacrificed to public convenience ;
or else those civil privileges, which society hath enga¬
ged to provide, in lieu of the natural liberties so given
up by individuals. These therefore were formerly, ei¬
ther by inheritance or purchase, tire rights of all man¬
kind ; but, in most other countries of the world, being
now more or less debased and destroyed, they at present
may he said to remain, in a peculiar and emphatical
manner, the rights of the people of Britain. And
these may be reduced to three principal or primary ar¬
ticles *, the right of personal security, the right of per¬
sonal liberty, and the right of private property : be¬
cause, as there is no other known method of compul¬
sion, or of abridging man’s natural free-will, but by
an infringement or diminution of one or other of these
important rights, the preservation of these inviolate
may justly be said to include the preservation of our ci¬
vil immunities in their largest and most extensive sense.
See the article Eights.
In vain, however, would these rights be declared,
ascertained, and protected by the dead letter of the
laws, if the constitution had provided no other method
to secure their actual enjoyment. It has therefore es¬
tablished certain other auxiliary subordinate rights of
the subject, which serve principally as barriers to pro¬
tect and maintain inviolate the three great and primary
rights, of personal security, personal liberty, and pri¬
vate property. These are,
1. The constitution, powers, and privileges of par¬
liament ; for which see PARLIAMENT.
2. The limitation of the king’s prerogative, by
bounds so certain and notorious, that it is impossible
he should exceed them without the consent of the peo¬
ple ; as to which, see Prerogative. The former of
these keeps the legislative power in due health and vi¬
gour, so as to make it improbable that laws should
be
Liberty.
LIB [ 793 ] LIB
be enacted destructive of general liberty : the latter is
a guard upon the executive power, by restraining it
from acting either beyond or in contradiction to the
laws that are framed and established by the other.
3. A third subordinate right of every Briton is that
of applying to the courts of justice for redress of in¬
juries. Since the law is, in this realm, the supreme
arbiter of every man’s life, liberty, and property,
courts of justice must at all times be open to the sub¬
ject, and the law be duly administered therein. The
emphatical words of magna charta, spoken in the per¬
son of the king, who in judgment of law (says Sir Ed¬
ward Coke) is ever present and repeating them in all
his courts, are these: Nulli vendemus, nulli ncgabimus,
aut differemus rectum vel justitiam ; “ and therefore
every subject (continues the same learned author), for
injury done to him in bonis, in terris, vel ■persona, by
any other subject, be he ecclesiastical or temporal, with¬
out any exception, may take his remedy by the course
of the law, and have justice and right for the injury
done to him, freely without sale, fully without any de¬
nial, and speedily without delay.” It were endless to
enumerate all the affirmative acts of parliament, where¬
in justice is directed to be done according to the law of
the land : and what the law is, every subject knows,
or may know if he pleases : for it depends not upon the
arbitrary will of any judge j but is permanent, fixed,
and unchangeable, unless by authority of parliament.
We shall however just mention a few statutes,
whereby abuses, preversions, or delays of justice, espe¬
cially by the prerogative, are restrained. It is ordain¬
ed by magna charta, that no freeman shall be outlawed,
that is, put out of the protection and benefit of the
laws, but according to the law of the land. By
2 Edw. III. c. 8. and II Ric. II. c. 10. it is enacted,
that no commands or letters shall be sent under the
great seal, or the little seal, the signet or privy seal,
in disturbance of the law; or to disturb or delay
common right: and, though such commandments
should come, the judges shall not cease to do right;
which is also made a part of their oath by statute
18 Edw. III. stat 4. And by I W. and M. st. 2. c. 2.
it is declared, that the pretended power of suspending
or dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws, by
regal authority without consent of parliament, is il¬
legal.
Not only the substantial part, or judicial decisions,
of the law, but also the formal part, or method of
proceeding, cannot be altered hut by parliament: for,
if once those outworks were demolished, there would
be an inlet to all manner of innovation in the body of
the law itself. The king, it is true, may erect new
courts of justice: but then they must proceed accord¬
ing to the old established forms of the common law.
For which reason it is declared in the statute 16 Gar. I.
c. 10. upon the dissolution of the court of star-cham¬
ber, that neither his majesty, nor his privy council,
have any jurisdiction, power, or authority, by English
bill, petition, articles, libel, (which were the course of
proceeding in the star-chamber, borrowed from the ci¬
vil law), or by any other arbitrary way whatsoever, to
examine, or draw into question, determine, or dispose
of the lands or goods of any subjects ot this king¬
dom ; but that the same ought to be tried and deter-
Vol. XI. Part II.
mined in the ordinary courts of justice, and by course of ubei
law. ' v~
4. If there should happen any uncommon injury, or
infringement of the rights before mentioned, which
the ordinary course of law is too defective to reach,
there still remains a fourth subordinate right, apper¬
taining to every individual, namely, the right of peti¬
tioning the king, or either house of parliament, for
the redress of grievances. In Russia we are told that
the czar Peter established a law, that no subject might
petition the throne till he had first petitioned two
different ministers of state. In case he obtained justice
from neither, he might then present a third petition
to the prince; but upon pain of death, if found to be
in the wrong. The consequence of which was, that
no one dared to offer such third petition ; and griev¬
ances seldom falling under the notice of the sovereign,
he had little opportunity to redress them. The re¬
strictions, for some there are, which ai’e laid upon pe¬
titioning in Britain, are of a nature extremely different;
and while they promote the spirit of peace, they are
no check upon that of liberty. Care only must be
taken, lest, under the pretence of petitioning, the sub¬
ject be guilty of any riot or tumult; as happened in
the opening of the memorable parliament in 1640;
and, to prevent this, it is provided by the statute
13 Car. II. st. I. c. 5. that no petition to the king, or
either house of parliament, for any alteration in church
or state, shall be signed by above 20 persons, unless
the matter thereof be approved by three justices of the
peace, or the major part of the grand jury, in the
country; and in London, by the lord mayor, aider-
men, and common-council : nor shall any petition be
presented by more than ten persons at a time. But,
under these regulations, it is declared by the statute
I W. and M. st. 2. c. 2. that the subject hath a right
to petition ; and that all commitments and prosecutions
for such petitioning are illegal.
5. The fifth and last auxiliary right of the subject,
that we shall at present mention, is that of having arms
for their defence, suitable to their condition and de¬
gree, and such as are allowed by law. Which is also
declared by the same statute 1 W. anff M. st. 2. c. 2.
and is indeed a public allowance, under due restric¬
tions, of the natural right of resistance and self-pre¬
servation, when the sanctions of society and laws
are found insufficient to restrain the violence of op¬
pression.
In these several articles consist the rights, or, as
they are frequently termed, the liberties of Britons : li¬
berties more generally talked of than thoroughly un¬
derstood ; and yet highly necessary to be perfectly
known and considered by every man of rank or pro¬
perty, lest his ignorance of the points whereon they
are founded should hurry him into faction and licen¬
tiousness on the one hand, or a pusillanimous indiffer¬
ence and criminal submission on the other. And we
have seen that these rights consist, primarily, in the
free enjoyment of personal security, of personal liber¬
ty, and of private property. So long as these remain
inviolate, the subject is perfectly free; for every spe¬
cies of compulsive tyranny and oppression must act in
opposition to one or other of these rights^ having no
other object upon which it can possibly be employed.
5 H To
L 1 B [ 794
Liberty. ^ o preserve these from violation, it is necessary that
v"' the constitution of parliaments be supported in its full
vigour j and limits, certainly known, be set to the royal
prerogative. And, lastly, To vindicate these rights,
when actually violated or attacked, the subjects of Bri¬
tain are entitled, in the first place, to the regular ad¬
ministration and free course of justice in the courts of
law; next, to the right of petitioning the king and
parliament for redress of grievances ; and, lastly, to the
right of having and using arms for self-preservation
and defence. And all these rights and liberties it is
our birthright to enjoy entire ; unless where the laws
ot our country have laid them under necessary restraints :
llestraints in themselves so gentle and moderate, as
will appear upon farther inquiry, that no man of sense
or probity would wish to see them slackened. For all
of us have it in our choice to do every thing that a
good man would desire to do; and are restrained from
nothing, but what would be pernicious either to our¬
selves or our fellow-citizens. So that this review of
our situation may fully justify the observations of a
learned French author, who indeed generally both
thought and wrote in the spirit of genuine freedom;
and who hath not scrupled to profess, even in the
very bosom of his native country, that the British is
the only nation in the world where political or civil
liberty is the direct end of its constitution. Recom¬
mending, therefore, to the student in our laws a far¬
ther and more accurate search into this extensive and
important title, we shall close our remarks upon it with
the expiring wish of the famous Father Paul to liis
country, “ Esxo perpetua !”
Liberty and Necessity. See Metaphysics.
Liberty of the Press. The art of printing, soon
after its introduction, was looked upon in England,
as well as in other countries, as merely a matter of
state, and subject to the coercion of the crown. It was
therefore regulated with us by the king’s proclama¬
tions, prohibitions, charters of privilege and license,
and finally by the decrees of the court of star-chamber,
which limited the number of printers, and of presses
which each should employ, and prohibited new publi¬
cations unless previously approved by proper licensers.
On the demolition of this odious jurisdiction in 1641,
the long parliament of Charles I. after their rupture
with that prince, assumed the same powers as the star-
chamber had exercised with respect to the licensing of
books: and in 1643, I647> 1649, anc* 1652(800-
bell. i. 44, 134. ii. 88, 230.) issued their ordinances
for that purpose, founded principally on the star-cham¬
ber decree of 1637. In 1662 was passed the statute 13
and 14 Car. II. c. 33. which, with some few altera¬
tions, was copied from the parliamentary ordinances.
This act expired in 1679; ^ut was reviV£,d by statute
I Jac. II. c. ly. and continued till 1692. It was then
continued for two years longer by statute 4 W. and M.
c. 24. but though frequent attempts were made by the
government to revive it in the subsequent part of that
reign, (Com. Journ. 11 Feb. 1694, 26 Nov. 1695,
22 Oct. 1696, 9 Feb. 1697, 31 Jan. 1698), yet the
parliament resisted it so strongly, that it finally expired,
and the press became properly free in 1694, and has
continued so ever since.
The liberty of the press, however, so essential to
] LIB
the nature of a free state, consists not in freedom from Liberty
censure for any criminal matter that may be published, y
but in laying no previous restraints upon publications. Li bet Ini m.
Every ireeman has undoubtedly a right to lay what v'——
sentiment he pleases before the public; to forbid this,
is to destroy the freedom of the press: but if he pub¬
lishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must
take the consequence of his own temerity *. To sub- * Sue Lib?!.
ject the press to the restrictive power of a licenser in
the manner above mentioned, is to subject all freedom
of sentiment to the prejudices of one man, and make
him the arbitrary and infallible judge of all controverted
points in learning, religion, and government. But to
punish (as the law does at present) any dangerous or
olfensive writings which, when published, shall, on a
fair and impartial trial, be adjudged of a pernicious
tendency, is necessary for the preservation of peace and
good order, of government and religion, the only solid
foundations of civil liberty. Thus the will of indivi¬
duals is still left free; the abuse only of that free will
is the object of legal punishment. Neither is any re¬
straint hereby laid upon freedom of thought ov inquiry ;
liberty of private sentiment is still left; the disseminat¬
ing or making public of bad sentiments, destructive
of the ends of society, is the crime which society cor¬
rects. A man (says a fine writer on this subject) may
be allowed to keep poisons in his closet, but not pub¬
licly to vend them as cordials. And to this we may
add, that the only plausible argument heretofore used
for restraining the just freedom of the press, “ that it
was necessary to prevent the daily abuse of it,” will
entirely lose its force, when it is shown (by a seasonable
exertion of the laws) that the press cannot be abused to
any bad purpose without incurring a suitable punish¬
ment : whereas it can never be used to any good one
when under the controul of an inspector. So true
will it be found, that to censure the licentiousness, is to
maintain the liberty of the press.
Liberty', in Mythology, was a goddess both among
the G reeks and Romans. Among the former she was
invoked under the title Eleutheria; and by the latter
she was called Libcrtas, and held in singular venera¬
tion. Temples, altars, and statues, were erected in ho¬
nour of this deity. A very magnificent temple was
consecrated to her on Mount Aventine, by Tiberius
Gracchus, before which was a spacious court, called
atrium libcrtatis. The Romans also erected a new
temple in honour of Liberty, when Julius Cocsar esta¬
blished his empire over them, as if their liberty had
been secured by an event which proved fatal to it. In
a medal of Brutus, Liberty is exhibited under the figure
of a woman, bolding in one band a cap, the symbol of
liberty, and two poniards in the other, with the in¬
scription 1DIBVS MARTIIS.
LIBETHRA, in Ancient Geography, the fountain
of song, was situated in Magnesia, a district of Mace¬
donia, annexed to Thessaly; distinct from the town of
Libethra, which stood on Mount Olympus, where it
verges towards Macedonia: hence the muses are called
J^ibethrides, (Virgil). Strabo places on Helicon, not
only Hippocrene, and the temple of the Muses, but also
the cave of the nymphs Libethrides,
LIBETHRIUS mons, in Ancient Geography, a
mountain of Bceotia, distant from Coronea 40 stadia;
whero
LIB [ 795 ] LIB
Lifcethrius where stood the statues of the Muses, and or the
li nymphs sm named Libethrides : a mountain probably
laloa. conjoined with, or at least very near to, Helicon.
v" J LI F) IT IN A, in the Roman mythology, a goddess
which presided over funerals. 'I bis goddess was the
same with the Venus infcra or Epithymbiao\ the Greeks.
She had a temple at Rome, where was lodged a cer¬
tain piece of money for every person who died, whose
name was recorded in a register called Dibitime ratio.
This practice was established by Servius lullius, in
order to obtain an account of the number of annual
deaths in the city of Rome, and consequently the rate
of increase or decrease ol its inhabitants.
LIBITINARII, were undertakers whose office it
was to take care of funerals, prepare all things neces-
ary upon this solemn occasion, and furnish every ar¬
ticle required.—They got their livelihood by this
gloomy business, and kept a number of servants to
perform the working part of the profession, such as
the pollinctorea, vespillojies, &c. 1 he name Libitinaru is
derived from Libitina, the goddess of funerals, in whose
temple were sold all things relating to funerals. See
Funeral.
LIBNA, in Ancient Geography, a sacerdotal city in
the tribe of Judah, a place of strength, as appears from
Sennacherib’s laying siege to it, 2 Kings xix. Isaiah
xxxvii. In Jerome’s time, a village, called Lobna, in
the territory of Eleutheropolis.
LIBOUKNE, a town of France, in Guienne, and
in Bourdelois. It is a populous trading town, and is
seated on the river Dordogne. W. Long. o. TO. N.
Lat. 44. 4.5* - . .
LIBRA, or Balance, one of the mechanical powers.
See Balance.
Libra, in Astronomy, one of the 12 signs of the
zodiac, and exactly opposite to Aries j so called be¬
cause when the sun is in this sign at the autumnal
equinox, the duvs and nights are equal as if weighed
in a balance.—The stars in this constellation according
to Ptolemy are 17, Tycho 10, Hevelius 20, and Flam-
stead 31.
Libra also denotes the ancient Roman pound, bor¬
rowed from the Sicilians, who called it litra.
The libra was divided into 12 uncicv or ounces, and
the ounce into 24 scruples.
The divisions of the libra were, the 7:ncia, one twelfth-,
the sextans, one sixth-, \\\z quadrans, one fourth ; the
triens, one third the quincunx, five ounces ; the semis,
six ; the scptunx, seven ; the bes, eight ; the dodrans,
nine -, the dextrans, ten ; the deunx, eleven 5 lastly, the
as weighed twelve ounces or one libra.
The Roman libra was used in France for the pro¬
portions of their coin till the time of Charlemagne,
Ior perhaps till that of Philip I. in 1093, their sols being
so proportioned, as that 20 of them were equal to the
libra. By degrees it became a term of account : and
every thing of the value of twenty sols was called a
livre.
Libra paisa, in our law books, denotes a pound of
money in weight. It was usual in former days not
only to tell the money but to weigh it: because many
cities, lords, and bishops, having their mints, coined
money, and often very bad too; for which reason,
though the pound consisted of 20 shillings, they always
weighed it.
LIBRARII, among the ancients, were a sort of
copyists who transcribed in beautiful or at least legible
characters, what had been written by the notarii in
notes and abbreviatures.
LIBRARY, an edifice or apartment destined for
holding a considerable number of books placed regular¬
ly on shelves ; or the books themselves lodged in it.
Some authors refer the origin of libraries to the
Hebrews ; and observe, that the care these took for
the preservation of their sacred books, and the me¬
mory of what contained the actions of their ancestors,
became an example to other nations, particularly the
the Egyptians. Osmanduas, king of Egypt, is said
to have taken the hint first j who according to Dio¬
dorus, had a library built in his palace, with this in¬
scription over the door, ^TXHS IATPEION. Nor were
the Ptolemies, who reigned in the same country, less
curious and magnificent in books.
The Scripture also speaks of a library of the kings
of Persia, Ezra v. 17. vi. I. which some imagine to
have consisted of the historians of that nation, and of
memoirs of the affairs of state ; but, in effect, it ap¬
pears rather to have been a depository of laws, char¬
gers, and ordinances ol the kings. The Hebrew text
calls it the house of treasures, and afterwards the house
of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up. We
may, with more justice, call that a library, mentioned
in the second of Esdras to have been built by Nehemiah,
and in which were preserved the books of the prophets,
and of David, and of the letters of their kings.
The first who erected a library at Athens was the
tyrant Pisistratus; and yet Strabo refers the honour
of it to Aristotle. That of Pisistratus was transport¬
ed by Xerxes into Persia, and was afterwards brought
back by Seleucus Nicanor to Athens. Long after,
it was plundered by Sylla, and re-established by Ha¬
drian. Plutarch says, that under Eumenes there was
a library at Pergamus, containing 200,000 books. Ty-
rannian, a celebrated grammarian, cotemporary with
Pompey, had a library of 30,000 volumes. That of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, according to A. Gellius, contain¬
ed 700,000, all in rolls, burnt by Caesar’s soldiers.
Constantine, and his successors, erected a magnificent
one at Constantinople; which in the eighth century con¬
tained 300,000 volumes, all burnt by order of Leo
Isaurus'; and, among the rest, one wherein the Iliad
and Odyssey were written in letters of gold, on the guts
of a serpent.
The most celebrated libraries of ancient Rome, were
the Ulpian, and the Palatine. They also boast much
of the libraries of Paulus JEmilius, who conquered Per¬
seus ; of Lucilius Lucullus, of Asinius Pollio, Atticus,
Julius Severus, Domitius Serenus, Pamphilius Martyr,
and the emperors Gordian and Trajan.
Ancientiv, every large church had its library ; as
appears by the writings of St Jerome, Anastasius, and
others. Pope Nicholas laid the first foundation of
that of the Vatican, in 1450. It was destroyed by
the constable Bourbon, in the sacking of Rome, and
restored bv Pope Sixtus V. and has been considerably
enriched with the ruins of that of Heidelberg, plun¬
dered by Count Tilly in 1622. One of the most com¬
plete libraries in Europe, was said to be that erected at
Florence by Cosmo de Medicis, over the gate where¬
of is written labor absque labore ; though it is now
3 H 2 exceeded
Liibrnrii,
JLibr.u*.
LIB [?96] LIB
Library, exceeded by that of the French king, begun by Fran-
• cis I. augmented by Cardinal Richelieu, and completed
by M. Colbert.
The emperor’s library at Vienna, according to Lam-
becius consists of 80,000 volumes, and 15,940 curious
medals.
The Bodleian library at Oxford, built on the foun¬
dation of that of Duke Humphrey, exceeds that of
any university in Europe, and even those of all the
sovereigns of Europe, except the emperor’s and French
king’s, which are each of them older by 100 years.
It was first opened in 1602, and has since found a
great number of benefactors ; particularly Sir Robert
Cotton, Sir H. Savil, Archbishop Eaud, Sir Kenelm
Digby, Mr Allen, Dr Pococke, Mr Selden, and others.
The Vatican, the Medicean, that of Bessarion at Ve¬
nice, and those just mentioned, exceed the Bodleian in
Greek manuscripts : which yet outdoes them all in ori¬
ental manuscripts.
As to printed books, the Ambrosian at Milan, and
that of Wolfenbuttle, are two of the most famous, and
yet both inferior to the Bodleian.
Ring's Library, at St James’s was founded by
Henry, eldest son of James I. and made up partly of
books, and partly of manuscripts, with many other
curiosities, for the advancement of learning. It has
received many additions from the libraries of Isaac
Casaubon and others.
Cottonian Library, originally consisted of 958 vo¬
lumes of original charters, grants, instruments, letters
of sovereign princes, transactions between this and other
kingdoms and states, genealogies, histories, registers of
monasteries, remains of Saxon laws, the book of Gene¬
sis, thought to be the most ancient Greek copy extant,
and said to have been written by Origen in the second
century, and the curious Alexandrian copy or manu¬
script in Greek capitals. This library is kept in the
British Museum, with the large and valuable library
of Sir Hans Sloane, amounting to upwards of 42,000
volumes, &c. There are many public libraries be¬
longing to the several colleges at Oxford and Cam¬
bridge, and the universities in North Britain. The
principal public libraries in London, beside that of the
Museum, are those of the College of Heralds, of the
College of Physicians, of Doctors Commons, to which
every bishop, at the time of his consecration, gives at
least 20I. sometimes 50I. for the purchase of books ;
th ose of Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple,
and Middle Temple ', that of Lambeth, founded by
Archbishop Bancroft in 1610, for the use of succeeding
archbishops of Canterbury, and increased by the bene¬
factions of Archbishops Abbot, Sheldon, and Tennison,
and said to consist of at least 15,000 printed books, and
617 volumes in manuscript; that of Red-Cross street,
founded by Dr Daniel Williams, a Presbyterian divine,
and since enriched by many private benefactions ; that
of the Royal Society, called the Arvndelian or Norfolk
library, because the principal part of the collection
formerly belonged to the family of Arundel, and was
given to the Society by Henry Howard, afterwards
duke of Norfolk, in 1666, which library has been in¬
creased by the valuable collection of Francis Aston,
Esq. in 1715, and is continually increasing by the
numerous benefactions of the works of its learned mem¬
bers, and others : that of St Paul’s, of Sion college ; Librar
the Queen’s library, erected by Queen Caroline in (1 ”
1737 ; and the Surgeons library, kept in their hall in
the Old Bailey, &c. — y—
In Edinburgh there is a good library belonging to
the university, well furnished with books’; but it is de¬
ficient in a catalogue. There is also a noble library of
books and manuscripts belonging to the faculty of ad¬
vocates. See Advocate. The library belonging to
the society of writers to the signet, although of less ex¬
tent, yet in the judicious selection of the best books,
and the best editions, which by the attention of the so¬
ciety are now kept in excellent order, is inferior to
none in the kingdom.
_ LIB RATION, in Astronomy, an apparent irregula¬
rity of the moon’s motion, whereby she seems tolibrate
about her axis, sometimes from the east to the west, and
now and then from the west to the east. See Astro¬
nomy Index.
LIBURNIA, in Ancient Geography, a district of II-
lyricum, extending towards the Adriatic between Istria
on the west, Dalmatia on the east, and Mount Albius
on the north. Libnrni, the people. The apparitors,
who at the command of the magistrate summoned the
people from the country, were called Liburni, because
generally men of Liburnia.—Libitrna, or Liburnica,
(Horace), denoted a kind of light and swift skiff, ed
by the Liburnians in their sea-roving or piracies for
which they were noted. Liburnum (Juvenal), was a
species of litter made in form of Liburnian skiffs,
wherein the noblemen of Rome were carried, and where
they sat at their ease either reading or writing.
LIBURMJS, in Ancient Geography, a mountain of
Campania. Also a port of Tuscany. Now Livorna
or Leghorn. E. Long. 11. N. Lat. 43. 30.
LIBYA, in general, according to the Greeks, de¬
noted Africa. An appellation derived from lub
thirst, being a dry and thirsty country. See Africa.
Libya, in a more restrained sense, was the middle
part of Africa, extending north and west, (Pliny) ;
between the Mediterranean to the north, and Ethiopia
to the east: and was twofold, the Hither or Exterior
Libya ; and the Farther or Interior. The former lay
between the Mediterranean on the north, and the Far-
ther Libya and Ethiopia beyond Egypt on the south,
(Ptolemy). I he Farther or Interior Libya was a vast
country, lying between the Hither Libya on the north,
the Atlantic ocean on the west, the Ethiopic on the
south, and Ethiopia, beyond Egypt on the east, (Pto-
lemv).
Libya, in a still more restrained sense, called, for
distinction’s sake, I^ibya Fropria, was a northern di¬
strict of Africa, and a part of the Hither Libya ; situ¬
ated between Egypt to the east, the Mediterranean to
the north, the 8\ rlis Alajor and the Regio Tnpoli-
tana to the west, the Garamantes and Ethiopia be¬
yond Egypt to the south. Now the kingdom and desert
uf Barca, xhis Libya was again subdivided into Libya
taken in the strictest sense of all, and into Marmarica
and Cyrenaica. Libya in the strictest sense, otherwise
the Exterior, was the most eastern part of Libya Pro¬
pria, next to Egypt, with Marmarica on the west, the
Mediterranean on the north, and the Nubi, now called
Nubia, to the south, (Ptolemy).
LICENSE,
LIC [ 797 ] LID
JLiccase LICENSE, in Law, an authority given to a person
II to do some lawful act.
JJoimus.. LICENSER OF BOOKS, has been an officer in almost
v every civilized country, till the close of the last century,
when it was abolished in Great Britain. It has been
proved by Beckmann, that such an office was established,
not only in the Roman empire, but also in the republic
and the states of Greece. All the copies of the works of
Protagoras which could be procured, were burnt at A-
thens by the public crier, and the satirical works of La-
bienus shared the same fate under the reign of the empe¬
ror Augustus. Not long after the invention of printing,
law's were enacted for subjecting books to examination }
a regulation which was proposed even by Plato, and
which many have since wished for. It appears that the
liberty of the press is only a modern privilege, and that
it has not been enjoyed in its utmost latitude in any
country but Great Britain.
Licenser of the Press. See Liberty of the Press.
LICENTIATE, one who has obtained the degree
of a license.—The greatest number of the officers of
justice in Spain are distinguished by no other title than
that of licentiate. In order to pass licentiate in common
law, civil law, and physic, they must have studied seven
years, and in divinity ten. Among us a licentiate usual-
Iv means a physician who has a license to practise, grant¬
ed hy the college of physicians.
L1CETUS, a celebrated physician of Italy, was
born at Rappollo, in the state of Genoa, 1577*
came, it seeurs, into the world, before his mother had
completed the seventh month of her pregnancy ; but
his father, being an ingenious physician, wrapped him
wp in cotton, and nurtured him so, that he lived to he
77 years of age. He was trained with great care, and
became a very distinguished man in his profession ; and
was the author of a great number of works : his book
De Monstris every body must have heard of. He was
professor of philosophy and physic at Padua, where he
died in 1655.
LICHEN, Liverwort, a genus of plants belonging
to the natural order of algae, in the cryptogamia class.
See Botany Index.
LICHFIELD. See Litchfield.
LICHTENBERG, a castle of France, in Lower
Alsace, and the chief place of a county of the same
name; seated on a rock, near the mountains Vosges,
and looked upon as impregnable. E. Long. 7. 35.
N. Lat. 48. 55.
LIGHTEN BURG, a town of Germany, in the
circle of Franconia, and margravate of Cullembach.
E. Long. 12. o. N. Lat. 30. 26.
LICHTENFELS, a town of Germany, in the
circle of Franconia, a bishopric of Bamberg, seated
on the river Mayne, in E. Long. II. 10. N. Lat. 30.
20.
LICHTENSTEIN, a town of Swisserland, in
Tockerhertr, seated on the river Thour. E. Long.
2. 15. N. Lat. 47. 23.
LICHSTALL, a handsome town of Swisserland,
in the county of Basil; seated on the river Ergetz, in
E. Lontr. 7. 57. N. Lat. 47* 4°*
LICINIUS Stolo, a famous Roman tribune,
styled Stolo on account of a law be made, while tribune,
that no Roman citizen should possess more than 500
acres of land ; alleging, that when they occupied more,
they could not cultivate it with care, nor pull up the Licinius
useless shoots fstolones') that grow from the roots of trees. 11
He is memorable also for enacting, that one of the con-
suls should always be of a plebeian family. He lived
about 362 B. B.
LICNON, in the Dionysian solemnities, the mystical
van of Bacchus ; a thing so essential to all the solemni¬
ties of this god, that they could not be duly celebrated
without it. See DlONYSIA.
LICNOPHORI, in the Dionysian solemnities, those
who carried the licnon.
LICOL A, or Lago Di Licola, a lake in the king¬
dom of Naples, formerly famous for plenty of excellent
fish; but in the year 1338 an explosion of a volcano
changed one part of it into a mountain of ashes, and
the other into a morass. It was anciently known by
the name of the Lucrine lake.
LICONIA, a genus of plants belonging to the pent-
andria class. See Botany Index.
LICTORS, among the Romans, were officers esta¬
blished by Rumulus, who always attended the chief ma¬
gistrates when they appeared in public.
The duty of their office consisted in the three fol¬
lowing particulars : 1. Submotio, or clearing the way for
the magistrate they attended : this they did by word
of mouth ; or, if there was occasion, by using the rods
they always carried along with them. 2. Animadversio,
or causing the people to pay the usual respect to the
magistrate, as to alight, if on horseback, or in a chariot;
to rise up, uncover, make way, and the like. 3. Prce-
itio, or walking before the magistrates : this they did not
confusedly, or altogether, nor hy two or three abreast,
but singly, following one another in a straight line.
They also preceded the triumphal car in public triumphs;
and it was also part of their office to arrest criminals,
and to be public executioners in beheading, &c. Their
ensigns were the FASCES and securis.
As to the number of lictors allowed each magistrate,
a dictator bad twenty-four, a master of the horse six, a
consul twelve, a praetor six ; and each vestal virgin,
when she appeared abroad, had one.
LIDD. See Lydd.
LIDDEL, Dr Duncan, professor of mathematics
and of medicine in the university of Helmstadt, was
born in the year 1561 at Aberdeen, where he received
the first part of his education in languages and philo¬
sophy. About the age of eighteen he repaired to the
university of Francfort, where he spent three years in
a diligent application to mathematics and philosophy.
From Francfort he proceeded to Wratisiaw, or Breslaw,
in Silesia, where he is said to have made uncommon pro¬
gress in his favourite study of mathematics, underthe di¬
rection of a very eminent professor, Paulus Wittichius.
Having studied at Breslaw for the space of one year, he
returned to Francfort and remained there three years,
paying the most intenseapplication to thestudy of physic.
A contagious distemper having broken out at that place,
the students ivere dispersed, and Liddel retired to the uni¬
versity of Rostock. Here he renewed his studies, rather
as a companion than as a pupil of the celebrated Bru-
cseug, who, though an excellent mathematician, did not
scruple to confess that lie was instructed by Liddel in the
more perfect knowledge of the Copernican system, and
other astronomical questions. In 1390 he returned once
more to Francfort. But having there heard of the in¬
creasing
LID [7
Liddel, creasin" reputation of the Academia Julia, established at
IJdfoid. Helmstadt by Henry duke of Brunswick, Mr Liddel re-
moved thither j and soon after his arrival was appointed
to the first or lower professorship of mathematics. From
thence he was promoted to the second and more digni¬
fied mathematical chair, which he occupied for nine
years, with much credit to himself and to the Julian
Academy. In 1596 he obtained the degree of M. D.
was admitted a member of that faculty, and began pub¬
licly to teach physic. By his teaching and his writings
he was the chief support of the medical school at Helm¬
stadt; was employed as first physician at the court of
Brunswick, and had much practice among the principal
inhabitants of that country. Having been several times
elected dean of the faculties both of philosophy and phy¬
sic, he had in the year 1604 the honour of being chosen
protector of the university. But neither academical ho¬
nours, nor the profits of an extensive practice abroad,
could make Dr Liddel forget bis native country. In
the year 1660 he took a final leave of the Academia Ju¬
lia; and after travelling for some time through Germany
and Italy, heat length settled in Scotland. He died in
the year 1613, in the J2d year of his age. By his last
will he bestowed certain lands purchased by him near
Aberdeen upon the university there, in all time com¬
ing, for the education and support of six poor scho¬
lars. Among a variety of regulations and injunctions
for the management of this charity, he appoints the
magistrates of Aberdeen bis trustees, and solemnly de¬
nounces the curse of God on any person who shall abuse
or misapply it. His works are, 1. Disputetiones MetU-
cinales, Helmstadt, 1603, 4(0. 2. Ars Medico succincte
etperspicveexplicata, Hamburghi, 1607, 8vo. This per¬
formance is dedicated to King James VI. and is divided
into five books, viz. Introductio in totam Medicinam ;
De Phijsiologia ; De Pathologia; De Signorum doctri-
na; De Therupevtica. 3. De Febribus Libri tres, Hum-
burgki, 1610, 12mo. 4. Tractates de dente aureo,
Ilanibnrghi, 1628, i2mo. This last performance Dr
Liddel published in order to refute a ridiculous story
then current of a poor boy in Silesia, who, at seven
years of age, having lost some of his teeth, brought
forth, to the astonishment of his parents, a new tooth
of pure gold. Jacobus Horstius, doctor and professor
of medicine in the Academia Julia, at the same lime
with our author, had published a book, which hededicated
to the emperor Rudolphus II. to prove that this won¬
derful tooth was a prodigy sent from heaven to en¬
courage the Germans then at war with the Turks, and
foretelling, from this golden tooth, the future victories
of the Christians, with the final destruction of the
Turkish empire and Mahometan faith, and a return
of the golden age in 1700, preparatory to the end of
the world. The imposture was soon after discovered
to he a thin plate of gold, skilfully drawn over the na¬
tural tooth by an artist of that country, with a view to
excite the public admiration and charity. 5. Artis con-
scrvandi Samtatcm, libri duo, Aberdonice, 1651, l2mo ;
a posthumous work.
LID! ORD, a village of Devonshire in England, si¬
tuated on the river Lid, two or three miles east of Brent
Tor, was formerly a famous town, with a castle. It
was much destroyed by the Danes in 997. The vil¬
lage is now small, but the lands in the parish are rich
and fertile, the whole forest of Dartmore being in the
98 ] LIE
verge of it. I he river here being pent up at the bridge
with rocks, has made itself so deep a fall, that the noise |j
of the water only is heard without being seen. Lie.
LIDKOPING, a town of West Gothland in Swe- 1 /~’”“
den, seated on the lake Wenar, in E. Lone. 12. ao.
N. Lat. 58. 25. b 3 4
LIDNEY, a town of Gloucestershire in England,
71 miles from London, is seated on the west bank of
the river Severn. In the neighbourhood are the re¬
mains of a large Roman encampment, with foundations
of many ancient buildings, among which are the ruins
of a Roman hypocaust of an oval form; and Roman
antiquities and coins are often found. Mr Bathurst has
a fine seat here called Sydney-Park, in the midst of ex¬
tensive woods. Population 820 in 1811.
LIE, in morals, denotes a criminal breach of veraci¬
ty.—Archdeacon Paley, in treating of this subject, ob¬
serves, that there are falsehoods which are not lies ; that
is, which are not criminal: and there are lies which ar«
not literally and directly false.
I. Cases of the first class are those, 1. Where no one
is deceived : as, for instance in parables, fables, novels,
jests, tales to create mirth, or ludicrous embellishments
of a story, in which the declared design of the speaker
is not to inform, but to divert; compliments in the
subscription of a letter; a prisoner’s pleading not guil¬
ty; an advocate asserting the justice, or his belief of
the justice, of bis client’s cause. In such instance no
confidence is destroyed, because none was reposed; no
promise to speak the truth is violated, because none
was given or understood to be given. 2. Where the
person yon speak to has no right to know the truth,
or more properly w+rere little or no inconveniency re¬
sults from the want of confidence in such cases; as
where you tell a falsehood to a madman for his own
advantage ; to a robber, to conceal your property ; to
an assassin, to defeat or to divert him from his purpose.
It is upon this principle, that, by the laws of war, it
is allowed to deceive an enemy by feints, false colours,
spies, false intelligence, and the like ; but, by no means,
in treaties, truces, signals of capitulation, or surrender:
and the difference is, that the former suppose hostilities
to continue, the latter are calculated to terminate or sus¬
pend them.
Many people indulge in serjous discourse a habit of
fiction and exaggeration, in the accounts they give of
themselves, of their acquaintance, or of the extraordi¬
nary tilings which they have seen or heard; and so
long as the facts they relate are indifferent, and their
narratives though false are inoffensive, it may seem a
superstitious regard to truth to censure them merely
for truth’s sake. Yet the practice ought to be check¬
ed ; for, in the first place, it is almost impossible to
pronounce beforehand, with certainty, concerning any
lie that it is inoffensive; or to say what ill conse¬
quences may result from a lie apparently inoffensive:
And, in the next place, the habit, when once formed,
is easily extended to serve the designs of malice or in¬
terest ; like all habits, it spreads indeed of itself. Pious
frauds, as they are improperly enough called, pretend¬
ed inspirations, forged books, counterfeit miracles, are
impositions of a more serious nature. It is possible
that they may sometimes, though seldom, have been
set up and encouraged with a design to do good : but
the good they aim at requires that the belief of them
should
LIE [ 799 ] LIE
should he perpetual, which is hardly possible ; and the
detection of the fraud is sure to disparage the credit of
t all pretensions of the same nature. Christianity has
suffered more injury from this cause than from all other
causes put together.
II. As there may be falsehoods which are not lies,
eo there may be lies without literal or direct falsehood.
An opening is always left for this species of prevarica¬
tion, when the literal and grammatical signification of
a sentence is different from the popular and customary
meaning. It is the wilful deceit that makes the lie 5
and we wilfully deceive, when our expressions are not
true, in the sense in which we believe the hearer ap¬
prehends them. Besides, it is absurd to contend for
any sense of words, in opposition to usage ; for all
senses of all words are founded upon usage, and upon
nothing else. Or a man may act a lie ; as by pointing
his finger in a wrong direction, when a traveller in¬
quires of him his road ; or when a tradesman shuts up
his windows, to induce his creditors to believe that he
is abroad : for to all moral purposes, and therefore as
to veracity, speech and action are the same 3 speech
being only a mode of action.
LILCHTENAU, a town of Germany, in the circle
of Franconia and margravate of Anspach, subject to
Nuremberg. E. Long. 9. 5. N. Lat. 48. 43.
LIEGE (Ligius'), in Lmv, properly signifies a vas¬
sal, who holds a kind of fee, that hinds him in'a closer
obligation to his lord than other people.
The term seems to he derived from the French //er,
“ to bind 3” on account of a ceremony used in render¬
ing faith or homage : which was by locking the vassal’s
thumb or his hand in that of the lord, to show that he
was fast bound by his oath of fidelity. Cujas, Vigenere,
and Kignon, choose rather to derive the word from the
same source with leudis or leodi, “ loyal, faithful.” But
Du Cange falls in with the opinion of those who derive
it from liti, a kind of vassals, so firmly attached to
their lord, on account of lands or fees held of him, that
they were obliged to do him all manner of service, ns
if they were his domestics. He adds, this was formerly
called htigium serviiium, and the person liigc. In this
sense, the word is used. Leg. Edw. cap. 29. Jadcei
sub tutela regis hgca debent esse ; that is, wholly under
his protection.
By liege homage, the vassal was obliged to serve his
lord towards all, and against all, excepting his father.
In which sense, the word was used in opposition to
simple homage 3 which last only obliged the vassal to
pay the rights and accustomed dues to his lord 3 and
not to bear arms against the emperor, prince, or other
superior lord : so that a liege man was a person wholly
devoted to his lord, and entirely under Iris command.
Omnibus, fyc. Keginaldus, rex Insularum, salutem.
Sc/at is quod devem homo ligcus domini regis Anglice
Johannis, contra omnes mortalcs, quamdiu vixero ; et
indc eifidei/tatem et sacramentum prestiti, Sfc. MS.
penes W. Dugdale.
But it must he observed, there were formerly' two
kinds of liege homage : the one, by which the vassal
was obliged to serve his lord, against all, without ex¬
ception even of his sovereign ; the other, by which he
was to serve him against all, except such other lords us
he had formerly owed liege homage to.
In our old statutes lieges, and liege people, are
terms peculiarly appropriated to the king’s subjects 3 as
being liges, ligi, or ligati, obliged to pay allegiance to
him 3 8 Henry VI. 14 Hen. VIII. &e. though private
persons had their lieges too. Heinaidus, Dei gratia,
abbas Ramesice, prceposito et hominibus de Brancestre,
el omnibus vicinis Francis et Anglis salutem. Sciatis
me dedisse ter ram Fife, in depedene Qhodic depedale)
hide Boselino, et uxori ejus Alfnice—ea conditions quod
effecti sint homines legis. Lib. Ilames.
LiEGE-Poustie, in Scots Law, is opposed to death¬
bed 5 and signifies a person’s enjoying that state of
health in which only he can dispose of his property at
pleasure.
THE END OF THE ELEVENTH VOLUME.
DIRECTIONS for placing the PLATES of Vol. XL
Plate CCLNXVL CCLXXVII. to face
CCLXXV1IL
CCLXXIX—CCLXXXIIL
CCLXXXIV. CCLXXXV.
CCL XXXVI.
CCLXXXVII.
page 10
52
112
240
352
3S8
Part II.
CCLXXXVIIL
CCLXXXIX.
CCXC. CCXCI.
CCXCII—CCXCV.
477
488
744
782
f